Chapter 9: What Have I Done?

Elena sat across from Klaus, resting her chin in her palm as he went over some documents in the Grill; a newly acquired investment. She hadn't even wanted to come, but Klaus had insisted. The only thing that made it worth while was the view she had over his shoulder. Damon was playing pool at the back of the room and she had been subtly watching him for the last ten minutes, mindlessly answering her husband's remarks about how poorly this place was run before he bought it.

Her heart pounded against her chest and she felt her face flush when Damon's eyes snapped to hers with a knowing smirk as he leaned over and took his shot. He looked amused at her reaction; adverting her eyes and sitting up straight with her back against the booth.

"Something wrong?" Klaus grumbled, but didn't even bother to look up from the documents in front of him.

She turned her eyes back over to Damon, watching as Andy walked over to him placing a hand on his back, shamelessly draping herself on him. It was hard to push down the jealousy of seeing them together and it was starting to become a regular occurrence. "I'm fine, just bored. I'm going to get a drink." Slipping out of the booth, Elena pranced down the stairs, passing by Damon and Andy at the pool table with a confident stride. She was proud of her ability to not look his way, even though she could feel his eyes following her.

After ordering a vodka soda with lime, she took a moment to shake off her nervousness. How did he turn her into a ball of mush with just one look? How could he make her jealous of a woman, who barely knew him? She rolled her eyes, and greedily picked up the drink when it hit the bar, sucking the elixir back through the straw.

"Geez Elena…it's the middle of the day." his voice was smooth as silk as he leaned on the bar beside her. "Am I rubbing off on you?" he teased. Her eyes subconsciously looked him up and down. "Do you want me to?" Damon's eyes widened in a way that made her clench her legs together.

"Shut up." Elena's eyes fluttered around to see if anyone heard him. When she was satisfied that no one was paying attention, her eyes settled on him again. "You can't say stuff like that. Plus, I don't think your girlfriend would appreciate it." The disapproval was evident in her tone, and her lips fixed into a sarcastic smile.

He chuckled. "Who, Andy?" he cast a glance over his shoulder watching as she sat at their table, looking at the menu. "You think she's my girlfriend?"

"She's sure acting like it." She drawled with an annoyed sigh. She sucked back the rest of her drink in a few more sips.

Damon seemed surprised. "Does that bother you?" he leaned in narrowing his eyes at her with mocking suspicion. "Are you jealous, Elena Gilbert?"

Straightening up, she pulled on a mask of resolve. "It's Mikaelson now, and no!" she bristled avoiding his eyes. "Of course I'm not jealous. That's ridiculous." Their eyes met again. "Be with whoever you what." She mumbled placing her empty glass on the bar, and walking away towards the bathrooms.

Pushing through the doors, the rested her hands on the edge of the sink, leveling her gaze with her mirror self. The door swung open again and he met her gaze in a heated clash of their eyes. He closed the distance between them and spun her around to face him. "You're who I want." Damon captured her lips with his, and she immediately melted into him, hands running over his chest and arms, pushing him back into the wall behind them, beside the first stall. He whispered her name and it only lit her insides on fire, igniting her passionate need for him.

When they heard the sound of voices, and the doors beginning to open, Damon rolled them into one of the stalls locking it behind them. Both of them laughed silently, foreheads resting against each other, the adrenaline of their heated exchange and the excitement of getting caught causing their chests to heave. The two girls in the bathroom chatted about meaningless gossip while fixing their hair, and Damon mercilessly teased her by kissing a trail from her collarbone up her neck, and she let out a soft sigh. His hand reached up to cover her mouth, but that only turned her on more, making her eyes roll back as she exposed her neck to him.

Once the girls finally left, the door slamming closed behind them was a sobering moment for Elena, and she peeled herself out of his arms, avoiding his eyes as she slipped out of the stall. Damon followed her sensing the mood change. "So that's it? Running away back to Klaus?" he snapped with resentment. He watched as she ran her fingers through her hair and straightened herself up.

"What do you want from me, Damon?" She mumbled under her breath despondently, doing her best to not meet his eyes in the mirror. She knew he was angry at her. They had been meeting like this for weeks now, and each time the moment was over she could see the tension on his face. There were many times when she felt like she could have completely given herself to him, regardless of where they happened to be, and the thought of how out of control she was around him was enough to snap her out of it.

He scoffed ironically as if was ludicrous for her to even ask. "You, Elena…it's always been you." He added softly, reaching for her, but she moved out of his reach when she spun around to face him.

With this love like a hole…

Anguish pulled her brows into a frown, and it was the first time he'd seen how conflicted she was. "I can't give you that!" she exclaimed. "We shouldn't even be doing this, look at us!" Elena gestured around them. "Sneaking off like teenagers to make out in the bathroom." She shook her head at how absurd it was. "We need to get over…whatever this is." The resolve was firm on her face, forcing herself to believe her own words. She was being harsh, she knew that, but something about Damon made her weak.

"Sure." He ground out between clenched teeth. "I'll just 'get over it'! Why didn't I think of that?" he stalked closer to her and she backed into the sink. "You know, I was doing just fine before you kissed me. Let's not forget who started this, Elena." He pinned her with a hard glare, his blue eyes darkening.

She bit her lip and matched his glare with her own. "I'm aware, Damon. We were both hurting…it was solace." She retorted desperately, trying to believe it herself.

"And what about all the times after? What about now?" He swallowed nervously, his eyes scanning her face answers. "What the hell is this, Elena?"

She blinked; her stomach filled with butterflies. This was the most they've ever discussed their little affair, and she didn't have the answers for him. "I-I don't know." She stammered with a helpless shrug.

Swallow my soul…

The emotion drained from his face, and he stared at her with cold eyes. "Well let me know when you figure it out." He stalked out of the bathroom and headed back to the table with Andy, sliding in across from her and pasting on a careless smile.

She smiled back but it didn't reach her eyes. "It's always going to be Elena…isn't it?" When Damon tilted his tilted his head in confusion she sighed sadly. "You don't need to lie to me, Damon. I can tell you're not really here. It's because of her."

His eyes glazed over looking just passed her, as Elena walked back over to sit with Klaus, albeit on shaky legs. "I'm in love with a woman I can never have." He threw her an awkward lopsided smile, but quickly sobered after finally admitting out loud. "It's driving me crazy; I'm not in control." he said firmly. Control was something he needed in his life…because Elena seemed to be the only thing that kept him from drowning. "I'm sorry, Andy." He said genuinely, noticing the dejected look in her eyes.

She shrugged helplessly. "It's okay…" she stood slowly and kissed his cheek sweetly. "You know where to find me if you need a distraction." She winked, and cupped his face, before leaving the restaurant.

.

After last night, Elena had decided she wasn't going to be scared anymore. She was going to be strong, and fight back. Damon had taken her back to his place, where they spent the rest of the night making love and eating ice cream, naked in bed. He had to run some work errands early in the morning, but asked her to meet him at the Grill at Noon.

When she walked in, her eyes scanned the room for him, finding him over by the dart board. Butterflies filled her stomach and she skipped down the steps to greet him. Damon turned around, as if sensing her coming, and was surprised that she kissed him firmly on the lips.

"Well hello." He smirked down at her. "You know everyone is staring at us now."

She shrugged. "I don't care…I'm done hiding it, Damon. I'm not going to pretend I'm someone I'm not anymore, and I'm definitely not going to be afraid of Klaus."

He could barely contain his happiness. Everything he always wanted was in his grasp and it felt surreal to him. "I made a call to my lawyer friend in Petersburg. He said if we can find a way to get him Isobel's POA documents he might be able to find a way around it." He fiddled with the darts in his hands.

Her eyes lit up. "Really? But how do we do that? I don't want to go back to that house Damon, and even if I did, he has all those documents locked in the safe."

Damon smiled tensely. "I'm working on it."

Without questioning him further, she squeezed his forearm. "Thank you." She stated sincerely. "I wouldn't know what I'd do without you."

He pushed the hair out of her face. "You won't have to."

"Well well…isn't this sweet." The voice came from behind them, and they both watched as Klaus walked down the steps. Everyone was watching them now, the conversations around them coming to a halt. "When Elijah told me, you were having secret meetings with Damon, I didn't assume you'd be so bold." He walked past them to grab the dart in the board.

Elena regarded him carefully as he stalked back towards her. "You have your brother keep tabs on me now?"

He pointed the tip of the dart at her. "It appears I was right to do so. Because here you are, whoring around with Damon for all to see."

"It's over, Klaus." She said firmly and loud enough to catch the attention of others in the restaurant. "Stop embarrassing yourself." She sneered with a stony face. She was proud of her strength in standing up to him.

When he stepped closer, clenching his jaw in rage, Damon stepped up, and put himself between them. "Put one hand on her I'll make sure you walk away without it." His eyes widened as he fixed him with a heated glare. "I think it's time for you to go." He bit out, leveling him with a hard stare.

Klaus looked him up and down with a smirk. "And in steps the white knight. You're making a big mistake, Damon…I hope she's worth it." He threw the dart at board and it hit the bullseye. He pushed passed them both and walked out of the Grill, leaving them behind to think about his parting words.

.

Elena paused at the door, hearing the yelling coming from the other side. She had spent the whole weekend at Klaus' trying to avoid her arguing parents. It had been like this for weeks since the accident, and it was weighing heavily on all of them.

She unlocked the door, and darted up the stairs, going completely unnoticed.

"I'm tired of this John! Everyday you feed me a new lie and I just can't deal with it anymore!"

"I'm not lying, to you Isobel! I have a business trip; there's no one else!"

"Bullshit! Something is different about you. You can barely look at me anymore, money is missing from the account, you're never home! I'm sorry that I've changed, that I'm not who I was before, but maybe if you weren't drinking that night-"

"Oh for crying out loud! Here we go, back to this again! I'm sorry! I wasn't even drunk; I had two drinks!"

Elena closed the door to her room. The yelling still travelled between the floors, but she was able to drown out their voices by playing some music. She knew that her parents were drifting farther apart with each one of these fights and she wasn't sure if they would ever recover.

.

"You okay?" Damon handed her a drink, and she took it gratefully, making a face as the liquor burned down her throat.

"Yeah…just thinking." Damon sat down on the couch beside her in his parlor room. "You know I always thought my parents had this perfect marriage. It's what I wanted for myself. In retrospect I'm not sure whose marriage was worse." Elena looked into her glass. "At least they loved each other once."

Damon reached over and squeezed her knee in comfort. "I'm not your dad, Elena. I'm not going to walk out on you…I'm not going to ever stop loving you."

"I know…" her lip trembled as her emotions got the better of her. "You've always been there for me, Damon, even when I don't deserve it. I feel terrible for how I treated you." Damon shook his head, dismissively. "No, I wasn't fair to you, you deserved better than that…I'm sorry." She squeezed his hand back, her thumb running along the back of his hand.

There were things he needed to do, and she wasn't going to like it. But Damon knew that if they had any hope for a future together, he'd take the risk of her being a little mad at him. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Her answer was instant.

He looked her dead in the eye. "I need you to stay with Stefan and Caroline for a few days." He expected her to protest, or at least question him, but she just nodded with an 'okay'. "Don't go home for any reason, and don't come here. I'll call Stefan when I'm back."

Panic flared up inside her. "Where are you going?"

"I need to follow up on some things; I won't be long, I promise. I just need to make sure you're somewhere safe while I'm gone." He stood slowly, kissing her on the forehead.

She stood with him, panic flaring up in her gut. "My mom…I need to make sure she's okay."

He squeezed her shoulder tenderly. "I've already called Jeremy. He's heading to Richmond tonight to check on her." When he saw the relief in her face he smiled. "Please don't worry. Everything is going to be alright."

Her eyes closed and the weight seemed to lift off her shoulders, and an easy smile graced her face. "You know…for the first time in years, I finally believe it will be. Just be careful." She added softly.

…

A two days had passed, and despite all the drama currently happening in her life, she was feeling hope for her future. Elena had been enjoying reconnecting with her friends and as promised, told Caroline the whole story from the beginning.

"Now I'm just worried about what he's going to do." Elena looked in the bottom of her coffee mug, as they both sat on the back porch watching the sun go down. "Klaus is kind of a terrifying person when he's angry."

Caroline looked her friend over with concern. "Maybe we should talk to my mom."

"And tell her what? I don't have anything solid on him, Care. And if he finds out that the Sheriff is involved it's only going to piss him off more." She sighed deeply, resting her head back on the wooden lounge chair. "I just need to get my mom out of that place. Once that happens, I'm gone…I don't care if I lose everything I own. Damon and I can start fresh." She vowed with a confident nod.

"We are here for you no matter what." Caroline smiled sweetly.

Only a half hour had passed before the sliding door to the house slid open loudly and Stefan rushed out frantically a deep frown of worry on his face. "Dad just called; the construction site is on fire." They all looked into the distance and say the plume of smoke starting to drift in the air.

Both women stood suddenly, and all the hope that Elena had been feeling was sucked out of her body. "Oh my God…" she whispered to herself.

"I have to go." Stefan rushed out. "Stay here…don't go anywhere, do you understand me?" he demanded to Caroline, kissing her while he rested a hand on her belly, before letting his eyes slide to his friend. After receiving a nod from both of the them, he ran back through the house and out the front door.

Elena slowly lowered herself back into the chair. "It was Klaus…this is my fault."

"We don't know that." The look on her friend's face told Elena that she believed it was Klaus too, but she was quick to follow it up. "Even if it was Klaus…this is not your fault, okay!" she wrapped an arm around her, and guided her to stand. "Let's get inside."

An hour went by and Stefan still wasn't home. Elena had been calling Damon multiple times but it went straight to voicemail. Panic clutched her body and she paced nervously back and forth in the foyer, waiting for someone to come back. When she heard banging on the door, her heart leapt in her chest. "Damon…" she whispered, rushing over and flinging the door open. But the person that greeted her on the other end made her freeze in fear.

"I thought I'd find you here." Klaus' jaw was clenched in anger. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" he seethed in a low tone.

"What I've done? You can't blame me for this." She responded, trying to keep the waver out of her tone. The look in his eyes was terrifying. He looked unhinged; positively disheveled.

"I warned you what would happen if you lied to me." He took a step forward and she instinctively took a step back.

"It was you…wasn't it?" her lip curled in disgust. "You burned down all those houses didn't you!" she demanded in a stronger voice. "You're a monster."

He stared at her with a look of betrayal, and tears welled in his eyes, before his face turned to stone and any kind of emotion dropped from his eyes. "I will make him suffer on MY TERMS!" he bellowed in a furious rage, leering as Elena jolted back in fear. He continued quietly. "Are you scared yet?" he raised his brows challengingly. "I'm not even close to being done, sweetheart."

He stalked off into the night, and Elena collapsed to the floor, her body shaking with sobs. She barely felt Caroline sit down beside her, wrapping her arms around her in comfort.

"What have I done…?" she wailed against her friend's shoulder.

Dragging me down