AN: Hello my dear readers. Thank you for last time's alerts and reviews. I can see that some of you did not like what Elena did in chapter 10 and I understand that but believe me; I am a slave to my characters and what happened needed to happen for the characters to go where they need to go. I hope this does not discourage you from reading though. Now without further ado, here is the next chapter.

Happy reading,

Mydarkside975

Chapter 12: Deals are Broken, Deals are Made

Damon

He felt stupid, and tired. Stupid because he was here and tired because sleep was a foreign concept not acknowledged by his brain. A permanent headache had moved into his skull with no hope of ever leaving it again. He had to do this or he might end up in a psychiatric ward, strapped to a bed.

He was staring at a door. It was not just any door though. He had a personal relationship with this particular door. He loathed it. To any other person, it was probably just a regular old door but it held the answer to all his problems

Time was moving really slow now that he had nothing to kill it with. As a kid, he used to stare at the clock in class and try to wish the hands to move faster but they seemed to move even slower just to spite him. He looked at his watch for the hundredth time this morning; 6:25. Just five more minutes, he thought.

Three weeks had passed and those last five minutes were the hardest. Three weeks of memories attacking him at every waking hour. He had no way of defending himself against them. None of his usual remedies were at hand. With sleep completely out of the picture, he spent some time working out or he sat in his car and told the driver to just… drive, nowhere and everywhere.

Last night was one of those. They had been driving for hours and he even managed to drift off a couple of times to the slow movements of the car and the low murmur of the radio. The lights of the city moved along the leather car seats until the sun came up and all the other little lights cowered away. Early rising New Yorkers swarmed the streets but it was nothing compared to the rush coming in a few hours.

He thought about this, a lot. He was stuck and she was the only one who could free him to move forward. At least Andy thought so, but he had no better explanation. Yes, they had a deal, so what? People broke deals and made new ones all the time. That was it. He could convince her to make a new deal. God, he was bad at this. Women usually flocked to him. He never actually had to pursue any of them.

What the hell, he knew he had the looks and he certainly had the money, she would never say no to him. That night, she had wanted him. He saw it in her eyes before she screamed it out into the night when he had her against that wall.

He was Damon Salvatore and seduction was his calling. A girl like her had no chance in hell against his perfectly honed skills.

The door finally opened and out came a woman with a high ponytail and a pink rolled yoga-mat under her arm, then another one and another one. They kept pouring out, all chatting and laughing before they parted ways on the sidewalk and headed in different directions.

The women stopped coming out of the door but the one he was waiting for had not left yet, or she was not even there to begin with, he thought. No, she had to be there, she was too passionate about her yoga-class to skip it. Maybe he mixed up the days, but he was sure she said Monday morning.

6:45 and he was still waiting. She had to be there, he knew she was.

The door swung open and there she was, pushing the heavy door open with her back as she had her arms buried to the elbows in a huge bag. He could not see her face for the curtain of straight brown locks that descended her neck and shoulders to end up flirting with the top of her slender waist.

The sight of her felt like a punch to the stomach like everything he felt that Friday night and during the last three weeks formed a fist and dove right into his guts. He realized that he had no idea what to say to her. Come on Salvatore, don't be a wimp. He could do this. She was just a girl and he was Damon Salvatore.

He took a deep breath before he opened the door and got out of the car.

Elena

She was looking for her phone as she pushed the door open. She was a bit later than usual and she still had a million things to do before work. There it was. She pulled out her phone and started dialing work, maybe she could come in later. She did not need to be there early today anyway. She took the phone to her ear and tucked her hair behind the other ear and gasped.

Right across the street, the car door of a parked SUV with dark tinted windows opened and out stepped none other than one dark-haired, blue-eyed celebrity. Dressed in black from head to toe as usual, he looked from side to side then crossed the street heading straight towards her.

She dropped her phone.

When she had picked it up and straightened out, he was right in front of her.

"Good morning, beautiful." He gave her that arrogant smirk of his. He was back to being an asshole then.

She sighed. She really did not have time for this.

"What are you doing here?"

"You know, it is polite to return a greeting."

"Good morning, Damon," she said with a forced smile.

"See? Much better," he said.

"Why are you here? I thought we had a deal."

"We did but we need to reevaluate the terms," he said and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Because I was not… In my head when I agreed to them." He hesitated a bit before he said the last part like it pained him to admit it.

"… and why is that my problem?" She crossed her arms. She was not going to make this easy for him.

"Well… it just is." She could tell that he was running out of arguments.

"You know what, Damon. I really don't have time for this right now." She looked at her phone to see the time and made a move to leave. "… maybe we can do this another time."

"Wait!" He grabbed her arm to stop her and her skin burned with his touch. "Go out with me… on a date," he said and all former pretenses were gone from his face, leaving it open to her and kind of vulnerable.

She was speechless for a moment. She never expected him to say that yet here he was waiting nervously for her answer. She thought he never got nervous.

"No…" She said and his face fell before he let go of her arm and started to pull back and rearrange his face into his usual indifferent look. "… I won't go on a date with you but I'm going to go running tomorrow morning and if you want, you can join me." She held her breath. It was a wild idea, really. Why would he come all the way to Brooklyn to jog?

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, where should I meet you?"

"Right here, then we can jog to the park two blocks away."

"See you at six then," he kept looking her in the eyes a heartbeat longer before he turned around and headed to his car.

What the hell did she just agree to? She had promised herself that Damon Salvatore was nothing more than an adventure she could look back on and smile at before returning to reality. She was definitely never going to date him. He was too messed up and she did not really need a guy with issues, God knew she had enough of her own.

But why would he want to date her. She considered herself pretty but she was no miss universe and she knew for a fact that he had been with models and actresses surpassing her far in beauty. If it was not looks then why else would he go for her? Then she remembered Bonnie's theory about him thinking that she played him and suddenly everything made sense. He probably wanted revenge by returning the favor. Well, she was never going to give him the satisfaction. One thing, she was and all those other girls probably were not was smart and she could spot his seduction tricks miles away.

He could just bring it on.

AN: You might have noticed the story name change from From Hate to Love to Intertwined. I think this name suits the story more because it is so much more than just two people hating each other then falling in love. The story has several story lines and characters that are all intertwined, hence the new name.

I hope you like this new change but please tell me if you do or don't and also what you think of this chapter.