Feeling bad for not being able to get this done earlier, Wendy settles into her chair. She leans her head back, closing her eyes on the hell that has been the last couple of weeks.
Nothing had seemed to go right, and she is feeling run over with everything happening, but she lifts her head to look around her office. It may not be exactly what she imagined, but it looked pretty damn good if she had any say so.
Finally Connor has laid down and behaved, so she leans forward to get her computer ready for the interview with Damon.
As she brings everything up, she feels some hands suddenly rubbing her shoulders and a baritone voice telling her, “I thought we all agreed there will be no more stress, Stella?”
She smile as she hears him pouring her a fresh cup of tea and she watches as he takes her mom’s seat and scoots closer. He removes the letter holder she has in the middle of her monitors and lifts an eyebrow at her.
Sighing, she replies, “I know, I know. I am working on the Twilight fic, and for some reason it is flowing, but I have no energy for it. I was looking for concerts in my fair city for goodness sakes! I want to work on some other fics, but I said I would finish this one.”
Damon leans back and shakes his head. “Muses don’t always listen. But if it is flowing, and you want to get this one done, then do it. But, you need to write what you like. So, before you jump in and try to edit, which is not a process you like, finish up or work on some of the others.” He shrugs. “It will be better for all of us, and will exhaust the muse before you go and edit.”
She chuckles and shakes her head, then asks, “When did you get so smart?”
He grins at her. “Well, you lend me out to Ashley, and then I had all these wonderful one shots written about me, and you even finished one of the three stories on me. I know you have another one in the works, and then your dream from last night is bothering you, too.”
Wendy’s head hits the desk as he laughs at the cat who just woke up, and looks at her as she yawns from the printer, and Connor who stops with whatever he’s doing with his blanket. “Damon!!!”
“Yes, Stella?”
She huffs as she looks up at him as he leans on her desk. He tells her with a waggle of his eyebrows, “Oh, c’mon! You think that Karen won’t sniff it out?”
Sitting up, she sighs and then points over at the blackboard. “14, Damon. 14 open stories that need to be worked on. And then I had this dream, which by the way kept changing the leads around, and I don’t know who will be the stars. For God’s sake, it even had Hatter and Alice!!!”
He laughs, then comments, “And Godric and Bella, me and Bella, even an Eric and Bella, some of my Vampire Diaries comrades, like Elijah and Klaus. I tell you what, you put a vote at the end of this interview, the WordPress Whisperer can do that easily for you, and you let the fans vote on it. Let it sink around that head of yours, and then talk it over with the ladies. Maybe just write enough to stick it in future stories, and then you can write those 14 stories and come back to it. Is that workable, Stella?”
Rolling her eyes, she grudgingly acquiesces, “I guess it will be. I was pushing it back to the back of my head with all the other thousand stories I have back there. I really want to get to work on Aos Si so I can finish it, read the notes, and next time I edit, finish with that. It won’t be done any time soon to send out.”
He nods. “Sounds like a plan. Now stop stressing, drink more tea, and let’s get this over with so you can go back to writing and seeing whatever your WordPress Whisperer will come up for you to do tomorrow,” he teases her.
She nods, and then pulls up the last part of the process. While she is getting ready, he look around the room. “I like it. It is you. But aren’t you missing something?”
Looking at everything on her computer Wendy answers him, “My pictures and the boxes will be gotten next week, I am hoping. There are rumors of a printer being purchased since that one doesn’t seem to like my computer. I think a table is also rumored to be gotten for the printer since that one moves so much, but having a printer table is too handy.”
He shakes his head and watches as she types up some of the interview they have done so far. He chuckles and tells her, “No blaming me for typing up our conversation.”
She looks up at him, “I am correcting it. It types up what we said. Hook got a spell for me, and Niall cast it so that is one less thing.”
He throws his head back, “So nothing gets taken out of the interviews anymore?”
She gives him a look and then pointedly asks, “Are you ready?”
His face looks innocent as he mentions, “I’ve been ready. It’s not my fault we made some small talk before hand.”
Rolling her eyes, she tells him, “Now the facts, how many you want at a time?”
He lifts an eyebrow, “Vampire remember? So go ahead and list them off.”
“Full Name?”
He answers her, “Damon Salvatore.”
She shakes her head and he tells her, “Fire them off. We can get through it faster, and it will be over and we can talk about more interesting things.”
Rolling her eyes, “How is it you are worse than even Eric?”
He laughs but makes the sign to continue.
“Nicknames?”
“Lover, kick ass Vampire, Elemental Lord, Bella’s Mate, Wendy’s, do you wish for me to go on?”
“Job?”
He grins, “Right now, it seems to be pleasing my mate. But I normally work on the town council as the leader of it. I also try to make sure the vampires and the goings on in the town are not witnessed by the Council. It seems I will be also taking on more duties in the near future.”
Trying hard not to roll her eyes or sigh, Wendy asks the next one as he had requested, “Date of Birth?”
Damon now leans back in the chair with his hands behind his head as he tells her, “June 28, 1840.”
“Height, Hair Color and Eye color?”
He laughs, “Sly that! I like. I am 5’9”. Black, and blue.”
Wendy groans, “Build?”
He laughs, “Perfect.”
When she lifts an eyebrow, he defends himself. “Ok, fine. Eternal Stud. That better?”
“No. But then I have no idea how Bella deals with your shit when you’re like this.”
Damon leans forward and capturing her brown eyes with his own, “Because like you, she doesn’t take my shit. It’s what I love about you both. But at the same time, you both let me be playful, even if you are trying to hide it now.”
Rubbing her face, she sags down in her seat. Damon shakes his head. “You need to relax. How much longer for this story?”
She tells him from where her head is resting on the desk, “Weeks, if I keep going like I am. I need to just sit down and do it. But…”
He nods, looking off to the distance, “It’s flowing. It’s one you started when you were very sick, depressed and so on. You were in a different place, so it is harder for this one for you to get back into. The others are happy, have you sass in them. But not right now.” Shaking his head he looks back at her, “Let’s go, Stella. Let’s get this done. Then I will drag your reluctant muse back in here, and we will have some fun with her. I want to get done with this, I have some information coming in my story that I cannot wait for, though I am not happy about your plans for the next story.”
She nods, then looks up at the computer, “Significant other?”
He gets this look on his face, and he tells her, “The delectable Isabella Marie Swan.”
“Parents?”
He looks off, “Guiseppe Salvatore and Lady Serafinna Salvatore.”
She gives him a smile when he looks back and his look softens and she goes on, “Children?”
He snorts, “Children? None.”
“Best Friend?”
He stops and pauses. He thinks on it and finally answers, “It would be Bella of course. But I think I would have to name Klaus.”
Wendy grins and watches the screen; when it is caught up, she asks, “Enemies.”
Damon’s eyes grow dark. “Cullens. No matter what, I will kill Edward for what he tried to do to my Mate. There is also enemies coming up, but I can’t let those out of the bag yet. Or can I?”
Wendy laughs, “Mickael is known. And Katherine is hinted at. So yes.”
Damon smirks, “So then I am not in trouble with Miss Rissa for saying anything. So, what is next??”
“Tattoos?”
He wiggles his eyebrows, “None, but I am trying to talk Bella into one.”
Wendy sighs at him, then asks, “Scars?”
Damon loses the teasing, and he sighs, “Those I have. You don’t go through the Civil War unscathed. Nor live as long as I have without scars in my soul.”
Wendy nods, “I hate that one. I know there is a reason for it, but it gets more people agitated. Ah well, these aren’t my questions. The next one is Favorite Pastime?”
Damon leans forward cocking his head to the side. “Picking on people and drinking. Wait – what did you just say?”
Looking up, she replies, “I asked a question, which by the way, the next one is Mode of Transportation.”
He shakes his head no. “Camaro and our bubble thingie. But no, before that. What do you mean these are not your questions?”
Wendy’s head falls back on the chair. “Damon! These are the questions Robin and Karen put together. After this there are five questions from the group. I told you this when I called you!”
He shakes his head, “No, I thought I was answering your questions. Why do they ask all the questions? What about you?”
She lifts an eyebrow, “Cause you all live in my freaking head. These are for the others to know you, not me. I know you guys all too well. The questions are to let the others know more about you, and they are curious.”
He stares at her with those eyes of his. She meets him for stare, and after a few minutes, he huffs. Wendy grins. “I have cats and a stubborn dog and they all back off with the staring thing. You, my dear vampire, are not going to have me lose. Now, what is the issue Damon?”
He shakes his head. “I just feel like you don’t credit yourself. I know you don’t. But here is the deal. We get this done, you get this story done, and then you let yourself write whatever. Write the dream. Write the LOTR thing if you want, write your story, just don’t make it be work. You need to learn to let go of the “I need to do this for my fans” idea, and write what you want. You did it once, in AZ, now do it again.”
“Damon, I don’t need lectures right now. Please. I know all that, it’s not easy. Now can we please finish this interview that those fans of yours want???”
He waives his hand at her, and she struggles not to strangle him. “Weapon of choice?”
He wiggles his hand. “It works well to grab a heart and tear it out of someone’s chest. But lightning is going to be my weapon of choice against Cold Ones. I’m thinking of a way to make Bella’s circle of lightning continuously strike at a victim inside. Klaus has been thinking with me about new ways of using elements, too.”
She snorts at him. “Pets?”
He lifts an eyebrow, “Do brothers count?” At her head shakes he sighs, “How about Familiars?” When she tells him no on that too, “Then no. Wait… Witches?” When she laughs at him, he just sighs. “I tried!”
Still laughing at him, Wendy asks, “Best Childhood Memory?”
His eyes go distant, “It’s maybe not the best, but I remember a day, the last day in fact my mother could spend outside. I was playing in the garden with her, bringing her flowers, most of them weeds, but she didn’t care. She would give me a kiss each time, and I would run off on my little legs and bring her another to get another kiss.” He smiles fondly. “I haven’t thought about that for awhile. Thanks.”
She smiles, her eyes suspiciously bright as she blinks rapidly, and asks, “Best Teen Memory?”
He grins, “Playing football with Stefan. I loved him so much at the time, before he became this way, and it was one of our favorite ways to play.”
“Best Adult Memory?”
“The day I met Bella. She drove me nuts, but it is the best day in the world. Each day gets better, but if I have to pick a day, it would be that one.”
Reading the next one, she asks and answers for him, “Favorite scent, let me guess – Bella?”
He cocks his eyebrow and smirks. “Nothing better in my mind.”
“At some point one of you guys is going to say something else and blow my mind. Seriously. “
He rolls his eyes and asks, “Next?”
She laughs when she gets to the next one, “What is your favorite movie of all time?”
He blinks at her. Then laughs. “Favorite movie of all time. A real one, not the ones I used to get the ‘sorority girl’s as Bella calls them to make?”
She lifts an eyebrow, ‘What do you think?”
He takes a deep breath, his brow furrowed as he thinks through the movies he has seen. Then the smirk comes. “The Thomas Crown Affair. The movie is brilliant.”
She looks at him, and after thinking briefly, responds, “Is that the one where he stole a painting, fell in love with the lady who was sent to find out who did it, and vows to replace it?”
He nods. “And it was brilliant.”
She shakes her head, changing a couple words and then asks, “If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?”
He laughs. “Barbados. I want to take Bella there and be able to do all sorts of naughty things to her in the water, on the beach…“
Laughingly Wendy interrupts him, “This is not rated M, Mr. Salvatore. So.. That is enough on that. The next question is, how do you spend your days?”
He snorts. “In the interest of staying innocent, I fuck the loving shit out of my mate, then deal with the crap we have to deal with to survive, then go back to fucking her. And if you ask about the nights, that is when I make love to her, then fuck her, then make love to her, and repeat until she passes out. Blunt enough?”
Wendy spits out the tea she was drinking through her nose, and then puts her head down. Thankfully Damon had anticipated this reaction and had her mess cleaned up before she did so, laughing as she tells herself, “They voted for him, they voted for him. This will be the last time you have to deal with him like this.”
He chuckles. “Well, my dear, you need to write the other two parts of our story. Then I will be always here since you love to write about me….” And he just laughs as she bangs her head against the desk.
When she calms down, she tells him, “Last of the stock questions. What if your Life… You know what. I can guess. It will have to do with Bella and making love to her. Right? That is your goal in life.”
He starts laughing, leaning back in the chair. “This is fun. We need to do this again.”
She lifts an eyebrow, “You have five more questions to answer so stay right there, Buster.”
She pulls up the questions, then reads off, “Becky wants to know what your favorite memory of Bella is.”
He leans forward, “The real one, or one I will make up to make it clean for the group?”
“CLEAN!”
He sighs. “When she was sitting outside contemplating. The grass, the flowers around her, it just showcased her love for life. That would be my third favorite. The other two being when-“
“Damon!”
Bringing herself under control, she mutters, “Only four more. Rissa wants to know what was it like to not only find your mate, but then to find out exactly who and what she is.”
He leans back thinking, then answers, “It was…still is amazing. I have gone so long thinking my worth was in rescuing Katherine, then having that shattered, it was heartbreaking. Then thinking myself falling in love with Elena, I just accepted it, knowing I was not to win. I have given up. Then this woman breezes into town and throws my life into.. hell I don’t know. Corkscrews doesn’t sum it up. Everything has been turned around and I would never take a second back of my life. Then finding out this awesome, breathtaking woman is mine? There are no words. I thank her and God every second of my life for her.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “That was… deep for how seriously you been taking this.”
He smiles serenely. “It was moving. Truly. Once you meet your mate, there is no going back. Ask any man, and he will answer the same thing. Now next?”
She shakes her head, “Karen wants to know how you’ve changed (personality-wise, emotionally, etc.) between when you were first changed and now.” She snorts.
He laughs, “Not at all. Except I can be myself around Bella and more people. I can let the inner romantic as Bella calls it out. But as you can tell from this interview, not much else has changed.” Then he laughs. “Tell Ashley and Karen that they don’t have to make secret handshakes for the club. I don’t mind. The more the merrier!”
Wendy bangs her head against the desk. “I told them not to say anything until I was done. But no. They couldn’t wait.”
He sits there with his legs crossed as he watches Wendy with laughter in his eyes, glad she is loosening up.
From her spot on the desk she just tell him, “Karen asks the next one too: If he could add a(nother) superpower to his skill set, what would he choose?”
He laughs, “C’mon Wendy – I’m awesome. They know it, too. What else can I add to my skill set as she calls it? I’m already well pleasing my mate, so…” When she moans he chuckles, “No, not when Bella is endlessly coming up with ways to add to our powers. The ways she has thought of using them has blown my mind.”
She sighs. “Last one. Megan ask: How great is it that after so long you finally find love and a family?”
He swallows. “It is amazing. Truly. I know Stefan is here, but he has not looked at me as a brother, no matter how long I have spent cleaning up after him. But to have a family building itself around my Bella, it is amazing. I will kill for any of them, and have.”
Then he straightens up, “Now, we are done here, are we not?” When she nods to him, guardedly, he clasps his hands together and stands up. “Since we are done, it is time to talk, my dear. We need to talk about how you need to take better care of yourself.” He tugs her out of the chair, and throwing an arm around her, he proceeds to talk to her as they walk out of the range of the microphone. “I am thinking you need to work on your stuff, and stuff those that keep asking for story updates … do… ever… Are…”
