Caroline's face was red, and strained from screaming. Blood was pouring out of her mouth. Her beautiful blonde hair was matted with red stains. Bones jutted out in random places. She was so broken.
"Elena, help me," she cried.
It got louder, more intense.
"Elena, they're killing me, help me," she screamed.
Elena jolted awake. She sat straight up in the bed breaking free from Damon's arms. Her breathing was heavy, sweat beaded around her face. Damon slowly started to raise up and look at her. He pulled her back down and into his chest.
"What is it," Damon asked sleepily.
"nothing, it-it was just a dream. I'm okay."
Elena laid her head on his chest and stared at the window. She listened to the sounds of the city. Damon ran his hand through her hair gently. He looked over at the clock beside the bed. 5:34 blinked in red numbers.
"You want to talk about it," he asked.
Elena looked up into his ice blue eyes. He looked like he genuinely cared.
"Not really. I just want to be able to sleep, but I can't. I keep seeing Caroline," she groaned.
"I know, Lena. Just close your eyes. Try not to think about it. If you don't, it's less likely to come back," Damon whispered to her.
He continued to run his fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her. Soon enough, she was asleep again. Her breathing slowed down and her heart beat steadied. He closed his eyes and drifted away also.
Sirens blared on the streets outside, the sunlight peeked through the hotel window. Damon woke up with a big craving. He moved Elena off of him and laid her gently on the pillow next to him. She stirred slightly, but still didn't wake up. He got up and tossed his shirt off to the side. He dug around in his bag for a new one.
"Sneaking off already," Elena laughed.
"No exactly, but I was hoping you'd stay asleep until I got back. I need to go out again. Get some breakfast, find us a place to stay. You know, business stuff," Damon smiled.
"And what do you expect me to do while you're gone, sit here a sulk by myself," Elena cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Well if you insist. I won't be long. We check out of here by 11 anyways, so that's what, three hours," Damon asked.
"I'm coming with you. I want to see the city. I promise I won't smother you, I'll leave you alone when you need it," she was trying to hint at the feeding aspect.
"Later Elena. Now's not a god time. I promise we will everywhere. Just wait here for me," Damon begged.
"No, I'm going with you. We will check out now, and look for apartments, or studios, or anything. We can get breakfast, separately. I can explore. I have my phone, you can call me when you want to meet up again," Elena suggested.
"Elena."
"No, Damon. I'm not waiting around. Either I go with you, or I leave after you do. Your choice."
Elena seemed pleased with herself. She was so hard headed.
"Fine. Be ready to leave soon."
Elena hopped out of bed and ran to her suitcase. Damon took this tie to make his way to the bathroom. A shower would do him good.
Elena pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a long, off the shoulder top. Once she had assured Damon was locked up in the bathroom she changed into her clothes. She fished her brush out, and went to work on her hair. It was naturally very thick, and straight, so she didn't have to work hard to make it manageable. After dabbing a little makeup on, she was ready. Steam rolled out of the bathroom as Damon swung the door open. He walked towards his bag and snatched it up. Elena couldn't help but blush a little at his appearance. A lone towel draped around his hips. His chest was perfectly sculpted, and those abs! He even had a slight trail running from his stomach to areas reaching far below that towel. He could've just stepped out of a magazine he was so perfect.
"You're turning red Elena," Damon laughed.
"It's just a little hot in here is all," she looked away from him, smiling.
"It's ok to look you know, I would be pretty wide eyed too if you came out like this," he teased.
"Damon, hush. Get dressed," Elena couldn't look at him.
She heard a towel drop behind her.
"Very funny, I'm serious, though. Come on," Elena giggled.
"Fine. You're loss," Damon picked up the towel and his bag again and walked into the bathroom.
Elena had to occupy herself by looking out the window again. Not so innocent thoughts had been threatening to creep into her mind. Damon came back out of the bathroom again and went towards Elena. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and placed his chin on her shoulder.
"I was thinking about our plans. You know, it sounds much better to me to just lay here in bed all day," Damon whispered in her ear.
Elena's heart was beating fast. Butterflies filled her stomach.
"But Damon, you promised. Plus, I'm already dressed," Elena argued.
"Well we can always get you redressed," he nuzzled into the side of her neck.
Now she was really blushing. Her face was burning hot. As much as she wanted to give in, she knew there were things they needed to take care of first.
They both gathered their belongings and like a gentleman, Damon carried them down to the front desk for check out. Together they walked to the the car in the lower parking garage and stowed their bags away in the trunk. Damon took Elena's hand and kissed it lightly.
"Where to beautiful," he smirked.
"Well I don't even know where to begin here. I guess breakfast?"
"Mine, or yours," he teased.
Elena raised her eyebrows, she half smiled.
"Too soon for those jokes," Damon laughed.
"Too soon," Elena nodded.
"I'm sorry, let's just go get food. I can wait until later," Damon said.
He took her hand and lead her out into the sunlight of the streets. The sidewalk was packed with people all walking in one direction. Damon and Elena slid into the line easily and quickly tried to keep pace with the rest of the pack.
"Where are we going," Elena shouted above the noise.
"A few more blocks down, there's a pretty nice place," Damon replied loudly.
He never let go of her hand, just kept dragging her along. Elena was mesmerized by everything they passed. There was nothing like this in Mystic Falls. No huge skyscrapers, no abundance of reckless taxis, no parks with huge sculptures. It was all so new. It was all so wonderful. Damon veered off to the side and out of the crowd, pulling her along with him. She laughed as they walked through a small, glass door that read Tonics. They sat down at a booth and picked up a pair of menus.
"Well we both know they don't have what I want here on the menu," Damon grumbled.
"Wouldn't it be something if they actually did," Elena laughed.
A short, red haired waitress came by and took their orders. She was overly perky, so much like a child.
"Good morning. I'm Mary, what can I get you two," she smiled.
"Coffee. Black," Damon answered.
"Coffee also, but a little creamer, and a lot of sugar. Oh and two eggs, scrambled. That's all I think," Elena said shyly.
The waitress left and went into the back kitchen. She returned soon with the coffees.
"Are you from here," she batted her eyes at Damon.
"I've been here once or twice, but no. We are from Virginia. Small town, you know," Damon answered her, but didn't make eye contact.
"Bet it's nice living somewhere like that. Probably not as many rude people as there is here," She grunted.
"It has it's moments," he kept his answers short, urging her to leave them alone.
Eventually after a few more questions and small talk about the weather she did leave. Only to return minutes later with a plate of eggs. She sat it down in front of Elena and began talking again.
"I'm sure I've seen you here before. You used to sit at the bar almost every night, you were a regular, and then one day you left, and just never returned. That was probably, uhh 3 years ago maybe," Mary smiled at him.
"Yeah, that was me. I travel a lot. Don't like one place for too long," Damon was getting annoyed.
Elena was sitting quietly in front of him picking at her breakfast. She couldn't get a word in with Mary standing there jabbering away over anything and everything. The restaurant was pretty empty, considering how busy it was outside. Maybe this could be their thing. They could wake up every morning and come eat breakfast, or lunch, or anything here. Elena smiled to herself just thinking about it.
"What is it Lena," Damon had cut Mary off mid-sentence when he noticed her smile.
"Nothing, just thinking," Elena blushed.
"About what," he questioned.
"This place. Do you think we could find somewhere close to stay? We could come for breakfast every morning then," Elena shyly smiled again.
"We might be able to work something out," Damon smirked.
"Oh, well there's tons of places around here," Mary butted in and started naming off buildings.
Damon followed what she was saying, but Elena was completely lost. She finished her eggs and coffee, and looked at Damon pointedly. She was screaming "lets go" with her eyes. He took the hint and asked for the check. Between Mary rambling and the excited jumping of her stomach, Elena was more than ready to get out and explore. Once everything was taken care of they both got up and walked back to the street. Damon laid his hand lightly on her back gently guiding her through the mass of people. They crossed a few roads and walked down several more blocks before they found themselves at a semi-lush park with a large fountain and metal sculptures scattered around the grounds. They sat together on an empty iron bench. Damon wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"So I was thinking, and Mary said the Ashburn building supposedly had some open condos if you'd like to stay there," Damon pointed to a tall bluish building sitting on the corner across from them.
Elena thought about this, and decided it would be more than perfect. She could get up and run in the park here, go to Tonics for breakfast, and then take on the rest of her days doing whatever needed to be done.
"Yeah, I'd like that. Isn't it going to be super expensive though, shouldn't we find some kind of income first?"
"Elena, you don't need to worry about money. Let's leave it at that," he whispered.
"But what if I get bored, I'd much rather get a job, set up a routine if we are going to be staying here," she pushed.
"Elena, you can do whatever you like here, but first, let's just get settled in for a few days," Damon compromised.
"Don't you need to, uh, get breakfast," she looked up at him.
"I'm ok, I'll go later. Let's get a place first, then I'll go. It's not good for beautiful a woman like you to be alone in such a crowd."
"Well come on then. Let's get started so you can take me sightseeing later," Elena laughed.
A/N: Sorry! This was completely just a filler chapter! I promise it'll get more interesting again, but some of these are necessary!