"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.
"Mmm," Damon moaned softly as Elena kissed him, "I love you, sweetheart."
That was the first time Damon had called her that, and Elena loved it. It was the most sincere, loving thing he'd said to her. She secretly loved some of his pet names for her. Sometimes he'd drop the 'e' in her name and call her 'Lena' – he used to do this even when they weren't together, and she'd never admit it back then, but it made her heart melt. She could hear the love behind it every time he said it. He'd usually use it when he was trying to reassure her about something: We'll handle it, 'Lena or 'Lena, I'll be fine. Of course, she couldn't make a fuss about it otherwise Stefan would have wondered what was going on. He probably hadn't noticed the way his brother would refer to her so lovingly, as if she was the most important person, not just in the room, but in the world, to him. But her favourite was when Damon would call her baby – when he'd whisper it as he placed gentle kisses on her neck or the way he'd say it when he needed to leave her: I don't have a choice, baby. And while she didn't want to think about this morning, when Damon felt he didn't have a choice – that he had to send her away – she knew that Damon was still concerned about his brother and the promise he had made to him. She knew that Damon would follow through, but she was lucky for now. So instead of dwelling on what would happen tonight or tomorrow, maybe, she pulled him close.
"I love you too, baby," she pressed her lips to his and told him what she loved to hear herself.
Shane cleared his throat, interrupting the two epic lovers, "Well, now that we've solved this issue, I need to return to campus. I suppose I'll see you all soon."
"Thanks so much, Shane. We really appreciate it!" Elena said, shaking hands with the professor.
"Bye Shane," Bonnie added gratefully, throwing him a quick smile, which he returned. He waved at Damon who nodded, still a bit sceptical about him, and left to go back to Whitmore.
"What's that?" Elena motioned to a large cardboard box sitting on the coffee table in the living room.
"Oh, yeah I almost forgot!" Jeremy began, his eyes lighting up like a child's on Christmas morning, "I found our old box of ornaments and pictures from Christmas! Remember Aunt Jenna and her mistletoe obsession?"
Elena burst out laughing as she remembered one of the funniest stories of Aunt Jenna's younger days. Damon raised his eyebrows, wondering what was so funny about this mistletoe.
"Come on, let's all sit and have some tea and I'll tell you guys about Aunt Jenna's crazy tricks!" Elena was excited. She squeezed Damon's hand and urged him to sit with them.
Elena grabbed a spot on the carpet and pulled Damon close. He looked very hesitant, though, and Elena could tell something was up.
"What's wrong?" Elena whispered to him.
Damon didn't respond verbally; he just pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed Elena the texts he'd gotten from Stefan ranging from 'Call me' to 'I know you're with Elena, Damon'. Elena was angry. She stood up and excused herself.
Elena pulled her own phone out of her pocket and dialled Stefan's number, furious. Just as she was about to put the phone to her ear, Damon came up behind her and touched her gently, making her feel at ease right away.
"Elena, you'll make it worse, baby," Damon urged her to hang up, "It's okay, 'Lena – I'll have to call my brother."
Elena hung up because Damon was pleading with her, but she just wanted to tell Stefan once and for all that the sire bond didn't mean anything! It was so frustrating for her. Knowing Stefan, though, he'd probably think Damon made her call him.
"Go hang out with Bonnie and Jer, Elena – I'll be fine," Damon threw her a sad smile.
Elena wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, "Just remember this, Damon. No matter what Stefan says to you, I love you, okay?"
Damon hugged her tightly and kissed her temple, "I love you."
Elena left Damon reluctantly and headed back to her brother and best friend. Of course, Bonnie asked what was wrong, and Jeremy looked confused, but Elena shrugged it off. She didn't really feel like talking about it right now, and she knew Bonnie could tell what was up. They went through the ornaments for a while, laughing at old pictures and reminiscing. Elena watched Damon sit on the ledge of the outdoor staircase. He looked incredibly conflicted, but slightly more certain at the same time, which made Elena worried. Bonnie noticed how Elena's face fell when she saw Damon watching the ground as he thought, so she decided to change the subject.
"So," Bonnie elbowed Elena in the ribs, "What is this amazing mistletoe secret Jenna used so often?"
Elena snapped out of her trance. Even Damon glanced up to listen to this story from outside. When Elena saw that, she lightened up immediately.
"Okay, so, Jenna had a huge crush on this guy in high school," Elena started, glancing at Damon with a huge grin on her face – of course that made him smile, no matter how badly the conversation with Stefan had gone, "She thought that the best way to get him to just kiss her would be to walk around with mistletoe. She would literally plan the best time to hang it depending on where he was in the building!" Elena couldn't help but laugh at the story herself.
Bonnie was laughing too, "Was she successful?"
"Yup," Jeremy smiled, "It's a pretty smart idea actually – funny, but smart!"
Once Elena had caught her breath, she glanced outside at Damon. He was still there, sitting still. He was smiling just a bit about the Aunt Jenna story. Elena gave him a longing come-hither motion with her hand. He just threw her a smile and looked away and then back at the ground. He couldn't come near her otherwise he'd be betraying Stefan. Yet, all he wanted was to sit down next to her and wrap one arm around her waist, pulling her close. He wanted to feel her head lean against his chest. He wanted to run his fingers through her long, chocolate brown hair. While he was sitting there imagining all this, he hadn't noticed that Elena had walked right up to him holding a piece of mistletoe.
She smirked at him and held it above them. Damon laughed softly – it was really a whisper – and sighed, "I can't, Elena. We can't."
She dropped her arm in defeat and sat down next to him, swinging her legs once, "What did Stefan say, Damon?"
"Everything I expected him to say." Damon got up off the ledge and stood in front of Elena, "'Lena I have to let you go, right now. Bonnie can take you home. I'll take care of Jeremy and train him – maybe if Matt wants to help out, he can."
"Damon, stop it," Elena slid off the ledge as well and grabbed Damon's hands, "Does none of this feel real to you?" She took one of his hands and placed it on her heart while still holding his wrist.
"Look me in the eye, and tell me this feels wrong," Elena placed her other hand on his cheek. She stroked the skin under his eye with her thumb, reassuring him, loving him.
"Elena..." Damon trailed off, not knowing what else to say. He was overwhelmed – of course it didn't feel wrong. Being with her never felt wrong.
"Stay with me tonight," Elena stated, and then she added, "If you still want to send me away tomorrow morning, it's your choice. Just, let me be with you tonight." She didn't mean anything more than just lying with him, soothing him. He knew that.
Damon smiled at her and squeezed her hand, "Let's go to bed."
"I'll meet you upstairs, baby. I just need to talk to Bon for a sec, okay?" Elena gave him a quick peck on the cheek and went to the living room.
"Wanna talk about it?" Bonnie asked the minute she saw Elena in so much distress. It was all over her face, but she did a damn good job of hiding it from Damon.
Elena gestured to her friend to take the conversation outside. She pointed upstairs and then at her ear. She didn't want Damon to hear what she was about to tell Bonnie. They made it outside and shut the door quietly.
"I've had it with Stefan, Bon," Elena crossed her arms, fuming, "I love Damon so much, and he's convinced it's this stupid goddamn sire bond – Stefan's just making it worse!"
"Elena, okay, look just calm down for a second," Bonnie smiled, rubbing Elena's arm, "Look on the bright side, you have him tonight, right? You'll make it through this – come on, this is nothing compared to all the shit all of us have been through."
"You're right, Bon," Elena sighed, pinching her nose with her fingers in pure frustration.
"The most important thing right now, is that you go upstairs and be with Damon because you know him – he promised Stefan on the phone that he'd let you go and he's going to do it tomorrow," Bonnie said, certain that she'd predicted correctly.
"Yeah, you're right, and I'm sure that's what he agreed to," Elena hugged her friend, "Thanks, Bon."
"Listen, Elena," Bonnie pulled away so that she could look her friend in the eye, "We both know how much Damon loves you, so he's probably very upset about this whole thing. Just give him your company, alright?"
Elena smiled, "Thanks for being so supportive, Bon."
Bonnie smiled back and they wished each other goodnight before going to their respective bedrooms.