It rains that night. Elena's never sure why the rain intrigues her so much. After all, it's just rain, (she's seen thousands of times before) nothing special.

She can hear Bonnie calling to her from the car, (she's waiting for her) but she doesn't bother to walk over. Bonnie can wait.

The droplets hit her skin, her hair, slowly soaking her clothes so they cling to her. (Her dress is getting ruined.)

Elena smiles softly, reaching up for feel her (now dripping) brown hair. She's not sure why she's so overjoyed about being wet, (she's never really liked it before) but there's something about this rain that feels important (familiar almost) to her. It's a calming feeling and she welcomes it.

Bonnie's speaking to her again. "You're going to be late!" Her voice is reaching Elena's ears, but somehow, she doesn't seem to recognize the message.

Bonnie offered to drive her to the Whitmore Gala. It's a appreciation dinner for all the medical students and volunteers, (Elena's both) as a thank you for their hard work and dedication throughout the semester. It's one of those nights where everything supernatural in her life gets pushed out of her mind and Elena gets to focus on her school work and career.

That doesn't seem to be the case however, because she seems to be going crazy. The rain seems to be taking a toll on her and she can't figure out how to move a muscle. It's just rain, she thinks. Bonnie's waiting for you.

But somehow, it's not.

There's a sound of the car door slamming shut, and then, footsteps. Bonnie's trotting through the rain, umbrella held over her head. She stops in front of Elena, who by now has her eyes closed, head pointed towards the sky.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie questions, all worries about being late pushed aside.

Its then when Elena opens her eyes, facing Bonnie. "I don't know," She answers truthfully. She can't figure out what's going on with herself.

Bonnie's sighing, laying a hand on Elena's arm. "You don't know?"

Elena shakes her head, rubbing her arms, although, she's not cold. She's warm, and her heart is beating like a firecracker.

Bonnie grabs her arm, leading her underneath the porch. "What do I need to do?"

It's a look Elena's seen on Bonnie's face before. It's the same look she gave Elena after her parents died. She's questioning the situation, not quite sure what to make out of it. She's also not sure what to do.

Elena doesn't answer her.

Bonnie tries again. "What should I do?" By now, she's ditched her umbrella, leaning in closer to Elena's face, trying to catch any form of look in her brown eyes. There's none.

Elena begins to shiver, her heart doesn't cease the thumping. She blinks, trying to control her body. Her hands shoots to her neck, and she's not sure why.

"I'm calling Ric," Bonnie's voice seems so far away, but it's there. There's a pause, and Bonnie continues speaking, "and Caroline."

Elena wonders why she hadn't mentioned Damon. But by the time she's come up with an answer, Bonnie's already on the phone.

"I don't know," Another pause of silence, and Elena can't focus well enough to even try to figure out who Bonnie's on the phone with."She was fine a few minutes ago. I went to the car after she told me she would meet me. The only thing I can think of is the rain. That's the only change Ric."

Elena briefly catches Ric's answer. "I'm on my way,"

She doesn't even attempt to pay attention as Bonnie calls Caroline. She sits down in the car on the porch, putting a hand to her head. It's warm. Like fever warm.

"Bonnie," Elena's voice is slightly panicked.

"What is it?" Bonnie's rushing to her side before she has a chance to continue.

"I think I have a fever," Even her own words seem foreign to her ears.

Bonnie's pressing a hand to her forehead, the expression on her face unrecognizable.

The sound of tires and car lights pull into the driveway. The car halts, engine shutting down. Two car doors slam and then there's the sound of footsteps. Two sets. Caroline and Ric.

Except it's not.

Damon's face comes into view as he kneels in front of her. His hands grip her cheeks, (they're cold) eyes bore into her own. "Elena," The way he says her name, (so much concern) makes her want to smile, but she doesn't.

Damon looks at Bonnie. "What's wrong with her?" There's panic hidden in between his words.

"I don't know," She runs her fingers through her hair.

"What do you mean you don't know?" His voice sounds angry, like he's ready to snap.

But Elena knows the truth, he's worried (maybe even scared).

She has only heard him like this a few times, (that she knows of) his voice wavers, eyes blazing. She wants to reach out of him, to tell him to calm himself down, (like she usually would) but she can't. She's stuck in this trance .

"When did this start again?" Ric questions, eyes on Bonnie.

"When the rain did,"

Her words repeat in Elena's mind. When the rain did.

"That doesn't make sense," Ric mumbles, scratching his head.

There's a pause, and then, another voice. "It does,"

Something about Damon's voice has the gears turning in Elena's head. Her mind is trying to piece together the facts. What could be so special about rain?

There's a voice that enters deep in the back of her mind. It seems so familiar, but so far away.

"But my favorite memory of us, one that I've relived a million times over the last four months is this summer night we had before you went off to college. You wanted to show me this meteor shower. So we drove out in the middle of nowhere, and the moment those shooting stars started to fall: rain, lots of rain,"

It's his voice that brings her back to reality now.

"It's barely rained in Mystic Falls since that night,"

"What night?" Bonnie questions.

He doesn't tell her.

He's looking at Elena. "Can you remember?" His voice is so full of hope.

"I don't know. I'm not sure," She bites her lip.

"What's the last thing you remember about that night?"

That night. He's not talking about the night in the rain, not now. He's talking about the night by the border He's talking about the story he told her. The story of the story. The story of the memory.

"It started to rain and then what happened Damon?" Her own words that she used to question him on the story. It was the ending that always gave her trouble because his words didn't make sense.

"It started to rain and then what?"

"It got cold and muddy. You were miserable so we got in the car. We drove home," No. You see, that was the part that seemed to leave her confused. There was something he hadn't mentioned. It was something sort of significant moment that Damon had left out of story line.

"You lied," She's looking at Damon now. "You never told me the end of the story."

Elena closes her eyes, fingers making a fist. She's trying. As she listens to the rain the words mix in her mind. There's something else there. There's voices.

"Promise me this is forever," She can hear her voice, but she can't match it to a picture, (to a memory) not yet.

Then there's Damon voice. It's so distinctive that it couldn't possibly be anyone else. "I promise,"

The sound of rain echoes behind the voices, (behind the words). It's the pitter patter of the drops hitting the roof of Damon's car. She hears the sounds, but still, there's no picture to match with them.

Her head is pounding, (as fast as her heart) it thumps, and it hurts. She's trying so hard to focus because maybe, just maybe, if she can match that memory, the dam will break.

She opens her eyes. Damon is still there, his hand has dropped from her cheek. It now rests on her own hand. He's offering her a smile (just a small one). Just in case.

"The words," She whispers, watching the faces of the three people in front of her (two of which are confused). That's it, they're thinking, she's lost it.

Wouldn't be the first time.

Elena meets Damon's gaze again. "That's all I have are words,"

Her lips twist into a frustrated pout. She wants more. She wants to know all of it. She doesn't just want the words.

Damon's raising a brow, his expression curious. "Words?"

"Promise me this is forever," She whispers. She's terrified that if she says it any louder, something will go wrong. Something always goes wrong.

His face lights up, and Elena's sure its the biggest smile she's ever seen on his lips.

"All I have are the words," She's beginning to feel angry now. It's been all this time, and that's all she has. "I don't just want the words, I want the picture." She's frustrated, feeling the urge to throw something.

"Hey," Damon whispers. "It's okay." His thumb brushes the skin over her ear.

"It's not," Elena disagrees, shaking her head.

"It's the compulsion," Damon is saying now, but it's not directed at her. "It's trying to wear itself down. Off."

He turns back to her now. "It's progress," He states. "That's all that matters."

Elena shakes her head again. That's not all that matters. Not to her. Not now.

"Does that have something to do with the fever?" It's Bonnie, she's speaking again. But like before, the voice sounds fuzzy.

She barely notices Damon nod before she closes her eyes. Her head still hurts.

When the next person speaks, it's even worse. "It's like she's getting sick. When you're human, you're immune system has to fight off an infection,"

"But she's not human,"

"That's the point. Her body is trying to fight off the compulsion. It's a defense mechanism. Even though she's not sick with bacteria, her body is still fighting something. It's trying to regulate itself and get back to normal,"

"I've never even heard of this," It's clear to Elena that the person speaking now is Bonnie.

"There's a first time for everything. We hadn't heard of werewolves until we went to Duke, but they always existed,"

"So what? We treat her like she has the flu until the compulsion wears off?"

"For now, unless we can find a better idea,"

Even though the voices remain fuzzy, Elena can still tell what they're saying. She can still hear the rain on the roof as a pair of arms lift her from the chair. Without looking, she can guess whose arms they belong to. Damon.

"Upsy Daisy," He's trying to lighten the mood as he wraps his arms around her body.

She doesn't feel anything else until her back hits a bed. Elena hears a pair of shoes hit the hardwood. She knows where she's at. Her dorm.

"I know it's not the boarding house, but for now, it'll have to do," Damon speaks.

She fights to open her eyes. "That's okay," Somehow, her voice has weakened since she last spoke.

He's pushing her blankets back, removing her heels from her feet. He brushes her hair from her face, pulling the covers over her body. "I'm cold," She whispers, feeling chills run down her spine. (It's not the kind of chills that she wants to feel).

Damon peels off her leather jacket, dropping it on the floor. Going on the opposite side of the bed, he pushes the blankets back once more. He climbs in the bed next to her, slinging one arm over her torso. "You're going to be fine,"

Elena nods. "Does pain medication work on vampires?" She didn't think a headache could be this bad.

Damon sits up, adjusting himself in the bed. "Why? What hurts?"

Once again, he plays the role of the concerned boyfriend, touching her temple with his lips. There is passion in his eyes, more concern than passion, but the passion still hides behind it.

"My head," She's whispering again, afraid that her voice will give out. She's certainly had the flu before, but it hasn't felt like this.

He moves to exit the bed, (the room even) but she stops him. "What did the werewolf bite feel like?"

Damon pauses, meeting her eyes. "How do you know about that?'

"Caroline mentioned something about it. When Liz was getting worse. What did it feel like, the later stages?"

Damon laughs bitterly, because he knows she was there, both times, to witness his pain. Given, the second time wasn't nearly as painful as the first, but it still happened. When he answers her question, he doesn't mention the fact she was there, (if all goes well, she should find out soon enough).

"Hell filled," He doesn't sugar coat his answer. She was the one who asked, and even though it's her, when it came to her, he never sugar coated anything.

He looks at her again, touching her pale face with his hand. "How do you feel?'

"It's like I'm going through transition again, but it's about a thousand times worse," Her voice is desperate, for something (anything) to soothe her.

"I'm sorry," Damon lays back down again, facing her.

Elena shakes her head. "It's not your fault,"

Even though, she's had people apologize to her in the past, this one feels different. The words seem familiar, and again, she can't pinpoint why.

She has to shut her eyes again moments later because another wave of pain hits her head. (It's almost as bad as when witches did the whole aneurysm thing.) Squeezing her eyes as tight as they'll go, her reaches for Damon's hand.

He speaks to her. "It's okay," Even though he's telling her, right now, she has a hard time believing him.

She nods through the pain, trying to get her mind to focus on whatever it's trying to tell her. Just like before, it takes a few moments, but again. there's words.

"I've made a lot of choices that have gotten me here. I deserve to die," This time, it's him who is the weak one. It's Damon who sounds like he's in pain.

She can hear her own voice again, although it briefly cracks, she knows her other self is confident in the words. "No. You don't,"

"I do Elena, it's okay," She can hear the soft chuckle that comes with the words, maybe he even smiled. "Cause if I'd had chosen differently I wouldn't have met you,"

The words bring on more, and before long, she finds herself trying to decipher which words go with what.

It's her voice that speaks first. "I'm not sorry that I met you. I'm not sorry that knowing you had made me question everything,"

Before long, her brain flops back to the other set of words, and even though she knows the "sorry that I met you" part has more to it, she's okay with it.

"I'm so sorry, I've done so many things to hurt you,"

"It's okay, I forgive you,"

The next thing Damon says, brings a pang to her heart. She's hearing it, the first time, again for the first time. "I know you love Stefan and it will always be Stefan, but I love you, you should know that,"

She hears herself sniffle, and she knows she was holding back tears. Even still, she answered. "I do,"

The words slowly fade, her headache subsiding, (for now). When she opens her eyes, she finds Damon starring at her. "What now?"

"That speech that you were talking about, the one on my graduation, did it have something to do with meeting you?"

"Something like that," He's nodding. "Did you?"

"Only bits and pieces. There's still no pictures-"

He cuts her words off. "You'll get there, but for now, you should get some rest,"

She feels his arms rest back on her stomach, his forehead briefly touches hers before he reaches over to switch off the lamp beside her bed.

"Damon," She says his name, watching as he shakes his head.

"We can find out more tomorrow," With those words, Elena knows he means it. She takes it her opportunity to close her eyes. This time, it's to sleep.

To be honest, I have no idea where all of that came from, but I do know that I'm in love with the outcome. It was a joy to write and I loved tying all the old scenes into new ones!

This is inspired by Florencia7. I reread her oneshot Chance of Rain and it got me thinking of the 6x07 rain kiss again. So needless to say, this story is dedicated to her. :)

I really tried my hardest on this, (I wrote it all on one sitting) the words just seemed to keep flowing out of me tonight. I just hope everyone is in character (as always) and there are no grammar mistakes.

Incase anyone is wondering this is set post 6x17 (the latest episode).

I feel like on this story especially, (I'm really proud of the whole thing) I would LOVE to read feedback. :)

I love you guys,

XOXO,

Megan.