Hello there everyone!

So first things first, what did you all think to the S3 premiere! I personally loved it. Some amazing Delena scenes (necklace and bourbon sharing anyone?) Can't wait for the next episode. One more sleep!

So here I am with Chapter 19. Had some serious Writer's Block with this one, but it was also fun to write. I really hope it comes across well... it's a bit of a shocker...

DAMON'S POV

Wednesday morning... this week was going so. Fucking. Slow.

Damon couldn't believe that in the space of a few days he and Elena had gone from blissful couple making love in front of a warm fire at the log cabin to ending their relationship completely because not one, but two of his work colleagues had discovered them. It was insane and disastrously unlucky.

But at least Damon had the comfort of knowing their relationship was only over for a while. It wasn't forever.

Damon felt certain that if Isobel had no evidence to fall back on, then he and Elena would be safe. Isobel Flemming was a conniving little bitch right from the moment she had set her sights on him. And it was pretty clear she was willing to go to huge lengths to make sure that he was tightly wrapped around her little finger. But not for much longer...

Yep. As Damon breezed through the hallways towards his classroom, he felt certain that if he and Elena remained apart for a few weeks then the fire would eventually burn out. Isobel would have nothing and Alaric would hopefully forgive and forget.

Speaking of Alaric, the man came walking around the corner at that very second. The two ex-best buds eyed one another as they drew closer with each step. Damon nodded in his direction respectfully while Alaric simply rejected it and looked straight ahead. Damon was tempted to tell Alaric he had broke it off with Elena, right there in the middle of the hallway. But he bit his tongue and continued walking. No doubt he and Alaric would talk another day. Damon felt he deserved a break from emotional anguish and torment. At least for a day y'know?

He avoided the faculty lounge. No doubt Isobel was in there with her sly, lipstick coated smile poking from the rim of a coffee mug. Jesus, the woman made his entire body shudder. Apart from his father, Damon had never hated someone so much in all his life.

Once inside his classroom, Damon closed the door. He usually left it open for the occasional passer-by to shout their good-mornings but there was nothing good to preach about these days. He saw his lesson plans waiting on his desk where he'd left them the day before. Loosening his tie, he needed to keep his mind occupied from Isobel, Alaric and above all from Elena as much as he possibly could. Knowing yesterday was the last time he would be with her that way for a long time, it caused a horrible thumping sensation to repeatedly club through his chest.

A bunch of average fourteen year olds were his first batch of the day. They would certainly be keeping him busy for the first hour of his morning. Leaning back in his chair, Damon began flipping through his papers... when several, smaller sheets came falling out onto the floor.

"What the?" Damon frowned, not recalling what they were as he placed his lesson plans on the table to pick them up. He shuffled them into a pile in his hands and leaned back once again to inspect them.

He so much as turned one around and he found himself standing up, throwing them onto his desk as though they had just burned through several layers of his skin.

They were scanned photographs from yesterday afternoon;

Of himself and Elena talking.

Himself and Elena kissing.

Himself and Elena partially hidden by the grass in the throws of passion.

The last picture was of himself and Elena hugging their goodbyes, with two words written in thick, black marker pen over it.

"I know."

The message chilled Damon to the bone. Those two small words carved deep inside of him and a wave of emotions slammed into his body; shock, fear, panic but the last of them stuck with him like a hard glue. It was anger.

He violently tore away at each and every picture. "You evil, twisted bitch" he spat, each word rasped between ripping the paper into shreads until they were tiny, snowflake-like flurries in his palms.

"You wasted your energy," came her voice from the doorway.

Damon looked up to find Isobel leaning against the door frame, her hand sporting a meticulous fan of photographs of himself with Elena. She was grinning with satisfaction, like she'd just revealed a Royal Flush in a game of poker. Damon balled his right hand into a tight fist.

"I've made a fair few prints of your little day trip with Elena Gilbert. You're lucky I didn't opt for the more x-rated images I managed to capture."

Damon stormed over and he was pleased to see her flinch before he roughly grabbed her shoulder, hauling her into his classroom and slamming the door shut behind them. She still had the pictures fanned out in her hand like they were a prized possession of hers. She was quick to think he was going to back down after pulling her into his room just to have a whispered chat that involved pleading with her to keep quiet. It was exactly what the woman wanted. Damon snatched at the pictures in her hand, even grabbing her fingers and causing them to pop in their sockets.

"Ow!" she winced, finally letting go as Damon proceeded to tear up those pictures as well, remaining silent, composed and in charge. He watched with cold eyes, still shreading paper, as she casually leaned back against his desk, giving him The Look. "You're lucky I don't add assault to the growing list of things against you Damon."

Wordlessly, Damon walked over to the bin beside his desk and tossed the snow-like pieces of evidence into it. He could feel her sneering from behind him, and Damon was more than ready to put her in her place.

"So let me guess," he began, turning on his heel with a clever smirk to face her, a look she clearly didn't expect to see him wearing, "you thought you'd expose me by printing out these photos and placing them all over the school, am I right?"

She cocked her head to the side, clearly wondering what he was getting at. Damon accentuated his smirk, knowing it was already getting under skin and making her itch to know what was rolling around in his brain. She then laughed heartily,

"Well that is the plan should you decide to turn down what I have to offer. Which would ultimately protect you."

"Oh yeah, and what is that exactly?" he said, demanding the answer to her cryptic, little ways as he stepped closer.

"That if you break up with Elena Gilbert, then I would save you from exposure."

"Well tough shit honey, because the entire time your perverted, beady lil' eyes watched us make love through the camera lens yesterday, you were in fact watching our goodbye. Me and Elena - we're over. So your bargain is useless."

She was momentarily thrown as Damon sneered down at her, making her lean further back against the table. But the steely determination in her eyes said she had other ideas. Damon felt like he could punch several holes in the wall with frustration at her pointless quest to have him for herself.

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Or what? You're still going to expose me? Then good luck with handling your own interrogation into the matter. The police would surely want to know why you never said a single fucking word before you decided to stalk me. Don't you think?"

Her mouth parted to speak, but no words or snide comment came back. Damon plowed onwards, determined to see her power diminish into nothing.

"Did you save those images from your camera on your computer too? Hell it wouldn't surprise me if it was on the school's hard drive. Yeah the shit would hit the fan for me, no question about that. But you're a fool Isobel if you think you'd come out of this unscathed... Now get out."

A heavy silence followed. Damon a few, mere inches from her face as he hurled his hard facts and abuse directly into her face. She remained still, staring up at him with shallow breaths.

"Do I need to tell you twice, Isobel?" he said sternly, unfaltering in his stance.

"Not at all. I know when I'm not wanted."

"Clearly" drawled Damon in a sarcastic manner.

"I wouldn't get clever, Damon. Yes, I may get my hands slapped for keeping schtum. I'd probably even lose my job, but I'm as good as done with the snot-nosed, cocky lil' bastards in this place... I think the trouble would be worth it if I got what I wanted."

Her eyes suddenly glinted with desire, trailing up and down the length of his tall body. Frustrated, Damon released an infuriated growl, wondering when the woman would grow a shread of decency inside of her and leave him the fuck alone. She was deluded.

"You don't get it do you? I would rather stick hot needles into my eyes, repeatedly, than be with you . So again, your plan goes bust."

"Who says I care what you think?" she spat.

Damon stopped to process her words, along the determined, confident look on her features. She wasn't really suggesting...

"You're psychotic" he said. Plain and simple. Like it was an everyday thing to say. She laughed silently, flicking her dark hair over her shoulders flirtatiously.

"I just know that if I want something then I make sure I get it."

"What you want is a fucking Doctor, Isobel. And you need to get that fact lodged into your skull. Are you hearing yourself? You'd be happy blackmailing me into being with you? It's sick."

"No, what's sick is you sleeping with an underage girl."

"Get out," Damon stammered, very close to losing it.

"Break it off, for good, with Elena, and allow me to have my fun with you and i'll never say a single word about your little fling with her."

"Not gonna happen," Damon said, now marching over to the door and opening it for her. "You need to leave."

"Or what?"

"Or I'm going to drag you by the hair and haul your ass out of here myself. And don't think for a second that I won't."

The bell blasted through the room and hallways, signaling that there had to be a conclusion between the two of them. Damon was sure he had the upper hand, even though he felt the palm of his hand on the door handle shaking a little.

Isobel saunted over towards the door, almost looking like she was about to leave. Damon silently cheered, blowed party poppers and even a popped bottle of champagne to celebrate the demise of Isobel Flemming in his head. But as she stopped beside him, she gave him one last, cold stare.

"You have until the end of the day. Decide against my offer and the first person I'll be seeing is Jonathan Gilbert. I'm sure he'll lurrrrve to see the photographic evidence of your sexual encounters with his niece. Don't you?"

And with that, Isobel left Damon Salvatore's classroom.

ELENA'S POV

Bonnie had barely spoken a word to Elena all day. Elena hadn't made much of an effort either. And now they were sat next to one another in History class, the atmosphere was unbearable.

Elena glanced to her left to find Bonnie sneaking a peak at her. Both girls shifted in their seats and looked back to their teacher at the front of the room. Normally everything would have sorted itself out now, they'd have made up about their little argument over the phone, laughed over it and got on with life as normal. But not even Caroline's persistent whining for them to spill about their spat could get them to talk and iron things out. Elena felt as though Bonnie was slowly but surely finding out her secret with Damon. She couldn't afford to shed any light on that. Bonnie would never keep quiet about it. Not because it was gossip, but because Elena knew Bonnie would do it for fear of her well-being. She could see it all before her now and it left a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Then as she glanced back at Bonnie to find she wasn't looking back, Elena realized she'd not only lost Damon, but she was losing her best friend too. She was losing everyone...

Bonnie will come round eventually. Me and Damon aren't over forever... everything is going to be fine. It has to be. - she chanted these words like a mantra through her mind all day. She did believe them. Because she and Damon had pressed pause, what was there for anyone to be suspicious about? A tiny smile danced on her rosy lips as she tried to focus on her class, writing down notes extensively to keep herself busy and, most importantly, to keep herself actually on top of her work which had been lacking lately.

Such as her essay for Da- Mr Salvatore that she didn't manage to hand in thanks to her panic attack that left her puking in the toilet on Monday morning. She felt her face flare a little at how humiliating that was. But anyway, she felt it wouldn't be a huge deal if she decided to drop in her essay. It's a normal student-ly thing to do right? She'd be in and out. They'd share a smile. Nothing more.

Though Elena knew she'd end up looking at him, then to his desk, remembering their heated sex session against it's surface a few weeks ago. Her stomach skipped with pleasure at the memory. Even though they'd firmly put the brakes on, the sorrow wasn't the despair she thought she would feel, because it was only a matter of time until all would be well again. Give it a few weeks, maybe months, but Elena Gilbert was more than prepared to wait until it was safe to be with Damon Salvatore.

Moments later their teacher dismissed them from class just before the bell signaled the end of the school day. Elena rolled her eyes at the sight of Stefan and Matt actually high-fiving one another. Boys.

Elena's eye caught Bonnie's. She smiled a little at her, but Bonnie's lips remained in a firm, straight line as she packed her books away. Thank goodness Caroline came bouncing over with a beaming smile.

"So have you two made up yet?"

The girls shared a look, which confirmed all was not well to Caroline, who mimed a clear "oooo-kaaay" and swung on her heels awkwardly.

"I'll see you later," Elena sighed to no one in particular, picking up her bag from the desk.

"You're not walking with us?" Caroline asked.

"Nah, I need to hand in this essay" Elena said, pulling out the sheets from her bag.

"For Mr Salvatore?"

Elena looked up at Bonnie, who gave her an unreadable look. Elena swallowed the thick lump that had suddenly bulged in her throat. She nodded casually, like it was nothing, trying to act as normal as she knew she could. But ultimately, she felt like it was making it more obvious.

"Yeah and?"

Bonnie shrugged as she rounded the table.

"Doesn't surprise me. It's where you spend most of your time these days," she stated in an annoying, sugary-sweet voice. Elena didn't react to it, and just watched as her 'friend' walked out of the room with the rest of the class. Caroline stood, gawping, then bursting into a little giggle.

"She's seriously crushing on that English teacher of ours."

"Yeah...I guess so," Elena mumbled, not entirely sure what to say. She just wanted Caroline to go. As horrible as that sounded.

"Well whatever is going on between you both, just make sure you sort it out soon. It's starting to bug me."

Caroline planted a friendly kiss on Elena's cheek, with a friendly squeeze of the shoulder to go with it, then went skipping out of the room.

When it came to her friends these days, Elena suddenly developed a terrible headache. It was as though every friend issue had knotted up inside her head and she didn't know where to start with unraveling it. But whatever, she wasn't going to start just yet. Caroline and Bonnie in particular, were not what she needed right now.

What she needed was to see Damon. She couldn't wait another week to eye-stalk him at her desk while he spoke to the rest of the class. If only he taught all of her English classes, then she might feel a little better about the whole situation.

Elena felt a mixture of dread and excitement stir inside as she approached the English department. Excited to see her lover, terrified she'd bump into Isobel. It took a lot of Elena to hate someone. Isobel had successfully climbed her way to the top. Possibly snatching the number one spot from her Uncle, whom she also knew she could be cornered by as she swung open the doors to the building.

Please don't see me, she pleaded silently, hiding behind her silky curtain of dark hair as she passed door after door. She passed Mr Saltzman's room, which was closed anyway. Then her heart kicked into overdrive as she loomed closer to Isobel's... which was thankfully empty.

Now only to dodge her Uncle until she would make it to Damon's room without a hitch. Breathing suddenly became that little bit easier...

DAMON'S POV

No sooner had the bell indicated that another Wednesday was over, Isobel was at his door wanting the verdict. He gave her the filthiest look he could pull, and it was a good one, as he angry threw the chairs under the table that most student's failed to do. The sound of metal chair legs clanking on the table's made her jump. Damon smiled.

"So what'll it be?" she bellowed over his deliberate racket. Damon heard the door close heavily, leaving just the two of them, like this morning, alone in his classroom.

"You heard what I said this morning," Damon stated, not looking at her as he marched over to his desk, closing all his books, folders, the usual ritual before he left.

"And you heard what I had to say. Would you like me to repeat it for you? Because I don't think you quite understand how close I am to telling all that I know about you Damon."

She was lurking behind his shoulder, hammering the words into his ear while he continued to pack away like he hadn't heard a thing.

"Car keys..." he mumbled to himself, feeling his pockets, then moving around his desk.

He almost swung for her when she grabbed his bicep with nails so sharp they were like the talon's of a powerful eagle.

"Be with me, or i'll destroy you Damon."

In a flash so quick Damon found his hand gripping Isobel's chin, making her gasp a little at the impact. Did he care? He probably should have done, but he didn't. It was satisfying to see her eyes bulge a little with fear. She was Hellbent on ruining his life for her own twisted pleasure, he felt that he'd earned the right to scare her.

"I. Said. No." he growled, bringing her face so close to his until he could feel her stale, coffee-laced breath on his lips. He released her, hard enough until she went tumbling against one of the tables.

"Is she really that worth it?" she rasped, rubbing her chin painfully.

"Whatever you have to say, I don't give a-"

"Is she really worth years behind bars Damon? Inmates don't take too kindly to paedophile's you know. You'd be in for a rough time. Not to mention those cold, lonely, sleepless nights while you lay in your pityful excuse of a bunk in your cell, and she'll be living it up at college, getting drunk at parties, boasting about how she got it on with the hot teacher in high school. Can you imagine how that will make you feel while you slowly, ever so slowly count down the days until you're a free man again? But then it wouldn't end there would it? Because it will stay with you for life. From one shitty, dead end job to another while she has the whole wide world at her feet... Yeah, that sounds about right."

Somewhere in the middle of her speech, she had made it to his side, pressing her body against his arm while she spoke the words in a soft, haunting tone into his ear. Damon glared down at her like she was a bad, pungent odour that wouldn't leave.

"Elena is not like that. If this were you we were talking about, then yeah I'd say it was pretty spot on."

"Fine, so what if she is Little Miss Fucking Perfect. Cut her out of the picture and what I said is still the truth."

...

And unfortunately... it actually was.

Damon shrugged her away from body.

"But to agree to this blackmailing scheme of yours would be like a prison sentence anyway," he eyed up and down her body, smirking a little. "Perhaps being roughed up by the inmates would be a little more bearable than yourself."

No sooner as he said it, Isobel was pulling her phone out of her dress pocket.

"Lets cut to the chase," she spat, Damon watched with blazing eyes as she dialled in three numbers, "Hope you have your running shoes."

Damon didn't waste anytime talking and quickly yanked the phone out of her hand as the distant sound of "911 what is your emergency?" echoed down the receiver. He hung up the call. Feeling his heart thunder through his body and sweat gather between his fingers, at his temple and he was even sure he'd began to sweat through his ears with panic.

"What is your problem!" he hissed, pointing to his head with her phone and almost turning red with rage. She was fucking insane. She seemed to know that. And now she was laughing, loving her little games with him.

"It's not me who has the problem Damon, dear" she cooed, "all you have to do is be with me until I'm bored with you. Which i'll be honest, may not be for a while. Say until the school year is out?"

"Until Chistmas."

"Uhh no. Until the school year is out."

"I'll give you until Christmas. Then we're done."

"You do not have any decision in this Damon," she stated, closing in on him. "What's a few more months? You've already done the hard part of breaking up with her. And really, am I that hard on the eyes for you?"

"Yes, really," Damon sighed, feeling his whole life drain down the dirty, soiled toilet that he imagined in his head.

"C'mon," she urged, sliding her hands up his shirt, making sure her fingers pressed against his chest muscles. Already, Damon felt violated under her touch.

But he thought hard. Very hard. Prison, or Isobel. Both were as bad, but he had a shot of escaping from the latter.

Isobel had won.

"The school year," Damon said as a confirmation to himself, struggling to actually say the words. Isobel slid her hands around the back of his neck.

"Just the school year," she said with a winning smile and flutter of her eyelashes.

"For your sake it better be," Damon warned, drawing her closer, taking her by surprise as he flipped the switch to his "come hither" eyes that he had perfected in his college years. She was coming undone before his stare, her fingers at the nape of his neck gathering the obsidian coloured hair at the back of his head, her body melting against his.

"Why is that?" she replied, clearly unable to believe her luck.

Damon with a devilish smile and a twinkle in his eyes, drew down to her lips.

"Because if you double-crossed me, Isobel" he whispered, ever so quietly against her lips, "then I will destroy you."

He waited until he saw the dilation of fear in her eyes before forcing himself to kiss her, sealing his promise of destruction with a fierce, angry, almost savage attack of her lips that had her whimpering for air.

As he kept his eyes tight shut, he heard a whimper that didn't belong to Isobel. Then heard it again, which caused him to actually stop his angry assault on Isobel's lipstick smeared mouth to look.

Oh God...

...

"No..." she weeped, her whole body shaking at the doorway. The essay papers rustling in her limp hand by her side.

Damon never took his eyes off Elena as he watched the devastation hit her in a matter of seconds.

"Elena," he began, his voice actually trembling as he pulled away from Isobels' grasp, who he knew in the back of his troubled mind was beaming with satisfaction behind him, thrilled in knowing Elena had walked in the exact moment they kissed.

Damon however, was experiencing a feeling he hadn't yet felt. A severe pain yet numbing in his whole body simultaneously. It was indescribable. It was something he didn't want to feel ever again.

"This can't be..." she sobbed, her voice trailing into silence as the tears began to fall from her heartbroken, yet equally livid stare that broke Damon in two.

"Elena you have to let me explain," he rushed, walking over with determination, reaching out to grab her hands, but was met with her arm colliding into the side of his face. Bone hitting bone. The impact sending a sharp splinter of pain to chisel through his jaw.

Damon was aware, as he shielded his face from her less painful blows, that she wasn't shouting at him. She wasn't screaming. Still, despite seeing him with Isobel, she remained quiet so not to make heads turn their way.

Finally he grabbed her wrists to stop her from hitting him. She flailed in his arms, her hair sticking to her tear sodden cheeks as she writhed for him to release her.

"Elena. Elena please" he repeated, for what felt like a lifetime to make her listen. She had to hear him out. She had to know he and Isobel were nothing. That he was trapped into being with her. That he had no choice. That it was Elena and only Elena he wanted.

"Let her go," Isobel warned from behind him. "Damon you cannot treat a student like this."

Her fake, authoritative concern actually made him stop to stare at her with disbelief. She was actually acting as if she were oblivious to the situation. Staring at him like he'd lost his mind.

But then came that little look of warning that shone in her eyes.

Let her go, or I'll tell everyone... he could almost hear her thoughts.

He stared down at Elena, unmoving in his arms, her eyes closed with tears. God he wanted to tell her everything, to comfort her, to take her away...

Why didn't we just go in the first place? He thought, gently stroking back the hair that clung to Elena's cheek like delicate webs.

But the opportunity to leave had long gone. He could have quit his job, that now he realized he couldn't care less about and suffered the argument for it - if he'd have done that, he would have been fine. He would have waited for Elena to finish the school year, seen each other in secret still, with no one lurking in the shadows.

Too little too late.

Elena shuddered in his arms. She wasn't cold he realized, but she shuddered with disgust. He frowned a little, a whole new wave of hurt pounding in his body as she ripped away from him.

She hated him.

Without saying another word, or lifting her eyes from the floor, Elena placed her crumpled essay on his desk and quickly exited the room. Damon closed his eyes, allowing the hurt to sink in as he heard her running footsteps echo down the hallway until he heard the heavy ratting of the doors, then the inevitable sound of them slamming shut behind her.

She was gone.

"Now," he heard Isobel begin, feeling her circle his body.

He opened his eyes tiredly, knowing nothing she could say could make him feel any worse than he did right now.

"Your place or mine?" she added.

ELENA'S POV

Elena ran until she felt her lungs burn painfully, until she could no longer see for the tears that blinded her vision. She was somewhere between school and home when she collapsed against someone's tree outside there house, crying, heaving for breath, trying to swallow back the cries that burst from her quivering lips.

"Damon," she whispered, the name painful to say or even think.

It was too much. Everything was just too much for her. The secrets. The promises. The lies. The overwhelming feeling that she was now very much alone, just too much to try and deal with by herself.

She reached for her phone in her bag and dialed the one number she knew would always be there for her no matter what.

It was time to share her secret.

"Hello?"

"Bonnie?... I really, really need to see you."

... was that okay?

I know, I'm evil. But would you rather it be boring and all lovely-love like Stelena? Ewww! Hehehe.

Please, please, plllleeeeease leave your reviews to let me know what you thought of this chapter. I can't wait to read them. I'm excited!

Thank you, and happy viewing for TVD tomorrow

Anna xxx