Sorry I haven't updated for so long. But I hope you guys will enjoy this. :)

Elena

"I thought you said Klaus won't hurt her. Why did you lie to me?"

That voice..Caroline?

I forced my heavy eyelids to open. My vision was a little blurry at first but it steadied after a few tries. Caroline was right beside Ian, arguing over something. I opened my mouth to speak, but the harsh swelling on my cheeks forced it to close.

Ian took both Caroline's arms to assure her about something. "This had to happen, Caroline. You and I both knew from the very start that Klaus will get his hands dirty sooner or later."

"...I can't take this anymore. It's hard enough as it is now that she's here. Can't you..Can't you just take her back?"

"That'll be the easiest way to blow my cover. I can't allow that to happen."

"Look, Damon. Elena can't stay here. Klaus won't be generous enough to spare her or even – "

He suddenly blocked her mouth with his hand and grabbed her firmly by the back of her neck. In a low voice he said. "Don't you ever call me by that name ever again."

Caroline nodded, looking a bit frightened.

Damon? As in Damon Salvatore? No. No this can't be...Ian can't be Damon. I'm sure of it. It can't be. It just can't be!

He slowly released her. Caroline looked at him speechlessly and didn't move an inch. He went back to the bed and sat beside me, at this moment, I quickly closed my eyes.

"Go. I'll stay here."

"But..But Ian.."

"Go."

"...Alright."

Caroline's footsteps soon died down when the door closed.

This can't be. Caroline betrayed again? Again?! How could she keep this from me? After all the times we spent together and trusted each other in the past, she chooses now to stab me in the back like this?

Oh how could Damon be here? I thought I knew him. But what is he now? Why is he here as a criminal instead of the real Damon Salvatore I have known?

Damon took one of my hands and pressed it close to his lips. I almost flinched by his touch.

"I know you're awake. You can open your eyes." He whispered.

I gulped hard once he said this. I didn't dare open my eyes. But he continued to urge me.

"Come on, Elena. You can't fool me. I know you too well."

I gulped again and slowly opened my eyelids. Damon looked straight at me with a disappointed look. He first examined my face, looking at each of the bruises marked on my cheeks. When he reached out his hand to touch my face, I turned my head to dodge it.

"Don't touch me."

He nodded and lowered his hand back to his lap. "Elena, I know that you have a lot of questions of what's going on, but all I can tell you is that you must never let Klaus or Tyler find out who I am."

I lifted my eyes straight at his face. "That's what I don't understand. Why are you pretending to be this Ian, anyway?"

"I can't tell you that here, Elena. There's too much risk involved if I reveal everything to you right now."

"...Damon..."

Saying his name for the first time made my stomach churn and my head spin a lot heavily then the headache I went through a few hours earlier. I longed to call out for him by his name for years. But this moment is definitely something I never had in mind as a perfect reunion.

"Damon..."

"Yes?"

"..Why are you here now? D-Do you have any idea of how much..Huh. I missed you so much, damn it. Why are you back now at the wrong time? How could you help those jerks bring me here instead of saving me?"

"Again, I can't tell you now. But once I do, you'll understand my reasons."

I shook my head. "No, no. I want to hear what you have to say now. I don't care if anyone can hear. I need to know right now why you left me, why you're here as a criminal, and why in the hell Caroline is helping you."

"As much as I want to, I can't."

"Then when?"

"Once you recover. Alright? Just rest, you'll need it. Believe me, that little girl of yours won't be able to handle things on her own the longer you remain locked up in this room."

I froze once he mentioned DeDe. Oh God I forgot about her...Imagine if Klaus chose her instead of me for the torture. We really need help. We really need to get out of here now. Who knows if Klaus might use DeDe next to threaten her grandparents? Oh God! What's taking the police so long to find us?!

"Alright, I'll rest...I'll rest..."

"Good. I'll be here. Okay?"

I closed my eyes and took a breath to calm myself down. But before I allowed my body to doze off to sleep, I whispered to Damon one last time.

"Damon? Can you promise me one thing before I sleep?"

"Of course, anything."

"When DeDe wakes up, please comfort her. Tell her a good lie of why I'm gone. Okay?"

"I promise."

"...Thank you..."

"Sleep now. Just sleep."

Two weeks passed. During those long days, I spent hours resting in bed while Damon volunteered to nurse me. Every day he helped me freshen up in the bathroom and gave me food. It was awkward at first when he started doing this. But I got used to it because everything he did to me..everything he helped me with was all familiar, all familiar just like old times.

Caroline never came to my room to see me again. I guess she feels ashamed to face me. I'm not sure if I can ever face her again either or forgive her of what she did. But until Damon explains to me of the whole situation I might be able to understand both his and her own reasons of teaming up with Klaus. There better be a good reason though of why Caroline left her home town and became involved in a risky relationship, and for Damon to leave his own home and disappear without a trace of his existence.

Today I'm feeling much better. The soreness and the swelling from my bruises and irritating aches are recovering now. I'm able to walk around the room by myself without Damon's assistance.

Damon came in later on with a tray that carried my lunch. I was sitting on my bed all dressed. He went over to me and sat beside me. I took the tray from his hands and placed it on my lap. I picked up the sliced sandwich from the plate and took a bite from it.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Much better."

"Sorry I couldn't come here this morning. Klaus needed to talk to me about something."

"It's fine. So, is it okay if I go see DeDe now? I'm feeling a lot better and I think Caroline can lend me some concealer to cover my face up before I see that little girl."

"Yeah. You can."

"Good...Um..But there is another thing I wanted to ask you."

"What is that?"

"...Well, are you going to tell me now about what you promised before?"

"Yes, I think it's time for you to know now," he lowered his eyes down at his lap, "but I promise you it's not a pretty story."

I placed my sandwich down back on the plate, and carried the tray down on the side of the bed.

"I didn't expect it to be. But are you sure its safe for you to tell me now? Or is there someone outside listening to us behind the door?"

Damon lifted his gaze back at my face. "They can't. Tyler is outside surfing. And Caroline is keeping Klaus busy..their bedroom is a little loud now."

I almost choked on my sandwich after hearing that last part. I lightly punched my chest with my fist and croaked in an uncomfortable tone. "Didn't need that info, Damon."

"Sorry."

I licked my lips and regain my posture. "So..So why did you leave me?"

Damon suddenly took my hand. I gasped by his touch but he didn't there pull back or release it.

"I never meant to leave you."

"What?"

"I only left because I had to. You see, the night of my birthday I found out something very odd. You remember the night? You gave me that present for me."

"Yes."

"Well, when I got back home, I got a call from a man I hired recently at that time. He's an undercover detective who recently retired but he accepted my offer when I paid him a good deal. He investigated Stefan's death and it turns out Stefan never died from a normal burglar scene after all. It was a murder."

"Murder? Oh my God..."

"I was shocked myself. He sent me DNA evidence showing that Klaus was at our house at that time and he was the suspect. The only thing that surprised me was that even though that evidence was clearly there in my house, the FBI didn't even use that proof to arrest him. So the next day I fought against the FBI with the evidence I had. They rejected me, saying that the proof I found was not good enough to support a case that was already closed. It took me three weeks to find out that the FBI chief was paid by Klaus to keep his mouth shut."

"So you decided to join him by going undercover?"

"That's right. I first staged my death. Of course, I didn't want you to suffer from hearing about my death, so I first left town before arranging any drastic attempts to make it look I was dead. I'm deeply sorry that I did that to you, Elena."

"...It's okay. I mean, I'm still not fully able to forgive you, but now that I know you did it for your brother, I sort of understand your reasons. But why are you working for Klaus?"

"I wasn't planning on staying here any longer. But I couldn't leave. You should know by now how insane Klaus is. I decided to stay to protect the hostages Klaus captures. There are times when I have to play coolly by raising a gun at some of the people we abducted. But I had no choice, Elena, believe me, I really didn't."

"How is Caroline involved in this?"

"She's actually helping me."

"You mean..You mean she's not with Klaus for personal feelings?"

"No. And yes. She never had any intention to be with Klaus, she's only using him to help me."

Caroline doesn't really love Klaus? How can she risk so much to be with that monster to just help Damon? Could...Could there be more to the relationship I don't know between Caroline and Damon?

"To help you? Damon, at this very moment that girl is giving herself to that disgusting beast, and you're not doing anything to stop that."

"She's use to it." He said coldly.

"Huh. H-How can you that so ea-asily?"

"We have been hiding everything from Klaus for a long time. It's what she chose to do...I tried to stop her from the start, but she was too stubborn to back out. At that time, Klaus was already crazy for her, so he was willing to enter into her trap. They've been together ever since."

"I can't believe this."

"Like I said, it's not a pretty story."

"So..So then, what's going to happen to me and DeDe? You're not going to let Klaus actually get through with this are you?"

"Never. I'm not so sure of what I could do to help. But for now, we just have to wait and see. Okay?"

"Alright."

"And one more thing?"

"What's that?"

"Do you trust me?"

"...Do I have a choice? So far you're my last hope to get me out of here."

"So you can return to the arms of your darling Mason?"

If anyone tells you that it's possible to balance a friendship with your ex, they are totally wrong. I completely forgot that he already knows a lot about me and Mason. It's really awkward to face each other like this after all those years of what we went through together, and how much I risked myself to be in that scandalous relationship with Damon...Huh. What's the matter with me? That's all in the past. The crazy girl dancing around in the midnight stars is good as dead, I'm not that girl anymore. I'm the future-to-be Mrs. Lockwood. That title I will never forget regardless if I might make it alive out of this damn island with little DeDe or not.

"You guessed correctly."

"How long has it been since you two been together?"

"Why bother to ask me? Our life is practically written as an open book. If you have any questions about our personal life, why won't you just look online or on a magazine instead?"

"Aw now that attitude begins. I was hoping for you to open that side of you."

"Damon." I hissed.

"Come on, you're personality is also no mystery to me. You're so stubborn but faithful when it comes to love – hmgh if you call that love."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"You actually think that you're rich boyfriend is going to risk giving over five billion dollars over to Klaus just like that in order to save you? Think again, Elena. When that guy put that ring on your finger, it means you're his and his alone. But since your banking account doesn't even have a single penny that can be worth over a million, his company already treated you like dirt from the beginning once they saw what you have in your pockets. You see, it's not just your precious Mason's decision to open his banking account, it's also the company's decision as well."

"Don't start with me with business. I know very well of Mason's company, and I know that no matter how difficult it'll be for him, he will save me and get me the hell out of here."

"You actually believe that?"

"Yes."

My cheeks flushed into deep burning flame. I can't help but feel angry of him saying this. A minute there he was telling me about how he got here so far and now he's telling me my fiancé can't save me. What the hell is wrong with him?

"Alright. Fine. Let's go through things very carefully since you're not really getting the big picture. Right now, how long has it been since you been locked in here going through your recovery?"

"Two weeks."

"Right. And you remember very well that Mason saw you in that video chat? Right?"

"Yes."

"If you do the math, it would take approximately one or two days for him to arrange the money that Klaus is asking for. But as you can see, there is no contact from him nor are the police or the FBI is even close to this destination."

"...Well, th-there must be a good explanation for that. They're just taking careful precautions."

"That's the worst lie you could ever think of to convince yourself, Elena. If Mason was so determined to get you out of here, he would have made the first move the very minute that video chat shut down. But as you can see, your boyfriend is not even here or even trying to contact us back. Now why is that? Hmm..It's obviously because his company doesn't give a damn about you."

"Shut up..Just shut up."

"That's the marriage you got yourself into. That's the life you're going to live in for the rest of your life. If you think about it, I think you living back in your Aunt Jenna's place is a lot more comforting to be in."

"Shut up!"

Tears fell down my cheeks. Damon however didn't stop. He squeezed my hand and scooted closer to me until one of his knees touched the side of my thigh.

"This is the truth, Elena. I'm not just saying as a jealous ex-boyfriend, I'm telling you this because I'm doing you a favor to give you all the facts before you ever get the chance to walk down that aisle and say I do. Because when you say those two hard words, you're not just marrying Mr. Right but you're also getting married off with his company. Any single flaw you make that regards with any scandals like possible affairs, relations with troubled acquaintances and friends especially family, health and crime will never be helped by the company's money. Now is that a life worth living for?"

"Damon. Just stop."

"It's hard to digest the truth, I know. I went through the same thing just as you did, only you seem be a lot luckier than me since you have a better chance to walk away from it."

"...I'm not going to walk away from Mason."

"Elena."

"No. I don't even care if he might get broke or grow mentally unstable. I'm going to be there for him and stay by his side until the very end. Because unlike him the one thing he never did to me was walk away from me without any explanation."

"I told you I never meant to leave you."

"But you did, didn't you? You left just like that. But not only did you just leave your home but you left behind all the moments we shared, all the fucking sacrifices I made to be with you, all the plans we made together by the time I was finished with school..Do you remember that?"

"Elena, please..."

"I thought so. You have nothing to say do you?...I get that being with Mason is a great risk. Just being here explains a lot of how dangerous it is once you're committed into a risky relationship. But he's not the problem right now, what should be focused on is how everything is going to be with Klaus. I need to get out of here, Damon. DeDe has suffered far enough. I want to stop lying to her that everything is okay even though I know fully well the two of us are trapped in here. So if you're done with personal information about Mason then let's get straight to business of how you're going to get me out of here."

"...That's just the thing. All we can do is wait."

"Only wait? Isn't there another way?"

"I'm afraid not. But remember this, Elena, you don't know who I am."

"Okay."