Hey there!

Hope you're all doing okay, thanks a lot for reading, I'm so sorry it took me so long. I really hope you enjoy the chapter, I just want you to know shit's about to hit the fan real soon because come on, it's Delena, what would they be without the drama?

Thanks a lot to Lorena for being my beta

And if you enjoy the chapter, leave me a review :)

"What I see is a good man milady. And they're not like buses it won't be another one in ten minutes time"

Downtown Abbey

.

Elena looked at herself in the bathroom mirror with a nervous smile on her face, a part of her still couldn't believe this was actually happening. A few seconds ago Elijah had given her a very heartwarming speech about working with her and had presented her first formal collection on his gallery. People had cheered for her and congratulated her on her amazing work, she never thought people could actually think her work was that good. Matt had given her flowers and Caroline had squealed next to her and everything had been perfect.

Almost perfect. Damon had called her earlier to let her know he would arrive late, she was disappointed but by the sound in his voice she knew he was even more upset than her for not being able to be there and that had brought a smile to her face, knowing how much her dreams meant to him.

Elena exited the bathroom and found Caroline and Matt near the bar, her blonde friend had a scowl on her face while Matt looked at her with glee.

"What's going on?" Elena asked the minute she approached them

"Caroline here has some very strong opinions about her boyfriend's sister" Matt said with a smile

"She's a total bitch!" Caroline spat before downing her martini in one go "She has been clinging to him the entire night and he doesn't know how to tell her no"

"She doesn't have to deal with mommy issues, but rather with sister issues" Matt told Elena "I found this whole thing to be hilarious" The blonde sent a murderous glance towards the man and Elena tried her best not to laugh.

"Well you are Caroline Forbes, go, and get him back!" Elena told her

"It's not that easy, she hates me!" She screeched "And I don't know, she makes me feel like…like I'm not good enough for him"

"Okay, now that's ridiculous" Matt said

"Totally" Elena joined "She is a crazy bitch and totally not worth it" Elena hugged her friend briefly before ordering a drink "But you know what, don't worry about it, we are going to have so much fun tonight and get drunk"

"I'll drink to that" Matt said while raising his glass

"Well maybe Matt and I will" Caroline said with the biggest smile Elena had seen "Because you might be too busy" She signaled with her glass to the door and Elena turned around to see a breathtaking sight.

Damon walked across the threshold looking like he owned the place. He was wearing a black suit with a dark blue jacket underneath and his hair was styled in a messy way that she knew took ages to achieve.

"wow" She said under her breath

"Exactly what I was thinking" She heard Caroline say, but her voice was truly just noise in the background because her entire attention was on the man walking towards her with a smirk on his face. It never ceased to amaze her, the fact that a man like him was crazy about someone like her.

The moment he reached her he placed a kiss on her cheek and took her by the waist "Congratulations doll" His thick voice said into her ear and she felt all of her insides turn into goo.

"I think I just got pregnant" Caroline whispered under her breath and Matt snickered. Elena blushed all over and sent a murderous glance towards her friend.

"It's always good to see you Caroline" Damon said with a smirk before releasing Elena and pressing a kiss to the blonde's cheek

"Of course, Mr. Salvatore" The blonde girl beamed "And this is Matt" She motioned to the blonde man who wasted no time in shaking Damon's hand

"Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too, Matt, I've heard a lot about you"

"Oh and I've heard all about you too" Matt said and Elena blushed even more

"Okay, you two need to stop embarrassing me" She hissed at them "Let's go" She tugged on Damon's hand and started walking away while she heard her friends chuckling in the background

"Quite the pair" Damon commented

"They always team up against me" Elena answered with a smile

They walked around the venue so that Damon could see Elena's work and talk with a few of the people Damon knew, a warm and fuzzy feeling invaded her chest every time he stopped to admire one of her paintings. She could never tell him with words how much it meant to her that he cared so much about what she did.

At one point they were intercepted by Elijah, the minute the British man started walking towards them Elena started to feel the tension emanating from Damon's body.

"Hi, you're Damon Salvatore right?" He started "Elena's boss?"

"Yes I am" Damon's jaw clenched and he shook Elijah's hand briskly "Beautiful thing you did here" He said motioning to the place, his words had a cold undertone and Elena felt herself start to worry.

"It was not my doing" He said "It was all hers" Elijah looked a Elena with a glint in his eyes and Damon balled his hands into fists at his sides

Thankfully seconds later an elderly man called Elijah and he excused himself "Does Elijah know you and I are together?" Damon asked the minute the other man was outside of ear shot

"What?" Elena asked him, astonished. She had never imagined that that was what bothered Damon.

"Does he?"

"No, I mean I think no"

"You've never mentioned me?"

"Yes, I mean I told him I was working for you but I never-"

"So I'm just your employer?" He asked with an edge in his voice

"Damon that's not-"

"Unbelievable Elena" He muttered before turning around and heading towards the door. Elena looked around and thankfully no one had seemed to realize what was happening, no one except Caroline and Matt who were now looking at her with worried eyes.

Elena cursed mentally and followed Damon out of the place, she found him walking down the stairs towards the parking lot "Damon wait" She shouted and he stopped in his tracks, his whole posture was rigid and Elena knew she wasn't going to like what was in his eyes

"Are you ashamed of us?" He asked and his voice almost broke

"What? No!" She told him, shocked that he could think that.

"Then I don't see why you would want to hide our relationship, why you insist on keeping it a secret and not telling him I'm your boyfriend to a man who clearly has other intentions with you" His blue eyes were stormy as he said the words through gritted teeth

"Damon, it's not like that. I told you that I don't want people to know in case it doesn't work out"

"It seems to me Elena, that you've pegged our relationship from the start as a means to an end" he spat at her

"No, Damon. I love you"

"I know, and I love you too" He said "But I can't be the only one wanting this to work, I can't fight for this alone Elena" He shook his head in disappointment and then walked away slowly.

She couldn't do anything but stay there, rooted in her spot while tears started streaming down her face. Caroline had warned her; this whole secrecy thing was going to bite her on the ass.

"Elena? what happened?" She heard Caroline's voice behind her. Turning around she found her and Matt standing there with worried looks on their faces.

She launched herself on their arms immediately, basking in the comfort and familiarity of them. "I screwed up Caroline" She said

She let herself be comforted by them for a while before putting on a brave face and going back to the event, this was her show after all. Nonetheless, she couldn't enjoy anything for the rest of the night.

This definitely wasn't how she expected tonight to end.

Game of thrones played on the screen as Elena dipped another French fry in the pot of chocolate mint chip, Caroline had scrunched her nose when she watched her do that before leaving to have lunch with her mother. It was Sunday morning and Elena had been wallowing in self-pity since Friday night when Damon left her at the party, he hadn't called her and she hadn't called him either and the silent treatment was already killing her.

A knock on the door stopped her from popping another fry into her mouth, she groaned and reluctantly got up from Caroline's couch in order to open the door.

"You look terrible" Were the first words that greeted her when she opened the door and found Stefan Salvatore standing there.

"Jeez, thanks friend" She said as she widened the door so the younger Salvatore could come in

"I'm here to conduct an intervention" He said solemnly as he walked into the living room, he looked at the screen and grimaced "You sure do know how to wallow"

Elena rolled her eyes and picked up the remote control to turn off the TV "What are you doing here Stefan?"

"I already told you, intervention" He sat on the couch and then took the pot of ice cream into his hands "I cannot stand another minute of my brother brooding or you for that matter"

"He told you what happened" Elena said and Stefan nodded as he took a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth "And you think it's my fault"

"I wouldn't say it like that"

Elena groaned and plopped down on the couch next to him, taking the bag of fries into her hands "I didn't mean to hurt him Stefan, it wasn't like he thinks…I don't want anything with Elijah and I'm not ashamed of our relationship… I think it was just preservation"

"I know Elena and I know this because I can see the bigger picture" Stefan told her "But Damon can't." He looked at her sadly "You see my brother and see a successful man, confident, intimidating… but he's not entirely like that. Damon has a lot of insecurities and that's why wants everyone to know that you are with him. He doesn't want to lose you"

Elena sighed and rested her head against the couch before taking a bunch of fries into her mouth. She felt terrible, the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt Damon and that was exactly what she had done.

"And he's wrong too, he's closing up again and refusing to contact you, he's stubborn that one" Stefan shook his head with a small smile on his face "But I do know he loves you"

"I know"

"Look I'm gonna tell you a story. The girl from the party…Valerie, you remember?"

"Of course"

"We were high school sweethearts, I loved her more than anything in this earth but her family didn't approve of our relationship, some old family feud they kept dragging on"

"Like Romeo and Juliet?"

Stefan laughed softly "Yeah, something like that"

"What happened?"

"She got pregnant in our sophomore year at college. We were terrified, we both knew that our family wouldn't approve" Stefan eyes were lost in the memories, there was a sad quality to them and Elena felt her heart aching for him "But we promised to make it work, we would stand together against everyone and everything would be all right"

"But it wasn't" She whispered

"No, it wasn't. Her family turned their backs on her and she lost the baby before her first trimester" Stefan closed his eyes "I was devastated, I realized I had started to truly want that baby but she… you can't know what it did to her"

Elena was so used to Stefan being relaxed around her, to being carefree and making jokes, so seeing this other side of him surprised her, she would have never guessed he had so many things hidden inside of him.

"We drifted apart after that, she never truly got over what happened and I was young and foolish. I didn't understand how it affected her, letting her go is truly one of the biggest mistakes of my life"

"I'm so sorry Stefan" She told him softly

He nodded and took another spoonful of ice cream "My point is, Elena, that I don't want to see that happening to you"

"Stefan I-"

"Go and talk to my brother, fix this before it's too late. You don't want to be sitting here ten years from now realizing you let your happiness go away"

"But what if he doesn't wants me back?"

"Oh for the love of God, you have that man wrapped around your little finger" He teased, the somber look on his eyes completely gone. "He could never say no to you"

Elena smiled in spite of herself and launched herself into Stefan's arms "Thank you" She told him.

He hugged her back and smiled "You're welcome. I had to do something, you guys were really depressing me"

Elena released him and punched him playfully on the arm "I think I should go change"

"And shower" He scrunched up his nose

Elena punched him again "Asshole" She muttered with a half-smile before getting up and heading towards the bathroom

Damon sighed before downing another glass of bourbon. He had been restless since Friday night, a part of him knew it had been wrong to leave Elena there all by herself but another part of him was still so angry at her.

He leaned back on his chair and stared at the starry sky above him, the girls were already in bed and he was currently sitting in the back yard getting drunk, it was still technically the weekend so they hadn't asked about Elena yet but he wasn't sure what he was going to tell them tomorrow morning. She had become such an important part of their lives that he wasn't sure how they were going to function without her.

He poured another glass and took a sip before closing his eyes, he was tired but refused to go to bed. He had already had so many memories of her in there, he swore he could still smell her scent on his sheets.

"Does misery need company?" His eyes flew open the minute he heard her voice. He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't hear her approach

"Elena…" He whispered as he stared at her. She was wearing jeans, a light blue long sleeved blouse, she looked as beautiful as ever but even he could tell that she was as miserable as him.

"I came to apologize" She said softly as she took a seat on a chair opposite his "Damon I never intended to-"

"No, I should apologize" The minute he saw her all his previous anger vanished, fading away in the recess of his mind "I shouldn't have left you there"

"It's okay, I get it" She said softly "I shouldn't have been so insistent on keeping this a secret, it's just… it scares the hell out of me"

"Scares you? Why?" His blue eyes were soft while looking at her and she almost started weeping right there because of the care she saw in there, how she had missed him these two days.

"Of all of this" She answered him "I feel like… like if we say it to everyone it will be more real and then… I don't know I just keep waiting for everything to blow up on my face"

"Why would you think that?"

"I don't know, God Damon I've never been good at relationships. I think it might have something to do with my father abandoning me or some stupid psychoanalytic thing like that" She joked

"Elena…" He stood up and walked towards her, kneeling in front of her chair "Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise you. We'll make this work."

"Promise?"

"Promise" He answered "And please forgive me for being an idiotic, insecure bastard. You mean so much to me…. I just can't help it"

"It's okay" She said smiling "It's kind of hot" She pressed a brief kiss to his lips "So, no more secrets" She said with a small smile

Damon frowned slightly as a wave of guilt washed over him. Hypocrite his mind screamed, you are keeping more secrets than anyone "No more secrets" He forced the words out of his mouth

Elena smiled at him and took his face between her hands "I hate fighting with you"

"Me too, you have no idea how much I missed you these two days"

"Oh I have, I've also eaten my weight in ice cream so I fighting is definitely bad for my health"

He laughed at her words and leaned towards her "Not healthy at all" He whispered before kissing her, her hands cupping his jaw while his rested on her legs.

They kissed as the stars shinned above them, as the chilly wind caressed their skins and as two little girls watched them from the window of their bedroom, giggling with delight at the scene in front of them.