Damon stared up at his ceiling, the sweat on his face making him feel sticky and his black shirt clinging to his body like a second skin. He groaned and curled into himself before the pain subsided and he fell back against his pillow. Elena stared at her fiancé in tears. He was dying and she had no way of helping him. The pain he was going through killed her and all she wished to do was take it away. The werewolf bite stared at her as if to say;

"Karma's a bitch."

Damon's eye trailed along the ceiling before he dropped his gaze to Elena. She sat at the end of his bed with her hand gently rubbing his calf. He could hear her heart beat as it pumped blood throughout her body, the slow and rhythmic sound lulling him to sleep. His fingers clenched and he hissed through his teeth as another wave of pain hit him.

"Well, I can say that I see labor in a new light." Damon choked out causing Elena to give him a small smile. "But I bet I'm not as beautiful as you were." He forced a smile and winked. His breath hitched and he let out a deep scream, the pain worsening then easing up over time.

"Leave it to you to find time to joke." Elena muttered crawling up the silk sheets and curling into Damon's side. He wrapped his good arm around her and sighed into her hair.

"It's what I do best." He whispered before placing a kiss on the top of her head. He turned his head to the door when he heard the sound of soft footsteps. He tried to smile at the young boy who now stood in his doorway. "Vince. Hey buddy." He croaked out. Elena lifted her head and motioned the boy forward.

"Wanna lay with us?" Elena asked sweetly. Vince nodded and walked to the side of the bed, stopping at the edge near Damon's left side.

"Daddy, I drew you something." Vince held a piece of paper out for him. "Uncle Jeremy helped though. I colored it."

Damon grasped at the paper but dropped it when the pain rushed back at his movements. Vince winced and bent to pick it up. He held it out to Elena and gave Damon a small smile.

"Sorry." Damon mumbled to Vince. He winced and shifted. His face now toward the picture Elena held out for him to see. He smiled tiredly and turned his head to Vince. "That's great Vinny. I love it, Thank you."

Vince nodded and smiled at his father, his eye traced his face and he frowned. "Does it hurt?" He asked reaching out for Damon's infected arm, His small cool fingers tracing the dark mangled skin. Damon sighed and looked into his son's blue eyes.

"Not so much now, that feels good Vince." Damon said smiling at the young boy as his eyes filled with accomplishment. Vince crawled up the tall bed and sat against his fathers side. "How was school?"

"I hate Grandpa Ric." Vince grumbled giggling when Elena snorted. Damon chuckled causing him to end up coughing.

"Why's that?" Damon whispered after clearing his throat.

"He didn't pack me a peanut butter and banana sandwich. You always pack those for me." Vince said looking at his fingers. "And, I wasn't very nice to my teacher. She wouldn't let me call you at lunch. I yelled at her." Elena smiled seeing Vince talk to Damon as if nothing was wrong, although she could tell he knew there wasn't much fight left in Damon.

"I'll be sure to tell Grandpa to pack you one next time." Elena said before Vince look at her, He frowned.

"It wouldn't be the same mommy." He mumbled leaning down to curl into a ball against Damon's side.

Damon's eyes followed his movements and he smiled. Vince's eye matched his and he could tell that when he was gone Elena would still have a little part of him. He winced pushing the thought to the back of his mind. He couldn't think like that. He closed his eyes and listened to Vince's heartbeat. The soft, almost nonexistent sound, much like his own. He could smell Vince; the smell didn't make him thirsty it almost felt as if it made him feel calm, relaxed, pain free. The thought of leaving his small family not only caused him more pay it caused him to think irrationally. What if Katharine couldn't find the cure? What if Vince turned out like him. His eyes snapped open and it was dark in his room. Elena was asleep next to him, Vince nowhere to be seen. He glanced at the small alarm clock across from his bed on his mahogany dresser and winced.

2:37 AM

Almost 10 hours had passed since he had been awake and talking to Vince. He flinched and turned away from Elena, her sent causing him to growl.

"Baby?" Elena asked looking over his shoulder.

"Elena. Out…now…please." Elena nodded knowing exactly the reason for her needed departure. She hurried out of the room and into the hallway. Shutting the door and leaning against it, she stared at the adjacent wall in tears. Damon was on the edge and she had yet to even tell him goodbye.

Goodbye…One simple word was going to cause her life to go spiraling down. Timid steps advanced on her as she slowly turned her head. Vince stood in the hall way in his dad's shirt, the dark green material engulfing his small slender body. His hair slightly messed and only one of his socks still remaining on his feet.

"Mommy…Is daddy gone?" Vince asked rushing to his mother's side as she slid down the door.

"No buddy. Just in a lot of pain. He didn't want me to see this part." Elena said reaching for her son. He crawled into her lap and cuddled into her chest. His tears dripping onto her collarbone. She placed her hand on the side of his head and put her chin on the top, her thumb gently rubbing small circles on he forehead. "He's sad he can't come today." She told Vince.

"It's okay that he's not. I'm not that good anyway." He replied lifting his head to look her in the eye.

"That's a lie! You are too good. Who ever said you weren't is a loser." Vince giggled and hugged his mother around the neck.

"Can I go talk to him?" Vine whispered in her ear as they sat in the dark hallway.

"Yeah, be quiet though okay?" Vince nodded and stood, walking back to his room.

"Where are you going buddy?" Elena asked following him. Vince walked into his room and jumped to turn on his light. He missed the first time so he tried again, only to miss again. Elena chuckled and flicked on the light.

"Getting my coloring stuff, Daddy always colors with me when I'm sick. Maybe it will make him feel better." He answered walking around his room gathering his things. He placed them all in his superman book bag and walked out the door. His stride told Elena he was trying to seem fine, but she could tell by the look in his eye's he was hurting just as much as she was. He walked to his father's door and turned the knob with both hands his turned to his mother as she attempted to walk in as well. "No, I wanna do it myself."

Elena smiled and nodded before walking back out. Vince turned and looked at his father's still form on the large bed. He inhaled deeply and blew the breath out making motor boat sound as he exhaled causing Damon to turn his head, His eyes still slightly dark.

"Hi daddy." Vince said smiling. "I brought my markers. Wanna color with me?" Vince ran at the bed and jumped up sitting next to Damon and pulling his coloring book and pad of paper out of bag, his makers falling out in the process. "You want the book or paper?"

Damon smiled, "I don't think I can, but you can. I'll watch and talk to you. Now, why are you up this late early?" Vince nodded and then flushed. His eyes filled with tears and he looked down at his coloring book, the happy looking dog not helping in the slightest.

"I heard you and mommy talking." He lied not looking at his dad. Damon smirked and poked his done with the marker.

"Bud, you lie like your mother. What's up?" Damon smiled when Vince looked up at him with an amused gleam in his eyes.

Vince shifted and licked his lips, "I never went to sleep." He looked at his dad and then sighed, tears starting to run down his face. "Daddy, I love you. I don't want you to go, Uncle Jeremy said you would never leave mommy and me but I know when Uncle Stefan comes home that something is really wrong."

Damon looked at his son with his own tears in his eyes and he smiled. He reached for his son and Vince willingly crawled into his father's lap. They sat there for a while before Damon spoke.

"I would never leave you two, not without a fight. But Vince…I don't think I have much fight left in me. I don't have much time before I go so I want to tell you something." Damon said turning his son around so he could look into his eyes, "I love you and your mom so much. I know you will have a lot of people to take care of you, but I'm a selfish person. I want to be the one to take care of you; I want to make you Peanut butter and Banana sandwiches. Not Ric or Jeremy, Me! I swear that if I could I would stay. Holding on to you is all I have left. I finally got what I had been searching for since 1864. Vince, you are the most precious thing that has ever been given to me and I want to you to promise me that no matter what happens in your life, never leave your mother. Never lose your head, don't turn out like me."

Damon took a painful breath and pulled of his ring. Vince protested but Damon smiled at him. "Vince, I want you to have this. It's all I can really give you right now but if you ask Stefan, he can give you more. He saves everything, and I mean EVERYTHING." Damon said smiling at Vince, who laughed in return.

"If you ever need someone to talk to go to Stefan, okay? He knows a lot more about life." Damon stated looking out the window at the moon. He winced in pain and started coughing severely. Vince crawled off the bed and stood next to his father as he laid down. Damon turned his head to his son and smiled.

"Daddy?" Vince asked staring at his father. His eyes filling with tears before he wiped them away with his shoulder.

"Yeah bub?" Damon asked staring back at him with a dazed expression.

"It's okay to let go. Mommy and Me will be okay…" Damon's face twitches and he fought back tears as his son spoke again. "I promise."