A/N: Thank you for all the birthday wishes and the love, guys - right back at you!

I'm really happy that some of you are enjoying Damon and Maya so much, and that you all sound excited about their little getaway! Since I can't say it better than Trucy-Sparia, I'm just gonna quote her: "Road trip. YEAHHH" part two! Happy reading! ;)

PS. I'm starting a poll here to see if you'd be interested in me posting a pic of someone I think is the closest to what Maya would look like on my Tumblr and Twitter... Let me know if you wanna see that! ;)

PS2. Happy Birthday Tbellss! Your wish has been granted... ;P

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work.

"So…how are we supposed to rob a hospital in broad daylight, again?" I asked, unconvinced.

"By walking through the front door."

"I'm sorry, what?" I turned my head toward the driver's seat to check and see if Damon was showing any sign of whether or not he had completely lost his mind.

"As you can see, there are security cameras at the back entrances. And since you can't use vampire speed, that's a no-go. Sneaking around would draw a lot more attention to us than just walking inside the building as visitors." From the tone he was using, it was clear that he thought of himself as a smarty pants.

"I'm not feeling this."

"You don't know anything about robbery, so trust me when I say it'll work. This isn't my first rodeo, you know."

"What about when we're inside?" I insisted, ignoring his cockiness.

"I'll just compel someone to kindly indicate the way to the blood storage refrigerators."

"Just like that, huh?"

"Ready?" he asked, waving his eyebrows. I groaned reluctantly but stepped out of the car anyway. He opened the trunk and pulled a giant gym bag out of it.

"What's with the bag?"

"You expect us to just walk out of this hospital with blood bags stuffed under our arms?" He closed the trunk and the mocking grin twisting his lips came into view.

"I meant why does it look like you've already filled it, smart ass!"

"We wouldn't want to raise suspicion by walking out of the building with a filled bag that looked empty when we walked in, now would we?"

"What's in it?"

"Just paper. Come on, let's go." I frowned and stuffed my hands in my pockets in frustration before following him obediently through the parking lot.

"Could you try to act a little bit more natural?" he chided me dryly.

"Do you really expect people to be all smiling when they have to visit someone who's sick or dying?"

"Damn it, Maya...you can be so annoying sometimes!" he gritted out. "Could you give me some credit? I know what I'm doing and everything is going to be fine!" I shot him a quick side-glance, but stayed silent for a few seconds afterward.

"Okay. It's just…we're going to rob a hospital. Not only is this illegal, but it's also completely unethical!" I exclaimed in defense. "Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a better solution than you guys slowly draining every human being around Mystic Falls, but don't expect me to enjoy this."

"Oh but you're going to enjoy it…" He winked playfully and entered the lobby. I rushed behind him and stuck to his heels, trying my very best to look innocent. I had already killed many vampires and helped thwart evil master plans, yet I still felt like a little girl about to steal her first piece of candy. We had almost reached the elevator when a firm voice called us out from behind.

"Where do the two of you think you're going?" I froze instantly and grabbed Damon's sleeve. He shot me a reassuring glance and turned around.

"We're here to visit someone. Is there a problem?" He flashed one of his most charming smiles to the sinister nurse who was now standing in front of us.

"Breaking news, this is not Grand Central Station. You need to be registered first." Before Damon had a chance to step closer and compel her, the nurse had already turned around and was walking toward the front desk. Damon eventually followed her, but I stayed where I was, thinking that it was wiser to let him deal with this situation.

In the meanwhile, I looked around, searching unconsciously for a way out of this mess- and anything that could help us pass the dragon in charge of sign-ins.

Damon was having great difficulty to compel her, since she was constantly busying herself with files and medical charts, not bothering to look at him even once. Using my super-hearing to listen in their conversation, I realized that the nurse wanted a name. A very loud voice suddenly pulled me out of my concentration. I turned my head around quickly to locate the person who seemed to talk right in front of me, but was nowhere to be found. It confused me for a second before I realized that the male voice I was hearing was coming from the floor right above my head. It seemed like a doctor deep in discussion with a colleague. Having a feeling that it could be useful, I decided to push the accidental eavesdropping further. There were a lot of distracting noises, but I managed to listen to snippets of the conversation going on. …Mrs. Hastings for her angiography… 82 years old, make sure to explain her everything clearly.

I snapped back to reality and checked to see if Damon had finally managed to compel our way in. He was still arguing with the nurse, and from his body language, I could tell he was very close to breaking her neck right there and then.

"Da…ve!" I thought just in time that it could be wise to use fake names. "Come on…why don't you just tell the lady what she needs to know?" I said in a soft patronizing tone once I had joined him in front of the desk, then snaked my arm around his. "Please, excuse my brother. He has not exactly been himself since we heard about Granny's condition…" I explained diligently to the nurse, with what I hoped was an angelic expression on my face. I saw Damon turning his head toward me out of the corner of my eye, and I could feel the holes he was burning into my skull. "She's Mrs. Hastings. We're her grandchildren," I continued, silently willing Damon to go along with my lie. "I believe she's in cardiology?"

"Why didn't you say that right from the start? It would've spared me some precious time." She glared darkly at Damon before checking her list of patients. "Room 137."

"Thank you ma'am." I gave her an exaggerated smile and dragged Damon away by his arm. We had barely taken three steps when the dragon called out to us again. I stopped and cursed inside my head.

"What's in the bag?" she asked sternly. Damon turned on his heel to face her again.

"Clothes for our Granny." He let the strap slide casually along his arm and held the bag out toward her. "Do you want to check?" She seemed to hesitate for a second but finally let us go.

As soon as the elevator doors closed on us, I let a heavy and relieved sigh escape my lips.

"I'll just compel someone to show us the way to the refrigerators, huh?" I mocked in irritation.

"Well, we're in, right?" I couldn't believe he was pulling the smug act after his epic fail.

"No thanks to you."

"Dave?" he articulated with a sneer.

"What? I improvised."

"How did you come up with all those details anyway?" he inquired, curious. I wasn't fooled by his attempt to change the subject, but I focused on the lie I had prepared for him, already knowing that he would ask.

"I overheard a guy in the lobby talking on his phone about his grandmother. He had a name tag saying Hastings on his shirt, so I took a chance…" I declared, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Fortunately for me, the doors opened before he could ask any further questions, and the doctor entering the elevator ended the conversation for good. Once the doors were closed, she pushed one of the buttons and asked us what floor we were going to. Damon suddenly invaded her personal space and looked at her straight in the eye.

"Where are your blood supplies?"

"On the lower level. Next to the morgue," the doctor replied, compelled to answer.

"Do we need an access card?" Hearing him ask this question made me realize that he really didn't have the slightest plan prepared for robbing this hospital.

"No. Just a password to type on the elevator panel," she explained laconically.

"You're going to give me the password and forget you ever saw us," he ordered her. "Oh, and honey…you should show more cleavage. Hiding those boobs is really a shame." I punched his shoulder before he could say anything else.

"Ouch! What is wrong with you?" He rubbed his shoulder and shot me a surprised look over it. "Have you been pumping iron lately?" I was about to give him a snarky comment when I realized that he was actually serious. I frowned, suddenly worried that my senses might not be the only things evolving lately. I pushed the thought quickly to the back of my mind and focused on Damon again.

"Yes, I'm training for Ms. Olympia," I covered up with sarcasm. "Stop messing with her head! And with her body."

"Party pooper. It would do her some good, you know…"

"She's a doctor, Damon."

"Fine." He sighed theatrically and made her reveal the password. Once the elevator reached her floor, she disappeared through the doors, already forgetting that she had even met us. Damon typed in the code and pushed the lower level button. When the doors finally opened on our floor, I stepped forward and carefully popped my head out of the elevator. While I was checking to see if there were any hospital staff walking around, I felt Damon press his chest against my back to look over my shoulder.

"Are we clear, Robin?" he whispered in a conspirator's voice. I couldn't restrain a chuckle, but nudged him in his stomach nonetheless. I was cautious not to use too much strength this time.

"Seriously Damon, you're a vampire and you're referring to yourself as Batman?"

"What? The guy gets to bang Catwoman. I'd say that's enough of a reason to want to be him."

"And we all know how much you love cats…" I mumbled under my breath.

"Loved, as in past-tense, thank you very much," he shot back dryly, a look of warning in his eyes. "Are you going to move your ass at some point, or are we going to stay in this elevator all day?"

I finally stepped out and followed Damon down the hallway. He stopped in front of the door next to the morgue and pushed it open.

"Bingo." There were at least six refrigerators waiting for us there.

"How long is this going to take you?" I asked, a bit nervous.

"Ten minutes. Tops."

"I'll watch the hallway. Keep your ears open for my signal, in case anyone comes in this direction."

"That shouldn't a problem. I'm Batman, remember?"

"Stop being an idiot and hurry up! I don't want to witness you compelling yet another person to strip for you this time." I gave him a pointed look and shut the door behind me.

After a couple of minutes, I heard footsteps coming my way from the end of the hallway. I leaned against the wall and hid behind the water dispenser. Luckily, the man turned into the first hallway on the left and was too immersed in his reading to notice me.

"Hurry up, Damon." I whispered loud enough for him to hear me on the other side of the wall.

"Yeah, yeah…you really make a terrible thief," I heard him mock me. Too bad I wasn't supposed to be able to hear him, because I was itching to tell him what was really on my mind. Another set of footsteps pulled me out of my bickering thoughts. I looked for the origin of the sounds, and this time, the person was walking right towards me. I knew Damon could easily compel the unwelcome visitor if needed, but three other voices came to me from the distance. I couldn't tell where they were heading yet, but I was certain that compelling four people at the same time would be unnecessarily risky.

"Damon. There's a guy coming this way. He has an icebox in his hand. It can't be good," I murmured quickly. "I'm going to distract him, but I don't know for how long it's going to work. Get the fuck out of there."

I stepped out from behind the dispenser and poured myself a glass of water. I was doing my best to act dazed.

"Excuse me, Miss? What are you doing here?" the man asked me, but I purposely ignored him. "You can't be here. Miss? Miss," he insisted, and when he finally touched my arm, I pretended to be startled. I gave him the best confused-puppy-eyes I could pull off.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but you can't be here. This level is for staff only," he explained gently. I broke eye contact with him and looked around like I was completely lost.

"I…oh. I'm sorry. I needed coffee and…I just found this water dispenser, I didn't…" I was trying really hard to embody the perfect damsel in distress, and from his affected expression, it was working without a doubt.

"It's okay, Miss." He talked to me in a soothing tone, and put his arm kindly around mine to lead me to the elevator. "I'm going to take you up to the lobby, alright?"

I followed him docilely but walked as slowly as I could, buying Damon some time. We hadn't made it halfway down the corridor when I saw a big hand crash on my companion's shoulder from behind. He jumped violently and turned around to meet another pair of icy blue eyes.

"Sorry buddy, but she's with me." Damon walked closer and stared deeply into his eyes. "You're going to do whatever you came down here to do and forget everything about the little lady here and myself. Do you understand?"

"I'm going to forget about the two of you. I understand."

"Good! Come on, sweetie…let's go." He locked his arm firmly around my waist and practically carried me to the elevator. I didn't know what got into him, but I pushed him away as soon as we entered the elevator.

"I can walk by myself, thanks. I was just pretending to be lost and confused," I pointed out in annoyance.

"And that was one hell of an act! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're a natural born liar." He had an amused smirk on his lips, but his eyes were searching my face for an answer I wasn't ready to give.

"One of the perks of being gay. You quickly learn to lie to survive…" I could have used any other excuse, but for some reason, I felt the need to remind him that I was still very much playing for the other team.

"I'm impressed! You should consider a career in acting," he teased, giving me a conniving look.

"I wasn't going to stick with robbery, anyway…" He laughed lightly at my joke.

"Admit that you enjoyed it."

"I didn't."

"Liar."

"I didn't!"

"Come on…not even a little bit? You did a damn good job for someone who didn't enjoy it." He stared at me without blinking, and the joyful glint in his eyes made it impossible for me not to laugh.

"Fine! But just a little bit…" The elevator doors finally opened, and we walked out of the hospital without a hitch.

During the next three hours, I listened to Damon trying to convince me that I had actually had a blast committing my first raid, and then I bickered with him over the radio. When it started to become dark outside, he surprised me by leaving the highway and entering a rather large city for the area. I realized why he was making this detour when he pulled the car in front of an Italian restaurant. I wasn't sure if he knew Italian was my favorite food, but it raised another red flag in the back of my mind.

I had barely eaten the last spoon of my dessert when Damon took me completely off guard.

"I'm going to pay the bill while you go change in the ladies room."

"What? That's why you told me not to leave my backpack in the car?" I asked accusingly.

"Obviously. Like I would be afraid of thieves...we're in the middle of nowhere, sweetie." He gave me a condescending smile, clearly pleased by his little stunt.

"Oh please…this place is way bigger than Mystic Falls."

"Ever heard of Southern hospitality?"

"That didn't stop you from robbing a hospital."

"True. But less talking, more doing. Go get changed!" He tapped a few times on the table to rush me.

"You expect me to come out of the restrooms all slutty-sexy and cross the entire dining room of this lovely family restaurant?" I asked dryly.

"Who cares? The only reason why they're going to be giving you judging eyes is because they wish they could be your date." He winked at me and got up. "I'll wait for you at the car."

Before I could argue any further, he disappeared toward the front desk, leaving me alone with my backpack. I sighed in surrender and grabbed it to go change.

I locked the door of the small bathroom behind me, and pulled out the clothes of my bag. The dark blue top I had chosen didn't allow a bra, so I tossed my shirt and the piece of lingerie on the sink. Once I had removed my shoes and pants, I slipped my party outfit on. After hesitating for a few seconds, I finally pulled the black tie out of my hair and released my thick mane. I ran my fingers through it and, without much effort, got a perfect bed head style. Stepping backwards, I studied myself in the mirror.

The draped neckline of my halter-top was showing off my shoulders, and was offering a bit of cleavage too. Since it was also backless, I turned around to check the result. It was surely showing a lot of skin. My entire back was bare. The jean shorts were making my legs appear endless, and its cutoff style was matching my untied military boots.

I hadn't dressed like that since my parents died. I wasn't sure that the girl I was seeing in the mirror was still inside me somewhere. But I joined Damon on this trip to have fun and take my mind off things, and so far, he had succeeded in both departments. Maybe he could help me bring this side of me back to life, at least for one night. I needed it.

Finally snapping out of my thoughts, I decided to put on the final touch and squatted down to grab my make up bag. I wasn't in the mood for extravagance, knowing that my outfit would probably catch enough gazes as it was already. I only drew a thin black line under my eyelids and applied some mascara to increase the length of my lashes, making my blue eyes pop. When I was satisfied with the final product, I gathered my things and stuffed them into my backpack before leaving the restrooms.

I kept my eyes locked on the exit doors while crossing the dining room, doing my best to ignore the stares. When I finally came out, Damon was casually leaning against the passenger door of his car, typing on his phone. He raised his head when he heard me coming and froze instantly. His reaction surprised me, and I couldn't help but to stand awkwardly on the sidewalk as his wide eyes roamed over my entire figure.

I had never really been shaken by ogling men. Not that I ever particularly enjoyed seeing lust shining in their eyes, but there was nothing I could do to stop them. As long as they kept their distance, I could deal with it. But the way Damon was devouring me with his eyes at the moment was making me utterly uncomfortable. I could read intense desire in them, but also marvel and something else I refused to acknowledge. I cleared my throat and gestured at him to move so I could get inside the car. This seemed to make him snap out of his haze.

"Wow…you're smoking hot," he said bluntly, eyeing me once again.

"Thanks." I busied myself by opening the rear door and throwing my backpack on the backseat.

"How come that I've never seen you dressed like that before?"

"Maybe because it would be overkill to wear this at the Grill?" I replied wittily.

"Such a shame…I'm glad you respected my clothing advice." The satisfied smirk plastered on his lips was a little too wicked for my taste.

"Well, I kept my part of the bargain. Doing what I'm told and all."

"And you're very right to do so!" He waved his eyebrows at me, and stood up to walk merrily toward his side of the car.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, feeling a sudden burst of distrust.

"I guess you'll have to come with me if you want to find out…"