Chapter 22

Elena woke up to Damon's soft kisses on the top of her head. She was wrapped up in his arms, her head buried in his chest and her legs entwined with his. A wonderful afterglow of content eased through her body as she pulled her head up and met his beautiful eyes.

"Good morning angel." He in a husky voice that made her body tingle all over again.

"It is a good morning." She replied with a wide grin that he quickly matched.

"Oh it's better than good." He said squeezing her closer to him she pressed her lips to his and they fell into a soft kiss. "The morning after the best night of your life, what adjective could properly describe that?"

"It was the best night of my life to." She said unable to stop smiling at him.

"I love you." He said his voice soft and gentle like a caress.

"I love you too Damon." She said

"I want to take you out today, just you and me anything you want."

"That sounds perfect, but we have our important guests here." She reminded him.

He frowned. "Well let me at least take you out to breakfast. Jeremy can handle anything that comes up for a few hours."

"M'kay." She mumbled snuggling up to him, her lips nuzzling the crook of his neck. "In five minutes."

"Mm hm." He agreed happily pressing little kisses on her head again and pulling her closer.

Five minutes turned into an hour. They just laid together basking in the afterglow. Elena was starving and she could hear Damon's stomach growling in bed. They had used up a lot of energy the night before.

Her thigh muscles were sorer than they were when she and Bonnie tried to do 'legs of steel' back in high school. Muscles she didn't even realize she had were screaming at her. She was a little sore down below as well which was to be expected after so many years, but it was a good kind of sore. Her body was still buzzing with left over pleasurable feelings. She couldn't take the smile off her face. She couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed sex. She wasn't sure she ever had now, nothing could ever to the compare to the experience she has last night.

Damon yawed a little his stomach growling loudly again when his body shifted a little.

"Breakfast?" He giggled poking his stomach.

By the time they both showered and headed out it was almost ten in the morning, but Jeremy said the ladies were doing fine they were in the library. He eyed them sort of curiously but didn't say anything when they headed out to breakfast.

They walked into the grill hand in hand and headed over to the booth they all usually sat in. The place was almost empty. Liz was there at the bar talking to Caroline and there was one other table on the other side of the room in the corner.

Vicki came over to greet them with a pot of coffee.

"Well good morning you two." She smiled poring them each a cup.

"Hey Vicky." Elena said in a chipper tone.

"It is a good morning." Damon repeated her earlier words and Elena 's grin widened.

"I guess so." Vicki said glancing from one to the other, she bit her lip like she was biting back a smile.

"I'll give you two a second to decide." She dashed off over to the bar and started whispering in Caroline's ear, who smiled widely and glanced over at Elena.

"Whatever that is, is not good." Elena pointed out.

Damon just chuckled and reached over ruffling her hair.

"Hey guys. I brought you some homemade caramel rolls." Caroline popped over with a big mischievous grin on her face.

"Why thank you Blondie, but what happened to Vicky?" Damon asked.

"These are a gift from me." Caroline chirped her blue eyes wide and innocent. "A thanks for the business agreement. We are the ones benefiting here."

"I am too. I don't have to hire a kitchen staff, get a food license, and all that crap." Damon said.

Elena couldn't believe how he didn't see people's gratitude for what it was. He was a good guy that did nice things for people and even though she knew he believed that about himself. He still tried to brush off the good things he did. Ss if they were non important when they were anything but.

"Nonetheless, enjoy the rolls...oh by the way where did you guys sneak off to last night? You just disappeared." The corners of her mouth turned into a smile and she narrowed her eyes at Elena. Elena could feel her face turning red.

"We just went home early." Elena said casually.

"You look great today Elena." Caroline winked at her. "You're practically glowing."

"Uh thanks." Elena said willing her with her eyes to just go away.

"You're both grinning from ear to ear too." She added in a sing song voice.

"Are we five?" Damon rolled his eyes.

"Okay Caroline," Liz walked up interrupting them. "Leave Elena alone, she's trying to have breakfast with her boyfriend."

"I don't know what you're taking about." She smiled innocently.

"Stop torturing your girls on their days off." Liz chided.

Elena shot her a grateful look and Liz squeezed her shoulder sending Caroline a warning glance before leaving. The gesture felt odd almost familiar and comforting. She guessed it was how a mother's touch would feel. Something she wished she would have known.

Caroline walked off whistling to herself Elena pretty much knew she was going to be hounded at work the next day.

"Is it that obvious?" She flushed.

He took her hand gazing at her. "I think they all probably guessed it when we snuck off last night, and, your perma-grin kind of gives it way."

"My perma-grin?" She questioned in a teasing tone thumbing his lip.

His eyes flashed mischievously, and he suddenly took her thumb into his mouth sucking on it a little before letting it go. She could feel Caroline and Vicky staring at them and glared at him.

"Damon. I work here." She hissed.

"With the sex and the city girls," He laughed gleefully, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

Her phone rang interrupting their banter, her eyes widened seeing the unavailable number. He sure had strange timing.

An operator came on asking if she would accept the charges from John Gilbert.

"Yes I accept." She said.

Damon was looking at her curiously, it's my dad, she mouthed his eyes widened a little.

"Hey kiddo."

"Hi Dad." She said. "How are you?"

"Uh, in prison still." He said slowly. "You sound awfully chipper; did my little gift help you already?"

"What gift?" She asked.

"The hint Elena about the locket." He said impatiently.

"Oh yeah I found the tree. I haven't really made peace yet though. I still have to go back there." She spoke and glanced around. Caroline must have made her way to the back and Vicky was over with the other table across the room.

"What do you mean made peace? Did you dig out the locket?" He asked.

"No of course not. I left it there as a tribute to her." She whispered.

"Elena that's not a…oh for crying out loud. Go back there and get what I left you." He said.

"What you left?" She asked puzzled.

"Just do it." He said firmly.

"Okay." She said slowly.

"Is Jer there yet?"

"Yeah but I'm trying to keep him out of it if I can." She said.

"You take whatever protection you can, don't be too proud for that."

"It's not about pride, it's about wanting him to have a normal life." Elena said.

"That went out the window a long time ago. Look he wants to protect you, let him." John said. "It sounds like you took my advice and stayed there at least."

"I did, yeah and I took your other advice too." She said. "I also have some precautions in place now."

"What advice and be careful how much you say on the phone kid." He said.

"About telling the truth." She smiled at Damon.

"The guy, you told him?" John asked. "Everything?"

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"Okay, okay good, that's good, I imagine he stood by you and understood like I said he would?"

"Yeah he did, you were right about second chances dad, you really were." She said.

"The precautions, that's his doing he's protecting you?" John pushed.

"Yes." She said careful not to elaborate, even though her disposable cell couldn't be tracked, and John was calling collect from a payphone, one still couldn't be too careful

"Do you guys want food too?" Vicky asked coming by to check on them.

"I'll just have pancakes and bacon." Elena ordered holding the phone away.

Damon ordered a ham and cheese omelet and some orange juice then gathered the menu's for her. Vicky gave Elena little thumbs up and a wink when Damon wasn't looking, and she blushed red again. This having girlfriends thing took some getting used too.

"Is that him? He's with you?" John blurted out. "Let me talk to him before I run out time."

"No way dad." She said her eyes wide. "How awkward is that, honestly?"

"Elena that was not a request." He said in a firm tone.

"Yes, it was actually," She smirked a little. "You said let me talk to him, it may not have been a question, but it was a request."

"I'll talk to him." Damon offered his face earnest.

"Now Elena." John snapped. She knew he was going to run out of time soon anyway, so she tentatively handed Damon her phone.

"Hello." Damon said slowly. "Yeah okay… Sweetie can you get our stuff to go and meet me outside in a few minutes?"

"As long as you tell me everything he tries to say without me listening." She whispered.

He just mouthed of course and walked out holding her phone to his ear.

"Don't bother with the name just in case of a tap." John said.

"Gotcha." Damon said. Elena was right this was so awkward.

"She said you're taking precautions." He said.

"Yeah, she's safe." Damon assured him. "I'll do anything I can to protect her."

"Just make sure she's not out in the open too much." John said.

"I know and so does she, she's very smart about it already. I'm going to help her. I promised her, I'm promising you." He said.

"She's been through hell." John said.

"I know and it makes me sick." Damon said.

"Good hold unto to that feeling you might need it." He said. "So you can do anything for her."

Damon's eyes widened a little. "I don't need incentive from you John."

"Well if we're talking about this apparently you do because you may have done somethings, but not the anything you need to do. To really help her." John said.

Damon felt some frustration rise inside of him, but John was speaking again before he could say anything.

"I have to go. Listen though, make sure she does what I said, and then I think you should be able to figure out what you need to do." John said before hanging up.

Damon sat there holding her phone a little irritated and annoyed with John's blatant assumption that he hadn't stepped up by not killing Craig. He wanted to keep her safe he wanted to save her more than anything, but he had to consider her emotional well-being too. Something her father didn't seem to be considering. She stepped outside holding the boxes of food looking nervous.

"So?" She asked eagerly glancing at him as she got in the car.

"First what did he tell you to do?" He asked.

"Dig up the locket." She said.

"What why?" He asked.

"I have no idea what did he say to you?"

"He wanted to make sure I was taking this seriously, keeping you safe. " Damon said. "I assured him I was. He was pushing trying to see what I would do. I'm sure he wants me to eliminate the issue all together. I think he's annoyed I haven't yet. I got that vibe anyway. "

"Why would he want you to take a risk like that?" She asked.

"He doesn't care about me, and I don't blame him for that. He's protecting his daughter the best he can from where he is. I'm sure that sucks for him."

"I know, I know my dad and I get it to, just don't listen to him. Look where he is, his plans don't always work out so well." She said.

"I believe that," He couldn't help but say.

"Speaking of… what could he have buried all those years ago that would help us now?" She frowned nibbling on her lip.

"Let's go dig it up and figure it out." He gestured to his car, she let out a soft sigh but headed into that direction.

He drove to the graveyard and parked outside near the curb.

"Just one problem unless you have a shovel in your trunk. This task isn't going to be easy." Elena said.

"Right for all the bodies I bury." He said sarcastically.

"I do have an ice scraper though." He opened his front seat and pulled it out, she looked at it doubtfully.

"I don't think that's going to work babe." She stifled a laugh.

"We'll make it work." He grinned taking her hand and leading her back to the oak tree.

"You keep a lookout and I'll dig." He said jamming the ice scraper into the hard ground.

"Is it working?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm getting through." He grunted jamming it into the ground again and pulling the dirt up. "I hit something hard."

She knelt and helped him pull a small brown box out of the soil.

"It's not even a locket." She mumbled looking and sounding disappointed.

"Maybe it's inside." He said gently helping her up. Damon was concerned when he thought it was some mystery locket now, he was extremely worried that whatever was in that box was going to upset her.

"Let's go home and open it." He suggested taking her arm.

She nodded leaning against him, looking very sullen.

"Are you okay?"

"I thought maybe he buried the locket in honor of her, for reasons I didn't want to think about. I thought it was a place I could eventually go and talk to her, when I finally got braver, it wasn't. It wasn't that at all." She sighed.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. I wish it were. I wish you at least still thought it was." He said pulling her into a tight hug before she got in the car. Damn her father she was already upset, and she hadn't even opened Pandora 's Box yet.

"He didn't know I drew that conclusion. He didn't mean for me too I guess." She said.

Damon bit back his opinion. Now wasn't the time and it wouldn't do any good anyway.

They pulled up to the boarding house and Elena gasped. "We neglected this place for hours."

"I'm sure everything's fine." He said casually.

Jeremy was sitting in the lounge chair reading a magazine.

"Best job ever. He smiled looking up at them. "Why are you both all dirty and what's with the box?"

"Never mind that, how are the guests?" Elena asked.

"Good they are doing their own thing. I booked a couple for next weekend, they sounded really old." He said.

"I hope you were patient and polite." She chided.

Damon laughed out loud at Jeremy's huffy expression.

"Yes, I was, but you might want to rethink you ad. Unless that's your target audience." Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"We should revamp the ad Elena." He said. "I wanted to go over that with you."

"Sure." She said quickly. He gathered she wanted to put off opening the box and frankly so did he. John's message really did seem kind of cryptic.

"Go ahead I got this covered." Jeremy yawned and went back to his magazine.

"I don't know what he's going to do when he actually has to work." Elena rolled her eyes as they headed into the study.

"You'll lay the whip down." He smiled.

"Me you're his boss." She laughed.

"Actually, he's not really the operations manager, more of the general manager. The operations manager over overseas everything and that's you." Damon said.

"No way. I'm just your helper." She said.

"You're way more than that you did all the stuff I did, you helped me with all the big decisions and you even got your hands and hair all dirty renovating the rooms with me." He said.

"But helping you is so fun, I just, wow is that really that stuff an operations manager does?" She asked.

"You should learn all the computer stuff too, but yeah you already are. I'd just like to make your title official, you're my partner here Elena." He said.

"Okay, it actually feels kind of good to have a title like that." She smiled her eyes lighting up.

"You should be getting paid. You deserve a salary for a work." He started she opened her mouth to protest.

"Your rent wouldn't cover it and I can't charge you rent anyway, you're my girlfriend." He said. "I feel like I'm cheating you here, you've been working for free."

"Damon I like helping you." She said softly.

"Liking your job doesn't mean you shouldn't get paid for it." He said.

"I...okay but if I'm going to get paid then I'm not just going to work when I feel like it, Damon. I want to learn everything, and I will take the title seriously. I do want to keep the job at the grill for now. I don't want to leave Car hanging and I only work a few days a week anyway." She mulled it over.

"Good then it's settled."

"Wait you can't give me a salary...my fake paperwork isn't going to pass your companies scrutiny." She said.

"I'll figure that out, don't worry about it." He said kissing her cheek. "I hired all the staff here myself nothing went through corporate."

"Okay then, I guess I'm your operations manager." She smiled a flash of pride in her eyes, he couldn't help but feel it too, he knew she would be a big help to him here when he asked her, but he never expected her to be so great at this stuff. She seemed to just pick it all up so easily. She didn't seem to expect it either, but she seemed to really enjoy it.

She handed him his food opening her box and setting it on the desk. "Let's get this ad re-written."

He flipped on the computer and dug into the now barley warm food quickly.

"So you really aren't going to argue with me about the rent?" He asked curiously.

"I already knew you weren't going to take it." She shrugged. "Why do you think I haven't tried to pay you yet?"

He chuckled a little, pleasantly surprised that she was cool with everything. He wasn't offering her any special privileges. She did deserve to be paid for her work and he couldn't in good conscious charge the woman he loved rent to sleep in his bed every night, but Elena could be stubborn about that kind of stuff. Her easy-going attitude about it really showed him how comfortable she was letting herself be with him.

They worked well into the evening only stopping for a dinner early evening. Damon trained Elena on all the computer stuff and they got a new ad written hoping to attract more couples. Once they wrapped everything up, they decided to just open the damn box already.

Elena stalled showering and changing slowly. She took as much time as possible before meeting Damon in his room. He was holding the box she was avoiding opening. She knew she couldn't wait anymore though.

She pointed to his sliding glass door and they headed out to the porch.

"We don't have to..." Damon started.

"Yes we do." She said opening it quickly before she changed her mind.

She saw the silver locket first and tears of relief came to her eyes she was glad there was an actual locket at least. She clasped it in her hand and closed her eyes for a few moments before going back to the box. There were also some pictures of Isobel and John and a small blanket.

"This must have been my baby blanket." She mumbled.

Damon started looking at the pictures as she pulled out the blanket as she did that a manila folder fell out.

She opened it up and pulled out a letter her eyes going wide and her mouth going dry as she read the contents. She started feeling angry, then confused and then just stunned. She looked at the items in the bottom of the bulky folder and dropped it as if it had burned her hand, her heart racing, and her face hot.

"Elena what is it?" He asked taking the folder and pulling out two small plastic baggies with what appeared to be swatches of stained fabric in them. He frowned and quickly stuffed them back into the folder. She handed him the letter with a shaky hand.

"I think my dad's trying to get me to blackmail someone." She said her voice trembling.