AN: Sorry that this one's later than usual but life has really caught up to me these last two weeks with college and work that I haven't had as much time to write as I would have liked to. I hope you can forgive me though because I come bearing a gift of a new chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter and I really am sorry for the delay but it can't be helped when it comes to real life commitments.

Also for anyone interested, I'm currently looking for a beta to help me out with this story - someone to help me with editing and to contribute some ideas and feedback for my writing. So if you know anyone or you're interested yourself, drop me a PM and let me know :).

Fate Brought Us Together

Chapter 5

Elena had never felt more conflicted in her entire life. On one hand she had her boyfriend, Tyler. He'd been with her through thick and thin, had comforted her when Jeremy died and when they first got together he had treated her like a princess. Only now, somewhere during their relationship, he'd changed. He became a lot more controlling, telling her she couldn't go places with her friends, he belittled her appearance and even basically admitted once or twice while fighting that he thought she was undesirable; that he put up with her because nobody else would.

She hadn't realized it before but she'd let him get away with things like that for far too long. She let him walk all over her and she didn't know whether to fight for their relationship or to cut all ties with him. She knew deep down that she cared for Tyler, she didn't love him but she definitely cared about him. She didn't want to hurt him but she had to think about herself for once as well. And the truth was she just didn't know whether she wanted to be with him anymore.

Which then brought her to her next problem, Damon Salvatore.

Ever since their moment in the kitchen two nights ago, she'd found it almost impossible to sleep. She didn't know whether it was the small kiss he left on the side of her cheek that she could still feel burned into her skin, or if it was her brother's advice about love that Damon had graced her with. Maybe that was why she was suddenly questioning her whole relationship with Tyler. Apparently, her brother knew exactly what she wanted from a relationship better than she ever did and now, she wasn't sure if Tyler made her feel the way she wanted to feel anymore.

There were no giddy feelings anymore when she was next to him, no butterflies or sparks. There had been a time at the start of their relationship that Elena had felt all of those emotions at once, he excited her and she was so attracted to him that at the time she didn't imagine herself with anyone else, but somewhere along the way, Tyler had stopped making her feel that way and to make matters worse. It seemed those feelings were now reserved for Damon instead, and that... petrified her.

Damon Salvatore had managed to once again squeeze his way into her head, whether it was for the right or wrong reasons. She should have foreseen these lingering feelings that were threatening to return once she knew he was coming home but she thought that as the years went on, she'd gotten over him. Her body and heart had other ideas though, unfortunately for her. All it took was a few charming smiles, a flash of those baby blues and a small kiss on her cheek and suddenly she was like putty in his hands.

That's why for the past two days she'd been avoiding all things to do with the elder Salvatore brother.

Elena walked up the steps at the entrance of Mystic Falls High School, ready for another lack-luster day. As she walked through the double doors into the hallway she caught a glimpse of Tyler in his letterman jacket, surrounded by the rest of the football team. She quickly made a left turn down towards the English classes, hoping to avoid him.

Yes, Tyler was another person she'd been avoiding for the past few days.

Ever since Saturday, she had been ignoring her boyfriend. They hadn't spoken since then and when she forgot to text him on Sunday, he got moody with her and started ignoring her himself. When he failed to pick her up on Monday morning, she took the opportunity to put some space between them. If she was being honest with herself she was feeling guilty for what happened Sunday with Damon. It might have only been a small kiss on the cheek but she felt like she'd cheated on her boyfriend and she didn't think she could stomach being with Tyler while replaying that dinner with Damon over and over in her head.

As she rounded the corner she barely had time to stop herself as she almost collided with someone's chest. After being startled, she quickly looked up to find the only guy in the school who she was trying to avoid; Tyler. She bit the inside of her lip, trying to quickly think up an excuse for ignoring him all weekend but found herself surprised when he spoke in a soft, caring tone.

"Hey beautiful, I was beginning to think you left town or something."

"I'm sorry?" Were the words that quickly slipped out of her mouth as she looked at the man in front of her, who the hell was this guy and what had he done with Tyler Lockwood?

"I haven't seen you since Saturday and you already left for school this morning when I came to pick you up..." he stated.

"Well you didn't come yesterday so I-"

"Yeah I forgot to tell you that my car was in the shop. I would have told you yesterday but I didn't see you all day." he sounded almost... sincere.

"Oh..." she replied, confused. She had no idea what his angle was but he was never this nice to her. Usually he was blunt and demanding but today he was the complete opposite and she didn't know whether it was a facade or not. She liked to think that she knew more about him than she let on, but she wasn't sure whether he was being completely genuine with her. Regardless of whether Tyler was actually acting like a decent guy for once, she did know that when he couldn't get what he wanted, he changed tactics and this change in attitude only made her suspicious that he wanted something from her, the only question was what?

"So babe, are you free tonight? I thought that maybe we could spend the night with takeout and a movie?" He asked as his lips formed into a small, deceiving smile.

"Actually, I'm having just a girls night with my mom and Jenna." she replied and she hated herself for lying to him but she didn't think she could be around him for the whole night, knowing that every time he flashed her a smile or gave her a kiss, she'd be thinking back to Sunday night in her kitchen with a certain blue eyed man.

"Okay hun, you are going to the bonfire Friday though, right?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"U-uh yeah of course," she replied as the school bell rung out and everyone filtered into the classrooms, leaving them alone in the hallway. "I better get to class, you know what Mr Johnson's like when you're late to his class." she offered with a small smile.

"Yeah sure babe, I'll text you later." he replied before giving her a brief kiss on the cheek.

Her lips tilted upwards into a forced smile before mumbling a small goodbye. The only thing she could think about on her way to math class was the difference in kisses between Tyler and Damon. She knew she shouldn't have been comparing the two, and she felt a little silly for doing it but she couldn't help it. Tyler's kiss was short and held no warmth, his lips were cold and she didn't feel the short buzz she used to whenever he touched her. However, Damon's kiss had lingered and his lips had engraved themselves in her skin, making those butterflies flutter around in her stomach.

She shook the feeling off as she entered her maths class, seeing her empty seat in between Caroline and Bonnie. She rushed over to her seat, thankful that she'd managed to get into class before Mr Johnson. She wasn't kidding about him; he really did blow a fuse when someone turned up his lessons late.

Elena didn't know whether or not to tell Caroline and Bonnie that she was considering breaking up with Tyler. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Bonnie because it would no doubt lead to a conversation about Damon in which her best friend would probably interrogate her on why she was suddenly questioning her relationship with Tyler as soon as he blew back into town. And Caroline was a different kettle of fish. While her best friend would no doubt respect any decision she made, something told Elena that she'd be slightly a little too harsh on Tyler. Not to mention the fact that she'd want all the details on everything from her decision to break up with Tyler to Sunday's dinner with a man who Caroline described as 'too gorgeous for his own good'.

Deciding that they were her best friends and if the situations were reversed, they'd never fail to let her in on everything, she decided to have a girl's night over her house and tell them everything. Well... maybe not everything, she'd leave out the Damon details but she'd tell them her secret suspicions of Tyler and how rather quickly, her feelings were changing.

Damon's speech to her about love had convinced her that she wasn't in love with Tyler but that certainly didn't mean that Damon was the reason she was going to end things with her boyfriend, right?

Elena took out her phone and quickly typed out a text message to both Caroline and Bonnie explaining to be over her house by seven with ice cream and DVD's. The only thing that Elena needed right now was the advice of her two best friends and Ryan Gosling.

"So what's the reason for the impromptu slumber party?" Caroline asked as she bounced into the kitchen, carrying a bag full of DVD's ranging from 'The Notebook' to 'Friends with Benefits' - basically every romantic film known to man.

"Yeah 'Lena, we haven't had one of these in ages." Bonnie added.

"Well I wasn't going to tell you until later but... I think I might end things with Tyler." Elena replied, hesitantly.

Judging from the very different reactions that came from the both of them, they had different opinions on the matter. Caroline's jaw was on the floor and Bonnie was giving her a pointed look. It was a look that was more of a statement, one that said 'This is because of Damon'. Elena just wished that Bonnie wouldn't bring him up now, that would be opening a can of worms in front of Caroline that Elena definitely didn't want to deal with tonight.

Elena faltered under Bonnie's judgmental stare and diverted her eyes to her other best friend, who'd finally seemed to have digested the information and was now smiling broadly at her.

"That's great news, 'Len! What brought on this little epiphany?"

"Yeah, this seems really sudden, Elena." Bonnie chirped in, causing Elena to bring her attention back to the girl who was treating this as an interrogation rather than a conversation. Catching Bonnie's glare again and feeling a little uncomfortable, Elena plastered on a small smile towards the blonde.

"I've just been doing a lot of thinking these past couple of days."

"Who cares how it's happened actually, just that it did. We are going to celebrate, right after I pee!" Caroline announced before rushing upstairs to the toilet.

Now that Caroline was out of earshot, Elena used their time alone to get things straight with Bonnie. She didn't want her to let it slip and say something stupid like she used to have a thing for Damon and that he was potentially the reason she was thinking about breaking up with Tyler. As blonde as Caroline was, she definitely wasn't an idiot and it wouldn't take much for her to catch on if Bonnie were to slip up.

"Listen, Bonnie. I know what this looks like but it has nothing to do with Damon!" Elena rushed out in a hushed whisper.

"Really, Elena? Damon's been back in town for five minutes and now you want to break up with Tyler? I just don't believe that this has nothing to do with him. I know how much you liked Damon..." she finished sympathetically.

"I was fourteen Bon, this is different. It wasn't something that Damon did or said. It was Jeremy." Elena replied.

"Jeremy?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Damon gave me some advice. The same advice that my brother gave him and it opened my eyes to how bad my relationship with Tyler really is."

"I understand that, 'Lena. I just don't want you to get hurt again because of Damon. I just want you to be careful."

"I know you're just looking out for me, Bon. I love you for that but I know what I'm doing. So can we just drop it please?"

"Okay, sure. Just know that I'll always be here for you, okay?" Bonnie replied with a reassuring smile.

Elena smiled at her friend and nodded her head. She was glad that she had a chance to smooth things over with Bonnie. She was lucky to have a friend who looked out for her as much as she did and Elena found herself looking forward to her girl's night more than she intended to when she thought the idea up. She realized that maybe she did need her friends and a tub of ice cream, her break up with Tyler wasn't going to be smooth and she would definitely need her girlfriends to lean on in the aftermath.

"Right then, I think we deserve some of this!" Caroline announced as she came back into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Where did you get that, Care?" Bonnie asked with a massive grin.

"Well, call me psychic or something but I thought we might need some alcohol tonight and I was right! We're celebrating after all!"

Damon lifted up the glass to his lips again and took a mouthful of bourbon, welcoming the burn in his throat as he swallowed. The last few days had been excruciating in a way that he couldn't fully understand. He didn't want to but all he could think about was Elena Gilbert, his best friend's younger sister. She had invaded every his head and now he couldn't go a day without thinking about her. Ever since coming back to this god forsaken town he hadn't been able to shake her. Sunday had been the last straw in a way, there was no escaping Elena in his mind as much as he tried - she had gotten under his skin.

He slammed his glass down onto the counter as he finished another glass. The Mystic Grill was becoming a second home to him these days. Things were getting increasingly worse with his brother, Stefan was refusing to speak to Damon and every time he tried to ask him why he was so pissed, he was shot down and told to go away and Damon had no idea how to fix it. It was not like he could tie his brother up until he told him, could he?

It wouldn't be something he hadn't done to someone before...

"Something on your mind?" Damon looked up from his glass to see the blonde barmaid from a few nights ago, what was her name again?

"Yeah you could say that," he replied while lifting his glass up to her "refill?"

"Sure," she smiled brightly at him like she'd won a free vacation to the Bahamas or something as she took his glass and started pouring another shot of Jim Beam. "So what's with the long face? A girl?" she asked politely as she placed the full glass back down in front of him.

If he wasn't in a reflective mood he would have laughed at her blatant snooping into his personal life. She had no idea what kind of girl problems he was currently going through, how would you explain having a thing for your dead friend's sister who you swore to protect, while he was on his deathbed? Exactly... maybe he could just give her the watered down version though, highlights if you will about what's got him drinking alone in a bar at five in the afternoon. Ric currently wasn't around and he was about to rip his hair out if he didn't vent out his sibling frustrations to someone - the attractive barmaid would have to do.

"No girl problems, I've sort of been out of the game for a while." he worded carefully; he didn't want the whole town to know about his "heroic" adventure overseas. He knew what people were like with that sort of stuff, wanting every detail about what happened, details about stuff that he just wanted to forget forever.

"Dead wife?" she mused boldly as Damon raised his eyebrows. Wow, this girl certainly wasn't subtle.

"No, no, no," he rushed out quickly. He knew what small town gossip was like and he definitely didn't want it to get around Mystic Falls that he supposedly had a dead wife. "I was uh... I was in Afghanistan." he replied slowly, hoping she would just drop the subject now entirely. Even getting the words out to a was difficult, it brought him back to place he didn't ever want to return to, let alone opening up to anyone about the details of the place.

"Oh, I understand." she whispered.

"You do?" Damon asked, shocked. He fully expected her to chew that up and blow full steam ahead into a conversation about it.

"Yeah, one of my brother's was in the Royal Navy. He died a few years ago..." she replied woefully and Damon couldn't help but feel a small twinge of sorrow in his chest for her. He knew better than anyone what it was like to lose someone close to you because of all the fighting that was going on in different countries.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sure your brother was a great guy." Damon offered, he wasn't great with this sort of stuff, comforting strangers.

"Yeah he was. Anyway, enough doom and gloom blue eyes, what's got you staring into the bottom of a glass?" she asked and he was glad she was changing the subject. She was right; he'd had enough doom and gloom regarding the war to last a lifetime.

"Let's just say my brother's not been my biggest fan since I've been home." he replied with a small, nonchalant shrug. Deep down though it bothered him a lot that his brother wasn't speaking to him, one of the things he was looking forward to the most when he was out in the desert was seeing Stefan again.

"Well take it from me, family sucks!" she said distastefully and Damon seemed to get the impression that she didn't like hers very much.

"Hey lady, we've been waiting to be served for ten minutes here!" a man shouted from the other end of the bar, gaining the blonde woman's attention.

Damon watched as she took out another glass and poured another shot of whiskey, placing it on a napkin in front of him. She flashed him a toothy grin and a wink. "That one's on me."

"Oh you got me a drink? Good, I need one!" Ric said gratefully as he sat down beside him.

"Sure Ric, you can take my drink." Damon drawled out sarcastically.

"Thanks man, I need it!" his friend replied nonchalantly, ignoring Damon's snarky tone.

"Bad day too?" he asked, curious as to why his best friend was at the bar in the afternoon with him.

"You could say that, this assignment is kicking my ass." Ric replied, picking the glass up and almost downing the whole contents at once. "Who's Rebekah?"

"What?" Damon asked, confused. Who the hell was Rebekah?

Ric then lifted the napkin up on which the barmaid had placed the drink on, a phone number and the name 'Rebekah' was signed in bright red lipstick, the same lipstick that the barmaid was wearing. Then it hit him, almost like a ton of bricks. Of course she was Rebekah; she had told him her name the first night he was back in town! He suddenly felt bad about forgetting her name.

"It's nobody." Damon answered quickly, snatching the napkin out of his hand and stuffing it into his jean pocket.

"Looks like somebody has still got it." Ric teased, holding his hands up in defence with a massive smirk on his face.

Damon rolled his eyes before replying "Shut up, dick."

"Okay, okay. Hey, are you going to the bonfire, Friday?"

"Yeah, unfortunately my mom wants me to fulfil my duties as a founding family and make an appearance. Apparently, Carol Lockwood want's to meet the 'hometown hero'." Damon retorted sarcastically and rolled his eyes. He was really starting to get sick with everyone referring to him as a hero; he wasn't anything of the sorts. If anything, he was a coward...

"Ah come on, man. It won't be that bad, I'll be there." Ric replied and Damon noticed that was strangely enthusiastic, too enthusiastic.

"Jenna forcing you to go as well?" Damon declared knowingly and a loop-sided smirk formed as his best friend's face dropped.

"Yeah..." Ric looked to be contemplating something before turning to him, grinning like an idiot. Damon could practically see the light bulb above his head. "We could drink with the cool kids!" he exclaimed and frankly, Damon was disappointed. Really... 'the cool kids'?

"The cool kids?" Damon replied, gibingly.

"Remember when we were in high school and everyone would just go by The Falls and get drunk? They still do it, we could get drunk with them!" he stated as if it was obvious.

Did the guy forget that we were like four, five years older than everyone else? It was the most absurd idea Damon had ever heard in his entire life, the kids would probably think that they were creepy guys waiting to take advantage of drunken girls. They would have the sheriff knocking their doors in no time. However, there would be a chance that he'd see Elena.

Oh how he could imagine Elena in a pair of her tight jeans and black leather jacket, much like Saturday night. Fuck! He needed to stop thinking about her like that, she was off limits. Way off limits, he already crossed the line Sunday with his shameless staring at the dinner table. He couldn't help it though; she looked so beautiful in the blue shirt and skin tight jeans she was wearing that he found it impossible to keep his eyes off her.

"Hey Damon, will you stop day dreaming for like five minutes?" Ric expressed, bringing him out of his Elena induced fantasy.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I said that it's probably not a good idea, actually. We'd look like Logan Fell." Damon laughed a little at the mental image Ric had painted into his head. Logan Fell was the creepiest guy back when they were in high school. He used to hang around the cemetery on his own and claim that he was a vampire and was one day going to drink everyone's blood. Safe to say he wasn't exactly all there.

"Yeah, you're right." Damon replied and he had other reasons for not following up on Ric's mastermind plan.

He didn't think he could bump into Elena Gilbert when alcohol was involved and not end up throwing her into his bed and never letting her leave. It was better for the both of them if they kept their distance from each other for a while...

AN: So this was mostly a filler chapter but it was important in a way that it sets up the next chapter really well and the next chapter is a big one in terms of development! I also delved a little into Damon's psychology regarding his experiences in the war, I'm not sure whether I'll make his experiences a major part of the story but I thought that it at least needed to be addressed a little. I also forgot in my first author's note, but thank you to all the Guests that have reviewed! You should all make accounts so that I can thank you all personally ;)!

I would also just like to say a big thank you to my friend, Anna who helped me out by giving me some great ideas for this story!