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Damon stood outside the crypt, waiting with Bonnie and Caroline for Elena to wake up. It had been a long five years, and he’d come to terms with a lot of things in that time. But all that was for later. Right now was about happy reunions, which was why when she ran into his arms and kissed him, he gladly kissed her back and swung her around. He took a little time to revel in her, the last time he would allow himself for that before shooing her off to reconnect with her friends, telling her that he would see her back at the boarding house after. He’d already said his goodbyes to Caroline and Bonnie and secured promises to let him be the one to talk to Elena. She deserved this happy time first though. He went home and had a few drinks as he rehearsed for probably the hundredth time what he would say.
When Elena got home after having a day of shopping and a nice dinner out, she dropped her bags on the floor and raced to him, kissing him deeply again, and he allowed it. To a point. But definitely not more than that. He wouldn’t turn down saying goodbye the fun way, but only if she knew it was goodbye and wanted that too. It only took her seconds to figure out that something wasn’t right. “What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly as she sat back, legs tucked under her and facing him.
“I’ve turned all this over in my mind a hundred times and I still can’t find a better place to start than to just be blunt about it. I know I’ve said it before, but this time is for real. We can’t work together, Elena,” he said as he took both her hands in his.
“What? What do you mean? Why? I thought…”
“I know what you thought. I thought too. More like I let myself get lost in a dream that could never be and over the last five years I’ve realized the truth.”
“What truth?” Elena asked, tears already welling up in her eyes.
“You were right before, Elena. I can’t take the cure just for you. Or even for us. I don’t /want/ to be human again. And I can’t guarantee that even our love would be enough to make me happy in an existence that I don’t want.”
“Okay,” Elena sniffled and nodded. “Okay, I get that.” She’d been the one to say it in the first place, so she couldn’t exactly go back on it now even if she wanted to. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be together…”
“Yes it does,” Damon said sadly. “Because you’re going to continue to age. Mature. Grow.”
“If this is about what people will think, I don’t care. I don’t care if I’m old enough to be your mother. Unless…you couldn’t love me that way?”
“No, Elena. That’s not what I mean at all. It doesn’t matter to me what you look like. How old you are. But you’ll outgrow me in time. Don’t say you won’t. Relationships work when people grow together and evolve together and that’s not something that I’m capable of as a vampire. Even without the fact that I can’t give you the life you want. You wanted to be human so that you could have a comfortable human life. A career, family, home. None of those things I can give you and just like I can’t live a life I don’t want, I can’t ask you to live one that you don’t want either.”
Elena’s tears started to fall as she realized that he was right. “That doesn’t mean we can’t find a way. I love you, Damon.”
“And I love you, Elena. Enough to let you go,” he reached a hand to her cheek to brush her tears away. “Not all love is meant to last a lifetime. You were everything I needed when I needed it most. You saved me in so many ways. Even from myself. And I will never forget that. I will never forget you. Even a thousand years from now.” His own tears leaked from his eyes as he leaned his forehead against hers. “What we had was epic. But it’s time to let go now.”
Elena nodded as her tears fell heavier. “Okay. I love you enough to let you go too,” she said shakily. “But you need to know that you were everything I needed too. You taught me how to live again. You saved me too. I’ll never forget you either.” She leaned forward and kissed him softly. She needed at least one more. Damon kissed her back slowly and tenderly, both of their tears falling steadily. “Do you think…we could be together? One more time? To say goodbye?”
“Yeah. I’m good with that,” Damon nodded. “One last perfect night.” He lifted her up in a bridal carry and took her upstairs to his room. Or was it their room. It didn’t matter anymore. They came together slowly and lovingly, saying the perfect goodbye and when it was over Damon pulled her into his arms. One last cuddle too. “You remember the bar I bought? With the apartment above right next to a medical school?”
“Yeah. I remember,” she sniffled, her tears falling on his chest.
“I signed the deed over to you last week. I figure you can hire people to run the bar and make some extra money that way or you can sell the whole thing and get something new. It doesn’t matter to me. I would offer to let you stay here, but I know you need to hide somewhere with the cure and all. I know it doesn’t make up for the broken promises, but…”
“It’s okay, Damon. I understand,” Elena assured him. “I would rather this than you come to the realization only when it was too late to take back. You deserve to be happy too. I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that yet. I can’t think of anything right now, but…thank you. And thank you for loving me all those years.”
“Thank /you/, Elena. For those years too. No matter how rocky it was, I will always treasure every moment. I hope you have the perfect human life with all the happiness you deserve.” He leaned his head against hers, letting his tears fall in her hair. Nothing more was said for a good while and he could feel her dozing off. “I won’t be here when you wake up,” he whispered.
Elena sniffled and nodded against his chest. She wanted to ask to keep in touch, but she knew it would just make things too much harder for both of them. A clean break was better. “Goodbye, Damon,” she breathed out.
“Goodbye, Elena,” he choked on the words. He’d already packed up most of his things when Bonnie said that she would be able to wake Elena up today. Most of it was even in the car already. He just had one more bag to take as he left. He followed her into sleep soon after, but was awake long before morning. Vampires didn’t need as much sleep as humans. He slipped gently out of bed and got dressed silently by the light of the almost full moon. He leaned down and pressed one more soft kiss to her lips and brushed her hair back from her face to get one more good look at her before whispering again, barely audible, “Goodbye, Elena,” and walking out the door.