Love Trip
DG32173

Sarah: I only own what I write.

WARNINGS
Alternate universe. Rated M for a reason. Damon's point-of-view. Take's place the summer after Elena's senior year of high school. No, she has not turned into a vampire yet. No, Esther wasn't resurrected. No, Alaric wasn't turned into an Original. No, Jeremy and Bonnie never died. The Original family had left Mystic Falls after Klaus gets his family back from Stefan, leaving everyone alone. Yes, Jeremy is the only member of Elena's actual family that is left.

SUMMARY
After Stefan cheats on Elena with Matt, she asks Damon to take her on a road trip to get away from the constant reminder of Stefan's betrayal. After all, road trips are their thing. And if something more happens, well, that's all to the good. Damon/Elena

Chapter 1
Favor

I slip into Elena's room around eleven o'clock at night, slip off my shoes, and lay on her bed, picking up her teddy bear and placing it on my lap. I can hear her in the shower, using the water to mask her soft sobs. No human would hear her crying, but vampire hearing is far superior.

I sigh. Stefan had a good thing going with Elena, but he had to ruin it and break her heart by cheating on her. Worse is that he's been doing it for six months now. She had bumped into me when she was running from Stefan's room towards the front door after catching the two. She had gripped my shirt and sobbed into my chest as I held her close. I knew that Stefan had finally gotten caught.

When she asked me through her tears and pain how long it had been going on, I answered truthfully. I never sugar-coated things for her. I had warned her several times since Stefan started cheating that she should be careful with him. Until today, she had chalked it up to my jealousy of her relationship with my brother. In truth, I hadn't wanted to see her as broken-hearted as she is now.

Finally, she gets control of her tears and turns the shower off. I hear the sound of cotton sliding over her skin. She has finally taken to getting dressed in the bathroom with the door locked over the two years we have known each other. She has learned her lesson after walking out of the bathroom dressed only in a towel numerous times to find me in her room.

She opens the bathroom door and sees me lying on her bed with her teddy bear. She doesn't say a word as she walks across the room, climbs onto the bed beside me, and lays her head on my chest while wrapping an arm around my waist. "Take me on a road trip for the summer," she begs.

"What would Rick say?"

"I already told him why I need to leave town. He said that you'll keep me safe and he'll protect Jeremy while we're gone. He threatened to stake Stefan for me, but I told him that would be much too quick."

"And Blondie and the witch?" I ask.

"Bonnie called me when I was driving home, already raging about Stefan's betrayal. Apparently she got some sort of vision at the same time I saw him and Matt. She said that I needed to get out of town for a while and she's the one who suggested you be the one to take me."

"Never thought the witch would actually be agreeable to my being in your company alone."

"Bonnie said she'll tell Caroline what she knows tomorrow."

"Well, since the important ones are all agreeable, where would you like to go?"

"I don't care as long as Stefan doesn't find us."

I feel a sad smile on my lips as I stroke her hair with one hand while I hold her teddy with the other. "So, Rick agreed to the whole summer?" I ask.

"He said take at least the summer. If we need longer, he said go for it. I just graduated high school after all. I haven't signed up for college yet." The last is said in a voice filled with spite.

I know that she had come to the boarding house today to ask Stefan where he would like to go to college with her. I had warned her that today was not a good day for it. But, as usual, she didn't listen to me. When she had walked in the house without knocking, as she usually does, I knew she was about to get her heart broken. When she had practically flown down the stairs and into my arms, I swore that I would be the one to piece her heart together again.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," she says softly after a stretch of silence.

"Hmm?" I ask.

"Why do you like Mr. Teddy so much?"

I had learned what she calls her teddy a year and a half ago, when she came to realize that she was suddenly fond of it again because I like to hold it whenever I make myself comfortable on her bed. She had been ill for several days and was on the rebound, getting better. Stupid Stefan had decided that a dawn visit to the Ferris wheel at the school carnival would be a wonderful idea, completely forgetting that Elena is only human and could easily get sick in the cool, damp air. Which she did.

I had been outside her house almost constantly over the course of her illness, keeping an eye out for her. Stefan had been unable to bring himself to face her, drowning in shame over forgetting that humans can get sick. I had peeked in her window now and again, glad to see her holding her teddy close to her. Two nights before the doctor said she was well enough to go to school, she was talking to her teddy, wondering why she had suddenly begun sleeping with it again. Then she realized that I was the reason and threw the teddy across the room. While she had run over to pick the bear up, I took the opportunity to place a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on her nightstand. She knew I was outside when she saw it. She thanked me softly, knowing I would be able to hear her outside her window.

"Damon?" she asks, looking up into my eyes when I'm silent for a while.

I smirk at her. "He smells like you," I say softly. "And I actually think he's kind of cute, hard as that is to believe."

She giggles, momentarily forgetting what had happened to her today. "Never thought you'd have a soft spot for teddy bears."

"Only when it's your teddy bear," I tease. "When do you want to leave?" I ask.

She looks at her clock, which now reads 11:42pm. "How about I pack now, leave a note for Rick and Jeremy, and you go get your car and your stuff? We can hit the road, get out of town, and sleep at some hotel," she says.

"One room or two?" I ask.

"What the hell, one room," she says carelessly. "I'm single now."

"Even if it has one bed?" I tease.

"You've slept in my bed with me often enough whether I wanted you to or not. Try anything funny, though, and one of us will be sleeping on the floor," she warns.

"Remember to pack that teddy," I tell her, handing her the bear as I get off her bed. She laughs. "I'm serious," I inform her, putting my shoes on in an instant.

"I'll pack Mr. Teddy," she agrees, wicked humor lacing every word. She chuckles as she gets up to start packing her bags. "Somehow, you always find a way to make me feel better, no matter how bad I was feeling before you got here."

"I'm glad I can do that for you," I tell her truthfully. I head slowly to her window. I look over my shoulder at her and see her lips pressed tightly together in a grim line. "Will you be okay while I'm gone?" I ask softly. She looks up at me and I can see that the answer is definitely "no" even though she doesn't answer. I walk over to her and pull her into a hug. "I'll wait for you to finish packing, then I'll take you with me," I say softly into her hair. She nods silently before pulling away. She reaches under her bed and pulls out a very large suitcase. "Large enough?" I tease.

She smiles sadly. "I plan on only taking what will fit in here as well as a small bag for toiletries," she says. First thing she does is grab her diary from it's hiding place behind a large picture on the wall. Then she walks over to her desk and opens a drawer and pulls out a second, blank diary as well as a couple pens. She puts the diaries in her suitcase and the pens in her purse.

She then goes to her closet and ruffles through the clothes hanging there. "Take some things you'd consider formal," I tell her. She looks at me, surprised. "I plan on pulling all the stops to help you get over him." She nods.

I relax on her bed as she moves back and forth around her room, packing up clothes in her suitcase. I smirk as she adds some really risqué undergarments. "Sure you want to be adding those?" I ask with a chuckle.

"I figured I should be prepared for anything," is her only comment as she adds a ice blue bikini that matches my eyes to her suitcase. Soon, her suitcase is so full she has to sit on it to get it zipped, her teddy bear right on top of the pile. Then she goes into the bathroom and returns a few minutes later with a shoulder bag full of toiletries. "One more thing," she says, going back to her desk and opening another drawer. I raise an eyebrow as she pulls the notebooks from the drawer and sets them on her desk. When she lifts up a fake bottom, I chuckle again. She holds up a fake ID that looks exactly like the real deal, a passport, and her checkbook. "No compelling people to give me drinks. And the passport is in case we decide to leave the country," she tells me, slipping the fake ID into her wallet. She puts her wallet back into her purse, sliding her passport and checkbook in as well.

She shoulders her purse and the shoulder bag. I pick up the suitcase. "Window or front door?" I ask.

"Front door," she says immediately. "Do you hear anyone up?"

I listen for a minute. "Rick is in the kitchen getting a drink. Your brother is asleep," I tell her.

"Good, I can say goodbye to Rick," she sighs with relief. She goes to her window and locks it up before killing the lights in her room. I follow her into the hall and she shuts her door. Then she follows me downstairs. I wait at the front door while she heads to the kitchen to say goodbye to Rick. I hear her give him a hug before she comes back to me and follows me out the front door.

I then wrap my free arm around her waist. "Close your eyes," I warn her. She does so immediately. I am touched by her absolute faith in me. I take off for the boarding house, holding her close to me the entire way. Less than a minute later, I slow down and stop in front of my home. I pull my keys from my pocket and unlock the trunk of my car. I drop her suitcase in and she puts her bag of toiletries in beside it. I look at her. "You don't have to come in if you don't want to. Stefan's in there," I tell her.

She shakes her head and grabs my hand. "Just keep him away from me," she says softly. "I'm coming in with you."

I nod and lead her inside. Stefan looks up from the couch to see me, then he sees her beside me. "Elena," he starts but stops when she hides behind me while still holding my hand.

"You screwed up, Stefan," I tell him in a deadly soft voice. "She wants nothing to do with you."

"And she wants to do something with you?" he snarls.

I smirk. "As a matter of fact, yes. She asked me to take her on a road trip that will last an indefinite amount of time," I inform him. He pales. He knows that I am in love with her. And we both know she has strong feelings for me, though neither of us are quite sure what those feelings are. We both know that this road trip could be a real turning point in my relationship with Elena.

"Don't follow us," she says softly from behind my back. "Just leave me alone."

"Sounds like you're breaking up with him," I tease her.

"He broke up with me when he started his affair."

The look of pain and loss on Stefan's face is almost laughable. I smirk at him. "You really should have thought about how she would react to that kind of betrayal, brother," I say, leading Elena up the stairs. "She may have forgiven you for all the lies you told her, she even forgave me for snapping her brother's neck, but cheating is obviously beyond even her ability to forgive," I add without looking back. I can feel Elena's eyes on my back as she refuses to even glance at the vampire who broke her heart.

I hear a strangled cry of despair come from downstairs as I lead Elena into my room. She sits on my bed while I zip around, packing two suitcases with my belongings. Two suitcases because, in spite of how I had always thought they were large, they are only half the size of her one. I wonder briefly where the hell you get a suitcase that large anyways. I grab a few things from my bathroom, pack them in one of the suitcases, and then zip them shut. She stands up as I pick up my suitcases.

Before I can reach the door, she places a hand on my arm. I glance at her. "I want to hurt him," she mouths. I raise an eyebrow, just daring to hope. "Kiss me, Damon," she says softly. Even Elena hears Stefan's cry of pain as the words leave her lips.

I smirk and drop the suitcases by the door. I pull her into my arms. I lean my head down to her upraised one, intending on a gentle, chaste kiss. But once our lips touch, it instantly becomes anything but chaste as the world around us falls away. Her arms snake up to wrap around my neck as I take hold of her hips and pull her body flush against mine.

I stroke her lips with my tongue and she parts them instantly. We both moan as soon as our tongues touch. I lead her tongue in a dance that has us both gasping when we break apart, even though I don't actually need to breathe. "If we don't leave now, we won't leave until morning," I tell her, my voice rough with emotion as I struggle to regain control of myself. "Leaving in the middle of the night was your idea, not mine."

I can tell she's amused as she simply nods. I pick up my suitcases again and she opens my bedroom door. I lead her downstairs and out the front door, neither of us looking at Stefan. I slide my suitcases in the trunk of my car on top of her things, slam the trunk, and then go around to hold the passenger door open for her. She slides in. I shut her door and zip around the front of the car to get in the driver's seat. We exchange a look full of desire and mischief before I pull out of the drive and put my foot down on the pedal, watching Mystic Falls fade quickly from the rearview mirror.

I glance at Elena to see her staring out her window, crying silently as Elvis Presley sings Heartbreak Hotel on the radio. I grab her hand from where it is laying on the seat between us, lacing my fingers with hers. "I'll make sure that you'll have such a great time that you'll soon forget Stefan ever existed, much less that he broke your heart," I promise her softly.

"I'll hold you to that," she murmurs. A human wouldn't have heard her. But then again, vampire senses are far superior to human senses. She keeps her hand in mine as we continue driving through three towns before stopping at a small hotel to sleep a while as the sun starts to rise on the horizon. The motel is far beneath my standards, but it will do for now.

We walk into the room that I booked to see a single bed, a couple chairs, a TV on a low dresser, a night stand on either side of the bed with a lamp on each one, and a desk. I glance over at her and see that she is so tired that she is barely able to stand. I swiftly catch her as she almost topples over. "You should have said you were this tired," I scold her lightly. "And I should have remembered how rough your day was."

Since she's practically asleep in my arms, I kick out of my shoes and slip hers off her feet. I work her jacket off of her and toss both of ours into the chair by the door. I turn down the covers on the bed and lay her on one side. I zip around and lay down next to her, pulling the covers over us. I freeze when she snuggles closer to me, gripping my shirt in her hands and burying her face in my chest. I slowly wrap my arms around her. I softly hum the lullabies my mother had sung to me when I was a child as she slowly falls asleep in my arms.

I watch her sleep, her face twisted in pain. She still has her necklace on, though I know it's no longer because of Stefan. I reach behind her neck and gently unclasp the necklace, careful not to wake her. I had promised myself I would never compel her again. But going into her dreams to help her sleep easier is not the same thing, so long as I don't take complete control of her dreams. I slip her necklace into my jeans pocket. Holding her gently against me, I close my eyes and use my Power to go into her dreams.

I open my eyes to see Elena standing in Stefan's doorway, her face crumpled in misery, despair, and betrayal. I glance in to see Stefan and Matt frozen in the middle of having sex just before they look up to see her there. I touch her arm. She jumps and turns to me. "Damon?" she asks.

"Torturing yourself like this won't do you any good," I tell her flatly. "It will only make you more miserable." With a slight twist of my mind, we are no longer in the boarding house but at the edge of a forest trail, two horses standing beside us, one black with a white star on his forehead and the other white with a black mane and tail. "Let's go riding instead."

"I've never been on a horse," she tells me as I help her into the saddle of the white mare.

"I'll control this dream just enough so you know how to ride as well as I do," I tell her, climbing into the saddle of the black horse. "These are two horses we owned when I was still human," I inform her, turning my horse towards the trail. "This one is Black Star, my personal horse. That's Shadow Light. She never allowed anyone except me to ride her. She even threw my father."

Elena chuckles as she rides beside me. "She's letting me ride her," she tells me.

"I like to think she would have let you ride her. She didn't even like Katherine. She had better taste than I did at the time."

We ride in silence for a while. "Where are we anyways?" she asks, looking at the amazing fall scenery around us.

"On a riding trail I enjoyed the one time I visited France. It was fifty years ago, so I'm not sure if it's still there or not. I intend on taking you riding for real during this break from Mystic Falls. Best you learn how to ride now before you have to do it for real."

"Is this really learning how to ride? Isn't it kind of cheating?" she asks.

"I'm only showing your mind how it works. You're the one following my directions, and quite well at that. If you were to fall off a horse, it would be better now than in the real world where it would really hurt. I'm not controlling your dream-body, you are."

"Am I going to remember this when I wake up?"

"I'll make sure you remember this part. I'll dull down the part you were dreaming before I came in your head to change your nightmare."

"I'm guessing you had to take my necklace off to get in my head in the first place," she murmurs. I stay silent, giving her all the answer she needs. "I'm not mad at you. I'm actually grateful you got me away from it. I didn't want to see that again." She smiles at me. "I keep telling you, you're not as bad as you like to let people think you are."

"I just wish you would quit telling others," I tease. "It's ruining my reputation."

"They don't believe me very much. They say it's only because you care so much about me that I see a different side of you."

I barely refrain from freezing. "Oh? What do you think they mean by that?" I ask.

"Don't play dumb, Damon. I know you love me," she says. I look at her in surprise. "I care deeply about you, Damon," she admits. "Maybe, one day when I'm not hurting so much over Stefan's betrayal, I might be able to further explore these feelings, see just what they really are. All I ask is that you give me time to heal and move on, and I might one day be able to return your feelings."

My eyes light up as I feel hope filling me for the first time in a very long time. "I'll wait forever for you," I tell her truthfully. "Take all the time you need."

"I have a question."

"I'm listening."

"If Stefan really loved me, wouldn't he turn me if I asked him to so he could be with me forever?" she asks softly.

I am silent for quite some time, thinking over her question. "I'll say this much," I say finally. "If you wanted me to turn you so you could be with me forever, I wouldn't hesitate. But only if you truly wanted it." Her shoulders slump as her features become etched with despair and her eyes fill with tears as she pulls Shadow Light to a stop. I pull Black Star to a stop so close to her that our knees are pressed together between the horses. I put my hands on her shoulder and turn her to me. "What is it? What's wrong, Elena?" I ask softly.

"Stefan said he would never do it, that I didn't want to be a vampire and he didn't want me to be one," she says hoarsely. "He didn't really love me at all!"

I pull her against my shoulder as a sob escapes her throat and tears spill down her cheeks. I close my eyes, silently saying every swear in every language I have leaned in my hundred-and-seventy years. I rock her gently as I slowly pull us to the realm of the waking. I slightly rewire her mind as I promised, making the nightmare part vague while the part I was in stays bright and vivid, but just faded enough so she knows it's a dream.