A:N/ I came up with this while going to volleyball practice. I hope you all like reading this as much as I like writing it! Also, this takes place a little bit after Damon and Elena's trip to Atlanta, and after Elena thinks that Isobel could be her mother. Takes place wayy before the season 1 finale. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of the places mentioned. Nor do I own Bon Jovi. I only own the plot :D
Elena Gilbert had one goal in mind: find her mother. Which is why, reluctantly, she opened the door to the Salvatore mansion. She really didn't want to be here right now, but Stefan had refused to accompany her on her trip. Which meant go alone or stay here, unless she found someone else. Bonnie was on vacation, trying to relax after her grandma's death, so she couldn't come. Jeremy didn't know that Elena was adopted (and this wasn't a good time to tell him), and she couldn't tell Jenna she was leaving until after she was gone, because she would try to stop Elena from leaving. Which left only one person...
"Damon?" she called. No reply. "Damon?" Still nothing. "Damon Salvatore! I am NOT in the mood for your games right now." Still no reply. "I know you're here," she said sneakily. "But where?"
She climbed up the stairs that led to Damon and Stefan's bedrooms, and a few guestrooms. She inched by every door until she got to Damon's room. He was sitting inside on his bed, listening to music through his headphones. She walked inside and yanked the headphones out of his ears. "Well hello to you too," was his only reply.
"I know damn well those headphones weren't loud, because they would hurt your sensitive ears. So," she asked angrily, "why… didn't… you… answer… me!" She hit him on lightly on the head with every word.
He smirked at her. "Meow," he said, imitating cat claws. "Someone's feisty today. Why?"
"Because," she replied. "I need your help, even though I really don't want it."
"Well change your attitude, say please, and maybe I'll do it."
Fine. He wanted to play this game? She'd play this game. "Damon," she said sexily. "Pretty please come with me?" She batted her eyelashes and ran her fingers up his shirt. She smiled mentally.
He looked so shaken and- honestly- turned on, that it took a few moments for what she said to sink in.
"And where," he swallowed, making Elena giggle mentally. "Are we going?"
She put on the most determined face she could. "To find my mother."
"Wait- what?"
She sighed. "I want to find my mother. I don't want her to take me back, I just want to meet her. Get to know the real her, you know? Please, Damon, I wouldn't bother you, but Stefan won't come with me and- and- Bonnie's not here…" She stopped and sat next to him, beginning to cry. "I just want to find her," she said shakily.
He hesitated, then said, "Don't cry, Elena. Do know where she might be?"
Elena pulled out a list. "I got a list of a few of her old friends addresses. I want to see if they've talked to her."
"Well, okay. Where do they live?"
She paused. "Do you want the bad news or good news first?"
He sighed. "Good."
"You get to spend a really long time with me."
He looked at her. "Woo hoo," he said sarcastically.
"The bad news is… we have to go to California, Ohio, and New Jersey." She said hastily.
He just looked at her.
"And you're coming to me… why?"
"I told you… Stefan said no."
"What do you mean, he said no?"
"He won't come with me. He doesn't want you here by yourself." She looked ready to cry again.
"Fine," he said.
"Fine, what?" She was confused.
"Fine… I'll go with you."
She jumped up. "Oh thank you Damon!" She was about to hug him, but stopped herself.
He stood up. "How long should I pack for?"
She thought a bit. "A month?"
He shook his head and began to pack.
"So you need fourteen shirts, eight pairs of pants, fourteen pairs of socks, one pair of sneakers and…" She paused.
He just smiled. "Thirty one pairs of underwear."
"Do you even HAVE thirty one pairs of underwear?"
He smirked. "Yeah. With the way I use underwear… well, let's just say I have a lot more than that."
She pushed that mental picture out of her head. Even though she was with Damon, she was going to find her mother! How could this get better?
Five minutes. They had been in the car five minutes and already she was going to kill him.
Getting him out of the house and in the car was no problem, but inside the car… it was hell.
"Damon, I told you to stop changing the radio!"
"Well obviously someone has to. Your music sucks!"
"And yours is much better?"
"Better than yours!"
"I beg to differ."
"No begging involved."
Elena turned the radio station off, solving they're problem. Or… so she thought.
"Hey!" Damon exclaimed. "Even your music is better than no music at all."
She turned back on the radio. It was on her favorite country station, and one of her favorite songs came on the radio.
"Bring me back where I belonggg," she sang. Damon suddenly switched the radio to a heavy rock station.
"Hey!" she said. Now she was getting a little pissed off. "This is my car, so we'll listen to what I want to listen to!" She turned the radio to classic rock; something that she could actually LISTEN to without her ears bleeding. "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi came on, and although it was one of Elena's favorites, she glanced over at Damon to see if it was okay with him. He sat pouting on the edge of his seat. She decided to fool with him, which was probably the worst thing to do. She didn't care.
"We've got to hold on, to what we've got. It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We got each other and that's a lot. For love," she sang. She poked him, "We'll give it a shot!" She paused. "Whoa, we're halfway there…"
He started singing too. "Whoa oh! Livin' on a prayer!"
"Take my hand, and we'll make it I swear. Whoa oh! Livin' on a prayer!" They sang together.
They listened to the radio and sang until they reached a small bar. "Another bar?" Elena asked. She didn't like what happened the last time she went to a bar with Damon. They almost died.
"Yeah, but we're safe here, I promise!"
They had BETTER be. They walked inside, up to a man Damon called Jimmy.
"Jimmy! How about two glasses of bourbon for me and my friend here?" Friend, he'd said. Were they really friends? Elena smiled at the thought. She'd like to be friends with Damon.
"Sure," Jimmy replied.
Damon and Elena sat down at the bar. "Damon," Elena said. "We know that we're going to New Jersey first. But are we going to drive day and night?"
Damon thought for a moment. "No," he insisted. "I need to sleep and you need to sleep. Hold on." He got up and returned a few minutes later with a book.
"What's that?"
"A list of all the hotels around here. There is one right down the street from here, but the next one's not for miles…" He bit his lip.
"Then let's go," Elena said hastily, swallowing her almost full glass of bourbon in one gulp.
Damon grinned, remembering Elena's tolerance for alcohol. He wondered how many nights on this trip he could get her drunk. He swallowed his glass too, put a twenty on the counter, and left.
When they got to the hotel, the manager insisted that there was only one room left.
"Fine, we'll take it," Damon said. They had run out of options, since it was pitch black out. Damon paid the man, and as they headed up to the room, Elena realized that she probably couldn't have made this trip alone. But when they entered the room, they came up with another problem…
There was only one bed.