A/N: Whoah! An update! I know right! I feel so horrible for only updating this story so sporadically, but like I said, my focus is on "Second Chances" atm. I really do appreciate all the reviews and subscriptions though. They make me incredibly happy and are the reason why I felt inspired for this, so here you go :) Already working on the next chapter, too. Please please let me know what you think.

P.S. I obviously don't own TVD or any of the characters.

The third chapter, in which our heroine doesn't know what hit her

Mason was pacing, talking to his accountant on the phone. Damon was talking to two detectives. They were trying to figure out how someone could have gotten onto the premises unnoticed. Turns out, it wasn't as difficult as you would have guessed. Employees frequently had friends over (or pizza delivered) without clearing them through security or even announcing them. The back entrance, where no guard was positioned, was closer to the highway and therefore many people entered through there, without anyone noticing. After the break-in, Damon had already talked to Mason about the lack of video surveillance but the latter had not gotten around to doing anything about it yet. All in all it was impossible to actually be sure how many people had been on the estate during this day, especially since if someone climbed the stretch of wall that was engulfed by a small grove at the back of the large estate, they would most likely never get noticed. Damon again stressed the importance of video surveillance, especially for those parts of the property that weren't visible from the main house and Mason kept nodding his head, not convincing anyone that he would take speedy action in the matter. Elena was sitting on the couch, watching the men take charge. Caroline had fed the children and taken them to bed and was upstairs with them, reading them their bedtime story. Vicki was still seated opposite Elena, working herself into a frenzy over what might have happened to her.

"I was up there by myself when he must have come in!" she exclaimed, looking at Elena with wide eyes. "I was in your room, just down the hall! Oh my god! He could have killed me! It's a miracle I'm still alive." Elena only nodded tiredly, not feeling up to either feeding into or arguing against her friend's antics. Vicki saw that she would not get the desired reaction from her sister in law and turned around in search of a new target. "And you!" she finally yelled, setting her sight upon Damon and strutting up to him, her fists angrily pushed into her sides. "Where were you while I was almost strangled to death by some perverted burglar?"

"Excuse me?" Damon and the two detectives he had been talking to, turned around to the woman, all three obviously irritated.

"Were you attacked, ma'am?" one of the detectives asked, shocked that this had not been brought to his attention before. "Did you see the intruder?"

"No, but I was just down the hall. I could be dead and this one wouldn't even know. Aren't you supposed to protect me?" she glared at Damon.

"I'm the Lockwoods' bodyguard, not a 24-hour surveillance system," he answered indignantly.

"Yeah well, you might want to think about your priorities," she replied and turned on her heel without waiting for an answer, plopping back down on the armchair opposite Elena, shaking her head. Damon just stared after her with furrowed brows, in utter disbelief. Then he noticed Elena sitting on the sofa, staring at the floor in front of her apathetically and went over to crouch down in front of her.

"Mrs. Lockwood?" he asked concerned, ripping her out of her daze.

"Yes?" She looked up in surprise.

"Do you own a gun?"

"What? No! Of course not!" she exclaimed, looking at him in shock. "Why would I? I would never touch one of those vile things!"

He would have chuckled at her adorable look of indignation, if he hadn't been more concerned with her safety. "I'll get you pepper spray," he said decisively, moving to get up again.

"What am I going to do with that?" she asked, apparently horrified with the idea.

"Protect yourself," he answered.

"But that's what you're here for," came her reply. This time he couldn't suppress the chuckle.

"Well, obviously I can't be everywhere at the same time. Tonight is evidence of that."

"But that's what we're paying you for!"

Damon wanted to growl in annoyance at her deluded view of the world but held back. She was in shock, he told himself, she was scared and she demanded protection and it was obvious she wouldn't get that from her husband.

"It's just in case," he said in his 'reassuring voice', the one he knew made women feel safe. "So that in case there's ten of them, you can help me out and pepper-spray one why I wrestle down the other nine." He threw her his most winning smile.

"Is my safety a joke to you, Mr. Salvatore?" she asked haughtily. He sighed. It was obvious that she was hell-bent on shooting him down tonight.

"Caroline, could you help my wife go to bed?" he heard her husband's voice behind him.

"I don't want to go to bed, Mason. I want to know what's being done about this," she said in a determined tone.

"I'll take care of it, honey. You go rest," he replied dismissively. Damon could see the anger in her eyes at her husband's patronizing demeanor but for some reason she swallowed it down and went upstairs without another word, closely followed by the blonde nanny.

This woman was an enigma to him. She was strong-willed and energetic and – he would have wagered anything – fiercely passionate. She could look at you in a way that made you think her eyes were burning from the intensity behind them. Usually, when directed at him, that intensity stemmed from the fact that she was extremely angry. But he was sure that fire would come out to play in other situations as well. It was also clear that she had little to no respect for her husband. It was evident in the way she would roll her eyes when she thought no one was looking and in the way she shrugged off his casual matrimonial advances. And yet she let him dictate her life. She let him make all the decisions, even when it was evident that she disagreed with him. She stood up and defended him before others. And she apparently gave him enough affection to not make him doubt their marriage. Damon couldn't help but wonder why this woman accepted to stay on the sidelines, to follow her half-witted buffoon of a husband. Had she seemed content, Damon wouldn't have given it a second thought. He knew many women that were happy with being the trophy wife of a wealthy, good-looking guy. They were happy spending their days shopping and gossiping and their nights making their husbands happy. But Elena didn't seem content. She seemed bored and annoyed. She definitely didn't seem like a woman who would marry for money only. It didn't make any sense.

"So what's the plan?" Mason asked, turning towards the detectives after his wife had ascended the stairs.

"Well, we advise against payment. If they get the money this easily, they will only come back for more," the man replied.

"Of course I'm not paying," Mason replied in a raised voice. "This is outrageous!" He started pacing, clearly deep in thought. "Salvatore, you take care of those cameras. A.s.a.p.!" Damon had to bite his tongue to keep himself from commenting. "And I want another guard in the house. Hire someone you trust." Damon only nodded and Mason turned back to the policemen. "And I want cars patrolling the neighborhood. And people watching the house at all hours," he ordered.

"Well, we can't…" one detective started but was instantly interrupted by Mason.

"Don't bore me with the details. I'll pay," he explained, waving the issue off. "Also we had a break-in the other day. You should check into that. He's probably involved in this."

"That's not very prob…" the detective tried to reason with Mason but was interrupted again.

"Can you just do your job please and stop boring me with your incompetence?" he spat.

The detective looked to Damon, most likely for support or a sensible opinion. "You should take care of your family, Mr. Lockwood. I'll handle the police," he offered, gaining a thankful nod from both his employer and the police officers.

In that moment the front door burst open and Tyler rushed into the house. Vicki got up instantly and rushed over to him, obviously glad someone was finally there that would take her concerns seriously. He only assured himself that she was okay, then Mason and him walked off, discussing how the media should be handled in this situation.

Elena stayed in bed until noon. Usually she got up quite early, even though she would have liked to spend entire days in bed. It wasn't like her life got more interesting after she got up. At least as long as she was still in bed, she could pretend that a different life waited for her behind that bedroom door. At least today she had a good enough excuse.

When she finally got up, she wandered around the house aimlessly. Her children were in kindergarten, Vicki was most likely in a spa somewhere, recovering from the harrowing experience that was last night and Elena was, as usual, bored. She had attempted to come up with a hobby for herself, had ventured into the realms of water color painting, pottery, and novel writing, but she had always found herself in front of that white canvas, piece of paper or clump of clay, unable to find a single spark of inspiration. So she had given up. Like most of her friends, she claimed that going to the gym was her hobby, but she only really said it to seem less pathetic. She switched on the TV in search of diversion but was quickly even more bored than she had been before. She decided to go outside and 'inspect' the gardens. Armed with pen and paper to note down any comments, suggestions or demands for the gardener, she stepped outside.

When she rounded the corner she gasped. Vicki was right. That man was incapable of putting on a shirt. There he was, in all his bare-chested glory, working out again. She shouldn't be surprised. A body like that didn't just form itself. It was mainly the constant shirtlessness that accompanied the training that was bothering her. Or not so much bothering her as making her flustered. He had his trainer with him, her dark skin glistening in the sun as well. They were doing push-ups next to each other, Damon doing two for every one that Bonnie did but not, Elena supposed, because she was weaker, but because she needed that time in between to yell at him to move his sorry ass. Not so sorry, Elena mused involuntarily, her eyes wandering instinctively to his behind that looked mighty tight, despite the fact that he was wearing loose sweat-pants. She had to swallow, her throat having gone dry. His body was one straight line, every single muscle taught and rippling under his skin as he pushed himself up and down relentlessly. Elena had to fight hard to push impure thoughts away. She could only imagine what those pushups were doing to the muscles on his chest and abdomen.

"Headstand!" Bonnie bellowed out suddenly and Damon formed a triangle around his head with his forearms and pushed his legs straight up in one slow but smooth motion. Now Elena didn't have to wonder about his abs anymore, they were staring right at her. So were his eyes.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Lockwood," he said with a smug smile, his poise never faltering, his abs looking like they had been sculpted to be touched. Bonnie got up and spun around quickly. Elena felt caught and fumbled for a suitable explanation as to why she was standing there, ogling her bodyguard.

"Good afternoon," she said, praying to god that the heat she felt on her cheeks was due to the bright sunshine and not a furious blush. "I just wanted to come over and speak with Miss Bennett for a second," she improvised. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day. I was very rude." She was proud of herself. That probably sounded somewhat believable.

"Oh it's no problem, I don't bear grudges," the woman replied with a happy smile on her face. "But thank you for apologizing, that was very nice of you." Elena gave her a warm smile. "I hope we'll become friends, now that I'll be here every day," the trainer added.

Elena looked at her with a confused expression. "I thought you only trained twice a week," she stated.

"Uhm… yes but…" the other woman let the sentence trail off and turned around, looking to Damon for support. He in turn lowered his legs slightly, folding minimally at the hip and then used this leverage to catapult himself off his elbows into a handstand before lowering his feet to the ground smoothly. Elena could barely suppress an eye-roll. He was such a show-off. Embarrassingly, she was actually impressed.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I thought your husband would inform you. He asked me to hire an additional bodyguard." He said, slowly walking up to the women. Elena looked from Damon to his trainer and back again, not sure what exactly it was he was telling her.

"Me," the girl with the unbelievably wide smile supplied. Elena looked back at her, still dumbstruck, before returning her eyes to Damon.

"But she's a woman," she was finally able to utter.

Damon smiled lightly. "Don't let her tininess and sweet smile fool you. She is a mean one." Elena stared at him in disbelief, so he tried a new tactic. "Look, your husband told me to get someone I trust. She's the one I trust most. The only one I'd trust with my life, actually."

"I think being able to defend us would still be priority number one, though," Elena argued.

"Hit me," the previously silent woman told Damon.

"No Bonnie, that's really not necessary," he replied, an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Come on, you big baby," she said teasingly, an innocent smile playing on her lips.

"Alright," he sighed, "this is gonna hurt."

"No!" Elena exclaimed in shock, unable to believe he would actually hit a girl. Before she could move to intervene, he had pulled his fist back and launched it like a missile at the small woman's face. Elena watched in astonishment as the trainer took the tiniest step to the side, escaping his fist only by about an inch and then grabbed his arm and, using his momentum, flung him over her shoulder and made him land on his back.

"Ugh I knew it!" he said in a whiny voice, getting up slowly, rubbing his back. "You better make that massage extra long today to make up for that," he said in the direction of his friend, before turning back to Elena who was gaping at them. "So, are we good here?" he asked.

"Uhm… yes," she replied in a quiet voice. "Uhm… welcome to the estate… Miss Bennett," she added, still struggling with her words, but extending her hand to the newest addition to her household.

"Thank you," came the smiley and seemingly unfazed reply. "And call me Bonnie."

Elena just nodded and turned around, heading back toward the house.

A week had gone by and nothing else had happened. Technicians had come to the property to install the cameras and Bonnie had settled into another guest bedroom on the ground floor. Elena didn't feel like her life had changed much, except for the fact that Damon was taking her children to school now and picking them up, instead of Caroline. He had also given her the promised pepper spray, but she had shoved it into some random drawer, not wanting to accept that she could be brought into a situation where she would need to use it. She did feel surprisingly safe, considering. Her friends however practically fell all over themselves, asserting their concerns. Especially Dana, always the most annoying one, couldn't believe Mason didn't want to pay the demanded sum.

"He has the money!" she would exclaim. "His family should be his top priority."

Elena made haste to reassure everyone that they were, that Mason simply didn't want to let himself become prone to blackmail, but her friends still disagreed.

On Friday night Elena was getting ready for her first public appearance since the threat. Mason and she were to attend the opening of the new Mystic Falls Museum of Modern Art and she was excited. Not able to find any inspiration in herself, she thrived off the creativity of others and loved going to museums, exhibitions, concerts, and the like. Mystic Falls was seriously lacking in the cultural department and she had been the driving force behind her husband's generous donations to the new museum. She had bought a new dress for the occasion that she thought highlighted every single one of her physical assets perfectly. She was determined to get through the evening with a bright smile and to not let the possibly imminent danger get her down. Humming her favorite song quietly, she stepped out of her bathroom, clad only in a towel and proceeded to walk into her walk-in closet when she felt strong arms encircling her waist. She was too stunned to react at first. Mason generally refrained from loving gestures or sexually charged surprises. He knew she didn't like them. Everything became crystal clear though when only a second later she felt a wet cloth being pressed against her face. She could only register the strong smell of ether and make one single and unsuccessful attempt at pulling out of the vise-like embrace before she felt numbness rush up through her body and blackness pull her under.

A/N: Reviews make me update faster, pinky promise!