AN: Thank you for your response to the last chapter. You guys keep on inspiring me. This is the next chapter as promised. I hope you like it.

Love you all,

Mydarkside975

Chapter Eleven: Aftershocks

Damon

Saturday night:

She was blond, tall and pale, a model and the definition of beauty. He did not care. He never did. She was a woman though who was right there in his bed. Right now, she was screaming her third climax and he was getting stressed. What was wrong with him? He knew what he was supposed to feel at the erotic sight of her writhing in his arms but the feeling was nowhere to be found. He would be bored if he was not secretly panicking over his lack of reaction to the sexual stimulation. He had a damn reputation to uphold, hence the generous amount of orgasms. He hoped that he could exhaust her so much that she would not remember his failure.

Sunday morning:

Muscles burning, lungs struggling, the sound of his trainers hitting the treadmill as he ran pushing himself to keep on going. He had been working out for almost two hours and he intended on keeping at it even if he ended up collapsing from exhaustion. Physical activity was the next best thing after sex to keep his head clear of any unnecessary thinking. As sex was not an option at the moment, he had to find alternative ways of distraction.

Sunday night:

He was probably drinking too much too fast. He did not care. He was floating on a cloud of numbness. He saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. Until his stomach made itself known and a wave of nausea hit him, hard. The next thing he felt was the heaving agony of every drop burning its way back through his esophagus as he retched the alcohol into the porcelain toilet bowl in his bathroom. What a pathetic sight he must be, kneeling on the floor of his bathroom hugging the toilet and throwing his guts up. He was pathetic. He was sick of himself. He was sick of being drunk… being numb.

Monday afternoon:

"Andy, I need your help." He held the phone to his ear as he talked to the only person who might know what to do about his… situation.

"What's wrong, Damon?" She sounded concerned.

"Can you just be here tonight?" His tone was indifferent.

"Sure, whatever you need."

He hung up without another word.

Monday night:

He could feel it. It just did not work like it was supposed to. The general stayed completely unresponsive to any of Andy's usually highly effective tricks. For the last half hour or so, she had been working vigorously to try and revive him with no luck. She flicked her tongue one last time. "Honey, this is not gonna happen tonight," she said before she got up and crawled to lie next to him accepting defeat.

"Shit." This was his last option. If Andy could not do it then he might as well shave his head, adorn his orange robes, announce his celibacy and spend his days counting rice grains.

"Who is she?" Andy was looking at him, her head propped on her hand.

"What do you mean?" He knew what she meant but he was trying to stall. She was too smart for her own good and he knew she would figure it out. He trusted her but there was no way in hell, he would admit to being played… by an amateur.

"Well it must be one hell of a woman who can put a man like you out of business." A strange look passed her features but she settled on a knowing smile.

"How do I fix it?" He groaned and buried his head in his pillow.

"You can't fix it…" "What the fuck, Andy, find me a way," he interrupted. He could not live the rest of his life like this.

"…listen to me, Damon. She is the only one who can fix it."

Elena

Tuesday afternoon:

She was in her room, sitting on her bed with her laptop searching for open journalist positions. With her rapidly filling résumé, she hoped to find a better position to bring her closer to her dream job. She had a bit of a hard time focusing though as her thoughts kept drifting off. The last couple of days, she managed to complete a record amount of work. She was super focused and very inspired the whole time. She had not felt this good in a long time. Today was different; her mind kept playing the events of Friday night behind her eyes like a movie.

She could not believe the way she had acted like someone else had possessed her body and made her do things she would never do. She did not regret anything though. She felt empowered thinking about the way she just went after what she wanted and she wanted him. Right now with no alcohol in her system, she felt the heat rising in her cheeks when she remembered how she wrapped her hand around him and demanded to have him right then and there. At the same time, she felt strong and sexy to be able to go after her desires.

A knock on her door interrupted her train of thought. "Come in," she said and Bonnie opened the door.

"Do you have some time to talk?" She asked.

"Sure come on in."

Bonnie closed the door and walked to the bed. She sat on the edge facing Elena. Her face was set in a serious expression.

"What's going on Bonnie?"

"How long are you going to stay mad at Caroline?" Of course it was about Caroline. Elena sighed. They had been avoiding each other since Friday night but Elena was not exactly mad at her. She just did not want to talk to her.

"I'm not mad at her, Bonnie."

"Really, then why aren't you talking to her?" Bonnie said skeptically.

"Because she judges me even though she is not remotely better," and she saw her kissing Damon who she went on and… "Making out with Damon Salvatore is hardly the same as dating Stefan."

"She told you?!" Of course she would. Caroline could never keep a secret even if her life depended on it, especially not a juicy one like that and now they were going to gang op on her to make her see reason.

"Elena, we're your friends and we're just trying to look out for you. If you want to start dating again I could hook you up with this nice guy who works at the hospital…" Elena felt the tell-tale signs of anger cursing through her. She truly loved her friends, they were everything to her but sometimes, she wanted to strangle them, like right now. "… and Caroline said she knows someo…"

"Stop!" Bonnie stopped mid-sentence at her outburst.

"What the hell, Bonnie? I'm not some desperate girl who hasn't had any in a while and just hooked up with the first guy she found." Bonnie stayed silent as she went on. "I know who I am and what I want and I know what he is probably more than any one of you two… honestly Bonnie, I didn't expect you to judge me too." Her voice dropped in disappointment when she said the last sentence.

"You're right. You're perfectly capable of making your own decisions. I'm sorry." Bonnie put her hand on top of hers and looked her in the eyes as she apologized. "We just love you, Elena, and sometimes we get carried away trying to keep you from getting hurt." The last of her anger dissipated at her friend's words. She pulled her closer and wrapped her arms around her. Bonnie hugged her back as Elena told her, she loved them too.

"So, was it good?" Bonnie said with feigned innocence when they finally pulled away from each other.

"What was good?" Elena was confused at the sudden change of subject.

"The kiss, was it any good?" Bonnie repeated.

Understanding dawned on her and she could not hold back a laugh at her friend's audacity. She felt that new courage slash rebellion poking its head out. "The kiss, the dance, the sex… were all mind-blowing." She grinned and held back her breath awaiting Bonnie's reaction to that bombshell. She was awarded with the most comical expression; Bonnie's jaw literally dropped leaving her mouth wide open as she stared at Elena like she just sprouted horns.

"Oh My God! You slept with him?!" Bonnie finally recovered from her shock.

"Yes, and it was amazing but it's never going to happen again so you can rest assured that I won't start dating him or anything."

"But… but you slept with him?" Bonnie asked again like she still did not believe it.

"Yeah, why?"

"Elena you haven't been on a date in years and all of a sudden you sleep with a guy you just met?"

"It wasn't like that. I didn't plan it or anything. We just talked and danced and then we took the subway and… " "You took the subway?" Bonnie interrupted. "Yeah, and we had this magical moment down in the tunnel and suddenly I felt like kissing him again and then one thing led to another."

"In the tunnel?"

"No in the yoga-studio."

"Then what happened?"

"Nothing, I put my clothes back on and told him to get out before five thirty."

"Oh my God," Bonnie said again before she started laughing.

"What?"

"You left him right after you had sex in the yoga studio, Elena, he probably thinks you played him," she said and succumbed to a fit of giggles.

Elena remembered that she was kind of cold and reserved before she left him there, his shirt partly open and his hair messy from her hands running through it. She had tried to avoid looking at him too much because every time she did, he took her breath away. Her mind knew that she could never have him for herself but another part deep inside of her longed to explore this strange connection that kept pulling them towards each other. She could not let herself think that way though so she slammed the door shut on her emotions and ran away from there as fast as possible.

She realized that Bonnie might be right and she felt a tinge of guilt before she remembered who he was. Damon Salvatore, the biggest player in town and she started laughing right along with her friend. Maybe that would teach him a lesson.

Friday evening:

She and Caroline had finally made up. She did not tell her about her little adventure though and she made Bonnie promise that she would not tell her either. She was not ready to start defending herself again and maybe start another fight.

Caroline was clearly trying to make an effort to clear the air and make good. She was actually trying too hard, Elena thought because she made her agree to meet Stefan in a casual setting to try and get to know him. Elena was not the least bit interested but she had to make an effort too so she gave in.

They invited him for dinner at the apartment and Caroline made sure to order Chinese food because none of them could cook half a decent meal. Caroline was so stressed the whole day, she kept ordering them to do stuff and they just did it because a stressed Caroline was like a faulty grenade waiting to explode with any slight touch.

They were all dressed and Caroline was in the kitchen arranging the last details while Elena and Bonnie set the table when the bell rang. Caroline came running out of the kitchen and pressed the button to the intercom. It was indeed Stefan so she buzzed him in and opened the door to greet him even as he was still making his way up the stairs.

When he finally reached their floor and walked to their door, he gave Caroline a peck on the cheek before he turned his attention to Bonnie and Elena. He was holding a bottle of wine that Caroline took from him as she waved her hand at each of them telling him their names. He gave them each a hand shake and a "nice to meet you" and so far so good.

He was polite and well spoken. Throughout dinner they kept the conversation flowing on safe subjects and Elena thought he was nice, his eyes were kind and he seemed to be as smitten with Caroline as she was with him.

"So how did you guys start seeing each other?" Bonnie asked Stefan while Caroline was back in the kitchen getting desert.

He smiled at the thought. "Well when I first saw her, I did not dare to approach her and I thought that I would never have a chance with her, given the circumstances…" He looked at Elena apologetically. "Then when she came to my office two days later, I thought it must be fate giving me another chance and…" "She came to your office?" Elena interrupted. Something was nagging at her to remember, something she needed to remember.

"Yes, when she told me about the canapés and my brother's stupidity. So anyway, when I dropped the case I kind of looked at the file and found your address so I could come here and tell her myself…"

Elena was not listening anymore. She finally remembered. Before they started making out, Damon was yelling at her, something about her sending her friend to turn his brother against him. She did not understand at the time but now it all made sense. Caroline had gone behind her back and made Stefan drop the case.

Suddenly the air was thicker and her throat was closing in. She was suffocating. She excused herself breathlessly and ran to her room passing Caroline who was carrying four deserts on her way. When she finally closed her bedroom door behind her, she felt the air starting to ease up a bit. She hurried to the window, opened it widely and stuck her whole upper body outside. She gulped in breath after breath reveling in the feel of air filling up her lungs again. She felt her pulse start to return back to normal and her breathing evened out.

She stayed like that her hands perched on the windowsill, holding herself up and looking at the sky. Even the New York air probably filled with all kinds of fumes and toxins felt better than the confined air in the apartment.

AN: So what did you think about the chapter and the kind of different build?