AN: I'm back! Unfortunately, that also means that I have to get back to work on my master's paper, which is due in a couple of weeks, so this story is going to have to be on the back burner for a little while. I hope you can be patient with me: I will finish it! That said, thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, I'm glad you liked it. Kittenkatje: I did have a great time in Amsterdam, it's an amazing city! And fun to know I have readers in the Netherlands too! notashamedtobe: yup, they have pigeons in Amsterdam – lots of them, and most of them seem to be a little suicidal. A few times, I really thought I was going to get attacked by one, they kept swooping down over us … kinda scary. SweetWillowTree: I have actually read the VD books, but I honestly don't remember the soul mingling thing. Maybe it was somewhere in my subconscious and it just popped up when I was writing … And now we're moving on with Elena's adaptation to her new 'life'. Not quite to the point where she's going out among people yet, but you know Jeremy and Stefan won't be able to stay away for too long! Lastly, thanks to my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578, for her help with the chapter! I hope I managed to do what you suggested …

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 twenty-one

Elena jerked awake when an annoying sound filled the bedroom. At first, she was a little disoriented, but then her eyes quickly adapted to the darkness and she could see, clear as if it had been daylight in the room, Damon reaching for his cell phone on the bedside table. She could even see the annoyance in his eyes and the way his lips were pressed together, telling her that he, too, had been woken up by the ringing.

"Yeah?"

Still not completely awake, she ignored his conversation and pulled the cover up over her head, relaxing against the pillows. But she couldn't go back to sleep: there were too many sounds, too many smells, too many impressions trying to get her attention, and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shut them out. Then again, she also wanted to explore her new senses and abilities, so that might be why her brain refused to let her go back to sleep.

Tossing the cover aside, she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table: a quarter after one in the afternoon. She wasn't sure how late it had been when they had finally succumbed to sleep during the night. They had spent most of the afternoon and evening in bed, only interrupted by occasional trips to the bathroom and more frequent blood breaks. She couldn't believe how much blood her body could actually hold, it was like there was no limit to how much she could drink, and after she'd had a bag or two, she was only 'full' for an hour or so. Damon had assured her that this was normal right after the change, and that her body would adapt to the new habits soon – she sure hoped it would. So it hadn't been until Damon looked at the clock that they had realized that it was after midnight. Still, it had been a while before they actually gave up their more interesting activities to get some sleep – like with the blood, she couldn't get enough of him and the other way around. Even now, there was a battle going on inside her: one part wanting to stay in bed with Damon – it was the middle of the day, which meant daylight, so she couldn't actually do much since she couldn't go outside – the other wanting to get up and get some blood and then have some fun with her new senses and strength.

She had more or less tuned Damon's conversation out, but she thought he was talking to Stefan and assumed that he was calling to make sure everything had gone according to plan. They probably should have updated both him and Jeremy yesterday, but they had been a little distracted …

The curtains in the bedroom blacked out the sun completely, and they were of course drawn over the windows, leaving the room in darkness. But there was a small sliver of light making its way into the room between the curtains and, somehow, it drew her to it. Like a magnet or something. She wanted to see if it was really as bad as Damon had said – would she really need to stay out of the sunlight for days, maybe weeks? – and she also wanted to test out Bonnie's spell on her engagement ring.

She glanced at Damon – who was still on the phone and was starting to look more than a little impatient – and then slipped out of bed, moving across the room deliberately slowly. Tentatively, she held her hand in the small ray of sunlight, waiting for a reaction. Her skin didn't start smoking or anything, at least, so she was satisfied that the ring was doing its job. There was a slight tingle in her skin, a little like when your arm or foot falls asleep, but it wasn't really all that uncomfortable. Hesitating for a brief moment, she then pulled the curtains apart.

She was glad that she moved much faster now than she did before, because the pain in her eyes was almost unbearable and she instinctively covered them with her hands. Though that only moved the pain to her hands, and the rest of her skin, since she wasn't wearing anything and her entire body was exposed to the suddenly ruthless sun. For a moment, she wondered if maybe the ring wasn't working at all, and then the light disappeared.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Damon demanded next to her, and she carefully removed her hands from her eyes so that she could look at him. He still had the phone in his hand and was staring at her exasperatedly.

"I just … I wanted to try out the ring, and I wanted to see if the sunlight really was as bad as you said it was," she replied, voice small, and looked down at her hands to see if there were any burns on them. But the pain hadn't left any marks as far as she could see, and it had disappeared as soon as the light stopped touching her skin.

"Right, because taking my word for it just wasn't good enough, huh?" He crossed his arms over his chest, giving her an irritated look. But, even with him obviously annoyed with her, she couldn't help but notice that they were both still completely naked.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, taking a step closer and looking up at him through her eyelashes. "I was just … curious, I guess. Everything's so new, I want to explore it."

He sighed and relaxed a little, and she took the opportunity to move even closer and wrapping her arms around his waist. To her surprise, he took a step back.

"Is this some sort of punishment?" she asked amusedly. She could, literally, count the times he had turned down the opportunity of sex in the past five years on the fingers of one hand.

"Right." He rolled his eyes, but went over to the dresser and pulled on a t-shirt.

"Then what? Did I wear you out last night?"

He huffed. "Never." Digging around in another drawer, he found a pair of jeans as well. "But we have guests coming over soon, and I didn't think you'd want to be naked when they got here. If you do, I'm completely OK with that, just say the word … it might actually make them leave sooner, so I'm all for it, actually."

"Oh." Following his example, she went over to the closet and found a sun dress that she pulled over her head. "Stefan wouldn't take your word that everything went OK?"

"No, he believed me," Damon replied. "But I guess both he and Jeremy want to see you for themselves, make absolutely sure."

"I guess that's not surprising," she said, remembering how she had felt back when Jeremy had turned: on a logical level, she had known that he was OK, but she had still needed to see him for herself before she could really believe it.

"Yeah," he agreed grudgingly, and she laughed.

"Come on, they'll be here for an hour, tops," she told him, finding a pair of underwear and pulling them on. "Then we'll be all by ourselves again. And I bet it'll be days before I can even leave the apartment …"

That seemed to cheer him up again. "I like the sound of that." He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her hair.

She relaxed against him, letting out a deep breath. "Mmm."

They stood like that for a moment.

"So the ring works," he then said. "Not that I didn't think it would."

"Yeah, Bonnie knows what she's doing," Elena agreed. "It won't always be that uncomfortable, being in the sun, right? You said that it was worse right after the change."

"Yeah, it'll get better in a couple of weeks, as far as I can remember," he replied. "You still won't be completely at ease, but you get used to the slight discomfort after a while, more or less. It's like living next to the railways: after a couple of years, you barely even hear the trains passing by anymore."

She laughed and then, reluctantly, stepped out of his embrace. "Nice analogy."

Her movement put her in front of the mirror, and she frowned at her reflection.

"What, are you disappointed you show up in it?" Damon asked with a laugh. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but that part's a myth."

"No, I knew that," she responded, running a hand through her messy hair. "It's just that I look like I just rolled out of bed. And not after a good night's sleep, if you know what I mean."

He laughed again. "So? That is what happened. Or don't you remember last night? Do you need me to remind you?"

Elena rolled her eyes and grabbed a hairbrush from the dresser. "Trust me, I remember. But I don't have to look the part, at least not when my brother is coming over."

"I think it's possible that he's figured out that you're not as innocent as you might want people to think," Damon said dryly.

"Can you just go put on some coffee or something?" she asked exasperatedly. "I need to wake up, and I apparently don't have time for a shower."

"Nope, you don't. My guess is they'll be here within five minutes."

"Then I'm going to have to do my best with the time I have," she said, going into the bathroom.

"You want some company in there?" his voice came through the open door.

"Coffee!"

"Alright, alright."

She heard him leave the bedroom and then the sound of a cupboard opening and closing in the kitchen and the coffee maker being switched on. The wonderful aroma of coffee wafted into the bathroom, making her mouth water. A moment later, she heard him open the fridge, and then the smell of blood filled the air, making her stomach grumble as well.

After having untangled her hair as best she could, she hurried to apply a little basic make-up, making her look a tad bit more alive – she couldn't help but laugh out loud at the thought – and then left the bathroom, following the delicious smell of blood into the kitchen.

When Damon saw her enter the room, he pushed a button on the microwave, and the mug with blood started rotating on the glass plate. Elena pouted.

"You didn't have to heat it up," she complained, sitting down at the table.

"The sooner you get used to having to wait a few moments before you can eat, the better it'll be," he replied. "Part of the self-control lesson. If you're used to getting food at the drop of a hat, you're more likely to attack a random passer-by in the street when you get hungry."

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands. "Oh."

"Not that you're going to do that," he continued. "Unless you want to. It's not too late to go rogue, you know. We could have a lot of fun tonight, you just have to say the word." His voice dropped to a whisper. "The army of do-gooders would never have to know."

She was more or less positive that he was joking, but still looked up at him to make sure. The look on his face didn't really convince her either way, but she chose to believe that he was.

"I think I'll pass if it's all the same to you," she said lightly.

"Oh, well, too bad," he replied half-heartedly, shrugging as the microwave dinged. He took the mug from it and put it down on the table in front of her. "Milady's breakfast is served."

"Why thank you, how very kind of you."

"Yeah, yeah." He took another blood bag from the fridge and popped the entire thing into the microwave. He didn't like drinking from a mug, he preferred his blood straight from the bag.

Just when Elena put the mug down on the table after having finished the contents – Damon had finished his bag much faster and was just downing the last of the coffee he had moved on to – there was a knock on the door. Elena immediately made to get up from the table, but Damon put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place.

"What?" she wanted to know.

"Windows in the staircase," he replied, going to open the door himself.

"Right." So many things to think about.

She hadn't thought to listen for footsteps or voices before – it seemed like her mind was, seemingly automatically, shutting out the sounds that she wasn't actively listening for – but now she strained her ears and could hear Anna's voice outside the front doorm, clear as if she had been in the same room. She couldn't hear what the other girl said, though, because the sound of Damon opening the door drained her voice out a moment later.

"Hey guys, come on in."

"Is she OK?" Jeremy's slightly concerned voice floated into the kitchen.

"I'm fine, Jere," Elena called back, forgetting that he would be able to hear her if she whispered. An instant later he appeared in the doorway, a relieved look spreading on his face when he saw her.

"Hey there, how are you feeling?" he asked, taking a seat opposite her at the table.

"Fine," she replied immediately, without really thinking about it. "I mean, everything's a little … much right now – the sounds, the smells – but other than that, I'm OK."

He laughed. "Yeah, I remember that part. It'll pass soon."

"See? Everything went fine," Damon said, following Anna, Stefan and Abby into the kitchen. "Don't you think I would have called if something had gone wrong?"

Stefan ignored him and gave Elena a scrutinizing look. "You OK?"

She smiled at him. "I'm fine, honestly."

"I've been trying to tell him that all morning," Abby piped in, sitting down next to Elena. "Finally I just suggested going over here so that he could see for himself. Seemed to be the only way to stop him from glancing at the phone every few minutes and muttering about why Damon hadn't called yet."

"Which I thought you said you were going to do when I was here yesterday?" Stefan pointed out, turning to Damon.

"Did I?" Damon frowned. "Sorry, don't remember that part."

Stefan nodded knowingly. "I get it, you were a little … preoccupied at the time."

Damon smirked. "Oh, we've definitely been too preoccupied to think about calling you, baby brother."

Elena buried her face in her hands.

"OK, not what I was referring to," Stefan said. "And I don't think we want to hear it."

Damon shrugged unconcernedly. "Suit yourself." He left the kitchen and went into the living room, turning the TV on and flopping down on the couch.

"Sorry about that," Elena apologized.

"No worries, we're all adults here," Abby assured her, squeezing her hand. "Or, well, sort of. And I get it: everything's new for you, there's so much to explore. And it's not like you can go outside, so you'll have to make do with … indoor activities."

Jeremy groaned. "Could we please not talk about my sister's sex life?"

"Yes, please," Elena agreed.

"Did you want me to get some more blood?" Anna asked to change the subject.

Elena glanced at Damon. "Yeah, Damon doesn't think what we have will be enough, but …"

"It won't be," he interrupted her calmly from the living room. "We've already gone through a third of the stash, and we'll be cooped up here for at least another week, probably longer, with the sun being so bright this time of year. Your appetite will start to decrease soon, but unless you want to starve, I suggest getting more."

Elena rolled her eyes and both Anna and Abby stifled laughs. "Jeremy and I can take a trip to one of the hospitals in the area tomorrow, don't worry about it," Anna said, probably for Damon's benefit even if she didn't raise her voice.

"Thank you," he said. "Glad to hear that someone's taking this seriously."

"I am taking it seriously," Elena objected. "But you don't have to make my brother and his girlfriend run errands. I'm perfectly fine staying here for a couple of hours on my own if you want to go."

Damon huffed and got up from the couch, turning the television off and coming back into the kitchen. "Sorry, not gonna happen," he said, leaning against the counter. "You're the one who wanted to go with the bagged diet: I'm, not gonna leave you here to mess that up."

Elena's eyes widened. "You think I'd do that … if you …"

Seeing the horrified look on her face made Damon soften immediately, and he sat down on Elena's other side and took her hand. "No, of course not. I'm just being way too overprotective, you know me."

She nodded uncertainly, convinced that he was just trying to make her feel better. He really did believe that she might slip up if she was left alone.

"And, anyway, it's not like you're gonna get the opportunity to even try to cheat," he continued. "I'm gonna be here every second until you feel like you can handle everything. I don't care if it takes a week or a year, you hear me?"

That made her feel a little better, and she offered him a slightly week smile. "Thank you." She knew that he would never let her do something she would regret for the rest of her, hopefully, very long existence.

He squeezed her hand. "Anytime. There are worse things to do than babysit you all day … alone … in a room lit only by candles." At the last couple of words, he wagged his eyebrows at her, and she couldn't help but laugh. He always knew how to make her feel a little better.

"Since we just came over to see for ourselves that you were OK, I think we're gonna take that as our cue to get going," Abby concluded, getting up from the table and squeezing Elena's shoulder. "Call if you're going crazy hanging around with this doofus all day, I'd love some girl time."

Damon rolled his eyes, but Elena offered Abby a grateful smile. She might love him, but spending twenty-four hours a day with Damon could get a little old after a couple of days. "Thanks, I'll probably take you up on that."

"Movie night, say Friday?" Abby continued. "Between Anna and me, I'm sure we can kick him out of the apartment for a few hours, and you should have had time to adapt a little by then."

"'He' is right here," Damon complained, but both Elena and Abby ignored him.

"That sounds great," Elena agreed. "You up for it too, Anna?"

"Absolutely." Anna nodded. "I could use some girl time, myself."

"Does that mean we can have a guy's night?" Damon asked. "I mean, it's only fair, right?"

Abby shot him a lethal look. "I guess that depends on your definition of 'guy's night'," she replied. "As long as it doesn't involve half-naked women worming their bodies around poles, go for it."

He let out a theatrical sigh. "Isn't your mind one-tracked? I was thinking more along the line of poker and beer, but you just had to go there."

Abby gave him a disbelieving look. "Sure you were. So Anna and I will be over, say around seven on Friday, and you three can have a guy's night with poker and beer at our hotel."

Damon smiled at her sweetly. "Sounds like a plan."

Abby returned the smile. "Great." She turned to Elena. "So we'll see you Friday, if you make it until then. If not, I'm only a phone call away."

Damon seemed to be about to say something, but Elena put her hand on his arm. "Thanks Abby, but I think I'll be good."

The other girl shrugged. "If you say so."

"And we'll stop by with some more blood tomorrow," Anna piped in. "You said that you'd been to Raleigh and Burlington recently, right?"

Damon nodded. "Yeah, so you should go somewhere else. There are plenty of small-town hospitals in the area, but I usually try to stick to the ones in the bigger cities. Bigger blood banks equals less chance of discovery."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I know how it works, Damon, I've done this before, remember?"

"I remember you messing up and leaving a trail," he countered quickly.

"That was years ago, I'm much more careful now."

"It's true," Jeremy interjected. "And I'll go with her, I'll make sure she's thorough."

"Great, Boy Wonder to the rescue," Damon muttered.

"And if you feel like getting out of the house tonight, have some fun, give me a call," Jeremy continued, ignoring Damon's comment and turning to Elena. Both Damon and Stefan laughed. "What?"

Elena frowned. "Yeah, what's so funny?"

"He's just being a typical newbie," Stefan explained. "I mean, we've all been there: after the change, when everything's new, even the smallest thing is exciting. It takes a while for that to go away."

"He's what you could call a teenaged vamp," Damon continued. "He's past the first, tricky phase when you get used to your new body, your senses and strength, learn to control yourself, but he still hasn't completely adjusted to the new life."

Jeremy crossed his arms over his chest, immediately getting defensive. "So? I'm just having fun."

"They are kind of right, though," Anna interjected, getting a disappointed look from Jeremy. "What? You don't think I notice that sometimes you sneak out in the middle of the night to go running or whatever it is you do?"

He looked at her through narrowed eyes for a moment. "Fine, maybe I do. So?"

"So nothing," Elena said, stepping in to defend her brother. "I mean, I haven't had time to do anything yet, but I'm really looking forward to having some fun with my new abilities. So if you feel like doing some exploring tonight, I'm up for it."

"I'm not sure that's a great idea," Damon immediately piped in. "You should probably wait a few days before you go outside, even at night. It's the middle of summer, there might be people around even late, and I don't want you to get tempted."

Elena bit her lip, considering the dilemma for a moment. The last thing she wanted to do was slip up and accidentally attack someone. She knew that she'd never be able to live with something like that on her conscience. On the other hand … she was really excited to see what she could do now, and she didn't want to wait a week, or maybe even longer.

"Maybe we could all go?" she suggested. "That way you guys would be there to keep an eye on me."

Damon shot Stefan a look and they both shrugged. "That could work," he allowed.

"And you guys can all have a good laugh at us 'newbies'," Jeremy said, still sounding a little annoyed.

"I think it'd be fine," Stefan agreed. "We should probably go somewhere outside the city, though. I'm not worried about you going after someone, really, more about getting seen."

"Oh." Elena hadn't even thought about that, but of course they couldn't just go out into the street. "I didn't think about that."

"Rookie mistake," Damon told her with a shrug. "Before you know it, it'll be second nature."

"So any thoughts on where to go?" Anna wondered.

Damon thought for a moment, frowning. "Eno River State Park should work," he then said. "I mean, there might be some hikers and campers around, but there are spots that are really hard to get to and as long as we wait until after midnight, it should be fine."

"OK, so time and place?" Jeremy asked, suddenly sounding eager.

"The entrance at Cole Mill Road is supposed to be open all night," Damon replied. "Let's say two A.M., just to be on the safe side. If there are any campers in the park, they'll be asleep by then."

"OK, great, see you guys tonight." Jeremy waved at Elena and he and Anna left the kitchen.

"Yeah, see you tonight," Abby repeated, pulling Stefan along in the same direction. "And … have fun until then, OK?" She winked at Elena, who looked away.

When the front door closed behind them, Damon sighed and slumped back in the chair. "I thought they'd never leave," he complained.

"They were here for a total of …" Elena glanced at her watch, "… fifteen minutes."

"Exactly. Fourteen minutes too long," he insisted.

"Well, if you had just called them yesterday, they might not have felt the need to come over in the first place," she pointed out, though not really believing that herself.

"Hindsight is everything," he replied with a sigh. "But I had other stuff on my mind, didn't really have time to think about updating them."

"Oh, and what did you have on your mind?" she wondered with a smile, knowing very well where the conversation would end.

Damon raised his eyebrows at her. "Like you don't know. And I didn't hear you complaining."

"I'm brand new, I'm a little overwhelmed by … everything right now," she defended herself. "You're the one who's supposed to be the adult."

His eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'll give you overwhelmed."

He lunged for her, but Elena managed to slip out of his grasp and sprinted off through the room. She might be much faster than she had been before, but he still didn't have any problem catching up to her in the doorway to the bedroom. Not that she was trying very hard to get away from him …

It was with a mix of anxiety and excitement that Elena left the house later that night. She wanted to do this, she really did, but at the same time she was a little worried that she might … no, she wasn't going to think like that: she knew that Damon and the others would be keeping an eye on her and prevent her from doing anything that she would regret.

Just outside the door she stopped, closed her eyes and just felt it, everything, all the new little nuances in the world that she had thought she knew so well. The night was still warm from the hot day, and she thought she could almost taste the lingering sunlight as she inhaled. The air around her was full of smells and sounds she had never noticed before – the leafs on the tree nearby smelled green, somehow, the earth was still warm and emitted a smell of summer, there were insects still buzzing around and birds in the surrounding trees.

"You OK there?" Damon asked after a moment, sounding amused, and Elena opened her eyes.

"Fine, just … trying to take it all in," she replied with a smile. "There's so much, of everything."

He laughed a little. "Yeah, I know, it's a little overwhelming in the beginning. But you'll get used to it in no time, don't worry."

She nodded, though far from sure about that. "If you say so …" She didn't know if she wanted to get used to it. What fun would life be if the world didn't surprise you every now and then?

"Now come on. We can't just stand around here all night so you can smell the roses or whatever. We've got things to do, places to go."

She rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, I'm coming."

When they got to the parking lot at the park entrance, the others were already there.

"Sorry we're late," Elena apologized.

"You didn't run into any … problems on the way, did you?" Stefan asked, glancing at Damon.

"Give her a little credit," Damon told his brother. "She was just a little overwhelmed by all the new smells and sounds when we got outside, took a while to tear her away from it. And, come to think of it, give me a little credit too. I think I can handle one little newbie on my own. Or did you think I'd try to corrupt her?"

His voice was light enough that someone who didn't know him as well as Elena did might be fooled, but she could tell that he really was annoyed that his brother would jump to conclusions like that.

"Why don't we get going?" she suggested, not wanting them to get into it. "I'm guessing this isn't what you had in mind when you said that we had to get away from people, right?"

Damon gave Stefan one last look before turning to Elena. "No, we're going further into the woods, away from the trails. Come one." He reached for her hand and she linked her fingers with his, letting him lead her across the parking lot and up a trail that was soon enveloped in the vegetation of the park.

She could hear the others following them, and also the sound of animals of all kinds of shapes and sizes scurrying out of the way as they continued into the woods. If she had thought that there were a lot of new scents outside their apartment building earlier, it was nothing compared to this. She couldn't even place most of the smells, only the somewhat familiar ones: pine, grass, freshly dug dirt, moss, water somewhere close by.

She let Damon tug her along by the hand and just enjoyed her surroundings, inhaling deeply to catch every single scent and looking all around her to see as much as possible. After ten minutes or so, he stopped and released her hand. She turned to him with a questioning look on her face. This couldn't be what he had in mind. Sure, they had left the trail behind, but only a couple of minutes ago.

He flashed her a smile that she had no trouble seeing in the dark woods. "Catch me if you can!"

AN: A bit of a cliffie, I know, but I have to keep you wanting more, right? So, a little more exploration, meeting the family for the first time after the change and all that. What did you think? We're gonna have some more fun with Elena's new senses and abilities in the next chapter, but for now, this is it. Please let me know what you thought!