Common Misapprehension

by Aikou

"You would have liked me in 1864." In search of a gift for Elena, Damon urges Bonnie to use magic in effort to help him remember where he had hidden his mother's jewelry box in 1864. Instead, the spell erases all of Damon's memories after he hid the box. While Bonnie looks for a way to fix the problem, Elena & Co must re-adjust Damon to modern times, vampirism, and other discoveries about his present life, they come to terms with their own previous judgements of Damon. Set after S:3, E:9, Christmas time.

IV. Modern Times

"Here!" Elena huffed as she released the pile of history books on the desk next to the computer in Jeremy's room, "These should also help as well."

Damon nodded, "Thank you, Miss Elena."

"How many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Elena," she replied softly with a small smile.

She had to admit, she found him strangely adorable how he called her 'Miss Elena'. Immediately, she inwardly shook off the feeling, 'This is Damon we're talking about here!'

He tentatively began sorting through the short pile of books, reviewing their titles, "World Wars?" his eyes widened.

Elena acknowledged his astonishment with a shrug, "Pretty epic, huh?"

"Your brother will not be upset that I am using his electric-powered information processor?"

She giggled at his question, "You can call it a computer. So whenever there's a specific subject you want to know more about in the books, go ahead and use this search website called 'Google,'" she demonstrated to him by moving the mouse and typing on the keyboard, "And no, he won't mind. He's out working on a research project with Alaric."

"This is quite possibly the most incredible technology I've encountered," he remarked thoughtfully and then looked up at Elena and asked, "Alaric? Is he your father?"

Elena dropped her eyelids and frowned, "No… Although he is the closest to any sort of parental figure we have left."

Damon instantly detected the weakness in her voice and caught on, "My apologies, I did not realize-"

"Why would you have?" she interrupted him with a half-smile, "I'm totally fine, it's been over a year now since they passed."

Standing in the bathroom in between Jeremy and Elena's bedrooms, Damon softly knocked on Elena's door. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of her quiet shuffling. He felt heat crawl up his chest and sear his face, realizing he was picturing her getting out of bed. He inwardly panicked as Elena opened the door, "Good evening, I did not realize you had gone to sleep already," he admitted sheepishly, 'Or rather, I was hoping,' he added thoughtfully.

"Don't worry about it," she replied and swung her door open wider, revealing that she was wearing vibrant red flannel pajama shorts, and a red thermal sweater.

The buttons on her shirt were loose, providing a low cut view of her chest. She yawned as Damon's eyes dropped to her torso and hip bone that was unintentionally revealed through the gap between the sweater and the shorts. He raised a brow and felt his palms grow sweaty at the sight of her long smooth legs. He gulped and turned around, "I will wait until you are decent!"

Elena blinked and then looked down at herself, and then laughed, "They're just pajamas," she straightened out her sweater, "Besides," she grabbed his shoulders and swung him around to face her, "We're just friends, and I trust that you're not intending on doing anything."

Damon nervously glanced around the room, determined to look anywhere except at Elena, "Please, Miss Elena."

"Damon, come on, it's okay-"

"No," he cut her off sternly, lowering his face, his eyes gazing at her in the most austere manner, reminding her of the modern vampire Damon.

Noting the fear in her expression, he exhaled with remorse, and placed both his hands on her cheeks to soothe her. He continued with a softened tone of voice, "Elena, I must confess that your beautiful form distresses me. With Katherine it would have been normal to see her dressed with so little. But as you made known to me earlier - you are not Katherine. And I do not wish to view, nor treat you as so. So I ask, in honor of our friendship, that in spite of your century's preference of clothing, would you accommodate my request?"

Elena nodded and Damon smiled and turned back around. As she walked back to her dresser drawers, she noted the intense electric current that had washed over her body during his confrontation.

"So I guess you probably have questions about some cool things you learned?" Elena winked at Damon while turning on the kitchen faucet to pour water in the tea pot.

"Cool?" Damon asked, confused about her use of vernacular.

"Yeah, not as in cold. Today the term is used for something being interesting, or trendy."

"Ah," he grinned, "Cool."

She walked over to the stove and turned on the pilot. Damon jumped, "That was amazing! You just turn the knob and instant fire?"

"You bet!" she placed the tea pot down, "A lot of things are more efficient and quick these days. You don't even have to wash your clothes in a washtub and hang them out to dry. We have machines that do all that for us."

"Cool," he replied once more in awe.

Elena laughed, "There are other words you can use, such as awesome or epic. Those are often used to describe events that may be going in your favor."

"Well, Miss Elena, I must admit I do have a question."

"Hm?" she sat down across from him at the table.

"I checked the date on the computer… and did a few of your 'Google' searches. Why is it you do not have a Christmas tree in your living room? It seems to be a modern occurrence for the holiday."

She frowned, "Well I… it's really just Jeremy and I now. I guess the past year has been too rough with us. I hadn't even thought about decorating the house, much less having the heart to do it."

Damon frowned as well, "That is quite unfortunate. I hear your trees are decorated with electric light bulbs instead of candles. And that they often glow with vivid colors of the rainbow."

She tilted her head surveying the 19th century version of her vampire friend, "Out of all the things you could have researched on the internet, you looked up Christmas trees?"

"Absolutely," he replied as the tea pot began to whistle.

She laughed again, "Damon, you are really not at all what I expected," she got up to turn off the stove pilot.

He shrugged, "I'll take that as a compliment," he thought for a moment about the overviews of his character Caroline had given him earlier that night.

Elena pulled out two plain coffee mugs and poured the hot water. "To be honest," Damon continued, "I had a lot of options in terms of what I could research… but when I saw the date, I remembered the last Christmas I spent with Stefan and father," Damon added, "Today it only seemed relevant I would want to know about yours."

Elena proceeded to empty two packets of hot cocoa into the mugs, and began stirring, "Christmas at the Gilbert home… well, back before we were a broken family… It was a lot of fun. I have a lot of wonderful memories, but you know they're over now."

She grabbed a few marshmallows from a bag on the counter, and letting them plop from her hand into the chocolate mixture, she stirred with a spoon in the other. "I hope you are not concluding that you cannot have more," Damon responded, rather concerned for her emotional state.

She smiled, evading him, "You will like this, have you ever had hot chocolate?"

He shook his head, letting it go, "I am afraid not. But I am delighted to try…" he frowned slightly, "Will it not taste the same?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, bringing him a cup.

"I am a vampire now, as I understand we are meant to only crave blood."

Elena shrugged and sat down next to him with her cup, "Well…" her lips curved into a wide smile as she began to recall a memory, "One time, you, well, when you were 'bad' Damon," she laughed a bit, finding it comical that she had to explain their past in this way, "You kidnapped me-"

He raised a brow, "I certainly hope I did no such thing."

She took a sip of her hot cocoa and relished the sweet taste for a moment, "Looking back now, it was somewhat harmless. But you took me to this bar in Georgia to meet a woman you had an affair with a couple years back-"

Damon groaned, unhappy with this story of himself. She gazed at him for a moment then continued, "Well you were eating french fries and cheeseburgers with me - normal people food. You said that as long as you maintained your blood diet, you pretty much have normal body functions."

With that, Damon grinned excitedly and took a gulp of his hot chocolate.

Damon lie awake on the couch that morning and looked around the living room. He smiled at the conversations he had with Elena last night. He was determined to do something nice for her. Perhaps he could make it all up to her and she would see he wasn't so terrible of a person after all. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut and frowned, smacking his forehead with his hand, "I cannot believe I kidnapped her."

He began to remember other incidents that Caroline had disclosed to him, "And tried to kill her younger brother..."

When he finished his moment of self-loathing, he shook it off and quickly got up. Instantly the weakness in his body encompassed him, and he held on to the coffee table for support. He was famished. He looked up at the refrigerator and sped to the kitchen to open the fridge door. He sighed in relief, remembering that Elena had stored a few packages for him that night - he didn't want to risk anything today. He popped off the lid on one of the crimson packages and began sucking the cold blood down. He absentmindedly kicked the fridge door closed, letting his eyes roll back as the delicious blood nourished his body. He threw the package in the trash can, and stretched. He was ready to execute his well calculated plans for the day.

Author's Note: Please Review and let me know what you thought! What on earth do you think Damon could be up to? ;) Also, help me decide what winter activity you would enjoy reading about most for Elena & Damon… :) Hehe. Hope everyone's had a great Holiday!