Three nights and counting. Stefan hadn’t come back to the boarding house and even Damon was getting concerned. Damon didn’t hiển thị his emotions often but when he did, bạn knew it it was real. The worry buried in his eyes was making Elena jittery. She tried calling Stefan’s cell phone a number of times, each one just rang and rang until the voice mail picked up. After a few calls, the voice mail began to pick it up automatically.
    She had to keep going to school though. Jenna could stand her ‘staying at bonnie hoặc Caroline’s’ all the time but only if it didn’t affect her school work. If her aunt knew she was staying in the same house with a guy who’d been a vampire for over 145 years while his brother (her vampire boyfriend) went out to look for thêm vampire’s, she’d flip.
    Jenna seemed capable of handling a lot of things but this was just not one of them. Elena wasn’t all that ready to share it any way.
    The last few days had been torture not only because of Stefan’s disappearance but because of her apprehension of Damon’s actions. He could corner her at any moment and she’d already demonstrated to herself that she had almost no self control where he was concerned. She needed to work on that.
    “Hello, Elena” Speak of the devil.
    Elena dropped her bag on the đi văng and turned around. “Yes, Damon?” She asked dreading what might come next. His fiercely beautiful eyes held hers from ten feet away. His expression and tone had started out playful but then he sighed and turned thêm serious.
    “Any word?” He was genuinely curious.
    “Nothing”, Elena said. “Damon, I’m starting to get really worried. What if something horrible happened to him? He could be anywhere bởi now. Any number of people could be doing anything to him.” She was getting a little hysterical. “He could be hurt hoặc in pain hoặc both or-”
    Damon cut her off and she suddenly found herself in his arms, her head on his shoulder as he smoothed over her hair with a hand. “Shh. It’s okay. It’ll be alright.” He was holding her like precious cargo. “I’ll go look for him tonight, okay?”
    Elena was on edge at first but became very comfortable. He was continuously running his fingers through her hair and rubbing her back, making little shushing noises. It calmed her and she didn’t mind when he maneuvered her to the đi văng and curled up with her.
    “I promise it’ll be alright,” Damon said, still rubbing her back. “I’ll keep bạn an toàn, két an toàn and I’ll do everything I can to bring Stefan back home, okay?”
    Elena sniffled a little bit and she realized she was crying. “Yeah”. She was so terrified of what was happening to Stefan. She still loved him. He was the one person that got through to her after her parents died. He was the reason she was a live anyway. Without him, she wouldn’t be her mentally hoặc physically.
    But, what would have happened had she met Damon first? Would she have steered away from him even before she was warned about him? If she hadn’t known he hurt Caroline?
    I think he had to go through all that he has. If he didn’t, he might not be as decent, if I can call him that, as he is now. Even within a few months, he was different than when they first met. He was changing right in front of her. The man she met shortly after Stefan wouldn’t be holding her right now with true concern and rocking her out of selflessness. That’s what it was. Damon was putting someone before himself. That guy she met a short while cách đây wouldn’t be doing this. That evil vampire had turned into a caring one, albeit a self-serving one most of the time but caring none-the-less.
    They stayed that way for at least ten minutes; him holding her, rubbing her back and arms. She felt safe. She felt like a child again where someone else takes the responsibilities and she could let go of her worries. It was ten phút and then her eyes started drooping. Only then did she realize how tired she was.
____________________
    Later that night Elena woke up in Damon’s arms. They were still on the đi văng but were now laying facing one another. Thank god it was a big couch. Her head was tucked under his chin and they had their arms wrapped around one another. His breathing was slow and steady which meant he must be asleep. It was so warm. Elena didn’t want to move.
    Stefan.
    Damon promised he would go look for him and she couldn’t tell what time it was now. She had drifted off after school that afternoon.
    “Damon”, she spoke gently.
    “mm?”
    “You need to go look for Stefan. We fell asleep”
    Damon’s eyes flared open and he took a deep breath. “Okay”, he đã đưa ý kiến simply and gave her a kiss.

*** The rest happens as it did in that particular show, stephan gets saved, etc. But will Damon let Elena go? Will he stop pursuing her? I’ll “Keep my mouth shut" till tiếp theo time. Thanks for all your positive feed back!*** STAY TUNED! ;)