Ha! I'm back within the one month deadline! And this story has over 10,000 views! That makes me really happy. Thanks for the support you guys!

Here's the link to the Founder's Ball looks: user/MajorJWhit/library/Lifes%20Decisions/Founders%20Ball?sort=4&page=1

This chapter was kinda difficult. I had the beginning but the end was a bitch. Now I'm really excited about this chapter (well the beginning)! I've been waiting to get to it for a while (another reason the last one took so long lol) now so here it is!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters, but the plot and any original characters are mine! No copyright infringement intended. It's just fun to play with the characters ;)

Chapter Eleven

Jen sighed heavily in exhaustion as she began to remove her jewelry. Her back was to the door, bus she could sense that someone was there. She assumed it was Damon, until she heard their voice.

"I need to talk to you."

Jen sighed heavily. It had been an emotionally draining day, and she could tell by the tone in Elena's voice that this wouldn't be an easy conversation. "Does it have to be now?"

"Yes, it does." Elena responded from her doorway and walked in, shutting the door nearly all the way.

"What do you need?" Jen asked from in front of her vanity mirror as she began pulling out hairpins.

"I need you to tell me what's going on between you and Damon." The younger brunette asked bluntly.

Jen's eyes widened as she ceased her movements. "What?" She asked, certain that she'd misheard her cousin and stared at her through the mirror.

"I need you to tell me what's going on between you and Damon." Elena repeated. "Things have changed. I don't know what you think you're doing with Damon, but I don't find it funny." She crossed her arms, glaring at her elder cousin's reflection.

"What are you talking about?" Jen turned to Elena with confusion etched on her face.

"You toying with Damon!" She spat. "You're toying with his feelings! You're taking advantage of the fact that you have his child and you're using that to try to get him to have feelings for you again!" She ranted. "It's not right and I'm not gonna stand for it! I'm not gonna sit here and let you use Damon's confusion and love for his child as a tool to weasel your way back into his heart! I love Damon too much to let you take advantage of him like that!"

Jen stared at Elena in awe for a good minute before speaking. "You're kidding, right?" She scoffed, eyes narrowing, but the look on Elena's face told her otherwise. She threw her head back and laughed mirthlessly. "You've got to be fucking kidding." In the back of her mind, she registered that this was the second time she swore that night. "You're seriously accusing me of toying with Damon's emotions?"

"Yes!" Elena glared. "I saw the 2 of you outside and you crying all over him."

Jen's eyes narrowed. "You spied on us?"

"I was making sure that Damon was ok since he he'd been gone for a while." She retorted with a shrug. "And I saw you crying and using your past with Damon against him! A past he doesn't even really remember, by the way!" She yelled. "Do you know what it's like to watch someone you love get played?"

Jen scowled. "He remembers more than you know, Elena. And I still remember everything! He knows so much more than you think you know!" She pointed her finger in her vampire cousin's face. "And don't you dare accuse me of toying with Damon's emotions or much less using my child as a pawn! I'm not Katherine or you, Elena!" Elena glared at her words. "I love Damon more than you can imagine. And unlike you, I love all of him! Even the bad sides! I don't need to change him so it can be more acceptable! I don't need to swing back and forth between him and his brother because Damon is the only man I have ever loved!" She gasped for breath, her face flushed with anger. "And to answer your question, Elena, I have had to watch someone I love get played..." She rubbed her temples.

"Oh really?" Elena crossed her arms.

If it were possible for her to growl, Jen would've. "Yes!" She exclaimed. "I'm here, aren't I? I'm here with my child, sharing a house with the man I love, his brother and the girl they're both in love with!" She spat, angry tears filling her eyes. "So yes, Elena! I know what it's like and on top of that, I lied to Damon!" She slammed her hand down on her dresser. Neither she nor Elena noticed that someone had begun watching their conversation. "I know he told you all that with time I'd magically get information about his life, but that's not completely true. From the moment I came back to the present, I watched Damon's life unfold. I watched what Katherine did to him in the past. I watched every major moment in Damon's life occur like some kind of TV show every single time I closed my eyes...every single damn time. And sometimes it was like a nightmare." Her voice nearly broke at the end. "Imagine Elena, that you love someone so much that you give them all of you. Imagine that you're willing to spend the rest of your life with them, and then all of a sudden all of that is ripped away and you're watching the man you love, more than life itself, parade women in and out of his bed for 3 years, and he's quite literally forgotten you even existed... And you have to watch that helplessly." Tears threatened to spill, but she resisted and turned away from the vampire. "When he met you, even though it hurt, I rooted for you. I love him enough to see him happy even if it's with someone else. I thought you were good for him. You brought out the good in him he'd buried so I rooted for him and you." She admitted, looking back to see a surprised Elena. "That is until you started hurting him. He did so much for you and you were never grateful. All you did was judge his methods of getting things done."

"That's not true!" Elena protested, but Jen interrupted before she could continue.

"Yes, it is! His methods were never moral enough." Jen rolled her eyes. "He's a real vampire, Elena. What makes you think that a vampire's moral compass will ever be the same as a human's?" She questioned.

"But Stefan-"

"Damon is not Stefan!" She yelled. "Dammit Elena! You're just like Giuseppe! Damon is not Stefan and he never will be, and that's ok! Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" She asked, but Elena simply looked at her confused. "To be loved by Damon? Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have his love?" She repeated.

Elena shifted uncomfortably. She considered herself lucky for having so many people in her life that loved her so much that they were willing to risk their lives for her, but she'd never thought of Damon singularly.

Jen scoffed at Elena's inability to answer. "You have no idea, and yet you come into my room and accuse me of complete and utter bullshit when you don't even love Damon the way he deserves it." Jen'd lost count of how many times she swore by then. "When Damon loves, he loves with his whole heart and it's so deep, so overwhelming that words can't begin to accurately describe it. He loves irrevocably, without reservations and willing to accept flaws. And that's just when he was human, now that he's a vampire, that ability to love? It's magnified... and he wasted it on you." She spat as both young women glared at each other. "Your friends try to warn you about being in a relationship with Damon because he's no good, and they wanna protect you from him. Well, who's gonna protect him from you? You are just. Like. Katherine. Down to the selfish, manipulative, self-serving core."

Elena's jaw dropped. Shock overwhelmed her as she tried to process all of Jen's words, but she didn't know what to do or say.

"If you're gonna talk about me, I'd rather it be to my face." In walked the subject of their conversation with narrowed eyes. "It's a neat little trick called vampire hearing." He glanced at Elena. "You hate being talked behind your back, Elena. If you have issues with my relationship with my son's mother, talk to me about it. Don't go off bitching because it's not your place." He reprimanded the younger brunette before turning to the elder. "And you... You of all people know how much I fucking hate liars, but I have plenty more than that to say." He said to Jen and tuned to Elena yet again. "Go for a walk. Mommy and Daddy need to have a chat. It's grown up conversation and all that."

"But Damon-" Elena protested.

"Out, Elena." He pointed to the door. Elena paused for a second, but nodded an zoomed out. "You know, I'm fucking pissed at you." Damon ran a hand through his hair. He was still dressed in his suit, and still looking do much like his human self. "You know I can't stand lies; that I can't stand things being kept from me, but that being said... What you said to Elena, about me... I'm..." He sighed. "I'm grateful. This night has been such a clusterfuck of emotions and memories, and I don't know what to feel." He shook his head. "But what you told her about being able to see my life unfolding in front of your eyes, you should've told me! I deserved to know that!"

"I told you a version of that." She attempted to justify.

"Yeah, right." He rolled his eyes. "You said you knew the gist, not every damn detail! You watched my 150 years filled with sex, blood, alcohol and whatever the hell else I felt like doing all while pregnant with my kid and raising him! And you didn't think I should know that?!"

"What was the point?!" She yelled back at him. "Why tell you about something you can't change?! I didn't choose to watch your life, Damon! It was the way things happened! Telling you was only gonna make you feel bad!"

"You still should've told me, Jen!" He continued to repeat.

"I was trying to protect you!" Her tone pleaded for him to understand.

"I don't need to be protected!" He growled, making her gasp and take a step back.

She took a deep breath. "Fine." She conceded. "But this is the saddest thing I have ever seen. You are so used to being treated like shit that you have no idea what to do when someone genuinely cares about you." She turned away from him.

"That's bullshit!"

"Go tell that to someone who will believe your lies." She snapped back as she returned to removing all the pins from her hair. "Like Elena."

"Fuck this." Damon could clearly see that the conversation was over. He had nothing else to say and it was clear that neither did she, so he did what was left to do. He left.

Pissed.

That was the only word that Damon could think of that could describe how he felt, and yet it didn't seem like it was enough. He was pissed at Jen. He was pissed at Elena. He was pissed at Emily. He was pissed at Katherine. He was pissed at his dad. He was pissed at himself. He was pissed at the entire shitfest that was his life.

He was just so fucking pissed.

Nothing in his life was ever simple. Not since the day his mother died. It was always something. No simple answers, no easy solutions; just shit constantly hitting the fan.

'What the fuck?!' He couldn't help but think as he quite literally ripped off his tie and threw it on the ground.

Did his life have to be constant clusterfuck?

He sighed heavily and removed his jacket and shirt, tossing them aside carelessly. He ran an exasperated hand through his hair and looked around his room as if the solution to all his problems would appear from the walls. 'Fucking hell…' He closed his eyes and sat down on the edge of his bed. His eyes scanned the room again and landed on a yellow envelope that was sitting on one of his bookshelves. It had been sitting there for about a month now. He figured now was as good a time as any to open it. He walked over, picked up the envelope and inspected it. There were only three words written on it: For the Father.

He chuckled. He assumed that Natalie had begun putting this together before she knew his name. He opened the envelope and pulled out 2 plastic folders. He opened the top one and put the other aside. The first page was a handwritten letter.

Damon,

As I write this, I have just gotten off the phone with Jen and she has cleared up the reason for your abandonment and what you went through. While I understand the circumstances were not in your favor, I know that Jen will never fully tell you what she went through and you deserve to know. You deserve to know, not because I want to hurt you. Well… I used to. I wanted you to know what she went through because of you, that's why I started putting this together. Now? Now, I want you to see what she went through for you… And for JD. To show you how strong she is and can be and at the same time how fragile my best friend is.

Ha. Jacob Damon. I should've known that she'd name him after you. You know, even before the ultrasound revealed that he was a boy, she already knew. As soon as she found out she was pregnant, she'd say it was a boy. She cried a lot that day. I was standing outside the bathroom door when she took the pregnancy test. Five minutes later, I heard her start crying and quietly wish for you, though she didn't say your name. I still don't think she knows I heard her. I was so angry as I held her when she sobbed the rest of the day. My brother was livid, blinded by rage. I think that if you'd showed up then? He'd have killed you. That's why he was a total dick to you.

But I'm totally off topic, aren't I?

Damon stopped reading for a second. So far, Natalie hadn't revealed anything he hadn't already deduced. But there were two things this letter confirmed: Jen was willing to protect him, something he felt unnecessary; and that Natalie had put all this together to make him feel like a total jackass. Part of him wanted to stop now, spare himself the rage. The other part wanted to go on because he hated not knowing all the details.

She loves you, you know? She never actually stopped loving you. And honestly she never might. I mean, think about it. Every time that she looks at that little boy she sees you. So even if you two don't get back together and she finds someone else, she'll never love him completely.

There I go again. Well anyways… This package contains a small photo album that has one picture of Jen pregnant of every month since she found out. She was 11 weeks along on the first picture; 15 on the second, 19 on the third, 23 on the fourth, 27 on the fifth, 31 on the sixth, and the seventh picture is the day he was born at 35 weeks.

I hope you like it.

Sincerely,

Natalie

He finished reading the letter and looked directly under it. There was a small album. He looked at all the pictures and noticed that along with the pictures there was corresponding ultrasound. The only ultrasound that didn't match the weeks was the first because it was taken a week later. He smiled upon seeing his child growing inside Jen even if it was through pictures. The last page was different too. It contained 3 pictures. The first was similar to the others; of Jen in a sports bra and yoga pants. The second was of her in the hospital and the caption said The very next day! So Damon assumed that it was after the first picture. And the third, instead of being an ultrasound was of an exhausted looking Jen holding a newborn JD with tear-filled eyes. Her brown eyes were a mix pure and utter joy, and heartbreaking sadness.

He shook his head. No, there was nothing he could do so there was no point in letting the guilt overwhelm him. It wasn't his fault. He never even knew about her or JD. He sighed heavily and continued going through the papers. He saw a picture of Jen at her graduation, smiling widely. Behind the picture were stapled papers. The first was her transcript that showed her 4.5 GPA, the second was her SAT results, and the final one read:

Life Goals

Graduate high school

Go to Columbia University, pre-law

Make it into Harvard Law School

Somewhere between 2 and 3 meet the love of my life

Get a great job and Lawrence, Mathews & Associates

Get married

Have kids

He sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that evening. He refused to read much more. 'I'm just gonna skim through this or else I'm gonna end up murdering someone.' And that was what he did. The rest was just health documents that described her diagnosis for depression and the treatment she was receiving, and documents that described her health during her pregnancy.

Just by skimming, he was unhappy with what he saw. He certainly didn't want the details.

The last page was another letter.

I hope you see what she went because of you, for you and for your son. I hope you're worth all the health bills, therapy visits and tears that she went through for you. I haven't even met you yet and I don't like you. Put yourself in my shoes and you see a young 18 year old, pregnant and facing parenthood alone. She's like my sister and sometimes she understands me better than my own twin. I may change my mind eventually, but you weren't there. Imagine watching someone you love deteriorate emotionally. The only reason that she didn't fall apart completely was because of JD. He gave her life, it wasn't only the other way around. He's her everything. She loves him more than life itself. Don't ruin this chance that she's given you. I understand that you didn't choose for this to happen, but I know for a fact it didn't hurt you as much as it did her. Don't hurt either one of them because if you do? I will fucking end you.

That's a promise. My sister has no idea that I snuck this in her little package. Sincerely,

Max

Damon rolled his eyes. The threat didn't really bother him and seep down he could actually understand where Max was coming from. Though he wasn't there, he was glad that Jen had people to stand by her and that cared so much about her. She sure as hell deserved to be loved.

But… He was still pissed. He was pissed that she lied to his face. He was pissed that she and Elena fought. He was pissed that Elena was butting into his business and he was pissed that she couldn't decide between him and his brother.

'Yep… I definitely need to kill something.'

Ok guys, this chapter is a lot shorter than other chapters. Although I was excited and knew how I wanted the beginning, but this ending was really hard and I'm not really sure how I feel about it. But I did it because I didn't wanna wait too long put it up. But anyways… PLEEEEAAASE review. Lemme know what you think, but please don't flame. I know this chapter isn't the best. For those questioning Elena's behavior please refer to chapter 4 and let's face it, she's not exactly considerate of Damon's feelings before she gets with him (Please take into account that this takes a different path from canon and season 4 NEVER happens).

Thanks so much for your support. If you wanna see anything specific I'll try to squeeze it in, just PM me . You guys rock!