Hello Everyone. This is just a little story I thought of. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Elena felt the soft breeze of the August wind blowing her hair against her face. Her plane had just landed in her hometown of Mystic Falls, Virginia where she was determined to rebuild her life. Moving to New York was a challenging experience that left her emotionally wrecked and confused. She was all alone in the big city and as beautiful and great as it all seemed, she found herself running in the opposite direction. There was too much heartbreak and pain associated with living there, and no matter what she did, it only increased exponentially until it became unbearable. Her life's purpose was being redefined right before her eyes, and she knew the only way to cope was to go home to the people who loved her most, and start over. Even knowing that her family and friends would be there couldn't ease her mind or her conscience with the magnitude of the secret she was keeping. This life altering secret would come out sooner or later, and she figured it'd be best to come out with it, because there's really no way she'd be able to hide it forever. She wanted to relieve herself of this burden as it was almost suffocating her, but she'd have to wait for the right time.

She couldn't believe the mess that was now her life. Less than six months ago, she was in a committed relationship with the man she was sure she would marry; she was promoted to head chef at one of New York's finest restaurants and for the first time her life seemed to make sense. Everything was falling right into place and her life was just as she imagined it would be at twenty-five.

What she didn't expect was to find her boyfriend of three years in bed with one of the kitchen assistants from her restaurant. Her relationship with Matt was riddled with trust issues from the very beginning, but after dating on and off for a few years, they agreed to put his past indiscretions behind them and decided moving forward would be for the best. For a while they seemed like the picture of bliss, and Elena couldn't be more grateful for a new beginning. Matt had even hinted that he wanted to take things to the next level, which left her in a constant state of anticipation and excitement. Her mind was filled with images of her and Matt walking down the aisle and cutting a six tier wedding cake. She could almost see herself in that elegant white dress that she often stopped to gaze at whenever she walked by the bridal shop down the street from the restaurant.

Instead she found herself back home in Mystic Falls, Virginia, her life even more complicated than before. Mystic Falls held some of Elena's most unpleasant memories; it was the place where she had almost lost everyone who was important to her. She had lost both her parents, her aunt Jenna and she even came close to losing her brother Jeremy on multiple occasions. Despite it being her home, she spent most of her life thinking the place was cursed or something equally ridiculous. The fact that she decided that moving back there was better than staying in New York spoke volumes about just how urgent it was for her to leave the big apple.

"Elena!"

Elena looked passed the crowd to see her best friends Bonnie and Caroline rushing toward her with open arms. The three of them had been best friends since the first grade and were inseparable all through-out grade school. Even as Elena moved to New York they always kept in contact and visited her more than her own brother.

"I can't believe you're here!" Caroline squealed pulling her into a suffocating hug. The perky blond held on tight until Elena was literally gasping for air.

Once she was released from Caroline's embrace, Bonnie took the opportunity to welcome her friend, hugging her gently. "It's nice to finally have you back Lena."

"It's nice to be back. I never thought I'd say this but I actually missed this place."

"Mrs. Salvatore, we just need you to fill out these forms before we can proceed." Dr. Bradley explained.

Anetta Salvatore stood grief-stricken beside her sons as she looked down at her husband's nearly life-less body.

In a few hours her husband, the love of her life, Giuseppe Salvatore would be taken off his life support and this was to be her final goodbye. For three years her husband fought and lost the battle with cancer. He had spent the most of his remaining days in the hospital being subjected to countless rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Despite everything the doctors tried the cancer only became more aggressive.

"The papers can wait!" Damon snapped. "Can we have a little privacy? Is that too much to ask?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Salvatore, I'll be outside if you have any questions." With that the doctor quietly stepped out shutting the door behind him.

Damon watched in silence as his younger brother and mother wept at his father's bedside. He told himself that he was keeping it together for them, but he wasn't sure if that was actually true. To say he and his father had a strained relationship would be the understatement of the century. There were times where he felt nothing but pure hatred for the man, but he could never forget the love he and his father shared when he was a much younger boy, before Stefan was born and before Giuseppe's law firm became the most important thing in his life, before his family took a back seat.

Damon both admired and hated his mother's ability to forgive and love his father in spite of everything, he couldn't decide if it made her strong or fool for sticking beside a man who didn't seem to value or appreciate her for the loving soul that she was. His father was not an easy man to love. He was stubborn, arrogant and hot tempered. It was a known fact that his father had many mistresses, and didn't even put much effort into hiding the fact. In the face of it all his mother remained faithful and true, forgiving Giuseppe's every indiscretion and loving him in spite of it all. His father's treatment of his mother caused Damon to hold a lot of resentment toward his Giuseppe, not to mention work always came first, before love, before family and before anything else. However this didn't keep Giuseppe from expressing utter disappointment and disapproval about everything regarding his son's lives and decisions.

Damon would never forget how many times he had to console his younger brother whenever his father missed another birthday party or school function. "Don't cry Stef. I'm sure dad would be here if he could." He must have repeated those same words to his younger brother a million times when they were growing up, but it wasn't long before both Salvatore brothers realized that they held very little meaning or truth for that matter.

Anetta Salvatore pressed one last kiss to her husband's forehead before reluctantly being escorted out by her younger son, leaving Damon alone to say his last goodbyes.

"Well I guess this is it." Damon started, standing awkwardly beside his father's bedside. He and his Giuseppe hardly ever spoke to each other, they engaged in plenty yelling matches but speaking was something they never did. Damon found it quite sad that his father had to be pretty much dead before he could feel comfortable being open and honest with him.

"Look I know mom expects me to stand here and tell you how much I love you, and how much I'm going to miss you when you're gone. But the fact of the matter is, you've done so much to tear this family apart and frankly I'm almost one hundred percent sure mom will be better off without you. At least now when she doesn't receive a birthday present or an anniversary gift it'll be because you're dead, not because you couldn't care enough to remember. If Stefan and I are ever lucky enough to get married or have any children we'll take solace in knowing that the reason you're not around is because you're dead not because you couldn't care enough about your own children to be there for anything that matters to them! "

Damon felt his resolve fading and soon the tears began to burn the back of his eyes. He had tried to prepare himself for this moment ever since the doctors told them that their father would never wake up. He convinced himself that he could do it, that he was detached enough from his father and none of it would mean anything to him. He never imagined that despite everything his dad had done to hurt them, it'd still be so hard to say good bye.

"Why did you abandon us, dad?" He asked in an almost childlike voice. "Didn't you care even a little about the two people you brought into this world? Why weren't we enough for you?" By then the tears fell freely from his eyes and his voice broke with every word; the anger in his voice quickly being replaced by twenty-seven years worth of hurt and pain.

"You know a lot of people say we have similar personalities, you and I. While that may be true, it doesn't make us the same person, no not at all. God knows I'm furthest thing from a saint but I couldn't imagine treating any child of mine the way you treated us. If I am ever lucky enough to have any children, I'll spoil them with so much love and attention that they'll never know what it feels like to have a father like you!" He spat out, his tone laced with anger and resentment.

Damon quietly examined his dad's lifeless body; there was a giant plastic tube protruding from his father's mouth, and a million other tubes and wires that were sustaining his father's life. He felt a strong tug at his chest at the image of his father Giuseppe Salvatore, one of the most successful and powerful attorney's in the country, lying helplessly completely dependent on a machine to breathe. Damon took a long hard look at his father, before uttering his final words.

"You know what sucks most about this dad? After everything you've done and all that you failed to do, I can't even bring myself to stop caring about you. God, it would make everything so much easier, if I could just stop caring about you just like you stopped caring about us. But I can't, which is why I'm here crying like I'm five years old again. Crying because I still love you dad and I always will even if you never loved me enough."

He moved closer to his father's beside and gently squeezed the older man's hand. "Good bye, Dad."

"You're room is upstairs first door to your left, mine is right across from it. Bathroom is down the hall, the Kitchen is down stairs, and this is the living area. I'm so happy you agreed to stay with me, it'll be just like old times!" Bonnie exclaimed excitedly, causing Elena to flinch at the high pitch sound of her voice.

"Thanks Bonnie, this is such a lovely place you have here." Elena commented, Bonnie's apartment was much nicer than what she was accustomed to back in New York. It was spacious and beautifully decorated. The walls were off white with gold accents, paintings of dark orange, brown and red hung from the walls giving place a very warm and inviting feel.

"Hurry up and get unpacked we need to catch up!" Bonnie was so happy to have her best friend back and refused to let Elena rent out an apartment when she had two empty rooms in her apartment. She and Caroline missed their friend so much they fought over who Elena would stay with. In the end Bonnie won because she lived alone and Caroline's shared her apartment with her boyfriend and another child hood friend of Elena's Tyler Lockwood.

By the time Elena was unpacked and went downstairs Bonnie was in the middle of an urgent phone call from what Elena guessed was the law firm where she worked. She heard Bonnie gasp in disbelief about whatever she was being told on the other line. She heard her utter condolences to someone and hung up.

"That was my boss's son, he died earlier today and he just wanted to let me know that he'll be coming over to pick up some documents." Bonnie explained. Elena remembered Bonnie's constant complaints about how unreasonable and arrogant her boss was, but the look on her friends face told her that despite hating the man's guts Bonnie was really devastated that the old man had past on.

"I'm sorry to hear that" Elena offered giving Bonnie's shoulder a small squeeze. "What's going to happen to the firm now that he's gone?" Elena inquired immediately worrying about her friend's job security.

"I don't know, he has two sons who also practice law, maybe someone will take over." Bonnie replied. "One of them will be here in a moment, try not to mention it okay, he and I are pretty close, he's doesn't really like sympathy or pity." Bonnie worked with Damon a few times whenever Giuseppe would send her out to New York to work on several cases. Damon's firm in New York had many helpful resources that weren't available to her in Mystic Falls.

"Don't worry I won't say anything." Elena said reassuringly.

She could recognize those cerulean eyes from anywhere. They plagued her every thought and haunted her subconscious. Now those same eyes accompanied by the remaining flawless features were staring her right in the face. She stood there trying to convince herself that he wasn't real, that he was just a figment of her imagination, a hallucination, whatever would help her believe that Damon Salvatore was not sitting in Bonnie's living room a mere two feet away from her.

Much to her confusion and disbelief he didn't even appear to recognize her at all. There she stood before the man who waltzed into her life and turned it inside out and he didn't have the slightest clue who she was.

Damon slowly reached out his hand and brought hers to his lips, pressing a gently kiss on the back of her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Elena," he replied in a sultry tone. There was that smile again, the one that had her falling into his bed just months prior, the smile that could light up the whole city of Mystic falls and literally sent tingles down her spine. She hated that it still had the same effect on her despite now learning that she was clearly just another faceless girl who just happened to fall into his bed.

"It's nice… to meet…you too," Elena stuttered, failing to hide the apprehension in her tone. She noticed Bonnie questioning glance and quickly averted her eyes as to not give herself away completely.

"I forgot to mention Damon's from New York too; he's here in Mystic Falls indefinitely dealing with some personal matters. Actually I'm surprised you two haven't met, Damon's law firm is merely a few blocks from your old restaurant." Bonnie added, doing her best to shake off the bad feeling in her gut. Something was wrong and she'd known Elena long enough to know that her friend was no blubbering idiot who's intimidated by a gorgeous man.

"No, it seems that Damon and I didn't run in the same circles." Elena quickly replied, praying that this conversation would come to end. He didn't recognize her and the last thing she wanted was to afford him some epic moment of clarity. She had to figure this out on her own first before making any rash decisions that could have lasting consequences.

"Strange, you look oddly familiar, but I can't imagine I would ever forget a lovely face such as yours," Damon provided, giving her another one of his charming smiles. She could feel his eyes scanning every inch of her body, and she fought the urge to run out of the room.

"Cool it Salvatore," Bonnie shoved him playfully. "Elena is my best friend; she's not one of your little conquests okay? There are plenty women on the founders council who are just waiting to drop their panties at your command."

"Bonnie I'm hurt, after all we've been through is that really all you think of me?" Damon asked pretending to be offended.

"Pretty much," Bonnie replied matter of factly. "Would you like something to eat, or would you just prefer to sit here and make Elena uncomfortable?" She questioned, glancing over to where her best-friend stood with her arms wrapped around her abdomen. Bonnie was even more convinced that something was wrong now, it's was almost as if Elena was having some kind of allergic reaction to Damon being in her living room.

"Actually, I'm going to head out. I have a meeting with the funeral director in a few minutes, and I'd rather not keep her waiting," he responded suggestively. "It was nice seeing you Bonnie, and Elena it was definitely a pleasure to meeting you," he added giving her one last long look, almost as if he were struggling to put the pieces together in his head.

Elena felt her breath hitch in her throat as she waited for him to finish assessing her features. God, does he know? He can't possibly remember, can he?

Soon her suffering was brought to an end, when Damon shook her hand, squeezed Bonnie into a tight hug and made his way out the living room door.

"Want to tell me what that was all about?" Bonnie asked not even seconds after the door closed.

"What do you mean?" Elena replied doing her best to avoid any eye contact. She was always a terrible liar, especially when it came to those closest to her. No matter what she said, her eyes and her expression told different story, making it damn near impossible to tell a single lie. She hated that she wore her emotions so blatantly on her face.

"Really, Elena? We're keeping secrets now?" Bonnie was doing her best to guilt her friend into spilling whatever was bothering her. "Is it Damon? Look I know he seems like a complete tool, but trust me there's much more to him than that, but if he makes you uncomfortable—"

"No Bonnie, it's not him… I mean it's not what you think." Elena interrupted, taking a deep breath. She had just come to the realization that she had screwed up royally and now she would have the luxury of telling her best friend, how irresponsible and stupid she was to get herself in that situation in the first place. Before she knew it, the tears were spilling down her cheeks and her hands were trembling uncontrollably, tiny sobs escaped her lips as she did her best to get a handle on her emotions.

"Elena you're scaring me, what is it?" Bonnie persisted, rubbing small circles into her back, and tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I'm here for you." Bonnie reassured enveloping her into a tight hug.

Elena felt herself starting to relax at the soothing gesture. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to open up to her friend about everything that's been troubling her for the past few weeks, but admitting it to Bonnie would make everything real. For the last few weeks, she'd been content with pretending that her life was not completely falling apart, and for the most part she had managed to fool everyone around her. If she admitted this to Bonnie, she would no longer be able to pretend and she'd be forced to own up to her mistakes and deal with the consequences.

"Remember a weeks ago when you called, me and I hadn't been feeling well for a few days?" Elena asked when she finally managed to get her emotions together.

"Yeah, oh goodness Lena is everything okay? Are you sick? What's going on, you're scaring me!" Bonnie reacted hysterically as she ran all the worst case scenarios in her head.

"No, Bonnie I'm fine, I'm not sick…" Elena reassured her, placing her hand over Bonnie's.

"Then what is it, Elena?" Bonnie asked impatiently.

"I'm pregnant." Elena blurted, feeling a heavy weight instantly lift off her shoulders.

"Pregnant? How is that even possible Lena, you never told me that you were seeing anyone. Did you and Matt get back together?" Bonnie knew her friend well, and Elena didn't do one night stands or casual sex. She often teased her best friend about her need to be in a committed relationship before indulging in any sexual activities, and as far as she'd known the only person Elena's ever been with was Matt Donovan, who she had met in culinary school a few years ago. They'd been dating on and off for a few years until a couple months ago, when she got a call from a heartbroken Elena who had informed her that she and Matt were done for good this time.

"It's not Matt's, Bonnie." Elena replied nervously. Telling Bonnie about the pregnancy was the easy part, the hard would be telling her that the father of her child just walked out the door less than half an hour ago. Still Elena couldn't even force the words to come out of her mouth.

"If it's not Matt's, then whose is it? Do I know him?" Bonnie was having a hard time making sense of everything her friend was telling her. None of it was making sense to her, she'd known Elena for as long as she could remember, and they told each other everything. They made a pact to never keep any secrets and she couldn't help but feel a little betrayed that her friend had been seeing someone and never bothered to mention it to her.

"I wasn't aware that you did, not until a few moments ago anyway." Elena replied still unable to muster enough courage to just come out and say it. However she was sure that hint was big enough for Bonnie to come to the correct conclusion, as she was still not able to utter those words out loud.

Bonnie's expression was indicative that she had indeed put two and two together, and bulging of her eyes almost scared Elena off. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction to anticipate, but at that point she preferred anything but the wide eyed stare that she was receiving from her friend.

"You…mean…you mean D...Da…Damon?" Bonnie stammered, unable to form a coherent thought. She couldn't believe what she was hearing; she couldn't even make sense of any of it. She just watched the two of them interact and she didn't get the impression that they had ever even met before.

Elena gave her a subtle nod, confirming her suspicions. She continued to wait for the hysterical reaction she'd come to expect from Bonnie, but instead her friend appeared speechless.

After taking a few moments to process the information, Bonnie finally spoke up breaking the silence between them. "I don't understand, are you sure? He doesn't even seem to know who you are, how are you having his baby?"

"It was the night, after Matt and I broke up, I went to the bar right down the street from the restaurant and that's where I met him. We had a few drinks, we talked and things just spiraled out of control from there. It was just one night…One night Bonnie… I was out of his apartment before the sun could rise."

"You mean you slept with him?" Bonnie inquired, refusing to leave out the most important fact.

"Yes." Elena admitted

"And you haven't told him about the pregnancy?"Now that Bonnie could think clearly, the questions seemed never ending.

"I tried, Bonnie. I've been trying to get a hold of him ever since the moment I found out. I must have called a million times, and left over a thousand messages. I even paid him a visit once but some woman by the name of Katherine informed me that he was aware of the situation and he wanted no part of it." Elena felt the tears stinging her eyes again, and soon they were spilling down her face again.

"She said I wasn't the first girl to try and trap him with some bogus pregnancy, and if I knew what was best for me I'd forget about him and find the real father of my child."

"I'm so sorry Lena," Bonnie replied pulling the slim brunette close to her and into her arms. "It's okay Elena, I'm here everything's going to be okay." Bonnie reassured.

"No it's not, Bonnie what am I going to do?" The whole reason I decided to move back home and open my restaurant here is so that I could get away from it all and now it seems all my problems keep following me everywhere I go." Elena let out between sobs. She couldn't believe her luck, the one time she slipped up and the results were disastrous, she ends up pregnant by a man who probably couldn't tell her apart from any of the tramps he usually slept with.

"That's the problem right there, Elena. You're running away when you should be trying to deal with this situation head on. You need to tell him Elena, he needs to know." Bonnie informed, as she continued to rub Elena's back affectionately.

"I can't Bonnie, you saw him… He doesn't even remember who I am." Elena sobbed at this realization. She was having a baby with a man who didn't even remember who she was, much less that he slept with her. How would he ever believe her? Of course he won't believe you idiot! He'll demand DNA tests and ridicule you for even suggesting such a thing.

"You can't let that stop you, Elena. This baby is his, he has a right to know that, and you can't just keep it from him because you're afraid of what he'll think." Bonnie added going into full lecture mode.

"It's easy for you to say because you're not in my position, I told you I tried to get in contact with him in New York and his girlfriend or wife didn't have any nice words for me." Elena bit back defensively. She hated that Bonnie was right, but she wanted to deny it as long as she could because it was easier that way. It was easier to keep it from him instead of coming clean and facing the possibility of Damon rejecting both her and her unborn child.

"Look Elena, I never said it would be easy, but you know it's the right thing to do. You have to tell him. He has to hear it from your mouth, he has the right, and I know you can make the right decision."

Bonnie reached over and pulled her friend into a tight hug. Almost immediately Elena began sobbing uncontrollably, as her friend rocked her back and forth.

"I don't know if I can do this Bonnie." She admitted after her sobs subsided.

"Yes you can because I'm going to be right here for you."

Feel free to leave reviews. I would love to know what you think. :)