Damon had just come back. He was finally home. Well, sorta. He thought that coming home would be smooth sailing – that he would hug it out with his brother, have drinks with his best friend, and make love to his beautiful Elena, and then end off with a party at Mystic Grill. But no, it wasn’t going to be that easy he realized. Mystic Falls was still spell-bound – none of his supernatural friends could get in. The worst part was that Elena had been compelled by his best friend to forget that she ever loved him. This was what broke Damon’s heart the most.
“Damon, you know I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t have to,” Ric said, sitting across from Damon in his Whitmore office.
Damon sighed, gazing sadly at the picture of him and Elena, the one she had kept in her box of memories.
“I know Ric, it’s just that I’ve been missing her for months, and I thought once I got back I could surprise her and…”
“And she’d come running to you and it would be all fairy-tale like?” Ric asked, smiling understandingly at Damon as they both drank their Bourbon.
“Yeah, pretty much. Great, so she won’t even want to see me. She thinks I’m a heartless monster who killed her brother…nothing else.”
Alaric sighed sadly and added, “Look, I can compel her to remember, but it’s got to be her choice, Damon.”
“She’d thank you if you did it without her knowing anyway, I know she would,” Damon retorted, hoping that his friend would agree so that he wouldn’t have to feel guilty for being selfish.
“You’re right. She probably would. But Damon, you have to understand the kind of position it puts me in – if she doesn’t want me to, I’d be breaching her trust.”
“No, you’re absolutely right, Ric. I just miss her…a lot,” Damon forced a smile; the pain was evident on his face.
“Go see her, buddy. It’s not like she doesn’t know you loved her. Just go see her – maybe it’ll conjure up a memory or two? It’s worth a shot. Christ, I mean, if you had only shown up two weeks ago, she would’ve come running into your arms!”
Damon chuckled softly and then became serious, “How bad was it?”
“I’ve never her seen her that sad in my life, Damon. She’s lost her parents, her best friend, just so many people, but she got through that. When she lost you, she was a mess. I didn’t even know she was taking witchy drugs to hallucinate you. To us –”
“She did WHAT?” Damon’s jaw dropped as he stood up, “I have to see her, Ric.”
“Damon, calm down. She doesn’t remember doing that,” Ric said, gesturing for Damon to sit back down, “But she did. It made her very reckless and thirsty. So when she realized she was feeding on innocent people, to the point where she almost killed them, she knew she had to forget loving you. And I felt like I had no choice – she practically begged me.”
