CreepingMuse is awesome for beta'ing this for me. Thanks!

She missed him.

Elena expected it. She always missed Damon when he wasn't there. What she hadn't expected was that she would feel so lonely at night, knowing that he wasn't there next to her. She had no idea how she had gotten used to being with him so quickly, how it was suddenly unnatural to sleep alone in her own bed in her own room.

The night promised to be long and sleepless. Elena was staring at the ceiling and thinking. Thinking about everything. Damon. The sire bond. Her feelings for Damon. How she had hurt Stefan. How she couldn't be there for Jeremy.

Being a vampire didn't make the lives of people around her any easier. She was still a burden. People she loved still got hurt.

Then she stopped herself. Damon wouldn't be happy knowing that she was "being a martyr," as he put it. That helped her feel better. Was it the sire bond?

Elena heaved a sigh. What if everyone else was right and she was wrong? What if she would feel different without the sire bond? What if her loyalty for Stefan still outweighed her feelings for Damon?

"No," she whispered to herself, even though there was no one there to see it. It couldn't be true. When Damon invoked the sire bond to send her home, she felt a physical pull to get in the car. It didn't make her want or like it, it just…confused her. What she felt for Damon, though? That wasn't confusing at all. She finally knew it.

"I love Damon. I'm in love with Damon," she said quietly, just to hear the words spoken out loud. They sounded right.

She only wished she was next to him.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Elena started, looking around her in wonder. She recognized the interior of the lake house − the bedroom Damon had occupied. He was sitting on the bed and staring at her in shock. She took in his disheveled hair and confused, sleepy face and couldn't help but smile.

"Hey."

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"Well, I guess I did fall asleep at some point. Elena, I told you to go home. Why did you come back?"

"But I am home. This is my home, too," she said, challenging him with her gaze. Elena found that she didn't even care how she was at the lake house all of a sudden – right now, it only mattered that Damon was there, too.

His eyes didn't soften.

"Wrong. I don't know how you came back, but you should go back home now."

"No," she raised her chin defiantly, and Damon frowned.

"Go home. To Mystic Falls," he clarified.

"No. I need to talk to you."

Damon ran his hand through his hair, exasperated. "Elena, we've been through this before. I'm not going to talk to you. Nothing you say will change my mind."

"I know what you're trying to do," she said confidently. "You're pushing me away. You're being harsh and rude, and you hope that will drive me away. It won't. I'm not going anywhere."

"Why aren't you doing what I tell you?" As much as he was trying to look angry, he sounded more surprised than anything else.

Elena tilted her head. "Maybe you should stop trying to use the sire bond against me?"

Damon sighed and lay down again, closing his eyes.

"Don't. Please. I can't deal with it right now," he asked.

"I'll go find another room, then," said Elena quietly. "Goodnight, Damon." She leaned down to kiss him. He didn't respond.

It was downright surreal, Elena thought as she walked out of the room and leaned against the wall. What was that, some vampire teleportation? Surely there was no such thing. And Damon didn't even question it as much as he normally would and let it go too easily, somehow assuming that she had come back. She looked down at herself. Right, she drove there from Mystic Falls in her PJ's.

Something wasn't right.

Could it be a dream? Elena dismissed the idea quickly – it felt too real to be a dream. She saw the hallway in every detail – cracks on the wall, a little uneven ceiling. If she squinted, she could even see specks of dust on the carpet.

Somehow these mundane details calmed her down.

Elena turned around and went back to Damon's bedroom. He was still lying on his back, eyes closed, but he wasn't asleep yet. She didn't say a word, instead walking around the bed sliding under the covers on her side.

"Don't," he tried to protest. Elena smiled and shifted closer.

"I won't talk. I won't try to convince you that- I won't," she whispered. "Just let me stay here. With you. Please."

This time his sigh meant defeat, and Elena knew it. She waited another moment and his hand sneaked under her back, pulling her closer. She pressed her cheek to his shoulder, relishing the feel of his skin against hers. Appeased by Damon's presence, Elena soon fell asleep.

She woke up with a smile, which quickly faded when she realized she was alone in the bed.

"Damon?" she muttered and sat up, opening her eyes.

She was in her room, alone. The other side of the bed didn't look like anybody slept in it at all.

Was it a dream, after all?

Elena reached for her phone on the night stand. She had to know what had happened, even if what she was about to ask him was downright crazy – "Damon, I just woke up in my room and I was wondering if I hadn't spent this night with you at the lake house"?

He answered after the first ring.

"Hey," she said almost timidly. Damon chuckled.

"Proud of your little stunt?"

"What?"

"You don't even know what you did, do you?" he said, and she imagined him shaking his head. He sounded surprised and a little…proud?

"Okay, Damon, you're freaking me out. What did I do?"

"Mind connection. Dream control. Dream walking. Call it whatever you want."

"Wait, so that was all a dream?"

"Yes, Elena. You invaded my dream and controlled it. Well, I let you, to be fair."

"Sorry. You don't sound mad, though." She smiled and heard him laugh.

"Right, Elena. I should be really mad that you involuntarily did something that you shouldn't be able to do until at least five years later just to sleep next to me." She widened her eyes in surprise, but didn't really know what to say. Except for the obvious.

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too." And then he hung up.