Author's Note : I know I promised this chapter would be up yesterday, but I was busy. It's a festive atmosphere here in India. A big Hindu festival. Anyways, here it is...

A special thank you to Delena Fan, LiveBreatheVampires, amgonyea, Girl96xoxo, and coockiemonsterlove. I am sorry, something's wrong with my account, it's not letting me answer to your reviews. Hugs and kisses to you (Pun intended, Girl96xoxo). THANK YOU!

LiveBreatheVampires : Amy, I am following you on Twitter. Follow me back? And also, I will start reading your fics soon. Maybe today.

And, Marie, my sweet angel, you never mentioned you liked TVD. I saw my first episode in December last year and I was fell head over heels over imaginary fangs in love.

Note to TVD-Love Sucks (chrictikourk) on Twitter : Thank you so very much for saying that I made Damon sound like himself. I tried really hard to make that happen. I tried using words and phrases from the show in my fic, and in this chapter I have taken an entire conversation! There is more dialogue in this one, so... *crosses fingers*

Note to Miina.x (KimaMichaelson) on Twitter : Your profile name suggests you might like a character in this chapter... Let me know, okay?

Disclaimer : You think I own the Vampire Diaries? If I did, Katherine and Stefan would be holidaying in Timbuktu, Damon wouldn't own any clothes and Dex would be a script requirement for every episode.

I don't even own Ian Somerhalder. *sob* I am also extremely jealous of Nina Dobrev. She gets to run her fingers in all that new gorgeous hair-do :(

Elena's brain took an achingly slow time to grasp the reality of Damon's statement. She looked at him blankly at first, not even comprehending the seriousness of this situation. She felt as if her entire existence was trying to reject the statement, and all that it implied.

"What?"

Elena didn't even know whether she breathed out the question or thought it. She was momentarily left incapable of speech. Her legs ceased to support her and she sank to the ground, aghast. He had thrown his daylight ring away. This was too much to take in. Throwing it away meant that he wanted to die. It couldn't be fixed as easily as having Bonnie make him another one. There was some reason at play here, something she couldn't grasp with her sluggish brain. Something had happened. She recounted the past few days, trying to see what had finally pushed him over the edge, but came up empty-handed. "Why?"

"Well," he said with a tilt of his head, "seemed like poetic justice or some such rot. I first put the damn thing on there when Emily gave it to me."

Elena knew he was being absurd for the hell of it. He just seemed so unconcerned... "Is it me? Us? Stefan and I?"

Damon waved his hand towards the iron gate. "I want you to leave Elena. If I had more time I would leave now and come back later, but unfortunately the sun doesn't rise on my say so. Now, Mother's in heaven, I'm going to hell, and there are probably no long distance phone calls back and forth. If it's not too much to ask, I want to talk—for five minutes—to the only person in my entire existence that loved me back."

I stood mutely for a second longer. He must be really drunk to admit something so vunerable. "Damon, listen to me. We need to get you out of the open."

"Why? I like the great outdoors," he drawled. "They're so... sunny." He took another swig, realized his hip-flask was empty, and promptly picked up the bottle he had placed next to his mother's grave.

"Damon... I need to talk to you about this. Y-you can't do this. Please," she whined. "Just tell me why you're doing this. Stefan and I were together before, and you were okay with it. More or less. Damon, you cannot do this. I need you," she sobbed. She had never felt so vunerable and scared in her entire life. Every major crisis she had been—be it Stefan leaving town with Klaus or his coming back and shutting off his humanity—Elena had been sure of Damon's support. She was sure that come Hell or high waters, Damon would stay right next to her. Her very own always and forever. With him next to her, she could have weathered any storm easily... How was she supposed to deal with this?

Damon took another swig from the bottle of whiskey and kept it on the ground before turning to her. "Elena," he said, cradling her face with his hands. His thumbs carressed her jaw as he looked over the top of his eyes at her. "Go home. Just go to the Boarding House if you have to, okay? Let Stefan comfort you, it will all be over soon, and neither of us will have to hurt anymore."

"You think I will stop hurting if you're d-dead?" Elena incredously held onto his hands. "You think your existence is a burden? Have you completely lost your fucking marbles?" She shook her head resolutely. "Come with me. We'll go back home. My home. I need to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to you, Elena. I wanna get through this. Believe it or not, it's scary. If I let myself be persuaded, I will never go through with it. Look, just give up already. Stefan's back to boring bunny-diet-Stefan again, and you love him. It's always gonna be Stefan. I am done pining over women who don't love me. I am done being the second choice. How long do you want me to wait? To believe against all my doubts that you do love me... I can't leave, I promised you I wouldn't. But I can't do this anymore, Elena. I've had enough. No more. Would you please respect my decision?"

"Who's gonna save your life while you're out making decisions?"

"You're not listening to me, Elena. I don't want to be saved. Not if it means seeing you and Stefan live the American dream for the next half-century."

"Get your ass out the gates now, Damon."

Damon walked forward, whiskey bottle in hand, till he was invading Elena's personal space. Again. "No."

Elena debated her plan of action. For maybe half a second. Then she snatched the bottle from him in a quick move, and smashed it against Elizabeth's headstone. Placing the jagged end of the glass on her wrist, she smiled at him. "Fine, then. I will meet you in Hell."

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Damon's eyes were flashing with uncertainity and concern within seconds.

Elena didn't know where the burst of courage came from, but she refused to question it. She needed it right now. If she had to, she would use his own love to drag him back from the edge. "Die now, and I will cut up my wrists and bleed to death. You need to be around to save me, Damon." To hurry him along, she nicked her wrist just a little. She meant business.

Damon had never looked so vulnerable. He was trying desperately to find the energy to call her bluff, to tell her to go to hell, but she saw his bravado leave him the minute his shoulders slumped. "What do you want?" He asked petutantly, his eyes fixed on the tiny drop of blood forming on her wrist.

"Go outside, sit in my car, and don't go anywhere. I just need to talk to my Mom for a minute. All alone. And, Damon," she added as he rolled his eyes and turned to leave. "Please don't listen in."

"Fine," he smirked. "I'll just go and wait for you in your bedroom, okay?"

"I don't see you there when I get home, I am killing myself."

One dark sleek eyebrow went up. "Such enthusiam, Elena. Every man's wet dream."

She ignored his attempt at making her uncomfortable. "Wipe that smirk off your face, Damon. And talking to Stefan will not help you. He will take my side on this, and he won't be able to keep me on suicide watch forever." She saw it in his eyes—he had considered it. "Now go."

"You have turned into a Queen, O warrior princess," Damon said with a smirk, and with a cocky salute and a whoosh of air, he was gone.

Elena waited a minute before she called Bonnie. Her call was immediately transferred to voice-mail, and Elena left a message with Bonnie. She doubted Bonnie was asleep, but she doubted Bonnie would help Damon either. Still, she had to give her friend a chance.

Sighing, she placed another call. "I need your help," she said into the phone.

On the other side of the town, Niklaus fumbled for his watch and squinted at the time. Elena Gilbert was calling him at four in the morning? "Well, this is an unexpected turn of events. Are you all right?"

"Yes, and if you help me, I will stay that way." The girl seemed near tears. "I will owe you one, Klaus, if you help me."

Klaus frowned as his ever-present smile dimmed. "What do you need?"

"A witch. I need you to get ahold of a witch for me."

Klaus's frown deepened. "And then what? Ask her to spell you a spectacular report card? What do you need, sweetheart?"

"I need you to tell her to spell me a daylight ring—a Lapis Lazuli ring. Damon threw his in the quarry."

One dark blond eyebrow went up. "Trouble in paradise?"

"She needs to spell it to my bedroom. A transportation spell. Klaus... Please. Just, help me. I-I will do whatever you want me to do."

"Of course I will help you, love," Klaus said, thinking fast. "In return, you will have to fix up a date for me with your friend Caroline." He smiled as he realized he had shocked her a little. There was absolute silence on the line.

"You have my word. Call your witch." With that, Elena disconnected the call.

"And a very good morning to you too," Klaus muttered as he started to scroll through his contacts.

Elena barged into her bedroom, headed straight for the sexy vampire getting drunk on her bed and slapped him. Hard.

He just took another swig. "I have told you repeatedly to not do that. Yet, that's the fourth time you have slapped me."

"How could you? How could you do that to me? How could you try to leave me? After promising me you would never leave me again, how can you even think about leaving me forever?"

"Because I am tired, Elena!" Damon's voice was finally raised to a shout—she had riled it enough. "Because there is only so much hurt a man can take. Why should I stay, huh? So that I can wait in the background for any token affection you might throw my way? So that I can be there for you, your second choice? Your back-up plan? I will not drink my existence away, Elena, waiting in the sidelines, hungering for a kind look, a kind word from the woman I love. I will not become some freaky drama queen—sitting there and waiting for any tokens of affection you can share. Why would you do this? Threaten to murder yourself so that I may not kill myself? What am I to you? You care about me, I get it. I am your friend," he practically spat out the word. "But there's something more. Why would you do that for me? Huh? I am just you boyfriend's older brother, Elena, so why would—"

Elena had had enough. She stopped his drunken tirade the only way she wanted to—she kissed him. Their first kiss was a dream, a break from reality. In sharp contrast, this kiss was far too real—she attacked his lips with all the pent-up frustration she had. Damon stood stock stilll for a moment. He could feel those lips on his mouth, feel her persistent little tongue as it stabbed at his lower lip. Elena was offering herself in a way, and Damon didn't want to accept. He was afraid to trust her. Afraid that he would not be able to stop once he did accept her love. Love?

Elena lifted her head a little, her thumb moving back and forth on the unyielding seam between his lips. "I have fallen for you, Damon. I have, and deep down, you know it." She looked into his eyes as she confessed, "but I'm scared."

Damon didn't realize he was holding his breath. "Of what? I would never hurt you."

"That is almost absurdly obvious. I am afraid of falling in love with you."

"Why?" Damon's breath fanned her face and she leaned in a little.

"Because if I fall for you, Damon, if I let myself love you, there is no turning back. You are not the kind of man someone just loves—if I let myself, I will be obsessed by you. If I let myself go, if I accept the inevitable, you will become the center of my universe."

Every word Elena whispered was like a balm on Damon's mangled heart. She did love him, even if she hadn't said it in those exact words. "I am scared too, Elena. Because you already are the center of my universe. Let go. Just... Let go."

"I will."

"Why?"

"Because I finally realized tonight. I already love you."

The smile that lit Damon's face was nothing short of miraculous. This was probably the first time Elena had seen him smile so fully—his teeth dazzled her, as did the love that shone in his eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him, and this time, he opened his mouth to her gentle moaned, and Damon hugged her. She felt his armes go around her, for the first time, and she relaxed into that embrace as Damon's toongue sought hers out.

They sprang apart like guilty school-children when a blinding light flashed into the room. Damon immediately pushed Elena behind her, and Elena looked over his shoulder at the little Lapis Lazuli ring lying innocently on the bed.

All was well.

Author's Note : This is actually the longest chapter I have ever written, I think. Tell me what you think? Also, you can follow me on Twitter : Mystical_Astha. Tell me what you think? Please?

Any other ideas you want me to write about? Let me know. I don't have time to proof read this, so please forgive any typing errors :)