Damon's POV

The door creaked open and Damon watched Elena walk back into the mansion. She was still snuggled up in his dark blue sweater that enveloped her tiny body and he thought she looked beautiful in his clothes. He watched her walk down the hallway, step down into the parlor and take a seat on the couch. She had been quiet the whole ride back from Stefan's funeral. They had said their goodbyes with hugs and more tears and excused themselves from the group.

Damon had nodded and smiled at Klaus in a thank you for coming. He had not been sure that he in fact would have showed up and was glad that he had. The whole group had been very respectful of his presence there. But now everyone had headed off their separate ways.

Matt had given Elena one more hug and promised to see her soon and then told her he was on duty tonight. There had been looting and trouble because of the explosions and the clock tower being ruined and he was needed to continue to restore order in Mystic Falls.

Damon had loved seeing Elena's eyes as she hugged her longtime friend that she thought she would never see again. If all had gone according to Kai's plan then Elena would have only woken up once Bonnie died of old age, some 60 years later. Matt would be likely gone too, and Jeremy and Ric, so he was so grateful she had time with them now.

Jeremy had given her another monstrous hug and said he was staying with Matt at least for a few days. Damon had known that Jeremy had been deep into vampire hunting and had been all over the states in his quest to vanquish more monsters. But he had told him he was sure Elena would love him to stay in town for awhile.

After they all had lost her to the sleeping beauty coma Jer had lost the only family he had left and Damon knew he had poured his heart into hunting. But now with her back...maybe he would consider staying, putting down roots closer to home. Maybe he would want to take a job much less dangerous in order to be there to live with his sister and restore his friendship with Bonnie. They all had lost so much and needed to be there for each other more than ever before.

Caroline and Alaric had said their goodbyes both holding sleeping little girls in their arms. Stefan's widow had been crying quietly the whole time and they all had such a hard time pulling her away from his memorial. It was all too fresh and he imagined that if it ever happened to him he would never want to leave Elena either. He wished he could comfort her more but she had a lot of people around her and the support of Ric and Bonnie, Matt and even Klaus he had overheard talking to her before they left. She would be okay. It would just take time.

Bonnie had said she was headed back to the campus to pack up her things and was going to take Damon up on his trip. He was so happy to hear that. She needed time away and time to just discover what she wanted still in life. He knew she was hurting still too so much and he ached for her pain of losing Enzo. He wished there was something he could do to help her. Something more. But he needed to focus on his own healing too. He felt like he was just as much of a mess as he saw in the others. But he had Elena and he knew together they would be able to overcome the grief he felt was trying to drown him.

He leaned back against the wall by the entrance to the parlor and just watched his love curl up on the couch, her knees tucked into her body. His sweater covered her from head to toe as she pulled it over her legs. He could still not grasp completely that she was in fact awake and that the spell was finally broken. Bonnie didn't have to die either. It was a win win for everyone.

He moved forward and across the room and tossed a match in the fireplace along with some paper and few well placed logs and the fire sprang to life. She had looked cold, all curled up like that. He smiled at her and poured her and himself a drink before strolling over the couch and sitting down. It felt like a casual evening just the two of them at home. But there was so much emotion bubbling under the surface. So much they needed to say to each other.

Damon put the drink he made for her on the table beside her, bourbon with coke mixed in, her eyes locked on his, watching him. He pulled her legs up onto his lap, leaned back on the couch and tossed the bourbon in his glass down his throat in one swallow and put down the empty glass. He pulled her shoes and socks off one by one and started massaging her feet. She leaned back into the cushions and closed her eyes as his hands worked. Till then her eyes had not left him since they walked into the room. There was so much to say and yet he had no idea where to start, or what to do at all. So he kept rubbing, relaxing her or hoping he was.

He watched her eventually pick up her glass up and sip from it. His lips turned up in a smirk as she made a face at the strength of the drink. He had thought they could both use something strong after all the emotions they were no doubt feeling from everything that happened.

"Sorry baby. You haven't had a drink in years. I guess I still made it too strong. Do you want more coke in it?" He saw her nod silently and passed it back to him. He gently lifted her legs off him, stood up and walked back to the drink counter and then back to her adding more coke to her drink.

She took it and sipped it again before putting it down on the table. Sitting back down Damon pulled her into his arms, till he was laying against the arm of the couch with his Elena resting all across his body. Her head on his chest, his hands already playing in her hair as he heard her sigh in content.

"It's so quiet in here," she finally spoke, her lips against his neck and he felt her nuzzling deeper into his embrace. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and bent to kiss the top of her head. He felt so relaxed and that felt good after so many emotions had been racing through him at his brother's memorial.

Damon turned back to her nodding his agreement. "M mm hmm, I know what you mean. I keep thinking Stef will come barreling in here at any moment with the next crisis. I still can't believe he is gone."

Elena nodded, looking like she was feeling the same way. "I know. me too. It feels so strange knowing he won't be coming back through that door. It's been so long too since we just laid here when Silas was still around and there was so much craziness everywhere," Elena whispered, as her arms slid around his waist and pulled him in closer.

"I promise you Elena, there are no more bad guys around the corner. We are safe and nothing will ever take you away from me ever again if can help it." He kissed her hair, running his fingers through it more.

He felt her lift her head, turning her face to him. Her eyes were soft on his, her lips pursed as she studied him. "How are you doing with everything, Damon?"

He forced a smile, knowing she was asking about Stefan. "What do you mean? I'm walking on sunshine with you back in my arms." He knew he was totally glossing over his pain. He didn't want to be a crying mess in front of her again. It was bad enough at the funeral how much he let his emotions free. She had been right and no one judged him for it but it was still so far outside his comfort zone.

"I just don't want to think about it," he said bluntly. "Not now, it's just too raw." He saw the understanding in her eyes and he knew she wanted to do whatever she could to help him. "Can we just not talk, just for a little while?" He tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear as his other hand was drawing lazy circles over her jean clothed hip. "Just kiss me, please baby. That's what I need right now."

She nodded back at him slowly without saying another word and moved closer to brush her lips against his. He cradled her head in his hands as he felt her hands creep up his shoulders and around his neck to tangle in his hair. He opened his mouth, eager and hungry for the taste of his Elena. She felt amazing just being in his arms and he wanted to freeze that moment in time to remember it.

They were human, together, with no outside forces trying to tear them apart. No Katherine, no Kai, or Heretics, no damn Sirens or the freaking devil himself. There was nothing but her in his arms, and he groaned against her mouth as he heard a whimper escape her throat.

Elena was here with him finally. They were free to be together and that was the only thing keeping him from crying for his brother right then. Just thinking about it made his heart ache deeply and he wanted to do all he could to avoid more pain and sadness today.

Today was a happy day as well as a sad one. Today he got the most incredible gift a man could ever ask for. Today he got his hope and very breath back. The love of his life was in his arms again he was never letting her go. He determined right then that he was not going to be one of those people who take their partner's love for granted. He was going to tell her and show every day how amazing she was, how unbelievably fucking lucky he was.

He pulled her closer, spinning her rather awkwardly missing his vampire strength, till she was laying beneath him. Her deep brown doe eyes were intense against the ice blue of his own. He could feel her chest pressed hard to his as he opened his mouth more to her kisses and started trailing them down her jaw and to the hollow of her throat.

Her head fell back against the couch as he felt her fingers sneak into his dark button down shirt and he felt the tiny digits tracing the muscles in his back, making him shiver with pleasure at the contact. His hands went around her waist, finding her soft skin under the layers of clothes she had on and gently squeezed her hips between his splayed fingers. She was rubbing herself against him and he returned the thrusts, his own hips moving up to meet hers, slowly and sensually as he moaned her name into her shoulder.

God, she felt so good.

Neither of them said anything. Their bodies did all the talking. They needed this time to explore what they had both been longing for, for years now. He felt her move her hips more under his and he saw a sparkle in her eyes as she pressed herself against him so intimately. It was like nothing had changed. There was no lack of passion, or desire for each other. It was like they could just pick up where they left off almost 4 years ago. There were no questions, no doubts, no distance between them. Even with no much unsaid and so much he needed to share with her, she loved him as much as the day she had been torn away from him.

That dance he had with her in her mind had been their goodbye. There was so much sadness, so much longing and fingers holding tight onto each other. Their eyes spoke volumes of their desire that they both did not want things to end. That neither of them had any idea how to say goodbye.

And now there were no more goodbyes. They were human together and Damon was in awe of growing old with her, having children, grandchildren, having a house full of love and laughter and building a new family with her.

He pulled the sweater he had given her to keep her warm over her head and she had giggled at her hair going every direction. But a moment later he was smoothing it down as he beamed at her, his eyes dancing at the happiness in her own. It had seemed like it had been so long since they could just be happy without a fear of the next threat.

He swallowed slowly watching her staring so intensely at him. She lifted her own hands, her fingers tracing the lines on his face, like she was reacquainting herself with him, memorizing him like he had been doing to her before. First she stroked across his one eyebrow and then his cheekbones, one finger ran across his nose from top to bottom as she smiled at him. Damon just melted at the feelings flooding through him and he got so lost in her gorgeous brown eyes that it nearly took his gasping, human breath away.

Then she ran her thumbs along the edges of his lips and moved his bottom lip down, parting his kiss swollen lips gently. She stroked the hard line of his jaw and pulled him into the most tender kiss he had ever experienced. He could not contain the moan of pleasure crawling up his throat, like he was a man starved for his very breath to live.

"Damn, Elena," he rasped out against her lips. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

Elena's eyes sparkled in the near darkness as her hands left his face and went to the bottom button of his shirt, opening first one then two and more and more till it hung loosely at his sides, her eyes not leaving his the whole time. She was a vision in the firelight, as she lay under him, his arms caging her in on all sides. He lifted her up under her back and pulled both the tank top and pink shrug off her and tossed them to the floor. Laying her back down wearing just her sexy, blue lace bra, he pulled his eyes away from hers to focus on the skin he had been anxious to uncover.

His tongue darted out to kiss down her throat to the valley between her breasts as he felt her fingers tugging at the dark hair at the nape of his neck pulling him back down on top of her. Damon heard her gasp and run her nails down his back as he pressed his chest into hers, the curve of his hips and thighs against hers just molded them together like perfect puzzle pieces.

Their lips were crashing together this time with more passion and urgency than before. Her hands held his head tight to hers and he wrapped his arms around her, sliding them up her sides and under her neck, just cradling her body in his embrace.

She still had not said a word since asking him how he was doing. Part of him knew they should talk, about Tyler, about the damn Siren and how much she had literally erased Elena from his memory. He knew he should tell her about when he thought he had burned her in her coffin after he came back from the hellstone. How he had drowned his agony with wanting Julian's vampires to beat the ever living shit out of him to punish him for what he had done. He had wanted to die, wanted them to rip his heart out and make him suffer for what he did to her. He didn't deserve to live.

But Stefan and Valerie had saved him from being killed. He should have been grateful to them, but all he was, was angry at himself...wanting it all to be over. The look in Stefan's eyes when he told him that he had killed Elena; that she was gone for good, had been the worst hate he had ever seen in his brother's eyes at him. Worse than when he killed Lexi, or scoffed at his mother on her deathbed, worse than anything. That look had crushed him into little pieces inside as his brother had punched him over and over. Stefan's rage had been so raw and so heart wrenching knowing he had caused it. If he ever doubted before that his brother loved her, that night he knew.

And what had he done? Drowned his hate of himself in more and more bourbon like he always did till he almost passed out.

Feeling Elena now, kissing down his shoulder and her hands tightly gripping his waist, he wanted her so desperately to understand. He knew he deserved how he felt then. He deserved not to feel any relief from the agony that was tearing him apart at the loss of her. That he had actually burned her alive in her coffin. But he wanted to tell her all that had happened, all that he had faced without her by his side. Not to make her feel guilty at all but just so she understood what he had been through at the thought of losing her forever.

Elena's hands were tugging gently on his shirt pulling it up and over his shoulders. He could see her skin was already covered in a sheen of sweat that glistened in the fire's glow. She looked so perfect, so wanting of him having no idea how hard he had fought to hang onto her as the Siren tried to bleed her from his mind and soul. But she could never take her all the way away. She was a part of him and even if he hadn't known that he loved her or had the memories of their love, just like she had wiped them away too...the love was still there, just buried deep in him.

So should he really go though with this, being with her again before telling her everything that had happened to him?

He groaned low in his throat forgetting his rambling thoughts as she latched her teeth onto his nipple and bit gently as her hands traced the lines around his abdomen. "Elena, you feel so good baby. I thought I would never feel you again," he mumbled as his head fell against her hair as she continued to kiss and tease the skin of his bare chest.

There was air of silence as he fought within himself but knew this was what he wanted. This was him being the better man, just as he had wanted to be for her so long ago.

"But we should stop," he breathed out quickly before he could change his mind.

That got her attention and she wiggled higher on the couch and sat up leaning against the armrest. He sat up beside her and pulled her into his lap. He ran his hands up and down her bare arms seeing her looking curiously with a hint of sadness in her eyes at him from behind her dark lashes.

"It's not that I don't want you. I do. I want you so much that it hurts. But there is lots we need to talk about too. I don't want to face what I've all done when you were gone. I didn't want to talk before and but now I know that I do really need to be honest with you about some things."

She straightened up more in his arms, sliding hers up his body to wrap around his neck. "Okay, Damon. I understand. But whatever you tell me. Nothing will change how I feel about you." He put a finger to her lips.

"You don't know that," he said pain and sadness etched in his voice. "I regret so much. I hurt so many people. Even you."

"It's okay Damon. I promise. Whatever it is. I will still love you. I will always love you." Her words were sincere, her voice cracking too as he studied her face. She was his angel. How did he get so lucky? He did not deserve her. He had hurt so many people since she was gone. People they both loved and cared for deeply. People that stood there for him at Stefan's funeral.

"I do want you, but I want to wait till everything is in the open." He saw her nod her agreement at him. There was so much to say, so much to dump out to her and he already felt like he had been run over by a train today. Being human made him feel so weak.

"I promise I will listen to everything baby. Whatever you need to tell me." She was stroking his face and moved one hand up to move a strand of his dark hair from his forehead. "But I hate to tell you this but you look like hell Damon. Why don't you wait and tell me tomorrow."

He nodded slowly knowing she was absolutely right and it seemed like she could read his mind. That sounded perfect. Tomorrow. He would find the strength by tomorrow to face all those demons of fear swirling around him.

"Lets just lay here by the fire. Just let me hold you for tonight." Elena's big brown eyes searched his and he nodded to her.

"Okay, you are right. I do feel like hell. I don't have anything left in me to share tonight." He leaned in and kissed the skin of her forehead tenderly and then stood up. "I'll go get us another blanket and be right back." She smiled back and him and he headed up to his room.

Once inside he unbuckled his jeans and shrugged them off along with his socks and shoes. He grabbed a pair of black velour pajama pants from his dresser and a hoody for Elena to wear if she wanted to. Then he checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror and smoothed the red tear tracks from his cheeks and washed his face. She was right, he did look like hell. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying and his cheeks red. His skin looked paler than usual but that could also just be the humanness of him now. Then he grabbed his comforter from his bed and headed back down to her.

She had changed too he saw, by the time he got back and was now wearing his discarded navy button down and had pulled the collar up inhaling his scent on it.

"I brought you something to wear." He held out the hoody and she stood up shaking her head at him.

"Umm mmm. I like this one. The ones that smell the most like you are always the best." She had taken off her jeans he saw and his mouth gaped a little at the sight of her long, slender legs bare, her skin looking like it was glowing. She stood on her tip toes to kiss him on the lips and his hand slid down her back to palm her lace covered ass, pulling her against him.

"M mm, yep you look so hot in my shirt," he groaned as he found her lips again. He picked her up in his arms as he dropped the blanket onto the couch, his hands on her thighs as her legs wrapped around him. He held her like that and walked her against the wall beside the fireplace. He could feel the heat of it against his bare back as he moaned her name against her lips.

She kissed him just as hard back, his Varvatos shirt on her looking far sexier that it ever did on him. It slid up more as his hands found their way under the fabric to the smooth skin of her back as he cradled her against the wall.

"Oh baby I want to just take back everything I said and take you right here and now," he groaned throatily, his head buried in her hair, his lips peppering her neck with kisses. She had left a few buttons undone on his shirt and he could see that the lace bra was gone as well and his want for her was so much stronger than it had been barely 10 minutes ago.

She grabbed his face in her hands, smoothing his hair back from his eyes, her heartbeat pounding against his. "Whatever you need Damon. Whatever I can do to help you get through this." Her voice was as low as laced with need as his was. Her lips looked so soft and warm and eager for more of him.

There was no one to disturb them no one to come barging in the door with the next big emergency. They had this giant house all to themselves. The fire crackled beside them and he put her down on her bare feet.

No, he did not want to do this without talking first. He knew that. It just didn't seem his damn body agreed with anything he thought of right now. "I just need to hold you. Just for tonight that is all I need baby. I promise we can talk tomorrow."

He saw her nod to him and he grabbed the huge, bigger than king size comforter and wrapped them both in it and laid her down in front of the fire on his ridiculously expensive Persian rug. She reached up her arms to wrap around his neck as he buried his face in her hair. Her fingers were running through his dark locks making him literally purr like a kitten in her arms.

He nuzzled deeper into her embrace, the thin blue shirt the only barrier between them as he pulled her by her waist closer to him. "M mm Elena, how the hell did I sleep so many nights without you?" he breathed against her neck.

"I wonder the same thing Salvatore. This feels like this right now could not be more perfect," she smiled up at him and kissed his hair.

Just then her stomach growled loudly and they both sat up more to look at where the sound came from. Damon ran his hand over the silkiness of her bare belly and looked back up to her eyes. "Shit! I have been a horrible boyfriend Elena. You must be starving from not eating for so long. Why did I not think of it before?" He jumped up before she could say anything and was dialing the phone and ordering food for both of them.

In less than a half hour she was sitting between his legs, chopsticks in hand and taking another piece of sweet and sour pork from the container to dip it into the sauce before popping it in her mouth. The fire was still crackling powerfully behind them as they both munched on their takeout.

"This is delicious Damon. Thank you. It does feel like I haven't eaten in years!" He grinned at her and dipped a piece of lemon chicken in the sauce before holding it in front of her mouth. She opened for him and smiled back as he teasingly ran the chicken around her lips before letting her bite it, making her mouth shiny with the yellow sauce.

"You are delicious." He bent down and captured her lips sucking the sauce off of them while groaning his approval of the taste of Chinese and her together. He licked and sucked all over her mouth and then picked up his phone and leaned into her head holding it up.

This felt very human and cheesy of him but he wanted to remember this time together. "Smile for the camera!" he grinned at her, seeing more sauce at the corner of her mouth and moved to slurp it up. He hit the camera icon just as she giggled in his arms, likely from the feeling of his tongue on her mouth.

He watched her pick up a big bunch of the chop suey and lifted it closer and closer to his lips. He laughed deep in his throat thinking there was no way he was not getting it all over his bare chest. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, seeing her smirking at him in amusement. She was picking up the camera from where he had placed it on the rug and turned it on again.

"Two can play at that game honey," she laughed at he saw her try to get all the noodles in his waiting mouth. He heard the new endearment, loving the affectionate names she was calling him.

Laughing however did not help his situation at all and he found himself scrambling to keep all the noodles in his mouth once she had released the chopsticks. Her grin was so childlike, so beautiful and so pure free of worry and pain. He smiled into the camera as she held it up and felt a couple noodles slip from his mouth just as she hit the icon. The camera most undoubtedly captured his shocked but playful smile as she had leaned forward and sucked the stray noodles off his chin before they fell.

They played like that taking more pictures as they finished their meal. Damon moved to put away the containers and poured them both some wine he had been saving. There could not be a more appropriate occasion. He brought the glasses back to her and sat back down on the rug. She crawled back onto his lap, straddling him as he leaned on the front of the couch.

He lifted his glass, his eyes locked on hers. "To the future. Our future, and so many more fun memories to capture to remember forever."

She smiled at him and lifted her glass. "To us. To you Damon, and to Bonnie, for bringing me back to you." Her lip quivered as she continued. "And to Stefan for giving us this amazing future together and the chance to have a family of our own." She rubbed her bare belly over his shirt and he eyed her curiously.

"Already? You want my baby already? Didn't you want a ring first? You know...the whole nine yards?" He was intoxicated by the look in her eye right then. It was love, and devotion and passion all rolled into one. And she looked as sexy as hell with that look.

"No, no baby yet...but soon. And yes I do want the whole nine yards of being engaged and a big wedding with all our friends." He could see she had put some thought into this already. He tilted his chin back up to her giving her his undivided attention as she talked about her dreams

She smiled at him, and gave him a quick peck on the mouth before sharing more. "So much was going on when I started working at the hospital and I really want to keep going with that and become a doctor and help people. Now that I am human, being around blood too will be so much easier."

The one hand not holding the wine glass, went around his neck to play with his hair. Her eyes were focused and very serious about what she was saying. "I want to make a difference Damon. I want to save people the way so many people saved me or you or any of the people we love."

"That sounds amazing. I know you can do it," he whispered. They clinked glasses and sipped their wine and then put them down on the table. Gathering her in his arms laying down more she leaned against him, her hair splayed all down her back. She snuggled into the crook of his arm and was breathing peacefully in minutes. He could see her closed eyes from how he was laying and ran his fingers through her hair.

Reaching over back to the couch he picked up his phone once more and opened the camera. He lifted his arm up high enough to get both their faces in it. He beamed with pleasure into the camera, giving it his best sexy pout and snapped the picture. He took another of him kissing her head softly and then scrolled back to see them. She looked incredible. His shirt on her was too big and had exposed the skin of her one shoulder to the camera. Her lips were parted in peaceful sleep and her hand was laying unmoving, curled around his neck and into his hair.

She had been the perfect distraction from his pain and he realized over the course of the evening that she had gotten him to smile and even laugh on the day of his brother's funeral. For a few hours the pain had been forgotten, or almost and he had reveled in their rediscovered love that had laid dormant for far too long.

She had been everything he needed today; strong, supportive, loving, crying with him and holding him, open to his kisses and touches and how much her body and mere presence soothed him. She had been his rock in the middle of the stormiest seas and he knew it could only get better.

He just prayed that the nightmares he had be suffering all week would give him a reprieve tonight finally. He had been scared to close his eyes ever since he had seen Stefan's last minutes. Maybe just maybe tonight would be different.

The fire was almost out. Just embers burning low and golden and him just being alone in the silence and darkness made him think of Stefan again and how much he would miss him in his life. He felt the tears slipping down his cheeks again as he held her against him. Her leg curled around his and he slipped a hand under her shirt to stroke her smooth skin up and down body, her hip nearly molded against his own.

He felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier as he stared at the fire and with one more kiss to her head, he was asleep.

Next time;

Elena's head flew up as she was panting heavily. She had drempt that she was locked in the coffin. That she was still asleep. That no one could hear her scream and cry. She had torn at the white lining on the top of the coffin and screamed for help. But no one came.

She sat up more looking around. The air was cold and she could see that the fire had burned down to nothing. She felt a chill in the air and moved her arms around beside her.

Where was he? "Damon?" she called getting up and walking barefoot around the parlor. He did not return her calling for him. "Damon, where are you?"

She opened the front door and saw the Camero was still there. His jacket and his keys were right there by the door too. Where had he gone? She raced upstairs and checked his room. Still nothing. Elena was starting to get worried. If he had not taken his car or even his jacket, where was he?

He was human now not invincible either. She grabbed for her jeans and his hoody he had brought down and threw on her socks and shoes. Where would he go in the middle of the night after burying his brother?

And then she knew. She would have done the same and spent many nights curled up by her parents gravestone. But he didn't have to do it alone. She was here for him. Whatever he was feeling. She grabbed his jacket and keys and slammed the door behind her. She had no idea what she would find but he wanted to be there for him in whatever way that she could for as long as they both lived...

A/N: Hope you all loved the chapter. There is much more to their first night together, possibly 2 or 3 more parts.

Send me ideas of what you would like to see in their lives together. This night will be the last of the Delena angsty sorrowful stuff for awhile. Caroline will be mourning more but Elena is determined to help keep Damon's mind on the future and happiness and take him to the cabin for a weekend after this night is over. Thanks so much.

Remember reviews are love. It is the only way us authors can be rewarded for our hard work for your guys.

Till next time :)