Chapter Two: Overprotected

"Thirty minutes to curtain," yelled the lights and effects station.

Elena's back-up dancers were already on stage doing a pre-performance run-through, without the main act. The hair and makeup team that had been flown in from Ken Paves's Florida office were glancing around impatiently, worried that they wouldn't finish be able to start styling on time, nevertheless finish. Alaric and John were frantically dialing the popster's bus driver, hoping to get some sort of reassurance that Elena would make it in time. The man in charge of the sound station was pacing back in forth, waiting for Elena to come to sound check so he could adjust her microphone. But out of all of the people who handled Miss. Gilbert's life, no one was more worried than Stefan Salvatore.

Elena Gilbert's bus was supposed to have arrived two hours prior, and the most disturbing thing was that out of all of the five cars of security tailing the bus, none of them were responding to their phones, radios, or walkie-talkies. Every single one of Elena's personal security agents had been personally trained by Stefan himself, and they were well aware of the consequences of not responding to the main base's attempts at communication. They just wouldn't do it; they would lose their jobs, and possibly serve jail time for endangering the superstar's life.

"I can't believe they're late, I'm going to personally ruin Bonnie Bennett's life," muttered John as he stepped away from his computer and began his attack on the bus driver's personal life.

Alaric Saltzman spun in his chair nearby frantically, biting his fingernails and tapping his feet subconsciously. "This is terrible. Even if she walked through that door right now, we still wouldn't have time to get her ready. She'd have to go on stage without a microphone and in her day clothes. And who knows how many times she'd mess up her routine. She hasn't even had a chance to run through it once on this stage. We might have to.."

"We might have to do, what, Alaric?" John glared at him angrily. There was no option of canceling the show, it was Elena's first concert of the tour, and if news got out that she didn't show up for it, the media would begin the rumors of the most recent 'downward spiral of a child star' up again.

"This is terrible." Alaric repeated as he ran his fingers through his hair and pulled viciously. He was desperately trying to get his mind on something other than potential failure.

"Yeah! You keep saying that. I'm going to actually try and get something done." John got up and made a dash for the door. With one phone call, he would have helicopters circling all of Arizona in no time. Hopefully, one of those helicopters would locate Elena's bus and escort her to the Phoenix, Arizona arena.

What John didn't know, however, was that fifteen minutes later, Elena's bus would be located. And the news, wasn't pretty.

Elena opened her eyes slowly and inwardly thanked the heavens that her room was dark. Her head was rattling and her eyes were so fuzzy, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to see even if the lights were on. The brunette gave a weak yawn and stretched on her bed, hoping to go back to sleep. Instead of drifting off into a quiet slumber, however, she bolted upright and screamed.

She wasn't on her bus anymore. She wasn't preparing for her concert, either. Instead, she was in a strange, dark room after being crushed under her bedroom. Yes! Crushed under her own bedroom. Well, her traveling bedroom that is, but her bedroom none the less. What had happened after that? Had someone found her? Saved her? That had to be it.. But where was her hero? Did they bring he bring her to a hospital? 'NO, hospitals don't have king size beds Elena,' she thought to herself. Then she remembered an alarming detail. What had happened to Jenna? And Bonnie, her bus driver?

Before she could mull over her frantic thoughts any further, a sliver of light appeared in front of Elena and she squinted to find the source. It was a lamp. Someone had turned it on at the very far end of the room.

"You're awake." The voice sounded like it was coming from all over the room.

"Where am I? Where's my aunt?" Elena rushed the words out, only partially able to speak. Her throat was dried out to the absolute maximum and she felt like she was going to puke, despite having no food in her stomach what-so-ever.

The voice seemed to ignore her questions. Instead of answering her, a man appeared and walked closer to the bed, stopping there to and stare at her. It was too dark to make out any distinguishing features, but, he was strongly built and tall, and by the looks of it, he was not in fact a hospital nurse.

The girl felt a sudden panic sweep over her. What was she supposed to do? Elena Gilbert did not get into these kinds of situations. Elena Gilbert was a beautiful, talented, successful girl who had the world at her fingertips. All she had to do was do what she did best; sing and dance around before smiling for pictures. All the rest, other people dealt with. But, if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was to perform, and she had a feeling she would need to draw majorly from her acting skills to get out of this pickle. After all, she had no idea where she even was! Or, who she was with.

"What happened to me? Am I backstage at my show?.." Elena started hopefully, sincerely doubting the thought, but the mystery man cut her off anyway.

"No."

"Oh. Can you tell me where I am?" Elena asked meekly. From what she knew about reverse-psychology, the scared little girl act went along better than the arrogant celebrity.

The man sighed and turned around. Elena was afraid for a second that he was going to leave her alone and lock her in or something, but he flipped a switch on the nearby wall and looked back at her. The teenager gasped. The man was gorgeous. More than gorgeous. He was absolutely stunning. His dark hair was messy and fell perfectly over his crystal-like eyes, and his white t-shirt did little to cover his bulging muscles. He looked like an Armani model, and Elena tried not to drool.

At her reaction, the man chuckled dryly. Apparently, he was used to being oggled.

Elena glanced around her nervously. She was lying in the bed of a very open master bedroom in a penthouse. Glass walls overlooked a downtown city and luxury smiled up at her from every inch of the area. She relaxed inwardly. Of course! She must have gotten stitched up at the hospital and taken here to rest. The only thing that didn't make sense was the timeframe and the lack of people around her. If she had fallen asleep while she was reading.. why had it been an entire day before she woke up again? Unless the bus crash left her really messed up and the hospital gave her something to sleep through the pain. But in that case.. she would have cuts, bruises, the works. Where were all of her injuries?

Pushing her worries aside, Elena searched for more information.

"Do you work with my label? We're waiting until a limo comes so we don't have to drive by photographers without tinted windows, right?" She smiled hopefully/

The man eyed her curiously. It looked as though he was searching her for something, and when he didn't find it, or did, he walked closer and sat on the edge of the bed. Elena reacted by pushing herself farther away from him. 'It's just a habit, a way to keep my own space,' she told herself.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about photographers for awhile now." He stated, sounding bored as he started eying her again.

"What?" The brunette said, disbelievingly. She couldn't just stop her tour because of a simple accident! Speaking of the accident, what had happened? "Where's my aunt? Is she okay?"

"Your aunt is fine, if you choose to keep her like that, anyways."

Elena gulped. "I don't understand; what's going on? Who are you?" Despite his incredible looks, Elena was confused beyond comprehension. What the hell was happening? And why wouldn't he give her a straight answer, dammit?

"My name is Damon, and I'm your number one fan." He grinned crazily and the pop star's stomach lurched. She tried to control her breathing, but she felt herself going into breakdown mode. She hadn't had a panic attack in years, not since she had heard that her parents had died in the car accident. Not since she learned that her brother was in a drug induced coma. The singer's heart speed up rapidly and she began shaking as worry after worry flooded her mind. She felt rather than heard "Damon" wrap her into his arms, whispering reassurance that everything would be okay.

"We were meant to be together, don't worry, shhh."

Elena broke. Her fight or flight mechanism kicked in and she chose both. Taking "Damon" by surprise, she wiggled out of his grip and kicked him roughly in the stomach before making a break for the door. She heard him fall to the ground and she speed out the door, down the steps to the main floor of the penthouse and through the mini kitchen and lounge to the main door. Just as she grabbed onto the handle, she felt rough hands grip her arms harshly and throw her to the floor. It happened in mere milliseconds, and the girl's heart picked up faster and raced once more. How had he gotten downstairs so fast? It seemed impossible for anyone to recover and catch her that quickly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he spit out menacingly, his eyes lit like fires.

"What.. what do you want?" Elena sobbed out. She knew that celebrity kidnappings usually revolved around money, but she hoped somewhere deep down that he'd just say an autograph and let her go.

Instead, he knelt down on his knees and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling it backwards and forcing her to look him in the eye. He brought his lips close to her ear and stroked her cheek lightly before whispering one, single word. The scariest word of all.

"You."

A deep black camera pointed itself steadily into the young blonde's face and Tyler Lockwood, her assistant, steadied the microphone to hand directly over her as she gave covered the news story that had the potential to promote both of the interns to permanent positions at the popular news station.

"This is Caroline Forbes of Channel 4 News reporting to you; We have the story. A shocking accident involving America's sweetheart has left many confused and worried for the pop princess's life. Just forty-five minutes ago at 7:05pm, Elena Gilbert's tour bus flipped over while she was on her way to preform her first concert on her second album's world tour in nearby Phoenix, Arizona. Her bus was found via helicopter search when she did not show up to her concert this evening. As you can see from the pictures, her bus along with five cars belonging to whom we presume to be her bodyguards were found rolled over Highway 59's signature mini cliff. So far, it is clear that there was something on the road which caused the bus to turn sharply and plumett, however we are unsure how all five of the cars behind followed suit. The most unsettling part of this incident, however, is that Elena Gilbert and the others affected have not been located. There has been a search for the starlet and her security agents conducted, but there have so far not been any discoveries. Tune in later for updates and more information on Channel 4 News. Because remember, if we know, you know." The blonde smiled and waved as the camera clicked off and the microphone was lowered.

"Great job, Caroline! We've got ourselves one hell of a story!" Tyler and his partner smiled at each other giddily as they walked back to their news van and set up their post. As they unloaded a couple more cameras to get more footage of the site, a black mercedes rolled up and two very pissed off pop star managers slid out of the vehicle.

"John, John, John, calm down. We have to stay calm, we know that no one else is going to." Alaric stated, attempting to reassure his buisness associate.

"Alaric." John shot him dagger eyes. "I will not calm down. Elena could be dead for all we know! This is a catastrophe! What are we supposed to do? Please, tell me. No number of special security agents, no matter how large, can locate a dead body buried on the beach in Cancun. Plus, we still have to release an official statement! Good Lord, get someone on that, will you? Ugh. This stuff only happens to us." John muttered under his breath.

Alaric rolled his eyes at John's selfishness, but pulled out his phone to contact another member of Team Elena to work on a statement.

No one knew, however, through all of the commotion, that Stefan Salvatore had already been to the crash site, before the helicopters had even arrived. He was the one who had hid the bodies of the dead security guards, and he was the one who knew that what had happened could only be the work of one. The three years that Stefan spent protecting the girl that he secretly loved had not stopped the thing that he feared most would happen.

His brother Damon was back.