The Original

Hold On I Still Want You

For this chapter, listen to "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz.

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Damon followed her through the door, finding her on the terrace, leaning against the railing, staring up at the stars.

"All this time," he began, "and I never knew you had a family."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, neither did my brother. And I've known him the longest."

"Why don't you let yourself get close to people?" he asked.

Genevieve stared at him for a moment. "I suppose...it's because I don't want to get attached only to lose them to death a little while later."

"Don't be a coward, Gen," he reprimanded. "It's beneath you."

The words caught her off guard for a moment. Silence fell.

"You're right," she sighed. "I am a coward. I'm a coward for not going after what I want. For letting so much time go by, and regretting not doing what I wanted to do. Not telling people how I felt." She looked at him. "But not anymore."

She turned to fully face him. "I love you. I've loved you for so long. Probably since the day I met you. And I refused to say anything because I didn't want to let anyone else in, just to suffer more heartbreak. But I realize now how stupid I was to hide it."

"I have loved you for so long," she continued, "and I've loved you so much. More than I really care to admit. And you never knew. And I had to watch you be in love with Katherine for decades, and it hurt." Tears now brimmed her eyes, and her voice cracked. "And I feel...I feel like all these years that I've lived, that I've loved, that I've spent wandering the earth...has just been spent waiting for you. I always knew I was waiting for something. I just didn't know what, until I met you. And I don't care anymore if you don't love me in return. I don't care if you think I'm being foolish, or if I should have kept my mouth shut, because I don't want to die with any regrets, and not telling you how I feel would have been my biggest one. And I won't apologize for-"

But he cut her off. In one fluid motion, he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in close, planting his lips on hers. His hands traveled to her waist and the small of her back, pulling her to him, till their bodies were flush with one another. Her own hands traveled to his neck, as she kissed him passionately.

After a moment, they broke away, one of his hands still holding her waist, the other moving to cup her cheek.

"I love you too," he whispered. "Even when I thought I loved Katherine, I really loved you. And I waited for you too. I waited for you to come back, for a hundred years I waited. And now that I have you again, I won't ever let you go."

She tilted back a little to meet his eyes, her own filled with sadness.

"Don't," he breathed. 

"Don't what?" her breath caught, wondering if she'd made a mistake. If she'd miscalculated his feelings.

"Don't look at me like that. Like this might be the last time I see you."

"Damon...I think I know how this is going to end. And it's not going to be a happy ending for all of us. I've made my peace with it."

"Stop," he clutched her tightly, silencing her. "Just stop. Please don't talk like that."

She remained silent. 

"Just...promise me. Promise me you'll live. Promise we'll see tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. That we'll see all the days to come. Together."

Genevieve looked him in the eyes, and could see the hope, the need, the desperation for her to survive. So she did the only thing she could think to do in that moment, to give him peace.

"I promise."

He pulled her in closer, wrapping his arms around her as she leaned her head in and rested it on his chest. 

But even though she had promised, she knew, that for the first time in her life, she'd made a promise she knew she'd never be able to keep.