This was written for the 2014 Author to Author Holiday Exchange on LiveJournal. Written from a prompt given by Kate, (This is My Escape)

Her prompt is as follows: Elena's found a way to restore her memories, has gotten everything she's lost back, and decides she'll reveal this to Damon on Christmas Eve. Fluffy or not so fluffy ending welcome.

I hope you enjoy and as always read and review. :)

Everything was in order. The tree was up and covered in lights and other decorations done in traditional colours. The stockings were hung along the mantle, just because we're vampires doesn't mean that a certain jolly fat man shouldn't be able to visit. Mistletoe was hung strategically, since it was always fun to catch people standing under the mistletoe. I hadn't had a lot of kissing in the past little while but that was hopefully about to change. The turkey was in the oven and the delectable aroma filled the air. There was a pumpkin and apple pie ready to go into the oven and everything was going along perfectly. I finished winding lights down the banister and I knew Damon was going to choke when he came home. He openly told me that there was absolutely nothing to celebrate this year so we shouldn't decorate. It was lucky that I knew something he didn't. Standing back to admire my handiwork I realized that something was still missing. I rushed into the parlour, teetering on three inch heels in a tight red dress to put on the Christmas music. It needed to look, sound and smell festive in here. Tonight was just about Damon and I, tomorrow would be about everyone else. The turkey I had in the oven for tonight was small, there was a huge one in the fridge thawing for tomorrow. I was going all out for this, but we deserved it. It had been a long few months and I was more than ready to put them all behind me. Everything finally had the potential to be good again, and I just hoped it didn't take too much for us to get there. It had been difficult having Damon come back and for him to tell me that I was supposed to be in love with him. That we spent this amazing summer together with more love than most people know in a lifetime but for me not to remember it. When he came back I couldn't remember any of these things that he told me about. All I could remember was hating him. The Damon I knew had killed my brother and that made him a danger and an enemy. But that's not true. Everything he told me was true. I felt horrible that I would do something like ask Alaric to compel my memories away from me. That wasn't me at all. I loved Damon so I knew why I did it. The grief must have been impossible for me to deal with to make me do something like that. When I was sure the room was ready I ran back upstairs to make sure I still looked perfect. I was ready to tell Damon that I remembered everything. I was ready to be with him again. I just hoped he was still willing. For the past while since he had come back I've been pushing him away. I flaunted my relationship with Liam in his face and I told him it was impossible for someone like me to love someone like him. But the memories kept pushing and pushing until they broke through and flooded my brain. I did so much to hurt him and push him away until my memories came back. Now it was my turn to show him my devotion. He had been so good through all of this, he had let me stay in his house while I was on break from school. He talked to me, and watched TV with me but he never once tried to touch me. I think in his mind it's over between us. I plan on showing him that it will never be over.

I scrunch my hair in the mirror to bring some of the body back into it and reapply my mascara. I slicked on a layer of shiny nude lip gloss and adjusted my dress. It was a longer number than I usually wore to please him but it was tight and low cut. It showed just enough of my cleavage to be deemed sexy and it dropped down to my knees. It was a deep red colour which would appeal to his vampire nature and I paired it with a pair of sky high red shoes that I borrowed from Caroline. It paid to have a friend with the same sized feet. When I felt that I looked perfect I went downstairs and pulled the turkey out of the oven and placed it on the counter. I put the pies in the oven and set the timer. These pies were bought from the store so they only needed to be warmed up. The pies for tomorrow were home baked by Caroline. She was really into this whole Christmas thing this year. She was spending all day today baking at her moms house. She was doing so many things at once it was funny to watch. I couldn't stay though because I had to take care of something much more important. Checking the time I ran back upstairs and changed the sheets on the bed and setting up some candles so when we were ready to go to bed, it would be ready for us. I heard his car pull into the driveway and I took a deep breath. As excited as I was for this, I had no idea how it was going to end. Anything having to do with Damon was hard to predict.

"What the hell is all of this?"He yelled when he got into the house. I predicted this response from him, I just hoped I would be wrong. Now he was going to be grumpy for the rest of the evening.

"I wanted to decorate, so I decorated. Come it's dinner time." I said coming down the stairs. I had the pleasure of seeing his eyes rake over my body as I walked down the stairs. He immediately diverted his gaze and I was disappointed.

"I specifically told you not to decorate. There is nothing to celebrate this year." He told me as he stalked into the dining room and sat down. I brought him a glass of bourbon knowing he would want one before I brought out the turkey.

"There is always something to celebrate." I told him as I sat down.

"Like what. You don't remember anything, therefore there is nothing to celebrate. I should just go back to the Grill. I should have known you wouldn't listen to me. You never listen to me." He ranted.

"You're the only person I do listen to Damon." I insisted and he scoffed drinking his bourbon in one swallow.

"Like hell you do. If you listened to me Christmas wouldn't have puked all over my house." He snarled and got up to refill his glass. I sighed and poured myself a glass of wine. This was not going the way I planned.

"I wanted to have Christmas just the two of us because I wanted to talk to you." I told him. This was going much faster than I wanted it to. I hadn't wanted to tell him this until after dinner but he was seriously screwing with my plans.

"There is nothing you can say to make me happy right now." He muttered sitting with not only his glass of bourbon but the whole bottle. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a calming breath.

"Can we just eat please? If you just eat with me I'll take down the decorations and let you go back to hating everything." I pleaded with him and for just a second his gaze softened.

"For the record I don't hate everything. But we'll play this your way. Just keep in mind all of this is your fault. If you wouldn't have had Ric compel your memories away we wouldn't be in this boat." He told me and I shrugged.

"Just eat. I'll take everything down then." I told him. This was not going according to plan and I refused to share the good news with a belligerent Damon. He had drank too much and he was being an asshole. I didn't want to deal with that man. I just wanted to go upstairs and deal with my disappointment by myself. I had to know it wouldn't be this easy. Nothing with Damon ever was. It was even harder when he was hurt.

We ate the rest of our meal in silence. When I was finished I stood and took my plate into the kitchen. I would deal with the cleanup long after he went to bed. I just didn't want to see him right now.

"I'm going to change then I'll clean up." I told him. He watched me walk away with an uncertain expression on his face. I just wasn't entirely sure why he was uncertain. He wasn't the one who planned this entire evening so he could tell me that things were finally heading back to normal. My memories were back but I couldn't remember a time when he was this upset. I hate that it was me he was upset at but at the same time I understood it. I was the one who didn't have faith that he would return so I had to rid myself of the hurt. I know now that I should have had faith in him returning, he was Damon. He always managed to survive. It's just who he is. I wanted to cry but I didn't want him to hear me. I would have to settle for the silent sobs that tore your body apart rather than the loud ones. I went into the closet to find something to change into but instead I slid to the floor and placed my head in my hands and released the sobs that were so desperate to come out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damon POV

When Elena didn't come back down a few minutes later I got worried. She'd been acting funny all day and I had no idea what the hell was going on with her. I knew she loved Christmas but even she should know that neither of us had anything to celebrate this year. I stood up and took my plate into the kitchen and put both hers and mine into the dishwasher. Just the fact that she wanted to have a Christmas dinner with just me was suspicious. She had said she wanted to talk to me but I was such an asshole that I wouldn't let her speak. I covered up all the food and went to turn the music off because it was starting to grate on me. I hated Christmas carols on a good year and this was far from a good year. Still having not heard a thing from Elena I went up the stairs searching for her. I went into the bedroom she had taken when she came home and didn't find her in there so I went down the hall to my room. I had placed her on the other side of the house so I wouldn't be tempted to go to her at night. It didn't help. I was still tempted. My bedroom door was closed but I could see the light under the door so I opened it up.

"I'm changing." She called from inside the room somewhere but there was something else in her voice. Something I hadn't expected. I had heard her tears a few times before and that's exactly what that sounded like to me.

"Elena, are you okay?" I asked opening the door but not seeing her. I checked the bathroom first and didn't see her so I went into the closet and found her sitting on the floor still in her dress and shoes with her head in her hands.

"Go away. I need to be alone right now." She told me not lifting her face from her hands.

"If you wanted to be alone you should have went to your room." I told her and cringed when that didn't help at all. She didn't dignify me with a response, she just tried to steady her breathing and lift her head to look at me. She wasn't smiling and that sparkle that was always in her eyes wasn't there tonight. It had been earlier but now it was completely extinguished.

"I'm sorry I was just being stupid. I thought maybe... just never mind." She started but she changed her mind along the way. I wanted to know what she was about to say. She pulled herself to her feel and tried to brush past me but I didn't let her past.

"What were you going to tell me?" I asked her and she stiffened. My hand was on her arm and I wasn't letting her go until I knew for sure what was on her mind.

"Just let me go Damon. I can't do this." She said and I tightened my grip on her arm.

"No. You were going to say something and I want to know what it is." I commanded her. I just wanted her to show some emotion. This isn't the Elena that I'm in love with.

"Fine I just thought things would go back to normal when my memories came back. I guess that's never going to happen since you won't give me the chance to tell you because yes I am the girl who didn't love you enough to keep the memories we had together. I am that girl and you hate me for it. So now let me go." She yelled and the tears were back. I only heard one thing from that entire spiel. It was the part when she said she remembered me. Now everything made sense. She slipped past me and walked back into the bedroom. Before she could get to the door I had her arm again.

"You're memories are back?" I asked her hopefully.

"Yes but it doesn't matter because like I said I'm the girl who wasn't strong enough to let you go. I'm the girl who instead of embracing and remembering all the good times we had, erased everything so my heart wouldn't hurt anymore. I'm not strong enough for you and you hate me for it." She murmured and I shook my head.

"I could never hate you. I'm still in love with you and yeah it hurt that you erased us. It hurt because no matter what, no matter how bad it hurt I would never have done that. I would have cherished all those moments for as long as I lived because all those moments with you were the best moments of my life. But that's me, I've dealt with pain for much of my life and I knew I could take it no matter how debilitating it was. You, you're different Elena and that's fine. It doesn't mean that I'm not overjoyed to know that your memories are back. Knowing that now makes everything make sense. You planned this entire evening for me and I fucked it up for you." I spoke hoping she would forgive me. Her memories are back, there is no way in hell I'm letting her run from me again.

"I should have just told you instead of planning this evening. I should have known it wouldn't work out." She sighed.

"How did you get your memories back?" I asked her needing to know.

"I don't think it was anything I did per se. I think they just flooded me until the compulsion couldn't hold them back anymore. I don't think I had a choice in remembering. I just woke up the other morning and they there blocking everything else from my mind.. I remembered everything and it nearly broke me." She told me and I slowly moved my hand down her arm until I came to her hand. I slowly entwined our fingers together and held on tight. It had been far too long since I had been able to hold her like this. I needed more than this though but I wasn't going to force her into it.

"Well I for one am glad they did; because if they hadn't you wouldn't remember this." I said deciding to just go for it. I leaned in and kissed her softly at first. I didn't try to deepen it at all, my hand still held hers while my other one cupped her jaw. I broke the kiss after just a few seconds and she stared at me.

"I don't remember a single kiss like that one. I remember ones that were more like this." She said before kissing me again. This time is was more like how I remembered, her tongue was in my mouth and she was dominating the kiss. She unlocked our hands and brought both of hers up to my face to hold me in place while she kissed me. It was better than I remembered. This was one of the many reasons I had needed to come back so desperately. When she finally broke our kiss she looked at me with the same spark in her eyes that I remembered.

"Make love to me." She asked me and there was no way I could say no to her.

"Whatever you want." I responded and she kissed me again. This kiss was far more innocent than our last one. She started working through the buttons on my shirt first and it didn't take her long before the useless fabric was on the floor. It was times like these I wondered why people even wore shirts. If you were me they just ended up on the floor.

"I want you to make love to me." She told me before kissing me again. There was a distinctly different mood in our bedroom tonight. It wasn't the frantic mood that I remembered from every other time we were together. Tonight was just about getting reacquainted with each other. There was nothing coming after us to kill us, even villains usually took Christmas off. My hands found the zipper to her dress and started pushing it down slowly. She didn't try to stop me which meant that she really did want this. When the dress was unzipped I ran my hands over the skin of her bare back and unclasped her bra so I could feel it all without interruption. It had been far too long since I had been able to touch her skin like this. She stepped back from me and pulled her dress away from her body and let it drop to the floor. She stepped out of it and kicked her shoes off.

"Make love to me." She repeated and I was going to oblige. Neither of us wanted to play anymore. The past six months were all the distance we needed. We were both ready to be together again and we couldn't be separated any longer. She let her already unclasped bra fall to the floor and she pushed her panties down so she could climb onto the bed. She lay back and pulled the blanket over top of her. She was shy tonight and I didn't blame her. It had been so long. I quickly rid myself of my jeans and joined her in bed. She kissed me and I rolled over so I was lying between her slightly spread legs.

"Make me yours again." She told me. I had no doubt that she had always been mine but if she needed me to make her mine again I would do it.

"You've always been mine." I told her and she smiled at me. She kissed me as I slowly sank inside her. I started moving slowly at first before slightly picking up the pace. I had no intention of fucking her tonight. This was just about us getting reacquainted with one another. We both needed this. I reached up and entwined our fingers together and kissed her once again. She unattached one of her hands from mine so she could run it down my back and back up. She always had liked touching me while we made love but I liked holding her hand. It was just something that we had bargained on. I held one hand while she touched me with the other. Her gaze was locked on mine and I could tell that she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Her eyes always drifted shut whenever we made love. I loved that effect. As we both neared our climax, I reached between us to rub her clit with the hand that wasn't holding hers. She stiffened underneath and went soaring abruptly. I was dangerously close to the edge as well and I was following her shortly after she went.

A little while later she was happily ensconced in my arms. I was just happy to have her there.

"How do you think everyone is going to react to us?" She asked idly. I knew she didn't really care what the answer was, she was tracing random patterns onto my chest but her eyes flickered up to mine.

"I think they'll be relieved. We've been really awkward lately." I told her.

"Yeah, Liam didn't help matters." She added on apologetically.

"Please don't mention your ex boyfriend while you're in bed with me." I said teasingly. She smiled up and me and kissed me.

"He wasn't really a boyfriend. He was just someone who failed to take your place. If he had managed to do it I would I would never have remembered you." She told me. I kissed the top of her head and nuzzled her.

"You have possibly made me not hate Christmas so much." I told her with a smirk.

"When I'm done with you, you'll love Christmas as much as I do." She told me.

"I can't wait." I said before rolling her under me once again.