a/n: It's been so long, but I finally had the urge to write in this story! I even wrote two chapters yesterday! I'm so sorry I made you guys wait so long and I hope I didn't lose anyone :/ Anyway, thank you kindly for being so patient and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

THIRTEEN

Elena jumped a little as the sound of her ringtone broke her concentration. She followed the sound of it on her desk, lifting journals and books in order to find it. She sighed as she saw Caroline's name on the display and answered it. "Hey, what's up?"

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked, her voice full of excitement.

"I'm working on my paper. The one I told you about yesterday."

Caroline sighed loudly and Elena gave a weary smile to the empty room. "Well, I guess that means you don't want to do anything tonight."

"Sorry Care."

"But it has to be loud at your house anyway, right? Aren't the boys over to watch the game?" This time, her voice was full of hope.

Elena couldn't help but smile at her friend's determination. "I'm in the office upstairs. I can't really hear anything from downstairs."

"Oh come on, Elena! You're really going to give up some quality time out with me for a homework assignment?"

"Yes," Elena answered with a serious voice despite the smirk on her face. "Like I said, sorry Care, but I have to get this done."

"Alright, alright. But next week, you're coming out whether or not you have stuff to do, so plan ahead, okay?"

"Okay," Elena agreed and said goodbye before hanging up. After setting the phone down, she reached to her glass and frowned to see it empty. She had been dreading going downstairs for the fear of finding some way to procrastinate. Not to mention Damon was downstairs too. The thought of him being in the house was enough of a distraction, but the thought of seeing him was something she didn't know how to handle. It was also one of the reasons she had decided against going out with Caroline.

With a sigh, realizing how thirsty she was, Elena got up and headed downstairs to the kitchen. She could hear Jeremy and Tyler shouting at the TV the most, a sign that their team was losing. "Halftime!" John declared, making Elena pause.

Just as she finished filling her glass, all seven men entered the kitchen and smiled widely at the sight of her. Grayson was the first to give her a hug. "How is my grandchild?" he asked.

"Thirsty," she replied, holding up her glass when he let her go. "How's the game?"

"Rigged!" Jeremy answered only to be laughed at. "It is!" he argued and launched into a bunch of reasons why he thought so.

Elena tuned him out and smiled at Stefan who approached her. "Are we too loud?"

"No," she assured him, shaking her head. "I can't hear anything from the office."

"Good, although I'm sure you'll hear Ty and Jer scream like little girls when they lose," he replied with a light snicker. "I'll be back," he said, kissing her forehead before taking off for the stairs.

Elena turned to Damon then and smiled. "Hey," he said, coming to stand near her, off to the side of the kitchen, away from everyone else.

"Hey yourself," she replied softly.

"I didn't even know you were here."

"I'm working on a paper upstairs."

"Really?" he asked, his eyes jumping to the rest of the men that were scattered around the kitchen. "With all this commotion?"

"I'm in the office. You can't really hear anything from downstairs in there."

As Damon's lips parted to reply, Tyler interrupted by throwing his arm around Elena's shoulder and kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Did I ever tell you how grateful I am for setting me up with Caroline?"

Elena couldn't help but smile, knowing that over the past week, the pair hadn't been able to stop talking about one another. Stefan had told her about Tyler's gushing and Elena had told him about Caroline's. "You might have mentioned it once or twice," Elena answered, smiling widely at him.

"You really are a good friend," he added and squeezed her shoulders before letting go. "Has she said anything about me?"

"That depends, have you talked to her?"

Tyler's smile disappeared as he scowled playfully. "Alright, alright, I get your point," he mumbled before walking back to the fridge to get another beer.

Elena turned to Damon and let out a light laugh. Before either of them said anything to each other, Stefan returned to her side. As he started to put an arm around her waist, she moved out of his reach and started heading for the stairs. "I think it's time I go back upstairs," Elena said and took her leave with one last look at Damon.

Instead of heading straight to the office, she stopped at the upstairs guest bathroom. After drying her hands, Elena found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror. Slowly, her eyes dropped down to her stomach as her hands rested on her skin. A small smile touched her lips as she imagined the day she would be able to see the life that was growing inside of her and hold him or her for real. Sadly, that day was about seven months away, way too long for her liking. With a sigh, Elena left the bathroom and headed for the office. Just as she was about the shut the door completely, it opened back up and Damon stepped inside, closing it after himself.

"Damon, what-"

He cut her off mid sentence as he cupped her face and brought his lips down to hers. Instinctively, she raised her arms to push him off, but as his tongue slipped past her lips to mingle with her own, her eyes closed and she began to give into the kiss, her hands resting on his shoulders. After a few moments, reality settled in and Elena broke the kiss, taking a step away from him. Her body shook as the heat of those few seconds set her on fire. Already she was wanting more.

"What are you doing?" she asked, keeping her voice low, her eyes filled with worry.

"Kissing you," he replied, a slight smirk on his lips. "I've been wanting to do that since I saw you in the kitchen."

"Well you can't. Not here," she said, shaking her head. "Not with Stefan downstairs."

Damon's smirk faded as he realized what he had just done. It hadn't occurred to him that Stefan could walk in if he felt the urge; he had been too blinded by the thought of kissing her to think clearly. "Sorry," he muttered. He took a step closer and cupped her face lightly, "But I can't help it. Besides," he said, pouting. "You're always the one to kiss me."

Elena couldn't help but smile softly at that. "Just not when he's around," she said quietly and placed her hands over his to remove them from her face.

Damon nodded and watched her take her seat behind the desk, in front of the computer. He spotted another chair and dragged it over to sit close to her. "So what kind of paper are you working on?" he asked.

She looked at him with confusion. "Shouldn't you be downstairs watching the rest of the game?"

He shrugged. "I told Stefan I was going to come talk to you for a bit. There's only so much ESPN I can handle."

"You're not a sports fan?"

"Not really," he said. "Don't get me wrong, I love a good game, but I'm not one to watch every single one of them. If it's on and I happen to catch it, fine. If not, oh well, no big loss."

She couldn't help but chuckle softly. "You might not want to let them know that. They take sports seriously down here."

"I'm aware," he said in a tone that wiped the smile off her face and left her feeling uncomfortable. Damon cleared his throat and broke the tension. "You never answered my question."

"It's a book report."

His brows furrowed together. "In college?"

Elena smiled, knowing how it sounded. "We have to be creative with it. I'm writing it from the character's perspective. I know their thoughts narrated the story, but the assignment is to see what they thought of the ending. To see if they would have done anything differently. Does that make any sense?" she asked, because if he understood it, then her professor would too.

He mulled it over and Elena could tell that he was truly giving it some thought. "That's quite a challenge. Is that what the actual assignment is?"

"No, I chose that style on my own."

"Impressive. What book?"

She had been beaming with pride until he asked that question. Instantly, she felt heat on her cheeks and looked down to avert her eyes. "Um, The Awakening by Kate Chopin," she mumbled, hoping he wouldn't know it was.

She looked up and knew that he had from the sad expression on his face. "Did you choose the book?"

"From a list. I looked at all the other ones, but they weren't as interesting."

"And what does Edna think about the ending?" he asked, his voice filled with challenge as his eyes searched hers.

"I'm not looking at her as a reflection of myself if that's what you're implying," Elena said, holding her chin up in defiance. "I chose the book because it was one of the first novels about a woman and her break from social norms. Not because of the parallels to my life."

They stared at each other for a long moment; a silent battle of wills. Damon was the first to break the silence with a light chuckle. "No trips to the Gulf of Mexico for you then," he teased and reached for her hand. "May I look at it?"

Elena shook his head, smiling at the pout on his face. "I haven't started writing yet. I've been jotting down ideas and doing the outline."

He nodded and let his gaze drop down to their hands that were in her lap. His fingers were skimming across the back of her hand, drawing abstract pattern on her skin, and she was letting him. "So what did you think of the ending?" he asked, looking back up to meet her gaze.

"I think Edna was too hard on herself. She took what she wanted and then felt guilty about it. I don't blame her for drowning herself, but I think if she had been more honest with herself about what she really wanted, she wouldn't have done it. She tried following her heart while listening to her head and it destroyed her." She whispered the last part, realizing how close her situation had become to that of the fictional character. She cleared her throat and pulled her hands away from Damon's.

Damon leaned back and just watched her as she turned back to her notes and just stared at them. He stood up, knowing it was time for him to go. "Why don't you come over tomorrow night?" Elena turned around and looked at him with an arched brow. "We're supposed to be getting to know each other right? Well, did you know I could cook?"

Elena shook her head, "No."

"Well, then I would like to cook for you so you can learn about me."

The idea of him cooking for her, combined with the pleading look on his face was irresistible. "I would love that."

He smiled, his blue eyes lighting up at her acceptance. "I look forward to it," he said before heading to the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye," she replied, watching him leave and staring at the door for minutes afterwards.

That night, Elena climbed into bed next to Stefan and turned her head to look at him, watching him check his emails one last time. "Damon invited me over for dinner tomorrow," she said, blurting it out before she stopped herself.

"Perfect," Stefan said, looking at her with a smile.

"It is?"

"I was going to talk to you about it earlier, but we all got a little too distracted. Tomorrow Tyler and I are going to New York for a few days. There's a big board meeting with a new client. Whoever gets their designs picked gets the commission and a spread in Architecture of Today. The client requested up and coming architects as a way to help someone build their portfolio. If I get this, I will make enough to make sure Baby Salvatore has a secure future and have enough left over to leave us wanting for nothing."

Elena couldn't help but feel proud for Stefan. This was the break he had been waitig for. "I'm rooting for you."

"The best thing is we get to pick our own team so I could have Tyler as my executive assistant and he can put this in his portfolio too. He's going to choose me if he wins too."

"How long will you be gone?"

"A few days, Friday at the very latest. We're just getting to know the client. Our submissions have to be turned in by the end of the month and they pick within the following week."

"And that's a bad thing?" she asked, seeing him frown.

"If I get the commission, I'll be spending a lot of time in New York."

Elena sat up to wrap her arms around him. "This is your dream, Stefan. You do whatever it takes to make it a reality and we'll figure it out later."

"But I don't want to miss one moment of your pregnancy."

Elena kissed his cheek. "One step at a time. Design from the heart and I know the commission will be yours," she said before moving to lie down again. "Goodnight Stefan."

"Goodnight Elena," he returned and shut off his computer before joining her in sleep.