Hello there everyone!

I am so, so, sooooooo sorry about the lateness of this update. I promised it would be much sooner than this but I have my reasons. One; i've been having a lot of internet trouble and two; I wasn't 100% happy with the outcome of this chapter. It needed more kick and as a result I've completely altered how Elena's POV was going to end. Funny how you can have an idea in your head, but when it comes to writing it just sucks, eh? Or maybe that's just me, hehe.

As always thank you for all of your amazing reviews. I'm pleased so many of you find yourself on the edge of your seats by the end of some chapters. It's allllways my intention because I'm just an evil cow, mwhahaha! But finally here is Chapter 22, not my best I personally feel, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. On we go!

ELENA'S POV

Elena had been knocking out a few of her signature moves (they were a little rusty she'll admit) for several minutes or so with Caroline. As much as her smile showed she was having the time of her life, her eyes spoke differently. People were still gawping in her direction, even on the bustling dance floor. She did her best to ignore them, sipping on her drink and singing along to the music with Caroline who was also putting on a good show that she was having a great time while Matt sulked in the shadows.

"I'm gonna get another drink!" Caroline yelled, then twirling in her heels, storming past Matt with a fantastic sway of her hips towards the nearest drinks table in the decadent foyer of the Lockwood Mansion.

Elena was suddenly left alone, feeling a little intimidated until Stefan breezed across to her with a winning smile.

"Having fun Miss Gilbert?" he yelled over the thundering base.

Elena was close to crumbling apart with the staring of eyes that Stefan hadn't seemed to notice. Unless he thought people were staring with adoration like the old days; Stefan & Elena - the golden couple of Mystic Falls High. But Elena shrugged off the whispers and sniggers around her and quickly carried on moving to the music.

"Of course I am. How about you?"

'Hey Elena is it true?" came a high pitched voice.

To her left there was Dana, shouting to her over the music with a group of her friends hovering around her like a moth to the flame. Elena felt like she was about be pounced on as they gave her the filthiest look possible. She frowned, as did Stefan next to her.

"Is what true?" she said with a straight face, but she could feel her voice weakening. Hopefully it was unnoticeable over the loud music. She carried on dancing a little, trying to keep most of her attention on Stefan to show she couldn't really care less for what Dana was about to say.

"Is it true that's you're sleeping with the hot english teacher? Everyone is talking about it!"

"Sleeping with who?" Stefan demanded, looking back and forth between Dana and Elena. The girls started giggling as Elena grasped onto Stefan's arm. She had perfected lying in the last few weeks, but this was becoming a little too difficult.

"Stefan lets just go. I don't need to listen to this crap" she scowled, glaring at Dana over her shoulder as she made her way off the dance floor with Stefan in tow.

The things she heard on the way were nothing short of unbearable.

"Did you get that note about her and Mr Salvatore?"

"I heard they did it in the teachers lounge several times..."

"Stefan's way too good for her."

"You haven't heard? Mr Salvatore's been banging her for months!"

"Oh My God, Elena!"

As she cleared the dance floor there was Caroline, mouth agape, drink spilling out of her hand.

"What Caroline?"

"Is it true? I mean... seriously!"

"It's true isn't it?"

Elena turned around to find Dana again, standing tall over her smaller frame, hand on her hips with a clever smile on her face. A warm pair of hands settled on Elena's shoulders, she flinched to find it was Stefan standing supportively behind her.

"No it's not true," Elena said calmly, knowing if she flew off the handle it would only make it seem less convincing. Her frightened, hazel eyes darted around all the bodies that turned to look at her, chanting ridiculous "Elena and Salvatore, sitting in a tree" songs, throwing foul sexual comments and texting other people what was happening. She leaned back against Stefan's body, knowing he was all she had at the moment.

"You're sleeping with Mr Salvatore," Dana stated confidently, Elena shook her head vigarously. "Tell me Elena, does he have a huge-"

"You're disgusting!" Elena spat, but everyone at the forefront seemed to burst into infectious laughter.

"Elena's lets go you don't need to hear this," Stefan explained into her ear.

"Why are you so hung up on her Stefan?" Dana taunted, Elena quickly agreed to Stefan's suggestion and they turned to leave, "doesn't it bother you that she's probably been blowing Salvatore off at lunch hour?"

Howls of laughter echoed behind her as they hurriedly left the dance floor completely. Elena felt too numb to cry as she and Stefan left through the back entrance of the house, passing the fog of smoke where the stoners had situated themselves for the night. This was all going from bad to worse; she and Damon had broke up, Isobel had him for herself, she had no idea where Damon was, or if he was even around Mystic Falls at all anymore. She didn't know much about anything and the urgent need to find Damon, to just see him and see that he was safe was becoming all the more desperate.

"Elena slow down!" said Stefan, still right behind her as she walked in the direction of his car.

"Will you please take me home Stefan? I can't be here."

She turned around and he almost bumped right into her. He looked upset for her, which was something very, very Stefan-like. He was so in tune with how people felt, and in particularly Elena, willing to share her pain to show she wasn't alone. To some that would be a powerful trait to find in a boyfriend. But for Elena it felt like it made everything ten times worse. For her anguish to become a part of him? It was too much. She needed someone to be strong for her, to be a shoulder to cry on and make her feel like everything will be okay.

But unfortunately the only person who could really do that for her was Damon.

'Of course I'll take you home, but..."

"But what, Stefan?"

"... Is it true?"

Elena felt her insides quiver anxiously. She needed Stefan by her side. Yes she had Bonnie, but if this rumour were going to exacerbate, of which it most likely will, she needed more than her best friend to stand by her. Most best friends would with such a predicament , even when you don't expect them too as Elena had discovered. But Stefan could be vital. If the ex-boyfriend is willing to stand by you when you've been accused of sleeping with a school teacher, then it would eventually die out as a vicious rumour. Yes it was using Stefan to an extent. But Elena was far more concerned about Damon than anyone else in this World right now.

"No Stefan, it's not true" she trembled. "How can you believe something like that when anyone could have scribbled it on a piece of scrap paper for a laugh?"

"But everyone in there was so adamant about it, I just thought.."

"Well you thought wrong. A rumour like that is gold dust, it's no wonder they've jumped on it like flies around crap" she shook, suddenly feeling so scared.

"I get what you're saying Elena. But I suppose I was more worried that... well, what if it was true but not on your... terms if you get me. Like what if he was forcing you into it?"

Elena stared at Stefan with disbelief. Abhorred by such an absurd statement. If she weren't keeping any of this a secret, she would have slapped him hard around the face. But if she overreacted that would just confirm everyones suspicions. She wouldn't care that much about a teacher she wasn't sleeping with now would she? But she could not and would not allow Damon to be spoken about that way.

"How could you even think of something like that? Mr Salvatore is a great man and a great teacher. You know that from first hand experience!"

"Yeah but what if it was an act? Y'know you read about stuff like this."

"Well it's not like the stuff you read, Stefan. Damon is an innocent man and i'd hate to think he would get in trouble for some silly rumour."

Elena was now so close to Stefan she could swear she saw his pupils dilate. Nothing about him seemed entirely convinced for some reason and this was Stefan, who would believe her even if she went skipping around Mystic Falls singing that she'd seen a pig fly.

"Stefan?" she whispered, she went as far as to grab the draw strings of his navy pullover "Say something will you?"

"You called him Damon."

A hot and cold sweat sheeted her entirely body.

"...Yeah. So?"

"Why'd you call him that?" he asked in a gruff whisper, pulling back from her a little.

"Why wouldn't I call him it? It's his name after all."

"Since when does anyone call a teacher by their first name?"

"Of course they do when you get close enough to them!" Her stomach knotted as she realized how bad that actually sounded. She yanked Stefan closer as if to shake her last statement out of his ears. "I mean, like... he's lost a parent too and he has been so supportive of my situation in a way that most can't comprehend."

"So I wasn't supportive enough? Is that what you're saying?"

"No! For goodness sake Stefan why do you have to twist every little thing I say as a negative towards you? You haven't lost a parent. He has. Damon understands more than-"

"There you go again. Damon this. Damon that."

"Ugh it's pointless even explaining to you!" Elena shrieked, pushing Stefan away and pressing her hands to her face. Trying to hold back the high-pitched screams of frustration that she was dying to burst out into the night.

"I hear what you're saying Elena, but it sounds like bullshit. My dad can be a complete jerk and I'd confide in Mr Tanner about it but I don't go around calling him by his first name like he's a best good friend of mine now do I?"

"Well it's... it's different then, okay? Stefan please, this is getting... it's getting silly. Please, will you just give me a ride home?"

She knew she was rapidly losing her cool. She was unravelling like a thread before Stefan's enraged, emerald eyes and she didn't know how to reign it back. He knew. He just knew, she could tell by the way he stared at her and how he was backing away towards the house.

"Are you protecting him?" Stefan asked, pointing at her like she was filth. His tunneled, sixteen year old brain had paged back to the vile teacher/student stories from the newspapers that no doubt twisted half of the tale. Or so Elena believed now to some extent. When she hadn't said anything in the few seconds he gave her, Stefan jumped to the conclusion, "he has forced you into this hasn't he?"

"Stefan stop it!" she begged... Oh God, now she was begging. He turned to head back to the house, ready to confirm to it's inhabitants that the notes were true and that Salvatore was a sick, paedophile bastard who needed castrating first thing Monday morning. "Stefan wait!"

"No Elena, this needs to be out. It's for your own good."

"Stefan. Stefan wait dammit!"

She grabbed his arm and yanked him backwards, almost sending them both toppling to the grass beneath them. He moved for her to let go, but she held on to the sleeve of his jacket with all the strength her fingers could muster.

"Why are you stopping me from doing this?" he yelled, grabbing her upper arms and shaking her between each word with force, as if trying to rattle some sense into her. But Elena hadn't lost the fight for Damon yet.

"I'm stopping you because you'd be sending an innocent teacher into ruin for something he hasn't done. But more so because you'd be ruining my life when it's taken me several months to finally feel like I can rebuild it!"

He seemed to listen to this. Elena watched him, her eyes wide and searching for the look on his face that told her she'd won him over. They seemed to be stood that way for a while, Stefan holding her arms, Elena cradling her hands to her chest, pulling away from him slightly. He finally stroked his hands down to her elbows and flopped them to his sides. Elena let out a breath of complete and utter relief.

"It was just the thought of someone like that taking advantage of you. If it were true I don't think I could handle it. I'd want to find him and rip him apart myself for doing that to you."

Elena shuddered at his low, sinister voice. She'd never heard Stefan sound like that. Ever.

"But it's all fake. It's someone in that house over there making it up for their own amusement."

"Maybe so. But I swear if he so much as looks at you in a funny way i'll break his-"

"Stefan!" Elena stammered, stunned by his attitude. It was so unlike the gentle character she was used to.

He gave her a funny side nod as if he were struggling to rid the thoughts of beating Mr Salvatore to a pulp out of his head. "Sorry," he mumbled, like a misbehaved kid, too stubborn to admit defeat.

Elena didn't want to be around him any longer, or at the party, or around anyone for that matter. Apart from Bonnie, she was scared to be around people incase they sniffed out her relationship with Damon. The suspicion was there now like a giant, pink elephant in every single room all because of a note that she was certain Miss Flemming had planted in people's lockers. There didn't need to be proof. A few words on a piece of scrap paper were enough to destroy everything... for a very, very long time.

"I'm going now," Elena said, adding silently to herself ...to find Damon.

"Let me drive you," Stefan said, sulking, looking at the ground beneath his feet.

"No, i'd rather walk. But thank you" Elena said, glancing at Stefan once more before turning to leave.

She saw the exit to the Lockwood mansion grounds in sight. She knew to take the first right out in the direction she thought-

"I insist on driving you. It's late" came Stefan's voice from behind her. Elena could hear his feet jogging towards her on the thick grass.

"Stefan you've been drinking" she said, closing her eyes with trepidation as she felt his hand slide around her bare shoulder. "But Stefan I need-"

"It's no bother," he said, jingling out his car keys and tugging her body into the direction of his parked car.

"I don't mind being dropped half way if that's okay," she said, irritated by his insistence as he swung open the car door for her, but in a less than gentlemanly manner.

"I may as well take you home. I head in that direction anyway."

"But i'd really like to get some air before-"

"I said I'll take you home!"

Elena sat there in shock, almost jumping out of her skin as he slammed his door so heavily the car shook on it's wheels. It felt like he'd bitten her tongue off, and she didn't dare say another word to him as he shoved the keys in the ignition and roared the car into motion before he barely even took the hand brake off.

Elena didn't dare look at him for the entire journey. The tension was excruciating to the point where she was scared to breathe a little too loudly. And as they took the right down towards her house, she found herself saying in the quietest voice...

"Stefan... you do believe me don't you?"

DAMON'S POV

Damon woke up to find blood smeared on bed sheets. His bed sheets to be precise.

Within seconds of opening his eyes the nights events quickly came back to him; getting drunk at the bar, Ric somehow finding him there, the drunken brawl with a man twice his size.

Hm.. that would explain the blood.

It seemed as though his bodily senses were coming to life one by one. First his weary eyes that struggled to stick to a single image. Double vision seemed to be at a constant these days. He twisted his neck, feeling a wave of relief flourish through him as it cracked several times, the sound bouncing off the walls, igniting his hearing. Then the inflammed, knifing pain through his right hand. Now that was hurting. Damon had found himself in many incidents in his life; from falling off a bike and breaking his ankle, a beating from his dad, drunken bar fights - but this was just agony and he'd done it to himself. Untreated, misused and it probably looked horrific but Damon didn't dare look. Not just yet.

But then suddenly, he could feel his legs - but he couldn't move them properly. It was like a giant, numbing weight pressing on his lower body, stopping any and all movement except for the twitch of his toes. He worried that someone may have cracked a pool cue on his spine or something last night, but when his eyes reajusted and focused, the reality was far, far worse.

"Good morning Sleepyhead."

Damon gripped the bedsheets with his left hand.

"Isobel."

She blinked down at him with an air of innocence, stroking his cheek lovingly, humming with affection as she sat happily on his hips

"How are you feeling?"

"Awful" he stated, "worse now I've woken up."

"Aww" she pouted, sliding her hand from his cheek down to his chest. Damon shuddered at the touch, her feather light administrations upsetting the bruising at his ribs. Of which, he could tell, she had mistaken for a shudder of appreciation.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" she drawled in a husky, sexual voice that would certainly light some mens fire first thing on a morning. But certainly not Damon's.

Her fingers grazed down his toned stomach, curling through the light trail of hair just above his... he wasn't wearing any boxers.

"You can get off me and take me to the hospital" he ordered, arching his hips to move her away. Again, she forcibly mistook it for something else and ground her hips back against his.

"I don't think I'll be doing that just yet." she said, rolling her tongue across her upper lip as she toyed her fingers with the bedsheets that rested dangerously low on his hips and under her body that straddled him.

"Well you can at least get the Hell off me," he spat, glaring at her dangerously.

As much as he kept up the bravado, he knew it was the wrong thing to say to her.

Through the flimsy sheets, she snatched her hand out to grab his manhood. Damon hiss at the intrusion as she squeezed him between her fingers, squinting his eyes shut as she lowered herself down to his face. He could feel her hair tickling his jaw line and her sour, morning breath breathing against his ear.

"What have I been telling you Damon? About disobeying me? About refusing me?"

He didn't answer. He just focused on keeping his rage dormant.

"Your silence speaks volumes Damon. You knew better than to play games with me. Refusing me Thursday? No word from you yesterday. Drunk in a bar last night instead of being with me? Surely you knew that would upset me, Damon..."

He shot his eyes open to find her staring at him. His left hand darted to her right that continued to stroke his length into arousal. Bad move again. With her other hand, she yanked his injured right and squeezed.

The pain was like nothing else. Like a deep burning that crawled through his arm, his tendons and nerves on fire. First he managed to contain it by growling through clenched teeth. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction. But when she chose a single finger, probably the worst looking of the bunch and proceed to push it back into itself, an act that hurts regardless, he couldn't help but scream with the pain.

"You fucking bitch!" he spat, "You twisted, evil-"

"Ah, ah, ah! be careful what you say Damon. Otherwise could be more than just a few notes I slip into students lockers if you upset me further..."

"...What?"

"That's riiiiight," she cooed, like a gameshow host after the contestant announces the correct answer. "I thought as punishment i'd throw a little spanner into the words for you. No doubt the rumours of you sleeping with Elena Gilbert will have circulated around each and every student by now. Wonder how Elena is dealing with that..."

Damon couldn't find the words. He flopped his head back onto his pillow, shutting his eyes and wondering how life got so fucked up in the space of a week. He sighed deeply, trying to ignore the sound his rampant heartbeat that seemed to pulse through his ears.

"I may as well turn myself in now..." he said in acceptance, feeling there was little else he could do and far too exhausted to put up a fight which would only land himself in further trouble.

"Not just yet," Isobel said. Damon opened one eye to look at her. "If you redeem yourself for your lack of involvement with me in the last two days, i'll confirm to all and sundry that it is a horrible, horrible rumour - for you and I have been seeing each other for a while, and we're incredibly happy. And with Elena no doubt backing your corner, you'll be completely in the clear."

"Seems a little easier said than done, Isobel" said Damon, trying to sit up as he saw her hand creeping back towards his manhood under the thin fabric of the sheets.

"I can assure you everything will be as it was. Give it a couple of days for the novelty to wear off and everything will be fine. Elena may still be the victim of abuse in your classes, but I'm sure if she moved to mine I can keep a watchful eye to make sure no one bothers her."

Damon smirked, almost laughing to himself, "you've really thought this out haven't you?"

She didn't say anything, but the spark in her eyes spoke for her. She was very, very pleased with herself.

"So... how about we get down to business?" she said, her voice switching to cheap pornstar mode as she grinded against his hips once more.

Damon was about to protest the moment her finger pressed against his swollen, bottom lip to keep him silent. As she slipped it away to remove the tacky, lace-type garment that concealed her body, what difference would it actually make if he did protest? These notes in lockers were a massive warning, enough to probably land him with a police interrogation as a precaution. Isn't that going to look grand on his records? Either way she was going to destroy his life for her benefit. And as much as his skin crawled by a simple touch from her, this was the easiest option. Afterall, it'll be far more easier to find an escape route this way than behind cold, iron bars...

He remained completely still as Isobel ever so slowly lowered her bare upper body to blanket his. Throughout the whole action as she began to nuzzle kisses into his neck, Damon kept his eyes closed, imagining it was Elena here with him. He found himself right there with her, staring up into her eyes that beamed down into his, bursting with love and admiration that she was there in his company. Her skin flawless and smooth to the touch, her cheek cupped into his warm palm, her eyes fluttering as he would stroke back the few strands of rich, dark hair that would escape from behind her ridiculously small and cute ears. It wasn't long before he imagined her glorious, naked body perched on his. His fingertips ghosting across her supple hips, causing her to sigh with content as she arched backwards, kneading his length teasingly.

"'Lena.." he groaned, completely lost in his thoughts.

A hand connected to the side of his head with a sharp 'slapping' sound. It wasn't painful, not compared to what Damon's body had coped with in the last day or so, but it was hard enough to leave a ringing sound in his ears.

"Jeez, what the fuck was that for?" he hissed, focusing his eyes on Isobel's face where her cheap, dark-red lipstick had smudged across her lips from her lazy kisses all over his neck and body.

"That name" she growled, her half-naked body almost shaking with anger as she glowered down at him. "Her name is off limits to you."

Damon hadn't realized he'd been saying Elena's name aloud. He couldn't help but smirk at his small victory. He even felt it suitable to wiggle his eyebrows up at Isobel with satisfaction, before reclining back as though it were nothing.

Her hand raised to hit him again the moment the door knocked, along with several hits of the buzzer. Damon used to despise how the door would always knock when he was with Elena. It was like an unspoken rule; Damon Salvatore is with Elena Gilbert - sound the alarm! But these days he welcomed inconvenient door-knocking with open arms.

"Seriously?" moaned Isobel, looking over her shoulder to Damon's half open bedroom door. Whoever was at the door didn't have plans to be leaving any time soon. It was a continuous knock that demanded an answer. "Don't move."

"I won't" said Damon, watching her crawl off his body, wrapping her equally lacy and tacky looking dressing-gown around her body and skulking out of the door. As soon as she had disappeared, Damon was up and out of his bed, dragging a pair of jeans over his legs with the singular use of his left arm with surprising ease.

He heard the door opening as he struggled to get a black t-shirt over his head. His entire torso felt like it was being stretched to its limits as he raised his arms. He'd never done any extensive damage to the area before, so didn't know if any ribs were broken or what. Not that anything could be done about them even if they were.

"C'mon you son of a..." with difficultly, Damon slipped his right arm through the sleeve but only to knock it against the wall once it was through, "Bitch!" he hissed, growling in agony as he cradled his right hand to his chest. Feeling a sweat break out of his strained body.

"And you're telling me that doesn't need a hospital?"

Damon blinked across to find Alaric stood with a very disgruntled Isobel at the doorway.

"Oh thank Christ you're here Ric" groaned Damon, bumping his head against the wall as he breathed through the waves of pain that rippled back and forth through his arm.

"I was planning on taking him myself if he didn't improve," said Isobel, quite pathetically Damon noted as he brushed past the two of them into the expanse of his lounge to grab his precious leather jacket, wondering how on earth it made it back into his possession. It was probably Ric. Or Super-Ric as Damon thought of him. Always coming to save the day.

"Ric, car keys, lets move" Damon ordered.

"Wait I need to get dressed," Isobel announced.

"No need. You don't need to hold my hand," retorted Damon with a backward glance over his shoulder.

"Fine," he heard her say through clenched teeth. "But don't think for a second that I won't be here when you get back..."

Damon turned to look at her with equally as much irrefutable hate as herself. Thankfully, Alaric played dumb, but Damon knew he was completely aware of what was going on. He was a smart man, and Damon had a gut feeling the reason he kept coming to his aid was because he knew of Isobel's actions. His drunken ramblings from the night before were somehow enough to be true to Alaric. They shared a knowing look for the slightest of seconds before Damon quickly flashed his sarcastic 'i'm so happy!' smile at Isobel and turned to leave the house with Alaric in tow.

Within a matter of minutes they were in Alaric's car, driving in silence down the empty roads. Damon vaguely remembered being sprawled in the back seat only a few hours ago.

"I didn't vom in your car did I?" he said, the first words spoken since they'd left Isobel at his apartment.

"Thankfully you had completely blacked out before you had the chance to do that. Gotta say the blood stains were a little tricky though."

"Oh... right... sorry about that" said Damon, squinting his sensitive, blue eyes as the morning sunlight beamed it's overpowering rays through the windshield, the heat making him feel more so like a sack of shit.

"So..." began Alaric with a strained sigh, rapping his fingers on the steering wheel in thought, "how long does Isobel plan to keep up this love charade with you, huh?"

"Until the school year is out" said Damon, trying to ignore the swell of dread that puffed in his chest at the thought.

"And you really believe she'll live up to her part of the deal?"

"Of course I don't believe her Alaric. She'll keep this up until I'm sat in a rocking chair on the porch with a bag of piss permanently attached to me."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" said Alaric, indicating left to take the final turn towards Mystic Falls Hospital.

Damon frowned as he attempted to flex his right hand in his lap, each finger mottled green and purple from bruising, then he looked up with the frown still deep in place.

"I have no idea, Ric. No fucking idea at all."

So there you have it! Isobel just doesn't give up does she? But yay for Team Badass, back on form as usual hehe. Please, pretty please let me know your thoughts and feelings of this chapter. It was a tricky one for me to write and I'm just hoping it's come across well enough for you all. I'd hate to disappoint!

Next chapter is going to be a busy one. It's Monday morning, which means Delena are face to face again... but under what circumstances... ?

Big Delena hugs for all!

Anna x