I didn't think it was possible to love Damon or Delena more than I already did after watching 'The Return'.
I was wrong.

I didn't know what to call this article. I decided to name it after a movie because the DE scene in 'Rose' reminded me a little of one of my favourite scenes in the film 'Love Actually'. In the movie, one of the characters, Mark (Andrew Lincoln) is in love with a girl he can't be with, Juliet (Keira Knightley). Juliet has always thought Mark didn't like her, and is shocked when she discovers the truth about how he really feels. On Christmas Eve, Mark shows up on her doorstep. He doesn't say anything, he just shows her a series of placards which tells her he'll always love her and wishing her a merry Christmas. He knows she doesn't love him, and he knows that by telling her, it changes nothing, because there's no way they can be together. But he tells her anyway, not because he has anything to gain by doing so, but just because.

In much the same way, Damon tells Elena he loves her, knowing that telling her won't change anything. It can't undo all the bad things he's done. It won't conquer all. It won't defeat all the obstacles that lie in their path so they can magically be together. He has nothing to gain by telling her, but he tells her because he can't keep his feelings to himself any longer. He has to say it just once, and that's all he wants. He doesn't want anything from her in return.

I think it's clear after watching their scene in 2x08 that Delena have officially become epic. I would be stunned if anyone - critics, haters, people who want Elena to be with Stefan, and Damon to be with Bonnie or whoever - have any ammunition to use against DE now. In one relatively short, simple scene, DE have silenced them. We've heard so many arguments about why DE shouldn't be together, we probably know them off by heart. Someone could write a song about all the reasons people have used against them. But finally, we have one reason why DE should be together, and that reason is love.

Loving Elena has made Damon a better person. He's put aside his own feelings for her sake. He's sacrificed his own happiness because he wants to see her happy more. Put simply, he's put someone else first. That's love, actually.

All the arguments about why Elena didn't belong with Damon because he didn't deserve her bothered me so much I wrote an article about it. It bothered me because the mind-set behind this way of thinking was that love was all about what you did, not who you were or what you needed. In order to receive love, you had to somehow prove you were worthy of it first, and if you weren't then it meant you should be alone. People who think this way have arguably never known how it feels to love anyone at all. Damon doesn't love Elena because he's 'good'; he loves her knowing he's not. And in a strange way, the very fact that he admits he doesn't deserve her goes some way in redeeming him, because in my eyes, it actually means he DOES deserve her. Why? Because he loves her so much he's willing to give her up for the 'better' man - Stefan.

In Nicholas Sparks novel 'Dear John', it opens with the question "What does it mean to truly love another?" By the end of the book, we find out:

"...I finally understood what true love really meant. Tim had told me - and shown me - that love meant that you care for another person's happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be."

When you love someone so much you put them first -and put their happiness before your own...then that's love, actually.
I don't think Damon has ever loved anyone as much as he's loved Elena. No, not even Katherine, who he obsessed over for 145 years. I'm not going to launch into a debate about SE versus DE because I know that SE shippers will argue that when you love someone, then you will do anything to be with them. Even if it means risking your life and the lives of the people you love to stay together. And I know that they love each other. But there is such a profound difference in the way they have fought to keep their love and the way Damon gave his up. When you sacrifice your own happiness for someone else, no matter how painful it is...that's love, actually.

He told her he loved her and then compelled her to forget, not because he didn't want her to remember, but because it was best for her. He knew that if she remembered, then it would inevitably crop up between her and Stefan and make things weird, and he didn't want that. He wanted her to be happy and he knew that because she didn't love him, it was in her best interest to forget what had happened. I know so many of you were sad about it, but he did the right thing. And the scene wouldn't have been quite so heartbreaking if it had been otherwise. Because in that moment, we see how much Damon loves her. He loves her knowing she doesn't feel the same way and not expecting anything in return, not even a memory. When you love someone like that, then that is true love.
Is Damon worthy of Elena? Without a doubt.