Careful What You Wish For
DG32173
Sarah: Welcome to Chapter 13 of Careful What You Wish For. This is the last chapter as I don't plan on an epilogue because I plan to do a sequel eventually. Yes, my lovelies, I'm ending this on the 'unlucky' number of Chapter 13. It just so happens to be my personal lucky number, and my favorite number. Anyways, that's enough about me. It's time to get to the review replies and then the Chapter. This final chapter is told from Elena's viewpoint. But first, a few shout outs are in order.
SHOUT OUTS FOR GOOD GUESSES
I've decided to give a shoutout to all reviewers who had guessed at what Elena's mission is and had at the very least gotten close. If you didn't guess in your review but had gotten close in your suspicions, sorry, you don't get a shoutout but good job. Anyways, as far back as Chapter 9, people were starting to get suspicions. As far back as Chapter 10, there were a few guesses. The guesses that are either at least partially right or got close enough to count belong to the following reviewers:
HoneySexy: in Chapter 10, you gave a guess that was half-right, half-wrong. That's close enough for a shoutout. Congratulations on being a good guesser. What gave it away so early? That chapter only mentioned that Damon had made a promise and then Elena immediately went back to her time. I didn't even hint at what that promise could be until Chapter 11. Anyways, damn good guess so early.
Leann Nickerson: you got close enough to the truth of Elena's wish in your review of Chapter 11 to get credit. Good job.
REVIEW REPLIES
bnromine33110 from chapter 11: I'm sorry I missed replying to you last chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed up to chapter 11 and hope you enjoyed chapter 12 as well.
Leann Nickerson: as I said above, I'm planning on both a prequel and a sequel eventually, here's the last chapter. I hope it tugs at your heartstrings like it tugged at mine when I was writing it.
heyitskarma: both a prequel in the alternate timeline and a sequel are being planned, I just need to get time and inspiration to work on them. I hope you enjoy this last installment of this particular story as much as you enjoyed the rest of it.
LadyTR: so many are asking for the prequel in the alternate timeline and quite a few are asking for a sequel as well that when I have the time and inspiration, I plan on working on both, starting with the 'prequel'. Glad you enjoyed this story so much. Here's the final chapter. Hope you love it as much as I loved writing it.
Chapter 13
Mission Complete
"We've only got an hour's ride before we're back in Mystic Falls," Damon says softly as we take a short break to rest the horses.
It's been six months since we left Los Angeles. It is now the two-year anniversary of my arrival in the past. I'm now a few days over twenty-years-old and look a lot less like Katherine than when I first arrived. Damon of this era is twenty-seven in relation to the day he was born, though he hasn't aged a day since his transition into a vampire.
"I'd like to go back to that clearing I first appeared in. Maybe being there will help me figure out what this mission I'm supposed to accomplish is," I tell him. I've also decided to have him make me a promise there. I have finally figured out how to keep his humanity intact over the rest of his existence. Damon would never willingly break a promise that he makes. If I can get him to promise to never turn off his humanity, then I know he'll never do so willingly.
He glances at me. "Sure. We can make that our first stop," he says.
"Actually, I want to see what your home looks like now before we go to the clearing. In my time, the manor you grew up in is a complete ruin," I say.
He sighs. "Well, I was planning on setting that old manor to the flame while we're here. There is no telling how Stefan had left it when he and Lexi left and I'd rather not deal with the mess," he says. "So I'll give you the tour before I torch it. Be warned, it's probably not gonna be pleasant."
I notice once again that Damon has added a lot of slang from my time to his vocabulary over the course of our time together the past two years. I am pretty sure that 'torch' was not used like that until at least the early twentieth century, though I could be wrong. And he's definitely increased how often he uses slang contractions like 'gonna' in our time together.
Despite Damon's warning, I'm eager to see the 'old' Salvatore manor in its prime, before it becomes the dilapidated, burned-out ruins it is in my time. The ruins, while impressive, only hint at what it once was like. I want to see for myself just what it was before it reaches that state.
Once Damon has decided the horses have sufficiently rested and I've had a chance to stretch out my muscles after many long hours of riding without end, we mount back up and continue to make our way down the well-traveled dirt road towards Mystic Falls.
Because I'm wearing the clothes I had been wearing when I came to this era, I know Damon's going to avoid going near the town proper or anywhere someone else might spot me. These clothes are getting rather worn and Damon's had to repair them to the best of his abilities quite a few times over the past couple of years. They're not made for the hard wear and tear they face daily in this era. But they are all the physical proof I have that I really did come from another time and I don't want to give them up until I absolutely have to.
It only takes us a couple of hours to reach Damon's family home in this era. Once there, we stable the horses so that they can be comfortable while Damon gives me the grand tour. As soon as we enter the parlor, I can tell immediately that Stefan had not cleaned up after himself. I grimace at the bloodstains everywhere.
Damon sees my grimace. "Don't worry; he kept his killing primarily in here," he assures me, swiftly leading me to the stairs. "There's only one other place that is like that and I don't go into Father's study."
"At least he's not that bad in my era that he would leave a mess anywhere except his room," I murmur. "And I never go in there. There's too great a risk of bumping a stack of his stuff the wrong way and being buried alive, never to be heard from again. I don't care if he claims the stuff is stacked in a way a mere bump won't cause the stacks to collapse."
He shudders. "Apparently, he only gets worse over the decades ahead," he remarks as we reach the second floor. He takes an immediate right. "We'll start the tour in my room. I want to see if I left anything I don't want to lose permanently," he says, changing the subject.
I nod. "In the home you'll have in my time, our room is at the far right of the second floor while Stefan's is at the far left, up a short flight of stairs. You told me once, after I found out your secrets, that you had the place built and designed it loosely like this manor," I tell him.
"Well, our rooms are the furthest ones from each other here, though you don't need to climb another set of stairs to reach his room," he replies, opening the door to his room.
I stop in my tracks at the uncanny resemblance to his rooms in my time. He glances at me with a raised eyebrow. "My uncanny resemblance to Katherine when I first arrived has nothing on the similarities between your room here and what will be our room in the home you'll have in my era," I say, slowly stepping into the room that could easily be a clone of Damon's room in my era, minus the technological updates. "There were differences between me and Katherine, though not as many as there are now. This room and our room in my era might as well be the same room, just updated with the times."
He seems to file that information away for later consideration. For now, he starts carefully going through his room, checking every object against some unknown criteria that determines if it stays or comes with us. I turn towards the fireplace and see a large, painted portrait of a beautiful woman who bears a striking resemblance to Damon, even sharing the same eyes.
"Is this your mother?" I ask softly.
He turns to see what I'm looking at. "Yes. Trista Salvatore, mine and Stefan's mother," he says softly. "You never saw a picture of her?"
I shake my head. "You told me you were unable to save a portrait of her to my era," I reply. I study the woman. "You did mention that you inherited your looks from her and I can see that was an understatement."
He comes to stand beside me and stare up at the portrait. "I wish I could save this portrait, but it'll get damaged if I try to carry it in the saddlebags," he murmurs. "There might be one other picture I may be able to salvage. It's small enough. Let's see if we can find it," he continues.
I follow his lead and begin systematically going through Damon's things, helping him look for the portrait he remembered. As I find things I think he might like to hold onto, I place them on his bed for him to sort through. Finally, tucked away deep in a drawer, I find a small, leather-bound picture book holding just one picture, that of a young Damon, around the age of five, and his mother.
"I found it," I tell him, admiring the open innocence of Damon in the portrait, though the spark of mischief that's ever-present in his eyes was captured perfectly by the artist.
Damon nods. "Put it in your pocket for now while I go through the rest of this stuff to see what can be saved," he tells me.
With one last look at a very young Damon and his mother, I close the picture book and tuck it into my jeans pocket. Damon's done sorting through his things a lot faster than I would have been. He's always claimed not to hold much sentimentality for objects and, given the amount of things he's leaving to be consumed by the fire he's going to set, I can now see that's very true.
Once we have the few items Damon's decided are worth saving, we leave his room and continue the tour. It doesn't take very long as there aren't a lot of areas Damon is willing to let me poke around in. Soon, Damon's striking a match after I helped him douse the downstairs with alcohol. I back up and Damon tosses the match onto a puddle of alcohol, which ignites with a 'whoosh'.
We then retrieve the horses and continue our journey to the clearing where the boarding house will one day be built. I plan on asking Damon to make that promise when we arrive. I don't know why it's so important I have him make the promise there, but everything in me is telling me that is the place to do it.
"Damon, I want you to make me a promise," I say softly as we arrive back at the clearing where the boarding house will one day be built.
"Tell me the promise first. I don't make promises that I don't intend to keep or die trying," he replies.
I nod. "I know," I tell him. We dismount and tie the horses to a nearby tree with plenty of leeway to graze on the edge of the clearing. "But I feel like you can make this promise. It might not be easy to keep, considering it's a long-term promise."
"Don't draw it out, sweetheart," he says dryly.
I sigh and turn to him. "I want you to promise me you will never turn off your humanity, even after we figure out this mission and I'm sent back to my time. I know that it will be a long, lonely time for you without me. But I want your promise you will never stop feeling, no matter how much it hurts to feel," I tell him. "I know this will be a difficult promise to keep in the decades ahead, but I don't want you to become a heartless monster by the time we meet again. And even after we meet again, I want you to stick to this promise for as long as you exist, no matter what happens."
He's silent for several long minutes, considering the promise I want him to make me. Finally, he sighs, raking a hand through his hair. "I can see that it's very important to you that I make this promise," he says. "I promise that no matter how tough things get for me, no matter how much I might long to, I will never turn off my humanity to hide from my emotions for so long as I exist."
Before I can even thank him, I feel the same sensation I had felt when I was brought to the past, as if a giant hand grabs me from behind and pulls me backwards. "Elena!" Damon cries, reaching for me. I hear both horses let out unearthly screams in fright. Then my senses are once more cut off as I'm transported back to my own time.
Just as suddenly as the first time, my senses are returned and I find myself back in the boarding house living room. Suddenly, a pair of familiar masculine arms wrap me tightly in a hug from behind. "Dammit, Elena, don't ever make any more wishes like that again," Damon breathes in my ear, turning me around to capture my lips in a fierce kiss.
I kiss him back. When he finally lets me come up for air, I ask the one question that had plagued me while I was in the past. "Did time pass here?" I ask him.
"You've been in the past for two years, Elena. Time has passed here just the same as it did then," he replies. He pulls me in for another tight hug, resting his chin on top of my head. "I don't ever want to lose you again. Twice now is bad enough. Let's not go for three."
I snuggle closer. "I won't make any more wishes like that one, I promise," I vow to him. "I just wanted to see if I liked you as you were then as much as I like you now."
He chuckles. "I still got that old journal you used back then packed away in the attic," he says. "I took the opportunity over the years to look through it multiple times while waiting for you."
I roll my eyes and shake my head. I figured that even if he didn't read it while I was working on it, he'd read it at some point before he came across me again. "I'm surprised you didn't look through it while I was writing it," I remark.
"It took a couple of years before I was ready to see your side of things," he replies candidly, pressing his lips to the top of my head briefly. "Damn, you have no idea how much I missed you," he murmurs just loud enough for me to hear.
"Even though I was with you in the past, it just wasn't the same, especially at first," I reply softly.
"It's still not the same as being completely without me," he retorts. "I spent the past two years trying like hell to get you back ahead of schedule."
I have one more question to ask him. "What happened to Shadow Light after I came back?" I ask. The mare and I had bonded almost as closely as Damon and I and she had come to prefer me as her rider by the end of our time together even over Damon himself. She had become what Damon had called my 'heart horse', what he said was my horse soulmate.
He sighs, averting his eyes, and I feel my heart drop, knowing just by those signals it wasn't good. "She was heartbroken when you vanished like that," he says softly. "She knew immediately you weren't coming back in her lifetime and very nearly bit me for not stopping your disappearance. She would have, too, if I hadn't had vampire reflexes. She never let anyone else ride her again, not even me, and ended up dying less than a month later because she absolutely refused to eat anything, not even apples." I feel my eyes widen. Apples had been her absolute favorite treat and she had never turned one down. Damon had constantly scolded me for stuffing her with apples once I discovered that tidbit. "Black Star lived another fifteen years before passing away as well." He glances at me. "They're both buried on this very property, as a matter of fact, if you want to visit them."
"I'd like that," I murmur.
"I'll take you there later. First, you and I, we have some catching up to do," he says, scooping me up in his arms and capturing my lips in a kiss that leaves me without a doubt as to just what he meant by 'catching up'.
As I give into the kiss, he vamps us upstairs to our room, barely waiting until the door is closed and locked behind us before starting to strip us both. As much as I had grown to love and cherish Damon as a newborn over the two years we were together, I still prefer this Damon, as he is now in my time. It's damn good to be back with him.
As Damon strips my jeans off, I'm startled by the 'thunk' they make when they hit the floor. In confusion, I pick up the jeans and reach into the pockets, only to pull out the leather-bound book with the picture of five-year-old Damon and his mother.
"So, that's what happened to it," he murmurs, gently taking it from me to look at the picture. "I had wondered if you had taken it with you since I was never able to find it in your saddlebags."
I see a gentle love in Damon's eyes as he looks at his mother's portrait, the kind most children get when thinking about a beloved parent. "I didn't mean to," I tell him.
He closes the book and sets it on his nightstand. "It's fine. It's safe and that's all that matters," he says, turning towards me again. "Now, where were we?' he purrs, pulling me into his arms for another devastating kiss as he finishes stripping both of us before tumbling me into our bed.
After the whole deathbed werewolf thing we went through, I had opted to move my things from the Gilbert house to Damon's rooms because I didn't want to miss a single moment I could be with Damon. So, rather than ask permission since I was nearly eighteen anyways, I simply told Ric that I was moving in with Damon and he only had to be legal guardian over Jeremy.
I tear my thoughts back to the present as Damon nips my collarbone a little roughly because he sensed my thoughts wandering. He knows exactly how to get my attention when it wanders, having learned it during our time together when he was a newborn.
"You're here with me now; don't let your thoughts wander," he growls into my skin.
I laugh and stroke his back. "At least they're thoughts of you and me," I retort as he starts kissing his way down to that place between my legs that will only ever know him.
"They're not about what's happening now, so it doesn't matter," he growls before latching onto my clit with his mouth while slipping a finger into my core to begin preparing me.
It isn't long after that before he carries me over the edge of ecstasy with his mouth. Once I'm spent, he starts kissing his way back up to my mouth. As soon as he captures my mouth with his, he slides his cock home inside of me. With barely a pause, he starts slowly sliding out of me until just his head is inside of me before plunging back in, grinding his pelvic bone against my clit each time they're in contact. This quickly has me clawing my way back up the hill towards ecstasy again. This! I've missed his skill at getting successive orgasms from me relatively quickly that he didn't have as a newborn.
Soon, we leap off the edge into ecstasy together and he collapses on top of me from the force of his release. I kiss the side of his neck. "Even though I was with you when you were a newborn, I still missed you as you are now," I murmur into his neck, knowing his vampire abilities will let him hear me.
He rolls us onto our sides, his cock still buried in my core. "I got that sense from your journal you kept then," he says softly into my hair. "All the comparisons you made were rather eye-opening, to say the least."
I flush. "Well, you've changed noticeably since then; maybe not physically, but definitely in your personality. I was always expecting one thing from you, based on who you are now, and you as a newborn would throw me a damn curveball too often for my liking," I tell him. I sigh. "Now, I'd really like to pay my respects to Shadow Light and Black Star. So can we get dressed and you show me their graves?"
He sighs but obediently pulls out of me, both of us hissing at the lost connection. Then we get dressed and Damon scoops me up in his arms. I wrap my arms around his neck and he takes off at top vamp speed. In less than a minute, he stops at the edge of a clearing in the woods behind the boarding house. In the middle of the clearing are two gravestones carved in the exact likeness of the horses I had grown to love during my two years in their era.
Damon gently sets me on my feet, only releasing me when my balance returns. With great reluctance, I slowly step up to the tombstone carved to look like Shadow Light. "I'm sorry, girl," I whisper, reaching up a hand to touch the statue's face. "I'm so sorry for leaving you like that. I didn't plan on it. You were a great mount, the perfect horse for me. I'll never be able to find another horse like you. Damon was right to refer to you as my horse soulmate. I knew I would one day leave you; between you and me, that's why I slipped you all those apples."
I feel tears slipping down my cheeks but ignore them as I finish paying my respects to my horse. "I know you and I were the perfect match, but you didn't have to starve yourself when I left. I wish there was a way I could have prepared you for my leaving so you hadn't been so badly affected by it. I'm gonna miss you, girl. I hope whatever afterlife you found, it's full of all the apples you could ever want."
I turn to Black Star's gravestone. "You and I never really got to know each other very well, as you were Damon's mount. From what he told me, you weren't too upset by my disappearance, not like Shadow Light. From what I saw, you were a great mount for Damon, even if he didn't give you all the treats you deserved. I hope you also got paradise in the afterlife, with plenty of sugar cubes."
With that, I pat both gravestones before turning to rejoin Damon. He wraps his arms around me and lets me cry into his shirt for quite some time, mourning my horse.
Sarah: And that's the last chapter of Careful What You Wish For. I will be posting a 'prequel' based in the universe that Elena's wish had created as well as potentially creating a sequel eventually. For now, let me know what you thought of how it turned out. I know I ended it on a sad note, but I felt that was a good place to stop and I'm not changing my mind.