A/N: Okay, not going to say too much here, because this chapter is HUGE so, as always, I hope you enjoy it, and please review!

"Elena, what are you doing?

Elena froze, one hand reaching out to the floor, the other holding her hair back from her face. Damon had a point; what was she doing? She had never felt so ridiculous in her life. Maybe it was all the raging baby hormones.

"Did you drop something?"

"Um... uh..." It was no good; he was crossing the room now.

Damon paused as he gazed down at the scene before him, one eyebrow raised in mild amusement. Leaning down, he reached over and plucked the condom packet out of the gap on his first try.

Typical.

"Right. Thanks." Elena snatched it out of his hand and jumped up from the floor. "Sorry. Allie kind of attacked me, and it flew out of my pocket, and I couldn't just leave it there..."

Damon frowned. "It flew out of your pocket?"

"Uh-huh."

"Which pocket?"

Well, shit. Elena belatedly realised that nothing she was wearing had pockets. As she cast her mind around in desperation, Damon raised a hand signalling that he'd be back in a moment. Returning from the master bedroom an uncomfortable minute later, he said, "How strange, I could have sworn I had a box of condoms in my bedside drawer. But the box is empty. They've all gone."

Elena's mouth had gone as dry as sand. Okay, here was her chance to come clean, to explain everything, to tell Damon that she was pregnant...

"What's that noise?" Damon was listening intently.

Super-aware of the rapid rise and fall of her rib cage as she tried not to pass out, Elena whispered, "My breathing."

"That crackly sound."

"I can't hear it." She tried to stop breathing completely, horror washing over her.

Damon's head cocked to one side as his gaze fixed on her chest. "One side of you has gone a funny shape."

Elena looked down. Her right breast was smooth and normal looking. The left one resembled a Christmas stocking. It looked as if... well, almost as if she'd shoved a handful of wrapped condoms into her bra. Slowly she reached into the deep V-neck of her top, scooped out the offending packets and handed them over.

Damon gave her an odd look, and she couldn't really blame him, it was an odd situation. "I don't get it. Can't you just go to a shop and buy your own? Or ask Matt to do it?"

Frowning slightly at the mention of Matt, Elena took a deep breath. Now was definitely, definitely the time to tell him. Flustered and searching for a way to begin – should she just blurt it out? Spell it out chronologically? – Elena took a step towards him. "Look, I can explain, there's a reason for... for..."

"Carry on," Damon prompted when her voice trailed away.

But it was no good. From where she was now standing, Elena could see down into the courtyard, and had just seen the car pull into the parking lot. She shook her head. "Katherine's back."

He heaved a sigh and looked down at the condoms in his hand. "I'd better go put these back."

Elena braced herself; she'd endured this much embarrassment already, what harm could a bit more do? Clearing her throat as Damon turned away, she said, "Could I have one?"

He stopped. "Excuse me?"

You heard. Bastard. Could you just... let me have one? I'll pay you back."

"Sure one's enough?" There was a definite snarky edge to his voice.

What the hell. "Better make it two." Oh God, what kind of a conversation was this to be having with the father of your unborn child?

Without another word Damon dropped two condoms into her outstretched hand before heading back into the bedroom. He re-emerged just as Katherine opened the door. Having shoved the condom packets back into her bra – one on each side this time – Elena tried to ease the redness in her cheeks and smile at Katherine as she entered the living room. "Hi! You've had your hair done! It looks great!"

"I know." Katherine smugly shook back her dark glossy locks. "What are you doing here?"

Well, I was about to tell Damon that I'm having his baby.

Elena briefly imagined the satisfaction from saying that out loud, but she decided against it. "I needed to discuss next week's shifts with Damon."

"Thrilling." Losing interest, Katherine waved her armful of shopping bags at Damon. "Hon, wait until you've seen what I've bought, I've had such a nice day! Where's Millie?"

"Dana's taken her out in the buggy for a couple of hours. We've been pretty busy today."

Elena caught the guilt inducing tone Damon had used, but it went completely over Katherine's head. "Great, maybe she'd like to babysit this weekend. My friend Emily has invited me to stay for a couple of days." He hair swinging some more, Katherine dumped the bags on the floor and began rummaging through them. "And I picked up a gorgeous shirt for you... hang on, it's in here somewhere..."

Sensing her chance at escape, Elena mumbled her excuses and fled the apartment, rolling her eyes at the cold stare she received from Damon on her way out.

"There you are! Did you do it?"

Caroline was sitting on Elena's porch, waiting for her to come home. Elena nodded, deciding against telling her best friend about the ridiculous time she had just experienced. They went quickly inside, heading straight for the kitchen. They plonked themselves down on a stool, then each grabbed a condom and held it to the light.

"Three holes," Caroline announced.

"Four in this one." The needle marks were practically invisible to the naked eye but you could just feel them if you ran your fingertips over the plasticised foil. And concentrated hard. No wonder Damon hadn't noticed.

"So that's it. Now you know."

"Katherine got me pregnant." Elena made a face. "Sounds like something you'd go on Jerry Springer for."

"Anyway," said Caroline, an air of smugness about her suddenly. "You haven't heard the other thing yet."

"What other thing?" Elena was tired. All she wanted to do was crawl inside a tub of Ben and Jerry's and stay in there for a week. Actually, ice cream sounded really good right about now. And garlic bread. With ice cream smeared on top.

"Remember what I said on the phone? There were two things I found out, but you cut me off before I could tell you the other one." Caroline waved two fingers in front of Elena's face. "Katherine is going to Atlanta this weekend."

"I know. I was there when she told Damon. She's going to see her friend Emily."

"Hmm." Caroline threw the condom packets into the fruit bowl and picked up an apple, turning it round and round between her perfectly manicured fingernails. "I was there when she arranged it. And I'm telling you now, if that was a girl she was speaking to on the phone," She bit into the piece of fruit, "I'm a cucumber."

It was another hectic night in the restaurant. Elena hadn't meant to say it this evening, but she had finally lost her temper. Damon had spent the last two hours being very distant with her and shooting her cold looks from across the dining room. It was both hurtful and infuriating. When her pen ran out and she went through to the office to pick up another, he stopped her in the corridor on the way back.

"Sorry, we don't keep extra supplies of condoms in this office." If his mood had been better the comment could have sounded light hearted, playful even. But it wasn't, so it didn't.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Elena held up the new pen. "My pen ran out. The old one's in the waste basket if you want to check. And I've already said sorry about yesterday." She took a deep breath. "Look, I still need to explain..."

Damon's jaw was clenched so hard she could see the muscle jumping. "No need." He finally ground out. "But as far as I'm concerned you're making a massive mistake."

"Am I?" Elena didn't have a clue what he meant, but it was clearly not a compliment. Fury bubbled up inside her as she thought about the current monumental mistake he was currently making with his life. "Well, maybe I'm not the only one. Because I'd double check who Katherine's seeing this weekend if I were you."

Damon stood there, motionless. "What?"

"You heard." Elena knew instantly that this wasn't the best way to go about things, but to be honest she was getting pretty fed up with him behaving this way, so she didn't stop. She couldn't.

"What makes you say that?"

"Ask Katherine."Elena raised an eyebrow at him and stalked past him back into the dining room. She noticed her hands were shaking slightly. Great, now he was probably going to accuse Katherine of seeing someone else. She would deny it, and without any evidence, it was Katherine's word against hers. She might be seen to just be trying to spread vicious lies. Elena sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now. She braced herself and threw herself back into her work.

Waitressing was like show business; you had to smile smile smile.

Katherine had just had a long luxurious bath and was wrapped in a turquoise robe, painting her toenails shell-pink. When Damon entered the living room she looked up and smiled. "Hi, hon. Millie's asleep. What are you doing back so early?"

She was beautiful, Damon thought dispassionately. Any man would lust after her. But if what Elena had just suggested was true, it would be the best news he'd heard in months.

"I've been working too hard. Time for a break," said Damon. "We'll go to Atlanta together this weekend. I've already booked a suite at that hotel you like."

For a second there was silence.

"Oh, Damon, I would have loved that." Katherine was filled with regret. "But I can't. I promised Emily I would stay with her. The thing is – and this is top secret – she's just had a facelift and looks a complete mess. I'm just going along to cheer her up and take her mind off the fact that she looks like Frankenstein's ugly sister."

"Right." Damon held her gaze, the confident, unwavering gaze of a woman who could lie about the paternity of her child and not let it trouble her.

"But some other time," Katherine smiled brightly up at him. "Definitely. In fact, how about next weekend? Then we can – what are you doing?"

"Borrowing your phone. That's all right, isn't it?" Damon scooped up the tiny cell phone that Katherine never let out of her sight and began scrolling through the list of names. "Ah, here we go..."

"That's my phone!" Katherine jumped up off the sofa and lunged for him. "Look, you can't just –"

"Emily? Hi, this is Damon Salvatore. How are you? Listen, I know this might be short notice, but I was just ringing round all of Katherine's friends to see who might be able to make it for a surprise party for her this weekend." He paused, and Katherine stood there, looking stricken. "Well, that's great news," he handed over the phone to Katherine. "You can speak to her now. Emily says she can't wait to come."

Elena jumped a mile and almost dropped the plates of raspberry cheesecake she was holding when Katherine burst into the restaurant. She was wearing jeans and a white top, looking as though she had got dressed in a hurry, as she stood in the middle of the restaurant, scanning the room. She had a face like thunder and was eyeing each table in turn.

Becky walked over to her, raising her eyebrows at Elena. "Are you looking for someone?"

"I'm seeing who's here." She bit the words off, not stopping her intake of all the customers and staff. "Damon wouldn't tell me, but it has to be someone in this restaurant. You won't believe what they've just done to me, some petty, spiteful... jealous..." Her eyes came to rest on Elena and her voice trailed away. "Or maybe you would believe it. Fucking hell, what is going on here? You know exactly what I'm talking about don't you? Who told Damon?"

Katherine stalked towards her, but Elena held her ground. She was just about done with this. Lifting her chin defiantly, she said, "I did."

"You! How? My God, I might have guessed. You interfering bitch." Katherine's voice rose and her face pinched together. "Let me guess, you were jealous because I have Damon and you don't have a man of your own. You can't bear to see other people happy so you have to stir up trouble by poisoning their minds!"

Elena's eyebrows rose at the audacity of the girl in front of her. Levelly, she said, "I didn't lie."

Katherine's upper lip curled, showing catlike incisors. "If you think this will be enough to get him to notice you, you've got another –"

"Right, that's enough." Becky tried to usher Katherine out of the restaurant. "You're upset, let me take you back to –"

"No!" Katherine screamed, wrenching free. She grabbed a carafe of white wine from the nearest table, spun around and threw the contents straight at Elena. "You bitch, you've ruined my life!"

Everyone in the restaurant gasped. For the second time in five minutes, Elena nearly dropped the cheesecakes she was still holding. Blinking wine out of her eyes, she glanced down and saw that the desserts were swimming in white wine, and were now ruined. Oh well, waste not, want not...

"Arghhh!" Katherine screamed as she leapt back. Clearly not expecting a mere waitress to retaliate, she stared down in horror at the bright pink gunge dripping down the front of her white top and jeans.

"It's not your day today, is it?" Elena raised an eyebrow at her. "First your life is ruined, then your outfit."

Incandescent with rage, Katherine tried to step forward, but Becky grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her out. She stamped her foot and let out an ear-splitting howl of rage. At various tables people began to whisper and giggle.

The husband of the couple who had ordered the cheesecake looked at Elena and said tentatively, "Were those ours?"

Elena smiled down at him, feeling an enormous amount of relief. "Yes, and I'm so sorry, there aren't any more left. But I can really recommend the chocolate torte."

With that, she strode back into the kitchen, threw down the plates and went to the staff room to change.

By the time Elena had driven home, the adrenaline had worn off and her heart had started pounding painfully hard in her chest. She had sent Caroline a text on the way out of the restaurant, and she had never been so pleased to see her friend's car sitting outside her house. She fell out of the car door, and found herself wrapped in the blonde's embrace, as they walked into the house.

Elena was incapable of sitting down. She paced the length of the kitchen, replaying the showdown at the restaurant. Finally she finished and slumped against the kitchen counter. "That's it. I've lost my job, not that I really wanted to continue working there. I think I'm just going to move to California with Jeremy."

"Sit down. Calm down. So he still doesn't know you're pregnant." Banging kitchen cupboard doors open and shut, Caroline let out a frustrated growl. "For God's sake, I'm trying to get you something to drink and all I can find is hot chocolate." She took down the tin and gave it a shake. "You can't leave the state, 'Lena."

"Elena opened her mouth to speak, but the phone burst to life suddenly, her stomach lurching. Oh God, all this stress couldn't be good for the baby.

"Don't answer it if you don't want to," Caroline said soothingly.

Elena glanced at the screen. Jenna.

"Hey Aunt Jenna, how are you?"

"I have great news!" Jenna's excited voice came down the line.

"Really? What?" Elena was trying to concentrate, but it was a struggle.

"I'm moving in with Ric! I'm going to be living in Mystic Falls!" Elena could practically hear the woman jumping up and down.

"That's great news, Jenna, I'm so pleased for you."

"Are you okay? You seem a little down," Jenna's tone changed as she listened to her niece. "Do you need me to come over? To talk about something? Is it that guy you were dating, what was his name, Henry?"

Elena tried to sound more upbeat for her aunt. "What? Oh, no, that ended a while ago, which I'm fine with. It was just a long day at work today, that's all."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. Caroline's here. She's just pouring me a drink."

"Let me guess, a nice big glass of chilled wine?"

Elena looked over at Caroline, who was frowning down into the mug, trying to stir clumps of cocoa powder into microwaved hot milk. "You could say that."

"Okay then hon, I'll leave you to it. Talk soon though, okay?"

"Sure."

"That's someone else you're going to have to tell before the baby pops out," Caroline said as Elena replaced the phone.

"I know, don't keep on." Elena put down the mug of chocolate, which looked disgusting.

"It feels like we're waiting for the world to end. You'd think somebody would have called by now, even if it was just to tell you you're fired."

"If Katherine calls, it'll be to tell me I'm dead." A kind of hysteria took over Elena, and she giggled slightly. "Maybe she'll call the police and have me arrested for assault with a deadly dessert." She sobered up almost immediately and put her head in her hands. "What if it was a mistake? What if she wasn't planning on cheating on Damon? What if –"

The sound of the doorbell cut her off, and they both jumped in their seats.

"I'll go and see who it is."

"No," Elena shook her head. "I need to deal with this myself."

Her heart sped up again when she saw Damon on the doorstep, who clearly wasn't in the mood to waste time.

"Can I come in?" Already through the door before Elena could reply, he stopped dead when he saw Caroline. Brusquely, he said, "Could you leave us?"

"No I couldn't."

"Caroline," Elena nodded her head in the direction of the door. "Please."

"Please what?"

"Go home."

"Are you kidding?"

"Out," said Damon.

"Fine," Caroline huffed, mouthing 'tell him' at Elena as she passed her.

Elena took a deep breath. "I'm not sorry about the cheesecake thing, so don't expect me to apologise for that. And I'm leaving the restaurant, which saves you from having to fire me."

"I wasn't planning on firing you," Damon said, running his hand through his hair. "You don't have to leave."

Ha, he didn't know the half of it.

"I'm still going to." Her fingernails dug into her clenched palms. It was the only way. Far better that he didn't find out the truth.

"It's all over, by the way. They've left." She could feel his eyes scanning her face, and she kept her gaze averted. "Katherine and Millie."

Elena nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not." Damon said evenly. "It was always going to happen. I wanted it to work, for Millie, but that's no way to live. Katherine wasn't the one who left Stefan, by the way, before she arrived back down here. Apparently he wanted to keep his daughter and look after her himself, without her. She's been angling to get together with one of his friends for weeks, which was who she was going to see this weekend." Looking down at Elena, he said, "She still doesn't know how you found out."

"Caroline. She was at the hair salon at the same time as Katherine. She heard her organise it over the phone." Elena still didn't look at him.

"Anyway, they're gone. I don't suppose I'll be seeing them again."

Finally Elena glanced up at him. "But you could if you wanted to."

Damon shook his head. "It's not up to me anymore. My brother will take care of Millie, so it's nothing to do with me. If I'm honest, it was a relief. I was looking for a way out. And for Millie's sake, it's better that it happens sooner rather than later."

Elena's stomach was in knots.

Tell him you're pregnant.

I can't, I can't do it.

Just tell him.

I really can't. Especially not after everything that's happened tonight.

"She tried to make him feel better. "Sometimes, you have to give people another chance. Just to see if what you had was really worth trying to fix. Sometimes people change enough for it to work, but sometimes they don't."

Damon looked at her for a moment; he seemed almost angry. "What about Matt?" He asked finally. "Has he changed?"

Elena looked at him, confused as to why he had brought Matt into the conversation. "Well, he tells me he has," she replied slowly.

"Do you believe him?"

Thinking he was just looking for reassurance that trying to believe Katherine hadn't been a mistake, Elena shrugged. "I want to believe it. I guess we'll see."

Damon looked at her as though there was plenty more he had to say, but then his jaw clenched. "Right." Abruptly Damon said, "Well, good luck."

"Th-thanks." That was it then. Resignation accepted. She wasn't going back to work.

"Bye." He turned and left the house without so much as a backwards glance.

Elena shuddered once, then sighed and went into the kitchen, slumping down on one of the stools.

She picked up the phone, about to call Caroline, but she heard the front door open again. Assuming that Caroline had waited outside for Damon to leave, she swivelled round on her stool and opened her mouth to speak.

"You're mad. I can't believe you're being so gullible."

"What?"

"Matt." The look Damon gave her was fierce; fire burned through his ice blue eyes. "He's going to break your heart."

Elena frowned and stood up. "Not my heart. What are you talking about?"

Damon's eyes widened in shock. "So, you're not back together with Matt?"

Elena's eyebrows flew up in disbelief. "For fuck's sake, no! That ship sailed a long time ago, thank you very much, and unless I've suffered a recent brain injury, I'm never going there again!"

"I thought... when I came over to see you, Matt was here. He was wearing your dressing gown. He said you were going out to dinner."

"He was here seeing Bonnie! He used her shower and must have grabbed my robe to answer the door. We all went out to dinner together."

"I can't believe I got that wrong." Shaking his head, Damon asked, "So, do you think it'll work out then, him and Bonnie?"

"I doubt it. They're really good together, but Matt's never going to change. I think he just needs to get her out of his system, and then he'll be back to normal." Elena really had no idea why they were talking about this, but at least he wasn't yelling at her any more. Much more of that, and she'd have smacked him.

There was a long pause. Finally Damon said, "Not necessarily."

"What?"

"Sleeping with someone doesn't always get them out of your system."

"Why not?" Elena felt herself flushing under the intensity of Damon's gaze. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I slept with you and didn't get you out of my system."

Elena felt as though all the wind had been knocked out of her. What did he just say?

"Sorry, you did ask." Damon raked his fingers through his hair. "And I know you only wanted a one night thing, but I haven't been able to forget it. At all. I couldn't say anything before, and I probably shouldn't be saying anything now, but I just... I just needed you to know how I feel about you. It's how I've been feeling ever since that night."

Seconds passed that felt like hours. Finally, Elena managed to whisper, "Me too."

It was Damon's turn to look stunned. "Really?"

Elena nodded, and suddenly she was in his arms as he stepped up to her. He held her face in his hands and kissed her, and she'd never felt so alive or so terrified. Pulling away, Elena blinked back the tears threatening to spill and said, "There's something else I have to tell you."

Damon wasn't in the mood to take her seriously. Trailing kisses down her neck, he whispered aginst her skin, "Can it wait until morning?"

Elena shook her head, pushing him back slightly until she could look into his eyes. "I didn't mean it to happen."

"Didn't mean what?"

Her courage failed. "I can't tell you."

Yes you can.

No I can't, can't, can't.

But you must.

"Okay," Damon said, cupping her face in his hands and looking into her eyes. "Is it good or bad?"

"I don't know."

"I love you. Does that help at all?"

Tears finally made their way past Elena's eyelashes, and Damon smoothed them away with the pads of his thumbs. "I'm pregnant."

Damon was motionless. "You are?"

"Yes." Realising what he must be thinking, Elena suddenly burst out, "And it's yours, I swear. I haven't been with anyone else, not for ages. I'm sorry!"

Damon smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Don't apologise. I'm glad you haven't slept with anyone else." Glancing to her stomach, he asked, "Is everything okay?"

"With the baby? Yes, I went to the doctor last week."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

Elena shook her head. "No. I was going to move to California. Until this afternoon you had a family."

Damon pulled her closer to him, shaking his head. "I had a child who wasn't mine and a girlfriend I didn't love." His gaze softened. "Even worse, I was in love with someone who worked for me, but couldn't tell her because she was back with her ex-boyfriend... hang on, what was all that with the condoms?"

Finally, a question she could answer. The two she and Caroline had been examining earlier were still in the fruit bowl. Reaching over and grabbing them, Elena handed them to him. "Katherine wanted another baby last year but you weren't so keen. So she stuck a needle through every packet in the box."

Damon ran his fingers over the packets in his hand, before throwing them back in the bowl. "Just as well it didn't work."

"Except it did. Right result, wrong womb."

"Are you kidding? For the first time in her life, Katherine did something that actually turned out well. This might be the happiest day of my life. In fact," he picked her up and placed her on the edge of the counter, standing between her legs. "I think we should celebrate." He leaned in and kissed her neck, nibbling on her earlobe.

"I should call Caroline. She'll be wondering what's going on." Elena gripped his waist with her thighs and pushed her fingers through his hair.

"Caroline's a grown up, I'm sure she can wait until tomorrow." His fingers slid under the hem of her top, tracing circles over her ribcage.

"You obviously don't know Caroline well enough."

Just as she said that, the phone on the counter started to ring. Elena reached out, but Damon beat her to it, answering the call.

Caroline's voice chattered down the line, her agitation obvious. "I saw him leave and then go back in. So now you're either having sex with him or you've killed him and you need me to help you bury the body."

"Well done," Damon said. "Your first guess was correct."

"Aaahhhhhh!"

"Thanks. We think so too. So we'd appreciate it if you didn't come rushing back in here, because Elena and I are going upstairs now."

Grinning, Elena snatched the phone. "And we may be gone for some time." She ended the call and dropped the phone on the counter, leaning in for another kiss. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them towards the stairs. When they got to her room, he laid her down on the bed and leaned over her, stroking his hand down her cheek.

"I love you Elena."

She smiled up at him. "And I love you."

A/N: Just the epilogue to go now!