Hello lovely readers! Here is another chapter for ILB. Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Discl:I don't own the show or it's characters. All rights go to their respective owners.

To say her life had changed would be a massive understatement.

First, her new living arrangements. It was strange to have a roof over her head again, not having to worry about where she would have to find shelter from bad weather or the creepy men that liked to roam the streets looking for pretty and underfed girls like her.

What was even worse about that was that her house was the Salvatore Mansion.

They couldn't find a house for her in such short notice, and because Damon didn't want her to stay out any longer than she had to, he offered her a room in the Salvatore Boarding House, a beautiful mansion that has been there since the late 1800s. The house gave off a very rustic and homey vibe, it's browns and reds making you feel at home instantly. The walls of the first and main floor consisted out of uncovered bricks, the furniture was dark and the walls were aligned with pictures and posters.

She got to decorate her own room, so she took Jenna, Caroline and Katherine with her to shop for furniture, and it was safe to say she had never seen such a group of people who could get along so well, but be so incredibly different at the same time it was ridiculous. Caroline, which was no surprise, as all about the glitz and glamour, wanting to paint her walls pink, buy her a fur rug and a freaking chandelier in her room. Jenna was a 'master bedroom' kind of girl, going for simplicity and color schemes. Katherine was spending the entire afternoon convincing Elena to buy a mirror to put above her bed.

Yeah, how about no.

All Elena wanted though, from day one, was a second chance. She took that second chance with both hands to try to recreate her old room, minus the teddy bears and band-posters, obviously. Her room had a cream color scheme, giving it more of a feminine than a girly vibe. Her duvet on the queen sized bed in the middle of her room was a soft cream color, almost pink, the same color as the curtains covering the floor to ceiling window was. On one side of theroom was a vanity table with a baroque chair, and on the other side a massive bookcase that she had filled out the second it was installed. Her walk-in-closet was still empty for the most part, but for some reason she imagined that with the kind of friends she had made around here, that would change very soon.

Another change was in her physical appearance. She had filled out in places, considering her meals were consistent now. Her cheeks filled out again and her heart-shaped face had returned, together with her natural olive complexion. The practically permanent circles under her eyes had almost completely disappeared, and she was wearing heels again. Her eyes shined and her smile was genuine again, which was one of the changes she had welcomed.

One of the changes the hadn't welcomed, though, was the amount of money Damon Salvatore was spending on her. On the night her room was finished, she realized her sheets were made out of silk. The next morning, creepily so, her closet was filled out with clothes and a crazy amount of shoes all in her size and style, and she couldn't forget the make-up and beauty products outlining her bathroom sink. The clothes had been top of the line, the oldest books in her collection she cherished so much were almost all first editions, and even her make-up was all designer. The third night a brand new smart phone was resting on a shiny iPod dock like it had been there all the time, charging through the night. More jewelry, sunglasses and watches outlined her walk-in-closet, and her drawers were filled with lacy, silk and foam bras and underwear, teddies and slips of the richest fabrics.

When on the forth day more clothes, more books and more lingerie had arrived she began to fume, but for some reason wherever she went, Damon was nowhere to be found.

When the fifth day an acceptance letter came for Virginia State University, though, she went straight to his bedroom, where he was still asleep, the covers resting low on his hips, revealing his torso. Elena had to take sharp breath when she saw his mouthwatering upper body, his pectoral muscles strong and defined, his arms bulged enticingly and looked as strong as they felt. The happy trail under his navel made her pant on the inside, but when he began to stir, she quickly fixed her eyes on his beautiful face, trying to bring back the anger she felt towards him. Which wasn't very difficult.

''Elena,'' he said with a welcoming but confused smile, his voice still husky and groggy from sleep deprivation, which was incredibly sexy... – oh, no, Elena, bad timing! Bad timing!

Before he could say another word, she flung a book to his head.

''Hey! That was a first edition!'' he said exasperated, jumping out of his bed, giving Elena a perfect view of his – sculpted right out of the heavens – body.

''Exactly!'' she screeched out, and she had to roll her eyes when he frowned in confusion. ''Five days, Damon! I'm here for five days and you've spent so much money on me! Do you know how guilty that makes me feel? And not the mention cheap! How do you even know what my sizes are? That my favorite books happen to be those first editions you bought? I was tolerant in the beginning but it's driving me crazy!'' she let out all at once, the words tumbling out of her mouth like an unstoppable tidal wave. She had been a ticking time bomb the last few days and she hadn't seen Damon in any of them, which surprisingly was also a factor to her irritation towards Mr. Sex-On-Legs.

To make her frustration even worse, he smirked at her, looking her appearance up and down with a strange mix of admiration and amusement, lingering a little longer on her legs and bust than she would have liked.

''Damon!'' she screeched to get his attention back to her face.

''So let me get this straight…'' he started as he took several steps closer to her, and she took several steps back, ''you are mad at me, your alpha, because I spent money on you?'' he asked, it was obvious that he didn't believe her, or at least believed her but found it strange.

She nodded her head vigorously. ''Yes!''

''Why?'' he asked in that same calm tone that seemed to infuriate her all the more. She felt the pull on her senses that told her to back the hell off because he was technically her Alpha now, but she couldn't seem to stop.

''Because I feel cheap, Damon!'' at his raised brows, she sighed dramatically, and plopped down on his bed without preamble.

''Why would I make you feel cheap by buying you stuff? I thought girls like that,'' he started as he sat down next to her, sounding a little too unsure for his own ears. He, too, forgot he was her Alpha and he was supposed to exude male dominance and leadership. He was the one to put her in her place, and not the other way around. But, as usual, even though he hadn't known her for less than a week, he completely forgot himself around her, feeling like a normal person, feeling like the boyfriend that was being scolded for flirting with another girl. Humpf.

''For five years I've looked out for myself, Damon,'' she continued in a much smaller voice than she had started out, ''I've always survived on the first thing I could get. I let go of the princess attitude, made peace with the fact that I would never live like that again. Having to depend on someone for that sort of thing is….it's making me uncomfortable.''

He raised his brows and his eyes widened in understanding. Before he knew It he wrapped an arm around her and drew her to him. ''I never meant for you to feel that way, Elena. I like buying you stuff.''

He could have done a happy dance right there in front of her because she cuddled into his side unconsciously.

''I know you didn't, it's just strange for me, Damon, you have to understand that.''

They were silent for a few moments, but Damon didn't dare to let her go.

''You'll go to school, right? I'd feel bad if you didn't,'' he said, breaking the comfortable silence.

To his disappointment, she escaped from under his arm and stood up, giving him a perfect few of her fantastic hourglass figure as she stood before him with her hands on her hips.

''Why do you care so much?'' she blurted out.

He raised a brow at her, not wanting to answer that question. ''What are you talking about?''

''Buying me all this stuff, offering me a roof over my head, wanting me to go to school…'' she counted, trailing off slowly.

Damon sighed and scratched the back of his head. ''You're part of my pack now, Elena. I take care of you because that's my job.''

''What, you feel obligated? Because I can take perfect care of myself,'' she bit out.

Damon smiled at this feisty girl, gently putting his hands on her hips. He felt her stiffen under his touch, but then slowly relax as he drew small circles on her slightly protruding hipbones.

''I take care of you because I want to, Elena. Why won't you let me?'' he asked softly, too mesmerized by the softness of her skin to say much else.

''Because it makes me feel guilty,'' she said, a little breathless.

It was like a switch was turned on, turning up the heat in the room several degrees. His hands on her body were as blatant and unavoidable as a razor piercing her skin or a feather tickling naked flesh.

''Well, it's shouldn't,'' he said, his voice had lowered several octaves, the tone of his voice now husky and his intentions pretty obvious.

Elena gulped nervously, the tension in the room almost threating to swallow her whole. It was silent for a moment between them, the only thing that was audible in the background was the ticking of the grandfather-clock in his room. The sound seemed deafening, like church bells ringing right next to her ears.

Elena decided to break the trance they were in and took a step back, making Damon's hands fall back onto his lap lifelessly.

And just like that, the spell was gone, and Elena looked at her feet in embarrassment while Damon was coughing, trying to pretend that hadn't happened.

''I'll go to school, but only if you let me pay you back,'' she said with determination, crossing her arms. She wasn't going to let him pay for her all the time. She was used to her independence. It didn't just make her uncomfortable, because she knew he had enough money to feel an entire continent for a year (probably more), but she didn't want to lose this side of her. She wasn't the girl that had gotten everything handed to her on a silver platter just because of the last name she carried around with her, not anymore. That last name she now carried with shame, instead of pride.

She took care of herself for five years and she had come out more than fine. She wasn't going to lose her pride just because Damon Salvatore wanted to act like the alpha male he was.

''Lena..''

She ignored the way she liked how the nickname sounded coming from his lips, and shook her head with vehemence. ''No. it's either that, or I waste away my days working in a grocery store trying to pay you back for all of this. Take your pick, Damon.''

He groaned in frustration, but nodded anyway. Nothing was ever easy with this girl, was it? ''Fine, you got yourself a loan.'' Not that he was going to take the money anyway, but she didn't have to know that. She had her pride, well, he had his, too.

She had a smug smile on her lips he wanted to wipe off by pressing himself against her, but as she walked out of his room without a single glance back, all he could do was fall back against his bed and sigh deeply, as if he had finished an intense work out. Looking down at himself, he groaned, figuring that would probably good idea. After a cold shower.

Seems like angry Elena got to him a lot more than he would've liked to admit.

Another big change was the change of pace. After her argument with Damon they hadn't spoken much, but had acted around each other civilized and like people that 'knew' each other. Not as if they were two people with an insane attraction towards each other and a sexual tension everyone could feel when they were in the same room as them. As if they weren't two people who didn't think about much else but each other, and who's blood didn't boil when it came into contact with each other.

Before she knew it, it was Sunday, and she was wasting away this lazy day with Caroline at the Mystic Grill, munching on some fries while having some good old fashion girl talk. Another thing she hadn't realized she missed so much.

''You're going to absolutely love VSU! It'll be a little strange considering you'll be a twenty-one year old freshman, but you probably won't be the only one. I took a semester off last time so I'll be starting my senior year tomorrow with you, aren't you excited?'' Caroline babbled on, Elena listening with divided interest. Yes, she was excited to go to school again, but she felt a little guilty when she heard from Katherine that Damon and some of his guys had to forge a high school diploma for her. it had been bugging her ever since she had heard about it, but she had decided to try and not over think that matter. They did it so they could get her into school, so she felt that after everything they did for her, she was supposed to be grateful, instead of resenting them for their actions. She hadn't apologized to Damon, though. Her pride and overall personality just couldn't let her do that.

''Elena? Elena, you with me?'' Carolina asked, waving her beer bottle in front of Elena's face to get her attention.

The brunette shook herself out of her musings and smiled at Caroline, nodding her head. ''It just feels weird, I guess,'' she told her new blonde friend.

Caroline smiled with a compassion that made Elena want to weep. Instead of doing that, though, she popped a couple of fries in her mouth and chewed, listening to Caroline talk about Klaus.

Speaking of which…

''Ah, just the pretty ladies we wanted to see,'' A British voiced bellowed.

He walked towards their booth and slid in next to Caroline. He threw an arm around her and started kissing her heatedly.

Elijah slid in next to Elena and smirked. ''P.D.A. Is firmly associated with my brother and his mate from the moment they got together, I'm afraid,'' he quipped to Elena, making her laugh slightly. She really had taken a liking to Elijah ever since she had talked to him first on the night of the ceremony. He was nice, a true gentleman, always so calm and composed, and the best part? He never asked questions. Which was more than she could say about the rest of her new family.

''Caroline called, didn't she?'' Elena asked with an eye roll, smiling as she shared her fries with Elijah.

He nodded. ''They can't seem to be far away from each other for longer than a few hours, it seems.''

Elena smiled softly at the couple that now had ceased their excessive P.D.A. and were now softly whispering to each other and gazing at each other in complete adoration. At first glance, Caroline and Klaus seemed all about the physical aspects of their relationship, but when they were having these sickly sweet couple-y moments, you can see it was anything but that.

Elena turned her head towards the older brother before she was going to throw up and smiled at him. ''I noticed. What about you, why did he drag you over here?''

''We are supposed to have a meeting with Damon in a few minutes. Just a routine perimeter check-up. We got to keep our territory save and charted.''

Elena nodded, and excitement building up in her belly that she wanted to keep down for knowing their Alpha would be here in a couple minutes.

She kept her conversation with Elijah light, and it didn't take long before Caroline and Klaus finally recollected their manors from off the floor and joined them in.

''You guys having fun?''

Elena couldn't help but stiffen when she heard his velvet-like voice from behind her, and when all of them turned around, he squeezed himself next to Elena.

''What are we talking about?'' he asked casually, stealing some fries from Elena's plate, making her roll her eyes at him.

''Us going back to school,'' Caroline said with a grin.

Elena smiled at Caroline. She couldn't help it, Caroline's enthusiasm automatically seemed to reach out to every person that was around her for more than a couple of minutes. She couldn't help but fantasize and be excited for her first normal human experience in years.

''You excited?'' Damon asked with a smile.

Elena nodded. ''Extremely. Feels good to be able to do stuff like this again.''

''What are you taking?'' Klaus asked her, his arm firmly around Caroline's waist.

''English,'' she said with a grin.

''Interesting. What do you plan on doing when you're done?'' Elijah asked.

''Writing, hopefully. Or maybe teach at the local high school.''

''That sounds interesting. What would you be writing about?'' he asked again.

Elena shrugged, suddenly aware of all the attention being on her. the exhaled when she felt a warm hand resting on the small of her back. ''Okay, guys, that'll be enough questioning the girl for one day. Let's go do what we came here for, hmm?'' Damon asked with a raised brow.

Elena turned to him when the men stood up and smiled at him, her eyes shining with the 'thank you' she couldn't say out loud. He smirked at her, silently accepting her thank you before sauntering off. Elena was surprised at how they seemed to be able to communicate with words. It shocked her so much she was lost in her own thoughts for a moment before Caroline snapped her fingers in front of her again.

''Lena!''

Elena snapped her head to the blonde, her expression a mixture of frustration and amusement.

''Sorry, what were you saying?''

''What's with you and Damon?''

Elena sighed. ''Nothing,'' she tried, but of course, Caroline was like a dog with a bone. No way she was going to let this go until she was satisfied.

''Come on, Elena, that was definitely not nothing. The sexual tension was practically dripping from you two!'' she said a little too loudly for Elena's taste.

''Shh!'' she said when a couple of cheerleaders turned to them, looking them up and down with contempt. The teenagers couldn't have been older than sixteen, and they thoroughly examined the new girl from head to toe, from the scroll beanie resting on the back of her head on top of her silky mane, to the off shoulder long sleeve batwing top and the tight camouflage pants. The western style booties that encased her feet were tapping against the wooden floors of the Bar & Grill as she was talking to the pretty blonde everybody knew. The hadn't seen the brunette girl before this week, but since the weekend before, when the town was buzzing with news about the Salvatore's throwing another one of those parties that were only for Mystic Falls' elite and everybody else who was rich and important. They were used to it by now, but seeing that new girl being accepted into their circle so easily was something to be jealous over. The teenage girls didn't know the real story of course, but that didn't matter to them. Seeing her together with Damon Salvatore, them flirting and being playful all the time was another reason to not like her.

The girls had heard that she was actually a really nice person, but that was another thing they didn't care, or not wanted to think about.

''I bet she's wearing extensions, nobody's hair is that long,'' one of the girls whispered.

Another girl rolled her eyes but said nothing. The blonde leader of the group had been after Damon for years. Seeing him watching the new girl from the bar was not something to get jealous over, though, because they both new the teenagers would never stand a chance against the brunette, mainly because they all knew he would choose her over a sixteen year old any day.

''Where do you think she's from?'' another girl asked.

''I bet she's from the west coast or something. Some kind of model with fake boobs,'' someone else added.

The blonde leader added. ''Whatever.'' She didn't elaborate, and instead followed the brunette as she stood up with a smile and she rolled her eyes at Caroline Forbes, who also stood up after her.

''What's her name?'' she asked one of the girls.

''Elena Gilbert,'' one of them said.

The leader nodded, staring at Elena. Ugh, why did she have to be so pretty?

Elena had to hold in a grin as she felt the cheerleaders staring at them.

''Seems you're the new spectacle in town,'' Caroline giggled in amusement, also having heard the girls taking about her.

''The blonde doesn't seem to like me very much,'' Elena said dryly with a smirk. She wasn't one to like being the talk of the town, at least not anymore, but even she could appreciate the sheer stupidity of it all.

''Humans,'' Caroline said with a dramatic sigh, wiping imaginary sweat from her forehead.

Elena laughed at her friend and rolled her eyes before standing up. ''You want to get out of here? I think there is a carton of ice cream calling our name in my bedroom and some DVD's that are begging to be raided?''

Caroline jumped up after Elena, and hooked her arm through, sparing Damon one last glance, he winked at her and smirked at the cheerleaders, signaling that he had heard them, too. He, too, seemed to be amusement and was ridiculing them. Their silent conversation continued and she rolled her eyes at his antics as he ordered another drink near to where the girls were sitting.

''Damon, hey, over here!'' the blonde girl screeched in her annoying voice tone.

Damon ignored them. Instead he turned to Elijah with amused smirk on his face. ''Where'd Elena go?''

The girl's sullen expression was the last thing she saw before the two older girls headed out of the door in a fit of laughter.

One of Elena's favorite parts of living in Mystic Falls was how the city was during night time. Most of them, including Damon, had gone out of town to a club in Richmond for a night out. They had begged her to go, but the last week had been so full of excitement she was enjoying some 'me'-time for herself. She hadn't forgotten the disappointment in his eyes when Damon realized she wasn't coming with them, but she had tried to not let it change her mind.

Although she was a little sad and disappointed because he wasn't around right now, something she didn't want to dwell on, she was happy to be able to wander around the dark streets of Mystic Falls, a leather jacket thrown over the dark colored outfit she had chosen for the day.

She wasn't afraid of the darkness, though. She wasn't deluding herself in thinking that Mystic Falls was a safe as it's brochures told it was, considering how it was werewolf territory, but that didn't stop her from going out into the cold night anyway. She was a werewolf, a creature of the night. She relished in the howling of animals and the rushing of leaves as she walked across the central park of Mystic Falls. She stared at the Mystic Grill, which was closing up as it already was one in the morning. The children's playground was empty and the elderly couples had retired to their homes, awaiting the next day of the lives that were rapidly passing them by.

There was something utterly morbid about Mystic Falls in the middle of the night, the way there was no other sound but her own breathing and the sounds only her hearing could pick up, like the crushing leaves under her booties, the lights shutting off in the grill and the wind making its way through her hair. I was peaceful, and exactly everything she needed to feel the overwhelming feeling rushing through her of finally after all this time, telling her she was home.

That was Elena's introduction to the her new life! Hope you liked this chapter, and the random part with the cheerleaders. It wasn't planned, but kind of just flowed out of there. After having writted out that scene completely, I thought, why not, might as well get a couple of outside perspectives in this story, too. As Delena's relationship progresses, you'll get more of those ;)

Thanks to everybody who reviewed, followed and favorited this story, I hope you'll keep reading it and hope you liked this update

Read and Review!

xoxo,

Layka