Chapter 23

Damon took the letter from her and opened it his face grim and serious.

Dear Elena,

I'm not sure how old you are now and what you're doing. If you're reading this it might mean you're in trouble. I hope that's not the case. I want to be an okay dad to you, and I hope I give you a good life. I just don't know how though. I wasn't supposed to have to do it alone, but she wouldn't want me to give up on you, so I won't. Your mother would want you to know she picked your name. She was young but she was so excited to have you. She loved you from the day she found out. I was scared but she was confident enough for both of us

Damn it none of this should have happened. Maybe if we hadn't been so scared and stupid if we would have just told our parents. I was eighteen and she was still only sixteen. We were afraid they wouldn't understand, we were afraid they would send me to jail.

I'm sorry Elena, I'm sorry you don't have your mama. I blame myself for what happened too, I'm not guiltless even if I appear to be. You should know that. I know she would want you to have some mementos. I felt I needed to leave you something too. I hope you'll never need it, but just in case. Let your mother's death not be in vain and if you come across time of trouble use this information to help you, That's my gift to you, it's not a blanket or a locket or touching words I'm not good at that stuff, but I can watch out for you little girl. I always will.

See the attached paperwork it's a detailed transcript of what happened here that night. I included proof use this how you need it when you need it. It's the last thing she can do for you.

Love

Dad

He shook his head a little over wrought by the troubled emotion the young John Gilbert tried to express for his daughter in his grief. He found a piece of paper inside taped to the inside of the envelope which was indeed a detailed and timed transcript of Isobel's labor, and accidental death. Grayson was named extensively. Damon imagined John intended for her to use this against him. Elena walked over and was looking at the paper over his shoulder.

"He's like me, writing it down helps even if it's horrible..." Her voice was hoarse as her eyes read over the detailed report.

"Elena honey, don't read this." He sighed.

"I already know everything anyway. This version isn't as bad as the one he tells." She said her voice flat and her eyes tired.

It was the second half of the page that made both their eyes pop. The cover up as John had highlighted it. It didn't just involve John and Grayson. John was overcome with grief and hysteria. So, Grayson called his good friend Liz Forbes; she came and helped Grayson move the body into Grayson's trunk. She spent some time calming John and then she took Elena and said she'd take her to the nearest orphanage.

"Liz Forbes?" Elena's eyes popped and her jaw dropped, she started pacing the room her mind struggling to process this as Damon finished the page in disbelief himself.

"But she didn't take you to an orphanage." Damon murmured as his eyes finished scanning the page.

"What do you mean?" He turned to look at him.

"John begged her not to, so she took you to the families lake house instead. She took care of you there for a few days. He got it together and then buried all this stuff for you then went and got you. The clothing is your uncles. I don't think he ever intended for you to use this against Liz. He writes about her in a different tone then your uncle."

"She knows who I am, she has to…if Richard thought I looked like her." Elena mumbled.

Damon picked up a picture of a young Isobel and sighed. "You do look like her and she is the Sherriff. She didn't get that way being dumb. She has to have figured out who you are."

"He might not have meant for this to be used against Liz then, but he sees a golden opportunity now. She's the Sherriff nowand she once covered up a death." He continued talking slowly. "This information is lethal to her."

"We aren't using it." Elena said crossing her arms.

"She owes you Elena." Damon said carefully.

"No she doesn't. I owe her."

"I'm not following." He frowned.

"She probably didn't want to help them Damon. It was probably horrifying for her. Not to mention the fact that Car is also twenty-five so Liz was either pregnant at the time, or just had a baby herself. She did it because they were her friends, and then she helped John keep me. Damon she...she took care of me when I was a newborn baby and didn't have a mom." She spelled it out for him, and his eyes flashed with understanding.

"I...yeah she did." He mumbled sheepishly. John had him on edge feeling like he wasn't doing enough. He needed to relax.

"You're right." He said. "But why didn't she just tell you she knows when you came to town?"

"Maybe she doesn't know how much I know; maybe she doesn't want to scare me, who knows? The point is she has not exposed me." Elena said her eyes flashing, searching for a rhyme and reason to all this.

"How much do you think she knows about you and John?" He asked.

"I have no idea this… my mind is so screwed up right now." She said rubbing her temples.

"We need to talk to her, see what she knows and see if she can help. I'm sure she will want to help you Elena." He said, "Blackmail unnecessary."

"What is she going to do? She can't just go arrest him because she's a cop too." Elena sighed.

"She can at least give us some advice from an educated perspective." He pointed out.

"Education," She got up and walked over to his dresser grabbing his laptop. "That's what we need right now. I'm not dragging anyone else in until we have a plan and then only if necessary."

"Okay…I'm fine with that, unless I think you're in danger and I deem it necessary earlier than you." He retorted.

"Damon." She sighed with a weak smile.

"This is rough on you, I'm sorry." He said in a soft voice.

"I'll be okay. I just hate thinking about what happened to my mom." She said sitting down on his bed and flipping the computer open.

"Then stop for a while." He sat down behind her and put his arms around kissing the top her head.

"I can't. I have to face this stuff. I'm twenty-five years old now I can't avoid it forever, my mom died during childbirth in an illegal birth in my uncle's basement. That is my reality and it messed up my head for a long time. Bad enough that I ended up in abusive relationship. I can't keep letting that mess up my head. It happened and I can't change it. What I can do is save myself now. Make sure I live a valuable life, and then in a way my mother's spirit does to…" She said slowly.

He squeezed her tighter she leaned down and kissed his arms.

"I think you are amazing, and you just keep getting stronger every day. I know that connection wasn't easy to make." He murmured.

"The truth isn't ever easy." She said. "I know that put blinders on when it comes to my dad. I do that because he saved me, he's the only family I have left. I do it because I don't want to dig through all the issues, I had with him growing up." She paused, releasing a soft sigh.

"If I do that I know where it will lead me, and he's sitting in prison for me. He reacted without thinking because he felt so damn guilty. That night when I showed up at his house, he kept saying I failed, I failed over and over. He cried Damon. I've never seen him cry and I swore inside I would never blame him. The choices were mine and so is the blame. I can't blame him for this." She said turning around so she was facing him.

"I agree with you angel, you can't blame him for this." He said slowly brushing a hair from her face. "You can't blame John or yourself or anyone else for what Craig did to you. He is a monster that took advantage of you and he did it deliberately just to hurt you because he's a sick freak. It's not your fault, not one second of it is."

"But I can blame myself for making the choice, for ignoring the signs..." She started.

"I think blame is the wrong word Elena." He said. "I think figuring out why you made the choices is good. You gotta forgive yourself for it though."

"I…that makes sense I guess…" she sighed and turned around turning the computer on.

"So what's with the computer?"

"I did this a while back, more for hiding tips and stuff, just researched woman and abuse case studies. Maybe we can find some women in my situation what they did, we could actually let Jer help us with this. He's studying law at school and I know he studied into this a lot." She said.

"Okay." He watched as she typed a website in.

"Some of this might be hard to read." He said softly.

"I know I've read a lot online when I was on my own. It is hard but it helps actually knowing you're not alone." She said. "I read up on what my legal options were, and they seemed bleak, which would only mean they're bleaker now…but maybe we can find something, we need a plan."

"Yeah we do." He agreed watching as she started flipping through websites.

Reading up on things didn't help Damon feel much better. It didn't seem like many of these men ended up in jail for much longer than a few months until it got to be the second or even third offense. Many women would leave only to take the abuser back which muddles things more it seemed in the court room. She never went back she ran all this time. She thought it would hurt her that's it's been so long but what if…

"Elena we're barking up the wrong tree here." He said. "You were right before."

"What are you talking about?" She asked stifling a yawn.

"We're looking up domestic abuse, but it's gone beyond that now. You're running for your life. He's trying to kill you. You mentioned this before and I wasn't sure, but it would be our best defense if we can show how things escalated to the point where you feared your life, if we can prove that it's like attempted murder or something."

He shuddered a little after saying the word and she closed her eyes for a second before focusing again.

"That's what I was thinking. I mean he has threatened it before." She said.

"But we can't just ask Liz to arrest him without some kind of proof." Damon said.

"That's why we should let him find me and do the wire thing." She said.

"I really hate that idea." He squirmed. "Too many things could go wrong. What if the PI can start to try and pick up clues?"

"We're risking him finding our PI, and then who knows what would happen." She mumbled. "…But we're going to have to take some risks."

"Just let me talk to our guy tomorrow see if he knows of a trusted partner, see what he thinks he could put together." Damon said.

"Alright." She agreed with another yawn she laid back in bed burying herself under his big comforter. He dove in after her spooning her from behind and nuzzling her neck with kisses. She turned her head around to kiss him.

"I love you." She whispered into his lips.

"I love you to." He smiled, thinking this was what bliss felt like.

She turned back around and readjusted herself getting cozy pressed up against him. He had his arms tucked protectively around her stomach and she covered his arms with her own. This was his favorite way to hold her. He liked feeling her all night knowing she was safe.

"Good night sweetheart." He said softly as his eyes drifted closed.

"Night babe." She mumbled back.

Sunday morning came quickly, and the women left early. Melinda promised her husband would be in touch. She said she loves the place, but it does warrant further discussion. Elena couldn't help but feel a little let down after they left.

"Hey chin up, pouty." He quipped cupping her chin and giving her a little grin. "Sometimes it takes time to wow an investor. She liked the place but I'm sure she noticed the lack of guests."

"So, what now?" She asked. How could he be so calm about it? She felt like she was on pins and needles.

"We wait for them to call. I need to take care of the lawn. We did everything else last night." He said.

"Oh and I called the PI. He's more than happy to step up the surveillance and he says he doesn't care if the guys a pig." Damon said. "He's got a partner. Hopefully, they can dig up something or bust him doing something."

"It's a plan." She said twisting her lips; it was just such a 'what if' plan, but at least it was something.

"We'll keep brain storming." He assured her.

She knew as long as they were a we she would be fine. She leaned up and kissed him slowly.

"I want to continue this." He moaned into her lips, "But I need to get moving. I'm burning daylight and I neglected the garden all weekend."

She decided to take the laptop outside and do some research while he did that. She put it down pretty quickly though and found herself watching him. He did all the trimming and smaller detailed work first. He was so focused and intent when he was outside working. It was incredibly sexy. Finally, she just couldn't take it any longer and got up to go see him.

He was on the riding mower and smiled when he saw her walking towards him.

"Need some help?" She yelled out.

He slowed down and patted the seat,

"This isn't made for two." She giggled climbing up on his lap.

"It doesn't need to be." He said starting it back up.

He drove through part of the back lawn he had a hard time angling it with both on it. Her butt was pretty much pressing into his groin and she could feel that that was distracting him at the least.

"This isn't really helping you." She pointed out.

"It's motivating me." He said his hands started traveling up her stomach and then over her breasts.

"Damon!" She exclaimed.

"No one's home," He murmured in a sexy voice into her ear.

The vibrations of the mower and his hands traveling over her breasts under her thin tank top were getting to her fast. She leaned her head back and he started trailing her neck with his tongue.

"No one can see us." He murmured into her ear.

"Oh god." She groaned, he continued his motions she had to try and steady herself on his lap and the small mower.

He picked her up easily as if she weighed nothing and lowered her down to the grass. He leaned over her dipping down and giving her a long slow kiss. She felt so incredibly risqué on the grass in the middle of the yard it turned her on even more.

He started pressing soft light kisses down her neck and towards her chest.

"You better stop teasing me, and just take me," Elena said in a breathy voice. "Now."

He didn't wait another second.

Some time later they were both totally spent and laying in the grass. Damon with a wolfish grin across his face. He'd waited so long to be with her and had fantasized about it so many times. Then when he found out about her past, he was willing and ready to wait for as long as she needed. She surprised him in a very good way this weekend and then surprised him again in the bedroom.

She wasn't timid and shy as he expected, or fragile. He thought he'd need to be gentle and oh so careful, but she was a lioness. She seemed to come alive with every touch, which lit his entire body up as well.

He felt like an insatiable teenager again. He didn't think he'd ever get enough of her.

They heard a car coming up the drive and they both jumped. Elena squealed a little her face flaming red. She scrambled to put her clothing on. Her jeans and her tank top were full of grass stains and Damon's jeans were even worse. His tee shirt somehow ended up ground into the grass and dirt beneath them and was beyond wearing. He stuck it in his back pocket.

"You have a twig," He chuckled pulling a little stick out of her hair, which was still wild and tanged. Her cheeks were flushed, and her red lips swollen.

They tried to sneak in through the library, but Jenna found them anyway.

"There you guys are. We were wondering…" Jenna started then her mouth dropped open as she took in their appearances.

She just shook her head and burst out in laughter.

"Don't even start." Damon said, when Rick walked in behind her and opened his mouth to speak with a shit grin on his face.