Chapter One-Hundred and Six

                                    

                                          
Outside of a motel room in Denver, Damon peers into a vending machine as he tries to decide what it is he wants to get out of it. Jeremy lingers at his side with his own candy bar. For how anti-social Damon can be with people outside of Cassandra, he does actually like being around Jeremy. He's not as annoying as Damon makes him out to be. 
"What are you looking for?" Jeremy asks and Damon lets out a breath through his nose as he searches through the contents of the vending machine. 
"I have a craving for something spicy," Damon admits. "It's Cas" He looks at Jeremy. "This bond thing we have, every now and then, we share things like that...."
"So does she ever crave blood?" Jeremy asks, Damon raises an eyebrow and leans back as he considers this. He hasn't thought about it before. But surely if it works like this for him, then every now and then she might feel his craving for blood. 
"I don't know" He admits and hums a little. There have been moments when he's been craving blood when she'll suddenly appear and she'll have her hair pulled back and she'd encourage him to bite her, maybe those moments are her feeling that from him. "Maybe" Jeremy points at the vending machine. 
"She likes the atomic fireballs when she's craving spicy candy" Jeremy offers. "Or the cinnamon jawbreakers" Damon presses the buttons on the machine to get out some fireballs. "It's been what?" Jeremy asks. "A year?" 
"Since?"
"Since you and Cas started dating" 
"Oh" Damon realizes and shrugs. "I don't know, it's not like there was an official date that we started" He takes a breath and thinks about it. He doesn't really know when he would say they started dating. Maybe when he first called her his girlfriend, back when he was being held captive by Elizabeth Forbes and her deputies. Maybe when they first slept together. Their first kiss. He doesn't know where it actually counts from. They haven't ever needed labels. They are just them together. And if labels come, they come when they do. "We just fell into it" Jeremy hums a little and stares at Damon. "What?" 
"Nothing" Jeremy answers and then heads back towards their motel room. Damon frowns at his back before he shakes his head. He turns and takes the fireballs out of the machine, opening up the packet to satisfy Cassandra's bond craving. He turns around to find Elena now standing there. He pulls a face in annoyance. 
"What do you want?" He asks her. He left the motel room to get away from the way she was watching him and trying to provoke conversation. It's been a long day, he misses Cassandra, and he didn't have the patience to sit there and ignore her. But now she has followed him out here. Elena lurches forward and kisses him causing Damon to immediately stiffen. Not really surprised by this as it has been something he and Cassandra predicted could happen, but still a little surprised that she actually did it. He grabs her arms and pushes her back. Removing her from him. "What are you doing?" Damon scolds her, holding her away from him, literally keeping her an arm's length away.
"I thought that you..." Elena starts, reaching out to touch his zip. "Wanted..."
"Why?!" He asks her, because he is sure he has not been putting out any signals towards her regarding sexual or romantic feelings. For him, from the start, it was Cassandra that he pursued. Stefan had Elena and sure, in the beginning, Damon did only gravitate towards Cassandra because of that, because of Ally too, but even when real feelings came in, he stuck with Cassandra. He's never made an approach on Elena. "Why would you think that?" Elena shrugs a little. Damon shoves her back, releasing her arms. "Okay" He whispers. "Don't do it again" He states and pulls his phone out as it pings with the arrival of a text message. "There is nothing here" He motions with his phone between the two of them. "At all, okay? I tolerate your existence because of how much I love Cassandra" He is firm in his words, hoping that they are going to get through to her. "Barely" He adds. "I have absolutely no interest in you in any way" He points at her with his phone and then walks away. He scoffs and shakes his head before he looks down at his phone to read the message sent to him. 
.......
For the first time in a long time, Damon finds himself in Cassandra's dream-scape. He honestly thought it was just something that had passed as her magic and powers evolved. Clearly not because here he is. Cassandra stands in the dream version of their bedroom, though there is something so much more luxurious about it. Everything appears softer and sharper. He draws his fingers down her back and she lets out a soft breath before she leans into his chest allowing him to kiss her cheek and curls his arm around her waist, his hand resting on her stomach. It feels like they have been apart far longer than they have. This bond hates distance. So does he, if he's honest. He hates being away from her. She hums a little as she closes her eyes, the two of them lingering there a moment, just enjoying each other's presence, even in a dream. Cassandra then turns to face him, wrapping her arms around his waist to clutch to the back of his jacket. He nudges her nose before he kisses her, hands curling around her face as he deepens it. He's trying to erase Elena from his mouth. He needs to get rid of that memory by replacing it with Cassandra instead. He doesn't want that memory in his head any more. He pulls back from her and lets out a relaxed breath as he brushes his thumbs across her cheeks and smiles at her. 
"Hey" He greets softly, she reaches up and curls her fingers around his wrist. 
"Hey" She counters and he leans forward to press his forehead to hers. "I take it being on the road with my siblings isn't all that entertaining?" She asks him and he snorts. 
"They are not you" He answers and she hums in agreement, stepping away from him. "You okay?" He asks her, she hums and nods to herself as she moves and sits on the bed, leaning back on her hands. In this dream-scape, she at least doesn't have a broken wrist to contend with, though she can feel it, it still aches. 
"Yeah, I'm fine," She admits and then shrugs. "Though my wrist is starting to kill me...."
"Then go to Stefan for blood" Damon tells her softly. "I will allow it this time" He teases a little. She shakes her head in disagreement because she wants to stick to the deal they have. 
"It feels weird to go to someone else" She argues and leans up as he moves closer to her, gently poking her nose with a smile. She rolls her eyes fondly at the affection. He then leans back a little and nods to himself.
"Soooo" He starts and then lets out a breath but doesn't elaborate.
"Soooo?" Cassandra asks him, pushing for whatever this is going to be. Though she has a feeling she already knows what he is going to tell her. They share a bond that is magical. Things are just immediately understood. 
"Elena kissed me" He admits and Cassandra hums a little. That is not all that surprising. She thought that if Elena would try, it would be on this road trip, when she is basically alone with Damon. "Cas?" Damon asks, touching her chin. 
"Yeah, I heard" She answers and shrugs a little. That he's telling her, means he feels no guilt, and she isn't getting any reverberation of that from him. 
"She just...." He stops and then snorts. "I thought she'd be more subtle with it but she just sort of lunged..." He motions with his hand and pulls a face. "And seemed genuinely confused at my rejection.." 
"I don't know what's going on with her" She admits and pinches the bridge of her nose. "All of this with Stefan and...." She scoffs. "I don't even know how to feel about this, or her, anymore" Damon crouches in front of her, touching her knees softly. 
"You don't have to make excuses for her, Buttercup" He whispers. "It's not your responsibility to apologize for her" She glances at him. "She's an adult and she is behaving like a child" She nods in agreement, reaching up and brushing her fingers through his hair. He hums a little, leaning into her touch. "She betrayed you, you are allowed to feel angry about that" 
"I don't feel anything," She admits sadly. "I knew it was coming. I've seen the person she's turned into...." She shakes her head and scoots back on the bed. "Lay with me before we wake?" She asks him, scooting back to lay on the bed. He lets out an overly dramatic sigh and then nods. 
"If I have to" He teases already climbing onto the bed, she smiles and gets comfy behind him as he lays down. Tucking herself into his side and resting her head on his chest. His arm wraps around her back and waist, pulling her closer still.