Hey!

I'm so sorry for the delay but hopefully you'll like the new chapter.

Thanks a lot to all for reading and to Lorena for being my beta on this.

Enjoy.

SAVE YOU

I wanna rock and roll. I wanna give my soul
I'm wanting to believe. I'm not too old
Don't wanna make it up. I don't wanna let you down
I wanna fly away. But I'm stuck on the ground
So help me decide
Help me to make up, make up my mind
Wouldn't that save you?

Matthew Perryman Jones

.

Damon watched carefully and with a smile on his lips as the girls splashed each other and tried to swim in the shallow part of the pool. It was Saturday and he could have the luxury of not doing anything but spend time with his girls. He lived for days like this, he loved his job and that was something that he couldn't deny but sometimes it took too much of his time, there was nothing in the world he liked more than being surrounded by his family, even Stefan.

And now Elena.

He had been showing up to work with dark circles under his eyes all week; ever since the first night when they discussed life while eating ice cream in the kitchen they had somehow developed a routine. They would stay up until the early hours of the morning talking and sharing sweet treats, it didn't matter that he was in a numb state the whole next day, he was finding enchanting the process of knowing this woman, she was so much more than he would have expected.

Damon was sure that this was probably not a smart decision and that it would end disastrously but now that he started he just couldn't stop. He wanted to know everything about her, in fact he wanted to know what she was doing right now. Since it was the weekend she had the freedom to go away and apparently she had a party tonight so she and her friend Caroline were heading for a spa day, or at least that's what she told him, but he felt the need to be sure, to hear about her. He even contemplated the chance of sending her a message but decided against it in the last moment; that would blur things even more between them.

"And what got you with that gloomy face?" The voice of his brother brought Damon back to the present and he lifted his eyes to find him taking a seat in front of him while the girls squealed happily to see that their uncle decided to visit. Damon rolled his eyes while Stefan cooed and said cute things to the girls "I am allowed to visit now brother?" Stefan asked Damon with glee on his face once the girls went back to their business.

"Don't bother me Stefan"

"I'm just saying, wouldn't want you ripping my head off again"

"Bite me" Damon muttered and fixed his gaze on his girls again

"I swear that for a minute there I thought you were going to piss all around her" He mocked him before starting to laugh. Damon shot him a nasty look and clenched his jaw.

"We already talked about this and I will not discuss it again" Damon answered

Truth be told he felt terrible after the whole incident. He knew that he had acted wrongly and that he had no right to be mad at either of them for hanging out together, Elena wasn't his but at the moment he couldn't help that rage that went through his body while seeing her smile at his brother. He wanted to be the one she was smiling at, that was a dangerous feeling and he knew it more than anyone.

"Okay, I want to be serious about it for a minute" Stefan leaned closer to him and placed his elbows above the table "There's absolutely nothing wrong about you wanting to have a relationship again"

"Stefan, please don't start with this" Damon grimaced and turned his head to stare at his brother.

"I'm serious Damon, I know you want more than the occasional hookup" Stefan eyes were serious and concerned while regarding him and Damon knew his brother's words came from a good place "And I've seen the way you look at her…"

"I can't Stefan you know that… I won't put myself through that again" Damon closed his eyes and massaged his temples. The sun was starting to shine brighter in the sky and his shirt was clinging to his body with the perspiration leaving his skin. It was overwhelming him, everything around him was suffocating.

"And I know Elena isn't her, no woman can be her Damon" Stefan spoke quietly "You can't let what happened with Kat define your entire life"

"I know Stefan, I know that" Damon whispered and directed his attention back to his daughters "But I also know they love Elena, in the small amount of time she's been here…she cares for them more than Kat ever did. And if things go wrong…I don't want to take that from them"

Stefan let out a soft laugh and leaned back on his chair "And just how long do you think life is Damon?" His elder brother turned his head to look at him with doubt written all over his face "…yeah you don't want to try things with her for it might fail, Enzo wouldn't tell a thing to Bonnie for fear of how she will react, Bonnie wouldn't go to get the tattoo she wants because the notion of forever scares her… and I'm just here wondering how long do you all of think life is?"

"When did you became so deep?" Damon tried to joke

"I'm serious Damon, this is the only life you get, stop being afraid to do the things you want" Damon was about to answer but one of the maids carrying a tray with strawberry lemonades interrupted them. "And if you don't do anything I might get her for myself" Stefan said once the girl retired

Damon's eyes darkened "You don't mess with her" He warned

The younger Salvatore laughed out loud and almost spilled his drink all over the floor "You are so easy"

"Daddy!" Briar shouted from the other side of the pool "When is Lena coming back?"

Stefan's laugh grew stronger while the girls looked at him with weird expressions and ended up laughing with him too. Damon groaned and drank his lemonade, trying to cool himself down. He couldn't stop thinking about her and having everyone at the house ganging up against him wasn't helping either.

He didn't like what he was starting to feel. He needed to be in control and Elena had swiped the rug right from under him. He needed to put himself back together.

Caroline laughed and threw her arms around Elena "Do I ever tell you how amazing you are?" The blonde girl murmured in her friend's ear who only nodded and tried to steady her.

"Yes you have, now you might need to sit down for a while" Elena started heading towards Matt's bedroom in the back of the apartment.

"I just wanted to have a nice night out you know, why did he have to be such a jerk about it?" Caroline whispered and the catch in her breath was visible. It broke Elena's heart to see her friend like this all because of that stupid Tyler Lockwood.

Today was Matt's surprise party and everything was supposed to be perfect, the party was in full swing and the blonde guy had been surprised and ecstatic by the lengths her friends and girlfriend took to celebrate his birthday but Tyler being a total ass to Caroline minutes after the party started dampening the girl's mood and left her friend ready to nurse every single bottle of alcohol she could get her hands on.

"Because he's a dick, Care, that's why" Elena muttered as she dragged her friend through the apartment. The blonde girl was not capable of standing on her own so it was better to just put her to bed.

"But I love him, Elena, I love him so much" She whined as her eyes colored with unshed tears

"I know you do honey, and I know he doesn't deserve it" Elena answered. Just when both girls were about to reach the bedroom Elena took a bad step and almost came tumbling down the floor with her friend in her arms.

A hand shot up to steady both of them and Elena felt infinitely grateful to whoever it was. "Easy there love" A man with a very hot British accent said and once they were able to balance themselves on their own he walked in front of them and offered to help them. "Let me help you, I'll carry her"

"Oh God no, there's no need. We're almost there" Elena answered. It was a nice gesture but he was a stranger after all.

"Trust me, it'll be better if I take her or both of you might end up on the floor" He said with a small smile and Caroline's eyes lifted to finally acknowledge the guy in front of them. He was tall and blonde, with beautiful eyes and a smile full of promises.

"You're very hot" Caroline muttered to Elena's complete embarrassment

"Thank you love, you are very beautiful yourself" He whispered and Elena tried to stifle a laugh. Caroline was going to love this story in the morning.

"Are you a jackass like Tyler?" The blonde asked in a broken voice

"I have no idea who he is but if he's the reason you're like this he might want to stay away from me" He moved closer to her and removed her arms from around Elena and took her by the knees, carrying her bridal style.

"Oh wow I'm flying" Caroline said as both Elena and the man laughed. Elena moved to the front so she could walk ahead of them and unlock the door of Matt's bedroom, she knew he wouldn't mind if Caroline slept there tonight.

"What's your name?" Caroline asked in a soft voice as her eyes fought to stay open

"I'm Nikklaus, but my friends call me Klaus" He whispered to her and Elena prayed silently to God for this man to be an actual gentleman and to turn out to be the knight in shiny armor who could rescue her from Tyler, but of course it was a long shot. After all this might not mean anything at all to him.

He deposited the almost sleeping girl on the bed and tucked her under the covers. He stared at her for a few seconds and then turned around to face Elena "All set" He said with a smile

"Thank you so much for that"

"It was my pleasure" He answered.

Elena wasn't going to leave her friend's side for one second in the entire night so she started walking towards the bed when the door of the room opened and Matt entered with a friend.

"I knew that it was you who I saw enter here" Matt's friend said with an accent just as attractive as Klaus. Elena turned around and saw a very polished man standing next to Matt, he had light brown hair and the cutest pair of brown eyes.

"What's going on Lena?" Matt asked Elena while eyeing the sleeping Caroline

"Care had a little too much to drink and Klaus here gave us a hand" Elena answered while Matt muttered 'Stupid Tyler' under his breath.

"Thanks man" Matt said to Klaus.

The blonde man only shrugged and looked at the sleeping form of Caroline "Just seemed like she needed help"

"Oh wow what a bad host am I" Matt said looking at the people in the room "Elena this is Klaus and Elijah Michelson, guys this is my good friend Elena Gilbert and the girl sleeping on the bed is Caroline Forbes"

Elena waved awkwardly ,not really knowing what to do since she was in the other side of the room. Klaus eyes went back to Caroline and Elijah's focused on her with mirth shinning in them

"The Elena Gilbert?" He asked

"What do you mean The Elena Gilbert?" She asked with a frown

Matt and Elijah laughed "Matt has been trying to set us up for a while now" The man with the accent answered. Elena frowned even deeper and turned her attention to Matt

"Not in that way" The blonde guy said with his hand raised in front of him

Elijah laughed softly while Klaus chuckled "I own an art gallery and I've seen some of your work, I think you're great"

"You do? I mean you've seen my stuff?" She asked with true interest

"Lena I have tons of your paintings in the house and all over the office" Matt reminded her and she blushed a little. She used to make things for her friends all the time.

"I was really impressed with them and asked Matt to set us up so we could discuss them a little"

"Really?" Elena asked and guessed she probably looked very stupid right now.

"Yes, and this might not be the best moment to talk about it but why don't you give me your number and we can set up a meeting" He offered while pulling his phone out of his back pocket.

"Sure" She answered and proceeded to give him her contact information. She couldn't believe this, it was probably nothing but it made her feel good to know someone else beside her friends and Damon's daughters who thought that her art was actually good.

Caroline growled something in her sleep that might have been 'stupid man' and everyone laughed softly at it

"She's going to be mortified in the morning" Elena muttered and sat on the bed next to her friend.

"And I think that might be our cue to leave" Klaus announced and pushed his brother's shoulder "Nice to meet you Elena" He said before eyeing Caroline one last time.

"You too" The brunette answered

"We'll be in touch Elena" Elijah said before disappearing behind the door with his brother

"You'll stay with her?" Matt asked

"Of course"

"I'll lock the door" The blonde said "I can't believe he ruined tonight for her" Matt muttered

"What's new?" Elena said in a dry tone and Matt nodded before closing the door behind him.

She layed down on the bed next to Caroline's body and wished her friend would realize how bad that relationship was for her. Tyler had never been good to her and was always making her feel so bad about herself. She couldn't believe how Caroline could ignore it.

Then again when you're in love you probably ignore every single bad thing about the other person or why in the world loving them is the last thing you should do.

For Caroline it was falling in love with an abusive man who enjoyed to bring her down. For her it was to fall in love with her manwhore, widowed boss.

Wait. What?

Love?

No. She was not in love with Damon Salvatore.

Elena closed the door behind her as quietly as possible. It was still pretty early in the morning and she guessed most of the people in the house were still sleeping, she had stayed all night with Caroline in Matt's apartment making sure she was okay.

She removed her high heels and started climbing the stairs making sure to not make noise. She was craving a very long and hot bath and sleeping all morning, truth be told she didn't have much rest last night since she had to make sure Caroline didn't drown in her sleep or something like that.

As she rounded the corner of the hallway to head into her room's direction she felt a pair of arms close around her and push her gently against the wall. She almost shouted in fright but her nose caught the musky and minty smell that belonged to Damon. "Where were you last night?" He whispered into her ear

Elena couldn't see his face but the feel of his breath against her neck made goosebumps appear on her skin "Excuse me?" She stuttered. His cheek was resting against hers and his hands were keeping her in place by her waist.

"Did you spend the night with someone else?" He asked and Elena could hear a hint of anger in his voice which threw her off balance. He had no right to ask her that, she was in her free time and could do whatever she wanted with it.

"I don't think that's-"She started, ready to put him in his place but he surprised her by planting his lips on hers.

The minute their lips made contact it was like fireworks exploded inside of her, he gripped her more roughly and pressed their bodies together as she responded his kiss with a fervor she didn't know she had. He wanted to devour her and she was more than willing to give him everything he asked.

Her hands were tangled in his dark hair as he pressed even closer to her, his right hand cupped her breast trough the fabric of her dress and she moaned into his mouth as he massage it.

The noises of people moving upstairs broke the magic between them, he pulled away from her and stared at her swollen lips for a few seconds before lifting his eyes up to hers.

His blue eyes were dark with desire but Elena could also see fear and regret behind them "I- I shouldn't" He said and she knew what he was about to say and that he was probably right "I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry Elena" He muttered before disappearing into the other side of the hallway.

Elena touched her lips as she walked back into her bedroom. A part of her couldn't believe what had just transpired between her and her boss, her heart was still racing and the ache between her thighs was almost unbearable.

The minute she was in her room she closed the door and pressed against it as her hands went inside her dress, she couldn't help it, she needed that release like nothing else in the world and as she threw her head back and worked her fingers between her legs she remembered the feel of his lips on hers, his hands on her body, she could almost smell him next to her, feel his stubble scratching her cheek.

She came with a whimper and seconds afterwards she felt the shame washing over her. Did she really just make herself come thinking about her boss? In a bedroom right in front of his children?

Damon Salvatore was messing with her head and she wasn't sure for how much time she was going to remain sane. Not after the kiss they shared, she wanted him and there was no doubt about it but she was very much afraid that wanting wasn't all she was feeling for him.

A review please?

By the way what are you thinking about the whole Damon/Bonnie thing in the last episodes of the show?