Disclaimer: TVD belongs to whoever receives the royalties and that sure as hell isn't me. I just pretend while I'm writing.

Summary: After all is said and done Damon is about to leave, but decides to say goodbye to Elena before he does. It doesn't really go as he thought it would.

AN: It's short and confusing, but that's kind of the point. I just read and replied to a bunch of reviews for my other shots and felt all kinds of love and had my head exploded from all the ego boosting... not to mention that some of my favourite writers here on FF reviewed and... well it was either write something or faint from all the squealing.

oOo

Unsuccessfully Saying Goodbye

He wakes her with a gentle shake of her slender shoulder. Her doe eyes flutter open and she drowsily smiles.

"I'm leaving." He states nervously hoping he'll be able to go through with it this time. He has never managed to get this far before.

"OK." She says sitting up and stretching long tanned limbs tiredly. Her skimpy shorts have ridden even further up revealing a generous amount of curvaceous hips and as flimsy as the material of her cami is she might as well not be wearing a top at all.

He gazes with glacial eyes at her longingly. "This is goodbye." He emphasises when she doesn't seem to understand that he's leaving for good.

She tosses her blankets aside and they spill to the floor in a puddle of soft down and cotton. "No." She says getting up and opening her well filled closet.

He tilts his head as if it could clear his mind and draws his dark eyebrows together. "No?" He stares at her as she crouches down revealing a strip of delectable flesh as she searches the floor of her closet.

"No." She echoes distractedly. She stands up and he can hear hangers rattling.

"I didn't want to leave before seeing you." He says as irritation seeps into him. Clearly she doesn't care. He should have known better then to come here. Maybe he can finally let her go after this fiasco.

"OK." She says again moving sluggishly over to her dresser.

This is far worse then anything he could have imagined. Never did he think she wouldn't care in any way, shape or form. "OK." He repeats with raised brows as she pulls her underwear drawer fully out of her dresser. "Could you just stop and look at me?" He's exasperated and needs to get this over with. He needs to get the hell out of there.

She stops mid movement. "Yes." She turns towards him wide-eyed and questioning as she balances the drawer on her hip; the silk, satin and lace threatening to spill to the floor in an erotic mess.

He wonders if something's wrong with her... head, perhaps? "Are you OK?" He asks and waits for her to yell at him, but she doesn't. That's when he knows there's something wrong with her.

"Yes." She looks at him like it's him there's something wrong with.

He searches her eyes intently. "Have you been compelled?" He's sure there's something seriously wrong with her. She isn't acting very Elena-esque.

She rolls her eyes and points at her vervain necklace; Stefan's necklace. "No." And suddenly she's back to normal, but he still doesn't understand.

"No?" He inquires stupidly. He's just not getting it.

"No." She says with a glare and then unceremoniously dumps the contents of her underwear drawer into a duffel-bag. Is that a midnight-blue silk garter-belt with matching panties and bra?

He swallows thickly and shoves back the delicious images his mind's insisting on conjuring up. "What are you doing?" He asks warily and narrows his eyes.

"Packing." She says slowly as she pulls seemingly random photos off her mirror.

"Packing?" He almost squeaks. He must be going mad 'cause he seems to be having auditory hallucinations. Perhaps he's had some bad blood or Sabrina's cursed him... again.

She turns to look at him with a look that clearly asks if his IQ suddenly dropped fifty points. "Packing." She restates and shoves the photos into her diary that she gingerly tucks into the duffel-bag. He doesn't miss that she takes the one of them dancing at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. He'd literally been breathless seeing her descending those stairs towards him.

He unnecessarily draws a breath. "Why?" He knows why he wants her to be packing, but refuses to hope for it. How does she always manage to make him feel like the fumbling teenager he hasn't been in over a century and a half?

She scoffs mockingly. "Cleanliness." She deadpans as she grabs her makeup-bag, brush and deodorant.

He feels none the wiser. "Are you going somewhere?" Maybe if he just shakes her long enough the answers will tumble out of her instead of him having to draw them out.

She doesn't even bother looking at him. "Yes." She's pulling out tops and pants and shoving them into her bag.

He rubs at his temples wondering if vampires can get migraines. He's sure he's about to find out. "Where?"

She shrugs and attempts to close her now overstuffed duffel. "Wherever."

Apparently they can get migraines. "Wherever? Can you be more specific?" He mocks and rolls his eyes. His head is pounding painfully all the while conjuring up sinful images of her in the various items she carelessly poured out of her underwear drawer. It might be best if he just dropped dead on the spot... permanently.

She turns to look at him with an amused expression. "Wherever you're going." She specifies and he thinks that maybe he's already dead and somehow accidentally ended up in heaven.

Clearly she's misunderstood somewhere along the way because no one would be stupid enough to let him through the pearly gates. "You're going back to sleep." The painful throbbing wont be subsiding any time soon.

As if on cue she yawns. "OK." She picks her quilt up of the floor and folds it neatly. Good God those legs are long.

He shakes himself mentally. "Like I was saying. I'm leaving." He thinks he may finally be getting through to her. When did he become that guy that doesn't take advantage of the beautiful and slightly confused girl he's been pining after? Right. When he fell madly in love with her.

She tucks her quilt, pillow and teddy under her arm and slips her bare feet into a pair of black and white classic high-top Chucks. "Ready." She smiles up at him drowsily looking absolutely divine.

He wonders if maybe she's not fully awake; she can't possibly be. "You're staying; I'm leaving." He says slowly just in case she truly isn't fully awake.

She frowns and grabs her overstuffed duffel-bag. "No." She says firmly sounding like the spoiled little girl he thinks she might have been when her parents were still around.

He chuckles awkwardly and rubs the back of his neck to ease some of the tension. "No?" Not this again.

"NO." She says leaning closer and articulating unnecessarily while glaring fiercely through a haze of fatigue.

Damnittohell. "I'm not coming back." He restates figuring she didn't quite register the statement before. He briefly considers writing it down for her to read because saying it obviously isn't enough.

She frowns a bit like it's him that's not making any sense. "OK." She says putting down her things at her unlaced Chuck clad feet.

He's sure she's gotten it now so he swoops in for the kill. "Goodbye." He says sadly swallowing around the quickly forming painful lump in his throat.

She holds up a single slender finger. "No. Wait." She says before disappearing into the bathroom. He stands there waiting; listening. She emerges with her toothbrush. Her toothbrush? "OK. Ready." She says stuffing the slender purple thing into her purse.

So he was obviously unsuccessful at explaining. "Ready?" He questions with knit brows. He thinks he might need a translator at this point.

She narrows her eyes for a moment looking pensive. "Right." She says as if his question had meant she should recheck a mental check-list. She removes her vervain necklace, scribbles on a sticky note and grabs a ring-box off her desk. "Just a sec." She says and disappears into the bathroom with the sticky note.

He waits apprehensively for her return. He wonders if he should allow himself to hope that she understands. If she doesn't understand then this whole thing is beyond ridiculous.

She returns with her hair messily put up into a large black butterfly clip."Lets go." She says while picking up her discarded things once again. He thinks he might have to invent some kind of victory dance for the occasion.

He doesn't want to, but he still asks. "What about Stefan?" He will give everything up to make her happy. EVERYTHING.

She shrugs non-committally. "What about him?" She counters as if he weren't an important topic for the both of them.

He shifts his weight uncomfortably. "He's not coming." Good thing he hadn't had a victory dance on archive... that would have been embarrassing once this came up.

She shoots him an odd look. "I know." THAT he wasn't expecting.

Oh. How could he have forgotten? "Your family and friends?" He wants her to be sure, it's far too late to not hope because he's such a hopeless romantic and it must all be fate and what not... she's just so amazing.

"Will understand and be missed." She supplies easily.

"Why are you leaving?" He know there's an endless amount of answers she could provide that would break him, still he asks.

She chuckles knowingly. "You." At the simple word he thinks his heart might have grown at least two sizes... but he must be misunderstanding; reading into things that aren't there.

"Me?" She isn't really providing answers he can understand. "Elaborate." He means to demand, but it sounds more like a plea. She can't do this to him; she's not that cruel.

She looks at him fondly. "You're leaving ergo..." She lets the sentence trail off as if he should know how to finish it.

He doesn't and he wonders if she's actively trying to make him feel stupid. "Ergo?" He asks with a cocked eyebrow and an irritated glare. Return of the migraine; the sequel.

She bites back a smile. "... ergo I leave..." She tilts her head to the side and smiles sweetly. "... with you." She adds.

He's starting to recent the word yet... "Why?" She's making things so damn hard.

She rolls her eyes while still smiling sweetly. "I need you." She breaks him and she doesn't even know that she has.

He huffs tiredly. "Danger's over. You're safe." He shouldn't have hoped. He's such a colossal sap.

She tries to hand him her bag. "I know." She says as if he should know as well. WTF?

His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his crystalline eyes sparkle. "Then why?" He says that damned word again.

Her mouth forms a silent oh. "I need you, not them." She says matter-of-factly.

He sighs, she might as well be a talking rock. "What do you need me for?" He hopes it's good because he's already broken and he's all out of hopes after that last one.

"Everything." She looks at him in a way that makes him feel odd. He's not used to this. It's good?

She's not making any sense to him. He just stares at her. He doesn't know what to make of the conversation they're having. One second he's sure she's coming with him for all the right reasons; the next he's not sure if she's even lucid; the third he's quite certain they've both misunderstood. It's at times like these that he hates her just the tiniest bit.

She shoves her bag at him willing him to take it with her perfect twin pools of chocolate. "Lets go." She says and moves towards her bedroom door.

He just stares dumbfoundedly and follows. Once they've made their way out and into his beloved Camaro he asks. "Everything what?"

She kisses him passionately, the instant fire she conjures up within him catching him off guard. "Everything." She purrs seductively and snuggles into his side. He must be dreaming.

He smiles softly and turns the ignition. "Everything." He echoes and drives off into the night and a future he never thought he'd have.

oOo

AN: If that made sense or even if it didn't; please let me know by reviewing... just please don't make me cry.