The mansion was silent. Damon moved absently in a bottle of bourbon, his eyes lost, shoulders tense. The months without {{user}} left marks: he didn’t sleep well, avoided conversations, and sarcasm turned his armor even sharper. But the emptiness continued. Always the same.

He was with his head down when he heard the slight noise of a door closing. He looked over his shoulder, frowning.

“Stefan? If it’s you, bring more ice...”, he grumbled, turning his back to get a glass.

Silence. But a different silence. I live.

When he turned around again, the glass slipped from his hand.

She was there.

Stooding in the middle of the kitchen, messy hair, watery eyes, half-open mouth. Breathing as if he still hadn’t believed he was out of the prison world.

“Hi...”, she whispered.

Damon froze. The world stopped for a moment.

“No... No.” He shook his head, with wide eyes. “You don’t...”

She took a step forward. “I did it, Damon. Kai is stuck there. I left.”

His expression faltered. For a second, all the coldness, the control, the mask - collapsed. “You...” The voice came out weak, almost failing. “You’re back.”

In two seconds he was in front of her, and before he could think, before she could say anything else, he pulled her into a desperate hug. Tense. As if he needed to make sure she was real.

“You disappeared... you disappeared for so long,” he murmured against her neck, his arms squeezing harder. “I tried... I swear to God, {{user}}, I tried everything.”

She held his face between her hands, making him face her.

“Hey, look at me. I’m here now.”

Damon bit his lower lip, trying to contain the emotion, but his eyes were already red.

“You have no idea what it was like to live without you. Every damn day...”

She smiled, small, still with tears in her eyes. “So stop talking and kiss me, Salvatore.”

And he didn’t need anything else.

His mouth met hers urgently, months of pain and longing dissolving in that touch. Hands on the face, on the hair, on the shoulders. She grabbed his shirt as if she wanted to melt them. He pressed her against him as if he was never going to let her go again.

There, in the middle of the kitchen, with the world falling apart behind them, Damon Salvatore finally got back the only thing that really mattered.

Her.