My Story (Damon's POV)

Ch. 22: As I Lay Dying

It's a beautiful day, as we stand by Jenna Sommer's grave. Klaus killed her during the ritual. Jenna was Jeremy and Elena's aunt. Now they're on their own. All they have are their friends, me, Stefan, and Ric now. I take a rose and lay it down on her grave, and so do the others at the funeral.
After the funeral, I tell Stefan that Tyler Lockwood bit me and I show it to him. I then tell him not to tell Elena, and I walk away from him to go home. I don't want her to have to deal with me dying. Her aunt just died. She needs time to heal.

Later that day, I walk into her room.
"Elena."
She turns around to look at me, standing by her vanity.
"Damon," she says.
"Elena, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I need it," I say with a pleading face. I need her forgiveness for force feeding her my blood to make sure she came back to life after the ritual. I'm inwardly begging her to forgive me. She doesn't heed though, because she doesn't know I'm dying from a werewolf bite. So, she practically kicks me out of the door, and I leave.

Later that afternoon, I take my ring off and stand in front of the window to die. As I start to burn, Stefan comes in at vamp speed and gets me out of the sun. He then locks me in the cellar in the basement.
"What's the big plan, little brother?" I ask, as I lay on my back.
I roll onto my side and cough up some blood, before I look up at him.
"Lie still. Preserve your strength. You're not going to die. I have Bonnie looking into it."
He walks away, leaving me alone.

I'm let out of there later on and I wander the streets in the middle of the 60's celebration. Everything starts blending in together and I'm weak, sweaty, and hot. But then Elena finds me and starts to get me out of there, before we stop by a pole. I start to hallucinate that Elena is Katherine and get her up against a pole, bending down towards her neck.
"Damon, stop," she says.
A memory of Katherine slicing by the side of her neck surfaces.
"I choose you, Katherine," I say, before I bite Elena in that same place I bit Katherine so many years ago.
"Damon, it's me. Damon," she continues to say, as I bite her.
Suddenly, the hallucination ends, and I stop.
"Elena?" I say.
I take a step back and then fall onto my back, very weak.
Elena kneels beside me with one hand on her wound.

Later that night, I lay in my bed with Elena seated at my bedside with a wet washcloth.
"You should go. I could hurt you," I whisper to her.
"I'm not leaving. I'm here until the very end," she replies.
She snuggles up closer to me.
"You would've liked me in 1864," I whisper.
"I like you how you are now," she tells me.
She damps the wet washcloth on my forehead.
I close my eyes.
I feel her lips on mine once, and know she just kissed me.
"Thank...you," I whisper once more.
A familiar scent comes to me a moment before the voice says, "It's me you should be thanking. I have the cure."
I open my eyes and Elena gets to her feet to get out of Katherine's way.
Katherine walks up to my bedside and gives me the cure, before she lays one hand on my cheek.
"You came back," I say.
"I owed you one," she replies.
She walks off to the middle of the room.

I slowly sit up in bed.
"Where's Stefan?" Elena asks.
"He just gave himself up to Klaus. He gave everything up, including you, to save his brother. I wouldn't expect him back anytime soon."
She goes to leave, but stops at the doorway to look at Elena.
"Don't be afraid to love them both. I did," she says, before she walks out of the room and disappears out of our sight.
Elena and I look at one another silently.