Author's Note for the Previous Chapter

This is not a new chapter yet...but I am working on it. Life has been really busy lately, with getting used to new changes at work, doing taxes and some very well enjoyed time alone as a mini vacation with my husband when I precious friend took our 4 kids for 2 nights over the weekend and we loved it. So as much I wanted to write then too I spent that time with him.

Oh and there was some major mixup with chapters 19 and 20 and somehow it showed that I had two chapters the same and the one between was missing. No idea how that happened but I fixed it now.

I'm struggling with what to do for the ending and which path of two to take. I do want to give focus to their healing as things progress and also in the sequel but this will still be about CIA and espionage and action and thriller style too at times. Elena and Damon both had been though a lot even before their time on the island and yet now they have found that person to help them heal and to depend on. They faced a lot of adversaries when the criminals were free too but always were thinking of the other person too and saving them, helping them and now its time to see what that immediate aftermath will be going forward. They both had a lot of injuries, physical and emotional and that will play into the last chapters here and then later too.

I myself have never lived her reality to this degree but I am drawing some things from my life and my own pain and experiences too.

I have suffered abuse myself, more emotionally and sexually than the violence that I displayed in my villain here. I have lived rejection and neglect in my life too for many years. My stories are very reflective of me as a person wanting that hero to save me and wrap me in his arms when in my own life that was not possible for a long time as the one who is my own hero, my precious husband battled addiction and severe health issues and wasn't the same person he is now years later.

My first story Eternally Blood Bound I wrote on this site too has so many parallels to my life. Stefan being trapped in the tomb is like my husband trapped too and the villain was the addiction and Stefan's helplessness was like my husband's failing health (my husband was so thin and weak and could barely walk and was more like an 80 year old than a 25 year old as he battled rheumatoid arthritis). Then Damon comes in being the hero, like an angel coming down into hell to save her. That was all I wanted was for my love to break through and fight for us, for himself and our future. To show me what he willing to do to live and survive and be together. For me too, to fight like hell against things things trying to tear us apart and not lose him so we could rise above like our heroes do.

This story is similar too with Elena needing that hero as she had lost everything herself, and feels so alone, much like I feel lost and struggling since I developed the ringing in my ears and visiting and social anything has become so hard now. So with enemies all around them they fought and had people fight with them to survive and she could be strong too and fight for the one she loved as I did for my husband and Damon fought just as much for Elena too.

I pour my heart into these characters and their development and how they feel and think in this situation. I love writing and I hope I'm good at it. Its such a solace to me to disappear into this world and forget my struggles. Your thoughts are very important to me and reviews brighten my day. These stories are close to my heart and I love hearing that people are enjoying them too.

I welcome anyone sharing their experiences dealing with abuse or PTSD or what you think you would like to see in the sequel and how people that have lived and survived what our Delena did would act and react in the coming weeks as they start to heal.

Much love, Bonnie