The phone went straight to answer phone again. This was the fourth time today she had tried calling him, but clearly he didn't want to speak to her, and she couldn't blame him.

Snapping the phone closed, Elena hurled it across the room and it fell in pieces to the floor. She let herself slide down the wall she had been leaning against until she hit the floor with a thump, and tears flowed freely, soaking her face. She was sobbing so hard that her chest physically ached and she couldn't catch her breath. Her whole body heaved as she strained to breathe through her tears but she couldn't stop. No matter what did or said now, nothing could change what she had already done. Nothing was going to bring him back here.

Elena leaned her head against her knees which she had pulled up to her chest and slowly began to catch her breath as she calmed herself out of her hysterical state. She knew she had no right to be upset. After all, it was all her fault.

Elena heard a car door slam shut outside and was suddenly filled with the strongest feeling hope.

Please, please, let it be him, she silently prayed as she made her way her way across the room to the window.

When Elena saw the red sports car parked just across the street from her house, all her feeling of hope vanished, as if the one thing she desired more than anything in the world had just been ripped from her hands. She sighed, wiped her wet eyes and attempted to compose herself before Stefan entered. After all, it wouldn't be easy to explain the state she was in without revealing the true reason behind it.

"Elena?" Stefan called, closing the front door behind him and making his way up the stairs, "Elena, are you home?"

After another deep breath and wipe of her face, she replied, "Yeah, Stefan. I'm up here." As she was saying this, she felt another load of tears threaten to spill out as she realised "here" was the last place she wanted to be. She wanted to be with Damon.

Stefan opened the bedroom door and peered round the door at Elena who was now sitting on the bed. He smiled at her, and she forced a weak smile back in reply. He made his way over to the bed, closing the door behind him. He sat down next to her and took her hand.

"Are you OK?" he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. Although he did it nothing like Damon, the movement still stunned her for a second.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Elena lied unconvincingly, forcing yet another false smile before she turned her head from him slightly and looked down floor.

"Hey," Stefan whispered, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her head back up to face him, "look at me."

That was it. Elena jumped from the bed and started backing away from him, running both hands through her hair as her eyes began to well up.

"Why are acting like this? Why are you trying to be like-" Elena couldn't finish the question.

"What? Why am I trying to be like Damon?" Stefan snapped, rising from the bed but not stepping towards her.

Elena just looked at him silently, the sound of his name hitting her like blow to the chest. For the last four months since Elena had decided to take Stefan back and Damon had left town, neither of them had mentioned his name. Stefan knew it caused Elena too much hurt and he couldn't bear the look of longing in her eyes every time she heard it. Equally, Elena knew it hurt Stefan to know he was always going to be second best to her, so it was easier to just not mention him.

"Elena, I know that if you could snap your fingers right this second and have him here instead of me, you'd do it. I know that every morning when you wake up, the first thing you do is check you messages to see if he's called you. I know that you've called him 10 times every single day for the last four months. I know that you miss the smell of him, because every time you hug me and breathe in, I feel your hold on me slacken in disappointment," Stefan explained harshly, stepping towards her, "and finally, Elena, I know that you cry yourself to sleep every night because you miss him so much your heart hurts."

Elena was crying again, silently, the tears flooding out of her sad, dark eyes as the truth of Stefan's words sank in.

"Then why... Then why are you still with me?" Elena asked in a whisper.

"Elena, I'm not an idiot and neither are you. We've not been "with" each other since the night Damon saved you from me. We've just been... in the same places at the same times."

Elena dropped herself onto the bed, her head hung low.

"Look, Elena," Stefan began softly, sitting down next to her again, "I know Damon. I know how he loved Katherine and I know how it damn near destroyed him when he found out she didn't feel the same,"

Elena looked up at Stefan, tears in her eyes.

"... but I also know that he has never loved anyone or anything more in his entire existence than he loves you, and I know that if you show him you feel the same there's nothing that can keep you apart."

"Why are telling me this, Stefan? I don't understand-" Elena asked, confused.

"I'm telling you because, like Damon, there is no one I love more in the world more than you and I want you to be happy. Damon makes you happy, Elena. I had my chance and I blew it, and I know I can't compete with what the two of you have, so I'm letting go."

Stefan rose from the bed and made his way to the door.

"Stefan," Elena called after him, and he turned as he stood in the door way, "I did love you, you know, but I love him more."

Stefan nodded, smiled and turned, closing the door between them – permanently.

"Damon, I know I screwed up, OK, but I really need to talk to you. I need to hear your voice. Please just call me back, let me know you're OK, I can't cope with not knowing. Please." Elena hung up the phone. She needed to get out of here. Although she was alone in the house, as she was most nights now that Jeremy and Anna had officially got together and Jenna and Alaric had become inseparable, she still felt surrounded and claustrophobic. She headed for the front door, shut it behind her and headed down the path. Suddenly, the silence was broken.

"You know, Elena, you really shouldn't be out here all alone at night. Not when there's big, bad scary vampires on the loose." he said sarcastically.

Elena stopped dead in her tracks as the sound of his voice rung in her ears. She turned slowly to come face to face with Damon. She stood there, absolutely speechless as she stared at him, unable to comprehend the fact he was here.

"Damon?" she asked, as if she needed it to be verified. She began to walk towards him, but he backed away, holding both hands up in front of him.

Elena stopped, looking hurt and confused.

"Look, Elena," he started, his voice suddenly serious, "I had barely just recovered from my first heartbreak, and I really didn't appreciate the repeat experience,"

"Damon, I know and I'm so sorry, OK, I don't know what I was thinking." Elena tried to explain, walking closer towards him. He didn't move this time.

"Why did you do it, Elena?" he asked, his voice so low it was almost inaudible.

"I- I don't know. It was just, you caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting you to just show up at my house and ask me to choose, and I couldn't just leave Stefan for you in the state he was in, God knows what he would have done."

Damon was looking at her with an intense stare, the kind of stare that let her know he could see her. It felt like his eyes bore deep into her soul, and as he continued to stare, Elena felt the flame inside her reignite for the first time since he left. Her whole body began to shake and her heart quickened and her eyes fluttered.

"I know now, Damon. I know who I want to be with." she whispered from under wet lashes. She reached out and put one hand on his shoulder and when he didn't back away she pulled her whole body closer and place her other hand on his other shoulder. They were so close now that there was no space between, yet they weren't touching.

"You told me before, the first night we spent together that you were sure, yet you still chose him." Damon said, no emotion in his voice.

"And I was sure Damon. I knew right then that I was sure about you and me, I just didn't know what to do about it, but I'm promising you now that I will be with you forever. I love you, Damon."

She pulled herself up against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and his hands held her waist.

"I choose you." she whispered in his ear, before lifting her face from his shoulder and looking straight into his eyes. One of Damon's hands crept up from her waist and gently cupped her face, then he tilted his head slightly to the side – as only he can – and his eyes flickered up and down her body that was pressed up against his.

"I missed you, Elena. Everyday." he said against her lips, his breath sending goosebumps along her skin.

Elena couldn't take it any more and she finally leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to Damon's. Her hands gripped the leather of his jacket and his hand slid up and around her waist onto her back as he held her even closer. His other that was on her face crept round behind her neck, holding her mouth to his. When Elena needed to breathe again, they parted, but barely. Elena clung to him as she was afraid someone was going to take him off of her. He brushed his hand slightly across her face, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear. They were breathing into one another, their mouths slightly parted around the others, but not touching.

"Elena, hold on." Damon whispered.

"Wha-" Elena began to ask, but before she knew she felt an intense wind and then a sudden halt and she was back on her doorstep, still in the same position; clinging to Damon.

She smiled up at him and when he smiled back she was sure that her legs couldn't hold her for much longer. She stretched around behind her back she felt for the handle and when she found it, she pushed the door open, backing into the house and taking Damon with her...