Careful What You Wish For
DG32173
Sarah: here's Chapter 11 of the fanfic. We're back in the past this chapter and probably will be until Elena returns to her time. I hope everyone continues to enjoy what I write. Here are the review replies and then the chapter. The chapter starts with Damon.
NOTICE: BACKUP BETA REQUESTED
This story is already complete and has been for a while. I'm just waiting for my current beta to have time in her busy schedule to read over and correct the rest of the chapters. If anyone is willing to help me out by being a backup beta for when she gets busy and is willing for her to go over the chapters behind them as an added insurance, I will most appreciate it if you let me know in either a review or a PM. If you are willing to work with both of us like this, then let me know if you want me to start figuring out DocX on the site, if you're willing to do Google Docs as my current beta does, or if you happen to have Microsoft Word on your computer and can look over my chapters that way in the review or pm that lets me know you are willing to lend a hand to us to speed things up when I have inspiration. Thanks for any and all volunteers.
SHOULD I DO A COMPANION FIC OR TWO?
I'm seriously considering that once I've completed this fanfic, I just might start a companion fic based entirely in the 'present' that is based entirely in the new timeline Elena's wish has created, starting with the night Elena's parents died and going on to when she makes her birthday wish in the new timeline. Basically, it will be an alternate timeline 'prequel' to this fanfic. Should I do it? I have a few ideas bouncing around right now but I don't know if that's something you readers actually want to see or if I should just make it for myself. I'm also considering coming up with inspiration for a sequel to this fanfic of what happens in the new timeline after Elena is whisked home upon completing her mission. Is that something you guys might like to see as well? Review or even PM me and let me know if you think I should work on these companion fic ideas and share them when I finish this story.
REVIEW REPLIES
HoneySexy: you'll have to wait and see if you're right or not. Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Here's more.
Leann Nickerson: glad you enjoyed both of the previous chapters. Yeah, Damon should've remembered her birthday wish was on her eighteenth birthday. But, well, even vampires are fallible creatures. Here's Chapter 11.
amazing Aisha: yeah, it is a bit ironic that present Damon loses the love of his existence to his past self for a time just when things were settling down for them. You'll have to find out how they get reunited in present time when it happens as I'm not one for spoilers. Glad you enjoyed last chapter. Here's the next one.
Rachaelm1981: I'm glad you enjoyed this story so far. Here's the next chapter.
Chapter 11
My Heart
It's been nearly a year since Elena wished herself into this era. We've been staying in Los Angeles for the past two months. Elena tells me that though the town isn't that large now, having only been founded sixteen years ago, it will grow to be a sprawling metropolis by her time. I found out that on this day in 1992, Elena will be born. So I decided to surprise her with a small cake to celebrate the occasion.
Seeing as Elena rarely leaves this house we're renting without me, I had to get pretty damn creative in coming up with some errands for her to run alone to give me the time to prepare the cake without her finding out about it.
I place the candles on the cake as I hear the front door open. I finished just in time. "Damon, it took forever to find a good bottle of bourbon. I swear I've been literally all over town looking for it, but I finally found a good one. Everything else you wanted me to get was pretty easy to find," Elena says, not even bothering to raise her voice because she knows I'll hear her no matter where I am in relation to her in this house. It's rather on the small side compared to the plantation manor I grew up in.
I light the nineteen candles on the cake as I hear Elena shrugging out of her foul weather gear. Unfortunately, I can't control the weather and it's been raining and foggy all day. "Well, you're back. Come on in here to the kitchen," I call to her.
"It's not even close to dinnertime and you packed me a lunch to take with me," she says, her confusion evident in her voice as her footsteps head this way. "What are you up to?"
"You'll see when you get in here," I call back.
She appears in the doorway and gasps at seeing the small cake I had baked and decorated myself. I'll admit, it's nothing like what I could have bought at the bakery in town, but I think it'll mean more to her to know I care about her enough to go through the effort of baking, my least favorite of cooking skills. The wonder and joy in her eyes is all the reward I needed.
"I had completely forgotten my own birthday and yet you remembered," she whispers, tears of happiness in her eyes. "You actually made me a cake."
"Happy birthday, Elena," I say, allowing a true smile to grace my lips for once. Even when it's just the two of us, I rarely permit myself to show an actual smile rather than a smirk. "Try not to make any more life-altering wishes while blowing out the candles," I tease.
Elena
I approach the cake. Sure, it's slightly lopsided and some areas have a lot more icing than others, but it's by far the most beautiful cake I have ever received because it came from Damon's heart. Written in sloppy dark blue frosting on the light blue background is Happy Birthday, My Heart. That message alone more than makes up for the appearance of the cake.
Damon is not the sentimental sort and that he had come up with such a sentimental message on the birthday cake he had obviously spent the whole time I was out making tells me how much even this past Damon has come to love me.
I take a moment to carefully consider my wish. Finally, I decide to keep it simple. 'I wish to always be with Damon, no matter what era I am in,' I think before blowing out the candles.
Damon chuckles. "Not going to tell me your wish?" he asks as he picks up a nearby knife and slices off two generous pieces before putting them on the waiting plates.
"It might not come true if I share it," I retort, taking the plate and fork he offers me. I take a bite and moan my delight. The appearance of the cake may be a little sloppy, but the taste is that of a perfectly made German chocolate cake. Damon always claims that he is not a fan of baking but if he could make the cake look as good as it tastes, he could damn sure open a world-class bakery.
Over the year I have spent in the past, I have grown somewhat used to doing everything by firelight when the sun goes down. But I doubt I will ever get fully used to not having all the conveniences of my time.
The cake is relatively small. I'm guessing that Damon didn't want too much leftover as there is no decent way to store it for future consumption in this era. There's only enough left for us to each have another piece either later after dinner or tomorrow. It's a shame, because it's so damn good.
One thing I have noticed over the past year is that this Damon has steadily been decreasing how much blood he drinks, both at once and over the course of a day. If I wasn't around him constantly, I wouldn't have realized it at all, given that it's a rather small amount that he's decreased. He's still nowhere near the point where he will be in my time, where he can survive on just a few mouthfuls of blood a day.
Damon gives me a kiss as soon as we both finish our cake slices, and the taste of him mixed with the taste of the cake is even more intoxicating than just the taste of him. I return the kiss. Being with this Damon for the past several months helps ease the ache of missing my Damon. But it's just not similar enough to completely erase the ache.
For one thing, he's not quite as creative in the bedroom as he will be in my time, though he's still creative enough to satisfy me. For another, enough has changed in his personality and thought process between our times that I get thrown off-balance from time-to-time by something this Damon does that my Damon would do differently in the same situation.
I know I have won his heart completely now, with the biggest evidence of that being what he wrote on the birthday cake he made me. I fear that when we finally do figure out the mission I was sent back on and return to my time, the pain of losing me for so long will cause him to turn off his humanity at some point. I need to think of a way to prevent him from becoming a monster between our eras. That will require some careful consideration and lots of thought. I'm not sure if how he behaved when we first got together in my time was because his humanity was off or because he had been too impatient for us to have the same closeness we have now and are destined to have no matter the era we're in. But I can't lose him to the monster a vampire without humanity can become, not for any reason.
Damon breaks the kiss with a chuckle to rest his forehead on mine. "I lost you at the end there. What deep thoughts were you caught up in?" he asks me.
"I'm sorry," I murmur, deciding that until I can figure out a way to keep him from flipping the switch after I complete my unknown mission and head back to my time, I won't reveal even a hint of these thoughts to him. "They aren't important right now. A thought I'll have to think more on later caught me off-guard."
He rolls his eyes. "Fine, keep your secrets for now. Just pay attention to me when I'm kissing you," he tells me before capturing my lips again in a kiss that promises much more to come.
I shove every thought to the back burner for now and let Damon have his way with me once more.
Sarah: And there is Chapter 11. I know it's short but I didn't have much to say. You guys got a pretty big hint on what's to come between the last chapter and this one. Did anyone figure it out? Leave your guesses in a review. Or just review to tell me what you think of my story so far. I've got one person who's already guessed at Elena's mission in a review of the last chapter. I'm not saying if they're right or wrong until everything comes to pass. Thanks for reading my story so far. On to the next Chapter. Also, a word of warning, after this, chapter's are going to be more spread apart in the universe's timeline as we're actually getting close to the end of this story. Also, review or PM me and tell me what you think of the ideas I mentioned in the pre-chapter note. Now, enough of this too-long closing note. Next chapter will be here as soon as possible.