I LOVE YOU, I REALLY DO: DAMON/ELENA 4X09-4X11

Chapter 3: Brotherly Love & Christmas Reminiscing

"Hey, you," Damon said softly, a smile creeping onto his face as he watched Elena sprint down the stairs to hug him.

"Hey, you," Elena laughed when Damon kissed her neck and nibbled softly on her ear, "Did you two have a good talk?" She pulled away to look at Damon, whose smile had dissipated. His expression was a neutral one.

"It was alright," Damon let out a small sigh and wrapped his arms around the one who mattered most to him in this world, "I still think he's shady though."

Elena giggled and scolded Damon, but she couldn't stop smiling when he pulled her close. She just held him tightly. She didn't shove him away; she had no desire to drive him away.

"We're ready, Elena," Professor Shane called from the living room. Bonnie peeked into the foyer to let Damon and Elena know it was all set.

"Are we sure this is safe?" Damon asked, standing protectively in front of Elena the way he always did when he sensed something was off.

"We have to try, Damon. It'll be alright," Bonnie reassured him once more by saying, "I'll intervene if Jer isn't able to do this, but I know he can, right Jer?"

"Let's try," Jeremy said solemnly, focusing on his sister who he could see now. Damon had moved away, but he was still standing tensely to the side.

Bonnie began chanting a spell to help Jeremy control himself around Elena under Shane's direction. The first few tries did not seem to work, and Elena became disheartened quickly. They sat together, trying to brainstorm a way for Jeremy to gain greater control of this instinct to kill Elena – to overcome it, really.

"Can I talk to you for a sec," Damon motioned to Bonnie after half an hour had passed.

Elena raised her eyebrows slightly, wondering what the deal was. Damon simply kissed her cheek softly and headed over to tell Bonnie of his brilliant idea.

"What's up?" Bonnie asked, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked dead serious. She was also frustrated that this wasn't working so far.

"Look, we all know how powerful love can be right?" Damon began, realizing how cheesy he sounded, but he needed to get his point across, "And Jeremy obviously has feelings for you."

"Yeah?" Bonnie shrugged, unsure of what Damon was getting at.

"So, forget Elena. What if Jeremy used you as motivation to overcome his hunter problem? He uses you to divert from that path, and then he makes his way to Elena," Damon finished, looking at Bonnie whose eyes had lit up in realization.

"That could actually work!" she smiled widely and thanked him before whispering to Shane the idea.

They tried the spells a few more times using Damon's suggestion, and after the third try, they noticed a significant improvement. Jeremy was doing a lot better. He focused all his energy on Bonnie, and the hunter instinct simply became background noise. It ended up taking an hour for Jeremy to be able to look at Elena with the same brotherly love in his eyes that she was used to and even hug her. When Elena saw that she could hug her brother without him attempting to kill her and saw that Damon could do the same, she was ecstatic!

"Oh, Damon!" Elena cried happily, "You're a genius, you know that?" She said the second bit between kisses. She had tackled him so that he was backed against the couch. He smiled against her lips and wrapped his arms around her waist.