Chapter 2 The Meeting
She sees him walk in from the corner chair she has chosen in the local Starbucks. He's just as breath taking as he's always been wearing a pair of dark wash jeans that molds to his legs and hips with a light grey shirt that is sure to make his ocean blue eyes pop. His hair is a mess, surely because he has been running his hands through it no doubt due to the same nerves that she has been feeling since he hung up the phone last night. She almost laughs at the memories of Liv, the hair and makeup girl screaming at him to leave his hair alone when he was nervous about a particularly rough scene, but she can't bring herself to because she knows that she is the source of those nerves today.
She sits quietly making no move to gain his attention as he goes through the line to order his coffee, venti black americano if she remembers correctly. She wonders if he'll indulge in his favorite banana bread or not. She finds her answer when he takes his coffee and turns around scanning the coffee shop to see if she's there yet. She slowly lifts a hand when his eyes scan her area and she points to a chair across from her.
"Umm hi?" She's unsure of what to say to start this as he sits down sipping at his coffee. She was right, the grey shirt that he is wearing makes his crystal blue eyes pop in a way that makes her long to look into them the way she had while they were together. Knowing that they hold the power to either calm or intensify her nerves.
"Why now Elena?" He ask bluntly, subtlety was never his strong point.
"Okay so no small talk then, just right into it huh?" "There's no point in small talk. I don't have the time or the patience for it when it comes to you." "Wow. That stings Damon. When did you become so cruel?" "I've always been an asshole. You know that but I guess it intensified when the love of my life left me." "An asshole, but you were never cruel. Damon..I.."
"No. Don't do that. That was not an opening to talk about you leaving. That was me making a statement in response to your question. We are not here to talk about the demise of our relationship. We are here to talk about what it's going to take for you to leave again and never come back. You don't belong on this show anymore."
"You're wrong. We do have to talk about our relationship. That's the only way this gets resolved because that's the reason why you don't want me here. I'm truly sorry for the way that I hurt you but to be honest Damon I don't care what you want. I want back on the show and I'm going to be back. I miss my character, you of all people know how much of myself that I put into developing that character and I miss that part of my life. I'm here to reclaim that. Me leaving was never meant to be permanent, no matter how much you want that."
"Tell me when did you start to care what I wanted? Because from where I'm sitting it looks like you never cared. Otherwise you would have never left in the first place! You don't get to just come back and screw up everything that I've done to move on. Don't you understand that?"
"You know why I left. You know I cared more about you than I did anyone else. Don't start throwing accusations around because I promise I can throw some too."
"Oh really? Because you're the one who said no. You're the one that never came back to Atlanta. You're the one who took a fucking vacation with your best friend after your boyfriend proposed to you and you said no! So tell me again how much you cared?"
"You know what, screw you! I never said no! I said I needed time! And you are the one who left the lake house without so much as a text message while I was asleep. You are the one who ignored my calls for months after that night. So don't tell me I never cared. You just couldn't get over your own damn pride to understand what I was telling you. But I never said no, you were the one who gave the ultimatum! The ultimatum that I never even got to respond to by the way."
Elena stands up and rushes out of the coffee shop refusing to let him see the tears that were threatening to fall. She knew he would be angry and that it wouldn't be easy seeing him, but she never expected the look of disgust he threw her as he recalled that night so many years ago.
Crap. Why did he choose a public place to meet her? He hadn't even thought about the backlash that would cause. He could see the photographer sitting outside the window with his camera dead set on him. He would have to call Andy to warn her of the possible pictures that would be out soon. Just another thing he had to tell her about, fucking great.
He would focus on that for now, he couldn't think about the things Elena has said to him about being the one who left first. Grabbing his coffee and taking his cell phone he made is say to his car to call Andy.
"Hey babe! Where are you?" "Hey. I'm leaving Starbucks. Where are you? I need to talk to you about somethings" "I'm home you can come over. Is everything okay?" "Yeah. Everything is fine. I just want to talk to you. I'll be right over."
He ends the call while getting into his car. He's going to have to shake this paparazzi before he can make his way to Andy's . But that shouldn't be hard. At least it's only one this time.
It takes him 40 minutes to get rid of the guy and get to Andy's house. 40 minutes to think about what to say to Andy about everything that's happened the past 24 hours and still he has no idea what to say to her that will make her feel better about this. There's no doubt this is going to put a strain on their relationship. Above all people she knows how he was after Elena left. She had had to deal with structuring filming schedules and dodging press about the epic break up that was Delena, as the press had called it. She would know the magnitude of the change that was about to happen. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he got out of the car and made his way to Andy's front door.
"Hey baby! I've missed you the past few days!" "Hey I've missed you too." She moves to kiss him and he knows he shouldn't have but he dodged it making her kiss land on his check instead of his lips as intended.
"Umm okay. What's up?" She asks giving him a questionable look.
"Let's sit down and talk. I've got some news you're not going to like." "Okay let's move into the sitting room. What's this all about?"
He takes a few moments to adjust himself on the couch, making sure to keep some space between them.
"Well I'm just going to come out and say it all, please don't interrupt. Just let me get this out and try to explain." He pleads her to understand with both his words and his eyes.
"Okay. What is it Damon? You're scaring me a bit here."
"Elena's back. Ric met with me yesterday afternoon and told me she's coming back to the show. I don't know for how long but it's more than just a few episodes. They are writing her back into the script. They have signed her for at least 2 seasons so far." He took a deep breath to let this sink in for her.
"You can imagine how I responded. I don't want her anywhere near this show nor do I want her anywhere near me. So I called her trying to talk her out of coming back. She refused to talk about it over the phone and insisted that we meet in person to talk. Me, being the idiot that I am agreed and suggested a public place."
"Starbucks. No, Damon tell me you didn't!"
"I did. I didn't even think about the press when I agreed to it. I just didn't want to be alone with her. Of course it got heated and she walked out upset. It was only then that I noticed the photographer outside the window taking pictures. I called you immediately afterwards and now here we are. I'm sure they are going to be publishing something today. If they aren't already working on a release they will be soon."
"Damon! Why didn't you call me yesterday? Why didn't you let me handle this? Why did you feel the need to call her? Why did you call her before me!? We aren't just a business relationship here! You are my boyfriend and she is your ex! An ex that you were madly in love with for years might I remind you! I deserved to know about this before you even contacted her! You owe me at least that much respect! Damn it Damon what the hell is wrong with you."
"I know. I'm sorry for the way that I have handled this. I couldn't think straight. The only thing I could think about was making sure that she went away. I don't want her here or on the show! You know that. I'm with you now and I don't want to be with her or around her."
He pulled Andy into his arms to reassure her of his words as much as to reassure himself. It took him over a year before he would allow himself even the thought of being with anyone else and he was realizing just why that was once again. Just being in Elena's presence has him questioning this relationship with Andy. He had to stop and get his mind right. He didn't want to be with Elena. We was sure of that but even he couldn't ignore the feelings that she brought back. The memories that she brought back to the surface.
"What do we do from here? You're going to have to work with her. I'm sure that she isn't going to back down if she's back after all this time. And I know that Valerie has wanted her back on the show for a while now."
"I know. But I can promise you that I won't see her outside of work. I have no desire to be around her outside of that. Just because she's back now it doesn't change how I feel about you Andy."
"I believe that you think that is true Damon, but this is Elena. Your epic love. How do I compete with her? It was hard enough without her here but with her being around I don't know if I can handle this. Competing with a memory was difficult, but fighting the living breathing person that is impossible for me to do. Look at what her being back has already done, and its been less than a day. You just told me yourself that you agreed to a public meeting because you didn't want to be alone with her, that's not because of nothing. Don't even try to lie to me about this. You don't want to be alone with her because you don't trust yourself with being alone with her, even after 4 years apart."
"You don't have to compete Andy! With her here or without you here you don't have to compete with her, I want to be with you. How many times to I have to explain that to you Andy? I've told you that over and over again for the past 3 years! I would never had started this relationship if i wasn't over her! I didn't want to be alone with her not because I don't trust myself, but because I simply don't want to give her the opportunity to bring up our past if we are alone together."
"You forget Damon that I was around for the Elena years. I saw the way you looked at her and the way that you were around her. I know you are with me now, but I also know that I will never earn that look of love and that complete dedication. Don't get me wrong I love you and I want to be with you. But you don't love me like you love her! That love has not gone away just because she hurt you. I don't think it ever will. I don't know why she left or what really happened between you two but I do know that as much as you fight it and try to turn your back on it you still love her."
"What are you getting at here Andy? What are you trying to say with all of this?"
"I'm saying I'm going to walk away now before I get hurt even more than I am now. I'm not going to sit by and be a casualty of your relationship with Elena. I'm not saying that you two will get back together but I do know that you won't be able to commit to a relationship with her around."
"So you're ending this relationship? That's your answer to all this? Once again another woman would doesn't love me enough to stay. Fucking fantastic. Does that mean you are quiting as my agent as well?"
"No I wouldn't do that to you. You're career is just as important to me as it is to you. I will still be your agent but that's all I can be right now. I think you should go ahead and leave. We can talk more on Monday in the office about what this means for you on the show."
"Fine. If that's what you want I will go"
"Thank you"
He walked out of Andy's house even more frustrated than he was when he arrived. Elena hasn't even been back in his life for a weekend and already she was turning his world upside down. He didn't blame Andy for looking out for herself but he wouldn't let her fears come true. He wouldn't let Elena infiltrate his personal life. He couldn't stop her from coming back to Holland's Secrets but he could make sure that there was a barrier she wouldn't be able to breach around his personal life.
Today would be the only time he talked to her about their past. He wouldn't make that mistake again. He would have to make sure to protect himself from her. He would have to find a way to prepare himself to be around her again for filming. Luckily he had a month until that started, of course there would be meetings and table reads prior to that but he had a week or so before that would start.
He needed to get away for a few days. Out of Atlanta, away from where he risked the possibility of running into Elena. Stefan. He would call his brother in Charlottesville, VA and ask if he could visit for a few days.
Elena stormed into the room slamming the door behind her alerting Caroline to her presence. She was a mess. Tears streaming down her face along with mascara, showing just how long she had been crying.
"Oh my gosh Elena! Babe what happened?"
"Damon. What else?" " oh sweetie. I had a feeling it would go bad. I was hoping it wouldn't be this bad though since you were in public though" "Well it did. Being in public didn't stop him from tearing into me about leaving. It lasted all of ten minutes but that didn't stop him from showing just how much he hates me."
"Oh babe. He doesn't hate you. He's just hurt. He doesn't understand everything. But he will. It'll be okay." "No Care I don't think it will be. You didn't see the disgust in his eyes when he looked at me. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get through to him."
With that said Elena moved out of the sitting room of the hotel room and into her private room. Maybe a hot shower would help ease the pain that had been caused during the conversation with Damon.
She started the water and turned it as hot as it would go before stripping and stepping under the stream of water. She grabbed the lavender body wash from the corner of the shower pouring a generous amount on her loofah. She started scrubbing hoping the memories of his broken eyes would fade. No matter how hard she scrubbed there was nothing that was going to make her stop seeing the pain on his face, pain that she had caused.
How did they get here? How did they break each other this bad? If she could go back she would have just said yes and hoped they could figure things out together. But nothing she would do or say would be able to accomplish that. She could never take away the pain for him. And she hated herself for that.
"So where are you taking Katherine in the next season?" Elena was sitting across Valerie discussing how her writing was going for the next season. It had been three days since she had met with Damon and her head was still spinning but she wasn't going to focus on that right now. Right now she was focusing on her character and getting her head back into playing the character she loved so much.
"do you remember how we left Katherine's character Elena?" "Um yeah I do. She was in a magical coma because of a spell that Kai had placed on her and Brooke. So Brooke is living while Katherine is in a coma. How are we going to resolve that? I mean is Bonnie leaving or staying?"
"I have an idea for Jodis character Jo on that. But no Bonnie is not leaving the show at all. She's a fixture that I'm not willing to budge on. If you have a problem with that you need to get over it now." "Hey! I don't have a problem with working with her at all. I love her character on the show and I'm all for her staying. I was just wondering how you are going to have her character and Katherine awake at the same time? Now I don't know how willing she is going to be with working with me. You know how close her and Damon are and I'm sure she is not a fan of mine at all."
"That's non of my business. Your personal lives are just that, your own. Just know the drama needs to stay off my set. If y'all have a problem with each other you need to work it out off set. That includes Damon. I know that your personal life is messy but if you are going to have a problem working with them you need to tell me now and we will just stop this now. I'm not going to bring Katherine back just so we have to work with green screen and cgi effects because you can't film with someone. We did that when we let you leave the last time and it was hell on everyone. I'm not doing that to my cast again Elena, so you better have thought this through. If you have any reservations or doubts about coming back you need to tell me now before I waste my time writing scripts that include you in them."
"Valerie I have, I promise. You won't have to do any of that this time around has far as I'm concerned. I won't have a problem filming with anyone. I want to be back and you're right my personal life is a mess but I won't let it effect filming in any way."
"Good. I'm going to have the same conversation with Damon when he gets back into town. I want to make sure that we are all on the same page here before anything is set in stone."
"I completely understand." Elena was a little distracted after Valerie's last comment. Damon had left town? How long was he going to be gone? Who had he gone with and where? Wait, did she even have the right to question these things? No absolutely not. What he does in his free time is his own business and she had lost the right to wonder about these things when she left for L.A four years ago.
"So I should have the first two scripts done by next Wednesday so me and Alaric were planning on doing a table read on that Friday. You will have the script by the end of day on Wednesday so you can look it over and make any notes before the read."
"Okay awesome. That sounds great! Just email them to Caroline and she will get them to me as normal."
"Sounds great. I'll see you then. I need to go meet with the other writers in order to get the idea boards drawn up." "Alright. Bye Valerie. Again thank you so much for letting me back on cast here. Holland's Secrets means so much to me and it just felt like the right thing to do coming back here."
"It's no problem at all. You belong here. No matter what anyone else thinks about that, Elena. This is your home and we are happy to have you back."
The two women share a brief hug and exchange goodbyes once again before Elena is left to her own thoughts in the studio conference room. Her peace didn't last too long as her agent/ best friend walked right in behind Valerie.
"Why didn't we think about this possibility before you met with Damon? In public!" Caroline shrieked as she threw a magazine on the conference table in front of Elena.
"Oh crap! What's the headline this time?"
The cover of the magazine was a picture of her and Damon sitting across one another staring at each other. It looked like Damon was talking, but the headline read 'Delena reuniting?'. To anyone on the outside it would look like that was a possibility but she knew better. She knew that the look on his face was not a peaceful one but of a man with nothing but disdain for the woman sitting across from him.
"What are they saying now?" "Just what you would expect. That you two are meeting up for the first time in years and according to a 'source' it's not the first meeting between you two. Where do they even get their sources. You had just arrived in Atlanta like an hour before this. Ugh. This is not going to blow over quickly. Especially when word gets out that you are back on the show."
"I know. I didn't even think about the press when Damon suggested a public place and I'm sure he didn't either."
"This is going to turn into a shit storm. You know that right? We are going to have to up your security to keep the press away from you. I know it's been awhile since you've been in the direct line of the press but we have no other choice. They aren't going to relent on this one. I still have Rebekah Mikaelson sending request for a full expose on your break up and it was four damn years ago! You know what her and her husband Marcel are like. They won't stop till they have their story and they are still pissed they didn't get it then. From you or Damon."
"I know Care. I'm fine with that. Call Tyler and let him know we are going to need him back if he's willing. Have you contacted any of Damon's people about this? Have they contacted you?"
"No I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted to talk to you first, I mean since his agent is his girlfriend now. This is dangerous territory on that side."
"Believe me I know. Andy didn't like me when we were together let alone will she like me now that Damon and her are a thing. But I think this should be handled between the two of you for now. I don't think Damon wants me talking to him, or her right now. But just so we are clear as far as I'm concerned we are going with no comment on the private life. When the show announces my come back then we can get with Valerie and Ric and make a statement but we are not going to comment on Damon and I."
"I'm on board with that. The less of your private life that's public knowledge the better. I'll call Andy and then I will call Tyler. Until then you need to go back to the hotel and keep a low profile. There were a few reporters outside when I came in but it wasn't too many that you shouldn't be able to handle it."
"Okay. Keep me posted. I'll have my cell close by."
Elena made sure to keep her head down while walking to her rental car. Good thing that she had chosen the car with the tinted windows. She saw a few guys with cameras standing close to her car but she was able to squeeze through to get into the vehicle. Of course they were asking her questions. She heard them clearly "are you and Damon official again?" "Is that why you're in Atlanta?" "Couldn't help but come back to him huh?" She just smiled and ignored them, she wasn't saying anything. She was going to keep her mouth shut on this one. She knew all to well how one sentence could get twisted around to fit whatever story they wanted to publish. As she started the car and drove away she couldn't help but feel sad that she had brought this back into Damon's life. He was a very private person and couldn't stand the press. He knew it was part of the job and he dealt with it for the fans but he did everything he could to avoid being in the spotlight. Hopefully he wasn't being hounded wherever he was this weekend.