Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favorited this story-I'm so excited! Some folks are getting a little nervous about what Damon could have possibly done to Elena. Rest assured that I am a huge fan of Damon and would never make him undeemable. That's not to say Elena wasn't hurt but...well, just trust me. It is coming but it is a build up so we're still a number of chapters away and that's partially due to the way I'm flashing back and flashing forward. I have the skeleton of the story worked out so the updates should still be coming pretty quickly. And these characters won't leave me alone! :-) I have been awake at night hearing their story. But, really, if you are going to be kept awake by someone, there are worse options than Damon Salvatore!

Chapter 8: Shh…I'm in Love

Now

We had finished a meeting with some clients at Jenna's office and she and I were going to lunch. She and Ric had gotten back in town late last night so there had been no time to catch up on how things had gone on the trip. As we dug into our salads, I decided to be direct. "So, what happened with you and Ric this past week? Did you save money for the company and forgo the separate rooms?"

"Well, we are in a time of economic distress. We thought we should do what we could for Saltzman Consulting." She looked like the kid who had gotten her hand stuck in a cookie jar.

"You're kidding!"

She giggled, "Sort of. I did have my own room. I just didn't see very much of it."

"Oh, Jenna, stop blushing. I told you Ric was into you. How did it finally happen?"

"Well, when I started to pull out my files on the plane he asked me to wait. He said he needed to talk to me about something but wanted my undivided attention." As if he didn't always have her attention. She had been in love with him for two years. "He said that he knew that we had worked together for the past several years but for the duration of the flight he just wanted to spend it with me and not with a coworker. One thing led to another and, well, it was the most wonderful conference I have ever attended and I barely remember anything about the presentations. We're planning to keep things as discreet as possible at work. With me just having gotten a promotion it wouldn't look very good for us to suddenly be together. But that's enough about me. How was your week?"

"Let's just say that I am thrilled you had the best week of your life because I might just have to do you in."

"Why?"

"You gave Damon my home phone number then you told him that I not only wasn't married but also wasn't dating anyone! What were you thinking?" I hadn't meant to raise my voice but I realized the people at the next table were stealing glances my way.

"Elena, please, calm down. I didn't mean to make you angry. He was asking about you and I didn't think it would be a crime to tell the truth—you aren't married. Anyway, he wanted your number so he could ask about scheduling an event. Did you agree to do it?"

"I did. We ended up having dinner Friday to set up the preliminary plans. But, Jenna, why did you have to volunteer the information that I'm not seeing anybody?"

"He asked me point blank. What was I supposed to do? Lie to him? He seemed genuinely interested. I think he wants to try to mend some fences." Sheepishly, she added, "I think you ought to give him a chance."

"You what? Don't you remember anything I've told you about him? I can't believe you can even suggest that I consider being friends with him!"

"I remember you said that at one time he was one of your best friends. Elena, you were in love with him!"

"Then he broke my heart and I completely changed. You weren't there. You don't know what it was like. It was bad. Jenna, I'm not angry at you. I just know that my life was just fine as it was but ever since he walked into the party last week I have been waiting on the other shoe to drop. When I got to Saltzman this morning I was terrified to walk down the hall to your office for fear of running into him and in the same instant I was afraid that I wouldn't see him. And when I didn't, there was a part of me that was so disappointed and I don't want to be disappointed anymore, Jenna. I don't want to be vulnerable."

"You still love him," she said in quite awe

"Part of me will always love him." There I had said it. "But I have done really well keeping that part of myself bound and gagged in the back of my mind."

"Why? You've told me time and again that he broke your heart and turned you against men but you've never once gone into detail. What did he do that was so unforgiveable?"

"I don't talk about it. I can't talk about it. Caroline knows because she was there and I couldn't hide the truth from her but other than that I've never voiced what happened. It still hurts too damn much."

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? We have a business agreement so I'll have to see him. He also made me shake to attempting to be friends and he is going to try to make me hold up my end of that."

"You'll be OK Elena. You can handle this. And, Elena, if I've made this harder on you I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It's just something I'm going to have to deal with somehow." I suddenly realized that we were both late getting back to work. "Shoot! Look at the time! You really should get back to the office. We can't have your boss thinking you are having a long lunch with your boyfriend and get angry with you," I teased. At least her love life seemed to be on track.

Then

Outside of admitting to Caroline that I had gone over to Damon's apartment during Spring Break, I had told no one about our involvement. I had been secretly spending time with him every chance I got but I couldn't stay away from my research any longer. That's why, on this beautiful day, I was in the library attempting to study instead of having lunch on his deck as had become our habit. Caroline and Rebecca had insisted that they join me saying they had some stuff to work on themselves. "Damon, what are you doing here?" asked Caroline. I jumped like I had just been caught robbing a bank.

"Well, I ran into Elena earlier and, when she told me she was skipping lunch to come to the library, I decided that if she wouldn't come to lunch then lunch should come to her. Here you go, I smuggled this in for you." He pulled a bag out of his backpack and handed it to me. "Be careful with the Diet Coke. It may have gotten shaken a bit and I'd hate for it to spew all over you," he added with a wink.

"Thanks, I'll try to keep that in mind." I was smiling like a giddy schoolgirl. Caroline was frowning and looking back and forth between us. Crap, I was caught. Oh well, it was just Caroline. She would be Ok with it. I hoped.

"Damon, I like that shirt. You look really hot in it.," Rebecca's whiny voice interjected. Did she really just say that? Damon was wearing the same shirt he had worn the night we watched the meteor shower. "It looks really good on you." Rebecca had recently started trying to get the attention of any male that walked within ten feet of her and my skin crawled as she batted her eyes at Damon. He was my Damon for the time being, even if she didn't know it, and she would do well to bat her eyes elsewhere. Looking at him, he hadn't even seemed to notice that she was at the table.

"Thanks," he said never taking his eyes off of mine. Then, leaning down, he added softly in my ear, "It looked better on you." I could feel my cheeks turning red. Then, just before he turned to leave, he quickly kissed my forehead. "I'll call you later. Don't work too hard."

I wondered if there was any chance that I could get back to work without explaining anything. "What the hell was that?" asked Caroline. OK, I guess we are going to have that conversation now. I decided my best option was to play innocent.

"What? He's a flirt. He acts like that with every girl."

"What?" she intoned in a falsely innocent voice attempting to mimic mine. "I didn't see him bringing Rebecca or me lunch."

"Or kissing us before he left," Rebecca added. The little hussy sounded jealous.

"You said that you weren't going to get involved with him, that it was just that one time during Spring Break!" Caroline was wound up. I was glad we were on a deserted floor of the library because if we were anywhere else we would've already been shushed by the librarian.

Rebecca looked astonished. "You had sex with him while we were all at the beach?" Could she possibly say that a little louder? I don't think the people on the next floor heard her.

"No! We watched a movie and we kissed." I hesitated before adding, "OK, fine. The Monday after Spring Break, we went to the playing fields to watch a meteor shower and we have been seeing each other ever since. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't know if he wanted it to be public knowledge." I couldn't help but grin. "Apparently, he doesn't mind."

"So, you've been seeing each other. In other words, you're sleeping with him." Rebecca was bound and determined to make this about sex.

"No. I'm not." They both looked at each other and laughed as if to say "Sure she's not."

"Elena, you seem to forget that I know Damon pretty well. There is no way that you are seeing him and he's not trying to have sex with you."

"Well, he's not and we're not. Now, I need to get back to work so can you two, please, just drop it!"

"Sure," said Caroline. "I just hope you know what you are getting yourself into with Mr. Flirty Pants." I wanted tell Caroline the whole story but somehow it felt like I would be cheating on Damon if I did. It was sweetly out of character for him and it just didn't seem right to tell anyone about it. One thing was for sure. I was not going to talk about it in front of Rebecca. Her attempt to flirt with Damon had put me on guard and I wasn't sure how much I could trust her where he was concerned.

~~~~~TVD~~~~~TVD~~~~~TVD~~~~~

It was weeks later and Damon was being true to his word. We had been spending every spare moment together but he was yet to make a move. We had gone to a classic movie fest at a historic theatre, had picnics at the park, made a gallery crawl and gone to parties around campus. Once, after I mentioned that I couldn't find my Frampton CD, he had come over while I was still in class and surprised me by alphabetizing my entire collection. He had left a note reading, "Look under F for Frampton. Look under S for a surprise." When I looked under S, I found a gift wrapped CD case right there between Styx and Survivor. After unwrapping it I read the note on the outside, "I always wondered why they called this a jewel case. Now I know." Inside it there was a delicate chain with a beautiful little jeweled pendant. He was always leaving me notes. Some of them just wished me a good day. Others contained handwritten copies of some of my favorite poems. There was nothing more delicious than finding Yeats or Shakespeare written by his hand and having him read it to me later while snuggled up together. I had become a regular at the lacrosse games and always went with him to the parties afterwards. Still, my favorite evenings were those when we would cook at his apartment and spend the evening watching movies, listening to music or just talking. We were rarely afforded the privacy for that at my place since Rebecca had taken up the habit of trying to monopolize the conversation anytime he was around. The nights at his place usually led to the two of us falling asleep wrapped in each others' arms and waking up spooning. These were the times when it became most apparent that he was going to stay true to the promise he made that night at the playing fields. These were also the times when I knew that I was falling in love with him.

~~~~~TVD~~~~~TVD~~~~~TVD~~~~~

AN: Because I'm having a relaxing evening with my fur-babies (a.k.a. snuggly dogs), I just might find a way to do a double update today.