A/N: I do not own Vampire Diaries.

First fanfic, so all feedback is appreciated. May continue with story if yall want, so let me know! :)

It wasn't supposed to turn into what it did. Hell, they weren't supposed to have even been alone together. However, Elena waited seemingly longer and longer as the afternoon's light dipped into night for Stefan to return. As her nerves began to shatter anxiously for her love, pacing seemed like the only option now, considering she'd already called his cell about a dozen times. This strong independent woman was not the type to be so paranoid and clingy, and she wouldn't of that twice about his absence if this were just a spur of the moment visit to the Salvatore estate. Though, earlier she'd gotten a text message from the vanished man to meet her there after school, and she was beginning to become struck with fear.

It was just a few months ago that she hadn't even heard of the fear she felt presently. If someone was late or missing, it was deliberate, due to some sort of almost daily high school drama. Yet the fear she felt then was that gut-wrenching, panic for his well-being. After all, the scary stories she'd heard as a child were coming true before her eyes. Part of her wouldn't be surprised anymore to see the Easter bunny waltzing down the stairs of the Salvatore mansion any time now.

"Would you sit down or something? You're driving me insane." The biting words of Damon Salvatore came without their usual harsh tone, and Elena complied to his demand, finding a spot for herself on the couch beside his chair, wringing her hands now. The elder brother had been at least in the same room since he greeted her at the door. Well, greeted seemed a bit too animated for the melancholy vampire. Opened the door and sulked wordlessly back to the living room was more appropriate.

Damon's change in attitude was startling at first. Hell, she could've considered herself concerned for his mental state after he discovered Katherine's absence in the tomb. But as the days turned into weeks, and he had barely moved if only to eat or fetch another book, it was becoming more frustrating than anything else. In her opinion, if the person she loved had left her to believe they were locked in a tomb for all eternity, only to learn that really she'd just been used and lied to all this time… To be honest, she couldn't exactly say what she'd do, but moping around wouldn't be an option.

"Poor saintly Stefan," Damon cooed snidely, eyes not leaving the pages of his book. "Perhaps he was real hungry and tried to take on a fox, and the baby-bunny diet has kept him far too weak. Perhaps, he's laying in the forest right now, bleeding to the edge of his life, whilst the animals feed on him? Wouldn't that be ironic?"

"Don't Damon." She said quickly, standing and beginning the pace again, arms crossed over her chest. She had to admit though it was the most she'd heard him say since that fateful night at the tomb.

Damon's eyes scanned her demeanor, and almost chuckled to himself if he had the drive to do so. Waiting hours for her precious Saintly Stefan, like a devoted puppy awaiting their master's arrival. Pathetic, he thought to himself, and decided it was officially happy-hour. Scratch that. However, 'numb the pain time' just didn't have the same roll-of-the-tongue. Standing at the trolley, he glanced back at Elena, remembering the sight of her head lolled back, crimson liquid sliding down that delectable throat. Carefree, like Katherine.

With that, he poured another glass half-full of the bourbon, and placed himself in the way of her long strides. She startled with that same wide eyed expression, lips parted slightly as she took in a quick breath, a strand of hair falling perfectly imperfectly on that face. Katherine's face.

"Drink?" He offered, the corner of his lips pulling painfully up the faintest bit. The fraction of a second she just stared at him, as if attempting to understand his game, but before he could come out with some reason to justify her actions for her, she took the glass, much to his surprise.

Katherine had always surprised him.

Her eyes kept on his as she brought the glass up to her lips, a part of her brain nagging at her as to why this was wrong. Drinking with Damon was not a smart plan, but the dread in her gut was almost agonizing as it guided her hand to tip the drink back and soothe its ache. She felt better and worse simultaneously.

It wasn't long before Damon had wheeled the trolley next to the couch, keeping it within arm's reach if need be. The two had sat in silence for the first half hour of their drinking. Elena tried to will her thoughts to go back to Stefan, and worrying about his disappearing act, and not on the black haired brother seating too close to her. Damon kept staring at her, his expression prompting so many questions within her. The answers she could almost guess, but she wanted to know for sure.

It wasn't until the second drink was halfway done that she finally spoke up, against her better judgment. "Is it hard?"

Damon's eyes widened in disbelief, and Elena could feel her cheeks filling with blood as she caught her mistaken choice in words, "I mean, difficult, as in –"

"I know what you mean." Damon almost chuckled at the absurdity of where his mind had gone. Katherine wouldn't have asked, she'd have just grabbed and learned for herself. Katherine wouldn't have stumbled over her innuendos; she would have shot them out like a bullet from a pistol. And most of all, Katherine was never shy.

Three for three.

"Some times are easier than others." Cryptic responses leave more to the imagination, which was not a good thing for a slightly buzzed girl.

She was lost within her own thoughts again, contemplating the mystery that was this brother. She felt through the misadventures they'd endured that she did have a better understanding of him than Bonnie, or Caroline. And she did seem to give him the better of her judgment, more so than his own brother did. Oh right. Stefan. The reason she was sitting beside Damon, the distance between them lessening as the night wore on. She needed to find Stefan. This wasn't like her. She loved Stefan.

But even within her own reverie of her thoughts it was beginning to sound more like a mantra than a belief. As if she was trying to convince herself rather than tell herself.

And then his hand was cupping her cheek, his thumb lightly brushing the soft skin there, and she no longer had a mantra. She no longer had thoughts.

If she didn't know him better, she would've assumed he'd compelled her.

"I'm sorry."

But the words weren't from her lips, and she was still not thinking as she looked at the lips that had passed the phrase so gently. Those same lips that were creeping closer to her as Damon leaned forward not for the first time.

Damon braced himself for the sting of her hand that had once slapped him for this act, but it never came. Even as they were millimeters apart, mouths parted, eyes boring into each others, and that hand moving from her face to her neck, stroking the vein that throbbed faster beneath his fingers.

It wasn't magic. There were no explosive fireworks. Just a thriving hunger for more as she closed the distance and caught his mouth in hers, her free hand gripping the material of his shirt as she pulled him closer. She wasn't sure what she was doing, and she was clear on expressing that as her properly graceful limbs tried to draw him in.

As he pulled away quickly, he didn't catch the startled and almost hurt expression on her flushed face as he quickly stood, leaving her disheveled on the couch.

"Get out." He growled, teeth grinding against themselves as he fought back the emotions he'd been trying to numb in the first place. She kissed like Katherine. Hurt turned quickly to anger and she too was on her feet, moving herself so she was in front of him.

"What the hell, Damon!" She exclaimed, and shoved him hard in the chest. He caught her wrist easily before she withdrew it and gripped it tightly in his hand, knowing full well the pain it would cause her.

"I said get out." And he walked away, leaving her alone in the room.

Four to three.