Chapter 36: Out with the Old In with the New
Damon
"Bourbon, neat," he shot to the bartender as he took a seat by the bar. Maybe it was a bit early but it never stopped him before, why should it now?
"Look who decided to show up to the party," a voice said from behind him. He almost sighed in annoyance because he really wanted to be left alone but she was a friend and she meant well.
"Andie," he said by way of greeting as he turned to see his former mentor standing behind him with her arm on her hip and a raised eyebrow.
She took the seat next to him and ordered a martini.
"What's wrong with your hand?" She nodded to his hands perched on the bar.
He had forgotten about the bandages Elena wrapped around his knuckles this morning. He shrugged, "an accident," he said.
"I thought, I heard you went for the relationship thing," she said, acting nonchalant even though she probably knew everything.
"I did."
"So what brings you here, alone?"
"Would you believe me if I said, I don't know?" He took a sip from his drink before he set the glass down and stared into its contents like it somehow contained the answers to all his problems.
"I might have an idea for a way to cheer you up?" She said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, come on." She reached out for his hand waiting for him to take it. He did not. "Where to?" He asked instead.
"My place." She smiled, dropped her waiting hand on his thigh and squeezed, digging her nails into his jeans.
He let out a breath, "yeah, I don't think so." He picked up her hand and placed it on her own lap hoping that she would get it already.
"Come on, for old times' sake," she persisted and he was starting to lose his calm. "Seriously, no," He said more firmly.
What did a guy have to do to be left in peace, around here?
He drank some more bourbon and hoped that she would tire of him, preferably soon.
"My, my I never thought I'd see the day."
She said it like she just had a revelation. He looked at her questioningly. Maybe her revelation could make him reach one of his own.
"You're in love with her," she said.
That was it.
Something clicked and everything stood finally clear. He was in love with her but that was the essence of his problem. He had been down that road once before and he had vowed to himself never to do it again. Yet, here he was and if he was completely honest with himself, he had never felt for Katherine even a tenth of what he was feeling for Elena which of course just made it ten times worse.
"Crap,"
"What is it?"
"You're right. I am."
"So why exactly do you look like it's the end of the world?"
"Because this means I have to break up with her."
That was when his phone started ringing; Stefan.
He had already ignored him twice maybe it was important. He took it.
"Where the hell are you?"
"Right here."
"Where's here?"
"What do you want, Stefan?"
"You need to come over right away."
"Why?"
"Just hurry."
"What's going on?"
He heard some rustling in the background and then a high-pitched voice pierced his eardrum.
"Damon Salvatore, get your ass over here or help me God I will hunt you down and perform…"
"Stop right there Blondie, I got the message. God, how does my brother spend so much time with you without pulling his hair off?"
"Listen, you ass, it's about Elena."
"What about her?"
"She's missing."
His blood froze in his veins. He was not sure if he had heard right but the slew of words, she threw at him next confirmed what he had heard. "She was supposed to go to Sommer's three hours ago but she never showed up and her phone goes straight to voicemail. We've already checked your apartment and talked to Ric but she's not at the HIH either. Jenna is worried out of her mind but she would not let us call you before. She said you were in a fight. She's pretty angry with you. What did you do to my friend you jerk?!"
"I'll be there in ten minutes," he said, ignoring her question, and ended the call.
He pulled some bills out of his pocket and left them on the bar before he made to leave.
"Where to?"
Oh right, Andie was still there. He really did not have much patience for her right now. "See you around, Andie."
He got up and started walking away.
"Wait, just answer one thing before you leave," she said and he sighed exasperatedly before he faced her again.
"Was she the reason for your… ahem… predicament, from the last time we met?"
"Yes." Her face changed and she had this look again, that he did not understand, not that he cared really.
Elena was missing.
He left and did not look back.
Xxx
He checked everywhere again. Her old place, his place, the foundation… she was not there and no one had seen her. In fact, he was the one who had seen her last this morning, in their bed, where he left her naked and confused because he had one of his idiotic freak-outs.
He had tried talking to Jenna to know exactly what Elena had said on the phone but she was really angry with him and the conversation ended up awkward and useless so he dropped it.
He left Stefan's just half an hour ago and walked back home. He looked at his phone for the hundredth time today while he rode the elevator but there were no missed calls… nothing. It was not like he had left his phone for one second for him to miss any calls.
It was half past midnight and they had nothing. Aksel had nothing, he had nothing and he was going crazy. He kept thinking that if he had just acted like a normal person and talked to her, this would never have happened. Maybe she had just decided to leave his ass but then again she would not leave without a word like that. She would never do that to her family. But that left him with the only other, much worse, possibility that something had happened.
He just could not bear that.
He dialed her number again and again it went right to voice-mail. The sound of her voice telling him to leave a message was both calming and killing him.
"Elena…" What was he supposed to say? Sorry that I am an asshole and never deserved you? Sorry that you gave me a chance but you never should have done it? "…I…" No! He could not say anything. No apology was going to change anything and if something really did happen… to her, then he did not deserve any forgiveness, not ever.
Elena
Something was bothering her. She did not know what it was but it got increasingly annoying as she was slowly pulled back to consciousness.
She could not move.
She was not lying down.
She was in a chair, a very hard and uncomfortable on. Her shoulders were hunched tight and her arms were behind her back, bound together with a zip tie?
She felt numb, nauseous and a sharp pain ran through her leg when she tried to move it, before she found out that her legs were bound too.
She opened her eyes as her situation dawned on her, not that it changed much because it was dark. There was no light but the little coming from that narrow window high up by the ceiling and it looked like moonlight.
What the hell?!
If it was dark outside then she must have been here for hours. It was only about 2 pm when she was heading for Sommer's.
Oh God, her aunt must be out of her mind with worry.
She had to get out of here. She tried to move her arms but they were bound so tight that the tie was digging into her wrists and gnawing them raw. The same applied to her legs.
That was when the panic started to set in. This was really happening to her. It was not some movie or TV show where the hero always found the damsel in distress at the last moment, kicked the bad guy's ass and they lived happily ever.
She was taken in broad daylight from a very populated neighborhood. She was bound to a chair in a dark room with only one window. She had no idea why she was there or what psycho had taken her here. Probably nobody knew where she was.
She was alone in this.
God, she needed to calm down or she would just hyperventilate herself to death. Maybe that was her best option though. Who knew what those people wanted to do with her.
"God, don't go there," she whispered to herself and the sound of her own voice was strange in her ears, maybe because it was trembling and dripping with fear.
The sound of metal scraping against metal reached her ears just before the door, she had not seen, opened and a stream of light blinded her for a second.
"Great, You're awake." She did not recognize the voice and she could only see his dark silhouette in the doorway before he pushed it all the way open and walked towards her.
He kneeled in front of her and used a small pocket knife to cut the ties around her legs.
"Don't think about doing something stupid." He said and pulled her off the chair with a crushing grip around her arm. She stumbled forward and almost fell over from the pain in her leg. Right, she had twisted her ankle running from this freak.
The light finally hit his face. He looked like a normal guy. He was not big, ugly or tattooed. He did not look like the stereotype of someone who would abduct girls and tie them to chairs.
"Why are you doing this?" It was the first thing she said since he walked into that room.
He ignored her and kept pushing her forward. She tried to put as little weight on that ankle as possible but it was not exactly possible with him pushing her to move faster. She tried to look around, find out where he had taken her. It looked like an abandoned factory or something. He pushed her up some stairs and then she realized that they were on some form of platform in a big hall with a very high ceiling. The whole place was very dusty and there was not much light but a couple of bulbs that had somehow survived the time.
"What do you want from me?" She tried again but it was like talking to a wall.
He shoved her onto another chair and kneeled to fasten her legs again before he walked to a table cluttered with stuff. Her eyes latched onto the single object of importance to her; her phone was on it and unfortunately it was the exact thing he was going for.
"What's your passcode?"
She contemplated not telling him but the look he sent her told her it was not an option.
"2307"
A moment later, he took the phone to his ear.
"I have your girlfriend."
Her heart fell. He called Damon. He listened for a second then walked towards her.
"Your boyfriend wants proof," he said before he put the phone to her ear.
"Damon?" She croaked and it sounded like that tiny trembling mess again. Her throat was closing and breathing was an issue.
"Elena is that you?"
"Yes… yes it's me." Her voice broke and a rouge tear slid down her cheek.
"It's okay. Everything's gonna be okay just do whatever he says, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah okay."
He took the phone away and she tried to put back her steel control over herself again. Hearing his voice, not the cold and detached version from this morning but the real and concerned one, was the best and worst thing. It made her control slip and she needed it to hold herself from falling apart.
"You got your proof, now on to business." She only heard one side of the conversation but it was enough to know what was going on. "You know the rules. Call the police and she's dead. Ten million and I'll text you the account number. Once the amount is there I'll let her go."
He ended the call, sent the text and put the phone back on the table.
Something was not right. Was he not supposed to get rid of it so they did not trace it? Could he really be this stupid? Then again, she could not be that lucky. Maybe it was a trick. Maybe he wanted to be found.
He noticed her looking and the smile that stretched his lips chilled her to the bone.
"Your boyfriend's too arrogant to notice. He'll walk right into my trap thinking that he outsmarted me. There is no account. The number's fake but he'd never use it anyway and he'll never call the police. No, he'll use his brother's goon, the big red-haired guy. I'm guessing you know him. They'll trace your phone and it'll bring him right here where my people will take care of his goon and he'll be mine to do whatever I want."
"Why? Why go to all this trouble if you don't want any money?"
He looked at her, maybe deciding if he wanted to tell her but then he smiled and it seemed like his need to brag won out over the need-to-know crap he was operating on before.
"He took something from me," he finally started. "For a while I thought sticking him in jail with a nice big scandal was the way to go but the bastard buys friends everywhere. Even if his daddy won't help, he has enough money to pay off the whole police department. I mean, he even bought himself his own little reporter." He finished with a wave in her direction.
"You? You put the drugs in the food?"
"Hallelujah. You have some brains after all. I just wonder what the hell you're doing with him. Wait! Don't answer that. I couldn't care less. Anyway, if you want something done right…" He cocked his head and left out the rest of the saying. "I'm gonna deal with him myself."
A dangerous gleam appeared in his eyes right before he turned away.
"Wait! What did he do? What did he take?" She called after him but he was gone down the stairs.
She was left alone again, bound to another chair but this time with a big hole in her stomach filled with dread.
Something close to an hour went by with nothing but the creepy silence. Then suddenly, he was back looking all wired and business-like, a dangerous gleam in his eyes that could only mean trouble. He went to the table and searched through all the clutter to find what looked like a piece of broken glass or a mirror maybe? Anyway, she found out what it was for when he used a plastic card to make a line and picked up a rolled bill he used to snort it. Then he picked up a roll of duct tape and held it up for her.
"Game on," he whispered and she only got out, "no plea…," before he had her lips taped together.
That was when she heard the sounds of footsteps approaching. Whoever it was walked down the main hall and would have no clue that she was right above them without any guidance from her, which was probably the point of the tape.
Damon
Abandoned warehouse? Really? How did these guys always end up picking those places? It was like standard kidnapper hideout or something.
Focus!
He tightened his grip on the handle of his gun as he walked down between old storage racks and dusty cardboard boxes. It was dark but not so dark that he could not see. Still he felt that something was off and he regretted not waiting for Aksel to finish off those idiots. He just could not wait outside when he knew that some creep was holding Elena hostage inside.
God, she sounded so scared.
She was such a strong individual – she was the one who always held him together – that he had never expected her to sound so shaky. For the thousandth time today, he cursed himself for being the asshole that he was to her.
Wait a minute, there was a sound coming from further ahead. He tried to hurry while still keeping his eyes open for any unpleasant surprises. He was pretty sure that most of the guys were outside trying to fight off Aksel but there still had to be someone inside, maybe the guy he talked to on the phone, the one who was stupid enough to leave the phone on.
Seriously, finding this place was a piece of cake. A voice inside him told him it was too easy but he ignored it. Hey, if Elena was here then nothing else mattered.
There it was again, a small mewl… coming from someone who might be gagged.
Motherfucker!
It was her. It had to be but the sound was coming from somewhere above him. He realized that there was a kind platform just above his head and she had to be there.
He found the out-of-the-way staircase and started ascending it, safety off and finger on the trigger, poised and ready. His heart was hammering away in his chest like a machine gun.
It was not long before he reached the top. When he walked through the door to the platform, his eyes fell on her right away. She was in a chair; hands bound together, ankles bound to the chair and her lips were duct taped. He could not believe the relief he felt because she seemed to be fine, shaken yeah, but otherwise unharmed.
He finished scanning her for wounds and his eyes landed on hers but he was not expecting the look she gave him. She was crying and her eyes were pleading then she looked to somewhere behind him with so much loathing that it took him a second to realize what she was trying to tell him. When he finally turned around, gun ready to aim, it was too fucking late and he watched the baseball bat swing and land on his shoulder with a crushing force, knocking him straight to the floor. Then the hits kept coming.
He must have dropped the gun when he fell because he was useless. He could do nothing but lie there and take it, trying to protect his head with his arms that he wished were numb after the beating they had already gotten.
The guy went on and on like he was thirsting for this very thing for years and through it all, Damon could only hear the muffled sounds of her crying.
Sorry, I'm so sorry.
Elena
The asshole kept hitting and hitting and she could do nothing but watch, listening to the choked sounds forced out between Damon's stubbornly clenched teeth. Her tears ran freely and she could not help but flinch every time wood connected with flesh.
Finally, he stopped.
He dropped the bat like it burned his hand and walked away from the curled up body by his feet. He went back to the table leaned his arms on it for a second then reached in his pocket and found something small and blue… It looked like…an inhaler?
She realized then that he was heaving for his breath. He took two quick inhalations then rummaged around on the table to find some more zip-ties.
His breathing had calmed then and he went back for Damon who was still lying in the same position he left him in and having a hard time breathing himself.
She tried to speak, to get him off Damon but she forgot about the tape and it came out as a pathetic wine instead.
"Shut up, bitch!"
She heard Damon's sharp intake of breath when he grabbed his arms and started dragging him to the wall where he fastened his wrists to some bare water pipes using the zip-ties.
She finally got a good look at his face. Half of it was starting to swell making it hard for him to open his one eye. Blood was still running from his, cut lip. He looked like he was in a lot of pain but it was Damon and he would never let it show. She knew him though and he must be hurting like hell.
"I've been waiting to do this for so long," the asshole said, "since the moment you put your filthy rich hands on her."
Who?
She got that he knew Damon from before and this was some kind of twisted revenge plan but why? Who was he talking about?
"Well bad news, pal; she was a slut who threw herself at me." She was relieved to hear him talk even though it seemed like he could barely get the words out and he was insulting their kidnapper who could at any moment decide to retaliate. "Maybe if you'd put a shorter leash on her, she would…" He did not get to finish the insult before – as she predicted – the guy punched him with renewed vigor.
"You do not get to talk about her. You do not get to talk at all. This is my show and you're just here to watch." At that, he turned his head to send her a very alarming look.
He got up from his crouch in front of Damon and started walking to her. She could not help but pull all the way back in the chair to get as far away from him as possible but he was in front of her in seconds. He yanked the duct tape from her face, taking the outer layer of her skin with it.
"It's nothing personal, honey. He just needs to hear you scream," he said.
"What are you doing? Leave her alone. She doesn't have anything to do with this. I'm the one who took her from you." It was Damon, trying to direct his attention back on himself. It seemed to work for a bit, he turned around to address Damon. "On the contrary, she has everything to do with this. She's yours and you like her which makes her the perfect target."
He turned back to her, leaning forward to put his face right in front of hers as he ran the back of his hand along her cheek. "You don't know how happy I was when pictures of you and her started surfacing. I'd lost any hope of getting my revenge after she sabotaged my plan but then a better one fell right into my lap."
She flinched away from his hand.
"Don't touch her you piece of crap. Come here and fuck with someone your own size."
He rolled his eyes like he was tired of the interruptions.
"You know what? I think you need to learn to shut up when it's good for you," he said and went back for the roll of duct tape.
"No, Mason, please just do what you want with me but let her go. She's innocent."
"HE WAS INNOCENT TOO!" She jumped in her chair from the booming outburst. "The kid, the one you KILLED."
"What?" The word slipped out of her mouth unchecked.
"I… I don't understand." Damon looked confused for the first time since he burst through that door.
Mason, who she know knew was Katherine's lover, looked like he had let a can of worms get opened that he had no idea how to close again. His eyes looked crazed and he stared ahead as if he was seeing a whole other reality than the one they were in.
"You were supposed to leave in that car… I waited for months. She said only a couple of months until you married her and she could get a nice settlement with the divorce. She said we could live happy, never need anything." He focused on Damon again now his eyes spewing unfathomable hate. "But you didn't propose and she got pregnant and I could not do it anymore. I started working for you, in the garden even though I have a million allergies to plants, just to get close to her. I tried to convince her to leave. I told her I could work more, make enough for us to get by but she wouldn't listen. When she gave birth I tried to convince her again but no dice and all through that I had to steal moments with her even though she was mine…"
She tried to gauge Damon's reaction to his words but his face was blank. Not even a crack in that carefully placed and well-practiced mask.
"For a whole year, I had to watch you hold my son," she heaved in a breath in surprise?
But maybe, it was not really a surprise. Maybe, she had already guessed that much from the moment she saw the asthma inhaler. "… I had to steel moments here and there with him, with my family. Then you got back early that day and you found us. I thought, finally I had my chance. She was not going to leave but you would and I wanted to make sure that you never came back.
My father was a mechanic, did you know that?
He once taught me how to fix the brakes in a car so I did the exact opposite." He looked a bit manic as he confessed. "But forever the bane of my life, you had to give her the car. You threw them out of your house and right into their deaths. You killed them, you killed Katherine and you killed my son. You took my family away from me and now I will do the same to you."
He forgot about the duct tape and fished his pocketknife out of his pocket instead as he strode towards her with murder in his eyes.
"Stop! Don't!" Damon shouted trying to get the ties off his wrist.
"Please, just don't do this. Don't throw away your life," Elena pleaded, but he ignored them both and started raising his arm, prepared to strike.
"Stop right there, step away from her now and have your hands were I can see them."
He stopped mid-motion, his face changing like he was calculating his next move.
"Don't even think about it. You have six guns on you right now, four of them from snipers all around the building, you wouldn't be able to move one inch before getting shot.
Xxx
Turned out that Damon did not just bring Aksel, he also had Stefan and Ric backing him up. They finished off Mason's guys pretty fast but when Damon was gone too long they called the police and followed him inside the building where they heard Mason talking and threatening.
When the police arrived, they cornered him and he thankfully realized that and did not resist the arrest. After that, they were both rushed to the hospital. There was nothing wrong with her but she was worried about Damon. He had two broken ribs, a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder and a fractured tibia in addition to some other minor contusions. The doctors had worked on him for a while but now he was resting.
She just stepped into his room for the first time since everything. She walked tentatively closer trying not to get too emotional about the way he looked, all bandaged up, arm in a cast. His eyes were closed so she assumed he was asleep as she pulled a chair closer to the bed as quietly as possible and sat herself right by his side.
She took in his usually gorgeous face, now covered in dark bruises. The swelling around his eye had not gone down even a bit. She could not stop herself from getting a bit teary eyed so she started blinking rapidly to get rid of the blurriness.
"Looks that bad, huh?"
Dammit, she woke him up. She took his good hand in hers and tried to smile reassuringly but she was not sure that she was very successful.
"How do you feel? Need anything?" She asked, avoiding his previous question.
"Water."
She picked up the glass of water with a straw the nurse must have left on the bedside table and helped him drink some.
"Here you go."
"Thanks." She put the glass back and resumed her position by his side, holding his hand in hers. "Where's everyone?" He asked.
"Ric took Jenna home and Stefan and Caroline are outside."
"When can I leave?"
"Doctors said you should stay overnight for observation."
"Why can't I just leave tonight?"
"They just brought you in and there are less than 6 hours till morning. Just relax."
"I want to sleep in my own bed."
She quieted. She got it, he probably felt like hell and she would not have been in a great mood either if she was the one in the hospital bed. Thanks to him, she had not ended up in a hospital bed herself or worse.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"For what?"
"For leaving, this morning."
"It seems like ages ago."
"I know but I shouldn't have done it, Elena. I'm so sorry."
"Sshhh, I forgive you," she said and smiled reassuringly.
"You're too got to me."
"Would you rather I wasn't?" She said jokingly.
He was quiet for a beat. "I don't deserve you." She opened her mouth to protest that statement. "No, let me finish," he said. "I'm not a good person, Elena. I know I've said this before but it's the truth. The fact that I let you be with me, even though I knew that I'd end up hurting you, is proof."
"But…"
"Just please, let me say this… I… I hurt people, Elena, mostly the ones I care about. That's just what I do and I can't change it. I let you try to fix me even though I knew you'd never succeed because I can't stop thinking that maybe… this time…" He took a breath. "I'm selfish like that. I keep repeating the same mistakes just because I can't bear the thought of being alone."
"Are you breaking up with me?" She said when he finished. "Because if you are, Damon Salvatore, then you deserve the beating you got today.
"Elena, I…"
"No, it's my turn now. You need to shut up and listen because that was a load of bull shit and you can shove it." The look of utter shock on his face would have been comical if she was not this angry with him. "This is all some stuff you tell yourself because you can't admit that it scares you. It scares you to open yourself up and be vulnerable again. Now I can understand that feeling, considering what you've been through with Katherine," Her voice softened as she waved her hand between the two of them. "This, what we have, I can assure you, is nothing like what you had with her. But it's your choice if you still want out, just know that if you do, it's because of your on fear and not some heroic notion about protecting me from you because I can make my own choices and I chose to be with you… So what do you choose?"
He was staring at her and the intensity of his stare reminded her of that first time she ever looked into them and drowned in their depths. So much had changed since then, mostly the two of them but she did not regret a second.
"I choose you," he finally said and the bells of happiness in her stomach started ringing out of control. She threw herself at his lips, forgetting about their bruised state and he did not protest even though it must have hurt a little.
She pulled back, a huge smile stretching her face just to see a matching one on his.
"You always manage to kick my ass back on track," he said.
She just laughed in response and let herself have one more kiss.
Xxx
The sun fell on her closed eyes and woke her up slowly. She turned to find the space next to her empty and for a second, her throat closed up in irrational fear. Then her eyes landed on the piece of paper held down by a red rose on the pillow. She smiled and picked up the rose. She held it to her nose as she read the note. Scribbled on it with Damon's perfectly slanted letters was;
Woke up early, went to the cemetery. - D
It had been a month since their run in with Mason Northwood? McKinney? Anyhow, Damon still had a hard time sleeping. He spent a lot of time just staring into space or moving around restlessly. She knew he had a hard time digesting what Northwood had told them but he avoided talking about it. She tried to give him as much space as he needed while still being there for him when he needed her.
She was worried. She could not pretend to imagine how much it hurt to find out that your kid was not actually yours but your girlfriend and her lover's. Also that said lover had tried to kill you just to end up killing your girlfriend and her son and was blaming you for the whole thing.
At least now, they all knew whose fault it really was. Damon did not have to blame himself anymore because Mason had confessed to messing up the brakes and thereby killing his lover and his biological son. Knowing Damon though, he probably still felt responsible for some of it.
She could not help herself.
She had to make sure he was okay so she dressed and went to the cemetery. The Salvatore's had a crypt for their dead and Dan was buried there too. She found the doors to the crypt wide open, letting the sun shine through to light up the otherwise gloomy space.
Damon was sitting by the far wall, next to him a silver plate read; Daniel Alessandro Salvatore.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Can I sit here?" She pointed to a spot beside him.
"Sure, go ahead."
She sat next to him on the ground, her shoulder grazing his and her back against the wall.
"I had a feeling, you know. When I found out how long she had known Northwood, the thought crossed my mind but I tried to shove it way back in my head where I didn't have to think about it. I couldn't face it, couldn't deal with it."
He was silent for a couple of minutes and she did not break the silence. When the light hit his face it glittered off the tear, sliding slowly along his cheek. She put her hand on top of his on his knee and squeezed a bit.
"He's my son." His voice broke on the last word as his tight control on his emotions slipped for a moment. "He'd always be my son and a Salvatore even though our DNAs don't match."
"You loved him. No one can take that away from you."
"Yeah… yeah, you're right," he said thoughtfully. Then he turned his palm toward hers and started rising from the ground, pulling her up with him. "Come on, let's go home."
She held onto his hand as they walked out of the crypt and back into the light.
They had just walked out of the cemetery when he stopped and turned to face her. "I want to tell you something," he said, answering her unspoken question.
He looked much better now. The only evidence of his injuries was the white cast on his one arm, held close to his chest with a sling and the winces that slipped between his teeth, when he thought there was no one to witness it, because he had moved wrong and his ribs were not completely healed yet.
She returned to the moment when he threaded their fingers together as he looked into her eyes and spoke those three words.
"I love you."
AN: Phew...wow...that was it guys; the last chapter.
I have to say that this chapter killed me. I want you to know that I never abandoned Intertwined but this chapter just didn't want to be written before now and because I made you wait this long, I didn't split it in two so it's crazy long and you'll get the epilogue right after.
I want to thank all my readers and all my reviewers for sticking with me and being such an amazing inspiration. This experience, writing a multi-chapter story, is extraordinary.
The fact that we all fell in love with those characters and their story it pulled us together from different corners of the world to write and read together about love. No matter how the real story ended and whether we loved or hated it, we'll always have this experience with us.
I will certainly never forget it and I'm so proud of my story with all it's flaws, really short chapters in the beginning, crazy long one in the end and all the small mistakes along the way and now I can finally call it Complete.
It's been an awesome ride and I love you for taking it with me. Thank you and have a good one...
Love and appreciation always,
Mydarkside075