AN: Thank you for all you reviews and alerts. You are so kind to me and I want to thank one guest reviewer who brought my attention to a little research mistake in the last chapter. When you sue someone for a written statement, it's called libel instead of slander and 'defamation of character' includes both written and spoken statements.

This chapter includes a Caroline POV because I like Caroline but it is going to be Delena-centric of course. I just think it's nice to read about the characters from someone else's point of view as well as their own.

Have a nice read,

Mydarkside975

Chapter Six: Troubled Loved Ones

Elena

When she ran out of the office, Elena made her way to the closest elevator and then found the nearest exit. When she finally stepped outside the building, she felt herself getting calmer. Right there in the middle of the sidewalk surrounded by busy New Yorkers walking or driving past her, she regained control of her mind and body. She could breathe again.

This was not the first time, she had a panic attack. She had struggled with those for a period of time in her past, but she could not remember when she had the last one. She had thought that she was over it, that she was in complete control of her body and she would not have to suffer through more. She did so many things, changed so much to try and cure herself and she thought it worked. But lately she had been too immersed in her job that she did not have time to do all the things that made her happy. Maybe that was it. She just had to go back to doing the stuff that helped ground her and give her that inner balance.

Ten minutes later, Caroline and Amber were outside and Amber told her they pushed the meeting to next week. Elena was more than a little relieved that she did not have to go inside that building again… well until next week. But next week was 7 days away and that was plenty of time to get herself back on track.

Sure enough, over the next week, Elena doubled her daily yoga-dose, tripled her charity work and started preparing for her monthly free yoga-class in Central Park for the summer. Those classes were usually a success. Each time, the women from her usual class would help her spread the word through social media and the show-up was great. Two ours of yoga, fresh air and an all-around positive energy; it was practically her own version of heaven. Those events gave her the perfect energy-fix and brightened her mood for weeks. That was exactly what she needed at the moment. She really could not afford to lose it in public again and especially not in next week's meeting… in front of him. She appeared week and unprofessional and that could never happen again. She had to be in control.

Caroline

She should not be doing this, Caroline thought as she pressed level number 20 in the elevator. She had thought about this so much that she did not get that much sleep the night before. Two days ago, she was in that very same building with her friend, who was getting sued for her article. The article she wrote because Caroline had convinced her to go to the S. party with her… and Tyler… that asshole. He screwed them over at his first whiff of money. She knew that he was a compulsive gambler and that he had a large debt. He ran to her every time they threatened and beat him and she took it upon herself to press ice packs to his bruises and try to come up with ways to help him. What a wasted effort on someone who did not deserve it, she thought.

She always fell for the wrong guys, gave them way too many chances but when it came to screwing not only her but also her friend over, Caroline drew the line. Tyler was out of her life forever and good riddance, she thought.

Even without the Tyler-thing Caroline felt guilty for being the one to convince Elena to go to that party but now the guilt was tripled. She had to do something for her friend, if not for Elena then for her own peace of mind. Elena did not deserve this though. She had already been through too much and Caroline remembered too well those times when she thought she was going to lose her best friend. Elena only recently bounced back and both Caroline and Bonnie were thankful for every time they saw her smile again.

In the last couple of days Elena had buried herself in her yoga and charity and Caroline knew too well that those were her methods of coping. Thank God, her self-medication was of the healthy kind, Caroline thought. She knew though that that meeting had thrown her off and she only hoped that she could get through the rough patch, but she was also making sure that Elena never had to go through that horrible meeting again.

When she reached the 20th level, she got out of the elevator and headed for the front desk. She then got directed to an office at the end of the hall and when she entered, a blond woman, probably an assistant, asked her to wait for a minute. She had previously called and asked for an appointment with Mr. Stefan Salvatore and here she was waiting just outside of his office and still wondering whether she should just run.

A moment later the assistant, Lexi, told her to go inside. So her chance was over. Now she had to do it. She pulled herself together and rearranged her carefully assembled outfit before knocking and then entering the office.

Xxx

That office was huge. It was probably as big as their entire apartment. In the middle, there was a dark wooden desk and off to one side there was a sitting area complete with a flat-screen and coffee table also in dark wood. In fact everything else was just as dark from the couches to the paneling on the walls. The back wall was made of floor to ceiling glass that showed a stunning view of New York.

Stefan Salvatore was sitting behind his desk typing something on his computer. When she entered, he looked up and smiled before he stood up to greet her.

"Miss Forbes, it's nice to see you again."

"I would say the feeling is mutual, Mr. Salvatore, but it wouldn't be true." His smile faltered at her words but he tried to act nonchalant.

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"Really? You did not seem that sorry when you accused my friend of lying even though you know she didn't." That was not completely true. He had actually seemed sorry through that meeting. He kept his eyes lowered as if he did not dare to look at any of them. That is why she thought of talking to him. He seemed like a reasonable guy, just the opposite of his brother who looked every bit the asshole he was with his black clothes and leather jacket. Seriously, who wore a leather jacket to a formal meeting?

"Miss Forbes, I really can't discuss the case with you. Please, tell me you're here for another reason," he said with a sigh.

Of course she was here for the case. Why else would she ever make an appointment with him? Yes, he was hot and she had a hard time focusing whenever he moved, like his muscles were calling her from underneath that well-tailored suit, but she was here for her friend and he was the enemy, she reminded herself.

"You have to drop the case," she finally said.

"Miss Forbes…"

"No! Let me finish before you say anything. Everything Elena wrote in her article was true and you probably know that but she did not write everything…" He was now really listening to her when she went on telling him about the canapés, she really wanted to taste and how she ended up having a bad reaction to the drugs in them. At her words the frown lines on his forehead deepened but he did not interrupt her. When she finished her story, he looked angry and she was not sure if his anger was directed at her or what she was telling him.

"I did not know… I didn't know Damon had sunk this low," he finally said making her breathe in relief. He believed her.

"My brother was never this person before, but now he's burying himself deeper into the mud and I have no idea how to pull him out." He was talking with this forlorn look on his face and she almost went around the desk to give him a hug. Instead she settled for an advice. "You can't pull him out if he does not want you to. You just have to wait for him to be ready to receive your help."

She was not sure how she switched from hating the guy to consoling him and giving him advice about his relationship with his brother but he was not really the bad guy. He was just concerned about his brother.

"You seem like you know what you're talking about," he said with a questioning look.

"Yeah… I guess you could say that," she said with a shrug. He was cute but she was not going to tell him her life story just yet. She needed to be strong in the face of cuteness so she did not end up with more Tylers.

"Thank you, Caroline. Can I call you Caroline?" He said staring into her eyes and she knew he really meant it.

"Sure, Stefan." She said and gave him a smile that he returned immediately.

"I'll convince him to drop the case. We don't really need any more bad publicity, and please thank your friend for not writing about it in her article."

Damon

Long brown locks

Sweet lips

An innocent smile

Big brown eyes were looking at him with a childlike curiosity. They did not belong to a child though. They belonged to a woman and behind her curiosity there was sadness, too deep to miss. He could not help but reach out to her. He wanted to tell her it was going to be okay… that she did not have to be sad anymore. Just before his hand touched her skin, he hesitated. He felt like he had forgotten something. Like there was something important he was supposed to know but he just… did not.

The look in her eyes was too distracting though and he really wanted to touch her... to feel her skin… to comfort her through his touch. He reached out his hand again and this time he did touch her. He felt her warm skin underneath his fingers. He looked into her eyes again to see if the sadness was still there but instead of brown they were now white... like death! Just like that he remembered but it was too late and before his eyes the woman turned into a pile of bones and clothes at his feet.

"You did this! You destroy everything you touch… You bastard!"

Damon opened his eyes and found himself sitting up in his bed gasping for breath. The last couple of nights were rough. He had not done the usual sex and alcohol indulgence. Instead he restricted himself to a little bit of bourbon… okay a lot of bourbon but still much less than usual. Anyway, the nightmares returned and after two nights of almost no sleep and constant torture generated by his subconscious, he felt himself craving those nights of indulgence. He just could not do it anymore because of her. She ruined his carefully constructed and personally tailored drug. And now she was the star of her own version of his standard nightmare.

Why would she even be in his nightmare? His subconscious was driving him crazy. It was not like he did not have enough crap on his conscience, now she was on that ever-growing pile as well. To be honest though, he put her there the moment he went for that stupid lawsuit. He did not even remember his reasoning for it at the time. It was not like he needed the money, God dammit.

Lying in his bed for the last couple of minutes with the thoughts churning in his head, he soon realized that he was not going to fall asleep again anytime soon so he got up and went for the shower. He would at least make himself presentable and head down town. Staying in that godforsaken house was going to make him go nuts. He really needed to get a place in Manhattan, but the thought of those paparazzi-assholes made him reluctant. Also, he did not want to go back there, so he had to find a new place.

Freshly showered and ready to head out, Damon made his way to the kitchen to grab a bite when he found his brother and their mountain of a security guy engaged in a heated argument by the kitchen island. Everything around them was in a complete mess. Cupboards and drawers were left open with their contents sprawled all over the place.

"So did you find it?" Damon said leaning on the door frame.

Both of their heads shot up at the sound of his voice, their argument completely forgotten.

"Find what?" Stefan asked with a confused look.

"Whatever, you were looking for."

It seemed like he finally got it as he turned from confused to accusing, the lines on his forehead rapidly multiplying.

"Aksel, could you please leave us alone," he said.

"Uh oh. What'd I do now?" Damon said in a playful tone.

"How could you sink that low, Damon? I knew you were screwed up but I never imagined you'd do something that low," Stefan finally said when Aksel was out of earshot. He had the most disappointed tone Damon had ever heard.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Stefan. Just spit it out already." He was getting really annoyed with the whole disappointed-accusation-thing.

"Cocaine, Damon. You roofied them?!"

"What the fuck are you talking about, Stefan? Are you on something?" This was getting way too ridiculous and he was ready for the conversation to end.

"Stop playing dumb, man. Forbes and Gilbert found cocaine in the food you were serving at the party but they decided not to write about it in the article to save your ass." Stefan explained.

"Stefan, I have done a lot of shit in my life but I have never done what you're saying," Damon said now completely serious as he stared his brother down. He was barely keeping a grasp on his temper. So they accused him of lying but they went around inventing stuff about him to turn his brother against him? Of course they did not write it in the article. They did not have any damn proof, because it was not true.

"Why would they lie about something like that, Damon? Miss Forbes, told me that she ate some of the canapés herself. That's how they found out, because her reaction was too strong that they almost took her to the hospital. She said that, she wanted revenge by exposing you but her friend did not want to write about it. She didn't want to destroy your life, she said."

"They are lying to make us drop the case, of course."

"I believe her, Damon."

"Well, suit yourself."

"We have to drop the case. We can't do this to them. They don't deserve it and we really don't need any more bad publicity."

"No. That's what they want. We can't give it to them."

"Well, that's too bad because I am representing Salvatore and Co. and I am going to drop the case. You don't really have a say."

With those last words, Stefan walked right past him and headed for his car. He could not believe that after all this time and after everything they had been through, his brother would turn against him because of some lie. How ironic that the moment he decided to try and turn his life around, his attempt was thrown right in his face.

He had not moved an inch from his position by the door frame when he found the last standing object in the kitchen on a counter right next to him. It was a crystal vase that he remembered his mother used to love. She always made sure there were fresh flowers in it and she placed it on the kitchen table where they used to eat breakfast. They always knew she was home when the vase was filled.

Now, it was empty, standing there on the counter, mocking him. It would never be full again. He did not quite realize, what he was doing, before the vase ended up on the floor, shattered in a million pieces.

Everything he touched did get ruined. Maybe he should finally accept that.

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please tell me what you thought about this chapter. Reviews really are a writer's fuel.