A/N: Hey guys. WOW WOW WOW! You guys, the reviews for the last chapter made me so happy!
I'm sorry this took so long. It was kind of a hard chapter to write and not to mention I had an upper respiratory infection all week last week AND I had finals. It was a miserable week, but now it's DONE!
Also, I'm thinking of starting a O/S story with song fics. It would just be random one shots based on songs. I figured it would help with writers block. Anyway, let me know if you'd read them. I'm still undecided.
PS, I was just as pissed at Damon as the rest of you and this chapter won't make you like him anymore. Haha. I promise the light will come eventually.
October 2006
"Hey, it's Elena. Leave your message after the tone."
Voicemail. Again.
He had been calling her his whole trip to the office. She should've been done with her meeting by then and it was the day they would always do lunch together.
He tried to busy himself at work, telling himself that she lost her phone or she fell asleep with it on silent. He chuckled to himself, she'd always do silly things like that. He got through most of his morning well enough, but still having thoughts of terrible things that could've happened to her. By lunchtime, he still hadn't heard from her.
He made his way down the hall to Stefan's office and walked in without knocking. Stefan and Giuseppe's heads both snapped up when he walked in.
"Stefan, have you heard from Elena today?" Damon asked.
"Damon, we were in the middle of a conversation," Giuseppe scolded with a scowl.
"She's not answering her phone," Damon continued, ignoring his father completely.
"No, I haven't actually," Stefan said, checking his phone for any missed calls.
"Elena is gone," Giuseppe said.
Damon shot his father a glare before turning back to Stefan.
"She probably just left it somewhere on silent," Stefan said.
"That's what I was thinking," Damon agreed.
"Elena is gone," Giuseppe repeated.
"What are you talking about?" Damon snapped, turning to face Giuseppe.
"She didn't tell you?" He said with a knowing smirk.
"Tell me what?" Damon asked, getting annoyed that Giuseppe had information on her.
"She was accepted into an accelerated medical program. She left," Giuseppe said simply.
"She wouldn't leave without telling me," Damon said, shaking his head.
"Maybe I told her not to tell you," Giuseppe said finally.
Damon felt a spark of anger and it took every ounce of energy in him not to attack his father right then and there.
"What did you do to her?" Damon snarled.
"I didn't give her anything she didn't take willingly," Giuseppe said, taking a step toward Damon.
Before anyone could react, Damon slung his fist at his father's jaw, successfully knocking him back a few steps. Without a backwards glance Damon left Stefan's office and hurried out of the building.
The elevator felt like it took days to descend to the main floor. Meanwhile, he dialed Elena's number again, only this time it was disconnected.
Damon muttered a string of curses as he half ran out of the lobby to the street to hail a taxi.
The whole ride to Elena's apartment was a horrible ordeal. He was weighing what his father had said. Would she really leave? If she would, why didn't she say goodbye?
He dashed out of the cab and into the building. He didn't bother with the elevator, opting for the stairs since he could climb them faster. And he couldn't just stand still.
He knew something was off the second he reached her floor. He could see her door down the hall and it was open. He approached it tentatively as if something would jump out and get him. When he peered inside the apartment it was empty. He walked through the door to get a better look and his suspicions were confirmed. It was totally empty. No sign of her or Bonnie anywhere.
He searched the small space five or six times over. Each pass he made through the rooms, his heart broke a little more. He could feel the sting behind his eyes and his vision became blurry. Eventually he just stopped walking and stood frozen in the middle of her entryway.
She was gone. She left him without a backwards glance. Why would she leave him? Was he not good enough? Were the past seven months a lie? Did they mean nothing to her?
He dropped to his knees and his hands dug into the carpet, desperately trying to get some sort of grip on reality. He felt like the whole world was shaking and then he realized that it was him. He had wretched sobs shaking his whole frame.
He wasn't quite sure where he'd go from there without her.
"You son of a bitch," Damon yelled as he burst through the door to his father's office.
"Damon, control your tone with me," Giuseppe said, not even bothering to look up.
"What did you do to her!" He bellowed. Finally Giuseppe snapped his head up. Damon was a wreck. His hair was out of place and his eyes were bloodshot.
"I told you that you would be expected to marry into a family with a name as prestigious as ours. I was taking care of the problem," Giuseppe said simply.
"I can't believe this. You may be cold hearted, but I never thought you were pure evil," Damon seethed.
"Damon, all I did was make the offer. She is the one who took it," Giuseppe said simply, unfazed by Damon's harsh words.
"She wouldn't do that to me, she loves me," Damon shook his head.
"Maybe she didn't love you as much as she let on," Giuseppe said with a shrug before going back to his work.
Damon stood in the middle of his office processing what his father just said.
Maybe she didn't love him as much as she let on.
Present Day
"Stefan!" Damon yelled as he pounded on Stefan's hotel door.
"What?" Stefan asked as he swung the door open.
"I need to talk to you," Damon said as he rushed past him into the hotel room.
Stefan followed him and noticed he was pacing. That was never a good sign.
"She knows," Stefan said quietly. It wasn't a question and it froze Damon in place. They stared at each other for a few long moments.
Stefan could see what this was doing to Damon and it was tearing him apart that there was nothing he could do to help.
"Who knows what?" Caroline asked as she entered the room. Both brothers heads snapped into her direction and she saw the heartbreak on her husband's face and the disheveled appearance of her brother-in-law.
She moved across the room and plopped down on the couch.
"Now, start at the beginning and tell me everything," she demanded. Both brothers sat down immediately, knowing if they didn't do as the small blonde said, they'd both be dead men walking.
As much as Caroline annoyed Damon, he knew she was the best person to go to when there was a problem. She was never judgmental and despite her chatty personality, secrets were always safe with her, especially when it came to family. He loved her for that. She was fiercely loyal and she understood completely the bond the brothers shared.
Damon dropped his head into his hands and told Caroline everything that she had missed the past few days.
She gasped when he told her about Elena and kept her silence when he told her they slept together. Her eyes bugged out when he told her about their lost child and how Giuseppe threatened Elena to get her to leave. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears as he finished telling her about Elena finding out about Katherine.
"Oh my goodness, Damon," she breathed sympathetically.
"What did you think was going to happen when you slept with her, Damon?" Stefan asked after a long silence.
"I don't know," Damon groaned, "I was so mad at her for leaving, for never telling me about our child and then she turned the tables on me completely. She never wanted to leave, she was forced. Nothing was a lie for her and it was everything I have been so desperate to hear since she left."
"What are you going to do?" Caroline asked gently.
"He's getting married in two weeks," Stefan said and Damon groaned again.
"I feel like everything I've felt the past five years has been a lie," Damon said.
"Have you told Katherine?" Caroline asked carefully.
"I wasn't planning on it. She's already stressed as is and it's not going to change anything. I'm made her a promise and I'm not going to back out on it now," Damon said decisively, standing from the couch.
"Damon, if you are still in love with Elena, you owe it to yourselves to maybe try again," Stefan said quietly.
"I can't do that. I made a promise to Kat and to Dad," Damon said.
"Dad's dead. He's gone and you'll never love anyone the way you loved Elena. But if you do go back to Elena, you have to do it the honest way. Which means breaking things off with Katherine," Stefan said.
"Elena is part of my past now," Damon said quietly before turning and leaving.
Stefan's shoulders sagged once his brother left.
"He's making the wrong choice," Stefan said, defeated.
"He thinks he's doing the right thing," Caroline said, laying a soft hand on his arm.
"He loves Elena," Stefan said.
"He loves Katherine, too," Caroline said softly.
"Not the way he loves Elena, I can see it in his eyes," Stefan turned to her.
"I know. I see it too, but we have to let him make his own choices. They are different people now," Caroline explained.
"I just want to see him happy again," Stefan said quietly.
Caroline smiled a watery smile up at her husband before wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Me too," she said as his arms locked around her and pulled her closer.
"Go ahead, say I told you so," Elena sniffled from her spot on the couch.
Bonnie froze in the doorway before closing it and rushing to her friend's side.
"I'm not going to do that," Bonnie assured her, "But do you want to tell me what I told you?"
"He's engaged," she whispered, her eyes overflowing with tears again.
Bonnie's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" She whispered.
"I'm so stupid," Elena cried.
"I'm so sorry, Elena," Bonnie said quietly, scooting closer to her on the couch.
"How am I going to do this a second time. The first time nearly killed me," she said quietly.
"You are going to do this because I will be right here with you the entire time," Bonnie said to her.
"Thanks, Bon," Elena whispered.
Bonnie said nothing, but pulled her best friend closer and cried with her.
Whew. Things are not going to get better for a little bit. But I have big plans, you'll just have to be patient. There won't be much Delena in the present day scenes, but that's why we have flashbacks! Wee!
I have a few scenes I want to write for flashbacks, but if there is anything you'd like to see let me know! I'm totally open to suggestions for flashback scenes. If you want them to fight, be fluffy, or do anything else, let me know!
Thanks again for reading and I'm hoping updates will be faster since it's winter break now!
Reviews are love!