I'm on a roll this week, ya'll!
Won't promise it will last, but I will say that I am writing whenever I get the time.
Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the end of summer!
Thank you for all the reviews! I agree, last chapter was *insert flame emoji here* lol
This will pick up where it left off.
Elena was convinced that she had never truly understood the word "stamina" until tonight.
She had lost count of the amount of orgasms Damon had drawn from her body; had stopped trying to fathom how, despite climaxing three times himself, he was still hard as a rock.
That perfect erection was currently kicking against her tongue, as she sat straddled over Damon's face, leaning down his body to return the favor as his mouth devoured her core.
There seemed to be no limits to the number of ways he found to bring her pleasure, and she was pretty sure any ability to think rationally had just gotten up and left the room.
She was a mess of carnal need now, responding only to the sensations and reaction of her partner, twisting and turning and folding however he positioned her; trusting that the end results would be well worth the efforts.
Damon brought her to another shuttering end, before shifting her stomach onto the mattress and lifting her hips.
He took her from behind with the same single minded drive they'd been operating on for the last hour.
Two hours?
Three?
Hell, she could barely even remember what her own name was, let alone how long it had been since she had entered Damon's side of the suite.
She had known from the beginning that it would be good between them; she'd just grossly underestimated how good.
Damon muttered something as he thrusted into her, a breathy mix of English and Italian that was his tell tale sign of impending explosion.
His hand in her hair gripped harder, and blunt teeth dug down into her shoulder as their hips bounced against one other, bodies slapping together furiously now, with unfettered urgency.
Damon's pleasure came in waves, Elena had soon realized, and she was now able to recognize the pattern of his climax.
First, his movements would become sporadic and desperate; her body absorbed every thrust until her knees gave out and Damon literally fucked her into the mattress.
He loomed over her, overwhelming her senses and sparked another release of her own.
Hardening further inside of her, she knew he was close...but so was she.
Reading her just as well as she could read him, Damon snaked an arm around her hips, until his fingertips brushed against her sensitive clit.
There was no grace in the motions, but that driving touch was exactly what she needed.
She cried out as the orgasm hit her, and Damon moaned her name into the back of her neck as he found his own completion.
Delirious, sticky, and utterly satisfied, Elena's entire body collapsed on the bed.
After a moment, she got a vague sense that she was moving, then there was water rushing over her body and the smell of soap in the air.
Damon washed her, gently and thoroughly, in his enormous shower and she closed her eyes at the comforting strokes.
It wasn't until she was wrapped in a towel and following Damon into the open living space of the suite, that she finally felt some sense return to her body.
And strange enough, she wasn't freaked out the slightest about what had just happened.
She didn't feel any of the regret that she had expected.
But then again, she was still experiencing that post orgasmic haze of endorphins, so maybe now wasn't the best time to be judging emotions.
It would seem that Damon was of a similar mind, because after retrieving them each a bottle of water from the fridge, he smiled at her and pulled her into a sweet kiss.
It was an expression of contentment and held none of the heat from before, yet spoke volumes to her.
For the moment, he was happy...and so was she.
"Listen, Damon-"
"No," he cut her off immediately with another short peck, "Do not say anything right now. I beg you not ruin this yet."
Her mouth hung open for a moment, then she laughed quietly, "I was just going to say that I…I'm aware of what we did. And I don't regret doing it."
His expression softened with her admission, "That is...good. A good thing. Because I am convinced that you were right. This was not casual and, hopefully, was not a single night occurrence."
Her fingers lifted to trace the outline of his lips; those beautiful, perfect, capable lips.
"I can't make any promises," she said carefully, wanting to be as honest as possible, "I don't know what the future looks like for me, let alone the two of us...and there is so much that you still have to figure out for yourself, Damon...but tonight did mean something to me. I want you to know that."
He kissed her fingertips, "I will find a way to make this work for us, cara mia. I will."
He leaned down, until their foreheads were pressed together, and Elena closed her eyes.
For a moment, she let herself believe him.
Damon kissed her again, slowly this time, and she shouldn't be surprised that his mouth felt familiar now.
She knew the exact crevice and texture of every corner, as if she had crafted it with her own tongue.
The soft caress was a promise that Elena wished he wouldn't make.
It was better, probably, to leave without expectation.
She would not run from this anymore, but there were still a lot of uncertainties that laid ahead, for both of them.
One day at a time, she decided, one day at a time.
"Are you hungry?" Damon asked, when their kiss finally broke a few minutes later.
Elena nodded, realizing that she was, in fact, starving.
Well, what exactly did she expect after hours of mind blowing sex?
"I could use some carb replenishment," she joked, and Damon chuckled, "I am certain we can scrounge up something. I am quite adept in the kitchen, you know."
"I do believe I heard that, somewhere," she teased back, and he placed another kiss on her forehead before walking around the kitchenette bar.
Leaving him to find the ingredients for whatever meal he was cooking up, Elena drank her water and fished around the room for her cellphone.
It took a moment to find the damn thing, since it had been all but forgotten after dinner, but eventually, she tracked it down, on the chair by the kitchen table.
"How does homemade pizza sound?" Damon called over, and Elena flashed him a smile as she unlocked her screen, "Perfect."
"Perfect," he repeated, and continued his quest.
Elena scrolled through her notifications, and frowned when she saw four missed calls from Ms. Anderson, the woman who usually babysat Nadia when she and Kat had to work.
Something uneasy flipped in her stomach as she held up a finger to Damon to indicate she had to make a call, and dialed back on the number.
She wandered over to her bedroom door as it rang, giving herself a little privacy.
"Hello? Elena?" the older woman answered, sounding relieved.
"Yes, it's me," Elena responded quickly, "I'm sorry I missed your calls, is everything okay?"
There was some movement in the background, then a huff, "Yes, fine, fine...I was just getting a little worried. I am never here this late and I hadn't heard anything from you or your sister."
Elena's entire body froze.
"Katherine hasn't made it home yet?"
"No ma'am."
She pulled the phone away to check the time. It was nearly eleven.
Kat should have finished her meeting with Julian hours ago.
"I am so sorry," she muttered something to the babysitter about miscommunications, and asked her for just a moment to call Kat and see what the hold up was.
The kind, old woman was gracious and seemed oblivious to Elena's panic.
Trying not to get too frantic, Elena dialed Katherine's number and waited.
Ringing. Answering machine.
She called again.
Voicemail.
Freaking out a little more now, she dialed the few other numbers she and Katherine had used in the past, and none of the burner phones were picked up either.
Fuck! What the hell was going on?!
Katherine would have called if she was going to be late.
The woman was a free spirit, sure, but nothing mattered to her more than Nadia, and she wouldn't just disappear out of the blue unless something bad had happened.
Elena tried her number one more time, moving around the room subconsciously, grabbing her clothes and throwing them hazardously into her suitcase.
Again, no answer.
"Shit!" she huffed, then called Ms. Anderson back.
"Hi, it's me," she swallowed to keep the hysteria she felt out of her voice, "My sister thought that I was going to be home tonight; she forgot that I was out of town."
"Oh dear," Ms. Anderson said with sympathy, "Well you two girls are always so busy, a slip or two is bound to happen, I'm sure."
Yes. A slip.
Elena swallowed harshly, "I am very sorry for the inconvenience...she isn't sure when she will be back, but I am about to be on my way. It's going to take me a few hours to get home though...would you mind too terribly to-"
"I'll stay with the little dear, no problem at all," the old woman reassured her, and Elena said a quick prayer of gratitude for her flexibility.
"Thank you so much. I'll be there as soon as I can! And please call me if Katherine makes it in?"
"Of course."
Elena finished packing at a record speed and had entered the living space with her bag in hand before it dawned on her that she was going to have to give Damon an explanation.
He was still prepping ingredients for their dinner, looking comfortable as hell in nothing but a pair of black sweatpants, but his mood changed when his eyes lifted and he saw her frazzled appearance.
Elena hesitated as his eyes flashed with confusion, and maybe even a little hurt.
"This isn't what it looks like," she started, a million lies flying through her brain.
How exactly was she going to explain this to him?
"It looks like you are leaving," Damon said slowly, setting down the knife he had been using to slice the tomato in front of him.
Elena sighed, "Okay, it is what it looks like, but it's not what you think."
He wiped off his hands at a deliberate pace, before walking around the bar to stand in front of her, "Then tell me how I am meant to interpret this."
"Damon," she placed a hand on his arm, "This isn't about us. I just have to get home. Something's come up."
"It can not wait until tomorrow?"
She shook her head, "No, it can't. I'm sorry. I'll explain later, but right now, I have to go."
Giving his arm a squeeze, she moved around him, but Damon turned and grabbed the wrist holding her bag, stopping her departure, "Explain it to me now."
There was no time to come up with a well fleshed cover story, at least one that he would believe, and she really needed to leave.
"Damon, please. Just trust me. I have to go."
But of course, he wouldn't make this easy.
"Trust works both ways, Elena," he reminded her, "Tell me what is going on."
Frustration and fear bubbled over and his sharp blue eyes pulled the truth from her.
"I think something may have happened to Katherine. She never made it home from her meeting with Julian and she's not answering calls on any of our phones."
Damon just stared at her for half a second, unblinking, as if that was the last thing he had been expecting to hear.
Then he gave her a single nod and pulled out his cell phone, "I will have the staff bring the car around. Put the bag with your money inside of my suitcase; it is in my room at the foot of the bed. If there is a red-eye flight out of Rochester tonight, we will take it, if not, we will drive."
Elena didn't usually like being told what to do, but the authority in Damon's voice was a comfort.
A step by step plan that cut through her panic and got her feet moving.
Focusing on the tasks before her, she tried to ignore what might be waiting for her at home.
Damon's hand tightened on the steering wheel as Elena tried to dial her sister's number yet again.
The angry curse she dropped told him that the voicemail had picked up.
Again.
With no flights out of the city, they had been forced to drive the five hour trek back to Cailum, and all things considered, Damon was making pretty good time. It was a little after three in the morning, and they were half an hour out.
Elena had said little during the trip, just making calls and tapping her foot impatiently on the floorboard.
He understood that she was worried, and she had every right to be...but if Julian was responsible for her sister's lack of response, Damon would take care of it.
"What if he found out the truth?" Elena murmured, after another failed attempt at getting through on the phone, "What if he knows who we really are? Or what if he found out I took the necklace and thinks that Katherine is me? What if he's hurt her? Or what if she was mugged or something on her way home and she's bleeding out in an alley somewhere and...oh god."
Damon wasn't sure if she was even aware that she was speaking these thoughts out loud, since her eyes were glued to the open stretch of road before them.
He reached for her hand, and she jumped a little when he squeezed her palm, "We will find out what happened."
Elena nodded absently, her other hand fiddling with the cellphone in it like she was fighting the urge to call yet again.
"I can have Alaric go by your house, scope the place and be sure that she is not there," he offered, "Maybe your information is off, or-"
"No!" Elena's attention flew to him in full force, and the renewed panic in her wide eyes surprised him, "I mean...no. That's okay. We're going to be there soon. So, um...just take me to my car at S.I.N.C, and I'll call you once I'm home and if she is there then-"
"You are senile if you honestly think I am letting you go home alone tonight," Damon cut her off, "If Julian took your sister, which is the most probable solution, he either knows that there are two of you, and he'll be looking for you, or he purposely took Katalena, which you are one half of. I can help you find your sister, but I will not have you in danger."
Elena's head was shaking before he was even finished.
"I'll be fine," she insisted, but her voice was shaking, "I'll just check the house, then go get a hotel or something. I'll call you when I'm in the clear, but I need to do this alone."
"Not happening."
"Damon-"
He shut her down more firmly, "This is not up for debate, Elena. I will take you to your home, and do not bother trying to lie and give me the slip. I already know where you live."
Elena cursed, as if she had been planning to do just that...then he felt her gaze narrow on him.
"Wait. How do you know where my house is? I never told you."
He switched lanes as they neared an exit toward Cailum, "I tracked your car."
"You tracked…" the sentence died as Elena exhaled slowly, then her eyes shifted once more to the road, "You're a fucking psychopath."
Damon smirked bitterly, "A thing you have always known. But I prefer the term invested."
"So that's all this has been? An investment?" she accused.
He shot her a look, "No, you are much more than that. And most importantly, cara mia, you are mine. Which means that a threat against you is a threat against me. A fact that Maxfield is about to learn in spades."
The declaration made Elena shiver, but she no longer argued against his assistance.
Instead, she bit her lip and her eyes were full of thought.
He could tell there was something more to her reluctance.
The city streets of Cailum unfolded before them as he told her, "If something truly has gone wrong, you will have a harder time tracking down Katherine's whereabouts without my help, and you know it. I know how stubborn and independent you are, but your pride is not worth your sister's life."
They stopped at a redlight, and Elena's eyes met his.
"It's not that," she all but whispered.
"What is it then?"
Another long silence. The light turned green.
Finally, Elena seemed to decide something, and in a clipped tone, she said, "If you're taking me home, then you'll understand soon enough."
She offered no more, and though he wanted to, Damon didn't press her with further questions.
He would just have to trust that she was being truthful and that he would have his explanation shortly.
Elena's house was modest, he thought a while later, when he turned onto her street and eventually reached the correct driveway.
Small, and nowhere near as safe as he would have preferred, but nice looking from what he could tell.
While his eyes did a quick scan of the dark property, Elena was winding up more and more; her fingers twitching with nerves as he killed the engine and they got out of the car.
"Wait," he called out before she could start toward the porch.
Elena stopped and he reached beneath the back of the bench seat, and pulled out a small handgun, "It will be safer if we scope the place first, make sure no one else is here."
Elena looked around the yard, then nodded, "Alright, but there is someone inside who is meant to be there and I don't want to scare her. So keep the gun low and out of sight, okay? No trigger happy fingers."
Her comment just left him more confused, but Damon agreed for arguments sake, and followed her up the stairs.
"Unlock the door, then let me walk through first," he said, and thankfully Elena didn't fight him.
The entryway was silent, and when nothing immediately jumped for the attack, Damon relaxed a little.
Elena slipped inside behind him, and shut the door.
A few moments of soft noises later, and a light flickered on.
Damon blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted.
The entry opened to a small dining room/kitchen combo, which bled over into the living room.
To his surprise, someone with pale skin and pale hair was lying on the sofa, obviously asleep, but he heard Elena exhale in relief when her eyes spotted them, so whoever it was must have been welcome, though it wasn't Katherine.
Damon lowered his gun as Elena brushed past him and went over to the figure.
There was a low murmur of conversation, as she woke the person, and when they sat up, Damon saw that it was an elderly woman who was completely unfamiliar.
Who the hell was this and why was she in Elena's house?
Elena shared a few more words and then pulled some money out of her purse and gave it to the woman.
The lady took it with a sleepy smile, and Elena helped her stand up.
It was only then that she noticed Damon.
"Oh, hello. A friend of yours?" the older woman asked Elena with a wink.
Damon slipped his gun behind his back and tucked it into his waistband.
"He's...um...," Elena trailed off, her gaze flashing to his as she failed to come up with a reasonable explanation for their complicated relationship.
"A friend," he agreed for her, not wanting to divulge too much information, but the woman's eyes darted between him and Elena and she smiled knowingly, "I see. Well, I suppose I best be getting on home. The little angel tuckered out about nine, so it might be an early morning for you."
Elena forced a polite smile, though her eyes were still flickering to his, and moved to open the front door for the woman, "Thank you again, for staying."
"Any time," the lady insisted, "Though next time I would recommend double checking the plans with your sister."
Elena answered with a dry laugh, "I will definitely do that." They said a quick goodnight, then the woman was gone.
Elena took a few short breaths, then turned to face him.
Damon's brows furrowed with more questions and she sighed, "Our neighbor. She stays over sometimes to help us."
He crooked his head, and Elena nodded toward the hall, "Come on. I'll show you."
She took his hand as they started back toward what must be the bedrooms, but Elena stopped dead by the last door and whirled on him, "Tell me that I can trust you. Swear it to me, Damon. Because I am losing it right now, and I don't know if this is the right choice, but I'm terrified and I'm out of other options...so please…please don't let me regret this..."
Her lips trembled, and Damon squeezed her hand, "Elena, you can trust me with anything."
She blinked back tears.
"I promise."
Another nod, not exactly full of confidence, but she turned toward the door anyway, and cracked it open.
He was expecting an explosion of sorts. Something illegal or highly classified.
However, what he saw was none of those things.
A nightlight on the far wall was enough illumination for him to form a clear picture of what was inside the room...particularly the children's toys and clothes leading up to a tiny sleeping form on the bed.
A little girl, with her face half tucked into her pillow, surrounded by a familiar shade of long dark hair.
Then a roll of oxygen tanks, that made no sense, caught his attention at the foot of the bed.
"I do not…" he paused, trying to understand what he was seeing, then came to a halting conclusion "You...you have a child?"
Elena closed the door with a quiet click, then pushed against him, until they were out of the hallway and back to the living room.
"She's my niece," Elena explained, crossing her arms, "Katherine got pregnant when we were seventeen. That's why my father kicked us out."
"Your niece," Damon's head was spinning a bit, "And the oxygen?"
It took longer for Elena to answer this time, "She's sick. Severe asthma and other respiratory problems from being born with underdeveloped lungs. We're doing what we can but...appointments with specialists are expensive and there are only so many treatments they can offer...it's why Kat and I started our whole con to begin with. We needed the money-"
"For the child's medical expenses," he finished, and Elena nodded.
Holy shit.
Though he was shocked by this revelation, Damon was piecing together all the last bits of Elena he had not quite been able to put his finger on before.
The stress she carried, those drained, tired eyes...her willingness to undertake these dangerous jobs for quick cash.
Her reluctance to have him here, in her home, seeing the truth.
Little hints in conversations that suddenly made much more sense; as she was being protective of a lot more than just her livelihood.
His heart broke for her while, at the same time, it also filled with admiration.
He wanted to tell her how incredible she was; how most people could not be bothered to commit themselves and their futures to such a burdensome love.
He was in awe of her dedication to her family, and had a new respect for how scared she must be now; not just to lose a sister, but to have to explain to that child why she was without a mother.
But he said none of those things, because Elena did not need to hear them.
She did not need his admiration or his respect, though she had both.
What she needed was resources and security, and to have her sister returned safely home.
"Pack what you need," Damon said quietly, placing his hands on Elena's shoulder, "For both you and the child. I will have an SUV here in half an hour to take you to my estate."
She frowned a little, "Damon, I appreciate the offer, but I don't know what's about to happen. I can't expect you to-"
"We do not know if your home has been compromised," he insisted, "We do not know where Katherine is, or in what condition...and you will not be able to focus while you are worrying over that little girl. You know how much security is in my home, and how difficult it is to penetrate without detection. Alaric will come in the morning, and there are a few others I trust. The child will be safe and cared for, and we can work on finding your sister."
Elena blinked once. Twice.
Then the dam broke and her face crumbled as a sob ripped through her.
She fell forward and Damon grabbed her, pulling her against his chest.
"Oh, cara mia," he hugged her close and rubbed her back.
"I'm just so scared, Damon. I'm so fucking scared that she's...that she…"
"I know," he assured her, and kissed the top of her head, "But we have no information yet...alright? Look at me, Elena."
He cupped her cheeks in his hands and forced her head up so that her watery gaze locked with his.
"You are not alone," he swore to her, "and I will do whatever it takes to find her for you. I swear on my life. I will find her."
Maybe it was the emotional high, or exhaustion, but Elena simply exhaled at his promise and sank back into his embrace.
It felt better than he wanted to admit, to know that she needed him, that she was trusting him and suddenly it seemed like the most important thing in the world, to be there for her and to prove that her reliance was not misplaced.
He would do as he said, and deliver Katherine back to her, ideally still alive.
And as for Julian Maxfield...or whoever it was that dared cause this turmoil in his intruder's life...they would not be so lucky.
Boom Boom Boom. So Katherine is missing and Damon knows about Nadia! More to come soon!
Let me know what you thought :)
