Hi everyone. Thanks again for all your story alerts and reviews. Although I'm bad at math, 28 reviews when I had 36 favs and 79 alerts after Chapter 1 doesn't seem exactly right to me. Why are y'all breaking my heart, yo?

You guys should know that the REAL villain, the monster who abused and eventually led to the death of Kate Southward (Angela's cousin), is now charged with 2nd degree murder. Can you guys imagine; her boyfriend of 5 years, a man she had been in love with, is responsible for her death? Let it be known that for every second that guy is still breathing, the pain and suffering experienced by her friends and family is still going on. There is not enough justice in the world.

Thanks again to Angela for her support to write this story, and to Kristi, my kick-ass beta, for her endless talents in making me seem less useless and more articulate. Oh, she is also a great sounding board, too. Is your head big enough, yet Kris? *grins*

Also a shout out to Carol, a real life nurse and my medical advisor for this story. Thank you so much, doll!

A Woman's Worth: Chapter Two

Damon's POV

As I took a seat in the chair next to Blondie, or Caroline Forbes as Meredith had introduced us earlier, I found myself staring at the still figure on the hospital bed. It had been eight hours since we both comforted her enough that she fell back to sleep, her fingers finally stilling from her pathetic attempts at removing the chest tube from her side.

Elena.

That was her name. It suited her perfectly, as did her lengthy brown hair and long sooty lashes complimenting her tanned skin. Even asleep and injured, she was breathtaking. Don't get me wrong, the blonde who was curled up on the seat beside me was extremely attractive, but she wasn't my type. I tend to prefer women who have more vivid colorings, darker looks and petite, someone who appealed to my protective side, like Elena did. I wondered about the color of her eyes.

I hadn't even spoken to her, not when she was conscious anyway, and I didn't know anything about her, and yet oddly, I found myself feeling anxious over her, a complete stranger. I assumed it was because she was so young, barely in her twenties, and from what her blonde friend told me, she was completely alone; no parents, not even a distant relative. She had no one, except for that jerk of a boyfriend.

I thought back to the phone call I had received early this morning while I was still in bed. I remembered dragging my eyes open to glare at the ringing device on my night stand, and for a fleeting moment, considered not answering it. Early morning or late night phone calls were never good news. But I knew that I had to. That specific ring tone was reserved for Meredith; Dr. Meredith Fell to be specific. She never called unless it was an important case, or when she needed my help with Alaric, my brother from another mother.

* * * ten hours ago * * *

"Mer?" I mumbled sleepily, yawning loudly into the phone just to demonstrate how early it was. She'd better not make these early morning wake-up calls a habit, unless it was really important…like end-of-the-world kind of importance.

"Damon, I'm sorry for waking you up, but I-I think I have a case for you," the soft voice on the other end of the line said. I registered the hesitancy in her voice despite my hazy brain, and it sent me into a bit of a panic mode.

"Wait, you're not sure?" I asked, already getting out of bed and heading to my bathroom to start the shower, then grabbed my toothbrush.

"My patient had a fractured rib and it punctured her lung. She was barely breathing when she was brought in. The boyfriend said that she fell at home last night and didn't think it was that serious. Damon," Mer paused, clearly worried about this woman who so far sounded like a victim of an accident at home, not of abuse. "She had a huge bruise on her left cheek and it was so swollen that it affected her eye. There was a handprint, too. I think she was slapped and pushed until she fell on something that caused her rib to fracture. She could have died, Damon!"

I stiffened in the midst of brushing my teeth when she started describing the woman's injuries, the gravity of the situation brought a heavy feeling in my chest. I tend to get a gut feeling whenever I received these kinds of calls; whether it was from years of experience in this field, or just pure instinct – I was almost always right about the outcome of my cases. And I had a bad feeling with this one.

"How old is she?" I asked through a mouthful of froth from the toothpaste.

"She just turned twenty one."

I spit out the rest of the foam in my mouth abruptly and rinsed it before snarling into the phone, "I'm on my way."

Screw the shower; I had a damsel in distress to save.

* * * At the Hospital * * *

Upon reaching Mystic Falls General, I immediately made my way towards Mer's office. I had been in this hospital too many times to count and I basically knew every inch of it. I could've found my way around blindfolded. But this time, I didn't even need to search that far before I spotted her along a hallway, talking to two people; a man and a woman. I quickly made my approach.

"Damon!" Mer called out as soon as she saw me, looking relieved at my presence. I nodded at the couple next to her, noting the worried look on the blonde woman and the anxious look on the guy, his light brown hair in a mess of curls, as if he had run his fingers through it repeatedly. "Damon, this is Mason Lockwood, and Caroline Forbes. They were the ones who brought in the young lady I told you about earlier."

I reached out my hand to shake theirs, all the while noticing Mer's eyes shifting to the guy discreetly, hinting to his identity; the suspected perpetrator. Automatically, my fingers tightened on his as we shook hands, and I felt some satisfaction when his eyes widened at the painfully firm grip. "I'm Damon Salvatore, a director at DVN."

"What's DVN?" Lockwood asked warily, his gaze narrowing on me suspiciously. He should be suspicious. I was about to bring down a rain of fire on his ass as soon as I had proof against him.

"DVN stands for Domestic Violence Network. We investigate cases of suspected abuse," I explained slowly, my eyes locked on Lockwood's to gauge his response. Not surprisingly, he paled a little at that, his attention turning everywhere else but at me. Coward!

"Abuse?" the coward repeated nervously. "Why would you suspect that it was abuse? My girlfriend had a bad fall and hit her chest on the edge of a table. It was an accident. We didn't know that her injuries were so serious, or I would've admitted her last night after I arrived home."

I studied him thoughtfully as I asked my next question. "So, your statement is that you were not with her when she fell, is that it? You didn't actually witness her fall?"

"Wait, what 'statement'? Am I an actual suspect in this incident? You can't be serious about this!" Lockwood stated incredulously, his expression one of disbelief. Yes, I expected that he would deny it all the way. I could also tell that he was panicking at the thought of getting his ass hauled to jail.

I nodded with deliberate slowness, dragging out the torture of uncertainty in his plight. "I'm as serious as a heart attack, Mr. Lockwood. I don't take my cases lightly, and I am usually successful in hauling the guilty parties to jail for a long time." I stepped closer to the guy, invading his personal space as I injected as much warning into my voice as I possibly could. "I am very good at my job, Mr. Lockwood. You'd do well to remember that."

I watched with enormous pleasure as he stepped back from me, his attention shifting to the blonde and Mer who were standing beside us quietly, observing our exchange. "Look, it was an accident and if I'm not required to be here, I have to go to work. Caroline, can you please tell Elena that I'll come by tonight?" Without waiting for a response from the blonde woman, he flashed one last look at me, and then hurried away towards the exit, leaving me with the two ladies.

"Well, I hope you're excellent at your job, Mr. Salvatore, because I want to personally haul him off to jail by his nose…with fish hooks…on a bed of sharp and pointy nails!" Ms. Forbes said. I found myself taking a liking to the blonde immediately at her passionate statement, her forehead creasing as she glared after the coward. I guessed I wasn't the only one who wanted to see the bully get his appropriate comeuppance.

"Just Damon, please," I offered to her before turning to Meredith. "Mer, can I see her?" I asked the good doctor, grateful that she made the right call to call me in. She nodded and gestured for us to follow her down the corridor and then we turned right into a room where a young lady laid motionless on the hospital bed.

I wanted to bury my head in my hands and cry when I first laid eyes on her. She was so young, so innocent, and she didn't deserve to be in this situation. No one did, but it was heartbreaking that someone who seemed so pure had to go through what she did. I felt helpless as I stood there near the bed, wondering what the future would bring to this girl who still had her whole life ahead of her.

If my suspicions were correct, her entire future rested upon my ability to help her, to protect her from the heartless bastard who did this to her and from the future horrors to come if she didn't leave him. For a victim like her, her decision to stay or walk away from a violent relationship was practically an end-of-the-world kind of choice. People who stayed rarely survived beyond a couple of years; I've seen it too many times to believe otherwise.

"Ms. Forbes, why don't you tell me what happened?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the unconscious figure as I clenched my jaw.

"Please, call me Caroline, or Care. My friends call me Care Bear," she said with a grin, oblivious to how inappropriate it was to share that piece of information. Besides, I already had my own nickname for her. "Well, it all started with my birthday party yesterday…." Blondie started saying, and I listened for the next half an hour, my patience wearing thin as she droned on and on about the party her boyfriend threw for her at Mystic Grille and how happening it was up to the point where she called her best friend when she failed to show up with her boyfriend.

Blondie sure talked an awful lot, but said little in terms of substance. I was only interested in the last five minutes of her tale, when she described what she found when she arrived at Lockwood's house that morning. I shuddered to think of the alternative had she not been such a great friend and worried enough to drop by the house without warning. I was also grateful to her for standing up to Lockwood when he tried to turn her away, insisting that his girlfriend was fine.

Yes, Blondie had undoubtedly saved her best friend's life and for that, I would put up with her incessant chatter and wildly animated hand gestures.

Despite my distracting recollection of the morning's activities, starting with being rudely awakened by Meredith's call and ending with meeting my latest 'case' for the first time, I had my unwavering gaze fixed on Elena, so it was no surprise that I didn't miss the twitch of her fingers, signaling her journey towards consciousness for the second time around. I nudged the dozing blonde beside me and hurried over to the bedside, my fingers automatically curling around Elena's as a comforting gesture.

"Caroline, will you please ask the nurse to contact Dr. Fell?" I asked without turning my head at the blonde who was just jostled awake from her seat, and in an instant, I heard the sound of her heels making their way out of the room. I was glad to be given a moment alone with my 'case' or charge, as I like to refer to them. I had to establish a trusting relationship from the get-go, otherwise, she wouldn't be too willing to accept my help. After all, victims were ironically distrustful of anyone except for their abusive partners, and I was merely a stranger who came into their lives at this vulnerable time.

"Elena, I'm Damon, remember me?" I told her softly, hearing the beeping of the heart monitor increasing slightly. She was anxious and I knew that I had to calm her down. "Caroline's here but she just stepped out to get your doctor. I know you're scared and probably confused, but I'm here to help you. You're in Mystic Falls General. You were brought in this morning by Caroline and Mason Lockwood due to some injuries that led to your difficulty in breathing. I was here this morning the first time you were awake, remember?"

At first, all I heard was the persistent beeping sounds, and then they slowed down considerably when her fingers squeezed mine in response to my question. It felt as if a jolt went through my system and all I could do was to just stare at her in amazement, unexpectedly humbled by how soon she had accepted her circumstances and had begun to trust me, a stranger in her room. With the strength of her fingers, she could have flung mine off of hers or showed me the middle one as an indication to mind my own business, but no, she was telling me that she knew who I was and that she was okay with my being there.

Oh, Elena.

But then Blondie came back and spoiled the moment. She was right beside me before I could even say 'Care Bear'. "Dr. Fell will be here soon, Damon. How is she? Is she awake? Did she open her eyes? Why are you holding hands?" And then a gasp, "Are you attracted to her? She's a really great girl! I know she might be pale and splotchy at this moment, but wait till you see her all dolled up and, you know, awake and everything….."

Okay, this girl seriously needed a muzzle….or a tranquilizer. But then again, I could kiss her because just then, Elena pried her right eye open, just briefly, but it was enough for me to glimpse into the warm brownness and note the slight frustration there. I didn't take it personally because deep down, I knew that it wasn't aimed at me, but rather the chatterbox beside me. Also, brown was my favorite color. Actually, black was my favorite color, but one might argue that black wasn't really a color, so then that made brown at the top of the list. It was funny, because ten seconds ago, it was gray, but suddenly, I found gray to be rather drab, especially compared to this particular shade of brown. There was something so natural about it.

Luckily, the entrance of Meredith and the nurse snapped me out of my musings about colors, and also interrupted Blondie's insistent reasoning as for why I should be dating her best friend. "Damon, you're still here?" the lovely brunette asked with a surprised expression when she saw me.

I had to admit that I was a little insulted by that question. She should know by now that I would do anything to protect my charge, even if it meant losing sleep and a lack of showering. Mostly, she should have realized that I wasn't going to leave Elena alone when the coward who put her in the hospital in the first place was coming back to visit after work.

Over my dead body, or preferably his.

"Yeah, what can I say? I love the food here," I said instead, knowing full well that the patient could hear me. I reckoned that she wouldn't appreciate to know that I was considering ways to dump her abusive boyfriend's body after I was done going all Texas Chainsaw Massacre on him. Of course I was joking….for the most part.

Meredith flashed me a knowing smile at my sarcastic comment and then turned her full attention to our mutual charge. "Elena? I'm Dr. Fell, your attending physician. Can you hear me? If you can, could you please open your eyes for me?" All three of us waited with bated breath for the motionless brunette to react to Meredith, and then her eyes opened, one bigger than the other. I felt so proud of her!

"That's good, Elena. That's really good. Now, I'm going to explain what happened to you, okay? Don't try to speak because you have been intubated to get your oxygen level on track, but just blink if you understand, all right?" Meredith asked in a kind voice before checking the pulse oximeter for her oxygen saturation level. She really was a pretty great doctor.

But then her words had the opposite effect when it caused Elena to realize that she had an endotracheal tube lodged in her throat, and then she started coughing and gagging from the discomfort, quickly becoming agitated as she moved around the bed vigorously. I moved to hold her down before she could hurt herself or pulled at her chest tube with her writhing, but Meredith swatted me away.

"I've got this, Damon. You two, go wait outside while I start the extubation process," she instructed, already getting into position with the nurse opposite her holding Elena down. I hastily ushered Blondie out of the room and waited anxiously as we watched the entire process happening in the room. I could practically feel the distress Elena was in the entire time and it was all I could do to resist marching back into the room to hold her, to tell her that it would all be over soon.

Twenty minutes later, after monitoring her post-extubation period to make sure that she was able to breathe on her own without any further complication, Meredith gestured for us to reenter the room. Blondie and I quickly took our previous positions, me holding Elena's hand while she was being hugged by her best friend.

"Oh my God, 'Lena, you scared me! You're so brave, you're so brave!" Blondie kept muttering while she covered Elena's face with light pecks. She looked somewhat better now that she no longer had the invasive tube in her mouth, only a nasal cannula that provided supplemental oxygen through her nose.

"Ms. Forbes, why don't you give Elena some room to settle down?" Meredith suggested just as I was about to. I released a deep breath I didn't even realize I was holding when Blondie walked over to stand next to me, peering over my shoulder at her friend. "Elena, I know that you're still feeling some discomfort around your throat area, but that's normal. It should fade in a couple of days. In the mean time, try not to talk until you're feeling better. The nurse will come in every fifteen minutes to monitor your breathing for the first hour, and then every hour after that, okay?"

Blink.

Meredith went on to explain in layman's terms what happened when she was brought into the hospital in the morning, and the procedures that were carried out to treat her injuries, including the dreaded chest tube. Seriously, they were nasty; no wonder her first instinct this morning was to reach out to remove it.

As if Meredith could read my mind, which I sometimes think she totally could, she said, "Now, I know that you're probably uncomfortable with the chest tube, but it's crucial that you're able to breathe properly and it also drains out the fluids in your lung. It's stitched into place to prevent it from slipping out so I don't want you to pull it or move around too much. Now, the tube will remain in place until all or most of the fluid is drained out, and this usually takes a few days which means that you'll have to remain in the hospital for a week to ten days, do you understand?"

I heard Elena's heartbeat spiked at that information before she closed her eyes with a frown and shook her head slightly, obviously not liking what she was hearing. I wanted to comfort her, to reassure her but I didn't know how, so I squeezed her fingers a little harder. Her eyes flew open at the pressure, tear-filled and worried as they met mine, and I gave her a small smile, hoping that it would provide some relief.

"Hi there, we haven't officially met yet, although I've introduced myself to you a couple of times already," I told her, my tone somewhat lighthearted. "I'm Dr. Fell's friend, Damon. Do you remember me from earlier?"

Blink, and then two teardrops rolled down the corners of her eyes, officially making me weak-kneed and at her mercy. I hated it when women cry. It made my insides turn to mush and rendered me useless. All I wanted to do was to cheer her up, but I didn't think that a dirty joke would be appropriate at that point.

"Oh hell, if hearing my first name already made you cry, I don't think I want to see your reaction to my last name!" I joked as I wiped away her tears before they could stain her pillow. "I feel quite insulted that my first impression sucked because I usually get a more giggly response when I introduce myself. Personally, I think it's the hospital lighting; it makes my complexion sallow, don't you think? But you, on the other hand, look amazing in that white hospital garment thingy. Are you a model by any chance?"

My efforts were rewarded with the lifting of the corners of her lips, drawing my attention to her mouth, where I got a little distracted by the shape of her perfectly molded lips. She had thin arched upper lip and a full bottom one, which made for a very romantic-looking mouth. With some effort, I dragged my gaze back up to her shimmering eyes and tried to distract her from the fact that she was staying put in the hospital and that she would be seeing a lot of me. Much more than her boyfriend, hopefully.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here, aren't you?" I asked as I pursed my lips thoughtfully.

She gave me a slow blink this time, as if she didn't want to hurt my feelings by making me feel unwelcomed. Such a sweetheart.

"Well, think of me as your personal bodyguard, if you will. I'm here to protect you against nagging best friends and rogue furniture. But don't worry; I'm on the house, courtesy of Dr. Fell's enormous heart and my inability to deny the request of attractive brunettes."

"Why, thank you, Damon," Meredith suddenly piped in and I looked up to see her smug smirk aimed at me.

"Crap! You weren't supposed to hear that," I muttered under my breath, but then Elena smiled again, and I forgot that I just paid an accidental compliment to the girlfriend of my best friend.

And then the devil walked in. Literally.

"Hey, what's happening? Is she awake? Did she say anything?" Lockwood asked from the doorway, holding a bouquet of flowers with a frown on his face. Okay, I wasn't clairvoyant, but it wasn't hard to interpret the sudden quickening of the beeping of the machine next to me to know that Elena was distressed at the sight of him. Not wanting to create any problems for the girl, I removed my hand from hers and stepped away from the bed, and I saw Blondie do the same from my peripheral vision.

Lockwood entered further into the room and approached the bed, his gaze falling on my charge worriedly as he placed the bouquet on the table next to her. "Hey, babe. How are you feeling? I've been so worried," he said softly and leaned in to press a kiss on her forehead.

He played the part of the concerned, doting boyfriend really well, but I could see right through him. He was probably wondering if Elena had told us anything about her attack.

"I brought you your favorite flowers, babe. Lillies. Aren't they pretty?" he murmured as he lifted up the bouquet in front of her. Great, first he tried to kill her, and when that failed, he brought flowers to finish the job by choking her to death. The bastard.

Elena blinked a few times at him but her heartbeat had returned to normal, at least for now.

"What the hell are you doing here, Mason?" Blondie bit out. I had almost forgotten that she was still there since she hadn't spoken for what seemed like a long time. Like five minutes.

"I'm visiting my girlfriend," he retorted, rolling his eyes at Blondie, and I waited for the explosion that I knew was coming from this fiercely loyal friend. I wasn't disappointed.

"The girlfriend you tried to kill, you mean? The girlfriend you left to die in your bed as she was struggling for breath! The girlfriend who would have died had I not decided to check in with her this morning when she failed to show up at my party last night!" Blondie burst out angrily, her blazing eyes fixed on him. This girl had balls, I'd give her that.

"Care!" a new voice croaked, and all four of us turned our attention to the source of the sound; Elena. She seemed upset, but it wasn't aimed at who I expected; she was frowning at her best friend, her expression annoyed as if Blondie had just committed a major faux pas by standing up for her.

"Okay, enough! Mr. Lockwood, I would like to speak to you privately about Elena's condition. Can we step out into the hallway?" Meredith stepped in before her patient overexerts herself.

"No, I'm not leaving Caroline and him here with my girlfriend! You can tell me anything in front of Elena, and if anybody's going out into the hallway, it'll be them," Lockwood gestured at me and my new friend, who was still glaring at him. If looks could kill, well, let's just say that I would be getting a shovel right then.

I wanted to park my ass on the bed next to Elena and yell out "Not a chance!", but then Meredith completely surprised me by agreeing with him. "Alright, fine. Damon, Ms. Forbes, will you please wait outside?" she asked, her brow lifted at me and my shocked expression. It was her way of telling me to back off and do what she said. She had a duty as a doctor to her patient and her closest kin, after all. This was the second time she kicked me out of the room already. She'd better not make a habit out of it! I decided to give in to the pint-sized brunette but I wasn't going to go without a fight.

"Elena?" I turned my attention to the distressed brunette on the bed. "I meant what I said earlier about my role here for you. Do you want me to stay?" I half-expected her to blink again and I was getting ready to take my place beside her, but she managed to surprise me again with a shake of her head, followed by a raspy, "No."

I nodded with disappointment and turned towards the door and then I heard her soft "Thank you" aimed at my back. I turned around and gave her a comforting smile and then I decided to give my parting shot at the bastard next to her.

"I'll be right outside…watching closely. Very closely," I warned him and then I stalked out in a manly manner behind Blondie. As soon as I was out the door, I planted my feet shoulder-width on the floor and crossed my arms as I stared into the room I just left through the glass doors, unable to hear anything being said. I only saw Meredith gesturing with her hands, then Lockwood's head shake and then more gestures from Meredith. They spoke for a few more minutes, then Elena interfered and then Meredith nodded with resignation and left them alone.

"What, you're just going to leave them in there? Alone? Unsupervised?" I asked bitterly as soon as she stepped out of the room. No, I wasn't over-reacting because even Blondie looked appalled at the thought.

"I'm her doctor, not her guardian, Damon! I can't force him to stay away from her just because we suspect that he's the reason why she's in here! Besides, Elena was the one who allowed it. My hands are tied in this, and so are yours," Meredith argued.

I hated that she was right; that was always my problem with my charges. I couldn't help them unless they wanted to be helped. Otherwise, I could only stand by and watch helplessly while they dig themselves a deeper hole. Sometimes, the hole got too big and too deep that I wasn't able to reach them anymore and ended up having to bury them in it. I had to watch them die just because they didn't know how to ask for help. I really hope that it wasn't the case this time.

I turned my gaze back towards the room in time to see Lockwood glaring at me through the glass before he pulled the blinds down, effectively blocking my view into the room.

"What?! Who does he think he is? What, he thinks he can just close the blinds and commit murder with me standing right out here? I don't think so," I sputtered angrily and made my way over to the door, fully intending to keep it wide open so that I could keep an eye on Elena, but Meredith grabbed my arm before I could even touch the doorknob. What? She was freakishly strong for a pint-sized person!

"Damon," she warned, her tone completely serious now. "You can't just barge in there like that! You have no right to. I didn't bring you in so that you can terrorize Mason Lockwood like an overprotective papa bear! You were supposed to slowly gain Elena's trust and get her to open up to you, not push her towards him even further! She doesn't know you yet, and if you start acting all overbearing and territorial, she's going to push you away before she even gets to know you!"

She was right, I knew she was, but that didn't lessen my anxiety over the girl I just met. This holding back thing was hard, but I knew that I had to bide my time, despite how exasperating it was.

"You've been here the whole day, so why don't you go home, get some sleep and come back tomorrow morning? Both of you?" she went on, addressing me and Blondie both this time. "I'll get the nurses to keep an eye on them the entire night."

The bastard intended to stay the night?! Over my dead-

"Screw that! I'm the best friend so I have every right to be in that room with her! Besides, I'm already overbearing and territorial, so tough!" With that explosion, Blondie huffed and puffed her way back into the room, flinging the door wide open as she went.

Okay, over Blondie's dead body then! I was perfectly fine with that.

But then I caught a glimpse of the interior of the room as the door swung open; Lockwood was on the bed with my charge, his arms wrapped around her as her head rested on his shoulder. When they heard the sound of Blondie's rather sudden entrance, Elena looked up and her eyes met mine across the span of the room. What I saw in hers made me spin around as I strode right out of the hospital without another backwards glance.

It was guilt.

I stared morosely at the bronze-colored liquid in front of me, just moping and contemplating the meaning of life when two men plopped down on the seats on either side of me. I knew it! Meredith had called for reinforcements, no doubt after my rather abrupt departure from the hospital.

Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, here to pull me out of my doldrums.

"Hey, I knew we'd find you here, apparently not drowning your sorrows," Tweedle-Dum said, eyeing my untouched bourbon. For people who were not privy to my obsession with nicknames, Tweedle-Dum was also otherwise known as my best friend Alaric, or Ric as some people liked to call him. Either way, both names sucked so I bestowed him his very own handle.

"Oh, I'd say he's drowning, just in Coke instead of alcohol," the other Tweedle said. By day, he went by Detective Elijah Mikaelson, and by night…he still went by Detective Elijah Mikaelson. Let's just say that he was oblivious to the nickname I gave him and I would rather he remained in the dark. He had a license to carry a gun and I would prefer not to have bullet holes in my favorite John Varvatos apparel.

I released a sigh and drained my glass half-filled with the darker substance and then let out a huge burp that seemed to reverberate across the bar. "Let me guess; Meredith," I said dully, assuming that the three-syllable name explained everything. I was right.

"Yes, she was rather worried when you took off suddenly," the Dum one said after ordering a drink for himself and Elijah. "So, tell me about your new case."

I rolled my eyes at that. As if his girlfriend hadn't filled him in already. Ric was, after all, my boss. He was the ruler of DVN and I was his loyal servant. "You expect me to believe that Mer hasn't spilled the beans already?"

"No, I wouldn't dare to insult your intelligence that way but I still want to hear your account of it," he countered, tipping his head in gratitude when the bartender, Donovan, passed him his order along with Elijah's.

"Yeah, who's the bastard and when can I arrest him?" Elijah piped in with his usual air of authority. I appreciated the fact that I was friends with him, not only as a man of the law but also a man of integrity and honor. I had come across too many cops who were on the take, preferring to coat their pockets with bribery rather than upholding the law. Elijah was one of the few who played strictly by the book and saw things in black and white; no shades of grey in between. It was easy to know where I stood with him – just obey the law and there would be no trouble.

"The bastard goes by the name Mason Lockwood, and as much as I would like to arrest him right now, I can't do a damn thing because his victim is in denial. The guy goes all slappity slap on her cheek like it was a set of bongo drums, and she "accidentally" fell onto the edge of a table, causing her to have a displaced rib fracture, which then punctured her lung and made her turn fifty shades of blue from lack of oxygen, and when all is said and done, he turns up with flowers and an 'I'm-sorry-I-almost-turned-you-into-a-Cookie-Monster' face and she's cuddling next to him on the hospital bed!" A moment of awkward silence followed my angry outburst and I realized that everyone within fifteen feet had heard me. Well, so what?!

"I'm guessing you're not pleased with that?" Ric sighed wearily, not in the least bit shocked with my account of the situation. "I'm surprised that you expected otherwise, Damon. Sadly enough, isn't that what usually happens though? These women, they never learn, do they? It's as if they have a perverse need to fix things. They stay and convince themselves that they deserved to be punished, deserved to be physically and emotionally bullied all because they can't bear to consider the alternative. Why did you even expect her to be any different, buddy?" he asked, his voice tinged with a mix of disappointment and helplessness.

I didn't know how to respond so I ordered a refill of my Coke, still leaving the shot of bourbon untouched. I considered Ric's question, and thought about the things I found out about the brown-eyed girl earlier, courtesy of Blondie who was incredibly eager to divulge her friend's life stories to a complete stranger.

"Maybe because she is different, or maybe because she's a smart girl and should know better. From what I've heard about her, she's a recent orphan, no family, no relatives and no one to depend on. She had to grow up quickly after her parents died in a car accident two years back, balancing finances to keep the home she grew up in, go through college until she ran out of money. So she moved in with her boyfriend, probably because she had no other option at the time, but now that the violence has started, I would expect that she's smart enough to get out before he wipes out the last of the Gilbert line!"

Elijah choked on his drink as I finished my ranting, his eyes wide with surprise. "Gilbert? As in little Elena Gilbert?"

Little? Sure, she was very young, but she wasn't little. She was a fully grown woman with all the….ahem…necessary female attributes. Okay, she had a great figure and most importantly, she was legal. I don't know why it was important to point that out, but it was.

"You know her?" I asked, dying of curiosity. If he knew her, then he could protect her, right? Who better to protect her than a member of the police force?

Elijah frowned slightly but nodded. "I was the one in charge of the Gilbert's case, the car accident that claimed her parents' lives two years ago. In fact, I was the one who had to break the news to her then. I remembered feeling sorry for her, having to lose both parents at such a young age and then having no insurance to fall back on. But this….it's just really sad if Elena had to go through this on top of everything else that has happened to her. We have to do something! We have to help her!"

"Well, we can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. She's twenty-one, an adult. If she refuses to acknowledge that she's better off without Lockwood, then short of kidnapping her, what can I do except watch over her, hoping that someday soon, she'll come to her senses and let me help? Unfortunately for cases like these, there's still such a thing as free will. I can only pray that her decisions won't cause another death on my hands," I sulked, shaking my head at the memory of the last one that drastically changed my life.

Ric stiffened at my statement, his forehead wrinkling into a frown as he turned bodily to face me. "Was that why you were staring at that glass of bourbon when we arrived? Were you thinking about the last time you had a drink?" His voice was incredulous as he regarded my features, my jaws clenched tightly shut and my gaze lowered to resume staring at the still untouched glass.

I didn't order the bourbon for drinking; no, it served a much more important purpose than that. I ordered it as a reminder of what happened the last time I chugged it down as if my life depended on it. How my decision to go on a drinking binge had resulted in the death of someone that I loved.

"How long has it been?" Elijah asked quietly beside me, watching me from the corner of his eye.

How long had it been since I had any alcohol in my system? Ask any recovering alcoholic and they could tell you exactly how long it had been since they last had a taste of the forbidden fruit. "Nine years, two months, and thirteen days. And yet it still feels like it was yesterday," I added in a bitter tone as I took a long gulp of my ice-cold Coke.

"Damon, you can't still beat yourself up for what happened to her. You were sixteen and didn't know better! You were a different person then, and what's more important is that you changed….for the better, because you learned your lesson. You've dedicated your life to a new cause. You help so many women, on a daily basis. You've saved so many of them, hundreds-" Ric broke off when I interrupted.

"But she's still dead!" I yelled out, burying my head in my hands. The guilt was overwhelming. I felt as if the weight of the world was crushing down on me. "Whatever I've done, no matter how many women I've saved, it still won't bring her back! She's dead because of me, Ric. My choices, my decisions, led to her death," I bit out in frustration.

They wouldn't understand, not unless they've lived it. I stood up and drained the last of my Coke, keeping my eye on the other glass the whole time. It had become a ritual, almost. Whenever I felt like giving up or when I was in despair, I would come to the bar and order a glass of bourbon and a Coke. I would spend an hour just staring at the bourbon, reminding myself that one person's choice could change the life of another. Then I would get up and leave the drink untouched, feeling a renewed sense of purpose again.

"I can't change what happened to her, but I can still change what happens to Elena. I am going to help her whether she wants me to or not." With that, I left my friends at the bar, leaving it up to them if they wanted to drink my new sense of purpose. No sense wasting a perfectly good shot of bourbon.

Read and review, because this story means a lot to me and to my friend Angela.

So many of you have opened up to me about your own experiences or of someone that you know, whether in a review or in a PM. It means a lot to me that this story touched so many of you and I do agree that there aren't many stories of this nature. It's time for people to wake up.

Please do leave me your feedback because I want to know what you really think of this. Angela reads your reviews and you have to know that they mean a lot to her as well.

Thank you!