(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Epilogue

Damon leaves the Gilbert house to wait for Cassandra but he wanted to talk to Jeremy about Anna first, he felt like that was something he should do himself, considering he was the one that saw her die. Elena arrives, she's holding her dress.

"Hey" She greets. "What are you doing here?" He frowns a little but shrugs.

"Failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing." He answers.

"Which was...?" She asks him.

"It's not important. Let me take this for you" He takes the dress and her bag, and sets it down.

"Thank you"

"Where's Cas?" He asks. Elena motions over her shoulder

"She wanted to drive her bug home..." She answers. He nods a little and then lets out a breath.

"You know, I came to this town wanting to destroy it" He admits. "Tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen? I'm not a hero, Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me"

"Maybe it is"

"Nah, it's reserved for my brother and Cas.....and you...and Bonnie...who, even though she has every reason to hate me, still helped Stefan save me."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" She asks him.

"Because she did it for Cas. Which means that somewhere along the way, she decided that I was worth saving" Damon sounds surprised by that thought. He knows she likes him. But to believe him worthy of being saved, that's not something he considered. He lets out a breath. Touched. He thought he was right up there with how much he liked her. But now. There is a whole new level to it. Elena looks over Damon's shoulder as Cassandra's beetle rolls up the street. She glances at Damon and then pulls him into a kiss. It honestly takes him a moment to process and understand what is happening here. But when he does, he frowns and pulls away from her, keeping her at arm's length. He shakes his head. Not really understanding what just happened here. Why she would do that? "What are you doing?" He asks her. Jenna then opens the door and looks between them.

"Hi..." Elena offers.

"It's late, you should probably come inside" Jenna points out. Elena looks at Damon, grabs her dress and goes into the house. Jenna closes the door behind them. Damon turns around with a frown on his face, unsure why Elena would do that with him. He then stops. Cassandra stands a little way down from him. She cocks her head in question, a sad hurt frown on her face. She saw Elena kiss him. That's a double hurt. Her sister. The guy that she, well, she's not going to say she is in love with him, but she liked him. Really liked him. How is this fair? She thought she finally had something good. After a crap year. She thought it was finally turning around. But she was an idiot.

"Cas" He starts and moves towards her. "It wasn't what it looked like" He tries, and he knows how it sounds, how cliché it sounds, but it's the truth. He knows how it must have looked. She pulls a face and looks away from him, trying really hard not to cry.

"It looked like you were kissing my sister" She whispers.

"I stopped it" he defends.

"Sure as hell didn't look like that from where I was standing" She argues

"But I'm telling you..." He tries. "She started it. I pushed..."

"You're all the same" She whispers sadly. "All the same..." She repeats and steps back from him. It's settled in her. No talking her out of it. no explaining. Her mind is set. Hurt. She's already been through this. She's not going through it again so she is locking herself out.

"Cas" He starts. "Come on, this is silly, you know that I would never......." He stops and lets out a breath. "What we have..." He tries. "That trust..you have to trust me..."

"Nothing. We have nothing" She stops him. "Nothing" She repeats, her lip quivering. He reaches out for her. "Don't touch me!" She snaps at him, pulling away from him. She feels sick. He takes a deep breath and looks away from her. Because he can see that the damage has been done. She shakes her head and walks away. Heading into the house. Damon closes his eyes, a tear actually sliding down his cheek. He did the right thing pushing Elena away. It was the right thing. But if Cassandra won't let him explain how can he fix this. And he gets it. Tyler hurt her. But Damon didn't do this to her. He stopped it.

.............

Inside, Cassandra hurries up the stairs, just wanting to lock herself away in her room to cry. She's pathetic. She should never have trusted him. Never have trusted in her situation. Because something always goes wrong. She reaches the top of the stairs and lets out an annoyed breath. She was so stupid. She curls her fingers into her palm, pressing her nails into her skin. How could she have been so stupid? First Tyler. Now Damon. She sure can pick them. She reaches up and brushes her hands over her eyes and lets out a frustrated noise before she stops. The hairs on the back of her neck standing up. She stops and cocks her head. Something bothering her now. Now she's taking stock of her surroundings. She turns to look behind her, but the house is quiet. A force slams her head into the wall and Cassandra drops to the floor with a groan, she reaches up for her head. What the hell is it with people going for her head today? That can't be good for her. She turns onto her back and squints up at the figure stood over her.

"Elena?" She asks with a frown. 'Elena' cocks her head with a smirk before kicking Cassandra in the face, knocking her out.