AN: Hey! So I've been reading a lot of the all human stories and I have to say I really like them. So I wanted to give it a shot myself. I got a few ideas from a friend of mine and I just started writing it down. I have about two chapters done already but this is an experimental piece. That means I really want to know what you think of the story and what you think I could do to improve it. Constructive criticism is welcome. I'll be honest with you and tell you that I have no idea where this story is headed and I would like suggestions on that as well. So when you're done reading this tell me what you think by either leaving a review or sending me a PM.

Damon Salvatore sat in his study with his laptop open on the desk in front of him. He was staring at the blank page of a text editor trying to think of what he wanted to write about in his next novel. This was all strange to him. Never in his life had he had to sit around and think about what he wanted to write. Usually, he would just start typing and the story would simply form itself in his head and he would put it into words. But after staring at a blank page for six days in a row, he was forced to accept the truth - he was having a case of writer's block.

He looked at the time on his laptop screen and saw that it was already 10 pm. He groaned and put his head in his hands. He had promised his editor and sister in law, Caroline Forbes, that he would have at least a prologue written for a new book by the next morning. He picked up his phone and scrolled down his contacts until he found Caroline's number and placed a call. She picked up on the second ring and by the sound of her voice, she had already been asleep. "What do you want Damon?" she asked. In the background he could hear his brother, Stefan asking her, "Is that Damon?"

Damon spoke hesitantly, "Remember how I was supposed to deliver the basic storyline for my next novel? Well, I'm not going to be ready tomorrow." As he spoke, he mentally prepared himself for the wrath that he knew Caroline was about to unleash upon him.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline no longer sounded sleepy, she sounded angry. "What do you mean it won't be ready by tomorrow? I'm supposed to talk to the publishers about this on the day after tomorrow." Caroline worked as an editor for Universal Publishers who published Damon's books. Caroline had first read Damon's work five years ago and had thought it was simply amazing and decided to take it to the decision makers at Universal Publishers and they had loved the book too. They had even decided to let Caroline be Damon's editor. Six months later Damon's book, "Child of Darkness", had been published and it debuted on the bestsellers list at number 2 in the first week, moved to number 1 the next and stayed there for 5 more weeks before it slowly moved down in position.

Damon's last book had been released 18 months earlier and just like all six books before it, "Transformed" made it to the top of the bestsellers list. Universal Publishing had initially signed a deal with Damon to publish three books and following their success, his deal had been extended in increments of three. Damon was yet to deliver two more books to complete his end of the bargain and the large time gap was making his publishers anxious. So, knowing of Caroline's connections to Damon, they had put her in charge of making sure that he completed the next two novels as quickly as he could.

"Can you get me an extension?" asked Damon feeling like a school student trying to convince his teacher that he would complete his assignment, given more time.

"Damon, I've already gotten you an extension twice", said Caroline raising he voice. She could hear him sigh on the other end and she took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew that this wasn't exactly an easy time for Damon. "It's been a year and a half since you've written anything. I know you miss her but she's not coming back. It's time to move on." All she could hear from the other end was the sound of Damon breathing. "I'll talk to them and I'll try to get you that extension but you have to promise me that you'll work hard and get me something that I can show them next week."

"I'll try", said Damon quietly. "Thanks, Caroline."

"Don't disappoint me, Salvatore", said Caroline before she hung up. Damon put the phone back in its place, closed the laptop and slowly made his way to his room. The room that had once been inviting now just felt cold. Sitting on the edge of his bed, he caught sight of a framed picture on his bedside table which showed Katherine, his wife and inspiration holding their then one year old daughter, Sydney, in her arms, beaming up at the camera. They had all been one big happy family at that time. The huge house where he still lived was once filled with joy, laughter and love but now it was always silent. Even Sydney who was once so full of life and energy seemed more subdued. He didn't know whether she missed her mother or if she was reacting to his persistent gloomy mood.

Damon turned off the lights and lay on his side of the bed despite the fact that it had been almost a year since Katherine had lain by his side. It was these nights that were the worst when sleep evaded him and his thoughts - thoughts of Katherine, Sydney and the last 18 months - haunted him. As he lay there contemplating taking a sleeping pill to help him sleep, he heard the door open. He didn't bother opening his eyes. He knew it was Sydney paying him one of her midnight visits. After all, she was the reason why he always left his door open just a crack. As he heard her soft footsteps close to his bed, he held the sheets open for her. Climbing up, Sydney settled underneath the blanket and curled her body right next to Damon. "Nightmare?" he asked her. The little girl didn't answer. She just pulled herself closer to him. Damon leaned forward and kissed her forehead and said, "Good night, Sydney."

"Good night, Daddy", mumbled Sydney as she fell asleep. Damon stayed up a little longer to make sure she was asleep and then carried her back to her room and tucked her under her blankets. He sat on a chair in her room watching her sleep peacefully. He wondered how long these nightmares of hers would last and then he wondered how long she'd been having them. He made a mental note to ask Caroline about it later. He sat there for a few minutes longer and then satisfied that she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, he got up and headed to bed himself. He wanted to wake up bright and early the next morning and get some work done so he would have something to show Caroline soon. He fell asleep hoping that his writer's block would magically disappear the next day.

-xx-

The next morning Elena Gilbert sat at her desk tapping her pencil at the edge of her notebook. She was one of the youngest employees of the local newspaper but she was just so good that they gave her a column every week in Sunday's supplementary paper. She was only 23 but she was already doing well. She had won a number of awards for her articles with the people she looked up to calling her work inspired. But today for some reason, inspiration just wasn't coming to her. She had a million ideas popping into her mind but the minute she started trying to write something, her thoughts would just evaporate and she would draw a blank. She was starting to get extremely frustrated when her roommate and best friend, Bonnie Bennett sat down on the seat across her table. "Still no luck?" she asked.

"I just can't seem to make up my mind. Any time I pick something I like, I end up not being able to write about it", said Elena.

"Maybe it's just a wr-"

"Don't say it!" said Elena almost jumping out of her seat. She did not want to believe that she might have writer's block. She had told herself that it was impossible; she had never had it before.

"Come on, Elena", said Bonnie, "every writer hits a block sometime or the other in her career. It's not going to help if you're living in denial land."

Elena sighed and tossed her notebook on the table and with a look of desperation on her face said, "What am I going to do? I have to get this article in by evening tomorrow and I can't come up with a decent idea!"

Bonnie gave Elena her most mischievous smile and said, "I might have an idea." Elena sat up immediately. "Do you know Damon Salvatore?" Elena shot her look as if to say, "Who doesn't?" and Bonnie continued, "I just heard that he's getting started on a new book. The newspaper wants someone to do an interview with him but no one wants to. You can have it for your column if you want it."

"Why doesn't anyone else want to interview him?"

"Everyone always says really nice things about him in their articles but apparently in the last year or so he's been a nightmare to deal with. He doesn't show up to interviews on time, refuses to answer questions and he even demanded that an article be pulled after an interview went badly. His publishing house convinced the newspaper to drop the article. Now, no one wants to go anywhere near him but his reputation to the outside world is still intact which means that when his book drops, it's going to be a huge deal. This interview could be exactly what you need."

"There's just one problem. I've never interviewed someone before. I wouldn't even know what to ask him."

"Relax, you'll figure it out. After all, you are his number one fan", said Bonnie getting up from her seat. "I'll give our boss the good news." Bonnie disappeared before Elena could stop her. She shook her head thinking of how Bonnie had managed to get her to do exactly what she wanted her to do. Instead of spending too much time thinking about it, Elena turned on her laptop and made a note of all the questions that popped into her head. She googled "Damon Salvatore" and went through forums to see what most fans wanted to know. She looked at her list of questions and smiled to herself. She just had to structure this interview well and she might actually be able to pull this off! Bonnie's voice broke her concentration when she said, "Hey, Elena? That interview with Damon is at 4 pm today at Grove Hill Hotel."

"What?" asked Elena in shock. She looked at her watch and it was already noon. She had just enough time to grab lunch, think this interview through and then get there on time. She printed her questions out and then found her recorder and put them both into her handbag along with her notebook and rushed out of the office. Elena had a busy day ahead and she was more nervous that she had ever been in her whole life.

-xx-

The entire morning had been a complete waste again. He still hadn't written anything and his publishers had already had interviews lined up for him in an effort to pressure him into writing something. The only flaw in their plan was the fact that it wasn't going to work at all. He heard the clock in his study chime. Was it noon already? He went to the kitchen to see Elisa, Sydney's nanny and their house keeper, setting up the table. "Lunch is almost ready", she said as soon as saw Damon. "I'll be done by the time you get that little rug rat down here."

"Thanks, Elisa", said Damon and walked up to Sydney's room. Sydney was sitting at her little table hosting a tea party for her stuffed animals. As he stepped into the room, the little girls face lit up with a huge smile and Damon sat down on the floor next to her asking, "Are you hosting a tea party?" When she nodded he pointed at one of her teddy bears sitting in the far corner of the room and asked, "Why isn't he here with the rest of your guests?"

"Because Wally was being mean and he has no manners so he gets a time out", said Sydney very seriously. This just made Damon laugh. "Elisa says lunch is ready", he said as he got up and held his hand out for her. She quickly grabbed on to his hand and followed him out of her room and to the kitchen. "You're going to start school in a couple of days, aren't you?" he asked Sydney.

Sydney couldn't handle the excitement. She started jumping up and down when school was mentioned. "I'm a big girl now", she said. "I'm going to school with all the other big girls and I'll make lots of new friends."

"You'll learn lots of new things too", added Damon. When the two arrived at the table, Damon helped her into her chair and then took his seat and they began eating in silence until Sydney spoke up, "Daddy, can we go out after lunch?"

"I don't think so, baby. I have to meet someone and Aunt Caroline has to come with me. You'll have to ask Uncle Stefan."

"What about after you come back?" she persisted.

"If it's not too late, we can go somewhere." This seemed to pacify her. "Where do you want to go?"

"The carnival!" she said getting excited again, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Is that how we behave at the table?" asked Damon sternly.

"I'm sorry", apologized Sydney and then she continued, "I want to go on all the rides and I want to eat cotton candy" she said with a huge grin on her face. Sydney continued to chatter on animatedly about everything that she would do at the carnival and Damon quietly listened to her. It was nice to see her excited about something again. After lunch, he took her over to Stefan's house where he met with Caroline. After Caroline had lectured him on proper interview conduct, they said their good byes to Stefan and Caroline and made their way to Grove Hill Hotel.

Caroline had made sure that Damon was ahead of time for this interview. She was there not just as moral support but also to make sure that he didn't completely make a mess of it like the last couple of times. The journalist who was supposed to interview Damon was already there by the time they reached. When they got closer to their table, Caroline got a good look at the interviewer and squealed, "Elena!" Damon instinctively took a step backwards and away from the woman. He loved his sister in law but sometimes she still acted like a teenager. He stood awkwardly while the two girls hugged and everyone else stared. When they were seated, Caroline introduced him to Elena telling him, "Elena is a very good friend of mine. She didn't want to be forced to play by the rules of any publishing house so she decided to freelance but you're working for the paper now, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. I have a weekly column. I thought it would be a great idea to interview Damon for this week's article."

"This is perfect!" said Caroline. "Damon hasn't done an interview in about a year now so you interviewing him would be great; much better than some other nosy journalist."

"It's actually my first interview so I'm sorry if this ends up being weird."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll make sure this guy here answers all your questions and doesn't do anything stupid while he's at it."

Damon sat quietly all the while listening to the two girls talk. There was something about this interviewer that was making him really uncomfortable. Sure, she seemed nice. She was confident but she wasn't obnoxious. She had Caroline's seal of approval which was extremely difficult to get. But then, she reminded him of the one person he did not want to think of. Her soft brown hair wasn't all that different from Katherine's and neither were her brown eyes. He was starting to feel like he couldn't breathe. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself. He barely heard the two of them talking when he felt Caroline's hand on his shoulder. She was looking at him, concerned. "Are you alright?" she asked. He simply nodded and that seemed to be good enough for her. "You two should probably get started because if you let me, I'm just going to keep talking."

Elena then turned her attention to Damon. She had to admit, Damon did look intimidating in that moment. His bright blue eyes were trained on here waiting for her to ask her questions. She started off shakily asking him why he hadn't published a book in a year. His only answer was, "I had things to deal with. My writing was turning out to be a distraction", he said. His tone caught her by surprised. She thought Damon sounded almost angry, like he was offended that she asked him that question. She wondered if she was just imagining it but one look at Caroline's face told her otherwise. The rest of the interview didn't go much better but it didn't get worse. He answered all of her questions although his tone indicated that he wasn't happy doing so. When her time was up, she was grateful. Caroline bid her good bye with an apologetic smile.

The minute Caroline and Damon stepped into the car, she asked him, "What do you think you were doing?"

"I answered all her questions, didn't I?"

"You did but I'm pretty sure she's going to trash you in her article and I wouldn't blame her if she did."

"Am I supposed to care about that?" he asked.

"Yes, you should."

"Now what would be the point of that?" he asked, interrupting her. Caroline just huffed and opted to keep quiet for the duration of the ride home. When they reached and stepped out of the car, Caroline stopped him before he could enter the house. "What?" he asked.

"Damon, you need to find a way to deal with everything. If you don't want to talk to me, you can talk to Stefan. He's worried about you too. It's time to put your life back together if not for you, then for Sydney. She doesn't deserve a father who could potentially ruin her life. Her mother already did a pretty good job at that." With that Caroline walked away. Damon stood outside for a minute and watched as Sydney ran to Caroline to greet her. She was covered in flour. It looked like Stefan was trying to bake something with her. He watched the ease with which she interacted with Stefan and Caroline. He felt a little pang in his heart when he realised that she wasn't that way around him and he couldn't blame her. He thought that by going in right then, he would just be bringing everyone's spirits down. So instead, he walked to the koi pond Stefan had recently installed in his backyard and sat down beside it watching the fish swim aimlessly about. He kept thinking back to his interview with Elena. She had reminded him of Katherine but at the same time, he could tell that they were two very different people. He probably shouldn't have been that rude. She had even mentioned that it was her first time doing an interview. He should have been a little more considerate. He decided to send Elena an apology note to her work address the next day. The decision didn't do much to assuage his guilt but he hoped acting on it might help.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't realise Stefan was sitting right next to him until he place a hand on his shoulder. Stefan handed him a beer and said, "Caroline told me about the interview. Want to talk about it?"

"Not really", answered Damon.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any details from his brother, Stefan changed the topic. "Why didn't you come inside? Sydney couldn't wait to show you the biscuits we made."

"You have a lot of questions, don't you? It's no wonder you became a lawyer."

"You're deflecting."

Damon sighed. "You know, Sydney's never that happy when she's with me. She seems a lot more comfortable with you and Caroline."

"You can't really be surprised by that. She spent a lot of time with us over the last year." Stefan realised what he had just said and quickly corrected himself saying, "I don't mean to say it's your fault. You did the best you could. You're still her father and she still loves you. I mean, the girl can't stop talking about you!" Damon managed a small smile. "Just give her some time, Damon", continued Stefan. "She'll warm up to you again."

"I hope so."

-xx-

Bonnie was upon her as soon as Elena got back from her interview. "How did it go?" she asked.

"Not as bad as I expected it. He answered all my questions but I have a feeling that was only because Caroline was there. He was completely cold and rude", she said with a huff. "How could someone like that write beautiful novels like this?" she asked picking up a copy of "Transformed" that lay on her table.

"Back up a minute. Caroline was there?"

"She's his editor and she's also married to his brother."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "How didn't I know this?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you spent the whole of Caroline's wedding weekend attached to my brother." Bonnie blushed bright red. "Anyway, I don't remember seeing him or hearing about him at her wedding."

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and just said, "Maybe. I should let you get to work on your article. See you at home?" Elena nodded and Bonnie left for the day. Elena opened her laptop once more and started typing furiously on it. When she was done, she emailed a copy to her boss and decided to call it a night. As she walked to her car, she wondered if she was being too rude to Damon in her article but she knew she wasn't. She wrote what she felt and what she saw. She wasn't making anything up. If it really was rude, she was sure that the paper wouldn't publish it. But she had to admit that something good did come out of her interview. Words flowed freely through her mind once more and she was able to write again. She already had a backup article planned just in case they didn't want to go through with her interview with Damon. Satisfied with everything she had managed to complete that day, Elena drove home.