I know I promised you a new chapter by Wednesday, packed full of Damon and Elena having a fun night out, and here it is finally. One day late, I know. But I hope what I've come up with will make it up to you and I really hope that I managed to live up to your (and my own) expectations.

This is only the first part of the fun night out and I apologize for the cliffhanger in advance. It was simply too much to put into one chapter and I wanted to post this rather sooner than later, so…

Enjoy yourself.


Fun Night Out Part One

"Okay, no," Elena shook her head determinedly after glancing at herself in the mirror. "This one won't do either. Arrrgh, it's impossible!"

She eyed the black shirt once more before she tore it over her head again, tossing it onto the bed beside her. The pile of discarded clothes had steadily grown higher there and soon enough Elena would have nothing more to try.

She had no idea what to wear tonight.

She'd tried everything. Casual, meaning jeans and a collection of soft falling shirts, and also formal, several skirts, even a dress or two.

But looking at her reflection in the small mirror that showed her figure only down to her mid-thighs, Elena had found some flaw or another within each and every outfit.

"It's the mirror, "Elena sighed and gave said item a dark look. "You're all wrong. You make me look stupid no matter what I wear." She flopped down onto the bed next to the pile of clothes. Then a frown suddenly grazed Elena's features.

"And why is that damn mirror so small anyway? It's Damon's for God's sake! You'd think that someone so utterly vain and full of himself would own at least a full-length-mirror. If not one twice as big as that! How's he supposed to watch his enormous ego in this tiny little thing?"

Elena threw a look at the clock and got a little shock. She'd been trying to find the right thing to wear for almost an hour now! Damon would long since be waiting for her downstairs.

Without further ado she stood up from the bed and snatched one of the many shirts. She would wear this one, no further discussion needed. It would look just as good on her as any other shirt she owned. And, it's not as if she wanted to dress up for Damon, right?

This wasn't a date, it was just a fun night out between… friends.

So, no need to be nervous. Nope, none at all.

With a flush on her face Elena quickly finished clothing (she'd chosen black trousers – no jeans – and her stylish black leather jacket over the dark red halter top) before she dashed into the bathroom to freshen up her make-up, brush her teeth and comb her hair one last time. Then she made her way out of the room.

Elena noticed Damon waiting at the foot of the stairs, and although he was dressed in simple black jeans, a black shirt and his leather jacket, Elena's breath caught in her throat at the sight of him.

He was gorgeous, there was no use in denying it. He was, and, sadly enough, he knew it.

Damon turned his head to watch Elena come down the stairs. His smirk froze for a second before it widened.

"Wow, would you look at that," he drawled and chivalrously held out his arm. "We two make a very handsome pair, Elena."

"We're not a pair, Damon." Despite her scolding words Elena linked her arm through his and Damon led her out of the front door.

"Sure we are," Damon shot back. "Last time I checked a trio minus one equals a pair. And since my boring brother is conspicuous by his absence, which makes me very happy by the way, Mystic Falls' famous trio has just become the town's hottest pair."

"Whatever," Elena rolled her eyes and slipped past Damon into the passenger seat of his car. Before she knew it Damon had taken his seat behind the steering wheel and smirked at her.

"I thought we'd agreed on not mentioning Stefan tonight?" Elena asked and as soon as the words had left her mouth she wanted to take them back. Why had she said that?

"Right," Damon smirked back and started the car. "Thanks for reminding me, Elena. So, how about this? From now on, to the end of this night, for every time one of us mentions him the other one gets a free pass in asking whatever he or she wants. And the other one has to answer, no bailing, no lying, okay?"

Elena was silent for a few seconds. Should she agree? Could she even go an entire evening without mentioning Stefan at all? And what about Damon? He might not realize it but Elena knew that Damon tended to talk about Stefan quite a lot (even if it was only to mock his brother). Perhaps this deal wouldn't be so bad? Elena might get a few shots at asking Damon things she'd always wanted to know! And he'd have no way of backing out.

"Alright, we have a deal," Elena agreed at last. Damon raised an eyebrow, obviously surprised at her willingness to play his game, but then he simply nodded and set the car in reverse to turn out of the driveway.

"Good," he smiled and then turned his attention on the road. "So, Elena. It's your night of fun, so you get to decide. Where are we going now? Are you hungry?"

"Ugh, yeah," Elena replied. "I thought we could check out this new place just out of town. Jenna went there with Mr. Salzman last week and she said the food is great."

"Oh, you mean 'Casa del Soleil'?"

"Yep," Elena nodded. "They serve like everything and I'm not sure yet what kind of food I'm in the mood for tonight."

"Okay," Damon shrugged noncommittally. "Whatever you want, it's your night."

Elena eyed him silently from the side. She wasn't sure why but something about Damon's rather unusual compliance was making her terribly nervous. She'd expected him to be cocky and brazen about this date of theirs (stop it, it's not a date) but so far he'd been the perfect gentleman. Apart from a few smirked comments he was… he was…

Whatever, Elena wasn't able to name Damon's behavior properly. She'd have to be cautious though, surely he had some agenda of his own.

But Elena was sure that she'd get to the bottom of this soon. She'd just ask him about it the first time Stefan's name would slip past his lips. Okay, maybe not his name, Damon almost never used it, but something like 'my stupid brother' would surely make it out of his mouth. There was no way Damon would manage to go an entire evening without taunting her for dating Stefan. Sooner or later it would happen. Damon loved to tease her with it far too much!


Damon led Elena through highly polished wooden doors into the restaurant and a politely smiling host immediately approached the two.

"Good evening, sir. Your reservation, please?"

'Oh, no,' Elena groaned inwardly, suddenly sure what was to come next. Of course they didn't have a reservation but she knew that Damon would take care of that in the matter of seconds. And, sure enough, she watched the vampire stare straight into the host's eyes, muttering something too low for her to catch, and the host's eyes glazed over with compulsion.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Salvatore," the man smiled only seconds later and motioned for them to follow him. "We have your table ready. This way, if you please."

They were shown to a nice table in a corner. It was decked for two with pristine white napkins and tablecloth, the china and several wine and water glasses gleaming in the soft candlelight.

A waiter stood ready to pull out Elena's chair and take her jacket but Damon shooed him off and took his place instead. Elena eyed Damon warily for a second but when he simply grinned at her she shrugged and let Damon take the leather jacket from her shoulders.

His small intake of breath had Elena glance at him from over her shoulder. Damon's grin had frozen and his eyes were focused on her back.

Her very bare back.

Elena smirked and raised an eyebrow at him. Ha, she'd known she'd get him with this outfit. The leather jacket had hidden it until now but the dark red top she'd spontaneously chosen had only seemed chaste and unspectacular on first sight. Now it became obvious that the high-closed front part ended in two lacy straps over her shoulders, leaving the smooth suntanned skin of her back bare. The soft fabric of the shirt closed only at the very small of her back.

Elena wasn't sure what had prompted her to wear this shirt tonight (she'd had it for a long time but had never worn it until now) but seeing the stunned and clearly impressed look on Damon's face now was enough to let her know she'd made the right choice.

Not that she wanted to impress Damon, or needed his approval, mind you.

It was just great to see him speechless for once, that's all.

And speechless he really seemed to be. It took full three seconds and a cough from Elena to pull Damon out of his stunned stare. His eyes snapped up to meet hers at last and his lips curled up.

"Nice view," was all he said when he finally pulled the chair out for Elena to sit down.

Elena smiled and buried her face in the menu.


Halfway through dinner Damon did something he'd very rarely done before. He backed down from a challenge and insisted, with something that could easily be counted as begging, they'd stop their ridiculous game of 'not mentioning Stefan at all'.

Damon hated to admit it but… he sucked at his own game. He'd never realized before how much he really talked about his brother. It seemed that every topic they could think of somehow held something worth a few jibes at Stefan's expense. And as much as Damon loved to mock his brother, it wasn't really fun when he wasn't there to react to it.

Plus, Damon had realized that he enjoyed Elena's company far too much to waste it by playing a stupid game.

And it seemed as if Elena was starting to enjoy herself as well because she hadn't put up much of a fight when he'd suggested they'd forget about their stupid deal for a while.

By the time dessert had arrived they'd found themselves in a lively conversation that had nothing to do with Stefan.

"So," Damon asked around a mouthful of mousse au chocolate. "You've never been to Europe at all?"

"Nope," Elena grumbled. "I was supposed to go to Germany once, our swim team went into training camp there for the summer, you know? But then Jeremy caught the measles and of course he passed them on to me and so Jennifer Connelly got to go in my place while I had to spend my summer in bed with this terrible itching all over me."

"Swim team, huh?" Damon smirked. "You among lots of girls in flimsy swim wear? I'd have loved to see that."

Elena merely rolled her eyes. "I was nine, Damon, so stop salivating."

Damon had finished his dessert and quick as a lightning stole some off Elena's plate. He popped a chocolate covered strawberry into his mouth and grinned at Elena's glare. "Why did you quit?"

Elena stared at a small spot of chocolate sauce in the corner of Damon's mouth. Her hand itched to reach out and wipe it off. "Huh?"

"The swim team," Damon clarified and Elena snapped out of it. "Why did you quit?"

"Oh, ugh," she looked down at her plate of sweet fruits and tried to get her mouth to work properly again. "I don't know. I used to love it but then something changed. The girls that used to be my friends suddenly were all bitchy and competitive and… I don't know. I was just there to have fun, not to win competitions but suddenly that was all it was about for them I guess."

Damon simply nodded in understanding.

"I still love swimming though," Elena added after a while. "Just for the fun of it."

"I nearly drowned the first time I tried to swim," Damon mumbled and then looked up in shock. He had no idea why he'd felt the need to tell her that. He wasn't usually one to think about his human life at all, let alone tell others about it, but Elena had let him in on so many private things tonight… it was only reasonable to give her something in return, wasn't it?

And when exactly had he begun to listen to the voice of reason?

Damon stared at Elena's face and… well; there he had his answer.

"Tell me?" Elena's voice was soft.

Damon tried to play it light and shrugged. "Stefan and I used to…" he broke off when he noticed a triumphant smile play across Elena's lips. "Oh, cut it out. We agreed on not playing that stupid game any more, remember?"

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" Elena smirked.

"No, but you thought it!" Damon stated and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, do you want me to go on or not?"

Elena suppressed the smirk and nodded. "Sorry, yeah. Tell me what happened."

"Okay, so," Damon continued after a while. "Stefan and I used to play by the lake a lot. One day we saw something in the water, struggling and yelping. It was a dog, one of our own litter, no more than a few weeks old. No idea how that one had managed to get away from the rest, they were kept in the stables. Anyway, this one had gotten out. Stefan and I tried to reach it from the shore but it was too far in. So, I waded into the lake and suddenly the ground gave away. The water tore me under and I couldn't breathe. I struggled and heard Stefan's panicked cries from ashore and the dog was yelping and, well, somehow I managed to grab it and pull it with me to the shore again. That's how I learned to swim."

Damon's eyes had a sudden far-away look. "I remember Stefan getting into the lake as well, although he could barely walk. He was only three then. But he tried with his small chubby hands to pull me onto the grass and then I blacked out. When I came by again we were on the shore and stayed there for a long while, happy and proud. I was so proud of us then, that is…" his eyes darkened and Elena saw anger flicker through them.

"That is, until we went home to tell father. He stared at us, both drenched to the bone and dripping all over the place. Without a word father tore the puppy from my arms and drowned it in the water butt outside. The look he gave me then clearly said: 'Next time you do something so stupid and risk your brother's life like that, it's gonna be you drowning in the butt.'"

Damon grabbed his wine glass and took a deep gulp. Elena stared at him, shocked and sad at the same time. She reached out and took Damon's hand in hers on the table.

"I'm sure that's not what he meant, Damon. He had to have been worried that you'd risk your own life like that."

Damon scoffed and shook his head. "No, Elena. He wasn't, believe me. He never cared what I did, as long as I'd keep Stefan out of trouble. And whatever we'd get ourselves into, it was my fault, every time. Just like that. I was responsible."

Elena squeezed his hand. "How old were you?"

"Nine."

A heavy silence settled over the table and Elena, desperate to lighten the mood, grasped onto the first thing she could think of. "You hadn't learned how to swim until you were nine?"

Damon rolled his eyes but the cloud over his head had passed and he was back to his usual smirking self. "It's not like we had swim teams and all that back then, Elena. It was learning by doing with most things. And, well… I did."

"Yes, you did," Elena smiled back and silently wondered what other things in life Damon had to have learned the hard way.


They left the restaurant shortly after that, but not before Damon hadn't compelled the waiter to bring them a bottle of their best champagne and two flute glasses, which earned the vampire a glare from Elena's brown eyes.

Damon had originally planned on compelling his way around paying for the dinner as well but Elena's incessant and rather forceful complains had led to him actually paying the check for once. He'd rather avoid the public scene and besides, it's not as if he couldn't spare the money. He had plenty of it after all.

Elena's thoughts seemed to have traveled along the same lines because, once they'd entered the warm night air, she asked with obvious curiosity: "Damon, where does all that money come from? I mean, it's not like you have a job or anything and yet, well… you wear expensive designer clothes only and…"

Damon quirked an eyebrow. "Elena, you know that I don't actually pay for my extensive wardrobe, right?"

Elena stopped walking along the pavement. "So you just compel everybody to give you what you want?"

"That's the general idea, yeah." Damon kept on walking.

"But that's," Elena quickly suited up again and pulled his arm to make him turn around. "Damon, that's…"

"Wrong?" Damon smirked. "Bad, evil? Not the Joe Regular nice-guy behavior? Newsflash, Elena, I'm not a Joe Regular. I'm a vampire."

"I know that," Elena crossed her arms over her chest and stared him in the eyes. "Don't think for one second that I could ever forget what you are, Damon."

"Good," Damon leaned closer until his face was inches away from hers. "You shouldn't."

Elena tried to speak around the sudden dryness in her throat. "But that doesn't mean that you can't act nice and normal from time to time. I know you can and I've seen you do it, Damon."

"Really?"

Damon had intended for it to sound menacing but Elena wasn't the slightest bit intimidated. At least not by his low voice or dark glare. The closeness of Damon's intense eyes on the other hand, it affected Elena far more than she'd expected. She could feel her heart flutter in her chest and she was sure Damon could hear it, too.

Elena took a quick breath and then smiled up to him. "Yeah, really. No matter how hard you try to hide it, I know you care about things. And about people."

"People?" Damon mocked. He was sure she meant his stupid brother by that and therefore her next words took him by surprise.

"Me," Elena breathed out. "I know you care about me. You knew that after everything that's happened lately I really needed a nice normal fun night out and you did everything to give me that, without making a fuzz."

"What makes you think I don't have my own agenda that I follow tonight?" Damon let his hand glide slowly up Elena's arm. She didn't pull away.

"Oh, I'm sure you do have your own agenda." Elena had no doubt about that. "But nevertheless you went out of your usual cocky way to ensure that I'd have a good time. And I did. That dinner was great and I really enjoyed talking to you like we're friends. Nice, normal friends. So, you can be a nice person, Damon."

He didn't say anything but locked his eyes to hers, unconsciously leaning closer to her smiling lips.

"That is," Elena took a small step back and her eyes took on a teasing glint. "You were a nice normal guy until you cheated your way into getting that bottle of champagne."

Damon let go of Elena's shoulder and opened his mouth to reply something but Elena already went on: "And I don't even know why you had to steal it in the first place. We agreed on no alcohol for tonight and yet you already had wine with the dinner. You're not playing by the rules."

Damon knew that she was teasing him and he rolled his eyes and started pulling things off his fingers. "Okay, first of all, I didn't steal the champagne at all. I gave the waiter a tip so generous that it easily would have covered this. Second, that's not exactly what our deal consisted of. We said no getting wasted tonight and I assure you that it takes far more than a glass of wine or two plus a bit of champagne to get me there. And third," he waved the bottle into Elena's face, "we need this for what we're gonna do next."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Elena glared from his smirking face to the bottle and back. "What are we gonna do next? I thought I got to decide…"

"Just a little change of plans," Damon grinned and started walking again. "I got a surprise for you."

"Damon," Elena's voice suddenly had a suspicious tone. "Were are we going?"

Damon simply sent her a look. "If I'd tell you, it would kind of ruin the surprise, wouldn't it? Come on, you're gonna love it."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Elena gave back but followed him down the street nevertheless.

"Elena," Damon pouted, "don't you trust me?"

"Do I really need to answer that?"

When Damon didn't reply but merely kept dragging her along by the hand (when exactly had he taken her hand? And why the hell did she let him do it?) Elena took a closer look on their surroundings. She'd never been here before and eyed the dark and empty road with suspicion. It didn't look like it would be leading to anywhere really.

There were no streetlights and on the left big old trees stood high and proud. To their right a long and high stone wall followed them.

They passed a solid iron gate in the wall and Elena caught a glimpse at a large mansion behind it. 'Must be really rich people to own a place like that,' Elena thought.

After maybe fifteen minutes of silent walking Damon suddenly stopped. "Okay," he grinned down at her. "I need you to wait right here and I'll be back before you know it."

And with that he was gone.

For a split second Elena stared at the hand that Damon had just released and then she looked around for him.

"Damon," she shouted annoyed. "Damon, damn it! Where are you?"

There was no response. Elena huffed and started walking along the stone wall. That would be just typical of him, to lead her to God knows where only to vanish!

Why had she agreed on this again? Why had she not protested the second he'd started to drag her along? Should she wait for him? Or should she try to get back to the car they'd left parked at the restaurant?

While she was still trying to decide there was a sudden whoosh and then Damon appeared in front of Elena, smug and unruffled as ever.

Elena smacked his chest. "Damn it, Damon! Where've you been?"

Damon grabbed her hand when she tried to hit him again. He squeezed it and with an innocent expression only he could pull off Damon shrugged: "I had to make some preparations before…"

"Before? Damon, what…"

The words caught in Elena's throat when suddenly, without warning, Damon pulled her body flush to his.

"Hold on," he grinned and fastened his arms around her back. Elena struggled against his firm chest but Damon was far too strong for her.

"Let go of me!"

"Relax, Elena," he tried to reason with her but when Elena did the exact opposite and struggled even more he let out a frustrated sigh and then…

Damon held her in a firm grip and jumped. Elena felt her feet lift off the ground, the air rushed by and she let out a shocked cry. Panic made her close her eyes and involuntarily she grabbed Damon's shoulders.

Then, all of a sudden, it was over and Elena's feet touched solid ground again. She tried to catch enough breath to yell at Damon and opened her eyes.

"What the hell did you do?"

Damon let go of her and took a step back. He leaned his back against the solid stone wall and shrugged: "I just thought I'd spare you the trouble of climbing this sturdy, twelve feet tall wall up one side and down the other, so… I carried you over."

"You carried…" Elena stared wide-eyed at his nonchalant face and then her gaze traveled to the wall at his back. It was the same high wall as before, only… before there'd been the road under her feet. Now she was standing on a highly trimmed lawn. She realized at once, they were standing on the other side of the large wall.

And Damon had jumped over it, carrying her with him!

"What? I… why, what are we…?" Elena didn't know what to say.

"Elena," Damon stopped her sputtering and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Relax, okay? Take a deep breath and then…"

Elena glowered at him but did what he said. She tried to get her racing heart in check and took a few steadying gulps of air.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked.

Elena's glare intensified and she was about to let loose another salvo of complains but then, then Damon suddenly turned the both of them around on the spot and what she saw across the lawn knocked all the breath from her lungs again.

"Ta da!" Damon smirked and took hold of her hand again. He pulled her forward and Elena could only stumble along in stunned silence.

"What do you say, Elena?"

"I, how… you, you did this?"

Damon grinned at her and took off his leather jacket. He threw it carelessly onto the lawn and stepped out of his shoes at the same time. Elena watched him open-mouthed, too stunned to react. She saw his fingers swiftly open the buttons on his shirt and then the black garment was tossed to the ground on top of his jacket.

Elena was still motionless like a statue.

Damon chuckled inwardly, pleased with Elena's reaction to his surprise. Well, she wasn't running away or screaming bloody murder, so… that was good, wasn't it?

With his eyes closely fixed on Elena's slack face Damon swiftly opened his jeans and stepped out of them.

Elena gulped at the sight of Damon, naked but for a pair of tight black boxer briefs, and finally snapped out of her stunned haze.

"Oh my God, Damon!"

"Come on, Elena!" Damon laughed and purposefully strode up to where she was standing. He leaned close to her face and whispered seductively: "Last one in is a stinking loser!"

And with another laugh he sped away and jumped with a perfectly executed head-dive into the waiting pool.


TBC

I know that it's beyond evil to leave it at a place like this but I promise, I try to update as soon as possible. Hopefully tomorrow or the day after that. And then it's all Delena fun in the pool.