A/N Okay, so this is something out of the blue I just thought of and I need something to get my mind off things at the moment, so it's just sort of a comfort story for me, and this always makes me feel better, so...so. I don't own the characters of Buffy or Vampire Diaries. The setting is, well, I can't really remember the plot of the VD books so well, but it's right when Stefan's left in a misguided attempt to protect Elena, only instead of writing Elena a note, Damon tells her the truth (sort of, not really). I think Damon was maybe infected with a Demon thing during the time when Stefan left, but we'll have none of that in my story. For the Buffy part of my first crossover, it's in season six, when she's still upset about the whole, hey I'm alive after being dead thing. Buffy doesn't come in until the second chapter. Sorry the note was so long.

Damon grinned smugly as he lay across Stefan's bed in Mrs. Flower's boarding house. Any minute now...

Elena came bursting in out of breath. She held her tongue for shock about 3 seconds, but then got over it and an accusing expression wiped all traces of surprise away. "Where is he, Damon? I know you did something. The town is in chaos and I need his help."

"Me, Elena? I'm hurt." Damon's smug smile had never faltered.

Elena made a move to leave, but the computer caught her attention. Damon stood swiftly and moved in front of her. "Alright, you win, Elena. He went off to find some way to become human again." Damon smiled as if amused by a child's actions.

"Why would he-" Elena broke off. "He is so stupid! I love him! I don't care if he's a vampire! I tell him time and again-"

"Yes, Stefan really doesn't know a good thing when he has it." Damon said, softly staring into her eyes. His hand moved up, but Elena backed away.

"Yes, he does. And so do I." Elena looked sad a moment. "Do you know where he is?" Damon looked down. For some reason he was finding it hard to look into her big blue eyes and lie today.

Elena's hand was the one that reached out this time and he let her lay it on his cheek. He met her eyes. "I don't know for sure."

Elena let out a breath. "I believe you." She really shouldn't, Damon thought as he clenched his teeth. He had a pretty good idea where Stefan really was, but he wasn't decided on how much he should tell Elena. "Do you have any ideas?" She looked at him intently.

"I think he went to California." Wow, he was a bit surprised he settled for an outright lie. He wasn't sure he had it in him. Damn it! Why did she have to trust him so much? It was her own fault if she believed him! Didn't she get that he wanted her? They went together like peas-and-fucking-carrots for chrissakes! Damn Stefan, Damon didn't care a lick if he got hurt. Besides, it's not like it was an outright lie, Damon was sure Stefan had gone to California at least once. How could you live an immortal life and have never been to Hollywood or L.A.? Damon himself had been there a couple of times. Not too bad a place, if you went to the right clubs.

As he'd been thinking Elena had been asking questions. He hadn't meant to tune her out, but only came back when she pushed lightly on his shoulder. Well, it could have been a punch she used all her strength on, but he wouldn't have noticed. She was like a butterfly compared to him. He smiled at her, thinking the frown she wore only made her more gorgeous. A beautiful butterfly.

"Damon!" She yelled, exasperated. A sexy, cute butterfly. Only, without the scales, and antennae. She did have wings sometimes. That was something.

"What city? California is kind of a broad specification! We need to find Stefan. I have a bad feeling that he may be hurt." Not a butterfly, an annoying human. With wings. They didn't even come out all that much anyway. "You can't just stand around smiling! This is serious!"

Had he been smiling? He frowned at her. "It's your fault."

"What?" Elena shook her head. "Look, I don't care. We need to get going. This is the last time I'm going to ask, otherwise I will just scour the whole of California myself. Where is Stefan, Damon?" She bit her lip.

"I said I don't know." When she turned away to leave, he quickly added, "But I do know a place in California that's chaotic and full of...energy, just like it is here, now. Only, it's like that all the time. If there ever were a way to reverse the vampire state of life, it could probably be found there." Damon shook his head at himself. He might have been ashamed, but he was too excited for the upcoming goose chase with Elena. He didn't want to lie to her, but what other way was there to be with her? Guilt for a moment...ahh it's gone now, Damon smiled again at Elena. He meant it to be comforting, but she bit her lip again. Damn, that made him want to do it for her. He cleared his mind of his thoughts and tried to focus on her words.

"You say it's like how it is here right now, all of the time?" Now she was biting her cheeks.

"Look, I'd never let anything hurt you. Besides, all that is where we're going are lesser beings." He reached out again, but she pulled away. Elena didn't know what the hell that meant, but she wasn't in the mood to grill him. Maybe it was some crack about movie stars and famous people. She didn't care much, either. She was more than a little peeved her first time to Hollywood wouldn't be with Stefan on some sort of impromptu, eccentric and exotic date where they'd picnic on that big hill with the Hollywood sign and Stefan would introduce her to all his actor friends. Maybe that was an unrealistic dream, but Elena allowed herself it to comfort her until she got Stefan back. Which wasn't going to happen until she got her ass moving. And Damon's for that matter.

"I'll go get the car." And then she was out the door.

He followed. "We should probably take my car. It gets better gas mileage." He was really excited now. What could be better than a road trip with Elena in his shiny red convertible?

"I really don't think it matters." Elena's forehead crinkled.

"Okay, pollute the Earth, throw money down the drain, see if I care." Damon said pleasantly.
"I've got Stefan's credit card. And since when do you care about the earth? Or money, for that matter? You just take what you want." Elena continued on to her truck.

"Ooh, you stole his credit card. Delicious. I love how your mind works. I wonder what else we can buy..."

"I didn't steal it, he gave it to me for emergencies and..." Elena blushed. No way she was going to say that Stefan had told her to get anything that she liked, even if it was a new car. It didn't make her feel like a bought woman, they were in love. But she didn't want to hear Damon crack a joke.

"Fine, we'll take yours. It has a bigger back seat, right?" He grinned when she shot him a glare.

"It wouldn't matter if it did Damon, we won't be using it." Elena said stiffly.

"I know you're determined to save him, but everyone's got to sleep sometime." He gave her a seductive look.

Elena was really confused. "What? Just...just get. In. The car. Okay?" She took a deep breath and opened her door. He smiled and complied. Why should he complain? Elena was fun even when she was hating.

After a mile, Damon coughed and looked at Elena like she was stupid. "What?" She questioned sharply.

"Well, not that I mind, but you're sort of going the wrong way." He grinned.

Elena was torn between looking pissed and temperate. Temperate won out. "No, I'm not." She said gently and gave him a small smile.

"Elena, California is to the west. You are going east." Damon said with fraudulent sweetness.

"Damon, the airport is to the east, not the west." Elena said just as sweetly.

"Airport?" He exclaimed, an angry expression clouding his face.

"You didn't think we were driving?" Elena gave a laugh of disbelief. "Time is of the essence here! Stefan could be suffering! You honestly think I 'd waste all of that time?" Elena shook her silvery blonde mane and combed her hair with her fingers, keeping one hand on the wheel. "Do you have your ID?"

"No. I don't use it much." Damon bit out. "We can't go on a plane."

"So you do have one?" Elena sounded pleased.

"It won't do me a lot of good if I don't have it. And so we can't." Damon settled back in his seat as if that settled the argument.

"Just use your powers." Elena said and kept driving.

"I can't do it on so many people at once!" Damon grit his teeth.

"Careful, wouldn't want those fangs of yours to get dull." Elena sing-song voiced him. She hated it when Bonnie did it to her, and it gave her an odd pleasure to know she was annoying him.

"No, we wouldn't want that. How else would I bite you when you start screaming at me to?" Damon's heated gaze moved up and down over her body, lingering at certain points.

It was Elena's turn to get angry. "Just figure it out." She said coldly, even as she became more and more aware of the tight, swollen burning mass of flesh and blood that ached on her neck.

Damon had ended up disappearing before they'd even entered the airport. Elena was a little afraid he'd left her and she'd have to do this all alone in a place she didn't know. Looking for a place she didn't even know the name of. She was relieved, and yet more weirded out when she heard his voice in her head telling her which ticket to buy to which airport. She rolled her shoulders and did as he said. She shouldn't have been so uncomfortable. Elena had grown very relaxed being close to people, especially mentally, but Stefan gone for so long made her edgy. She needed him. He was her rock. He held her down when she floated. Literally. And it wasn't a creepy drowning-hold-down, either, it was a nice hold-my-hand-and-give-me-pleasure-and-love-hold-down. And now she was so worried she couldn't stop thinking about him.

It was easier not to worry when Damon talked to her, but now he wasn't even here. Well, he was there, but she couldn't sense him surrounded by so many people. It was getting harder for her to breathe. "Hey, it's okay." Damon's presence curled around her thoughts, calming her. It even made her body warmer. "I think I'm losing it." She whispered. The man next to her schooched away and she almost cried. She felt Damon's rumble around her directed at the man. "It's okay, it's almost time to board." Only Elena said it in her head this time, the last thing she needed was airport security all over her for suspicious behavior or something.

She felt him all around her as she walked onto the plane and got into her seat. She got a window seat and smiled. She always liked them. Damon sat beside her and Elena looked around to make sure none saw. "Relax. No one can see me but you." He smiled and buckled himself in and crossed his fingers.

"What about whoever sits here?" Elena asked, panicked.

"Like I said before, relax. I put it in the flight attendant's head that she had a crush on the guy who sits here, so she offered him one of the empty seats in first class."

"Can they do that?" Elena asked in a whisper.

Damon shrugged. "Seems like they would, doesn't it?" Elena wasn't sure how it seemed that way, but she didn't question his logic.

"I was wondering, how did you get on? You're supposed to be dead."

Elena felt herself blush for the second time. "Stefan..." Elena paused, "fixed it." and neither talked more of it.

As the pilot came on the speaker Damon's hands slid to the hand rests and his head leaned back. When the actual take off started, Damon was sweating and taking shallow breaths. That didn't happen often to a vampire.

Elena felt bad for him. "You don't like flying?"

"It is not...natural." He got out.

"Oh, and I suppose you're natural?" Elena smiled.

"Supernatural actually." He forced a laugh that quickly turned into a gag as the plane dipped a little.

"You fly all the time as a raven." Elena rubbed a hand over his hunched back.

"I have wings then."

"This has wings." Elena made a little gesture to the window.

Just then they hit a rough patch of turbulence. Elena made a noise of distress at seeing Damon so miserable. She stroked his hair from his face and lay her hands against it. She smiled into his face and after his depthless black eyes gazed into hers for a moment he closed them and leaned his head against her hands. "You make it better." he said simply. She was happy she could help at all, and it made her feel a little less guilty making him come on the plane in the first place.

"You better not puke on me." He gave a miserable laugh and leaned back against the seat.

Damon was better when the turbulence finally stopped. He still gripped Elena's hand tight, though. She had been talking to him soothingly the entire time and she hadn't stopped. She figured Damon probably couldn't keep up his illusion this sick, so she hadn't worried that people would think she was crazy. "It's almost over now. You know, I kind of liked the feeling the turbulence had, it reminded me of roller coasters." Elena laughed softly, stroking his hand. "next thing you know, you're going to tell me you don't like roller coasters."

Damon's head rolled to face her and he just looked at her. Elena's jaw dropped.