DAMON + ELENA SALVATORE
LOW, SOME LANGUAGE | COMPLETE-ISH
Elena sank into the chair beside Damon's bed, half asleep herself. She had been splitting her time between long work shifts and Damon all week. Her work in medical was limited, seeing as she hadn't fully qualified for her residency yet, but that didn't stop her from tending the wounded, sitting with coma patients, or going wherever she was needed.
It felt like the stress and the sleep deprivation were finally catching up with her. She was exhausted, and a part of her knew that she should go home. She hadn't seen Lady in days, and while she knew the dog was in good hands, she missed her. She missed the life that they had been starting to build together. She missed Damon. She wanted to talk to him about everything that had happened in Atlantis. But she knew right now all she could do was wait.
"You promised me," she said, taking his cold hand into hers, "I'm not letting you break that promise."
Damon’s eyes fluttered open, his fingers twitching a little in Elena’s hand. He’d heard her. He must have been just coming back to consciousness because she’d sounded far away but he’d heard her say she wasn’t going to let him break his promise - the promise that they were forever. It had been like sweet music to his ears. It had pulled him back the rest of the way. The last few days had been hell but, with those few words, Elena had wiped away all the pain. His mouth twitched into a little smile.
“Hi.”
"Hey." She squeezed his hand, not succeeding at all in holding back her tears. She had wanted to be comforting, but instead, she felt all of the worry and 'what if's' that she had been holding in for days. She wiped her tears on her sleeve, sniffing. "I'm sorry. You've been out for days. I should - I should get the doctor." The words sounded ridiculous, even as she said them. Get the doctor? For a vampire?
Damon frowned at the sight of Elena’s tears. He dug an elbow into the bed, pushing himself up a little. He felt strange, heavy, as though his limbs had gone to sleep. If she was right and he had been lying here for days, he supposed that was hardly surprising.
“You’re a doctor,” he reminded her, lacing his fingers through hers but keeping hold of her hand. “Well, as good as. Besides, I’m fine.” He was now, at least, now that he was back in Atlantis.
“Now, I’ve had a terrible few days. Are you going to kiss me or what?” He felt his stomach flutter with nerves, even as he asked the question. He was sure he was back in Atlantis but it wasn’t easy to shake the image of Elena closing the door of the house she shared with Stefan on him in his nightmare world.
Elena smiled weakly. "You're right, I guess. But I should tell the people above me. We're keeping an eye on all of the coma patients." She was pretty sure that he wasn't fine. People didn't suddenly fall into comas and wake up fine. Then again, did Damon qualify as people?
“Semantics,” Damon said, shrugging off her argument.
She thought it more than that, but she didn't argue. Her heart was beating faster as she processed his next question. She pressed her fingers against his. "Damon." The name was barely a whisper. She leaned in, closing the gap between them as she kissed him.
Damon let out a soft moan of relief when her lips met his, the sound of her murmur hanging in the air. He lifted a hand to her face, his fingers sliding into her hair, holding her close. How many times had he thought he’d lost her? Yet somehow, it never got any easier, nor diminish the all-encompassing glow of happiness he felt when they eventually found their way back to each other. He just wished that happiness would block out the image he’d seen through that window in Mystic Falls, which was now rippling into his mind’s eye, of Elena kissing his brother at the kitchen island while their adorable little children ate spaghetti. And what had Damon ever given her? A puppy.
Damon pulled back, immediately feeling irritated with himself and a touch guilty that he’d let a stupid nightmare ruin his happy reunion with Elena. Hadn’t this been exactly what he’d been hoping for, working for, all the time he’d been stuck there?
“Let’s get out of here,” he suggested conspiratorially, hoping Elena hadn’t had time to notice that anything was wrong. “They can do without you for one afternoon.”
Elena let herself get lost in the kiss. She wanted to be closer to him, to forget the past five days of not knowing if he would wake up, to forget what the other patients had hinted at as they woke up from their comas. What could have kept Damon lost for so long? As he pulled back from the kiss, that thought nagged at the back of her mind. What if he had been held back because he hadn't faced his fear? That was such a typical Damon move.
"Alright," she agreed. "But on one condition. You have to talk to someone about what happened to you."
Damon winced. It was such an Elena thing to do: to be all concerned about how he was dealing. Sometimes he really wished she could just go along with his preferred method of just ignoring his problems until they went away.
“Don’t wanna. Not gonna,” Damon pouted, pulling a face as he slumped back against the pillows.
"Fine," said Elena, pulling away from him. She folded her arms. "But I'm not playing hooky until you do." It was perhaps an equally childish response, since it was likely that she couldn't force him to talk. She knew Damon well enough to know that when he didn't want to do something, he wouldn't do it. "I was worried about you. We all were."
Damon couldn’t help noticing, for perhaps the millionth time, how cute Elena looked when she was being stubborn. He just wished, also for the millionth time, that she wasn’t being stubborn about something he wanted. Or, in this case, something he didn’t want. He just didn’t see what good raking over everything that had happened in nightmare!Mystic Falls was going to do. She didn’t need to know what he’d seen there.
“Well you can stop being worried now, can’t you?” he rationed out. “I’m back. I’m awake. And, frankly, I’m kind of disappointed you’ve waited even this long to have sex with me.”
"Damon." She gave him a look, wondering how many times they'd gone through this. She suddenly felt the weight of her fatigue. Had she stayed awake for days, waiting for him, only to fight? She swallowed back her argument. "You know, sometimes… I wish you weren't such an idiot." She touched his arm softly, drawing closer to him again. "Let's get out of here before I change my mind."