In the dimly lit lounge, a small combo played a dreamy ballad, all soft and bluesy with longing. A handful of couples moved slowly around the handkerchief-sized dance floor frequently as described as intimate. Elena didn't want a fancy wedding but a small reception made up of friends and families. Damon had insisted a lavish wedding ceremony but finally he gave in.

Elena fully agreed with the description as she danced with Damon, not a breath of space between them, their feet moving indifferently to the rhythm, their heads bent together, with Damon now and then turning his mouth against her temple or cheek in discreet caresses.

At his mouth lightly rubbed itself against her forehead, Elena smiled. "This is nice."

"You know you could have a fancier wedding than this," he said dryly.

"But I like this," she whispered against his lips before her mouth closed over his.

When they pulled apart, he held her possessively, protectively, damn grateful that he had her with him. He would treat every day with Elena as a gift, because it was.

"Tell me something you really want—anything at all. I want to give you something," Damon said desperately, wanting to show Elena how much she meant to him.

She pulled his head back by fisting his hair gently. "I have everything I want, Damon. I have you."

Somehow, he didn't see himself as a very big prize. "What else?"

Studying his face for a moment, she finally answered, "Well, I would like to have a baby sometime in the next year or so. I think I'll probably need your help and your consent since we are married."

Damon's heart went into double time. He could imagine Elena ripe with their child, rocking a daughter or son to sleep. Playing. Laughing. Loving. It would be amazing.

"I would love that. A girl with your beautiful eyes and smile would be incredible."

"A boy with your eyes and your cute little smirk," she corrected.

"One of each?" It sounded like a good compromise to him.

"Babies don't exactly come made to order," she teased, squeezing his fingers as her laughing eyes smiled at him.

"I'm a Salvatore. We never give up." Hell, he would give her as many babies as she wanted to have, and he would love every one of them fiercely.

"So I take it I have your agreement?"

"Yep. And you know I'm going to help just as much as you would like." He would help several times a day if she wanted to get pregnant. In fact, he would help even if she didn't want to get pregnant.

"I think I'm going to need to practice until you are ready. A lot."

Elena snorted with laughter and pulled him back down to kiss her.

He obliged very willingly. This was one mission where Damon knew he would have absolutely no reservations.

x x x

Five years later…

Damon wheeled his blue Camaro into the driveway of the Lakehouse. His four-year-old son, Joseph, sitting in the seat beside him, laughed with pleasure.

"Do it again, Daddy! Let's go for a drive again!"

Damon unbuckled their seatbelts, got out and laughed as he swung his son to the ground. "I think we have enough sight-seeing on the car today, son. Otherwise I will be in trouble." He looked toward the cottage and, sure enough, there she stood on the front porch, hands planted firmly on her hips and her small foot beating an impatient tattoo. "Oops! Looks like we are in trouble," he said with a grin.

His son ran toward his mother as Damon slowly headed toward the front porch. As Damon walked closer to Elena, his heart filled to overflowing with love, the way it always did when he saw her, even after such a brief absence. His eyes ran appreciatively over her slender figure. She was dressed in a pair of tight jeans and T-shirt, and he felt his body responding as it always did, even after nearly five years of marriage. God, I love that woman!

"Mommy! Can we go for a drive again? Please?" Joseph asked.

He stopped at the bottom of the porch steps and grinned up at her, waiting for her to tear into him as he knew she would.

"No more drive today. You have gone for a drive more than three times already." She glowered at their son, but the expression didn't quite ring true. "And you, Damon Salvatore, you need to stop taking our son for a drive in that thing!" There was humour in her eyes and affection in her voice.

Damon stuck his hands in his back pockets, rested one foot one the first step and cocked his head to one side. "I haven't killed anyone with that thing yet, darling. You have to trust me."

Elena gave a little huff and dismissed the subject of Damon's driving. "It's getting late. You two should get ready for supper."

"Supper sounds good. And I can't wait until the kids are asleep." He pulled her flush against his body. "I can't wait to go to bed with you."

Elena blushed like a schoolgirl at his obvious attempt to seduce her right on the front porch. "Behave yourself, Damon Salvatore," she said, but her grin told her she was not averse to the suggestion.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Their sensual interlude was interrupted by the happy squeals of two-year-old Katherine as she burst out of the front door.

Damon picked up his daughter and swung her high into the air, causing more squeals of laughter. "How's my girl?" he asked the tiny bundle who looked so much like her mother it made his heart turn over every time he saw her.

He lowered her to his chest and her soft chubby arms went around his neck in an exuberant hug. She planted a moist kiss on his cheek. The sweet smell of clean baby filled his senses, and she turned her large brown eyes to him. "Daddy, can I have ice-cream?" she asked.

"Of course you can."

Katherine's trill of delight echoed across the porch.

Elena shook her head. "Damon, what am I going to do with you? You spoil those kids rotten."

Holding his daughter against his chest with one arm and, Joseph and Elena close to his side with the other. Damon looked at the Dunham Lake and wondered what he had ever done to be so lucky. He had everything in the word anyone could possibly want or need.

The Salvatore Corporate was prospering, his family was well and happy, and he had the most wonderful woman a man could ever ask for. A slow grin tipped up the corner of his mouth. Damon Salvatore was a happy, contented man, and he had the feeling that his happiness would continue for a long, long time.

Who said a Salvatore and a Gilbert could not live happily ever after?

THE END