Bonnie Secret

by queen08

Bonnie had a secret for seven years that about to explode. Can she survive this and if she does survive will she get the family she's always dreamed of. Damon about to make the second biggest mistake of his life, can Bonnie's secret save him and give him the one thing he always wanted .

13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Damon walked thru the glass doors of D & B exhausted after spending the morning at Salvatore Industries in New York and then taking the hour flight back to Mystic Falls where he went straight to D & B. It made for a long day but it was worth it if it kept his family together. Currently Damon was overseeing the New York branch while his parents were temporarily in Italy helping his Grandmother Antoinette transition a winery to Salvatore Industries Italy. His parents were hoping that while they were away that he would persuade Bonnie to help run the New York branch which would step up their goal of him taking his rightful place as the head of their United States interests while they stayed in Italy to oversee their international interests.

Bonnie however had no desire to relocate to New York or give up D & B which was a successful agency that worked to revitalize neighborhoods in inner cities all over Virginia.

Damon walked in the doors and saw their secretary Linda at her desk sorting thru the mail. He approached her desk to see how her day had been, "Hey Linda, how's it going, any messages for me?"

Linda looked up from the mail and handed Damon a couple of messages and a manilla envelope and for some reason wouldn't make eye contact, "It's been a slow day the mayor's office called to confirm the table you sponsored for the Founder's Day Ball."

Damon knew that Bonnie hated everything about the Founders Ball since it was originally created to celebrate the founding families of Mystic Falls while failing to include or celebrate the many African Americans who basically built the city but then were excluded from being invited to the ball or taking a part of any of the festivities unless they were hired as servants. Not much had changed since the early days as it still lacked a lot of diversity. Thinking he might earn some brownie points with Bonnie he said, "I actually think we are going to skip the ball this year, but can you contact the Mystic Falls Color of Change Organization and advise them we would like to donate our table to them?"

Linda smiled at him and picked up her phone so Damon turned around and headed for his office. He sat down at his desk and stared at the envelope that had been delivered to his office from Bonnie, he was already thinking the worst and immediately felt sick to his stomach. He reached over to open the envelope and saw what looked to be legal paperwork and was already thinking of how he would do anything necessary to fight Bonnie against a divorce.

He unfolded the papers and was confused when he saw a contract for a house in Manhattan, before he could figure out what was going on his door opened and in walked Bonnie with Izzie and Bennett.

Izzie looked shocked to see him and Bennett ran over and jumped in his lap and said, "Daddy I didn't know you were here."

Damon got up with Bennett still wrapped around his middle and went over and hugged Izzie and said, "I just got into town Bud and was going to work on a few things here before I headed home because I missed you and your sister."

Izzie hugged him back and looked over at Bonnie and said, "We missed you too dad, are you going to be here to see my dance recital next week?"

Damon smiled and kissed her forehead and said, "I wouldn't miss it sweetheart."

Bonnie handed Izzie Bennett's backpack and said, "Izzie can you please take your brother to my office and if you both get your homework done, we can go to Top Golf for dinner."

Bennett jumped down from Damon and was so excited at the prospect of spending time with Damon that he grabbed his sister's hand, but before Izzie started for the door she looked over at Bonnie and then Damon and asked, "you are coming with us right dad?"

Damon looked over at Bonnie and raised an eyebrow waiting to see if she would answer by coming up with a reason why he couldn't come or if she would let him answer.

Bonnie smiled at her children and looked over and winked at Damon and said, "If your father doesn't have anything important, he has to finish then yes he can come, it's been a while since I've beat him at golf."

Bennett pulled Izzie's hand and started for the door, but not before looking over at Damon and saying, "Daddy hurry and get your work done so you can come with us."

After the kids had walked out of the office, Damon walked back to his desk and picked up the contract and said, "If you decided to find me a place to stay in New York so I don't have to commute back and forth to Mystic Falls you can forget it. When I agreed to temporarily take over for my father in the New York office, I promised you and the kids that it wasn't permanent and that I would still be home most of the week."

Bonnie walked over and took the contract out of Damon's hand and said, "First I want to apologize for the way I've treated you and reacted to the recent changes in our life. Instead of talking to you and figuring out a solution I immediately think the worst and assume you wouldn't fight for our family and eventually you would wind up staying in New York. It took a conversation I overheard with Izzie and Grams to realize I wasn't being fair to you."

Damon released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and said, "I know our daughter is a genius but what did she say to convince you to change your mind about me temporarily taking over at Salvatore Industries?"

Bonnie frowned, "She was having this conversation with Grams that she was afraid that Bennett was going to have to go thru the same thing she did by being raised by one parent. She felt it would be harder for him because all he knew was having both parents because when she was his age, she didn't know she had a father."

Damon rubbed his hand across her cheek as a tear began to drop from her emerald eyes, "I hate that she was worried about this and had to go to your Grams, but I hope that you know that no matter what happens between us that our kids will be 100% my top priority."

Bonnie grabbed Damon's hand that was still on her cheek and said, "That's the problem, while you have always made both me and the kids your top priority, I've always made the kids my only priority. I think because I was a single mother with Izzie that I haven't always treated our marriage like a joint partnership. In college my professor in my Modern Religion class paraphrased a quote from the Old Testament that explained a parent's first responsibility is not to the child but to the other parent. I've just now realized it's interpretation is that if you take care of the needs of your spouse and your marriage is good then that will in turn benefit and nurture the needs of the child."

She looks up at him with emerald eyes filled with tears and he used his thumbs to wipe both cheeks and says, "Bon Bon I've never felt we weren't partners and that we are not in this together. I know I failed you in the past and I promise I won't let you down again if I ..."

Bonnie interrupted him to say, "No, Damon you have to stop letting me off the hook, I'm the one who didn't come and tell you I was pregnant and just left town. I'm the one who when you were asked by your grandmother to temporarily help out at Salvatore Industries refused to compromise on finding a solution that would work best for our family instead of just assuming this was your family's way to get you back to New York to take over the family business. After 2 kids and building a company together I've seen how committed you are to our family"

Damon wraps his arms around her and walks them to his chair where he sits down and pulls her down into his lap. "Babe it's not your fault that you have problems trusting me, I hate to admit this but before I had my own family, I put the wishes of my parents above my own happiness. I can't help to think that if I would have gone to Mystic Falls sooner, I would have found out about Izzie and we could have been a family a lot sooner. If I hadn't waited over 8 years to come find you as a diversion since I was afraid that since I wasn't able to stand up to my mom, I knew that it wouldn't be long before I would be married to Felicia and nothing to look forward to but a miserable life with a woman I didn't love and never having the desire to have children because I would refuse to bring children into a loveless marriage."

Bonnie was left reeling by his confession and said, "So what are you saying Damon that the reason you came to Mystic Falls was not to win me back but to have a fling with me?"

Damon grabbed her wrist to keep her from getting up from his lap, "No that didn't come out right, after my mom leaked my fake engagement, we had a massive argument and I threatened to resign from Salvatore Industries. I knew that I needed to make some changes and get out of New York and for once my father agreed that we needed a cooling off period. They agreed to let me take a break as long as I didn't alert the media that my engagement was fake. I thought back to the last time that I was truly happy and that was when I was with you, and when I was designing that community center instead of being tied to an office. Thanks to Stefan and Caroline I managed to stay up to date on you and your life here in Mystic Falls so I made the decision to contact Tyler and Enzo and work out a deal to work together on a project so I could insinuate myself back into your life."

Bonnie grabbed the contract from his desk and with an expression he couldn't quite interpret said, "Now I don't feel so bad about this."

Bonnie looked down at her watch and saw it was already 4:00 so she shut down her computer and started to grab her cellphone and bag when her phone buzzed. She looked down and saw a text from Damon that said he was down in the parking garage with Izzie and asked if she was still working and wanted them to come up to her office or wait for her in the garage.

Bonnie stood up from her desk and started walking towards the door while texting him back that she was on her way down. As she was headed toward the elevator, she didn't notice Tyler waiting for the elevator until she bumped into his back. "I'm so sorry Tyler I should have been watching where I was going".

Tyler laughed, "No problem, in fact I impressed you are able to multi-task by texting and walking at the same time and I will be even more impressed if that text is from the painters saying they are finished and we can proceed with Phase 2 next week and begin laying carpet."

Bonnie put her phone away and looked over at Tyler as she pushed the G button for the garage and said, "Sorry again, but I was actually texting Damon who is down in the garage with Izzie to let him know that I would be down in a minute."

Tyler looked over at Bonnie and said, "How's it going now that you've told him about Izzie? I'm guessing it can't be too bad since the project is still moving forward and I haven't been subpoenaed to testify in a custody trial so I'm assuming everything must be going okay other than we are running a little behind schedule on the project."

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and said, "We got off to a rocky start, but now Damon and Izzie are pretty much inseparable which is why you haven't heard from him about the delays since he usually has some activity planned for them every day which limits his time at the worksite."

Tyler winked at her and said, "Well whatever you two are doing, keep it up since it's not often you have a happy developer when you are behind schedule and possibly overbudget. That reminds me Elena is missing her god daughter so she was thinking about having a small cookout this weekend, do you guys have anything planned or do you think you can make it? It's been a long time since we were all able to get together."

As she entered the elevator, she thought back to the last 2 months and how Damon had become a steady fixture in their lives. Since Bonnie was right in the middle of completing the first phase of the interior design of the office complex and Damon's time was more flexible, he often dropped and picked Izzie up from school. For example, since Izzie didn't have classes today, she had spent the day with Damon and he had taken her down to the complex where she was his sidekick for the day.

Bonnie smiled and said "Well I can only answer for me and Izzie so I will check her calendar to make sure she doesn't have any other activities you will have to check with Damon to see if he is free."

Tyler laughed as they reached the garage and saw Damon and Izzie waiting in the car. "Well in that case I will see you Saturday night because Elena already called Izzie to see if she wanted to have a sleepover with her Saturday night. Izzie asked if she could bring her dad not knowing that Elena was trying to take Izzie off your hands so you and Damon could have a real date. Elena compromised with a cookout for the adults and then you and Damon have the rest of the night to yourselves. Thankfully Izzie signed you guys up for a side dish and dessert. She is aware of her aunts lack of skill in the kitchen so we are providing the hamburgers and hot dogs"

With a frustrated sigh, Bonnie made her way off the elevator and said, "So not funny Lockwood, I guess I will see you Saturday, now if you will excuse me, I need to speak with my daughter about letting me know before she makes plans involving me."

Bonnie approached the car and Damon got out to open the door for her and had a bouquet of yellow roses in his hand. He kissed her on the cheek and said, "Hi Babe how was your workday?"

Bonnie got into the car and smelled the flowers and said, "I got quite of few things accomplished, but Tyler is still concerned that we are behind schedule and may run over the budget, but speaking of how my day was what did you buy Lizzie today that that you think roses are going to butter me up?"

Before buckling her seatbelt, she turned around to see Izzie with a set of headphones on that were almost as big as her head as she was shaking her head and moving her legs watching something on her I-pad. Bonnie looked over at Damon and he laughed and his laughter came across as a rich, deep rumble. "The flowers are not for forgiveness they are my way of showing I'm working my way up to winning you back, I thought that was clear."

Unfortunately for Bonnie it was clear, however he had proven in the past that his while his actions started off with promise they also often ended up being changed if what he wanted disagreed with what his mother wanted. In his defense he had never really made promises about their future he had just confided in her his wishes. I wish things were different. I wish I could be with you. I wish we could run away together. I wish I could stay buried inside you forever. He had whispered his most heartfelt wishes in her ear during bouts of lovemaking, and those words had pierced her heart and left a permanent mark. He had her wishing for all those things too so when his wishes turned into nothing more than empty words, she had a problem with wishing for anything concerning their relationship.

Bonnie looked out the window, "Damon I thought I was clear when I said that I need to focus on my career and taking care of my daughter."

Damon took his right hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her hand and said, "I'm here to take care of her too Bonnie. You don't have to do it on your own anymore, haven't I proved we are in this together?"

He sounded hurt and frustrated and that wasn't her intention, "I know that, and I'm not saying you haven't taken on being a father seriously but we both know this will be over once your parents weigh in."

Before Damon could respond Izzie took off her earphones and said, "Mom look at this cool video of a kids dance group called the Dancing Dolls, they do Hip Hop, Tap, Jazz, Majorette and Ballet. Dad said we can see about starting a group in Mystic Falls."

Bonnie looked at the video and while she was impressed, "Izzie you are already in ballet and cooking class and with school I don't know where you would have time to add in another dance class."

Izzie frowned and looked up at Damon and said, "Daddy said he thought the class would be good for me and help me meet some new friends."

Damon looked over at Bonnie and said, "Yeah we did some research into classes and they are usually for only a couple hours a week, she could be in a class with kids closer to her age than at her school. The classes also help with giving kids higher self-esteem, determination, persistence. I checked and Mystic Falls doesn't currently have any classes. I wanted to get involved in some philanthropic work for downtown, so I thought that I could rent one of the buildings at the new site, you can even help or hire someone to help you with designing we could hire teachers for all types of different classes and it could be a family affair. It would be something that would benefit the community and teach Izzie about business and art. "

Bonnie hated to admit it but it did seem like a good idea. She looked back at her daughter who was batting her blue eyes just like her dads, "It does sound like something that would be good for Mystic Falls and we can sit down next week and discuss it, and see how manageable it would be."

Izzie grinned and reached up to high five Damon and looked over at Bonnie and said, "I can't wait to start making plans."

They pulled into the condo parking and Damon parked the car, and once they were all in the elevator Bonnie said, "Speaking of making plans, I had a conversation with Tyler and he explained you accepted an invitation for a cookout and signed us up for bringing a side dish and dessert. You talked to your Aunt Elena three days ago, when were you going to let me and your dad know about this?"

Izzie placed her little hands over her lips to hide her giggle and looked up at Damon. Bonnie looked over at Damon and he winked at Izzie and gave Bonnie his signature smirk and said, "That's my fault, Izzie was with me when she talked to Elena and I told her to accept the invitation and I would run it by you, I apologize it slipped my mind. You didn't have other plans for us, did you?"

Bonnie sighed and turned back to look at Izzie who was looking back at her with puppy dog eyes, "Depends what side dish and dessert did you have in mind?"

Izzie smiled and said, "I thought for the side dish we can make pasta salad and for dessert we can just make s'mores."

Damon smiled and said, "I told her to take it easy on us because Elena is not the only one who is culinary challenged in the kitchen."

"Well, this culinary challenged mom was going to make her famous pizza spaghetti tonight, but I've had a hard day at work so I will just leave dinner up to the two of you."

"Izzie thought you might be tired so she suggested we get take-out so we picked up an order from the Grille." Damon stated as they approached the door.

Izzie reached up to grab Bonnie's hand and said, "Yeah mom you can take it easy tonight me and Dad have everything covered."

Bonnie unlocked the door and put down her purse and laptop as Izzie ran off to her room with Damon to show him a drawing she had finished. Bonnie heard them talking and giggling and realized just how close Damon and Izzie had become. While Bonnie thought by putting some distance between her and Damon would bring some control back to her life, it did just the opposite because Damon had been spending any free time, he had available with Izzie, if Bonnie wanted to see her daughter it included spending time with Damon. She had to admit she was a little jealous because for so long it had just been her and Izzie and while she was happy that Izzie wasn't having difficulties with the new dynamic of having a father and that Damon had turned out to be a great father, she missed that she was no longer the center of Izzie's world. She didn't want to get in a competition with Damon, but she would have to try harder to spend some one-on-one time with Izzie.

During dinner Izzie told Bonnie about the civil rights museum they had planned on visiting in New York in a couple of weeks. She was excited to learn about poets, scholars, inventors, and educators throughout history. "Dad said he thought it would be fun if he learned about our heritage and he thinks there may be some things that we might learn."

Damon looked over at Bonnie nervous and afraid that his actions might have been misunderstood, "I thought it would be neat if we showed Izzie how people that look like her have done great things and all the great contributions they have made to our country. I've have been reading a lot of parenting books over the last few weeks and one of the things they say is how important it is to learn new things with your children."

Bonnie first thought was this should have been something that she came up with for her and Izzie, but in her defense, she had been a mother for 7 years and hadn't been dependent on self-help books since Izzie was a baby, so of course Damon would learn new ways of connecting with young children. Bonnie took a big gulp of her wine and smiled at Damon, "That sounds like it would be fun and educational for all of us, thank you for all your effort."

Izzie smiled over at Damon, "You're being a really good dad."

Damon didn't say anything for a couple of seconds and then his eye sparkled and looked almost electric as they appeared to get watery and all he thought was that was the best compliment he had ever received. It no longer mattered that he desired for so long to please his parents, because the fact that his daughter thought he was a good dad was the only validation he needed. He reached over and kissed Izzie on the check and said, "It's easy with a daughter like you, kiddo."

Izzie reached up and wrapped her arms around Damon's neck and looked over at Bonnie and sang, "Well you know I'm a boss, and I don't get lost because I got my mom who calls all the shots."

All three broke out in laughter breaking up the serious mood. Bonnie wiped the tears that were gathering on her lids and said, "Izzie are you trying to rap?"

"Yeah, some of the kids in my class were having trouble remembering parts of history so our teacher showed us our to rap to help with memory. She made a rap about the three ships that sailed from Spain the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, even though I already knew about those ships, I thought the rapping was fun so I made up some raps with my classmates." Izzie explained as she finished her dinner.

Bonnie looked at Izzie and said, "Are you feeling more comfortable with your classmates?"

Izzie shrugged her shoulders, "Dad told me a story about how Uncle Stefan started high school at thirteen and he wanted to play on the football team but all the other players were growing muscles and moustaches and he was a skinny dude. He didn't have many friends and even though he was small he was good at quarterback so he made the team and made friends with all of his teammates. She looked over at Damon and laughed and said, first I thought he was telling me to try out for the football team, but he was actually trying to say to find something in common with my classmates. I've gotten to know a couple of girls in my class and it looks like you and dad were right they were just as scared about me as I was them. They thought I was too serious to have fun, so Dad gave me some pointers on being fun."

Bonnie looked over at Damon and then Izzie and said," I'm not going to be getting a call from your school about you acting up in class, right?"

Izzie frowned and said, "No mama."

Damon wanting to lighten the mood smiled at Izzie and said, "Who's ready for dessert? Although it's not homemade we stopped by the bakery and got brownies to have with ice cream."

Bonnie got up from her chair and said, "Since you guys took care of dinner, let me go get the dessert."

Izzie jumped up and said, "I'll help you Mom."

After dessert and since it was Friday, they let Izzie pick out a movie they could all watch, of course she decided on Spy Kids and as they were finishing up the movie she said, "Daddy I would like to meet my grandparents."

Damon who had been checking his cellphone was surprised that Izzie brought up wanting to meet his parents out of nowhere. He looked over at Bonnie who appeared to be as shocked as he was and said, "What's made you want to meet my parents all of a sudden."

Izzie looked at Bonnie and said, "Well I know my grandpa and grandma Bennett and my grams so I like to meet your parents to see if they are as smart as you."

Bonnie was terrified as this was a conversation she had been dreading, she turned off the television and said, "Izzie Damon's parents don't live in Mystic Falls and with work and your school schedule we can't really get away to go to New York right now."

Izzie frowned and her blue eyes get darker and said, "Why can't we take Daddy's plane so it could be a short trip?"

Bonnie knew that combined with the fact it was Izzie's bedtime and she could be stubborn when she didn't understand the logic behind an explanation that she wasn't going to let this drop. "Sweetie your dad doesn't actually have a plane, that's a company plane and it would be wasteful to use it for one day." Bonnie looked at Damon and nodded her head to prompt him for a little help.

Damon knew this would probably put him in the dog house with Bonnie but he replied, "How about when we go to the city in a couple of weeks to tour the museum I'll check with my parents and see if they want to meet us for lunch."

"Thank you, Daddy, I can't wait." Izzie cheered.

Bonnie got up from the couch and said, "Okay Izzie it's past your bedtime, so why don't you go shower and brush your teeth and I'll put away the popcorn dish and glasses and be in to tuck you in."

Izzie looked over at Damon and said, "Can Daddy stay until I'm done?"

Bonnie eyes narrowed as she looked back at Damon and bit her tongue before she answered, "Izzie it's been a long day and your dad probably needs to get home so he can prepare for the picnic tomorrow at your uncle Tyler and aunt Elena's."

Izzie seemed to be satisfied with that answer and ran to kiss Damon goodbye before she started skipping down the hallway.

Damon looked surprised since he had spent the night in Bonnie's bed for the last couple of weekends, since Izzie slept in on the weekend and he had time to leave before she woke up, but now Bonnie's green eyes were glaring at him with fury and he swore if he looked closely, he would have thought she was a witch casting a spell that would make him disappear. "I know that Izzie meeting my parents is something that we should have discussed, but like I told you before I will not hide my daughter. Just so we are clear, you and my daughter's happiness and wellbeing are my top priority."

Bonnie motioned for Damon to follow her to the kitchen as she didn't want Izzie to hear their conversation. "Damon if you were concerned with her wellbeing, you would realize her heartbreak if your parents don't accept her."

"Bonnie what kind of people do you think my parents are. You keep saying they won't accept her, she is a seven-year-old girl, what do you imagine them to expect from her?" Damon responded.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, "That she be a blue eyed, brown or blond hair seven-year-old."

"Really Bonnie, my parents are many things but racist isn't one of them. As long as you are wealthy and come from the right social background my mother is accepting, not to mention that most of my grandfather's partners when he first came to the US were Black or Asian as he couldn't get anybody else to help him build his company. I'm the first to admit that my mother is a snob, but that's is in regards to social position and wealth not race"

Bonnie shook her head and whispered, "Then why haven't you told them about Izzie?"

Damon wiped his fingers thru his hair and said, "My mother is more concerned about a future wife for me and that I will agree to one day take over Salvatore Industries and if she thinks that you and my child will deter me from her goal, she may not make it easy for me to stay in Mystic Falls. That's why Bonnie, I wanted you to be secure in our relationship and I wanted Izzie to be secure and comfortable with me in her life before I brought my parents into the mix. I'm in no way embarrassed by you and Izzie and if that's what you think we can get on a plane and go tell my parents tonight."

Bonnie searched his eyes and saw he was telling the truth, "I'm sorry for once again assuming that you don't have Izzie's best interest in mind. I just keep waiting for the other foot to drop and you to realize that you belong in New York and running Salvatore Industries. I mean we never discussed what happens when the project is done, what are your plans?"

Before Damon could answer Izzie yelled," Mom I'm finished with my shower."

Damon grabbed Bonnie's hand before she walked out of the kitchen and said, "Am I still leaving?"

Bonnie thought about it for a moment and realized she no longer wanted to fight being with Damon. It's what he wanted, Izzie wanted it and to be honest she wanted it. She smiled at Damon and said, "Let's go tuck our daughter in and then we can continue our discussion on where we go once the project is done."

Damon reached over and kissed her on the cheek and grabbed her hand and started walking down the hallway to Izzie's room.

Damon held back a groan has his mother droned on and on about a reception she was planning at their home in Martha's Vineyard next weekend. She explained it was time for him to leave dreadful Mystic Falls and get back to New York and find a wife. "Mother I will agree to attend, but please do not have a bevy of single women lined up to introduce me to, because I'm no longer looking for a wife. I also want to have lunch with you and father a couple of days before the reception to discuss some things."

"Damon there is so much that I still have to do for this event to be perfect that I don't have time for lunch right now. If you were in New York and had a wife she could have been helping me plan this event then I might have had some free time on my hands, there is no way I will be able to meet you for lunch the day before."

Damon knew that Lily assumed he wanted to meet for lunch to inform his parents that he wanted to stay in Mystic Falls indefinitely so while he didn't want to disclose his real reason for the meeting it was important to let them know about Izzie before the press found out and she learned the news from Page Six New York's popular newspaper for gossip or worse one of the many entertainment shows. He realized he was going to have to play hardball to meet with them to tell them he was a father and so they could meet Izzie before the reception. "What if I agree to get someone to help you with the last-minute details for the party and I'll even come to New York a couple of days before to check in at Salvatore Industries."

Lily responded, "Just who is the help Damon you know how important this event is to me, you know how Martha's Vineyard families can be, a bad social event can ruin you."

"I have the best event planner in the state of New York, she is someone you know and I'm surprised that you didn't call her to help considering she's your daughter in law. Caroline Salvatore is the best there is at event planning."

The phone was silent and for a minute Damon thought that Lily had hung up on him, when she said, "Damon you know that me and Caroline have had a strained relationship ever since she thought I ran off your little assistant because of her crush on you."

"What are you talking about mother, what did you have to do with Bonnie leaving?"

Lily realized she may have opened up a topic that she had hoped would stay hidden especially when she was working to get Damon back to New York. "Damon really that's been eight years ago you can't expect me to keep track of all the girls you've left with broken hearts. I will however take your advice and give Caroline a call and I will talk to you later."

Before Lily could hang up Damon said, "No wait a minute, tell me what happened otherwise I will call Caroline and I'm sure you don't want me to hear her version first."

Damon already knew some of what happened from Bonnie who had given him a vague recollection where his mother had told Bonnie she didn't fit into Damon's life, but he wanted to hear how Lily would justify and explain her actions.

"Honestly Damon what difference does it make, I knew that you felt some sort of loyalty to Ms. Bennett because she was your brother's friend, and I knew that she had developed a crush on you and who wouldn't after all you are one of the most eligible bachelors, wealthy, handsome. Not to mention you have a soft spot for the misfortunate. I did what you couldn't do I just explained to her how she would have trouble fitting into your world once you gave up that silly notion of being an architect. I explained that you were going thru a rebellion phase and were using her as a way to get back at me. It appears my conversation worked as she moved back to whatever little small town she came from."

Although Damon already knew some of what his mother had done he didn't know the specifics, her words sent chills down his spine and now that he had spent so much time with Izzie and came to love her and unable to picture her not in his life, he was furious to think of all the time he had missed, and he realized that Bonnie was not the only one to blame, unfortunately the idea of a meeting with his parents before the reception to tell them about Izzie and to honor her request to meet them went out the window. "Well mother thanks to your meddling not only did you run off Bonnie, but I missed out on 7 years of your only grandchild's life. That may not be something important to you but it is to me, and I don't plan on missing out on anything else, so I am not coming to your ridiculous reception to try and impress a bunch of people I couldn't care less about. "

The line went silent but Damon knew she hadn't hung up when he heard her gasp, "Damon what do you mean your grandchild?"

"What I mean mother is that by you trying to make sure I had the right women by my side you caused who you considered the wrong women to leave town pregnant with my child."

Lily gasped again and said, "Bonnie was pregnant with your child and didn't tell you?"

"No mother she didn't tell me, congratulations you were successful in her thinking I was involved with Felicia and only using her."

"Now wait a minute Damon something isn't right about this. If she was pregnant, why didn't she tell you, I mean you are wealthy, come from a prominent family and don't you think your own brother would have told us or at the very least been upset that you got his friend pregnant and dumped her. Why wait until now, I hope you requested a paternity test, because just maybe she saw how successful you've become and it wouldn't be the first time a girl used a child to trap a man."

Damon was livid and knew that if he didn't end the phone call, he would say something he regretted. "No, I don't have to request a paternity test because I trust Bonnie and in addition to having my eyes, I can see myself in my daughter. Also, not that it's any of your business or even matters but I was the one who went looking for Bonnie, she was doing very well without me, so if she was going to pin a child on me that wasn't mine wouldn't she have done it long before now. You know the only reason I called was to tell you first before you found out from the press, stupid me I thought you would take it better hearing it from me instead of the press, and more importantly my sweet, curious daughter wanted to meet her grandparents and I promised I would arrange a meeting, but it looks like that is one promise I won't be keeping."

Lily quickly responded before he could hang up, "Damon Francesco Salvatore, if it's true that I have a granddaughter then I expect you back in New York immediately otherwise you will give me no choice but to come to Mystic Falls. If you are sure this child is yours, we need to get ahead of the this before the press finds out and I need to change the theme of my reception. It will now be a gala to introduce the next generation of Salvatore's, what is my nipotina 's name?"

Damon heart dropped and he went to disconnect the call but then on second thought he took several deep breathes before he spoke, "Under no circumstance will I allow you to use my daughter has a way to gain you good press. Not only will you have no say in anything concerning her care but anymore ideas or thoughts on paternity tests or blaming Bonnie and not only will you never see your granddaughter but you won't see me is that clear?"

"Now Damon there is no need for you to make threats, surely you don't plan on keeping my first grandchild out of our lives and a secret. If anyone is to blame it would be Bonnie, she should have told me she was pregnant and we wouldn't be facing a media backlash. Now is the time we need to come together has a family." Lily explained.

Damon immediately was suspicious, "Mother as long as that means you stay out of trying to influence how we raise our daughter we won't have any problems."

Lily laughed, "Well Damon as long as it means you are coming home so we can start planning your wedding and then you take your rightful place as head of Salvatore Industries everything will be perfect."

For once in his life Damon was shocked into silence, it took several minutes for him to respond. "Mother have you been drinking? Did you not hear me when I said that you were successful in Bonnie thinking I was using her while I was really in a relationship with Felicia? While I'm making head way in winning her back, we are no where near ready to start talking about marriage."

Lily asked, "That is exactly why you need to be in New York so we can start damage control, not to mention I have to groom Bonnie into being a wife suitable to be by your side".

Damon knew it would only get worse the longer he stayed on the phone so for the benefit of his sanity and peace of mind he decided to hang up instead of continuing the conversation and he immediately realized he had made a mistake about telling his mother about Izzie.

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry for the time it took me to update. I had the first part done a couple of months ago as I knew I wanted to wrap up the future where it seemed Damon and Bonnie got divorced. Damon and Bonnie will be endgame in this story that being said I probably won't revisit the future until the last chapter. The second part took me longer because I wanted to make sure it covered Lily finding out about Bonnie and Izzie. I'm trying to include more characters other than Damon, Bonnie and Izzie but it got to be too long, so I had to split it up so the good news is that the next chapter is half way done so hopefully the next chapter will be up next month instead of 4 months. I'm hoping to include Stefan, Caroline, and Elena in the next chapter but to be honest I don't know how I want to write Elena. I really started watching VD the season before she left and even then, I would usually skip her scenes if I could. It's not anything against the actress I just think the writers did a poor job developing her character. What are your opinions on how you would like to see her character portrayed?

While I will try and include more of the VD characters, please remember this is a story essentially about Damon, Bonnie, and Izzie becoming a family so most of my focus is on that, but I will try moving forward to include other characters. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share. Next chapter will be the BBQ and then Izzie coming face to face with her grandparents.

I want to give a big Thanks to all the Guests that left a review and:

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I'm so glad that you are still enjoying the story and thank you for taking the time to review. It encourages me and I love the feedback. I also want to give a big shout out to xthesebonesx who updated The Best Man. If you haven't read it yet, go check it out you won't be disappointed. It's one of my favorite current stories. Again, Thanks so much!