AN: Wow! I got a much better response for this story than I was expecting. I guess the idea of Damon and Elena on the wrong side of the law is pretty appealing. Anyway, thank you so much for following and reviewing and favouriting. And as I mentioned earlier, I am open to making changes to the story so if there's anything you think I could change to make this story better please do let me know. Anyway, here's chapter 2- hope you enjoy it! :)

After lunch with Stefan at the park, the couple had driven home. It was already 2 pm. She was going to be late. She rushed around the house, getting into work appropriate attire and adding the necessary accessories. Damon had changed into a comfortable pair of jeans and t shirt and now he sat at the living room couch with his feet up on the coffee table observing her. When she was ready to leave she stopped in front of Damon and asked, "What are you doing? Aren't you going back to your office?"

"No I just thought I would relax and celebrate a job well done", he said opening the day's newspaper.

"Well, you're lucky you're self-employed. If you weren't you'd probably be fired by now", she said as she looked for her car keys. "I have an interview in the morning tomorrow so if that goes well, I can quit this job and move on to something more permanent." Elena currently worked part time at a corporate office as a receptionist. She only worked for about 4 hours every day and that was the problem. She was left with way too much time on her hands, which was something she wasn't used to. With Damon away all day, it was all she could do not to tear the whole house apart in a fit of annoyance and boredom.

"You know, you don't have to find a job right?" asked Damon. "I'm fully capable of providing for us."

"I don't doubt that for a minute", answered Elena. "But unless you want to come home every day to a bored and annoyed woman on the verge of a mental break down, you should let me get a full time job." Damon just gave her a thumbs up. Elena glanced at her watch. It was 2.15 pm. "I'm going to be late", she said as she leaned in to give her fiancé a quick kiss.

Just as she was about to walk out the door, she heard Damon say, "Don't forget to take your keys. I'll have to meet a buyer tonight. I won't be home when you come back."

Damon heard the door close behind him and sank deeper into the couch, deep in thought. His mind flashed to a large man with the tattoo of a snake coiling around his arm. Jordan would be pleased, he thought with a smile. Jordan always found buyers for the things that Damon stole; Jordan was his fence. They weren't in any kind of permanent partnership; it was merely a convenience. Jordan was easy to contact and he knew better than to ask any questions and Damon appreciated that. In the time that they had worked together, they had managed to build up enough trust that Jordan no longer asked to appraise the stolen goods before setting Damon up with the buyers. When Damon had called him that morning, Jordan had been more than happy to hear from him. What had made him even happier was the fact that Damon now had in his possession a one of a kind piece of jewellery that would definitely bring in a large amount of cash.

Damon spent the next couple of hours catching up on the news. He had told Elena that they wouldn't get caught and he believed it too. But that didn't mean that he was going to be complacent. He knew that he had to keep an eye out just in case someone got too close. He had been extra careful this time since Elena was involved and the last thing he wanted was for her to land in jail with him. That's why he had a backup plan, one Elena knew nothing about. A couple of hours later, he went to his hiding place and took out the necklace. He admired the jewel one last time before putting it back in its pouch and stuffing it into his jacket pocket. He got into his car and headed straight to Jordan's usual haunt, Scull Bar. He walked in with his head down just as he had done a number of times. He didn't have to scan the room to know where Jordan would be. He walked straight ahead until he stood right in front of the bar area and then took the third seat to his right. "Ever seen a stone so pretty?" Damon asked the man next to him.

"Never", said the man and turned around to face him. "It's nice to see you again, Salvatore. I heard you were keeping your nose clean."

"I have", answered Damon. "But a leopard can't change its spots, you know?"

"I know", said Jordan with a laugh. "So how's that pretty fiancée of yours?"

"She's great." Damon couldn't help the smile that appeared the second he thought of her. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me."

"And the worst thing that happened to me", joked Jordan. "Ever since she moved in I've lost some buyers because I couldn't produce things as valuable as the ones you used to bring me. I was worried I'd have to move to a bigger town."

"Well, don't get too excited", said Damon. "This is just a one-time thing. I was just trying to get rid of some of my anger against Katherine."

"You stole from the Pierce girl?" asked Jordan in shock. "Serves her right", he said bitterly. "All these years she's been stealing people's money, it's time she got a taste of her own medicine."

"I couldn't agree more", said Damon and then ordered both of them a drink.

"The buyer is an old one", Jordan told him. "Remember Kol Mikaelson?"

"The British guy who bought the Fell's silverware?" asked Damon.

"The very same", answered Jordan. "He's seen Katherine wearing it before and he's been trying to convince me to get one of the guys I know to steal it for him. He's offering quite a lot of cash in exchange."

"How does he even know about the necklace?" asked Damon. "I thought you said he wasn't from Mystic Falls."

"He isn't", said Jordan. "I'm not stupid enough to get into bed with someone from Mystic Falls. His brothers were under her a spell for a while. He says she tore his family apart."

"That does sound like Katherine", said Damon. "If Stefan hadn't been with me when I caught her in the act, she would have torn us apart as well."

"Good evening, gentlemen", said a voice from behind the men.

Jordan got to his feet and turned to a man standing by the door. The man nodded to him and Jordan smiled at Kol. "It sure is nice to see you again", he said. "Let's get down to business." He gestured for Kol to take the seat next to him. "I know you've been after a peculiar piece of jewellery and now that's in Damon's hands."

"You managed to get Katherine's shining star?" asked Kol in disbelief.

Damon didn't answer. He simply reached into his pocket for the tiny pouch and emptied its contents on to the bar.

Jordan took the necklace in his hands and took a closer look at it. "It's the real deal", he told Kol. "Not that I'd ever doubt you Damon."

"It's all good, Jordan", said Damon.

Kol greedily took the jewel and smiled at the men. "I can't tell you how pleased I am to see this. I know I had promised you a million for it and I'll transfer it out to you now", he said as he opened his laptop and started making the transaction. "I'll keep the amount on each transaction low so you don't have any trouble with the cops."

"Who do you want me to make it out to", Jordan asked Damon.

"Shining stars foundation", he answered.

"That's fitting", said Kol. "And we're done", he said as the last of the transaction was successfully made. Jordan checked his balance on the phone and nodded. "It was great doing business with you gentlemen", said Kol as he got to his feet.

"Indeed it was", answered Jordan. "Just make sure you keep that necklace out of Mystic Falls", he warned him. Kol waved him off and left.

"So you'll send it to them as soon as possible?" Damon asked Jordan.

"I know how it works", answered Jordan. "You'll be hearing about it in a day or two."

"I appreciate that", said Damon.

"Well, you can show me your appreciation by having a drink with me", Jordan said. Just then the man at the door walked to them and whispered something into his ear. Jordan nodded and said to Damon, "I'm afraid we're going to have to make plans some other time. The cops are here. Be on your best behaviour, kid." With that Jordan paid the bartender and quickly walked out the bar through the back door. No sooner had he disappeared, the bar door burst open and a tall man walked upto the bartender and held out a photograph to him. "Have you seen this man before?" he asked him.

Damon recognised the voice immediately and almost choked on his drink. "Stefan?" he asked.

Stefan spun around, equally surprised. "What are you doing here?" he asked his brother, leaving Matt to deal with the bartender.

"This place has some amazing scotch", answered Damon pointing to his drink. "I figured I could have a drink here before Elena got home."

Having finished his conversation with the bartender, Matt joined the brothers. "The bartender denies knowing Jordan", he told Stefan. "But the man there", he said pointing to the far end of the bar, "said he saw the two of you talking." He turned to face Damon. "Is that true?" He held out the picture for Damon to see.

"Of course I spoke to him", answered Damon. "He seemed like pretty cool guy too."

"Damon", sighed Stefan. "He isn't a pretty cool guy. He's a fence!"

"Yeah", agreed Matt. "We were going to question him about Katherine's necklace."

"You were going to ask a fence in Mystic Falls about a piece of jewellery that was stolen at Mystic Falls", said Damon slowly, picking his words with care. "That makes no sense."

"What are you talking about?" asked Stefan.

"If it were me, I would wait until all the police excitement dies down and then I'd go sell it somewhere far away from Mystic Falls in a place where no one's even heard of Katherine Pierce", he said.

"That would be the smart thing to do", conceded Matt. "But we just want to cover out bases."

Damon nodded. "Fair enough", he said.

"What did he say to you?" Stefan asked him.

"Nothing much", answered Damon. "He, a friend of his and I just talked about the game coming up. That reminds me, are you coming over to watch it?"

"I guess so", answered Stefan. "Did you get the friend's name?"

"He didn't tell me and I didn't ask", said Damon.

"Alright", said Matt. "Did he say anything about where he was going or what he was doing?"

"No not really", he said pretending to think. "He did mention he hated the mess kids made at school these days. I figured he works at some school as a janitor."

"I really wish you would be more careful, Damon", said Stefan. "If you remember anything else he said, just call me and let me know, alright?"

"Yes, Dad", answered Damon with a roll of his eyes.

Stefan just shook his head. "Get home to Elena before she starts worrying about you. And I would really feel better if you're home with her when it's dark. If someone's breaking into houses, you guys are easy targets."

"Understood", said Damon as he got of his seat and paid the bartender. "I'll see you around, Stefan. Don't forget, game's on Saturday." He walked calmly out of the bar even as his heart raced. When he reached his car, he turned around and saw Matt and Stefan at the police cruiser. He waved to the two of them and then got inside. Putting his keys in the ignition, he breathed out a sigh of relief and drove home.

Once he reached home, he parked his car and took a deep calming breath. He didn't need Elena finding out about this. She was already worried and he really didn't want to make things worse. He composed himself as best as he could and walked in through the unlocked door. He closed the door behind him and looked up to see that Elena was on the phone in the kitchen and she hadn't heard him come in. His eyes gleamed with mischief as a plan formed in his mind. He stealthily walked towards the kitchen making sure to stay out of her line of sight. He inched into the room when Elena's back was turned to him and picked up the knife she had left on the cutting board. He held the knife raised over his head and put an enraged expression on his face. Less than 10 seconds later when she turned around, his efforts were rewarded with a glass shatter shriek of pure horror. Damon dropped the knife and doubled over laughing.

Elena's hand flew to her chest when she realised that there was no danger. She could hear Caroline Forbes' concerned voice on the other end of the phone asking her if she was alright and if she needed to call the police. "It's alright Caroline", she assured her friend. "It's just Damon. He thinks he's so funny." She glared at him as he grabbed the knife of the floor and washed it before cutting the onions that were still laid out on the cutting board. Elena moved to the hall to continue her conversation. When she came back into the kitchen, she saw Damon was hard at work on the onions but he still hadn't stopped laughing. "That wasn't funny", she said sternly as she stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips.

"You have to admit it was a little funny", he said. She didn't say a word but kept glaring at him. "You know, if you're afraid you should lock the door like Stefan suggested."

Elena sighed and shook her head. "Give me the knife", she said. "You're butchering the onions."

"Gladly", he said as he handed her the knife. He took the seat she previously sat in and said, "The buy was successful. I got a million in exchange for it. Katherine Pierce will soon receive a thank you note from Shining Stars Foundation."

"So nothing of note happened?" she asked him without looking up.

"Not really", said Damon. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe because Stefan told me that he ran into you at the Scull bar", she said staring him right in the eye.

"I didn't want to scare you", he told her. "I know how worried you've been about getting caught so I just figured you'd feel a lot better if you didn't know about it. What did Stefan tell you anyway?"

"He called me to tell me that he was going to be in the area for a while so if you were to call home drunk, then I should tell him so he could get you home", said Elena, putting down the knife. "You're lucky to have Stefan as your brother, you know that?"

"I know", answered Damon with a sly smile. "He's got a heart of gold and he's also really gullible."

"Damon", she warned. "What happened anyway?"

"They were after the fence", said Damon. "They couldn't get him but some guy in the bar told them that he was talking to me so I made up some lame story about how we were talking about the upcoming game."

"And he bought it?" she asked.

"Yep", he said gleefully. "They both did."

Elena abandoned the onions and moved around to sit next to Damon. "So now what?" she asked him.

"Now, nothing", he answered. "We just go back to planning crimes we're never going to commit. Katherine will report the donation and the police will link it to that elusive guy who stole all those years ago and there'll be a lot of interest in the case. They'll go over the evidence from the previous crime scenes and also the current one to see if they can figure something out. In time, they'll realise that there's nothing new and there won't be any more robberies and they'll just give up. Life will be back to normal in Mystic Falls."

Elena nodded. "Now before I turn into a bundle of nerves again, what would you like for dinner? Spaghetti or lasagne?"

"Whatever you want", he answered.

Elena smiled and kissed him before going back to their dinner.

-xx-

"Your brother has terrible timing", Matt told Stefan with a laugh. "What are the odds that he would be at the same bar as a thief and engaged in a conversation with him just when we were looking to arrest him?"

"It's Damon", said Stefan, shaking his head. "The odds are higher than you'd think. Remember how Damon had this reputation of being a bad boy? Well, they weren't entirely true. Sure he was mean and he loved to drink but it never really went beyond that. He hung out with a wrong crowd but even at his worst, he was never directly involved in anything."

"So was it a different Damon who put the frogs in the principal's office?" asked Matt, sceptically.

"Oh yeah", said Stefan. "I almost forgot about that one. But that was senior prank night." Stefan thought back to that event. On the night before the first day of their senior year, the students usually gathered at the school campus to set up various pranks and gags. They usually targeted the hallway, the classrooms and the gym. But in Damon's year, he and his best friend, Alaric Saltzmann had broken into the principal's room and the staff lounge allowing the students entrance into a thus far uncharted territory. At the end of the night, Damon and Alaric had decided that it would be fun to get the principal as well and had managed to get a couple of frogs from the nearby lake and put them in the principal's desk. Stefan had still been in middle school at the time and had heard about how the principal had screamed and shrieked at the sight of the frogs in the middle of the morning announcements. The principal had been out for blood but lucky for them, nobody said a word. It was widely speculated that Damon was behind the prank but no one could prove it. In fact, even Stefan hadn't received confirmation of the fact until about three years later. "You have to admit it was a good one though", he said to Matt.

"It was", said Matt. "But listen, this case is a big one and the captain is not going to go easy on him when he figures out that your brother was out there talking to the fence."

"I know", said Stefan, sighing. "I will give him the heads up first thing in the morning tomorrow. I just hope he doesn't say something stupid in front of the captain. They don't really like each other."

As if on cue, they heard the Mason calling them, "Donovan, Salvatore, in my office now."

Matt and Stefan exchanged knowing glances. "Good luck", an officer mouthed to them as they walked towards Mason's cabin.

"How could the two of you be so careless?" Mason asked them as soon as they entered. "You let our best lead slip right through your fingers."

"In all fairness, captain, I don't think he was much of a lead", said Matt. "Talking to him was just a way to cover our bases, nothing more."

Mason was seething as he paced his cabin. "Did the two of you even read his file before you went to arrest him? He has an account in the Caymans. He makes large donations to charities."

"Wait a minute", said Stefan interrupting him. "I thought we believed that there was no connection between the two cases."

"We don't have any proof that they are connected so far", said Mason. "But that doesn't mean that they aren't. We have to keep an open mind about this." He then sat down and gestured for the two of them to sit down as well. "What happened out there?"

"Someone must have tipped him off", said Stefan. "He was there having a drink and left before we could get him."

"Damon mentioned he was with someone else", added Matt. "So maybe the other guy was a buyer or at least a potential buyer."

"What does Damon have to do with this?" asked Mason.

"Before we went in, Damon was engaged in a conversation with Jordan and his friend", answered Stefan. Before Mason could interrupt him with any more questions, he continued, "Damon said that they were just talking sports and there was nothing odd about him. He even went as far as calling him a pretty cool guy."

"Well, your brother isn't exactly the best judge of character so forgive me if I don't take his word for it", said Mason, his anger bubbling to the surface again.

"We're not saying that you should", said Matt trying to contain the situation. "All we're saying is that we weren't interrupting a buy or something else that could have given us a good reason to arrest him."

"Fine", said Mason. "As long as you're working this case, I want you to report to me every night on whatever progress you make during the day." The two detectives nodded. "Is there anything I should know?"

"Not really", said Matt. "It's as if the guy's a ghost."

"Well, he's not", said Mason. "We know that for a fact. So he couldn't have gotten away without leaving any evidence at all. There must be something we're missing; something he missed as well. We just need to find out what it is."

Just as Matt was about to reply, he heard a knock on the door and turned around. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?" Mason barked at the detective.

"Sir, you're going to want to see this", the detective answered in a shaky voice. Mason glared at him but didn't stop him. "We found the painting that was stolen from Giuseppe Salvatore."

"Wasn't that one of the items stolen by the guy who made donations?" asked Mason.

"Yes sir", the man confirmed.

"Has it been authenticated?" he asked again.

"It has", answered the detective. "And Mr Salvatore has been notified of the results as well."

"Where was it found?" asked Mason.

"The FBI made an arrest last night and they found this in his warehouse", answered the detective.

"So I guess the two cases aren't connected after all", Mason said to Matt and Stefan.

"Actually sir, the man said he was just moving pieces for a friend", said the detective. "Also, his plastic seems to indicate that he's never been to Mystic Falls or this side of Virginia so I doubt if he's the guy. I've also been asked to inform you that the FBI will be contacting you regarding this soon."

Mason nodded. "Duly noted." The detective left the room, leaving the three men alone once more. "I have no idea what to say", Mason admitted. "It's unfortunate that Mystic Falls has gone from being one of the safest places in the world to a place that's so out of control that the Feds need to intervene. Just talk to Damon again. See if he forgot to mention anything."

"Yes sir", said Stefan. "I'll talk to him in the morning before I get here."

"That might be for the best", agreed Mason. "He might open up to you more given you are his brother. Just keep me posted", he said dismissing them.

"Damon's getting off the hook easy", said Matt.

"I know", said Stefan. "And trust me, he isn't going to appreciate it at all. He's probably just going to make fun of me when I question him."

"Hey, that's what brothers are for", said Matt, laughing.