AN: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS!

It was mentioned by JynxxD that she hoped Bella had never let the secret slip and She's right in assuming I would think it's never been an issue the way they are with her almost every waking moment.

I hope you guys enjoy! I promise to try moving it along; I know we are only 24 hours in so far haha

Bella

As if she were witnessing his thoughts, a deep blush blossomed across her face and she tugged on the edges of a napkin; dropping the pieces when she was done on the table in front of her.

"Damon," Bella had started to say, trying to ignore the way she seemed to enjoy his name rolling off of her tongue. Sure, she was still thinking about what the hell to do about Edward, and the feeling a lot of guilt and uncertainty and lust she was sure Jasper could feel from Forks, but she wasn't blind.

Damon was hot as hell with the cocky attitude of a man who just KNEW what he looked like and where he fit in the proverbial food-chain. "I know that this is crazy. Hell, I'm still piecing together the remnants of my memory and random flashbacks to get a solid idea of how... but I suppose; marriage aside. It might not hurt to know you."

She watched as Damon sat forward, his hands on his knees as he seemed to not even be paying her any mind. Still stuck in whatever thoughts he was having. The pair sat in what felt like hours of awkward silence to Bella; it had only been less than a minute.

"So," She quipped quickly, ignoring the questioning brow he raised at her. "The annulment."

Smooth, Swan. Real smooth. Bella thought to herself. What happened to 'it might not hurt to know you'?

This statement hung in the air and seemed to only deepen his joy. Bella just knew whatever was about to come out of his mouth she was not going to like, so she held up a finger to him in a 'wait' gesture before tipping back the drink in front of her.

After several seconds, she put her hand down and sighed as she mentally prepared herself. "What?"

He Tsked, the smile gone from his face, a flash of what could be mistaken as concern flashing across his features.

"You really don't remember, do you? Did you even read the papers you had in your hand this morning? The courthouse already explained that Nevada no longer allows 'drunk' as a reason for an annulment. We have to stay married a minimum of 90 days, and prove we tried to make this work."

She frowned at his words before she could stop herself. 90 days? How the hell does one prove they tried to make a marriage they decided after hours of meeting each other work? There was no way no one back home knew. Should she call Alice? The pixie would be able to see this, no?

Before she could pull away or she could protest, Damon had taken her hands and swallowed them in his. The warmth of his body scorching Bella. She knew it wasn't possible but the warmth of his hands burned hotter than Jacobs and definitely were a stark comparison to a certain vampire ex.

The feeling of his thumb rubbing soothing circles flung the same memory Damon had relived earlier to the forefront of her consciousness. It was like watching TV, it seemed like it was happening to someone else. She was just a witness.

Witness or participant, she couldn't control the dampness beginning in her panties at the recollection of his mouth at her neck, his hot breath at her ear, large hands pulling her hips flush agains-.

Her repeat of another night before was cut short when she noticed the way he had begun to look at her with something... darker tinging his features.

In a vicious circle the two wordlessly seemed to go.

Predatory looking Damon, Bella remembers his hands grasping roughly at her hips and ass to pull her close, damp panties.

Hungry looking Damon, Bella remembers the way his knee had pushed up between her legs, the way the fabric of his jeans had felt against her thighs.

DAMON

She truly looked every bit like his little doe, staring wide eyed and unwaveringly at him, caught in the headlights of her own desire. And fucking hell, that scent.

It was rolling off of her in waves, the scent of her arousal, so thick in the air between them Damon was having a hard time controlling himself. How could anyone possibly expect him to when she looked and smelled like THAT.

He couldn't help himself when he mentally compared Elena's own hooded gaze to the beauty sitting before him.

"Little doe," Damon began, his voice gruffer than he intended.

He didn't get the chance to continue because what he had said finally registered in her ears.

"90 DAYS?!" She squawked, irises dilating as arousal was pushed back by her growing panic. "What do I tell everyone when I go home? What will-" The screaming of her phone made her jump. Damon watched her free one hand to pull the device from her pocket and glance at the caller ID.

He listened to the way that her heart began to slam into her ribs as she ripped her hand from his to answer it, causing Damon to frown.

"Edward?" She spoke uncertainly into the phone, reminding Damon of a child or a teenager calling their parent when they knew they had done something wrong.

"Bella," Came the tense voice from the other end of the line; Edwards, He assumed. "Please, love, tell me Alice is wrong. That you didn't-"

"Edward, wait." Bella cut him off, standing to excuse herself from the table as if suddenly remembering where she was. She stepped out of the restaurant and into the mall, but it did little to stifle his ability to hear the conversation as if he were on a third line.

(AN: Bella dialogue Edward dialogue)

"Isabella." Damon's frown deepened. "Where are you? Who are you with?"

"Edward please," Bella was practically pleading, but ignoring the last questions as she pushed on. "You have to understand I don't even remember-"

"THAT is supposed to make me feel better about this? You REFUSED to marry my unless I changed you, broke up with me to reconsider my proposal of changing you after the wedding, to marry a stranger in Vegas the one weekend Alice and I let you out of our sights? AND YOU DON'T REMEBER DOING IT! And you!" It was obvious that he was now yelling at someone on his end. "How could you have NOT. SEEN. THIS?!" Damon could hear the froth forming in his mouth by the tone in which he was carrying on.

"Do NOT yell at Alice, Edward. This was my doing and my doing alone." His little spitfire was back, Damon noted gleefully, waving away a waitress as he listened.

"Clearly, Isabella Marie." Came the now calm reply from the other end of the line. "This is just as I feared. You say you are able to handle making these big life changes and that I don't need to argue so much about it. Yet there you are. Married. I allow you this time to yourself and this is how you replay me?"

Damon couldn't stop the low growl that escaped him at Edwards words. Who was he to talk to his little doe like this. Like she was a child whom had been caught coloring on the walls. No wonder she had been so wild the night they met. How could you keep a bird in a cage its whole life and not expect it to fly when you finally opened the door?

Before he was even aware of what he was doing he stood up and made his way at normal pace to Bella, outside of the bar, who's back was towards him.

"E-Edward stop." Damon stopped, hearing the dejected tone she had taken on and studied the way her shoulders had slumped and curled into themselves; protecting her from the verbal lashing she was currently receiving. "I'm sorry, I don't know what else- Damon, stop."

He had taken the phone from her hands and waited for Bella to turn and face him, ignoring the snarls coming from her phone so loudly he was sure it didn't take super hearing to hear. The unshed tears built in her eyes was enough for him, and he held her gaze as he put the phone to his ear; waiting for the line to go silent before he spoke.

"I'm going to assume this is the ex-boyfriend. Listen, I don't appreciate whatever is it you're saying to my wife." Damon waited for the shouting on the other end that had started up again at the word wife to die down. "But this is our honeymoon, and I can't have someone making my little doe cry."

The last words spoken were more towards Bella, who could beat back the tears no longer and had fat droplets running down her cheeks, who had turned her face to the floor and clasped her hands tightly together in front of her. He didn't wait for an answer, only hung up the phone and put it in his pocket as his other hand lifted her face by the chin to coax her into looking up at him.

"You shouldn't have done that." She muttered weakly. She had let her face turn up towards him, however her gaze still pointed down as a deep blush covered her face from embarrassment. As if to punctuate her point, her phone in his pocket had already begun ringing again. Damon reached into his pocket and muted the device. The vibrations now only audible to him. She didn't try to take it back, only let her arms fall limp at her sides.

BELLA

She'd gone almost catatonic. Numb. Empty. Bella was idly aware of Damon ushering her out of the mall and into a taxi. She ignored the looks she got as they walked together through what she realized was the lobby of his hotel. Bella just didn't have it in her to protest or to even wonder what they were doing there.

Of course, she had been dreading talking to Edward. She'd been physically sick when Angela and her had spoken this morning about it. She hadn't been prepared for the hurt and anger in his voice when he spoke to her. The hurt. Her betrayal. How could she do this to him?

The tears fell freely and plentiful once more at her inner monologue. She was unaware but Damon was watching her with a frown on his face, probably upset that he was now stuck attached to this emotional wreck for 90 days.

"What do you mean, you're on your way?" His voice broke through the wall of doom she had built around herself, but soon she was dragged under again by her brain remembering the faint sobs of Alice on the other line as Edward had torn into her.

This mistake had cost so many people already, and it was only the first 24 hours. How much worse would the next 89 days be?

If her stress could manifest physically there would be a dark cloud surrounding Bella, getting bigger and darker as Damon lead her inside his room and sat her on his couch, throwing something over bells shoulders and putting her legs up on the couch with her.

She left him pet the side of her head, fingers running through her hair as he did so. The action was so tender, and she herself was being so ungrateful that silent tears turned to muffled sobs.

Damons hand was gone a moment later and the door to the bedroom shut. Poor Pitiful Human Bella. Such a mess even the man she married can't stand to be around her. Of course, Edward was right, how could she even be trusted anymore to make an important decision about life when she already fucked up one of the most important human milestones.

Her thoughts were dark and every bit as berating as Edward's tone and words had been.

Sometime during her mental rant, she must have begun to fall asleep. When Damon came out of his room and from his phone call, he found her curled beneath his coat.

Her hair matted and stuck to her face from the tears she had shed while he was gone. He sat beside her and used his thumb to smooth the crease in her forehead that had remained even after her thoughts had faded.

"What has he done to you, Isabella." he said so softly, he wasn't even sure that she could hear it.

She was only partly aware of Damon's presence, her dream state mistaking the tender was with which he had said her name for Edward.

What a difference from our phone call. She thought to herself as she let her sleep consume her.

AN: A few things I want to address;

1. Damon was the one who accurately heard the conversation. There was no hurt in Edward's voice. He's just pissed. I've always thought he treated her like a child and she was just too blinded to see it.

2. I'm thinking more that Alice did know. I known in other fic's she's unable to see the other type of vamps, but I like to believe that she would at some point realize how much better literally ANYONE would be for Bella.

3. Elena and Stefan might be coming soon, I'm not sure.

4. If anyone has any suggestions or things they think might be good to add to the story I'd love to hear it!

LASTLY,

From personal experience I know it can be hard to read the last of this chapter, in emotionally abusive/controlling situations it's not uncommon for an abusee's mental narrative of themselves to reflect their abuser's narrative. It's all they know about themselves. Bella has always thought of herself as an inconvenience, even in the books. I never liked it, especially not when Bella needed 'human moments' and they coined the phrase like it was cute, but it only made her more insecure and aware of her own 'shortcomings'.