Just a little drabble I came up with after watching Episode 17.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing! *sobs* I would rather like a Damon please . . & a Stefan too if anyone's offering! ;)

Elena paced her bedroom thoughtfully. The sky outside was light now & that meant she'd been pacing the same spot for hours. But she still couldn't figure the answer out. She stared at her blackberry for a few seconds before crossing the room & checking her recent calls for a specific name. She stared sadly at the first number on her call list,

Stefan Salvatore.

Now there was a world of misery in one name. When they'd got back to the Boarding house that night, he'd begged her to forgive him for growling at her, but therein lay the problem! She'd never been more scared in her life, even when she had fought all those vampires in the house. It was his face, the darkness in his eyes, the pure evilness. & that had worried her because she hadn't seen pure black evil in someone's eyes before. & the only comparable person was of course Damon. Even at his darkest point since she'd known him, she'd never seen such evil in Damon's eyes; & for God's sake he was supposed to be the evil brother. So when Stefan had asked if she would forgive him & if they could be a couple, she'd told him carefully that she needed time to think away from him & maybe they should have a break from each other whilst she thought. He hadn't taken it brilliantly & she'd practically fled from the boarding house.

Once she was home & alone in her own room, she began to replay the whole night's events in her head. & she was stuck on one thing. Damon of course. It was his face as he told her that she couldn't go into the vampire's house; practically condemning his own brother at that point! The way he'd told Mr Saltzman that her life was far to valuable to risk! The way he had forced her to stay in the car & then yelled at her when she didn't. & finally the way he'd told her to get out with Stefan, even though he was completely outnumbered. Which brought her to the one question that had left her pacing her room till the early hours . . . "Why?" & she had an inkling of the answer BUT she needed to know she was right.

So she did the brave thing & carried on scrolling through her phone to the name she needed to see,

Damon Salvatore.

& she hit dial.

He answered on the first ring sounding distinctly edgy, "Elena? What's wrong?" He never answered the phone to her like this, it was always flirtatious & made her think he was smirking, but this unnerved her further. "Can you come over?" she asked softly into the phone. "Why?" he asked worriedly & then the line went dead. She stared at it for a few seconds, wondering why he'd hung up but then he appeared through her window & she understood why. "What's wrong Elena?" he asked grabbing her by the arms & practically shaking. "I . . . I needed to ask you something. . . " She tailed off into silence at the end & he stared at her, totally confused. & then it hit him that she hadn't rung him in mortal terror like he'd thought & he visibly relaxed & let her go. He sauntered to the other side of the room & she knew his walls were back up for some reason as he asked, "Well now Miss Elena, what could I possibly help you with at this time of the night?"

The penny dropped. "Stefan told you?" she asked & he merely nodded. This added another thing to the list of questions . . . why did he care if Stefan & she had broken up & Stefan was back on human blood?

"Why?" she asked. The words had tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them, "Why do you care if I live or die? Why do you keep protecting me?"

He laughed easily, the walls were well & truly back up. & she glared at him darkly. "Don't laugh at me Damon Salvatore! I want an answer. I've been awake since . . . " She trailed off as his eyes lit up. He had realised that she'd been up till this time over him, not his righteous brother.

"Curiosity killed the cat Elena!" he mocked. Elena took a deep breath as she realised getting annoyed wouldn't get her the answer. So she hanged tactics. Slowly she crossed the room & stood in front of him, looking up sweetly. "Just tell me why you care about my survival Damon?" He shot backwards & rearranged his expression to one of boredom, "Please Elena you know as well as I do that Saint Stefan would stake me if anything happened to you –" She cut him off as she repeated, "So it was just to keep from Stefan staking you that you protected me?" she asked, her heart beating as she waited for the answer. He shot her a curious look before replying, "Of course! Its not like I have feelings for you."

She turned away to prevent him from seeing her heartbreak. She just wanted to get away from him, so she whispered in a false voice, "Ok then. It doesn't matter. You'd better be going. I need to get some sleep."

"Elena?" he said softly, trying to turn her around to face him.

"Just leave me alone Damon!" she snapped & moved away from him to the furthest corner she could get, watching him from under a curtain of hair. He stared to walk back towards her, but she just glared at him.

"I mean it Damon! Get out!" she snarled. He carried on moving slowly towards her. Infuriated she turned for the door, "Fine then! You stay, I'll go!" She was close to tears now & refused to let him see. Before her hand could grab the door handle he had popped up in front of her again & she jumped back.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!" he sighed. But she stayed an arms length away, & before she could stop the words had tumbled out again, "I . . . I thought that you . . . never mind!" He was staring at her in shock as he realised what she was thinking. She darted for the other door desperate not to hear him laughing at her.

But he caught her in his arms & whispered in a voice that was uncharacteristically soft, "Elena? Why do you care if I care?" She tried to pull away desperately, certain he would laugh at her if he knew, but when she couldn't, she glared at him. "I don't Damon! You don't care & I don't care! So leave me alone!"

& then Damon knew! Elena felt something for him! So slowly he lifted her face up towards his & looked into those chocolate eyes which were brimmed with hurt tears. & then he leant down bringing his lips softly to hers. The kiss was soft & totally different to how she had thought Damon would kiss. As he pulled away he whispered into her ear, "It's ok Elena. I feel the same!" She looked back up into his eyes as her heart rose & she pulled his face back down into a passionate kiss!