Author's Note:

This is originally from the sequel, All About Us, but I've decided to just add this in to the original and call it quits. I just can't get back my inspiration for this story, sorry! Thanks to everyone reading this :D

A.J.

I looked down at him, feeling dizzy and incoherent. His question rang in my ears - A.J. North, will you marry me? He'd brought me here for this reason, and this reason alone. Even after all we'd went through, after every battle we'd fought for each other, I had never imagined the sight before me: Damon, kneeling on the ground, a small box in his hand that held a diamond engagement ring, staring up at me with the sweetest, most hopeful expression I had ever seen. I started to cry again, taken aback by the violent rush of emotions that swept through me. All emotions that human feel are intensified when they turn into vampires, Damon had once told me.

If I had ever doubted that, I never could again.

Damon

I stared up at A.J., feeling my fingers tremble as I held the small black box in the palm of my hand. The diamond glittered under the dull light of the streetlamp a few feet from us, and I felt it start to rain. The rain was ice cold as it started to soak us both.

I blinked away the water that as running from my hair down to my eyelashes, and I watched as A.J.'s face slowly relaxed back into it's human state. The hard cement of the cracked sidewalk bit into my knee as I knelt in front of her, but I would have stayed there forever if she'd asked me to. It felt like hours before she spoke, but it was probably only a few seconds. She choked the word, but I heard it loud and clear.

"Yes," she gasped.

I felt a grin spread across my face and I slid the ring on her finger, holding her gaze the entire time. I was completely unaware of the people surrounding us, some of them curiously watching the scene. I went to stand, but was knocked back down as she flung herself into my arms, and I felt my back hit the sidewalk. She leaned down and kissed me, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her waist.

Mine. She's mine forever now, I thought, getting to my feet and sweeping her up into my arms in one fluid motion. The minute we got back to the hotel, I shot up to our room at vampire speed and pushed the door open after swiping the key card in the door.

"I'm so sorry I didn't trust you," A.J. whispered as I began trailing my lips down her neck.

I silenced her by kissing her hard and deep, and the physical attraction between us that always took control of me get again pulled me into its grasp. I pushed her against the wall and pressed the length of my body along hers, sliding my tongue into her mouth. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and desire shot through me.

A.J., with vampire speed, pulled my jacket and shirt off, pressing herself to me as she ran her hands up and down my chest. I laid her down and slid on top of her, pinning her wrists above her head. I was suddenly overcome with the need to control, to lead.

The rest of our clothing disappeared rapidly, and I began kissing down the length of her body. When I had returned my lips to hers, I could feel her raw desire and wanting for me. I pulled away from her mouth and gasped when I felt her fangs pierce my neck. She was still learning control, but I was hardly complaining. She and I exchanged blood regularly, and we both took great pleasure in it. My mind spun as she continued taking my blood, and I again gasped slightly with pleasure.

The second she pulled away, I was in her. In her deep, in her as fully as I could be.

A.J.

I lost track of time, but I think it was hours later when I was laying next to him, my left hand on his chest as I stared at my engagement ring. It was beautiful and unique, I had never seen anything like it. A diamond in the shape of a crescent moon was set into a platinum band, and I realized I hadn't read what it was engraved with yet.

I pulled it off my finger and glanced at the inside, feeling my eyes fill. It was simple, but it said more than a longer quote ever could.

I would die for you, my love

It was from the song "Make Me Wanna Die," but the quote made my breathing hitch. There was something about the sheer love and simplicity of it that made me wonder how I had ever told the man laying next to me to go to hell. Still smiling at the beauty of it, I slid the ring back on my finger and then remembered something.

"Oh my god, I have to call Sam!" I shrieked, suddenly realizing it. She was going to flip.

"Well call her then," Damon murmured, half asleep.

"I am," I said, reaching over and pulling my cell phone from the nightstand. "Hello?" she answered after I dialed her number.

"Hi Sam, it's A.J.," I said, sitting up.

"Hello, part one of the lovebird pair. How's sexy stalker dude?" she asked.

"He's wonderful. And so am I, actually."

"I would ask why, but I have a hunch that involves no clothes, kissing, and well, you know the rest," she laughed.

"Well that's one reason,."

"What's the other reason?"

"I'm sort of getting, well…"

"You're getting what?" she demanded.

"'He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone, I love you and that's all I really know,'" I quoted one of favorite songs by Taylor Swift, and she squealed on the other end of the line.

"Oh my god, you're getting hitched to the sexy stalker dude!" she shrieked, and oddly enough, I heard my cousin in the background saying "A.J.'s marrying Damon? Yay, I've always wanted to go to a wedding!"

Well, that's my cousin for you.

"Um, Sam, what is Harper doing there?" I asked, my brow furrowing.

"He crashed on the couch last night. You should have seen it this morning, it was hilarious. My mom walks downstairs and he's sprawled out on the couch reading a magazine, and guess what he says? Really, guess," she laughs.

"No idea. Tell me," I laughed along with her.

"He says 'Morning.' Not 'I can explain why I'm here' or 'Your daughter said I could crash on the couch.' No, it was 'Morning,'" she said, exasperation filling her voice.

"I would ask what he was doing there, but I have a feeling it's personal," I said, my eyebrows lifting.

"No! Hell no! We did not sleep together," she said immediately.

"Okay then. Anyways, will you be my maid of honor?" I asked.

"Honor? Me? Are you insane?" she asked, and I laughed softly, imaging a very confused Harper listening to one end of the conversation.

"How about you be my maid of…um…lacking honor?" I offered with a shrug.

"Sounds good. Harper, you're supposed to let the water boil before you drop the pasta!" she said to my cousin.

"Well it sounds like you have your hands full over there, so I'll let you go."

"Alright. See you when you get home. Oh, congrats, by the way," she added offhandedly.

"Thanks," I smiled, hanging up.

I lay there next to Damon, who was sound asleep. I thought about my upcoming wedding, about my dress, about the plans. I would love nothing more than to have it in the snow, but winter was already almost over. I quickly decided I would just take a year to plan it and then I could have my dream wedding in the snow. I had always imagined an outdoor wedding in the snow, with ice coating the surfaces and the ethereal look of everything being blanketed in white.

I fell asleep thinking about it, with my hand resting on Damon's chest and my engagement ring sparkling under the moonlight that came through the window, which the curtains were drawn away from. I could have never asked for a more perfect life, a more perfect fiancé, a more perfect place to be in the world.

My last waking thought was So this is what love is. Laying together in Venice, Italy, engaged and more in love than ever. Love is for eternity.

"And when you need a place to run to, for better or for worse, I got you. 'Cause this is love and life, and nothing we can both control." ~Leona Lewis