Follow your dreams until they seem like nightmares compared to reality.

"Damon" she breathed, she thought she would have gotten use to him appearing in her room in the late hours of the night by now, but it still made her jump with a sick sort of elation.

"Elena" he mocked, getting up from the window seat, his face illuminated by the moonlight coming through the window.

She didn't ask what he was doing here, too scared that he'd tell her the truth. She ran her hand through her hair tiredly then moved over to make room for him on the bed.

He collapsed onto it, over the covers, with an exaggerated sigh. "How are you feeling? And don't even think about saying fine" he warned. With each passing day the underlying threat of the sacrifice seemed to magnify and lately she was feeling suffocated.

She looked down at her hands; she had been using that word a lot lately, with dismissals of 'I'm fine' or 'Everything's ok'. It was ironic really, because absolutely nothing felt like it was 'OK' recently.

"I don't know how I feel, it's just…" she trailed off taking a deep breath, "I'm scared" she admitted.

His arm wrapped around her, offering her a comforting embrace that she willing fell in to. "You're allowed to be scared, Elena" he whispered.

"I'm not scared of dying" she said, looking up at him from beneath her dark eyelashes, "I'm scared for Jeremy, who's going to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, Jenna needs help to look after him. Then there's Stefan, what if he loses control again? And then Caroline-"

He cut her off, "I'm not going to let you die Elena"

She shook her head, living wasn't going to be an option and she had come to accept that, so she continued on like he hadn't spoken, "Then there's you, what I'm I going to do about you?" she asked, laughing softly, "I want you to remember this, remember that your so much more than just a vampire. You deserve to be loved Damon, don't forget that"

He shut his eyes, unable to hear her talk like they had already lost. "It's not over yet Elena, we can get through this"

She had a wistful look in her eyes for a second but it changed to one of regret, "I wish I could have told you this sooner, and then maybe you would have believed me."

"Told me what?" he asked, watching as her gaze fixed on his lips then her deep brown eyes meet his.

"I care about you, I never lied when I said that, and I still mean it now after everything. Somehow all the things you did don't seem to matter as much, I thought it might have been because soon I'll be gone but now I know better" her hand reached up to caress his check softly, her gently touch a sharp contrast compared to the intensity in her eyes, "I can look past everything that's happened between us, because I love you"

He leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling and surprised her by laughing humourlessly, "Perfect, this is perfect" he bite out sarcastically.

"Damon?"

He shook his head, his dark hair falling over his eyes, "I've waited for so long to here you say that to me. So fucking long, and now…" his eyes sparkled with tears he wasn't prepared to shed, frustrated that after more than a century his love was now requited, and she was about to be taken away from him.

He liked to think there was a way to keep her alive, but now lying on her bed after her proclamation of love, it became so painfully obvious that they had lost. She was going to die. Because when did anything ever work out for him?

Her hands pulled at his shoulders, he let her pull him closer, and let her press her lips against his. She wouldn't let him look so lost, because her time was limited. She had no time to waste anymore.

Hungrily he kissed her back, deepening the kiss, feeling a mixture of their salty tears on his lips. This was their moment, one that not Stefan or Klaus or anyone could take from them. In this one moment he held his world in his arms, and never wanted to let go. In this moment Elena knew she wanted him, needed him, no one else but him.

"Elena?"

Elena's eyes opened slowly, a smile on her lips that died as soon as she looked around. She was in the Boarding House, the sun lighting up the whole room brightly, with the wrong brother's arms around her waist.

"Stefan?" she asked, feeling close to theirs as she looked into his eyes. This was all wrong. His eyes should be blue. She wanted to scream out in frustration, feeling the ghost of a kiss on her lips, one she now longed for.

"You were muttering something in your sleep again" he said wondering distantly why she was staring into his eyes so deeply, with some sort of desperate need, "Are you OK?"

When she finally accepted that his eyes would not change colour, and his gaze could never hold the loving look that made her feel safe and make her heart beat faster all at once, she nodded, "I'm fine, everything's OK" There was only one person who know she was lying through her teeth, only one person that could make everything OK. But only in her dreams could she be with him…