Here it is. The end of our journey. Hope you had some fun with me.
Thank you for seeing this through with me.
...
This one is a bit of a bonus chapter. I didn't entirely plan on adding it, and I'm not sure I should have...
But it's Friday and this story started on a Friday. And since the story had six flashbacks, it might as well have six flash forwards too. I might edit this later, to try and make it better, or maybe to include whatever you guys feek is missing...
Guest: the time frame between chapter one and chapter 33 (minus the last paragraph...) is roughly 9 months. It's probably way too short for an actual trial to take place etc. But I'll just beg for some suspension of disbelief for this guilty pleasure fic of mine. :)
…
Previously: Rebekah went on a trip to Africa. She and Tyler are broken up, but she has someone else. She's back to visit her family. Klaus has a baby. Bonnie is pregnant, Caroline and Enzo have a minor car accident that makes Enzo freak out. Bonnie and Damon come to get them. They all have a moment.
...
[~ fifteen years later]
…
"She's beautiful, Care!" Bonnie's eyes welled up as she held the baby. Lizzie was cooing in her arms, reaching with her little arms to grab Bonnie's curls.
"I don't know how you do it," Caroline said with a tired sounding sigh. "I'm already so exhausted with one, and you have two!"
Bonnie chuckled. "You get used to almost anything."
Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Gosh, I don't know. This is way more difficult than I thought. Lizzie screamed for pretty much the entirety of the drive. I could really use a drink right about now."
Chuckling, Bonnie handed the baby back over to her best friend. She knew exactly what Caroline was craving. And it wasn't alcohol, it was a plan. "Babies have their own schedules," she said, smiling sympathetically. "They don't care about logistics."
"Ugh. I know!" Caroline rolled her eyes, then looked down at her baby. "You take after your dad, baby girl. He also sucks at keeping a schedule."
"Hello, ladies." They turned around to see Enzo standing in the doorway, watching them with a smirk, arms crossed in front of him.
"You didn't hear that, did you?" Caroline looked over to him, an innocent smile on her features and he chuckled in reply, starting to slowly walk toward them.
When he reached the couch they sat on, Bonnie got up, smiling at him as he took a few steps over to Caroline, bending down to take their baby from her.
"Where's the gang?" she asked him and he looked at her with a smile that made her almost tear up because it was so open, so genuine, and had been rare for so long.
"Uncle Damon, Lucy and Rudy said they'll take me and Elizabeth out to the playground," he eventually replied, "That way you girls can have some time alone." He was still smiling, and Bonnie saw Caroline beam back at him, watching as he expertly took the baby from her, the little arms grabbing at his shirt instantly, the cheeks rising up as Lizzie smiled at her dad.
"See you later, ladies." With that, Enzo swiftly went on his way, leaving them in the quiet of the large living room.
As an afterthought, knowing her crazy littlest kid, who took too much after his father, Bonnie suddenly yelled after him, "Tell Damon to make sure Rudy keeps his beanie on! It's too cold out there!"
But she was loud enough for Damon to hear her and his reply was almost instant. "How could I ever forget?! I got this babe! - You girls do your thing! See you in a couple hours! Love you, BonBon! You too, Care Bear, but yelling that is a little awkward with your husband standing right next to me!"
The girls exchanged a glance, breaking into a laugh.
"We love you both!" They yelled back, then, when they finally heard the door fall shut behind the men and kids, leaving only silence behind, they looked at each other, Bonnie once again heavily slumping down on the couch next to her best friend.
"Isn't he cute with her?" Caroline looked to Bonnie as if she needed her confirmation, as if she was almost not quite sure whether it was just in her head. Bonnie had to smile.
"He really is." Putting her legs up on the coffee table, she let her head sink against the cushions. "But as cute as our dear husbands are, I'm kinda really glad they'll be gone for a bit."
Caroline chuckled, giving Bonnie a sideways hug. With a sigh and a half-frown, she eventually admitted, "I miss you too much, Bon. I miss Mystic Falls too."
"You could come back…" Bonnie knew it was a bit of a difficult topic. That Caroline had mostly left town because of Enzo wasn't a secret. But then she had made a career for herself and now work was easier to get in the big city. New York for now, but maybe LA or even Vancouver next, because that's where her show was shot and that show was getting stellar reviews. She could make it big. Really big. But Bonnie knew that even that didn't matter when the rest wasn't how it should be, when the heart wasn't quite in it. And she could tell that something was amiss, that her best friend wasn't as happy as she should be.
She had known her best friend for so long, it was easy to read her. Back when they had first met, Bonnie the new girl at school, Caroline the slightly intimidating girl who had it all together, who was captain of the cheerleaders, Bonnie had wondered whether she'd ever feel at home in this town, with these too perfect people, but then Caroline had been the one to take her by the hand and show her around - and also show her what lay behind that perfect facade. And Bonnie had felt better instantly, had soon really felt at home.
So she knew what Caroline was dealing with now, because it was the same reason why she and Damon had eventually stayed in their hometown, in perfect little Mystic Falls with all its dark pasts and scary secrets, after a long and hard debate on whether they really wanted to raise their child - or their children - there. In the town where they had lost so much, had suffered so horribly.
It hadn't been an easy decision. They had tried living with Caroline and Enzo for a bit to see how they'd like the big city, the freedom of the world. But when Bonnie had seen how tough it had been on Damon to be away from Stefan and the boarding house, when she herself had felt overwhelmed with the sheer size of New York, she had known that despite everything, their hearts were still in their stupid hometown. They had debated, weighed the pros and cons, and had ended up back in Mystic Falls after all.
And eventually, they had made so many new memories, good memories that the dark ones had started to be pushed back, then fade, until they didn't seem to matter so much anymore in the grand scheme of things.
Damon had his job at their finally established restaurant. Soon, Lucy would go to school here. Rudy was friends with both Matt's and Tyler's youngest, and it felt like there was a new rugrat Mystic Falls Gang in the making.
Almost all their closest friends still lived here, their families, too (not that they had large families, there was her Grams, and there was Stefan…), and if it weren't for Caroline and Enzo living so far away, this could be the happiest place for them to be.
Because she was happy here, she really was, and so was Damon. Besides, the past would always be a part of them anyways, no matter how far away they went. Nothing would change that. But they were getting better and better at dealing with it.
"Actually…" Caroline suddenly said to Bonnie, jolting her back out of her thoughts, giving her a slightly apprehensive look. Or was that a flicker of excitement? "We're debating coming back."
Bonnie's eyes widened, a huge smile appearing on her face. "What?! Really? Oh my gosh that'd be so amazing! You mean, coming back here?"
"Well," Caroline injected, "not back-back. I don't think I could get Enzo to ever move back to Mystic Falls again. But one of the neighboring towns…"
Bonnie tried not to get too excited but was failing. Gripping Caroline's hands, she grinned widely. "So you really talked about it? What did he say? Is he being super stubborn as usual? Should we tell Damon to talk some sense into him? I know Damon is going half crazy with his bestie so far away."
Caroline smiled, shaking her head a little. "Enzo's the same. I think that's the reason why he isn't so opposed to the idea anymore. He misses Damon too much." She chuckled mildly, fondly. "He's been really looking forward to coming out for this Thanksgiving trip. We're actually going to stay at my mom's until after Christmas."
"I thought she and Elijah were going to celebrate in New Orleans."
"Not this year." Caroline grinned. "You better prepare yourself, Bonnie. The whole Mikaelson clan will be in town for the holidays."
Bonnie chuckled, shaking her head. "Well… That'll be an exciting few weeks then. I knew Rebekah is coming. She'll be celebrating with us at the boarding house. She said we'll finally get to meet the mysterious Marcel…" Bonnie raised her eyebrows, wiggling them, making Caroline laugh.
"He's not all that mysterious," the blonde said, laughing at Bonnie's disappointed expression.
"You've met him? How have you met him?" She pouted as Caroline nudged her side a little.
"He's really handsome, though," she explained as if that made up for the lack of mystery. Bonnie figured she could live with handsome, too.
"Alright. Accepted. - Still, I'm curious: when did you get a chance to meet him, when I haven't even seen you in a few months."
Caroline looked at her slightly guiltily. "We may have visited them in New Orleans last month? Enzo was working on this short and—"
Bonnie raised a hand, laughing. "You don't have to explain, Care. It's fine. I'm happy you got to see them. I know she and Enzo are close. And I mean, they're family now." She winked, making Caroline put her hands in front of her face.
"Still can't believe my mom and Elijah finally tied the knot. She was so apprehensive all the time. Didn't want to tie down such a young man, and all that."
Bonnie chuckled. Sometimes it was hard picturing Liz Forbes married to a Mikaelson. But somehow they had made it work. Just like all of them.
Bonnie and Damon.
Caroline and Enzo.
Stefan and Elena, who had struggled there for a bit - but hadn't they all?
Matt and Penny.
Liz and Elijah.
Tyler and his wife of two years, Haley.
She hoped Rebekah had finally found the right one in Marcel, too.
And Klaus, well... Klaus had his daughter.
There was happiness in all their lives, so much more than she could have hoped for after the pit. It had all worked out somehow. She was still sometimes afraid that she was ruining her kids, her five year old daughter especially, because Lucy was finally old enough to want to roam free, old enough, too, to have picked up on the fact that Bonnie wasn't going out all that much, preferred to stay home in the safety of their house.
But she was working on it. She always would be.
And maybe one day, she would go out more again, would maybe even see the world.
Until then, she was happy here with Damon, her children, her friends, the occasional trip to the grocery store or coffee shop, the rare visit to Caroline and Enzo all she really needed to be happy.
…
Thanksgiving came and went. As usual, Caroline had done all the planning, helped by Bonnie, the guys were on child entertainment duty, Damon and Enzo were not allowed to do dishes (an unspoken agreement for the last ten years) or even so much as step a foot into the kitchen, really, and when dinner was over, everyone had to go on a nice long walk, enjoying the fresh air and each other's company.
It was a low key affair, a quite uneventful day, nothing exciting, which was amazing, though probably weird for someone like Rebekah's handsome boyfriend, who wasn't really used to a small town like Mystic Falls, and this motley group of strange friends. But he was a trooper.
Damon still worried about them all sometimes, he couldn't help it. But seeing Kol's sister doing so well, so much more collected again, so strong, so happy had made him realize that maybe, after fifteen years, he could stop worrying about her. This man by her side was a big part of the fact that she finally seemed able to settle down again, to stay in one place for longer than just a couple months here and there, and that was the biggest giveaway that she was finally past the shallows and back on solid ground.
Maybe that meant he could finally persuade himself that he hadn't screwed this up, hadn't broken his promise to Kol. That he had gotten her out.
Because she was here now, wasn't she? Just like they all were.
Bonnie, all smiles as she was talking with Sheila, Liz and Caroline, Stefan laughing outside, where he was shooting some hoops with Tyler, Matt, Klaus, and the kids, Elena chatting with Elijah, probably about some work related stuff, and Enzo, his best friend, his half-brother, sitting across from him now with a frown on his face.
"Since when are you the brooding one?"
Damon looked at him, his mouth curling upward in a wide grin before he scoffed. "What?!"
"You, those creases on your brow." Enzo pointed a finger, raising his chin slightly challengingly as he sat back in his chair. "The way you sit here all by yourself, and keep staring at everyone."
Damon raised his eyebrows. "I'm not staring. Besides. I could ask you the same. You're sitting here with me after all…"
"I just put my daughter to sleep. And talked with Sheila for half an hour about that Australian show she's been watching for decades. She told me my accent always reminds her of it and I kindly explained that Australian doesn't sound anywhere near what I sound like…" Enzo rolled his eyes, making Damon laugh from the heart.
He could just envision it now and was almost sad that he hadn't been there to follow that conversation.
"Sheila's a gem, isn't she?"
Enzo nodded, still looking at Damon with a weird expression, though, making him sigh.
"I'm okay, Lorenzo. I promise," he allowed, "You can go and join in the fun again. I'll just sit here for a moment longer and—"
"You're not wondering again whether you have failed us in any way, are you? Because, mate, you haven't. Bonnie doesn't think so, Rebekah doesn't think so, you know that I don't. And Kol and Jeremy wouldn't think so either."
Damon rolled his eyes. Since when did Enzo know him so well that he could read all of his damn thoughts? Oh, right. Since pretty much forever.
…
He remembered how he had first met him, this sad skinny boy with the too dark eyes and too dark hair, clothes dirty and torn, sitting on a wall looking gloomy and alone. Like an easy target...
Then he had found out that kid had bruises mirroring his own, something he had only found out about because he had kicked that kid, hard, wanting, needing an outlet for all the pent up anger he had felt after his own abuse by Guiseppe had caught up with him once again, had made him angry and ready to explode. His father had hurt him so badly that he could barely sit, or walk, or ride his bike, making him the target of ridicule among his ignorant classmates.
This dark and dirty kid, however, who had appeared out of nowhere, apparently new in the not so nice neighborhood close to school and far away from where the Salvatores lived, this kid had not backed down, had even fought back - until he had seen the red mass that was Damon's back when they had both lain entangled on the ground.
Damon had jolted away as soon as the kid had seen it, had glared at him, had threatened him. "I'll kill you if you tell anyone!"
But then the kid had just shaken his head and stared at him, wordlessly showing his own back, his arms. Full of bruises, old, new, some so large and raw that Damon's eyes had widened, unable to comprehend how someone could really have it worse than he did.
Hadn't Guiseppe Salvatore been the worst father? Hadn't his and Stefan's childhood been the biggest lie?
The kid had apologized afterward, had asked him whether he was okay. He had even offered Damon a piece of his sad excuse of a lunch - just a stale bread with some cheap slice of cheese, and the way he had clearly been starved for someone else's company, had moved something in Damon, had made him stay and sit with this kid, allowing his tears to just flow without fear of getting laughed at again, and when one of those filthy arms had come around his neck, consoling him, he had bitten down the harsh "Don't touch me, you disgusting piece of shit" and opted for silence instead. For friendship.
"If you need a place to stay, I'll smuggle you into the place I'm staying at," the kid had said much later, when Damon had composed himself a bit again, only sniffling a bit still, and he had smiled and shaken his head.
"I think your home is even worse than mine," Damon had stated soberly, making the kid laugh out loud before he had replied, "It's not a home."
Why Damon had later asked the boy to come home with him, why the kid had even said yes, or why he had stayed over even after the first time Guiseppe also raised a hand against him, Damon hadn't even quite understood until much later.
Maybe he hadn't even quite understood it until the pit. When he had felt that same panic, that urge to be there for someone else, to protect his best friend and the girls with whatever means necessary, and no matter the costs to his own safety.
…
"Damon."
He looked up, slightly startled, then smiled. "We've come a long way, haven't we?" He asked, clearly a bit too cryptically for poor Enzo, who shot him the weirdest glance.
"You're worrying me, mate. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, Enzo. Just a little Thanksgivinged out, perhaps. So much to be thankful for lately. My gorgeous wife, my beautiful kids. Restaurant's doing amazing. Stefan and Elena are back together, Rebekah seems happy, and you and Caroline will be moving back here."
"That last one isn't—"
"Aw, shut up, Lorenzo, that last one is most definitely gonna happen. I know it, Bonnie knows it, Caroline knows it, you're outnumbered and outruled, my friend. Better get used to it now." He chuckled as Enzo rolled his eyes, his features turning into a reluctant smile.
"I assume I don't get a vote."
"You assume right." Damon stood up, patting the other man's shoulder, as he, too, got up, facing him with a sigh. Suddenly, Damon sobered, the atmosphere changing momentarily as he gripped his friend by the neck, looking straight at him.
"In all seriousness, though, if you don't think you can do this, then don't."
"Damon…"
He shook his head. "It's okay. I know this town is not exactly your favorite place to be. Caroline understands that too. You know that. And just in case your stupid stubborn head gets in your way again: she will not leave you over Mystic freaking Falls. Okay? So, if you'd rather remain an Englishman in New York, then do that. You'll just have to live with me and Bon visiting you guys a little more often."
"Liz gave us the house."
His eyebrows shot upward at the sudden confession. "What? When did that happen?"
"Just a few days ago." Enzo made a face, and Damon wasn't entirely sure whether his best friend was happy about it or ready to balk.
"I thought you had told her that whatever you'll end up doing it would not be moving to Mystic Falls directly."
Enzo swallowed, looking a little uneasy. "Yeah, well. I said I'd try it." Then, very reluctantly, very quietly he admitted. "I might need some..." He trailed off, grimacing, averting his gaze a little as Damon squinted at him, a smile wanting to creep into his features. Then, almost as just a breath, Enzo eventually continued, "I might need some help...?"
Beaming from one ear to the other, Damon pulled his best friend in for a hug. "Of course," he muttered, clutching Enzo a little too forcefully, but he couldn't stop himself.
If Enzo had finally learned to ask for help, he knew they were all going to be okay. No, that they were okay.
Out loud he added, "Whatever you need, my man. I'll even keep your spot in the kitchen free for you. If you don't mind being woken up by a toddler demanding pancakes at 5:30 in the morning."
They both chuckled, eventually letting go of each other as they heard their wives coming closer.
"What's going on over here?" Bonnie asked, grinning, snaking an arm around Damon's waist as Caroline kissed Enzo's cheek.
"Just some important guy stuff," Damon explained, pulling Bonnie off her feet for a second to kiss her.
"Hey!" She chuckled. Then, when Damon was done, he turned to face their friends again.
"What do you guys think: should we sneak off for a bit, let uncle Stefan watch the kids while we all get a hot chocolate downtown?"
"Hot chocolate?" Caroline asked, overlapping with Bonnie's slightly suspicious, "On Thanksgiving?"
"Yes on Thanksgiving. And yes hot chocolate."
"You guys sure you're alright?" Bonnie squinted from one man to the other, earning herself smirks, then she shrugged at Caroline, smiling mildly.
"Hell yes, we are," Damon assured her, "And now I'm ready to celebrate the return of Care Bear and her man to the grand town of Mystic Falls. Come on, let's go."
And they did.
This, then, was their happiness.