The One That Didn't Get Away, Chapter Fourteen

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Damon stared at her for a second, eyes wide and bewildered, his hair falling over his face. He blew it away. 'What are you-?' He cut himself off when Elena merely looked at him and doubled over, tears starting blur the edges of her vision. She had no idea why she was laughing so much, maybe she had finally broken. Damon seemed to flounder for a minute before he leapt up and slammed his hand over Elena's mouth. 'Shut up.' He hissed. 'They'll hear you.'

Elena froze, shock halting the laughs in her throat for a second and she grasped onto the moment and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to swallow her laughter. It was easier than she expected, distracted by Damon's hand now over her mouth. She stared at him, repressing a ridiculously un-Elena like urge to lick his hand.

She glared at him until he removed his hand, slowly, as if double checking she wasn't going to break down again. It was he who spoke first, breaking the hesitant silence that had fallen over them. 'Care to share what was so funny?'

She shook her head. 'Nope.' Purposely not flinching away as his head fixated on her, she guessed he was staring at her suspiciously. 'Your face?' She smiled cheekily, slightly disappointed he couldn't see it, 'what else?'

He scoffed, shaking his head. 'Ha-ha. You're so funny.'

She beamed at him. 'I know!'

There was a brief silence as Damon stared at her blankly – well she guessed the shadow of him was - before stating. 'You're being annoying.' He sounded rather whiney, and not for the second time that night Elena wondered if he'd had anything to drink before gate-crashing her self-pity party for one. To be honest, she wouldn't be surprised.

'Irritating, isn't it?' She smirked, raising an eyebrow pointedly. 'When someone's being annoying?'

'Yup.' He deadpanned. 'Stop.'

Elena pulled a face, knowing he won't be able to see her as she was still unable to see him properly. 'But I don't want too.'

'I want you too.'

'Who says I have to do what you say?'

'Me.'

'Well, I'm not listening.' She resisting the urge to plug her ears and start singing 'la-la's' over the top of him. She was resisting a lot of silly childish urges tonight. What was it about him that brought out that side of her? A side she didn't know still existed after her mother died. She was usually so sensible, her friends the one's with the big dreams and unrealistic visions – well not so unrealistic now, she thought. Damon was here, after all. 'That nurse is going to come back you know.'

He nodded. 'Yeah, better she not catch me here. You never know, she may not be a Damon fan!'

Elena knew he was smirking and frowned. 'Don't joke. Not everyone loves you.'

'I know.' He sounded rather solemn for someone so jokey a second ago. 'You don't.'

'You say that like it's a bad thing.' She shuffled around on the bed, feeling her notebook and moving it to the bedside table and flopping herself down onto her back. She was expecting a witty reply, maybe something along the lines of everyone should love me but she was met with silence. 'Damon?'

He hmm'd, the shadow of his head turned to look at her.

She stared at him for a second, before shaking her head. What was she supposed to say? You okay? She chuckled inwardly at herself; she was being an idiot and he was fine. She was making something out of nothing. 'Nothing.'

Damon appeared to nod, before there was another beat of silence. Then, 'I should go. You should be resting.'

Elena blinked at the sudden turn in conversation, weirded out by the sudden urge she had to blurt out he should stay. 'Yeah, probably.'

She watched as he stood up, wondering why he seemed so desperate to leave all of a sudden. She remained silent as he headed towards the door before a sudden thought had her blurting, 'wait!' She could ask him if he was okay, she could ask him if she had said something to hurt him, but she lost her nerve at the last second. 'Use the window. They'll be watching the door.'

He lingered a second in front of the door, before seemingly coming to the same conclusion. 'Sneaking me out the window Elena? Areyou embarrassed?'

Elena wasn't sure if his sudden chipper mood was false, but she thought by the way he was staring at her in the dark, slightly illuminated by the hall light, that he understood she tried to help. She may have failed, but she tried. Thought counts, right? It was weird, she was feeling guilty for sending him away unhappy – she wasn't even supposed to like him! It appeared he was trying too, in his way. 'Well, unless you want to get caught... but, maybe, knowing you…'

She was teasing, and apparently he knew that too if the chuckle was anything to go by. 'Attention isn't all it cracks up to be, Elena.'

She did like the way he said her name. All lower register and silky. It was like he was caressing it. She'd never known anyone to say her name like that. 'I never said it was.' She replied, her voice soft, surprising herself. She'd never spoken like that to him before. She quickly changed tactic, and if he'd noticed then he didn't say anything. 'Now, go, before we both get into trouble. The nurse already hates me, no use her hating you too.'

'Aww, Elena, I'm touched.' Damon waltzed towards the window, and pulled up the blind. She could see his silhouette fiddling with the window, and she laughed to herself when she heard him complaining under his breath, 'stupid window. Damn thing, open.' She watched him struggle a second longer, 'why aren't you opening?' before she climbed out of bed and somehow successfully managed her away over to join him at the window. He turned to look at her, thankfully not mentioning the awful green hospital slacks they had dressed her in. 'Come to laugh at me?'

She gently brushed him aside, ignoring the slight tingle as their hands came into contact and pressed the button on the handle, pushing the window open wide. Thankfully it was only a one floor building so there was no restraints on the windows. She turned to him and laughed a little. 'There's a button.'

'I can see that now.' He grumbled, folding his arms. 'I'm out of practice.'

She decided to ignore the meaning behind that phrase and smirked instead, able to see him now the moonlight was illuminating his face. 'I can tell.'

He scowled at her, and she repressed the urge to laugh at him, his face was scrunched up and he was looking suitably flustered. 'You're horrible.'

'I know.' She grinned, 'now go away before nurse grump returns and all my efforts to keep you out of trouble will be in vain.'

'Yes ma'am.' He rolled his eyes. 'I'm going.' She watched as he gracefully climbed onto the window sill, dangling his legs over the other side. He jumped off, landing easily in a crouch and gracefully rising to his feet. He smirked at her, face half lit in pale light. 'Not that out of practice.' The shadows dancing across his face had Elena catching her breath, he was beautiful, suitably like he belonged to the night.

She shook herself out of it and forced an eye roll. 'There's the arrogance.'

He laughed, before settling into a genuine smile. 'See you tomorrow Elena.'

For some reason she found herself nodding. 'Bye Damon.' She whispered, closing the window as he turned and melted into the night. His black clothes certainly helped with that. She could see why he had been cast in so many supernatural roles. He made the perfect description of a bad-boy vamp. She shook her head, thankful that the hot weather meant the open window hadn't brought any cold air in. The rain storm the other night had been just that, a rain storm. No break in the unforgiving weather yet.

There was a small sound from outside the door and she quickly closed the blind and scurried back to bed, pulling up her sheets and slamming her eyes shut. Just in time for the door to open, and the nurse to peek in. She kept her breathing steady, and before she knew it the pretending to be asleep was no longer pretending.

She was woken by the door opening, a quiet but audible click. She remained still, eyes closed, as whoever it was opened the blinds. There was a brief moment of silence before she heard what she assumed to be the nurse's footsteps, leave the room. The door shut softly behind them. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, heating her face immediately.

She blinked open her eyes, wincing slightly, and pushed herself up. The clock on her beside table blinked 08:46. Nearly nine and already the sun was blaring through the windows, it was going to be another hot day. She sighed to herself, and rubbed away the sleep from her eyes. She wanted a shower. Her body was sticky and hot, and her hair - which had mostly fallen out of its ponytail - was limp and heavy. Her skin was crawling.

She grimaced to herself, before frowning as she heard voices behind the door. Voices which sounded a lot like Jenna, Ric and the nurse's voice from the night before. She wondered what she was telling them. It wasn't a minute later when the door opened, and her aunt and step-uncle were stepping into the room.

'Hey.'

They smiled, Jenna immediately coming forward to hug her. 'Morning honey, so glad you're awake. The nurse says the tests came back clear and you're free to leave.'

'You can also take a shower.' Ric added, smiling softly.

'Is that your way of saying I smell, Ric?' Elena teased.

He pulled a face. 'Yes. I can smell you from all the way over here.'

'Shut it you two. You can berate each other later. Let's get you to the shower and then out of here.' Jenna fussed around and collected Elena's notebook and pen. She grabbed a backpack Elena hadn't noticed, that was propped up besides the chair. She unzipped the bag, which Elena noticed was packed with a change of clothes – and stuffed the notebook and pad inside. Elena and Ric watched as she quickly scanned the room for anything else, and they both followed her eyeline as she stared, openly, at the chair.

She walked over to the chair, and Elena noticed for the first time that a black hoodie was thrown over the top. Her aunt picked it up and shook it out. 'Is this yours?' Elena had a feeling her aunt knew, but was asking anyway. 'Because I remember you wearing it on the way to the hospital.'

'It's not mine.' Elena stared at the hoodie in her aunt's hands. Frankly, she was surprised Damon hadn't taken it back last night. He probably forgot she even had it, she thought. She had. She hadn't even noticed it when everyone was in the room, but it must have been there.

'That'll be Damon's,' Ric said, reaching out to take it, 'I'll give it back to him.'

'No.' Elena blushed at the way Ric and Jenna looked at her outburst, and quickly spoke to cover herself. Having no idea why she reacted like that, she just didn't want Ric taking that hoodie. But she had no right to it. There was nothing between her and Damon, she had told him so last night and she intended it to stay that way. The hoodie was his. 'He gave it to me, it's only right I thank him and give it back.' She smiled, trying to reassure them.

She wasn't sure how well she convinced them, but Ric nodded and dropped the hoodie on the end of her bed. 'Fair enough.' He looked at her for a while, enough to make her feel uncomfortable. But he appeared to shrug it off. 'I'll be waiting in the jeep.' He turned to leave, but Elena called him back.

'We have a jeep?' She frowned. They generally walked everywhere.

Alaric shrugged. 'Damon hired it for the day. I agreed because we thought it'd be good to have another days rest before we start straining you.'

'How many times do I have to repeat that I'm okay?' Elena cringed, her statement coming out a little harsher than intended. She didn't like being treated like glass. 'I'm sorry. It's just- I want to get back to normal. I hate being here. And besides this stupid cast, I just want to forget anything happened.' There was an underlying meaning to her statement that she knew both Ric and Jenna understood from the way they both froze. 'Please.'

There was another brief hesitation before Jenna nodded and Alaric smiled, Elena pretended not to notice that it was forced. 'Sure 'Lena.'

She breathed a sigh of relief. 'Thank you.'

'I'll see you soon.' He smiled, and left the room.

Jenna smiled cheerily. 'Now, let's get you to that shower, I bet you feel awful.'

Elena nodded, feeling a little downhearted. 'You have no idea.'

The water took forever to heat up, leaving Elena hanging outside the cubicle and testing water until it was a bearable temperature. She showered as quickly as possible, not taking the time to enjoy the hot water and desperately trying not to get her cast wet. Within an hour she was standing outside the hospital, her aunt holding her backpack, and staring at the dirty green jeep in front of her – sporting a smug Damon in the driver's seat, and a sullen looking Ric leaning against the side with his arms folded.

Damon smirked at her, 'hey, want a ride?'

Elena sighed as Jenna glared, throwing the backpack into the back seat and climbing up afterwards. Ric patted her shoulder as he walked around the jeep to sit next to Damon. Obviously wanting to avoid his slightly pissed off wife. She eyeballed Damon as she climbed into the back, moving her potted arm into the lap and staring at it, before meeting Damon's eyes briefly in the rearview window. He was staring at her quietly, it unnerved her how she knew she could keep looking into his eyes without feeling awkward. She swallowed and wrenched her gaze away to look at the clinic, feeling the jeep rumble to life underneath her.

'Why the long faces? We got some camping to do!'

'Shut up Damon.' Alaric muttered.

'Aww, Ricky boy. You love me really.'

Elena settled back in her seat, closing her eyes, and preparing herself to listen to the men bicker for the duration back to the campsite. It was going to be a long journey.

A.N/ Not particularly fond of the writing in this chapter - but alas, I updated. Shorter note from me this week (I can hear the chorus' of 'thank god'), this note is to mostly inform you that I had an English assessment last week, so I haven't had any time write anything but this shorter chapter. I plan to update at least once a week, probably towards the weekend. However, I have another essay and two exams this coming December (13th and 15th to be precise) that I need to pass to get into next year, so I probably won't be updating next week but just picture - and pity - me studying with my head in the books.

Thanks for putting up with my complicated irritating University life. To all those who reviewed, thank you! It's wonderful knowing there are still people out there who remember me. And to all those who are new readers – welcome! I promise this has a solid plan from now and I will be delegating time to write it (the exams will not beat me). Plus I get an extra-long Christmas holiday!

Again not beta'd – forgot to mention that last time – I have also been going back over old chapters and noting the mistakes. Once this story is finished I will be going back and fixing those – but for now my focus is to continue. :D.

-N. x