It is so nice to finally update this story. I have missed it. It's a big chapter also! Thank you for my support system telling me to update, and all of you for following it. I love you all. Thank you for everything. Hopefully an update will come sooner. xo

The next morning was a new awakening for them both. Elena and Damon had changed things in their winds, and decided to put their differences aside. She opened her eyes, to the semi-darkened room, and gazed at the time. "Good morning," Damon whispered turning over to face Elena who was smiling ear-to-ear.

"Hi, Damon," she answered back with a stretch of her arms.

She turned over to face him and smiled. Her face was full of glee, exciting for the new day to begin. It was a brand new day, and she felt nothing could possibly stop her. "Did you sleep well?" he questioned her.

She beamed a big, bright smile. "Yes. How about you?"

"Fine, fine, haven't slept that well in a while," he answered Elena.

She nodded and softly smiled. "I enjoy your company," she whispered.

He chuckled. "You're not so bad yourself, Gilbert."

Elena smiled again; she couldn't help the dimples on her cheek, or the grin dancing on her mouth. This was one of the first times that Elena actually could feel the emotion of being happy.

Damon stirred in the large bed, he was relaxing for once, but suddenly his body became tense. "We should head out, I have work to do," he groaned.

She nodded against her pillow, and curled up next to him. "I like laying here with you. It's easy for me to forget the world."

Damon smiled softly. He liked the way she was spoke. Damon felt the love she was pouring out on him. It was different. "I feel the same."

The compassion between Damon and Elena was much greater than anything they both had known. It scared them, but the ride seemed fine.

"I need to swing by work first—say my goodbyes to Caro, and pick up a few manuscripts," she yawned awaiting for his answer whatever it may be.

He furrowed his eyebrows at the idea of her working while on their mini-vacation.

"I like to read, when I'm relaxing, silly," she interrupted his thoughts quickly.

"Sure, I'll meet you at your house. Sound good?"

She nodded quickly, hopping out of the bed to her things.

XXXX

Elena left Damon's apartment shortly afterwards. Her main goal for the morning was to say goodbye to Caroline, and cancel all appointments; and possibly grab a few manuscripts of upcoming novels.

She walked into the office building, feeling a sense of déjà vu inside of her, because of not being there for a while. Elena took a deep breath and entered her large doors, unveiling nothing had changed.

"Caroline!" she grinned.

Her best friend's head popped up and ran from behind the desk, giving Elena a big hug. "Elena Gilbert—how is my best friend?" Caroline greeted, but with a slight smug on her face; Elena became worried.

"What's going on?" Elena whispered feeling the intuition of knowing Caroline for so long kick in.

Caroline blinked. "What do you mean?" She was playing dumb. It was irritating Elena.

"You just seem tense…" Elena answered in a weak voice.

Caroline quickly grabbed Elena's hand and rushed through the glass doors out to the foyer. The worried look grew to a frown. "She's taken over the company," Caroline spitted out.

Elena tilted her head in despair and confusion. "Who?"

Turning the corners, making sure no one was around, Caroline answered, "Katherine."

Elena's new expression was complete shock. "Wh-What, how? Why didn't you call me?"

Her best friend breathed out and pursed her glossed lips together. "It was clear you had too much on your plate to deal with something else."

"I'm frustrated you didn't tell me, or call. I do have a lot on my plate, but Caro you know you need to pick up the phone."

Caroline shrugged with innocence, knowing in the back of her mind her best friend was going through some very trying times. "I didn't want to worry you, and plus, I assumed Damon would have told you; since you are spending so much time with him."

A lodge became stuck in Elena's throat hearing the word Damon. He should've; now she found herself angry at Damon. Reality set in though, he's been elsewhere than to worry about her company at the moment.

"Damon's been in California, you know that, and he just got back for your wedding, speaking of wedding, how was the honeymoon?" Elena questioned trying to jump around on subjects.

Her best friend nodded, and with a grimace answer of, "True, but Katherine's apart of his team; should've come up somehow, and it was good, relaxing."

"And how is Katherine taking over the company?" Elena brought that topic back up before it became nipped in the butt.

Caroline took a breath and sighed, taking her to the outside-smoking area of the building, and relaxed on the balcony. "Katherine has been planning everything, taking over your spot, making decisions by herself without anyone's consent, and making sure no one finds out."

Elena was stumped; she understood why Caroline was being so discrete, but what was the biggest problem?

"She's been taking lots of late night phone calls with Damon," Caroline blurted. "And how I know, is she's making me work late at night doing paperwork, and phone calls come automatically through to me."

In a second, Elena's whole motive had changed—starting with everything that had happened in the last 72 hours. She bit her bottom lip, and walked to the ledge, proceeding to hold her head in her hands. "I didn't need to hear that," Elena groaned in distress.

"Well, I see someone has a very big mouth," a voice from behind them was incredibly smooth and distinctive. Katherine.

"You're pathetic, Elena," Katherine lashed out walking toward Elena and Caroline. "You were not around to take care of your dying company, and I was here to pick up every piece, and be in charge. So what? I had a few late night phone calls, I am an extremely busy woman, with a full schedule, and you seem to not. I have accepted the books I think that are appeasing, and threw out the rest, because business had to be done, Elena. If you want something done, you have to stand up to the plate. I am keeping this company alive, you are watching it die," Katherine muttered.

Elena bit her lip once again and tried her best to not agree with what Katherine was saying. She was letting her company suffer. "I don't appreciate you doing that. I want my company back."

Katherine rolled her brown orbs. "Again, Elena, you are incredibly stupid, with Damon also. He loves me. He has always loved me, going to college with him, and being his colleague has played into my favor. Always, Elena. You're a love-struck fool in believing what he tells you."

Her voice echoed through Elena's mind, as she threw her hands up and chuckled heartlessly. "I'm back to work now; you can show yourself to the door, Miss Pierce."

"You can't just kick me out, I don't work for you. I work for Damon," she muttered coldly to Elena.

"Just go, Katherine. I don't want to see any of you in my office, ever again," Elena returned the favor by getting in Katherine's face with a disgusted tone.

"You don't care about this company, Gilbert, you never will, but I don't want blood on my hands, so I'm going to leave. Goodbye, Elena." Turning on her heel, Katherine left the foyer area, and the building.

Elena closed her eyes, and sighed, turning her attention to Caroline. "I'm going back to my office—straighten all this stuff out."

Caroline followed her back inside, watching her best friend fall to pieces. "I'll be at my desk," Caroline whispered, as they departed ways. She sat down and tried to focus on the rest of the loose ends of paperwork, worrying herself about Elena's state of mind.

As for Elena, she was working. The exact opposite of what she came in the office to do. With her index finger, she scrolled through all her unread e-mails, and accounts, as work consumed every last bit of Elena. She made a few appointments and interviews with clients. Her clock only read 1:32 pm. As she scrolled through the last final pages of a manuscript, she heard forceful yelling coming from outside her office. She rose from her desk, and leaned over to view who was causing the chaos. Damon and Caroline.

"You are the last person she wants to see!" Caroline voiced shoving her index finger in his face.

Damon came off confused to Elena's eyeshot. "What do you mean she doesn't want to see me? We are supposed to be boarding for California in an hour and half!"

"What?" Caroline screamed in outrage.

Damon's husky tone showed he was angry. "I went to her house to pick her up. She isn't there, we were going to go on vacation while I finish up business. What do you mean 'what?'-shocked, she wanted something to do with me?" His teeth were grinded together.

"Show yourself out the door, before I call security!" Caroline threatening him and completely ignoring what he had just said to her.

Elena, still watching behind her closed, office door, finally flew the door open and looked straight through Damon and Caroline. "That is enough! I don't want to hear any more bickering."

"Elena," Damon's voice lingered.

"Don't even, give me that 'Elena,' I don't want to hear it," she muttered icily.

Damon furrowed her eyebrows, walking past Caroline, and stopping at her door. "Can we talk? What is the matter?"

Elena made her hands into fists, and turned to face him, and spoke through her teeth. "Go. Ask. Katherine." With that, Elena slammed the door in his face, leaving him outside her door staring in.

"Please, at least talk to me, Lena. What did I do wrong?" Damon begged.

Elena walked to the door and stared a hole through him. "Ask Katherine, she caught me up on everything you two have been doing late at night. And do not call me Lena."

"Wh-What—What did Katherine tell you!?" Damon asked with rage.

She shook her head, and opened the door. "I don't want people hearing my business, I'm probably already a tramp knowing how the rumor mill is churning out the good stuff," Elena dropped a few hints while crossing her arms.

Damon walked into her office and she shut the door behind him. "What did Katherine tell you making you stand me up at your house?"

"I should've known better. I'm too caught up in the fact I finally had someone who loved me," she whispered.

"Tell me," he pressed once again, showing that was the only response he had at the moment.

"She pretty much told me, it was always going to be her, and she has had a lot of late night phone calls with you, and I was stupid for even believing you loved me," she answered finally.

"That bitch," he grimaced. "You have got to be kidding me."

Elena breathed out. "Call her what you want, you still love her. That's why you keep her around right? Let her take over my company? You are in love with Katherine Pierce, Damon Salvatore, and that's not who I am, or who I will ever be." Her breath hitched in despair and sadness. "Please just leave. Go back to California - I have to clean up Katherine's mess of what she has made of my company in her hostile takeover while I was gone. Have a blast—I know I will," Elena's sarcasm bled through her anger.

Damon walked over to Elena with a grimace look. "You believe her, don't you?"

Did she believe Katherine? The only reason she believed Katherine was because of Caroline. That was like a confirmation for Elena. "I heard it from my friend, Damon," her voice cracked. "If you would like to tell a different story, please do tell."

Damon gulped. "I was making sure she was running your business, Elena. And late nights are the only time I'm free. Katherine will take a story and twist it as many times as it will turn. They were nothing."

Elena turned to face him and shook her head. "I don't know what to believe—if you'll excuse me, I have some work to catch up on. Since my business was taken over without my consent."

He walked up beside her, and slammed his hand on top of the large stack of paperwork. "Damnit, Elena. I love you. It's different with you. Katherine has always been in my business career life." His voice was true, but in the back of Elena's head, it wasn't true. At her weakest moment, he really wasn't there for her.

"I can't deal with this right now, Damon. I need to focus on my career—this job, my next moves," Elena rambled. "Now, please, leave. I'm begging you."

Damon pursed his lips together and nodded. "Fine."

XXX

In the back of Elena's mind, he was gone. The Damon Salvatore who captured her heart with his suave actions and mischievous intentions had vanished. Sitting at her desk, it was past the time she usually departed from work that day. Her iPad's clock read brightly 8:04 pm. Elena's heart was broken, the fun Elena had left too with Damon. The only thing that was there was sadness, and a feeling of a hole that could never be filled. She gathered her items from the floor and her desk and shut down her computer before she left.

It was a long, depressing walk to her home in her eyes. Remembering everything they had done was creeping into her mind. She rode the elevator down to the first floor to make her way back home. She breathed, clutching her iPad close to her chest as the cold wind ripped through her hair as she exited the door.

The beautiful New York night was full of the lighted up city tonight. There was nothing she could possibly discover to make this day any better. She turned the corner to make her way to her condominium, and where her door was, sat a silhouette. "Not tonight," she murmured, thinking it was someone from her past, but soon found out—it was.

With tears in her eyes, she quickly wiped them away, and stood in front of the person. "What do you want?" she said as cold as Elena could possibly be. Damon. Damon Salvatore was at her doorstep.

"I was making sure you made it home."

Elena glanced around hiding her pain. "Shouldn't you be making sure Katherine gets home safely?"

Damon rolled his eyes, and stood up quickly. "Katherine is a business partner, not a romantic partner, and until you realize that, I will come back every day, until you do."

She shook her head and tried her best to look away from his blue orbs staring back at her. "You don't have to do that. I just need time. Time to decide who is really there for me—I need it. Work is chaotic, Katherine left it a mess, Caroline hates you, I can't even find the manuscripts Katherine threw away, and I'm tired, Damon."

"I'm still your partner in getting your career back on track, Gilbert. Don't forget that. Now if you will excuse me, I have business to tend to from my apartment," he said shoving his hands in his pockets, and leaning over and kissing Elena on her forehead.

"Goodnight, Elena."

Yes, I know that was incredibly angsty, but I really do love this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. Reviews always make me smile. xo