A/N: Happy Good Friday! I'ma be honest, this jumps around alot and that's why I love this story so much but it can get understandably confusing especially with the flashbacks I inserted this chapter along what's happening currently in the story. Please keep the reviews coming; they motivate me.

Chapter 4: Babe, It's Just A Road Trip

Damon grabbed all the brown clothes he could possibly wear outdoors. Needless to say, it wasn't a color he wore often. Black was more his style and that choice in color took up the majority space in his closet. His group would be traveling upstate to go sleep in a large cabin and drink beer because they couldn't handle the drop in temperature. The guys - including himself - were Stefan, Klaus, Elijah, Matt, and who he personally invited Enzo.

There was instant complaining when he told the 'married crew' that the fellow Brit would be accompanying them. It didn't help that he was a bachelor to his core and had hit on all their wives shamelessly. His Hollywood penthouse with its endless weekend parties never proved his ethical and moral values to be concrete. Out of all of the men, Klaus hated him the most. His toughness, his taste in whiskey, his charm all just annoyed the Mikaelson.

But he was Damon's friend and whatever differences they had with Enzo they would set aside for the weekend.

"Hey, babe, have you seen my suede Armani coat?" Damon called out, hoping his wife would know where it would be.

Bonnie was in her bathroom where she was peacefully curling her new wig. It was brown with blonde highlights, she loved the way it bounced on her slim shoulders. "I got it dry-cleaned last week, it was collecting way too much dust for my liking. It's in my closet," she responded, wrapping a section of hair around the curling iron. Damon walked near the bathroom to see his wife's eyes locked on her appearance. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You look absolutely stunning if you didn't know it," he murmured.

"I have curling iron inches from your face and this is the moment where you want to kiss me," She put the object down so her lips can brush against her blue-eyed husband.

He laughed, holding her face, "I'm crazy for you, Bon, always have and always will be."

"That's cute," Bonnie said with a smile as his hands grew affectionately snug around her waist. It isn't long before his fingers begin unfumbling her robe tie. He loved those little satin slips she threw on around the house. Bonnie turned around completely to kiss him again knowing his predictable mind was heading - a quickie before he got on the road. She indulges him and maybe overdoes her moans once he lifts her up and lies her on the bed. This won't be her first time faking an orgasm and she needs Damon to not have a worry in the world after he leaves Malibu.

"Babe, are you sure you want to do all of that driving?" Caroline asked, bouncing her three-year-old on her hip.

"Love, I'm on my way to pick up the rest of the husbands," he grimaced as the light turned red. "And Enzo."

She huffed; Enzo may have flirted with all the women but he was most interested in ruffling her particular feathers. He surprised her with gifts whenever he saw the bubbly blonde and she received daily and nightly texts from Enzo. She didn't even remember when she gave the dark-haired Brit her number but she secretly liked the attention - it was shortly after her healing since having her first child and Klaus was back to working full-time.

Once he found out, they fought and it ended with her husband picking up her phone and calling Enzo warning him to never contact Caroline again. It was as if he saw Klaus's methods from a third eye perspective in pursuing the blonde and appropriated them in a very sloppy way. Even a slightly younger, free-minded Klaus wouldn't go after someone's spouse.

"What is he doing there? Please don't tell me Damon invited him."

"Oh," Klaus said loudly, honking at a driver who had given him the bird. "But he did! That bloody Salvatore should know better given his history."

"Please don't murder him; I don't need my husband being shipped back to the UK."

"Tell Henrietta I love her all right?"

"Klaus," she deadpanned.

"Alright I'm near Stefan's place now, I'll call you as soon as we're on the road."

Caroline sighed, clicking the end button on the call.

Katherine opened the 13-year-old Scotch her and Elijah received as a wedding gift. She was currently dancing on her kitchen counter in her t-shirt and underwear. She wasn't drunk, no the ex-model knew her limits, she had just a glass to set her throat ablaze. Totally alone in her home, her weekend had officially begun. Elijah leaving to go on some silly guys bonding trip made her upset, so to cure that she shook her ass to trashy pop music.

"Whew, I am so tired," she said aloud as she sat down on a stool in the kitchen. It's been too soon since her last tryst with the Lockwood boy. He needed her more than she needed him, she was sure of it. They even used her house to carry on the affair since he still lived with a roommate - his cousin Tyler. He was cute too but he was an ex of Caroline's and she just wouldn't go there even the blonde was happily married with a toddler.

Mason sort of snuck up on her, he noticed her from her old modeling days. She and Caroline were out clubbing when he approached them. She snuck the blonde out the house because dealing with a teething baby deserve a little alcoholic payoff. She didn't anticipate sleeping with him that night. He had a room right around the corner. Katherine was pleased with the rough sex but not with his cousin being the first person she saw when she woke up. Even with the buffers, she ended up calling him back telling the playboy she indeed had a nice time.

She felt young and not so confined and married whenever she was with him. The only person who knew was Caroline, who did her healthy amount of judging but never told. Her forbidden feelings for Enzo put her in no position to do so. Esther disliked Katherine the most out of all her children's wives. The woman wanted to keep her expensive party lifestyle without doing any work on the dime of her Elijah. At least Caroline had her own degree and could pick herself back up if something drastic happened to her marriage to Klaus.

Katherine powered on her phone and turned off her 'Do Not Disturb' mode just to see the influx of notifications. A text from Caroline freaking out about Enzo. Two missed calls from Elijah from two hours ago and a text following after asking her to pick up her phone. She groaned; that was the problem, he hadn't demanded that she call him. Everything was too polite with him and she needed to put in place from time. Then there was a minute-long from her dear old cousin Elena Gilbert. She was stumbling about her having a date but the gist of the message was asking could she watch Jackson Saturday night.

It was short notice but it wasn't like the woman had any plans. The kid was well behaved and it wasn't like she would be keeping him overnight. She'd probably put on a movie at 9 pm and around 10pmish - voila her distant cousin would have a half-asleep child she'd have to tote in her car. Katherine wasn't one of the people hoping Elena would reconcile with her husband; she could care less. The reasons for divorce were silly to her; Elena gave up 6 years of her life to raise their child, she could have done it 10 times over. So, somehow the young mother felt less guilty asking Katherine to do her this one favor.

The first 30 minutes to an hour on the road was fun. The males laughed an sang songs loudly on the radio to annoy their designated driver. Being taunted just made Klaus grumpier; even his polite brother was getting a kick out of it. All it took was Klaus to threaten to leave them somewhere in the Pacific. After the sudden quietness, it was time for a gas pump and a quick stop was made. When back on the road the boredom sunk in.

"Let that window down, I may melt," Enzo said to Matt while dramatically fanning himself. Before the blonde man could lower the window, Klaus locked the windows. "Hey, man what the hell?" Matt asked, clearly seeing that the driver had pressed a button that preventing him from getting any fresh air. If he knew that Enzo was parasiting his way along he would have invited Marcel. Luckily, the man foresaw the awkwardness of being around Damon since he used to date his wife.

"Maybe if he can stop whining like a little bitch," Klaus said, eyes glued on the road, "The degrees might drop."

"What's your damage with me, huh? I and Caroline haven't talked in months thanks to your short leash on her."

Damon's ears perked up; now it was finally getting interesting. He nudged his brother who had his earphones and promptly removed them and asked what was happening. They were only halfway there. The raven-haired man knew Caroline came to his house crying asking if there were any way she could protect herself and that a man had been harassing her. He didn't quite catch their full conversation but none of it mattered since whatever the blonde told Bonnie wasn't true.

"I couldn't let you infect my wife's mind with your..." He couldn't find the word and that annoyed him greatly.

"I flirt, sure, but I never tried to sleep with your wife - or any of your wives," Enzo yelled out defensively, then suddenly eyeing all the men in the truck.

"Why that may be true, it didn't stop you from offering Katherine a full body massage when the masseuse canceled on her," Elijah pointed out.

"Also, you showing April pictures of your BDSM on your phone offering any needed assistance in the bedroom," Matt spoke up.

"Let's not forget your very generous offer to help Elena bottle her breastmilk for our 3-month-old child at the time," Stefan said while scrolling down his Instagram feed.

"Look, fellas, I have nothing to say because Bonnie knows how to handle his ass," Damon ruffled Enzo's hair, "My man's a dog, those incidents were for some," he eyed Stefan, "Several years ago, he's way calmer now."

Klaus grunted, jerking the tire forward praying to God the person whose face spurred out, was Damon's. He was delighted to see it was, a small gash had appeared on his forehead. "I think I see where you're coming from, Damon," Klaus responded, smiling as he turned on the radio."Tunes anyone?" He asked the reserved passengers. Nothing intelligent or insightful came out of Damon's mouth, the only person that old bloke could manipulate was a very pliable woman.

The first thing Bonnie did when her husband sent a text stating he had made it to the cabin was pop a bottle of champagne. She sat out on her balcony looking at the faint daylight as the sky got dimmer and dimmer. She even went back in the house to fetch one of Damon's Colombian cigars. That kept her content for a while before she called her part-time lover. Her voice sounded deep on the line and he could she'd been smoking.

"Hey," she greeted seductively as she could in her semi-drunken state, "You busy?"

Marcel laughed, "Hi, drunky and I am sort of busy now."

"Oh.." Bonnie trailed off watching the sky's light blue transition to dark. "Well, I just wanna say how sorry I am for you not being able to go on the trip. D-"

He didn't want to hear that name, not now. "Don't even sweat it, I'll scoop you up tomorrow. I'm stuck at Bekah's right now."

"Goodnight, Marcel," she clicked off curtly not caring if he called out her name. Bonnie hoped he said her name loud enough for the Mikaelson woman to hear. Marcellus belonged to her, anyway. He was only dating Rebekah because, after years of seeking her family's permission, he obtained it. All that hard work wasn't going to waste, the blonde was simply a runner-up for the married woman he'd always love since they were kids. That same week of his engagement he bumped into a lonely Bonnie Salvatore at the grocery store.

...

Bonnie was walking hurriedly in Whole Foods, not trying to be seen. She had fired her maids and she couldn't let her husband starve to death, even if she wanted to. Badly. It was right after she left the office and her feet had been bursting in pain.. Instead of a shopping cart, she had a basket; it was overfull because she underestimated her refrigerator.. It was so full that a minor mistake in her walking caused her to drop some of her items. A helpful man got on his hands and knees to assist in picking them up and when their eyes met, she was shocked.

"If it isn't Bonnie Bennett or should I use your married name? I can't remember from the top of my head but I always see it on my Facebook."

Ah, good ol' Facebook reminding us of our high school lovers, she thought grimly to herself.

"Salvatore," she said with a chaste smile, "I've been Bonnie Salvatore for almost five years now.

"That's great to know you and him are still going strong." He replied, his words were genuine but his chocolate eyes betrayed him and rendered his sentence useless. Not only was Bonnie able to hide her emotions she could read other people's. But it didn't rocket science that he wasn't the most ecstatic about her marriage. They hadn't talked or seen each other much unless it was a family event and even then the two steered clear of each other's way.

"Thank you, it was nice to see you today, Marcel."

"Wait," his hand brushed Bonnie's forearm, sending tingly sensations throughout her entire body. "Let's exchange numbers, we should catch up more."

...

"We should play a game," Enzo suggested.

"No we just got here and I'm tired," Klaus said from the comfort of his top bunk, eyes scanning a book about the Italian Renaissance.

Enzo turned to him, "No one said you had to participate, not everything I say warrants a response, Klaus."

"Clearly, you're not that tired if you can read a book about B.C. Italy," Damon commented and Enzo snickered.

"It's not before Christ, you imbecile-" Klaus started, a vicious insult was headed for the ebony-haired male.

"Sure, man let's play a game," Matt says, to ease the tension as he leads the rest of the men to the kitchen table. Klaus looks like the bad guy because within 30 minutes the guys find a stack of cards in one of the drawers. There are sounds of laughter and when Elijah and Damon's team win they engage in a sort of victory dance. It's nice to see the man break out of his serious demeanor at times like these. Klaus misses out on it though, because he can't stand Enzo and his insufferable attitude.

Elena ran her comb through her salon done curls as she waited for her date to arrive. She dropped Jackson off earlier so he wouldn't have to see her go to her appointments. He had questions of course and she answered them evasively. That boy was way too smart for his age. Luckily, Katherine didn't mind the early drop-off and wished her cousin the best on her date. There was no problem with wishing the luck, it's who she wished it in front of. Her child's face flushed in fear and she quickly hugged him assuring that he had nothing to worry about. Katherine's lack of sensitivity was either careless or intentional.

The woman hears her phone ding, a text from Liam, the doctor, saying he was outside. She looked at her appearance once again. It was a beige mid dress with pearls draped above her breasts. The pumps she wore were black and tall; ready for any new strides in her life post-divorce. Liam knew she came with baggage and that should have scared him off but it didn't. She steps out confidently as Elena Gilbert.

The next morning all of the guys are walking from their very warm cabin to eat the most important meal of the day. Klaus went to bed first, so he took the opportunity to loudly wake the rest o the men up, who were up drinking, laughing and playing cards. He was bitter at that moment but watching their groaned expressions as he banged pots and pans together around the house rendered it a temporary feeling. They all took their individual showers and changed into proper gear. Klaus suggested that all of them should go to the dining hall for the glorious breakfast.

"You know, me and Damon could have ridden up to a grocery store. I swear it was a Wal-Mart somewhere," Matt said.

"Wal-Mart? Yeah, I'll just stick with the cold walk to whatever the hell it leads us," Damon replied, shuddering at the suggestion of going to said cesspool of a store. Matt shrugs, he didn't care who went with him the cool air was just such a shock. Elijah was in the front of the group because his legs moved the quickest. He had a red wool hat on and his hands were shoved neatly in his pockets, protecting his limbs as safely as he could.

"Why is it so damn cold?" Stefan asked, slightly bouncing as he walked.

Klaus slapped the shivering man on his back, "Mate, we're almost here and you're wearing a leather jacket."

"I can't wear it in LA without looking like an ass and it's too cold for me to wear it here, I can't win," Stefan replied, sighing. It wasn't soon before he seamlessly was the first person walking in front of the group. Right before he was a red shed-like building. "Hey," he called out, "this must be it, right?" The five other men catch up and once inside the warm building they find an area to eat and sit in. It's right by the fireplace and Enzo asks for someone to take pictures of him in front of it in which he later uses for a spicy caption on Instagram.

Everyone had bacon except for Matt, his wife was worried about him getting high blood pressure due to his harsh oily diet. He watched them tear and bite into crunchy bacon as he merely poked at his limp turkey bacon. Damon tapped the blonde's shoulder, mouth full of a syrup-drenched waffle. "Trying to watch the dad weight, huh?"

"Something like that," Matt muttered, "I have one kid and haven't been affected whatsoever."

Klaus and Stefan shared a knowing look and then a waggish one at Matt.

"It's no big deal to gain a gut, put some more carbs on your plate man, you look miserable," Stefan said with a laugh.

Matt simply ignored the three of them chuckling like schoolgirls and ate his flavorless turkey bacon. It spurs a side conversation for Stefan and Klaus about their home life. Damon sees the joy on his brother's face as he and the Brit bond about fatherhood. He had nothing to spew on the subject besides his potential lovechild being incubated in his mistress. Elijah cleared his throat and drank his tea, he felt left out as well, but he and Katherine made a deal about having no kids prior to them getting married.

Damon tended to wear his heart on his sleeve; he turned to Enzo. The devil-like man was eyeing a group of women who were giggling. They were all blonde except for one. Definitely was not the raven-haired man's type anymore, especially after marrying Bonnie. Enzo quickly got bored with the talks about family, it was the antithesis of who he was and it what was his friend, Damon was trying to reach. He needed a couple more years with him before he finally did have a kid with recessive green eyes running around stealing all of Damon's time from him.

"I'm gonna go check this out over here," Enzo announced, his eyes never leaving the quartet of women.

"So am I," Damon concurred, putting his half-empty plate on the table. Enzo wasn't alerting the rest of the males, that statement was meant for the older Salvatore ears.

"Why?" Matt asked seriously, "You don't think those women have pure intentions do you?"

"What woman ever does," The married man says to the man as he walks off, following Enzo.

It was early in the evening and Elena wasn't expecting the walk - well run from the place they were dining at. The service they were getting was extremely rude, apparently, the restaurant had this unspoken dress code. A dress code Elena and Liam failed miserably. He took her hand and sped out in a hurry, not caring about the repercussions of dining and dashing. Her laugh is infectious as it fills his head and echoes in the best part of his mind.

They stop, Elena is bending over and panted for breath, she was clearly out of shape. And maybe 6-inch heels weren't the best running shoes. Not every woman is Beyonce, she reflects on her decision to wear heels in the first place. When she stands back up, she meets the young doctor's gaze. "Let's walk to the beach," she suggests, smiling. Her hair is frazzled and she begins to finger comb it back in place but few strands peek in front of her face.

"First," Liam reaches out to place the loose hair behind her hair, she blushes, "Let's get you out those heels, those cause veins and tension along with other things I can go on all night rambling about. I'm so sorry for making you run in those."

"I-it's okay, it was really fun," She reassured. Liam sees a store they can go in quickly to grab her some comfortable flipflops. Again, he feels bad so he bought them for her and she bought him a silly hat because, reciprocity. He didn't even want her to buy him anything but the brunette was so persistent after he insisted to buy her shoes. When back on the sidewalk, heading towards the beach she asked him about his career. He was so young it must have taken a spectacular drive to become a licensed doctor at the age of 25.

Elena lets out an elated sigh as her bottom hits the soft sand, her feet were killing her.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Liam questioned, "What made you want to go out with me tonight?"

"Honestly? I wasn't going to at first, what my mother did in the office was tacky and inappropriate. Like...she made it seem like I was desperate and I'm not." His brown eyes watch her carefully.

"Ah, Isobel, one of my persistent patients. I mean she sees two single people who are totally attractive by the way and it suddenly clicks for her."

Elena laughed, "Agreeing with anything she says means a cold day in Hell is nearer than we think," she fumbles her fingers, "And I'm not single, yet, but my lawyer says and recommends dating while in the separation process." Talking about or even mentioning it was a touchy subject in the past but since she found out about Ivy, she accepted the upcoming finality of her divorce. She and Liam talked about her little angel Jackson but never his father. Even his tone of placing them both under the umbrella term of 'single' seemed to be calculated.

"You didn't talk about him."

She sighed disappointedly and looks at Liam, "We were having such a great time tonight I didn't want to torture you of talking about the failed teen turned adult marriage to my son's father." Husband, he's legally your husband, you're standing in front of the house he currently funds, Elena's conscience spews at her. The doctor looked at her sincerely and grabs her hand to show her he had patience.

"And," he grabs her hand, "We can have more of those, but I want to know one day."

More of those nights meant that Elena could see a future with him and if she saw a future with Liam, truly, it would give her another reason to look forward to her divorce. Removing herself from those thoughts, she focused on the now. The woman walked closer to him and he bit his lip, wondering what would be her next move. "You will," she promised. Her hands reached forward to stroke Liam's face, his brown eyes boring into hers. She kissed him and he reciprocated by kissing her back sweetly under the porch light.

...

Her hair was extremely tangled from days of lying in bed. She got up to pee, eat and shower at night and of course sleep ended her routine. Elena barely heard her own voice anymore, the tears made it sound so weak and frail. Her friends offered support and sympathy, she had gifts stacked up to the ceiling at the hospital to prove it. But it wasn't enough, nothing felt like enough these days.

It had been over a month since she had come home and she could count on hand how many times she picked and dropped her son off at school; two times. She did it for appearances mostly but the responsibility of making sure Jackson got to school fell on her nanny, Rita. One day she just didn't feel like being a mom and the next day after that, it became continious. Jackson sometimes came into her room and held her hand, he didn't expect her to say anything. Tonight the person who had visited her room was Stefan.

"I talked to Jackson's teacher today, I found out he told the class that he had a 'sad mommy."

"Our son is very observant..."

"I also learned that you don't even drop him off or pick him up at school."

"Well, thank God for Rita," she said bitterly, "We're paying her all this money so she can play pseudo-mom. This isn't the 50s, Stefan most of the kids in his class are being nanny raised anyway."

Stefan walks over to the bed, sitting down on the end of it. She balls up a little bit because they haven't been in close contact in a few weeks. She needed assistance and he acted as her nurse until she was physically strong enough to do basic necessities for herself once again. Maybe she distanced from him because seeing his face stung and she didn't want to blame him for the miscarriage. Her doctor told her to take it easy after falling from the stand latter from painting but she was too stubborn to listen. The room she painted pink in anticipation of their baby girl coming home was hard work wasted.

"Fine, utilize Rita all you want but she isn't his mom. He misses his mom and he knows you're hurting," He said to her sorrowfully, "I miss you. We just want you to get better." Silence. She couldn't help but feel incredibly selfish, keeping all of her sadness to herself as if she was the only one who recovering from a loss. Stefan left her alone, saying that he was tired and going to bed. After he was gone she sulked until her eyes became weak.

...

Even though Enzo and Damon manage to sneak away that doesn't stop the rest of the men from having a clean, fun time. The upward walk back to the cabin tires their legs and they nap until the afternoon. In an old broom closet, Stefan finds a football and they make teams. He and Matt may have an American advantage. At least that's what Klaus classifies it as, loudly as he and Elijah are losing terribly.

It's 8 pm when Stefan gets a drunken Snapchat of Damon in a club with dancers in it. He also notices the blondes from earlier. He shook his head, of course, his brother would make this trip perverse with Enzo by his side. Klaus peers over Stefan's shoulder and comments, "The fool's at a strip club, with his second wife how surprising." They're too tired to talk about the man's screw up and decide to berate him about it in the morning.