Elena had spent majority of her day, locked in her room, trying to doze off to sleep yet she couldn't manage to get everything out of her head, she knew she needed to be all time present to make sure her help wasn't required, but today, she just couldn't, and this day was getting so long, every minute on the clock was stretched because she felt like she was miserable, she couldn't eat or sleep. She clutched her pillow and dug herself deep into the comforter with a sigh, when did Matt become so important to her? Just like Damon had said last night 'Their relationship hadn't even lasted two weeks.' But the again she knew why she was upset at Matt, because he used to be her friend, she grew up with him just thinking that he would manipulate her this way hurt her deeply, but there was shame that came along with it, how could she let her guard down so easy and trust him that way, she should have never. This was a wake up call. She told herself and sat up in her bed at the sound of her buzzing phone, with a huff she reached for it and turned to sit against her headboard, looking at the screen, 'Caroline'

Elena thanked god it was her 'friend' and not Elijah asking her for something, she picked up her phone, "Hey Care."

"Lena, Do you just die at work or what?" she expressed her disappointment, Elena shook her head at her friend's dramatic tone, "I didn't die, but I might as well do."

She heard a little giggle on the other hand, apparently, Caroline didn't understand her misery right now, "That's a little too much, is Matt not performing well?" she asked clearly trying to annoy her which obviously did the extreme and trigger her, "Matt and I are not together Caroline." She clarified in an almost strict tone, "We broke up, actually, we were never in a relationship, Matt was getting paid from Giuseppe Salvatore to play the boyfriend role."

There was a brief silence on the other hand before Caroline's voice almost blasted her ear, "WHAT? you're kidding right?" she pulled the phone away immediately but she could hear her voice, "How could he? Elena?"

"Well it is what it is, Caroline." She pursed her lips, "He didn't think anything he did was harmful to me- actually, i-I don't want to talk about this Care." She immediately started feeling tired when repeating the whole thing, "I don't think I am going to do this right now, Caroline, I can't talk shit about Matt, my head is hurting."

She just knew Caroline was fighting hard to fight the urge to ask her for details, she would too if anything like this had went down with Tyler but right now was just not the time, the more she thought about it the more she felt hurt. She hung up the phone and put her pillow up against the headboard, sitting against it, her eyes fell on Damon's Gray coat, it was left by her on the foot of her bed and she had totally forgotten to give it back to him, she already had one of his jackets at home and she didn't want a special 'enemy' edition of her wardrobe with the way she was collecting things, she reached for it and clutched it's soft material in her hand, bringing it up to her face. She could perfectly imagine him wearing this, just due to curiosity, she brought it to her nose and smelled it, how could she name this? She knew this fragrance way too well and it was funny because she never remembered fragrances, but it was so mysterious and musky, Setting it aside, she lied down again, now calculating the energy it would take to get up and call room service, however, rolling over with a exhausted moan, she reached for the phone when just that moment her own started vibrating, she rolled her eyes and reached for it, 'Stefan'

She remembered their last conversation which hadn't been smooth and he had rather gotten offended, she picked it up and lied down back on her bed, "Hey Stefan."

"Eleeeeena." He said in an awkward tone, "Caroline just called me, heard about the whole Matt situation."

She palmed her face, it literally hadn't been more than twenty minutes, she wondered who else knew now, "Dad is an ass for doing that to you, Lena, but I did tell you, working with Dad and my brother isn't a good idea."

"I know what I got into, Stef, I do- it's just Matt, I hadn't expected it." she said running her fingers through her hair nervously, she could just picture Stefan rolling his eyes, "really? You didn't have an idea? Elena he trapped Me and you to die in that room."

"I know, Stefan- but that was a different situation." She huffed, Stefan quickly interrupted, "How the hell was it? he is an insufferable asshole, whether he plans it or not he ruins things, imagine us dying in that fire if it weren't for Damon and Enzo- we would have been long dead."

All of a sudden, she felt a 'boom' in her head, Enzo? Damon? "Wait what?"

For s second he didn't speak but then he did in a low voice, "You never knew this? Damon and Enzo saved us that day from the fire, Damon even took you to the hospital."

Oh God, suddenly every memory of her was slowly getting vivid, what was going on? No. no. no. she could hear glass shattering ruining every memory she had of her 'hero' that day. He was no fireman, he was….Damon.

(-TVD-TVD-TVD-)

Damon made sure he confirmed Matt leaving for good before coming to his room, upon arriving, he had shut the door way too hard, it didn't deserve it. He was so mad at something and yet he couldn't actually point it out, he pushed aside his laptop and sat down on his sofa, putting his feet up on the center table, just looking at Matt kicked up his blood pressure, but he knew he was more mad at Elena, for being worried about this douchebag, which shouldn't affect him but he knew it did, Elena's work efficiency was probably being impacted by Matt, what else had Matt found out? But he knew this wasn't a good time to tell her how much of a 'useless' part she had played in everything they planned out. But now everything was so much clear, Giuseppe was using both him and Stefan, for the longest time he had realized that his father was not a 'loving' type but he thought of him as a role model, who knew what to do best in the moment, it was probably because of that woman who ruined him completely, just to the point where he had completely turned off his emotions, how could she leave him and her son that easily? He tried to find explanations to why Giuseppe must have emotionally turned off like that and he realized that he was looking for excuses to forgive his father, but what else could he do? He had always labeled his father's abuse that way. He got rid of dark thoughts that often had him staying up at nights and dwelling on the past by starting to pack, they were going to leave tonight and they had to leave for the airport soon.

Once he got his bag ready, he went down to the lobby for check out, most of the company's people were there and he was hoping he would see Elena with Elijah because that's who she would be with the most but she wasn't. It was getting dark and he had checked out already, while the others were booking their cabs, it seemed pretty awkward for him to be restless and not ask about her, He was also waiting on his cab in the Coffee house when Elijah walked by him to receive his order, he put his hand in his way as if stopping him, with a grin hiding his 'restlessness' he asked, "Is your assistant not going back?"

He actually frowned at Damon's question and looked at his wrist, "I haven't heard from her, maybe she called a cab, who knows." With a shrug he progressed and yet again Damon was left bothered, how could Elijah just be so 'okay' with that and why wasn't he? Was he actually worried about Elena, she was about to get into trouble last night and she wasn't so good this morning, she hadn't even given back his coat, now that he thought of it, had she actually tried something deadly? A suicide attempt? He wouldn't associate her with the word because she had a lot of fight in her but what if? He thought as he sipped his coffee and waited twenty more minutes, it was officially too late, everyone was probably gone by now and he had cancelled his cab twice. What was taking her so damn long? The 'hurting' herself factor popped up in his brain again, and he was so bothered because he really didn't want to care but it was as if he couldn't focus anywhere else. That is what he loathed about women, they are too darn sensitive where they shouldn't be and too much stubborn at times. Could she actually have harmed herself? He thought and the thought slowly took over his body, getting him anxious enough to get on his feet and go upstairs. If he finds her perfectly okay, he will give her a piece of his mind, and if she had indeed did what he was thinking, she was still getting that piece. Now that he got out of the Elevator, he was practically running to her room, his steps loud in the silent corridor, he checked the watch, he missed the flight, so no need to hurry now. But he knew why he was rushing, he was worried and it was making him go insane. As he stood in front of her door, he knocked violently, "ELENA!" he said when he heard no answer, his knocking getting louder, "Open the damn door or I'll break it." he said after a good minute of knocking, just when he saw3 the knob moving, he started to feel the blood rushing back, his heart had stopped there for a moment and God he was angry like he had never been. When she opened the door, her hair were all ruffled up and she was in her PJ's, yawning, "What happened? Why are you screaming?" her voice was raspy and low, he clutched his hands, shaking his head at her, trying his best to contain himself as he bit out the words, "Look at the time."

He showed her his watch, and upon focusing, she gasped, "Oh God." He nodded, "have you been sleeping all this time? You dumb brat. When will you start doing things right?"

She pursed her lips, still very confused, "I didn't realize, I was tired so I slept." She said stepping back so he could come inside and he did, closing the door after him, "There is this thing called 'alarm', you ever tried that? God, you're such a nuisance- and here I thought you slit your throat open for that loser- so guess what now, we missed our flights."

Her jaw fell open to his rambling and she ran her fingers through her hair in confusion, "I- what? why would you think that?"

"I don't know, I cared okay." He let his hands up in surrender, still looking angry, "Now can you please pack so we can leave already."

She frowned at his attitude and walked to her dresser, "Okay, just sit on the couch, give me ten minutes."

"Good." He said in an awkward way as he walked to the white couch and sat down on it, feeling stupid all of a sudden, he knew she wouldn't do it, she wasn't going to give up ever, that's what he was always sure about but how the hell did that little thought got to him? Why did he care if she lived or not? If she cried over Matt or whatever. She was folding her clothes, looking at him from time to time, "Thank you." She murmured loud enough for him to hear it, he looked up from the floor, still pissed obviously, but her soft features just calmed him down, "For what?" he insulted her like a kid because he was so mad at her for making him feel this way, "For every time, that day in the fire, the accident, last night, today-" she huffed sitting down on the foot of her bed, he chewed on his lower lip and sat back, "You found out."

"Yeah- you could have told me." she said in a soft voice, looking over her shoulder at him, "When I told you about those dreams."

He nodded and let out a sigh, for a second enjoying her curious eyes, "I didn't want to ruin it for you…..but clearly you did." he chuckled and got up the couch, "Now you can call it a nightmare." He raised his brows at her as he walked past her to get out, she held his arm and moved to stand in front of him, "Why are you acting this way?" she looked up at him, holding both his arms, "I know you aren't the man you strive to be every day, you aren't a monster, Damon. You are a human being- and whether it hurts to hear, I don't hate you like you want to hate me." she let one of her hands rest against his chest, as she fumbled to find the right words, her eyes looking so deeply into his that it scared him, with her chocolate brown eyes that were slowly melting into his, paving their way to his heart so effortlessly, how could she look at him with so much warmth after the things he said to her? After what he put her through sometimes, he thought, she might just be some alien, some very strong yet so full of love and care creature. He didn't want this appreciation she had for him in this moment, because it was tempting and wrong in a sense. Maybe that's a reaction to trauma, she had gone berserk. Blinking her long-lashed eyes at him as if waiting for an answer, "I am not 'striving', Elena, this is me.". she stayed quiet for a moment before nodding slightly and moving a step back, his heart sank a little seeing her step away like that and removing her hand from his chest, "I am never going to believe that." her voice was above a whisper, "And even if you want to be like this so bad, I feel sad for you." She swallowed thick, "That you think this is going to shield your emotions, your past, what are you running away from?". He couldn't believe she said it so easily, how dare she? Yet she didn't care about it too much as she moved back towards her luggage, trying to arrange it by stuffing things in the bag, he stood their trying to just make sense of what happened.

(-TVD-TVD-TVD-TVD-)

Elena came out of the shower and dressed quickly in her peach mini-dress with a big white fuzzy coat. When she walked out of the bathroom, Damon was pacing back and forth as if anxiously thinking, "Guess what? I tried to book our flights and there isn't one tonight. Not even in the morning because of the weather alert, we can probably get one after 2 pm tomorrow." He said it all in one breath, she huffed standing against the door frame, "But I just got ready."

"Well get un-ready, princess." He said in his old snarky tone and went to sit down on the couch, palming his face, she shook her head at his attitude and walked to the couch, "What do you have to be upset about, I am the one that has to skip school." She said and sat down next to him, "fine, I take my comment back, you are an asshole, happy?"

He moved his hand away from his face and raised a brow at her, "It's your fault I am stuck here." He said although trying to sound less condescending, she faked a pout at his anger and said, "Oh yes, I remember when I told you to check on me and make sure I am safe."

He rolled his eyes looking the other way, "Shut up."

"That's not going to happen" she stretched her arms infuriating him further but he just kept looking away, " he threw his head back on the couch with a tired sigh and ignored her presence by his side, she was looking at him every now and then, and it was getting awkward, well he should be getting a room again, "That was some kind of a day." he said, indicating he was going to leave now, she agreed with him, "It was- th-thank you again." She tried to sound polite and slowly pat the top of his hand which was resting on his thigh once, her eyes back to it's shades of honey and chocolate filled with rings of admiration, or maybe just he felt it was, or maybe it was attraction, he couldn't look away from her this time, he couldn't pretend to be annoyed, "Stop-stop thanking me." he stuttered on his words, something he did when he was extremely nervous, she pursed her lips, not looking away from his eyes, but he just now noticed how close they were sitting to each other, how the fragrance from her was so dense and almost wrapped around him. She was so close that he could examine every feature of her beautiful face, her big doe eyes, her small pointy nose, her clear skin with the beautiful flush and oh her lips- so perfectly full, so inviting. "Okay." Her voice was in breaths as her lips parted at his closeness, he would move slightly further, she'd finally feel his lips on herself, and she didn't know if that was what she wanted, needed or had to get away from. But the second his pointer finger touched her lower lip, she further parted her lips, her breath getting out of control, when the pad of his finger felt the texture of her lower lip, holding his arm, she leaned in slightly, giving his lower lip a quick tug with her own, just to initiate what she wanted so badly right now, he had never felt desire so intensely like this, he wanted her and it was killing him-so he did the only thing that seemed right in the moment by giving in and kissing her back, letting his tongue lick at her open mouth teasingly before moving it inside her mouth slowly, she moaned lowering on the couch and holding his shoulder firmly, wrapping her legs around him slowly, just when she felt his hard member push against her crotch, she knew she wanted this and so much that not having it was going to drive her insane, but right that instant, he pulled back, completely removing himself from her and sitting back in his place as if he made a mistake, she swallowed thick, her cheeks going red with embarrassment as she slowly sat back up, "What's wrong?" she mustered the courage to ask, he shook his head , "Nothing-this can't happen." He snapped, she pursed her lips, trying to get him to look into her eyes but he wouldn't, "Why?" her slightly shaking hand went to caress the side of his face, "Tell me." she said in a whisper, he looked at her now, the urgency in her tone and her eyes was going to kill him definitely, "This can't be right-" she interrupted , "But it is, it is right. Don't lie to me about how you don't want it."

"It's not right, Elena, I am not the damn guy from your dumb fever dream!" he seethed, she moved back from the slightest raise in his voice There was a brief moment of silence before he realized this conversation should be over now and got up. Only to have her to clutch his wrist, pulling him down on the couch again, as she moved on top of him in a second, crashing her lips against his, a moan left her mouth when he kissed her back tilting his head slightly, it was like eating a dessert on diet for her, she couldn't stop herself anymore- she groaned in anger when he held her arms and pulled her away from himself, "Stop it." he was out of breath, her face showed pure agony and frustration at this rejection, still staring into his eyes but with a fire in her own "I don't care if it's you, Damon, It's not about that day." she clutched her hands and climbed down from him, her eyes had angry tears as she stood up "I've been trying to fight it and I can't anymore, as absurd as it is to you-I don't hate you, in fact, I am starting to like you, why don't you make fun of that?" she stepped to a side, Looking down at him, , "I shouldn't be because I have so many reasons, but I do like you is because I know there's more to you then what you show and no matter how hard you push that person down, he resurfaces and makes me helpless, I don't trust myself when I am with you anymore" she took a deep breath and pointed to the door, "Leave me alone." He bit his lip looking at her angry stance, the red in her eyes, her chest heaving with each breath she took, looking at her almost apologetically he stood up, she gritted her teeth at his sorry face, still pointing to the door, "Go!" He could see how his refusal was making her go insane and for the first time he didn't enjoy her misery, but come to think of it, when did he? He didn't like seeing her upset, or angry or crying, God, he needed to stop- "Elena." Maybe after the longest time he had said her name in a gentle voice, "I don't want to hurt you." He wanted to be completely honest with her, right in this moment he didn't feel like his usual self, she pursed her lips as he cupped her face looking into her eyes, she shook her head, "But you are right now. There is no catch, Damon, I would be insane just forming my decision on that fire incident, but my feelings are more-"her explanations sounded terrible to him and he interrupted rudely, "What do you even know about feelings, you were with Matt yesterday!"

She was taken aback by his loud voice but swallowed thick, clearly he didn't want an answer, but she had one, "I was trying to replace what I felt. Because it was easy. You know I didn't want him." Her voice was defensive, "Why are you trying to stop this?" her eyes wide and glassy as she asked the question.

.

.

.

A/N :And the plot is cooking now. please leave a REVIEW.