AN: Hello my dear readers. Thank you for those who took the time to review. You're amazing.

I just want to remind you that characters sometimes think stuff that is not necessarily the Truth but rather their personal perspective or view on it. This chapter is only in Damon's POV but I hope you like it anyway.

Enjoy,

Mydarkside975

Chapter 20: Bee Stinger

Damon

"Lexi!" He said from the doorway to her office.

At the sound of his voice, she looked up from her computer screen. When her eyes landed on him, her face hardened and her lips pressed together forming a straight thin line. He took that as an invitation and stalked inside the office and around her desk to stand directly in front of her towering over her. He leaned down, his face just inches away from hers and stared her down. She stared right back defiantly even though her left eye was a little jumpy like it wanted to look away but she forced it to stay put.

He whispered conspiratorially; "Tell me honestly…" His voice was husky and seductive. "…Is my brother treating you right?"

"Sure as hell better than you ever did," she said between gritted teeth. Yeah, he kind of slept with her one night and went right back to ignoring her the next day. Not a smart move with his personal assistant alas he was in a bad mood that day and she was close by and pining for him already…easy.

"Ouch that hurt." He took his hand to his chest feigning chest pain for a second then dropped the act. "Well thank the heavens that neither of us has to endure that ever again," he said flaring his eyes. He trailed his hand along her desk as he walked back around to the front.

"Asshole!" She muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

He chuckled and made his way to the door intending to barge in without a warning like he always did. He loved to get a rise out of Stefan.

"Damon, no! Don't go in there." She hurried over to stop him putting herself between him and the door guarding it with her body. He admired her dedication although he did not recall her acting as protective of his privacy back in the day.

"And why should I not."

"He… he has a meeting." She mumbled out like she was making the words up as she went.

"Really? With whom?" Her eyes were jumping around trying to avoid his gaze and she reminded him of when he used to make her cover for him with his father. She was not very good at it back then and she was not doing very well covering for his brother now.

"A reporter," she finally decided and her eyes settled on his, daring him to ask more.

"You should have said so from the beginning." He turned away from the door and made for one of the chairs by her desk. "I'm just going to wait here for him to finish." He heard her letting out a breath relaxing her stance and moving away from the door.

He had his chance right there and he took it pushing the door open and going in the sound of her loud protests following him inside.

The visual that met him in there was the furthest thing from what he had expected. The back of a girl perched on his brother's desk faced him. Her shoulder-long blond curls were hiding the fact that she was engaging in a tongue-wrestling match with his brother who had kicked his chair away and was standing between her legs.

The commotion resulted by his entering interrupted their session and his brother pulled himself away from her long enough to cast an irritated look to the door seeing him standing there.

"Well…well. Look who's been fucking the media," Damon said in a loud voice that probably carried through the open door to the hall and anyone who might be passing through. A fact recognized by his brother who to his delight had gotten even more annoyed.

"I'm sorry, Stefan. I tried to stop him," Lexi said from behind him.

Stefan nodded his head then looked at him. "What are you doing here, Damon?" He said. The blond was off the desk, rearranging her clothes while still facing away from him.

"I thought I would pay a visit to my saintly little brother but I did not know that I would find him in the middle of finally getting rid of his golden boy image. Congratulations brother."

The girl had finally finished putting herself together. She reached up and placed a kiss on Stefan's mouth before she grabbed her purse from the desk. "See you later, Stefan," she said as she turned around making her way to the door. He could finally see her face. What do you know; it was Blondie with the judging stare A.K.A. Elena's friend.

"You?!" He heard himself ask stupidly.

If looks could kill he would have been dead and buried already because the glare she shot him was deadlier than a bullet. She walked past him without a single word like he was not even worth the time.

Once she was gone and the door to Stefan's office was safely closed keeping their conversation between just the two of them, Damon could finally get his answers.

"Why the hell were you just sucking her face?" He asked.

"Will you stop being disgusting? I was not sucking." Stefan said his annoyance coloring his words.

"It does not matter what you want to call it, Stefan. Why her?" Stefan was not the only one annoyed anymore.

"…because I love her."

They were sitting across from each other in a small office in the HIH foundation headquarters waiting for the occupant of said office to arrive.

The room lacked the space needed for the kind of business it was intended for but it was bright and maybe even cozy. Piles of folders and papers covered the small desk, the walls were covered in pictures of New York and the people who lived on its streets and apart from the desk chair and the two chairs they were sitting on, there was a small two-person sofa pushed against the wall. It was old and worn from the years with an ugly and thankfully faded orange and green pattern. It looked like it had been sitting there since the 70's.

They had been here for at least 20 minutes but Elena knew the guy and she assured him that he was on his way. It was her idea coming here in the first place. Damon was going to register himself officially as a volunteer. He was not very keen on the idea actually and he had voiced his reluctance but Elena thought it was the best thing to do.

"Of course you should volunteer, Damon. You already said that it was rewarding and life-altering so why not make the final commitment?" She had said and well… look at her using his own words against him.

Yes, he did believe it was rewarding. Doing something good for no other reason than just wanting to, was a great feeling even though he never before thought of himself as a do-gooder but the reason why he had kept doing it had more to do with Elena than his inner philanthropist. He wanted to do it with her and volunteering meant that he had to do it by himself… right?

"In the beginning you're going to go out with me to kinda get the handle on things before you start getting your own work like your own route with the food-van and stuff like that," she said and he could see the excitement on her face.

Well at least he will be with her in the beginning. That was good news but he had a couple of more issues the first one regarding his unfortunate last name and the fact that if word got out about this, they would not leave him in peace and it would generate enough wind to feed the rumor-mills. His second issue was the word commitment. Elena was trying to convince him but that word froze his blood and made him feel even more disinclined to put his name on that piece of paper.

If he did sign his name on the volunteer list, people would start depending on him. He was not expected to do much and what they wanted him to do was not the actual problem… No… It was the fact that they depended on him and expected things from him. He had not done or even tried to do anything that was expected from him in a long time… since he quit his job and his father's control, actually and he liked it that way. He did not want to change that freedom anytime soon… or ever.

But this was Elena and she was looking at him with her dangerously innocent brown eyes, excitement pouring out of her in waves and he could not turn her down. He could not be the one to shut down her excitement. He agreed to do it and here they were.

Finally the guy was there… at least he thought it was him. Sandy hair, casual scruff and a plaid shirt to sum up his appearance which was not very impressive to say the least but the guy had kind eyes and Elena appeared to like him. She gave him a hug as soon as he arrived.

Damon felt a sharp tinge of… something. This guy was allowed to touch her and he was not but he could tell that they were nothing more than friends.

"Alaric Saltzman, my friend and a fulltime charity administrative worker on HIH," Elena presented him and he shook his hand as she went on; "Damon Salvatore… my friend."

Huh… her friend. He had actually achieved that status and why did that make him so light like gravity got turned off for a second?

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Salvatore. Please take a seat." He closed the door and got around the desk sliding in his chair. He moved a pile of paper from one spot on his desk to another. "Elena told me a lot about your exceptional fundraising skills. I'm glad that you decided to volunteer," he went on.

Elena's cheeks were an adorable pink color as she sent him a smile that was meant to be reassuring but did a horrible job at that. Instead it squeezed something inside him. He was her friend. Nothing more, nothing less but it shocked him nevertheless.

Saltzman was apparently saying something to him while he was staring at Elena instead of paying attention. He shook himself mentally and forced his attention back on him.

He was telling him the same things, Elena had already said like he would start working with her then slowly get his own assignments. He also told him that he could choose the things he wanted to do and they would work out the time to fit into his schedule. Not that he had anything else to do but it was nice to know they were flexible. It kind of took away from the commitment part although it persisted as a heavy thought at the back of his mind ringing his alarm bells but he chose to ignore them.

When the signing part of their meeting approached the bells were going crazy and he was contemplating running out of that crowded office and never coming back. Then he looked at Elena and she gave him that smile again and he found himself taking the pen and signing his name without another thought.

He did not feel any different from before the signing so why was he such a chicken about it?

After that, they talked for a while about the foundation and how it started. It was apparently new just a couple of years old and Saltzman was one of the founding members who had all thrown some money together and started off in a garage and slowly they built it up to where it was today.

Damon wondered if they had sponsors who could keep things running and apparently they did but not the heavyweight kind.

"We have some smaller ones but we lost our major sponsor back around Christmas last year. Because of the economy problems, sponsors are scarce and charities are everywhere so we don't really hold much hope of finding anyone soon," Saltzman said when he asked him.

"Maybe we should try to get some attention for the HIH," Elena pitched in.

"The problem is that if you want people who have that kind of funds to actually pay attention to you, you have to throw a party and we definitely don't have the money for that and if we did; we would have much better ways of using it."

"What about Salvatore and Co.?" He said before thinking it through.

"What about it?" Saltzman said with a skeptical look.

"Can you get your company to sponsor the HIH?" Elena said hopefully.

They both stared at him waiting for an explanation. Well, why not? He could talk to Stefan and pitch the idea. He knew the company already sponsored some charities and one more would not make that much of a difference.

"I can call my brother and see if it's possible," he finally said.

Elena and Saltzman liked the idea so he excused himself and went out to call Stefan.

The HIH headquarters consisted of a narrow hallway with three doors on each side. One of the doors led to Saltzman's office and most of the others were closed but at the end of the hallway a door was open. He went to look inside and found a small room. It looked like a meeting slash lounge room with an oval table in the middle surrounded by wooden chairs and in the corner there was a coffee machine on a small sink. He went inside pulled out a chair and sat on it dialing Stefan's number.

He answered after the second ring; "Yes!"

"I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" He said suspiciously.

"Salvatore and Co. has to sponsor the HIH foundation."

"What? A foundation? Like, charity?" His voice was getting more and more incredulous with every word.

"Yes charity, it's for the homeless. Now can you make it happen?"

"Why do you want me to sponsor a foundation? Since when did you start caring about the homeless?" He was back to being suspicious. "Damon is this about a girl?"

Of course he would not believe him. Stefan always expected the worst of him but to his defense, Damon never showed him anything but his worst since they hit puberty. It was not like he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart either. There was no kindness in him, no heart. He was doing it to make a good impression on Elena, to get her to fix his problem.

"Yes it's about a girl, Stefan now will you do it?"

"I thought you did not believe in love and relationships?"

Yes, he did not exactly react well to his brother's current insanity, when he told him that he loved Caroline Forbes. He gave him a piece of his mind about that figment of imagination that someone started out of boredom. Love did not exist. No he took that back, actually it could exist to some degree between a mother and a child or between siblings but never between strangers, between a man and a woman. That was nothing but lust and a delusional conviction of something more that always ended up burning those who believed in it. He had experienced that first hand and seeing his brother falling in the same trap elicited his anger.

"I don't."

"So why are you trying to impress her?"

"Didn't you ever learn anything from me, brother? You need to play your cards right to get what you want from a woman. You have to invest some quarters to hit the jackpot."

"Fine I'll see what I can do?" Stefan sighed sounding unconvinced.

His funeral, Damon thought shrugging to himself as he ended the call. He put his phone back in his pocket and got up from the chair to go tell Elena and Saltzman about the news but he never made it out of the room. Elena was blocking his way standing in the doorway with crossed arms and an unreadable expression.

"You can save your quarters, you already had the jackpot," she said. Her voice was cold and hard and the usual warmth in her eyes was gone.

What? Confused as hell he racked his brain trying to decipher her words and the reason for her sudden anger and suddenly it hit him.

Shit!

AN: Thank you so much for reading. Please, please be kind and leave a word to tell me what you thought. I really need someone to kick my muse's ass 'cause it wont cooperate at the moment.