Thanks again for all the reviews and story alerts. Sorry I didn't have time to reply every single review, been busy but I will get to it, I promise!
I'm glad that so many of you liked the return of Rosalyn, Mr. Cuddles and the new guest star, Elijah! So, please enjoy this chapter, although it's mainly plot!
Chapter 14: Protégé
"Elijah Smith? As in, Elijah Smith - Investigative Reporter? That Elijah Smith?" Elena exclaimed in awe, unable to believe that the multiple Pulitzer Prize winner of New York Times is standing in front of her, claiming to have heard of her.
"Ahh, so you've heard of me? And by the way, I'd prefer to call it 'accountability reporting', it sounds more macho," Elijah chuckled softly as he observed her wide-eyed reaction to his presence.
"Of course I've heard of you; we did an assignment on your exposés in college, before I quit to get ah...married. I'm such a huge fan of your work, Mr. Smith!" she gushed excitedly, feeling completely star-struck.
"Please, call me Elijah. Might as well be on first name basis if you're going to be my protégé for a while," he said charmingly.
"Pro-protégé? What the-how did-why is-what?" she blinked several times as she stammered in shock.
"I can already see your potential as a journalist based on what you just said as an indication," he teasingly responded. "You sure asked the right questions for starters. If only you'd finished them, you'd have a better rate of success of interviewing people. Rosalyn tells me that you're an aspiring journalist or a writer, and there's a particular story that you're interested to crack, one that involves the downfall of a Pierce and a Lockwood. So, I volunteered to help steer you in the right direction and if you're successful, I can get your story published with your very own byline. That should jumpstart your career once you finish college."
"You want to help me write an exposé and I get to publish it, with my name on it and everything? I-I-I don't know what to say! Gosh, how can I thank you for this?" she had to stop herself from jumping up and down with glee at the thought of working alongside her journalist hero.
"Well, the pleasure of watching Mason Lockwood and Katherine go down in flames is satisfaction enough. Let's just say that I have a very personal reason to want those two to get their comeuppance, so it will be my honour to help you. Shall we talk it over during lunch tomorrow? I can pick you up and we'll have a nice long talk over a nice meal together. Is that acceptable to you?" he enquired.
"Yes, that would be fantastic! I'll be ready by say, noon?" she replied with a happy smile on her face.
"Perfect. Elena, I believe that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship," his warm brown eyes crinkled up in a genuine smile.
Over the next week, Elena spent almost every day with Elijah; picking his brain about breaking a story on corporate spying. During their first particular meeting over lunch, Elena sat down opposite her charming and collected idol with a notebook on one hand and a pen on the other.
"Investigative reporting, as you call it, is similar to a typical crime investigation; first we have the victim or victims, and then there's the crime itself, the suspects, motives and the methods. The first thing you have to do is to identify your leads. The good news is that you already know all the major players in this story; Salvatore Corporation, Katherine Pierce and Lockwood Industries. Obviously, the victim is the Salvatore Corp. since they were the ones who suffered the most losses in this case. Lockwood Industries stands to gain the most, so that makes them our primary suspect. That makes Katherine our method. But what is her motive? Money? Power? Revenge? Those are what you have to find out. We all know Mason Lockwood's motive; his family and the Salvatores have been at each other's throats since...two generations ago," Elijah had told her as he lounged back in his chair, looking utterly at ease with the topic at hand. Elena, on the other hand, was busy scribbling away in her notebook, afraid to miss out anything important information.
"Okay, so now we have to confirm if Katherine is indeed the mole, I mean she's the most obvious one since she had access to Damon's files and she was having the affair with Mason Lockwood which started about the same time that Damon's company started losing major projects to Lockwood Industries. Yeah, the only thing I can't figure out is her motive since her father's filthy rich, and she doesn't appear to have any reason to revenge against Damon or the company. After all, her father is working with the company," Elena said slowly, her mind processing each information as she voiced them out loud. "Unless, her father is playing both sides and he gains more from Lockwood if he sabotages the Salvatores. But then, why would he insist that his daughter marries into the Salvatore family if that's the case? Why would he create all this drama when he could have just worked with the Lockwoods directly?"
"Very good, Elena. You're putting your thinking cap on, and that's a great start to an investigation. It's good to ask questions and try to debunk them as a process of elimination. And remember, until you gather some evidences and narrow down your suspects, no one is to be trusted, not even Damon Salvatore. Circumstances may not be what they seem, so you should not be quick to assume anyone as innocent," he warned in a stern voice as Elena looked at him in shock.
"But you just said that the Salvatores were the victims, so of course Damon's innocent!" she argued, the idea that Damon could be the one behind the crime seemed preposterous to her.
"No, I said that Salvatore Corporation was the victim, not a Salvatore. You'd be surprised to know how many cases I've come across where the supposed victim was the mastermind behind everything. Think about it; Katherine's his fiancée, so if she makes a lot of money from helping the Lockwoods, that could also mean that Damon also stands to gain a fortune from betraying his own company, the company that may or may not be his when Giuseppe retires in the near future. It's common knowledge that Giuseppe has doubts over his eldest son's ability to run the whole company which was why he made Nicholas Mikaelson as the Managing Director instead of his own son. The way I see it, Damon Salvatore definitely has a motive. You may not want to accept that, but it's true. And this is also precisely the reason why you cannot tell Damon that we're investigating this case. In fact, the less people know about it, the better."
"I know Damon, and he's not the sort of person who does something like that. Besides, he loathes Katherine, so I doubt that he'd be willing to work with her to betray his own family. He would never risk something like that," she shook her head firmly and decided to push the thought of him being guilty out of her head.
"Greed is a powerful motivation for risk, Elena, but it's just a theory, one that I'll be happy for you to prove me wrong. But, as long as there's a doubt, then you mustn't assume that he's innocent. Trust me on this, Elena, and please ensure that you don't divulge our involvement to this case to him. Do I have your word on that?" he asked quietly, his eyes resting levelly on hers to gauge her reaction.
"Yes, you have my word on that, but I will prove you wrong! So, how do we start to gather evidence? Do we just start tailing Katherine's every action to see who she meets and all that?"
"Well, some people hire private investigators to take photographic evidences of a physical relationship between the mole with the suspect, and some even plant listening devises for audio evidences. But that would involve a third-party, not to mention a considerable amount of money required to hire one. Right now, what you can do is to confirm if Katherine's indeed the mole for Mason Lockwood, so you have to employ the 'divide and conquer' move," Elijah explained methodically, as if it was all a very mundane subject.
"How do I do that? If by dividing you mean chop her up in tiny little pieces and scatter them to different parts of the earth so that she won't return as a zombie, then I'm all for it!" she grinned wryly as she imagined herself going all Bruce Lee on her arch-nemesis.
"Yes, if only that was legal! But unfortunately, you're going to have to go for the sneaky route, meaning that you have to think of something that will make Lockwood distrust Katherine, and for that, you're gonna need Damon's help. Get him to throw some information her way, like a top secret project where Lockwood might be interested in. If she shows an interest and decides to snoop around, then we know for sure that she's the mole. How Lockwood responds then will obviously tell us whether he's in on the whole thing too. And if he lost the project, then he will start to doubt Katherine." He then leaned forward towards her as if he just thought of something.
"It would also be helpful if you have your own 'inside man' in Lockwood Industries. We call that a 'whistleblower' and that person will be your eyes and ears throughout the investigation, though we're only using him or her to feed us information related to the case, not to spy on them in return. Elena, we have to make sure that everything we do is above-board; nothing illegal," he warned.
"Of course! Don't worry about that; I'm too young and pregnant to go to jail right now, so I won't do anything illegal. By the way, you still haven't told me what personal vendetta you have against Katherine and Lockwood," she reminded as she remembered what he said to her during their first meeting at the fundraiser.
"That will be another story for another time. I will tell it to you soon, but right now you have to go home and think about what you've learnt today. It may be a little overwhelming at first, but try to think of it all as objectively as you can. Don't attach too much emotion to this story, because you'll tend to lose sight of the bigger picture that way. Right now, your focus is on Katherine, so it's up to you to figure out a way to test if she's the mole first before we proceed further. For all we know, we may very well be barking up the wrong tree," he told her as she nodded in understanding. Her mind was already formulating a plan to 'interview' Damon without being too obvious. She may have to bring up the 'friendship' card and offer him her help to expose Katherine's duplicity. Oh, she'd give anything to be rid of the evil bitch for good!
Damon was working late again that weekend due to some new projects referred by Nathan Pierce. Personally, he hated spending so much time away from Elena now that they were being friendly again. God knows how much he'd missed her company that week ever since that fundraiser event. He could tell that there were subtle changes in her personality that were especially evident that night when she took on Kat and managed to come out on top. The way she had teased him back when he made a blatant sexual innuendo when they were dancing together also showed how much she'd grown in the short time that he'd known her. And God-damnit if he didn't find himself falling for her even more at this confident, defiant, wittier and improved version of her former self.
He didn't see her as the innocent teenager that had sidestepped around him to get to the bathroom in Ric's apartment the night he had slept with her the first time; she was now a woman who was his match in every single way and now, there was no doubt in his mind at all now that she was meant to be with him. He made up his mind right then to spend every single waking hour to convince her of that fact.
And so, Damon entered his house at ten p.m. in high spirits at the thought of seeing Elena after a long and tiring day at work. However, his jovial mood immediately took a nosedive when he walked into the living room to find Elena sitting in front of the TV in tears and hugging her bear tightly to her chest with crumpled tissues all around her.
"Elena? What's wrong? Why are you upset?" he asked in a panic as he rounded the sofa to stand in front of her. His heart dropped to his stomach when he saw her heartbroken expression and her puffy red eyes, indicating how long she'd been crying alone at home.
She shook her head silently and gave herself up to another fresh bout of tears as she caught his concerned gaze.
"Please tell me, Elena," he whispered as he kneeled down and gathered her in his arms, wanting to absorb whatever hurt she was feeling so that she would stop torturing him with her cries. "Is something wrong with the baby?" she shook her head and continued to sob.
"Then, what is it? Are you upset that I left you alone at home for so long?" his heart tugged as guilt settled over him. He knew that it wasn't fair of him to leave her alone to handle such a big house by herself, not to mention the pregnancy. She shook her head again, much to his surprise.
"Then why, sweetheart? You're crying as if someone died," his eyes widened in horror when his words seemed to evoke an even worse reaction in her as she was positively wailing now, unable to speak from hiccupping.
"Oh God, someone died? Who is it? Why didn't you call me?" his voice broke at the thought of losing someone close to him and his mind flashed with images of his family members, his new close friends including Jenna, Bonnie and Jeremy. He got up to sit on the sofa next to her and cradled her head to his chest as her tears soaked his white shirt and jacket. His hands stroked through her soft hair gently as he attempted to provide some form of comfort to her even while he was wild with worry over the news of a death.
"N-no, it w-was Ha-hachiko!" she managed to stammer out amidst hiccups.
"Who?"
"Hachiko! The dog," her voice sounded stronger now as she tried to tell him about the character of a movie.
"We have a dog? Since when? How did I not even notice a dog around here?" he asked in puzzlement as he automatically looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the dog who apparently died. Oh! He rolled his eyes at himself when he realised that the dog wouldn't be running around if it has in fact, died.
"No, Damon. Here, I'll show you," she sniffed loudly and pressed the rewind button on the remote control and then an image of a dog sitting in front of a railway station appeared on the TV screen.
Damon was incredulous as he stared at the TV, unable to believe that she was so upset over a movie. He couldn't stop the bubble of laughter that welled up in his chest as he sighed in relief that the situation wasn't as dire as he had initially thought. Man, she really scared the crap out of him!
"You're laughing at me? That's kinda mean, don't you think? I mean, that wonderful dog just died and you're laughing!" she scowled in annoyance.
"Sweetheart, if you'll laugh as well, then I'd be laughing with you, not at you! You really had me worried there for a second, I wouldn't have expected in a million years that you'd be crying over a fictional character!" he fought hard against his natural instinct to roll his eyes at her silly tears when he saw how upset she still was.
"He's not fictional! This movie was based on a real story about the loyalty and the bond between a dog and a professor. It happened for real in Japan where the dog, Hachiko walked his owner to the train station every morning, and he'd be waiting at the exact same spot in the evening to see his master's train arrive and they walk home again," tears started pouring from her eyes again as she started telling the story to make him understand the value of loyalty.
"One day, the professor died from a heart attack at school and never came back, but Hachiko sat waiting for him every day without fail for the next nine years! It didn't matter that the professor's daughter took him away to live with her in another town; he somehow managed to escape and made his way back to that train station to wait. He got so old and weak that he just passed away as he sat there waiting. His loyalty became a well-known story in Japan, and they even had a statue made of him located at the train station until now. It's a sad and touching story, Damon. That's why I'm crying, because the idea of a living thing having that kind of bond and loyalty to another is so beautiful!" She stared up at him with watery eyes and waited for his reaction.
He gave her a sad smile as he ran his fingers through her hair. "You're right, it's a beautiful story. And I can understand that kind of commitment the dog had for its master. I would wait a lifetime for someone that I loved too. You might find a statue of me sitting right here one day, waiting for the one that I love to love me back," her breath caught in her throat as he smiled dreamily and ran his finger across her cheek so softly, as if she would break.
"If you wanted, I could take you to Japan to find that statue of Hachiko if it'll make you feel better. And you shouldn't be crying over the fact that he died and lost his master; you should celebrate that they found each other in the first place and had a chance to share the mutual love and bond they felt for each other in however short a time they were together. If anything, this story shows us how life is short and we never know when we'd lose the person we love the most. So it's up to us to just appreciate what we have right now and live in the present, not to look back and regret over what we did or didn't do," he finished softly, his tone sincere and obviously referring to both of them, not humans in general.
"Damon, I..." her voice caught in her throat as she didn't know what to say to that statement. They were back to the inevitable discussion again, about their relationship and how great they'd be together as oppose to their current arrangement.
"I know, Elena, we're just friends. I'll accept that, for now, but you have to refrain from watching these kinds of movies from now on. They get you all hormonal and weepy, and the only thing I'm scared of is a woman crying. It makes me feel extremely helpless and sad when I don't know how to fix it," he admitted in defeat as he used his fingers to wipe her wet cheeks before he pressed his lips against her forehead.
"Okay, I'll stop watching these movies that turns me into a blubbering mess, but only if you'll tell me what you planned to do with Katherine," her challenge was thrown casually but she could feel Damon immediately tensed up at the sudden mention of his ex.
"Why would you bring her up at a time like this? I thought we were bonding, and then suddenly, you start talking about the woman who turned my life into a havoc! You have the worst sense of timing, Elena!"
"Well, we were talking about loyalty and how life is short, so naturally I wondered if you've made any progress in investigating her as the mole in your company?" she asked directly, hoping that he'd say yes, and it was almost done, but alas, she had no such luck!
"No, I'm afraid not. To be honest, I haven't had the time, and we're currently swamped with new projects we're bidding on. Also, I don't know where to start!" he announced with a weary smile.
"Well then, you're just in luck because I've just decided that I'll help you nail her!"
"Umm...that ship had sailed a long time ago and I wouldn't want to be on that ship ever again! I'd sooner be on Titanic!" He rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Eww, no Damon, I'm talking about catching her in the act. If you think that she's the mole, why can't we figure out a way to lure her out and we can investigate her fully! As far as I know, she's guilty right? Is she your prime suspect?" she asked.
"She's my only suspect! Well, her and Mason. What did you have in mind, Sherlock?" he sat back against the sofa and regarded her seriously.
"Well, I'm thinking that you need to prove your theory that she's feeding Mason Lockwood all the information on all the projects you're working on. So, I'm thinking that you lay a few false trails of some super top secret projects to different people with different details so if you hear that Mason Lockwood is interested in a particular one, then you'd know for sure who's the informer. Once you know his contact, let's say it was Katherine, then we can do the 'divide and conquer' trick where you give her a higher bid price than what you'd intended. So, with the insider information, Lockwood would lower down his bid price by a slightly lower price, fully confident that they'd get the project, but if you end up winning the bid, then they'd begin to doubt their informer. We just need to do this a few times in order for him to completely distrust her, then she's out of the picture. Once we flush her out with sufficient information, perhaps we can convince her to turn on Lockwood since she's a selfish bitch and self-preservation is more important to her than loyalty, right?" she was breathless by the time she finished telling him about her plan.
"Elena, I'm...speechless and impressed by your brilliant plan, but let's get one thing straight; there's no 'we' when it comes to Katherine and Mason. Trust me - you don't want to involve yourself in this mess. I really appreciate your wanting to help, but I'd rather you stay far away from my company's problems. I don't want you to have to worry about anything other than being happily pregnant, and figuring out how to decorate the nursery. I'll clean up my own mess, Elena. It's not something you should be worried about. But, thank you for your ideas. It's seriously the right approach to reveal the true culprit once and for all, and I'm just so amazed by how much effort you've obviously put into this. Now, I feel like crying," he gave her a wobbly grin as he studied her with impressed eyes.
"Well, please don't! You'd just set me off again, seeing how hormonal I am now, and once the waterworks start going, there may be no stopping it!" Elena pouted. "But Damon, you have to understand that I'd be worried whether I'm involved in it or not, so it's actually better if you keep me informed about what happens. I could help you out, like give ideas and stuff. The sooner we solve this Katherine and Mason case, the better it is for us to finally put it all behind us. Unless, of course that you have something to hide from me, which will make sense if you didn't want my help," she threw out the thinly veiled threat at him, hoping that he'd bite.
"Well, if you put it that way, then I guess I have to prove that I have nothing to hide. But you'll only be contributing ideas, okay? Don't go getting any bright ideas about confronting Katherine or run surveillance on her while sitting in a car, eating donuts or anything like that. I don't want you to play detective and get yourself in trouble. You have no idea what the Lockwoods might do if they are backed into a corner, so just be very careful, okay? I can't bear it if something happened to you," he told her softly.
"Nothing's going to happen to me, Damon. Well, except that I have to go to the bathroom again for the umpteenth time tonight. Hold on, be right back," she smiled to herself for her easy victory and got up to go to the bathroom.
Damon couldn't help but to feel elated at the proof that she cared about him enough to help him with his company's problems. Once Katherine and Mason were out of the way rotting in a prison or wherever they were sent to, he had no doubt that Elena would be more receptive to the idea of her and him be a real family again. For the first time in a long time, he felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps this was also another sign that they were at last moving forward in the right direction.
Her phone that was left on the sofa cushion let out a beep to indicate an incoming text message. Without thinking further about it, he flipped up her phone and read the message that appeared on the screen. For the second time on the same night, he felt his heart dropped as his eyes swept across the small screen:
Dear Elena, I hope that you've considered my advice about Damon carefully. I would love to see you again next Friday, same time and same place. I'll pick you up again like I did this week. Hope you'll be ready to advance to the next step with me then. Elijah.
What the hell? ?
I apologise again for the slow(er) update as I have to finish my work before I leave for a 1-week vacation on the 3rd of May. I'm rushing to move this story along so, if this chapter is a little dry, then please accept my humblest apology. It's basically plot and Elijah's role in making Damon doubt Elena's feelings for him.
I'll try to squeeze out another chapter before I leave for my vacation but if not, then I'll 'see' you guys next week. It helps if you review, though!
Thank you!