Chapter 9

Elena awoke by the sunlight. She had a searing headache. When she stretched, she hit the guy beside her. Damon. Panic started to rise inside of her. He moved beside her. "Hey," he said and turned to look at her. "Are you OK?" He looked concerned.

"Yeah?" She said confused. None of them said anything. They both eyed one another. "Did we sleep together?" Elena finally asked.

"No," Damon said in disbelief. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Elena asked confused.

"No, we didn't sleep together," Damon said and sat up and leaned back on the headboard.

"Thank God!" Elena said and sat up beside Damon.

"Would it have been a bad thing?" Damon said in a mocking offended voice.

"Sorry," she said and laughed. "That's not what I meant."

"I know," he said pushing her teasingly. He got out of bed and turned to look at her.

"What?" she asked and smiled.

"Nothing," he said and looked away again. "I'm going to take a shower. You can go downstairs and get some breakfast."

"Actually," Elena said and got of bed. "I think I'm going to go home." She started looking after her clothes.

"Oh, OK," Damon said. "Maybe we can see each other later." He turned around to walk into the bathroom.

"Damon?" She asked with a serious look.

"Yeah," he said and turned around.

"What happened last night?" She asked worried.

"I'll tell you later." And before she could reply to what he had said, he had disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door. She heard the water running from the shower and she didn't feel like going in there. She took of the t-shirt she had borrowed. She found her clothes from yesterday and put it on. She got out her phone and dialled a number and put it up to her ear.

"Hello?" A female voice said at the other end.

"Mom?" Elena said. "Can you pick me up at the Salvatore house?"

"Sure, honey," her mother said. "Now?"

"Yeah, that would be great," Elena said in a sweet voice.

"I'll be there in five," her mother said and hung up the phone. Elena got her boots and took a quick look in the mirror before walking out of Damon room. "She looked fine. There was no smeared make-up. She walked down the hall and halfway down the stairs. She stopped to listen for voices. There was completely quiet. She walked silently down the rest of the stairs. She stopped right before she reached the front door and put on her boots. Then she walked outside and down the driveway, and then she saw a familiar car. She hopped in when it parked beside her.

"Thanks," she said when she had gotten in.

"You're welcome," her mother said with her eyes on the road. "You want to come back to the house the me?"

"I just want to go home and shower and get some more sleep," Elena said in an apologetic voice. She hated turning down her other, especially now that she had just asked her a favour.

"You can to that at the house, I mean you do still have your room," Miranda said and took a brief pause. "Your dad and I just love when you're in the house."

"OK," said Elena and smiled at her mother. When they got into the house, Elena gave her dad a brief hug and she went upstairs and took a shower. When she was in the shower she noticed some bruises on her body. She had some dark marks on her hip and on one of her thighs. Was this what had happened last night, that Damon wouldn't tell her? She could tell Damon thought it was serious just by the way he had looked at her before her had went into the bathroom. She would have to call him after, she reminded herself. When she got out of the shower, she was so tired she just wanted to lie down for two minutes. But after one, she had fallen asleep on her bed with her towel wrapped around her.

XXXXX

When Damon stepped out of the bathroom, he saw that Elena was gone along with all of her things. He was a little relieved to see that she had gone because he really didn't want to explain to her what had happened last night. He knew it would upset her a lot. He got dressed and went down to the kitchen. Caroline and Stefan where sitting at the dining table in the kitchen and finishing their breakfast.

"Hi, Damon," Caroline said when she saw him.

"Did you have a good night?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, I think it went great!" Stefan said enthusiastically. "What do you think, honey?" He gave Caroline a mocking look.

"Very funny, Stefan!" She spat at him.

"What?" Damon asked confused.

"I don't think Caroline remember the last part of the evening," he said and laughed at her and Damon joined in.

"Screw you, Stefan," she said and threw a washcloth at him and left the kitchen. Stefan laughed a bit at his wife, and got up to do Caroline and his own dishes. He looked over at his brother, who was looking down at the floor, which he only did when something was troubling him.

"What's wrong?" Stefan asked worried.

"I shouldn't tell you," Damon said and look up. He shook his head. "But I need your advice."

"What's going on?" Stefan asked even more worried.

"Something happened last night… at the party," Damon said and looked up at his brother.

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked confused this time. "You weren't at the party."

"Yeah, I was," Damon said. "I wanted to talk to Elena, so I decided to come later." Stefan didn't say anything, he just looked at his brother and waited for him to continue. "We had an argument right after I got there. Later, I went inside to find you and Caroline to say goodbye, but I guess, you guys had already left. Instead, I saw something else…" Damon stopped and starred down to the floor again.

"What?" Stefan pressed his brother.

"I saw Tyler forcing his way onto Elena," Damon said in a calm voice, trying to handle his anger as he said the words out loud.

"Well, he has always had a thing for her," Stefan said. "I get that you don't like him, but I don't think we should be judging other grownups for hooking up-."

"No!" Damon shouted. "He had her pinned down on a couch, and she was so drunk and weak that she couldn't get away from him!" He couldn't control his anger anymore.

"OK," said Stefan with his hands up in the air. He walked over to his brother and touched him on the shoulder. "Why don't you sit down." He pushed Damon towards a chair at the dining table. Damon sat down and took a few deep breaths. Stefan sat down next to his brother and still had his arm on his shoulder. "Then what happened?"

"I knocked him to the floor," Damon said in a calm voice. "And I took her back here."

"OK, so you did the right thing," Stefan said relieved. He had been afraid that his brother would have let his anger get the best of him as I did sometimes. "I don't know what to say to you."

"I need advice because I haven't told Elena yet," Damon said and looked over at his brother. "She doesn't remember what happened."

"What?" Stefan said in a loud voice and got to his feet. "You have to tell her! It's her boss. She needs to know!"

"I know…" Damon said in a said voice. "I just don't want to hurt her."

"You didn't, he did!" Stefan said still with a loud voice.

"I know, I have to tell her," Damon said quietly. "I just needed to talk myself into doing it."

"I know," Stefan said in a low voice.