Chapter One
As Sasha drove away from the campus, she looked in the rear view mirror once more. With a lump in her throat she couldn't believe her baby was all grown up.
Kyle had only been three years old, when Sasha had divorced her husband of seven years. It hadn't been an easy or a quick decision, but once made she had never looked back. For fifteen years she had worked hard to raise Kyle on her own, dedicating her life to him and the career she was determined to forge. Thankfully she had succeeded in both. Here she was leaving Kyle at university, finally cutting those apron strings and giving him the independence he needed.
She sighed, independence, surely it's my turn now. It's time for me to do some of the things I've always wanted to do and not been able to. A plan was quickly forming in her head and it didn't even seem to be a pipe dream.
She was due a sabbatical from work; her assistant was experienced enough now, to be able to cover for her, at least for two weeks. Surely Katherine, Sasha's boss and friend would understand her need to have a break.
The next day Sasha walked into the office, a place she had been working in for five years. She had worked hard and proven herself over the last five years and two years ago she had been rewarded by being promoted to the longed for position of CFO.
Still young at just thirty nine she was proud of her achievements. She had achieved her ultimate career ambition, whilst raising an outgoing and intelligent son, who had made it into university.
Sasha stopped to greet Caroline, their long standing receptionist and after saying good morning and filling her in on how it had gone the day before, Sasha asked if Katherine was in yet.
Laughing Caroline looked at her watch.'How many years have you known Katherine. When has she ever been in the office before ten?'
Laughing Sasha walked on through to her office; she was so excited with her plan. She just couldn't wait until Katherine came in.
The night before, after dinner, she had gone online to send an email to the DS Foundation. She had been following the foundation and the Chairman, Damon Salvatore on Twitter for years and finally she was going to see at least one of them.
Every year on the anniversary of the foundations start, which was also Damon's birthday, she would send an online donation. This year she had mentioned that she was thinking of coming to the US for a visit and would love to have a tour of the foundation.
It had started when she saw a video blog made by him. It was his birthday and he was thanking followers for all the gifts they had sent him. Then he had zoomed the camera out to show the walls of the room he was in. There were notices and post-its all over the wall, as if he was in an office.
From his Twitter he seemed to work such long hours, travelling the world and giving interviews. Then he started to say that more than gifts, if he had one birthday wish, it would be that everyone donates instead to the foundation. No matter how small the donation it would mean a lot to him to know his followers were supporting his belief in saving our planet.
So that year on his birthday, she went on line and made a donation of one thousand pounds. She knew it was a lot and that it was even more in US dollars, but it was worth it. It had also been the first year that she and Kyle had not gone on holiday.
Kyle as a teenager had really been testing the boundaries. At one point she had almost despaired of him passing his exams at all. So she had decided not to take him away on their annual summer holiday.
The money had been saved and was sitting waiting to be spent. What better way to spend it than on a worthy cause. Sasha had always made sure she did her part for Children's' charities, through regular donations and she always made sure she recycled. She even went so far as to arrange recycling at her office.
But this was her chance to donate to a foundation that was trying to help the environment, animals and the youth of the future. Soon after that Sasha had been promoted to CFO. With the generous salary increase, Sasha had been able to comfortably make a regular donation of the same amount, each year on Damon's birthday.
Just then she heard Katherine's voice and saw her walking towards her. It was their morning routine, before going to her own office Katherine would often stop at Sasha's office to check in. Their relationship had grown over the last five years from that of employer and employee to mentor and friend.
'Good Morning Katherine, I need to ask you something important, can I walk with you?'
'Sure come to my office.' She said.
'As you know I dropped Kyle at University yesterday and also I'm due some time off for my sabbatical. I know its short notice, but I would like to take a break for two weeks from next week.'
'Oh my Sasha you're not going to have a mid life crisis on me now are you? I know now that Kyle's away, you'll be foot loose and fancy free, but you're not going to abandon me just when we're looking to expand the office in the US.'
'No I would never do that to you Katherine. It's just that I've been hoping to do some travelling for years now and as Kyle has grown our tastes in holiday have changed. I want to go to the US and explore a bit. It will only be for two weeks and then I'll be back. I could even stop off in New York and see how they are progressing in the new offices.'
'You're not telling me something Sasha. I can tell when you're holding something back.'
Hesitating Sasha said, 'Okay if I tell you, you mustn't laugh! I have, wanted to travel for years, but more than that I want to find my Soul mate. After all these years living in the UK, if I haven't found him yet, then he's just not here. If I'm ever going to have a chance of happiness, then I have to get myself out there. What if he's been in the US or some other country, all this time, just waiting for us to meet and because I didn't travel, we could never meet.'
'You're serious aren't you!' she said.
'Katherine, you must know how lonely I've been. You have Stefan; you found your Soul mate when you were travelling in France. Surely there's someone out there for me as well. I'm so lonely I even took to following an actor on twitter, just to feel like I was involved in something other than my life.'
'Okay, I understand. Go then, take your time off, and find yourself and your Soul mate. I'll give you two weeks but not a day longer. Also I will hold you to your offer to look in on the New York office.'
'Thanks Katherine', hugging her, 'I knew you'd understand.'
A/N: This is my first stab at Fan Fiction and I hope you like. Please bear with me as I am just setting the scene, before Damon & Sasha meet. Would love to hear your reviews. When writing this story, I listened to Natasha Bedingfield's song: Soul Mate :)