Author's note: This is just me re-writing a scene for the sheer delight of it...with no regaurds to how it would actually fit in with the show's cannon...it's set right after Rose dies and Damon has come home after dealing with her body.

"Elena, go home."

I couldn't go home…he was hurting, denying it of course, exactly the way he always did, but I'd known him too long to be fooled anymore. Now he was preparing to drink himself silly…but I couldn't stand for him to be alone.

"I went home." I took off my scarf as I walked up to him. "I started making lasagna, because that's what you do when someone loses someone they care about…but then I realized two things."

Damon smirked. "Is one of them the fact that I didn't care about her?"

He took another long pull of whiskey.

I snagged the whiskey and drained the remainder from his glass. I tried to smirk back at him…anything to ward off the terrible depression I could see descending on him. He sighed at me, took the glass back, and poured himself another whiskey. I continued as he took a long drink. "I know you cared. But as I was cooking I realized that your lasagna is actually better than mine." He choked a little on his drink as he laughed. I walked over and snagged the glass again, just sipping this time. "And I realized that you wouldn't need food as much as blood."

His brow creased, wondering where I was going with this. I took another sip of whiskey, gathering my courage.

"I know that you can't have much bagged blood left after…" I didn't mention her name, but his face still clouded. "I was at home, making lasagna, and I couldn't stand the idea that you were going to come home to an empty house and a bottle of whiskey."

He smirked. "You're getting more of the whiskey than I am." But even as he did that flirty little eyebrow thing, I could tell his heart just wasn't in it…and it broke my heart.

I sighed. "I came here so you wouldn't be alone, and so you wouldn't be hungry. I can spare a couple of pints." I pulled my jacket up to reveal my wrist.

He looked flabbergasted at the offer, though I can't imagine where he thought I was going with this. Did he think I was offering to drive the get-a-way car while he hit up the local blood bank? I bit back a grin. He looked at me strangely.

"Stephan wouldn't approve of this."

I rolled my eyes. "Why? If you say you'd just take a couple of pints I know that's all you would take…"

He sighed. "It isn't that…"

I rolled my eyes again, beginning to feel the whiskey. "Look Damon, I drank the whiskey on purpose…Stephan fed on me when he was dying, and I know it hurts a little…"

His brow creased. "It hurt? When Stephan bit you it hurt?"

Was I speaking pig Latin? When someone bites hard enough to break the skin of course it hurts. I looked at him and nodded. "Well, he didn't compel me to forget, so yeah, it hurt." It hurt a lot actually.

Damon took his whiskey glass back and poured another healthy shot, this time downing it so quickly I barely saw the movement. He seemed to be arguing with himself, and he absently poured another large measure of whiskey in the glass. I intercepted it and took another sip.

He batted me away playfully. "Gimme that! That is my whiskey, and you are not allowed to drink any more of it Miss Gilbert. Alcohol and blood loss don't go well together."

The look in his eyes was soft as he pulled me to the couch. I sat beside him and offered him my wrist. He pushed it down and softly brushed my hair away from my neck. "There's a reason we take it from the neck, it hurts less." With that, he pulled me into his lap, and I felt the sudden, sharp prick of his fangs. But then the oddest thing happened. I leaned in, reminding myself that I'd offered this…practically demanded it in fact, and suddenly a golden haze of pleasure clouded my thoughts. I whimpered."Damon, don't compel me, I don't mind…"

He pulled back to whisper in my ear. "This isn't compulsion. This is what it's supposed to feel like when you give blood to someone you…care for." His lips ghosted over my skin and I pulled in an involuntary breath. His tongue darted out and licked the small rivulet of blood from my neck…and he whispered again, his voice hypnotic "Just let it flow over you…there's nothing you need to do, just lie safe in my arms, knowing I will never allow this to harm you." His lips found the small wound again and the hazy pleasure intensified, became more and clouded my mind again. My world narrowed down to the sensation of his lips and tongue touching my neck, his hand kneading the small of my back, holding me tight to his chest…feeling him pressed tightly against my body, and knowing that my blood was giving him life…that he was taking a bit of me into him. It was a heady thing, and every nerve in my body tingled at the same time. I gasped and tried to control myself, but he pulled a little harder at my neck and I came completely undone, gasping for air.

He stopped much too quickly and pulled me tight against his chest as his tongue lazily lapped the occasional drop from my neck. I stayed where I was, unable to move at first. I could feel him grinning as I shuddered as his latest lick. "Was it good for you?" He laughed as I tried to push away, and slapped weakly at his chest.

He held me recklessly close and kissed my cheek. "That's what it should feel like if you offer up blood without compulsion. Stephan was either too weak to do it…" His brow furrowed. "Or he's never had anyone offer it freely." There was a hint of sadness in Damon's voice. He was feeling sorry for his little brother. Best not to mention that I'd caught that…he'd never forgive me.

The teasing Damon came back full force. "So I guess now that you know what I can do with my lips and teeth, you'll be thinking about all the things I can do if we get other body parts involved…" He smirked and expected a squeal, so I did it. "I'd never survive." He looked at me with serious eyes.

He picked up his glass of whiskey and took an absent sip. "Don't tell Stephan the particulars of this…"

That sounded too much like cheating for me…in fact, leaning against him, with the memory of his body next to mine…it kind of felt like cheating too. "Why?" I knew my expression was mulish. "I don't want to lie to Stephan about this…I don't feel guilty for it. I still think it was a good idea." I looked away from him and said in a much smaller voice. "I hated to think of you alone and hungry."

He caught my hand. "Elena…you've seen Stephan's bloodlust. I don't think anyone wants him to get back on the human stuff." He did that totally unfair eye smoldering thing. How could blue eyes smolder?

I looked at him closely. "Did you know it was going to be…like that?" His eyes narrowed playfully. "Like what Elena?"

When I had the energy, I was going to find a pillow and smack him. "You know what it was like."

He suddenly sobered. "No, I know what it was like when I gave blood freely to Katherine…that was the last time…" He cleared his throat. "Most people don't volunteer to be a vampire's dinner." He still had an arm around me. "But I've heard, through other vampires down through the years, that every pairing is different. For some people it's like being drunk, for others it's like dreaming…" His voice lost the serious edge as he turned the full force of those blue, blue eyes on me. "And for some people it's highly erotic….even orgasmic." I blushed. Five more minutes and I would have been moaning his name. He laughed joyfully. I tried to pull myself away. He wouldn't let me go. "What do you think you can let me eat and run?" He turned off the charm. "You donated two pints of blood. Sit here, I'll go get you something…orange juice alright?" I nodded, unsure what I should be doing. On one hand, I'd been minutes from going over the edge with my boyfriend's brother. On the other…well neither of us knew I would react that way, and I couldn't deny that I was glad he seemed to have shaken off some of the guilt over Rose's death. And I couldn't deny that it had felt very, very good when he'd fed on me.

He handed me the orange juice and a slice of cherry pie. For people who didn't have to eat, both of the brothers were amazing cooks. I sighed. He leaned forward, checking my vitals no doubt, and I smiled at him.

"What?" There was real worry on his face. I smiled to reassure him and muttered 'Nothing." He waggled his brows again. "If you don't tell me what you were thinking I'm going to assume that you just want me and you're afraid to tell me…" He said it with a little sing-song lilt in his voice that startled a little laugh out of me. "It's nothing. I just wish I'd had a different reaction…"

Damon looked at me oddly. "Why? When I was a human, I couldn't believe how lucky I was…" He almost blushed and I realized he'd been one of the orgasmic blood donors too. Just a tiny flash into Human Damon. I grinned and decided that Human Damon was probably fun to tease. I bet he blushed a lot more often than the current version. I dimpled and laughed. "So you…ah-ha. No wonder you fell so hard for Katherine." I waggled my eyebrows at him slightly. He pursed his lips…lips that had been on my neck…mmmm.

I sighed. "No, it would be nice if I could just donate any time you needed it…" I shrugged. "But I can't do this again…it's too much like sex…"

He ran his nose along my jaw line and I shuddered, in a very, very good way. His voice was a little rough. "It's not nearly enough like sex." I stood up abruptly, but he tugged at my hand.

"No sit down. I'll behave. Scout's Honor."

I snorted. "You were never a boy scout." He kissed the tip of my nose. "You have no idea what I used to be Elena." He wrapped his arms around me. "Now, you lay down here next to me and rest until I'm sure the whiskey is out of your system." I sighed, but I settled in the warmth of him, and I watched the fire until I fell asleep, safe in his arms.