Elena, is there anything you'd like to tell me?

His voice echoed in my head like a scream in a cave. It felt like a punch to the gut rather than a question. My vision was going blurred by the oncoming tears and my stomach twisted in tight knots, making it nearly impossible to breathe. Quickly, I hopped out the bath, wrapped the robe around my dripping body and lunged towards to toilet.

My stomach tightened, causing me to hug myself in agony. Dry heaves come and go every so often until I'm left exhausted. I lowered the seat and sat down slowly.

While sitting hunched over my knees, I glance over my shoulder to see Damon, still crouched next to the bathtub. His arms resting on the sides and staring into the water.

Without turning away he speaks in an emotionless tone. Sadness leaking from his words.

"I'm not mad Elena, just tell me."

I close my eyes, feeling the tears fall down my cheeks. I manage to give him a quiet response, too quiet.

"I don't want to talk about it, Damon."

He shakes his head in annoyance and stands up, walking angrily towards me. Damon crouches down in front of me and places his hands on my thighs.

"Elena. You can keep quiet about the scars on your arm because me finding out was ultimately inevitable but this. No. You don't have a choice. I will use compulsion if I have to, okay? Don't think that I won't."

I placed my hands on his and wrapped my fingers around his palms. He wasn't bluffing, I knew that he would compel me if I didn't talk. I thought long and hard about my response.

This is it. This is the day that I face my demons. He deserves to know.

I let out an exasperated sigh before replying.

"Let me get dressed, meet me in the living room-"

I hesitated before continuing.

"And I will tell you what happened."

He gave me a comforting smile and spoke again with reassuring words.

"I promise that whatever you tell me, I will support you and love you unconditionally. Nothing you say will ever make me change the way I feel about you."

I managed to sneak a smile out of the corner of my mouth.

"I'll see you shortly."

Damon was sat on the sofa in the living room, leaning over his knees with his hands tangled together. I recognised his emotion in this state. Anxious. Scared.

I walked down the stairs wearing one of his grey jumpers with a pair of black yoga pants. He stood up abruptly as soon as I stepped off the bottom step. He looked nervous and unsettled. He handed me a hot mug.

"I made you a cup of tea; milk and three sugar, just how you like it."

The mug was hot in my hands and I sat down on the sofa, Damon sat down across from me. I took a big intake and blew out from my nose, never looking him in the eyes.

"I don't know how to start this."

My voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"It's okay, just start where you feel comfortable."

"Damon, I don't feel comfortable starting at all. "

I thought about continuing.

"It was one of the worst nights of my life."

He sat up, wide-eyed and stared at me from across the room. His reaction was the exact reason why I kept it a secret.

"It wasn't consensual?"

The devastation in his voice made it unbearable to even look at him.

But I sat up, fixed my posture and answered him.

"No. It was not consensual."

Damon leapt up from the sofa and rushed to be by my side. The mug slid loose but he was quick to catch it and place it on the table in the centre of the room. I fell slack into his arms and let him cuddle me, rocking me slowly back and forth.

"Elena, I was convinced that you cheated on me. I made myself believe that I wasn't enough for you so you left me for someone else, I asked you why, thinking about all the reasons you could have for not wanting to be with me anymore. I believed that I was failing you."

A sob escaped my lips as I listened to his confession.

"Damon, I could never hurt you like that. I couldn't imagine myself ever being unfaithful to you because you mean everything to me."

We sat on the sofa for a while in silence but it was a comfortable silence, wrapped in each other's arms. Damon was the first to break the silence.

"Baby, I need to know what happened. If not today then tomorrow. You can tell me however you'd like, too. I could go upstairs and listen to you saying it out loud or you could write it down. Or if you're feeling extra strong about this, you could even let me into your head and you could show me that way. But I have to know what happened so I can help you recover from this."

His determination to help me left me speechless.

"You've given me so many options and I appreciate them all but in order for me to come to terms with it, saying it out loud, to your face, will hopefully benefit me the most."

"Okay. You don't have to tell me today, you want to wait until tomorrow?"

"No, I want to do it now."

"whenever you're ready, baby."

I pushed myself out of Damon's embrace and sat up properly. I positioned myself so I was sat facing him, my legs crossed and my hands in my lap twisting themselves together anxiously. I took a breath in and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I saw Damon sat watching me intensely, waiting for me to start.

This is it. This is the start of my recovery.

"It was October 10th. The evening of Caroline's 21st birthday and she had called to invite me to her party. She'd booked The Grille because she joined nearly all the clubs on campus so she wanted a place where everyone could get drunk."

I smiled at the distant memory.

"I had just finished picking out my outfit with the corresponding shoes and makeup I was going to wear and was ready to hop in the shower when the intercom buzzed. But before I had a chance to answer it, someone must've been leaving and they caught the door before it closed. I didn't know this so when the person at the intercom didn't answer I just assumed they left I undressed and turned on the shower when someone knocked at my door. I threw on a robe and went to answer it, thinking that maybe it was Bonnie needing help with an outfit or something, but to my surprise, Tyler

Lockwood was stood where Bonnie should've been."

A tear rolled down my cheek as I remembered his sickly smile.

"The thing that surprised me most about Tyler's unexpected visit was that I hadn't seen or heard from him for nearly four months. See, he figured that the best way to break up with me was to fuck some other girl and skip town with her. Leaving me to find out via Caroline who actually heard it from the girl he was fucking. Her name being Rebekah Mikaelson. You can imagine how angry I was when he just turned up with that smug smile on his face."

My mood changed from sad to angry in seconds but I carried on.

"My initial thought was that 'he's here to patch things up because he's finally noticed what a slut Rebekah is'. Turns out his initial thought was to pick up some old CDs and clothes that he left. I told him that I put everything he left up in storage and that I would get them after my shower. I told him to wait in my bedroom while I was getting showered. I took a shirt and some leggings into the bathroom so I could change into them and get Tyler his box of crap before getting ready for Caroline's party."

I stopped to gather my thoughts, knowing full well what part was coming up next.

You've come this far, don't give up now.

"But as I was in the shower, I guess I forgot to lock to door because the next thing I knew Tyler was stood completely naked behind me.

I was surprised to say the least but mostly angry. Then things escalated very quickly. He pushed me into the wall and started to touch me everywhere. He licked my neck and grabbed at every inch of my skin like an animal. Maybe if it was four days rather than months and he wasn't fucking some whore and he told me why he left, maybe I would've been more willing to fuck him in the shower. But it wasn't four days, he was fucking some whore and he didn't tell me. His attack caught me by surprise and he was violent and aggressive. His sudden actions absolutely petrified me."

My throat became increasingly dry and Damon reached out to hold my hands.

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, he shut off the shower and dragged me out of the bathroom by my arm. I was thrown into the bed and he forced himself into me. I screamed at him to stop but he kept going until all the sounds I could make were stifled whimpers."

I shut my eyes. Watching the whole scene play out in my mind as I spoke;

A cold breeze hits the back of my legs followed by hands reaching around my waist.

"Tyler? What're you doing in here? I'm trying to shower, get out."

"Elena I know you want this. I'm not going to stop until I get what I want."

"I swear to god Tyler get the fuck out of here."

"Tyler stop it!"

"Elena stop moving."

"No stop it, Tyler it hurts stop."

"Elena don't tell me you don't want this. I can tell you're desperate for it you dirty slut"

Tears form in my eyes as I'm met with the reality of what is happening. He grabs my arm and drags me out the bathroom .

"Come on, I'm not finished yet"

I scream at him;

"TYLER LET GO OF ME NOW."

He shouts louder at me;

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP MOVING."

Both of us are still dripping wet. I'm pushed down on my back and Tyler eagerly climbs on top of me. He thrusts inside of me and I yell out in pain, tears drench my face. His short temper and angry outbursts reduce me to silence as I let him have his way with me. The only sounds Im able to make are quiet whimpers.

I open my eyes to see Damon sitting across from me, tears slowly making their way down his cheeks. I sob loudly and jump into his embrace. I wrap my arms around his neck and cry loudly into his shoulder. He held me tightly, stroking my hair and shushing me every time I sobbed. He lay back against the pillows, letting me rest my body on his but never letting me go.

My face was hot and red by the time I finished crying, but I wasn't finished telling Damon what happened.

"I still went to Caroline's party though. I thought it would get my mind off of things, maybe calm me down a little. And it was going better than expected, considering the circumstances, until Tyler walked through the door. Luckily I saw him before he saw me so I went to find Caroline and told her that I wasn't feeling well. She was so drunk that I'm pretty sure she didn't even notice me talking to her.

When I got back to my flat, I was in agony, both mentally and physically.

I just remember sitting on the floor and crying for hours. And when I thought I calmed myself I remembered... I remembered that he didn't use a condom and I stopped using the pill after he left, we weren't dating yet either. The whole night was just too much for me to handle. I went to the bathroom to clean myself up when I noticed the shards of glass scattered on the floor. When Tyler was dragging me out of the bathroom I must've knocked over the mirror. In a moment of weakness, I took a piece of glass, wrapped it in my shirt that I left and 'fixed' my mood, one way or another. That was the very first time I did that."

Damon hugged me tighter and rubbed my arms.

"Oh baby, please tell me you didn't."

I looked up stared into his eyes.

"Why do you think I started cutting in the first place?"

He let out a heavy sigh and kissed my forehead.

"I am going to get you the best therapy and the best treatment that money can buy. We will handle the baby situation and I will do everything I can to make it as easy as possible."

"Thank you Damon. And I just want you to know that you mean the whole world to me and I can't imagine what my life would be without you."

"I love you, Elena."

"I love you too."

He picked me up so I wrapped my arms and legs around him like a child and carried me upstairs while I cuddled into his chest and closed my eyes. Damon left my clothes on but covered me up nicely in the thick silk covers. A small kiss was placed on my forehead.

"I'll wake you up in few hours for dinner."

I nodded subtly in response, falling asleep before the bedroom door shut to.