Chapter 32

Damon woke up far too early to a loud knocking on the door. Whoever it was, was relentless when he didn't get up; they started ringing the doorbell. He got up in a hurry pissed now that the annoying intruder was going to wake up Elena. They were up late last night. Not that he was complaining, but she needed her sleep.

He hurried downstairs and flung the door open. A tall thin woman with tanned dark skin and dark brown hard looking eyes stared back at him. She had her raven black hair tucked back into a bun. Her lips were twisted in an annoyed looking frown. She was dressed in a business suit and had a brief case and a bunch of folders tucked under her arm.

"Can I help you?" Damon asked.

"I'm here to speak with Elena Gilbert." She said empathizing the Gilbert, he appreciated that at least. "I'm Meredith Sulez, you should have been expecting me. I told Jenna to let you know I would be here."

"Not at the crack of dawn." He yawned.

"It's eight am and we have a lot of ground to cover and not much time." She brushed past him and walked inside.

"Please come on in." He said in a dry tone.

"I'm assuming you're Damon Salvatore?" She turned around. "We'll need to go over your statement too."

"Where is Jenna?" He asked.

"She's taking care of Elena's divorce right now…I assume she'll meet us here afterward." Meredith said.

"Elena isn't talking to anyone without her lawyer present." Damon said. "So why don't you come back later?"

"I am the special prosecutor on this case. Elena's not on trial. Her soon to be ex-husband is and she is the key witness. Therefore, talking to her is pretty imperative to this case." Meredith said crisply.

"Now where is my star witness anyway?" She asked looking around the large estate.

"She's sleeping." Damon said crossing his arms.

"Can you wake her up?" Meredith asked her lips tense and her dark eyes flashing with annoyance, the feeling was mutual.

"No, she needs her sleep." Damon said. "You can talk to her when she wakes up."

"I don't think you understand that time isn't something we have a lot of here." She stressed.

"What I understand Miss Sulez, is that you are standing in my home making demands. I don't like that much and if you continue to disrespect me you can just leave." Damon said. "I'll hire another attorney just like that."

"The state appointed me to this case Mr. Salvatore, not you." She hissed back. "So, you're stuck with me, and in all reality, we are on the same side here. You're the one being uncooperative."

"I'm simply asking you to let her get the rest she needs so she's strong enough to handle this trial." Damon said.

"I'm not your enemy. I'm here to make things right. If you were smart you would be more helpful." Meredith snapped.

"I know about the crazy plan to try and get John out. I'm telling you right now that you don't even breathe another word about it to her, until you're sure it's even a remote possibility."

Damon said leaning down and staring at her with a warning in his eyes.

"I think it's her decision if she wants to help me try to free her dad." Meredith said glaring at him.

"If it's possible yes, it is. But if you're going to get her all excited over something that might not even happen, then forgot it. I won't let you put her through that. She's been through enough already. Damon said refusing to back down when she returned his glare with one of her own.

"You're not going to let me?" She scoffed.

"I won't let anyone hurt her." He said.

"I'm not trying to hurt her." She said crossing her arms and looking offended.

"Any unnecessary stress will hurt her." He said in a softer tone he wasn't really sure what they were going to do as far as telling people about her pregnancy. Their friends knew but they hadn't even told their families yet. He assumed it was better not to have that added buzz around her during the trial.

"I see…so this has been difficult for her." Meredith nodded, seeming to think Elena was having issues because of the altercation. He didn't care, whatever it took to get her to drop the John thing. He had his doubts that anything would happen anytime soon no matter how 'good' this woman seemed to convince Jenna she was. The stress of this trial was enough they wanted this over so they could relax and get back to their life. Going from one trial to another would be way too much for her.

"I don't see a reason to bring it up right now." She relented. "I want all her focus on what happened here in Fells Church anyway. That's what he's on trial for."

He nodded only slightly relieved, he was still worried about Elena having to go up on the stand, and now she had to work with this woman. Damon just hoped she was a little more sensitive to victims. He didn't want anyone around making her uncomfortable.

"So now that we settled that, can we compromise on the business at hand?" She asked in a somewhat patronizing tone.

"Why don't you get Elena up, then I can interview you while she gets ready." She added.

He sighed as if she wanted to wake up and start talking about Craig right away in the morning. He sure as hell didn't, he wanted to be in bed with Elena holding her in his arms.

"Damon?" Elena called from the top of the stairs. "Is someone here?"

"It's me Meredith the special prosecutor." Meredith called shooting a dark look at Damon. Elena started down the stairs Bonnie was standing behind her they both looked tired. Meredith's face softened when she looked at Elena.

"Uh hey we weren't expecting you this early." Elena said awkwardly as she stepped down the stairs and walked over to them. She looked down at her flannel pajama pants and his oversized tee shirt. Bonnie was also still in her pajamas.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you like this but we have so much ground to cover." Meredith said giving Elena an apologetic look. He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms but didn't say anything.

"Where's Jenna?" Elena asked.

"She's at the court house finalizing your divorce." Meredith said.

"She is!" Elena let out a huge breath and smiled rushing over to embrace him. He held her close to him a soft smile of relief. He never really thought of her as married until recently.

When everything went down with Craig and people were calling her Elena Morgan, Jenna was filing divorce papers, and he kept being referred to as her husband. The reality of it hit him. He tried not to let it bother him, but in some ways it did, he didn't want Elena married to anyone but him. The sooner her nightmare farce of a marriage was finished the better.

"Well can we wait to talk until she gets here?" Elena asked. "I like her to be around."

Damon shot a smug look in Meredith's direction.

"Like I said we have very little time." Meredith stressed.

"Elena hasn't even had breakfast or showered yet. I don't see why you can't wait." Bonnie said glancing at Meredith with a hard look. Damon smirked, inviting Bonnie over was an even better idea then he thought. She was just as tough as Meredith it seemed.

"It's fine let's just do this and get it over with." Elena sighed. "But I'm eating while I'm talking."

Once they got in the kitchen Elena walked over to the fridge and started rummaging through it. Bonnie sort of stood behind her looing unsure of what to do. Damon started some coffee and Meredith sat down at the table looking impatient.

"Help yourself to whatever, Bonnie." Damon yawned and sipped his coffee he wasn't awake enough to be hungry yet. Elena had a bowl of cereal that she cut a bunch of fruit into she offered a bowl to Bonnie.

"See now this actually looks good." Bonnie smiled gabbing herself a bowl and doing the same.

"So are m&m's and popcorn," Elena defended.

He glanced over at them and then shifted his eyes at Meredith. Elena nodded and they halted the conversation.

"Are you hungry?" Elena asked Meredith awkwardly sitting down with her cereal. Bonnie sat next to her, her eyes on Meredith. She probably reminded Bonnie of the defense attorneys she'd been dealing with.

"No I ate." Meredith said. "Look Elena I am sorry for barging in on you, but the sooner we go over this stuff the better. You have to be one hundred percent ready on that stand. We're going to need to spend a lot of time going over your testimony."

Elena frowned and her body stiffened a little, he could tell Meredith was already making her uncomfortable. The reality of all this was coming down on her now and his protective side took over when he sensed her fear.

"That's not going to happen." Damon said.

"Excuse me?" Meredith turned her head and shot him an angry look.

"She can't give you all her time." He said "Doctors orders, she can spend a few hours on this once or twice a week."

"What?" She questioned. "That's impossible. I can't get her ready with that little time."

"You can't argue with her doctor either." Bonnie said crisply.

"I'm ready. I know what happened. That's it. I just tell the truth. If anyone tries to bully me, I'm just going to block them out." Elena said. "I don't need to spend hours and hours preparing to tell the truth."

"The issue is this." Meredith said in that crisp tone. "Morgan is being charged with three counts of attempted murder and soliciting and organizing a kidnapping. He'll be found guilty on those charges and they will be harsh seeing as how he used a police gun, but he's going to try and plead temporary insanity." Meredith sighed.

"What how?" Elena frowned. Damon went and sat on the other side of her putting his hand on her knee.

"He'll try to say he found you with another man and lost it." She said. "This is why we have to prove he conspired and intended to kill you before he came here. You to have to convince the jury you have been running for your life for the past three years. This was no act of insanity."

"That is the truth." Elena said. "I'm not afraid to tell the truth, but I don't want to talk about specific things that happened in my past."

"The jury needs to know you were abused in the marriage, to the point where you fled for your life." Meredith said.

"Can't she just say that then? I mean that pretty much sums it up right?" Damon said pointedly.

"She may have to get a bit more detailed than that." Meredith said giving him that annoyed look again.

"I can attest to how he treated her in the marriage and how she left scared for her life. She called me some time later after she got away." Bonnie offered.

"Okay that's good. You'll make a good character witness." Meredith jotted something down on her legal pad.

"What's going to happen to Andie?" Elena asked nervously.

"She cut a deal with the DA, she confessed everything. She was sentenced for two to five years. She'll probably be out in two." Meredith said.

"That's good, I guess…but she needs help." Elena frowned.

"That's for her to deal with. " Meredith said dismissively. "We need to focus on your testimony."

"Is there anyone that ever heard Craig threaten you or witnessed him hurting you?" Meredith asked.

"No." Elena frowned. "But my cousin took me to the hospital after he hurt me badly. Jeremy Gilbert, Jenna's nephew. That was when I ran. "

"So there are hospital records." Meredith looked up.

"And pictures." Elena shuddered.

"We will need to use them. This will show the physical evidence of violence and your desperation to escape." Meredith said.

"I can't talk about…can't you interview Jeremy about that?" She asked her voice quiet.

"You need to be the one." Meredith shook her head and Elena shuddered.

"I know it's hard but listen." Meredith's tone softened just a little. "Telling the jury and the court room what he did puts that blame right where it belongs on him. His temporary insanity plea goes out the window when the jury realizes he put you in the hospital and you fled for your life." Meredith said.

Elena frowned clenching her firsts he pushed his chair closer and stroked her hair.

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through it. I really am, that's why I want him to go down it sickens me what he did…but you need to tell people what a sick bastard he is, or he'll spin the truth. It's going to be hard to do on that stand with him out there. You need to prepare yourself." Meredith warned.

"I think that's enough for now." Damon said his gaze fixed on Meredith.

Elena took a deep breath and squeezed his hands. "'I'm okay Damon, she's right, I need to be prepared. What do you want me to say? "

"I'm basically going to ask you what it was like to be married to Craig and you can summarize how things became the way they did. I'll ask if you tried to leave and you tell me as much or as little as you want about that. I'll need to bring up that he put you in the hospital after that and again say as much or as little as you want, but the defense attorneys will pick it apart if it's too vague." Meredith said.

"Okay." Elena said. "So ask me the questions then and I'll try to answer them."

"I think sometimes it's easier if I write down the questions for you, take some time think about what you want to say, and we'll talk about it when we meet again." Meredith said.

"I'm honestly not trying to make this more difficult for you. It's a difficult thing period and my job is to see justice served." She glanced at Damon.

"As long as it's not at her expense." He said.

"We should go over your statement now." Meredith said on a cool tone. "All you really need to do is describe what happened. I may ask you if you already knew he was a threat to her, and that type of thing. The defensive attorneys may try to accuse you of goading him, but we have two other witnesses that can deny that."

"I remember everything that happened." Damon said.

"Don't let them get under your skin; you need to watch your attitude." She warned.

"Excuse me?" He scoffed.

"Your heard me loud and clear." She said scribbling questions down for Elena on her legal pad.

"Is it really necessary to be so rude to him?" Elena asked frowning at her.

"No kidding. Did you forget they are the victims in this?" Bonnie muttered.

"You didn't hear the attitude he gave me when you weren't in the room." Meredith gave Elena a pointed look. "If he does that on the stand it will hurt the case."

"I wouldn't do anything stupid to screw up the case." He muttered suppressing an urge to just toss her out on her skinny little butt.

"Hey guys." Jenna walked in looking cheerful. "So you all met?"

"Oh yeah it's been a pleasure." Damon scoffed under his breath and Elena nudged him.

"I think we covered enough for today." Meredith said getting her things and getting up. "I'm going to go talk to your cousin and see if I can get these medical records. I'll be in touch in a few days then I guess?"

She looked visibly stressed as she tried to figure out how this was going to work.

"It was nice meeting you Elena. I'm sorry if I offended any of you." She glanced at Damon. "But this is my job. I have to be tough; we all do." She said and turned to leave.

"Don't take her too seriously she hates pretty much all men." Jenna offered.

"She's such a…rude girl." He trailed off when Elena shot him a look.

Bonnie giggled. "She's a bitch."

"She a special prosecutor she's seen a lot of shit. She's naturally cynical and tough but it's what will get the job done in the end." Jenna said.

"On a better note I have good news." Jenna laid some papers in front of Elena.

She picked them up with a shaky hand a tear rolling down her cheek.

"It's over. " She whispered. "I'm finally free of him."

"Yes you are." Jenna smiled and embraced her.

"It's over I'm not married to that bastard anymore." She said again her voice breathless; she broke out into a smile and jumped into his lap pressing little kisses all over his face.

He held her face and gazed at her she looked so worry free at the moment. It seemed to erase all the tension that was just in the room moments ago.

"I love you Miss Gilbert." He said brushing a chaste kiss across her lips.

"This is the best news ever, Elena." Bonnie exclaimed she climbed down from his lap a bit reluctantly he noted with a smirk to give Bonnie a hug.

"This is a definite cause for celebration." Jenna declared.

"Here, here." Bonnie agreed. "It's kind of early for champagne though isn't it?"

"I have the next best thing." Jenna said running back outside.

She raced back in with the familiar white box that instantly made Elena's mouth water.

"Oh my god Jenna I love you." She got up and pretty much snatched the box form Jenna's hands.

"So, it wasn't my looks or charm. It was the cupcakes?" Damon laughed.

"They definitely helped." She giggled taking out a chocolate one and taking a bite right away she closed her eyes and savored it.

"You have to try one these are like edible gold." Jenna said to Bonnie. "I'm Elena's attorney, Jenna, by the way."

"Oh I'm sorry." Elena said swallowing down her bite. "Jenna this is my best friend Bonnie."

"It's nice to meet you." Jenna said shaking her hand.

"You too." Bonnie smiled. "What kind should I try?"

"Chocolate." Elena said taking another bite.

"I like the marble with buttercream." Jenna said plucking one out.

Bonnie ended up selecting a red velvet one. Damon grabbed a vanilla one leaving the other two chocolates for Elena.

"To my freedom." Elena said they all toasted their cupcakes towards each other.

Jenna and Elena waited for Bonnie to take her first bite.

Bonnie's eyes widened. "You are not lying these are amazing."

Soon all three of them were moaning and praising the cupcakes. He just chuckled and watched them with an amused look on his face. Elena looked so alive and excited he was almost buzzing from being in the presence of it.

"Where's Rick?" He asked Jenna.

"I don't know. I figured he would have gone home by now he was still sleeping when I left." She rolled her eyes. "He's probably still in bed again. He's so lazy in the summer."

"Well it is his vacation." Elena yawned "I've been pretty lazy lately too."

"You have a reason to be honey." Jenna laughed.

"We didn't tell Meredith about the pregnancy." Elena said.

"I think that's a good idea. It's better if that doesn't get out right now. The defense attorneys could try to us it against you." Jenna sighed.

"They are vultures they kept trying to get to me testify for Craig." Bonnie said.

"Why would they even think you would?" Jenna asked.

"They were trying to manipulate me into it, its sick how far they will go to protect the guilty." Bonnie spat out.

"I just can't wait for the rest of this to be over." Elena said. "Soon my ex-husband will be in prison for life and we'll never have to think about him again."

"Here, here." Jenna agreed heartily.

Once Elena had called everyone to tell them the news she headed out to the rose garden. Bonnie retired to her room to call Luke. Damon went outside to make sure she was okay after everything. He normally would have left her to her thoughts. But he wasn't sure if she was as 'good' as she appeared to be about her meeting with Meredith this morning.

"I was hoping you'd join me." She smiled at him when he sat down next to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft voice.

"I didn't know I'd have to talk about everything." She said.

"I know."

"I'm scared." She admitted.

"I wish I could take it away, but I can't. I can't even get you a nicer attorney." He sighed.

" She's being straightforward and she's right." Elena sighed.

"I can do it. I know I can. I got away and I got free. I didn't think that would ever happen, but it did. I can do this." She said again taking a deep breath as if she was trying to gather the courage.

"Yes you can. I know you can." He said putting his arm around her.

"I don't think I could if didn't have your support, it gets me through." She said her brown doe eyes watery.

"I think you give me too much credit. What is getting you through is your strength, sweetheart. You are the bravest girl I've even known." He said stroking her cheek.

"No I'm not Damon, I'm so scared. I'm trying to be strong but I'm more scared then I'm letting on." She admitted biting her lip.

"Elena no one is fearless, no one, not even those tough guys that pretend they are. But someone that admits they're scared and still faces those fears head on. Is much braver then that fearless idiot." He said giving her a little grin.

"You always know what to say." She turned to face him and smiled again he wiped the stray tears off her cheeks and leaned in to kiss her softly.

She crawled up on his lap and he lovingly laid his hand across her stomach. She smiled and placed her hand over his. She took a breath and grabbed the page of questions from the bench. She stated to read through them quietly and calmly. He just held her offering silent support.

AN: Thanks again to everyone for reading along and for the reviews. This is TVD centric but sometimes I like to add in little dashes of stuff from the books. I named the town Fells Church instead of Mystic Falls because Fells Church sounds more like a small hidden town a girl could hide in. I brought book-Meredith in because, I always felt like she should've been on the show, her character was prefect for this specific role.

Okay anyway… once again please send me a review!

I will try and have more updates up soon!

PS: Please check out the I'm coming home, sequel if you haven't yet. We're Coming Home. The second chapter just went up and it was so fun to write. It's not getting many reviews, so I'm hoping it's okay….