Seattle | June/July 2022
Damon was soaked. He wasn't entirely sure how it happened, or rather how a three-week-old baby could manage to splash so much during her bath time, but it had. Cleary, bathing was something he had to work on. Now, several weeks after Stefanie's birth, routine had set in. He and Elena had figured out a rotation for feeding, sleeping, getting up at night, and not dropping everything at the slightest sound of distress from the baby. Not that Stefanie was a fussy baby – as far as newborns went, Stefanie was pretty low-maintenance. For which everyone was grateful, but none more so than Elena.
She was cramming every single second that she didn't spend sleeping. These were temporary exceptional circumstances, which was why even the evenings were spent poring over textbooks while Damon took on the task of bathing their newborn daughter by himself.
"Ugh," Damon heard Elena exclaim all the way in the bathroom, "this is torture." A groan and a head-meet-desk sound followed close behind.
Damon didn't think his input was required, so he didn't reply. Instead, he whispered into Stefanie's ear, "I think your mommy needs a break."
"Why did I do this to myself?"
Damon raised his voice slightly, so Elena would hear him in the next room. "You were concerned you'd never get pregnant and you thought doing the accelerated program would be a good distraction?"
"Yeah, okay. But why did it have to be medicine? Remind me whose idea it was that I become a doctor?"
"I believe it was all you," Damon answered, transferring the baby onto the changing table and wrapping her in a plushy towel.
"The drug addict me. I can't be held responsible for decisions I made under influence. I should be allowed to change my mind."
Damon chuckled and dressed Stefanie in a onesie after expertly fastening a diaper. "What would you rather be?" he entertained Elena's flight of fantasy.
"A mermaid?" she suggested. "Can I be a mermaid instead?"
"Nope," Damon replied. "I've no idea how mermaids have sex. So, a big fat veto from me on the mermaid plan."
"What about a princess?" Elena asked and Damon could hear the pout in her voice.
Damon picked up his freshly bathed and changed daughter and brought her into their bedroom where Elena was slumped over her textbooks at the desk over by the windows.
She lifted her head as she heard them enter. Closing the books, she walked over to the rocking chair in the corner that they had set up next to the baby crib.
"I've an even better suggestion," Damon replied. "Why don't you try for queen? Because, oh look, you already have a throne." He motioned to the rocking chair where she had taken a seat.
She unbuttoned her shirt and Damon handed her the baby to feed. This was also part of the new routine.
While Elena breastfed their daughter, Damon stripped out of his wet clothes and put on a pair of dry sweatpants, deciding to forego a shirt. It wasn't that late yet, but taking care of a new baby, even a low-maintenance one like Stefanie, was exhausting and they tended to sleep whenever she did, as otherwise sleep was hard to come by.
When he was done, he paused in the doorway of the walk-in closet and watched his wife. One day he might become used to the sight, but it wasn't today. Seeing Elena with their baby, he couldn't describe the feeling in his chest when he watched the two of them. Like something massive was trying to break free from his chest.
Elena looked up and their eyes met across the room. She had a soft smile on her lips. "I'm sorry you have to take care of everything by yourself. I know it's not fair," she said quietly in reference to her busy study schedule and looming exams as well as the mandatory internship hours which she had to put on hold for the last few weeks of her pregnancy and had had to catch up on now.
"That's okay."
"But I feel like I'm not contributing enough," she protested.
"Don't worry about it."
"I should have cut the hours in the hospital," she thought out loud.
"Elena," Damon said with emphasis, "don't worry about it. It's only a couple more days. Things will quiet down once you start your residency."
Elena sighed. "If I ever manage to pass all my exams."
"You'll do brilliantly, as always."
"Thank you," Elena said after a pause.
"Don't. It's just the truth," Damon brushed it away.
"No, not just for what you said. For this. For everything. You're amazing. I love you."
"I love you too," Damon replied, eyes roaming all over Elena.
She narrowed her eyes at him and said with a chuckle, "It's weird that this turns you on."
"You think it's weird that I'm turned on by my extremely sexy, beautiful, half-naked wife?" With a nod towards Stefanie, he asked, "Is she done?"
Elena glanced down at her daughter and gently stroked over the downy fuzz of her tiny head. "Yeah. She's asleep."
"Good," Damon said and came over to take her. "Sorry, sweetheart," he whispered to the sleeping baby as he put her down in her crib, "but Daddy really needs some alone time with your mommy right now. So, for the next three to four hours, you're going to sleep and not make a sound. Deal? Good. Daddy loves you, but it's my turn now. Okay? There's a good girl."
Elena laughed hearing Damon negotiate with his sleeping daughter. She fixed her nursing bra and rebuttoned her shirt, saying, "I need to study for the finals, Damon."
"No, you need to relax. And I just know how."
Elena almost groaned – a relaxing evening with Damon sounded pretty much like heaven right now, but it wasn't in the cards. "We can't really do anything," she reminded him. She had given birth only a little over three weeks ago. Sex was still out of the question and would be for several more weeks.
"No. We can't have intercourse," Damon corrected her. "We can, however, have orgasms."
After making sure that Stefanie was sleeping soundly in her crib, he paused for a second. Glancing back and forth between Elena and their bed, Damon spun the baby crib around so the solid back wall of it was facing the bedroom. This way, if she did happen to wake up, she wouldn't be able to see her parents do anything children weren't supposed to ever see.
Elena stood there, watching his antics with an amused grin, shaking her head. "Even if she did see anything, you know she would neither understand nor remember it. You do realize that this is overkill, right?" she asked her husband.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "And you do realize that those clothes are coming off in about 60 seconds, right? Why did you button it all the way back up?" He motioned towards her, waving his finger up and down at her entirely too clothed form.
"Damon, I really do need to study."
"I quizzed you yesterday. You already know all this stuff," he said, pointing to the books. "Why are you driving yourself so crazy over this?"
Elena deflated and sat down on the corner of the bed heavily. "I need to do well on those tests because…" She paused, struggling to put her thoughts into words. "Aside from feeding her, you've been doing all the work since we brought her home from the hospital because I needed to study. If I don't do well, it will all have been for nothing. I will have missed the first weeks with our newborn child and wouldn't even have anything to show for it. It needs to have been worth it."
Damon stepped closer and took both of Elena's hands in his, pulling her up to her feet and into his arms. He hugged her tightly and she slumped against him, letting him hold her up.
"For someone so smart you sure can be stupid sometimes," Damon said. "But it's okay; I still love you."
"Thanks," Elena sarcastically replied, pushing off of him, "this really does wonders for my confidence."
"Well, you are. You're going to ace the exam on Thursday, and the one after that, and you'll graduate on time with the rest of your class. You're just punishing yourself because you feel guilty. Even though there's nothing to feel guilty about. As I said – you're being stupid."
Elena pouted but didn't contradict him.
Damon tapped his chin, musing, "But on the plus side, when Stevie grows up to be a total failure in life, at least you'll be making enough money to pay for the therapy that she'll need because her mother abandoned her to pursue her career." He said the last part with exaggerated dramatic flair.
Elena swatted at Damon but he just laughed and ducked out of the way. She jumped him and they both toppled onto the bed. Elena pushed up on her elbows. "Stevie?"
Damon shrugged under her. "Stefanie's quite a mouthful for such a tiny thing as her." He reached for the buttons of Elena's blouse and started undoing them one by one. He moved onto the bra and undid the front clasp, pushing both garments off of Elena's shoulders.
Elena played with the drawstring of his sweatpants, wrapping the ends around her fingers but not making any move to take them off. Damon's fingers slid over her full breasts in random patterns and came to rest on her hips. He looked quizzically up at her.
"I've just been thinking that it's been so long," she explained and with a wicked grin slipped a hand inside, wrapping it around his length.
Damon groaned in response. "Yes, it has. Three weeks and six days but who's counting."
He flipped them over, pushing himself between her legs and sliding down, mouth trailing a line down her upper body. He grabbed the fabric of her yoga pants and pushed them down her legs, moving onto the girdle she wore underneath. In the darkened room, it took him a moment to figure out the fastenings and Elena helped.
"This has got to be the least sexy undressing sound ever," Elena commented when Damon undid the Velcro straps.
Damon chuckled and replied, "When you giftwrap a Rolex in an old newspaper, it is still a Rolex."
"Is that a not-so-subtle hint for what you want for Christmas this year?"
"No. It's a not-so-subtle hint that you could be wearing yesterday's newspaper for all I care and I'd still think you're the most gorgeous woman in the world." He finally removed the allegedly unsexy garment in question and pulled off her panties as well. "Because you are," he said, lifting his head and looking at her. He reached for one of the smaller pillows at the head of the bed and pushed it underneath her hips, dropping a kiss on top of her womanhood. Elena relaxed into the mattress and let Damon and his tongue work its magic, all worries melting away into nothing as he expertly shattered her world.
Several minutes or possibly hours – Elena seriously couldn't tell – later, she was staring unseeingly at the white ceiling, completely blissed out. "Thank you," she breathed in a low and sated voice.
Damon's side of the bed suddenly shook as he, resting beside her and equally blissed out, started laughing. "Did you just honestly thank me for giving you an orgasm?"
"Huh. I guess I did." She sighed and rolled towards him. "I'd forgotten how good that feels."
"When your doctor gives you the green light, we're ditching the baby and we're not leaving this bed for a whole day. Twenty-four full hours of uninterrupted Damon and Elena adult time. No," he reconsidered, "make that a full weekend."
"Deal," Elena agreed. She pushed up on one elbow and used her free arm to paint figure eights on Damon's chest. "So, earlier," she began, "you said something about orgasms… as in plural?"
The purple and gold weren't really Elena's colors, Elena decided as she got dressed for the ceremony, but at least the gowns were black. Though, how sensible it was to wear black in the bright and blinding sunshine, was yet another question.
"You okay?" Daisy asked her. "You look queasy."
If Daisy who rarely, if ever, took notice of social clues noticed, then that definitely meant something.
"Just nervous," Elena replied.
"Why? The worst is over. Now comes the fun part."
Elena knew Daisy meant the medical profession, getting to practice medicine, help people, or in her case, cut into people. But Elena was nervous for a different reason. Damon still wasn't there. And he hadn't texted either.
The Physician's Oath & Hooding Ceremony was about to begin in less than fifteen minutes and Elena glanced at her silenced phone for what must have been the hundredth time. No messages, no calls, no Damon. She moved closer to the window and glanced outside.
The ceremony would be held on the lawn on the opposite side of the building. But for now, all the med students were crammed into this room to change and prepare for their formal entrance. Conveniently, the room overlooked the parking lot and Elena kept scanning it for signs of Damon's car.
Would he have even taken the car? The campus wasn't that far away – maybe he'd walked? In a suit, and with a baby in tow – would he have walked?
Thinking of her baby, Elena's arms itched to hold her and as if on cue, she felt some milk leak out and grimaced. She checked her front, but the nursing pads in her bra seemed to do their job. Though they felt itchy. But that might have been her nerves more than anything else. God, she just needed to know that Damon was here. And/or hold her baby and just inhale her scent. But both were absent and it made Elena irritable.
Two short knocks on the door diverted her attention. She turned, expecting to see a TA ordering them to line up. But instead, Damon's head appeared in the opening doorway, eyes seeking out Elena. The students who didn't know him frowned, their frown deepening when they noticed a newborn in his arms, but Elena's friends couldn't even pretend to be surprised. They just shrugged and returned to their conversation while Elena met Damon halfway across the room and asked, "What are you doing here? How did you even get in here? Also, you're late, though, honestly, I don't really care anymore. Gimme, gimme, gimme," she finished, arms extended, grabby hands demanding to hold their child.
Damon almost snorted a laugh as he watched Elena cuddle Stefanie close to her chest and breathe in deeply with her nose buried in the baby's fine hair.
Elena sighed, feeling much calmer now.
"Addict much?" Damon asked.
"Shut up," Elena replied with a grin and bent to kiss Stefanie's head. Stefanie gurgled happily, arms waving through the air. Looking up, Elena reached for Damon's tie and pulled him in. "Also," she said, "come here."
"I'm getting very mixed signals here," he managed to joke before Elena planted her lips on his and he shut up in favor of kissing her back.
Elena knew that several of her classmates were staring at them, but she barely even knew their names and didn't really care. Damon was here, Stefanie was in her arms, and in a few hours, this would all be over and she'd be Elena Salvatore, MD.
"Okay," Elena said after pulling away, "now I'm ready."
"Junkie," Damon said as he took Stefanie back.
"Do you want me to tell everyone which one of us spends hours every night watching his daughter?" Elena replied sweetly.
"It's a habit," Damon replied easily, not in the least bit embarrassed. "I like watching Gilbert women sleep."
Elena ignored him. "Seriously though, what are you doing here?" she asked again.
"Had a feeling you were losing your mind."
"Was not," Elena protested.
"Uh-huh." The voice was dripping disbelief.
"Okay, maybe a little," Elena admitted.
"Don't worry. Even if you stumble while walking across the stage – you all look the same in these robes. Nobody will be able to tell who's who."
"Not helping, Damon!" She swatted his arm.
The door opened again and this time it was the professor's TA coming to tell them the ceremony was starting. His eyes stopped on Damon – the only one not in a graduation gown.
"Sir, you're not supposed to be in here."
"Oops," Damon said and grinned, slipping out the door while grabbing Stefanie's arm and waving a goodbye at Elena and her friends.
Outside, Damon adjusted his tie and the baby in his arms and took a look around. Their friends and family were seated close to the stage, taking up a whole row – no doubt thanks to Caroline's persuasion skills. He sat down just in time to see the graduates walk out in a straight line to take their seats in the front as the ceremony began.
Damon endured a few long-winded and boring speeches, wishing he could copy his daughter who was napping in Bonnie's arms and close his eyes for a bit too. He glanced at Caroline a few seats down the row. The vampire sat upright and stiff in her seat, seemingly listening attentively to the Dean's speech, but every once and again, Damon noticed her glance at the baby out of the corner of her eyes.
She had practically begged to hold Stefanie and Damon was more than willing to share, but for whatever reason, Stefanie didn't seem to like that. She cried every time she was put in Caroline's arms. Caroline gave up trying after a few attempts in order not to disturb the ceremony more, but Damon could see that it bothered her. And he felt for her, he really did. She'd been patient, waiting for weeks to meet her niece. But it wasn't like Damon could influence his daughter's behavior.
He sighed, hoping that Stevie would come around and bond with Caroline. Otherwise they were looking at some grim few days.
A little while later, the hooding part of the ceremony began and, unsurprisingly, their row cheered the loudest when Doctor Elena Salvatore was awarded her honors. They clapped and howled and cheered and whistled and probably scared some of the other attendants, but Damon didn't care. He'd never been prouder of his wife.
Elena grinned at them all, cheeks reddening and shaking her head a little at the fuss they were making, but she held Damon's eyes across the heads of the people around them and mouthed, 'I love you' before leaving the stage.
The ruckus woke up Stefanie and she released a high-pitched whine before Damon quickly grabbed her and she settled down again, recognizing her daddy.
A few names later, it was Deja's turn to mount the stage and he and Dot joined the claps and cheers coming from somewhere several rows farther back where Deja's family must have been sitting. Damon noticed Dot cheer as loudly for her as she did for Elena and made a mental note to pester Dot about it later. Dot kept denying that things between her and Deja were serious, but the huge smile and proud glint in her eyes begged to differ and Damon was absolutely getting to the bottom of this. For Elena, of course. Because she'd want to know.
Thankfully, the line of students moved quickly and this portion of the proceedings came to an end soon after. For the last part of the ceremony all graduates were asked to stand for the recitation of the Hippocratic Oath.
As the group's voices rose and fell with the words, Damon pointed to Elena and whispered in Stevie's ear, "Look at Mommy. Isn't she amazing?" Stefanie cooed which Damon took for agreement. "You hit the parent jackpot, kid. You got the best Mom anyone could ask for and okay, the jury's still out on your dad, but I promise I'll do my best to do right by you."
"Shhh," Dot hissed and elbowed him in the ribs.
"You shhh," Damon replied in a whisper. "I'm having an important discussion with my kid."
"Yeah? What's she saying about the look your wife is giving you right now?"
At that Damon glanced up and met the raised eyebrow of his wife. He winked at her and lifted Stevie a bit so Elena could see her daughter and watched as Elena smiled around the next repeated words.
"Doctor?" Damon said, walking up to Elena a little while later after the Dean of Medicine released the freshly minted doctors into the wild. "I have this terrible ache in my pants that just won't go away."
"Mh-mm," Elena responded, visibly trying to keep a straight face. "Sounds serious."
"Yes, it does. You should probably have a look at it right away."
"Or you could hold off until after your guests have left," Caroline suggested from behind him.
She stepped around Damon and threw her arms around Elena. "Congratulations, Doctor Salvatore," Caroline screeched into her ear, loud enough that Elena flinched away slightly, but she laughed.
"Thank you."
She still couldn't believe that it was over. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of her mind, she had believed that this moment would never come. That despite wanting it so badly, she wasn't cut out to be a doctor. And now here she was and the feeling was incredible. It only paled when she glanced at Damon's proud gaze and Stefanie's tranquil face staring at her from Bonnie's arms.
The rest of the family swarmed her. The force of Jeremy's hug lifted her off her feet.
"Mom and Dad would be so proud of you," he whispered in her ear and Elena had to blink rapidly to dispel the tears that suddenly shot into her eyes. "I am," he added.
"Thank you," Elena whispered back.
She had no time to dwell on the emotions as first Alaric and then Bonnie went in for a hug. Everyone had come out today to celebrate and Elena felt blessed beyond words. She instinctively reached behind her and found Damon's hand waiting to grab hers, grounding her.
For a while, it was utter chaos while pictures were being taken and Elena's friends came up to either congratulate each other or say goodbye. They made plans to stay in touch while realistically knowing that their personal lives would drift apart.
Amber was going back on a cruise ship to mostly treat sea-sick rich retired people. Daisy had been snatched up by a prestigious hospital on the East Coast and Ryan was going with her, now that he could finally call her his girlfriend. Luis was going back to his own country, which left only Deja.
She had several offers from hospitals and research labs all over the country, but she had been stalling to make her final decision for weeks if not months now and Elena suspected Dot was a major reason for that. But there was no time to dwell on it now.
Caroline directed the photo session, calling out for various combinations – Elena by herself, Elena with Damon, Elena with all of her friends, Elena with the diploma, Elena without, Elena with the cap, Elena without, and the best accessory of all: Elena with Stefanie.
It felt like hours and her cheeks hurt from smiling non-stop, but Elena endured all the commands until she heard her daughter's cry which meant she was hungry.
"Hey, check me out," Jeremy called out when Damon told him to bring Stevie over to Elena. "I'm an uncle."
Elena laughed, happy to see her brother hold his niece. She took her crying daughter from him. "Don't take it personally," she told him, referring to Stefanie's wails. "She's just hungry. She usually loves the attention."
It was true. Stefanie loved being passed around, seemingly enjoying people clamoring to hold her.
"I'll be right back," Elena excused herself and disappeared inside to feed her child while the rest stayed behind and coordinated who was riding with whom to get to Damon's restaurant across town where a large table was waiting for them.
"Are you still starting your residency after the summer, as planned?" Caroline asked during lunch.
"Yep. Taking a break now will only make it harder to return eventually."
"And what about Stefanie? Are you going to hire a nanny for her?"
"Damon and I talked about it, but neither of us is comfortable with the idea of a stranger taking care of our child. The bar is mostly run by Dot nowadays and doesn't really require Damon to be there during the day. He has the corner café which he plans to turn into a wine bar but while the renovations are still ongoing, there's only so much he can do. That leaves the restaurant and Enzo has offered to help out where he can. So, we decided Damon's going to look after Stefanie while I'm at work and we switch in the evening."
"Damon, the stay-at-home dad?" Caroline exclaimed in utter disbelief. "Are you sure it's a good idea?"
"Why?"
"This is Damon we're talking about, Elena."
"Yes?" Elena dragged out the vowel with a warning note in her voice.
"I just," Caroline hedged, "I mean, has Damon even taken care of a baby before?"
"Had you before you stepped in as a surrogate mother for Josie and Lizzie?" Elena countered.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure he'll do fine."
"He's doing more than just fine," Elena replied, a sharp undertone slipping in despite her best intentions. She knew where Caroline was coming from. They lived so far away from each other – she didn't see Damon on a day-to-day basis, didn't see how selfless and kind he was. How devoted. "He's done literally all the work this past month."
"You're right," Caroline hurried to placate Elena, sensing the wariness in her voice. I just… can't picture it."
"If it's pictures you want, I have tons," Elena replied, steering the conversation onto safer grounds.
"I bet," Caroline laughed. "Send them to my phone. Send everything you have."
"You'll regret saying that." Elena's phone was bursting with photos of Stefanie. Elena chuckled at herself. She'd become the typical Mom – obsessed with and convinced that everything her child did was the most precious thing in the world. Maybe the novelty would wear off someday. But until then Elena was determined to enjoy every single second of it.