Chapter 8

Leaving the others to deal with each other in the cabin Damon, Kol, Bonnie and Elena all headed out in search of a near by town that could help them out with their popped tire. With their backpacks on, Damon and Kol lead the way while the girls followed not far behind as they climbed up a few hills in the woods. It was pretty warm out so they were thankful for the shade the trees offered but it was only going to get hotter as the day went on. Squinting her eyes and letting out a tired breath, Elena reached for her water bottle that was clipped to her backpack. Twisting the top she took a sip on the refreshing water as she continued on up the hill behind Damon and Kol.

"How much further is this town do you think?" an out of breath Bonnie asked as she got some help from Elena up a steep part of the hill and finally got to the top.

"Hopefully no more then five hours" Damon told her as he turned and looked at the girls, and Bonnie especially was getting tired already. Shaking his head he powered on as they followed behind. "You know for someone who was lecturing us on only bringing the essential to survive, why did you bring a text book?" he asked her.

"Just in case we take a break," Bonnie told him as Elena passed Bonnie her water bottle so that she could have a sip. "Oh thank you," she whispered thankfully.

"We aren't taking breaks sweetheart," Kol said with a smile. "Better use those muscles," he added with a laugh.

Elena shook her head as the guys laughed as if her and Bonnie wouldn't be able to handle the long walk. "I'd wipe that smirk off your face because we can keep up" Elena told them angrily.

"Oh and here comes out the competitive Elena" Damon laughed. "Girl can't even handle losing a game of flag football," Damon said to Kol as if Elena wasn't walking pretty much beside him to hear his jab.

"No it's your cheating I can't stand" Elena snapped back.

"I don't cheat, if anything I go easy on you" Damon told her when he turned to look at her.

"I highly doubt that" Elena mumbled, "You're nothing but a ball hogger" she told him.

"Only because I get stuck with your boyfriend on my team" Damon snapped back with a smirk before turning and continuing to walk ahead of them.

Hearing Damon mention Stefan as her boyfriend was a bit of a pain in her chest because the truth was he wasn't her boyfriend any more and it reminded her that there was one more person she would have to inform of the break up not that Damon would really care either way.

With a sigh and a quick glance at Bonnie who was giving her a sad look, Elena thought about the break up. Biting her bottom lip Elena powered on keeping up with the guys and hoped that no other mention of her relationship with Stefan would come up.

Letting out an annoyed huff as if to let everyone left in the cabin, know that she was bored Rebekah took a seat on the sofa with a pout. Biting her lip she looked around as Stefan was sitting at the kitchen table in deep thought and amusing himself by spinning his phone on the flat surface. Jenna was sitting by the window looking out in the direction that Elena and the others had headed and she too seemed to be in deep thought. Alaric walked towards Jenna and took a seat next to her and they both stared out the window as if wondering when they others would be coming back.

"How long do you think Damon and Elena will be able to tolerate each other before they start to tear each other apart?" Ric asked Jenna with a laugh. He had been very surprised that Elena had volunteered to go with Damon and Kol. He figured something pretty big must be going on with Elena and Stefan that she would actually volunteer to go out on some unknown search for a town near by. "Do you know what's going on with her and Stefan?" Ric asked Jenna knowing that their rocky relationship probably played a part in her deciding to go.

"I honestly have no idea," Jenna said quietly as she looked over at Stefan, as he didn't seem happy at all. In fact to Jenna he looked a little heart broken and she wondered where the two of them stood when Elena had left. When Elena had decided to go, Jenna wasn't sure why she had left with Damon and the others but Jenna got the feeling that Elena wanted to get away either for space or to actually get away from Stefan and possibly Caroline who seemed just as depressed as Stefan as she came back into the room.

"Any word or sign of them?" Caroline asked as she anxiously paced the room.

"I wish, because I should be on a beach now" Rebekah complained, "Not stuck in this shack."

"We get it Rebekah, this isn't how we planned our spring break either" Jenna said as she rolled her eyes. Listening to Rebekah's constant complaining was really getting tiring. She was a spoiled brat who saw herself so much better then everyone else. Again and again Jenna wondered why exactly she even came considering that she wasn't friends with any of them. Sure Kol was her brother and she was sleeping with she Damon but even he had made it pretty clear he didn't want her here. Shaking her head and looking back out the window Jenna thought about how her plans were to get over Logan and have fun and as of now she hadn't done either of that. "You know the one good thing about this place is that there is no cell service so I can't give in and call Logan."

"Thank God for that" Alaric said with a smile. "You can do so much better then that jerk" he told her.

"Thanks" Jenna said with a smile and even though she didn't really believe it she was happy Alaric saw that. With a sigh she leaned into hug Alaric and then the two remained in the embrace as they thought about how much they had hoped that this trip would of turned out differently, but at least they would be together.

"This is insane, we have seen nothing but trees for hours" Bonnie stated as they continued their walk. "Are you even sure we are headed in the right direction?" Bonnie asked not having much faith in her tour guides.

"How should I know I was kicked out of boy scouts" Kol stated and watched as the fear grew on Bonnie's face.

"What?" she said in a horrified voice as if Kol was leading them towards their unfortunate death. Damon couldn't help but laugh along with Kol as the two continued on with the girls following behind.

"We are going to die" Bonnie stated.

"Relax Bonnie, he is just messing with you" Elena told her before she took a drink from her water bottle.

"I'm not even sure I'm holding the map the right way," Kol added just to throw some more fear into Bonnie.

"All right buddy, now your starting to get me worried" Damon chuckled as he grabbed the map from his friend. "So where exactly are we?"

Kol bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders; "Look I wasn't lying completely when I said I wasn't sure where we were" Kol said and watched, as Damon was becoming a little annoyed. "Its either straight left or straight right" he said and this revelation did not sit well with Damon.

"Unbelievable" Damon said and rolled his eyes.

"Oh god we really are going to die! And frankly your two are not the first people on my list of who I want to spend my final moments with!" Bonnie cried.

"Oh calm down, read your textbook sweetheart" Kol told her as the girls leaned against a tree deciding to use the time to catch their breath as the guys figured out their next move.

"Look why don't we split up two go one way and two got the other, maybe walk for a couple hours and then turn back," Damon suggested. "We will then meet back up at the cabin either by walking back or by a ride if we find the town" he added and watched as the girls thought over the plan.

"You want to split up?" Elena said, as she wasn't so sure abut the idea.

"Well I'm going with the map!" Bonnie replied quickly as she snatched the map out a Kol's useless hands.

"Hey!" Kol complained as he then started chasing her after the map as if they were children.

"Fine you two go right" Damon told them and then turned to look at his partner and cringed, "guess you're with me" Damon said with a forced smile that Elena thought was a horrible attempt.

"Lucky me" she replied as she rolled her eyes when picking up her backpack. She gave Bonnie a quick hug; who promised Elena in a whisper that if she ended up killing Damon on the walk, she would be her alibi. Shaking her head and letting out a giggle Elena and Damon reluctantly headed in the same direction while Kol and Bonnie headed in the other.

The two walked in silence through the woods for quite some time both focused on looking around for any sign of the small town they were looking for. It wasn't too often that Damon and Elena were alone together; in fact it had probably been years. Walking behind Damon, Elena did her best to keep up as well as duck or dodge out of the way of bush branches that Damon pushed out of his way but then whipped back and almost hit her. At first she didn't think much of it but it soon got to the point she was sure she could see a bit of a smirk on his face as if he was doing it on purpose. "You can be really immature Damon," she growled at him.

"Hey I'm just walking here," he told her but he couldn't hide the smirk on his face.

As another one came back to hit her, Elena let out a grunt and quickly moved to jump in front of him so that he was now behind her. "Seriously you can be such a child," she told him.

"Your one to talk" he said with a laugh as Elena turned and glared at him. "You're little miss judgy about everything," he explained.

"Well it's because you're an ass!" Elena told him as she continued to wonder through the woods with Damon following behind her.

"No, I just refuse to live up to your high expectations. Miss Perfect Elena likes to have everyone wrapped around her little finger and I refused to be your pathetic puppy dog like everyone else," he told her.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Elena we grew up together, you were the only girl and you got everything your way. Anything we ever did. If poor little Elena didn't want to do it or play some game we didn't" Damon told her a little annoyed as he thought back to their childhood. Stefan was the good son, the one who did what ever he could to please their father, Elena was the sole girl which both the Gilberts and Salvatore's doted on. Even Damon's nanny preferred taking care of Elena then him. Stefan and Elena were the favorites and this left Damon and Jeremy to fight for any kind of attention as kids.

"So that's why you're an ass? Because you didn't get attention?" she asked as they wonder through the forest and came across a river. As they walked along the edge of the hill, Elena looked down below as the water was running in the other direction at a pretty slow pace.

"I just don't take anyone's crap, including yours!" Damon snapped back at her.

"You make it sound like I'm some spoiled brat like Rebekah" Elena called back.

"Well she's not on my back to be more like Stefan!" Damon shot back in frustration. "Unlike your boyfriend I won't bow down and do what ever you want to do. I don't care if you get mad at me I'll do what I want and you just have to deal with it like a big girl" he told her. "You got my brother whipped and I'm sorry to tell you I'm not."

"No you're just selfish!" Elena yelled back as she stepped over a few tree roots so she wouldn't trip.

"This from the girl who gives the silent treatment when she can't get her way! You're controlling"

Elena gave a laugh and shook her head, "Oh I'm controlling, Damon you are the most controlling person I know, if you don't get your way you lash out and…" as she spun around quickly to look at him face to face as she yelled at him her sudden stop caught Damon off guard and he ran right into. She wasn't expecting him to run into her so as he collided with her, she lost her balance.

Both their eyes went wide as they both could see what was about to happen as Elena was knocked over and started to stumble down the hill. Damon tried to reach out for her but wasn't able to grab her in time and she fell, rolling down the hill and towards the river. She let out screams as she rolled down the hill and landed in the water after going through a bush and then made a big splash.

"ELENA!" Damon called out as he carefully but quickly ran down the hill and towards the river.

She was drenched as she came up to the surface and took a gasp of air before letting out a painful cry. Damon quickly threw his backpack to the side of the river so that it wouldn't get wet and ran over to Elena. Seeing her struggling to keep a float he immediately tried to help her out but she cried in pain again.

"My foot is stuck, AHHH," she cried as it was wedged in between the rocks and broken tree branches.

"Okay hang on" Damon told her as he help her take off the heavy backpack she still had on so she wasn't being weighed down by it. Tossing it to the side he then wrapped one arm around her and then took her hand with the other and reached for a tree branch above their head for her to hold on to. Hold this," he instructed and as she let out whimpers of pain but she did as he said. "Okay, hold on tight" he said as he released his grasp around her and swam so that he was in front of her. Luckily for them the current wasn't strong so he didn't' have to struggle to stay where he as but the water was quite deep. "What ever you do don't let go of the tree branch," he repeated.

"Okay" Elena answered in a whimper as she held on tightly.

With a nod Damon held his breath and went under the water. Elena could feel his hands moving down her leg as he was trying to find her foot wedged between rocks. Staying above the water Elena tried not to think about the pain as she waited for Damon to come back to the surface. After a minute of him trying to set her free he let go and was coming back to the surface. "Wow you really have it stuck in there," he told her as Elena held on to the branch above her to stay a float. "You okay?"

"Yeah" she said but it was obvious she didn't truly mean it.

"Okay hang on," he told her again before disappearing under the water again to try and set her free. She could feel him trying to move the rocks around under the water and every so often she would cry out in pain because her foot was still stuck. With some of the rocks cleared away Damon came back up to the surface again. He immediately moved closer to Elena, wrapping his arms around her and he told her to let go of the branch so that her arms could rest.

"Its not coming out" Elena told him as she was now very worried about not being able to break free.

"Don't worry I got it" he told her as Elena's arms were wrapped around his neck so that they could rest for a moment. "Okay lets try it again," he said softly and then reached up for the branch and letting Elena get a good grip before he released her and went back under the water. She did best to hold off on crying out in pain as Damon started to wiggle her foot free. After a few tries her finally got it and Elena let out a sigh of relief as Damon was coming back up to the surface.

She let go of the tree branch above her head and her arms immediately went around Damon as his one was around her waist and then the other tucked under her legs so he could lift her out of the water. Walking out of the river he set her down on a large bolder while he checked out her foot to see the damage.

"Thank you" Elena said and was probably thinking this was one of the few times she had ever said that to him.

"Well it's not like I could leave my brother's girlfriend to drown" Damon said as he shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal.

Elena bit her lip as she sat on the bolder while Damon was inspecting her injury. They were both soaking wet letting out a hissing sound of pain, Elena looked down at her foot, Damon's hands were massaging her ankle since he wasn't sure about taking her shoe off, especially since they may not get it back on. "Stefan and I broke up" she told him sadly and watched out of the corner of her eye as Damon's head whipped up in shock to stare at her. It took Elena a moment to pull her gaze away from her foot and look up at Damon with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry," he told her.

Elena let out a scoff as she wiped the water droplets way from her face, "Look you don't have to pretend you aren't happy by this." She told him.

"No, I mean it, we may have our fights but you seem to make my brother happy and he you" Damon told her and for the first time Damon and Elena shared a look of understanding.

They stared at each other for who knew how long as if they were seeing each other in a whole different light. Damon was the first to break their gaze and went back into helping mode. "Can you walk?" he asked her and watched, as Elena still seemed in pain. Taking in her hands in his he tried to help her up but as soon as she put pressure on her foot she quickly felt pain and fell back down.

"No it hurts," she told him as she groaned in pain. Favoring her foot she leaned back and used her free hand that wasn't holding on to Damon to find the bolder and sat back down by the river.

Damon bit his lip as he looked up the hill and knew that traveling either way was going to take forever especially with Elena not being able to walk. Rinsing the water out of his black t-shirt and shaking his head to get the water droplets out of his hair, he moved over to Elena's drenched backpack to see what could be saved and what was ruined. There were blankets but they were soaked, couple breakfast bar that were fine, rope, a first aid kit that wasn't much use for a twisted ankle, a flashlight that maybe would be okay if it dried and a few other materials that would be no use to them soaked.

"How far do we have to go?" Elena asked as she was massaging her ankle.

"A couple hours with both of us fit and healthy, but if you can't walk we aren't going to make it anywhere before dark. He told her and then the picked up his own backpack to pull out his phone to see if there was cell service. Of course that would have been too easy so they were stranded for the most part. "I say we keep going then maybe stop somewhere for the night and then continue on. We should be close anyway," Damon, told her as he transferred a lot of the materials from Elena's bag into his. "Girl scout Bonnie, packed matches so we should be able to stay warm and the blankets in my bag are still dry." He told her as he zipped up the bag and threw it onto his back.

"You know if I didn't know better, I would of thought you did this all on purpose so that I would have to carry you" Damon teased as he came back over to Elena to help her up. With her hands going around his neck, he picked her up, one arm around the small of her back and the other under neither her legs.

"Trust me, having to be dependent on you is a new low for me" Elena shot back and Damon couldn't help but laugh.

"I won't tell you needed my help, if you don't tell I help you" he offered.

"Deal" she responded as he was lifted up into his arms and he started to carefully make their way back up the hill. They had about thirty more minutes of light left in the day and figure to keep on going and hoped they would come across the town tomorrow.

Damon walked as far as he could, although Elena weighed practically nothing it was the backpack on his back that was the killer. Having to ditch Elena's since it was drenched his was now almost twice as heavy. He had taken a break or two for about five minutes before picking Elena back up and continuing on. As the sun started to set it was getting darker and colder. Their clothes were still wet from the detour in the river so would need to build a fire to keep warm before it got too dark to see.

Finding a small clearing in the woods Damon announced that this was their luxury hotel for the night. Setting Elena down on the ground he dropped the backpack and let out a sigh of relief, as his back was thankful to lose the extra weight. "Remind me next time that we are flying to Florida" Damon told her as he stretched.

"I'm not sure there will be a next time for me" Elena said sadly because after she returned from spring break that meant no more trips with the Salvatores for a while due to the awkwardness between her and Stefan and then fact her and Damon have never been that close.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad" Damon teased.

"I mean with me and Stefan" Elena clarified.

"Well traveling as a couple sucks anyway, it's a lot more fun to go single and no strings attached" Damon told her as he was unzipping the backpack and started pulling out the warm and dry blankets.

"Not exactly my thing" Elena replied as she bit her lip while Damon tossed her over the blankets to where she sat.

"Suit your self but it is a hell of a lot more fun" he said with a smile.

"You and I have a different point of view of fun," Elena told him as she set the blankets down beside her and watched as Damon walked around gathering twigs, tree branches for the fire.

"You need to take your clothes off," Damon said suddenly and Elena looked up at him a little taken back and thought maybe she had hear him wrong. There was no way that Damon could think that she had any intention of sleeping with him; no matter how far he carried her.

"Excuse me?" she said with wide eyes.

Damon looked at her and rolled his eyes, "Get your mind out of the gutter Gilbert, your clothes are wet and they need to dry." He saw Elena seem to hesitate about the idea of taking her clothes off with him around but he just rolled his eyes. "Look I promise I won't look" Damon told her and turned his back to light the fire while Elena wrapped her blankets around herself and removed her shirt, shoes, and pants. With only her undergarments on Elena wrapped the blanket around herself and then knelt down on her knees so that she could lie her clothes out by the fire Damon had made so that they would dry.

With the fire burning high, Damon sat back against a tree still wearing his wet clothes. As Elena huddled between to blankets, one under her and covering the ground and the other over top of her and snuggled around her body she lay down and looked at the glowing light of the fire. She then looked over at Damon as he sat with his knees pulled towards his chest and his head back against the tree trunk while his eyes were shut and his lips trembled from the cold. With it being spring it still got cold at night and as Elena lay there watching him while she was trying to warm herself up she new that Damon was going to freeze before morning if he stayed like that. "Damon…" she said in a soft voice.

"I'm fine," he told her as if he was reading her mind and knew just what she was going to say.

"Don't we have anymore blankets?" she asked him and Damon shook his head. Cursing herself for falling into the river with her backpack she knew that they were both wet and useless. As she lay her head back down she tried to close her eyes and get some sleep but the sound of Damon shivering a couple feet away was becoming too much. "Damon this is insane you are going to get sick," she told him as she sat up to make room for him under the blankets.

"I said I'm fine" he replied but his tone of voice was not at all convincing.

"Don't be an idiot Damon, get over here before I change my mind," She told him and watched as Damon opened his eyes and looked at her for the first time.

He seemed to hesitate but Elena stared him down not about to take no for an answer. He was the healthy and fit one and if he got sick they were both screwed tomorrow. Nodding his head Damon pulled off his wet shirt and jeans and set them closer to the fire. His body was shaking and cold as ice as he slipped in between the blankets with her in only boxers. Elena moved closer to him under the blanket to help warm him up and Damon pulled the blanket tightly around them and wrapped his arms around her so that their body heat would keep them warm. "You tell anyone about this I will kill you" Elena said against his chest. Damon let out a chuckle and Elena felt the vibration against her cheek that was pressed to his chest.

"No one would believe me anyway" Damon responded as he pulled her in tighter as his nose buried in her hair.

Checking her watch Caroline was standing at the front door of the cabin looking out into the dark night and waiting for the others to return. After a late night last night Jenna was already asleep on the couch and Ric was asleep in his sleeping bag by the fireplace. "They should be back by now," Caroline said with a sigh as she turned to Stefan who was still sitting at the kitchen table.

"I'm sure they will be back soon," Stefan told her.

"I still don't understand why Elena had to go" Caroline said with a huff as she moved to take a seat at the table with Stefan. "She should be here working things out with you."

Stefan shook his head as he licked his lips before looking at Caroline, "She doesn't want to work things out" he explained and he watched as Caroline didn't like that answer he was giving her.

"She's just being stubborn and she will come to her senses" Caroline explained, as she was completely positive about it. "Once we get out of here and can get to West Palm Beach things will get better for you I know it."

"I'm not sure about that, and I don't want to fight for something I'm not sure I want anymore" Stefan stated and he saw the shock and hurt in Caroline's eyes. She was so determined to get him and Elena back together and not now only did she have to convince Elena, but Stefan as well.

Caroline's jaw was opened and she was speechless for a moment as it sunk in what Stefan had told her. She was about to respond when they both heard noises coming from the front door. Caroline turned in her chair and stared at the door as the doorknob turned and then a smiling Kol and Bonnie wondered in.

"Hey" Caroline said as she got up to greet her friend. "What took you guys so long?"

"Oh we got off course for a moment and then this jerk was telling ghost stories to freak me out!" Bonnie said with a giggle. As they walked back after not finding anything it was getting dark and every little noise in the distance made Bonnie jump and Kol found that hilarious and as they walked back he was telling her scary stories while she would walk a little closer to him for protection.

"Where are Elena and Damon?" Caroline asked as she noticed that they weren't coming in the door after Kol and Bonnie.

Bonnie looked a little confused as she looked around the cabin and realized that Elena and Damon hadn't returned. "Oh, I thought they would be back by now. We had to spilt up when he didn't know which way the town was." Bonnie told her.

"What's going on?" came Jenna's voice as she sat up on the couch after she was woken up from all the commotionn. When she saw Bonnie and Kol standing there she looked around the room but didn't see Elena anywhere. "Where's Elena?"

"Her and Damon aren't back yet," Stefan told her as they all looked out into the woods.

"So your telling me that Damon and Elena, the two who can't stand each other are out there alone somewhere?" Jenna asked as she made her way to the window along with Caroline and Stefan and looked out in the direction of where they hoped Elena and Damon would appear.

"They are going to kill each other," Jenna told them as they all waited in hope to see the two show up soon.

In the middle of the woods with a fire blazing giving off a golden glow, it kept the two warm, as they had no choice but to spend the night in the woods. The blanket was wrapped around them as they lay by the fire and their wet clothes were near by so that they would hopefully be dry by morning.

Elena's legs moved within the blanket and were tangled with Damon's legs while he lay on his back and holding her close. Neither was sure how it happened and in fact they weren't really aware of it at first but one of them had mad the first move and kissed the other. The kiss was like one neither of them had experiences before as it was passionate but at the same time hungry for more. Elena had moved from her spot beside him and way now lying on top of Damon in only her undergarments, never breaking from the kiss while her hands caressed his chest and moaned with pleasure.

One of Damon's hands had his fingers moving within her hair and up and down Elena's neck. His other hand was moving up and down her thigh as her long and slim leg moved up and down his leg. It was a kiss that was so unexpected for either of them but it was one that neither was ready to break from yet as the night went on.