Damon

Damon stood at the helm of his ship, gazing out across the water in front of him. There was a light breeze and the Pearl was streaming forwards at a good pace. He placed a hand on the strong, wooden wheel and breathed in the ocean air. Happiness wasn't an emotion Damon ever really felt, but standing here at the wheel of the Black Pearl gave him a contentment that he thought got pretty close. He knew every creak, every groan of this ship.

At that moment, he heard the cabin door swing open from beneath. He watched as Elena came out of the room, onto the deck. He saw her exchange a few words with Billy and Gibbs, and a light smile played across her face. He knew he was too far away to be able to see it, but he felt like he could see her eyes sparkle when she smiled. Almost as if she sensed she was being watched, she looked up at him, their eyes meeting as her smile slowly faded. A look passed over her face, an emotion he couldn't identify, and then almost immediately she looked away, breaking the connection. She entered the cabin again, shutting the door firmly behind her. She hadn't slammed it, but nonetheless the noise was enough to shake Damon out of his reverie. It had been three days since he had opened up to her about his family, and they hadn't spoken a word since then. Had it been too much? He was painfully aware that the story was one of sorrow and grief, why had he unloaded that onto her? And not only that, he had also let slip his plans of revenge on Hook, why? He slammed his hand against the wheel, irritated at himself, and was grateful for the stab of pain that shot throw him on contact. There were very few people who knew that story, and even fewer that knew of his plans against Hook, so what on earth had possessed him to open up to this girl he barely knew? This was not a mistake Damon Salvatore made. He kept his cards very close to his chest, and for good reason too, with his family history of betrayal. Could she be trusted with his secrets? He had been asking himself this question on a loop for the past few days. What reason would she have though, to betray him and tell Hook? None that he could think of. Additionally, how would she even go about telling Hook, it's not like she was the kind of girl who had connections in the pirate circles. No, he told himself, it should be fine. She had definitely been acting strange, but he didn't think he had any reasons to worry. The plan hadn't changed. In a couple of weeks, they would receive her ransom, drop her back to Mystic Falls, and he could put this whole episode behind him.

The problem with Elena Gilbert was she was like night and day. If she smiled at you, with that sparkle in her eyes, your heart just felt automatically lighter. Her laugh was contagious, and she emitted an aura of security, you couldn't help feeling comfortable around her. And that was how he had landed himself in this problem, he hadn't been able to resist opening up to her. On the other hand though, if she was angry, god help you. He had felt her hatred and rage the first few days she had been on the Pearl, and it was pervasive. It seemed like the whole crew had been down too, a feeling of gloominess had spread across the ship. And then after the messiness with Grip, and she had become more comfortable and relaxed slightly, the crew's mood had instantly been lifted. When she had mingled with them, playing Liar's Dice, even the dancing, the change on board the ship had been tangible. Now he feared that it'd go back to the way it had been initially, and for some reason that he couldn't exactly pinpoint, it worried him. He felt the strong urge to fix it, to be the one to bring back the sparkle in her eyes.

His body seemed to make the decision before his mind did, and he felt himself walking away from the wheel, and descending the stairs, down to the deck.

"Billy, can you take the wheel for a bit?" He called over, as he walked up to the cabin door, steeling himself.

"Aye, Captain." Billy said, as he passed him, clapping him on the shoulder supportively. Sometimes he felt Billy knew him better than he knew himself.

He gave a quick glance around to check that no one was watching, and then knocked lightly on the door. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he didn't wait for a response, instead slipping inside the room and closing the door behind him.

"Damon!" Elena exclaimed in surprise, whirling around. He saw something silvery slip from her hand, hitting the ground with a soft clink in front of him. She seemed to freeze, looking down at the ground and then back at him, her eyes wide.

"Allow me." He bent down, reaching for what appeared to be a silver locket. It had opened up in the fall, and was lying face down so he couldn't see the pictures inside. As he crouched down, he caught a glimpse of the engraving on the back: MG & JG. He put a hand out to pick it up, but before he could it was pulled backwards, away from him. Surprised, he looked up to Elena was also knelt down in front of him, grasping the locket tightly. She snapped it shut, took a breath, and then looked up at him. He raised an eyebrow at her, inquiringly.

"Sorry….it's sentimental. It belonged to my mother." She offered in explanation.

Now that she was so close to him, mere millimeters in front of him, he could see the emotion in her eyes that he hadn't been able to identify earlier. Guilt? At that moment, it seemed to occur to her how close they were, and she scooted backwards, standing up again. Following her cue, he got to his feet too.

"What are you doing here?" She snapped, and he was taken aback at her sudden shift in tone. Night and day, indeed.

"Sorry, I – uh – I." He stumbled, not even sure what he was apologizing for. How did she have this innate ability to knock him of his feet? He, Damon Salvatore, who was normally always so confident and well spoken.

Seemingly getting impatient with him, she turned back around to face the mirror again, to put the locket on.

He felt his blood boil. Who did she think she was, that she could have this effect on him. He was Damon Salvatore. Why did she not fear him?

"What is your problem?" He snapped back at her, his initial plan to make amends completely forgotten.

"My problem? I'm sorry, did I ask to be here? Am I not behaving like a good little kidnapped girl should do? I do so apologize for that, Captain." She replied bitingly, meeting his gaze defiantly through the mirror as she still had her back to him.

He gritted his teeth. She was just so agonizing. He took a breath, while she attempted to put her necklace back on. She gripped the hook and the clasp in each hand, and made a few futile attempts to wear the necklace.

"I am sorry that you're in this situation. Believe me, this isn't something I asked for either. But we have welcomed you on this ship, and we've tried to make you as comfortable as we can. I'm sorry I unloaded my shit on you that night, and if I could take it back, I wouldn't hesitate. But it's done now, we can't go back. So I'll just stay away from you for the rest of your time here, I won't make this mistake again. Just whatever it is you're going through, don't take it out on my crew. They actually like you for some reason, god knows why. But don't worry, you won't have to put up with my any more."

"Fine." She shot back, the slightest tremor in her voice. Her hand shook, and she missed the clasp for the locket yet again.

"Fine."

He turned to leave, but something made him turn back once more. She tried once more to close the clasp, and then frustrated, threw the locket onto the bed and buried her face in her hands. With one hand on the door, he urged himself to leave, reminded himself it wasn't his problem, but once again, his body was making decisions before his mind. He strode over to the bed and grabbed the locket.

"Hair." He ordered, standing behind her. She met his gaze in the mirror, her eyes widened slightly with surprised. Nodding mutely, she lifted her brunette locks up, moving it over one shoulder. He placed the locket around her, his fingers grazing the back of her neck as he closed the clasp in one fluid motion. Looking into the mirror, she placed one hand on the silver locket, tugging it slightly to confirm it was indeed tight. One lone tear slipped down her face, and without realizing what he was doing, he brushed it away with his thumb, dropping his hand immediately after. They stood like that for a few minutes in front of the mirror, neither of them moving. He was standing right behind her, so close he could feel her breathing deeply. He was on the verge of leaving, when she turned so she was facing him. He told himself to move backwards, to give her space, but his body wasn't obeying. She looked up at him, her eyes still holding unshed tears. He could feel her breath on his face and he fought the urge to move closer. Then she took his left hand in hers, her skin impossibly soft.

"I'm glad you told me. About your parents." She whispered, her voice so low he had to lean in slightly to hear.

His heart thudded, and it was like her voice had broken the spell. His mind fought back and regained control form his body, and he dropped her hand, moving backwards. Whirling around, he strode briskly from the room, slamming the door behind him. He felt some members of the crew look at him in confusion, as they heard the door slam, but ignoring them he marched down the stairs to the lower deck, and jumped into his hammock. He took off his hat and threw it to the side, running his hands through his hair. His mind was reeling, screaming at him. Danger.

Elena

The next few days passed painfully slowly. True to his word, Damon stayed away from her. Or did she stay away from him? She couldn't even tell anymore, she just knew they hadn't spoken since the locket incident in the cabin. They hadn't even been in a room together since then. During the day, she conversed with the crew, helping them out with various ship errands where she could. Damon spent his time in one of two places, either at the helm, steering the ship, or down below in his hammock. The crew seemed to sense something was amiss, but nobody was going to question their Captain so they acted like everything was normal. In the evenings, if Elena hung out with the crew, then Damon wasn't present and vice versa.

She just felt so confused. She wasn't sure what had passed between them in the cabin that day, but she still couldn't get his story out of her mind. His rage and fury towards her father, his desire for revenge. And she just couldn't shake the guilt that she was doing something wrong by not telling him about her relationship with Hook. She was currently lying on the bed, idly playing with her locket. She flicked it open, brushing a finger over the faded pictures inside. The one on the left was of her mother and she felt an ache when she looked at it. She missed her terribly. The right hand side picture though was the reason she'd had to snatch the locket from Damon. It was a family picture, of her, her mother and her father. She was extremely young, barely four years old. Back before she knew anything about her father's role, or what he did. Back when he was still her hero. It was an extremely old, dated picture, over fifteen years old. Yet she had no doubt if Damon were to ever see it, he'd recognize Hook in an instant. And so he never could. She didn't even know why she still wore this locket, she hated her father. But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to throw this picture away. It was a reminder from when they were a family. When he was John Gilbert, instead of Captain Hook. She snapped the locket shut, shaking away the memories.

All of a sudden, she heard raised voices from outside her cabin door, along with the sounds of running footsteps. Confused, she ventured out onto the deck. Various members of the crew were running back and forth across the deck, and she felt a sense of urgency.

"Ship, ship ahead! Cannons raised!"

She heard footsteps thundering up from the lower deck, and she knew who it was without turning.

"Telescope." Damon ordered, coming up on to the deck. He went to the side of the ship, as someone handed him a telescope and other crewmembers started pointing out the ship. Elena followed, gazing out across the seas until she spotted what had the crew in such a panic. A ship in the distance, headed straight towards them. She couldn't make out the flags, but she could tell it was travelling at a high speed.

"British?" Damon asked, raising the telescope to his eye. "Merchants?"

Billy shook his head gravely. "Pirates."

"Pirates?" Damon raised an eyebrow, incredulously. "This is our territory, everyone knows that."

"Evidently not."

"And I don't suppose this is a friendly drop-in, some old pals saying hi?" Damon asked, in a tone that indicated he didn't believe what he was saying.

"They have canons armed and raised." Another member of the crew spoke up.

"Fuck." Damon said. He took a second, and then immediately switched to a business tone.

"Alright, let's get locked and loaded." He started walking up and down the deck, barking out instructions. The crew immediately jumped into action, making preparations.

Understanding there was something serious going on, Elena tried to stay out the way, allowing the crewmembers to do their work. The enemy pirate ship made steady progress, until even without a telescope, Elena could make out the cannons headed towards them. Eventually Damon seemed to remember her presence, and strode briskly towards her, grabbing her by the arm.

"How can I help?" Elena asked, as he marched her over to the cabin.

"You can't." He replied bluntly, swinging the door open. "Just stay inside, and do not come out, for any reason. Try and barricade the door with something heavy, the desk if you can manage it." He pushed her into the room, and turned to leave but she grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

"No! I can help, let me help! Give me a weapon or something." She protested.

"Elena!" He said it forcefully enough that she stopped, meeting his eyes. "Elena, that ship is going to attack us, my full attention needs to be out there, on the battle. I need to look out for the Pearl, and for my crew. I can't be distracted by anything, I.. I can't be worrying about you." He paused, and she saw a glimpse of vulnerability in his eyes for the first time. "Elena, please, stay inside." He said it firmly, but gently, and she nodded mutely, letting go of him. He pressed something some items into her hands and then turned and left, closing the door behind him.

She looked to see what he had given her. The first was the key, and so she immediately locked the cabin door. For a second she thought about how a couple of weeks ago, she would have given anything to get this key. How circumstances change. She turned over the second item in her hands – a silver dagger. Her heart rate increased, and she slid down with her back against the door, until she was sitting on the ground. Taking a deep breath, she tried to keep the panic down. Damon and the crew would be fine, she told herself. They probably faced this kind of thing all the time, they would know how to handle it. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there when suddenly there was a thundering noise and the entire ship shook. She was thrown across the room, and she felt the ship tilt dangerously. Cannon ball?

"Oh my god, oh my god." She whispered to herself, scrambling back up to her feet. She placed her eye against the small hole in the door she had found earlier, when she was a captive in this same room. The sight made her heart stop with fear. Everywhere she could see, there were swords clashing and men shouting. How had they boarded the Pearl so quickly? She tried to look for Damon but she couldn't see him. She watched as the multiple battles continued across the deck, she saw glimpses of Gibbs and Billy, whirling around with their swords, deftly. It would have looked magical if it hadn't been so scary. At first it looked like the Pearl's crew had the upper hand, but almost immediately the tide began shifting, and she saw more of the crewmembers being thrown to the ground as the enemy looked to be stronger. She looked around desperately, for anything she could use to help, but all she had was this little silver dagger. There was no way she could take on a whole crew of pirates with it. Frustrated, she continued to watch to see how it would play out.

At last she saw Damon, he was engaged in a sword fight with what she assumed was the captain of the other ship. He seemed to be holding his ground, but she had no idea how long that would last. The other man thrust forward with his sword, and Damon narrowly side stepped it, causing Elena's heart to lurch in her throat.

"Enough!" The other man finally yelled, causing Damon to pause. "Look around, man. You're beat." He used his sword to gesture around the deck, where most of the Pearl's crew had been thrown to the ground. "Surrender."

"Never." Damon snarled back. "Do you know who I am?"

The man chuckled condescendingly. "Yes, yes. The famous Captain Damon Salvatore. I know who you are."

"Then what are you doing?" Elena heard Billy's voice. She craned her neck and was just able to catch sight of him. He was pressed up against the side of the ship, with a member of the enemy crew's sword pressed against his neck. "Damon is the Pirate Prince. You're trespassing on his territory, Captain Hook won't stand for this."

The man laughed again, gratingly. "You mean if I, Captain Digby, take down the Damon Salvatore, you don't think Hook will be a tiny bit impressed?"

"Damon is like a son to Hook." Billy shot back. "He'll kill you."

"Hook doesn't even know what the concept of family means. He has no loyalty to anything but power. He'll be more than happy to give me Salvatore's territory."

Digby turned back to Damon. "There's two ways this can go. I can either kill you and your whole crew, and take control of your ship that way. Or you can surrender, I'll take you all as prisoners, and take control of your ship that way. Up to you. I get the ship either way." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Elena saw the rage on Damon's face, but she also saw the uncertainty in his eyes. He would hate to surrender, it would go against every fiber of his being, but she knew he also couldn't risk his crew's lives. She saw him look around the deck, at Billy, at the rest of his crew, and finally his gaze briefly flicked over towards where she was hiding behind the door. And then he seemed to make his decision, nodding almost imperceptibly. The remaining crew that were still on their feet, dropped their weapons, and Digby smiled with satisfaction.

"On your knees."

Damon dropped his sword, and slid down to his knees, facing the cabin directly. Digby strode over, placing the tip of his sword at Damon's neck. He had his back to her, and she knew if she was going to act, now would be her only chance. As quietly as possible, she slipped the key into the door and unlocked it. Steeling herself, she gripped the dagger firmly and opened the door to slip out. Everyone's eyes were on Digby and Damon, so she walked over to them as quickly as possible, before anyone had the chance to alert him. She pressed the dagger into Digby's back, making sure her hand wasn't shaking.

"Drop the sword. Or I'll stick this in all the way." She spoke quietly, but firmly.

She felt Digby stiffen in surprise, and he immediately held his arms up.

"Well, well, well. What have we here. Got girls to do your job for you now, eh Salvatore?"

Digby was between Elena and Damon now so she couldn't see his reaction. She swallowed tightly.

"Drop the sword." She repeated, pressing the dagger in a bit further.

"Ok ok." Digby said, and the sword fell to the ground with a clatter.

She kicked it over in Damon's direction, and she heard him immediately jump to his feet, grabbing the sword. She let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, but before she could move, Digby whirled around, grabbing her wrist tightly and squeezing it. She yelped with pain, and dropped the dagger. In the blink of an eye, Digby swept it up and had it pressed against her throat. He turned so that she was in between him and Damon, who was now holding up the sword, a furious expression on his face.

"Nice try honey." Digby whispered in her ear, his breath hot, and she squirmed to get out of his grasp, to no avail.

"Let her go." Damon hissed. "She has nothing to do with this." His eyes flashed dangerously.

"I would have agreed with you Salvatore, up until she tried to stick a knife in my back. Now I think she'll have to die."

Digby adjusted his grip so he could get a better look at her. As she made eye contact with him, a strange look passed across his face. She felt his grip on the dagger slacken, as he was momentarily distracted. Taking the opportunity, she elbowed him in the gut as hard as she could. He lurched backwards and she spun away from him, towards Damon. He rushed past her, using his sword to press Digby up against the cabin wall.

"Tell your men to drop their weapons." Damon growled, his sword drawing blood from Digby's neck.

After that, it was wrapped up in the space of a few minutes. The Pearl's crew regained their footing, picked up their weapons, and got to work rounding up the other crew. Soon they were all restrained, Digby included, and Billy led them down to the lowest level deck, where the cells were. Once the prisoners were locked up, Damon and the rest of the crew got to cleaning up the deck, and assessing the damage taken. Elena hid out in her cabin room, recovering from the rollercoaster of emotions she had just been through. As night fell, eventually she accumulated the courage to step back out. The crew had gone down to their hammocks early, exhausted from the day's events. Now only Damon remained, leaning against the side of the ship, facing out to the ocean. He had his head in his hands, his elbows resting on the ship. She took a deep breath and walked over to him, standing to his side.

"What a day – huh?" She said, trying to be lighthearted.

He lifted his head, turning to look at her, and to her shock, she saw fury flashing in his eyes.

"What the hell, Elena? I told you to stay inside that cabin!"

His voice was low, but she could feel the anger behind his words. She frowned, taken aback. She had expected a range of emotions from him, but rage hadn't been one of them.

"I know, and I'm sorry for that. But the circumstances changed! He had you beat, you were surrendering!"

"You're sorry." He laughed, humorlessly. "You could have died. He had a knife against your throat." He breathed out, struggling to stay calm.

"But I didn't." She said, trying to relax him.

"Right, because for some reason he messed up. And if he hadn't? You got goddamn lucky, Elena."

He clenched his fists and started pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair.

"Damon, I fully intended on staying inside that room. But you surrendered! It was all over anyway, what else was there to lose?"

"Your life! Why do you think I surrendered Elena? You think that's something I wanted to do? It was either that, or watch them kill my crew, kill Billy, kill you…" He trailed off, angrily. "But then you almost let them do that anyway."

"I was trying to save you!"

"Save me? Jesus, Elena. You think you're some hotshot, after spending a few weeks on a pirate ship? You think you've suddenly acquired these insane fighting skills, that you can just dive into a battle and go toe to toe with real pirates? You think I, Damon Salvatore, needed to be saved by you? Some village girl? How did I ever survive at sea without you, Elena? How will I ever go on without you? I'll need you by my side, to be able to jump in with your little knife at a moment's notice." He spat out the words sarcastically, bitingly.

Elena gasped at the rudeness. His words were like barbs, why was he being so cruel?

"You know that's not how I meant it. I don't understand, what do you want from me? So you're angry that I put my life in danger, but I was supposed to just sit and watch him kill you?"

"He wouldn't have killed me. I'm actually trained at this, this is my job. I can handle twenty Digbys a week, in fact I have. That's how I got where I am today. You, on the other hand, do not know what you're doing. You had a foolish lapse in judgement, and I want you to recognize that, and swear to me you'll never do anything like that again."

Elena breathed out, feeling her own anger levels rising now.

"No."

Even though he was standing a few meters away, she could feel him gritting his teeth. "No?"

"No. It wasn't a lapse in judgement. If I was in the same situation, I'd do it again. I was trying to help and I'd do the same thing again in a heartbeat."

"For god's sake, Elena! You could have died! He was going to kill you!" Damon yelled, no longer concerned about keeping his volume low. His eyes were still flashing with anger and he had his fists clenched.

"Why are you so angry? Why do you even care if I live or die?" She shouted back, frustrated beyond belief.

"Why do you think? Because I - "

He strode over so quickly that before she could even blink, he was in front of her. He put his hand behind her neck, pulling her closer until their lips were millimeters apart. He was breathing hard, and she felt his breath fan her face. The anger was gone from his eyes in a second, replaced with something else she couldn't identify. Against her will, she felt her back arching towards him by its own volition.

It was over as quickly as it had happened. He dropped his hand. "Forget it." He muttered under his breath but he was still close enough that she could hear it.

"Damon – wait, I - " She started, not really knowing what she was going to say but he was already walking away, disappearing into the darkness below deck.

She turned back to face the water, her heart thudding so loudly in her chest she was sure everyone could hear it. What had even just happened? What was he about to say? She barely had a second to process anything, before she felt a presence behind her.

"Damon, listen…" She whirled around, but to her horror, it was not Damon's warm eyes she found herself looking into.

"Hello again." Digby snarled, and she saw the glint of the knife he had pressed against her neck. He pressed a hand against her mouth, before she even had a chance to think to scream. "Elena Gilbert, this is the last place I thought I'd run into you."

He saw her eyes widen in confusion, and he smiled menacingly.

"You think I wouldn't recognize Hook's daughter?"

Elena felt her heart drop, and her palms moistened with sweat. He still had his hand covering her mouth, but even if he hadn't, she wouldn't have made a sound. She was speechless.

He chuckled, and started pushing her towards one of the small wooden boats tied to the side of the ship.

"Lots to catch up on, but for now, let's get you back to your father, eh? I'm sure he's worried sick, and I'm sure he'd be most interested to know his second in command kidnapped his own daughter, hm?"

Elena let him push her along, as her mind reeled with all this new information. She felt the horror sink in, this was not good.

Sorry for delay in updating, I had exams! But I intend to update more frequently now, so hopefully there are still some of you reading this, let me know by leaving some reviews, thank youu!