Disclaimer: I don't own the characters I just like to play with them.

Setting: Season 2, Episode 3: Bad Moon Rising

A/N: So this is my own personal little alternate ending to the way the conversation between Elena and Damon at the end of Bad Moon Rising ended. Elena's first words in this fic are said right after she thanks him for telling the truth. Enjoy ^_^.

There was a long pause…..

"Don't move," Elena whispered in a voice that was so close to cracking under the pressure of its own weight. She could feel her heart thundering like a thousand hooves on a track, her mind spinning in incoherent circles. A moment of concise clarity was needed, but would never come.

Did she love Stephan? undeniably yes. His darkness was her shining light in this world. His love was her lifeline and she wasn't sure how she would ever survive without him. They were a pair, a team…partners. He often felt like her other half, and bide her the teenage cliché, her soul mate.

Despite all this she could still feel her feet moving unbidden towards the form standing in front of her. A creature that had just bared its soul, for quite possibly the first time in his undead life, and perhaps even before that. He was risking everything on one moment, on one shred of honesty - which she could feel like a tangible object constricting her, the difficulty it put on him to admit obvious. It was the way his words wavered in their confidence, lost their smooth cocky assured allure, if only for a moment.

That was the man he could be inside. That was who he truly was.

He let her see the real Damon for the first time. Finally.

Even fully knowing that the risk of his honesty could cost him everything he had with her. His final apology had her hard eyes staring back at him, seeing for the first time what was really there. She wasn't a fool, she was aware that he could clearly hear the chaotic rhythm her heart was beating out as she stepped closer into his personal space.

Mere inches apart and she could feel his burning stare stuck to her, scrutinizing her, trying to calculate just what exactly she was up to. Attempting to anticipate her next move, her next words. At such a close range she could smell him, and she let her eyes fall close to it. A lump started to form in the thick of her throat and the tell tale tingle of tears welling in her eyes made it all so real. She couldn't hide from what she was doing, and as he risked everything for her moments ago she would risk everything she built herself up to be, that she had….

For him.

Her hand came up slowly, her eyes still closed tightly against the tears that threatened to spill over her cheeks. Parts of her palm barely grazing the side of his face, the tips of her fingers barely touching the splayed ends of his hair. It was a sure sign of how conflicted she was on the inside, and she was positive he could smell the salt of saline in the air. He did as asked though – he didn't move. Not to touch her, not to say a word.

She was ever grateful.

As soon as she opened her eyes the tears could be held back no longer, streaking down her face in slow streams. Drawing them up from the spot on his chest they had been idly staring at, she caught his confused, concerned, and curious gaze - still obviously trying to puzzle her out in this moment. She wanted to make sure that he knew, that she knew, exactly who she was with. Exactly what she was doing despite whatever reservations were physically and emotionally present.

She was here with him, and only him.

The gripping anxiety coiled tightly around her torso, cutting off her throat and making it feel impossible to breathe. The swooshing of her blood rushing past her ears making every other sound in the world drown into a background noise she could barely hear. Leaning forward slowly, she pressed her soft lips to his, eyes still open.

A few seconds or a few minutes could have passed, she could hardly tell, but soon her palm was fully pressing into the side of his face, sliding up into his hair. The other hand coming up to slide along his chest as she stepped into him, bodies touching as she kissed him again, having never pulled her lips away the first time.

His lips were soft she noted, finally letting her eyes close as she kissed him.

Had he lost her friendship forever? No. Not ever. Not after now.

When it was over she pulled away slowly, not at all looking ashamed of herself, but yet the tears still ran down her cheeks silently, cooling her face as a breeze brushed over them. She couldn't read the look on his face, and she wasn't sure she wanted to as she fished her keys out of her jeans pocket and turned to the door, shoving her house key into the lock and pushing the wood frame open. She paused before stepping inside her house, her face turning to look over her shoulder "Goodnight Damon." She bid softly, no trace of a smile on her lips but her words sincere in tone - before she was gone.

He hadn't moved for goodness knows how long. He hadn't moved when she kissed him either, not even to react. Not that he hadn't wanted to. Staring at the door where she had disappeared behind, her beautiful face streaked in glistening saline, her eyes showing how her soul was torn on the inside.

"Goodnight, Elena." He finally whispered into the cool night air.

This was going to cost her dearly.

There you have it, hope you enjoyed it, please remember to Read and Review )

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