A/N: I don't own Vampire Diaries or any of the characters, but sometimes I do wish Damon would kidnap me…
Oh… just a note. Please remember that at the time this was written, we didn't know as much as we do now about Damon's past, or Elena's for that matter. So there's some license with that in the coming chapters. But hey, it's AU anyway, right?
"You traded places with her, didn't you?" He asked in a low voice.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Sure you do. You masked her scent, or whatever you want to call it, with your own. That's what that business was with switching the necklaces, right? So now when Klaus goes looking for Elena it'll lead him straight to you." It was brilliant really; he only wished he'd thought of it himself.
Her chin came up a fraction, a defiant look in her eyes. "So what if I did?"
"Hey, you'll get no argument from me; I think it's a great plan." His hands came up in a supplicating gesture. If Bonnie intended to sacrifice herself for Elena's sake that was all for the good as far as he was concerned. "I'll hold up my end of the bargain in keeping her safe. We'll both do whatever it takes, right?" At seeing her nod, Damon leaned closer still. "I'm glad we understand each other. Don't let me down; I'd hate to have to hunt you down."
Bonnie gave another short nod, her eyes grave. "If I let you down and Elena dies… you won't have to hunt me down, I'll already be dead."
It didn't take very long to clear out of the motel, and after another goodbye hug, Bonnie was on her way. Elena shielded her eyes from the bright morning sun as she stepped out into the parking lot, wishing for a pair of sunglasses. Damon brushed past her to put their bags in the back of the blue mustang they'd borrowed. He seemed to like the older style in cars, she noticed. Or maybe it had to do with less chance of a GPS in the car which would lead the police to a stolen vehicle that much faster. No matter the reason, Elena couldn't fault his choice in automobiles, the sleek convertible was perfect for the early summer weather and she was looking forward to getting out on the road again.
Moving to pull the car door open, Damon was faster, his hand on the door handle seconds before her hand closed over his cool skin. Instead of pulling the door open for her like she'd thought he would, Damon blocked her way with his body, advancing into her personal space, which in effect, backed her into the car.
"Let's get one thing straight before we move on here," he began in a reasonable tone.
"Okay, what's that?" Elena replied equably. With Damon there was no point in even trying to guess what he might want to talk about.
"When I tell you to run, you'd better run."
She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Damon you don't really think I'd leave you behind like that."
"Yeah, that's exactly what I expect you to do. Otherwise, what's the point in any of this? If you have such little sense of self preservation we might as well turn around and go back to Mystic Falls right now."
Was that even an option? Had Damon had a change of heart? "You make it sound like I have a death wish or something," she protested.
"Do you?"
His blue eyes bored into hers, those eyes that made Elena squirm uncomfortably when they saw too much. Like they did right now. "I don't want to die. I just don't want anyone else to die in my place. Can you understand that distinction?" She looked up at him, meeting the challenge of his gaze. "Not even you." Something passed over his features, and she thought he might say more on the subject, but after a fleeting second it was gone, his usual smirk fixed in place.
"So. my status has been upgraded then, huh? I'm no longer on your hit list?" Damon stood his ground. If anything, he leaned in closer, leaving barely an inch of space between them.
"I'm not in any danger of turning into a vampire if I die now, so that's a point in your favor," she allowed, trying to ignore the fact that parts of her were very aware of how close he was, even though her face remained neutral. Knowing that he was likely doing it to get a reaction out of her, she tried not to let it show.
"I can always change that if you decide you want an insurance policy," he offered with a wolfish grin.
"I'll pass thanks, I like being a human girl." Someday that might change, but for now, Elena wasn't ready to make any kind of decision that could last for all eternity.
"That's okay, I like you being a human girl too." Damon's head canted to one side and he leaned even closer. Was he smelling her hair? Elena's hand came up to push against his chest, needing to do something to keep from finding out where this was going because part of her was very curious.
"We should, um…" Her mind blanked for a second and Elena had to turn her head away to clear it. "Breakfast right? You said something about food?" Elena fancied she could feel the lightest brush against her ear of what might be his lips, but she refused to look up at him.
"Alright then, let's get this show on the road." He moved away, pulling the door open with him. "Those pancakes won't eat themselves."
When Elena did look up, he was all smiles, and she couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Damon's mood was considerably brighter when they left the motel. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. Although they'd been found easier than he would have liked by Katherine and Bonnie, there was no sign of Klaus or his flunkies. He had Elena in the seat next to him – willingly no less, without having to bind and gag her. Okay, so she wasn't his girl, but with Stefan nowhere in sight it was the closest he'd gotten to it since their trip to Georgia. If he could just get her to cut loose and relax, then maybe she could remember how nice it was to have fun sometimes, instead of doom and gloom all the time.
Breakfast passed without incident, Damon tried to curb one appetite by indulging another, matching Elena bite for bite with bacon, eggs, home fries, and blueberry pancakes at the roadside diner they stopped at. He'd have to eat something more to his tastes before too long, he hadn't been joking about that, but he could hold off that craving for a while longer.
First, he wanted to get Elena settled in at their new hideout. For what he had in mind that meant supplies. That meant shopping, which meant people. Not something he was looking forward to. Not because he was worried about being spotted by Klaus but because he was enjoying having Elena to himself for once.
Elena though… wasn't enjoying it quite as much. It bothered her to have him glued to her side every step of the way, even if she could understand his need to protect her. At the sporting goods store she immediately split off to go look at a rack of sunglasses, jumping when she saw Damon in the mirror behind her. "I can manage to pick out a pair of sunglasses by myself if you want to go get whatever it was you wanted to buy here."
"Naw, there's no rush. Besides, you might want my opinion on what suits you the best." Damon made no move to leave her side, reaching past her to pick out a pair.
"I'll be fine."
"Don't care," Damon smiled cheerfully. "I'm not letting you out of my sight." They had all day as far as he was concerned. If a pair of sunglasses would make her happy, he was happy to stand around and watch her pick out a pair.
"Fine," Elena muttered, ignoring the pair he'd chosen for her. "Do you want to come to the bathroom with me too?" she pouted, and he was tempted to tweak that lower lip.
"I'll pass, I'll be able to hear you fine from out here."
"Eewh!" Her eyes narrowed in disgust.
"Yeah well, it's not the highpoint of my day either," he muttered. There were all sorts of things he normally tuned out with his enhanced hearing, but with trying to be extra vigilant for her safety, there wasn't a whole lot of privacy. But that wasn't something he wanted her to dwell on. Instead he grabbed her hand, tugging her deeper into the store. "Come on, I want to get a good look at the tents they have on display."
"Are we going camping?" That caught her interest.
"Yep, that way I can hear anyone coming a mile away and we'll be completely off the grid. You don't mind roughing it for a couple of days, do you?" He was hoping not, especially since she'd been game to go tromping through the underbrush with Stefan.
"No, I love camping," Elena replied enthusiastically. Falling into the spirit of the idea very quickly, she suggested all sorts of things to buy to make their trip more convenient. Damon balked though when she picked out a huge, two room tent.
"No way I'm toting that monstrosity through the woods. You do get that we're hiking to the campsite, right? No cars, just the two of us on foot?" Not that he would find any of it a huge burden with his strength, but he had other reasons for wanting a smaller tent.
"Oh, how far will we be hiking?" Elena considered, looking at the contents of the shopping cart with new eyes.
"I'm not sure exactly. We'll want to camp in a well secluded area, that means at least a couple of miles from the road. Plus, we'll want to be near a fresh water source so we don't have to cart it all in with us. I have a place in mind but I couldn't say how far a walk it is."
Elena accepted that, opting for a smaller, three-man tent. After that they stuck to the essentials, including two sturdy packs and a pair of good hiking boots for each of them. She steered him away from the dehydrated meals, saying it would be better to hit a regular grocery store than to try and palate the ready-made stuff. Since he didn't plan on eating any of those supplies, he allowed her to dictate what foodstuffs they purchased.
"We have to buy marshmallows," Elena insisted in the grocery aisle, drawing a raised brow from Damon.
"We have to," he repeated. "As in, it's a moral imperative?"
"As in, you can't go camping without marshmallows," she replied as if that was the most obvious statement in the world. "Besides, they don't weigh much."
"Okay, okay, marshmallows it is," he sighed, as if conceding some big point when all the while he was smiling on the inside over how much more relaxed she was already. It was hard not to imagine that this was what his life might be like. Ignoring the whole threat to Elena's life with an Original hot on their tails, this might be what taking a camping trip with his girl might be like. With one very big difference – if Elena were truly his, they'd be sharing a sleeping bag that night (and hopefully a lot more than that). But for now, this was enough.
Damon wasn't a huge fan of nature. He was more of a luxurious resort kind of guy. Room service, big screen TV, nightclubs for a little dancing at night, maybe a lazy massage during the day. But he was a big fan of hiking behind Elena in a pair of cut off shorts and a tank top. The breezy summer day turned scorching hot once they hit the noon hour, the canopy of branches providing less relief than they would have thought. Suddenly Elena was willing to risk a few mosquito bites in exchange for a cooling breeze over her legs. Damon had been only too happy to help by deftly cutting the legs free from her jeans, promising to buy her a new pair as soon as they returned to civilization.
More than once she asked him if he was comfortable in his leather jacket and black jeans, and he took pleasure in answering that he was just fine, smiling to himself over every disgusted comment that came from her lips as he braved the heat without trouble. He also made sure to give her only the lightest of provisions for her pack, taking the brunt of the weight for himself.
Still, despite being hot and sweaty, Elena seemed to be having the time of her life. Chatting animatedly about past camping trips with her family and friends, more than once she stopped to admire a bunch of scrubby trees or a weed-choked clearing that she called "peaceful". Damon started to wonder if Stefan had the right of it taking her hiking on the day before the sacrifice after all.
"Didn't you spend much time outside as a kid?" she asked, dropping back to trek beside him when the path widened.
"Stefan and I did, sure, when we were younger. We were outside every chance we got, but my family wasn't into the whole… outdoors bonding time like yours was. In fact, my father didn't like it when we came home all dirty and scuffed up like a pack of vagabonds," Damon replied, his features clouding. "And when I was older, the time I spent camping was during the war."
"Oh." Elena fell silent for the space of a few steps. "I forgot about that. You never talk about it."
"It isn't anything I like to carry with me," he shrugged, wishing she would change the subject. "It wasn't like it is in the movies, or in all of the Founder's Day crap."
"But you still came to them," she pointed out.
For you, he said silently, trudging on without replying.
"I saw you reading Gone with the Wind before," she tried again.
"Yeah, let's just say I like high maintenance chicks that are a real pain in the ass," he winked at her.
"Are you calling me high maintenance?"
Damon laughed when Elena didn't dispute that she was a pain in the ass sometimes. "No, but Katherine was."
"But you both still fell in love with her." Elena's voice was subdued.
"We all do stupid things when we're young," he said with a half shrug. "I mean look at you and Stefan." He couldn't resist teasing, just to get a reaction out of her.
"You're implying that I won't still be with him when I'm older and less stupid?" She fixed him with a sidelong look.
Damon weighed his answer carefully before responding. "I think at some point you'll figure out what you really want, instead of what you think you should want."
"And you think that's going to be you?" she scoffed.
"Stranger things have been known to happen. I've been told I'm an acquired taste." He flashed his eyes at her.
"And what happens next in this scenario of yours? I run into your arms to tell you I've seen the error of my ways and you'll be what, waiting for me, no matter how long it takes?" She raised a brow, radiating skepticism.
Damn fucking right he would. "Maybe, if you say pretty please," Damon grinned, liking this fantasy and the fact that she was almost flirting with him. Almost.
"I wish you wouldn't wait around for something that might never happen," she said sadly, stopping to pull out a bottle of water.
"Yeah well, we don't always get what we wish for." It was interesting to him that she didn't say it definitely would never happen.
Elena paused, the water bottle lifted to her lips. "That day may never come."
"But if it does?" Then he would be ready.
Elena looked up, meeting his gaze. "Then that'll be an interesting day."
A/N: More camping coming next. If any of you have ever slept in a three-man tent, you know just how cramped quarters it's gonna be.
BTW If anyone is interested in any of my books please stop by my website (you can find the link on my profile page).
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