a/n: i got this incredible request a few months ago but with the Christmas exchange and trying to finish 'Partners in Crime' I knew I wouldn't be able to focus on this properly, so I left it to be a project for the new year. I do hope that I do the idea justice. I hope that you all enjoy this. I will try and update as much as possible along with keeping up with my personal oneshots and requests. As for now, here we go. Straight into the action!

Dedicated to ReadingisPassion2 (for giving me her incredible idea and letting me run with it!)

Chapter One-Goodbye & Hello

Boarding House-Present

Damon's eyes focused on Elena's face through the white haze of smoke that Bonnie had created with her spell. Klaus's hybrids were currently trying to break down the front door and he could hear the Original's calls through the creaking wood. He allowed himself to flash a glance at the witch, urging her to hurry up. Elena called his name, reached out her hand for him, suddenly desperate that he go back with her even after all her refusals to his previous. Bonnie chanted faster, her words no more than a rushed blur as she hurried the spell on. It seemed like all the warmth was sucked out of the room, a warm light glowing around Elena as he stepped closer to grasp her...but then she was gone in a flash.

He had a single moment to feel the sense of loss, feel the cold sink into his bones before the door came crashing down and Klaus stomped into the house, his army of hybrids behind him. "Where is she?"

Damon stepped protectively in front of Bonnie and the spot Elena had been standing on just a moment ago. "She's gone. You can't have her."

"Give her to me!" he advanced quickly, rushing across the room in a moment and closing his hand around Damon's neck. "Where did you send her?"

"Somewhere safe."

Klaus's eyes blazed fire and anger but he did nothing more than drop Damon to the ground. "I will find her, that's a promise."

With his hand massaging his throat, Damon looked up, watching the attack leave the house, but the damage already done. Elena was gone and he couldn't bring her back until this was all over, for good.

Three Days Ago...

"No." Damon paced angrily back and forth in front of the couch where Bonnie and Elena sat. What they were telling him was ridiculous, it would never work...and he wasn't sure that he could bare it anyway. "I won't let you do this."

Elena sighed, looking up at him. "I'll be safe Damon, the spell is good."

"I don't trust that. You don't even know where it's going to send you."

"It's going to send me back in time where I'm safe from Klaus." She purposefully left out the part that it would also send her to the arms of her true love. There was no reason to upset him with that.

"I don't like it." He stalked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey. "It's dangerous and stupid and doesn't even sound real."

"It's real Damon, so get used to the idea." Bonnie wasn't exactly Team Damon, but she wasn't going to jump up and down with pom poms for Klaus either. "I'm sending her back with or without your help."

"What do you need my help for?"

This was when the girls exchanged a look, almost quick enough to be undetected, but Damon still caught it. "We need a bit of your blood." Elena finally said. "To tie me to this time so the spell knows where to send me back once it's safe."

"As soon as Klaus is defeated, she will come back." Bonnie explained, waiting for the vampire to speak. It was really Elena that wanted his blessing.

"Fine." He looked down at the glass in his hand and drank it. "I'll help."

The next day, Damon allowed Bonnie to fill a vial of his blood, the witch and the vampire alone in the house. "How sure are you that this going to work?"

"Pretty sure." Bonnie capped the vial and set it next to the spell book. "We will have to wait for the right time to cast though."

"Stefan overheard one of the hybrids saying that Klaus was going to attack tomorrow. I don't see any other option."

"Me either." Bonnie made a small list of ingredients she would need and then looked up at Damon. "She's going to be fine, trust me."

"It's the spell I don't trust. Are you sure there aren't any loopholes to bring her back in case we need her?"

"No," Bonnie shook her head. "this is a binding magical contract. Time travel is tricky and is not to be teased. Once time has her, she belongs to it until the spell is fulfilled."

"She could be gone for years." Bonnie watched as Damon walked over to the window, twisting his ring around his finger. "I've waited over a hundred years for her...I suppose a few more won't kill me."

The morning the spell was to be performed, Damon went to her...one last attempt to keep her here with him. "I can protect you." He repeated as she shuffled through her closet for something.

"I know you can, but having me here will only distract you. If I'm gone, somewhere safe you will be able to fight without looking over your shoulder to make sure that I'm alright."

"I can multi-task." He smirked, watching as she stood up, a blue notebook in her hands. "What's that?"

"It's my journal from last year. I started a new one when I met Stefan. It was full by Christmas and I figured you should have it to keep you company while I'm gone."

Damon grimaced, taking the book but refusing to open it. "Forgive me if I don't want to read your girly descriptions of how gorgeous my brother is."

She laughed and shook her head. "I marked the entries you will want to read." She smiled, her hand gently resting on his knee. "Promise me you will read them while I'm gone. It's important. Especially the last entry."

He saw the desperation in her eyes and nodded. "I promise."

She was pleased enough to smile, and then he felt her grip tighten on his knee. "I'm scared Damon. I don't want to be alone."

"I can come with you, you know. I read in Bonnie's spell book that you can take one thing with you, living or dead."

Elena shook her head, not allowing tears to fall in front of him. "No, you have to stay here. You have to be the one to help kill Klaus. You have to be the one to bring me back."

"We could go back together." He insisted, turning to face her on the bed. "We could start over, have a new life in a new time."

She shook her head slowly, she couldn't consider it. She just couldn't. "I couldn't abandon everyone like that, and neither could you."

"If I had you, nothing else would matter."

"Damon." Her tone was warning, hoping that he wouldn't push this too far. "You know we can't be together."

"Time is running out Elena. I know that you love me."

She hesitated, knowing he was right, knowing that it was entirely possible that today could be the last day she would ever see him. "I do love you."

"Then let me come with you."

"No." She shook her head, pressing her palm to the side of his face. "When I open my eyes, after you defeat Klaus...I want you to be there looking at me...holding me. And then, when this has all blown over we can be together."

"If you won't take me, will you take something else?"

She nodded, watching as he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a ring. The center stone was an emerald encircled by small diamonds. "It's beautiful."

"My father gave it to my mother the day I was born. That was the first and last time he celebrated anything about me."

She knew how important the ring must have been to him and she shook her head. "I can't take that."

"Yes you can. It will keep you safe. I had Bonnie put a spell on it. It won't protect you from anything normal, but if there is anything supernatural where you are going at least I know you'll be safe from that."

He took her hand in his gently and slid the ring onto her right hand. "Thank you."

"Don't forget me, okay."

She smiled, cradling his face in her hands and trying to smile. "I could never forget you."

That night, Elena was prepared for whatever was coming. The spell was ready, Damon's blood was in her system and Bonnie was chanting behind her. She felt the tingles of magic working in her bones, felt the hum of the spell in her veins, but most of all she felt the love radiating off Damon. She didn't want to go alone; she didn't want to be alone. She reached out for him, desperate for him to take her hand and step into the circle.

But it was too late. Fate allowed her one last look at him before a flash erupted before her eyes, the haze thickened and she barely glanced the door breaking down as time pulled her back.

a/n: here we are, a new project for a new year. Are you excited for more?