Title: The Best Man

Summary: Damon and Elena meet at a wedding, which ends hotter than anyone would have thought. Continuation prompt by Lucy.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this work.

Her feet wore a path on the hardwood floor beneath her feet. Elena had been pacing for hours—or what had seemed like it. It was nearly the end of the workday and the office was slowly clearing out. It had been another long Monday and the Virginia Herald had been hectic with news as they tried to sift through all the weekend posts on the website to feature. Earlier that morning she had sent an important email to the Mikaelson's about setting up a meeting about her future at the company and Rebekah had replied back quickly with a time set for the end of the day.

The waiting was agonizing. It did little to quell her nerves even though she was pretty sure she had her speech memorized. The only thing she was uncertain of was their response. She had only been working for the company a short time; a little over a year. Did that mean she could switch it up this soon? Elena had been lucky enough to get hired her and given the freedom she had. Why should she risk it?

The phone in her office beeped with an incoming call. It was Klaus' secretary, Sage, asking her to meet the family in one of the conference rooms. With a long breath and a mental pep talk to herself, she locked up her office for the day and headed towards the conference rooms. There were four of them that were lined up one after the other and decorated with a long oval table and beyond comfortable chairs. It was that comfort which she sought now as she stepped into the only conference room that held all the Mikaelson's inside. Even Finn and Kol were there and the two of them hardly were in the office.

The sight of them made her anxiety worse. Was it possible that her go-getter attitude had ticked them off? Could they not be as pleased with her work as she believed they were? Elena thought she poured her heart and soul into her work. Maybe the Mikaelson's didn't appreciate her convening them together as if she held any kind of power. She was a newbie in this world way more than they were. Who did she think she was?

"Elena, welcome," Elijah said. "Take a seat."

Smiling, despite her nerves, she took the seat across the table from Elijah who had taken place in the middle of his siblings. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me."

He nodded and turned towards Klaus who spoke. "You sent us an email stating you wished to discuss you future at the Virginia Herald. The floor, it would appear, is yours."

She cleared her throat. It was time to say the speech she had been working on since her rekindling with Damon. Elena had run it over and over again in her mind and knew it was something she needed, something that would make her relationship with Damon even better. Even though Damon was a huge factor in this decision, it was mostly something that would make her a better person.

"I can not thank you enough for taking a chance on me. Honestly," she began, "I have really lucked out here. You've all been so supportive and it's been amazing being able to write about Mystic Falls and have my own blog."

"I'm going to stop you there, Elena," Rebekah stated. She shifted in her seat, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "We love having you here. We truly do. We hope you'll reconsidering leaving us. We're willing to make it worth your while."

Elena's jaw dropped. "Uh, what?" That had been the last thing she was expecting.

"All of us," Kol, who she had never heard speak before, spoke, "want you to stay."

"You have quite a lot of talent," Finn added.

"What my siblings are saying," Elijah said, "what I am saying, is that we don't want you to leave."

Her eyes were bugging out of her sockets. She was shaking her head, her brown hair fanning out around her. "But I'm not leaving."

"You're not?" Klaus questioned, clearly shocked.

"No," Elena said. "I love it here. I wanted to ask if I could change my blog a bit."

"That's all?" Rebekah balked.

She nodded. "I realized that I lived my whole life in a box. I've never really traveled or been anywhere. I wanted to ask if I could add my travels into my blog. Do a special piece every once in a while where I write about a small town girl visiting far off places." Nervously, she bit her lip. "What do you think?"

It was Elijah who answered. Exchanging quick glances with his siblings, he turned his attention back to Elena. His eyes met hers and the ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "We love it. It'll bring a lot more to your narrative."

Relief came over her in glorious waves. Anxiety dissipated from her and she felt as if a heavy burdened had been lifted. Not only had they been more than pleased with her request but they, all of the Mikaelson's, had not wanted her to leave. It seemed her dream job that she had never saw coming had somehow become a career.

The tension in the room quickly disappeared after that. The Mikaelson's went over what they would expect of her blog posts during her travels and that it couldn't interfere with any of her assignments here. This was going to be a huge responsibility that was going to take a lot of planning and organization on her behalf but they had trust in her. They kept saying over and over about how much traction this could bring to the paper and the experience it would put under her belt.

When the meeting ended with recommendations from each Mikaelson, Elena was finally left with just Elijah. He wore a knowing look on his face as he addressed her. "Would Mr. Salvatore have anything to do with this?"

"Some," she admitted. "Not for the reason you think though."

"And what influence would that be then?"

"I'm jealous that he has so many stories to tell about his travels. He's been all over the world and I haven't spent much time out of Virginia. Hanging out with him so much as created a serious wanderlust in me."

Elijah nodded. "That's what I wanted to hear. I didn't want you to be chasing him around the world. But it sound like you're doing this for yourself. You wish to make yourself a citizen of the world. I think big things are in store for you, Miss Gilbert."

The phone rang and Elena raced towards it with unknown speed answering it before it even had a chance to go to a second ring. "Damon?"

"Hey, pretty girl!"

Ever since her meeting with the Mikaelson's she had been calling Damon and sending texts to him wanting to share her news. She knew he was out of the country, shooting some photographs in Iceland for some magazine. That didn't stop her from wanting to share her news, despite the fact that he had yet to answer her until now.

Just hearing his voice was worth all the unanswered calls and texts. "They're letting me switch up the blog! I can write about our travels! They're calling the special pieces 'Small Town Girl and the Big World'!"

"That's great, baby! I told you they would be on board. Your blog has brought a lot of traffic to the website. Stefan told me so."

"They actually thought I was going to quit," she sighed into the phone, recounting the reactions each of the Mikaelson's had to her email.

He was laughing on the other end of the line. "You should've seen what perks they had in store for you before you set them straight."

"Damon! I wouldn't do that to them. I'm just so happy that I have an excuse to travel the world with you like we said. Now I'll have my own thing going on while you're on assignment. You won't have to worry about me."

"I won't be distracted by you," he amended her words.

It was her turn to laugh. "I miss you."

"I'll be home sooner than you think," he breathed, matching the longing in her own voice.

She was leaning against her kitchen counter, staring at the fridge which was covered in photos of her friends and family. Both of which included Damon. Her eyes scanned the various photographs that went from Indiana's baptism, nights out with her friends, double dates with Stefan and Caroline, and Bonnie's game nights. One thing remained a constant in all the photos: the smile on her face.

The fact of the matter was Elena had never been happier in her life. Sure, a large portion of it had to do with Damon, but it also had to do with the sense of security she felt in herself. She was no longer that insecure girl who had lost everything and was clinging tightly to all she had left; pushing away anything that could leave. Now she was confident and open and vulnerable. People left. It was a way of life. What mattered most was knowing that you had put yourself out there and made sure those people knew how much you loved them. Hurt could come her way but she wasn't afraid of it since she started living in the moment and not worrying constantly about when and how that hurt would come.

There was a knock at her door as she listened to Damon recount his travels. She was completely lost in the sound of his voice that she didn't even notice the voice on the other side. It wasn't until the door was open wide and she saw the familiar blue eyes and dark raven black hair that she dropped her cell phone on the floor and jumped into his arms, wrapping arms and legs around him.

"What are you doing here?" she cried, pressing her face into his neck, inhaling him in. He was here in her hallway as real and solid as ever.

He squeezed her tight and kissed her shoulder, arm, anything her could get his lips on. "I took an early flight. I couldn't be away from you another moment."

She dropped her feet to the ground and brought her hands to his face, bringing his face down to hers and tasting him for the first time in weeks. It felt as natural as breathing as they kissed their way back into her apartment and his foot kicked her front door closed.

Since they had gotten back together, Damon had spent more and more time in her apartment. Some of his things were scattered about the place and some of his clothes were nestled in one of her drawers. While he had been gone it felt like a piece of her was missing and now it had finally come home.

They were practically living together.

They finally broke apart for air and smiled at each other. "This was such a great surprise!" she squealed, wrapping her arms around his before pulling back to look at him again.

"I do have my moments," he brushed his nose against hers.

In that moment, she truly had everything. A loving family, wonderful friends who were happy and building their own lives, and an amazing boyfriend who loved her. She couldn't imagine life getting any better than this. And then Damon spoke.

"I have a question for you."

The question had come a little nervously from his lips and she could only stare in wonder before she answered. It was the only response that seemed right. She loved this man. He had sparked a change in her that made her life for the better. Elena couldn't blame him for being nervous. Her past self would have run for the hills. Then she realized so would the old Damon.

They stilled at a lot of stuff to work out. While traveling around the world together and dealing with long distance when they were apart was something that worked for them now. It wouldn't in the long term when marriage and babies came along. The difference now was that they would work it out together.

Because she loved him and he loved her and together they could get through anything.

Together.

A/N: Short update but I hope to post the epilogue later this week so it'll hopefully make up for it. See you in the epilogue! Read and review and let me know what you think Damon asked Elena and what you think her answer was xx