Night and day:
Just cold breeze she could feel against her bandaged arm, Elena pulled up the blanket further on her body and winced as her hurt arm bended a bit, she partially opened her eyes and saw how the window was quarter open , letting the breeze in, it seemed an hour closer to sun rise as she could hear some bird chirping, she sat up a little- wondering if someone would come in to close that window. "I am- I am alive" she touched her chest, her fingers rested against her naked neck "My pendant" she looked down at herself, then moved to rest back on the shoulder, her body felt so energy deprived. She closed her eyes again, bringing the blanket over her head as far as she could whist covering her legs. When she dozed off, she remembered being pulled away from flames, from heat into strong, very strong arms-that carried her out to complete silence, like the whole town was dead and gone. She felt like she was in that moment right now, somewhere she had the idea that it was a dream as she could hear the flames in distance and look up in awe at the dark figure carrying her, was it some super hero? she felt like the small damsel in distress being helped out but that wasn't her character, Elena gilbert had her life together, she had courage to face every fear that hit her and right now she was totally depended on this suave stranger as he placed her on the softest carpet of grass, cupping the side of her face, her hair fell around her face and she felt her heart flutter when he brushed her hair away from her face, he was standing right in front of the dying sun and she narrowed her eyes to see his face, "Who are you?" she murmured.
"Guh!" Elena's eyes snapped open and she found herself panting and shivering at the same time, the hospital was more awake now, she could hear steps outside her room, A nurse came inside and on seeing her awake and frightened, rushed to her, "You okay?"
"Yeah i-"she gripped her hair at the side of her head, "I slept for like five minutes and – what time is it?"
"It's 9 am- honey you need rest." She said putting her back on the pillow, "Can you call my parents?"
"We will after you let us know their name and number." She said sweetly then moved to check her medicines.
"What? wait who brought me here?" she asked biting her lower lip
"I have no idea sweetie; I just started my shift right now." she said and Elena had to give up her questions asking for a pen and paper to contact her parents.
night and day*"
Elena pouted seeing Jeremy not touching his breakfast, she had been home from the hospital two weeks from now and had stayed home till her right hand had recovered and no longer required the heavy bandaging and it's changing again and again, which bothered her more than anything. "Jer you're zoning out again." She held his hand over the table and pressed it, "You're home, with us now."
He forced out a smile, "Yeah I know- I just don't think I am ready for school yet."
"Look this will never be easy." Miranda's voice broke their conversation, she was standing against the counter slicing apples into equal shaped, "You have to man up Jeremy."
"Mom." Elena rolled her eyes, "Jeremy is a kid, he's been through a lot, we need to understand this."
"And I do Elena." she turned to both her children, worry lines on her forehead , "But I can't motivate his anti-social behavior."
"I am not anti-social, I am scared." He got up and seethed picking up his bag, "It's scary to think I'll be minding my own business and some guys will just pick me up , hit me and hurt me while you guys do absolutely nothing to stop it."
"Jeremy." His father came downstairs, "That's no way of talking to your mother."
Jeremy huffed, "Please Dad spare the lecture." He pulled the bag over his shoulder and walked to the door like he couldn't take a second more in this house, Elena got up and picked her bag running after him, "Jer! Jeremy listen!" she ran up the distance to him on the sidewalk and panted, "Hey look I understand what's going in your head."
He stopped in his tracks and gritted his teeth, "No you don't, no one does."
"Look Jer- I get it okay even when you think I don't, I do and I am not like anyone else to tell you to forget it, I'll do everything I can to protect you."
"Like you did last time." He raised his brows at her, "I promise you that I am going to put an end to the ruling system in town." Then sighed, "Just please don't take out things on mom and dad, they've lived under the ruling family pressure, they don't understand that they deserve freedom."
Jeremy didn't look convinced rather annoyed, he held his hand up as if telling to stop, "Look Elena I get what you want and it's impossible , it's humorous to a point even, I asked mom and dad to send me out of town , first they were being cowards and now they don't want to send me away. I cant believe you supported them."
"Because you're too young to be alone Jer, Don't you think Mom and-"
He interrupted, "You know what Elena they are my parents, It's a matter of our family." He spat then suddenly realized what he said when her doe eyes grew sad , he moved back and held the bridge of his nose between his fingers, "Sorry look I didn't mean to say what I did, you are my sister Elena, even if you are-"
"Adopted." She completed the sentence and bit her lower lip , he ran a hand through his hair, "Look lena I am already too stressed and I didn't mean it, you know I didn't, I never say that."
"You just wanted to hurt me." she moved back, "I am trying to help you Jer, I am trying to save our family- or in better words save the family that has done so much for me through out the years. Just – uh I'll talk to you when you decide you'll listen and understand what my intentions are." She shook her head and moved ahead to avoid him.
When she reached school she saw her friends around the lockers, both of them indulged in some deep conversation when she interrupted them, "Bonnie you forgot to pick me up."
The dark skinned beauty turned to her and frowned, "What? you didn't text me."
"I did." she said in a duh voice taking out her phone and checked the thread with Bonnie , then bit her lip, "I did text you in my head."
"R-right." She huffed, Caroline chuckled, "You're still a lil cuckoo."
"What?" she asked as if challenging Caroline to say it again, "Caroline okay I might have missed this message but everything else definitely happened."
"Right- the whole princess and Knight in shining armor dreams."
"I didn't say I was a princess- but everyday it gets more real- I was this close to seeing him today." She said showing the space between her thumb and index finger, they started walking to their class as Elena continued, "It's scary- I am in situations okay, sometimes I am surrounded by flames, sometimes I am drowning and it feels so real."
"I feel like that fire really messed you up." Bonnie turned to her and cupped the side of her face, "You need a time out Elena from all this drama."
"Maybe you think the way you think because –"
"because?" she urged Caroline to speak. The Blonde swallowed thick, "You yearn for saving! Ever since all that stuff happened, you feel helpless and this figure in your dreams is just what you want."
She huffed as if it was the most impossible deduction, "I am not looking for saving okay, I am not afraid of anyone."
"Speaking of anyone." Caroline raised her brows and Elena turned around seeing Stefan at a ten feet distance, looking at her apologetically like he had been all this time, she turned back, "What's his problem?"
Caroline shook her head, "He needs a fist through his head."
Bonnie held Caroline's wrist, "Slow it down Care, Stefan hasn't exposed our asses for what we did to him." She whispered. Elena shook her head going inside the classroom, Stefan walked up to the two girls. Bonnie stepped forward to stand in front of Caroline, "Golden boy, why do you keep staring at us?"
He sighed, "Look Bonnie I am sorry okay- for whatever happened."
Caroline frowned, "You're apologizing."
"Yes because I was wrong, because I thought everything that my family did was fair in a way since my father runs the Mayor's office more than the government does, just having all that control- I forgot it's wrong, seeing you guys so hurt really-"
"So you understand? You understand the oppression we have to face." She asked flatly. He nodded, 'And trust me I've given a piece of my mind to my family about it, I will no longer stand by them, as soon as I graduate I am moving out of town, completely cutting my ties with them." He sad sincerely, "I just want everyone to feel that I am not going to be the one you'll be standing against, I'll be someone who will support you guys."
"I-uh." The blonde stammered on her words, "Stefan look, what we did I know in no way was right. It was screwed up." Bonnie instantly added, "But everyone of us was frustrated with them after they hurt Jeremy."
"Yeah I understand." He smiled, "You guys can hold me hostage again if it'll help."
Caroline broke into a laugh, "Are you- no we wont do that." She bit her lower lip looking at Bonnie who raised a brow at Stefan, "The grill just covered some damages."
"Yeah I saw on the way here." He commented. Their smiles faded a little as Tyler passed them and held Caroline's arm, "What are you doing standing here talking to him?"
She widened her eyes at him as he pulled her to a side, "Seriously Tyler, don't ever pull me like that again." She muttered angrily and moved away, "And stop being a dick all the time."
"Caroline *ring* *ring* he's the bad guy." He said it loud deliberately so Stefan would hear. Bonnie rolled her eyes, "He's on our side Tyler."
"Since when?" he seethed.
"Since I realized what trouble my family is putting everyone through." He came forward, "I mean no harm Tyler , it's the only reason I never opened up my mouth against you guys, I want you guys to know I am a common man of this town, not some ruling family rich kid." He pursed his lips then forwarded his hand towards Tyler, "Let's start over."
Tyler's black eyes moved around their Little circle of friends and seeing Bonnie nod and Caroline give him a reassuring smile- he felt like in the 90's movie moment and shook Stefan's hand.
nighy and day*
"You're going to work here?" Elena asked hopping to sit on top of the counter, Stefan grinned cleaning the milk stained blenders, "Yes"
"How? How are you willing to give up everything for this- this little life." She bit her lower lip actually focusing on her dimunitve existence, he looked up at her, "It's small but at least I don't have red on my hands Elena. I felt that for a microsecond that day, one moment of talking to you, seeing how it must have been to see Jeremy so hurt, it just knocked all blocks inside me and I rebuilded, the new me didn't want to live the way I did, I promised myself If I got out of that fire, I'll change." Silence fell between them and Pearl entering broke the silence as she brought out a check board, "We're closing in twenty dear, just hurry up with these okay?"
He nodded and washed the last of the blenders, he wiped them with a towel and took of his apron , when Pearl went out, Elena jumped down the counter, "Where will you live?"
"I rented this room behind a garage." He wiped his hands and then ran a hand through his hair, "It's amazing there- the window is so cracked I don't even need an alarm in the morning."
She chuckled, "Stefan you don't have to torture yourself."
He shook his head, "I almost died Elena. This was a reality check, besides I need to man up, I needed to get out of that hell anyway."
"Hell?" she raised her brows, "It's a huge lavish hell."
He turned his head to her as they left Pearl's restaurant, "You don't know the type of place that is, the only reason I ever stayed there was Damon."
"Your brother." She stated. He nodded, "He was everything I looked up to, was." He said with a hint of sadness. She couldn't believe that anyone would idealize such a human being who was so tainted, whose evil knew no bounds. Stefan kept going, "He brought me up, I know how everyone's scared of him, you probably hate him."
She didn't say anything, she didn't want to hurt him right now when he had no one.
"But I don't hate him, maybe he's good at playing that part because he never gave me a hint of how dangerous he could be." Stefan chuckled humorlessly, "I mean he's very affectionate with me."
She forced out a smile, "Affectionate." Her mouth scrunched up. Stefan huffed, "I don't want to think about it, lets talk about your brother, he looked a bit down when I saw him at school."
She nodded, "He is still despressed , he wants to get out of town as well but he cant as Mom and Dad don't want him to obviously." She shrugged.
"So you don't want to get out of town." He leaned against the door of his car, she nodded, "I don't want to leave forever, this is my home." She widened her hands and giggled, "I mean I want to go to travel but I feel like I want to come back."
"You'd want to with the Salvatore situation." He gave a fake pout to which she rolled her eyes, "Hey I said it's my home, Salvatore will have to move out."
"We're being way too confident for an eighteen-year-old." He said tauntingly. She stood up straight with a poker face, 'Don't underestimate me, once I want something I get it."
"Is that right princess?" she heard a dark voice that ran chills down her spine, They both turned from their positions to see where the voice came from in the dark parking lot, string steps from the left path that lead to a inclined road , Stefan clutched his fists, "Damon."
Elena could finally see his moon lit face, his silver eyes were boring into her over Stefan's shoulder , she stood on a side indicating how she didn't need someone else to defend her, her features tightened remembering Jeremy's bruises, the cuts on his body, the side of his face had been bleeding, the way he'd wake up in the middle of night screaming for help.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked in a rough voice.
"Come home Stefan, enough of this – I gave you weeks to cool down."
"I don't want to cool down." Stefan frowned, "I am never coming back home okay."
"Stefan listen." He seethed.
"No, you listen Damon, this is my decision, I don't want to see you and father ever, I don't want to hear about you and I am sure as hell that I don't want to be associated with you." He spat, Damon's face fell for a second , almost too disappointed and she didn't know why she felt sorry for a second before she grabbed on to her previous disgust against him. "This is all her doing." His silver eyes now directly focused on her and they were very dark, his face so cold when he looked at her, his eyes filled with so much fire she thought he'd burn her alive just by looking at her, "You and your pathetic family are responsible for his rebellion."
"Oh don't blame it on her." Stefan got ahead, "It's your fault okay, it's your fault I almost died! It's your fault everyone hates me."
"You airhead! This girl and her procession group kidnapped you." He gritted his teeth. Elena couldn't take it anymore she shouted loud enough for him to look away from his brother back to her, "Hey I didn't kidnap him okay! I am not a monster unlike you."
"Look stay out of this, you have hypnotized this moron with I don't know what, but your boring moral speech is going to do nothing here, so get going." He raised his eyebrows at her then turned back to Stefan holding his shoulders, "Look you're not abled enough to be by your own yet okay, we have a lot of people that can harm you." He looked at Elena, "For their selfish use."
"Yes Stefan you already know about my illegal consumption of property business don't you?" Elena said in a taunt.
"Look." Damon closed his eyes in frustration and moved Stefan aside, Elena's heart picked it's pace as he stepped towards her, "I went easy on you because you're a woman, don't mess with me."
She huffed, "Bullshit! Be my guest and do your worst." She folded her arms across her chest, "I am not scared of you."
"because you don't know what I can do." He cocked his head to a side, "I didn't even touch your brother and he shivers for a good fifteen minutes before saying my name." She bit the inside of her cheek, "You'll pay for that."
"Oh I like paying." He blinked, "Keep this in your little head." He spat pushing his index finger against her forehead causing her to move back slightly, "Stay the fuck away from my brother."
"Arghh." She growled launching her fist at him which he simply caught with a raise of his brow, "See?' She shook her head kneeing him in the groin instantly, he left her red fist with a hiss and moved back , Elena fell back slightly, Stefan ran to her and pulled her up shouting at Damon, "What's wrong with you?"
"Look Stefan I am not kidding when I say this, get your ass back home or else this girl wont be seeing the last of me." he moved forward and held her chin between his fingers propping it up to him , Stefan struggled to push his hand away but couldn't, he looked at her right in the eye, "You are fucking with the wrong guy, trust me I don't want you to be all alone in this town , away from your little family, but do not provoke me."
She tried to move herself back from his hold, cringing from his touch , she ripped her body from Stefan's hold and moved back, "Do your worst."
He looked over at her sudden ruffled appearance , her loud tone and turned around to leave, Stefan shouted loudly, "I am not coming back Damon, stop counting on it."
night and day*"
Elena lied in her bed writing in her journal how everything went down today, she hated this man, with every cell of her body she wanted to demolish his rule, destroy him. Why was he so frantic? She shook her head , if he was a monster he shouldn't expect all of them slaves, she could be as much of a monster as he was. The sudden knock from Jeremy's room startled her and she jumped forward thinking how she was a coward in private, she got and went towards the bathroom door unlocking it, There Jeremy stood, eyes bloodshot and teary, he leaned forward and hugged her tightly, Elena could feel how his body was shaking with every sob, his fingers dug into the back of her shirt, Elena could feel how his neck and back were sweaty and his shirt almost stuck to him due to it.
"Jeremy what happened?" Tears filled her own eyes as she parted to see his face, she cupped his sweating face, "what's wrong Jer?"
"I am scared." He choked out the words, "They'll find me again."
She shook her head, "No-no Jer, come on in." she pulled him inside her room and made him sit on her bed, brushing the wet strands of his hair away from his face, "It's okay Jeremy, you don't have to be strong right now."
He nodded breaking into sobs, "I feel like I am going to die."
"No that'll not happen Jer."
"You cant guarantee Elena." he pursed his lips, "I am not safe, I don't feel safe, I feel like death is all around me."
"Jeremy I understand." She nodded, "But it's not death, they're some low lives who took advantage of the fact that you were weak, that doesn't make them strong."
"I am not afraid of the beating Elena , everything was just too, too dark." He closed his eyes, "I just , they had me feeling weird things, whenever I am alone it comes creeping back."
"Jeremy we could get you started on therapy." She held both his hands, "Honey breathe." She patted his back and helped him for the next few minutes to normal his breath, he had stopped crying by now, looking up at her, "Is therapy going to kill the ruling family?"
"No it'll help you with these sudden attacks you have." She sighed, "Look." She cupped his face, "I promised you that I'll drive these people out of here and I stand by it, once we prepare a good case against them-"
"It'll not work Elena." he said hopelessly, "It'll never."
"You're going to be proven wrong." She walked to her laptop on the table , she opened a Welfare page opening up a profile, Jeremy resisted hard to roll his eyes as Elena proudly displayed, "This woman will help us."
"Katherine Peirce." Jeremy read the words on the screen, "Chief executive at HRW." He read then shook his head, "What's that going to do?" he snapped.
Elena huffed, "This woman has filed a lot of cases against them , if anyone who hates them more than I do can be her, I recently emailed her and she is more than eager to help us , her and her team mates will be here next week, we just have to form a plan with them, the documentation of the property isn't done yet , we need some good proof to make a solid case."
"R-right" Jeremy pressed on the words, "Okay so how are you going to get the property, didn't Stefan already leave that house, if you ask him now, he'll think we're using him."
"Stefan will not find about this." She said in clear words, "Look I still don't trust him, he – he's family with those people, he loves his brother, I've felt it."
"So you're saying he might leave us half way." He raised a brow. Elena nodded, "Yes because whatever happened, they are brothers, and if a brother can make me go nuts enough to apply for this, Stefan can rethink morality as well."
She opened the other tab on her laptop and Jeremy's mouth fell open as he saw the internship form she had filled out to work in Salvatore corps."
"I saw them three months ago, school was opening internships in the newspaper office, some media work, pet centers, small businesses, I rechecked and it's there Jer, must be a sign."
"Are you nuts?" he almost shouted, but she gestured him to keep it low, "Are you nuts?"
"It's just a basic to business six months thing." She rolled her eyes closing the lap top, "Relax."
"Relax? Elena this is dangerous, the man and his son, they know you okay! Why will they let you in?"
Elena got up on her feet , putting her laptop back on her desk, "Giuseppe's reputation is suffering due to the family's drama, small businesses in town like easy packaging and transport are refusing him business , let alone the in town sales are less to zero, for his reputation with the recent events as they are now realizing it's not a homely company, he's desperate , we'll extend our hand of friendship , dad wants me to apologize and I will, I will request to serve him showing him how sorry I am for my behavior obviously."
"It's not as simple as it seems." He warned.
"It is. We just have to steer clear Stefan's brother , he's an extreme investigator." She sat back on the bed holding his hands, "Calm down Jeremy and trust me when I say you're safe."
night and day*
The man looked at her through his thick glasses and then down on his desk, he turned his head to Grayson , who had his head down in defeat, no matter how much it bothered Elena she was going to resist the urge, "It's nice to see her back at her senses, after all she knows there has never been an escape."
She didn't reply.
"Elena this town might just be named after us right?" he raised a brow at her and chuckled, "I have controlled all the offices that function this town and not just this town- the towns in links, Roseland, Greenville" he went on and on, "I put piles and piles of money and force to ensure it's me whose order is taken, the little reputation damage is nothing for me, so don't think of this as some-"
She interrupted , "I am not here to surrender, I genuinely felt sorry, this argument took us to damage, whether it's your reputation or the Grill burning down." She pursed her lips, "I shouldn't have been overly sensitive about the situation since the start." It hurt to say the words.
"It's fine , probably a PMS thing." He rolled his eyes and Elena wanted to smack his face so hard. He chuckled darkly then took out a paper from the desk, "Look at what Enzo delivered yesterday, he gave me an exclusive copy of your registry at our internship program." He grinned at her father thinking highly of himself , Elena bit down on her lip to fight her own smile, "A girl interested in how to do business more effectively and efficiently."
Her father glared at her and Elena . even though wasn't looking his way felt his eyes burning through her skull, "Mr. Salvatore she-"
"Well she can." Giuseppe grinned, "All though we rarely pick girls, but credentials are good, she's a straight A kid." Inwardly thinking of many ways to ruin her life for causing him the slightest of inconvenience.
"Thank you Mr. Salvatore I am grateful."
"I'll personally guide you through this Elena." he looked down at the file in front of him, "Now if you people don't mind."
Grayson got up, "Thank you for your time sir."
He nodded without looking at him and Elena and her father went out of the room, she opened her mouth to say something but her father snapped at her, "We'll talk about this in the car Elena." his steps hard and fast and he went ahead of her , Elena bent down to fix the buckle on her heels when she saw a pair of feet standing in front of her, as expected, she looked up to see those silver-blue eyes looking at her, she grinned standing up straight, "Good morning."
"What are you doing here?" his jaw tightened, the smile from her face didn't fade from his scary tone, she flipped the hair away from her shoulder, "You like paying right?"
His brows raised as she passed him to go ahead , confident and bold.
"You're making this fun, but let me tell you it's un-necessary." He said the last word in a sing-song tone. She didn't turn walking straight ahead.
AN
Hey guys I wrapped up Million dollar man and was kinda bored and sick so wrote this ahead? Do you like it love it? Hate it? Let me knowwww
Thankyou to everyone who reviews, Hisdelusionallover, scarlett2112, jennagilbert7, amazingaisha , guest reviewers.
I read Scarlett2112's story 'the day the clowns cried' guys check that out it's truly a masterpiece, and if you want a cute little De story check out April Mariah may's in love with the enemy (sequel) its cute, good and keeps you wanting more.
Help me with ideas for this story and give other story suggestions too , one shot or long ones.!update: i updated this about five times as separation lines between scenes are not forming idk what's the problem sorry tho
Review?