Chapter 5

Elena ushered Damon in and started walking toward the kitchen. She was nervous, but she had to admit that part of her was excited. "So," she started, sparing a glance over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen and started unceremoniously unloading the dishwasher, "what do we need to do in order to conduct this experiment of yours." Elena tried her best to concentrate on the mundane task at hand, anything to help keep her voice from shaking.

Well, about that…" Damon trailed off at the exact moment Elena heard a car engine pull up outside her house. Her eyes glanced at the door and then snapped back to Damon.

"What's going on?" she asked, panicking.

"I just saw Stefan at the boarding house. I think this whole spell thing has him in a little bit of a tizzy. He insisted on being the one to stay with you tonight. I said he needed to ask you…" Damon hesitated. "Look, Elena," he came closer and whispered quickly in her ear. "I know we have stuff we need to figure out, but this – Stefan wanting to help – it's a good thing. I don't think we should discourage it."

Elena looked at him quizzically, surprised he would do anything to encourage Stefan spending more time with her. "Ok, that's all well and good, Damon, but what if I have one of those dream visions while he's here?!" Elena whisper yelled.

"I don't think you will. Were you alone when the last one happened?" his eyes raised, questioningly.

Elena thought back. "Yes. I had gone upstairs to grab a clutch out of my closet. Caroline was downstairs. Why?"

Damon's eyes bored into her. Elena felt, not for the first time, as if Damon could see into her soul. "My theory, Elena," he whispered as he turned on the tap to further drown out their conversation, "is that the more intense visions only happen when we are in solitude, completely alone. Hopefully I'm right. I usually am, you know?" He smiled smugly.

Elena couldn't help but return his smile. It was infectious.

"And if that's the case," Damon continued, his mood suddenly darkening, "then all you have to do is make sure Stefan never leaves you alone."

Easier said than done, Elena thought as Damon vamp sped to the other side of the kitchen. When Stefan walked in moments later, Damon was flipping through a magazine on the other side of the kitchen island looking bored.

"Took you long enough to get here, Brother," Damon said as he walked out of Elena's house without even a glance behind him. In her head, however, Elena was experiencing a goodbye kiss that left her week in the knees. She had to pretend to drop a fork just so she could bend down to catch her breath.

"Ok, Matt, keep us posted," Stefan said into his phone as he paced back in forth in front of Elena's dresser.

Elena sat on her bed, throwing her hair in a ponytail. "What did he say?" She asked eagerly. Matt was working at the Grill, keeping an eye on Caroline and Klaus. Elena had a feeling that Damon might have made his way over there, too, but she couldn't be sure. She hadn't heard from him since he had fantasy kissed her in the kitchen in front of Stefan and walked out the door. In any case, Elena never really worried about Caroline anymore. Her friend had really come into her own now that she was a vampire. She was strong and confident and beautiful. No wonder Klaus had taken a liking to her.

Stefan sighed. "Well, he can't hear anything that's going on, obviously, but he says it seems to be going well. He called because it looks like they are about to leave."

"Is anyone set to keep tabs on her if they leave the Grill," Elena asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Yea, it was supposed to be me, but Damon is taking care of it now," Stefan answered, not willing to look at her. Tension was thick in the room. Elena suddenly felt suffocated. "Elena, I…"

Stefan looked so serious, so defeated. Elena felt like a coward, but she just wasn't ready to have this conversation with him. Avoid, avoid, avoid. "I'm tired. I think I'm going to turn in. Do you mind shutting out the light?"

Stefan looked chagrined, but he did as he was asked. "I'll just head downstairs. I'll be in the living room if you need me."

Elena shot back up, "No!" Then realizing how absurd she must sound, she schooled her voice and said, "No, do you mind staying in here. I mean, ever since this whole Klaus thing started, I haven't been able to sleep well alone," She lied. "Maybe you could just sit on the window seat?"

"Sure, Elena," Stefan said, returning to her bedroom. "I'll just sit here and read, if that's ok?"

Elena nodded. With that, Stefan picked Frankenstein from Elena's bookcase and started reading. Elena laid back down, purposely facing the other wall, and after many long and agonizing minutes, she finally fell asleep.

Elena woke up with a pounding headache and pain running up and down her right leg. After a moment of disorientation, she realized she was in a car. Then panic overtook her as she remembered flipping her car, a vampire in a hoodie, and then nothing. She spun around to assess the driver, readying herself for a fight if necessary, and came face to face with Damon's sky blue eyes and insufferable smirk. Relief flooded through her, followed by fury after learning they were in Georgia. What the fuck, Damon?

Elena made Damon pull over. She was panicked and mildly annoyed. No one knew where she was or what had happened to her. What if someone found her car upside down on the side of the road?! But then Damon made a compelling argument in favor of their little road trip. It sure would be nice to escape my life for a day, she thought. And that's how Elena found herself back in Damon's car, heading to some random bar on the outskirts of Atlanta.

They had been driving for a few minutes, when Damon broke the silence, "You know, last time I was on this road, I had a pretty little blond thing in the seat next to me. She gave fantastic road head."

Elena blanched. "Damon, you are sick."

"Am I? I bet it's something you've never done before. You might even find you like it. I wouldn't tell Stefan, you know."

"Damon, I am absolutely not giving you road head," Elena fumed.

"You're just chicken. You think you wouldn't be any good?" Damon teased.

"Damon," Elena turned and touched his chest suggestively and in her sultriest voice said, "I'd be so good, you'd run your precious Camaro into a ditch." She slid her hand back across his chest as she started to turn back toward her window.

But Damon grabbed her hand, moving it slowly down his chest and abs to the bulge in his pants. "I say, put your money where your mouth his." He grinned wickedly.

Elena's eyes widened in shock, but she was perhaps more surprised by the sudden heat she felt in her abdomen. She found that she couldn't look away from his mouth. Without even realizing what she was doing, Elena continued to move her hand over his erection.

"Unzip it, Elena," Damon breathed, "you know you want to."

Elena shivered, and after a moment's hesitation, she reached over with her other hand and undid his belt buckle. I'm escaping my life for the day. This'll be fun. I can always have him compel me to forget this, Elena's thoughts raced.

She pulled down his zipper and gasped at Damon's rock hard cock. It was huge. Much bigger than Stefan's. She wondered briefly if she would even be able to deep throat it. Try, try again, she thought bitingly as she gave Damon one last look and lowered her head.

Elena started by teasing the tip of his member with her tongue. Then she placed just the head in her mouth and slid up and down the lip of his shaft. Damon shifted and sighed. She licked up and down his shaft and used her hands to pump while she played with his head. The car swerved slightly and the knowledge that she was successfully affecting his driving abilities made Elena smile around his cock. Damon reached over with his right hand and began feeling Elena up. He rubbed his hand up and down her body, caressing her thigh, then rubbing the palm of his hand up her stomach to her breast where he squeezed gently before repeating the process. Elena began humming around his cock, and Damon moaned. Then, after a small pep talk, she took his shaft down her throat and backed it up in an agonizingly slow motion. She did it again, trying not to gag around his girth. Then she sped up the rhythm. Damon stopped the car abruptly and leaned back in his seat, unable to concentrate on anything else but her.

"I'm close, Elena," he managed.

She continued to pump up and down his length like her life depended on it. Damon couldn't help it. His hips bucked. He wanted to fuck her mouth. He wanted to fuck her, right here on the side of the Georgia highway. And with that thought fresh in his mind, Damon came hard in Elena's mouth.

Elena sat up as gracefully as possible and swallowed as Damon re-zipped. "You were right," he said.

"About what?" Elena asked, confused.

"You were so good, I nearly ran my Camaro into a ditch."

Elena felt a satisfied smile slide across her face.

Stefan was reading the same paragraph for the third time. His thoughts kept sliding back to Elena and how utterly he had failed her the last few months. He knew they would never be able to go back to how things were before, but he wanted desperately to make things right. He needed to save her from Klaus if it was the last thing he did.

Stefan was ripped away from his thoughts by a moan coming from the bed. He shot to his feet in concern, his book left abandoned on the window seat, but Elena seemed fine. He looked her over, noticing the curve of her hips and her luscious breasts. He longed to curl up beside her and stroke her hair.

Elena moaned again and sighed. Then Stefan noticed a whisper of a smile cross her face.

Agitated now, Stefan moved even closer to the bed. It wasn't necessary, of course. He would have been able to tell from downstairs that Elena's breathing and heartrate were increasing. It was just the utter disbelief that brought him closer to her side. Suddenly, she went rigid. Then she turned over with a satisfied sigh and breathed out Damon's name.

Stefan stilled. What had just happened? But he knew. Instinctively, he knew. It was like a stake to the heart. The spells working. They're in love. Had they known or was this the first vision? Stefan thought back to Damon and Elena's behavior the last couple of days. Then he thought even further back to what he'd witnessed since he'd been home. They were awfully close. Hadn't Elena admitted to him that Damon had become her best friend? And then Bonnie had stayed behind to talk to them alone the day before. At the time, he'd thought little of it, but now…

Stefan grabbed the book off the window seat and threw it across the room with such force that it dented Elena's wall. Elena woke with a start, immediately sitting upright. Stefan just glared at her, love and hate waring inside his head. A look of guilt clouded Elena's beautiful face, and in that instant, all doubt left him.

Stefan looked away, hesitated for only a moment, then jumped out her window and was gone.