AN: Great response on the first chapter of this story, guys: 12 favs, 35 alerts and 17 reviews, keep it up! A little more Delena in this chapter, I know some of you asked for that in the reviews. The story is M-rated for a reason, after all … Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and lots of hugs to my beta sunshine2006578. Now, without further ado, on with the story!

Disclaimer: The characters of The Vampire Diaries are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

Chapter two

Elena relaxed into Damon's embrace and, for a long moment, they just sat there on the bed, in silence.

"Who were you going to call when I got here?" he then asked, pulling away from her a little, and she realized that she still had her phone in her hand.

"Stefan," she replied. "He's already in California so I figure he can get to LA faster than I can and I thought he could go down there, see if Jeremy left a note or something in his room. I still can't believe that he would just take off like this without at least leaving me some sort of message so that I would know that he's OK."

Stefan was still in San Francisco, having started to enjoy life in the City by the Bay. He and Damon had gotten much closer in the past two years – even if neither of them would use those exact words – and got together on a somewhat regular basis these days, having what Elena called 'guy-weekends'. Elena and Stefan had managed to work their way back to being friends and usually talked to each other at least once a week. Stefan had even come to her high school graduation – though things had still been a little strained between him and Damon back then – and she and Damon had gone to San Francisco to visit him for two weeks at the beginning of August. While he hadn't started dating anyone – at least not as far as either of them knew – he had clearly moved on and didn't seem bothered by being around his brother and former girlfriend at all these days, something that Elena and Damon were grateful for.

"That's probably a good idea," Damon agreed. "Stefan to the rescue!"

"Yeah." Elena nodded, ignoring the slightly sarcastic remark about superheroes. "I need to at least be absolutely sure what's going on before I tell Jenna anything. I don't wanna come up with some story only to find out that Jeremy and Anna are just taking the very long way back to Mystic Falls."

"What, like via Canada or something? You know that's not very likely. And don't you think Jenna's expecting you to call her tonight?" he wondered doubtfully. "She's probably already sitting by the phone, you know."

Elena knew that he was most likely right. "Maybe. But I'll just have to dodge her calls."

She moved away from him a little, sliding onto the centre of the bed and pulling her legs up underneath her. Still needing the physical contact, though, she reached out and laced her fingers with his as she waited for Stefan to pick up the phone on the other side of the country. Squeezing her hand, Damon gave her an encouraging smile.

Stefan answered after a couple of rings. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Elena, hi. What's up? Aren't you supposed to be at Vin Rouge about now?"

"I knew that you knew where he was taking me!" she exclaimed, for a moment forgetting why she had called him. For weeks, she had tried to get Stefan to tell her what Damon had planned for their anniversary date but, even though she was sure that he knew, he had stubbornly claimed that he had no idea. "I knew that he had told you where we were going! I can't believe you didn't say anything, I thought we were supposed to be friends."

Damon sighed and rolled his eyes next to her and Stefan laughed on the other end of the line. "Yes, fine, you got me. He did tell me what he was planning. But I think brother actually trumps friend, so don't expect me to spill the beans on anything like this in the future either. Besides, he's much scarier than you are. Was that why you called, to give me grief about not telling you?"

The question abruptly brought Elena back to the present situation. "No, actually. I need a favor."

He must have noticed the change in tone because he immediately sounded more serious too. "Anything, you know that."

"Can you get to Los Angeles tonight?" she asked, knowing that he would do everything he could to get there if she asked him.

"Of course. I don't know if there are any flights, but I can drive."

"No," she objected. Even if he did drive to LA and completely disregarded the speed limits the entire way, he wouldn't be there until closer to midnight and would have to wait until morning to get into Jeremy's dorm room anyway. "If there aren't any flights tonight, go tomorrow morning instead. I'll pay for the ticket and any other expenses, of course, just let me know how much you had to spend."

"Don't be ridiculous," he disregarded her offer. "But I'll wait until tomorrow if there aren't any flights out of here tonight."

"Thank you." She relaxed a little.

"Is something wrong?" he asked hesitantly.

"I hope not," she replied. "But I think so. It's Jeremy, he's …" She got a lump in her throat and swallowed hard, but still couldn't get the words out. Damon held his hand out for the phone and she gratefully handed it to him.

"Hello little brother."

"What's going on?" Stefan demanded. "Elena sounded like she was about to start crying."

"Yeah, she's a bit torn up right now," Damon told him.

"Why, what's wrong? Did something happen to her, did she get hurt? No, she said something about Jeremy … did something happen to him?"

"Elena's fine, don't worry," Damon assured him. "But Jeremy apparently dropped out of school last week, only he's failed to mention it to anyone, and now both his and Anna's phones have been disconnected and they haven't been in touch for about a week. And, by all means, feel free to jump to conclusions."

Stefan was silent for a moment. "And Elena's worried that he's asked Anna to turn him and that that's why they've fallen off the grid." It wasn't so much a question as a statement.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what we think has happened," Damon confirmed. "But Elena wants to make absolutely sure before telling Jenna anything. And that, of course, is where you come into the picture. I knew it would be handy at some point, having you over there in California."

"So she wants me to go to the school, see if I can find something out?" Stefan assumed. "I doubt I'll find anything. I mean, if he wanted to tell Elena, he could have just called her, right?"

"I know. But still, could you just check out his dorm room, see if he's left a note or something?" Damon asked, despite the fact that he too was pretty sure that there would be nothing like that. Like Stefan had said, Jeremy could have just called Elena if he wanted to let her know what was going on. And, if he and Anna wanted to disappear, they would do it properly, not leave a forwarding address. At least that's what he would do himself, and he was pretty sure that Anna's reasoning would be similar to his own.

"OK. But what are you going to tell Jenna? Not the truth, right?"

"Yes, we thought it might be fun to open that can of worms when she's already upset about her nephew being MIA," Damon replied dryly. "No, we're just going to tell her that Jeremy's disappeared, hope she'll buy it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Stefan questioned doubtfully.

"No, of course not. I know that it's not an ideal solution, but this is the situation that we have to deal with, and I just don't know …" Damon trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence.

"OK, you help Elena figure out what to tell Jenna, and I'll get a flight to LA as soon as I can. If I leave tonight, I should be able to catch Jeremy's roommate before he goes to class tomorrow," Stefan concluded. "Just text me any info I might need, like what dorm Jeremy's in and his room number."

"OK, I will, thank you." Damon let out a relieved breath. "Knew I could count on you, baby brother.

"No problem. And don't call me that."

"And now that you've asked me not to, I will of course be using that nick name every time I talk to you. Call me when you've been there, OK?" Damon stressed the word 'me', wanting to be able to edit in case Stefan discovered something that might upset Elena even more.

"I will, don't worry."

"Bye."

Elena had been watching him while he was talking and when he hung up she looked at him expectantly.

"He'll see if he can get a late flight down to LA, go to Jeremy's dorm room early tomorrow morning and try to catch his roommate before he leaves for class," he summarized the conversation. "Though, knowing college kids, he might not have to hurry. Most of them don't even get out of bed until after noon."

"OK." Elena nodded, knowing that it was really the only thing they could do right now. Still, she felt like she should be doing something other than just sit around waiting for Stefan to call.

"Do you want to …" Damon started, but was interrupted by the door bursting open and Brittany coming into the room with three of her friends, all of them laughing loudly.

"Oh, you're here," she said disappointedly when she spotted Elena and Damon. "We'll just go somewhere else, no problem."

"No, that's OK," Elena said quickly, getting up from the bed and pulling Damon along. "We were actually just leaving, so you stay."

"Great!"

Elena hurried to pull on a pair of leather boots and her jacket, then she and Damon left the room.

"Do you still want to go to the restaurant?" he finished what he had started to say earlier when they had left the building. "The reservation was for ten minutes ago, but I'm sure we can still get our table if you want. You have to eat, after all."

Elena shook her head, the mere thought of going to a crowded restaurant making her stomach turn. "Can we just go back to your place and watch a movie or something? I really don't feel like going out right now. I'm sorry, I know that you were looking forward to tonight."

"Of course we can, don't worry about it. And I don't care where we go or what we do, as long as I get to spend tonight with you. Come on." He grabbed her hand and led her towards the parking lot and his car. "Do you want to stop at Blockbusters and rent something? I'm all out of chick flicks at the moment, since you took yours home the other week. All I have is action movies with lots of fighting and blood and stuff. Of course, you might be in the mood for that. Live vicariously through the fighting scenes, let off some steam. Or we could stop by that martial arts place down the street from my apartment, do some actual fighting. I know from personal experience how satisfying it can be to punch some … thing when you're upset. Your call."

"OK, we can stop at the video store," she agreed, not even smiling a little at his joke, and he sighed. It would apparently take a lot to get her mind off things tonight, which of course wasn't that odd. But he would succeed, no matter what he had to do.

At Blockbusters, Damon deliberately headed straight to the comedy section and Elena realized that he was hoping to distract her with a funny movie. She was pretty sure that it wouldn't work, but still let him rent the latest comedies.

When they got to his apartment, he ordered Indian food from her favorite take-out restaurant and made a fire in the large fireplace in the living room.

"Sit," he ordered her, and she obediently sat down on the comfortable couch. "That's a good girl."

"I'm not a dog," she complained.

He ignored her, turning the television on and starting the first movie.

At the end of the night, Elena had no idea what either of the movies had been about or how the food had tasted. Jenna had called twice, but she hadn't picked up either time and hadn't listened to the messages her aunt had left, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from calling her back if she did. Stefan had called at ten, saying that his flight was leaving San Francisco a little before eleven and that he was going to get some sleep at LAX after landing in Los Angeles. Knowing that he was on his way down there made Elena feel a little better at least, like she was doing something to find her brother.

While she brushed her teeth, her thoughts kept going back to Jeremy and she wondered where he was, what he was doing. Had he already changed? Was he right at this moment trying to adapt to his new 'life', trying to resist the urge to hunt down people in the street? Or had he decided to go with the 'traditional' vampire diet? She knew that Anna had only been feeding on bagged blood, just like Damon, in the past few years, but maybe now that Jeremy was like her, she had gone back to her old eating habits? There were just so many questions that Elena couldn't get any answers to, it felt like her head was going to explode from being too crowded.

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep?" Damon asked when she came into the bedroom.

"I don't know," she replied honestly, pulling her sweatshirt over her head. She had changed into some comfy clothes that she kept at Damon's place when they got there, not feeling overly comfortable in her fancy dress.

"Try," he said, coming over to her and kissing her lightly on the lips. "You need to rest. If you want, I can make some calls, see if I can get hold of some nice pharmaceuticals to give you a hand."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "I didn't know you had connections in the drug world of Durham," she said, not sure if she should take him seriously or not.

"Or I could always knock you out," he continued, not addressing the drug dealer issue. "It might not technically be sleep, but you'll be out of it for a while so it probably has the same effect."

"Funny." She removed her tank top as well, and then her sweatpants, until she was standing in front of him in nothing but her underwear. She could see his eyes widen as they traveled down her body and back up, hear his breathing become a little faster. The fact that she could still, so easily, affect him this way made a thrill run through her. She took a slow, deliberate step closer to him, biting her lip and looking up at him through her lashes. "Distract me," she mumbled, pulling his t-shirt out of his jeans and running her hands up his stomach to his chest, her touch feather light, something she knew always drove him crazy.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked a little breathlessly, but his hands contradicted his words, sliding up her back and pulling her closer to him. "You're still upset about Jeremy, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I took advantage of you in your weakened state?"

"I know what I want, and you won't be taking advantage of me." She reached up and kissed him, slowly, letting her tongue slide along his bottom lip, tasting him. "I want you. I need you," she murmured against his lips, pressing her body against his.

Maybe he should have said no, stopped her. But he couldn't refuse her anything, and even less now that she was clearly upset. Also, it would take a man much stronger than him to say no to a beautiful, half-naked woman asking him to make love to her.

Determinedly, she pulled his t-shirt over his head, quickly recapturing his lips when the piece of clothing was out of the way. Her fingers traced his stomach and chest, up and down, a few times before she undid the button in his jeans and pulled the zipper down.

"Off!" she commanded, and he obediently did as she said, letting her be in charge since he understood that she needed to feel like she was in control of something.

When his jeans had come off, she pushed him backwards, towards the bed. His knees hit the side of the bed before he was prepared, and he fell onto the mattress, landing on his back. Elena took advantage of this, tugging his boxers down before she pulled off her own panties and climbed on top of him. He made to wrap his arms around her, but she pushed him back, pinning his hands to the bed. He could have easily gotten the upper hand, of course, but he didn't.

She leaned forward, letting her hair tickle his chest, and kissed him. He could feel the hunger, the desperation, in her lips against his and tried to return the sentiment. She released her hold on him and he slid one hand up her arm, over her shoulder and up her neck to tangle in her hair, holding her to him. With the other, he unhooked her bra and she threw it to the side, moving a little on the bed so that her entire body was pressed against his.

They kissed and touched like that for a long time, slowly, letting their bodies react to the other's. Elena could feel the tension start to build up inside her and she wanted more, needed more. He was already hard against her hip, and she moved a little so that she could wrap her hand around him. He pulled his lips away from hers at the contact, drawing in a deep breath, and she moved her mouth to his neck as she started sliding her hand up and down around him.

She could hear his breathing speed up as she continued down his chest, kissing every inch of his upper body. Releasing her grip on him, she let one nail graze the sensitive skin. In a flash, she was on her back and he was hovering above her.

"Don't … do … that," he said hoarsely, ending each word with a kiss, first to her left shoulder, then her right, then her lips.

"Sorry," she mumbled, not able to resist smiling at the fact that she had managed to rile him up so much.

"Now …" he started, a slightly evil smile tugging on the corners of his mouth, "… it's your turn."

He kissed her again, then moved to her neck, making her skin burn everywhere he touched her. She let everything else, every thought, every worry, slip away and focused only on the way his lips felt against her skin. His tongue came out to circle her nipple, and she gasped, arching her back against him, wanting him closer. In response, he slid one finger inside her, fueling the fire that was already burning in her veins. But it wasn't enough.

"Don't …" she managed to get out. "I want …"

"What do you want, baby?" he murmured against her skin, moving to her other breast and pulling the nipple into his mouth, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin, and she couldn't help but moan out loud.

"Want … you."

He didn't respond and, instead of returning the way he had come like she had hoped, he kissed a trail down her stomach, all the time moving his finger in and out of her, in and out, slowly. He quickly dipped his tongue in her belly button before continuing even lower. Adding another finger inside her, he found her most sensitive spot with his tongue and flicked the nub once. Elena squeezed her eyes shut, her hands balled into fists around the coverlet and her hips arched of their own accord.

But, instead of pushing her over the edge, he kissed the inside of her thigh, pulled his fingers out of her and moved back up her body. When she felt him position himself at her entrance, she opened her eyes and met his.

"I love you," he mumbled, eyes burning into hers, as he slowly pushed inside her.

"I love you," she replied, pulling him down for a kiss.

He wanted to take it slow, draw it out, but she wouldn't have it. She had already been so close when he had entered her and, impatient for that release she knew was coming, she hurried him along, pulling him deeper into her, squeezing her muscles around him until he gave in and started moving faster, harder into her. Within a few minutes, stars exploded in front of her eyes and she felt like she was falling, falling through empty space. With one final thrust, he followed her over the edge, collapsing on top of her.

For a while, they both lay breathing hard, neither of them able to speak or move. Then Damon made the effort to at least roll them around, so that he wouldn't crush her. He pulled the coverlet up around them, using it as a cover against the air in the room, which now felt chilly against her overheated skin.

Elena's breathing slowly came back to normal and he hoped that maybe she would fall asleep, even if only from pure exhaustion. But then he felt something wet against his chest, and realized that she was crying silently.

"Shhh," he mumbled, wrapping his arms more tightly around her and rocking her like you rock a baby that needs comforting. He didn't know what else to do, having never seen her like this before. "Shhh, it's OK. Shhh."

His words only made her cry harder and, soon, she was sobbing into his chest, letting out all the worries she had saved up during the afternoon. He let her cry, holding her in the darkness, until she ran out of tears. Then they just lay there, limbs entwined, in silence, waiting for dawn. Hoping that the saying was true and that everything actually would look better in the morning.

AN: OK, there we go, what did you think? Let me know …