A/N: I know its been a while, but here it is! Part Three of my tear-jerker fic. Please read and review.

The ending is rushed, so it's not the best in terms of written quality, but read-read-read away and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer; again, I own nothing! We've established the poster doesn't count, and I'm sure DVD's don't count either.

Apologies for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes.

The boarding house was quiet when she entered. Dust flitted between the rays of sunlight spilling in through the window, but besides that miniscule movement, an eerie stillness had settled over the building. She pulled her jacket tighter to ward off the Goosebumps.

"Damon?" She called, pausing to listen out for signs of life. Nothing. "Damon?" She tried again, panicking when she recieved no reply. The third attempt yielded the same result.

She hurried through the building, jogging up the staircase and checking every bedroom and bathroom, but there were no signs of her friend. Now almost delirious with worry, she flew down the stairs and down another level, to the basement.

"Damon? Where are you?"

This time, she was answered with a groan. She liked to think it sounded like a mumbled 'Elena' but really, she knew better.

She rounded the corner and flung herself in front of the door to the cellar in which they'd locked Stefan the previous year, when a sudden onset of blood-lust had left him too dangerous to leave in the public eye. And there she saw him.

He was lying half on his stomach, one hand braced against the floor. Elena could see the muscles straining as he tried to force his body up off the floor, but a coughing fit overtook him and he spat blood onto the cold stone, rolling away before his arm had a chance to give way beneath him. He groaned again, and Elena let out a small whimper.

"Damon." She breathed. His eyes, still on alert in comparison to his slow-motion muscle movement, darted to the bars in the door. He squinted a little to look at her.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, and it sounded as though her were trying to be angry, but he didn't seem to have the energy.

"Stefan...Stefan told me." She replied, watching him with wide eyes. She'd never seen Damon so weak before. He coughed again and moaned against gritted teeth as a wave of pain washed through him.

"Oh, Damon." She couldn't keep the sympathy out of her voice. He was going to die like this. He doesn't deserve this, she thought, nobody does.

"Save the pity-party for someone who gives a damn." He growled, but the look that came over his features immediately after the words were uttered showed just how much he regretted them. He winced. "Sorry," He breathed, "being confined to the cellar of my own house makes me a little...snarky."

Elena allowed a small smile to grace her lips. At least he was trying to be somewhat humorous about the situation.

"Speaking of," she said, trying to keep the tremor from her tone, "why are you down here?"

Damon made the effort to raise his brows.

"Stefan didn't tell you that?"

Elena shook her head. Damon let his drop to the stone and sighed.

"I might have...tried to...end my suffering."

Elena bristled.He what?

"You what?"

And for the first time since he dropped that damn ring, he started to feel guilty. He rolled big blue eyes to look at her, and the gaze on her face made his insides freeze. She looked so...devastated.

"I-." But he couldn't find a way to explain himself that didn't sound incredibly selfish. He sighed, stifling a groan. "I was hurt. I was hurting. I was being an ass; a completely selfish ass."

Elena looked at him with wide eyes. He'd tried to kill himself? Why?

"How?" She asked, her voice sounding shallow. He held up his hand in response, and she noticed for the first time that his daylight ring was missing. Ah, she thought, that explains the cellar. "So Stefan shut you in here to keep you out of the light? So you wouldn't do it again?"

"Bingo." He said, lying his head flat on the floor and breathing deeply.

"Would you?" She asked, hesitant. "Would you have done it again, if he hadn't locked you in here?"

Damon remained silent. Elena took it as a yes.

She shook her head at him, tears cascading down her cheeks. Damon frowned at her.

"What's with the water works?" He asked. Elena gave him a glare.

"Oh, I don't know." She said angrily. "Maybe it's because best friend is dying? Just a thought."

Damon froze at that and forced himself to sit upright. He eyed her through the bars, wide eyed and open mouthed.

"Best friend?" He asked. Elena opened her mouth to shout at him for being so damn selfish, but she stopped when she heard the softness, the surprise, in his tone. She felt the fight drain straight out of her.

"Yes, Damon. I consider you one of my best friends." She gazed at him, and couldn't help but smile softly at the wonder that lit up his eyes. And then more tears came. He didn't know. And now, he has about a day to come to grips with it before he's gone. Gone.

"I had no idea." He murmurs. "You're always...always angry at me." She closes her eyes and looks at the floor. "I'm always giving you reasons to hate me. Hell, I killed your brother, and you still came running back."

Elena watched him through teary eyes, fighting to keep the sob in her throat. This could not be happening. This had been part of her dream; this had been the one ray of hope for her when she woke up that morning, the one thing that her cruel mind had imagined. But here he was, coughing up blood on the floor in the basement, purple flesh crawling its way up his arm, poisoning him slowly, so slowly.

She could hear footsteps upstairs now. Stefan must be home, she thought. She didn't want to get in between the two brothers in Damon's last hours, and so, in a hurried voice, she spoke again.

"Hey, I know I get mad, sometimes. I know I say so many horrible things to you...but just...just know that at the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything, okay? All that matters," she choked, glancing at the staircase. "All that matters is that you're my best friend. You're part of my world, and there will always be a place for you in it. Okay?" Her voice was shaking, and she saw tears in Damon's eyes as he nodded. And then she ran

She crept through the living room and to the door, conscious of the sounds of drinks being poured into glass. One more drink for Damon. She hurried outside and into the cold air, and towards her car.

Just as she clambered inside it, she noticed another vehicle in the drive way. Alaric. So it wasn't Stefan. And knowing that, she couldn't fight the urge to go back inside.

As she headed back towards the house, though, she had the overwhelming feeling that she was being watched. She turned, but saw nobody. But when she twisted back to the house, a hand clamped firmly over her mouth. Sheriff Forbes.

No.

A:N/ Aaaaand we're back to the episode. Just a little three-shot, but it was okay, write? Tear-jerker? I hope so.

Leave me a review, let me know!

I know the ending was hurried, but I'm focusing more on my one-shot collection, and I didn't want to leave this unfinished.

Thanks in advance, guys. Oh, and if you haven't already, please pay a visit to my one-shot collection, Closer, for a read, and let me know what you think of that, too!

Thanks and much love,

Someone x