AN: This fic was written for the DelenaSecretSanta event over on Tumblr, and it is my gift to charmingbass. I thought I could publish it here too so that you could all read it. Consider it my Christmas gift for all of you my wonderful readers and loyal followers! Merry Christmas, I hope you are all having a wonderful time whether you are with your family, your friends, your lovers or by yourselves!
Thank you all sooo much!
On Christmas morning, Elena wakes slowly. It's the sun streaming in from the window and that hits her square in the face that tears her away from Morpheus' arms. She scrunches up her nose and drags the covers up until they cover her head, a disgruntled moan leaving her lips.
She is trying to fall asleep again when she feels an arm snake around her waist and drag her close to the warm body behind her. She emerges from the pile of covers and looks over her shoulder; Damon has his eyes closed but she is pretty sure he is awake and just wants to linger in bed a couple more minutes before they have to leave their warm cocoon to start the day.
Right on cue, he yawns and settles more comfortably with Elena in his arms.
"You forgot to draw the curtains last night," his voice is a deep sleepy growl.
Elena rolls her eyes and grimaces, "It's not exactly my fault. I seem to recall that someone couldn't keep his paws off me for more than a second."
She hears a deep chuckle coming from behind her and a moment later, Damon presses a sloppy kiss to the nape of her neck.
"It was worth it," he tells her.
She can't really deny that he is right. The two of them had decided to exchange their Christmas gifts the night before, knowing that in the morning there would be little to no time for the two of them. Damon had been extremely pleased by her gift and had showed her as much several times.
She feels goose bumps run up her arms just thinking about some of the things they did the night before. The light is really starting to bother her, though.
Damon seems to sense her discomfort so he tightens his arms around her and rolls to the left. Thanks to the fact that he likes to plaster himself against her during the night, there is plenty of space for them to settle down comfortably.
"Better?" he asks her.
Elena wiggles around a bit in his arms, burying her head in the pillow that smells so wonderfully like him and slipping her legs between his. She sighs heavily and smiles with her eyes closed once she is done moving around. Damon takes her pleased sigh as an answer and hugs her tightly; his nose is buried in her hair and his mouth is right against her naked shoulder where he places a sleepy kiss every once in a while.
They stay like that, cuddling in their warm cocoon of covers. They don't move, safe for the kiss Damon presses against her shoulder every couple of minutes, and the light caress of Elena's fingers over the arm he has wrapped around her.
Mornings like this are rare now that the two of them are humans and need to wake up to go to work. Damon has adapted extraordinarily well to his new humanity, though she suspects it has something to do with the fact that after sixty years of waiting, he has been simply overjoyed at the chance of finally living his life with her.
Elena pushes away the sad memories of learning about Bonnie's death; she still mourns her friend, but she doesn't want to tarnish this Christmas with sad thoughts. Bonnie wouldn't want that from her.
"They're taking their sweet time today," come Damon's muffled words. "Last year they were here at the crack of dawn."
She huffs a laugh, "You shouldn't have said that. Those are the so-called 'famous last words'."
Not a second later, the sound of little feet running down the hallway outside their bedroom can be heard.
"I told you," Elena singsongs with a smile stretching her lips.
She opens her eyes and looks at the door, waiting for it to open. She can feel Damon's lips form a face-splitting smile against her shoulder and she feels blessed; it's the kind of happiness that is building up inside of her in that moment, that makes her so grateful for the life the two of them have built.
The door bursts open and a black-haired tornado runs into the room, leaping onto their bed and crawling over their bodies until he reaches them.
"Mom, Dad, wake up!" the little boy screams in excitement. "Santa came last night!"
"We're up, we're up!" Elena laughs watching her son jump up and down on Damon's back while her husband keeps pretending to be asleep.
The little boy who looks so much like his father jumps off the bed when Damon tries to grab him. When the man leans on his elbow to look at him through narrowed eyes, he sticks his tongue out and runs out of the room nearly sending the five-year-old girl – who just managed to catch up to her big brother – sprawling to the floor.
"Daniel, watch where you're going!" Elena tells him while getting out of bed and putting on a robe. She throws Damon his pants before turning toward her daughter.
"Good morning, sweetie," she coos at her little girl, picking her up and hugging her close.
"Danny is too fast, Mama," says the little girl, holding on tight to her teddy bear.
"I know, sweetie; but remember what I told you? Slow and steady wins the race. Now, what do you say we go downstairs and see what Santa brought?"
Her daughter nods and Elena puts her down, knowing that Amelia wouldn't go anywhere if she didn't get her morning hug from her father. As predicted, the little girl runs toward the bed where Damon is already waiting for his daughter with his arms open. Amelia climbs on top of the bed and right into his arms.
"Daddy!"
"Come here, little princess," Damon sweeps her up and rubs his face against her neck.
Amelia laughs and tries to push him away with her little hands, "Your face is scratchy, Daddy."
Elena can't help but laugh at the two of them; even though what she sees is a scene that takes place every morning, she still treasures the sight of her husband and daughter going through their morning ritual. Next, comes her favorite part.
"Daddy, I want my butterfly kisses," Amelia demands of her father throwing her arms around his neck.
"As the princess wishes."
Damon leans close to his daughter's cheek and flutters his eyelashes against it chuckling when he feels Amelia doing the same to him. When he leans back, the little girl sticks her teddy bear right under his nose.
"Mr. Teddy wants butterfly kisses too," she tells him.
While Damon does as his daughter commands, Elena goes downstairs to make sure Daniel hasn't already opened all the presents without waiting for his sister.
When she enters the living room, she finds her son bouncing up and down by the Christmas tree looking anxiously at the stairs. When he sees her coming in, he runs to her.
"Can I open the presents now?" he asks.
"Wait for your sister, Daniel," she gently reminds him.
"But she won't come down," he whines, looking at the mountain of gifts waiting for him.
"Why don't we eat breakfast then, while we wait?"
With a little more cajoling, she manages to steer her son toward the kitchen where she sets a bowl of milk and cereal in front of him, while she starts the coffee. A minute later, Damon enters the kitchen and sits Amelia down next to her brother to eat her breakfast before opening the gifts. The two adults need to keep telling their children – Daniel's excitement pervading Amelia too now – to eat slowly lest they risk choking on their breakfast.
As soon as the two bowls are empty, the sound of two spoons hitting the wooden table can be heard followed closely by that of two chairs scraping against the floor. A moment later, the two children start tearing through their gifts and their screams of joy fill the living room as they reveal their long awaited presents.
Elena watches her children tearing through their gifts, Christmas wrappings flying everywhere. Daniel open his gifts as fast as he can, a delightful grin stretching his lips as he peals away the wrappings and finds his new videogames and the goalkeeper's gloves he kept asking Damon to buy him.
Amelia opens her presents carefully, little fingers undoing knots and neatly parting the wrappings to reveal the Disney Princess doll she loved the most; Belle. Even though animated movies are considered ancient by today's standards, Elena has made it point to watch every single one of them with her children. Amelia loves watching how the Princess falls in love with her Prince Charming, and Belle – the Princess who likes to read – is the coolest one in her eyes.
She delicately sets the doll down and moves to the next gift, starting the process all over again. Elena can't help but feel her heart swell in her chest watching her, because she sees Damon's attention for detail and slight OCD tendencies in the way her daughter moves. In a similar manner, she definitely recognizes her excitement for tearing away Christmas wrappings in the way Daniel opens gift after gift in record time.
She leans back into her husband's chest when his arms wrap around her waist from behind. He settles his chin on top of her shoulder, his cheek pressed right against hers, and watches the kids with an affectionate light in his eyes.
"Daniel is going to run out of presents soon," he tells her.
"Amelia is not going to finish before noon," she chuckles.
His chuckle is a low rumble that spreads throughout their bodies. They watch as Amelia runs toward them with a small box held attentively in her hands.
"Mama! This has your name on it!" the little girl gives the box to her mother.
Elena starts opening it while throwing a look at her husband, "I wonder what Santa got me."
Damon smiles at her without moving his chin from her shoulder. She gasps when she reveals the heart-shaped pendant inside the box and when Damon opens it up for her, she feels her eyes fill with tears; inside, there is a photo of Damon and their children smiling at the camera. It's the most simple picture ever, yet it's also the most beautiful one.
She kisses her husband trying to convey all the love she feels for him in that simple gesture. Damon responds eagerly, slipping a hand beneath her robe to palm her backside in a move that simply screams 'Damon'. Elena is glad that Damon's greedy lips swallow her squeak.
While Daniel grimaces at the display of affection, Amelia looks at her parents with a beaming smile.
"Daddy, come see my doll!"
She grabs her dad's hand and leads him closer to the tree where she makes him sit down, crawling in his lap. Elena looks at them with a knowing smile. She has lost count of the number of times she has walked in on Damon sitting down in their daughter's room while he plays with Amelia. She knows her Little Star has her father wrapped around her little finger.
While both their children have Damon's dark hair and pale complexion, only Daniel has those crystal-clear blue eyes that Elena knows will make girls fall in love with him. Amelia, much to Elena's delight, has inherited her brown doe eyes. Her little girl has been quick to realize how much power those eyes have over Damon, and has proceeded to use them to her advantage every time she wants her dad to do something for her.
Damon pretends to be annoyed by Amelia's secret power, but Elena knows he loves the fact that his little princess has those same eyes he has fallen in love with.
Amelia proceeds to show him her doll and she is already telling him how they're going to have lots of tea-parties all together when Daniel hands a gift to his father.
"It's for you," he tells him.
Damon opens it with the same precision displayed by his daughter and beams when he sees the photo-album inside. Together with his favorite pictures of Elena and the children, there are all the drawings and letters both Daniel and Amelia ever wrote him while spending time with him at the bar in the afternoon.
He had thought those pictures had been lost and he is glad that, instead, they have been carefully collected to create the most beautiful gift he has ever received.
"You like it?"
Elena sits down beside him and he pulls her close to his side. Daniel, noticing the group hug, is quick to join his family, his presents now forgotten. Damon looks at his little family wrapped in his arms and kisses each of their foreheads before looking at Elena.
"I love it just as much as I love all of you."