Rocks and Hard Places
DG32173
Sarah: just a random idea I had. I hope everyone enjoys. Reviews are most welcome. If enough people like this fanfic, I'll consider writing it from Damon's view.
DISCLAIMER
I only own what I write and I don't make money for writing it. This is the only disclaimer for the whole fanfic.
WARNINGS
ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Alters from storyline early in Season 2. Rated M for my sanity, not that I have any. Elena's viewpoint.
SUMMARY
Elena is constantly finding herself trapped between rocks and hard places and only one man has repeatedly come to her rescue while the one who should keeps walking away. Her mom taught her to give trust only when she receives it in return. But only one man seems to understand that concept. So she makes the hardest choice of all and lets go of the one she can't depend on and begins the hardest fight of her life: the fight to be with the man she has grown to love… Elena/Damon
Chapter 1
The Choice is Made
I groan, massaging my forehead as I try to keep from breaking down. I had just made the hardest decision I've ever made: I've decided to break things off with Stefan, permanently. I can't handle this on-again-off-again thing he's trying to pull just because Katherine is back and making threats against me. I didn't tell the Salvatore brothers to fall in love with me. But she seems to think it's my fault that they are now pining over me instead of her.
Top that off with the fact that Stefan doesn't even trust me to be faithful to him. Sure, he says it's Damon he doesn't trust, but he doesn't trust that I won't give in to Damon's charms. Sure, it's a huge temptation that I've been resisting since our trip to Georgia, but I will never willingly break trust given to me. The only reason I did what I did to Damon was because Stefan half-strangled me with my necklace and I was scared to death that he would rip it off and compel me to do it. I haven't been able to fully trust Stefan since then. Especially not after what he did at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant.
I sigh as my body instinctively relaxes. Only one person has ever had that effect on me in my entire life. "What do you want, Damon?" I ask without opening my eyes.
"Just came to see how you're holding up," he replies smoothly. I feel my bed shift slightly as he takes a seat next to me.
"How do you think I'm doing? My boyfriend just decided again that it is too dangerous for him to be with me just because his ex made some threats against me," I growl.
"Her fangs did get a little too close to your throat for comfort today," he reminds me.
I open my eyes, prop myself up, and give him a 'look'. "Damon, apparently you're just as blind as your brother. She was bluffing," I tell him. "She knew what you two would do if she vamped out while holding me like that. I could see it in her eyes. She and I look exactly alike. I know her expressions as well as I know my own. I could see that she was toying with us just to get her way. The problem with Katherine is she's a spoiled brat and too damned used to getting her way whatever way she has to. I am quite willing to slap her off that damned pedestal she put herself on."
Damon winces. "You could get killed doing something like that," he points out.
"You didn't kill me when I knocked you off your pedestal," I point out. He winces again. "One day, an older and stronger vampire is going to get annoyed with her pretenses and knock her around a bit to teach her a lesson. And I'm going to laugh my ass off when that happens. Damon, if she wanted me dead, I'd be dead. You told me yourself that not even you would be able to stop her because the older a vampire is, the more powerful they are. You said she has four centuries on you, so that makes her pretty damn powerful. Isobel was sent to you when she wanted to become a vampire. Only one name comes to mind that could have known where you were and sent her in your direction," I tell him. His eyes widen in surprise as he realizes exactly who I'm talking about. "I'm descended from Katherine, I just know I am. Which means Isobel was also descended from her. Katherine seems to have this 'thing' about family. If she was really going to rip my throat out today, I'd be dead right now. She let you pull me from her grasp. You said it yourself: she loves playing games. This whole thing is one big game and the three of us are just pawns to her. I am not going to play the part of a pawn any longer. She's had plenty of opportunity to come in this house and kill everyone here. She was invited in. But she hasn't once been back since the night she cut John's fingers off. My bet is that he pissed her off when he tried to kill you and Stefan and succeeded in killing Anna. She's possessive. She doesn't like people messing with what she considers to belong to her. And I hate to say it, but she has decided that you and Stefan still belong to her in some way. John tried to kill you. So she chopped his fingers off in a warning. I was alone in this house with her because Jeremy had decided to turn himself in his room and John was unconscious from blood loss. If she was as pissed as she pretends to be that you and Stefan have switched your attentions from her to me, she would have killed me right then and there, before the police and ambulance showed up. But she didn't. I think she's the one who alerted me to Jeremy's decision. It certainly wasn't him that I heard make a noise."
"What are you saying?" Damon demands.
"I'm saying that she's not going to kill me. She may threaten to, but if she wanted me dead, I'd be dead. This is a game to her and I'm sick of being a pawn," I growl, turning on my side away from him. "If she wants Stefan so badly and he's not going to be man enough to even try to fight to stay with me, then he's not worth my time and she can fucking have him. I've given up fighting for a relationship that obviously isn't that important to him."
"I hate being his advocate in this, but my brother does care about you, Elena," Damon remarks, taking the empty space behind me as an invitation to kick his boots off and lay down next to me.
"He doesn't trust me," I whisper brokenly.
Damon jerks up next to me and I can feel his eyes on me. "What makes you so sure of that?" he demands.
I turn and look up into his ice blue eyes. "If he trusted me, he wouldn't be so damned jealous every damn time I speak to another guy. And it's not just you that he gets jealous about, though you're the most frequent cause of his jealousy. And it's all because I look like Katherine. I just know it. Every time he sees me talking to another guy, he thinks back on what happened between you, him, and Katherine. He's so damned determined that there isn't a repeat of that scenario that he's actually sabotaging our relationship with his jealousy. I'm sick and tired of fighting to be in a relationship that is being sabotaged by his jealousy when he isn't even willing to fight to stay be my side. Every time I hang up the phone in his company, I'm suddenly facing the third degree about the call. It's even worse when he sees me talking to a guy. I can't handle such treatment and I won't continue to try. Especially not when he's so damn willing to walk away if he even thinks I might be in danger by being his girlfriend. My mom's favorite saying was 'Trust for Trust'. To be able to give your trust to someone, you have to be able to get it in return. She said that is the only way any form of relationship can work out positively. It didn't matter if it was siblings or parents and their children, friends, or even your significant other. All of those relationships can only be positives if trust was given and received by both parties. That's what Mom and Dad taught me and Jer and how we were raised. We all trusted each other. When Jeremy read my diary to confirm what Anna told him about my knowledge of the supernatural, he repeated those words to me. Trust for Trust. He reminded me that those words worked both ways. I wasn't able to bring myself to trust him with this knowledge and he couldn't trust me to tell him the truth. Admittedly, I thought I was protecting him, but look where that got us. When they say relationships are all about trust, they're right. Stefan doesn't know how to trust someone. And I can't trust him to stay by my side through whatever is thrown at us. Katherine's games proved that much."
We stare into each other's eyes silently for several long minutes before Damon sighs. "Trust for Trust, eh?" he ask, running a hand through his hair.
"Trust for Trust," I reply. "I placed my full trust in you when I took off my necklace and told you that you could compel me to tell you the truth in order to earn your trust back. You've never done anything to break my trust. You've never lied to me. You've always been there for me when I needed you the most and I usually didn't even have to call. You'd just show up, somehow knowing that I needed a friend. And the thing with the Miss Mystic Falls pageant should have made it painfully obvious who I could trust and who I couldn't. I was never a fan of denial and I've been wallowing in it too damn much lately. It's time to stopping denying the facts and face them head on." I push myself into a sitting position, bringing my face inches from his. "I want you to find me a new piece of jewelry to lace with vervaine. If I'm going to end things with Stefan, I am going to have to return the necklace. If I don't, he'll think I might go back to him. And I won't."
He smirks. "I've been wondering when you'd give up that piece of junk. I happen to have something that will work quite nicely," he says, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a white velvet jewelry box and passing it to me.
I chuckle. "Been carrying that around a while?" I ask, taking the jewelry box.
He places his hand on mine to stop me from opening it. "Before you open that, I want you to know that this set once belonged to mine and Stefan's mother. She gave it to me just hours before she died giving birth to Stefan. She told me that I would know it when I find the girl I would give these to. I never once thought of giving them to Katherine, but I can't help thinking that you'd look great wearing them. And don't you dare refuse them, Elena," he warns me when I open my mouth to protest. "I've been thinking about giving them to you for a few months now; I've just been waiting for the perfect opportunity. They're my gift to you, and I will not take them back."
I give him an exasperated smile. "Since you insist, I guess I have no choice but to accept," I chuckle as he moves his hand away so that I can open the jewelry box, which I do. My jaw drops at the white-gold three-dimensional heart locket hanging from a platinum chain with sterling silver inlay and matching earrings. "These must be worth a fortune! I… I can't take these!" I protest, looking up into his amused gaze.
"And yet more proof that you and Katherine have nothing in common except looks," he remarks dryly. "Elena, I'm not taking them back. They belong to you now. They're already loaded with dried vervaine, which hurt like hell to get in there, might I add. They're also enchanted."
"Enchanted?" I ask dubiously.
"A witch I met about a decade after I turned told me that they had already been enchanted against all forms of damage. Then she insisted on adding a few additional enchantments. Once you put those on, only you and I will be able to touch them, so you will never have to fear having them snatched from you so that a vampire could compel you." He reaches into his shirt and pulls out a pendant that matches the set he had given me. "The witch also made this for me to wear. Using this pendant, that necklace, and a map, you and I will always be able to find each other, so don't you dare take off that jewelry once you put it on. I should warn you, though, that the witch said you and I will be able to have a sense of what the other is feeling once you put Mother's jewelry on. That wasn't my idea, it was the witch's."
I find my eyebrows flying towards my hairline. "You'd actually share your emotions with me?" I asks in surprise.
He shrugs. "A first for me, I assure you. Not something I'd do with just anyone," he admits. "But it would be a lot easier on me to know that you're alright when I'm not around to protect you."
I unfasten the necklace Stefan gave me and lay it down on my bed. Then I carefully lift the necklace Damon gave me from it's case and pass it to him. "Help me with this?" I ask softly.
He smirks. "With pleasure," he replies as I turn around and lift my hair out of the way. He gently puts the necklace around my neck and fastens it there. His hands stroke my skin a lot more than they had to, but I don't comment on it. It's Damon, after all. He's a law unto himself. "There you go," he says, turning me towards him. "You look amazing in the necklace. Now just add the earrings and let me see."
I chuckle. "You're acting like a kid on his birthday," I remark, carefully removing the earrings I was wearing and replacing them with the earrings Damon gave me.
"I feel like it is my birthday," he admits. "I gave you a gift and you're not fighting too much about it." He studies me critically as I finish fastening the second earring in place. "You look splendid," he tells me.
As soon as I pull my hands away from the earring, I suddenly get bombarded by a powerful second set of emotions and realize that I'm feeling an echo of Damon's emotions. I realize with awe just how vulnerable Damon had made himself by giving the jewelry to me. He just raises an eyebrow at me and smirks as I sort through his emotions. Primarily is contentment and a feeling of safety. I'm startled to realize that he actually feels safe around me. Beneath that is an overwhelming love that nearly knocks me on my back. It's one thing to know intellectually that he loves me. But it's an entirely different thing to feel just how all-consuming that love is. Damon once told me that vampire emotions are a lot more powerful than human emotions. I have to agree with that. This echo of his emotions is like getting hit with a ton of bricks after living all my life with just meager human emotions to go on. But I continue sorting through his emotions, ignoring my own for now. After that overwhelming love that I can barely comprehend comes intense worry for my safety. I suddenly realize that he's silently helping me comprehend his emotions. I meet his eyes in shock. He nods slightly, confirming my thought. "Can you read my mind now?" I demand.
He chuckles at that and I feel an echo of his amusement. "No. You're wearing vervaine, remember? I'm getting an echo of your emotions just the same as you're getting an echo of mine," he tells me. "When I sense your confusion over one of my emotions, I focus on it to let you get a better grasp of what it is."
"I think I've delved into your emotions enough for one night," I say dryly.
He chuckles. "I've forgotten just how much difference the intensity is between human emotions and vampire emotions," he admits. He raises an eyebrow. "Care to share the experience?" he asks softly.
I know what he's asking. He wants to delve into my emotions like I had delved into his. I squash the jolt of uncertainty that flows through me, reminding myself that he had been more open with me in these past few minutes than he has been with anyone in his life. "Sure," I say, closing my eyes and focusing first on how his presence makes me feel. My body always instinctively relaxes when he is close. Now I let him feel just how much comfort and security I get from his presence. I feel his surprise at just how much I have grown to trust him. Then I let him feel the gratitude I have for his willingness to be this open with me from here on. I grit my teeth but I let him get a taste of my feelings for him. Those confusing and conflicting emotions have been tearing me apart for months now. It's almost a relief to let them be known. The intense longing to be in his arms, to stand by his side for eternity. The need to be wanted and needed the way he wants and needs me. The gratitude that he lets me make decisions for myself rather than shoving his opinions down my throat as Stefan does. The tender seedlings that could be the start of a love for him that would be as great as his love for me, for all that I'm human. The fear for his life I get when he makes rash decisions that could get him killed. The joy that our easy friendship brings me. The comfort in the knowledge that I am free to be myself around him without having to worry that he'll be disappointed in me. The relief I get when I am able to let loose and be a wild child and he's right there with me, having just as much fun. The amusement I feel that he and I share the same tastes in liquor, both loving bourbon and both hating scotch, which Stefan disgustingly loves. I let him feel the overwhelming relief I feel at no longer being tied down by Stefan. And, lastly, I think back on the feelings I had gotten when I danced with him at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. The raging desire and want that had sent everything else to another plane of existence. Then I let my emotions promise him a chance to turn those seedlings of love into a blossoming garden of intense love and passion.
"Thank you," he whispers and his immense gratitude for that chance echoes within me.
"Let me make this breakup with Stefan official first," I tell him softly. I sigh but square my shoulders and pick up the necklace Stefan had given me. "Might as well do it now and get it over with." I push myself off the bed and grab my jacket and purse from my chair.
"You sure about this?" he asks softly.
"I'm sure that I'm fed up with being put through an emotional rollercoaster every damn time it looks like I might be in the least bit of danger," I reply, turning to see him by the window. "I'm sure that I'm fed up with being lied to constantly. Lies do not keep me safe. They just put me and everyone I care for in more danger. I can't trust him, Damon. I can't trust him to tell me the truth. I can't trust him to be there when I need him. I need to be able to trust the man I'm with. And I just can't do that with Stefan. It's been a downhill slide since the night you decided to take me to Georgia. And I'm finally going to put a stop to it by getting out from under his thumb. He doesn't let me make choices; he shoves his decisions down my throat and forces me to abide by them. I never wanted to lie to you about being able to trust him about the grimiore, but he wouldn't back down until I promised to lie. I've only broken one promise in my life and that resulted in my parents drowning. I refuse to break another promise." I rake a hand through my hair in frustration. "That isn't love and I'm going to stop pretending that it is. He doesn't trust that I won't betray him and I can't trust him for anything. Jer was right when he said 'Trust for Trust' works both ways. And Mom was right when she said that trust is what makes any relationship a positive one."
I slide into my jacket while Damon watches me. Then I grab a piece of paper and a pen and write a quick note to Jenna, telling her that I'll be with Damon and not to worry. She and I already had a similar talk about the termination of my relationship with Stefan this afternoon. She gave me the reluctant go ahead to listen to my heart, even if she didn't like who my heart was trying to lead me to. Then I hesitate for a moment.
Damon raises an eyebrow at me. "Why are you hesitating?" he asks softly.
I make the snap decision to tell him what Jenna suggested. "I told Jenna a watered-down version of what's been going on between the three of us. She suggested that once I break up with Stefan, I should go on another road trip with you to just get away from everything that's been going on," I tell him. "She wasn't very happy about the way things have turned out, but she promised not to shove her opinions down my throat."
"What about high school?" he asks, smirking.
I roll my eyes at him. "If things turn out the way they are heading, I'll have eternity to finish high school," I tell him with a wry smile.
I feel the echo of his immense surprise. "You'd do that for me?" he asks softly, obviously stunned.
"If things work out between us, I'd definitely ask you to change me. I wouldn't want to grow old and die on you," I tell him warmly. I sigh. "But first, I need to permanently end things with Stefan. Then I want you to take me on the road to get away from everything that's been going on."
"Pack your bags, kitten," he says with a grin. "It just so happens that I actually brought my car with me this time."
I sigh. "First, I need to write a letter," I say softly. He lets his confusion echo at me forcefully. "I can't face him right now. Not after the fight we had. So I'll write a letter, telling him everything he did that has sabotaged our relationship. I'll have Jenna give it to him for me."
Damon nods in understanding. He was there to witness the explosive rage I turned on Stefan as soon as Katherine left. Stefan wasn't nearly as angry, but he was pissed. Things had been said on both sides that had escalated the fight to the point where Damon had to vamp me out of there. I sigh, taking a seat at my desk and pulling out some paper and a pen. I don't even bother to think before I begin writing.
Stefan,
I'm not going to apologize for the fight we had. I meant every word I said. I had Jenna give this letter and the necklace to you because Damon's getting me out of town. I don't know when we'll be back. I don't like doing it this way. I feel like I'm taking the chicken way out of this, but the thought of going to you right now to tell you all this makes my blood boil.
We're over, Stefan. Don't go thinking that when things 'die down' with Katherine, I'll be waiting with open arms to welcome you back. I've had it with all your lies and controlling tendencies. I have my own thoughts and dreams. And don't go thinking that Damon compelled me into this. I'm still wearing vervaine jewelry. It's just no longer the one you gave me. Damon gave me the jewelry your mother left him and he's already loaded it with vervaine. What's more, this jewelry has been enchanted so that he and I are the only ones who can touch it. No one will be able to snatch it from me so that they can compel me.
My mom taught me that the most important thing in a positive relationship is trust. Her favorite saying was 'Trust for Trust'. To give trust, you have to receive it in return. You don't trust me. Now, don't go acting defensive and saying that you do. If you trusted me, you wouldn't give me the third degree about every call I make or every guy I talk to. If you trusted me, you wouldn't constantly think back on what happened between you,, Damon, and Katherine. I'm not Katherine. I don't betray trust that's given to me willingly. And I hate to say this, but I can't trust you. You lie to me so much that I'm stuck analyzing every word that comes out of your mouth, trying to detect if your lying to me again. Lies don't 'protect' me, Stefan. All they do is put me and everyone I care about in more danger than necessary because I don't know what's going on. And I can't trust you to stay by my side through it all. What happened with Katherine proved that.
Katherine was bluffing when she put her fangs next to my throat. She let Damon pull me out of her arms. She's got four hundred years on you two. That makes her much stronger and much faster than either of you. If she wanted me dead, she would have killed me the night we saved Damon from the fire and found out she had chopped John's fingers off. She was in my house with me; Jeremy was in transition and John was unconscious on the kitchen floor. She had the perfect opportunity to kill me right then and there. But she didn't. If she wanted to rip my throat out in front of you and Damon, I'd be dead right now instead of writing this letter and my blood would be covering your living room. Damon's told me himself that if she wanted me dead, there would be nothing he could do to stop her. And he's the strongest vampire I know. So obviously she doesn't want me dead.
I'm descended from her. Isobel is descended from her. Katherine is the one that sent Isobel to Damon. I'm sure of it. I think Katherine has this thing about family. And we all know she loves toying with people. I'm tired of being her pawn and I won't put up with it any longer. She won't kill me. She's had plenty of opportunity to do so and she hasn't.
Anyways, I'm tired of having you shove your decisions down my throat and lying to me all the time. So we're through for good. I'm cutting my losses and moving on with my life. I'm going to explore this thing I have with Damon. He has never lied to me. He let's me make choices. And he has never walked away when the road got rough. I'm going to see where this thing with him goes. And we are leaving Mystic Falls for a while. I don't know how long we'll be gone. Don't try to track us down. Jenna's already approved of this trip and she knows a little of what's been happening between the three of us. She may not like that I want to move on from you with your brother, but she said she won't force her opinions on me. Goodbye, Stefan.
Sincerely,
Elena
I sigh as I pull the pen away from the paper. I dig out an envelope from one of the drawers in my desk, fold the letter up, and tuck it and the necklace into the envelope. I write Stefan's name on the front and seal it shut. Then I pull out another sheet of paper and write a new note to Jenna.
Hey, Jenna,
I decided to take your advice and hit the road with Damon. I don't know when we'll be back, but don't worry. I've got my phone and I'll call you as often as I can. I'll be taking my camera and I'll take a ton of pictures and mail them to you with letters describing the places we visit. In the envelope is a letter to Stefan and the necklace he gave me. I'd like you to give the envelope to him next time you see him and make sure to tell him he's no longer welcome in our house. I'll miss you so much but I think this road trip will do me some good. It'll get me away from all the stress and worry that's been pulling me down since Mom and Dad died. When I'm ready to face life again, Damon will bring me home. Until then, wish us luck with our travels. With the way my luck's been running, we'll need all the good luck we can get.
Love ya,
Elena
P.S. You need to relax and let loose as well, Jenna. I'm sure Rick will be a big help with that. In case you haven't noticed, you're no longer the legal guardian of two teenagers. Jeremy's moved to the boarding house and I'm about to hit the road with Damon. It's time for you to get your own life instead of always worrying about us. We'll be fine. We're a lot more mature than most people our age and all I see ahead of us is even more growing up as we live our lives and become independent adults. You'll always be our aunt and our friend. But I realize now just how much you've put on hold to take care of us. Try getting Rick to move in. It'll be less lonely for the both of you if you do. Don't worry about telling Jeremy that I've left, I'll call him sometime tomorrow with the news.
"Or we could take him with us," Damon suggests from behind me.
I chuckle. "Are you sure about that?" I ask. "Looking after a newborn when you could be spending quality time with me?"
"Hey, I didn't say he had to be in the same room with us. I plan on going first class on this trip, and the suites I normally stay in have multiple bedrooms," he retorts.
I roll my eyes. "I'll tell her then," I say, putting the pen to paper again.
P.P.S. Actually, Damon decided that we'll take Jer with us. At least he won't be around Stefan during his ultimate brood-fest. So don't worry about me and Jer. Damon will be taking care of us. He'll make sure we all come back in one piece. Love you, Jenna. And don't forget to live your life while we're living ours. Rick will be a big help with that, I'm sure.
"Okay, time to get packed," I say, pushing myself away from the desk.
"I'll call Jeremy and let him know," Damon volunteers.
"Won't Stefan find out?" I ask, worried.
"Relax, Stefan ran into the forest as soon as I got you outta there. He hasn't hunted much this week, so he'll be there for a while yet," Damon says soothingly, pulling out his phone.
I smile as Damon calls Jeremy. As he begins telling my brother the plan, I pull a suitcase from under my bed and begin packing a week's worth of clothing as well as my diary and a couple of spare ones. I add in my ice blue bikini, the exact shade of Damon's eyes, which I had bought soon after I met Damon. Stefan hated it on sight. I didn't care. I roll my eyes when Damon insists on stuffing my teddy bear into the suitcase as well, though I can't help the smile on my lips. I finally zip up my suitcase and head into the bathroom I used to share with Jer to pack my toiletries in a travel bag I keep under the sink.
I carry the bag back into my room just as Damon hangs up with Jer. "He's all for getting out of this town," he tells me.
"That's good," I say with a smile.
"You aren't even torn up about all this," he comments in awe.
I sigh. "It's been a long time coming, Damon," I whisper. "Ever since I found her picture, I just knew that I'd have to just let him go one day and move on. Love without trust isn't love at all. It's time I accept the inevitable: Stefan was never really mine. He wouldn't have held onto her picture all these decades if he didn't still feel something for her."
I feel his wry amusement. "Even I didn't take a picture of her to hold onto," he admits. "I was the first to go through her things, before we were turned and after." He senses my surprise. "Hey, boys get just as curious as girls," he chuckles.
"I should let you in on a secret I haven't told anyone except Bonnie," I say softly, turning to him. His eyebrows shoot to his hairline and I feel an echo of his surprise. I've confided many of my secrets with him. But this is one I've been so damned scared of accepting.
He puts a hand on my shoulder as he feels the turmoil I feel at sharing this one. "You don't have to tell me," he says. "Not if it's putting you through so much pain getting up the courage to share it."
"Damon, I've wanted to become a vampire since a week after I found out your secret," I blurt out. He reels back in shock, stunned speechless. And that's saying something. "Bonnie was in on the secret by then and I took a lapis lazuli ring I picked out to her to get her or Sheila to enchant it for me to be my daylight ring, explaining to both of them what my choice was. Sheila's the one who took it. As soon as she touched it, she had a vision. She said I wouldn't need it for a while, but I would need it one day. The next day, I brought up the subject to Stefan by asking him about the turning process. That was the first time he broke my heart. He got furious that I was asking. He told me it wasn't something I wanted, that he would never turn me. Sheila had told me that the choice would still be mine, but that the one who turned me wasn't who I thought it would be. After you brought me home this afternoon and left again, Bonnie showed up in a raging fury. She told me that she had just had two visions. One of what happened with Stefan. That's what she was raging about. And the other was what her grams must have seen. She gave me the ring and told me it was already enchanted. She warned me to come back before my lack of aging became apparent. Until now, I didn't understand what she or Sheila had been talking about."
"What do you mean?" he whispers, and I can feel his reluctance to even dare to hope.
"I mean that Sheila saw you turning me all those months ago, when you were still enthralled by Katherine. Bonnie saw you turning me on this road trip we are about to go on," I reply softly.
He backs up and sits down hard on my bed. His shock and wonder at this news rage within me. "The ring?" he asks finally, voice soft.
I reach into my jeans pocket and pull out the ring with a lapis lazuli that matches the shade of his eyes. "I want you to put this on my finger, as a promise," I say softly, walking it over and gently placing it in his hand, curling his fingers around it.
"A promise?" he whispers.
"A promise that, when the time is right, you won't hesitate in turning me," I tell him with a small smile.
"When will the time be 'right'?" he asks.
"We'll know when it comes," I assure him. "For now, I need another time-out." I smile when he gives a wry grin at that. "And let's make this one last more than 'five minutes'."
"As you wish," he agrees, grabbing my suitcase and standing up.
I take the envelope and my note to Jenna and carry them to her room to place them on her nightstand. I breathe in the subtle scent of Jenna's favorite perfume, the one that Rick is constantly complimenting. I don't know how long it will be before I smell it again. At last, I sigh and leave her room, shutting the door behind me.
"You know, you only packed a week's worth of clothes," he points out as he follows me downstairs.
I roll my eyes. "We can always stop at a Laundromat or a dry-cleaners every so often," I remind him, my hand on the front door knob.. "Hell, you lived out of the trunk of your car for years at a time. You're too damned fastidious to put up with wearing dirty clothes more than you absolutely have to. You had to have stopped once in a while to get them clean. I'm sure the three of us can manage the same for however long this time-out lasts."
"You know, it's a little weird hearing you say 'the three of us' and not having Stefan be one of that number," he drawls. I let out a wry chuckle. "Are you going to open the door anytime soon? You and I both know you don't have what it takes to get through saying goodbye before being gone for an indeterminate amount of time. Not after a day like today."
I sigh and turn the knob, pulling open the door. Damon immediately heads to his car to put my suitcase in the trunk while I lock up. I make my way to the passenger side of the Camaro; but as I open the door, I turn to look at my home one last time, trying to burn the image into my brain so that I won't forget. Finally, I sigh and climb into the car, fastening my belt after shutting the door.
"We'll come back, Elena. I promise that we will come back," he says softly as he starts the engine.
"You've never broken a promise you made me," I realize softly, adjusting my seat.
"I don't break promises, period," he admits, pulling out of my drive. He shifts gears and starts driving through town towards the boarding house. "Your brother is going to meet us at the foot of the drive, with his suitcase and a bag with his toiletries as well as a bag with mine. I already keep several changes of clothes in the trunk just in case."
"In case of what?" I ask, smiling as I lean forward to play with the radio.
"You know, just in case," he replies casually. I toss him a disbelieving look before returning to trying to find a good radio station, sending a flood of disbelief at him through our jewelry. "Fine," he sighs dramatically. "I've always kept several changes in the trunk ever since I got this car. I've rarely stayed in one place for more than a few months at a time. The longest I went was spending most of the seventies in New York City. And I only did that because even then, that city was still one of the biggest cities in the entire country."
I get a sudden idea as he talks. "Let's go to New York on this road trip," I say impishly, settling on a station playing country music from the nineties. I silently thank God that Damon has Sirius radio in his car. We won't have to keep trying to find a new station as we leave the area our station covers.
He laughs as he pulls to a stop at the foot of the long driveway leading to the boarding house. Jeremy walks out of the woods carrying a suitcase and two toiletry bags. Damon has me pop the trunk for my brother and Jeremy stuffs the baggage into the trunk between our things. Damon gets out so that Jer can climb in the back, then quickly gets behind the wheel as soon as Jer is settled.
"So, where we going?" Jer asks, leaning forward. I smack his hand as he reaches for the radio. "Seriously, Lena? Nineties country?" he demands.
"I don't have a problem with it," Damon says, flashing him a smirk in the rearview. "That was the best era of country music." He shifts gears and turns around in the drive to head back toward the highway. "You're sister wants to go to New York."
"I'm cool with that," Jer says.
I turn in my seat so that I can glare at both vampires. "No feeding on the humans. Steal from blood banks all you want. Hell, I'll help. Just don't feed from live humans."
Damon smirks. "What about you?" he asks, doing the 'eye thing' I both love and hate.
I fight down the butterflies that flood into my stomach as they do every damn time he does the 'eye thing'. He smirks, because he can sense those butterflies. "That depends on how you're behaving," I tell Damon, turning to face forwards again.
He chuckles throatily, pulls the car into a U-turn, and makes for the highway. I can almost feel Jeremy's confusion. "What's going on between the two of you?" my vampire brother demands. "I mean, I understand that Elena and Stefan are quits for good, but you two?"
"What about it?" Damon ask, winking at me.
"Well, considering I'm going to be on the road with you two, I really don't need to listen in while you two go at it!" Jeremy exclaims. "She's my sister!"
I roll my eyes and open my mouth to reply but Damon beats me to it. "We're going first class all the way for this trip," Damon says wryly. "We'll be staying at four- and five-star hotels and have the best suites available, which means you'll get your own room while we have ours. Trust me, kid, you'll be too busy enjoying the good life to even notice what we're up to."
Jeremy huffs. It's my turn to speak up. "Would you rather we turn around and take you back to the boarding house so you can endure Stefan's ultimate brood-fest when he finds out I've left town with Damon?" I ask sweetly, turning towards my brother. I can sense the effort it's taking Damon to keep from bursting out laughing.
If I didn't know just how impossible it is, I'd swear on my life that Jeremy had turned even paler at the thought. "God no!" he yelps. "It's bad enough already! I don't want to be within five miles of that!"
"Then be quiet and enjoy the music," I say, turning back to face the front. I reach my left hand over and pry Damon's right hand from the steering wheel so that I can lace our fingers together. I get an echo of his emotions, which are a match for my own: this is what it feels like to be home, no matter where we are. The three of us can make this work, I'm sure of it.