AUTHOR'S NOTES:
- The epilogue is my homage to the TVD characters that deserved better. While this story may be a human AU and frankly not as complicated as the show, it ends the way I wanted the show to end for the characters: happy and surrounded by love. None of the characters in TVD got the ending they deserved, I will forever be angry at the writers for that godawful series finale and this epilogue is my way of getting a shred of satisfaction for myself.
- Answering to comments:
1. Thank you for the sweet comments, I'm really glad to hear all of you enjoyed the story (and all your guesses for the narrator were correct)
2. (WARNING: CONTAINS SLIGHTLY ANTI-DAMON THOUGHTS): I 100% agree with you on fanon Bamon being better, and Stefan is my fav too LOL. I think TV Damon had a lot of potential, he could've had a great character arc but Dullena ruined him, personally I don't think he really had any character development. I find that Bamon fanfics do a great job of actually getting him to grow (something Julie Plague could never do); I know a lot of TVD fans are Damon stans, that's fine with me but it's foolish to ignore the fact that he did some terrible things on the show, and 99% of the time he got away with it.
- I hope you all enjoy this epilogue, characters may seem a bit OOC but it's a human AU and most of them are a lot older now so growth LOL
PLAYLIST (NO PARTICUALR ORDER):
- I Say A Little Prayer, cover by Phillip Ingram
- Photograph, by Ed Sheeran
- Somewhere Only We Know, Glee cover
- Yours, by Jason Mraz
Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries, or the characters.
"Oh, come on! Please, Hope, you have to tell me who she is," Lila pleads, giving Hope a beseeching look through the wide bathroom mirror but she just laughs.
"Lil, if we actually start dating, then I will tell you who she is."
"What?! I'm your best friend, I won't be like Caroline or your dad, it's not like I'm going to drive down to New Orleans to spy on you!" Lila points out, pulling up the one shoulder of her cream-coloured dress and adjusting her box braids, putting them over her shoulder. She's starting to think she picked the wrong dress, it feels like it needs to be fixed every five minutes.
"I swear, you will be the first to know if she becomes my girlfriend," Hope blushes for a second, but then quickly clears her throat, "So, how's the college search going?"
Lila crosses her arms, a little peeved by the abrupt subject change but decides to let it go for now. "It's going good. I'm considering Emory University, University of North Carolina and Virginia Commonwealth University. We're going to Virginia to see the campus sometime in the next couple months, just me and my Dad. I was thinking of looking at universities out west too, but I don't know if I want to go that far from home. It feels like if I go far away, I'm going to miss out on everything."
"Yeah, I know how that feels. Natty is five, so she's older but Laurel is only two. It'll be weird not being around, she's my sister but normally sisters grow up around the same time. But maybe you could just tour the campus, no strings attached. At the end of the day, it's your choice."
"Older sibling club, right?" Lila offers, holding up a hand for a high-five and Hope chuckles.
"Yup, older sibling club," they high-five, laughing a little and they step out of the bathroom, noticing that Aunt Lucy and Nathalia are in the room.
"Wow, you two are making me feel extremely old right now," Aunt Lucy remarks with a smile, watching as Hope and Lila sit down on the couch across from her.
Nathalia approaches Lila, climbing onto the couch so she can sit in Lila's lap; her sister's always been like that, finding some way to drape herself across someone's lap. Lila figures it's just the way that little kids act, and it teeters between sweet or annoying at times.
"Lila, where's Mommy?" Nathalia asks, looking up at Lila with concerned eyes.
"She's getting ready for the party, it takes a long time for her to get ready. Actually, where's everyone else, Aunt Lucy? I thought Grandpa would be here, or Jess would be with you."
"Aunt Emily can't come up the stairs, so she's sitting in the lobby with your Aunt Elena and your cousins. Grandpa is also getting ready, and Jess is helping your Mom."
"What about Shauna?" Lila asks, frowning a little. She's pretty sure that Shauna is coming, considering that she's been Grandpa's girlfriend for almost seven years; everytime Lila sees Shauna, she always finds some way to slip her a chocolate bar.
"Don't worry, she's here too, I think she's helping out Caroline," Aunt Lucy replies, "Hope, your stepmom really knows how to plan a party. You'll invite me to your sixteenth birthday party, right? I can only imagine that celebration."
Hope chuckles, "I think my mom will rein in Caroline...but then my dad will probably want to go big too. Honestly, they'll probably end up inviting a million people so you can definitely come."
"Hopefully wherever it is, the venue is nicer than this place. I can't believe this was their venue, this place is like something out of the 1860s...smells a bit like it, too," Lila adds, wrinkling her nose distastefully.
Aunt Lucy laughs, "Let's just say it wasn't the first choice."
"What do you mean by smells like it, Lila?" Nathalia pipes up, touching Lila's necklace gently.
"Smelling like the 1860s means...well, it means that there's kind of a bad smell, Natty. Like...a poopy smell," Lila replies, a smile creeping up on her face as Nathalia giggles. Apparently poop jokes are very popular with kindergarteners, but they're also considered a 'bad word' in class; Lila makes sure not to make those silly jokes in front of her parents, and she knows that Aunt Lucy won't rat her out.
Hope's phone vibrates, and she looks down to check the notification, "Hey, Caroline wants you and Nat to go find your mom. I guess you guys have to go down soon."
"Ooh, that's exciting. The party's going to start soon, Natty!" Lila gets up from the couch, holding Nathalia's hand. "Promise me you'll save me a dance, Mikaelson?"
"You know I will," Hope winks, grinning and Lila turns to Aunt Lucy.
"Promise me you'll save me a glass of champagne, Aunt Lucy?" Lila tries to give her a charming grin, but Aunt Lucy just chuckles.
"Nice try, but I'm not about to get cussed out by your parents, or Aunt Emily, or your Grandpa, or Jess."
"What?! C'mon, I don't think Jess would mind!"
"Considering she's my girlfriend, I think I would know better," Aunt Lucy replies smoothly, and Lila huffs exaggeratedly.
"Okay, okay, see you guys later," Lila complains, but she's smiling and leads Nathalia out of the room to find their Mom.
JANUARY 2019
Lila pushed open the door softly, stepping inside her parents' bedroom and tiptoed through the dark to Mom's side of the bed. She peered at her Mom's face nervously, but was surprised to see that her Mom was wide awake with a lazy smile.
"Hey...everything okay?" Mom whispered.
"I had a nightmare," Lila whispered back softly, and Mom peeled back the covers so Lila could crawl into bed with her.
"Your brother is really active right now, he always kicks at night, so he keeps me up too. That's why I'm always sleeping in."
Lila frowned, turning on her side to face Mom properly, "I thought babies only kicked during the day...don't they go to bed, Mommy?"
"It's a little different when they're still in your belly, babies work differently," her Mom grabbed Lila's hand, pulling back some of her covers to reveal her large baby bump and placed Lila's hand on her belly; Lila noticed her Dad's hand was also on Mom's belly. He was always doing that, always touching Mom and her belly no matter what. Maybe he just liked to feel the baby kick too, it was pretty fun. Lila could feel the tiny taps against the palm of her hand, a grin spreading across her face as she felt her little brother move.
She was really excited to have a little brother, her friends and Aunt Lucy said that they start out as babies that don't do anything, but eventually they do stuff. That's okay with Lila, she didn't mind waiting for her brother to play.
"Watch what happens when I try to move Daddy's hand," Mom murmured mischievously, grabbing Dad's hand and moved it gently off her belly. Lila watched her Dad's hand automatically find its way back onto Mom's belly, and stifled a few giggles to not wake up her Dad. Mom did it again, and Lila saw her Dad's hand still snake its way back onto her Mommy's belly. Lila poked her Dad's hand, pushing it off her Mom's belly while suppressing her laughter and her Dad finally groaned.
"Bon, what are you doing?" he mumbled, still half-asleep and moved closer to Mom, his face nestled in her shoulder and his hand now resting firmly on the centre of her Mom's belly.
"We should probably try and sleep now," Mom whispered to Lila. Lila shut her eyes, snuggled up right beside her Mommy and let herself drift off peacefully.
PRESENT DAY: 2027
"Hey, can you help me pin back some of my braids?" Mom asks, and Lila walks up beside her, taking the bobby pins and grabbing a couple braids. "You know, I was really nervous on my wedding day. I don't even know why, I just remember feeling nauseous and I kept wiping the sweat off my hands onto the couch, because your Auntie Care was mad that I kept wiping it on my wedding dress."
"Hmm, that sounds like you," Lila responds with a smile, her eyes flickering to the mirror and for a second it looks like Mom is her twin sister. Ever since they both got box braids, they seem to look even more alike except for the eyes. She's the only one of her siblings that has her Dad's blue eyes.
"Me and your dad didn't even really want a wedding, we were fine with eloping or having a tiny ceremony but your Grandpa, Aunt Emily and Auntie Care were not on board with that," she admits, her eyes a little unfocused at the memory as she twists her wedding ring pensively. Lila can't help but glance at the ring on her own finger, the emerald jewel gleaming in the light; her Mom had given it to her last year as a birthday gift, it had belonged to her Mom's grandmother and apparently it was like a special family tradition heirloom. It was always really special to her Mom, and now it's special to Lila as well.
"That sounds like them," Lila finally pins back her Mom's braids, grabbing a couple white flowers to pin in as well. Her mom grabs a necklace from the table beside her, and Lila doesn't need to look to know that it's the special one from Lila's Dad, the one with a heart-shaped emerald pendant. Apparently it was the first real anniversary gift that her Dad gave to Mom; Lila always thought it was a little gaudy, but Mom has always really loved it. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Do you ever think about how different your life could be?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, if I hadn't been born, then you would've had a completely different life. Maybe you wouldn't be living in Atlanta, or you wouldn't even have gotten with Dad," Lila suggests, staring at her Mom intently but she just shrugs dismissively.
"Why bother? I guess I would've had a different life, but I don't waste my time wondering about those things. What's the point in thinking about the what ifs or the maybes? I like my life just the way it is, don't you?"
"Yeah, of course I do."
"You know what I do think about, is all the amazing things that you have given me. I have three amazing kids, an extremely ho-"
"-Mom, I do not want to hear whatever is about to come out of your mouth."
"-I was just going to say helpful, an extremely helpful husband, what on earth were you thinking of?" Mom continues, but Lila can see that she's smiling mischievously, "I'm not missing anything else from life, I have everything I need and more. Why do you ask, anyway?"
"I don't know, the day just has me thinking about stuff. Like, everyone else is reminiscing, it's you and Dad's tenth wedding anniversary party and I'm seventeen, the same age you were when you found out you were pregnant with me."
"That's fair. But things weren't always easy for me or your dad, it took time and work to get here, you know that. But I still knew he was the one first."
Lila bursts out laughing, "This argument again, Mom?"
"I couldn't resist," she grins, turning away from the mirror to face Lila.
Lila adjusts one of the white flowers in her hair, moving it more to the side and smiles. "All good, I think you're ready."
"Thanks, Lila baby."
Auntie Care bursts into the room, her light grey dress billowing from the breeze of the doors with a clipboard in hand, and Laurel on her other arm. Hope said that Laurel hasn't been letting Auntie Care put her down lately, she's had to be carried around everywhere. Auntie Care looks at Lila's Mom, beaming excitedly and practically bounces toward them. "Oh my god, Bonnie, you look so beautiful! Oh, I knew the flowers were a good touch!"
"Thanks, Care, you know I couldn't have done this without you. I'm so lucky to have Caroline Forbes, event planner extraordinaire on my team," Lila's Mom responds, squeezing Auntie Care's hand happily and tickled Laurel's chin, eliciting a few high-pitched squeals.
"Yeah, yeah, love you too, save the sappiness for later, Bon. We gotta get you downstairs, everyone's waiting! Lila, do you mind taking Laurel? Klaus should be downstairs, then you can pass her off to him," Auntie Care asks, and Lila holds out her arms obligingly to grab Laurel. She takes Laurel into her arms, hearing a little murmur of protest from the toddler at being pulled away from her mother, but she lets Lila hold her anyway; Laurel's bright blue eyes dart to Lila's necklace, fingering it gently and Lila pushes back some of Laurel's dirty blonde hair.
Lila heads downstairs first, going a little slow since she's wearing a dress and doesn't want to accidentally trip, which would end up hurting both her and Laurel; she can hear her Mom and Auntie Care following, she knows they're going slowly as well since they're wearing dresses as well. Lila can see her brother and sister talking to their Dad and Klaus; Mattias is in a white button-shirt with black pants, and Nathalia is giggling at something their Dad said. Klaus notices them first, his eyes lighting up when he sees Laurel and walks to grab her from Lila.
"Thank you, I hope this one didn't give you too much trouble," Klaus says, grabbing a happy Laurel and Lila smiles.
"Of course not. See you in there," Lila replies, waving at Laurel as her and Klaus head into the banquet hall. Lila turns to her family, noticing that her Dad is embracing her Mom, whispering something unintelligible in her ear; she smacks his shoulder lightly, but she's grinning and he kisses her cheek.
"Damon, if you keep nuzzling Bonnie like that, her makeup is going to get ruined and you guys are supposed to show up on time to your anniversary party!" Auntie Care exclaims with a huff, and Lila's Dad reluctantly releases her Mom. "Are you guys ready to go in?"
Lila approaches her two younger siblings, grabbing their hands with a reassuring squeeze, "All good to go, Auntie Care."
MAY 2023
"Hey, where did Mattias and your Dad go?" Lila looked up to see her Mom enter the room.
"Dad took him to the bathroom, that's all. I'm just feeding Natty now...how's Uncle Matty and Aunt Sonya doing?" Lila asked, turning her attention back to Nathalia, who's just picked up a cheerio from Lila's hand.
"They're doing good! Guess what they told me?"
"I don't know, what? Are they gonna come visit, or move?"
"Aunt Sonya's having twins," Mom said, and Lila's head whipped to meet her eyes. Her first thought is yay, because she'd to have like more cousins but she's learning sex ed right now in school, so it's actually a little gross too.
"Ooh, can we go visit when the babies are born? That would be so fun, and twins are so cool too!"
"Maybe we can visit if we go back to Mystic Falls for Thanksgiving this year. I think it might be our turn to go there anyway," she replied, sitting down on the couch and Nathalia ate the last cheerio from Lila's hand. Nathalia got down on the floor, crawling over to the other couch where their Mom was sitting and stood up again once she reached the couch.
"Mama," Nathalia cried, trying to get up on the couch and their Mom lifted her up, placing Nathalia on her lap.
"Uh, also, do you think I could go somewhere after basketball practice on Saturday? If that's okay?" Lila asked casually.
"Sure, do you need me or Dad to drive you? Who are you going with?"
"Ava's going, I think her mom is going to drive us and Selena's coming too...so is Noah, Matteo and Justin."
"Oh, is this a group date or something?" Lila could see a little smile on her Mom's face, an annoying twinkle in her eye. Nathalia gurgled happily at that moment too, as if sensing that Lila was about to get teased.
"No! Well maybe, but it's complicated. Can I go, at least?"
"Where are you going?" Lila glanced up to see her Dad was back in the room with Mattias; Mattias automatically ran back to his toys, clearly giving no one else his attention, and Lila had a feeling this conversation was about to get worse.
"Lila wants to go out with her friends and some boys after basketball practice," her Mom informed him, casually bouncing Nathalia on her knee.
"Hmm...is it a date?" he asked lightly, but Lila can tell he's suspicious and slipping into what she likes to call detective mode. It can be kind of funny how sly her Dad tries to be, but it never really works half the time.
"Dad, it's just three boys from school and I'm going with Ava and Selena too. We're just going to the movies, I'll be home by 10:00, I swear. Ava's mom is going to drive us after practice. There's no reason to worry, or launch into any dramatics like spying on me or anything like that."
"You should be careful at the movies, Lil. Bad things can happen."
"Bad things, really?" Lila remarked skeptically, raising a brow, "Should I expect my popcorn to attack me, or will someone get set on fire if I hold a boy's hand?"
"No, but-"
Mom finally huffed, about to put her foot down and spoke to Dad, "Baby, Lila will be fine. Get your mind out of the gutter, not everyone is like teenager Damon, "her Mom turned to look at Lila properly, and Nathalia is gurgling happily again, "Lila, you can go, just make sure you have most of your schoolwork done, okay? Are you going to bring your basketball stuff with you?"
"Ava's mom is gonna keep it for us, she can drive me back."
"Great. Right, Damon?" Mom poked Dad, fixing him with a steely gaze.
"Yes, yes, you can go," he admitted begrudgingly, and Lila smothered down a smug grin. "I just worry sometimes, that's all. I trust you, Lil, it's just boys that I don't trust."
"Don't worry, Dad. I think one teen pregnancy is good enough for this family," Lila remarked, eliciting a laugh from her Mom and even her Dad is smiling now.
"What's a teen pregnancy?" Mattias asked curiously, moving on from his toys and climbing onto Lila's lap with wide green eyes and a book in hand.
Lila set him on her lap, taking the book from his hand and eyed her parents mischievously, "Ask Mom and Dad in a few years, and then they'll tell you."
PRESENT DAY: 2027
"Now, the next speech will definitely be from someone who is going to upstage me, my brother-in-law, Stefan Salvatore!" Lila's Mom announces, handing the microphone over to Uncle Stefan and goes to sit back down at their table.
"Thanks for that lovely introduction, Bonnie, but now the stakes are raised, if anything I could fail spectacularly now," the room echoes with laughter, and Uncle Stefan smiles, "For those of you who don't know me, I met Bonnie Bennett when I moved back to a small town called Mystic Falls, and she was the best friend of my future wife. Now, I don't know the exact moment when Bonnie met my brother, but I distinctly remember that they did not like each other, Bonnie was not impressed at all by Damon and I thought 'finally, someone with a sane thought.'"
Lila's Mom grins, looking amused and Dad rolls his eyes good-naturedly while Uncle Stefan continues, "It took awhile before they became friends, but that was a given since it's Damon. As his brother, no one knows how annoying he is more than me."
"Way to play me up, Stef!" Lila's Dad called out, eliciting another round of laughter from the room and Uncle Stefan chuckled.
"I'm getting to the good part, brother, I swear. So, once again, I thought 'wow, I didn't think it was possible for Damon to just be friends with a girl, especially one he's never hit on before.' Of course, that was all idiotic thinking because one morning in August, after a particularly wild party that I still can't remember to this day, Damon walked into the kitchen. We started talking about the party, what our plans are for the day, and right before Damon leaves, he casually mentions that him and Bonnie are dating now. Shocked would be an understatement, all I could think was how did this happen, did Bonnie go crazy overnight and their relationship was so going to crash and burn. Well, I could not be more wrong about that. My brother has always had a habit of surprising me with...interesting news, but lately all his surprises have been good ever since Bonnie came back into his life. Brother, our home was never really filled with love or happiness, and yet that's all I see in the home that you and Bonnie have created with your three wonderful children. I hope it stays that way forever for the two of you. Now please, if everyone could join me in a toast to the happy couple. Congratulations on ten years of marriage, brother. To Damon and Bonnie!"
"To Damon and Bonnie!" Lila echoes along with the rest of the room, taking a sip of her drink and she notices her siblings copy her as well. Music blares through the speakers, and Lila can hear Dad urging Mom to go dance; people are getting up from their tables, making their way over to the dance floor and Aunt Elena comes over with Henry in hand.
"Hey, you guys! Are you guys having a good time?" Aunt Elena asks warmly, giving Lila and her siblings a kiss on the head.
"Yeah, this food is really good," Mattias chimes in happily, scraping up the last of the food on his plate.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it, Mattias," Aunt Elena laughs.
"Where's Ollie and Uncle Stefan?" Lila asks curiously.
"Uncle Stefan took him to the washroom, afterwards they're going on the dancefloor. I was wondering if Natty wanted to come dance with me and Henry," Aunt Elena suggests, and Nathalia perks up as Henry nods his head enthusiastically. "You know, the song playing right now is very special to your mom and dad. Your mom told me that her and your dad first kissed when this song was playing."
"That sounds fun, Natty. You go with Aunt Elena, me and Mattias are coming too," Lila answers, setting Nathalia down on the floor; she watches the three of them head to the dance floor, before getting up and turning to her brother.
"Come on, Mattias. Let's see you dance," Lila smiles, her brother hopping up from his seat energetically and Lila grabs his hand, leading them to the dance floor.
Lila chooses to copy Mattias's dance moves, it's funnier that way since he's only eight and hasn't suffered the painful awareness of feeling embarrassed yet. She spots Aunt Sarah in a burgundy cocktail dress, and waves happily.
"Hey! Where's Uncle Zach?" Lila asks her Aunt Sarah, and Mattias waves enthusiastically at their aunt too.
"Getting a drink from the bar, of course. You go, Mattias!" Aunt Sarah replies, laughing a little at Mattias's moves. "You guys owe me a dance later."
Lila nods happily, choosing to twirl Mattias around as a joke; he laughs delightedly as he spins around, stumbling a little. Lila scans the surrounding crowd of people dancing, noticing that Uncle Matt is also twirling around Erica and Gwen, their identical faces cracked up in smiles; Aunt Sonya must be sitting down somewhere, Lila caught a glimpse of her and her protruding baby bump earlier. Uncle Stefan is bouncing Oliver around a little, talking to Aunt Caroline who also has Laurel on her hip; Hope is dancing with her dad, her blue eyes sparkling happily. Lila thinks she can see her Grandpa's tall head weaving its way through the crowd, and she can see her parents dancing happily as well. For a minute, Lila wishes she could stay frozen in this moment forever, that she can stay forever in this feeling of happiness.
NOVEMBER 2025
"Are you sure you can't come to McDonald's?" Nia pouted, giving Lila a beseeching look. "I'll even pay to get a McFlurry for you, or just come for a little bit, Lil!"
"Nia, I have to get ready for my lab tomorrow. I've already come to this game because of cheer, but I don't think my dad would like it if I blew off studying," Lila explained gently, and Nia sighed.
"Okay, yeah...also, your dad's here? Is he picking you up?" Nia asked slyly, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively and Lila groaned.
"Omigod, don't. Go to McDonald's, I don't need my dad questioning what kind of a best friend I have," she lamented, and Nia scoffed.
According to almost all of Lila's friends, her dad was attractive, which was also not helpful considering how young he is. Her friends liked to tease her about it, make inside jokes in front of him, which led to her dad being bewildered and questioning Lila once her friends would leave. She knows they're just messing around, but Lila is usually internally cringing whenever her friends are around her dad, and there's no way in hell she's going to explain why they always act so weird around him.
"Fine, fine, I'm going now. See you tomorrow...when do we have cheer practice again? I know it's usually two days after the game, but I thought Coach Hoang said something different…?"
"Today's Thursday, so I think it's on Monday then."
"Okay, yeah, that sounds right. See you tomorrow!"
"Bye, Nia!" Lila waved, walking away and weaving her way through crowds of people, everyone was still buzzing about the football game; Lila waved at a few of her cheer teammates and some other people, but didn't bother to stop to talk. She finally spotted her Dad waiting at the top of the last bleachers, peering down at the crowd of people; she waved at him, his face lighting up and he walked down to join her.
"Lila, you did great! I barely even noticed the game, I was too focused on watching you cheering," he exclaimed, grabbing her duffle bag and slung it on his shoulder. "I took a couple videos too, that way we can watch it at home."
"Dad, you don't have to film me every time," Lila reminded him gently, but it's secretly nice that he still cares enough to do that every single game.
"Oh come on, I got a great video of you doing an aerial, and your back handspring is getting better."
Lila smiled, "You really think so? I think my landing is improving too, but sometimes I get too deep in my head…"
She trailed off, noticing that Lucas was waiting by a lamppost in the parking lot, clearly having spotted her and motioned to go over to her; Lila quickly grabbed her Dad's jacket, tugging him in the opposite direction of where Lucas was standing.
"Hey, why are we going this way? The car's in the opposite direction," her Dad asked curiously.
"I just wanted to take the longer way," Lila replied sharply, tossing a glance back to see if Lucas followed her but he's nowhere in sight. She's not sure if it's disappointment or relief bubbling in her stomach.
Her Dad was quiet for a moment, clearly contemplating something before asking tentatively, "Was that boy waiting for you? The one with the dark hair, in the black jacket with the red Jordans?"
"Yeah, he was, but I don't want to talk to him. He's not my boyfriend or anything, it's complicated but I'm mad at him right now and I'd rather not talk about it."
"Okay, that's fine. I hope you guys work out whatever the problem is."
"Hopefully. Like I said, it's complicated, not all of us can be like you and Mom," Lila remarked, half-joking but there's a truth in there as well. Her parents have always worked so well together, like they were made to be together; it's the same story with her Uncle Stefan and Aunt Elena, it's like something out of a movie or TV show. Lila's not so sure how anyone can manage to have a love story as beautiful as the ones her family has.
"Do you remember how me and your Mom told you that we were separated for a couple years, when you were born?"
"Yeah, because of your dad," Lila replied plainly. She's never met her other grandfather, from what she's heard he wasn't really a nice guy or a good father; apparently he lives in Chicago now, but her Dad and Uncle Stefan don't speak to him anymore.
"That wasn't the only reason why...your Mom thought I had feelings for someone else. Well, she thought I was using her as a distraction. That's why she sent me a letter, instead of telling me in person that she was pregnant."
Lila's jaw dropped, sputtering a little, "What?! I mean, I always thought a letter was a bit dramatic, but I figured it was because Mom saw it in a movie or something. Dad, who was it?! Were you actually in love with this person?!"
"Basically, your mom thought she heard me admitting my feelings for someone else. I did not have feelings for this person, definitely only in love with your Mom. Also...you know this person. It was Aunt Elena."
"Holy shit," her Dad gave her a pointed look, "Sorry, I'm just really surprised. Aunt Elena? But her and Uncle Stefan are like...perfect for each other. That's so crazy...she didn't like you back, right?"
Lila didn't think it sounded like Aunt Elena to play two guys, it would definitely be a dick move if she had. Thankfully, her Dad laughed and shook his head, "No, no, it was always Uncle Stefan for her."
"Why didn't you guys tell me this before?" Lila asked pensively, weaving her way past cars as her Dad followed behind her.
"Neither of us like to talk about it, much less think about it. It was a misunderstanding, I forgave your Mom a long time ago and I know she's still ashamed of it to this day. It happened a very long time ago, me and your Aunt Elena like to joke about it...when your Mom's not around, of course."
"How did you forgive Mom? What changed your mind, why weren't you mad?"
"Well, part of it was you, I didn't want you to be affected if I hadn't forgiven her. I didn't want to be mad, I wanted to move on from the past since I only found out three years later. When she finally came back and I met you, that was my second chance. I didn't want to blow it, not by getting angry over a misunderstanding. The relationship I wanted with your Mom meant more to me than a stupid miscommunication. People make mistakes, and that's natural, once it's done then you can't go back, can't undo it. The only thing you can do is control your reaction, the choices you make are what determines if forgiveness really is possible. In this case, the good outweighed the bad."
"I don't know if you meant to cheer me up, but now I really don't know if I'm going to have an epic love like you and Mom...maybe it's not in the cards for me," Lila admitted, trying not to sound too despondent and reached their car, opening the door and sliding into the passenger's seat.
Her Dad got into the car, turning on the ignition and turned his head to look at Lila seriously, "Now, I don't think that's true at all. All you've ever given everyone around you is love."
PRESENT DAY: 2027
Lila's sitting on a couch in the banquet lobby, back in a sweater and shorts instead of a dress; Nathalia's sitting on her lap, her head against Lila's chest as she sleeps soundly. Mattias is tucked right beside her, leaning against her arm and he seems to be asleep as well. Lila's a little tired, but she's used to staying up unlike her siblings; her parents are still wrapping up the banquet hall, talking to the venue staff about any last-minute payments and everyone else has gone back to their hotels.
Lila takes a bite of a fudge brownie, courtesy of her Uncle Tyler and his long-time girlfriend, Piper since she didn't see them last christmas; she had been bombarded earlier by them with a bucketload of sweets, and of course it was all chocolate-flavoured. Her parents finally reappear from the banquet hall, talking to one of the staff members; they seem to exchange goodbyes, and her parents finally make their way over to her and her siblings.
"Hey, I can take Natty," her Mom greets her softly, picking up Nathalia carefully. She's no longer in her white beaded dress, she's changed into a green sundress but there are still white flowers in her Mom's hair. "Did you have a good time? I see that Tyler and Piper gave you their christmas gift."
"Should I expect to find half of the food gone in there?" her Dad asks, giving Lila a look as he picks up Mattias as well.
"I had a good time, it was nice to see Hope and everyone else again. Definitely super fun, I think I took a million photos. And okay, maybe I dug into a couple brownies, but it's fudge brownies. Can you blame me?" Lila counters defensively, getting up from the couch and her parents exchange amused looks.
"Sometimes you remind me so much of when you were little," her Mom says, clearly reminiscing and Lila's Dad groans.
"Bon, don't go bringing that up. It makes me feel like an old man," he laments dramatically with a smile, and Lila laughs a little, grabbing the door and holding it open for her parents to step outside into the muggy, hot air of the Atlanta summer.
"Did you guys have a good time? Does it feel like it's been ten years already?" Lila asks, half-teasing as they walk over to the car.
"Sometimes it feels like it's been twenty years, and other times it only feels like a few months," her Mom admits easily, her eyes shining happily even in the dark.
"Agreed, so far it's been the best ten years of my life," her Dad adds, pressing a quick kiss to her Mom's cheek with a smirk.
They finally reach the car, and Lila slides into her usual middle seat, and her parents place Mattias and Nathalia carefully in their seats before buckling them up. Mattias's head automatically drops to rest on her shoulder, and Lila can hear Nathalia's tiny breaths from beside her; her parents get into the car, her Dad starting the ignition and they pull out of the venue parking lot, driving away.
Lila can see her Mom's hand caressing the back of Lila's Dad's head, fingering the strands of hair gently; Lila looks up at the sunroof, watching the pine trees rush by and can't help but feel so peaceful, so content. She knows that she still has a lifetime ahead of her, she's hopeful yet nervous about the future. Soon she'll be gone at college, watching her brother and sister grow up from a distance but Lila knows it'll be okay. For now, she's just happy to be encapsulated in the warmth and love of her family, and to finally go back home.
The story is officially done! Once again, thank you for making it to the end of my story, I'm really glad that others have enjoyed my story and share the joy I have for this ship. If you have any other questions about the epilogue or story, please comment and I will use the Private Messaging feature to respond since (as far as I know) I can't respond directly to your comments.
As for future fanfics, I am writing another one for bamon but it probably won't be out for awhile; it's unfinished and in rough shape, and I'm terrible with completing stories. I like to put out stories when I'm mostly done a story, makes it easier to update consistently and to communicate with you guys. However, I really hope I will get to put this one out sometime this year, it'll go back to the supernatural world and contains a couple elements from s4/s5.
I wish all of you a Happy New Year, I hope 2021 will show all of us more kindness. Please stay safe, and thank you again for reading! Hopefully this is a see you around, rather than a goodbye.