Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries

It took all if Damon's restraint not to slam the door on his way out. He quickly jumped on his motorbike, not bothering with the helmet, and took off at a rapid pace. He sped around the town for hours with the combination of cool air, speed and the hum of the motor having a somewhat soothing effect, giving Damon the opportunity to think.

He had let his anger get the best of him. Again. Because of her. He had started off with the intention of showing that he could be a decent guy capable of having a normal conversation. All that had gone out the window when he had found out she was the author of a romance novel. Why had that bothered him? Because love doesn't exist, not to him. He had no proof of its existence, he even theorised that Ric and Jenna had stayed together out of habit, not love... or really good sex.

Parents were supposed to love their children but his dad had done nothing to prove that. He had tried the girlfriend thing in high school and he hadn't ever felt anything close to what people describe as love, leading to Damon's conclusion that he could neither love nor be loved. The thought of Elena having found the non-existent emotion was unsettling. Damon could however lust and lust equalled passion and right now his lust for Elena was being channelled into passionate rage. He needed get that under control before he blew his chances completely.

He arrived at his father's mansion just before midnight in a relatively calm state of mind, deciding on his ride that visiting the alley 2 nights in a row would probably send the crack heads fleeing and looking for a new dealer. Damage control was more important at this moment anyway Damon reasoned dialling Alaric's number thinking he would be asleep and intending to do leave a message.

"Damon what the FUCK man!" Alaric yelled into the phone skipping the 'hi'.

"Ric I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened in there." That was lie. He knew what happened, Elena made him crazy.

"Well you'd better figure it out, Elena has been crying ever since you left and Jenna is pissed."

"She's crying?" That was the last thing Damon expected. He thought angry, mad and furious but no upset.

"What do you expect man the girl was married, you were trivialising her relationship and then you made crude comments about her sex life in front of her aunt!"

"She was married?" Elena was so young he didn't think it was possible.

"Seriously, that's all you got from that?" Alaric paused "look Damon, Jenna's not your biggest fan as it is so I think it would be better if you didn't come around here until you apologise to Elena or something."

"Geez man I fucked up ok but that's a little extreme don't you think?"

Alaric had been Damon's best and pretty much only friend since high school. He accepted him and his mood swings and was always there when Damon needed to vent about his father. His friend however did not know about his double life as a dealer.

"Damon, Elena is Jenna's niece, just make an effort to fix it would you?" Alaric sighed into the phone.

"Yeah yeah I'll try ok" He wasn't lying, he wanted to fix his relationship with Elena, just not solely for the reason of being allowed in his best friend's house "drinks tomorrow night?"

"Are you serious?"

"I'd never kid about a good scotch."

"You're unbelievable."

"That's what the ladies tell me."

"Goodnight Damon."

Ric hung up and Damon was trudging up the stairs when he heard the front door open. Making his way back down the stairs he was greeted by the sight of his father.

"How was she?" Damon asked.

"Excuse me?"

"I assume you were with your hooker?"

Damon had learnt about his father's habit when he was 17 and Stefan was 15. At the time their mother was alive but very ill and spent most nights in the hospital. Giuseppe had come home drunk and when Damon asked where he was Giuseppe had replied without thinking. His father had since tried to pretend it hadn't happened and their relationship had never recovered.

"Go to sleep Damon."

"What no father son bonding time. Shocker."

"Did you need something?" Giuseppe asked in his ever-present condescending tone.

"Nope I'm just gonna grab a drink and ponder about what an amazing father I have" Damon grabbed a bottle of vodka as he heard Giuseppe mutter something about what an ungrateful disappointment he was.

Moments later Stefan came down the stairs.

"Must you antagonise father all the time? He slammed his door so hard I thought it was going to break" his brother sounded exhausted.

Damon shrugged "What's wrong with you?"

"A couple of bad night's sleep. This case would have to be toughest yet."

"Hmm sounds boring want something to take your mind off it?" he asked holding out the bottle of vodka to Stefan who declined by shaking his head.

"Do you always go to work with a hangover?" Stefan was curious but not judgemental. Stefan had become accustomed to some of Damon's behaviours over the years and he had given up a long time ago trying to change his brothers drinking habits.

"Not really, I've built up a tolerance" Damon responded with smirk.

"Right well I'm going to take some panadol and go to bed, you should think about sleeping too, its late"

"Why does everybody want me to sleep tonight?" he asked himself.

Damon was usually not one to do what people asked of him but he was tired so he crawled into bed. It was there that he had time to think about what Alaric had told him over the phone. Elena was married and he had made her upset. He was feeling strange and it took him a while to work out that this new feeling was guilt.

The next morning he decided to ignore what his friend had told him and headed to Jenna and Ric's place, thinking that Jenna while angry with him might be willingly to see past that to give him some advice on how to make things right with Elena. He didn't have a chance to knock on the door when Alaric came out dressed in workout clothes.

"You shouldn't be here man" Ric said with the door still open "I mean it."

"I'm taking your advice… you know mending bridges" he paused "I don't suppose you could convince your fiancé to talk to me?"

Alaric didn't get a chance to respond when the woman in question appeared in the doorway arms folded and fire in her eyes.

"GO AWAY DAMON!"

"I'm sorry about last night…"

"Oh well sorry covers it" Jenna's sarcastic voice momentarily stunned him. He was not used to hearing her use that tone.

"Just hear him out, he wants to make amends" Alaric said softly looking into Jenna's eyes.

He could see the moment Jenna relented un-crossing her arms and turning towards him.

"You have my attention" she said trying to keep the venom out of her voice.

"I just want to know how to fix things with Elena" Damon said swaying from side to side suddenly thinking coming to this house was a bad idea.

"I think fixing things with my niece is out of the question considering I don't think she'll ever talk to you again" a ghost of a smile appeared on the women's face.

"Oh come on Jenna, it wasn't that bad" Damon tried to charm her with a smile. It was pointless though as he didn't couldn't anticipate what happened next; a hard slap landed on his cheek. After realising the hand didn't belong to Jenna or Ric his eyes focused on another figure. Elena looked tired and she was wearing the same clothes as the previous night at dinner. He briefly wondered how he didn't notice her car before he looked at her face. While she had dark rims around her eyes, there was also a fire within them which was downright terrifying. Even to him.