Chapter 6: Late!

EPOV:

I shouldn't have come. But here I am, 15 minutes earlier than the time we agreed to meet at. How pathetic is that! I settle at the floor in that room and just watch the tiny birds rooming the sky. I close my eyes and try to clear my mind for a minute, Shut all the sounds in my head down. The only sound I hear is the sound of water running smoothly, the birds repeating their favorite song over and over again. Peace, I am trying to find peace but it hovers just at the horizontal of my big world. The closer I get the farer it seems. Always there but always out of reach, mysterious and unrecognizable yet so captivatingly familiar.

My phone interrupts my trying-to-be peaceful thought, singling an incoming text. It is Christian.

Free lunch time today. Pick you up in 20 mins**

I roll my eyes. Typical Christian. There is no question mark in his texts. Christian Grey doesn't ask for permission, he orders, he commands. Few months ago, I used to find that awesome and all kind of hot. To be in that kind of control all the time, to be the master of your own destiny. I used to envy him and long for him to teach me how to be like that. Now I can't help but feel like I just turned into one of the things under his control, Another employee to command, another aspect of his organized life to dominate.

Now where did those thoughts come from?

*Sorry, already out for lunch. Rain check?*

I drop the phone back in my pocket and my hand finds my ring inside. I know for a fact, that Christian will loss his mind if he knows that I take it off any time I can. It started in our honeymoon, when I forgot it at the bathroom. It didn't take him more than a few minutes to notice its absence. He had that look in his eyes, I often find it hot but sometimes it get kinda of frightening. I am trying not to put so much thought into it. And honestly, I have no right to be surprised. I knew from the very beginning how possessive my husband is. And that was exactly what I needed when I met. His overprotective nature fed my need to be protected, my need for safety. I still need him, his love, his protection, his safety. I don't think I will ever stop needing him.

I tell myself that he needs me so much but the truth is, I need him just as much as he does me. when Damon told me that I shouldn't do anything for anyone I was only trying to convince him _and maybe myself_ that Christian's need for me is the reason why I can't let him go but I know that wasn't the truth.

I stare at my ring for a moment. If that was the truth, this ring is supposed to feel like a security lifeline, why does it feel like a cage? Better yet, a safe.

A secure safe for precious properties.

How are you gonna tell him?

Hmmm, I don't know. Just flush my ring right at his face, maybe…yeah, that will go just fine.

I curl my fingers around the ring and clench my fist so hard that it digs into my skin. I bit my lip and shake my head. No, I will never gather courage enough to tell him.

What am I doing here?

DPOV:

I am out of the operating room like a wizard breaking out of Azkaban, pretty ready to burn the place down to ashes.

. .

"Salvatore" the voice I hear is the last voice I want to hear right now. I try not to clench my jaw harder or I might lose some teeth.

"Bing" I say tightly. I am sure my tone is anything but friendly and I don't really give a fuck right now. It is not my fault that he has such a stupid name, thou. I top it by hitting his shoulder with mine as I pass him and almost knocking him at his ass. Immature much?

Who gives a fuck?

He must have regained his balance fast because a few steps, and he is in my face again.

"You saved a life today, Kid" he says with what should look like a proud smile. "You did well"

"Fuck off, Bing" I snap because dammit, is he for real?

"You know some people will be honored to have the opportunity to safe lives" he sighs like he is taking to person with a brain damage who can't understand him.

"You know what? I don't have time for this" I walk past him again and try not to glance up at the clock. I know I am already late. I am fucking late.

"What is wrong with you, Kid?" he calls from behind me and somewhere in my brain decided it will be a good idea to tell him 'what is wrong'.

"No, what is wrong with you? I told you I can't do it. I told you to ask Meredith to take my place but you throw my words in the can trash and you put me into a hard place forcing me to operate when I told you I have an important appointment" I realize I am yelling, In a hospital. My anger at him mixed with my fear of never seeing her again clouds my brain. It is a miracle I managed to do it right in the operation room and not kill the poor guy.

"Well, I am sorry that I consider people's life or death a little more important than a date" his sarcastic tone is doing nothing to calm my rage.

"It is not just about a date" isn't it? "It is about respect. It is about you being a dick." Well, that is not so professional. Screw professional, I am in a rage now. "You could have signed Meredith for this and that guy would have lived just alright but no you had to be such a controlling ass."

Suddenly my head is clear, suddenly I am calm. I know where to hit. "You know maybe Donna, your wife, was right. Maybe you have some control issues. Seriously all she wanted was to be on top once or twice but you just always go for good ol' missionary. Well, let me tell you something, Kid" I stress the word he likes to call me by and he is only six years my senior for god's sake! His face is almost red now. His nostrils are flying. "You are missing out." I say the words slowly letting them take their time and waiting for the revelation to put signs on his anger face. Here it is. "Because the view from below is just…wow" I let my eyes roll back for measure effect and with a smirk on my face I leave a stunned Bing behind.

Mind you, I will never ever sleep with a married woman. I hate cheating more than I hate cancer. Donna was in my bed right after she got her divorce papers. I only slept with her when I was sure she left him.

But he doesn't have to know that, does he?

I am not a good person, I know that. But I have my rules that I set by myself. And I am certainly not a pushover, I don't let people like Bing walk all over me and just stand by. I will never be this person.

I must have broken all the traffic rules and laws in my way to the house. Maybe I will catch her. Maybe it is not too late. If I go and she is not there, there is almost no chance for me to see her ever again. I got lucky once but this shit never happens twice specially withsomeone like me.

Suddenly and strangely, the idea of never seeing her again presses my foot harder on the accelerator. My hands grasp the wheel tighter.

Ryan Fucking Bing.

Please, be there, Elena.

EPOV:

He is late.

It is twenty-two minutes after the time we agreed on and he is still not here.

And I still have no idea how to tell him that I am married, that we can never see each other again.

Not even as friends?

Who are you kidding now?

I should have never come. I should have stayed away. Cut all the ties. Coming here to meet him will only make it harder and more complicated.

Maybe you just wanted to see him? One more time?

The thought gives me the power to rouse from the floor determined to leave that place and all the confusion it causes me. And the new path it lays upon me.

A weak sound stops me in my tracks and I turn around to find the source.

Sparrow!

But he doesn't look good. His black eyes are puffy and swollen, his tiny nose is red and his little nostrils are wide, his mouth his open and his breathes are shallow and it looks like he is trying hard to take the next breathe.

He looks sick.

"Oh, Sparrow" I knee beside him and try to check his body for more clues but I don't know much about dogs. My mom never let me have one and Bonnie is allergic. Can someone be allergic to dogs?

I settle for pulling him into a hug and decide to take him to the hospital.

But he is not yours, is he?

Kinda.

A small smirk curves my lips as I remember Damon's response when I asked him about Sparrow. Just as his voice starts to echo in my mind, I hear it call my name. Elena. I sigh. It sounds so soft coming out of his delicious mouth.

"Elena" I hear it. More forcibly this time and I realize that it is not the sound in my head anymore. I turn around with Sparrow clinched to my chest and me looking like the kid caught with her hands in the cookies jar.

"Hey" the word is a breathless whisper out of his lips. His chest is heaving and he looks like he has been running. And boy, he looks good. Black boots and dark jeans all the same but today his shirt is dark blue and it is bringing out the gorgeous color of his oceans blues.

Oh, my! I need help….okay. That is gonna be a little harder than I thought.

A little?

"Hey" I can literally my resistance slipping away from my traitorous body. He steps closer to me, slowly and deliberately, never losing eye contact. Strong, strong Elena. He is finally a foot away from me. A devil smirk makes its away to his eatable lips obviously feeling smug by my speechlessness. Oh, the game would have been so much easier if he didn't already know his effect on me. His gaze finally drops to the dog in my arms and his smirk falls, replaced with a frown.

"What is wrong with him?" he wonders, not accusingly, extending his arms singling me to hand him Sparrow. Our skin brushes few times in the process of handling him the dog. My god, it is only a few moment in his presence and my body is aching for his touch!

"I..I don't know. He was like this when I found him" I try not to stumble. He is ignoring me and examining Sparrow with a concerned frown between his eyebrows. "Is he gonna be okay?" I question feeling truly worried for a dog I barely know.

"He will be fine" he gives me a reassuring smile. "It is…." He must have said a disease name but I am bathing in my relief so I don't hear it. It sound a little complicated for someone who knows little about animals like myself. "He gets it every spring. It is just a little earlier this year. He just needs to take his medication, stay warmand in few days he will be good as new"

"Good" a smile spreads on my face and I nod at him like the idiot that I am. "So, you are taking him home?"

"Yes, so I can look after him till he gets better" he nods at me too and then he is back staring at his dog. He is running his fingers through his fur and looking a little deep in thoughts for a second. "I am sorry I am late" his voice is so small and low that it is almost not audible. So different from the confident almost professional tone he was talking by moments ago. He is still not meeting my eyes.

"It is alright. I needed some time alone anyway. I needed to think. We need to talk" I searching for words inside my head, wrong words, right words. He finally looks up at me.

"Oh" is the only thing that leaves his mouth and he seems to be arguing me to go on. His confusion is obvious on his normally impressive face and now I am nervous. Another weak whine from Sparrow cut the silence and catches our attention. He struggles into Damon's chest and I try not to envy him for his place.

"Fine, buddy. I am taking you home now" he gives me one more searching glance before he turns on his heels and starts to walk away. What the hell? Is he leaving me here after I told him we have to talk? Before I come up with a list of assumptions he turns back and looks at me over his shoulder. "You coming or what?" his question is so causal as if we are best friends who hang out together every day.

"Hm…yeah" he throws me another panties-dropping-smart-ass smirk before walking toward the exit of the house with me behind him.

"That is your car?" I wonder as I stare dumbfound at the shiny blue Camero.

"Nope, I stole it" I raise my eyebrows at him so he rolls his eyes lightly and goes to open the door for me like a gentleman. "Impressed?" his voice is deep and smooth and dripping with sex and should be illegal. I try to control my breath and wonder how many panties this cool car got him into!

"Not really" Liar, Lair. "Just not what I expected" I answer before I climb into the car and he waits a second with a tilted head before he closes the door behind me and hops into his seat. Once he gets in he just stares straight with a blank expression on his face for a few seconds that I am about to ask just before he turns his face to me slowly with a mocking sick grin that is so well done that if I should be scared now.

"Finally get you into the car, princess" he says in a fake deep dramatic tone then eyes me up and done. I am little dumbfound but it takes him two seconds to break and he can't keep his straight face anymore as he breaks into uncontrolled laughter that almost rocks the car.

"You asshole" I punch his arm over and over again but he doesn't seem to feel it at all. "I hate you so much. You are mean"

"Oh, don't pout" he makes a mocking but adorable pouty face. Suddenly I have a need to bite this pouty lip! "You should have seen your face. It was totally worth it" he is grinning like the cat at Alas in wonder land.

"Seriously how old are you?"I cross my arms over my chest and try to frown.

"Twenty eight" he says causally as he starts the engine and the sweet car purrs. I wasn't expecting an actual answer so I am a little taken back.

"Man, you are old!" he chuckles at me. "I mean you are old for being…you know…"

"No, I don't"

"You, I guess" he glances at me not understanding my meaning, honestly I don't think I even do understand it! "I mean you act like you are so young, carefree, Without a care in the world. I guess deep down I thought of you as a younger person" he certainly looks late twenties but what I don't tell him is that he is five years my senior and he acts like he is younger than me!

"You think you had me all figured out, don't you?" he murmurs under his breath but he doesn't gives me time to react. "The age is never a teller. Some people grow old fast and some still know how to be young and relive in what it means to be alive"

"You mean that it depends on what you witness. That what you experience may make you grow older" I let my body sinks down into the leather chair knowing exactly why I feel ninety years old sometimes.

"No, not really" my head snaps at his direction but he is concentrating on the road. "It is mostly your choice. We all experience some shit along the way because let's face it; Life isn't a walk in the park. But you can either choose to let the past hold you back and turn you into someone else or you can choose to conquer it and win. I absolutely hate it when people blame anything but themselves for their own missteps"

He continues to drive normally and doesn't even glance at my face as if he didn't just say a speech that could change life! I let the words roll around into my brain for the rest of the ride and wonder how much I have blamed on something happened more than a year ago.

DPOV:

"So, you said that we needed to talk" I trying to sound causal but I am nervous as fuck! Did she meet someone else? Does she not want me as I want her? I just put Sparrow into a fluffy sweet sleep and left him snoring lightly. I told her to make herself home while I took care of Sparrow and she seems to have taken that seriously as she is looking through my mail when I am back to the sitting room. If it was any other girl I will be very mad at her as hell for invading my personal space. But surprisingly all I can think about now is how cute she is with this little 'I am focused' frown on her face. Besides this weird joint in my chest at the thought of she being curious about me…oh, I don't like that…not one bit.

My voice must have startled her because she did a little jump into her place. I can't help the chuckle that escapes my mouth as she bends down to pick up the mail she dropped in her little jump. I drop on my knees to help her and she is trying really hard to cover her blushing face with her hair. I resist the urge to chuckle again.

"Someone was snooping" I tease with a little smirk. If I am not gonna laugh at least I get to tease, anything to make this lovely blush rises.

"I…I am sorry I didn't mean to snoop" she struggles to stop blushing but it isn't working so well. We are up and she handles me her pile of mail.

"Of course you didn't. You were just checking if there were any of those for you. Oh, look. All mine" my teasing grin does nothing to lighten the glare she is giving me at the moment. "I am kidding, okay?" I roll my eyes on her but she just glares more. My, I love it when she gets feisty! "you could just ask me, anything you want to know, right?" my tone is more serious now.

"Right" she swallows hard and nods but she is not meeting my eyes. "Uh...How is Sparrow?" changing the subject already, huh? Oh dear Elena, you are gonna be so much fun to unravel.

"Good. Sleeping soundly. Want some lunch? I am sure that is your lunch time and I make really good cheese burger" That earns me a giggle even though it is has a nervous touch.

"Sure, why not?"

Sorry for the delay. And sorry for the short chapter too . I just wasn't feeling well those last couple of weeks but I forced myself to publish so you won't think I have gone away. Nope, still here!

Thanks so much for the lovely review. The flattering ones warms my heart but the judgy ones excites me :D it makes me feel like you are giving some thought to this story and not just reading like "oh, look! Another crappy fanfic but I will still read for the smut" _supposing that I write a readable smut_

I'd like to know what you think, in details. And I am more than open for suggestions, requests or even judging review. I want it all!

Next chapter will have DEX in it, pinky swear? Just wait for me I am trying to make a plot and characters here. BTW, who would you like me to let into this story? I already have some in mind of course but I want to know what you like.

It seems that you all agree on a flashback Chris/Elena sex and although I had an intention of an NOT SO flashback one, I am a bendy flexible writer with weak weak will power and you will have what you wish soon :D maybe their first night?

Soooo, do you think Elena will tell him? Do you want her to?