Chapter 22

"I look like I'm already due, and we're only five months along..." Elena stood in front of the mirror, carefully studying the growing baby bump. "I can't even fit into any of my jeans." She added with a frown.

Damon laughed, finding her reaction rather dramatic. He wouldn't dare to say that out loud, not with the mood swings that Elena was experiencing recently. But he wouldn't have it any other way, this might have been an uphill battle on some days, but it was also the happiest they've ever been.

"Honey, you and the baby are a healthy weight." He walked up from behind, wrapping his arms around Elena. His face rested in the crook of her neck, and the palms of his hands massaged the small bump. "Maybe it's time to take Caroline up on the offer of going maternity shopping with her."

"I don't know if that's still on, I might have let the hormones take over me the last time she called."

"What hormones?" He grinned, stepping away soon enough so that she didn't have the opportunity to smack him.

"Damon, this isn't funny. I'm always grumpy, and then I'm happy, and then I feel like crying. I hate these mood swings, they're not me."

He noticed that she was tearing up again and reached out to wrap his arms around her frame. "Lena, it's just temporary. Every pregnant woman goes through it, you're carrying a baby - you're allowed to freak out every now and then and have unreasonable, crazy cravings. I'm more than happy for you to take it out on me."

"How do you know that I'm not being extra crazy?"

"Lexi had Stefan driving all over the city looking for the right kind of ranch dressing to go with her twinkies." He pointed out light-heartedly, but mentally began to prepare himself for similar requests from Elena in the near future.

She smiled through her tears. "That's funny."

"I'm sure we'll have our own kind of funny too, but hopefully on a lesser level." He kissed the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her lavender and jasmine shampoo, which always soothed his nerves. It was so familiar at this point, it reminded him of what home felt like.

Elena was his home.

This was their little word and it shaped up to be the biggest blessing. Things had finally started looking up when Elena came back to him, ready to start their life together; wedding or no wedding, children or no children, all the pieces just started falling into place. The therapy had helped Elena overcome a lot of underlying issues that she hadn't known how to deal with before, teaching her how to move on from past mistakes and understand her thought process, not shut down when it all became too much. They'd learned the hard way that this wasn't something that you could switch on and off, but with the help of a professional and the support system in her personal life, she was making progress.

Learning of this pregnancy was a huge shock for them both, but it evoked a whole different reaction from the first false alarm that caused them to break up. Their relationship felt more stable, their issues out in the open waiting to be fixed, not buried under layers of guilt and misunderstandings. But naturally, it came easier to Damon to throw himself into sheer happiness at the news. This was the beginning of the rest of their lives, and he was given the chance to build a future with the woman that he'd do absolutely anything for.

With Elena, the ability to cherish the moment and welcome it with joy came a little further down the line, but it came, nevertheless. This time the heartache stemmed from unresolved feelings and insecurities, not from the dark thoughts that made her feel unworthy, unprepared for motherhood. Her biggest moment of realisation was when it became clear that it was never about her not wanting to have a child; it was the past trauma that made her question whether she could be a good mother, whether she could love this child, despite not being able to fully accept the previous pregnancy.

It was a complex and painful journey of self-realisation, one that involved dwelling in past heartache and the loss that she'd locked away for so long. The loss of the baby was never her fault, although there were still days where she felt like she should have done more, could have been less stubborn, could have felt happier about the pregnancy in the first place.

But that was the sad beauty of life; in hindsight, everything seemed much clearer, you know the exact words that you should have said, the exact way in which you should have behaved. Whereas the everyday reality is just one huge method of trial and error; it's acting on your feelings, forgetting to think things through, questioning your choices, not knowing what to say, and sometimes it's thinking that you know it all, only for life to prove you otherwise.

The colossal conclusion that forced itself into reality was that Elena loved the baby that she and Elijah were going to have just as much as she loved this one, and no matter what else would transpire, they would always share that loss together. The past would never let her go, if she didn't allow herself to move on by accepting things for what they were. And this in itself still proved somewhat difficult, knowing that she hurt Elijah by refusing to forgive herself for the stillbirth, then by leading him on for so long. There was no denying of the truth, not anymore.

It was unnerving to know that Elijah didn't want anything to do with her, and it hurt more than she had ever anticipated that it would. But everyone had their way of moving past trauma and heartbreak, and maybe the lack of Elena's presence in his life was exactly what he needed to start living his life again. And she had no other choice but to accept it.

This chapter of their life was crazy, full of ups and downs. It had been thirteen long weeks since they'd found out that they were going to become parents, but it felt right, like this was always meant for them. The first few days were a mixture of sorrow memories and newly acquired excitement, but Damon was always there ready to offer a shoulder to cry on or to share the happiness with Elena. He was the epitome of all that she had dreamed off, teaching her the kind of love that burst with passion and felt like a never-ending fire, the kind that engulfed your entire soul and saw right through you.

"By the way, we need to stop calling our daughter 'the baby' and give her an actual name." Elena proposed, slipping on a comfortable but still cute maxi dress that accommodated her belly and allowed her to breathe.

She really needed to go on that shopping trip.

Damon's eyes gleamed with joy, as they always did when Elena mentioned the fact, they were going to have a daughter.

"Hey, I gave you some and you turned all of them down." He recalled, bringing to memory the senseless argument that they'd had when they first learned that they were having a girl, and Elena wasn't having any of his propositions.

"Give me some good ones and I won't turn them down." She grinned, pecking his lips.

He gasped, lifting his hand over his chest, pretending to be hurt. "Ouch, I see the bitchy side of you is awake and doing just fine today."

"I love you really, you know, that right?" She called out, walking into their bathroom.

"I sure like to hear you say it though." He chuckled, checking his phone and seeing numerous texts from Caroline, who'd' been secretly preparing the baby shower for Elena.

Well, Caroline was executing the entire plan along with Bonnie, and Damon was meant to get Elena out of their home for a couple of hours, which wasn't going to be all that easy nowadays. With the mood swings kicking in and Elena growing tired far more quickly, he'd struggled to come up with a plan for the day. Checking the time, they had around twenty minutes to leave, and that should give blondie a decent amount of time to set everything up.

Ever since the news of Elena's pregnancy spread, Caroline was over the moon. Both her and Bonnie have been showering them with cute little baby clothes, accessories and anything baby-related that they could get their hands on. They were all excited at the new chapter of their lives, and at times the pondering was nothing short of hilarious, but he was also more than thankful for their encouragement and support.

At first, they wanted to have the baby shower closer to the due date, but with Elena's pregnancy being high risk and a realistic chance of premature birth, it seemed like the best option was to just have it done a bit earlier. That also coincided with Damon's plan to take Elena up to the lake house for a couple of weeks, giving them the opportunity to spend some time together peacefully, before the baby arrived. This was the time that they could dedicate to slow things down, prepare for their world being turned upside down, and to just be together.

The doctor advised that Elena should start her maternity leave far earlier than they'd both anticipated, so this week was actually her last week of work for the foreseeable future. But they were both happy with the solution, when it came to the baby's health, neither of them was willing to compromise. Work could wait, and by renting out her previous apartment, Elena still had a stable income of her own.

"Lena, are you ready?"

"Yep, where are we going again?" She asked, grabbing her purse and following Damon out the door.

"I thought we could go out and pick some stuff for the baby's room, a crib, maybe a changing unit?"

Soon after learning of the fact that they were going to become parents, they'd decided that it was the perfect opportunity to buy a new home, their first real investment together. Up until then Damon's apartment had become their nest, holding all their precious memories and being the place that they called home, but it wasn't big enough for a small family, and it didn't have the garden which Elena dreamed of.

They found the perfect house in the suburbs, a little further away then they'd planned, but once they saw it, there was no turning back. It was of a modern built, with four bedrooms and a large backyard that had them picturing their baby girl running around, bare feet in the grass, giggling at them. They didn't need to look any further.

She smiled, intertwining their hands. "That's sweet. I didn't think you'd be the one to worry about stuff like that."

"I saw your Pinterest the other day, and it reminded me of all the things that we are yet to buy. Honestly, I'd be a lost man without it." He chuckled, opening the passenger door for Elena and helping her settle in.

"That's good to know, I'll make sure to update it before my birthday comes up." She winked and pulled Damon down for a kiss.

It was like each day there was yet another quirk that made her love him even more, if that was even possible. There was no one else that she'd rather do this with.

"Maybe next year, I'm all set on your gifts for this year."

She looked at him with an arched brow. "Already? That's like two months away."

"Sue me."

Their relationship felt so easy, so fun, so theirs. It had become something of a sanctuary for their hearts, even amidst the fighting and the tears that came up ever so often, they wouldn't change a thing. There wasn't a day that went by without Elena wondering how she could have ever convinced herself that she could go a whole lifetime without him. It simply wouldn't be a life, just a miserable existence, that much she knew for sure.

Back at the house, everything was in shambles. Absolutely nothing was ready, so the baby shower squad had been called to the rescue and they had one job: to get everything done. The squad consisted of some very unwilling participants, aka Enzo, Alaric and Klaus. Whilst their duties were to manually finish off putting up the decorations, ensuring the cake gets delivered, carrying the gifts, Bonnie and Jenna were in the kitchen working on the snack and drinks. Maybe stereotypical, but truthfully Caroline would never trust the guys to not eat all of the food before the guests had arrived, and she wasn't about to move around tables and chairs herself.

Either way, the entire ordeal had Caroline feeling a little on the edge. This baby shower was going to be different in a lot of ways, for one: they didn't want it to be just female orientated, as it was a huge occasion to celebrate for everybody. This meant that the list of guests had been far from modest, it had both Stefan and Jeremy travelling all the way with their families, Damon's parents, she couldn't even remember the rest. But it was going to be a wonderful opportunity for Elena and Damon to share their happiness with their friends and family, and Caroline wanted them to have the best time.

"Does everyone know what they're doing?" Caroline raised her voice, a grave expression on her face and a pointing finger in the direction of the volunteers.

Volunteers, captives, same thing.

Klaus brought her hand down to her side, a playful smile on his lips. "Babe, I think you need a glass of wine."

She sighed, giving her husband a glare that shot daggers at him. "Are you here to get me drunk or are you here to help?"

"At this point I think I'm here to save these innocent people." He rolled his eyes, he'd expected as much from his wife, she was always crazily obsessive and liked to have control over the smallest details, but this baby shower was just something else.

"Please, join Bonnie in the kitchen, have a nice glass of wine and I'll reiterate everything that you literally just said to everyone, okay?" His arms held Caroline's shoulder in place, as he gently rubbed them in a soothing motion.

"Fine." She gave in, blowing out a small sigh. "But remem-"

"Love, I know everything in and out. I've read all the post-it notes." He chuckled and kissed her briefly. "Now off you go."

"Okay, so where did we leave things?" Klaus started off, dropping his gaze to the notes that Caroline made earlier on. "Ah, so Alaric you deal with the balloons and the rest of the crap that needs to be hanging up somewhere, just make sure it doesn't look like you did it after a bottle of scotch. Enzo, you need to go and prepare the tables for the gifts and food, Bonnie and Jenna are in the kitchen, and I am in charge of the beverages."

Enzo chuckled. "Well won't you look at this, your Mrs trained you well after all."

"I will stab you with this plastic fork." Klaus growled back at him.

"Alright ladies, break it off, or I really will need to down a bottle of scotch, and Jenna will stab me with that fork." Alaric put his arms around Klaus and Enzo, grinning from ear to ear.

"Also, why the hell put me in charge of the decorations? Is that meant to be a punishment for something that I did in my previous life?"

"As long as it gets you out of the kitchen, the rest of us are safe." Enzo added with a short laugh.

Caroline poked her head out of the window, watching the three guys hurdled in the corner, laughing and not doing anything that they were supposed to. "Hello! Do I need to remind the three of you the essence of time and what it feels like having my foot up your asses?"

The amusement quickly fell from their faces, and they parted like the Red Sea, each in different directions.

"I swear they'll be the death of me." Caroline shut the window, mumbling under her breath.

Bonnie laughed it off, handing the blonde a glass of wine and turning her back to finish off making a fruit salad. "Take one breath at a time, this is nothing to stress over. We did a heck of a job."

Caroline rested her back against a cabinet, her shoulders tensed up. "I know, I just want it to be perfect for Elena. She deserves this."

"More than anything, but she'll definitely love it." Bonnie affirmed the statement with a smile, but still had an unsettling feeling about one aspect of the baby shower. "Guys, do you really think it was a good idea to invite Miranda?"

They couldn't quite pin it down on whose idea it was to lure the dragon back into its den, but it happened, and the anticipation of Elena's reaction was nerve racking, to say the least.

"I know Miranda can be a pain in the ass, but I've known her my whole life and trust me, she feels bad about the way she treated Damon." Jenna chipped in, hopping up onto the kitchen counter. "Otherwise I would have totally told her to go to hell."

The blonde's forehead wrinkled in confusion; she wasn't quite buying the sudden transformation. "But what changed suddenly? It's not like she's desperate to meet her grandchild, for all I know she never wanted to be a grandmother."

"I think it really got to her that Elena told Grayson about the pregnancy, but not her." Jenna added after a few seconds of contemplation, thinking back to the moment where Miranda approached her and asked about Elena for the first time ever. "It's like Elena blocked her out after that argument, tolerated her enough to be cordial, but never sought to work on their relationship."

"Well, I don't blame Elena for blocking her out." Bonnie sided with a shrug of the shoulders. "Miranda openly chose Elijah over Damon, which essentially comes down to picking his happiness over her daughter's. That's fucked up."

"Yeah, Miranda was always mesmerized with Elijah. He's so this and so that, like the son she never had. It's a good thing Jeremy never heard that." Caroline scoffed, taking another sip of the wine. "I mean, I love Lijah, he's my brother in law and he's a good guy, he really is. But he always loved Elena more than she loved him. It was like he was already running, and she was barely taking her first steps. Always so ahead of himself."

"Well, I made sure to tell her to come later than everybody else, so that we can prepare Lena for her arrival. The last thing she needs right now is more stress."

The next hour consisted of everybody running around, putting out the decoration, setting the tables, placing snacks on the trays, and Caroline losing her mind over the tiniest inconveniences. But luckily for those involved, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and everything appeared ready for the arrival of the mummy to be, which was scheduled to happen in the next few minutes, provided that Damon had come through.

"Okay, I have everyone waiting in the backyard, so make sure that Elena comes out here." Caroline warned Damon from the other end of the line, gesturing at everybody to take their position.

"See you soon." Damon hung up, grabbing their shopping bags from the trunk as Elena waited for him in the car.

He jogged up to the front door and placed the bags down onto the doormat, before returning for Elena, who was already starting to grow impatient, tapping her fingers against the tapestry. He loved that girl more than he could put into words, but he really hoped that their daughter would take after him when it came to temper.

"Why did you lock the door?" She asked with an arched brow once Damon had come over to open the door and helped her get out.

"Sorry honey, must have pressed the wrong button." He offered with an apologetic grin, taking her hand into his as they made their way inside.

"You're acting really weird today, what's going on with you?"

"Me? Nothing, just tired." He laughed nervously, and quickly pecked her on the lips. "Can you take this to the shed for me, please?" He handed her a small bag.

She retrieved it from him, curious. "Sure, what's in it?"

"Uh, some paint brushes. For the baby's room."

"Oh, okay."

Damon released a sigh of relief the minute that Elena turned his back to him, walking towards the entrance of the backyard. She could be goddamn stubborn, and he'd forgotten to prepare himself for that, but luckily it all went smoothly and hopefully, she hadn't been suspecting anything.

"SURPRISE!"

Elena gasped in total shock, seeing a bunch of faces jumping out at her, a thousand pink balloons darting around the yard next to a sign that said, 'It's a girl'.

"Oh my gosh!" Her lips curved up into a smile and her eyes were already glistening with tears. "This is beautiful, you guys..."

Damon finally appeared by Elena's side, holding a strong grasp around her waist and observing her reaction with an awe. He had to admit, Bonnie and Blondie did a great job pulling this whole thing off.

"So that's why you were being so weird today!" Elena poked Damon in the chest, releasing a muffled laugh.

"You had one job, Damon." They heard Caroline frown in the background.

"Hey, it's not like I spoiled the surprise."

"Oh, stop it you two, nobody ruined anything." Elena dismissed their usual bittering, feeling like she was already a mom to an extent, always making sure those two didn't kill each other.

They went around to greet all of the guests and accepted a ton of congratulations and well wishes for the future, and all in all everybody had an amazing time. Sure, there was a lot of the 'awes' and 'yay's' going around as all the girls pondered over the cute baby stuff, but Damon could happily live with that, especially when it brought this much joy to Elena.

"I have the best friends in the world." Elena exclaimed happily, pulling Bonnie, Caroline and Jenna into something that was supposed to be a hug, but didn't quite work out due to its capacity. "Thank you for this, I actually didn't think I wanted one, but this is so much fun!"

"Yeah, because Caroline would let you get away with not having a baby shower." Bonnie grinned in the blonde's direction.

"All of you enjoyed this as much as I did, so hush." She sent them a warning stare, and reached out to touch Elena's belly, her facial expression lightened up instantly. "Aw, you're getting so big now, I can't believe there's an actual baby in there."

"Tell me about it, I can't fit into any of my clothes anymore."

"So, we might have one more surprise for you, kind of." Jenna interrupted nervously, her eyes darting between the entrance and Elena. "We might have invited Miranda."

"You did what?" Elena's eyes snapped to where Miranda was standing, engaged in a conversation with Jeremy.

"Lena, calm down." Bonnie put a hand on Elena's shoulder, speaking softly. "She wants to apologise."

She let out a humourless laugh, folding her arms over her chest. "I know my mom, she doesn't apologise. And I can't believe you would do this to me, especially now when I can't even get drunk to make it through her visit."

"I did think that was particularly cruel, but no one didn't listen to me." Caroline mumbled out, which earned her a glare from Bonnie and Jenna. "But I mean, we would have never invited her if she wasn't truly sorry, trust us Lena."

Elena felt a knot forming in her tummy, the one that accompanied her in all of the stressful situations, and this reaction saddened her on another level. This was her mother, the woman who should have been her best friend and known every detail of her life, yet this was the first time that they will see each other in months. Was this the family dynamic that she would be bringing her daughter into?

She looked around nervously, her eyes landing upon Damon who was happily hanging around with the guys, sipping on his bourbon. God, how much she wished she had a glass to indulge in too. As much as Elena needed him for support, she knew that this was a conversation that should happen between her and Miranda, it was their relation that needed fixing, and Damon didn't deserve to be meddled into this mess all over again.

"I'm just here if you need me, okay?" Caroline checked in with Elena as Miranda hesitantly approached their group, her demeanour seemed out of place, she wasn't her usual confident self.

"Hello, Elena." Miranda greeted her softly, a faint smile on her lips.

This wasn't like her at all, Elena thought to herself.

"I have a gift for you, and the baby." She continued after a moment of silence, handing her a nicely wrapped box with a pink bow on it.

"Thanks." Elena murmured, keeping her eyes on the gift. This entire interaction felt awkward, she didn't know where to look.

"You're not happy to see me here, are you?"

"Well, you made it pretty clear that you don't accept Damon, so I don't really see what business you have being here, acting all nice." She finally looked up at Miranda, finding it awfully painful to face her.

This was not how she imagined what their future would look like. No matter how much of a pain in the ass Miranda was, Elena still loved her, and all she ever wanted was her mom's approval, encouragement, support. Especially now when she was carrying a child, wasn't she meant to be the one to give her advice?

"I was wrong to say these things." Miranda blew out a sigh, dropping her gaze to the ground. "I am sorry for my behaviour, Elena. I really am. I judged Damon and the relationship that you two have when it should have been enough for me to know that he made you happy. Because he does, right?"

"He's the best thing that's ever happened to me." Elena added softly, and Miranda smiled at the confirmation.

"I'm sorry for lashing out at you, I don't want to lose my daughter, or granddaughter, for the matter of fact. I want you to call me, like you call your dad, and tell me everything that's going on with you. And I want to get to know my son in law."

"Mom, we're not marr-"

"But I will treat him as such, because we're family now, right?" Miranda offered with teary eyes. "Can you forgive me for being a bitch?"

Elena laughed for the first time, as she began to tear up herself. "I think I can."

Miranda pulled her into a tight hug, and for the first time, Elena felt like they had a good chance at patching things up and establishing a bond that they'd never shared before.

As the evening approached, the party had been wrapped up and everyone had left, leaving the happy couple alone to enjoy the rest of their evening, relaxing and opening the rest of the gifts. Everyone had a blast, and the entire baby shower turned out so well, that Caroline had already signed herself up to execute all her friend's baby showers in the future. But given tonight's success, Elena didn't have the heart to discourage her best friend.

"I'm exhausted." Elena exclaimed, gently plummeting onto the bed, as the ache in her feet and back started to make itself present. "It's fair to say that this baby takes up all of my energy, and then uses it to try and kick her way out of me. That's just cruel."

Damon smiled to himself, climbing onto the bed and hovering over Elena. "I love you two so damn much."

"Where did that come from?" She giggled, loosely wrapping her arms around his neck. "We love you two, so damn much."

"What do you mean, where did it come from. It plays on a constant loop in my mind, especially when you're being this adorable, and sexy." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, slowly moving his hand up her thigh.

"How you find me attractive in this state is just beyond me." She grinned, shaking her head.

"The day I stop finding you attractive will be the day I die, and maybe not even then." He whispered, biting his lower lip. Damon could never grow tired of Elena or her body, the pull that he felt towards her was like no other.

She gently stroked the side of his cheek, her chocolate orbs reciting the warmth and love that was purely reserved for Damon, and right there and then they both knew that this was where they belonged.

A/N: Hello everyone! I know, this took me forever, but here is a well deserved update for you all. Thank you so much for your continuous support, patience and all your wonderful words. They warm my heart, I swear. I think there's going to be one more chapter after this one, so please stay tuned. Have a great day everyone! xx