Author's note: First up, let's chat about this particular story. It's my version of where I perceive canon events heading….and that's not always a pretty place. Y'all are going to have to trust me a little more than I typically ask you to because this isn't anyone's version of a typical DE story.
That being said, it is a DE story. At least it is in a way. Can't say more than that – because…spoilers.
I'm not sure how long this will be or exactly how many posts per week I'll manage. I'm kind of at a tough place in my professional writing right now, and it affects my flow. Writing fanfic tends to get me out of a rut, so y'all are lucky (I think).
Warnings: Mature
Alcohol use, Stefan, Caroline, mild adult content, violence, more than my typical amount of angst
The fluorescent lights overhead were dimmed from their almost-blinding daytime intensity to the middle-of-the-night quasi-darkness Damon had come to expect over the past few years. Somehow, time seemed almost inconsequential when waiting for news in a hospital hallway. Maybe that's why clocks were so few and far between, hidden in nooks and crannies the staff knew to check but no one else would notice. Most of the time, visitors didn't seem to want the reminder that precious seconds were slipping away. All too often it seemed those seconds were the very ones that separated a family from wholeness to being forever apart.
One second meant the difference from Elena, Jeremy and Jenna being a family to Elena and Jeremy being alone once again.
One second separated Caroline from her mother.
One second made the difference between the life Elena deserved and the life she had now.
Ten years ago…maybe even five….Damon never dreamed he would have measured his existence in seconds. Seconds didn't matter when he was cursed with forever.
Forever.
The idea of having forever wasn't a curse now. And it hadn't been since the night in the rain with Elena. The night she made him promise her forever.
Even if Elena no longer remembered that night, he did. He could feel the wetness soaking through his shirt. He remembered the way her eyes sparkled brighter than the shooting stars they weren't able to see. Most of all, he remembered the way her breathing sped and her lips tasted against his.
They had forever.
For a vampire, forever was an eternity…and it was as fleeting as a second.
Tonight, he was back here counting seconds again, watching each tick by with an anticipation he never could have dreamed he'd possess. Each one weighed at him. Each one brought him closer to a future he never could have predicted.
The night was filled with the not-quite-hushed enough sounds of a hospital.
Monitors beeped.
Wheelchairs squeaked down hallways.
One family member whispered to another.
Somewhere, someone moaned while asleep.
None of the sounds were the single one Damon was waiting for. And he was waiting. That's why he'd spent the last hours sitting in the not-remotely-comfortable plastic chair, resting his head against the wall and pretending to sleep under the watchful eye of the waiting room monitor. Damon took his best friend duties seriously. Tonight they included staying awake while Ric held an icepack to the back of his head.
Ric tried to stand for possibly the 100th time.
"Don't do it." Damon felt like he should have his phone just utter the words as an every-ten-minute alarm by now.
Ric wobbled on his feet, reaching for the arm of the chair just behind him as he lowered himself back onto the pea green seat.
"You pass out at the sight of blood." Damon sniggered with a shake of his head in disdain. "Seriously?"
"It wasn't the blood." Alaric dropped the lukewarm ice pack onto the ground next to his feet. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his forehead in his open palms.
"Care to enlighten me?"
Ric cracked one eye open in skepticism. He seemed to be measuring whether or not to trust his best friend with the explanation. "It was shock."
"Shock?"
"As in….this is really happening." Ric hissed through his teeth and straightened in his seat, his eyes looking down the hallway he'd recently been banned from. "God, I should be in there."
"I wouldn't mess with her."
"I'm not afraid of my wife."
Damon raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't talking about Jo." He rocked forward in his chair, almost subconsciously mirroring his friend's posture. "I'm talking about your step-daughter."
"Technically, Elena's not related to me."
Damon shrugged. "Close enough."
As if she knew she'd been the subject of a short discussion, Elena appeared in the hallway, rounding the corner to step into the waiting room. She tugged her hair out from beneath the collar of a pair of navy blue scrubs she hadn't been wearing at her birthday party earlier in the evening. She flashed a quick grin at Damon before turning a questioning gaze on Ric. Raising one eyebrown in a spot-on impression of Damon, she cocked her head to the side. "How are you doing?"
"I should be in there." Ric tried to get to his feet, but one look from Elena stopped him halfway.
She turned to face Damon. "How is he?"
"He's a jerk who drinks too much who got your supervisor pregnant."
"Other than that." Elena fought back a grin at Ric's expense.
"He's definitely less green than he was when that orderly delivered him to me. And he's desperate to get back to Jo's room."
Elena nodded, breaking into a full smile. "And it's probably time. Because someone's ready to meet you."
"Really?" Ric shot to his feet, suddenly not the slightest bit unsteady.
"Come on, Dad." Elena hooked her arm through Ric's elbow, escorting him down the hallway, leaving Damon alone…again.
That lasted for about five seconds.
Ric paused, turning back to the waiting room. "What are you waiting on?"
"I thought…" Damon stopped, unsure of exactly why he was lingering behind.
"You thought." Ric rolled his eyes. "Come on."
"Besides, you can help me catch him if he passes out again." Elena laughed while Ric punched her on the shoulder.
And so the three made their way down the hallway to the room next to the fire exit. It seemed larger than most, and right now that was good. With a few fellow doctors and nurses oohing and aahing over Jo, once the three others walked in, it was almost shoulder to shoulder at the bedside.
Jo looked tired, but she managed a good natured laugh when she caught sight of her husband. Without addressing him, she spoke to Elena. "Think it's safe for him now?"
"I brought reinforcements." She inclined her head in Damon's direction.
Jo shook her head, turning to Damon. "He's your responsibility. If he starts to go down…"
"I'll catch him before he hits the ground."
"I'm more worried about who he might be holding." Jo scanned the room, the expression on her face said it all. It was time for all the extra friends to leave. This was a private time.
A time for family.
And somehow Damon was a part of that family.
Elena made sense. Ever since they'd learned that Ric's first wife was Elena's mother, Ric had taken on an almost-father role, or at least much older brother one. While it would be easy to say that Damon was just a part of the package deal – he came with Elena, it wasn't that simple.
"Careful." Elena passed a small bundle from Jo's arms into Ric's. "Watch her head."
"I took classes in this."
"But this isn't one of the dolls." Elena shook her head as she ran a finger down the infant's pink cheek. "She'll break if you drop her."
"Drop a doll once and suddenly I'm banned from holding my own daughter?" Ric sounded as if he were teasing, but his voice had an unfamiliar edge. He stared down at the blanket-wrapped form with wide-eyed amazement. Dark brown lashes curled against cheeks as pink as the hat on her head.
"Just…be careful." Jo cautioned from the bed. Her eyelids drooped with the weight of the pain killers that were currently dripping through her IV. "How about you?"
Damon looked at Elena, not wanting to miss this chance to watch her with her new almost-step-sister.
Jo shook her head and laughed. "Elena's already held them both. How about you, Damon?" She looked down at the little one wrapped in blue nestled on the pillow between her knees. "How about you, Damon?"
Elena assisted in the transfer, and before Damon fully realized what was going on, he was holding the tiniest baby he'd ever seen in his arms. "He's really small."
"That kind of happens with twins, especially when they're a month early." Elena answered with medical-student-assuredness.
"But, they're both okay?"
"They're perfect." Elena reached over and traced the tips of the little boy's fingers.
"Um, Elena?" Ric was blinking a little too fast, but Elena was faster. She crossed the room in a blur, taking the girl from his arms, instantly beginning a half-rock-half dance that Damon had seen countless mothers do throughout his years of existence. "I think I need to sit down."
"Are we sure he doesn't have a concussion?" Jo shook her head, glaring at her husband. "Maybe he needs to borrow my bed."
"I'll be fine. This is just a lot to take in." Ric squinted his eyes at the two vampires holding his children. "How did they miss the fact we were having twins?"
"No idea." Jo thudded her head against the pillow, closing her eyes.
"Did you two ever decide on names?"
"Not exactly." Ric shook his head. "Maybe by tomorrow."
"But we did make one decision." Jo prompted, her words becoming ever so slightly slurred. "You want to do the honors?"
Elena looked at Damon and they both stared between Ric and Jo.
Ric sat back in the recliner, a knowing grin on his face. "Little Guys Who We Will Try to Name pretty soon, meet your godparents."
