DELENA ONE-SHOT BASED ON SEASON 4 FINALE: NEVER LET ME GO

DE One-Shot 4x23: Never Let me Go

Elena paced back and forth outside the Salvatore boarding house. She so badly needed to speak to Damon – she couldn't imagine how much anxiety he had been going through the past few weeks. First, she turned off her humanity and said so many horrid things to her sweet, loving Damon – things that she couldn't believe she had even thought when her humanity was off. Then, she was so obsessed with going after Katherine; she used Damon again, playing him. How did that make her any different from Katherine? She buried her face in her hands as she stood facing the door, trying to decide whether to knock.

Just then, she felt a familiar touch stroking her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face so gently, that she'd have thought it was the wind. She opened her eyes slowly to see the man she had missed for what felt like ages, the man she had mistreated while she hadn't been herself.

He parted his lips and tilted his head to the side, concernedly, "What's wrong, 'Lena?" His voice was soft, barely a whisper.

Elena trembled, tears threatening to fall when Damon pulled her closer and asked her once more, "You okay, beautiful?"

She couldn't suppress her emotions any longer, not when he was looking at her so affectionately. How was he always there for her, even when she messed up so badly? How was he so perfect, so beautiful?

"Damon!" Elena threw her arms around him and sobbed into the crook of his neck, "God, I'm so sorry!"

Damon was surprised when Elena jumped into his arms, crying. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He had missed his Elena too – the one who cared, sometimes too much, the one who loved, recklessly but intensely. Oh, how he had missed the girl who had given him a chance.

"Elena," Damon sighed softly, hugging her to his body and kissing her cheek softly, "Don't cry, baby."

Elena's sobbing subsided after a while but she wouldn't untangle herself from Damon, even when Caroline had to pass them to get inside the boarding house where Stefan was waiting with Jeremy and Lexi. Caroline didn't linger because she could see Elena was upset and only Damon could comfort her at that point. He nodded when Caroline passed by, giving her a small smile, but his attention was completely on Elena.

Once Elena had calmed down, she pulled away just enough so she could look at Damon. Damon smiled at her slightly and lifted his hand so he could brush the side of her face with his fingers. His thumb lingered and wiped away any remaining tears.

"Damon, I'm so sorry about all the things I said to you while my humanity was off. I really didn't mean a single thing I said about being sired to you and not actually caring about you," Elena said as she looked into Damon's sapphire blue eyes full of understanding and love.

"Hey," Damon placed his hands on the sides of Elena's face and whispered, "I know you didn't, sweetheart. I know."

Elena's lip began to quiver again as she tried to hold back the tears. She loved him so much. He needed to know that it was real.

"Hey," Damon whispered again, pulling Elena close and wrapping his arms around her, "It's okay, Elena. Everything's okay."

She was too choked up to speak at the moment so she just hugged him with all the strength she had. Damon could feel some pressure on his upper chest by his shoulder when Elena squeezed him, but he just clenched his teeth and ignored the pain from the werewolf venom wound. This was the last thing Elena needed to know about at this time. A few minutes later, Damon looked at her and smiled, "Want to go inside?"