Author note: I thought to was clear it's a Delena story, don't like it, don't read it ;)
Thanks for your feedbacks, keep them coming ;)

CHAPTER 3
Down the rabbit hole

Aaron's criminal record and current file were on Elena's desk when she went to work the next day. She didn't bother saying hello to Martin and went straight to work. Another lovely chap, brawls, of course, drugs, deals and use, she had expected a murder or two but no, none of that, which was a good thing for it would help a lot. The man had been on probation for he had been released a month ago, a sentence for felony, broken bones, a gang rivalry. He had had to stay in the state and trespassed and, of course had no explanation for it, or, he had but considering the vocabulary he used, it wouldn't be of any use. No chance she'd let him speak at the tribunal. Weren't those MC members adorable? The man was sleeping in jail and she had the feeling the longer he'd stay there, the less she'd be able to dismantle the MC from the inside.

A bat of lashes wouldn't do a thing, she'd have to walk on eggshells again though she doubted she'd be able to keep the man out of jail as she had done for Damon. Aaron had been in and out of there since he was 16, ten years ago. Would she be able to use the absence of father, the double shifts working mother and the lack of money? She doubted it. She'd have to work with a short time sentence and make Daddy Salvatore swallow his own bile.

Was she really cut for that kind of plan? It was huge and for all the wit and courage she had, she was a little fish in a sea full of sharks.

Her brain was aching already and she took a break to go in the small kitchen two doors away from her office and make herself a strong coffee.

A storm inside

His hands were shaking, he could have broken all the furnitures it wouldn't have helped and now, in the room at the back of the club, door locked, he tried to calm his nerves. Since Stefan had ran away and even before that, Damon had bent himself in shapes that would fit any size of boxes his father wanted him to get into, smuggler, dealer, weapons seller, he had put his finger in every can of worms, anything to make daddy happy and make sure he wouldn't miss his younger son to the point of dragging him back home and into this shit willing or not. It had worked but now Giuseppe made him want to puke, he had gone way too far and even if Damon had already lost a part of his soul he still had a bit to salvage and he needed out. It had taken him years to plan his own little escape route, something clean, far from here. Him and Aaron were about to leave and the card castle that was the MC would get the blow it needed to fall. It's what that girl he had met was supposed to do for him. The cute lawyer with doe eyes, Stefan's girl, friend or whatever.

And now Aaron was back in jail and his nerves barely could take it. Oh he was tough alright but he was alone. Again. Too many hope could tore a hole even in the strongest armor.

She had remained in her office all day. Everyone was gone for she was, again, working late. The file Martin had given her was now forgotten on the edge on her desk as she was working full time on Aaron's case. Law books were spawned all over the flat areas but she needed more. She didn't have much to work with she needed a breach, anything that would keep the man out of jail, except for the time he'd have to make for his parole infringement which was three months. Considering how much time that guy had spent in jail already it wasn't something he wouldn't be able to handle, what she had to make sure of was that they wouldn't add more time or find anything they could use to keep him behind bars until he turned gray.

She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. Closing the file she decided she'd have to go to the library first thing in the morning to check the state case law and… she'd have to talk to someone close to Aaron. She groaned and picked up her phone.
Text: Have to see you to get Aaron's case right. No shit, no lie, you've put my ass above fire I don't feel like burning because of you. 8am coffeeshop in front of the main entrance of the uni library. Elena.

Damon looked at his phone, he was in one hell of a mood still but when he read the text he almost smiled. Doe eyed lawyer had one hell of a temperament it seemed. She seemed eager to do things right, not by choice but eager still.
Text: Yes ma'am. D.

Elena was the kind of girl who could tame her nerves, it had gotten her through grief - it had needed a bit of time and adjustment but she had learned that, in life, not everything was roses and rainbows and she had toughened up - but this morning she was being shaky and clumsy. There were so many things she had to process, the past few days had been full of twisted complications, some she had chosen to jump into and now she was about to deal with Damon and, for some reason, it felt like the cherry on the cake.

She took deep breathes as she walked to the uni and got almost level headed when she reached the coffeeshop. Damon was there, all leather and sunglasses leaning against the wall. Would it have been too much for him to wait for her inside? She immediately got upset at the sight of the man, there was something she didn't know something she couldn't touch… yet. She'd probe as much as she could but something told her Damon wouldn't be easy to read, he had years of training with is 'work' in the MC. It was all about tactics and pawns put on the right places. Or it's what she thought it was.

Little did she know she was going to be really surprised.

-« Damon» she said as a greeting, she wasn't going to be more polite than needed «The sunglasses, hungover or just for the style?» whichever it was - she bet it was for the style - she didn't really care except for the fact people were looking at them as they passed by.

-« Good morning to you too Elena, I guess you take your coffee black with no sugar so it matches your tone» He pushed the coffeeshop door open and let her get inside first not letting her much room to do so without brushing his arm in the process. This earned him an exasperated look and he smirked. But once at the counter he asked her what she'd actually have and told her to go sit at a table. She just raised a brow but if he was going to pay for her latte - with sugar - she wasn't going to object. She picked a table in a corner, he was so obnoxious she rather not be close to a window, plus they had to talk about serious things.

He came back and put her latte in front of her and his black coffee with no sugar in front of him as he sat and looked at her. She was the one who had summoned him after all. So… he was here all leather, smirk and blue eyes waiting for her to explain why he had had to get up at dawn and ride to the city to have coffee with someone who obviously despised him she couldn't - and wouldn't - let him linger. She cleared her throat. -«Damon, I asked you to come to talk about Aaron's case but there's a question I have to ask to you first. Why me? Why dragging me in the MC mud? I've gotten your ass out of jail but for as much as I like to think I'm good at what I do, other people could have done it so I'm sure I didn't impress you that much. Let's go straight to the point. Is it about your brother?

It's not as if Damon hadn't expected the question, honestly he though she would have asked earlier and he wasn't going to beat around the bush. -«Yes it is» she clenched her teeth when he answered «and no it isn't» she frowned unhappy he was giving her a shitty answer «but I'm here for Aaron if you really have a question about him, please shoot. For the rest, let's make a deal, you manage to get the judge not piling months over months and have the brother I chose to have out after his initial sentence and I'll tell you everything you want to know about me and the brother I actually share blood with.»

-« I guess it's all I'm going to have so it's a take it or… take it?»

He just smiled as an answer and she clenched her teeth again. Taking a sip of her latte to cool down, she let her brain work fast and she came to the painful conclusion she had no other option than accept his deal.

-« Deal. But now I want to know everything about Aaron, how he became your brother, patches or otherwise so I can find something that will tame the judge and maybe a good reason real or fake for his short but real trip out of the state.»

Damon and Aaron, the lost boys

There had ben a turning point in Damon's life, when the madness of his father led to his mother's death. Life before that hadn't been perfect but he had had an anchor, something good.

Giuseppe Salvatore had grown a MC member too but he had climbed all the steps by himself, from prospect to VP then president, from cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush to becoming the big ugly boss and in between those steps he had met Lilly.

Small town girl with big dreams, straight A student that had a bright future in front of her until she fell for a bad guy. Cliché. Yes, completely, but back then Giuseppe was a guy with a vision, he too had big dreams. Halfway up the ladder, all patched up, he thought he could turn the MC into something great. Oh he wasn't going to clean his big paws of illegal stuff but he wanted to invest in stone, buy buildings and factories, basically, he wanted to have his own town, his own people, his own world to rule and he sold the idea so well Lilly really thought he'd actually do great things. When she got pregnant with Damon she decided to become a stay at home mother with a side of MC politics. When seven years later Stefan got in the picture she still thought things could work and with the other «old ladies» aka MC members wives, she held the heavy weight. Keeping the men in line and paving the way to greatness.

One of the old ladies was Camilla, Aaron's mother and Lilly's best friend. Aaron was around the same age as Stefan and they all grew up together like blood brothers. So far so good right? Hell no. Because for all the things Giuseppe said to Lilly he hid twice more. For all the clean money he put aside more came working with underground networks and that's when the drug and weapon deals started. The politics in the MC got wild and through schemes and alliances daddy Salvatore raised up to VP status. Choices had to be made, getting clean or dive even further into dark water. Giuseppe dived real real deep. Thinking he could take over the drug business in the area he made enemies that wouldn't just be ok with losing territory.

Damon was seventeen, Aaron eleven and Stefan ten when hell broke loose, as the elder, he had already been around the MC but hadn't really committed to it, his mother wouldn't allow it. He was no saint but he could do better to her opinion or at last see a bit of the world before thinking of becoming a Raven. He was mummy's boy, he looked like her, he thought like her and, on that point, he completely agreed with her.

The three boys were always coming home from school together, Camilla, Aaron and Joël - Aaron's father - were living three blocs away but they always gathered at the Salvatores' when the men weren't spending their evenings at the MC. That evening begun as any other one, the three boys and their mothers were in the kitchen having dinner when someone knocked at the door, everything that happened after that was a blur of motions and screams. Lilly yelled to Damon to get the kids out which he did and from the front yard he saw Joël running to the house that got filled with smoke. He had a crying Stefan in his arms, his face buried in his shirt and was pulling Arron to him for the kid wanted to get back in the house where his parents were shouting, then flames appeared behind the windows, they shattered right after in a blast of heat and glass. Next thing was the roaring of a herd of Harleys' engines and Giuseppe pulling them away from the grass they had fallen onto.

And with that, Lilly, Camilla and Joël died leaving only bones and ashes in the ruins of what had been the three children childhood house.

Retaliation. It's what it had been. One of Giuseppe deal went really wrong and two families paid the price for it. One blue eyes teenager got filled with the sight of everything falling down, a hazel green eyed, kept shut for most of it then after and Aaron's brown eyes that remained dry but never showed any sign of happiness after the events of that night.

Giuseppe got even deeper in his darkness bringing war over war dragging Damon in his path… and with him, Aaron, who wouldn't rest until he got his own revenge over those who had killed his parents and the one who was the cause of all of it no matter how long it would take. Now alone with a heartless bastard for a father, Damon took on him to keep Stefan safe allowing him to be a child but Aaron didn't get that luck. He got from home to home until his cousin, a MC member, gave him shelter… and errands to run, some that got him beaten to a pulp or sent juvie then jail. In his fall, Damon managed to keep his nose as clean as possible, avoiding jail but with every year that passed he got deeper and deeper in MC shit, his only way out was in. Their only way out was in. And the two guys abided to the rules dreaming of burning the MC to the ground but this time they'd lit the fire themselves with a smile on their lips.

But he didn't tell Aaron's story in those words to the pretty lawyer. He kept the emotional and personal part to the minimum and kept to himself how he gradually but irrevocably grew to hate his father, how badly he wanted him to fall and put all this behind him, taking Aaron with him on a less shitty path. Not a rainbow paved road leading to a town made of gold but something new and, with bit of luck, something good. And, above all he didn't say how much he fought to keep Stefan away from all this shit, or as much as he could and to his opinion, he did quite a good job no matter what his little bro thought about him.

-«So, tough cookie, not crying yet? Anyway here's what you have to know about Aaron. He must not be a good guy by your standards but I have the feeling not that many people are good enough for you which doesn't matter because you're a lawyer not a judge. Get him out of jail.» He leaned back in his chair looking at her face waiting for her to make a snarky comment. And she didn't. She had listened carefully to the story Damon told her and to the things he didn't say. For as good a poker face the man had she could read between lines he had avoided to say many things, not about Aaron, on this he had been pretty thorough, on other things. But it was more than enough, he had answered the question.

-« That cousin of his, he lives close to the state border doesn't he?» She asked showing no more emotions than she should. Damon frowned and nodded.

-« Then you have to tell me where and I'll check all the roads that lead there, how many he could have used with and without crossing the border. I know you wouldn't use the ones with video surveillance, everybody knows that, it's a hell of a stretch but, maybe I can work with that. Any skeleton in the closet I should know about? I'm already walking on quicksand I can't afford to be taken by surprise in court.» She narrowed her eyes, she was thinking hard and already working on her arguments in her head. Ok Damon was impressed - a bit, well more than bit - by her quick thinking and her ability put aside the fact she was siding with the bad guys there. Doe eyes and cuteness hid well her determination, good, it would help. A lot. And not just in court. He nodded.

-« I see you have an interesting lead, work your magic. If he has to finish his sentence but no more than that it will already be a win.» He leaned back on his chair and took a sip of his now lukewarm coffee «How ambitious are you Elena?» He ask in a serious tone.

The young lawyer raised a brow at the question.

-« Obviously quite a lot, why?» She tilted her head a bit, he hadn't asked for no reason, what would he drop on her shoes next?

-« Good.» He finished his coffee and looked right into her eyes «then after Aaron's trial I'll probably give you one hell of a bonus, in an unexpected form. Now I'm going to leave you to your work and go back to mine.» He got on his feet and left before she could even ask what he was talking about. Was he going to do that kind of things all the time, it obviously was his trademark, she hated it. She took her satchel though, she was going to work on that idea she had and find a back up and probably a back up back up. She had a goal now, she'd do her best to reach it, the MC would go down and Damon's smirk with it.

Those two planned on toying with each other to get to the same goal, wouldn't they both be that proud probably everything that followed wouldn't have unfold the way it did.

TBC