a/n: my return to Delena has been sorta like vacation for me. With Christmas coming up (and Christmas fics as well) along with life and my BatCat obsession it's both nice and refreshing to delve back into a couple I'm so familiar with. The added aspect of Elena now being a vampire however definitely is giving me a bit of a challenge though, so hopefully it's still fresh and interesting for you guys. Keep those reviews coming and I'll keep the Delena train puffing.

Sorry I stayed away so long. Happy Reading!

Damon's POV

I could smell her before she was behind me. The moment the door to the Grill opened, I knew she was there, and that she was coming right for me. Why not, everyone else was badgering me today. Why was it that the only person I did want to talk to was dead and unavailable for questioning? Ric, fuck did I miss Ric. She came close; about to take his chair and whether he was dead or not did not matter. That chair did not belong to anyone else. "That seat is taken."

She looked slightly confused. "But there is no one here."

"Well I'm going to pretend like there's someone there, because the alternative is just too damn depressing." She half glared, half nodded and I thought she might just leave, but then she was on my other side, all up in my face once more.

"Did you set off the explosion that killed the town council?"

"Am I wearing my 'I blew up the council t-shirt'?" I looked at her, wondering how easy it would be to get her out of this seat, out of the grill and out of my fucking life. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Did you?"

"No!" I glared right back at her, lifting the glass. What would it take to have just one peaceful drink in this town? Saint Stefan made it nearly impossible at home. "Anything else?"

She sighed and I rolled my eyes. What? What else could she possibly want from me? "Something's wrong." Oh god, a problem. A real problem if she was coming to me with it. I grimaced, feeling the bourbon slip right down my throat before I had the chance to savour it on my tongue. "I can't keep any of the animal blood down."

If I was going to wearing any t-shirt today it was going to be the 'I was right' one, and hopefully wave it in front of Stefan's face. "Well there's a shock."

She didn't glare now; she just looked sad and desperate. My least favourite look on her, because it made me feel like I had to be the hero. "I think I need your help." Well of course, I knew what I wanted to do, but if Stefan ever found out he would stake me in my undead sleep. I sighed. "Of course you do. Pick your meal," I pointed around the bar at all her various options. The Grill was basically a blood bank waiting to happen; she just had to choose from who she would going to withdrawal. "Asian fusion, Mexican, what about some good ole' American comfort food?"

She looked like she was going to either cry or throw up. "No, no human blood. Stefan's right, I have to at least try to get through this without hurting anyone."

Oh, fuck Stefan. Fuck Stefan and all his idiotic ideals about animal blood and girlfriends. Elena was starving, and if he wasn't going to feed her, then I would. I drained the glass, knowing this was signing my own death certificate and got up from the bar. "Come on." I grabbed her hand, pulling her down the hallway and into the bathroom. We'd had a moment in here once. She'd grabbed my arm, looked at me with those eyes, and asked me to be the better man. Well, that wasn't exactly what this was, but I was being the man, the one she needed. It wasn't about trying to turn her into something she wasn't. It was about helping her embrace who she was now and teaching her how to adapt and learn to deal with it.

I locked the door behind us, half praying she would freak out and leave screaming. "What are you doing?"

I bit into my wrist, the pain momentary and fleeting. "Giving you what you need. Drink." The opportunity would not last forever, and I wasn't about to open any more veins for her. Either she took this chance or not.

"What?" she looked between the wound and me, the bloodlust already affecting her. Her emotions were heightened. Her uneasiness, her fear; it became terror. Her nerves were like live wires and without a healthy diet she could very quickly spiral and slaughter the entire town.

"You're a new vampire Elena; you need warm blood from the vein. Maybe this will do the trick, or not. Just…don't tell Stefan."

Her eyes were all for the blood now. "Why not?" She sounded a bit breathless, anxious. For my blood. I couldn't help liking that.

"Because blood sharing is kinda…personal." I really hoped that she wouldn't make me go into too much detail; I could feel the wound already closing up.

"What do you mean it's personal?"

"Just drink."

She nodded, needing my reassurance that everything would be okay. It was my blood that turned her, so maybe this was the answer. She grabbed my hands, the veins appearing beneath her eyes as her fangs sunk into my skin, cutting the wound deeper, bigger. Blood sharing wouldn't take full effect until she let me drink from her, but the body didn't know that wasn't coming. As my blood flowed through her, into her I could feel her inside me as well. It was incredible, it was breathtaking. It was deeper than love, it was more than devotion. The trust it took to share with another was indescribable. Could she feel the intensity? I felt her body curve into mine, felt her push me back into the wall. She was stronger now, more stable but she needed help. She needed me.

I could feel that, in her essence, in the way she drank from me. Gently I wrapped my arms around her, caressing her hair with my fingers as the pleasure of sharing with her nearly brought me to climax. What was she seeing as she drank from me? What was she learning about me? I longed to drink from her, to finish the bond, but I knew she wasn't ready. That she might never be ready. My blood had turned her into this, but my sire over her was not strong enough to compel her into wanting what I wanted just yet. Maybe after this it would be. Maybe after this she would see it all more clearly. Her fangs pulled back slightly, only to pierce deeper a tiny bit over. She was keeping the wound open, getting greedy and yet I couldn't stop her, didn't want to stop her.

Elena's POV

Damon tasted delicious. There was no other way to describe it, but that wasn't even the most incredible thing about it all. Maybe it was just my imagination, but as I drank from him I could see him. See into him. I watched him hide in the hallway of Salvatore Manor, peeking around a corner as Stefan was born; watching him watch his mother die as his baby brother was brought into the world. It was painful, it was devastating and yet he still loved his brother. Still wanted to hold him. I watched him a few years older, teaching Stefan to play football on the plantation grounds. It was summer and I could smell the grass and the flowers as he had that day. I watched him dress in his uniform, standing straight when his father came into the room, only to shake his hand before he went off to war. He looked so young, so scared. I could feel his fear, and underneath there was relief. Relief to get away from that man and this house maybe?

Another scene flashed before my eyes like a moving scrapbook and there he was, entering the house and seeing Katherine for the first time. His boots were covered in mud and both his father and the dark skinned maid were yelling at him but he couldn't hear them. He could only see her, only smell her perfume and melt under her smile even as she held Stefan's hand and laughed at the joke he told her. I could feel how instantly and truly in love he had been. I saw him standing in a battlefield, smelled the dirt and death around him, felt the sadness as he knelt next to a body of a friend. I saw him back home, watching Stefan and Katherine in the gardens. He was happy to be home, happy to see his brother, happy to see her. Then I saw a gun pointing out of the darkness, felt the pain of a gunshot, the peace of death.

I saw a crow and fog, and a graveyard. I saw me in my leather nurses costume, slapping him, felt his anger and frustration, his lust. I saw me then, at Founders Day looking like Katherine, then again coming into the Mikealson's home in a big black ball gown. I felt his heart stop. I felt all the oxygen leave his body. I did that to him, I took his breath away. In his eyes, I was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. And it wasn't Katherine he thought of when he looked at me. It was just me; me and him and everything we'd been through together. It was heart breaking, it was wonderful. It was beautiful. Every emotion Damon had ever felt, anything he had ever seen ran through my brain like a freight train, but I absorbed it all as I drank him in, savouring every drop he granted me. "Slow down." He murmured, easing me back and I licked my lips desperately, looking up at him. "You alright?"

I nodded, wiping my mouth on the back of my sleeve. "What was that?"

He looked uncomfortable. "What was what?"

I wondered if maybe I'd just imagined it all and now that I had blood in my system my head did seem a little clearer. Perhaps it had just been the bloodlust and the fact that this was the first blood I'd been able to keep down. "Never mind." I shook my head, not really trusting myself. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He reached for me, wiping a drop of his blood from the corner of my mouth with his thumb. I didn't even think, just let my tongue dart out and save it, not wanting to let it go to waste. It was so good, tasted so good my eyes closed again and I moaned, sucking him into my mouth, my hand going around his wrist tightly to hold him in case he wanted to pull away. He hissed in pain, his wrist jerking. "Jesus Elena, I'm not healed yet."

My eyes popped open and I looked down, seeing his blood on my fingers. "Sorry." I went to the sink, trying to show good faith by washing them off, but he was behind me, looking at me in the mirror.

"What are you sorry for?" His tone had changed now and it made me shiver. It turned me on, and I squirmed a little in my own body. The adrenaline, the excitement, the bloodlust inside me was churning and enticing me. And it was impossible to repress. "It's natural for you to be addicted to my blood, after all it created you."

"Is that why this is so personal?"

"Sharing blood between vampires is always personal. It would be more intense if I drank from you however."

I took a deep steadying breath, placing my hands flat on the counter. "Maybe you should, it would heal your wound faster."

"You don't know what you're offering Elena."

I didn't know, and I didn't care. His blood was rushing through me, and all I could do was want. Want more; blood, him, all of it. I wanted to feel more, see more, smell more, taste and touch more. "Show me."

He looked at me, his eyes searching. I knew he didn't trust me, not really. Not anymore, and I couldn't blame him but he wanted me just as badly. That would never stop. "Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure about anything right now, just that I want you. And I can't control it. And I don't want to control it."

His hands were around my waist then, spinning me around, lifting me up onto the counter. He was stepping between my legs and I was wrapping them around him. He was brushing my hair back from my neck, tilting my face up and kissing along my chin and my cheek bones. He avoided my lips and I wondered why. We were being so…personal as it was. So intimate. And we'd already kissed before today, but on some level I understood. He didn't need to kiss me because this was so much more than that. This was so much more intense than that. Would he see me when he drank from me? Would I see more of him? "Ready?" he half whispered, half growled into my ear and I nodded, my fingers in his hair, tugging and pulling and twisting so that he could get closer to my throat. I felt his fangs pierce my skin and I muffled the cry with my free hand, letting the pleasure take over as I felt our minds join rather than our bodies.

Damon's POV

I was seeing into her, feeling into her as I brought my very life source inside of me. I saw her in a red dress on the first day of kindergarten getting off the bus and meeting up with a miniature Caroline and Matt. I saw her the day her parents brought Jeremy home from the hospital. I felt the happiness, the nervousness as if it had been my own. I saw the day she joined the cheerleading squad, felt her exhaustion from tryouts and the excitement of following in her mom's footsteps. I saw her making out with an older Matt in the woods, felt the adrenaline and arousal and the nervousness. I saw her father drowning, the car filling up with water. I felt the cold and the emptiness, and then the horror and grief as she grieved for her parents. I saw her and Aunt Jenna dancing to showtunes in the kitchen at Christmas, trying to get a sullen Jeremy to smile. I felt her hope and then the crashing disappointment when he stood up and walked out of the room. I saw her first day going back to school, all the eyes on her and the whispering behind her back.

She'd been popular before, known before but this was different. They were waiting for her to crack, to break, to run crying from the classroom and never return. I felt her desperation, her fear, and her stubbornness to get through another day. It was always about getting through another day. Then I saw the Boarding House and the day we met. I was kissing her hand and she was smiling. I felt how charmed she'd been, how surprised by my ways. I saw us in the car on the way to Georgia, how scared she'd been, how untrusting she'd been, how relieved she'd been to get away from this town. I saw myself again, at the bottom of the stairs as she came toward me in that stunning blue dress. I saw her in my arms as we dance, felt her curiosity and desire. I saw her the way she saw me, and it wasn't like the monster I'd always pictured. She'd had nightmares of me attacking her, biting her but they'd always become more…interesting dreams.

As I pulled these thoughts from her, I knew they flashed through her mind as mine had when she drunk from me and I went back to one of those dreams. A particular one that had a strong memory. She was alone in the house, and then I was behind her, grabbing her, pulling her head back and sinking my fangs into her neck. At first she'd been afraid but as the dream went on and the connection of our minds gave me control over it I painted a new image for her. She melted into me, my bite turning into a kiss. She moaned, rubbing against me. I could feel her arousal, smell it both in our minds and the physical world. Finally, I pulled back, noticing then that she'd wrapped her hand around my wrist, holding it against her and slowly grinding against the pressure of my fingers. I wasn't sure how long she'd been doing that, but her eyes remained closed and she moaned when I pulled back.

"Come back Elena." I murmured, cradling her face with my free hand. I pressed more tightly, feeling how warm, how wet she was even through the jeans. "Come back to me."

Her eyes fluttered open, slowly and her head rose so she could meet my gaze. "Did you see?"

I nodded and she blushed. "So everything I saw was real?"

"Except the dream…that was just your fantasy."

She slipped from the counter, her hands fisting in my jacket. "Make it real then."

I felt myself slam into the opposite wall, felt her lips and her teeth on mine. "You're not yourself Elena. It's the blood. You need to take a deep breath."

She shook her head, her fingers already digging into my chest as she undid the buttons on my shirt. "I've never felt more like myself."

Just as she couldn't help herself, neither could I. I spun her around, holding her back to my chest just as I had in the dream. My blood in her system had already healed her wound so I kissed along the closed skin, licking and sucking and slipping my hands under her shirt. "Be careful what you wish for." I growled in her ear, nipping at it as I slid one hand down into her jeans, not bothering to open them. My fingers found her wetness and my other arm tightened around her to hold her up as her knees began to buckle. "How does that feel?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She was too lost in sensation, could only moan and rock her hips against my touch. "Don't stop." She whispered finally, reaching her hand up to find my hair, tugging my head down so she could kiss me. "Don't stop."

I moved then, fast because I could, hard because I could. I pressed her up chest up against the wall, and ripped open her jeans. The button popped off somewhere and the zipper tore down. I smoothed her jeans down her legs, feeling her kick off her shoes and her jeans. "Tell me what you want."

She let her head fall back against my shoulder, her mouth searching for mine again. I denied her, waiting for an answer. "You, I want you."

"How do you want me?" I pressed my fingers against her, through the now soaked panties. She moaned, pushing against my hand, looking for more friction. I turned her, pushing her back up against the wall. "How, Elena?"

"Inside me." She gasped, our eyes finally meeting. Her fingers worked quickly at the button of my jeans and I made her shirt more acquainted with the floor.

"Now?" I asked, lifting her up so her legs were around my waist.

She wiggled and rolled her hips toward mine, searching for the physical connection we were both craving. Nothing outside these four walls mattered. She only belonged to me in this moment, and I liked it that way. It didn't matter if she went back to him when we walked out of here, because the connection we shared was bigger than that. It was bigger than the choice she'd made so long ago before she'd really known what being with me could be like. Maybe one day she would choose me, but I couldn't think about that right now either. Like it was meant to be our bodies matched up and I slid home. She gasped, her legs tightening around my waist and her hands gripping my shoulders tightly, pushing my shirt halfway down my arms. She didn't even care to take it all the way off.

Her head fell back against the wall, her eyes shut tight and the only sound I heard was my name on her lips and the sound of her breathing. She moaned a few times, gasped when I hit the right spot. Her nails dug in when I went the right amount of deep.

Elena's POV

There were no silk sheets, no candles, but I didn't care. Nothing else mattered then being with him, like this. This passion, this love. It was all consuming, taking up both my mind and my body. I loved it, craved it, wanted more of it. He hit that spot again and I felt myself slide down the wall as we nearly buckled onto the floor together. We held on tighter to each other after that, but a few minutes later found us tangled together, trying to catch our breath on the floor anyway. The adrenaline slowly began to seep out of my body as I tried to recover from everything that had happened. How long had it been? Ten minutes, an hour since we'd been in this room? As if on cue someone began banging on the door and I nearly jumped out of skin.

Damon placed a calming hand on my stomach and shook his head, holding a finger to his lips. Eventually the banging stopped and the offending person stomped off. This restaurant really needed more than two bathrooms. "I guess we should get up." I whispered , slowly sitting up and searching for my bra.

I could feel his eyes focusing on my back and I kept my spine straight as I stood to dress. The questions would come no doubt, whether I was going to leave Stefan for him and while the connection I felt with him was to impossible to deny, I couldn't just walk away from a relationship I'd been a part of and fought for, for so long. "Elena." He whispered, standing and tugging his jeans back into place.

"I don't want to forget about this Damon, not ever. But I don't want to talk about what happened right now either."

"We're going to have to talk though, and make decisions."

I nodded, feeling my heart sink in my chest. "I don't want to ruin this memory with a fight."

"Me either." He seemed like he wanted to say more, but he only handed me my lost shoe and waited for me by the door.

a/n: so…thoughts on this particular kind of bloodsharing? I thought it was rather fitting considering Elena just got her compelled memories back and all that. A new season, so a look back at such a crucial moment for them would be good.