One of my favorite things to do when I go to Nags Head is to spend an evening at Oregon Inlet, watching the charter boats come in and see what they caught. Of course I had to send Ava Kate there.

I've been fielding the question about learning more about both Elena and Damon's past on Twitter. Stick around. We'll get to that! And for once, Damon really is that good of a guy. We'll get to that, too. I wish I could conjure up a real life version of this Damon for myself!

And on that note, THANK YOU For all of your support and for reading and reviewing last chapter. It means so much! And I love tweeting with you - thanks for the messages there, as well! Let's get on with this non-date...

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.


Damon felt the slightest rumbling of nerves as Elena's SUV turned into the parking lot of Oregon Inlet. He kept reminding himself this wasn't a date, but he wanted to impress her – and Ava Kate – all the same. He stood from the bench he had perched on when he arrived a few minutes earlier and watched them approach. He couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Elena was wearing a flowing skirt that hit around her knees and a crisp white sleeveless blouse popped against her tanned skin. Her long hair was twisted into a loose, messy knot at the nape of her neck. She held Ava Kate's hand as the child skipped along, this time wearing a sleeveless blue and white stripped dress, her long hair blowing in the breeze, clipped away from her face with a bow. They were both beautiful. He was glad he had changed out of his standard uniform of athletic shorts and a First Flight t-shirt in favor of clean khaki shorts and a sky blue v-neck.

"Hello, ladies," he greeted when they were close enough.

"Hey, Damon," Elena replied with a smile.

"Hi, Coach Damon," Ava Kate echoed. There was still a quiet quality to her voice, but she was visibly excited. In that moment, she looked much more like the four-almost-five year old she was instead of the quiet, perhaps broken, little girl that stayed close to her mother.

"How was school shopping?" he asked. He had exchanged a few casual texts with Elena that morning, under the guise of checking up on her tire, which had been repaired bright and early.

"Extremely successful, judging by the amount of bags in the back of my car," Elena said ruefully. Damon chuckled. Even before he met Elena, he knew she liked to shop. Stefan had often mentioned her in the same breath as Caroline, the two somewhere together, "buying everything" as he put it.

"Did you get that pink backpack?" he asked Ava Kate. Elena had replied to one of his texts that if she only did one thing today, it would be to find Ava Kate a pink backpack.

"Yes," Ava Kate nodded. "Mommy is putting my initials on it."

"That's pretty cool." Ava Kate nodded again.

"I got a Princess Sofia lunchbox, too," she volunteered.

"It sounds like you are all set for kindergarten." Damon had no idea who Princesss Sofia was. "Are you excited about it?" Ava Kate smiled at him.

"I can't wait! I hope my friend Ari is in my class."

"Ari… She's that little girl you were building sandcastles with at Uncle Stefan and Aunt Caroline's, right?" Ava Kate nodded again.

"Before we made s'mores." Damon smiled at her.

"Those were good s'mores," he stated. Ava Kate giggled. He turned his attention to Elena to find her beaming. "Even though your mom wasn't so good at the whole roasting marshmallows thing."

"Oh, be quiet," Elena retorted. "Each of us has to have at least one flaw." Damon laughed and was pleased to hear Ava Kate join in, even if he wondered if she knew what she was laughing at.

"How about we go check out these fish?" he asked.

"Let's do it," Elena agreed. Damon fought back the instinct to reach down and take Ava Kate's other hand. It was a weird feeling, the connection he felt to the little girl. He would have to ponder on what it meant at some point.

"That's the biggest fish, ever," Ava Kate told him, pointing to an information display near the marina's entrance. A fish longer than he was tall was mounted and on display.

"It's the biggest blue marlin caught in North Carolina," Elena clarified. "It weighed over 1,000 pounds." Damon let out a low whistle as he approached for a closer look.

"I think this one could eat you, Ava Kate," he stated, taking in the sheer size of the fish.

"I know," she agreed seriously. "That's why I don't go deep in the ocean." He chuckled, but she had a point. There had been fair number of shark attacks in the area earlier in the summer. He doubted Elena let her get past her ankles in the ocean these days.

"Come on," Elena said, steering Ava Kate towards the marina. "It's the end of the day. The boats will be coming in with their catches. That's what Ava Kate likes to see."

Oregon Inlet was busy, charter boats coming in from a day of deep sea fishing, one after another. They made their way from boat to boat, surveying each day's catch, some better than others. Ava Kate was buzzing, Elena consistently reminding her that she couldn't run on the docks and calling her back when she got too close to the edge. Damon chatted with people as they went, some vacationers who had chartered a boat for a day, some who made their living as fisherman, and others who captained boats or served as first mate. He was talking to a man from Illinois who had just spent the day on a charter boat with his sons and had a decent collection of tuna to show for it when he heard his name being called.

"Coach Salvatore!" Leonard Jackson, one of his offensive linemen, was walking towards him. He had forgotten Jackson's father owned the marina.

"Jackson, how's it going?" he greeted. Jackson smiled.

"Not bad," he replied. "Pops was happy to see me here to help a little earlier than usual, today." Damon winked. He had ended practice a few minutes early, much to everyone's surprise as he tended to go over, in an effort to make sure he had time to shower and change before meeting Elena.

"Is this place always this busy?" Jackson nodded.

"During the summer, yeah. It will slow down some after Labor Day, and then slow way down a couple weeks after that. We still run charters through October or so, but people don't like to get out on the open water once it starts cooling down. We make most of our money in the summer."

"What do you do here?" Damon continued his line of questioning. Jackson shrugged.

"Whatever needs doing. Pops is helping one of the charters get sorted out right now. I just finished helping one get their catch laid out. Sometimes, I help out in the bait shop or the retail store. I can do just about anything around here."

"Good, hard work," Damon stated. "I like it." Jackson chuckled.

"Of course you do, Coach." Damon laughed. The sound of his laughter made Elena smile as she approached, having just pried Ava Kate away from viewing a small shark.

"Oh, hey, Ms. Gilbert," Jackson said, noticing her first.

"Hi, Leonard," Elena replied. Jackson nodded at Ava Kate.

"Hey, Ava Kate," he added. She smiled at him, once more sticking close to Elena.

"Ava Kate likes to look at the fish when the boats come in," Damon told Jackson. "I haven't had a chance to see much of the Outer Banks yet, so they're letting me tag along." Jackson nodded.

"Ava Kate is one of our regulars," he said. He held out his fist towards Ava Kate. She was tentative, but still bumped fists with him. "If y'all want to see a huge fish, y'all follow me. The Sea Note brought in a beast." He looked at Ava Kate. "It could eat you, kid."

"I want to see!" Ava Kate squealed.

"Naturally," Elena stated wryly. "Lead the way." They followed Jackson down the dock, stepping around both fish and people as they went. Jackson strode confidently in front, reaching down to move a rope out of the way, or calling out a greeting to someone as he went. He was a different kid when compared to the one who lined up at left guard, more sure of himself. Damon wanted that confidence to translate to the football field and classroom.

"Check this baby out," he said, motioning towards a huge swordfish lying on the dock alongside several smaller ones. "We think its some kinda record. It weighed in at 443lbs."

"That thing is huge," Damon commented, moving closer. Ava Kate followed him. People were mulling around, waiting for the record verdict, but the crowd wasn't as thick as it had been when the boat arrived an hour earlier.

"Can I touch it?" Ava Kate asked Damon.

"Oh, Ava Kate," Elena groaned, making a face. Ava Kate had always liked fishing. She had done a lot of it with her grandfather, before the accident. Damon chuckled and looked to Jackson.

"Go for it," Jackson said, with a nod.

"Come stand here," Damon directed. The fish was close to the edge of the dock. He didn't think twice as he reached out and took a gentle hold of Ava Kate's arm to guide her closer to him. She tensed and nearly pulled away before she had a change of heart and allowed Damon to bring her closer to him. Elena had stepped forward, ready to intervene, but stopped, surprised by Ava Kate's willingness to trust Damon. Stefan had grabbed her up in a hug a few months earlier and she had lost it, surprised by his sweeping her into his arms, and cried for well over an hour. "Go on," Damon encouraged. She squatted down and placed a hand on the fish's side.

"It feels icky," she stated. Damon followed her lead and reached out to the fish.

"It's kind of slimy," he agreed. He pointed to its nose. "Check out it's nose, Ava Kate. It's longer than you are tall."

"And sharp," Elena added. "Let's stay away from its nose." Damon looked at Elena and could tell she was not nearly as into the fish as her daughter.

"You want to touch it?" he asked, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

"I'm good watching the two of you," she replied. "Icky and slimy are not enticing words."

"It's also a little cold," Damon told her. "Kind of bumpy, too."

"Disgusting," Elena said, wrinkling her nose again. Damon chuckled and turned his attention back to Ava Kate who was telling him her opinion on the fish. Elena crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. She had envisioned a scene like this many times, in days gone by. A child and a man who loved and cared for them both, spending days like this together. Except, Damon was merely a friend and both she and Ava Kate had been hurt enough for a lifetime.

Watching Damon with Ava Kate, she wondered – maybe. Maybe there could be something between them, if she could just let her guard down, let him get close. He seemed like a good guy and Caroline had certainly vouched for him. Of course, she didn't know if he was interested in her. He seemed to be, but perhaps that was just his gentlemanly persona. She was a single mom, after all, the legal guardian of a bratty, troublemaking teenager, still getting over the death of her parents, and had a past she tried not to talk about. She came with a lot of baggage. No man, no matter how good he was, would want to deal with that.

"Elena?" Damon's voice broke through her thoughts. "You okay?"

"What?" she asked, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. "Sorry. I zoned out for a second."

"You were in a whole other universe," Damon confirmed. There was a fond smile on his face. "Is it okay if Ava Kate holds one of the smaller fish? The boat captain said it was, but I thought we should ask you first." Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed Damon and Ava Kate move a few feet down the dock to where the boat's much smaller catch of the day was on display.

"Please, Mommy?" Ava Kate added. "Please!"

"If she must," Elena begrudgingly agreed. Ava Kate giggled.

"Come right over here," a man Elena assumed was the boat captain said to Ava Kate, indicating a spot a few yards away. She hesitated and looked at Damon.

"Will you come with me, Coach Damon?"

"Of course," Damon agreed. To his surprise, and especially to Elena's, Ava Kate reached up and grasped one of his fingers. Together, they walked forward. Elena found her phone and quickly snapped a photo, the moment too big for her to pass up.

"Here you go, hold it just like this," the captain instructed, picking up a tuna and showing Ava Kate how to hold it. She gleefully grasped the fish's bottom lip between her right thumb and index finger, holding it out and away from her body.

"Mommy, look!" she cried. "I'm holding a fish!"

"I see!" Elena said. She squatted down a few feet in front of Ava Kate and snapped a few more photos. "Is it heavy?"

"A little bit, but I'm strong," Ava Kate said with a bit of grit in her voice.

"You sure are, baby girl," Elena agreed. "You are the strongest little girl I know." She didn't see Damon give her a curious look. He had a feeling there was a lot more behind that statement than merely padding the fact that her little girl was holding a fish that only weighed a handful of pounds.

"Let's see you flex those muscles," Damon said to Ava Kate.

"What's that mean?" she asked.

"Go like this." Damon demonstrated. Elena had to look away as his biceps bulged. Ava Kate giggled and copied Damon as best she could, drawing a laugh from the small crowd gathered. She noticed the crowd then, and all but dropped the fish, the captain taking it from her just in time.

"Mommy!" She made to run to Elena, but the dock was damp. Elena gasped as Ava Kate started to slip.

"Ava Kate!" Just as she registered that her little girl was about to fall, possibly off the dock and into the water, Ava Kate was being swept off her feat.

"Careful!" Damon cried as he lunged for Ava Kate. He caught her by the strap of her dress and pulled her to him and into his arms, to safety. "You okay?" With wide eyes, Ava Kate nodded, staring at him. Damon blew out a breath, relaxing.

"Ava Kate!" Elena was pulling her daughter from his arms before he realized it happened.

"She's okay," Damon told her. Elena hugged her tightly.

"You can't run on the docks," she chided her gently. "You could have fallen into the water!"

"I'm sorry," Ava Kate mumbled into Elena's shoulder. "The people laughing scared me."

"I know," Elena soothed. "Just don't do that again, okay?"

"I won't," Ava Kate promised. Elena looked at Damon.

"Thank you. If she would have fallen in the water… She can swim, but that water is deep. She could have hit her head…" She hugged Ava Kate tightly once more.

"But, she didn't," Damon said calmly. "She's okay. So are you." Elena gave him a small smile, her eyes on his. He had no idea how right he was.

"Ava Kate and I are going to go to Fat Boyz for dinner and ice cream," she ventured, before she could stop herself. She needed to do this. She needed to put herself out there. Besides, this still wasn't a date. "Do you want to join us?" Damon grinned.

"I would love to join you." Elena put Ava Kate on her feet and reached into her bag for a travel-sized bottle of hand sanitizer.

"We'll go in a minute," she said. "But first, let me disinfect my child."


"This is the best worst food I have ever had," Damon stated just before he took another bite of his double bacon cheeseburger. It was big, greasy, loaded with calories, and one of the best things he had ever eaten. Elena laughed.

"Wait until you try Dune Burger," she told him. "You will have a new favorite."

"It can't be better than this."

"It is," Elena promised. "Although, you won't find a better milkshake – or anything else ice-cream related – than you will get from here."

"You are like my own personal tour guide," he stated, going for his fries. Elena had told him about several places around the barrier islands, everything from Jockey Ridge, the sand dune national park, to restaurants, to her favorite fudge and taffy shops. He drove by many of those places each day, but hadn't taken the time to visit.

"I grew up here. I can tell you all the ins and outs."

"You know, I only live about a mile away from here. This could become a problem."

"Ava Kate and I are nearby, too," Elena replied. "We are on the sound side."

"Somewhere else I haven't been," Damon admitted. "The place I'm renting is really nothing more than an efficiency, but its oceanfront. I can't complain."

"You will complain if a hurricane comes in," Elena told him. "It's been several years since one made landfall here, but the oceanfront homes are first in line. The sound side tends to fare a little better."

"I guess it's a good thing I know someone who lives there," Damon quipped. The faintest tinge of pink colored Ava Kate's cheeks. She tried to cover it up by busying herself with her basket of fries.

"Excuse me, Mommy?" Elena turned her attention to Ava Kate.

"That was very polite," she complimented. "What can I do for you?"

"Can I have some more ketchup?"

"Sure thing." Damon passed the bottle of ketchup to Elena.

"Coach Salvatore!" Damon looked up to find several of his players passing their table, all laden down with bags of food.

"Did you leave anything for the rest of Nags Head to eat?" he asked. Jason Craig grinned.

"We hungry, Coach. You work us too hard."

"You don't work hard enough," Damon grumbled. Craig noticed Elena then.

"Oh, hey, Ms. Gilbert!" Elena smiled at the group, Ava Kate sliding closer to her.

"Hi, Jason," she replied. "Cory, David, Jacob." The boys all rumbled back with greetings.

"Ms. Gilbert, you is…," Jacob started. He cut his eye towards Damon, remembering how the coach made two of his friends run for commenting on how attractive Ms. Gilbert was. "…enjoying that cheeseburger?" Elena grinned while Damon shook his head slightly.

"I am, Jacob, thank you."

"We gonna go get our grub on," Craig said. "Y'all have a good evening."

"I'll see you boys at practice tomorrow," Damon replied.

"Yes, sir," they mumbled.

"If you on time, you late, if you early, you on time," Cory added.

"You're starting to get it," Damon approved.

"You don't give us no choice," Craig replied. They over politely told Elena goodbye, and wandered off towards an empty table. Elena turned to Damon.

"You realize they think we are on a date, right?" Damon smirked. If he had it his way, they wouldn't be far from the truth soon.

"You realize at least half of my team has a crush on you, right?" Elena scoffed. "They do," he insisted. "Although, Craig is scared of you."

"Scared of me?" Elena wanted to know. "No way."

"He told me you weren't one to mess with," Damon told her. "I have to say, I think I agree."

"They are good kids," Elena said. "They just need a little push sometimes." Damon nodded.

"They do," he agreed.

"Mommy?" Ava Kate asked.

"Yes?"

"Can I have ice cream now?" Elena surveyed Ava Kate's plate.

"How about we eat another chicken tender and a few more fries?" she bargained. "Then, you can have some ice cream." Ava Kate nodded and picked up a chicken tender. She returned her attention to Damon. "So, thoughts on Nags Head and First Flight now that you have a few weeks under your belt?" Damon took his time forming an answer.

"I'm settling in," he said. "I'm admittedly not used to working in such an underfunded school district, and I haven't taught in several years, but I guess it's like riding a bike, right? You don't forget how to do it?" He was more nervous about teaching than he was letting on. He knew history, from the beginning of time, right up to what happened earlier that day. He wasn't concerned about teaching the material. He was concerned about working with his students, how to teach them what he knew, and finding the time to grade their tests and read their essays in between football practice and games.

"You will be fine," Elena said confidently. "The kids as a whole are great. There are always a few rabble-rousers, but I think you can handle them."

"I'll have to figure that part out," Damon admitted. "The history classroom isn't the football field. I can't make them run the bleachers when they tick me off." Elena laughed.

"I would recommend against that," she agreed. "The parents tend to be worse to deal with than the kids."

"Helicopter parents," Damon said with a nod. "They can't be worse than they were at my old school. It was a prep school, and the parents always wanted their kids to be first, best, and right. My inbox was full of emails from parents demanding to know why their kid wasn't playing, why their kid wasn't starting. And then there were the moms who were convinced their kid was dying every time they got tackled."

"Like Caroline," Elena quipped. Damon chuckled.

"Exactly like Caroline," he agreed. "Thank God that kid has Stefan as a dad. Otherwise, he would walk around wrapped in bubble wrap."

"I have a feeling you contribute your fair share of encouraging Cody in some of his more rambunctious ideas."

"I'm the uncle. I get to give him back." Elena laughed again. She had laughed a lot today.

"Mommy? May I have my ice cream now?" Ava Kate looked up at her hopefully. She had completed her eating requirements.

"You may," Elena agreed. "What do you want?"

"Um, an M&M flurry." Elena made to get up.

"No, sit," Damon said, standing. "I'll get it." Elena shook her head.

"No, Damon, I've got it."

"Sit down," Damon said again, already pulling out his wallet. "I'm buying the ice cream. It's my treat to say thank you for letting me tag along today."

"You don't have to…"

"I know," Damon said gently, looking her in the eye. "But, I want to." It took a moment, but Elena finally nodded. "Ava Kate wants an M&M flurry. How about her mom?" Elena smiled at him as she settled back onto the bench by Ava Kate.

"A peanut butter jammer." Damon nodded.

"Coming right up." He walked away, a man on a mission. Elena looped an arm around Ava Kate and hugged her to her side.

"Have you had a good day?" Ava Kate nodded.

"The best day," she confirmed. "Thank you for all of my school stuff, Mommy." Elena leaned over and kissed the top of her daughter's head. She really was a polite, sweet girl, despite all the reasons she had to be anything but.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Ava Kate glanced over her shoulder, then back to her mom.

"Mommy, I like Coach Damon. He's not scary." Elena smiled.

"You know what? I like him too. He is definitely not scary."

"And he can do magic."

"He can do magic," Elena agreed. "You know, he's Uncle Stefan's brother." Ava Kate considered this.

"Does that make him my uncle, too?"

"Well, no," Elena admitted. "Aunt Caroline is like my sister, so that's why you call her Aunt Caroline. And, since she married Stefan, you call him Uncle Stefan."

"Okay," Ava Kate agreed, not really understanding, but taking her mother's word for it. Elena checked Damon's whereabouts. He had just stepped up to the window to order.

"So, if you like Coach Damon, what would you think of him maybe hanging out with us some more? If he wants to, of course?" Even though she was opening herself up to the idea of potentially dating Damon, there was still the matter of whether or not he was interested in her.

"I think I would like that," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Ava Kate confirmed. She looked at mother for a moment. "Would you like that?" Elena gave her a sad smile. She hated that her little girl was so perceptive at such an early age. She had seen and experienced too much in her almost five years.

"I would like that," Elena said. She gave Ava Kate a little squeeze. "I love you, ladybug." Ava Kate returned her mother's hug.

"I love you, too, Mommy." She turned on the bench to check on the progress with the ice cream. Her eyes lit up. "Coach Damon is coming with our ice cream!" Elena laughed. Damon heard her as well and grinned.

"One M&M Flurry, coming right up," he said, placing an overflowing cup of ice cream topped with M&Ms and chocolate syrup. Elena knew it wasn't the healthiest dinner and dessert she could have given her daughter, but a treat once in a while never hurt anyone. "And for you, a peanut butter jammer."

"Thank you, Coach Damon," Ava Kate said before digging in. He grinned.

"You're welcome, Ava Kate. Is it good?" Ava Kate only nodded, too busy eating her ice cream.

"What did you get?" Elena asked.

"A Heath Bar Wammer," Damon answered. "And its incredible." They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, focused on their ice cream. Damon glanced at Ava Kate and saw she had ice cream all over her face, and that it was close to dripping onto her clothes. He picked up a napkin and passed it to Elena. "You're about to have some really stained laundry."

"Ava Kate! You're making a mess!" Elena took the napkin from Damon and wiped away the ice cream from around Ava Kate's mouth. The child was nearly finished with her cup of ice cream. "You saved that t-shirt," she told Damon.

"I do what I can," he replied with a wink. They sat at the table for several more minutes, making small talk, before Elena begrudgingly decided she needed to get Ava Kate home. Damon walked with them to her car.

"Thank you for the ice cream," she said to Damon. She was holding Ava Kate's hand and gave it a little wiggle. "We both appreciate it." Ava Kate giggled.

"Thank you, Coach Damon," she added.

"You're welcome," Damon replied. He stooped down to Ava Kate's level. "Thank you for showing me the boats and the fish. I had a lot of fun." Ava Kate grinned bashfully.

"You're welcome," she said in her soft voice.

"High five?" Damon asked, holding his hand up. He thought he saw the briefest flash of fear in her eyes before she relaxed and gave him a high five.

"In the car you go," Elena said, opening the backseat car door.

"See you later, Ava Kate."

"Bye, Coach Damon!" Ava Kate scurried into the car with a giggle. Damon was smiling when Elena turned back to him after ensuring Ava Kate was buckled in.

"Sounds like she's had a good day," he said.

"She has," Elena nodded. She decided to flirt, just a little, if she remembered how to. "So have I." Damon smiled bigger.

"It was a good day," he agreed. He crossed his arms over his chest to keep himself for reaching for her. He knew he had to move slowly with her. Yet, he didn't want to move too slowly. "We should do it again sometime. I'm sure Ava Kate has at least one other haunt she likes to hang out at, maybe something that smells a little better than the boat docks?"

"She likes miniature golf," Elena said. "The pirate-themed one is her favorite. Otherwise, she's pretty simple – the girl loves the beach."

"Mini golf and the beach, she sounds like a girl after my own heart." Elena laughed, her own arms crossed over her chest. They didn't see Damon's football players watching in amusement from across the parking lot.

"They so awkward," Jason said to his friends.

"Think Coach gonna kiss her?" Jacob asked. David shook his head.

"Nah. Coach ain't got no game. Look at him, standin' there lookin' dumb in his khaki shorts. He coulda kissed her ten times by now."

"Man, imagine if they get together," Cory added. "They both bossy. They'd drive each other crazy."

"Nah," Craig disagreed. "Think about it, man. They get together, none of us stand a chance at gettin' away with nothin.' Y'all just wait. You gonna see. Ms. Gilbert don't cut you no slack. And we done all ran enough laps for Coach to know he don't, neither."

"Maybe they'll get together, bone each other, and loosen up," David mused. Jacob punched him in the arm.

"Don't talk 'bout Ms. Gilbert like that," Craig said, defending the woman who was secretly his favorite teacher, one of the only people, at least until Coach Salvatore, who had ever encouraged him. "She strict, but she nice."

"Look like Craig got a crush on the Coach's girl," Cory commented.

"Man, shut up and get in the car," Craig said. "Let's go to the beach." They followed Craig's lead and piled into his beat up Oldsmobile, watching Damon and Elena as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"I should get going," Elena said, a hint of regret in her voice. "I really do need to get Ava Kate into bed, by way of a bathtub. She still smells like a fish."

"I think I'm going to take a shower myself," Damon agreed. He had used some of Elena's hand sanitizer, and they had all washed their hands well before they ate, but he still thought he could smell the faintest lingering scent of fish on his skin. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"I'll be there," Elena agreed. "We have day one of a three day English department workshop. That's why I didn't have to go in today – they are buttering us up to sit in Mr. Mack's classroom and learn all the things I learned in college, but the, shall we say, older, contingency may need a refresher on."

"If you feel the need to sneak away, I'll be in my classroom most of the day tomorrow, trying to figure out how to make the Civil War as exciting to eleventh graders as it is to me."

"I may stop by," Elena said. "I may ask for your help in hiding from Mr. Mack if this workshop is as boring as I think it will be."

"I do have a storage closet in my room," Damon said seriously. "You might have to squeeze in there in between a bunch of old, dusty, outdated history books, but you're little. I think you could fit." Elena laughed again.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said, turning towards her door. Damon habitually reached around her and opened the car door. "Oh!" she said in surprise. It had been a long time since someone opened a door for her. "Thank you."

"As my mom likes to say, ladies are perfectly capable of open their own doors – but shouldn't have to," Damon quipped. Elena laughed again as she slid behind the wheel.

"I met your parents briefly at Caroline and Stefan's wedding," she remembered. "I got the impression they are forces to be reckoned with."

"They are," Damon confirmed. "Granted, they had to raise Stefan and me, so they had to be, but they are good, honest people." He loved his parents. His mom was overbearing, sometimes, but she was also a mom in every sense, taking care of her kids no matter what – and whether they wanted or needed her to. His dad was strict, but fair, and had taught him at least three-quarters of everything he knew about both history and football. He had always hoped – and still did – to grow into half as good of a man as his father.

"I'm sure you and Stefan were nothing shy of a handful."

"We still don't know how to behave," Damon said with a grin. "Cody playing football? That was a team effort. I sent Stefan the signup information. Just don't tell Caroline." Elena grinned and shook her head. "Drive safe, Elena."

"I will," she promised. "Thanks again, Damon."

"Anytime," Damon replied. He desperately wanted to lean in and kiss her. Or, just touch her. He couldn't think of a time he had been this attracted to another woman. "Bye, Elena." He shut her door and stepped back, watching until she was safely out of the parking lot and turning onto Beach Road, towards South Nags Head.

With a bit of a skip in his step, he got into his truck. He made up his mind. He was going to ask her on a real date. Tomorrow.

He sent up a prayer that she would say yes.


Think she'll say yes? I like how Ava Kate is starting to trust Damon. She's such a sweet little girl.

Also, I love Fat Boyz. I could use a peanut butter jammer myself...

Let me know what you thought of the non-date!