Bonnie and Caroline were swiftly sent home the next morning – much to Caroline's dismay. Despite her displeasure with the situation, the departure was not an emotional one. Elena hugged both girls, then they simply said goodbye to Damon. He told them that when things calmed down, he would send for them again. They said okay, climbed into their respective cabs, and left.

After that, Elena called her Aunt Jenna for the first time since she had been taken away. That was an emotional one. Jenna cried the entire time they spoke. She had worried about Elena every minute of every day, and she assured Elena the tears she shed were ones of relief. Elena finally spoke to Jeremy as well. He said he missed her, and she agreed. After an hour-long conversation, they said goodbye.

Being alone with Damon in the house was…different, to say the least. It was quiet and it made Elena feel a bit awkward.

She had asked Damon how he planned on feeding with only one human in the house. He said he had prepared and stopped by a blood bank to stock up.

Other than that conversation, words were few and far between. The entire atmosphere of the house became tense as they waited for something to happen.

The night in the closet was the last time they were intimate with one another. Stress and anxiety prevented them from being able to really focus on one another and "get in the mood". For Elena, however, that night was good enough. She knew that Damon loved her and she loved him, and if that was the last real opportunity they would have to express that love – heaven forbid – then she was fairly certain she'd be able to live with that.

Damon spent much of his time in his office – the room down the hallway from Elena's bedroom – doing who-knows-what and Elena spent her time reading, or cleaning, or staring at ceilings. Damon had made her promise that she wouldn't go outside; it was far too dangerous given the current circumstances. She didn't even try to disagree.

Stefan stopped by often, but Elena never found out why. He and Damon would promptly move their hushed conversations upstairs to the office. It was slightly unsettling for Elena to watch them whisper between themselves, then move to a space more private. She knew they were purposefully hiding something from her, but she assumed that if they were making the effort to keep it from her, it was probably best that she didn't know. So, whenever Stefan arrived, she would say a quick hello then normally excuse herself for the rest of the evening.

Weeks passed in much the same way and Elena began to almost wish something would happen. The waiting was driving her nearly insane.

The day that marked exactly 2 months of Elena living in the Salvatore home, she got her almost-wish.

It started out like any other day: Elena woke, went downstairs for breakfast, went back upstairs to change out of her pajamas, then went to find Damon. Usually, he was in his office. However, when Elena opened the door and called out his name, there was no response. After walking all of the hallways, calling out his name and still hearing nothing, she figured he must've gone out to run an errand. She went back to her room to get the book she was currently reading, then went and sat on the couch in the downstairs living room.

She read for several hours, but when her stomach started to growl, she knew it was time for lunch.

As she stood in the kitchen making a sandwich, small seeds of worry began to plant themselves in her mind as she thought about Damon. It was very unlike him to leave her alone for so long, especially with Katherine's threat looming over them. She considered calling his cell phone, but she didn't want to seem like a scared child so she pushed the idea away.

As she lifted the sandwich to her mouth she heard a loud thud come from directly overhead. Her heart stuttered and she jumped slightly in surprise.

Not now, was the first frantic thought that came to her mind. With Damon gone, she knew there would be no way for her to defend herself against someone like Katherine.

She stood frozen with the sandwich lifted in the air, her muscles tensed for something. As a second thud reached her ears, she dropped the sandwich and ran towards the back door. Her thin fingers wrapped around the cold metal of the door handle and as she started to turn it, she heard Damon's muffled yell.

Once again, she was frozen in place. Her heart pounded against her chest as she warred with the decision to either leave or find him. Another loud groan from Damon took away her option of leaving. Her fingers slipped from the handle as she turned and ran towards the noises. She ascended the staircase and stood at the opening of the second floor hallway, straining her ears for another sound. She began to quietly walk across the carpet, listening closely to all small creaks as she made her way past doors. Halfway down the hallway, she finally heard shuffling coming from a door on her right.

Her fingers trembled as she reached out to open the door. Slowly, she turned the knob and let the door open.

From where she stood in the hallway, she could see very little of the room. A desk was setup against the wall across from her with a random assortment of papers and a lamp. Everything else was hidden by a short wall that extended from the door a few feet on the left, then stopped – the outside wall of a closet, possibly?

As she began to move inside and round the corner, the footboard of a bed revealed itself.

Suddenly, the legs holding up the end of the bed lifted and slammed down on the ground.

A small shriek escaped Elena as she jumped back.

"Elena?" Damon groaned.

With the sound of his voice, Elena rushed into the room and completely rounded the corner.

Her hand flew up to cover her mouth and her eyes grew wide as she took in the scene before her. Damon's wrists and ankles were attached to the four corners of the bed by metal chains.

Elena ran over to him and pulled at the chain on his right wrist. She quickly ascertained that she was not strong enough to release him from his restraints. She kneeled on the bed, and pushed his hair, soaked with sweat, away from his face.

"What's going on?" she asked quickly.

"Vervain," he breathed through clenched teeth, his eyes closing tightly as another groan escaped his chest.

Her brow pulled together in confusion. "What?"

He tried pulling against the chains again, moving the whole bed, then his body fell slack. He finally opened his glassy eyes to look at her as he panted for air. "Katherine," he started slowly, each word spoken coated with the fact he was in severe pain, "injected me with vervain. I'm just not strong enough to break the chains."

Elena's lips parted and she swallowed loudly. "Katherine was here?" she whispered, panic swelling in her chest.

"Is here," a voice behind her corrected.

Elena whipped around to find Katherine leaning against the wall near the door. A small smirk played at her lips and her eyes were narrowed.

A chill ran through Elena as the realization that Katherine was there and Damon was incapable of protecting her formed.

Elena's fingers gripped tightly at the black shirt that hung loosely on Damon's torso. Her entire body was shaking and her breaths were short and uneven.

Katherine tilted her head slightly to the side. "Awww," she cooed, "what's wrong, Elena?" She shoved off the wall and sauntered towards them. "Are you scared?" she asked with mock concern.

"Damon, I don't know what to do," Elena said softly and very quickly. She glanced down at him and could have sworn he mouthed the word "desk," but she didn't dare stare long enough to guarantee it.

She watched Katherine move to the end of the bed, then lean with her palms on the top of the footboard. "Oh, Damon," she smirked. "Doesn't this just take you back?"

Elena's jaw muscles tensed as she gritted her teeth, a mental image of what Katherine was talking about flashing through her mind.

Katherine reached out and lightly ran a finger in circles near Damon's ankle. "So," she looked over at Elena, continuing the motion with her hand, "I'm glad you're here and I won't have to make this announcement twice." She looked back at Damon who was lying with his eyes closed, pain obvious on his face. "I'm not choosing you, dear."

A small pang of relief washed through Elena. Maybe Katherine would leave them alone. However, with a short glance at Damon and the look on Katherine's face, Elena knew that was farfetched and the panic returned.

Katherine looked back at Elena and sighed. "Such a waste, don't you agree?" She motioned with her other hand to Damon's body and stared at it longingly. "He's magnificent." She sighed again, "But, alas, there can be but one."

Elena's felt her face warming as tears slowly appeared along her waterline. "Please," she whispered through her clenched teeth.

Katherine's eyes snapped back to Elena's face. "Elena, I'm doing you a huge favor," she smiled softly. "A vampire? Surely that's not what you wanted to fall in love with." She pushed off the footboard and walked around to where Elena was cowering by Damon's side. She stopped in front of her and reached out a hand, gently pushing strands of Elena's long hair behind her ear. "You'll be better off."

A tear rolled down Elena's cheek and she pulled away from Katherine's hand. "Please let him go," she begged again.

Katherine dropped her hand. "Elena, I'm going to need you to go to your room now. Okay?"

Elena glared up at her. "No."

The fake softness faded from Katherine's eyes. "Excuse me?"

"No," Elena repeated a bit more loudly. Her knuckles were white from her grip on Damon's shirt.

Abruptly, Katherine grabbed Elena's shoulders and threw her from the bed.

Elena cried out as her back hit the wall across the room and she crashed down on the desk. Pain lit up her body and she was sure a few of her ribs had been broken. The desk had shattered under her weight and she felt the splinters stabbing her hand as she tried to lift up.

Her eyes turned back to Katherine and she saw Katherine's hands on either side of Damon's face.

"I did love you," Katherine said softly to Damon.

Before Elena could fully comprehend what was happening, Katherine's hands twisted rapidly and the nauseating sound of bones crushing coursed through the room.

Elena screamed out for Damon as Katherine pulled a lighter from her pocket and flames engulfed the bed.

Elena tried again to get up, slipping on the broken wooden planks. As she fell again, she saw the glint of a large needle beneath her leg. Damon's single last word, desk, filled her mind and she quickly hid the needle in one of her hands, tears pouring down her face.

She stared at the ground and saw Katherine's feet moving towards her in her peripheral vision.

Katherine knelt down beside her and put an arm around Elena's shoulder, her other hand flipping the top of the lighter up and down. "I'm sorry you had to see, that, Elena. I did ask for you to go to your room."

Swiftly, Elena swung her arm up and jabbed the needle into Katherine's heart, the liquid flowing out into her body.

With a short scream, Katherine slumped to the ground and Elena watched as she turned inhumanly pale and veins became clearly visible through her skin.

Elena grabbed the lighter from the floor, lit it, then threw it on Katherine. Instantly, her body was covered by the blaze.

Elena looked back to where Damon was and tried crawling towards the bed, but the heat held her back.

"Damon!" she screamed, over and over again, sobs breaking apart syllables. She gripped at her ribs and fell to the floor, pounding her fist on the carpet. Her cheek pressed against the carpet as it quickly became soaked with her tears. She could feel the fire getting nearer and the smoke closing in on her body, but she felt the world crumbling around her and she didn't care.

"I love you," she sobbed, her fingers clenching the fabric of the carpet. She closed her eyes and breathed in the black smoke, sighing as she felt it burning her chest. A peace filled her body as she waited for death to find her.

Elena slowly opened her eyes and winced against the bright light. She turned her head to the side and her brow pulled together in confusion as she made out an old picture of her parents.

She looked down and saw half of her body was covered with medical tapings.

"It's for the broken ribs," a male voice said from across the room.

Her breath caught and she turned her head to see Stefan sitting in a rocking chair. Suddenly, she realized she was in her old room.

"Why am I here?" she asked slowly, worried she already knew the answer.

"You've been brought back to Jenna and Jeremy," he responded, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "To stay."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the pillow, tears forming beneath her eyelids. "And Damon?" she whispered.

She felt the mattress shift beside her from new weight and his hand take hold of hers. "I'm sorry, Elena," he said quietly.

She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, the tears finding their way over her lower eyelashes. "Katherine, too?"

He nodded.

"It all…just happened so fast," she whispered, a sob breaking free from her chest. She closed her eyes. "I didn't know…I should've done something."

Stefan reached up with his other hand and gently stroked her face, shushing her softly. "Elena, there was nothing you could've done. You can't blame yourself. No one knew when Katherine was going to decide, and as much as Damon and I tried to keep watch and stay alert, she slipped through somehow."

"And now he's dead," she sobbed against his hand, her chest burning with each gasping breath.

Stefan sat quietly, gently stroking up and down Elena's arm as he let her cry. After nearly an hour, the pillow was drenched in tears and she stared blankly around the room.

"What now?" she whispered.

He squeezed her hand lightly. "Well, it's pretty simple – you're back with your family."

"Where will you go?"

"I've been granted permanent permission to visit this territory, so I may stay here for a while."

She simply nodded in response.

Suddenly, Stefan tilted to the side and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to her. "He wanted you to have this in case something happened," he told her quietly.

With a shaky hand, Elena took the paper, unfolded it, and began to read:

My dearest Elena,

Should the future turn out how I'm expecting it to, which will neither benefit you nor I, I have things I don't want left unsaid. Over the course of nearly two months, you have become my world. Even when I stayed away to give you space, I watched you from afar. You are beyond remarkable and my life was worth living if only to have met you. If you're reading this, Stefan has no doubt taken you back to your aunt. Despite my obvious displeasure with this note having to be read, I'm grateful that you have a place to go to that will be filled with love and rejoice for your return.

Although times are hard now, keep looking up, Elena. Continue to keep the fire that burns within you – don't let anything or anyone put it out. I want you to continue living your life. The world awaits you.

I wish we could have been acquainted under better circumstances, but as it is, I'm blessed to have known you for a little while.

I love you, Elena, even in death.

Yours forever, Damon.

She held the letter close to her chest and breathed deeply, a single tear rolling silently down her cheek.

Stefan reached out a hand and wiped it away. "Don't cry, Elena," he started softly. "You're free now."

She shook her head slowly and closed her eyes. "I'll never be free again, Stefan," she sighed. "He has my heart and he always will. I will forever be captive."

Authors Note: It took me a while to write this chapter, even with how short it was. I knew this is how I wanted to story to end, but it was difficult actually finding it in myself to end it this way.

Leave reviews letting me know how much you loved it/hated it/etc.

This was a fun story to write and I'm happy with how it turned out.

Keep an eye out, I have plans for a new story and that should be up very, very soon.

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Thanks for reading you guys!

Update: Also, I want to add this for those of you who feel I just gave up on the story or felt like I ended it abruptly because I wasn't as into it. I knew how this story was going to end from the very beginning. In my mind, I felt the story had to end that way. I agree that the ending chapters were a little short, and I started leaving out a lot of fluff that would fill up space, but I think the reason I began doing that is because I knew how it was going to end. I started finding it extremely difficult to write about Damon and Elena getting closer and falling more in love when I knew they wouldn't be together in the end. Writing those chapters leading up to his death really kind of depressed me and it was just really hard to do.

Keep in mind, this is only my second fanfic. I'm still learning what my strengths and weaknesses are in writing and what type of stories I work well with.

I wouldn't change anything about the story plot-wise if I were to rewrite it. I may have just added more fluff leading up to the end. (And possibly paid a bit more attention to little details. A reader brought up an extremely good question: How could Damon drink from the girls (or any vampire, really) when they have vervain in their system? That question literally never came to my mind, and it kind of seems like something that should've. So, I guess we'll go with this answer: There was not enough vervain in their system to hurt him, just render his powers useless...? That'll work, I guess. Lol. Sorry I completely missed that. I'm bound to make mistakes somewhere.)