Outlook on Life

Chapter 14:

Giuseppe

"Boss?" Giuseppe looked up from his computer to see Kol sticking his head through the door. A frown made it's was onto his face as he took in the usually confident PR lawyers wary behaviour; he was the best of the best and always knew what it was that he was doing.

Giuseppe raised an eyebrow, his critical eyes never leaving Kol as the man sat down in the chair across from his desk with a computer clutched in his hands. "A journalist spotted Elena somewhere and he started filming but he felt bad when he saw what was happening...so he wants to sell it to us instead of releasing it"

"What was happening?" he frowned when Kol said nothing more to explain than place the computer in front of him, hitting play on the video.

'Holy shit! It's the woman!' the male voice of the person filming sounded as the video started and he zoomed in on Elena as a man stepped out in front of her from behind a car in the dark alley. 'Uh-oh' the camera guy ran closer to get a better angle.

The film was shaky and it was dark but the lights from the street were enough to clearly make out that, it was, in fact Elena.

As the camera guy got closer more of the words could be heard in the video. 'what do you want?' Elena sighed not at all sounding happy about seeing this man. The man walked closer to her saying 'You can't walk away from me Elena'.

Giuseppe's jaw clenched and he had a small inclining that this was Tyler, the abusive man she had told him about not to long ago. The one responsible for her recent hospital visits

The guy continued to advance on her saying something the video didn't quite pick up on but it was clear as day when he yelled 'You belong to me Elena!'. Elena's face changed from blank to angry as she hissed back 'I don't belong to you...you need to leave me alone Tyler and I mean it'

Giuseppe hissed when she confirmed it was Tyler the abusive roommate that had taken advantage of her and hurt her. He knew she wasn't afraid of that man and that she could stand up to him but Giuseppe couldn't help but wince when Tyler put his hands on her again.

'I thought you just needed time...' Giuseppe stopped paying attention to the words that Tyler was saying and focused his attention on how tightly this guy was holding onto her arms as she ripped away from him and punched him in the face.

His fists clenched angrily when this Tyler guy had her pinned by the throat against the wall trying to make her kiss him. He almost growled when the guy pressed himself against her but was relieved when she beat the crap out of the the scum-bag and left.

"DO IT!" Giuseppe roared at Kol who scrambled up to go and purchase the video. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at Kol but after watching that video could anyone blame him?

"Elena?" he spoke into the phone as soon as she answered

"Hey Giuseppe" she chirped happily and instantly his rage lessened and a smile crept across his face at hearing the voice of the girl he considered a daughter already. "What's up?"

he sighed sadly knowing he would have to tell her about the video and he really didn't think she'd be too happy about it. "There was a video..." he explained to her everything and assured her that it was gone and wouldn't be making it out to the public.

"Holy shit!" was the first thing she said and he almost smiled at that reaction, she really was a unique woman. "Thanks for buying it Giuseppe, I'm not gonna apologise for hitting him or anything but it wasn't really something either of wants out there" she chuckled a little and he smiled shaking his head.

"you're perfectly welcome Elena" he smiled warmly even though she couldn't see it before turning serious again "I want you to know that if you ever have a problem...I know you can handle them on your own" he added honestly "But I'd be all too happy to help you out, sometimes it's easier with help than it would be on your own"

"I know" she replied and he could hear the smile in her voice "I didn't even know we were being filmed...I'll call you if I need help with anything but that situation wasn't really the one where you can call anyone" she pointed out "in the future if there is anything I need help with, you'll be my first call" she assured and he could hear the honesty in her voice that she wasn't just saying it, but meaning it too.

"Alright, talk later Elena"

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Damon

Damon was a little annoyed at how much Elena seemed to trust and like his father. Giuseppe knew more about the woman then he did. Sure he knew that it was just a friendship between the two but he couldn't help but be a little jealous when he was getting updates on her life through his father; a man who all his life had been cold and distant concerning anything non-school or work related.

He supposed that if anyone was going to bring out the humanity in his father again, it would be Elena, she was different than any one else he had met before. Truly one hell of a woman. Only it was slightly bothering him that she didn't let him in the way she did Giuseppe. In the end he knew once he saw that smile of her's all his annoyance would fall away, in the mean time though he was happily sulking.

Damon answered his phone without looking at the caller ID and pressed it to his ear "Hello?" a familiar chuckle sounded through the phone making him sit up straighter "Elena" he smiled happy to hear from her.

"Hey Damon" she greeted "I was just calling cause I got bored" she added quickly almost sounding worried that she may have interrupted his working.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" he asked realising that Elena was never bored with the amount of time she spent working and never relaxing.

he heard a small chuckle on the other end before she announced "I quit" and his eyebrows raised in surprise. He hadn't been expecting her to say that, knowing she was a firm believer in the 'you gotta do what you gotta do' saying. He knew she hated her other job but she wasn't the type to quit.

"Wow okay" he replied and she decided to go into small amount of an explanation that her boss was annoying her and making everyone's lives harder and she got sick of it. Apparently she broke the guys nose before she quit. Damon couldn't help but laugh at that; it was such an Elena thing to do and he was sure that whatever this guy had been doing warranted a broken nose if it drove her to quit her job.

"Anyway" she sighed "Now I'm bored and don't know what to do!" he could hear movements in the background and sounded like she was laying down in bed. The mere thought had him zoning out on her like a virgin.

"Oh My God!" she exclaimed bringing him out of his dirty thoughts. Damon sighed realising she was probably annoyed that he hadn't been listening or responding to her. "I know what I'm going to do!" she announced happily obviously either not knowing or caring about him zoning out.

"And what's that?" he asked with a small smile at her excitement.

"That's for me to know and you to: dot, dot, dot" she retorted only making him grin wider "I have got to go sign up and maybe one day if everything goes well I'll show you what it is I'm going to be spending my free time doing" she laughed sounding happier than he'd heard her in a while "OOH maybe I can use my old status and skip the beginners parts...I could go straight into earning money from it too!"

He knew she was talking more to herself than him but he liked just hearing the pure joy in her voice as she talked cryptically about what she was planning on going to do. Damon chuckled as he heard her moving around and mumbling some sort of goodbye before hanging up on him.

Elena was practically bouncing as she moved around the bar serving and mixing drinks. The excitement was rolling off of her in waves and it only served to make him more curious about what this hobby/job she was picking up again was. "Come on Elena" he whined "You can tell me...I can keep secrets" he pleaded; the curiosity was killing him.

"No Damon" she sighed and rolled her eyes attempting to look annoyed but failing because nothing seemed to be putting her in a bad mood today. She was so happy she hadn't even snapped at one of the drunks slurring crude comments at her all night. Elena grabbed his arm for the millionth time in the past 10 minutes to check the time.

There was still 10 minutes until some other bartender was getting here to cover the rest of her shift so she could go do whatever activity she was taking up. When she spotted some guy walk in she waved him over and Damon watched as she grabbed her stuff from under the bar and ran out the door.

"She looked happy" the new bartender mused and Damon snorted at the understatement. She was bubbling with excitement and smiling like an idiot all night.

Downing another drink Damon decided to head off to the office since there really was no point in hanging out at the bar if Elena wasn't there tonight. Plus he needed a distraction from the curiosity that was slowly killing him.

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Elena

That fight with Tyler had reminded her how much she liked the challenge of a physical fight and then her hitting Seth had reminded her more about the fact that she was strong and trained to take down men bigger than her. Sure she was small and petite but she was no push over. Her body was muscle and hidden strength that helped her survive for all those years.

As she stood in line she remembered back to when she'd first learned actual fighting techniques in juvie. Before that she had known how to defend herself but only from necessity not training or skill. In juvie it she had met a woman named Rose who before she was arrested had been training in underground fighting rings for money. Rose had skill instead of just force.

When they both got out they ran together living on the street for a while before they got had taken her to fights where she'd been so good that she wen't legal with the money she earned.

Elena was glad when the gym she'd gone to today had assessed her and allowed her to enter the competitions without starting back from the beginning; younger fighters wouldn't have stood a chance. If it were all about money she would have underplayed her skills but she'd wanted the challenge that an experienced boxer provided.

"Gilbert" the coach she'd been assigned too smiled at her, he had too been shocked by her strength and pure skill when she came in for assessment this morning after talking to Damon. "You need an easy win to start if you want to get recognised" she nodded having figured he'd want to underplay her skill for the first fight. "You're on in 10"

"Great" she grinned holding out her already bandaged hands for him to wrap and fasten the boxing gloves too.

She warmed up while she waited for the fight on before her's to end. The winner was a tall blonde woman who looked like she was pure muscle. Elena smiled as she watched the two women fight, admiring and studying their moves. The reason she was such a good fighter was because she never moved the same way in any fight which meant her opposition couldn't study or predict her moves.

"NEXT UP WE HAVE GILBERT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, VERSING BECKA" the announcer yelled into the speakers that drown out all the cheering of the crowd. Becka was the blonde woman she had just watched knock out some chick in the ring.

"You can do this, Gilbert" her coach encouraged but Elena could see his doubt which only served to make her more determined. Another thing that made her such a great fighter was that it took a lot now to get her onto the mat. That was to be expected after years of abuse though.

"I know" she smirked at him and ran out to join the waiting blonde in the octagon.

The fight was brutal and neither had managed to take the other down yet. Elena had gotten close a few times but Becka was good at wriggling out of her grasp, something Elena knew she would have to train more to fix.

She sat on the stool in her corner of the ring as her new coach sprayed her with water. He was saying something that she couldn't quite hear as she focused all her attention on analysing Becka's movements in her head. Every punch she threw, every kick Becka made was an opening for Elena and it was clear to anyone that Becka's energy was draining in this fight.

The woman was counting on pure strength to win, she lacked the ability to think ahead and her technique wasn't perfect but she had the force behind a punch that made technique irrelevant. Becka reacted on pure instinct whereas Elena knew that boxing was to be played like a game of chess. Always thinking one step ahead and predicting your opponents moves in advance; the difference is. you can't get hurt in chess. You can throw or block as many blows as physically possible, but each is harder to deliver than the last as the match goes on.

"Shut up!" Elena grunt coming back out of her thoughts to hear that Tripp Cooke, the assigned coach, was still trying to give encouraging words; but it's not what she needs right now...she needs a plan. Tripp shuts up immediately looking a little surprised at her outburst.

Leaning forward Elena spits the coppery taste of blood onto the floor and sprays herself with more water as she turns to him. "How long have you been a coach?" Elena couldn't help but wonder, this guy seemed like a newbie who wasn't sure what he should be doing in this situation.

Tripp looked a little sheepish only confirming her suspicions "Your my first fighter. I trained in physical health...not boxing but I am qualified" he added knowing it meant very little to her though. Elena just nodded with a sigh knowing this meant he wasn't going to be a strategic help.

"This is my first fight in 5 years" She admitted with a sigh and Tripp looked surprised by that information "I'm rusty and that's why she's not on the mat already...i'm gonna need to practice my techniques again. I'm running purely on muscle memory here"

"Shit" Tripp said in a near whisper that made Elena chuckle a little "Well your doing damn fine for someone who hasn't been in the ring for 5 years" He announced but before she could say anything the buzzer went off for the next round.

They tested each other again, blocking blows and trying to land a jab, it had been going on for over 40 minutes now and the crowd were on the edge of their seats. Becka was a champion for the past three years and hadn't been taken down yet; that was all about to change though. Elena swung out already knowing Becka would duck back to avoid the blow.

With a smug smile Elena had her foot ready for that step back, Becka hit the ground with a hard thud and Elena pounced, pinning her down in an iron tight head lock as the referee counted down the match "3...2...1...Done!" He yanked Elena off of Becka instantly.

Getting up her blood sang with adrenaline and the roar of approval she was getting from the crowd only intensified her enjoyment. It was amazing, the feeling of exhaustion burning in each and every muscle reminded her she was alive. She could barely stand on her own and the referee holding her limp arms in the air shot her smile before helping her over to Tripp who looked like he was about to burst out into a girly squeal any minute.

"Fuck I'm dead" she laughed looping an arm around his shoulder as he helped her down the stairs and off towards the dressing rooms.

"That was amazing!" he congratulated her as she peeled the sweat and blood drenched clothing from her body despite the screaming protests of each limb threatening to give way on her. "Y'know" Tripp paused assessing her "If your serious about getting back into the scene I'll make some calls and get you a real coach with experience"

Elena's head whipped up to him at that, she hadn't been expecting an offer like that. While it sounded good she wasn't interested in some hot shot trying to get a buck from her winnings. It had been the reason she stopped in the first place all those years ago; coaches push you hard until you burn out and then they move on to their next pay check.

"You'd seriously do that?" she questioned more than surprised he wasn't going to try and hang onto her as his ticket to the big leagues.

"Hell yeah I would" he nodded his head looking a little offended she'd second guessed him "You've got talent and you can make it big with someone to train you...You need someone with more experience, I wouldn't be able to help you as much as some of the other coaches can...And from the way you fought tonight I don't think I'd have to convince any of them" he chuckled

"Are you staying in the industry?" she wondered and he nodded "So, then why can't you just sign me permanently?" she questioned a sly smirk on her face as she watched the surprise overwhelm him.

"You?...You'd really want me to be your coach?" he shook his head at her in disbelief "I wouldn't know where to start?"

"Do you want to learn?" she countered not wanting to hear any more excuses; if he wanted to take her on then that's what she needed to hear from him.

"I mean yes, but not if it screws you over" Tripp protested not realising it was only making her want him as a coach more.

"It won't" she smirked at him "In or out?"

He took a minute to stare at her before a bright smile spread across his face "In" he said and that was all she needed to hear.

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