To Be A Vampire

The Truth

Hey!! So, the fourth chapter! Things are starting to kick off now, I promise. Onward...

Previously...

"That's not the only thing bothering you, is it?" To her surprise, Damon shook his head. "No." He said, emotion clear in his voice. "Is it the Cure? Do you miss being a vampire?"

Damon's heart dropped.

"Elena, I... it's not what you think." Elena remained silent, but her features relaxed into a face of understanding. "No, it's okay, Damon. Tell me." She said, placing a hand gently on his face. Damon sighed and took the hand in his own, stroking her palm and kissing her fingertips lightly. Despite everything, despite his continuous internal conflict and Elena's blatantly obvious question... Damon wasn't sure if he should tell her. This could ruin her, could ruin their relationship... that was the last thing Damon wanted.

"Hey." Elena whispered softly, guiding his face up to look at her. "Tell me. It's okay, you can say it." Damon swallowed the lump that was rising in his throat and shook his head, returning his eyes to the couch underneath him. "No." He said lowly. "No, I... I can't, Elena. I-it's not true, it's not." Damon said. Although, even to his own ears, it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than anything. He had thought of many ways as to how he would tell Elena when  she inevitably found out. Now, when the time had arrived, all of those ideas and thoughts had shot out his mind like an arrow from a crossbow.

"Damon." Elena said, a little more firmly this time as she once again guided his chin up so she could look deep into his insecure, conflicting eyes. "Say it. You know you mean it." Damon couldn't. No way, it wasn't true. He'd spent hours upon hours trying to distract himself, to prove to himself that he didn't need vampirism to be happy, that he could live a normal, human life. "I miss being a vampire." Dammit.

He wasn't sure where that had come from, where the sudden outburst of emotion had decided to make an appearance but, as Elena wiped a tear from his cheek, he knew he meant what he'd said. Elena gave him a warm, comforting smile and cupped his cheek. "It's okay." She whispered. "It's okay, Damon. It's normal. You were a vampire for a century and a half, I kind of expected it if I'm honest." Damon chuckled and pulled her in for a short, sweet kiss, wrapping his arms around her slim waist. "I swear this is just a phase. Like last time, Elena, and I'll get over it."

"Is this what's been bothering you this whole time?" She asked. Damon gulped. He knew she'd asked, but he was far from being ready to admit that he'd also been pondering vampire life compared to human. Despite this, he nodded, averting his gaze down to the couch again. Elena sighed, but didn't pick his chin up this time. Damon was grateful for that. "Fine... well, it's only early evening."

Damon looked up, unsure as to what she was trying to say. "Seeing as there's no way around the Cure... I think we should remind you of all the reasons why you wanted to be human in the first place." She said with an excited smirk. Damon gave her a small smile in return. "Come on." She said, taking his hand and all but dragging him off of the sofa. "We're going to dinner." She said sweetly, pulling him over to the hallway and throwing him his leather jacket. Damon caught it and chuckled. "Dinner? Seriously? I just told you I miss being a vampire and we're going to dinner?" He said with an amused smile.

Elena threw him a cheerful look over her shoulder. "Yep." She said happily. "Now come on, I wanna go to that new restaurant on the edge of town. Bonnie and Caroline went there for a Murder Mystery night with Matt and Alaric while we were in New York, they said it was really nice." Elena guided Damon out of the door and to his car, reaching around him to fish in his pocket for his keys before unlocking the door and climbing into the passenger seat. Damon sighed as she grinned up at him. "Fine. But we split the bill." Elena laughed triumphantly and Damon walked around the front of the car to sit in the driver's seat and started the engine.