❝it's you, and it's me❞

"KLAUS!"

The familiar voice sends chills down her spine, and she nearly drops the mug in her hand when she hears it.

"Klaus, where are you?"

Damon stumbles to an abrupt stop when he sees her.

It's her– it truly is, there's no mistaking her for anyone else when he's staring into the eyes he's spent nearly two hundred years dreaming of.

"Rosemary?"

"Damon?"

He forgets what he need to tell Klaus as soon as she says his name, because the mere sound of her voice makes his heart pound in his chest. He steps towards her as she takes a step towards him, and he just barely catches her as she crumples before him.

Damon cradles her familiar frame against him, a hand combing through her curly brown hair he used to spend hours weaving daisies into while she read to him in the gardens behind his house. He buries his nose in the crown of her head and inhales, listening to the quiet tears she's spilling, and the rapid beat of her pulse that sounds like a symphony in his ears.

"Ro," He tips her head backwards, cradling her cheeks in his hands and brushing his thumbs beneath her mascara-stained eyes.

"Is it you?" She whimpers, her hands coming to rest on top of his. "Is it really you, or is this another dream?"

He shakes his head, and his heart aches with sympathy knowing she'd been haunted just as he had. "It's me. I promise it's me, Rosemary."

She chokes around the lump in her throat, and her fingers intertwine with his against her cheeks. "I've waited so long. I tried to come home, I tried but I was so terrified you'd think I was a monster. I tortured myself because I would've rather you think I was dead then have you hate me."

"I could never," His voice cracks uncontrollably and he blinks back the tears welling in his ice blue eyes. "I could never hate you. And I don't blame you for staying away, you needed them."

Rosemary shakes her head. "I needed you more. I always needed you more."

"Don't leave me again. Please." Damon pulls her to him, hugging her to his chest and clinging to any part of her he can touch like his life depends on it.

"I won't," She shakes her head against him and squeezes him a bit tighter. "I swear."

He pulls away from her just barely, and looks at her tear-streaked cheeks that are stained with runny mascara, and smudged red lipstick. She looks the same as she did the day they got married, she's as stunning as she's always been and his heart is pounding painfully against his ribs.

He thinks it can't be real, the thing he's dreamed of for over a century. The woman that has followed him since the day he met her when they were fourteen years old, and didn't know what love was.

She followed him when they turned eighteen and shouted their love for one another after a long night at the bar, in the streets of the town they stood in now. She stood by his side when he fought in a war he didn't belong in and married him, promised her life to him, even if it ended up being short-lived.

And for years he's seen her in everything he's done. He's seen her face in the reflection of his mirror when he brushes his teeth, reminding him that he's got breakfast waiting in the kitchen for him. When he drinks coffee as black as night, he'd hear her exclaim through laughs that drinking coffee without sugar was sacrilegious.

And here she stood before him, crying quietly and staring at him with those pools of mossy stones buried beneath the ocean floor. Eyes that held love, that held nothing but love for him, and the person he's become. He wants to know how she could love someone like him now, but he knows that she never stopped, because he didn't either. He could never stop loving her.

Damon smiles through his tears, through his fears, and through his aching heart telling him it's not real. He drags his thumb beneath her eyes and wipes her tears away.

She leans into his touch, and shakes her head in disbelief at the mere sight of him.

"I love you,"

Rosemary grins wide and unapologetic in the arms of her husband once more. "I love you, too. Forever."

"Forever."

Damon can't resist the urge building in his chest any longer– and he smashes their lips together in a passionate kiss he's waited his immortal life for.

Rosemary whimpers a sob against his lips, but her hands climb his neck and weave into his black hair, pressing them impossibly close to one another.

They part a moment later, struggling for air.

When she raises her eyes to meet his again, she grins, and laughs breathlessly in his arms, and Damon thinks for a moment that's anything but fleeting, that he's finally, finally home again.

And he doesn't want to be anywhere else.

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Caroline stumbles to a stop when she sees the scene before her.

Damon is standing in Alaric's kitchen, swaying back and forth gently in the silence, with a brunette cradled against him, her head laying on his chest. Her heart skips a beat when she realizes who it is, because there's really no other possibility Damon's with another woman at this point, and she takes a small, quiet step backwards to try to escape without interrupting the moment.

Before she can execute the action swiftly and leave Alaric's apartment, the door swings open again and the recently reunited couple lift their gazes from one another to see what had disrupted them.

Caroline resists the urge to roll her eyes when she sees Alaric, knowing it was Klaus, which meant he knew exactly what was going on in the apartment before he burst in.

"Sorry to interrupt," Klaus holds his hands up in surrender at the matching glares he gets from the couple. "Might as well join the party, Caroline, I've ruined their moment."

She steps out from behind the corner she'd tucked herself into, a wince twisting into a bashful smile. "Sorry. I tried to leave before you noticed, but–"

"It's alright, Caroline," Damon gives her a soft smile, and it's the kindest she's ever seen him look. His arms are wrapped around Rosemary, and she's happily resting against his chest as they relish in one another's presence once more.

"It's, um, it's nice to meet you," The blonde waves her fingers at Rosemary, who grins amusedly at her embarrassment. "Damon talked about you a lot."

Rosemary grins deviously, her red lips spread in a grin that hurts her cheeks as she props her chin on Damon's chest. "Did you brag about your beautiful wife, Damon?"

"Of course I did," He smirks, unapologetically admitting to the fact. "Everyone around here is so obsessed with doppelgängers, I had to brag a little bit."

Caroline laughs at them, though she's inexplicably happy for Damon and Rosemary both. She looks at Klaus, who's rolling his eyes, even though there's no heat behind it. "Don't be such a spoilsport, Klaus, it's a joyous occasion."

He fixes her with a deadpan stare that she laughs at, easily shrugging his ire off.

"Oh, don't lie, Nik," Rosemary chuckles. "You're a big softy under all the homicide and sacrifice."

The man scoffs, his offense obvious by the look on his face. "I am not a softy, Rosemary, I'm an evil hybrid."

"An evil hybrid with a soft spot for true love," Caroline muses, rocking on her heels and biting back a huge grin at the irritation on his face.

"Absolutely not."

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author's note; i really do love them

edited and published; 11.8.22.

- liz