They drove for a while, and Libia couldn't hardly look at him, in embarrassment for what she had said. She hadn't meant to say it, it just kind of blurted out. He didn't say anything either, but his smile was more than enough of an indicator that he'd heard and aknowledged what she said. 

When the car pulled to a stop, Libia looked out the window and couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"We're having a date in the park?" She asked, quirking a brow.

"Yeah, so?"

"So," She gestured to her coat, "It's cold out!"

"That's why you stick close to me, Baby, I'll warm you right up."

Her cheeks warmed at the name, and she narrowed her eyes at him, "So this is all just an elaborate plan to make me hug you?"

He laughed. "Not exactly. Now come on."

He shut the car off, unbuckling his seatbelt, and watching as she reluctantly did the same.

"What, you don't want to?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm warm right now. The prospect of cold doesn't exactly make me happy," She told him as she opened the door.

He let out a laugh that echoed down the street as he stepped out of the car, and she couldn't help the brief smile that pulled at her lips at the sound. She'd never heard him laugh or seen him smile as much as he had in the past few hours.

He met her at the sidewalk, pulling her in close to his side when she shivered. He pulled the hood of his jacket over her head, and she felt swallowed up, as she couldn't see past the piece of clothing in her eyes.

"You're too tall," She complained, "And built."

He laughed again as they walked into the park, his arm draped around her shoulders as she held onto his shirt with her sleeve-covered hand. 

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"It's not," She murmured, her voice soft and non-believable. Despite the cold, she was enjoying herself.

She, once again, marveled at the fact that no man had ever been this close to her. She could feel his pulse, even from her hand's position over his stomach, and his warmth seeped through the jacket she wore and into her body. No man had ever even come close to kissing her as he'd done so many times before. To holding her like he'd done in his bed. He'd said to her words that she'd never imagined any man would ever say. It didn't seem real. Perhaps she was dreaming. She peeked up from her hood to look at his face, and he was watching the sidewalk in front of him, shoulders relaxed, eyes soft and casual under his golden hair that she'd managed to mess up while playing with it, a small smile never leaving his chiseled face. How could she dream up something like that?

"Damon," She murmured after a moment, eyes staring at the ground that they walked. The moonlight managed to cast criss-crossing shadows over them from the sleeping trees. It was peaceful.

"Hm?" He asked, as if coming out of deep thought.

"I love you."

Under her hand, she felt his pulse stutter.

"You have no idea how good that sounds, coming from your lips."

She ducked her head, glad for the hood that covered her face, as it was most likely cherry red at that moment. 

"I'm not sure you should know," He continued on, oblivious to her shyness. "What would happen if you realized just how much power those words had over me? It might turn out as my parents said - you could influince me any way you choose...all you had to say was those words."

She looked up as his joking tone turned serious, and met his eyes. He really meant it. He meant every word. 

"Do you really love me that much?" She found herself asking, her voice slightly disbelieving.

He let out a snort, his arm tightening around her. "Believe me Baby, I'd love to tell you that I'd say no to you if you asked me to kill someone - or even myself, for that matter - but the fact is...I wouldn't. I'd do it in a heartbeat."

She swallowed thickly. "So if I ever say "Can I please kill Jackson?", I'd basically be sentencing him to death?"

"If he did something to warrant it, yes, probably," Damon said, eyebrows furrowing as he looked out at the dark field in front of them.

She couldn't help it, she felt it bubble up before she could stop it, and it escaped without consent - her laugh made his footsteps falter.

"What?" He asked as she kept on giggling, "You find my undying devotion funny?" Now that she was actually looking at him, she could see that his cheeks were bright red, and she pressed her palm to her lips, as more giggles escaped.

"I-I'm sorry but...you're just so cute!"

Now she was embarrassed, pulling her hood over her face as she tried to stifle her giggles. But after a second of silence, she heard a groan from his direction, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as the other hand pulled her face up from the hood. He leaned down just in time to catch her lips with his, and she was caught in surprise for a moment. But she responded just as he knew she would, relaxing in his grasp and letting him deepen the kiss.

When he pulled back, he glowered at her, settling his forehead against hers. "You can't throw something like that on me and then hide your face. Your smile is way too precious."

Now her cheeks were burning, as she looked away from him. How could she respond to that?

With a laugh, he pulled her close and then led her over to a nearby bench, settling them down. After a moment, he let out a sigh, and held her closer to him. She pulled up and folded her legs to rest on the bench, as she leaned her weight into his side and cuddled close to him. He smiled. He loved it when she did that. 

But then, as he watched her close her eyes with a tiny smile, his own faded slightly.

"You're still scared, right?"

Slowly, Libia opened her eyes, lifting them to his. He was serious now, although the remnents of his smiling face was still fading. She could see that he didn't want an assuring lie.

She swallowed, closing her eyes again as she buried the side of her face into his chest.

"I...I can't help it."

He knew that. She had every right to be scared. He was too. He knew how vile a relationship could be between two people - how vile a relationship could suddenly get. But now that he was older, he realized that there were always subtle signs that he was too naive to notice in his parents at the time. When one said something wrong, the other would make remarks, degrading each other instead of simply, politely correcting them. When something happened with work, or life in general, they would always shut themselves off to each other - they never communicated. He didn't know how her parents were, but he knew that his and Libia's relationship wasn't like his.

"I can't say what will happen, because I don't know," He began in a low tone, listening to his own heartbeat pounding at her touch. "But I can say that right now, right here, I have absolutely no intention of ever leaving you, and there's no mistaking that feeling. I won't give up on you, Libia. This feeling will not fade."

She lifted her head to look at him, and he met her eyes with so much determination and conviction, that she had no choice but to believe him. Perhaps she was being reckless, and perhaps she'd regret ever meeting him one day, but as it stood at that moment, she loved him so fiercely, her heart couldn't stand it - it wanted to burst from her chest, with how much it ached for the man in front of her eyes. 

"I love you," She told him with a soft urgency in her voice that he couldn't ignore, "Damon, I'm so in love with you."

The words wouldn't stop coming, as she sat up and leaned forward, pressing her lips to his briefly, before letting the words slip out again. It was as if she was trying to relieve the pressure on her heart by spilling it out through her mouth - all of the feelings that had compiled there. With every kiss she confessed her love, and he accepted them one after the other, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

"God, Damon," She said once again, her voice breathless, "I can't...I love you...I can't breathe I love you so much."

He slipped his hands into her hair, his heart filling to burst as she reapeated those words over and over, and as much as he loved hearing them, he couldn't control himself. He pulled her close and pressed his lips firmly to hers, kissing her with a fire that he didn't know he posessed. He shifted closer to her, his tongue slipping between his lips and running along her bottom one. She'd never felt such a strange sensation before - his warm, wet tongue persuading her lips open, slipping inside as he began an exploration of her mouth. She couldn't breathe again, but she loved the feeling. His slightly cold hand slipped under her shirt, holding her waist in a more intimate way, and she felt shivers wrack her spine.

She had died and gone to heaven, she was convinced, and she never wanted to be revived.

But the cold harsh reality of life had to rear it's ugly head, as they both needed air. She hated the need for oxygen in that moment, cursing it and it's untimely inturruption.

They sat for a long time on that bench, the two of them catching their breath as they stayed close together, no longer needing the warmth of each other, as they were both burning with heat already.

But as they calmed down, Libia looked up at the moon, and remembered that she had a family that, if they discovered her gone, would be angry if they found her gone. She didn't want to stay out too long, but she also wanted to stay out for eternity, if only it were with Damon. She felt a small smile pull at her swollen lips. She truly was hopeless.

"I should probably go home," She whispered, curling her knees up as she reached up to play with his hair.

He closed his eyes and let her run her fingers through his crazy mane, before murmuring a half-hearted,

"Mn."

She let out a laugh, and then a sigh. "My thoughts exactly."

He laughed, a little breathily, as he peeked an eye open to look at her. Her hair was a mess where he'd gripped it somewhere between kissing her senseless and playing with the small of her back with his other hand. He reached up to smooth it out, and then let out a groan.

"Do you have to?"

The look on his face was pleading, and she couldn't help stare. He looked like an incredibly handsome puppy in that moment, and suddenly telling him that she had to go home was impossible. She really, really was hopeless. She smiled, and shook her head. "No."

"Really?" He murmured, leaning his lips down to the top of her head as he closed his eyes.

"What else do you want to do, though?" She asked, her voice soft.

He let out a sigh that warmed her head briefly, before murmuring, "This late, the only place open would be Mc. Donalds, and a Starbucks. What do you think?"

"Starbucks it is," She said, cuddling into him as a breeze ran through the park.

"Got it," He said, pulling her with him to stand. 

They strolled back to the car, Libia cuddled close under his arm as her nose stung slightly from the cold. She knew that he probably had a smug smile on his face, as she was doing just as he planned in the beginning by bringing her out to the park. She rolled her eyes, but held onto his shirt tightly. When they reached the car, he pulled the door open for her, and she jumped in. She couldn't help but stare at his face as he passed by the front of the car to the drivers side.

His nose was slightly arched forward, only slightly, with eyebrows she could only describe as a man's. His full lips were pulled into a tiny smile. The curve of his jaw made her want to trace the perfectly chiseled edges, and his eyes in the darkness were soft. He looked more relaxed then she had ever seen him, and she was trapped by that peacefulness.

He settled down in the seat next to her with a sigh, reaching over to start the car up. He paused as it purred to life, turning his eyes to hers. 

"You know what? Let's go somewhere."

Her heart studdered in her chest as she felt butterflies take flight in her stomach. She invisioned them driving off together on a road trip or running away to paris or something stupid like that. But quickly, she pushed those thoughts away, knowing he meant something else, and murmured,

"I thought we were?"

He smiled. "I want to be alone with you. I've got a good place, don't worry."

She didn't answer, so he took her silence as consent, and pulled off. They drove down a familiar stip of road, and she felt a smile pull at her lips as he pulled into their school parking lot.

"This is where we're going?"

"Yes, but we're not leaving the car," He replied, ignoring her inquisitive stare as he pulled all the way into the middle of the lot and switched the car to battery. In the soft glow of the dash lights, he looked over at her, and found that the lighting really complimented her eyes. They shined in the dark, and he felt the need to hold her suddenly. 

Refraining, he reached up and pulled the sunroof open.

"Lean your chair back," He murmured, following right after she did. He sat back and looked expectantly up at the dark sky, but frowned. Libia giggled.

"We're in the middle of the city, Damon. You can't see many stars out here," She reminded gently.

He wrinkled his brows, before letting out a sigh, "Well then, we'll just have to go somewhere where there aren't any stars."

"What?" She asked, as he lifted his seat back up and reached over to start the car up again. 

"You heard me. Lift your seat up and buckle up," He ordered, shooting her a grin.

"We're going for a little road trip."

 

***

Omigosh can I have a Damon?

So what did you guys think? I'd really appriciate some feedback on the chapter - things you liked, things you didn't like, the works. So please comment and let me know! 

Love you guys, have a purpley panda day. <3