Holy wow! Y'all had some strong reactions to Elena last chapter! I expected that, but it was still awesome to read. Don't you worry - Elena is feeling it, now.

Thank you so much for your support. I wish I had the time to reply to each and every comment, but I promise I read them all! Someone told me Restrictor Plate was on the first page of the most reviewed Damon/Elena fan fictions now - that's so incredible. Thank you! I'll shut up now and let you read...

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.

She was losing it.

She hadn't slept a wink in two days.

She woke up Wednesday morning and started her usual routine. It was a bye week, which meant she could take it easy after a couple of long and busy weeks with Damon returning to Talladega, the Matt Donovan scandal, and then the race at Kansas with Damon's major sponsorship opportunity. She had been at the office, catching up on email and tidying up her desk, when Damon called in a panic.

She still had no idea how she made it to the hospital. She drove herself, but it was all a blur, from the time she answered Damon's call, expecting him to ask her about dinner or tell her he and Molly were going on some adventure, until the moment she had a living, breathing Molly in her arms. She didn't leave the hospital for so much as a fast food meal until she could take Molly with her. She had stayed at her daughter's side, asking the doctors questions and making sure Molly was no longer at risk for a second reaction. Damon had been there as well, never leaving, but rarely speaking directly to her, even after he held her in Molly's hospital bed.

True to the doctor's word, Molly had been released the afternoon after her reaction. Damon came home with them. She had expected no less. He had followed them home, his SUV pulling into the driveway behind hers. He was already getting Molly out of her car seat when Elena opened her door. They had been skirting around one another ever since, talking as needed, maybe trading small talk over a meal or while watching TV with Molly, but otherwise, they focused solely on Molly who was recovering well.

She was hiding now, tucked away on her back patio, her knees pulled to her chest as she struggled to gain and keep control of her emotions. She had been a mess since Molly's reaction, first out of fear, and now out of guilt. She had tried to talk to Damon a few times, but each time, she either chickened out or else been cut off by Damon or interrupted by Molly. Ginny and Giuseppe and Stefan and Caroline had also been around a lot as well, checking in on both Molly and her parents, and showering Molly with attention. They had all been perfectly normal towards her, but even still, she knew they were still disappointed in how she treated Damon. It was one more thing she felt guilty about – that she disappointed the Salvatores, who had been nothing but good to her.

The sound of Molly giggling as Damon told her a story about him and Stefan as kids filled her ears. The sweet sound brought a fresh round of tears to her eyes. She had been close to losing Molly and now, she felt like she was losing Damon, all because she had been afraid and used his past against him.

His confession to Caroline about how he wished someone would acknowledge how much he was hurting haunted her. She wanted to tell him she overheard, that she was sorry for not taking his feelings into consideration, that she trusted him completely, not only with Molly, but with her. Instead, she was trying to make herself scarce. She was afraid of what would happen when she did talk to Damon. She also simply didn't know what to say.

She wiped away her tears as they fell, marveling at how she had become such a blubbering mess. She had cried a lot when her parents died, but then, it was out of grief. Now, she was scared, guilty, and, worried. For the first time in a long time, she felt incredible alone, despite the fact that Molly and Damon were mere yards away.

She gave herself another several minutes to wallow before she sat up straight and took a deep breath. Her tears under control, she made herself put one foot in front of the other. She couldn't let herself be this sad, mopey person, not when she had a daughter to care for. She had to pull herself together, figure out how to make things right with Damon, and move forward.

It was quiet when she entered the house. She padded down the hallway, intent on going to the kitchen to do the dishes from breakfast, giving herself a few more minutes to pull herself together before she went to face Damon. She startled when she rounded the corner and found him loading the dishwasher.

"Oh, hey," he said, surprised by her arrival.

"Hey," she replied. "I was going to do that…"

"I've got it," Damon said with a shrug. "Molly is napping. I told her we would take her to Chick-Fil-A for dinner tonight. I think she could ask for that damn pony right now and I would buy it for her."

"Her medicine makes her sleepy," Elena said. "She will like Chick-Fil-A," she added as an afterthought. "It's her favorite." She hated this. She hated how awkward they were. They were a lot of things, but awkward was not one of them. Even their first encounter after years apart hadn't been awkward, despite having every reason for it to be.

Damon turned back to the dishes, but he had noted Elena's puffy eyes. He was also painfully aware of how distant she was. He wanted to reach out to her, pull her into his arms, and comfort her. He was afraid, however, that she didn't want him to. He thought she was still upset with him for Molly eating the peanut butter cups on his watch. He didn't want to give her any further reason to push him away. He was trying to give her space, let things calm down before they addressed what happened at the hospital.

Without a word, Elena started helping him with the dishwasher. They moved in a quiet rhythm, emptying the sink of dirty dishes and wiping down the stove and countertops. Elena fought to both keep still more tears at bay and to remain in the room, any number of excuses to flee to another part of the house coming to mind. Damon rinsed out the rag he had been using, hyper aware of Elena's proximity and her unshed tears. She brushed against him as she returned a canister of flour to its place on the counter. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey," he said gently, catching her by the elbow. Their eyes met. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Elena said too quickly. She couldn't look away from Damon. He could see right through her and his eyes were holding hers to his in that moment. He frowned. Her eyes were red and puffy with deep, dark circles around them. She was pale and, he realized, he didn't know the last time she had done more than pick at her food for the last couple of days. Just that morning, he and Molly had devoured pancakes and bacon, but Elena barely touched hers. He was certain her heard her moving around the previous night, checking on Molly several times. She wasn't even close to fine.

"No, you're not," he stated.

"I am," Elena insisted.

"Elena," Damon said, giving her a pointed look. She buckled under his gaze. The floodgates opened once more and a sob raked through her body. Damon didn't hesitate to pull her into his arms.

"Shh," he soothed. "Everything is okay. Molly is okay."

"I'm sorry," she muttered into his chest. "I'm so sorry, Damon."

"Shh," he said again. "It's okay." He felt her pull herself even closer to his chest, if it were possible for her to get closer. She was holding on to him like a lifeline. "Talk to me," he whispered once she started to settle down.

"I'm a mess," Elena admitted, pulling away enough so she could look up at him. "I almost lost Molly. I'm losing you…" Damon frowned.

"You aren't losing me," he informed her, confused by the statement. "I'm not going anywhere." He saw the look of surprise register on Elena's face.

"But… You're mad at me…" He shook his head.

"I'm not mad at you," he said, confused. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "At least, not exactly. I thought you were mad at me." Elena tilted her head, looking at him curiously.

"Why would I be mad at you?" she asked. "You saved Molly's life."

"I thought you blamed me…" They were both starting to realize they had each assumed wrong about the other. Elena sighed.

"We are supposed to talk," she said, sounding frustrated. "We are not supposed to end up here, barely speaking."

"Let's talk then," Damon said. He pulled out a barstool for her. Elena perched on it, and he leaned on the kitchen island across from her. "What's going on? If you aren't mad at me, why have you been avoiding me since Caroline and Stefan interrupted us?"

She had finally started to calm down in Damon's arms when Caroline and Stefan returned to the hospital with pajamas and toys for Molly. Ginny and Giuseppe had followed shortly after with dinner, ending any chance Elena and Damon had to talk further about what had happened in the waiting room. They had been avoiding the elephant in the room ever since.

"I thought you were mad at me," Elena admitted. "I went way too far at the hospital. I was so scared in that moment. I have no idea how I even got to the hospital. I just know that I was there and you were there and I started spouting off a bunch of awful stuff that wasn't true."

"You were pretty harsh," Damon said bluntly. "You hit on everything I am afraid of when it comes to the two of you – being irresponsible, not being good enough to be with you, to be Molly's father. I can understand that you were scared, Elena. I was terrified, but I didn't lash out like you did. If anything, I wanted you by my side. I wanted to hold you and support you and let you do the same for me while we waited for news on Molly. To me, that's what we were supposed to do right then – be there for one another, and hold each other together while we waited for news on our little girl." Elena sighed and dropped her head into her hands.

"I only had eyes for Molly," she admitted. "All I could see was the fact that my little girl was fighting for her life. I have already lost so many people I love, Damon. If something were to happen to Molly, I don't know if I would survive." Damon pursed his lips for a moment. He knew Elena wasn't going to like what he was about to say, but it was something that needed to be said. It was something Elena needed to hear.

"Elena, I know you love Molly more than anything else in the world," he started. "I know that. I know you want to protect her. I do, too. But, you have got to give her some room to be a kid. She is going to fall. She is going to skin her knees and bump her head and scrape her elbows. She will probably break a bone at some point. And, if she does end up driving a racecar down the road, she will probably crash it, more than once. You have to lighten up and let her do those things. I understand that you have had a lot of loss and that Molly got off to a rough start in this world. But, she is okay. She is a healthy, smart little girl, and she deserves to be a kid. You sheltering her, hovering over her the way you do? That's not helping her, Elena."

Elena wanted to both slap him and hug him. She wanted to slap him because she didn't like being told she was wrong, that she hovered and was overprotective and needed to give her daughter some space to just be a kid. But, at the same time, she knew she was all of those things and she knew Damon was right. She appreciated that he called her out. She sighed.

"I don't like hearing you say that, but I get it," she said. "I even know it. I know I am overprotective. I also know she is going to scrape her knees and break bones and frankly ,she will probably eat nuts again, more than once, no matter how careful we are. It is just really hard for me not to see her as that baby fighting for her life in the NICU."

"I'm protective over her, too," Damon said again. "But, I also get that she needs to be a kid. She needs to chase after kids older than her and take tumbles in backyards."

"You are a lot better at letting her be than I am," Elena mused. "If the tables were reversed, and she was with me at the frozen yogurt place, I would have made her sit down with me at the table and eat her ice cream instead of letting her go color with kids her age. She would have sulked and maybe even thrown a tantrum, all because I wanted to keep her within reaching distance. She wouldn't have had any fun. She still probably would have eaten the peanut butter cups, because when she sets her mind to something, she figures out a way to do it."

"Maybe I could have kept an even better eye on her," Damon admitted. He had been thinking about their visit to the frozen yogurt place a lot, thinking about what he could have done differently. Maybe he could have been more stern or made Molly move to sit with them when she wouldn't listen the first few times as a punishment. "She managed to slip past me. I blame myself for what happened."

"It wasn't your fault," Elena said with conviction. "Molly is rambunctious. She is stubborn and doesn't like to hear the word 'no.' With her, I'm sure there was a point where she decided it was just as much about defying you as it was getting more candy, making her all that more determined to get her way."

"Maybe," Damon mused. "But, I still feel guilty. Which is why hearing you say the things you said hurt all that much more." Elena briefly closed her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "Damon, I am so, so sorry." Damon bit his lip again. It would be the easy thing to accept her apology and move on. Except, what she said in the waiting room had hurt him deeply. They had agreed to talk through things as they came up, and he couldn't let this go in the name of returning to a state of peace. He had a few things he needed to say.

"It hurt to hear you say those things," he said again. "As much as I want my family to forgive the things I have done, it is you I feel like I need to prove myself to. I love you, so much, but I feel like I'm walking on eggshells, all the time. I hurt you. I know I did. I will continue to regret the things I have done for the rest of my life. But, at some point, I need you to start cutting me some slack, giving me the benefit of the doubt. I need to stop being afraid that if I, I don't know, show up with vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate, that you aren't going to take my daughter and leave without a word as a way to punish me."

"You shouldn't feel like that," Elena said softly. "I didn't realize you felt that way. I didn't realize I was putting that kind of pressure on you. You don't have to be perfect, Damon. I don't expect you to be perfect. And I would never take Molly away from you. Never."

"I'm putting my fair share of pressure on myself," he admitted. "I can't erase the things I did, but I can make sure I don't mess up again. So, I make sure I bring chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla, or whatever. I just want to feel more secure in our relationship, like I don't have to worry, all the time, that I'm going to lose you."

"I'm in this, Damon," Elena said, reaching out to rest her hand on his. She was starting to realize what Damon was saying was true. He needed her to reassure him more than she was doing now. "I'm not going anywhere. You have Molly and I. And we have you."

"You have me," Damon confirmed. There was still some distance between them, however, and Elena knew she had to be the one to close it.

"I heard what you said to Caroline," she admitted. "I came to find you to apologize and tell you Molly was asking for you. I heard you telling her how no one considers how you might be feeling. You are right, Damon. At least when it comes to things on a personal level. Your feelings and fears were all I thought about at Talladega and at Daytona, but on a personal level, I'm guilty of thinking of myself and Molly and only myself and Molly." Damon sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"Maybe it makes me selfish, but there have been times when I just want someone to understand that this is hard for me, too," he confessed. "I have told you a couple times that I have a hard time looking at myself in the mirror. It's a lot to shoulder, knowing that I mistreated you, broke your heart, broke my family's hearts. It's a lot to shoulder to know that I missed out on my daughter's first three years of life because of the choices I made.

"There is an expectancy there that I need to be the one to apologize, to make the effort to fix everything I broke," he continued. "And that expectancy is very much deserved. I'm not denying that. But sometimes, I just need someone to listen. Or, if not listen, just – be there. I have a lot of self-loathing, Elena. It eats me alive. In the middle of me apologizing and trying to make things right, it would be nice to hear someone ask how I'm doing with it all."

Elena studied him for several long moments. She could see his sincerity. She stood and rounded the counter to him. She tentatively took his hands.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted at the hospital," she told him, looking him square in the eye. "No matter how afraid I was, you did not deserve that. You are a good father, Damon. You love Molly more than anything. I know that. I know you would do whatever you need to do to protect her. You saved her by acting so fast. Thank you…" Damon shook his head.

"Don't think me for saving her," he interrupted. "I only did what any good father would do."

"You saved her," Elena repeated, still holding his gaze. "And I am so grateful for that. I'm grateful that you love her that much – that you love her so much you will do whatever it takes to make sure she is okay, that she is safe and happy. I will say it again. You are a good father, Damon. I trust you, not only with Molly, but with me. Don't you ever think you aren't good enough for us, because you are. You are the best thing that has happened to Molly and I in a long time, no matter what our past is."

"I don't know about best thing…," Damon muttered.

"You are," Elena said with conviction. "You are a good man, Damon. Molly and I are so lucky to have you in our lives." Damon could only look sheepish. He knew she meant every word, but he wasn't so sure he believed those things about himself. "I'm so sorry for hurting you," she continued. "I love you. Please, forgive me?" Damon smiled down at her, picking up on the nervous note as she asked for forgiveness.

"I forgive you," he said after a moment. "I love you, Elena. And, I love Molly. You two are absolutely everything to me." He reached out and cupped Elena's cheek. "Molly isn't the only one I will do anything for." Elena smiled up at him, tears once more glistening in her eyes, this time because she was happy and relieved. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"I promise to do a better job of being there for you," she told him. "You have been a rock for me, and you deserve the same in return."

"You have been there for me, Elena," he reminded her. "You were by my side at Daytona, Talladega. And Bristol, after the whole dehydration thing." Elena chanced a small smile.

"There is more to life than racing," she reminded him. Damon returned her smile with a small one of his own.

"Is there?" he asked, the mood lightening between them. Elena chuckled.

"I love you," she said again. "I'm glad we talked."

"That's the deal," Damon reminded her. "We talk. I'm in this, Elena."

"I'm in it, too," she promised. She kissed him again, fisting his t-shirt in her hands and pulling him to her. He got the message and backed her against the kitchen counter, eager to repeat their make out session from a few days earlier. Feeling bolder, Damon slipped his hand under Elena's shirt, relishing the feel of skin on skin. His hand crept upward, Elena sighing contently as she let her hands drift over his chest.

"Mama!"

Damon and Elena sprung apart at the sound of Molly calling out.

"Daddy!" Damon groaned and dropped his forehead to Elena's shoulder.

"That's what we have to look forward to, isn't it?" he asked. "Lots of interruptions at inopportune times." Elena nodded.

"Parenthood," she stated.

"Mama!"

"I'm coming!" Elena called. She looked at Damon. "You coming?" Damon had sat down on a stool.

"I'll be there in a few," he said with a guilty sort of grin. "I need – a minute." Elena chuckled lightly before she turned and left the room. Damon groaned and let his head fall into his hands.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to be a gentleman.

Elena apologized. She meant it. I think its safe to say there has been a shift in their relationship - more even footing, if you will.

As for length, there are a handful of chapters left. I can't say how many, exactly, but I'm just about finished the story on my end, so I'll have a better idea soon. It's sad to think about! Next up - we shall board a train.

Please let me know what you thought!