A/N: Again, picking up where we left off last chapter.

Chapter 10

Damon fiddled with the combination of the safe in his study. He'd actually put his foot into the sitting room when he'd paused for a moment. Before he went barreling in there he needed something first; ammunition for the execution he was about to perform. In his agitated rush to get back to his wife, he made a mistake on the combination. He started over now, trying to remain patient as he put in the numbers of his wife's birthday and their wedding anniversary. Finally, the door swung open and he pulled out the manila envelope with Stefan's name on it. He closed the safe behind him and walked quickly back to the parlor.

The first thing he noticed when he entered the room was that his wife looked extremely pale and she was wringing her hands in her lap. As her eyes landed on him, he saw relief in them for one small moment, before it disappeared and he saw the fear in them. The fear was almost enough to distract him from all else, but then the reason for it turned around and glared at him.

"Damon," Stefan said with a slight sneer.

His first instinct was to go for the jugular and shred Stefan to pieces, but he was going to enjoy the kill, and that meant appreciating the hunt and the chase. If his brother had just come after him, he would have been…lenient; but going after Elena, bad move.

"Hello brother," Damon said with a smile so cold his brother stopped sneering and looked worried for a second. Good, his brother should be worried. Damon dropped the envelope on the nearest surface before walking across the room to kiss his wife.

"Damon," she whispered anxiously, "he's going to…"

"Shhh," he told her gently, giving her hands a quick squeeze.

Then he poured himself a drink, not bothering to offer Stefan one. After he'd taken one long sip, he sat next to his wife and put an arm around her.

"Stefan, take a seat." He motioned for Stefan to sit opposite them.

His brother looked like he was going to refuse as first, but then complied, sitting with a huff.

"Why are you here Stef?"

"Can't a man just decide to pay his brother a visit?" Stefan asked, sneer back in place.

"No, not in your case."

"I wanted to see how this little domestic union was fairing." His brother was wearing a look of arrogance now that suggested he thought he had the upper hand.

Damon turned to his wife. "I'd say this union is fairing quite well, wouldn't you?" he asked her softly, her face just inches from his.

Her eyes were wide with confusion. They searched his for a moment before she gave him a small smile. "Yes," told him quietly, "I think it's going well." Her words filled him with pleasure and confidence. They sat there for a moment, wrapped up in each other, until Stefan snorted.

"I know exactly what this is, Damon. You don't fool me. Forcing a woman to marry you is a new low, even for you."

"Elena and I have an arrangement; an agreement, one we are both happy with."

"I'll bet. It's the only way you'd find someone to marry you. Katherine was smart enough to run in the other direction."

He felt Elena flinch beside him. It was the type of comment Damon had expected his brother to make. Katherine had always been Stefan's trump card. With Elena curled into his side, however, her name didn't bring up the bitterness it usually did. Damon wondered if he was doing the right thing, drawing this out, perhaps it was time to go straight for the kill. It was unfair on Elena to be carrying on like this, and it could get worse.

"I'll bet he hasn't even told you about Katherine."

This time it was Damon who wanted to flinch. He should have told her about Katherine earlier.

"Damon will tell me when he's ready," Elena told Stefan coldly.

"So he hasn't told you? I shouldn't be surprised, not really. He never told Caroline or his other girlfriends about her. I shouldn't have assumed things would be different with you. See you may love him, Elena, but he'll never love again. So you can sit here and pretend to be happy, locked in your loveless marriage, but I know the truth. I know you. You can't be happy when you're with someone who will never love you back."

The comment stung as if she'd been slapped. To be compared to Damon's other girlfriends; to be told Damon would never love her and she was locked in some loveless marriage was just awful, but it didn't change the fact that she was happy in her marriage. She was aware of Damon sitting tensely beside her; had felt him tense up when Stefan had mentioned her love. She hadn't told Damon she loved him, hadn't thought the time right, but now he knew, and she was glad he did. She didn't want to hold it in or keep it a secret anymore. She did love him, and she would love him for the rest of her life, even if he couldn't love her back.

"See that's where you're wrong, Stefan. You don't know me, because I am happy. I'm happier than I've ever been."

Stefan laughed angrily and stood up. "It doesn't matter what you say, this farce is ridiculous and I intend to tell everyone about it. You'll be the laughing stock of the city."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," her husband said beside her. His voice held so much confidence that Elena wondered if he realized exactly what Stefan was threatening to do – ruin their lives without any thought of the consequences.

"Why not?" Stefan asked belligerently.

"I thought you'd never ask," Damon said. He stood up and made his across the room, picking up an envelope.

"What's this?" Stefan asked as Damon handed it to him.

"Why don't you open it up and find out," Damon told him, walking back across the room to refill his now empty glass.

Elena had to admit her curiosity had been piqued and she wished she was standing next to Stefan so she could see what was in there. He pulled out a handful of photos. Stefan's face turned white as he looked at them, and for a moment she believed he might faint.

"Where did you get these?" he asked his brother in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

She turned her head so that she could see Damon, who was taking a leisurely sip from his glass.

"Where I got them from is irrelevant. The point is that I have them."

"What are you going to do with them?"

"I'm done keeping you out of trouble. I made a promise a while ago, but I can only stand for so much. Coming after my marriage and my wife were your biggest mistakes yet. You'll get nothing more from me. If you so much as breathe a word about our marriage to anybody, I will be sure to send those photos to everyone who would have an interest in the matter."

The smile on her husband's face now was so sinister right now that she actually felt afraid for Stefan.

"I wouldn't want to see you go to jail, Stef. You wouldn't last a day. Not to mention that with your face, you'd get a lot of…attention."

She watched Damon stalk across the room slowly. Stefan never took his eyes off his brother. Elena understood she was seeing a side to her husband that she knew was there, but had never seen before; the predator. This was the man who would dominate any boardroom, corporate takeover and conquer his business rivals with ease. Few would get the upper hand on her husband. She felt as if she were seeing his strength, his dominance, his virility and potency in high definition. He was the typical alpha male and absurdly she felt slightly aroused as he bested his opponent.

Damon was now standing in front of Stefan. Stefan swallowed hard. "Stay away from Elena's family," Damon told him. She watched Stefan step backwards. Damon followed. "Stay away from my wife." Stefan stepped back once more. Damon again followed. "And know this; if you threaten my marriage ever again, I'll make sure you wish you were dead." He said it so softly, yet the impact was lethal.

Elena believed he meant every word. So did Stefan, judging by the look on his face.

"You have my word, Damon. I won't tell anybody about this." Stefan's voice was almost pleading now.

If it had been anybody else, Elena would have felt sorry for them, but Stefan had no obvious concern for ruining her life. She wondered again what was in that envelope. Obviously her ex-boyfriend had done something that would be cause for jail time. Had she known Stefan at all?

"I'm glad we understand each other," Damon told him. "You can go now."

The dismissal was a blatant insult, but Stefan just nodded.

"Goodbye, Elena," Stefan said to her. Elena felt the finality behind the words.

"Goodbye," she said stiffly.

"I'll see you out," Damon said.

"No need," Stefan told him quickly.

"Oh, I insist," Damon replied.

Once she could no longer hear either voices or footsteps, Elena took a deep breath. She knew Damon had something left to say to Stefan that he didn't want to say in front of her, and while she wouldn't mind knowing what was being said, she felt relieved that the confrontation was over. She would be okay, Damon would be okay, and their marriage would be okay. She hoped. She had yet to talk to him about what Stefan had said, and a conversation about Katherine was long overdue.

She took a deep breath and moved her head from one side to the other, stretching her neck. It was when she stood up that her gaze fell upon the now discarded envelope. She looked for Damon but when she couldn't see him coming she moved quickly towards it. It felt wrong to look, but her curiosity was too strong to ignore. The photo she pulled out was of Stefan in a compromising position with someone. At first she couldn't pick who the girl was but then she recognized her as the Mayor's underage daughter. The photo had the time and date marked on it. According to the date, this photo had been taken during the time she'd been involved with Stefan. So Stefan had been cheating on her. Why had Damon never told her?

Hearing her husband's footsteps, she tried to shove the photo back into the envelope but failed in her rush.

"Couldn't resist?" Damon asked her, raising one eyebrow when he saw her.

She flushed guiltily

"I…I tried."

He smirked.

"He was cheating on me," she told him. "You knew?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't see the point in hurting you when you were no longer with him."

"Why didn't you tell me when I was still with him?"

"Would you have believed me?" he asked her. "I thought the best course of action was simply to make you marry me instead." He gave her such a charming smile that she couldn't help but smile back at him.

"I'm glad you did," she told him softly.

"Are you now?" Damon asked her, coming towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She hadn't been aware until now just how much she needed this; needed his arms around her.

Stefan's threats had scared her. She'd been terrified that he would not only expose how she had come to marry her husband, but also delight in ruining Damon. The look of pleasure on Stefan's face when he'd spoken about going to the board had shocked and appalled her. She was glad it was over.

"You're not angry that I didn't tell you?" Damon asked.

She thought about it for a moment. Her husband had absolutely nothing to gain from not telling her that Stefan had been cheating on her, which could only mean that he thought he was doing the right thing by keeping it a secret.

"I believe your intentions were honorable," she said lightly, before standing on her toes to give him a kiss. The kiss started off sweet enough, but soon she was opening her mouth to him and he was kissing her hungrily; possessively. They were both breathless when they broke apart.

"Elena," Damon said, cupping her cheek with his hand.

She knew this was it; he was going to ask her about what Stefan had said. She was ready for it, but she still felt as if she were standing on the edge of the cliff, ready to dive off. Adrenaline kicked in accordingly. "Yes, Damon."

"I overheard some of the conversation before I walked in, and then Stefan said…"

"I love you Damon." The stunned look on his face made her smile. "I know you said that love was never part of the deal, but that doesn't matter to me. I love you."

Her words shook him to his very core. He'd never expected this. Even after hearing her say it earlier and hoping it was the truth. How was it even possible? He knew he wasn't lovable. He'd threatened her. He'd blackmailed her. He'd even told her not to fall in love with him. Yet here she was being completely open and honest with him. Her eyes, her smile, her expression, even her touch, all told him that those words were the absolute truth.

This was where he was meant to come back and tell her he loved her. He'd watched enough romantic movies with his wife now to know that his declaration of love should come next, but did he love her? It was more than probable; but after closing himself off to the idea of loving someone for so long, he found that he just couldn't be one hundred percent sure. His feelings for her were extraordinarily deep. He cared about her above everything and everyone else. She had become the centre of his world. He was tempted to say, 'I love you' just to hear the words out loud; to test them out and see if they fit, but this was important, and he didn't want to tell her he loved her when he didn't know for sure. She deserved better than that.

"Damon, say something," she whispered.

He didn't know what to say. He felt as if he'd just been given the most precious thing in the world and he had no idea what to do with it, no idea how to act with it.

"I care about you Elena. I care about you so much," he told her desperately.

He needed her to know that she meant something to him; that she was everything to him, but no other words were forthcoming. He felt tongue tied and ludicrously unprepared for this situation. He'd spent so long trying to keep all of his feelings turned off that he was struggling to define what he was feeling and articulate it.

"If you can't love me, I'll love enough for the both of us," she assured him.

He had no idea how she could be so forgiving; so accepting, so giving.

"I don't deserve you." Emotion clogged his throat as he spoke.

She put her hands on either side of his face. "Yes, you do." She kissed him and he could taste the love she was giving him; he could feel the love she was giving him, he could feel her giving all of herself to him. She was the most amazing, most incredible woman he'd ever known, and he found himself taking from her, drinking in her love like he was a man dying from thirst.

Inside he felt like a jumbled mess, but the emotion most apparent on the surface was need. He needed her; needed to be inside her, and the ache wasn't all physical. He wanted the closeness, the intimacy, the connection; he craved it, he craved her. He lifted her slightly and she wrapped her legs around his hips. She seemed to read him and understand him so well.

They never made it to the bedroom; instead he slipped them inside one of the guest rooms on the first story. Their union wasn't smooth like normal. He fumbled his way through undressing her, and he found himself apologizing for his lack of coordination more than once, but she just smiled and kissed him and told him how good she felt when he touched her. It was fast and heated and passionate and afterward she told him again that she loved him. He thought he'd never get used to hearing her say those words, or stop wanting to hear them.

Elena lay beside her husband and mentally slapped herself for winding up in bed with him before they'd talked about Katherine, but the truth was she'd needed it. He'd told her he cared about her. Even if he hadn't said he loved her, she hadn't given up hope that maybe one day soon he would. Things had gone well, she thought. He hadn't told her she was an idiot for falling in love with him, and he hadn't thrown her love back in her face and denied it. He'd accepted her love and almost taken it hungrily, and it had given her great satisfaction to love him like that. The way he'd looked at her as they'd made love had taken her breath away. He made the earth move for her. She inwardly cringed thinking how much she sounded like the trashy romance novels her mother owned. Still, something about Damon seemed to make every romantic cliché a possibility.

Damon rolled onto his side to look at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her, trailing one finger over her stomach. "Are you still feeling sick?"

"Slightly queasy, on and off, but really I'm fine."

"Are you hungry?"

"What's on the menu?" she asked.

His grin set her insides quivering but she quickly reminded herself they still needed to talk.

"Damon…"

"I know,"

"We need to talk about…"

"Elena, I know." He turned onto his back to look at the ceiling. "I should have told you about Katherine a long time ago. Can we not talk about her on an empty stomach though?"

Elena hid her smile. She'd learned a while ago that her husband was quite the grouch when he was hungry.

"I feel like pizza," she told him.

"Pizza it is then."

Once the pizza arrived, they settled on the couch with their food and beer, her feet propped on his lap, and the pizza box balancing precariously on top of her feet. They usually ate out or sat at the dining table but sitting on the couch tonight felt right. With a roaring fire in front of them, it was intimate while being relaxed and informal. She found herself holding her breath soon enough, waiting for him to start filling her in. This had been a conversation she'd wanted to have for so long that she felt quite nervous about it finally happening. After a couple of minutes of silence and eating, Damon started to talk. He didn't look at her as he spoke; instead he chose to watch the fire.

"I met Katherine just after my father died. I'd assumed my position at the head of the company and I was enjoying the social opportunities it opened up to me. As the new eligible bachelor on the scene I was invited to many events among the rich and the bored and I went anywhere I could drum up more business. She was the daughter of one of the men at a function I was attending. For me it was love at first sight."

No matter how much she thought she was ready for it, it was harder than she had imagined hearing him talk about her, to hear him say it was love at first sight. The pain was swift and cut deep but she tried to focus on what he was saying.

He suddenly looked at her. "How much do you want to hear?"

"All of it," she told him. She didn't care if it hurt, for some odd and maybe perverse reason she wanted to know the exact details of her husband's most important relationship before her.

He nodded.

"The attraction was mutual. We were unable to keep our hands off each other and I fell hard for her. I was in so deep I couldn't see what was so blatantly obvious to everyone else. Even Mason warned me that she couldn't be trusted. He told me she came onto him, but I didn't believe him. He didn't speak to me for a couple of years after that."

He paused for a moment to take a swig of his beer. He looked at her again to see if she was taking it all in, absently stroking her feet. "Go on," she told him, eager to know more, and to get it over with.

"Several months into the relationship I asked her to move in with me and she readily accepted. I was blissfully happy. Work was going well; I was increasing our profit margins within a short time, and I believed that I'd found a woman who I would spend the rest of my life with. We talked about children and our future together and I ended up buying an engagement ring. Eight months was far too soon to think about marriage, but the fool I was couldn't imagine spending a day without her."

Elena felt her stomach clench as she thought of him wanting to spend his life with another woman.

"On the night I was going to propose, I came home early to organize things. As soon as I walked up the stairs, I knew she was there. I could hear her moans of satisfaction coming from the bedroom. As I walked towards the room, I could only think about what I would do to the man she was with; but when I walked in and saw that it was Stefan she was riding into the sunset I just walked straight back out again. In that moment, I wanted to kill both of them so badly that I had to leave the house straight away. I got in my car and started driving and as the anger increased so did my speed, I lost control of the car and spun out. Fortunately there was no one else around, but all I could think was, what if I'd killed someone?"

Her husband was lost inside the memory as he stared into the fire. She wanted to shake him out of it, but she wasn't sure if she should or not. She couldn't imagine what he'd felt when he saw Katherine and Stefan together; his brother and the woman he thought he'd marry. She wanted to kill the two of them for what they did to him. Or not kill, but hurt; she wanted to hurt them for the pain they'd caused her husband.

"She was pregnant," he said suddenly, shocking her. He turned to her again. "Even after everything, when I calmed down and she told me about the baby, I still wanted to marry her and raise the baby as mine. I didn't even care if it was Stefan's. I wanted her and the baby. I wanted the family that I'd longed for."

"What did she say?" Elena asked carefully, not even sure she wanted to know the answer.

His laugh was so empty that it made her feel cold despite the heat that the fire was giving out. "She told me she never wanted children, that she had no intention of ever becoming a mother."

"What happened with the baby?" She was afraid to ask, afraid she already knew the answer.

"She asked me for money to take care of the 'problem'."

Her heart ached for him, and she felt heavier all of a sudden as he shared his story with her.

"Then I asked her if she loved me. You know what she said?"

He was looking at her, but it was like he wasn't really seeing her. Elena shook her head.

"She never loved me. It was always Stefan. Then she told me that if I interfered in her relationship with my brother that she'd have the baby and make sure I never saw it, never held it. Her parents were rich and powerful and I believed she could do it. I wrote her a cheque and…tried desperately to forget about the unborn child and her."

Elena shuddered. She couldn't help it, and she couldn't stop herself from thinking that Damon had had a narrow escape from Katherine. The woman sounded like a cold, heartless bitch.

"Stefan and Katherine did break up though." she said to him.

Damon smiled, but the smile was still empty, still cold.

"He was worried that I'd cut him off."

"Would you have?"

"No, and I didn't. Today though, today I cut him off. He'll get the minimum allowance that Dad specified in his will, but that's it."

"Why?"

"Well one, he was threatening you, and two…what I just said."

"What was in the envelope?"

"You should know, you looked," he told her as he massaged her calf muscle gently.

"I only saw one of the photos," she told him.

"Then trust me, it's best you don't know." Damon said mysteriously.

"Why? Because then you'd have to kill me?" she joked.

"No, because seriously there's some pretty bad stuff in there that you really don't want to know about."

"How did you wind up with it?"

"Some of the photos and documents belonged to my father actually. He had a PI following us regularly. When I inherited the company I kept the PI on retainer and hit pay dirt on a couple of the shots she took."

He pulled her into his lap now, kissing her softly. She was glad to finally know about Katherine, but after hearing about her, she felt as if she'd been on an emotional rollercoaster. While she could understand why he didn't want to love again, Elena couldn't help thinking that Katherine had won. She'd taken everything from Damon, including his ability to love, and she hated that. She hated that this woman still seemed to hold so much power over him. Part of her wanted to shake him, and say don't you see what she's still doing to you, but she doubted Damon would see things that way. She had to hope that her love was enough to open his eyes.

"I just want you to know, Damon, that should I ever meet this Katherine woman, I'll set her straight on exactly what she's missing out on," Elena told him, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

Her husband looked at her, and she could see the hesitation in his eyes, the discomfort he was feeling.

"Funny you should say that," he said. "There's a charity ball next month. It's one of the biggest events of the year. I have to go, and I want you to come with me."

"Of course I'll go with you," she told him. Then she realized exactly what he was saying. "She's going to be there isn't she?"

"Unfortunately," he said, making a face.

She smiled at him reassuringly. "Bring it on," she told him. "You have no idea what I'm made of, Mister."

He smiled at her before he laid her back and smothered her in kisses. "You're amazing," he said to her. "Do you know that?"

She laughed; glad that she had been able to assure him she could handle it. Inside, however, she was having less luck convincing herself. Thinking about giving Katherine a piece of her mind was one thing; meeting her in the flesh was quite another. She felt slightly daunted by the fact that she was going to meet the one woman Damon had loved. Katherine sounded like a monster, and was it at all possible that her husband still had feelings for the woman? She felt jealousy slice through her as she asked herself the question. Even thinking the answer might be yes hurt like crazy. Her head started to spin and her stomach churned.

He must have seen her face change, because he sat up and looked at her. "Elena, are you okay?"

She sat up and put her hand on her stomach. "I'm fine, just a bit queasy still."

"That's it, tomorrow I'm taking you to the doctors, and I'm not taking no for an answer this time." His voice was filled both authority and concern.

It was then that it clicked for her. With her head so full of her plan to make Damon fall in love with her, she'd completely overlooked the fact that her monthly visitor was strangely absent. She was two days late. True, two days was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but she was always on time, and she had been feeling sick.

"No," she told him, "tomorrow we're going to the store."

"The store? Why?" he asked.

"To buy something. Why else would you go to the store?"

"What exactly are we buying?"

"A pregnancy test," she told him with a grin.

A/N: So there you have it; Katherine! She's not my favorite character by any means. Damon has finally rid himself of Stefan, and Elena believes she might be in 'the John Hurt Way' (Coupling reference for anyone who likes that show as much as I do :) I know I didn't get to the ball in this chapter, but it does deserve its own chapter. I'm already hard at work on it, and am hoping to get it out to you ASAP.

To everyone who congratulated me on my pregnancy – thank you. Twelve hours after I uploaded my first chapter for this story I found out I was pregnant. I'm due in August for those who asked. With it being Australia Day today, and a public holiday, I was lucky enough to have my husband take our 16mo son off my hands so I could finish this chapter. Between the headaches and the puking I'm happy with the way the chapter came out. The last few weeks, when I've been up to my elbows in dirty diapers, I've enjoyed writing about the somewhat glamorous life of Mr and Mrs Salvatore.

I have to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. The response was CRAZY and it's the reason this update comes to you early. Of course I did think I would never outdo that chapter and briefly think of giving up and never writing again, but I was excited about Damon and Stefan's confrontation and I'm excited about the ball.

I'm thanking all of you who have come along for the ride and the journey with me. We're almost there now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading and please review.