DELENA POST-5X22: IT'S REAL

Chapter 3: Don't Cry Tonight

Damon quietly entered the boarding house followed by Lucy to find Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt, and Jeremy sitting on the couches talking about him. His friends glanced up when Stefan called, "Damon?"

"In the flesh, brother," Damon smiled, his eyes softening when his brother touched his shoulder to see if he was actually there.

Stefan's eyes welled up with tears, "How are you here?" Damon and Stefan hugged each other tightly.

"I'm back, Stef. I'm here," Damon reassured his brother and his friends who were in complete shock, "And you can thank Lucy over here for that."

"Lucy?" Bonnie got up from the couch and walked over to her cousin, "I'm so glad to see you again! How did you both come back? I can't believe this, Elena's going to be..." Bonnie trailed off realizing there was so much going on with Elena that Damon didn't know.

Jeremy hugged Damon, "I missed you, man. Elena, she's..."

"I missed you too, big Jer," Damon smiled, "What's wrong with Elena? Where is she?" Damon looked panicked and everyone noticed.

"Why are you guys so quiet? What's going on with Elena?" Damon's voice rose, and he was about to lose it if no one spoke up.

"Damon, sit down. There are some things you need to know before you see Elena, alright?" Stefan said, looking to Caroline to explain.

"Damon, when you died, Elena...she couldn't handle it. We've never seen her like this. She's completely gone without you. Luke felt really guilty for interrupting the spell so he gave her some witchy drugs that make her hallucinate...well, you," Caroline paused, giving Damon a few seconds to absorb what she had said.

"Go on, Care," Bonnie urged.

"We had to inject her with vervain this morning because the drugs make her unusually thirsty which made her reckless. She's passed out right now, but you have to understand that she lost all hope that you'd come back. She hasn't let you go because she can't. Her hallucinations of you are what have kept her alive, that's how bad it was Damon."

"I - I can't believe this, I need to see her. My poor, beautiful Elena," Damon buried his face in his hands, "I need to show her I'm back and everything will go back to normal."

"Brother, she may not think you're real. She may see you as a hallucination. Only you can convince her that you're truly back, but you need to know the state she's in, okay?" Stefan placed his hand on Damon's shoulder, reassuringly.

"I'll get her back, she's going to be fine," Damon said as he began to ascend the stairs, "I'll probably be up here for a while. Lucy can fill you in on everything."

Damon was shaking. He couldn't believe the extent Elena went to see him. He was upset that she'd put herself in harm's way with these witchy drugs just to see him, but he could understand. If she had died and it was him left alone, thinking he'd never see her again, and he could hallucinate her, he would have done the same. He would fix this.

He crept into his - no, their - bedroom quietly. The moment he saw Elena tucked into bed clutching a pillow to her body, he let out a sigh of relief. His beautiful Elena was okay. He sped over to her side and ran a finger down her cheek, stroking it gently. He bent down and pressed his lips to her cheek and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I love you, 'Lena," he whispered and kissed her cheek again. He sped over to the other side of the bed, carefully removing the pillow from her clutches and replacing it with himself. Elena let out a small moan before readjusting herself so that her head was resting on Damon's chest. Damon smiled, running his fingers through her hair. He didn't want to wake her from her sleep - he knew she probably needed to rest. He was happy just holding her.