A/N: Thank you SO SO SO MUCH for your amazing reviews! :):):)
Did I say the beginning of December? I meant the end. Sorry. OK, I'm aware these kind of jokes aren't even funny anymore, but anyway lol I hope all of you had a beautiful, happy Christmas! And in case I'll be running late with the epilogue (which for a change is not going to be terribly long, so it actually shouldn't take me forever to post it), HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2017 bring you everything you're wishing for plus a few wonderful surprises :]
Chapter 36
Elena tossed her jacket onto the backseat and then reached out for the seatbelt, but stopped with her hands in mid-air when she noticed the expression on Damon's face.
"What is it?" She asked with an anxious frown, glancing right and left.
They had taken all the necessary precautions to sneak out unseen, but at 6 am there was always a chance someone could have heard them... especially since they had made some noise on the stairs. Elena bit back a smile.
"We forgot about something," Damon muttered, giving Elena serious look.
Elena grimaced, already imagining that they would have to sneak back inside, and then no doubt they would run into someone-
But a lop-sided smile that appeared on Damon's face next made Elena's worried expression turn into an amused one.
"Forgot about this," Damon clarified, cradling her face in his and kissing her.
Elena smiled into the kiss.
"If we don't want to get caught by an angry wedding planner we better get going," she said in a low voice, reluctantly breaking the kiss.
"Don't worry we'll be back tomorrow morning right on time for your bachelorette party and... my weird bachelor field trip," Damon added in a voice that made Elena laugh.
"I think that's really nice of your dad to come up with this idea. He remembered that you've never been camping," Elena offered with a hint of sincere enthusiasm in her voice that made Damon smile.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to be very careful what I say around him from now on." Damon said, turning on the engine. "You'd think he should figure out I'm too old to be a boy scout."
With a smile Elena laced her fingers with Damon's when he reached for her hand.
"What about med school?" Elena asked with a small smile.
Damon snorted mirthlessly. "Your parents were just making conversation."
"Actually, I think they were being pretty serious about it. They mentioned it again yesterday." Elena sighed and then added in a flat voice. "While everyone else was busy making fun of our plans. You know, the fact that two people who can't cook want to open a restaurant," she clarified and they both laughed.
"Yes, speaking of our plans," Damon said with a smirk, turning into the main road.
Elena gave him a questioning look, intrigued. "So where did you say we were going on our secret road trip today?"
Damon widened his eyes at her. "I didn't," he said with a wink in an exaggeratedly secretive voice.
Elena tossed her head backwards with a smile.
xxxdelenaxxx
"They did what?!" Caroline exclaimed and Sarah stifled a smile when Jeremy looked back down at the screen of his phone, ready to simply read the text message from Damon and Elena again. "I heard it the first time!" Caroline interrupted him with an annoyed groan. "I just don't understand why they would bail on their own wedding!"
"The wedding is three days from now and they said they would be back tomorrow morning," Sarah pointed out.
"Exactly," Bonnie agreed, however her stoic expression and calm tone of voice seemed to aggravate Caroline even more. "In other words, they didn't bail on the wedding. They bailed on you." Bonnie gave Caroline a sweet smile that she returned before glaring daggers both at Bonnie and Enzo who was sitting nearby with a smirk on his face.
"Besides, this is technically going to be their second wedding, so it's not like they should be in a great hurry," Enzo added good-humoredly.
"Isn't everything pretty much ready anyway?" Jenna observed in a conciliatory voice.
"If by ready you mean falling apart then yes, it is." Caroline huffed with a frown and then continued with an explanation, because it looked like no one knew what she was talking about. "Did you know that Elena invited," Caroline glanced over her shoulder before lowering her voice to an agitated whisper," that she invited Lily to our Bachelorette party? Who does that?! I mean, would any sane person invite their attempted murderer-turned-mother-in-law, to their Bachelorette party?!"
"Of course not," Jeremy conceded so easily that Bonnie was already expecting something amusing to follow. "But we're not talking about sane people here. We're talking about my sister who has left sanity behind a long time ago, her choice of a husband being a pretty glaring indication of that."
Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, reluctantly letting go of her mood and at last giving in to smiling like everyone else.
"Kind of funny you of all people find this amusing," Enzo stated matter-of-factly. "Aren't you engaged to the most ruthless serial killer in the world's history?"
"Aren't you late for you unsuccessful first date number thirty-two?" Caroline shot him a thoroughly unamused look extending it to everyone else who looked amused by Enzo's comment. "You know what, I'm just going to go and take a day off from work of any kind and more importantly from all of you," Caroline said in an artificially patient voice before turning on her heels and leaving the room.
"Good. Now we can go back to planning our solitary trip around the world," Enzo said enthusiastically, smoothing out the corners of the map splayed over the table.
Bonnie blinked a few times before arching an eyebrow on him. "You should probably look up the word 'solitary'," she said, sliding the map away from him in one swift movement.
Enzo gave Jenna a pleading look, because Sarah and Jeremy had already started heading for the door, clearly not interested in helping him out.
"What if you get stuck in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks?" Jenna offered. "You might want to have something with you to throw in the water to distract them."
After a moment of mock-consideration Bonnie nodded. "Valid point."
Enzo smiled and slid the map back closer to himself again. "So where will we be going first?"
xxxdelenaxxx
Elena didn't even try to guess what kind of trip Damon had in mind, but she figured that they would need to spend in the car definitely more time than mere 15 minutes that passed between Damon starting the engine in front of the boarding house and turning it off in front of a beautiful house at the outskirts of town, near the forest.
There were a few other houses nearby, but far enough to make room for quite an impressive little garden complete with a couple of trees and rose bushes.
"Where are we?" Elena asked, mesmerized by the sight, the white walls of the house contrasting so perfectly with the bright green grass and red flowers.
Keeping her eyes glued to the house, taking in all the details, wooden engravings on the veranda, a plush swing, white and red curtains in the windows, Elena suddenly stopped abruptly in her tracks in front of the mailbox, clearly startled by something.
The mailbox was sparkling in the sun and Elena lifted her hand to touch the silver letters that drew her attention:
E & D Salvatore
"Yeah, I did that before the whole real dad reveal situation," Damon said with an artificially sour smile. "Although I'm thinking about explaining to him why I may not be changing the name, after all-"
"Is that-" Elena interrupted him in a faltering voice, but then cut herself off and with a broken smile ran across the garden and into the house after letting her hand linger on the doorknob long enough for Damon to catch up.
Slowly, Damon closed the door behind them while keeping his eyes fixed on Elena who kept looking around the cozy living room with amazement that reminded Damon of the expression on her face when she had walked into the boarding house's parlor for the first time.
At first everything looked simply perfect, like a catalog picture of the loveliest house. But then Elena started noticing all the details too and that caused tears to gather in her eyes, blurring her vision, making her laugh.
The furniture was exactly like she had imagined it to be in their dream house in which they had been meeting in her five-year-long sleep. The carpet looked like a brand new copy of the carpet from the boarding house, the fireplace and the couches bringing back the best memories along with all the pictures on display. She and Jeremy on a Christmas morning. She with Bonnie and Caroline at a costume party in elementary school. Pictures with her parents, with Jenna. Pictures of their summer together.
"Damon, when did you do all this?" Unable to stop grinning, Elena shifted her gaze from the photographs to him.
"You haven't seen all of it yet," Damon replied with a crooked smile, grabbing Elena's hand and taking her on a tour around the house.
Intertwining her fingers with his, Elena peeked into a guest room downstairs, green curtains framing the view of the garden outside in a quite picturesque way.
A round wooden table at the center of the dining room looked so welcoming with a porcelain coffee set in the middle of it. When Elena looked closer, she noticed that the hand-painted patterns on the coffee cups weren't accidental. Instead, each cup featured a different place or a scene, from Elena's old house, through the camaro on the road, to the fireplace in the boarding house with two silhouettes in front of it.
"How is this possible?" Elena asked, taking one of the cups in her hand and tracing every detail with her fingertips.
"It's called personalization and shops accept orders online these days," Damon said with a wink on their way through the kitchen which looked both pristine and cozy, the effect Elena could not wait to analyze further.
"I mean, how did you organize, how did you prepare all that in just a few days?" Elena asked with a smile, stopping in the middle of the stairs to look down.
The lamps near the door looked like lanterns, there were special spots for mail and keys on the cabinet in the hallway, and above the cabinet there was a picture she couldn't see from the stairs, but in a second she realized it was only an empty frame, with no picture in it. Yet. She smiled.
"I had more time than that, Elena," Damon said with a pensive smile that brightened at the sight of Elena's eyes widening when they entered the first room upstairs.
The pastel-colored walls made daylight look softer as it was streaming through the windows, illuminating the crib, the white lace-rimmed fabric surrounding it, the train track on the floor, countless books and plush toys on the shelves.
"This was done recently, but as for the rest of the house..." Damon walked up to Elena who was looking around the room with teary eyes. "I had five years to do it," he reminded her under his breath, his voice ghosting over Elena's skin when he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Apart from their bittersweet dream-like meetings, building and furnishing this house made it possible for him to survive those five cursed years of Elena being asleep. At times, for a few minutes a day while he was cutting the carpets or assembling wardrobes, he could imagine that she was simply at school or at work and could walk in at any moment, throw her arms around his neck, kiss him, and render it all real.
Elena tilted her head to the side, pressing her cheek to his. "It's perfect."
Damon smiled. And now at last it was. Now it was all real. He brushed several lingering kisses across Elena's cheek.
"When we were meeting in my sleep I thought you were asking me all these questions about furniture and color preferences just to distract me." She covered Damon's hands with hers, glancing up at him.
Damon shook his head with a fleeting grimace. "I was having hot imaginary make-out sessions with you to distract you. Interior design questions were strictly research."
With a laugh, Elena turned around in his arms. "Speaking of..." She clasped her hands behind his neck and narrowed her eyes at him. "Which way is our bedroom?"
Craning her neck, Elena pretended to glance into the hallway and then laughed when Damon gently swept her into his arms.
"Luckily for you, trying out the bed is part of your private house tour today," he said in a low, husky voice, briefly narrowing his eyes at Elena in a roguish smile.
Elena chuckled. "I have a feeling this is going to be the best open house I've ever been to," she said, surveying the photographs in the hallway on their way to the bedroom.
"Be sure to mention that in the satisfaction survey," Damon said, capturing Elena's smiling lips in a kiss and kissing her while slowly lowering her onto the bed.
When they drew back to catch their breaths, Elena took a look around.
"This is beautiful," she said with a smile, her eyes shifting from the soft carpet, to the dark cherry cabinets, elegant wardrobe, gauze curtains and the books on the nightstands. "And it feels like home already," she whispered, cupping Damon's face in her hands when he sat in the middle of the bed next to her.
He leaned into her touch and with his eyes closed kissed the inside of her hand a few times before looking back at her, his arms locking around her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
Lifting his hand to her face, he brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek. "You're the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
Elena returned his faint smile and then said in a matching tone, low, earnest, full of love. "You're the greatest thing that ever happened to me too. Do you know why?" She asked, holding his face in the palms of her hands, her fingertips grazing his skin.
"Is that a tricky question?" Damon asked, sliding his hands underneath Elena's dress, a lop-sided smile flitting across his face.
Elena laughed under his breath, pulling his face closer to hers. "Because loving you has made me the person that I always wanted to be." She smiled at the startled expression that replaced the smile on Damon's face. "Brave, strong, happy," she said, pressing a soft kiss to his lips after each word.
"And you made me see the light," Damon said quietly, mirroring her gesture and cupping the sides of Elena's face with his hands. "Showed me the way out of darkness."
Elena smiled, brushing her lips across his over and over again. "And I promise you," she whispered, their foreheads touching. "It will never be dark again."
xxxdelenaxxx
"Ah, there you are," Liz said with a bright smile, walking into the living room where Miranda and Grayson were sitting by the fireplace.
"Liz!" Miranda jumped to her feet to hug her. "Maybe today we'll finally have time to catch up", she said with a smile that Liz returned.
"That was definitely my plan."
"Am I invited?" Grayson asked rising to his feet as well.
Liz and Miranda exchanged exaggeratedly reluctant looks.
"I thought you were in for some brother bonding today?" Miranda said, stifling a smile while reaching for her purse.
Grayson nodded. "Exactly."
"I'm sorry, but we're in an urgent and overdue need of a girls' night or rather day and night out." Miranda shrugged and then both her and Liz laughed.
"Yes, I was expecting this kind of answer but thought I'd try anyway," Grayson said in an unenthusiastic voice and then laughed as well.
"Surely it's not going to be that bad," Liz offered with a smile.
"Well, I guess there are worse ways of spending one's day than listening to your brother rant about your son-in-law."
Miranda snorted under her breath. "One of these days he's going to get over it. But speaking of. I've been told you and Damon are really good friends," she said with a smile, turning to Liz. "So I have every intention of taking advantage of that and gaining some additional insight."
"Sounds good to me," Grayson said.
The three of them exchanged smiles.
"We've all been to hell and back, and you're probably yet to hear some stories from the past, but... He's a good kid," Liz said in a sincere, reassuring voice, looking between Miranda and Grayson. "And he loves Elena with all his heart."
Miranda nodded and gave Liz a warm smile.
"Believe it or not, that's actually one of John's problems with the situation. No, wait." Grayson paused and then corrected himself. "I think his problem was that Elena was too much in love. Either way, do you think he'll notice I'll be reading the news on my phone while he'll be talking?"
"Well, if you're going to read anything, I suggest you focus on real estate," Miranda said with a small sigh. "Since our house went up in flames and all."
Liz shifted her eyes between them. "You don't know," she said with a cautious smile, drawing their attention.
Miranda tilted her head to the side. "Don't know what?"
Liz smiled. "The full results of my future son-in-law's making amends tour."
Miranda and Grayson exchanged puzzled looks, but before they had a chance to react to that, someone walked into the room, making them all look toward the door.
"Making amends tour. Yes, coincidentally, I think that's the expression I was looking for."
Miranda and Liz seemed completely caught off guard, but after a brief moment of just staring at the guest in amazement, they both grinned and rushed toward her.
"Abby!"
xxxdelenaxxx
"And that must be the philosopher's stone," Isobel stated matter-of-factly, leaning against the door frame.
Shane laughed, turning away from the table and walking toward her with a small box in his hand. "Actually, these are the wedding rings. Would you believe I was entrusted with them?"
"I would," Isobel answered easily. "Caroline did mention she was running short on errand people."
Shane smiled again and Isobel smiled back. For a few moments they were just looking at each other, before Isobel spoke again.
"Can I ask you something?"
"If it's something Damon hasn't asked yet."
Isobel laughed briefly, biting her lip.
"I have to say, I'm flattered that despite the fact that I spent the last several years all alone on a remote island, everyone seems to think I was still somehow the master mind behind the spell to obliterate magic."
Isobel narrowed her eyes at him. "No, that's not it. That's not what Damon thinks. He just thinks that this kind of spell could have some kind of a loophole or side effects you may know of but choose not to share with us."
"And what do you think?" Shane asked, holding her gaze, a small smile flickering across his face.
"Well," Isobel pushed herself away from the door frame and walked a few more steps inside the room, speaking with her back to Shane. "I was 15 when I gave birth to my daughter, abandoned her out of fear, got a university degree, married the nicest guy out of love, left him out of curiosity, died as a human, became a vampire, died again, came back to life, and most recently spent a day picking a dress for my daughter's bachelorette party." Isobel turned around, a smile that Shane could only describe as complicated flitting across her mouth. "I guess what I think is that anything is possible."
Shane nodded slowly, giving her a warm smile. "I agree with that," he said, walking up toward her, stopping near the table with a plant set in a basket on it. "But all I can tell you is that I don't know anything more than what I let on, Isobel, however..." He raised his hand and lightly caught a piece of a dry leaf between his fingers. "If years of research and world travel taught me anything, is that we can never truly erase what we did not create. Love, pain, faith. Whatever we are able to feel, is essentially indestructible." Slowly withdrawing his hand, he watched Isobel's eyes drift to the leaf, now all healed and immaculately green. "Magic is like love. You can annihilate it, but..." He smiled. "It's always capable of growing right back on."
xxxdelenaxxx
"Ugh, Elena, tell me you're not in bed with Damon right now!" Caroline shouted into the phone and then quickened her steps when people in the street started giving her odd looks.
"OK," Elena chirped, snuggling closer to Damon, his cheek resting on top of her head, his arms wrapped around her. "Any specific tone of voice in which you want me to say it?"
Caroline groaned. "I did give you the list of things we were supposed to do today, didn't I? Disappearing on your wedding planner three days before your wedding is not exactly the most rational thing to do, is it?"
"I don't know why you assume we were trying to be rational?" Damon said, loud enough for Caroline to hear.
Elena giggled.
Caroline squeezed her eyes shut. "Fine. If you'll have to dance for nine hours in the shoes your mother-in-law picked for you, you'll only have yourself to blame."
Elena opened her mouth to reply, but Caroline had already ended the call.
"I think she's a little mad," Elena said, putting away her phone and turning to Damon, pretending to look worried for a second before her eyes lit up and she smiled again. "So where were we?" She murmured under her breath, leaning down to trace open-mouthed kisses across his chest.
Damon smiled and after pulling Elena's lips to his for a scorching kiss, he rolled them over, lowered his lips to her cheek, kissed his way to her ear and whispered. "Somewhere here."
xxxdelenaxxx
"So why are we leaving at 4am again?" Jeremy asked once he, Damon, Stefan, Enzo, Alaric and Desmond were all in the car.
Damon looked at him over his shoulder and flashed him an artificial smile while Stefan explained.
"We're trying to avoid having Klaus invite himself to join us."
"Trying to avoid," Damon repeated. "That's the way to inspire confidence. Thank you, brother."
Stefan shrugged.
"Well, let's hope he's occupied otherwise and just won't notice," Enzo said, starting the engine.
Stefan snorted humorlessly. "Is he going to be doing that for the whole time? Because this may get annoying very quickly."
Damon threw out his arms a little to signify the lack of answer to that question.
Enzo gasped. "Is that a threat?" He asked in a serious voice and then smirked.
"They don't like each other very much," Jeremy explained, giving Desmond a smile.
"Yeah, he killed me," Enzo said, glancing at Stefan in the rear-view mirror.
Alaric laughed briefly. "Really? We're doing that?"
"No, we were supposed to do that later," Jeremy said matter-of-factly.
"Do what?" Damon asked, glancing over his shoulder at them.
"Shots," Jeremy clarified. "And the 'never have I ever been killed by' game."
Alaric chuckled. "I have a feeling I'm going to get very drunk tonight."
"Aren't you all supposed to be nice to me today?" Damon asked with a grimace.
"No, not really," Alaric deadpanned.
Jeremy and Stefan chuckled.
"Well, I think we can safely leave the being nice to you part to Elena," Enzo said with a smirk. Jeremy hit him on the head with his backpack. "Ouch."
"OK." Damon straightened up in his seat. "So since this is a rather weird cross-generation bachelor field trip party that happens to include people with different levels of sense of humor, different sensibility levels, and different relationships to one another, I suggest you revise your choice of punch lines," Damon said, giving Enzo a look.
"Yeah, I'm sure most people in this car would appreciate it," Jeremy muttered, glaring daggers at the back of Enzo's head.
Enzo shrugged. "Fine. I meant no harm. I'm actually quite genuinely a fan."
"Yes, since you mentioned that," Damon interrupted him. "Why are you so obsessed with Elena and I? Apparently, Elena's parents know a disturbingly detailed history of our relationship courtesy of... you. What's that all about?"
A smile flitted across Enzo's face before he offhandedly admitted. "I simply find it inspiring." He paused and then added. "If someone like Elena could fall in love with someone like you, then anything and everything is possible."
Damon glanced over his shoulder at Jeremy, Alaric and Stefan who seemed to unequivocally find the comment amusing.
"Ha ha," Damon said flatly, his gaze stopping at Desmond who was yet to join in the conversation. "I hope this is the 'what am I doing here' kind of silence, and not the 'I agree with everything they say' kind.
Desmond smiled. "More of the 'I can't believe I'm really headed to a bachelor party with my son' kind," he said in a low, sincere voice.
Damon smiled briefly and then looked toward the window when Enzo took an unexpected turn. "Why are we going this way?"
"We're picking up Matt," Jeremy retorted, making everyone laugh again.
"Hilarious," Damon said, squinting, and then frowned at the sound that reverberated in the car.
Jeremy pulled a ringing phone out of his pocket.
"Is that my phone?" Damon asked in an exaggeratedly incredulous tone, turning to him.
"There will be no reception where we're going anyway," Jeremy said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Damon's phone," he said, taking the call and leaning to the side, so Damon couldn't snatch the phone out of his hand. "Seriously, Elena? You don't have anything better to do at 4am?" Jeremy shook his head with a snort and handed the phone to Damon.
"So how far is it?" Alaric asked, glancing out of the window, the sky slowly brightening into a blueish dawn.
"About an hour from here," Desmond replied and was about to say something more, but trailed off, his attention drawn to what Damon was saying on the phone.
"No, I put the pepper spray in your purse, because you invited my mother to your bachelorette party."
"He is kidding," Jeremy said with a small smile, noticing the tentatively worried expression on Desmond's face.
"No, he is not, but Elena wouldn't use it," Alaric clarified.
"Caroline would," Stefan pointed out from the back.
Enzo snorted under his breath. "I can see why she picked Klaus over you. So judgy."
"Why is he on this trip again?" Stefan asked with an exaggeratedly puzzled frown, leaning forward and glancing between Alaric, Jeremy and Desmond who were sitting in front of him.
"I was going to ask the same question. You're not even Damon's real family," Enzo said with a grimace.
Stefan snorted. "That was almost funny."
"Not as funny as Caroline dumping you," Enzo replied smilingly.
Stefan rolled his eyes. "Caroline did not dump me. We came to the mutual agreement that we work better as friends. And I don't know why I even feel the need to explain that to you," he added in a low voice.
"Was it before or after you lied to her?" Enzo asked, glancing at him in the mirror.
"What?" Stefan asked, confused.
"You told her you've never been to Portland."
Stefan shook his head with a frown. "I told her I've never been to Portland, because I've never been to Portland. I'm sorry, were you eavesdropping on us?" He shot Enzo an annoyed look, before his gaze shifted to Alaric who suddenly grew pensive. "What?"
"Wasn't Kai from Portland?" Jeremy offered and Stefan squeezed his eyes shut. "I completely forgot about that trip."
"I didn't," Alaric said in a low voice.
"OK, new party rule," Jeremy said, shooting Enzo an angry look. "No bringing back sad memories."
"I know," Damon said with a crooked smile and in a voice that clearly indicated he wasn't paying attention to what was happening in the car at all. "Hey!" He exclaimed when Enzo snatched the phone out of his hand and after wishing Elena a 'very good day', threw it back to Jeremy who put it away.
"And that is why we took your phone in the first place," Enzo explained with a smile, turning up the volume on the radio to the maximum and ignoring everyone screaming at him to turn it down.
xxxdelenaxxx
"You don't look impressed," Caroline said in an utterly serious tone, her forehead wrinkling, her eyes fixed on Elena.
"No, no, I am impressed," Elena reassured her immediately, glancing at Jenna and Sarah who were trying not to laugh while Miranda, Isobel and Lily were looking around the restaurant which looked very festive, all decorated with white flowers, white ribbons and hundreds of white balloons. "We have the Mystic Grill all for ourselves and you couldn't even compel anyone to make that happen," she added, exchanging a smile with Bonnie. "I am impressed."
"Well, Bonnie suggested that a loud, crowded party is not the best place for a pregnant woman to be, so I decided to do something... quieter. Although by quieter I didn't mean completely quiet," Caroline added, squinting. She put her hands on her hips and looked around the room. "Why isn't there any music on?" She said with a frown before marching off to intervene. "Why do I always have to do everything myself!"
"We should definitely do a toast," Elena said, taking a place at the head of the table. "Bonnie might've just discovered the only way to make Caroline keep a party small."
Miranda and Jenna smiled, putting their purses next to Isobel's on a shelf nearby.
"Who is the owner of this place now anyway?" Elena asked, looking around the grill with a small smile at the many memories connected with this place.
"Elena. I took away his suffering."
"What eye-thing?"
"You need to stop doing that. Assuming that I'll play the good guy because it's you who's asking."
"Just drink."
The memory of them riding the camaro into the building was interrupted by Caroline shook Elena out of her reverie by placing something over her head.
Elena squeezed her eyes shut. I hope it just says 'bride-to-be'," she said with a laugh, giving Bonnie a hopeful look.
"Nope," Caroline replied, sliding onto the seat next to Sarah. "It says 'the boss'," she added, before Elena attempted to take the crown off her head to look at it.
Elena glanced at Miranda who nodded, confirming Caroline's words. "OK," she said, a little confused.
"Can I say it?" Jenna offered, having finished pouring everyone a drink.
"Go for it," Bonnie said with a smile, helping herself to a cupcake, and then passing the plate to Isobel and Lily.
"What is it?" Elena asked, looking around the table with growing curiosity.
"Do you know where we are right now?" Jenna asked, glancing around.
"In the Mystic Grill," Elena replied cautiously, but Jenna shook her hand indicating that it wasn't the definition she was looking for. "In the place... Damon and I blew up?" Elena tried and even though everyone laughed it still didn't seem to be the phrase Jenna was trying to make her guess. "I know. All the magic somehow got sucked into this building and now this is the only magical place in the whole entire world."
"Gee, I can tell you didn't get much sleep last night," Caroline stated in a non-nonsense voice.
"Caroline!" Bonnie widened her eyes at her, indicating Miranda, Isobel and Lily with a meaningful tilt of her hand.
"In my world having sex is less shocking than trying to kill someone but whatever," Caroline retorted, unfazed.
Bonnie hid her face in her hands.
"Caroline," Elena gave her almost a pleading look.
"No, Caroline is right," Lily cut in, a humorless smile flitting across her face. "I don't think I can apologize enough for-"
"It's fine," Elena interrupted her with a genuine smile. "We've dealt with apologies already. No more apologies." She reached for her glass of sparkling water. "It's a new beginning for all of us."
"I didn't finish what I was saying," Jenna pointed out, waving her hand at Elena.
"That's right," Caroline agreed, taking a sip of her drink and leaning back in her seat with a satisfied smile on her face.
Elena narrowed her eyes at her. "What is going on?" She asked, looking between everyone with her eyes narrowed.
"This is your place," Jenna said, extending her arms, gesturing around the Mystic Grill.
Elena blinked. "What?"
"We bought it for you," Caroline said and then squeezed her eyes shut for a second before clarifying with a small smile. "Well, Klaus bought it, but it was our idea," she said, glancing at Bonnie who smiled as well.
"How rich exactly is that Klaus guy anyway?" Sarah asked with a comedic frown.
Bonnie snorted. "You mean how rich he used to be. At the rate he's going lately, I think by the time Caroline marries him he will be broke."
Everyone chuckled.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Basically, this is your wedding gift," she said, turning back to Elena who was staring at her, stunned.
"We know you were thinking about going to New York..." Isobel started.
"But we figured that with the baby on the way, you might consider sticking around for a couple of more years," Bonnie continued with a small smile.
"Of course if you still want to move right away, we'll just move with you, to be closer to where you'll be," Miranda said in a reassuring voice. "Even though Klaus got us that really pretty house here, three blocks from our old house," she added in a lower tone, causing Elena to laugh again.
"This way you could just see if running a place like this is really what you'd like to do in New York," Caroline said with a grin. "This could be your... trial restaurant!"
"And we'd all be happy to help, so you'd have no problems reconciling all the responsibilities... including studying..." Miranda added in an artificially casual voice.
"I don't know how they did that, but you've apparently been already admitted to Duke," Jenna said, chuckling under his breath at the mockingly sheepish expression on Miranda's face. "And I'm yet to graduate."
"You probably don't want to know the details of that," Isobel said in an ominous voice, eliciting short bursts of laughter from everyone.
Elena's eyes traveled from one person to another in happy disbelief. "You're amazing. Thank you."
"And by 'you' Jenna meant you and Damon," Bonnie clarified.
"And he won't be able to compel himself a single term paper," Caroline said in a dreamy voice and then raising a glass of champagne added joyfully. "I love karma."
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"Now you can open your eyes," Caroline said, taking a few steps back and glancing at Bonnie who nodded in approval.
Hope kept jumping up and down, waiting impatiently for Elena's reaction.
Slowly, Elena opened her eyes and almost gasped at the sight in the mirror. "Caroline, this dress is beautiful," she said in amazement, lightly touching the layers upon layers of snow white lace flaring wider toward the bottom, making the delicate fabric of the bodice, the bateau neckline and the cathedral train look even more perfect than Elena could ever imagine it to be.
"You look like a princess!" Hope said happily.
"I'm so happy you like it," Caroline said excitedly, but then her happy smile turned into a dead-serious expression. "Now take it off. We have to make sure nothing happens to it before tomorrow."
Elena nodded quickly, exchanging amused smiles with Bonnie and Hope.
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"Of all the places where I would not look for you."
Damon smiled and turned around at the sound of Stefan's voice.
"When Elena told me where you were I thought she was joking," Stefan added, stopping next to Damon, and taking a longer look at the grave in front of them. "What are you doing here?" He gave Damon a genuinely curious look.
Damon glanced at the washed-out letters of Giuseppe Salvatore's name and shrugged. "Just contemplating the relativity of things."
Stefan acknowledged the answer with a mildly amused grunt. "And more specifically?"
Damon smiled weakly. "When Elena and I went back in time, for a second there I thought..." He trailed off, but Stefan just looked at him, patiently waiting for him to continue. "I realized, that things could've been different." He looked at Stefan who gave him a questioning look. "He was a horrible man," Damon said, glancing at the grave, "but... I've never exactly done anything to help him be less horrible, you know?"
Returning his faint smile, Stefan nodded, beginning to understand. "Well, I haven't either. Or maybe," he continued after a pause, "it was just Elena being there that was making you look at everything differently."
"That's my point, Stefan." Damon frowned, his voice low and thoughtful. "It's much more difficult to be the person you want to be if you're alone." For a few moments they were both standing in silence, looking at the tombstone, before Damon turned around, a humorless snort flitting across his face. "And you know what else I realized? As twisted as it is, he never left us." Damon tilted his head to the side, looking at Stefan who was looking back at him, pondering his words. "He shot us dead, but... he's the only one that never abandoned us."
"You're right," Stefan said pensively after a moment of silence. "It's a really twisted conclusion to arrive at. You clearly haven't recovered from the influence of your bachelor party yet."
They both laughed.
"Come on, let's get back to the house," Stefan said, patting Damon on the shoulder.
Damon grimaced, groaning a little under his breath. "I'm actually trying to postpone it."
"Postpone what?" Stefan asked, confused.
"Barbie of Swan Lake, Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses and Barbie and the Secret Door. Elena counted that if I want to make it in time for the contest I have to watch 3 movies a day," Damon muttered in an utterly miserable and depressed voice.
Stefan clenched his jaw, trying very hard to keep a straight face. "What about the books?" He asked matter-of-factly.
Damon narrowed his eyes at him. "Is everyone else enjoying it as much as you do?"
Stefan smiled. "More!"
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"You can't see me!" Elena exclaimed with a hint of panic in her voice, leaning against the door. "I'm already dressed!"
"Elena," Damon started in an utterly serious voice, "I want you to know that I love you even when you're not naked," he said, leaning against the other side of the closed door.
Elena laughed. "Are you dressed?" She asked, squinting.
"Twenty-five tuxedos later, yes, I finally am," Damon said, looking himself over before resting the side of his head against the door with a smile. "And my only regret is not recording Caroline telling me to take my clothes off twenty-four times, so I'd have something to send to Klaus in response to his Barbie trivia e-mails."
With a laugh, Elena touched the door where she was certain Damon's face was. "I'll see you in one hour, OK?" She said softly.
"OK," Damon replied in a matching tone and they both smiled imagining each other smile.
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"Is God coming too?" Klaus asked, approaching Caroline whom he'd been watching for a moment with her head tuned upwards looking at the sky with a very anxious expression on her face.
Caroline's eyes darted to him. "Of course He is. We've officially resolved the evil supernatural creatures issue on the entire planet earth, I say we deserve some recognition." She smiled and then sighed. "I'm checking for the rain."
"Wouldn't a tent be a good idea?" Clasping his hands behind his back, Klaus surveyed rows of beautifully decorated chairs before returning his gaze to Caroline.
"I was thinking about it, but Lizzy, Jarka, Sandra and Melissa, Sarah's friends who will be taking pictures said it'd ruin the light, so I decided to go with the open skyline and really pretty umbrellas that everyone can pick up as soon as it starts to rain." She looked up again before her eyes widened at the sound of incoming cars. "Let's go."
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"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man, and this woman in holy matrimony."
Damon and Elena squeezed each other's hands at the same time and smiled, the wind making the train of Elena's dress rise and fall, the white fabric billowing lightly in the air, making her look even more like an angel, Damon thought, brushing the backs of her hands with his thumbs, his eyes boring into hers.
"Marriage is a sacred union between husband and wife and shall remain unbroken."
Elena smiled, wishing that she could make this moment last forever, that she could live forever in this perfect moment in time. And she smiled again at the thought that she will, that this moment will last, it will stretch over days and years to come, all of them exuberant, filled with love, all of them bright until the day they die, after their long, happy human life together.
"With the power vested in me by God and the state of Virginia I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Damon cupped Elena's face in his hands, his lips inching closer to hers, but then he paused at the sound of a thunder above.
They looked at each and when drops of rain started falling over them they looked up, smiling, grinning, and when they looked at each other again the torrents of rain grew quiet, their heartbeats the only sound reverberating in their ears when they kissed.
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Laughing, Damon and Elena finally got off the dancing floor and sat down along with everyone else, their eyes shifting to Jeremy and Bonnie who were standing at one of the tables in the middle, waiting for everyone else to sit down as well.
"Since we know how much everyone loves these kind of speeches, we decided to do something else," Bonnie said with a mysterious smile, tilting her head to Jeremy.
"Wedding speeches usually tell everyone what they already know," Jeremy said, looking between Damon and Elena, "so we thought that we'd do a little twist on it, and tell you the things you don't know instead."
Everyone shared questioning, intrigued looks. Elena leaned her cheek against Damon who smiled, intertwining his fingers with hers.
"Elena," Bonnie started with a smile, "when we were in the prison world together, I asked Damon what would be the first thing he'd do if we ever got out. He said that the first thing he'd do would be telling you how much he loves you."
Elena drew a breath and smiled, glancing at Damon while keeping her cheek pressed to his.
"Damon," Jeremy spoke, a faint smile flickering across his face. "Alaric didn't alter Elena's memories just because she was sad. He did it because she spent four months drugging herself with magical herbs of unknown origin to hallucinate you."
Damon turned his head to widen his eyes at Elena who shrugged with a small smile, shooting Jeremy a look.
"We didn't say it was going to be more fun than regular speeches," Bonnie said and all the wedding guests laughed.
"Elena, when Kol compelled Damon to kill me and he caught up with me in forest, he... wanted me to kill him, so he wouldn't kill me," Jeremy said, looking at Elena who blinked in surprise.
"Damon, when you were wandering around the streets in fever after the werewolf bite, Elena broke the window at the police station with an antique chair to get to you," Bonnie said with a smile.
"I didn't know it was antique," Elena said with a laugh, glancing at Damon after he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
"Before Elena was a vampire," Bonnie continued, "Matt asked her once what was the deal with you and she said that... you sneaked up on her and she just couldn't shake you."
Damon brought Elena's hand to his lips and kissed it. She smiled at him.
"After Damon killed me, I made myself a stake and went to kill him," Jeremy laughed briefly under his breath, "but we spent an entire night talking about our dads instead."
"When you broke up and you told Elena you didn't want to even see her face ever again, there was not a single person in town she did not tell about this. She just couldn't process it at all," Bonnie said flatly, prompting another series of laughs.
The list went on for some time yet, every incident meeting with happy or bittersweet smiles, tears of joy, sadness or relief. Once Bonnie and Jeremy finished, the sound of a silver spoon lightly hitting the glass turned everyone's attention to Stefan who rose to his feet.
"I wasn't aware there would be no regular speeches and I've actually prepared mine, so... I'm not letting it go to waste."
Damon and Elena smiled at him. All the conversations stopped and everyone looked at Stefan.
"This... is my story," Stefan began, a faint smile flitting across his lips. "That was the first sentence in my first diary. And it echoed through all of the now thankfully charred volumes." He glanced at Rebekah who stifled a smile. "For a very long time that was what I believed. That was what made certain things unexplainable, impossible. That was the reason for bafflement, shock, disappointment, confusion. Don't we all have moments when we ask why something happened to us? Every one of us is the main character of our own story. But there is also something else. Something I understood much later, late, but not too late. Something that endows with meaning all those moments that wouldn't have had it otherwise. It's not just my story. It's ours. Because on top of playing the leading role in our story we also play parts in other people's stories. In those other stories we're supporting characters, guest stars, extras. We're heroes, villains, passers-by. And those other stories are equally important. Sometimes," he smiled, his gaze stopping at Damon and Elena, "they are even more important, because... they are the stories of the people we love."
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Tires screeching, Damon jumped out of the car, leaving the keys in the car and rushing into the hospital building, across the corridors and stairs and at last the sight of familiar faces reassured him that he was in the right wing.
"Where is she?" He gasped, continuing to walk on before anyone had a chance to answer him.
"Damon!" Bonnie tried to stop him from barging in, but then just rolled her eyes and turned to Stefan who smiled and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "I'll go get those coffees," he said, glancing at Grayson and Miranda who nodded smilingly.
"This is the dad, I presume," the nurse said, shaking her head in amusement at how shaken Damon looked upon entering the room and stopping abruptly in his tracks at the sight. "My name's Carol. Please let me know if you'd need anything and don't stay here for too long today. They both need to get some sleep," she added, glancing at Elena and the baby with a smile before leaving the room.
"Hey you," Elena called out to him, tilting her head to the side.
With her eyes shining from exhaustion and joy, a bright smile on her face and her hair in disarray Damon was certain she'd never looked happier and more beautiful.
"Hey you," he replied, forcing his legs to move as he stumbled slowly toward the bed where Elena was sitting up with a bundle in her arms. "Want to meet someone?"
When Damon got close enough, he could see the baby's face, tiny fingers and eyes bright with curiosity that seemed to focus on his face when he slowly lowered himself on a chair to sit next to Elena.
The baby gurgled in delight, the little boy's eyes shifting back and forth from Elena to Damon, making them both laugh.
"I love you," Damon whispered, carefully draping his arm over Elena's shoulders.
She looked at him with a smile. "I love you."
They kissed and then looked at the baby again.
"And we love you," Elena said, very lightly touching the baby's tiny hand with one of her fingertips.
Damon smiled, leaning his head against Elena's.
"Hello, son."