He'd wanted to sneak away before she woke up but half way to the door he knows she's watching.

"So you are leaving then." She tries to keep the tears out of her voice even as they fall uncontrolled down her cheeks. A part of her had always known that it would come to this. They'd come so far in the last few years but it hadn't been enough. She would never fully understand or forgive herself for what she had broken inside of him. Her only redeeming fact was that she had broken the same part of herself as well.

"It's time." He can't look at her. Last night she'd broken through all the barriers he'd built between them and if he looked at her, for even a second, he would stay. He couldn't stay.

"When will you come back?" How long will I have to wait? She doesn't care, whether it were months or years; it makes no difference. She just wanted something to hold him too.

"Elena." He says her name like a prayer, like it was a privilege to be able to use it, like he was blessed even to know her. How long would it be until that stopped… did he even want it to?

"When, Damon." He can't stay away forever. She knows him better than she knows herself. And she is more sure of the love between them than she is of her own name. He can't stay away forever for the same reason that she would never stop waiting.

"I don't know, a few decades maybe." Long enough for her to move on. Long enough for her to forget. He wishes for the first time since he turned that he was human. He would never forget her, never would his memories fade and blur. He would be haunted by her in the same way he had been haunted by Katherine. Only this time there would be no reprieve, there would be no other woman to save him. She was his last chance.

She walks to him slowly. Her hand curves around his shoulder and applies just enough pressure to turn him towards her. She catalogues everything about him, needing something to hold onto in the years to come. She brings one hand to the back of his neck, stroking her thumb against his jaw trying to memorize the exact texture of his skin. Breathing deeply, inhaling his scent, all of this would have to last. A few decades. He meant to come back when she was old, grey, and dying. Well he'd just have to life with the disappointment. "If you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever."

He couldn't possibly have heard her right. But with the lack of distance between them and the volume, the very certainty of her voice, he couldn't possibly have heard her wrong. "You can't mean that" He convinces himself she's just toying with him. Doing whatever it took just to make him stay. Her constant need for a safety net taken president over his bleeding heart. But she… she looked so sure. She was looking at him the way he knows he looked at her. It was no trick of the light, her features never changing, her eyes never waver. Her heart beat steadily and her caress remained loving. He should never have fucking looked at her. "Maybe not so many decades"

She can't help the smile that breaks out across her face. He still wants her, still loves her. How… how was that even possible? No one needed to tell her how little she deserved this man. She would never forget , never take him for granted again,. "Maybe only one?"

His only option is concession. "Long enough for you to change your mind."

Her heart holds on to one truth. This was right. Maybe not right now, but soon. "Long enough for you to know I won't."

FIN

Sequel? yup. Forever Starts Today