This was written for the 2014 A2A Holiday Exchange on LiveJournal for a prompt written by txvdfan. I hope I did your prompt justice.

Prompt: . It's the Christmas season, and it's the first year that Elena has spent away from Mystic Falls. She has a job in New York City that's keeping her from going home for Christmas. In a chance encounter, she runs into Damon in a corner coffee shop (it's up to you if they've met or not…personally, I'm thinking not, but it's your story). Before he can get her name or where she works/lives, she ducks out into the street, but Damon had enough time to see that Elena was miserable.

Damon sets out to do two things - find Elena again, and show her how magical Christmas in NYC can be.

Rating's up to you, but I want SNOW, a trip to Rockefeller center, and the Macy's Christmas windows in the story.

Thanks! Hope y'all have fun with this one.

Enjoy! Read and Review!

I was so pissed off. So pissed off I couldn't even think straight as I stalked into the Starbucks on the corner after work. This would be the first year I wasn't able to go home for Christmas. What sort of evil bitch tyrant keeps you working straight through Christmas so she can go to some plastic surgery retreat. The bitch was making me stay behind to make sure everything goes smoothly. I think it's time I find a new publishing firm to work for. Being the assistant to someone like her is quickly ruining my life. Two months ago it ruined the only relationship I've ever been in. Granted I'm happier now, experiencing the single life in New York City is a lot of fun. Now she's making me miss Christmas in Mystic Falls. I told her that I would need Christmas off and she approved it, only to take it back this afternoon. The lineup at Starbucks was really long and I tapped my foot impatiently waiting for the line to move. It seemed the existence of everything today was designed to make my life miserable. It was one of those days. One of those days that I would do anything to crawl into bed and lay there until everything went right again. The lineup was moving oh so slowly and I wasn't in the mood for this. But alas, the need for coffee was stronger, so there I was... for the foreseeable future it would seem.

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Damon POV

I was standing in line waiting impatiently for a chance to order a cup of coffee when I dark haired whirlwind in a white jacket tried to breeze past me. Instead she bumped me and sent her coffee spilling down the front of her coat.

"Shit!" She cursed and I could immediately see the misery in her eyes. Anyone who looked that upset had to be having the worst kind of day.

"I'm so sorry." I said reaching for some napkins so she could clean herself up. Now that I had gotten a better look at her, she was completely gorgeous. She had brown eyes and brown hair. She was ravishing.

"Don't bother, it's been one of those days." She said with a sigh before breezing out of the coffee shop. Just as I was about to ask her what her name was, she disappeared. Just my luck. The one girl I had met in a long time didn't even stick around long enough to learn anything about her. I had been standing two people behind her for this long and I hadn't had the chance to meet her. Fate was a fickle bitch it would seem.

"What can I get for you?" The barista asked.

"Never mind that for right now. That girl in the white coat and dark hair. Do you know who she is?" I demanded of the young girl at the counter.

"She's just a customer." She answered.

"Do you have a name for her? I know you have a first name at least, you would have had to write it on her cup." I insisted.

"I can't tell you that sir. Now what can I get for you?" She asked me finally and I knew I was never going to budge her from her stance. I knew it was crazy of me to want to find her, but I couldn't stand the idea of someone being so miserable at Christmas time. It was supposed to be the most magical time of the year, but clearly something was wrong with hers.

"Fine, just a venti dark roast." I told her and she keyed it into the register and I gave her my cash. There had to be a way to find my mystery girl again, but at the moment I had no idea how. When I had my coffee in hand I started walking out until I saw the puddle from where she dropped her coffee and left quickly. I realized quickly that when she left she didn't have the cup in hand so it had to still be here somewhere. Luck was apparently in my favour as I found it sitting under a table. I picked it up and saw the name printed on the side. Elena.

"I'm going to find you Elena. You can't hide from me forever." I said to myself as I left and walked outside into the cold.

A couple days later I still had no luck. This was New York City and there was a Starbucks in pretty much every neighbourhood so it was a safe bet that she would only go to the one in her neighbourhood. I had no idea why it was so important to find her, but it was. I wanted to show her that Christmas could still be magical even though I don't know why she was so miserable. It wasn't like me to care, but I did with her. I wanted to help her. I reclined back in my chair from my computer search. It was impossible to find someone in New York only knowing her first name and which Starbucks she goes to.

"Shit." I muttered pressing my eyes shut.

"How's your obscure mission going?" My best friend Alaric asked me and I sighed. He had been teasing me relentlessly about needing to find this girl.

"I have a feeling you already know. But if you don't and you really want to, not well." I told him rolling my eyes.

"That's really too bad. But you see if you were nice to me, I would tell you what I know." He teased and I sat up straighter and looked at him dead on.

"If you know something you better god damn well tell me right now." I warned him and he just laughed in response.

"I don't know Damon. I kinda like you like this. This is the most effort you've put into something since your fake ID in high school." Alaric told me and I glared at him.

"I want to find her." I told him slowly. I needed to get the point across that he was in serious danger if he thought that he could keep something from me.

"I can see that. The question is, why? What's so special about a girl that spilled coffee all over herself and you?" He asked me sitting on the corner of my desk.

"I have no fucking idea. All I know is I can't get her out of my mind. I think it was how miserable she looked, I just want to help her." I confessed.

"You do realize that maybe she was just having a bad day right? Maybe she's not really that miserable all the time and maybe she's better now?" Alaric pointed out.

"Maybe but it doesn't change anything. I want to find her and if you know something it's your duty as my best friend to tell me." I insisted.

"Now keep in mind that I know a lot of people and the people I know know a lot of people." He started and I sighed. This was Alaric for you, he always turned something that could take seconds to explain into a long speech.

"Alright, can you get to the point for me?" I asked him trying to speed the process up a little bit. I was losing my mind and he didn't seem to care.

"Fine fine. Well try this one on for size, Jenna is a barista at your Starbucks." He told me and I stared at him blankly for a second. The name Jenna wasn't ringing a bell at the moment, but clearly according to Alaric it should.

"Who's Jenna?" I asked him needing to get to the bottom of this.

"Jackass! Do you ever listen to anything I say?" He demanded of me and I shrugged.

"Not lately." I answered.

"Jenna is my girlfriend. We've been dating for a couple months now and somehow you didn't know that?" He asked me.

"Oh right Jenna. For some reason I thought her name was Justine." I said remembering now. Jenna was the girl that Alaric was head over heels for and I was happy for him. Jenna, not Justine.

"See you never listen to me. Now I'm not going to tell you what I know." He said stubbornly and I levelled a glare at him. I hoped that by looking menacing to him he would just give in and tell me what I needed to know.

"Tell me and I'll leave you alone." I bargained.

"Not good enough." Alaric stated and I ran my fingers through my hair.

"What do you want from me?" I asked him.

"You know what I want. Blackmail is key." Alaric said with a chuckle and I scowled at him.

"I hate you, you know that?" I asked him and he laughed.

"Jenna isn't into that kind of thing, so that leaves you. I have two tickets." He defended.

"It concerns and confuses me that you're into Cirque du Soleil." I muttered.

"You know what you have to do." He said staring straight ahead.

"God damn it fine! I will go see Cirque du Soleil with you." I hissed.

"That's all you had to say. Well according to Jenna your mystery girl's name is Elena Gilbert. She's conveniently friendly with Jenna so I even know where she works. I'm not about to get her home address for you because you're veering into stalker territory here and it scares me." Alaric told me and I grinned.

"Elena Gilbert." I said with a smile.

"Well I'll be off. Don't forget what you agreed to. Jenna will be so relieved." Alaric told me before walking out of my office. I didn't care, it was totally worth it to see Elena again.

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Elena POV

On Christmas Eve I walked out of my office in a huff only to see the snow falling in big white flakes.

"Can my day get any worse?" I asked no one in particular. The bitch tyrant was gone and I was hating her more and more every single day.

"Have a merry Christmas Elena." Charles, the security guard called after me.

"I won't, but I hope you do." I called back pulling my gloves on and beginning the long walk home. I wanted a coffee but after what happened last time I didn't want to go back in there. It had been a couple days since I had last had Starbucks and I was beginning to feel the loss.

"Well hello again." A voice said from behind me so I spun and came face to face with the man that I bumped into at Starbucks.

"Hello, can I help you?" I asked him. It would totally be my luck if he was coming to serve me with papers because I burnt him with my coffee or something.

"You have no idea how long it took me to track you down." He said walking closer to me.

"Why would you want to track me down?" I asked carefully. I wasn't really liking where this was going. I wasn't in the mood to be sued today. Not that there was ever a good time for something like that.

"I'm not a stalker, so you don't have to worry about that. I promise. It's just that day when you bumped into me and spilled your coffee I caught a glimpse of a completely miserable woman. I don't know, as weird as this sounds I want to show you that Christmas is still good." He told me and I raised my eyebrows.

"You're not a stalker? If so how did you find me again?" I asked him.

"My best friend is dating Jenna from that Starbucks." He told me and it made more sense now.

"I see. But you see I'm having a really crappy week and I just want to go home." I told him.

"And you're taking it out on Christmas. It's not fair to the holiday. I'll make you a deal." He told me and I was intrigued against my better judgement.

"What's your deal?" I asked him finally and he relaxed.

"You give me a chance to show you that Christmas is still magic. You don't need to pay for anything, it's all on me. If you hate what we do, you can leave and you'll never see me again." He told me and he seemed really confident that I would like what he wanted to show me.

"I can bail at any time?" I asked him. He shrugged and nodded his head.

"Sure you can, but I doubt you will. No one wants to be alone at Christmas." He spoke confidently.

"Okay, fine. What's first on your agenda?" I asked him giving in. He was right, I really didn't want to be alone on

Christmas. It didn't hurt matters that he was insanely good looking. If I had to spend my Christmas in New York at least I was spending it with someone who looked like him.

"Macy's" He said rubbing his hands together.

"Oh I see now. So we're going the corny Christmas route aren't we?" I asked him, refusing to admit that I was excited to see the Macy's window display this year. I hadn't ever been down there to see it and I was excited. I had heard it was

completely amazing.

"Damn rights we are. If there is one foolproof way to show you how magical Christmas in New York City is, this right here is it." He said to me and I nodded. He hailed us a cab which was surprisingly easy considering how it was Christmas Eve. He told the driver to take us to Macy's and he nodded.

"So what's the theme this year?" I asked him. I knew every year the Macy's holiday windows had a different theme and I was curious what I was going to be seeing.

"I heard from a friend of mine that it was "the journey of a Christmas wish."" He told me and I nodded.

When we finally got there, it always amazed me how long it took to get places in New York, back home in Mystic Falls you could get from one side of town to the other in under ten minutes.

"Wow." I said in awe when I saw the first in a series of windows. The first one I saw held a sleigh with a long sheet of parchment with names printed on it. There appeared to be a sleeping elf in the sleigh next to Santa who was reading the list. Another one depicted children mailing off letters to Santa. There was a scene that clearly showed elves making toys in Santa's workshop, it was amazing how detailed the work was. Buckets of fake snow decorated the ground. It was an epically amazing set up. I couldn't believe that in the two years I had lived here, I didn't come here once. One of my favourites had Santa in a sleigh being pulled by the reindeer flying over a sleepy little town in the dead of night. The entire display was so beautiful, Damon didn't speak as he walked beside me. When we were done he stopped us, "so what did you think?"

"It was amazing. I wish I could show my family this." I said wistfully. Next year I would have to convince them to come here for Christmas.

"Where are your family?" He asked me.

"Mystic Falls, where I grew up." I told him and he nodded.

"Why aren't you with them?" He asked me and I sighed.

"My evil bitch tyrant employer wouldn't let me go home. She decided at the last minute to get more plastic surgery and that

involved me staying to work on Christmas Eve." I answered.

"Sucks for you, rocks for me." He said and I laughed. He didn't sound sorry at all and I didn't mind that. I was enjoying myself.

"So what's next on our agenda?" I asked him.

"Well obviously, the Rockefeller Centre." He told me and I grinned. I had predicted that and I wanted to go there. We started walking once he told me it was only about a twenty minute walk.

"Are we skating?" I asked him.

"Do you want to skate?" He returned and I nodded my head.

"Then we're skating." He concluded and I cheered in response.

Somehow while we were walking my hand ended up clasping his. Neither of us let go and it was beginning to feel more like a date than some nice guy showing me a good Christmas. I also didn't mind that either, it had been a long time since I was on a good date and so far this would rank up there as the best ever, if it was in fact a date.

"So what is this to you?" I asked him as we walked.

"I already told you, you were miserable and I wanted to fix it for you." He answered.

"But why? You could have went on with your life and ignored the fact that I was unhappy." I noted and he nodded.

"I was drawn to you. You're beautiful Elena." He confessed and I smiled.

"Well now it's my turn to make a confession. I've been referring to this as a date in my head since Macy's." I admitted.

"So have I." He laughed.

"So do you want to make it official. Turn this into an insanely amazing date?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Absolutely." He agreed and we kept walking along, except now his fingers were laced through my gloved ones. I stopped suddenly a few minutes later because right ahead in the centre of the Rockefeller Centre was the single biggest Christmas tree I had ever seen in my life.

"There has been a tree here every year since 1933 and there are approximately 45,000 LED lights. This years tree is 85 feet." He explained to me and I smiled in response. A tree that size all decorated and lit up was a sight to see. It wasn't often you would see a Christmas tree anywhere near it.

"Wow." I said in awe. There was a lot of awe in my voice tonight, it was absolutely beautiful.

"Now I think I promised my date a skate." He said taking my hand once again and leading me to the massive skating rink. There were couples and families and even a few singles out there. Damon rented us each a pair of skates and I laughed as I wobbly stepped onto the ice. I hadn't skated since I was a child and it was very new to me again. He stepped on with a whole lot more grace than I did.

"Do you do this often?" I asked and he laughed. He held his hands out for me and I slowly moved across until I could grasp his hands.

"A little bit. I do it once a year because it's practically illegal to live in this city and not come out here once a year." He explained. Once I was steady he laced our fingers together and started moving us across the frozen surface. With his hand in mine I was so much more graceful. It actually looked like I had done this before.

"I'm glad you found me tonight." I confessed even though I'm sure he already knew I was. He made a crappy night not suck

at all. It was the best Christmas I remember having in a long time.

"I'm glad too. You made my typical Christmas not suck either. I usually spend it in a bar, drinking." He told me and I frowned.

"Don't you have a family to spent it with?" I asked him.

"I haven't had anyone to spend it with in a long time." Damon told me and I felt sad for him. I was glad that we found each other this Christmas.

"So where does food fit into all of this?" I asked him.

"Well that's entirely up to you. I've had a turkey roasting in the oven under the direct supervision of my housekeeper since this morning along with all the fixings. I told her I would be late coming home. It's only me eating it and I'm going to have leftovers for a long time. You're more than welcome to join me." He offered and I agreed before I could even think about it. Was it crazy that I was going to this guys house after only officially meeting him a few hours ago? Maybe it was but I didn't have too many crazy moments in my life. Besides I trusted him.

After skating for about an hour, he led us off the ice and we handed our skates back in.
"Did you two have fun?" The kind older lady at the desk asked and Damon and I nodded.

"Are you ready to go?" Damon asked me and I was more than. He hailed us a cab and gave him an address in Manhattan.

A little while later we came to a stop in front of a beautiful apartment complex.

"Here we are." Damon said as the doorman opened the door and we took the elevator up.

"Ah welcome home Mr. Salvatore, I was just on my way out." His housekeeper said as we got to the door.

"Thank you Rosa, have a merry Christmas." He said as we walked inside.

"Everything is still hot, I put it on warming trays." She said and Damon thanked her once again. Once we were inside he shut the door and I appraised my surroundings. His apartment was much more luxurious than mine, it was beautiful.

"Look around, snoop all you want." He told me as he walked into the kitchen. Instead I followed him into the kitchen and he uncorked a bottle of red wine. "I hope you like red."

"I love red wine." I assured him and he smiled that breathtaking smile once again. He poured us both a glass and handed one over to me. I took a sip and he grabbed a couple plates from the cupboard.

"Do you like music?" He asked me and I nodded my head. I loved everything about Christmas, it was my favourite time of year. He flipped on the stereo and "Winter Wonderland" came though the speakers.

We sat down and ate the beautiful dinner that Damon's housekeeper had made us. I had to admit it was the best dinner I had ever had. When we were finished eating I helped Damon cover up all the food and put the dirty plates in the dishwasher.

"Do you want me to call you a cab or do you want to stay for a while longer?" It was clear in his voice which one he preferred and I was in no place to argue with him. I was fighting the urge to take this to the next level but I didn't know how he would react to that.

"I'll stay." I decided and he smiled and led me into the living room. He turned on his fireplace and we sat down close enough to touch on the sofa.

"I want so much more than this." He sighed and I nodded. I knew what he meant, I wanted more too. I just didn't know how much more he wanted.

"I want to kiss you." I finally told him and his lips quirked up in response before leaning in. Before our lips touched everything around me cracked in anticipation, and when he finally did touch me I was not disappointed. His lips were soft and hard at the same time as they massaged mine.

"Shit." He groaned when we broke the kiss.

"Wow." I giggled.

"I want to keep doing that. Spend the night with me." He practically pleaded.

"I don't know..." I trailed off. I wasn't the kind of girl to have sex on the first date. It wasn't me.

"We don't have to do anything else. I just want to be with you." He promised and I slowly nodded my head.

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One Year Later

Elena POV

Here I was Christmas Eve, sitting in an airport waiting for my family to arrive. I had asked them after Christmas last year to come to me next year and to New York.

"I think I'm nervous. I'm finally meeting your parents." Damon said from beside me. I smiled up at him and kissed him quickly.

"They'll love you the second they meet you because they'll see how much I love you." I told him and he kissed me once more. Damon and I had moved in together only a couple months after Christmas and we've never looked back.

"I sure hope so." Damon said wringing his hands.

"Hey, they love you without even meeting you. You want to know why?" I asked him.

"Why?" He asked.

"You showed me how magical Christmas can be again. I was just going through the motions before you, including going home for it. You gave the magic back to me." I said with a small smile on my face.