"What are we doing here Damon?" Elena asked as they got out of the car. Stefan was finally out of the tomb, Elijah had guaranteed that her family was safe, and Katherine was out of the picture- everything she had wanted, yet now all she wanted was a night with Stefan. Was that too much to ask for?

"You said you wanted fun, that's what I'm giving you," Damon replied, "I thought you'd appreciate it more than this!"

"When I said I wanted to have fun, I mean more along the lines of taking a break from having a bunch of evil vampires trying to kill me, not going to the grill. That was fun 3 years ago when I was a freshman, but it's gotten old. Can't we just go home?" she begged, hoping he'd let her make at least one decision after her little Kamikaze mission the other day, but he wasn't buying it for a minute.

"No. We are going to walk into the grill, we are going to get a drink, and we are going to have fun. No 'buts' allowed. Got it?"Damon stated. If it were Stefan, she wouldn't be complaining about this. Good thing he'd left out the fact that Stefan was going to meet them there at 8. Okay, so Damon had told Stefan an hour late to get some time with Elena, it's not like Stefan wouldn't have done the same if their situations had been swapped.

Elena sighed. "Fine. It's not like you could let me make a decision for once in my life," she muttered under her breath. Of course he heard it and smirked; he heard everything that stupid vampire. She knew he was about to make some sarcastic comment, but he couldn't because all of the sudden there was a quiet whimper. If they hadn't been so quiet, she would have missed it (but Damon still would have heard it, of course), but she didn't. She took a quick glance around her searching for the source of the sound, when she heard it again—but louder.

Finally, she found it. The young girl was quietly sobbing in the shadows on the side of the grille. Elena ran over to her with Damon in tow, and knelt down to be at eye level with the girl. It was then that she noticed the horrible gash that had been left in the poor girl's neck. Really? Not even one night without a vampire issue? Elena gently laid her arm on the girl, trying her best not to startle her. It didn't work.

"No, no, please don't, not again! Get away from me, you monster!" the girl cried out, but when she looked up, all she saw were the warm, caring eyes of a brunette-haired girl. "Wh-who are y-you?" she stuttered, still in utter shock.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. My name is Elena Gilbert and this is Damon Salvatore. Are you okay? Do you remember what happened?" Elena asked, trying to get some information out of her without scaring the girl any more.

"I d-don't know…I was at the b-bar and this g-guy came up to me. He was really sexy, so we talked and he agreed to walk me out to my car. B-but when we got outside, his face was all scary, and he threw me against the wall and… he attacked me!" she said bursting into tears again. Elena tried to comfort the girl, but knew it was probably no use. The young girl was already at her breaking point, and she wasn't going to push the interrogation any harder.

Apparently Damon didn't agree with Elena, and he began to question the girl. "Who did this to you?" he asked, hoping to god the vampire hadn't compelled her to forget him, but it seemed that was highly unlikely since she remembered everything about the attack itself.

"Y-yeah, I think he went back in there", she said pointing to the building.

"Could you show him to us if you saw him in there?"

"Yes, I think I could…but he was really scary! What if he recognizes me and tries to kill me?" she whimpered.

"I'll make sure he stays away from you", Damon promised. Elena looked at him and knew he was telling the truth, and was proud of the strides he had taken since first coming to Mystic Falls. But she had to admit, she sure missed being able to slap him across the face whenever he was a jackass, and she didn't have as many chances to do that to the new Damon.

Elena and Damon helped the girl stand, and they walked into the bar together. "Do you recognize him anywhere?" Elena whispered to the girl. She didn't have to wait long for the answer, as the girl started shaking uncontrollably as soon as she looked up at the bar.

"O-over there", she whispered just as quietly, but the man heard her. The vampire's eyes flickered first to the girl, and then to Damon who had already started walking over to him.

But just as quickly as his eyes darted to Damon, they darted back in the direction of the girl, but this time aimed at Elena. She met his eyes, but suddenly wished she hadn't. As soon as their eyes met, Elena couldn't seem to catch her breath. It felt like somebody was sitting on her, and soon she was gasping for just the tiniest breath of air. 'Oh god', she thought, 'I'm in the car again. I can't breathe, why can't I breathe?'

As she started to stagger backwards, she looked back at the man who had since turned away and started on his drink again. The girl they'd found out back was in hysterics, and Damon was running back to Elena's side. Still halfway across the room, she watched him run as she was beginning to pass out from lack of oxygen.

She was screaming in her head, just like she had screamed as the car had flown off the bridge on the night that had changed her entire life. All she could think was that she was going to die. She would never get to tell Damon how much she cared about him, never see Jeremy grow up or Alaric and Jenna's marriage (because let's face it, it was coming sometime). She'd never get to see Bonnie master her powers, or watch Caroline fall in love. But most of all, she would never get to tell Stefan how much she loved him.

All these regrets rushed through her head in those final moments, before everything went black.

Ok, so this is my first Fan Fiction I've ever written, and I just wanted you to read it before you made any assumptions that it wasn't good because I'm a "newbie"! So I hope you liked it, and tell me if you want me to continue it! Feedback is love, people! So read and review! :)

-kiki :)

btw: who is super psyched about tomorrow's new episode? I AM! :D