Title: Forever

Summary: Reworking of 6x18; or how I would've done it…

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work.

A/N: I just didn't feel at peace with how TVD handled it's finale... So, I tweaked it a bit...

The heaviness seems to be lightening; I don't feel the need to keep my eyes closed and lose time to memories and dreams. I'm almost scared to pry my eyes open and face whatever is waiting for me—face the deaths, the time; all the things I've missed. I may be scared but that's never stopped me before. I stared death right in the eye and survived. I can survive this.

We survive. We always survive.

Slowly, my eyes open to harsh incandescent light. I blink a few times and stretch a bit before trying to move. It aches at first, but I push through it until I'm standing. I don't know what I expected to when I woke up; back when my eyes closed for that final time, with Damon's kiss still pressing against my lips. I do know I didn't expect to be alone.

I'm in the boarding house—that much I'm sure. It still looks the exact same as when I left it—maybe a few new collectibles and paintings around—still just like home. I start making my way through the rooms, trying to make sense of why I'm awake. Fighting back that feeling that Bonnie may be…I can't think about that now.

"Hello?" I call out, desperate for someone, anyone to answer.

Silence answers me instead. I begin to make my way back to the room where I woke up when I hear the front door open up and two familiar voices in a heated discussion. I hear my doppelgangers name and I rush in my urgency to reach them.

I step into the room right as I hear Stefan say something about Bonnie's heart stopping and then he seems to notice me and his eyes go wide.

But I'm focused on the man he's speaking to, the man who promised me that what we have is forever. Who's final words to me where that he loves me. "Damon?"

His whole body twists around to face me. "Elena?"

Damon seems shocked at the sight of me as if he isn't sure if I'm real or not. The moment I step forward though he springs into action, crossing the room towards me. He halts at the sight of my hand shoving out. "Is Bonnie….?" I say shakily, fighting back tears. I need to know. I need to acknowledge my best friend before I even allow myself to bask in this moment.

"Bonnie's fine, Elena. She's alive." Stefan answers from behind Damon. He hasn't moved from his spot in the foyer.

"How am I…?" I say, shaking my head.

"I don't care," Damon says, slowly stepping towards me and reaching for my hand. My eyes focus on the very spot his skin touches mine. He's brought me back to this moment—to the fact that I'm awake and he's here.

He's taking it slow, his fingers dancing along my palm and then my wrist. I can't take it. I haven't felt actually human connection in such a long time and I crave it so desperately I can barely breathe. I grasp his wrist and pull him closer, wrapping my arms around his neck and he squeezes me hard enough to prove this is real. I'm really back.

I'm hesitant to close my eyes but I do, squeezing them shut and inhaling the scent of Damon as he lifts me up and spins me around the room. As my feet touch the ground, I open my eyes and stare into those bright blue eyes of his and I smile. His face is full of excitement and hope and I bring my forehead to his and sigh.

"How long has it been?"

He frowns. "Five years."

It's not the sixty I was expecting but it's still enough to jolt me. "And is everyone…?"

Damon backs away slightly but keeps his hands in mine. He looks back at Stefan quickly before meeting my eyes again. "We're all okay….for now."

"What's going on?"

Stefan steps forward. "It's Katherine."

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"I need you to go with Ric, okay? Stef and I can handle, Katherine."

Damon's holding my face, his eyes fierce and worried. Mystic Falls is about to be consumed by hellfire and Matt is busy getting everyone out, Bonnie and Caroline are packing the car with Ric and Damon and Stefan are on a suicide mission to try and take down Katherine. Shaking my head, I cling to the hand he's trying to slide free from my face. "Damon, you're crazy if you think I'm letting you go on some suicide mission while I run out and hide."

"You're staying alive, Elena. We just got you back. I just got you back."

"And now you want to leave!"

He sighs, looking over towards Caroline and Stefan who are now huddled in their own goodbye. "Blondie is fine with Stefan leaving and they only got married a few hours ago."

"Caroline is a mom! She has kids to focus on."

I still can't believe Caroline has kids—even if they're Jo's kids. The decision to put them over being here with Stefan wasn't an easy one but after knowing what it's like to be without a mom, she couldn't do that to her twins. She had promised Ric. She has something else keeping her from taking on Katherine. I, on the other hand…

"Elena, I'll be right behind you. Stefan and I just have a little business to take care of."

His hand reaches for the bone knife that's resting in his chest pocket and shows it to me. Stefan has to be there to lure Katherine, as human and vulnerable as he may be, and Damon will be the one to send her back to hell and hopefully put a stop to Vicki's need to keep ringing that damn bell.

It's a solid plan but when has the perfect plan ever gone right for us?

"But something could go wrong. We need a back-up plan."

Damon sighs before leaning forward and kissing my forehead. "So you and the rest of Charlie's Angel's go figure that out… far away from Mystic Falls."

I consent only because we only have so much time and the longer Damon and I argue the more time we waste. He kisses me and I cling to him, not wanting to let him go. But I have to. This is our home. And so I walk away and let Caroline guide me towards the car, feeling like something horrible is going to happen.

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"The bitch has nine lives!" Damon yells over the phone. "She just keeps coming back!"

The knife works but only temporarily—and not enough to break whatever compulsion Vicki feels to keep hitting the bell. Matt tried to reason with her but Vicki is so scared of going back to Hell and the fury Katherine will unleash on her, she refuses to stop. Now Damon and Stefan are in the tunnels with momentarily dead Katherine who keeps hopping back and forth between Mystic Falls and Hell.

"Matt isn't having much luck either," I say. "We need a better plan."

Bonnie who has been quiet during this whole conversation and sitting quietly by a window in the Armory, finally stands a walks towards us. "I may have one."

"Purge away, Bon Bon," Damon says.

She quickly looks over where Alaric is entertaining the twins before grabbing the phone from my hand and speaking into it. "We let the hellfire come. Only when it does I bring it through the tunnels and back to Hell."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Caroline asks.

Bonnie nods. "I can do this."

"And I'll keep Katherine in the tunnels," Stefan says.

"No you won't. I will."

Caroline and I share wide anxious glances, knowing that one of them won't be coming back. Before either of us can cut them off and plead with them to just tie her up or something, Katherine's voice comes over the line.

"Look at that…the Salvatore brothers fighting over me. Isn't it nice how history keeps repeating itself?"

I can almost imagine perfectly the smug smirk on her face as she looks up at them. It's enough to make my blood boil. This is all because of her. All of this is because of her.

"Bring on the hellfire. We'll handle this." Damon says quickly before hanging up the phone.

Bonnie hands me back my phone but I can barely move. Either Damon or Stefan will sacrifice themselves to make sure Katherine dies—for good this time. Neither will be able to walk away knowing she could slip away at the last minute. Caroline must be feeling the same thing because her eyes are glassy and she's already reaching for her phone trying to get a hold of Stefan.

"Elena," Bonnie says, "you all have to get out of here. I have to do it soon?"

"Bonnie, you're not doing this alone."

She gives me a smile as a tear slips down her cheek. "I won't be."

I know she's thinking of Enzo in the way her eyes stare past me like she knows he's already here with her. My heart breaks for my best friend's life for the way she always has to give up parts of her happiness for the greater good. First Grams, then her mom, now Enzo. When I went into that sleeping curse, I hoped to read diary entries of Bonnie finally getting a happy ending, falling in love, finding happiness. When she fell for Enzo, she had the beginnings of that only to lose it when forever was so close.

"I love you, Bonnie," I whisper before I hug her. "Thank you for being my best friend."

She squeezes me tight. "This isn't goodbye, Elena."

"I know. I just never thought I would get the chance to say that again."

We pull apart and smile through our tears just as Caroline walks over with a face covered in tears of her own. "Stefan's not answering."

Bonnie squeezes my hand. "Call him."

I nod, stepping away as Bonnie fills Caroline in. I dial Damon's number only to reach his voicemail over and over again. Finally, I leave one and plead with him to come back to me and not let him or Stefan die for Katherine Pierce. I hang up the phone and pull up a new message to Damon and type the words my tears won't let me get out in words.

Elena to Damon: I love you, Damon. Don't let this be how our story ends…

Alaric steps forward, each of his girls holding a hand. "It's time to go."

Caroline and I both hug Bonnie and tell her how much we love her and that she can do this. Once again I have to walk away when it's the last thing I want to do.

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Alaric keeps driving with no real destination in mind besides getting as far from Mystic Falls and the Armory as he can get. Caroline is sitting in the back in between her girls who are fast asleep in their car seats. Neither of us have heard a word from Stefan or Damon and all we can do is wait.

My phone suddenly vibrates in my hand and I see a new message from Damon. Just a few simple words but they're enough to break my heart.

Damon to Elena: But it's where you're story begins… I love you xo

"Stop the car, Ric," I cry out, causing him to veer off the highway. I jump out of the car and start walking towards where we just came from frantically dialing Damon's number. The line's dead, the number no longer in service and yet I keep dialing, hoping to hear his voice telling me this is all just some cruel joke. That I don't have to once again face a life without him.

I feel hands on me and turn around to see Ric. "You won't make it back in time."

"I have to try!"

"Elena…"

The tears are falling hard now, my sobs racking their way through my chest as I gasp for air and some kind of hope to cling to that Damon will somehow be alright. The universe can't be this cruel, right? It can't constantly tear us apart and bring us together only for it all to end like this; with me miles away and Damon sacrificing himself.

"We we're supposed to get a happy ending, Ric!"

He hugs me tightly. "If anyone knows how untrue that is, it's me. I've had three great loves, Elena, and I lost every one of them. I lost them but I found something even better: my girls. You once told me to let myself drown in my grief and then resurface and keep fighting. Keep fighting for the future Damon wanted you to have, Elena."

The tears don't stop but Ric holds me on that empty road until I somehow find the strength to let him lead me back to the car. Caroline is waiting by the trunk with open arms and ready to console me. She's crying, too—crying for the friendship the two of them shakily built while I was gone.

Eventually we get back in the car and I rest my head against the window.

"Mommy," Josie says. "Uncle Stefan called."

"He did?"

"Yeah," Lizzie answers. "He said he got your message and that he'll love you forever, too."

My head pops up and turns towards Caroline as she stutters out words. "H-He w-what?"

She reaches for her phone that Lizzie is holding and tries calling him only to be met with the exact same message that I heard only moments ago. "No, they can't both me gone," Ric bursts out from beside me. "There's no way."

Alaric's phone starts ringing and he answers it. Caroline and I both seem to be experiencing everything in slow motion as Ric mumbles his way through the conversation. When he hangs up, he looks at us both and says, "Matt says it's all over. We can go home."

But who will be there when we do?

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I shove open the door to the boarding house and start shouting. "Damon? Stefan!"

Bonnie and Matt are waiting in the living room. My best friend looks exhausted and spent but Matt seems to have been taking care of her by the blanket he's draping around her shoulders and the glass of water in her hand. When they see Caroline and I walking in, their eyes go sad and remorseful before shifting towards the entryway ahead of them.

Caroline and I slowly step forward and face that direction and I see him stepping forward, dancing a ring around his fingers. Caroline immediately falls to the floor in her tears, crying out and I see Ric and the girls racing towards her.

I've gone completely numb in my grief. "What happened?"

He steps closer, his voice cracked as he speaks. "Stefan sacrificed everything for me, for us… for this town."

"Damon… I thought you were—I thought…."

"I compelled him to leave. He's human, after all, but he must have been on vervain because just as I was bracing myself for it—giving Kat her last rites—he shot me up with the cure and pushed me out of the way. I woke up and there was nothing… just an echo."

There isn't time to focus on the fact that Damon is human, not when Stefan is gone. I cross the room to him and take him in my arms and he lets himself be weak. Rather than celebrating another win for Team Badass, its remaining members merely mourn the loss of one of its members. If this life has taught me anything, it's that I know I'll see him again.

It's just a matter of when.

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Bonnie, Ric, Matt and I stand outside the Salvatore crypt as we let Caroline and Damon say their last goodbye to Stefan. Rose petals blow in the wind from the alter we've placed mementos that remind us of him. Damon left his ring, I left my necklace, and Caroline left the first gift he ever gave her: the snow globe keychain.

The sunlight is hitting my face and I bask in its warmth, hoping that wherever Stefan is that he's safe. We've destroyed the Other Side and Hell and even though Damon has his doubts, I have to believe there's another plane for us. One where we're happily reunited with ones we love—those who've watched over us as we live on without them.

Caroline and Damon step outside and I walk over and hug Caroline fiercely before letting Bonnie take over for me as I go to be with Damon. He squeezes me tight, relying on me to be strong enough for us both. He's been doing that a lot lately between not being as ready for human life as he thought and the loss of his brother.

Stefan's death hit me hard. It's because of him that I let myself be happy again. His absence as we walk away and cling to each other is something I can't quite shake. He gave up his life for us to live, for Damon to find happiness. It's something I know I'll never be able to take for granted. We need to make the most of our human life as we can.

Live it for him.

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Moving on took a long time. It had to.

But eventually we picked up the pieces of our life and started living it. I went back to school to become a doctor and Damon even took some business classes to help him build a life of his own. When I finished school, he gave the boarding house to Ric to build a school to help with the supernatural. Caroline, Bonnie, and Jeremy became teachers. When Bonnie needed to she would pick up and travel the world just like her and Enzo has planned and sometimes Matt tagged along with her.

Damon and I often ran into her, too when we we're doing some traveling of our own. He had promised me a life of adventure and he delivered, showing me places that only someone with a century of exploring could know. We balanced building a life and spreading our wings as best we could with human time and responsibilities pulling at us.

Matt kept being Sheriff and keeping Mystic Falls safe and even has plans to become Mayor when things get a little stale. After all, danger hasn't been following us as often as it used to. I keep telling Damon it's because we have Stefan watching over us but he's worried that everything will be as Vicki believed and when someone dies now it's just nothingness.

I suppose one day we'll find out. But not any time soon.

When we both felt it was time to settle down, we left New York and moved back to Mystic Falls. Only this time when we drove past the familiar welcoming sign, Damon had more than one surprise in store for me. I thought we would move in to the boarding house with Ric and Caroline, but instead as he brought me passed the street I grew up on I saw my family's house. An exact replica of the one I burned down.

"You built me my house?" I asked, after I had hopped from the car while he was still parking and ran up the steps. I needed to feel the white siding in my hands and know it was real and not some mind trick.

He stepped up slowly, nervous. "Yes. With one change… I fixed up the master bathroom."

I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe you did this."

Spinning away from him I admired the porch swing, swinging slightly in the breeze. When I turned back around Damon was down on one knee with a box in his hand. "You've given me the greatest adventure and I know I said I would wait until we had both decided it was time but I can't wait another moment. So, right here in the exact spot where we kissed for the first time I have a question to ask you. Elena Gilbert, will you marry me?"

I dropped to my knees in front of him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Yes! Yes! Oh, my God! Yes!"

He pulled back, smiling. "I was hoping you would say that."

Damon reached for my hand, sliding the ring on to my finger. The truth is we hadn't tied the knot yet because we both knew that when Damon stood at that alter all he would be thinking about is that how much he wished his brother was there. So, we kept putting it off and living out other dreams in the meantime.

"I wasn't expecting this."

He kissed me. "I know."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

With a nod, he said, "I've always been ready, Elena. I've always wanted a future with you. I still don't know what I believe about the afterlife but I know no matter what my brother will be with me on that day just like he is every day."

"He's always with you, Damon. He'd be so proud of you."

His eyes dropped down and I leaned forward and kissed him again, knowing I would remember that moment for the rest of my life.

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We had a small ceremony with just our circle of friends in our backyard. Ric officiated and rather than have a best man and maid of honor we stood up there knowing everyone here was there to support and be there for us. Even those we couldn't see.

Our lives together were full of all the memories you would hope for yourself. It wasn't easy but it was real—just like it was from the very beginning. Damon eventually took over the Mystic Grille as it's sole owner and I grabbed a job at the hospital. We laughed and cried and traveled and had kids and eventually grandchildren.

Ric was the first to go. Followed by Matt and later on Bonnie. I knew I didn't want to watch my brother pass on again and both of us were getting up there in age. Damon and I both knew our time was coming and we made Caroline promise to keep a watchful eye on our families, much like Emily Bennett had made Damon promise to watch over her descendants. It broke my heart knowing Caroline would have to continue one alone without us eventually watching even her own children and grandchildren pass on.

But she had made some other supernatural friends over the years and I had a feeling she would make the best out it.

When it was our time, we passed peacefully in our sleep. It was like nothing changed as we passed over, except when we woke and my eyes landed on Damon, he wasn't the grey haired, wrinkled man I had last seen. He was the Damon I had first landed eyes on, jet black hair and smooth chiseled face. And when Damon saw me, his hands reached for the long straight hair I used to have that I now had again, instead of the short cropped white hair he had grown used to.

"Where are we?" he asked, gripping my hand as we started walking forward.

I had a feeling, but I couldn't be sure. I looked around and my eyes landed on that familiar boarding house. Only this time out in front I saw Aunt Jenna and my mom and my Dad; and leaning against the door frame, arms over his chest and hero hair intact was Stefan.

"Mom!" I yelled, releasing Damon's hand and running up the steps.

"Stefan!" Damon yelled behind me, racing towards his brother.

I hugged my parents and Aunt Jenna and even Uncle John when he stepped out onto the porch. They all enveloped me in a huge hug and as I looked over at Damon I saw that he hadn't let his brother go. We both stayed like that basking in being reunited with our families for a long time. I felt like all those little pieces I had lost with each passing, had finally been filled with seeing them again.

When we let each other go and made introductions, Damon seemed nervous. He never had to deal with the meeting the parents step even with our long lives together. He shook my father's hand and kissed my brother's cheek and I just about lost it when my father spoke.

"Thank you for making our little girl happy," he said.

Damon smiled and reached for me. "She's the one who made me the happiest man alive."

I squeezed his hand, knowing we both had said everything in our lifetime together.

Stefan gripped his brother shoulder. "Are you ready to see the best part?"

"There's more?" I squealed.

Everyone laughed. Aunt Jenna hit her hip against mine. "You have no idea. Just wait."

Uncle John held open the front door and we stepped inside. I stepped inside seeing the smiling faces of everyone Damon and I had ever loved and lost smiling back at us. We went about the room hugging and crying happily with each and every one of them.

I suddenly remembered something my brother had told me after the ghosts had come and gone from Mystic Falls.

"I don't think all spirits go to the other side, some find peace."

That's what this was. Peace.

Damon walked over and kissed my cheek. "Well, I did promise you this was forever."

I smiled, looking around the room and finally back to his face. We had both lived lives of loss and pain and yet here we were surrounded by so much love and happiness. When I had said that to Damon, I was picturing the long eternal vampire life we would have together. When we became human, I knew that love came with deep loss when we would lose each other to death, but I never expected everything that we would gain. The deepness our love could reach in knowing our time together was limited and that neither of us could be sure about what waited for us when it ended. How much we lived in that long, yet short human lifetime.

Now we get to have a new beginning where there was an ending. A new forever better than the one I made him promise for.

I had it all. Love. Passion. Adventure…and a little danger.

But I never expected this.