Mystic Falls | May 2028
A couple of hours later, Damon sat across from Dot at his regular table in the Boathouse. He hadn't pestered Dot about the phone call, but she was much perkier when he checked in on her some time later, so he decided to take that as a good sign.
He checked the time and said, "I'll have to pick up the kids from the daycare soon. You're coming with me, right?"
"It just so happens that my day conveniently opened up and I've nothing else to do."
"Good. Stevie will be thrilled to see you."
"Me too," she replied. "Can't wait to see those little rugrats."
After a pause where they both enjoyed their meal in relative quiet, she spoke again. "I like what you've done with the place," Dot commented, looking around at the Boathouse. The lunch rush was already over but some patrons still lingered, indulging in an early afternoon coffee and cake.
The interior of the Boathouse was kept dark, but the window panels facing the lake were pushed back, letting in light and a gentle breeze, that it never felt gloomy. The restaurant had a very sophisticated, yet down-to-earth vibe and the food was exquisite. Dot wasn't surprised at all that someone decided this place was worth a star.
Subtly nodding towards Kareem at the front of the entrance, she said, "But your maître D' needs to relax a little."
"My maître D' acts exactly how a maître D' is supposed to act. Just because you wouldn't recognize manners if they bit you in the ass—"
"Uh-huh," Dot replied, talking right over him. "He's all proper and respectful. That's weird. I should talk to him."
"Don't you dare give him ideas. I swear to God, if you corrupt my staff…"
Dot completely ignored his warning tone and continued, "I bet you secretly hate it. You may pretend to like it, but inwardly you cringe every time he calls you sir. Am I right?"
Damon remained silent and glared at her.
She laughed. "I am! I knew it. I'll be right back."
"Dot!" Damon tried to call her back, but she was quick and slippery and by the time he rose from his chair, she was already leaning over Kareem's host station. They were too far away, so Damon couldn't hear what she was saying, but a minute later, Kareem laughed and Damon frowned. He didn't think he'd ever heard the man laugh before. Come to think of it, he didn't even think Kareem knew how to.
A few minutes later, Dot returned to their table and Kareem returned to his perfect statue-like posture.
"You didn't tell me he was a hotel manager back in Afghanistan, before they had to flee the country."
Damon had known, but, unlike his business partner, didn't usually go about divulging his staff's entire history to all who'd listen.
"His wife makes dresses. Like sews them. Herself! He showed me pictures and let me tell you, they are Stunning with a capital S. Like, who does that anymore? Isn't that amazing? And did you know Kareem has a daughter that's almost the same age as Stevie, about a year or so older? She's being bullied in school because her mom wears a hijab. You should arrange a playdate. I bet Stevie would love to make a new friend."
"You learned all that in only five minutes?"
"Yeah," Dot shrugged dismissively. "Why? How long have you known him?"
Damon stared at her, loath to admit that he was speechless. Dot spared a piece of zucchini on her plate, put it into her mouth and chewed around a huge grin. "I know that look. That's the 'I missed you' look."
Damon scowled, but didn't contradict. "Finish your lunch. My kids are waiting."
Damon parked in the small parking lot around the back entrance of the preschool. He got out of the car and leaned against the open driver's side door.
"You're not going in?" Dot asked.
"No need," Damon replied.
Stevie always knew when he was here. She'd get her things, tell Noah to get his and ask her teacher to let them go. The first few times it happened, her teacher tried to tell her to wait until her daddy arrived. To which Stefanie replied, that he had. Miss Pauline chalked it up to coincidence that Stevie was never wrong. And now, after months of it, she was convinced that Stevie simply had very good ears and could pick out and recognize Damon's car engine among the other parents'. Damon, of course, never bothered to correct her.
As if on cue, the side door opened and Miss Pauline waved at Damon. A second later, Stevie and Noah shot out from behind her and raced down the short path.
"Aunt Dottie?" Stefanie yelled, freezing in the middle of the walkway. "You're here!"
"Hey, beautiful," Dot greeted the little girl, sinking into a crouch. A second later, the missile named Stevie barreled into her open arms. "Nobody told me you were coming," Stevie complained into Dot's neck.
"I didn't know I was coming either," Dot replied, pulling back a little.
"This is the bestest day ever," Stevie proclaimed and went to give her daddy a hug, too.
When Dot looked up, she spotted Noah standing a little forlorn a few feet away. "No, you can't be Noah," Dot joked. "Noah is supposed to be this small," she said, her palm somewhere around her kneecap. "You're way too tall to be Noah. You're almost as big as your dad."
That was a blatant lie of course, but it managed to put a huge smile on Noah's face who, a second later, raced the last few feet for his own hug as well.
"He looks more like you every day," Dot said to Damon while still hugging the little boy.
Noah pulled out of the hug with the hugest grin on his face, because there was no greater compliment one could pay him than to compare him to his dad.
"What's that?" Dot asked, pointing to the drawing in Noah's hand. Or rather, it was six small drawings on one sheet.
"This is from the 10 minutes challenge," Stevie replied for Noah.
Noah nodded. "Miss Pauline asks a question or a task and we have ten minutes to draw the answer. And when the bell rings, she asks the next question and we have to draw that."
"Let me guess," Dot said, pointing to the uppermost corner, "this was 'What's your favorite food?'"
It was easy to recognize because Noah had drawn a row of popsicles. Noah beamed proudly and nodded. They went over the other drawings and questions – What's your favorite animal (Noah's drawing was overflowing with bugs, butterflies, birds, and a giraffe?)? Draw your favorite toy. The place where you live. And so on it went.
"What's that one?" Dot pointed to two figures that appeared to be hugging?
"Oh, that was 'What do your mom and dad do?' See? They're kissing. Because they kiss a lot," Noah explained.
Dot sniggered.
"I think Miss Pauline meant what Mommy and Daddy do for work," Damon gently told him.
Noah scrunched up his face, then threw his hands in the air. "Well, she should have just said that then."
Damon picked up his son and kissed him on the cheek. "Nah. I like your version better anyway," he told him.
"Can we go home, Daddy? I wanna show Aunt Dottie the rabbit nest I found in the woods."
"Yes, Damon," Dot added, "can we go home? I wanna see the rabbit nest." Dot blinked up at him with exaggerated innocence and big eyes.
"God," Damon mumbled as he bent down to strap Noah into his safety seat, "it's like having three kids. Only mine are well-behaved."
"Dot!" Elena cried and fell around Dot's neck, hugging her fiercely. "You're here. Damon, Dot's here!" Damon nodded dryly, watching the exuberant greeting procedures. "Is Deja here with you? Did we know you were coming?"
"No, you did not. And Deja will be here tomorrow," Dot answered.
Elena furrowed her brow at the lack of explanation and glanced quickly at Damon who just shook his head.
Dot caught the exchange. "I'll give you the whole story later," she promised.
"They had a fight, she ran, but they made up over the phone," Damon explained.
"Or have him tell it to you," Dot said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
"I think I'm going to need more than that," Elena replied.
Dot nodded. "We'll talk later. Right now, I gotta go find a hiding spot. We're in the middle of a hide and seek game," she added in explanation. "I need to step up my game because your kids are winning."
"Ahh," Elena said and nodded. "They never check behind the doors when they come into a room. So, if you're quiet you can sneak from hiding place to hiding place very easily."
"Secret insider knowledge. Nice. Thank you."
"Unless Stevie decides to cheat; then she'll use her powers."
"In which case there ain't no place in the house she won't find you," Damon added.
"I'll take my chances." Dot grinned and was off.
Elena watched her go, then turned to Damon with two raised eyebrows. Damon breathed deeply and motioned Elena closer. She sat down in the chair next to his and he gave her a brief summary of the day's events.
"Everything go okay on your end?" he asked after finishing his report.
Elena nodded, knowing what he was asking. "The IUD is out. We can start trying in a few weeks, I guess."
"Can we start trying right now?" Damon jokes, leaning his head into her shoulder.
"Really?" Elena laughed and chided. "We have guests."
"One guest," Damon corrected and with a glance into the backyard added, "and she's busy right now." Apparently, the game of hide and seek had turned into a chase around the pool.
"Later," Elena promised.
Damon sighed. "It's been one of those days," he said.
Elena nodded and smoothed a hand through his hair. "Is Dot okay?"
"Has she ever been okay? She's nosy, and tenacious, and bullheaded, -"
"Damon," Elena interrupted him with another laugh. "You know what I mean."
"Yes, they'll be all right," he replied, referring to Deja and Dot. "Just a few pre-wedding jitters, nothing to—"
He was interrupted by Noah's voice.
"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mom, MOM!" he kept yelling as he raced into the kitchen.
"What? Calm down, what is it?" Elena sank to his eye-level and grabbed both his shoulders, giving him her undivided attention.
He grabbed her hand and pulled insistently. "Mom, you have to come!"
"What happened?" Elena asked again, but followed her son outside.
"It's hurt," Noah said, pointing to a clump of dark earth in the grass between the roots of the tree. Crouching closer, Elena finally saw that it wasn't a clump of dirt, but a black bird. Not a newly hatched one, but not fully grown either. Probably a crow or a raven. One of its wings dragged on the floor; it was obviously broken.
"You have to fix him," Noah implored his mom, eyes watery with unshed tears.
"Oh, honey," Elena sighed.
"Noah," Damon tried, having followed his wife and son outside. He bent to pick up his son, but Noah slipped away, shaking his head.
"No. She's a doctor. She can fix things. You can fix him," he insisted, pulling on Elena's arm.
Not birds, Elena thought, I don't know how to fix birds. But as she looked up and saw his pleading gaze and, behind him, Stevie's sad eyes, she didn't have a choice but to try.
She crouched closer to the bird, but it hopped away a few steps, probably too afraid of her. Elena tamped down her frustration. How was she supposed to help the bird if it was too afraid of people? While she was still devising a plan of how to catch the foundling without hurting it more or causing it unnecessary distress, Noah knelt down in the earth and extended his cupped palms towards the bird. The small head jerked sideways a few times, regarding him carefully, then the bird hopped closer and nipped at Noah's fingers. Moving slowly, he lifted him gently and looked up at Elena, lip quivering.
Elena sighed inwardly before resolving to treat the bird as she would any of her little patients.
"Okay, I need some gauze. My bag is still in my car. Damon?"
He nodded and wordlessly went to get it. Elena meanwhile inspected the bird for open wounds, but didn't find any. She folded the wing to the bird's body and proceeded to wrap it with gauze when Damon returned with her medical bag. Noah watched everything with wide eyes.
The afternoon ended at the vet's, where the doctor assured them that Elena had done everything right and there was nothing else to do but feed and water the bird regularly and wait until its wing healed, which would take about four to six weeks.
Noah gave Elena a big hug. "Thank you, Mommy," he whispered in her ear.
"You want me to show you how you can take care of him while he recovers?" the vet asked as she crouched next to Noah.
Noah nodded and listened carefully as the vet explained how and what to feed the bird and how to keep the box they were keeping the bird in clean. "I can do that," Noah said earnestly.
"I know you can," the vet told him, mussing his hair and smiling at Elena and Damon.
"Let's go home?" Elena asked.
"Yeah," Noah breathed and gently cradled the box with the bird to his chest as he carried it outside.
Damon and Elena shared a tired look, thanked the doctor, and followed their son, Damon wrapping an arm around his wife as they left the veterinary clinic.
It was late and Elena was exhausted. The house was quiet, the kids having gone to bed a couple hours prior. But she and Damon had spent the evening catching up with Dot over a bottle of wine before she too retired to her guest bedroom. Elena checked in on their feathered patient in Noah's bedroom and kissed her sleeping son's forehead before slipping quietly from the room.
There was light under Stefanie's door and Elena peeked inside.
"Why are you not sleeping?" Elena whispered, coming closer.
Stevie shrugged.
"Too much excitement, huh?" Elena asked and climbed into bed next to her daughter. "Come on, close your eyes," she told her softly.
Stevie snuggled up to her mom and did just that. "Mom?" she asked after a few minutes of Elena rubbing her back.
"Hmm?"
"Can I tell Aunt Dottie that I'm going to be a big sister?"
"You already are a big sister," Elena finally replied after a moment of stunned silence. She had assumed that Stevie and Noah had already forgotten the conversation they had this past weekend at the lake house.
"No, Noah doesn't count. Because when Noah was little, I was little, too. But now I'm big and I can be a real big sister."
"Maybe we should wait telling people until there is something to tell, okay?"
"Oh," Stevie replied, slightly sad, "okay." A moment later, she perked up again, "But we are getting a little brother or sister, right? You promised."
Elena pulled back a little and made sure to have Stevie's full attention before answering. "That's not exactly what we promised, angel, remember?"
Stevie thought for a moment and said, "You said maybe."
"Exactly. We promised to try. And that's not the same thing, okay? There's a difference. Do you understand the difference?"
"Yeah," Stevie nodded.
"The difference is important," Elena added, hoping Stevie really understood.
"I know, Mommy," Stefanie replied. "I just got confused."
"Confused about what?"
"Because I saw the room, the empty one right next to the stairs. Only it wasn't empty. There was a little bed in it. Like, for a baby. I think there was a baby. So, I decided I'm going to learn how to play even more songs on the piano, so I can play for the baby. Like Daddy always plays for me."
Elena's mouth opened and closed as she tried to catch up with her daughter. "Where did you see it? When?" Elena asked.
"I dreamed it. Just now."
Elena shook her head in disbelief and bent her head to kiss Stevie. Whether it was just a dream or one of the prophetic ones like Bonnie used to have or simply wishful thinking didn't really matter. She just hoped Stevie was right because any baby should be so lucky to have Stefanie for a big sister. "You're amazing, you know that?" Elena whispered against the top of Stevie's head.
"Uh-huh," Stevie nodded. "Daddy always says so, too."
Elena smiled and hugged her daughter tightly. "I love you."
"More than marshmallows?" Stevie asked with a teasing grin. Because after dinner, Damon had made hot cocoa for everyone and Elena had joked that their love was dead because Damon had put fewer marshmallows in her cup than in everyone else's.
"Way more than marshmallows," Elena confirmed.
She passed Dot's guest room on her way up. The door was open and Elena saw that her friend was still up.
"Did you and Deja manage to patch things up?" she asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Yeah," Dot replied. "We're going to discuss the wedding and set a date when she arrives here tomorrow."
"Oh, so, there's gonna be one eventually?"
"Oh god, not you, too."
"Hey, it's a legitimate question when one got engaged like ten thousand years ago and still hasn't set a date."
Dot sighed deeply. "Fair enough." She looked sideways at Elena, "Though you did sound a lot like Damon just now."
"Touché," Elena replied.
"I don't know why I'm scared," Dot admitted in a small voice. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me. And things are so good. Why do I feel the need to run then?"
Elena smiled sadly and came in proper, perching on the bed. "It's okay if you want to run."
"It is?" Dot asked with a bewildered expression.
"Yeah. You find the person you trust and can be honest with. And when things get scary, that's the person you run to."
"That's all?"
"No. You also have to marry them and hold on and never let go again."
Dot chuckled. "I'm working on that."
Elena got up to leave the room.
"You know," Dot said before she disappeared, "you're even more badass than I knew."
"How'd you figure?"
"Because even after knowing him only for as long as I have, I know that most people would run from Damon, not to him."
Elena smiled a private smile. "Most people don't know him like I do."
"Hey, Elena?"
"Mm?"
"Do you mind if I use your phone to call the hotel in Raleigh? I don't think I'll be able to go to sleep right away."
Elena smiled. "Sure, use the landline as much as you want. But you can just dial Deja's number directly. It's saved in there."
She finally climbed the steps to the master bedroom and slipped under the covers, lifting Damon's arm and crawling underneath it.
"Okay, so, we're thinking destination wedding," Dot announced at dinner the next day.
"Great," Elena replied. "Where did you have in mind?"
Deja glanced at Elena and her lips twitched, but it was Dot who answered. "Oh, I saw this really beautiful place right on a lake. It has the cutest gazebo. I can just picture me and Deja under it."
Damon glared at her. "You're talking about the Lakeview Terrace, aren't you?"
"Maybe." Dot grinned and reached for Deja's hand. "Just out of purely hypothetical curiosity: would it be available around March next year?"
Damon rolled his eyes like she was a nuisance and pulled up the bookings calendar. He pretended to check it thoroughly, though Elena knew that he'd clear any date Dot and Deja settled on, even if it meant canceling an already confirmed booking. They went over the details and spent some time on Dot's schedule while Elena and Deja stuck their heads together on the other side of the table, catching up.
"Oh, by the way," Dot addressed Damon, making Elena and Deja look up from their conversation. "You're going to be my maid of honor."
"Your what now?" Damon sputtered.
"You know," Dot replied off-handedly, "I don't have any girl friends. The only person I know who's a friend and a girl is Elena, and Deja's already got dibs on her."
"You do?" Elena asked, blinking at Deja.
"Thanks, babe," Deja replied. "We hadn't gotten to that part yet."
Dot shrugged. "Oops. Well, the cat's out of the bag now. So, you'll do it, right? Great," she said, without waiting for his reply. "That's another check mark on the to do list. Look," she waved the sheet in Deja's direction. "We're making progress."
"Can I be the flower girl?" Stefanie piped up from her chair. "I already know what to do."
"Yes, baby girl, I would love that," Dot replied, kissing her cheek.
Stevie preened, satisfied. "Can Noah be one too?"
"But I don't wanna be a flower girl," Noah objected.
"I'm sure we can find another job for you if you want to," Dot offered.
Damon, still feeling like he'd just been plowed over by a truck, could only blink. He caught Elena's smirk and suddenly remembered something. "Hey! This isn't your way of keeping me occupied on your wedding day so Elena and I won't…" He glanced at the kids eating dinner, eyes going back and forth like following a tennis match. "…disappear to entertain ourselves. Is it?"
Dot shrugged but didn't deign to answer, instead choosing to discuss Noah's possible role in the ceremony with Noah.