AN: Enjoy. Hope you will like it :)

The songs on this chapter have been taken completely randomly, to the feeling, I heard it and imagined the scene.

"What you're doing is stupid." Damon stated at her side. She turned to look at him. She was standing near a bus area looking for a back up plan. She wasn't sure how she was going to get where she wanted to be in time, certainly not alone, but somehow she had knew the moment he looked at her that he was going to follow her. And there he was, in all his glory. He had left his black jacket and was only wearing a blue T-shirt and a black jeans on him, and his skin was whiter than ever against the burning sun above their head. He could be compared with a top model, and she could only imagine his popularity if he was to be one.

"Perhaps, but I'm doing it anyway." She said passing right by him, making him turned around to follow her. People were staring at them. At him more precisely, and he was obviously aware of that as he smiled brilliantly to any girl passing there .

"What do you want ?" She asked as if she did no already knew the answer.

"Well, your plan is stupid, but it seemed more fun than Alaric's."

"So you're not here to bring me back to him?"

"Nope."

He smiled to her with that precious smile and gaze of him. The one that makes her wants to snatch it off of his face, the one that makes her look like a total idiot. She raised an eyebrow. He was impossible to read. One second he was a jerk, then he was funny, then he was dangerous and back to mocking. His personality was so much extrovert compare to Stefan's calm and discrete temper. But she felt like she could deal with that.

She was walking in the direction of a station, she wasn't sure of what she was doing but she had to show she was capable of surviving by herself. Besides, she needed to get the hell out of this town before Alaric find them. After he had taken them to this peaceful town, they stopped to eat and she took advantage of their absence to escape quietly, again. She was not proud of abandoning him literally for the second time. At least he would probably be reassured, 'cause as she had expected Damon got to her easily.

A vision of the night of their meeting played trough her mind as he followed her closely. She felt confidence invade her. It's not like she was walking with one the most gorgeous creature of the planet.

"Where are we going ?"

"We're going to get Jeremy." she replied with confidence.

"Yeah, I kind of got that part." he said rolling his eyes.

"A bus is going to pass, it's gonna take us close enough to get to those woods before the end of the day." she explained proud of her plan. She wasn't that bad in making plans after all, even if most of them always tended to end miserably. She hoped she had correctly read the board.

"The bus ? Come on, you can't be serious."

She fixed him and a smirk grew on her face.

"Oh wait, is this not precious enough for you, Mr. Salvatore ?" She said defiantly a playing smile on her face. Thinking about this she had never saw one of them in public transport. Mystic Falls was not a big city, it could explain why. She gigled inside at the idea, sometimes she forgot that they were still like them in some ways. And there was no way Damon was getting out of this.

Only she saw something in his eyes immediately after she uttered the sentence which left her speechless. A glimmer of realisation in his eyes, they darkened and a life suddenly seemed to overwhelm him. She instantly understood she had put her finger on something. But it only lasted a second, the smile came back on his face and he took a step closer.

"Everything is not precious enough for me."

She rolled her eyes and chuckled tapping gently on his shoulder driving him away in the same time.

"Come on cocky boy, let's mix up with normal people!" she exclaimed as the bus arrived.

"I rather walk, I will join you where its gonna leave you."

"What ? Wait no, it doesn't change anything. Don't be a jackass and get in here with me."

She did not know where she found the courage to act so casual around him, when the little she had heard about him was not quit positive. Somehow, she wasn't afraid of him. He seemed to think about it for a minute then he smirked and followed her into the bus. He leaned over to whisper something to the bus driver and sat next to Elena at the end of it. She rested her head on her seat and looked out the window as the machine started.

"Do you think he is going to get angry ?"

"Of course."

She turned her head to his side. "You leave when he wasn't looking too ?"

"Yep." She smiled. Poor Alaric. But she knew he was going to understand and follow his plans, he was far from stupid and reckless. She felt terribly bad for leaving him there but she knew it was the right decision to take.

Damon slumped in his seat and his arms brushed hers triggering a shiver through Elena's body, but once again she didn't pay attention to it and stayed in place. She tried to remember what Stefan told her about Damon. He clearly seemed less caring than his brother, but a monster ? Someone he wouldn't even want to talk about ? She didn't see anything of that in him. His fight against the hybrids wasn't enough to scare her, she had seen far worse. And Stefan wasn't knew to be the most healthy vampire of the earth, as much as she loves him.

"Stop thinking, you are going to hurt yourself." Damon said looking right into her eyes taking her by surprise. She did not look away and only analysed his face and his eyes again.

"I was thinking about Stefan."

"I didn't say I was interested by what you were thinking."

"I was thinking about both of you. Your relationship." She replied imperturbable.

"Again? It's not because I followed you that we have to become emotional and all towards each other. " He added. She smiled again and with her gaze still deeply fixed on his she continued.

"You two were close one day, right?"

She could see pain behind the veil in his eyes everytime she mentioned his brother. Whatever happened between the two of them they were clearly still caring for each other.

"We were." he simply answered. "We don't get along anymore." His voice was lighter than usual, distant as if he was talking more to himself than to her. Then suddenly he found back his assurance and torn his gaze away from her.

"So, he's your boyfriend ?"

"No. And it is not of your business." She blushed and looked outside. She heard his laugh, his beautiful and crystalline laugh behind her. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. Slowly, she felt herself drew into sleep no matter how hard she tried to resist. His body ached as if her muscles finally remembered that she had not the strength of her supernatural friends. Maybe it didn't worse the fight.

She heard Damon moving behind her but didn't turned to look at what he was doing, instead she let herself fall into a dreamy world, a world where her life was peaceful, where his brother was not hold prisoner by a psychopath, where her aunt hadn't die sacrificed by this same psycho, and especially, where her parents were still here.

Elena's eyes were fluttering as she slowly woke up from her deep sleep. She jumped on her seat as she realised she had fallen asleep, afraid she had missed something. It had gotten hotter in the bus. She looked around her, apart from them there was only a few people in here. Most of them older. Her eyes stopped on a girl. She could bet she had seen her somewhere. She grimaced and gave up. She put off her jacket and took up her hair to make a ponytail, sighing slowly.

Then, she turned around only to see Damon, headphones into his ears and a pink I-Pod in his hands, he was moving with the rhythm of a song she couldn't hear.

"Where the hell did you get that ?" She reproached.

He looked up at her, pretending to just remark she was awake. He raised his hands."I did not stole this. She gave it voluntarily to me." And he understated this with a wink. Elena closed her eyes and put a hand on her forehead. So that's what he was doing with that teenage girl when they first got off Alaric's car. She glared at him expecting some regrets from him, before realised it was probably like asking Caroline to stop talking. He smiled seductively and offered her a headset.

"No thanks" she said dryly pushing the thing away.

He sighed and offered it again with an annoying look on his face. "You need to lose up a little. Now I know what my brother likes about you." She did not make any remark about his sentence but kept in mind the overtone of it. Her ego was a little hurt by the remark. She knew she has not been the best company in the world for a long time now, but she still remembered the girl she used to be. Funny and joyful. Sometimes she missed that girl.

She examined Damon and finally gave up, putting the headset in her ear. "I hope she has good taste. What is that ?"

"Are you telling me I know Miley Cyrus and you do not?"

She looked at him innocently and shrugged.

"Then you're better off" he said before turning off the song.

He let the playlist go along randomly. They were both silent waiting for the next song to play, gazing into each other's eyes in the same time.

Elena's eyes widened "Disney ? Oh no, no." She quickly took the I-Pod to change the music.

"Don't tell me you don't like Disney."

"I don't.

"Then how did you recognize the music?" She pressed her lips together resisting the urge to slap him. Okay, maybe she did love them. But it makes her too damn nostalgic. Wait.

"What about you?" A picture of Damon watching Cendrillon at the TV crossed her mind.

He ignored her and took it back trying to play another song. She sent him a fake smile. He frowned, but when it started he laughed it out. Elena tried to stop herself but she failed miserably as she started laughing to.

Oh, I just wanna take you anywhere that you like
We could go out any day, any night
Baby, I'll take you there, take you there
Baby, I'll take you there, yeah

"She sure have good taste."

"Well, you know them."

She laughed again and was about to change the song but Damon prevented her to do so and started dancing in his seat imitating instruments with his hands. She could not help but admire the way his muscles tensed, and the expressions of his face while his hair were falling all over it, and the sound of his laugh.

She was widely grinning, she put her hands on his shoulder trying to stop him. "They are looking at you" she whispered referring to the other people in the bus who were for most of them returned and looking at them. A women probably just a little older was smiling, but for the older passengers he was apparently too lousy. Something inside her head told her that's exactly what he was looking for. The look on their face irritated her, and she missed the contemptuous look of the same girl she kept seeing.

"Who cares! Sing with me." She looked at him apprehensively, he was not going to sing now, was he ?

One of the old lady sent them a pure evil glare as the bus was arriving at his destination. It stopped at a firelight, what seemed to intensify her look, an done of Damon's move changed the song. Tainted Love ? Damon let out a moan of appreciation, biting his lips. Of course, he had been there in this period of time, he actually lived the 80's. She smiled funnily, she could totally see him fit, she imagined him dancing in a famous nightclub monopolizing all eyes in the middle of the dance floor.

They both looked at each other and she knew he was thinking the exact same thing. He winked outrageously at her and she clapping her hand against her mouth biting her lips, closing her eyes. Her feet began to move uncontrollably to the beat of the music that filled her mind, following by her hands, and her head. She glanced at the public and it was enough for her. She cleared her mind, at this instant she decided to lose up for the first time since a very long time. Since Stefan was taken away and she had fall into depression. It was a wrong time, probably with a wrong person, but it had never felt so tempting. Fuck those people.

Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain that you drive into the heart of me

Damon turned high the sound of the music and began to sing very loudly, and yet to complete his perfect picture, he sang with a beautiful and sexy voice. They both got up and as he was walking back she followed him dancing. And it worked. Immediately they could hear their whispers, judgemental. But too bad for them, right now Elena did not care. She was dancing seductively while laughing following Damon's voice and what she could hear from where she was.

Oh, tainted love
Tainted love
Now I know I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away

They laughed, sang, and danced in unison. Damon was obviously delighted by her initiative and they continued their show in front of the stunned couple of aged peole. Elena's hair imprisoned in her ponytail were floating around her, and the heat was raising to her head as her hips were moving rythmically. They were dancing closer and closer to skock them. She felt terribly good. She felt like here, with him she was free. He didn't knew her, she didn't really knew him, so there was no judging. He wasn't judging her for what she wasn't or what she wasn't anymore, he wasn't looking at her with those sad eyes and that painful expression.

He doesn't care. Every one else would be looking at her with reproach for having fun, especially while Jeremy was somewhere with Klaus, he did not care. And neither did she at this moment. The bus was not going to go slower if she choose to restrain herself, and nobody here would remember her or go repeat everything to everyone. The moment was too good to be lose.

"Don't touch me pleaase, I cannot stand the way you tease!" sang Damon moving his body in the same time.

I love you though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go
Tainted love, tainted love

The song slowly ended in the headphone and they stopped still laughing while in the same time the bus finally stopped at their arrest. They were pratically on one another, and Elena remarked that it doesn't felt incomfortable, or weird, not now at least. She was regaining her breath and took the opportunity to sent a satisfied smile to the grumpy pair before running outside with Damon.

"God I love this song" He said exitingly just behind her. He turned around and put her hands on his chest.

"What were you doing in the 80's?" she asked.

They were now standing outside, and Elena realised that fortunatly Damon had not forgotten the bags because she had completely. People were gathering and leaving the area, some still glancing at them. The bus has stopped before the town after, they were almost alone on the side of the road.

"I was dancing, and loving." He whispered in a dark and seductive voice. She just replied with a laugh.

"I knew you could be fun." He suddenly said. She fixed him with warm eyes.

"I used to be like this all the time." The euphory was fading away. But it didn't let place to her usual culpability and sadness, but to a certain peace.

"What happened ?"

"My parents died. Then pretty much everyone important in my life. Only my brother." Here we go, now she was confinding to him whereas she had met him the day before. What was it with this guy? She took a few steps away from him. Yes, she had see too many death since her parent's death. And she was constantly living in the fear that something would happen to the people she cared about. Jeremy, Stefan, Boonie, all her friends.

Seeing the look on Elena's face he asked, "What would you do for him?"

"Anything."

"Then he's going to be okay." he said softly .

"Are you trying to comfort me? How can you be sure?"

"You remind me of someone." There again, it was in his eyes. She was not sure it was supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing. But there was no sign of joke in his eyes, he was sincere and she felt her heart jumped in joy. She did not expect this from their meeting at the bar, but she actually likes him. He was everything she had always pretended she did not like, and everything she had wish to be in the same time.

"Is that all?"

He smiled enigmaticaly at her and looked at the woods. She didn't asked for more and simply followed his gaze. It was not really where Klaus has been settling but they could be there by tomorow. Here, she lose the confidence she had won all day. What if they did not get there in time? And what would they do if they got attacked? Maybe she had been stupid to think it was a good idea, run away with a total stranger and threw herself into a death trap.

Suddenly she caught the girl from the bus, further away on the other side of the road, the eyes fixed on them, she wasn't even hiding now. She nodded to Damon in direction of the girl, but before he even get the time to turn, the girl turned around and disappeared in the woods behind her. Elena let out a cy of suprise attracting Damon's interrogative look on her. She didn't think twice before rushing behind her, even if something was telling her maybe she shouldnt.

She threw herself in the forest, running as fast as she could. She stopped out of breath, looking madly around her. She felt Damon passing right by her and continue his way. She followed him, walking, there was no chance she would ever catch them. After a few agonizing minutes, she caught Damon a little further, he was looking at something on the ground with a mix of hunger and questionning. Despite the fear of what she was going to see she made her way to him and slowly followed her gaze.

"What ... ?"

In front of them was lying a slaughtered deer, drained of all it's blood, and it was fresh. Elena was trembling. She had seen worst, she kept on repeating to herself. But for a reason she couldn't understand this view casted a cold in her body. She bit her lips anxiously. If the girl that were following them did this it couldn't be good. A crack made them turned around quickly; looking around. After a moment she looked up at Damon.

"What does this mean ?" she asked cautiously.

He replied with a surprisingly light voice, still analysing the area.

"This, means that we're not alone."

"We only got one liberty. The liberty to fight for it."