Title: Eternal Contemplations
Author: fading_tales
Pairing: Damon/Blair (Vampire Diaries/Gossip Girl cross-over)
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl or any of their characters.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Timing means nothing and everything when you have an eternity to live.

Chapter Fifteen

Stefan hovers about nervously throughout breakfast, needing Damon to reassure him again and again that they would find a new place for Katherine. Apparently the phone call last night with Elena had ended rocky and the last thing Elena and Stefan's relationship needs is Katherine living in the Salvatore mansion.

"So you're leaving like right after breakfast, right?" Stefan prods for the millionth time in the last fifteen minutes.

"Yes," Damon replies irritably. "Will you leave already? You're already late for school."

"I'm going."

Stefan shrugs on his jacket while Damon sits in the living room, legs propped on the coffee table, a notebook in his lap and a cup of coffee laced with scotch besides him. He didn't get the memo about drinking before five and god knows he needs it.

"Why hasn't Blair come down yet?" Stefan inquires noticing that the petite brunette was no where to be found.

Damon flinches at the question. Blair always had a habit of being an early riser and it was strange that she was absent for breakfast when it was way past eight.

"She… must have overslept."

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah, Katherine tried to kill you yesterday and she had to stake a vampire," Damon answers, the sarcasm laid on thick. "It was a long day, it's only natural she wants some extra sleep."

Stefan doesn't look entirely convinced. "Remember what I said-"

"That's enough," Damon interrupts. "I don't want to hear an encore of last night's lecture." He tosses his younger brother his backpack and shoos the younger Salvatore out.

Just as he slams the door shut in Stefan's face, he hears footsteps coming down the stairs and whips around hoping it is Blair.

Sure enough it's her, but not something was off. Her hair hasn't changed as far as he could tell. His gaze travels down from her face and he's hit with the sudden realization that her attire is all wrong.

"Y-you're wearing denim," he points out stupidly.

"Yes, I am aware of that," she quips.

Instead of her usual impeccably tailored designer threads, Blair Waldorf is sporting jeans and a fitted v-neck t-shirt.

He's standing there gaping at her as she self-consciously makes her way down the stairs, twirling her hair around her finger nervously as she tends to do when feeling slightly insecure. She scowls at him when he continues to gawk at her and her out of character outfit choice.

"You wouldn't happen to be Blair's evil twin would you?" He realizes as the words leave his lips that 'good twin' might have been the more accurate term to use. "Because the Blair I know wouldn't be caught dead in jeans, let alone a t-shirt."

"I ran out of clothes," she replies indifferently.

"How is that possible? You go shopping like everyday," he protests.

"And coming back empty-handed most days," she points out in a disgusted voice. "My laundry hasn't come back yet. Have I mentioned that not only do the malls here suck, but so do the dry-cleaners?"

He mimics her signature eye roll and she glares at him with her hands on her hips.

"Anyways… this," she gestures towards the aforementioned outfit with a dismissive wave, "was the only clean thing I could find."

He's still a little shell shocked and she's starting to blush from his intense scrutiny.

"Bonnie made me buy it the other day. She thought I should 'expand my horizons', whatever that means. I only humored her so she'd shut up," she blabbers on. When he continues to maintain his stare, she's all but ready to march back up the stairs. "Ugh, I'm going to change. I look ridiculous. Day old Valentino isn't so bad…"

He catches her arm just as she turns around. "Don't. You look gorgeous."

The jeans are a perfect fit, hugging all the right places and the t-shirt a flattering shade of green that brings out the gold flecks in her glossy waves. The v-neck of the top is just low cut enough to draw his attention to her creamy white skin, but modest enough to still be classy. She's always been a pretty girl decked out in all the latest designer fashions, but right now in a simple t-shirt and jeans, she's the most beautiful girl he's ever seen.

"I don't think you're capable of looking bad in anything, but you… you look beautiful. Don't change."

She's flushing a lovely pink color and biting her bottom lip making them slightly swollen in an irresistible way. As good as she looks in those jeans he thinks she would look better with them off. If he had any less restraint (and no girlfriend with major territorial issues locked up in the basement) he would be tempted to do very naughty things to her that would make most liberals blush.

"Stop undressing me with your eyes," she scolds even though she's beaming inwardly from all the attention.

She knows him too well. He smirks and walks around her to get the whole three hundred and sixty degree view. She's scowling at him again and so he can't help but tease her.

"Who knew it could happen? Blair Waldorf in jeans. Maybe tomorrow you give daisy dukes and a flannel shirt a try."

Her eyes roll heavenward in the usual exasperated manner. "Don't push your luck."

He admires her from behind as she pushes pass him and he comes to the conclusion that she needs to go shopping with Bonnie more often.

xxx

He leans against the door frame, arms crossed at his chest and an appreciative smile playing on his lips as he watches her lean forward to inspect the contents of the refrigerator.

"I was thinking we could go check out some places around town to move Katherine," he suggests as she pours herself a glass of orange juice.

She nods solemnly, not looking up from her mug. There's still some tension from the previous night and the topic of his vampire girlfriend was not an easy subject to broach.

After she finishes her juice and had a bit of toast with strawberry jam they get into his car and cruise into town.

There's a certain nostalgia associated with him driving and her in the passenger's seat. He's reminded of the first time he convinced her to get into his car so he can give her a ride home. She says that if only she hadn't worn her new Prada wedges that day she wouldn't have ever given him a chance in hell. He's glad for the timing of the release of Prada's new shoe line. He remembers their ride here with her making wisecracks about his beloved vehicle only to concede later on that it wasn't half-bad. She always did have a soft spot for the classics. He remembers the million of times that have followed when she asked demanded for a ride to the mall or the dry-cleaners or whatever other errand she needs to do. He's basically her driving bitch and she makes sure he knows it.

He watches her out of the corner of his eyes and decides that he likes how at home she looks. There's just something right about her sitting shotgun in his 1969 Chevrolet Camaro and he can't imagine somebody else sitting there instead of her.

Her back is to him, but she can feel his gaze on the back of her head.

"Shouldn't you be watching the road instead of me?" she says as she watches the buildings blur past by. "If you don't want to run over a pedestrian you might want to focus on driving instead of ogling at me."

She turns around to give him her best I'm-Pretty-and-I-Know-It smile. He smirks, turning his attention back on the road.

After a good fifteen minutes of driving, they pull up to a big white house. A perky plump blonde woman comes bounding out to greet them the moment he turns off the engine.

"Why hello there! I'm Martha! We spoke on the phone. You must be Stefan Salvatore!"

He notices Blair raising one quizzical eyebrow at him before he puts on a big bright smile and shakes hands with the woman.

"Well, come on in! Let me show you the house!"

Before they know it they are both bustled into the house and on a highly detailed tour of the house in question.

As they are walking towards the next destination in the immense house, Blair tugs on his elbow and whispers, "She's grating on my nerves." He opens his mouth to respond, but is interrupted by their overzealous tour guide.

"We've finally arrived to the main attraction! This here is the master bedroom. As you notice, it's quite spacious with an adjacent bathroom and walk-in closet," the woman boasts. "I know how you young couples are. It's the bedroom that makes it or breaks it when it comes to buying a house. After all with you newly weds it's where you'll be spending most of your time." The woman adds some suggestive eyebrow waggling for good measure as if she wasn't being obvious enough.

Blair flushes a hot pink and Damon's smile widens into a broad grin.

"Oh, we're n-" Blair begins, but Damon interrupts her.

He takes her hand in his and strokes it affectionately. "What do you think, honey? Do you think it's big enough to fit our bed?" Turning towards the real estate agent he whispers conspiratorially, "She has a tendency to twist and turn at odd hours throughout the night. Sometimes it's like I'm sleeping next to a tornado. Plus she's a real blanket hogger."

The comments earns him giggles from Martha whilst Blair stands there opening and closing her mouth repeatedly without any sound, incapable of coming up with a good response that wouldn't involve heavy profanity. She settles for smacking him in the arm.

Damon winces as he rubs his arm, but the grin is permanently plastered on his face. "She's a real keeper alright."

The agent laughs at his charming antics before going on with the tour, pointing out the bay window and the hard wood flooring in the room.

"Oh look! There's even a Jacuzzi bath tub!" Damon calls from the bathroom while Martha discusses possible color palettes for the walls with her. "We should definitely give it a spin first thing. I know you have a thing for bubbles." He peeks out from the aforementioned bathroom to give her a suggestive wink. The annoying chortles coming from Martha makes her cheeks burn red.

She wants to kill him.

xxx

"So can I assume that you like the house?" the agent asks hopefully when they finally make it back downstairs.

"Oh yes. We love it," Damon grins.

"Alright then! Let's just get back to the office and sign a few papers."

"Ahh… about that. I don't think that is possible."

"What do you mean?" the woman asks, confused. "You can't buy the house without doing the necessary paperwork."

"Well you see… for the kind of people that we are, a paper trail is kind of… inconvenient."

The woman's face immediately darkens. "I'm afraid then that I can't sell you the house then. I won't risk losing my license with any sort of shady business!"

"Yeah… Don't you worry about that. You won't be doing any selling today I'm afraid." Damon locks eyes with her, stroking her cheek sympathetically. "This house is not hospitable. It's under renovation for the next four months and currently off the market. Nobody should come near it because of all the construction work. You know… flying debris and all. You wouldn't want anyone to get hurt would you?"

"Yes… it's dangerous, inhospitable, under construction," the woman repeats like a parrot.

"You went to work today, but there weren't any clients so you decided to call it a day and go home early. You didn't see anybody."

"I didn't see anybody. Business is slow… I should just go home."

"Yes, why don't you do that, Martha?"

"Yes. I will do that," the woman agrees, her head bobbing like an apple in her eagerness.

The real estate agent turns on her heels and starts marching down the porch steps. She gets into her car and drives away, leaving only a trail of dust in the driveway as the only indication that she was ever there.

"You know… I forgot how easy people can be when I can compel them," Damon sighs as he watches the dust settle. "Why can't you be like that?"

"We wasted a whole day listening to her ramble on about the tiles in the kitchen!"

"They're marble!"

"You could've just compelled her in the beginning!" Blair protests.

"And what fun would that be? We found out that this house has a hidden nook underneath the stairs! How could we have known that if she didn't show us around?"

"You're insufferable!"

"And you need to have a bit more humor," he says as imitating her with his hands on his hips. On a lighter note he adds, "So… want to give that Jacuzzi a test run?"

"I don't think so."

He sighs dramatically, but the smile is back on his face a second later. "Are you hungry?"

Before she even answers he's bounding towards the car and pulling out a picnic basket from the trunk, raising it above his head like a trophy, a goofy grin on his face. It makes her almost forget that she's annoyed with him. Almost.

xxx

They eat on the floor in the middle of the empty living room.

"When did you have time to do this?" She asks, trying to fight the smile tugging on her lips, but losing.

"Don't worry about it. Just eat your sandwich," he commands.

She tosses a grape at him, but she's smiling as she takes a bite out of her sandwich so he doesn't care. She chews experimentally and he's watching her reaction as she swallows.

"How is it?"

"I expected it to be completely inedible, but it's decent I suppose."

It's his turn to throw food at her.

"Hey!"

"I tried to do something nice! The least you could do is pretend to be charmed or impressed. It would be a nice deviation from how difficult you are most days."

"So this was what? A bribe for good behavior?"

"No, this is me trying to show my appreciation for all you've done. You didn't have to help me, but you did. Thank you. I wouldn't know what to do without you."

Truer words have never left his lips. She looks shocked and blinks back at him repeatedly.

"S-stop it. It's embarrassing," she stutters.

"Blair Waldorf, blushing from embarrassment?" he teases.

"I meant it's embarrassing for you," she clarifies smugly before taking another bite out of her sandwich.

The afternoon is spent with them lazing around on the floor, talking about the many quirks of their esteemed real estate agent (such as her habit of picking at her underwear when she doesn't think they're watching), enjoying Damon's culinary skills and exchanging sharp repartees every five minutes.

"What are we doing, Damon?" she asks, her head tilted back to catch the fading sunlight.

"Enjoying ourselves," he answers easily from across from her, watching how the sunset bath her in pretty colors. He really wishes she would stop taunting him with her exposed neck so temptingly.

As if she heard his thoughts her eyes flashes open and she resumes her cross-legged position, her hair falling forward to cover that coveted spot on her throat where her pulse beats the loudest from his view.

"Don't you think Katherine wouldn't appreciate it if you were going about playing house with me all day? She's not exactly the most generous of people."

His mood instantly dampens by her reminder of the reason why they're there in the first place.

"Do you really hate her that much?"

"Doesn't matter how I feel about her. It matters how you feel about her. You love her," she says with a shrug. "I just don't want the homicidal bitch up in my face about our friendship."

"Katherine has nothing to do with our friendship. Her being here… it won't change anything."

She scoffs in reply, "Oh please. It changes everything. She's your girlfriend! And she's not going to like another girl hanging around you. She's already told me as much. Look at what happened with Stefan and Elena for god's sake."

"I'm not going to let her hurt you. Don't worry about that."

"I'm not afraid of her."

"Can't you just let me be chivalrous for once?"

"This is the 21st century. I'm not going to play damsel in distress just so you can feel good about yourself."

"You never do anything 'just so' for anybody."

"You're avoiding the issue here. What is going to happen now? What am I suppose to do?"

His expression is conflicted and she doesn't like making him feel that way, but it's a legitimate problem that they have concerning the return of his old flame (she's putting an emphasis on the old part).

"You stay. For as however long as you want to. We're in this together."

Even as he says it he knows it is naïve, idealistic thinking. Everything she said about Katherine is true and he doesn't really know what to do except that he doesn't want to lose her. It's a dangerous feeling and it continues to grow everyday he's with her. Maybe the solution is that he shouldn't be with her. But that's an even more dangerous thought. Damon no longer recognizes a world without Blair Waldorf in it.

She's tearing up the left over crusts of her sandwich and making a mountain out of them as her thoughts are preoccupied with how long their time together is actually going to last. Probably not much longer if Katherine has any say in the matter. When it comes down to it, she knows he will pick Katherine no matter how close they are or how strong their friendship is. It's about time to start thinking of contingency plans, but he makes it hard when he's making sweet gestures and saying all the things she wants to hear. He's sitting there looking sexier than ever in the orange light of the sunset and all she wants to do is crawl over to him and kiss him, Katherine be damned.

"Is there anything to drink?" she asks to distract herself from the disconcerting thoughts.

He winces. "I forgot."

"You forgot to get drinks?" She repeats, angling a perfectly quirked eyebrow in his direction.

"Hey! I made sandwiches!"

She rolls her eyes in typical Blair fashion.

"What do you say we head to the Grill? It's Happy Hour."

The mention of Mystic Fall's one and only bar suddenly reminds about Nate's early telephone conversation and she takes a quick glance down at her phone. 5:17 PM blinks back at her. Nate had texted her in the morning telling her that he'd be there around six as she was debating whether or not to actually don denim for the first time in her life. Time seems to have had slipped away from her. That idiotic real estate agent wouldn't shut up about every little detail, giving them history lessons on every nook and cranny of the place, so it had taken them hours to finish touring the house.

Damon stands up and extends out a hand to help her up and she hesitates. The day has been mostly wasted, but the one thing that did come out of it was her realization that she has always wanted a big white house (or the Upper East Side variation of it anyways) and everything it represents. For the longest time Nate was the one she wanted beside her when her dream came true, but due to recent circumstances such idyllic fantasies been pushed to the farthest reaches of her mind. She was content with being independent, needing no one and nobody other than herself after Nate's betrayal, but now those desires and longing for somewhere, for someone to belong to comes crashing back after spending the day 'playing house' with Damon of all people.

She acknowledges that without her knowing when or how it started, her feelings for Damon had changed. The problem is she always falls for the guys who are in love with other girls. Damon is no exception.

"Are you tired? Maybe we should just go back," he suggest, noticing her troubled expression.

She knows that they're never going to have a regular relationship that includes house shopping or anything of the like because he's with Katherine, because he's a vampire, because she's not nor does she want to be and because of a million other different reasons. She's tired of wanting things from boys who can't give it to her. Maybe she should learn to fall in love with guys who actually want her and can be with her. Ironically enough right now the guy who wants her is Nate. Timing is funny like that. Blair just wants to be loved for once. She doesn't want to be the girl who keeps on giving her heart away and having it thrown back in her face. She wants something easier, something more natural and less heartbreaking. It's this desire that makes her say what she says next instead of insisting that they go home.

"No. I'm fine. It's been a long day, but what I really need is that drink. Let's go."

xxx

Katherine is sick of playing nice and watching that stupid Blair Waldorf make sideway eyes at Damon. Who the hell did the human think she was anyways? Not that Damon is any better. He is sweet and all, but Katherine is fed up with his romantic notions and his possessiveness. Katherine Pierce wasn't a girl to be tied down by anyone. She didn't leave the tomb to be put into another cage. It's been an entire day and she wants out.

Damon naively thought that a makeshift prison made of iron with silver locks would be enough to keep in a nearly four centuries old vampire of her caliber in. He'd soon learn his mistake.

Once the sky begins to darken, she listens for occupants inside the house and finds none. It's a rather fortunate time window in which Stefan and Elena has yet to come back from afterschool activities and Damon and Blair was still out looking at houses. She steels herself for the impending pain and then proceeds to peel the iron bars back to make a gap large enough to walk through. She ascents the stairs and encounters the locked basement door. With a vicious wrench she tears the silver lock from the heavy oak door. Her hands are severely burnt, but with the Immune blood having passed through her system they heal up quite nicely.

She doesn't go far, because Damon is still her one and only thread to the new world and she might not show it, but the modern world terrifies her. It makes her feel outdated and obsolete and she's not used to not being in control and not knowing everything. She stumbles into the nearest bar and enchants the bartender to give her a shot of whiskey. If anything, alcohol shouldn't have changed much in the past hundred and fifty years and she desperately needs a drink, if only for the intoxicating burn.

Whilst nursing her glass of whiskey, Katherine spots herself some prime meat in the form of one athletically built blonde with pretty blue eyes in a prep school jacket walking through the front doors.

He scans the room as if looking for somebody and ends up disappointed. His searching gaze lands on her and his eyes light up in recognition. He smiles, albeit cautiously, as if he knows her, but doesn't approach. Katherine chalks it up to her resemblance to Elena and thinks that for once having a modern doppelganger has its uses. She sends him a flirtatious smile and biting her lower lip seductively. Hello, dinner.

xxx

He searches the room for Blair's mahogany curls and ruby lips, but finds chocolate eyes that don't match his ex-girlfriend's staring back at him.

Nate is awkward around acquaintances and he's not quite sure how to approach her. Elena was Stefan's girlfriend and Stefan is Damon's brother and Damon very clearly hates his guts so there's that whole mess to contend with. Still… Vanderbilts were taught manners along with their sense of self entitlement at a tender young age, so Nate waves politely when his ex-girlfriend's friend's brother's girlfriend smiles at him. He's used to being nice to strangers.

Katherine takes Nate's greeting as an invitation and sashays her way over.

"Hey."

"Hi."

She's eyeing him flirtatiously and Nate is bit at loss how to react because the last thing he needs is his name on another Salvatore's hit list.

"Hey," Nate repeats dumbly. "Uhh…"

"I'm Katherine."

His shock and subsequent relief is a source of amusement to Katherine and her smile grows into a toothy grin. In a passing thought, Nate notices that her teeth look oddly sharp, like those of a shark or a vampire. He shakes his head to clear the thought and attributes the odd notion as a byproduct of the current vampire fad that has invaded the media as of late.

"I'm sorry, I mistaken you for somebody I know."

"Let me guess… you thought I was Elena Gilbert?"

"Oh! Um… yeah. You know her?"

"I'm her… cousin. We've been told we look a lot alike."

"Yeah, you really do. Sorry about bothering you in the middle of your drink."

"It's no problem. It gave me an excuse to say hi to you."

"Oh."

Nate blushes prettily and Katherine licks her lips.

He scans the room again and comes up empty. He's hoping that he's either early or that Blair is late. He doesn't know what he's actually going to say to her when he does see her, but he wants his life to go back to normal again. Blair had been such a large part of his life, everyday without her feels like something essential is missing.

Katherine is annoyed with the blonde pretty boy's distracted manner, especially since she's standing there sending him all sorts of come hither signals. She coughs to regain his attention when he's fidgeting around, scanning the bar once again.

"Since I told you my name, shouldn't you tell me yours?"

"Oh! I'm sorry. I'm uh, Nate. Nate Archibald," he adds belatedly, extending his hand out for a handshake. Katherine's grin couldn't have grown any smugger.

"So… tell me Nate. How you know Elena?"

She's curious as to how Elena Gilbert could know such a strapping hot piece of specimen. He doesn't look like he's from around here. She could smell the rich city boy scent on him.

"I don't actually. I mean not really… She's Stefan's girlfriend and I met Stefan when I stayed here for a little while. But I don't really know Stefan that well either. I don't know if you know Stefan… but he's the brother of a friend of my girlfriend… well ex-girlfriend. Anyways… Stefan's Damon's brother and-"

"Get to the point," Katherine snaps impatiently stopping the blonde mid ramble. She catches Nate's eye and puts the young Archibald under her spell.

"I'm Blair's ex-boyfriend."

"Blair Waldorf?"

Her interest in the blonde pretty boy immediately heightens due to his association with the pesky Immune.

"Yeah. And Damon and she are friends."

"I'm aware of that," Katherine answers bitterly.

"And Damon's Stefan's brother and Stefan's Elena's boyfriend-"

"Yes, yes. I get the picture," Katherine drawls, interrupting Nate mid ramble.

She taps her martini glass with one elongated finger, her mind swirling with plots. With a smile she leans in closer to Nate.

"So, Nate. Tell me more about Blair."

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing Damon and Blair on their house hunting adventure. So I hope you liked it too! =D I also decided to forgo the whole Stefan/Elena thing. I didn't know how I was going to fit it all in without deviating too much from the Damon/Blair storyline and I know you all just want some hot steamy Damon/Blair action anyways. Next chapter might be out a bit late I'm afraid because I will be doing some traveling. But as a teaser… let me tell you that the next chapter will feature a ****ing scene. ;-) Look forward to it! Thank you for reading! I love reading all your comments/reviews so keep em coming!