Welcome to my new story. This was born out of my brilliant beta Eva's even more brilliant mind. So you can all thank her for the plot as I thank her for helping me bring this story to life. A big thanks to Kate for again gifting me with the perfect cover art. Enjoy:

So close no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

"Damon, I have an event I'm scheduled to go to for work Saturday evening. Would you like to be my guest?"

"Anna, we've talked about this. You and I, we fulfill a need for each other. We have no relationship other than that. I don't do relationships and I certainly don't do romance," I explain as I continue to put my clothes back on.

"But Damon, if you'd just give us a chance?"

Sighing heavily, I turn my eyes to hers, "No can do. Look, maybe it's time we put an end to this?"

We stare each other for a few long moments when the sound of my pager alarming breaks us from our reverie. Pulling it out of my pocket, I look to see who's trying to reach me.

Grabbing my cell phone, I quickly call the hospital.

"This is Dr. Salvatore... MVA, internal bleeding? Alright Mary, tell Dr. Lockwood that I'm on my way."

Reaching for my jacket, I pull it over my arms then turn back to Anna when I reach the door, "I really need to go. I hope you find what you're looking for."

Very quickly, I stroll out of her apartment and jump into my car. Turning on the radio, I listen to the eighties station as I drive towards the hospital. After pulling into the parking lot, I make a right into one of the Doctors' reserved lots and turn off the ignition. I reach into the back seat and grab my white coat before locking the car and walking into the hospital. When I get to my office, I drop off my leather jacket and put on my white lab coat. After grabbing a cup of coffee, I go to the nurses station to look over the patient's chart that I was asked to see.

Once I finish my coffee, I toss the empty cup in the trash, grab the chart and start to walk to the patient's room. With my eyes fixed on my phone messages, I walk right into a nurse sending her sprawling on the floor. After helping her up, I turn on her. "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

"It's not me who wasn't paying attention to what they were doing. That would be you," she spouts off indignantly, her big brown eyes full of fire.

"Do you know who I am?" I ask with an air of superiority.

"I know who you are Dr. Salvatore. Now if you'll excuse me, I have patients to take care of," she says, squaring her shoulders.

My eyes turn, watching her brush herself off and walk away. "Just who does she think she is?" I think to myself. Shaking my head, I walk the rest of the way to the patient's cubicle in the emergency department. When I pull the curtain back, Dr. Lockwood is attending to the man laying on the gurney. Tyler got his foot in the door at the hospital because of his family's name. That really rubs me the wrong way. I almost changed my name because I didn't want to ride my family's coattails. In the end, because I love my Dad and my grand dad, I kept the Salvatore name.

"Damon," Tyler acknowledges, as he assesses the patient who's now intubated and has blood infusing into the central line in his neck.

"What's his story?" I ask about the patient while looking over the chart.

"He got drunk, stumbled onto a busy street and was hit by a car. When we sunk the NG tube, blood came back. His hemoglobin and hematocrit are 8.2 and 25. His PT and PTT are elevated related to his liver disease.

"Has he received any platelets?"

"Yes. We've also given him some IV Mephyton. Lab was just here to redraw his coags."

"Well, get him prepped and into surgery," I tell him, making my exit so I can scrub in for surgery.

Elena:

"Are you okay, Elena? I saw that he barged right into you," Bonnie asks.

"Obviously, he didn't do it on purpose but what's with his smug attitude?" I mutter, shaking my head.

"Do you know who I am?" I sing song animatedly.

"I know I'm new here but that doesn't give him the right to treat me like a bug he can squash with the heel of his boot. Just who in the hell does he think he is, God?" I utter, blowing out a puff of air.

"That's just who he is. He's a very gifted surgeon but he absolutely does need an attitude adjustment," she laughs.

"That still doesn't give him the right to treat the nurses that way."

"He's not always like that. It's just that some days are worse than others," she sighs.

Raising my eyes when I hear a nurse light go off, "I'm going to answer that," I tell her, walking away.

Having had a long day at work, I exhale heavily as I walk into the house. "Rose, I'm home," I yell as I shut the door behind me.

"Mama, you home," Jeremy yells, running into my arms.

"Did you have a good day?" I ask my three year old little brother.

"Ah ha," he squeaks, nodding his head excitedly.

"What did you do?"

"Me go to the park with Rose. She pushed me on the swing. And I went down the slide," he squeals, clapping.

"Wow, you did have a good day," I reply, pulling him into a hug.

"Miss Elena, you're here," I hear Rose say from the kitchen.

Smiling, I turn my eyes to her. "Can you get him washed up for supper while I go shower and change?"

She returns my smile, "Sure. Come on little man. Let's get you cleaned up for supper," she says taking him from my arms.

After walking up the stairs and into my room, I collapse on my bed. Dropping my head in my hands, I sometimes don't know how to handle such a huge responsibility. Raising Jeremy wasn't something I ever expected to have thrust onto my shoulders. My mom died when I was fourteen. She fell on the ice, striking her head, dying brain dead a few days later. For a few years, it was just my dad and me.

Then he met Allison. She was only a couple of years older than me but my dad was completely smitten. He married her a year after they met when she became pregnant with Jeremy. I didn't hate her by any means, but I didn't especially like her either. I was just about to graduate from nursing school when I got the call that changed my life. Dad and Allison were in a car wreck, both of them were killed instantly when a man lost control of his car and slammed into them. He wasn't drunk or anything, he had a brake failure. I had no one to blame it on. Fortunately, Jeremy was not with them that evening because he was left with a babysitter. That's how the world as I knew it came crashing down.

Jeremy was placed in my custody. Thankfully, my best friend, Meredith's mother stepped up to help me out. She took him into her home till I finished school. After applying for several nurse jobs, I finally found one in Mystic Falls. As hard as it was to say goodbye to Liz and Meredith, I packed our bags and this is where we find ourselves. I purchased a small home with my inheritance and hired Rose to watch him on my work days. She's been a godsend and Jeremy adores her.

Exhaling heavily, I shed my work clothes and get into the shower letting the steaming hot water wash the remains of the day away along with that arrogant SOB of a doctor...

Damon:

"Phew," I utter, pulling off my gloves and mask after exiting the surgery suite.

"That liver was a mess. We got his bleeding stopped but with his end stage liver disease, he doesn't have much life left in him. It's such a shame people abuse their bodies with alcohol.

Dying from alcoholism is not pretty," I mutter while washing my hands.

"No it isn't," Dr. James says, agreeing with me.

"You on call all night too, Will?"

"I am. I'm going to try to get some shut eye in case we have more surgeries before the night is over.

Raising my hands in surrender, I chuckle, "Don't even joke about that Will. I'm on call till midnight so hopefully I won't get to see you again tonight."

Nodding, he pulls the door open, motioning for me to walk out. Together we walk to the Dr's. lounge.

After taking a nice hot shower, I'm just about to change into my clothes when my pager alarms again. Pulling it out of my pocket, I look at the number. After changing into a clean pair of scrubs, I grab my lab coat before jogging down the stairs to go back to the ER.

By the time I finish another surgery, it's almost two in the morning before I finally stumble into my house. Once I strip down to my boxers and tee shirt, I step into the bathroom to brush my teeth and use the toilet. Half asleep, I drop onto my bed and snuggle under the covers. The last thing I see before lapsing into dreamland are the burnished brown eyes of that fiery nurse.

*Lyrics courtesy of 'Metallica'. Don't forget to push that little review button and the follow button if you want to see how this unfolds. Again, as with all my stories, this one is written in its entirety. This is also my longest story to date. I just updated 'Pieces of Eight' and 'Breathe' will update tomorrow. I do hope you will give those a read too. Hope you all have a wonderful day. Until next time...