Prologue:
Damon threw back another swig of his whiskey, watching the flames from the fireplace in his parlor. It was day 33 without Elena, and at this point he really wished he hadn't promised not to desiccate, in order to speed up the waiting process. Anything was better than sitting here twiddling his thumbs, waiting for one of his best friends to kick it, while constantly being dotted on by said friend. Oh yes, Bonnie shows up once a day, usually during lunch time to drop off a burger, and offer up some company in hopes that he won't blame her for losing Elena. Of course he doesn't blame Bonnie, it wasn't technically her fault, but every time he sees her all he's really looking at is… well NOT Elena. So after day 22 he asked Bonnie to just give him some space, she agreed although she wasn't completely thrilled that she was being sent away.
"I miss her too," was her response when he had first told her to stop coming by;
"And the more time I spend with you, the closer I feel to her," She had explained, but Damon didn't care. Maybe his selfishness was surfacing now that the love of his life was gone, but he couldn't possibly stand to be around Bonnie any longer. It gave him too many opportunities to "accidentally" speed up the waiting process, something that was becoming more and more tempting by the day. He loved Bonnie, he wanted her to have a long and happy life, maybe get married, have some kids… but the truth of the matter was he loved Elena more.
"If it comes down to you and the witch again, I will gladly let Bonnie die. " His own words were constantly being played over and over in his head.
"I will always choose you," and yet there she was in a dark coffin, in the Salvatore crypt, while Bonnie was walking and talking out in the real world. He had made a very Stefan like decision. Letting Elena choose to save her friend, his friend, God what was he thinking? He had proclaimed on several occasions that he didn't mind being the bad guy. That no matter what he'd keep her alive, and in the end he failed to do just that…well sort of.
"DAMON!" Stefan yelled, entering the boarding house, with a book tucked under his arm.
"In here." He simply stated, taking another swig of his whiskey. Stefan practically skipped to the spot next to him.
"How you holding up?" He asked, patting his brother on the back. Damon growled in response, and downed the last of his drink. He didn't understand how the rest of their group had managed to go on without her, it had only been a month and three days, and every one is already back to their old schedule; And Stefan, Stefan who was once Elena's "soul-mate," as he put so eloquently when trying to convince Damon not to take the cure too, seemed completely fine. Damon couldn't understand that, in no world, in any form of reality, whether she chose him or not, would Damon not mourn her, the way he's doing now. There's no way he'd be able to move on so quickly, but here Stefan is doing just that.
"So I found away to take out the heretics." Stefan said beaming with pride, attempting to hand over the book he had tucked away under his arm, but Damon didn't take it.
"This is a good thing." He finally said after a minute, when Damon gave him no response.
"Mhmm," was all that Damon could muster up, before getting up to pour him-self another drink.
"You know Damon, Elena wouldn't have wanted this-"
"Watch it Stefan." Damon warned, cutting his brother off. He sloppily poured himself a glass of bourbon before resuming to his spot on the couch in front of the fire.
"She wanted you to be happy." Stefan persisted, earning an eye roll from his older brother. "And I know that's hard to think about now-"
"No. You have no idea." Damon finished, and glared at his brother. Stefan took this as his cue to drop the subject.
"Okay." He said, leaving his brother alone to sulk.
…
The next morning Damon was woken up from his spot on the couch, by a very frustrated looking Blonde vampire.
He was staring directly at Caroline while she spoke, but he, in no way could make out what she was saying. His head was pounding from the massive hangover he had given himself from all the bourbon last night, and her voice was lost among the ringing in his ears, and the jackhammer that seemed to occupy his forehead.
"Wha-?" Was all that he could muster, when he noticed that she had stopped talking and was standing there impatiently waiting for him to answer.
"DAMON! Did you not hear anything I just said?" She screamed, and finally her voice seemed to break through the hangover sound barriers.
"I've learned from experience that when you start talking it's best to just block it out." Damon said with a forced smirk, as he got up from the couch and bumped into Caroline on his way to the liquor table. She was going to call him an 'ass' or something of the sort, but any insult was lost on her, when she looked at how broken he was.
"I said that we have a plan to take down the heretics." She repeated her statement from earlier on, and he nodded, throwing away an empty bottle of bourbon.
"I know, my baby brother told me yesterday." He replied with a yawn, and returned to his spot on the couch.
"We're going to build a couple of bombs and-" She cut herself off. "God when was the last time you showered Damon?"
"I don't know." He muttered, and took a large gulp of his drink.
"Okay! Get up!" She cried, and took the drink out of his hands, which caused a growl to escape his lips, he had her pinned up against a door-frame in a minute.
"I just want to help you." She said with a shaky breath.
"Why? You hate me." He spat out at her, and she sighed.
"You're my best friend's..." She grimaced, and shook a little from obvious disgust. "… soul-mate, and she wouldn't have wanted you to wallow in your own filth, so I'm going to go upstairs and run you a bath."
"No." Damon sighed and walked away from Caroline. "I'll go do it myself." He grumbled and walked away, starting to climb the stairs.
…
When he finished taking his shower, and getting dressed in fresh new clothes, he decided that he would venture downstairs to grab a blood bag, before returning to his spot on the couch. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw that Blondie, Wonder boy and his brother were all formulating a plan in the middle of his parlor.
"Hey Damon!" The former quarterback called out to him, "Do you know Ric's new number?" Damon didn't reply, but instead just simply kept walking.
"Don't worry about it." Stefan said quickly, putting a hand on Matt's shoulder.
Once Damon reached the cellar, and opened up the small fridge containing his and Stefan's blood supply. He pondered on why he was still trying to do this, if he would "forget" to drink blood, due to his depression, he wouldn't technically be breaking his promise to Elena, and it would make the time go so much faster. Or he could just flip the switch on his humanity, call up Enzo and spend the next twenty thousand days…give or take, tearing it up; But what would Elena think when she woke up? She would surely be disappointed in him, and what if she wasn't enough to bring back his humanity… 'pfft no she brought it back once, she could bring it back again' Damon thought to him-self, he groaned in frustration and finally decided that he'd just drink a stupid blood bag. He picked up an O-Neg and called Alaric. Ric was probably in the same shape he was, losing girl #3, and two babies along with her, Damon would be surprised if he even picked up the phone.
"Hello." A light groan came from the other line, after two rings.
"Hey buddy." Damon said while taking a sip from his blood bag.
"What do you want Damon?" He whined into the phone.
"Oh it's not about what I want, it's about what my hero of a baby brother and his two teamed justice league, wants."
"Uh hand over the phone." Ric replied with another groan, and Damon climbed up the stairs and handed it over to Donovan.
"For you." He said simply, and the deputy to be, gingerly took the phone away from the vampire.
"Hello? Oh hey Ric, we wondering how do you make a bomb?" Damon zoned out after that, sat back down on the couch, he was sure at this point there was an indent from his butt, from sitting there for too long, but he didn't care.
…
After an hour and a half of doing nothing, but stare at the fire, and drink him-self blind, he decided it might amuse him-self if he listened in on the justice league's conversation. It consisted of Caroline and Stefan accidentally bumping into each other, and then jumping back and apologizing, and wonder boy was talking to himself, desperately trying to follow Ric's instructions… it simply wasn't working for him. Damon in that moment felt like he was in the Wizard of Oz. All three of them were in desperate need of something and Damon wished he could simply snap his fingers and give:
Donovan a brain, Caroline some courage, and Stefan… well he'd give Stefan a pair of balls. That way he wouldn't have to beat around the bush with Caroline like this; and as for him he'd just wanted Elena to come home. Damon looked down at his feet and tapped his heels together three times…
"Of course not." He muttered.
"What was that Damon?" Stefan asked from across the room, causing Damon to roll his eyes dramatically.
"Nothing, Stefan." He said in a mock tone, and took a swig of his bourbon. Just then a loud banging sound erupted through the parlor, and Damon cursed to him-self.
"Donovan what the hell are you doing?" He bellowed, and Matt shrunk a little in size.
"I didn't do anything!" He exclaimed, and Damon was over by him in a flash.
"He's right, I think it came from over there, by the front door." Caroline interrupted, and they all steered their attention to the front door. There in the middle of the floor was a girl no older than 16, She was groaning, sitting up and rubbing her temples.
"Seriously!" She cried looking directly at Stefan and Damon. She got off the ground in a huff. "What the hell is wrong with you two!" She screeched, inspecting her-self for any bruises.
"What?" Was all that Stefan could muster out.
"Do you think this is funny?" She asked in a high-pitched shriek. "I'm not a rag doll Uncle Stefan!" She proclaimed, as she pushed herself passed him.
"What did you just call him?" Matt asked, giving her a puzzling look, but the girl ignored him.
"You know there are other ways of waking me up… shaking me, pouring water on my head, the sweet smell of bacon! Literally any of these would work better than you throwing me!" She yelled once again, and the four adults just stared at her. She sighed and rubbed at her temples again.
"Daddy, are you making pancakes?" She asked, changing her tone to a sweet little girl voice. She was staring at Damon expectedly.
"What?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes.
"Pancakes!" She proclaimed once more, and he continued to stare.
"Who are you and what have you done with my real father?" She asked with fake dramatics, before running over to him to hold his face.
"Do you have a fever?" She asked rubbing at his forehead with one of her hands, he quickly swatted it away.
"Who are you?" He asked annoyed, and now it was her turn to stare perplexed.
"Your daughter." She stated matter-of- fact-like, before sauntering over to one of the couches.
"Which is why I think you're some sort of impostor, my real father would never hate me so much as to deny me pancakes when I asked." She said with a giggle.
"Listen little girl, I think you might be confused." Damon said hesitantly and started to walk over to her. "I'm not anybody's dad." …'Well at least not yet' he quickly thought to him-self.
"Okay very funny daddy." She said with an eye roll. "But seriously those pancakes won't make themselves." She started to dismiss him with her hand, as if to send him into the kitchen.
"I'm not your father!" He yelled at her, which made her jump a little. She got up from her seat to stare at him directly in the eye, of course she was quite a few inches shorter than her, so she had to stand on her tippy toes to truly reach him.
"Of course you're my dad!" She said exasperated "How could you not be-" She cut herself off when she noticed the carpet she was standing on.
"Wait. The rug is here." She stated almost in a trance.
"Yes…?" Damon inquired, and she shook her hand to silence him.
"How is this rug here?" She yelled at him, but he had no answer.
"What year is it?" She asked panicked.
"2015." Caroline said from across the room and the girl's face fell.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me."
...
Okay so this was just the prologue, I'll try and have the next chapter up soon! Please let me know what you guys think!