I'm quite nervous to be posting this. I used to write fan fiction all the time, but life got busy with college and being a grown up and stuff. I'm also a new Vampire Diaries fan - binge watched it on Netflix - and became a big fan of the Damon/Elena relationship. I had this idea and decided to run with it and see what happens. You may hate it, you may love it, but I'm going to put it out there.

Damon Salvatore is a fast-talking, womanizing sports agent living big in New York City, leaving his small town childhood in Mystic Falls well behind him. He returns to the small town after his father's passing to handle his affairs and meets Elena Gilbert, a confident, intelligent brunette that seems impervious to his charms. Between pursuing the feisty Elena and coming to terms with his past, returning to Mystic Falls may just change his life.

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.

Elena Gilbert blew out a breath of boredom and swirled the champagne around in her flute. She would never understand the concept of the repass, the gathering for a meal after a funeral. It was tradition, she supposed, especially in the South, but the concept of congregating to wine and dine mere minutes after laying a person in their final resting place seemed wrong.

All around her, the residents of Mystic Falls sipped from tumblers and stems of their choice, sampled from the expansive buffet laid out along one wall as they laughed and talked amongst themselves. An hour earlier, the very same people were standing somberly around a rectangular hole dug six feet deep, an elaborate and expensive coffin perched above it as a pastor presided over last farewells. The merriment now was hypocritical, at best. Most of the people gathered at the Lockwood mansion, so graciously offered up by Carol Lockwood for a place to host the repass, were only there for show. Giuseppe Salvatore was a member of a founding family - his repass was a cocktail party in disguise. She took a sip from her glass as she rolled her eyes at her present situation.

"Champagne too dry?" came an unfamiliar voice. Elena turned, her eyes meeting the very blue orbs of someone she had only ever seen from a distance.

Damon Salvatore stood before her, clad in a perfectly tailored, all-black designer suit, the definition of walking sex. Elena wouldn't deny that he was attractive, but she could sniff out his type from a mile away. Devastatingly handsome with more money than sense, he was trouble she didn't need nor want. And if she had to guess, she'd be willing to bet that he was playing the dead daddy card for a sympathy bed.

"I prefer a brut, actually," she told him. "I'd say this is a dry/sec, at best."

"Interesting. I pegged you for a doux."

"Well, you pegged wrong." The corner of one side of Dam`1on's lips quirked upwards in a smirk. She was feisty. He liked that in a conquest. It tended to make the time spent between the sheets a little hotter.

"Little Elena Gilbert from down the street grew up to have a bit of fire inside," he said. "Color me impressed." Elena's eyes flickered to where Damon's brother, Stefan, was greeting the townspeople, looking appropriately somber and as fazed by the death of a parent as one should be.

"Shouldn't you be with your brother, greeting mourners and thanking them for their sympathy?" she asked.

"Been doing that for days," Damon said with a casual shrug. He took a couple of steps around her and helped himself to the open bar. "It was boring on day one, even more boring now. So, when I saw a pretty girl standing over here all by her lonesome, I decided to take a break from playing mourning son and use my best lines to get you into the coat closet I spied in the entry way." Elena had expected him to make a pass. She hadn't expected him to be so blunt. Regardless, she was ending his pursuit before it started.

"As much as I appreciate the compliment, your best lines have failed you." She made to walk away, but Damon, now with a tumbler of bourbon in his hand, stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

"Who said that was my best line?" he asked. Elena emptied her remaining champagne and discarded her empty flute as a waiter with an empty tray passed.

"I'm not that kind of girl," she told him. "But you are that kind of guy. And I'm not interested." She made to move past him again and this time, he allowed her to pass. Even as she joined her friends, she could feel his eyes on her. She made it a point not to give him the satisfaction of looking his way.

"Damon Salvatore is staring at you like you're a piece of meat," Caroline Forbes stated. Happily engaged to Tyler Lockwood, she could still appreciate a man as beautiful as Damon Salvatore.

"I'm a woman," Elena replied. "As far as he's concerned, we are all meat."

"He doesn't seem too upset that his father just died," Bonnie Bennett observed as she nibbled at a crab cake from the small plate she held in her hand.

Elena chanced a glance in his direction and wasn't altogether surprised to see he'd moved on to his next target. He caught her looking and winked at her before turning his attention back to the unsuspecting red head. Elena rolled her eyes once more and turned back to her friends who had already moved the topic of conversation on to the Labor Day celebration Caroline was planning. Elena nodded and smiled and contributed to the conversation as needed, but she let her thoughts drift to what she could remember about Damon Salvatore.

He was six years older than her, a senior in high school when she was in seventh grade. His younger brother, Stefan, had been in her year. She had dated Stefan on and off in high school, had photos from their junior prom tucked away in the attic somewhere. Even then, he'd been known as the good brother, the Salvatore that could be counted on to bring his date home before curfew and mind his morals. It was Damon the parents of young daughters worried about.

Elena had kept her distance from the elder Salvatore growing up, mainly because he was so much older, but also because she knew even as an impressionable middle schooler that he was dangerous. Her vague memories of him featured him in mostly black, leaning against his muscle car, taking drags from a cigarette or else making out with some girl in a dark corner.

He'd left Mystic Falls the same day as graduation. There were all sorts of rumors about his disappearance, each one more ridiculous than the next. But Stefan had filled her in, saying he'd took off almost as soon as they'd arrived home from the graduation ceremony for South Beach where he'd partied through a significant portion of his trust fund. From there, he'd bounced from city to city, showing up in Mystic Fork for the odd holiday, only to leave again almost immediately. Stefan never said much about his older brother, but it was understood amongst their close-knit circle of friends that they were less than close.

While Caroline and Bonnie chattered on about one thing and then another, Elena's gaze fell on Stefan. Their relationship was strictly that of friends these days, but she knew he would make someone, likely Rebekah, the girl he'd been dating for several months and seemed to fall for a little more each day, the perfect husband. He was kind and loving, put others before himself. He'd gone to medical school and was now a second year trauma resident at the University of Virginia Medical Center about 45 minutes outside of Mystical Falls. As for Damon, he was a womanizer with money and worked as a broker or something like that in New York City. The two brothers couldn't be more different.

"Seriously, Elena, I'm jealous," Caroline said, breaking Elena out of her reverie. "Damon has practically undressed you with his eyes and probably done a few other things too."

"Well, that's as close as he'll get," Elena quipped. She checked the time and deemed it appropriate for her to say her farewells. "I'm going to head home, try to get some work done before bed. I'll see you both tomorrow." After exchanging goodbyes, she crossed the room to Stefan.

"Heading out?" he asked.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "I wanted to tell you goodbye before I left. Where is Rebekah?" Stefan nodded towards his girlfriend who was conversing with Carol Lockwood.

"Charming the neighbors," he said. "She fits right in."

"She does," Elena agreed. She gave Stefan a pointed smile. "She fits right in around Mystic Falls too." Stefan chuckled.

"Thanks, Elena," he said. "And thanks for coming."

"Where else would I be?" she countered. She leaned in and gave him a hug.

"Leaving so soon?" came Damon's voice as she pulled away from Stefan. "Or, should I say, leaving without a goodbye?"

"Yes," Elena replied. Damon raised an eyebrow.

"To which of my questions?" he countered.

"Both."

"My dad just died. I think I deserve a hug too."

"Damon," Stefan warned in an undertone. Damon threw a glare at his brother before painting on a smirk and turning back to Elena.

"Thank you for grieving with us," he said, his words laced with sarcasm. Elena scrunched her face in confusion at Damon's clear disinterest in the fact that his father was dead. Stefan just shook his head behind Damon and turned to speak to someone who had approached to offer their sympathies.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry about your father," Elena told him. "I liked Giuseppe."

"That makes one of us," Damon grumbled. He took a swig from the refilled bourbon glass in his hand.

"Bye, Damon," Elena said with a quick shake of her own head. She turned and walked away, feeling his eyes on her once more as she left the building. Only when she'd disappeared through the doors did Damon turn back to Stefan.

"She single?" he asked. "Not that it matters if she's not."

"Leave her alone," Stefan told him in an undertone. "She's a good person."

"And I'm not?" Damon replied.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Stefan asked.

"Nah," Damon said. A leggy blond passed by and gave him a suggestive look. "I'd rather live up to your expectations." With that, he left in pursuit of the blond. Stefan watched him go, blowing out a breath to keep his temper under control. He reminded himself that it was Damon. He'd be gone in a few days. Possibly even by morning.

So? What did you think? I have a number of updates already written out to post over the course of the next several days. I'd love to know what you thought of chapter one!