Disclaimer: The Vampire Diaries belong to L.J. Smith, the producers of the show and all the other people involved in the CW. I'm just borrowing these characters from the show for fun purposes, even though I wished I owned Damon Salvatore;)

CHAPTER FOUR

She dropped her towel away from her female form and stared at her naked skin. A droplet of salty liquid fell from her Brown irises, her body was covered with fresh bruises, some around her wrist, thighs, shoulders and back. She was lucky makeup could do wonders with hiding bruises or she would be covering her body with layers of clothing for the rest of her life.

She lifted her chin and took in a deep shaky breath trying to show some pride even though she had none left. She smiled at her reflection, today she was going to be a hostess for a business party and she needed to be at her best behavior. She would smile at the people she met, she would make conversation with the boring businessman from her husbands work, she would just have to be the beautiful wife and mother that everyone expects her to be.

Sighing Elena stepped away from the mirror then grabbed her towel from the floor, she wrapped it around her bare skin then picked up her phone to talk to her most trusted friend.

"Bonnie can you come over ?" she asked softly.

"Are you okay ?" she questioned from how Elena's voice sounded like a small whisper.

She gulped down thick saliva through her throat and stared at herself in mirror that was on top of her dresser. "Yeah... I'm fine, I just need your help."

Bonnie nodded her head, "U'm yeah sure I'll be there in a few."

"Okay, see you soon." after that was said she closed her phone and placed it on the wooden surface.

Elena passed her hand through her wet hair trying her best not to break down again. She had already done so hours ago, now she had to be strong not only for herself but for her little girl as well. At that revelation she got up from the chair then walked to her closet and took out a pair of black lacy bra and panties.

/

Bonnie knocked on the door a few times before she found Elena with her wet hair, and she was also wearing a cream colored robe.

"Hey." Bonnie gave Elena a warm smile and wrapped her arms around her softly.

Elena sighed into the small hug and tightly closed her eyes at the slight pain that shot through her body, after all she was still sore all over. "Thanks for coming."

"It's no problem." she said in her ear before letting go of Elena, then she walked inside the big house. Once she closed the door Bonnie followed Elena's lead to her bedroom.

"Now what do you need me to do ?" She asked.

"Just my hair and some make-up." Elena said briefly.

"Alrighty, let's get this started." Quickly Bonnie looked at the different subjects on the Dresser an picked out a big comb. She let Elena's hair flow out of it's big bun, as it layed on her clothed back Bonnie took layers of her hair and combed out any knots that were made earlier.

When she was done doing her hair Elena askes for her to do her make-up to match her outfit. After Bonnie was done she smiled at her work since Elena's face looked gorgeous.

Elena took in a deep breath before taking the strap of linen that kept her robe intact she pulled at it making the fabric fall to the floor around her feet. The warmth that came from the clothing was taken away quickly revealing her many bruises.

"He did this again ?" Bonnie questioned with concern in her words, whenever Elena needed someone to cover Klaus's unforgiving abuse she would come to Bonnie and beg her to for help.

Elena only nodded a reply knowing she didn't need to speak out the disturbing truth.

Bonnie sighed at the sight of what her friend had reduced to, she knew what Elena wanted her to do and as always she would comply and do exactly that. After 1 hour of focusing she was able to erase the bruises from her body as if it wasn't there at all. Even though she seemed unharmed and had no proof of the earlier abuse, in heart she still knew they were just being covered by the make-up.

"All done." Bonnie said with a sad smile.

"Thanks Bon." Elena said giving her a small smile of gratitude.

"No prob."

"Did you know that Damon is back from war ?"

"Really ?" she asked astonished by the news.

"Yup, his back for good." Elena said with a hint of happiness in her voice, she walked to her dress and slipped it on making sure the cover-up didn't stain her black dress.

"That's great, has he met Allison yet ?" she said bringing up the one piece of information that Elena did not want to really want talk about.

Elena took in a deep breath "Yeah he has, but he still hasn't questioned who's the father. It's like he knows Allison's his, he just doesn't want to question it... Does that even make any sense ?" Elena said as she looked Bonnie's way.

"Well... Maybe you should wait out and see when he comes to his right senses, I mean it's not everyday someone finds out they have daughter." Bonnie said.

Elena nodded her head "I know, but the worst part is Klaus could literary be known as her father as well since they have the same color eyes."

"But his not Elena, just wait it out if Damon still doesn't figure it out then you tell him yourself." Bonnie said while she was putting away the beauty utensils she used on Elena a few minutes ago.

Elena shook her head in understanding while she took in a deep breaths. "I'll give him just a few days to try and figure it out. If he doesn't then I guess Damon will become a father sooner than he taught."

Bonnie smirked at her friend "Don't be so nervous, I know Damon will Probabily accept this better than any other man that receives this type of news."

Elena nodded her head once more "I hope so."

/

"You look gorgeous Darling." Mrs Lockwood complimented.

"Thanks Mrs Lockwood, you look beautiful as always." Elena said with a polite smile.

Her mouth parted a little from the contact of someone's arms wrapping itself around her slim waist. Elena's heart stopped it's fast speed when she heard that person's voice "She truly does look wonderful doesn't she ?" Klaus said passing his lips on her cheek then looked the elder women's way.

"Yes she does, you have a great wife Klaus." Mrs Loockwood said while she was sucking up to Klaus, her smile seemed genuine enough but Elena knew better than to be fooled by the smile that was planted on her lips and her many compliments.

As she kept listening to their ongoing conversation, she blanked out for a second barely paying the amount of attention she usually does when she's around Klaus's Coworkers. Almost immediately she noticed the new comer, he was wearing a crisp black suit with a white dress shirt underneath while he had a black tie to finish his very sociable look. A smile spread on her face when he saw her and he placed his very well known smirk on his own lips. Klaus's grip tighten around her waist after he noticed the looks that were changed between Damon and his wife. "Will you excuse us for a minute ?" he said politely as he took Elena to the Library.

"What was that ?" he questioned furiously.

"What are you talking about ?" she said deciding to play dumb.

"Those looks you shared with army boy." he spit with venom in his voice.

"I only smiled at him, he was my childhood friend what do you want me to do ? Ignore him ?" she spoke as she crossed her arms around her top half.

"It looked more like flirting to me."

"Your delusional."

"Did anything happen between you two ?"

Elena's heart skipped a beat at his curious question, she knew it was better not to say anything since he would only be one step away from concluding that Allison was Damon's and that's something she did not want to risk him knowing "No, nothing has ever happened between me and Damon."

"You sure ? Because you know better than anyone not to lie to me."

"Yes I'm sure."

"Good, now lets go back to the party." he said with a smirk then laced his arm with her's.

Elena watched as Klaus's secretary was literary on top of him in public, he was making a fool of her name, it was one thing to cheat on her but it was another to be rubbing it on her face when she kindly threw this party in his honors. She grabbed another drink of champagne and gulped the bubbly liquid in one try.

"Whoa someone's enjoying the drinks a little too much." Damon said then took the glass from her hand.

"You know I can handle it." Elena said with a slight smirk.

"Oh I know that, I just didn't want the hostess to do something that will probably let her make a fool of herself."

Elena rolled her eyes at his explanation "Yeah,yeah. But this isn't even hard liquor and I have my reasons." she spoke then took another drink from the waiter that passed by them.

"What kind of reasons ?" Damon asked raising one of his eyebrows at her.

"Well..." before she could continue her sentence she saw her brother coming their way, she smiled brightly and placed her drink on the cabinet that was she was leaning on then she wrapped her arms around his body.

"Hey sis." he said as he tighten his arms around her waist, she flinched at the movement but kept a smile on her face.

"Welcome back, Bonnie didn't tell me you came home today." she said still wrapped in his arms.

He kissed the top of her head softly and let go of her "That's only because I came back like two hours ago."

"Oh, so how was Spain ?" Elena questioned.

"It was pretty good, the views are amazing, their food was good too, and I took bunch of pictures for the magazine so I think overall I did a good job. I just can't wait for it to get published." he said with a big grin on his face.

"That's great Jeremy, I'm so proud of you !" she exclaimed.

"Thanks Lena."

Damon walked to my side when he noticed the conversation seemed to be diminishing "Hey dude." he said toward Jeremy.

"Welcome back." Jeremy responded giving Damon a manly hug.

"Thanks man, same goes to you." After that was said Jeremy and Damon had gotten into a conversation based on how it was being a soldier in the War that went on for the past few years.

/

Even though it was 11:30pm the party was still going on with chatter about the office and how great a mayor Klaus is for their little town, then there the people who were literary gossiping about everyone especially on Damon being the new hot guy that keeps showing up at her home. Sometimes she wished she could just tell those people to put a sock in it and mind their own business but being the honorable woman she was raised to be, she bit her tounge and stopped herself from speaking her mind.

Elena excused herself from this big gathering and went upstairs to her room to change into something more comfortable so she could get a chance to get the very needed sleep that she has been craving for the past few hours. She didn't get a chance to undo her zipper when she heard her cell buzz on the wooden nightstand that was next to the queen sized bed.

As soon as she picked up her phone she heard her aunt's soft voice "I'm so sorry if I'm interrupting anything but Allison woke up from a nightmare 2 hours ago and refuses to go to sleep unless you come over."

Elena sighed and tightly closed her eyes, she hated when this happened but there wasn't much she could do to prevent her child from having any bad dreams she was just hoping it wasn't based on the same dream that kept haunting her. "Did she tell you what it was about ?"

"No, she won't tell me anything all she said is she wants you to come over."

"Alright I'll be over in a few." once that was said she quickly hanged up her phone, she changed into a gray T-shirt, black sweats, white sneakers and placed her hair into a sloppy ponytail then she grabbed her jacket, keys and her bag. In a very fast pace she went down the stairs making a quick getaway from the crowd that was still downstairs.

"Where are you going ?" a male voice asked.

Elena jumped a little from shock then turned around to face whoever had startled her "You scared me." she said in a breathless tone while her hand was on her speeding heart.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you, it just seemed like you were sneaking out like a teenager that got entirely too bored in a social event such as this one." Damon smirked at her as he placed his cup on the kitchen counter.

She smiled softly at him remembering the time when he helped her sneak out of one of her parents boring gatherings "Well I wasn't sneaking out. I need to go to my Aunt Jenna's house so I can take Allison home, from what I heard she had a nightmare and she won't go back to sleep unless I go over there." she explained.

"Oh need any help ?"

"U'm.. She thought it over, it wouldn't be right if she just got in a car with him and if anyone saw them together it would get out to Klaus, from that little revelation he would be completely furious. But on the plus side she could get some more alone time with Damon and she would gladly take any chance she could to be able to do so. Yeah I would approciate your help."

"Alright, let's get going."

They sneaked out of the house without any problems coming their way. Since Damon's car was a few blocks away from her big home she was thankful no one would be able to see them even if they did get away from the house undetected. The drive to Jenna's home was quite peaceful, they reminisced on the past times and how it was so easy back then when they were teenagers with no serouis problems to worry about.

Once she got to the oh-so familiar home she knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. Thankfully her aunt's husband Alaric opened the door with a welcoming smile on his face "You know you don't need to keep knocking, you are welcomed here anytime you want Elena."

She smiled back at him and nodded her head "Yeah I know but I feel like I would be disturbing your privacy."

"Trust me, you will know if your disturbing any fun between your aunt and I." he said with a wink as he lead her upstairs to Allison's spare room in Elena's childhood home.

She blushed a deep red on either sides of her face at his words. As she finally made it to her old bedroom she found her daughter lying curled up on her bed with her eyes wide open, red and puffy.

"Hey munchkin what happened ?" she said with concern in her soft voice then she slowly sat down on the bed passing her hand threw her daughter's curls.

"Does daddy love me ?" she asked with her big blue eyes starting to water once again.

"Of course he does sweety, he just doesn't have time to be with us, since his a mayor and that's a big job, the town comes first." Elena said truthfully, she didn't want to put such a problem on a child her age.

"He doesn't seem to like me when he is home." Allison stated.

Elena sighed and tightly closed her eyes. She hated lying to her daughter this way, and the older she got the more Allison started to notice things. Then she started with questions that Elena tried to answer at her best capabilities but now her answers seemed not to be good enough for her daughter. Sometimes she hated that Allison carried this gene from Damon, he always seemed to question everything from ever since he was little till this age.

While Elena was dealing with Allison, Damon just couldn't wait for Elena to come back to the car so he went up to the familiar home and let himself in with the help of Jenna. He went upstairs to Elena's old room then softly knocked on the barely opened door.

Elena began to wipe the tears that were falling from her daughter's eyes, it hurt her so much to think that she didn't feel loved enough and she knew how it was to be a kid, you always wanted the attention of your parents at all times and most importantly for them to show how much they love you. When she heard knocking from the door she twisted herself around then stepped away from the bed to open the door.

"Is everything okay ?" Damon asked.

"U'm... Before she said anything else she walked to the outside of the room and slowly closed the door behind her "She's not really in the best moods at the moment, and I'm trying to make her feel better but not much is working at the moment."

"Oh, maybe I can help you with that." he said making his way to the room then towards Allison's depressed form.

"Why is such a beautiful princess crying her eyes out ?" he questioned once he was crouched down in a mock-sitting position.

"I had a nightmare." Allison said between hiccups.

"Now what could possibly get you so sad ?"

Allison looked up at Elena as if she was asking permission to tell Damon the truth. She knew it wouldn't be the best subject for her daughter to bring up but either way she nodded her head in approval.

"My daddy doesn't have time for me."

"Mhm, well your dad is not doing a very good job at being a dad now is he ?"

She shook her head as she agreed with him.

"How about this, tommorow we could get the whole day with you, me and your mom just doing whatever you want." Damon said with a smile then poked her little button nose with his index finger.

Allison nodded her head to his input and softly smiled at Damon. Elena smiled to herself while she watched this go on, it was so adorable how Allison could instantly open up to Damon while when it came to other people she would be shy and try really hard to keep to herself. The sight that went on front of her was very ironic because Allison was actually getting taken care of by her true father not just some stranger that happened to just drop in her mother's life.

"Do you feel any better ?" she asked softly while she positioned herself next to her daughter on the kind sized bed.

Allison nodded her head as a response and rested her head on her mother's lap.

"You wannna stay with Aunt Jenna ?"

Allison shook her head choosing not to speak anything else in front of Damon.

"Do you want to go back home ?"

"No." she answered in a very soft voice.

Elena sighed and glanced at Damon for a few seconds before preparing herself to give her daughter another option.

But she didn't get a chance to suggest anything else since Damon came up with an idea on his own.

"Would you like to go Stefan's house ?" he questioned knowing it would be pretty weird of him to ask the little girl if he wanted to hang out with him in his home.

Allison nodded her head with a "Yes please."

Elena was surprised how Allison was so fast to respond to Damon's suggestion than she was with Elena's. It's nothing of jealousy, it's just she's never seen
her daughter open to anyone that quick before but she wasn't going to ponder on that for too long. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise if they start a good relationship now then maybe later on they won't have any problems with having a better daughter/father relationship in the near future.

After that revelation Elena got Allison dressed while Damon waited for them in his black Honda. Once they were inside his car he drove them to the boarding house where Elena have been to more than a few times. Whenever she needed a place that contained a bunch of memories of Damon this would be the place she kept running to, it felt like a second home to her. He then took them inside his newfound home, Elena looked down at her daughter seeing that she was half asleep already, Allison literary looked like a walking zombie. She was about to take her tired little girl's body in her arms but Damon got to the task at hand before she could do so.

"I've got it" he whispered.

She nodded her head and made her way to where Allison regularly sleeps, when they were inside she tucked Allison in bed then was about to walk out but her daughter's small hand caught her own. "Stay." she whimpered.

"Alright hunny, I'm just going to thank Damon then I'll be right back."

Allison pouted her lips a little but let go of her mother's hand. Elena went down to her forehead and kissed it sweetly then she walked over to the door and closed it behind her.

"Thank you so much, you didn't need to do this." she thanked the man that still got her heart beating in an unusual beat whenever she got very close to him.

"It's no problem, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you." he said as he kissed her cheek.

Elena's breath got caught in her airways as their skin touched. God, she missed his lips being on her body, she missed his simplest touches, she missed everything his hands did to her body and she badly wished she could act on her desires but she knew she couldn't. She was a married woman, with child, and had so many emotional problems that she seemed to be too broken for this strong man that was in front of her.

He walked away from her with a smirk on his face and made his way to his bedroom. She walked back to the room her daughter was placed in then got herself under the covers and wrapped her arms around her daughter getting some kind of closure to what she wished she could be doing with Allison's father.

AN: I am so sorry for the long wait, I'm literary on Haitus for a little while because since January 1st I've been terribly sick, with a fever, coughing, barely able to eat anything since my boy doesn't really like to digest much when I'm sick. Even though I don't have a fever nor have my bad eating habit but I still have a bad cough, once I pass this I will try to update more frequently. Now enough with my gibbering I'll get back to what you guys really want to know.

This chapter surpasses any chapter I have ever written before because it is the longest chapter I have ever updated. I had do many ideas that I just couldn't stop writing, I'm the type or writer that goes with the flow of a series I don't just plan it out ahead of everything because that wouldn't be that fun at least for me it wouldn't be, so don't be surprised if sometimes you find that I write like super long chapters in my series :) I gave you guys one clue on what will be coming up soon, if anyone can figure out what it is tell me your guesses in your reviews. I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D