A/N - Thanks again for the reviews, they mean a lot to me. I am enjoying it just as much as you are. And big thanks to my beta, the brains behind the whole operation. Thanks for reading!

Even though she'd been through much worse in the past couple of years and survived it, Elena was still nervous when it came to flying. She'd only been on a plane a few times, when her parents took her and Jeremy to visit relatives in Texas, and once, a ski trip in Colorado. For most of their family vacations, Elena's father insisted on driving, claiming they would have a "unique bonding experience" and "an adventure worth remembering". Elena knew it was because her father also had a fear of flying. The irony of the situation did not impress her.

At the airport, Elena and Stefan sat side by side, holding hands but not talking. Elena was too nervous to talk. One last time, she questioned her motives for this trip to France. Why was she really going? Was it to spend some uninterrupted time with Stefan for a few months? Was it to learn more about vampires in a (allegedly) safe environment? Was it to get Damon out of her head? If there was one thing she'd learned recently, she couldn't think in black and white terms anymore when everything was a shade of gray. Her reasons were all of the above and none of the above. It was time to stop questioning her every move and just go with it. That definitely wasn't something she was used to doing.

Her phone vibrated with a text message. Just breathe...flying is safer than driving, it said. It was from Damon. She couldn't help but smile. It was a long time ago, but she once told him flying made her want to throw up. Even from far away he was still looking out for her.

That text was so much better than the one he sent an hour earlier, which said simply, Don't go. What if Stefan had seen that? Would he even be surprised? She didn't like hiding things from him. They were beyond that point in their relationship. But although he seemed confident in her love for him, Elena could tell he wasn't comfortable with how close she and Damon could get at times. Not that she blamed him. For a second, she wondered if she should tell him about the kiss. It was on the tip of her tongue. But instead she blurted out, "What if the other vampires don't like me?" She regretted how much she sounded like a kindergartner with that question.

Stefan, who had been drifting off in his own world, seemed startled by the question. "I'm sorry, what?"

"What if we get to Rennes and Olivia and Gabriel don't like me? Do they know I don't want to be a vampire? Are they going to accept me into their...vampire circle or whatever?"

Stefan chuckled. "It's not a club, Elena. Of course they'll accept you. Because I love you and they will, too. As far as them knowing you don't want to be a vampire, I think they'll be okay with it. I'm sure many of them have fallen in love with humans before. But maybe we keep that information to ourselves for a little while, okay?"

"Okay," Elena said, not liking that at all. "That doesn't seem like a good sign, but okay."

"It'll be fine. You have no idea how charming and charismatic you can be. You'll win them over easily."

They smiled at each other and Stefan gave her a long, interesting kiss.

Elena knew Stefan wouldn't lead her into a dangerous situation. Well, she was pretty sure. There was a lingering thought in the back of her head that maybe Stefan wasn't going on this journey just for her. There must be something inside of him that wanted to be among vampires-and not the new kind of vampires that were popping up all over Mystic Falls, either. Old vampires who knew all the tricks of the trade. A tiny part of her wondered if he was taking her all this way just so he could get lost in that world with her by his side. Maybe he wanted them both to get lost. She would have to be careful, she realized. She'd have to be careful not to get dragged into a unwanted vampire situation just to stay close to Stefan. She needed boundaries, and she needed to stick with them.

"Flight 1991 to Rennes, France now boarding," the PA announced. Stefan squeezed Elena's hand and they got up to board. Her cell phone vibrated one last time. Another text. I'll wait for you. She sighed and hesitated before deleting the message. But she didn't need it in her phone. She'd keep that one in her heart.

Once on the plane, she tried to settle down, shake off the nervousness that was beginning to envelope her despite Stefan's calming demeanor.

"Want to know a secret?" Stefan whispered.

"Always," Elena whispered back.

"I'm nervous, too. It's been what, two or three hours since I had any blood? We didn't bring any with us, either. Eight hours is a long time to go without it," he said. "Gabriel's meeting us at the airport in France and he'll have some. But meanwhile..."

Elena frowned. "That's a problem."

"I'll be okay. I've gone without for longer and been fine before. But there's something about being so high in the air; the altitude messes with my head. I'm just warning you. If you see something in my eyes, well, that's what it is."

"We'll get through it, Stefan," she said, not entirely believing it. "We always do."

He nodded. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, trying not to look as nervous as she felt.

"Why don't you try to sleep?" Stefan said, looking concerned. "It's a long flight. And I know you were awake most of last night."

"I don't think I could sleep if I tried," Elena said, even though her eyelids were heavy and all she wanted to do be unconscious for a little while.

"Maybe just close your eyes? I hate to see you so nervous and tired," he said. She smiled. He was always trying to take care of her. Although it was not lost on her that Damon reminded her to just breathe and she'd get through it. It was occurring to her that the Salvatore brothers had very different coping mechanisms. Damon liked to tackle them head on. Stefan preferred to close his eyes until it was absolutely necessary to open them.

"I'll see what I can do," she said. He gave her another small kiss and got out a book to read. Knowing he was occupied for the flight, she did close her eyes. But a wave of guilt washed over her because as soon as her eyes closed, all she could see was Damon.

Okay, she thought to herself. Okay, eight hours. I will give myself the rest of this flight to think about Damon and then I will forget about him. I will focus all my attention on Stefan and I will be completely present in France. I will not think of Damon anymore.

So with her boyfriend, the love of her life, sitting next to her, she allowed herself to think about his brother. She thought about hating him at first, then growing to like and appreciate him. She thought about how he tried so hard to be a better person after more than a century of acting on every dark impulse he had. Her first impression of him had not been good, and they'd been through more than their share of challenges. But she liked the person he was becoming. Elena believed in him. And she hoped all the hard work he'd put in to change wouldn't fall by the wayside now that she was gone.

But most of all she thought about the kiss. And how she'd never get to experience kissing him again. And how sometimes that's all she ever wanted. And how she wanted more than just that kiss-a lot more. She wondered what it would feel like to lay in his arms, to touch him, to be touched by him. At some point, she must have fallen asleep and her daydreams became a full-on dream, in technicolor. By the time Stefan gently shook her awake, they were in France. And she had just spent an entire flight thinking and dreaming about that kiss.

"Ready for this?" Stefan asked as they stepped off the plane into their new lives.

"I'm ready," Elena said. She took his hand and smiled at her boyfriend. She was going to forget about Damon. Even if it killed her.

Damon found himself wandering outside and staring up at the sky, as though he could actually see Elena in the plane flying away from him. He took the phone out from his pocket and made one last check to see if she texted back. Of course she didn't. He drank a long sip of Bourbon and shook his head. This wasn't him. He didn't sigh longingly, he didn't pine after women who rejected him (well...other than Katherine), he didn't wait around for someone to decide he was the one. At some point very soon he was going to have to come up with a plan for the summer; find something to do in this godforsaken town other than meddle in the lives of his brother and the girl he loved.

Klaus was still on the run, for one thing. And Liz was getting a little too close to the truth about everything for his liking. He'd have to do something about her for sure. There was also the matter of Katherine being stuck at Klaus' place under compulsion. He should probably visit and update her on the situation with Stefan. She was, after all, an interested party.

But for now, as he watched the sky and felt an emptiness so deep in his heart he could barely hold himself up straight, all he wanted to do was think about her. He once knew a life without Elena, but it was hard to imagine what it was like. Just two years ago, he was free. There was nobody holding him back or tying him down. He didn't worry about having a conscience; There was no questioning whether something was right or wrong. The part of him that felt...anything had been dormant for so many years, he didn't even know if he was capable of turning it back on. And then there was Elena.

She wasn't perfect-she had flaws. For one thing, she was in love with Stefan, which he definitely counted as a flaw. For another, she was rather gullible at times. While she'd had her share of tragic losses and had seen many upsetting things happen just in the last two years alone, she had no idea what other kinds of evils were out there in the world. She thought Stefan would always be there to protect her, but she didn't know what Damon knew. Damon knew Stefan had a terrifying dark side that he was always fighting to keep inside himself. Elena had seen glimpses of it, but Damon knew she had no idea what Stefan was really capable of, and this annoyed him. Now she was gone and Damon couldn't clean up Stefan's messes and keep a close eye on her anymore. It was all very unsettling. He wasn't comfortable with any of it. But the two of them had made a choice, and he was going to try his damndest to protect it.

Sighing, he stepped inside, closed the door, and wandered around the boarding house, trying to remember feeling any other way than he did at the moment. Part of him was scared he could end up roaming around like this for eternity; just wandering around looking for something that made sense.

Before Damon could ponder that depressing thought for too long, the doorbell rang. He perked up and ran to answer it, somehow letting himself believe it could be Elena. Of course it wasn't. Instead he was greeted by half of Mystic Falls, or so it seemed. Before he could say "Go away!", he was suddenly surrounded by Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy and Alaric.

"Well, if it isn't the witch of Eastwick, Vampire Barbie, Jeremy the Vampire Slayer...Ric, I thought you were better than this. Who are you supposed to represent in this mess, Giles? Or Buffy?"

Alaric shrugged and grinned. "Sorry, man, I didn't have much choice in the matter."

"We're here to distract you," Caroline said as they gathered around him. "And, well, we need a distraction, too. So we're taking you out."

"I don't need a distraction," Damon said bitterly. "Why would I need a distraction?"

Bonnie glared at him. "We could go into the reasons, but do you really want us to?"

She could glare at him all she wanted but Damon knew she had a soft spot for him, especially after she let him drink her blood to cure the werewolf bite. Even though she didn't do it for his sake—obviously she did it for Elena—he was eternally grateful that she brought him back to life. He hoped that would keep her from trying to kill him for at least another couple of weeks.

He sighed. What would a little human interaction hurt? He wasn't looking forward to an evening alone with his thoughts anyway. "Sure, whatever. Where are you taking me?"

"To the Grill. And then to a movie. You can get back to being Bela Lugosi tomorrow. Tonight we're doing this," Caroline said. He had to admit Caroline was persuasive. Not to mention a good kisser with a great body.

"Fine, fine, take me on a pity date," he said. "Let's get it over with." He would never admit to anyone that he was grateful for the distraction. It was nice to know that even after everything he'd done to alienate the people in this town, they still cared about him. Like it or not, Mystic Falls was home. For now.

At the grill, the gang did their best to distract Damon and each other from the fact that their rock; the one who bound them all together, was gone for God only knew how many months. Alaric's girlfriend and Jeremy's aunt was dead. Caroline's old boyfriend dumped her for being a vampire, her new boyfriend was a werewolf, and her mother, the sheriff, knew everything. They all had their own reasons for drowning their sorrows, and at least they could do it together.

Eventually, Bonnie and Jeremy started playing pool, giggling and finding any excuse to touch each other. Caroline was off in a dark corner with Tyler. And Damon and Alaric were doing what they did best-drinking themselves into an alcoholic stupor.

What Damon liked the most about Alaric was how they didn't need to pretend to have anything in common. Alaric didn't engage him in conversation about the local sports team or the weather or any other inane thing that came to his head. Alaric knew Damon was in pain and he let him be in pain, and vice-versa.

During round four or five or maybe even six-the two of them quickly lost count-Alaric drawled, "You know what sucks the most about losing her? She didn't know anything about vampires or werewolves or whatever the hell else is going on in this town until a few weeks before she died. She knew a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff, but she didn't know about that. Jenna was innocent. And she died for it, Damon. She died for it."

Damon nodded. He had seen Jenna's desiccated body after the sacrifice and was glad Alaric didn't have to see her that way. Klaus had been brutal. He almost respected Klaus' ability to kill without conscience. There was a definite art to the way he went about things.

"You know what sucks the most about losing Elena? She wants the same thing I want."

"What's that, man?" Alaric said, his attention piqued.

"She wants... everlasting love," Damon said, and took another drink. "She wants everything to be good and pure and safe, and it makes me so mad because she'll never have that. As long as she's with Stefan, or even with me, she'll never have that. But maybe that's what I want, too. Maybe I want safety. Maybe I want…" Alaric was looking at him sideways now. Time to stop rambling; Alaric wasn't ready to hear what Damon really wanted. What he could never say out loud. What Elena wanted was to live her live as a human; to fall in love, have children, grow old. And after 146 years of being immortal, Damon had finally come to the conclusion that he wanted the same thing.

They spent the rest of the evening talking about losing love, until Bonnie wrangled everyone up and took them home. Damon didn't want to go to sleep. He didn't want to surrender to the darkness that was consuming him like fire. But everything inside of him was weary and beaten. Before he closed his eyes, he wondered what Elena was doing at that moment, and if she was thinking of him.