AN EPITOME OF LOVE

Author's note: First of all I just want to say that this story is not written to hurt anyone's sentiment. It took me one year to finally write it down. All the characters belong to the CW team and L.J. Smith. I can't imagine the pain and sufferings that was felt by the victim's families and I'm deeply sorry for your loss. I'm just tired of all the terror attacks that is going on all around the world; how we humans have become the most dangerous being in the planet. Our heart is buried with so much of hatred, that there is only little value for love.

Prologue:

Los Angeles, California

11 September 2001

6.15 AM

"Good Morning, babe." A raven haired man answered the phone groggily still half asleep.

"Damon. Are you still sleeping?"

"Hmm…"

"Damon." The woman's voice responded sternly this time. "Oh! C'mon honey. Have you forgotten what today is?" The voice asked in utter annoyance.

A smile crept on the man's face. This is what he loved about her the most. "Jeez…. Relax Judgy. Of course I remember, this was the day our beautiful angel entered to our world six years ago."

Even though, Damon couldn't see her face, he knew that his beautiful wife Bonnie Sheila Bennett Salvatore was probably smiling now or blushing at his current statement.

Bonnie on the other end of the phone cleared her voice to break the silence. "Well. For your kind information I might be running late to the airport if you don't hand over the phone quickly to our daughter. So….Just give her the phone so that I can wish her already since I couldn't at midnight or you can later make amends with her for being responsible of my absence on her precious day. It's up to you now how you want to spend the day."

"Fine, fine. Your wish is my command." Damon went to his little daughter's room who was still sleeping, her tiny body hiding beneath the sheet. He pulled down the covers and there she is, his angel, Sarah Salvatore, who came to their life few years ago. After her arrival, the Salvatore family has become more blissful than ever. The bright light emitting from the window woke her up. Her confused green eyes made contact with her father's blue eyes.

"Daddy." She moaned sleepily, her hands shielding her eyes from the bright rays.

"Hey baby. Happy Birthday. Mommy wants to talk to you." He took one of her hands and gave her the phone, but she dropped it by the side of the bed. "No, I won't talk to her." She grumbled.

Damon was disappointed. "Baby. I know you are unhappy on mom's absence but guess what she is coming home today, just for you, all the way from Boston. So…." He again handed her the phone but she refused it again.

"Sarah…" With no sign of response from his daughter, Damon knew that there is no point explaining her. He signed and took the phone and went to the side of the window. "Bonnie" before he could say Bonnie replied.

"She is just stubborn like you." She teased. "What!" Damon sounded annoyed. "It's okay, Damon. I have heard everything, seems like she will ruin her day in rage huffing and puffing if I don't come as quickly as possible." She chuckled. "Alright I have to go now. See you there. And…..yeah, forgot to say one important thing, I love you. And please tell her I wished her Happy Birthday."

"Sure will. I love you too. Just come home already, we are missing you." He then realized Bonnie just left for two or three days but damn, the emptiness that is profound in his heart explains well the effect his Bon-Bon has on him. He stared the outside view absent-mindedly from the window.

"I miss you both." She signed. "Okay, goodbye now and wake her up or she will be late for school. Don't try to pick me up at the airport, since you have an important meeting today and I don't need your management theory. I have already asked Caroline to pick me up. Good luck by the way."

Damon wanted to protest but he knew it would be futile, so he agreed. "Yes, Ma'am and Thank you for the well wishes."

Bonnie chuckled.

"Goodbye Damon. See you soon."

The line went dead on the other end. Damon held the phone for a moment and took the sight in front of him through the window. Then he noticed that a certain princess is still in her bed. Stubborn and lazy as hell. He signed.

"Wakey, wakey sleeping beauty you have to attend a place called 'school', remember?"

"Buzzkill." Sarah muttered under the covers.

Damon stood dumbfounded. "Whaaaa… you know what leave it. I'm just going to report your mother on your couple of misbehaviours in her absence and then we will discuss what punishments will suit you." Damon gave his signature smirk and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Complain box. She will eventually blame you for spoiling me as she always does." Sarah replied with a smirk, a carbon copy of her father.

Damon got irritated but he knew any kind of argument would be of no avail. "Wake up, school time."

….

After dropping Sarah at her school, Damon came back to his house, getting ready for the meeting. He is thankful to Caroline, Bonnie's bff and an event manager herself, since she took the responsibility of throwing Sarah's birthday bash; he didn't want Bonnie to tire herself out by immediately engaging herself with all the party related activities just after arriving from a journey. By the way, Caroline was more thankful to Damon than he was to her as this is the first time ever that Damon himself let her to organise a party for her godchild. He checked again the required important documents and was about to fix his tie when his phone rang.

He took the phone and was surprised to see his wife calling. He looked at the time by his watch. It's 8.58 a.m. Maybe his Bon-Bon is missing him too much than she wants to admit.

Damon received the call smiling arrogantly "I didn't kno…"

"Damon…." He could hear his wife's voice on the other end who sounds tensed.

"Bonnie."

"Babe. Just listen to me, okay. I'm on a plane that has been hijacked." He could hear her deep breaths and her voice was shaking.

"The hijackers they say that they have explosives, I even heard that a flight attendant was stabbed, the hijackers are likely flying the plane.…. It's flying erratically. I just want to tell you that…" he could hear her sobbing.

"Bon…"

"I love you Damon. I love…. you and Sarah so much. Tell her I love her and I will always look after her. Tell everyone how much I love them Shahid, Stefan, Care…."

"Bon don't say that...'

"I know. I hope I will be able to see all your faces again. Be strong if I don't….." Damon could hear some people screaming. "Oh God… oh God, we are going down. I think…..I think they are planning to crash into a building. Oh my…" The screaming's became more intensified.

The call ended.

"Bonnie…. Dammit." He tried to call her but the phone is switched off. He tried several times to reach her and out of frustration, he threw away the phone, thus breaking it.

….

"Daddy. Where is mommy?" Sarah was trying to get the answer from her father since no one was replying to her to that question.

Damon sat in the sofa of the living room, the same position as he was during the morning. His eyes showed no emotions at all, he was sitting there like a statue.

The living room was filled with many people. Some were discussing about the tragedy, some silently weeping.

"Daddy, please….."

"Dead. She is dead."

Everyone in the room went silent.

"No. No…. you are lying to me." Sarah started shouting and crying.

"Sarah. Baby. Just come with me please." Caroline tried to take her away but Sarah was struggling under her grasp determined to get a positive answer but ultimately she gave it up when she saw her father's tears now oozing out.

Caroline lifted her up and took her away to her bedroom.

"There were four flights that had been hijacked today. The flight that Bonnie was in, hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center…I'm sorry Damon. She didn't deserve this, no one deserved this. Brother? Please speak up. Please say something." Stefan couldn't hold any longer and began to sob. He hugged his brother and surprisingly, Damon ultimately hugged him back, both crying out for their beloved family member.

….

11th August 2014

The classroom is filled with noises of newcomers introducing themselves to one another, but abruptly fell silent when the professor came in.

"Hello everyone. I'm Alaric Saltzman. Welcome to USC. Since you have chosen to study about an important subject matter called 'counter terrorism' I really would like you all to be attentive in class from day one. Mind you, terrorism has become a serious issue in this world now and we are here to improve the Nation's security. Our University of Southern California is one of the leading universities not only in the field of counter terrorism but also in the other branches of study in our country and I'm gladly waiting up to hear on why you guys have chosen this field. Anyone?"

The students were looking over one another on who would speak and a hand was raised among the crowd.

"Yes." Professor Saltzman permitted to speak.

A beautiful young woman with long, curly dark brown hair and green eyes, having a light complexion with a slim and athletic figure stood out among her classmates.

"To end terrorism once and for all."

The whole class except the professor and a certain boy stared at her as if she has lost her sanity; they brushed it off her current statement by laughing and commenting it as 'impossible'.

But the girl stood there unfazed and confident in her belief with a smile.

I'm not good at writing stories but I'm trying my best. Please review if you like it. Your reviews will encourage me to write down this story.