Sleeping Arrangements

Just a little something that I had hidden away in my files ever since I read the first SPOILERS for Season 2, Episode 3. I'd so love to see something like this happening in that episode.

Since I ship both Damon/Elena and Damon/Alaric I couldn't decide on which road to take for this. So in the end I just stayed clear from both possibilities and kept the outcome open for you to imagine. And, no... there won't be any kind of sequel to this, it's a simple one-shot.

Vampire Diaries is not my show. So sadly I don't own the characters or anything. If I did we'd definitely see more Damon/Alaric on the show.

"One double, one single. That's all we got left."

"You've got to be kidding me," Elena threw an annoyed glare at the beer-bellied man behind the registration desk of the run-down hotel they'd just stopped at. With his rather doubtful sense of personal hygiene – his shirt held several stains of dirt and something that looked like pizza sauce and he reeked of beer – he suited the shabby place just fine.

"One double, one single," the man repeated in bored voice. "Take it or leave it, Missy."

Before Elena could reply Damon's voice sounded from right behind her.

"It's perfect, we'll take it."

Elena swirled around and faced the smirking vampire. "Oh no, we won't!"

"Yes, we will," Damon nodded and motioned for the man to hand over the keys. He reached around Elena's body to grab them, invading her personal space in the process, and Elena tilted her head back instinctively. Her brown eyes gleamed dangerously.

"Damon!"

Damon stared back, not stepping away from her. "Elena, you and Rick both need to rest and this is the only hotel on our way. So it's either this place or sleeping in the car again."

He waggled a finger in front of her face when Elena opened her mouth.

"And believe me," Damon cut her off, "I'd be the last person in the world to turn you down if you'd suggest a nice hot backseat groping session, but I think we should wait till we're alone. Otherwise Rick here could get jealous, you know?"

Damon raised an eyebrow at the teacher by his side. "Or are you the type who likes to watch those kind of things, Rick?"

When Alaric remained silent but simply gave him a pointed stare, Damon's eyes focused on Elena once more. She'd finally found her voice again.

"You are unbelievable, Damon!"

"I know," Damon nodded smugly. "And thanks for agreeing with me."

"I wasn't… I didn't mean," Elena hissed annoyed. "I'm not agreeing with you on anything, Damon. I didn't go on this little road trip because you wanted me to come, you know? I only went because Stefan thinks it's safer for me to stay away while Katherine's running around town, pretending to be me. And while I hate to leave my family in danger like that, I agree with Stefan on that it's better this way. But don't think for one second that I'm gonna…"

Elena had gotten really worked up by now but she couldn't help it. She hadn't slept in three days and that plus the constant worry about what was going on in Mystic Falls in their absence had made her cranky. On top of that their little field trip to the Duke University to get their hands on Isobel's research material on vampires had turned out to be a complete waste of time. They hadn't found anything helpful regarding Katherine.

Instead they'd wasted three days being crammed together in Damon's car (for he'd refused they'd take Alaric's much more spacious and comfortable SUV – like it was beneath the great Damon Salvatore to be seen in a car that didn't scream 'chick magnet' on first sight) and Elena had been forced to watch Damon and Alaric exchange taunting jibes and weird banter twenty four seven. Really, the amount of verbal sparring these two had thrown back and forth in the last few days went beyond anything Elena had ever witnessed. Even among friends. Not that either of them would ever admit to being that, Elena knew they'd rather die than acknowledge what was plain to see for everyone else.

In fact, Elena suddenly thought, if it weren't for the fact that Alaric was seeing Jenna and that Damon was in love with her – although he'd never really confirmed or denied it – Elena would have easily believed those two stubborn men to have fallen for each other. The constant bickering and biting truly bordered on heavy flirting.

They behaved exactly like she and Damon had before everything had changed on Founder's Day. Before Katherine had come back.

Those few days that had led up to Founder's Day, with the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, their dance, and the time she'd spent at the boarding house while taking care of Stefan… she and Damon had gotten on really well then. They'd been friends, they'd joked and fought, Damon had flirted and she had resisted, Damon had flirted some more and she had resisted less… and then Founder's Day had happened and everything had changed after that.

Damon had changed.

And Elena had to admit that she missed it. She missed the old Damon.

Sure, he still dropped lewd comments every now and then, like earlier when he'd said that thing about a backseat groping session, but Elena could tell that it was different somehow. Damon's heart just didn't seem to be in it anymore these days.

Not that she wanted his heart to be in it. Or, did she?

Elena wasn't sure what she wanted anymore. When Damon had constantly been flirting with her she'd put a stop to it (for Stefan's sake, a tiny voice in Elena's head suddenly piped up) and now that he'd apparently turned his attention to somebody other than her she didn't like it either.

Was she jealous?

Elena frowned, deeply confused by the direction her thoughts had taken. And why the heck was she thinking about this now of all times? Didn't she have more important things on her mind?

Like… what had it been Damon had just said to her? Elena had seen his lips moving but she hadn't heard a word, too lost in the weird corners of her mind.

"Ugh, what?"

Damon had waved a hand in front of Elena's face for quite some time now. "Geeze, Elena," he smirked, "I know that I'm hot but could you at least try to finish that sentence before you go on eating me up with your eyes?"

Elena finally snapped out of her trance. "I'm not…" she lowered her eyes to the ground and took a deep breath before she went on: "I'm not eating you up with my eyes, Damon. In fact you're not as gorgeous and irresistible as you think…"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Alaric suddenly threw in from the side. Two heads shot around and two sets of eyes, one brown and one blue, stared at him in utter shock.

Damon's face quickly changed though and it showed a big self-satisfied grin. "A-ha! I knew you'd eventually warm up to my irresistible charms. So you think I'm gorgeous?"

Alaric's eyes went suddenly wide as if he'd realized only just then what he'd confessed to. He quickly composed himself again though.

"No," he stated calmly. "I think you're a dick. I was referring to Elena eating you up with her eyes. She did, just like she's done it for the last three days. "

"Oh, sure," Damon smirked knowingly at the same time as Elena stomped her foot and cried: "I did not eat him up with my eyes! What the hell is wrong with you guys? You two have been the ones constantly flirting with each other!"

"Simmer down, Elena. There's really no need to get jealous," Damon held up a hand to stop her rant. As much fun as it would be to get deeper into this special topic – at least for him, he doubted the other two saw it just like that - they had more pressing issues to tend to right now.

"And you," Damon addressed Rick instead. "Save your observations for later, okay? I'm sure they'll make great pillow talk and I can't wait to hear more..."

"Pillow talk?" Elena cut in once again. "What do you… does it mean that you're not… I mean, are you saying you're gonna share a room with him?"

Was it simply wishful imagination on his part or had Damon really traced a sliver of jealousy in Elena's voice just now?

"Why, Elena, what did you think?" Damon's eyes blazed with mirth. "Of course you'll get the single room, seeing as you are the only lady in our lovely trio. Rick and I are nothing but perfect gentlemen, so we leave the single for you and will have to do with sharing a bed."

"Oh," Elena stammered, clearly taken aback. The prospect of having the single room to herself took all the wind out of her sails. She'd not expected this… good behavior from Damon. She was about to do something completely stupid, namely apologize for her earlier outburst, when Damon managed to blow all his just-earned good points by being his smug self. He leaned close to her ear and whispered seductively: "Do you want me to share a room with you? Just say the word and I'll ditch Rick in a heartbeat."

Elena's shoulders stiffened and she took a step away from him, face blushing furiously. "No! Of course not!"

"Well," Damon shrugged carelessly, "your loss, not mine."

A bit louder he added to no one in particular: "So, now that the sleeping arrangements seem to have been settled to everybody's discontent… let's go upstairs." Damon winked, dangled the keys in front of Elena's face once and quickly pulled them out of her reach when she tried to get hold of them. He strolled away to where a narrow flight of stairs led to the rooms on the first floor.

Elena and Alaric shared a look that spoke volumes before they let out an identical sigh and followed the vampire.

This road trip sure as hell couldn't end soon enough for their liking.

The End

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