A/N- I own nothing, but thank-you for all the lovely reviews! They definitely help with my writing direction and style.
Damon Salvatore pulled his Camaro into the student visitor parking at nine-thirty am exactly, he was barely out of his car before Elena was jumping into his arms, her strength causing him to stagger backwards and nearly loose his footing. He keeps them upright as she peppers his face with kisses,
"I've missed you so much" she tells him between kisses, "So, so, so, so much!"
She had dressed this morning in a new purple wool dress and Caroline's beret which matched perfectly, hoping to appear mature and grown up.
That plan had failed at the very moment she'd squealed her excitement and raced across the concrete.
But Damon's arms tighten around her and he presses his lips against her hair, "I missed you too"
"I missed not having people help me carry these bags," Stefan complained as he lugged two heavy suitcases out of the main entrance to their dorm,
"I've already done this once today"
"Oh" Elena, whose guilt was even more easily activated than Stefan's, drops out of Damon's arms,
"Sorry"
She bounds across the parking lot grabs her suitcase as Damon pops the trunk for them.
Over the last sixth months the three of them have developed the ability to anticipate each other's needs and can enact wordlessly, Damon's hand is held out for the suitcase the very second Stefan is within reach.
The two colour co-ordinated suitcases, part of a set that Caroline had insisted everyone buy for college, were placed side by side. At which point Stefan throws Damon into a headlock, the two of them wrestling as Elena plays with her phone, checking messages and barely noticing the scuffle.
By sheer luck, Stefan manages to get his brother immobile long enough to crow,
"My turn!" he attempts to kiss Damon on the cheek but finds himself being disarmed and thrown into the backseat of the Camaro,
"Oh look" Damon grins as he closes the passenger door, "Elena just won shotgun privileges for the holidays"
"Urgh" Stefan stretched out across the backseat, "Come on! Elena's legs are far too small to be riding shotgun"
"Her legs are prettier than yours" Damon counters, tossing his keys in the air once before turning on his heel and nearly running smack bang into the brunette in question who is standing before him with a puzzled look on her face,
"Where's Jeremy?" she asks confused and he blinks,
"Jeremy who?"
"Very funny Damon" she rolls her eyes as he ushers her into the car,
"Seriously though, why isn't he here? Bonnie will be here any minute and…she's not coming back with us is she?"
Damon grimaced as he settled into the driver's seat, he and Stefan had figured out pretty quickly that Bonnie Bennett would rather have her teeth pulled without anaesthetic than be in a confined space with the two brothers who she thought were abusing her best friend.
Unfortunately Elena could never comprehend the idea of anyone staying angry with her, especially when in this case, she hadn't acted with the intention of hurting them.
Damon wants to shield her from the pain of Bonnie's disapproval but unbeknownst to Elena, their secret was out in Mystic Falls, courtesy of Rudy Hopkins and he and Jeremy had been facing the censure of the small town for weeks now, including but not limited to, a visit from a prune faced social services agent who resented feminism, female liberation, considered Elena to be a modern day jezebel and had required exceptional levels of compulsion after she'd forged such fantasies of abuse that, had the papers been filed, Damon would have been facing twenty years in prison.
So Damon is admittedly bitter and that carries over into his speech,
"Did you really think she was going to hop aboard the Salvatore express to Mystic Falls?"
"But…" she turned to look at Stefan who shrugged but stepped up to the task, "Bonnie will come around Elena, if we just give her time"
She huffed and fell back against her seat, "Where is Jeremy, Damon?"
He sighed, "I told the little bastard that if he got an A on his English essay that he could drive up to meet Bonnie…it's not my fault" he added defensively,
"I thought it was a safe bet!"
It wasn't intentional but Elena was immediately distracted, "Jeremy's doing well in English?"
"Yep" Damon struggles to mask the pride in his voice, "Turns out not being murdered and resurrected every week does wonders for your school life, of course, having your X-Box confiscated doesn't hurt either"
Stefan stuck his head into the front of the car, "Why'd you confiscate the X-Box?"
Damon scowled, glaring at the red light they were coming up towards,
"You ever heard of High Stakes?"
Both of the passengers shook their head, "It was released earlier this year, a cartoon simulation where you hunt and kill Dracula and his groupies in Transylvania, after five minutes of watching Jeremy use a vampire as a bludgeon to beat another vampire to death I decided that little emo had way too many distractions in his life. So it went the way of most of my enemies, a watery grave in the Quarry"
Elena and Stefan barely managed to control their giggles, both knowing Jeremy would have bought that game purely to piss Damon off. Stefan settles back in his seat but Elena is giddy.
Jeremy got an A in school.
In her last year her grades were abysmal, she was lucky to get a C in anything and skipped so often some of her teachers had honestly thought she'd dropped out.
But Jeremy was doing well and he was comfortable enough at the Salvatore Boarding house to tease Damon and not be afraid of being kicked out. He was treating it as his home.
Distracted for the rest of the trip, Elena fills Damon in on all the gossip and little details of college life that she had forgotten in their nightly calls to one another.
She and Stefan are exaggerating the sheer level of sexually transmitted infections roaming around the college dorms when Damon finally pulls into the driveway and orders them both to get out of his beautiful disease free car.
Elena laughs and carries her suitcase straight to the laundry to get started on the obscene amount of washing she had to do. Damon waited to make sure she was out of ear shot before leading Stefan to the parlour and pouring them both a double shot of bourbon,
"You know…" he began tersely,
"I could have sworn we had a conversation about Elena backpacking around Europe these holidays…or was it Mexico…I definitely remember that she was supposed to cross a border"
Stefan sighed and took the drink as he fell onto the couch,
"I tried brother…the second you texted me I suggested everything I could but she refused to travel without you and at the moment, you come in a matched set with Jeremy, whom she thinks would benefit from the stability of a year where he doesn't have to move houses or states"
Damon cursed and sculled his drink before pouring himself another one and sitting opposite his brother who watched him with concern,
"You want to tell me why you're suddenly desperate to have Elena and I out of your life?"
He grimaced, "Hopkins dissolved the last Council and tried to form a new one in secret, hoping that I wouldn't find out about it. He's not using Founding Family but victims of supernatural attacks, all raring to grab pitchforks and light bonfires and…Liz heard a rumour that he's building up a vervein stash, god alone knows from where because I sure as hell am not distributing and I doubt Klaus allows anyone to run supplies out of Louisiana but Liz reckons he's stockpiling for a showdown"
Stefan paled, "And he knows the identity of every vampire in town"
Damon raised his eyebrows, "Which isn't too hard considering the pact Katherine drew up for us last year in which Klaus and Elijah drew a big red X across the map telling all supernatural creatures to steer clear"
Stefan frowns, "Alright…not the best situation to drop Elena into"
"And I'd really prefer Jeremy not be around vampire-hating trigger happy freaks," Damon adds, keeping his voice low as he hears Elena hum while pressing the buttons on the washer,
"His hunter side like to rear its ugly head way too often"
"Hey," Stefan brightened, getting to his feet and taking both their glasses, "You know where we haven't been in a while?"
"The fuck outta Virginia?"
"No" Stefan spreads his arms out,
"The Gilbert lake house, we'll send Elena up today to get it ready, close up here, wait for Jeremy and follow her tomorrow"
Damon nodded, "Okay, you, me, Elena and little Gilbert out of town is good, what about Barbie and Donovan?"
Stefan shrugged, "Matt's human, they won't go after him and Caroline should be…" he checked his watch,
"If she's keeping to schedule she'll be somewhere along the North Carolina border by now, gunning it to New Orleans and to the heart of Klaus Capital. We'll just text her and ask her to let us know if she plans on coming back to town"
The elder Salvatore groans and runs his hands through his hair, "Okay, so that just leaves us to plan a vacation-evacuation with the hope that we don't let the murderous mayor figure out that we're on to his dastardly scheme"
He claps Stefan on the shoulder as he leaves the room, "Welcome home little brother"
Stefan sighed and rolled his shoulders.
Danger.
Intrigue.
Mayhem.
Still, he'd rather be here with his brother and Elena than anywhere else on earth.
"Okay!" Elena loaded the last shopping bag into the car, "I think that's everything we need…you and Stefan will be bringing up the alcohol right?"
Damon smirked, "Come on beautiful, when have you ever known me to travel without the bar?! Especially if I'm going to be dealing with Gilbert shenanigans all weekend"
She gasped in mock offense and he gasps in response, she whacks him on the arm, "You know what, you are more than welcome to stay here…alone, while Stefan, Jeremy, Matt and I have loads of fun without you"
Damon blinked frowning, feigning casualness, "Matt? Quarterback's coming?"
Elena smiled flirtatiously, leaning against the car and draping her arms around his neck, "Yes, I rang Matt today and he's got a five day holiday from the Grill to come up and hang out with us, well hang out with my family, you are not invited"
Damon reached down and gripped her hips, bringing her close to him and doing the eye-trick he knew drove her crazy,
"Not invited huh? Well, maybe I'll just sneak in at night, when you're sound asleep in your red lace teddy and wake you up with a kiss, and a touch, and a…"
He picked her up and squeezed her ass, making her squeal and laugh, "Damon…no"
But she pulled him down for a passionate kiss, twisting her hands in his shirt, "I've missed you babe" she murmurs, "I've missed…us"
Us.
She'd missed the three of them being together, being whole.
She also missed the times when it was just her and Damon, she'd had a semester of nights and lazy afternoons in bed with Stefan and only a handful of moments with the elder brother.
She loved them both desperately but she was terrified that the inequality of her time shared between them would cause jealousy or troubles.
The last thing she would ever want is to hurt either brother ever again.
"Come up to the lake house with me" she begged with an adorable pout that he matched,
"Sorry baby, I have some stuff to deal with here but I'll drag everyone down tomorrow, I promise"
She moans but steals another kiss, "I'm going to be so lonely"
"One night baby" he slaps her ass and opens the door for her, "But wear my favourite teddy tomorrow night and I'll make it up to you I promise"
Elena beamed and kicked over the ignition, beeping the horn as she pulled out onto the street, she took the route out of town that led across the Wickery Bridge, her hands tightening on the wheel as she became hyper-aware for those torturous two minutes.
Then, it was open road and bright afternoon sunlight as she turned on the radio and wondered if, miles and miles away, Caroline was driving at that very second, thinking about her as well.
She wondered if Caroline knew what it was that had their family so worked up and worried.
Elena wasn't an idiot.
She was gullible, she liked to believe the best of people and that made her naïve, she wasn't as manipulative as Katherine or as smart as Damon but she was intuitive.
She knew when her men were terrified and trying to trick her into heading to safe grounds.
That was why she had invited Matt along as well, she'd seen the relief in Damon's eyes when she'd dropped that piece of information. Matt coming to the lake house meant Jeremy was definitely going to be there and hopefully Bonnie would come along as well.
Best that everyone they loved could be safe until they'd figured out the danger.
She wasn't too worried however, it had been so long since Silas that she'd been waiting breathlessly for a new threat to come along and now that it had, she was almost relieved, they'd fight it off as a family and carry on with their lives as they always had.
She caught a song she liked on the radio and began to sing along, noting with annoyance the buzzing in her car she couldn't quite figure out, making a mental note to ask Damon about it later.
She would have been much more concerned about the situation if she'd realised that it was a military grade tracking device.
A/N- So a couple more set up chapters but I promise the next Caroline chapter will be Klaroline smut.