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The One With The Dance

Elena tried very hard to remain calm, but after one glance at Damon, she couldn't help but be worried about him. Last time their daughter announced she had something important to tell them was just last week, when she very calmly informed them she had a boyfriend and was going on a date. That had not gone over well with Damon at all. While Elena secretly knew Miranda had a few boyfriends, but kept it from Damon for everyone's sake, this was the first time she told them about someone. Before that, Damon blissfully lived in his little bubble of denial where his daughter was, and probably always would be, his little girl and too young too date.

Now, one week later, as the same scenario played out in front of Elena, she couldn't imagine what other news Miranda might drop on them and how Damon would react. He already looked pale as he waited for her to speak, and Elena gave her a subtle look that hopefully said she better hurry up before her father jumped to the worst possible conclusion.

Miranda's brown eyes went wide, probably realizing the same thing, so before he could start interrogating her, again, about the boy she was dating she blurted out, "I decided to participate in the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant this year."

Damon visibly relaxed and Miranda and Elena shared a look, trying not to laugh.

"That's great! I know I mentioned it once at the end of last year but I wanted it to be your decision." Elena encouraged her with a smile.

"I know you participated in it mom, and that's something I want to do too. Olivia wants to do it also, so we decided to do it together." Miranda told them excitedly.

"Out of the thousands of pointless events this town has, that actually might be the only one that has my full support." Damon said, smiling for the first time since the beginning of their conversation. He looked at Elena, remembering their dance when she had participated during her junior year. Elena felt his eyes on her and returned the look with a blush and a smile.

Their moment didn't go unnoticed by their daughter. "What was that look?"

"What look?" Damon asked.

Miranda rolled her eyes, "The look you two give each other when you share a memory or one of your countless inside jokes. I've seen it enough times to know the look."

Damon smiled at that before he replied, "Well, when your mom was a contestant for Miss Mystic Falls in high school, we shared a moment."

"What kind of moment? Tell me." Miranda demanded because she always enjoyed her parents telling her stories, but before either of them could answer her eyes went wide and she quickly added, "Wait wait ew! Don't tell me if it's smutty!"

Damon laughed as Elena quickly explained, "No, no, it wasn't like that! We were just friends back then."

"But it was a completely different story a year after that..." Damon cut in with a smirk.

Elena gave him a serious look which immediately stopped him from saying whatever he was planning on saying, before continuing, "Part of Pageant tradition is the dance they do every year, the dance each contestant has to do with their partner. My partner couldn't make it on time so right before the dance I was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at the empty space, scared and confused and thinking how any minute everyone will realize my date is missing and I'm gonna have to go back or worse, walk down the stairs alone." Elena paused and turned to Damon with a soft smile, "But then, Damon stepped in and saved me from embarrassing myself in front of the entire town."

"Awwww." Miranda always loved these little moments and stories her parents shared with her.

"As he led me to the place where we were supposed to dance I kept thinking 'how are we going to do this without any practice.'" Elena laughed, "But like always, your dad surprised me. We didn't need any practice. Dancing with him felt effortless, I didn't have to think about it at all. Everything faded away and it was just the two us and in that moment I let myself admit for the first time how...good looking he was and let myself just forget all our problems and just be in that moment and feel."

"That sounds so romantic! But didn't you guys once tell me when you were friends you were angsty and were fighting more than getting along?" Miranda asked with one eyebrow raised knowingly.

"We had our moments in between all that angst, like that dance." Damon answered, sharing another look with Elena.

The moment was broken at the sound of a ringtone. Elena glanced down at her phone, "It's Caroline. She'll be so excited you're doing the pageant."

Elena stood up and left the room. Damon's eyes followed her until she was out of view before turning back to Miranda. "Your mom took my breath away with each step she made down those stairs. And even though it started off as something we had to go through unexpectedly, as we danced I felt something shift inside me, and between us. I didn't know it at the time, or maybe I knew it but I couldn't admit it to myself yet, but I was falling for her. Maybe I was already in love, but in that moment I felt how inevitable it really was."

Miranda knew her dad loved her mom, he showed it every day in his every word and every move, but listening to him talk about the moment he fell in love was something else entirely. "That sounds like the beginning of a love story." Miranda mused out loud. "So nothing but happy memories then?" She asked then.

You think this is where your love story began.

Damon remembered Stefan's words and gazed thoughtfully at his daughter, who unknowingly reminded him of another, not so happy memory he had of Miss Mystic Falls.

"Unfortunately, it's not all just happy memories. Years later, we attended another Miss Mystic Falls Pageant." Miranda felt the happy mood from before completely disappear. Sometimes it was hard for her dad to talk about that period of their once upon a time crazy lives; filled with vampires, werewolves, witches and many other things her parents left out for her benefit, so she waited in silence until he continued.

"Elena was gone." He took a deep breath and Miranda knew he was talking about the time her mom was in a magical coma and her dad believed he wouldn't see her for 60 years. "I only had the memory of her to hold onto. But thanks to the Mystic Falls villain of the month even that was slowly slipping away from me. My feelings attached to those memories were fading away. But your aunt Caroline stepped in and she helped me by dancing with me and forcing me to confront those feelings buried inside. I kept having these flashbacks of your mother as we were dancing and I felt her, for just a moment, like she was there with me. And that's when I knew that somehow I had to keep her and our memories safe in my mind."

As her dad spoke Miranda felt one tear slip away and roll down her cheek and she quickly brushed it away. Her mom and dad told her many stories; exciting ones, funny ones, scary ones but each time they told her a story like this, filled with so much tragedy and sadness, she couldn't help but feel overwhelming happiness for her parents. They'd been through so much and had always found their way back to each other. Every day and with each story they inspired her to believe true love exists and to believe one day she'll find it too, and fight for it just like they did.

She stood up, went to her dad and sat down next to him. His eyes still looked haunted but he looked at her curiously and waited for her to say something. Much like her mom always had, she knew what her dad needed in that moment, so she moved closer and hugged him tightly. She kissed his cheek softly before pulling away, "Thank you for sharing that with me dad."

Elena watched them silently from across the room with tears in her eyes and a happy smile on her face. One night, while they were lying in bed Elena shared with Damon the moment she knew she loved him, and he surprised her by sharing the moment when he knew as well. But Damon had never told her about everything that happened that day while he was fighting Sybil's mind control, and as Elena listened to him, and though she thought it couldn't be humanly possible, she still felt like she loved him even more.

Later that night, when their kids were asleep and everything was silent, Damon and Elena were in their bedroom, their bodies closely pressed together and swaying slightly. There was no music, and other than the sound of their heartbeats, it was complete silence. Elena's head on his shoulder, Damon's arms wrapped around her. Every few minutes Damon would place a soft kiss on her cheek, her hair or her forehead and Elena would hug him tightly in return, both of them lost in memories from a long time ago, the memories they had fought for so hard all around them, and at the same time making new ones.

For now, this is a O/S but if enough people like this then this might turn into collection of one shots about a few significant, exciting, funny, sad or sexy moments in Damon and Elena's long and happy life together post 8x16.

Big thanks to Channing (delenasdragon) and Laura (delenashands) for helping me!

Please review and let me know what you think here and on twitter (delenafatalist).