Life After High School - Ten Years Later
By Risty and Silver
Disclaimer: Uh...err...heh...Oh damn, we don't own them.
Summary: ::yawn:: read and find out.
*****
(Damon's POV)
If I'm honest, it was good to get rid of the children for a while. Emma and I were able to spend some much needed time together and to focus on Crystal and Lance. Lance was a lovely baby and, like Kane, he had many of his mother's looks and not many of his father's. I was glad of that, Boromir had tried his very best to tear our family apart and I did not want to be reminded of that every time I looked at the children. Although it wouldn't really matter to me, I loved Kane and Crystal as my own, there was no reason why I could not love Lance too.
We still had a fair bit of work to do, looking after two young children was no mean feat, but Benny helped too, so it was much easier. While the children were asleep, or with Benny, Emma and I would often spend our time lying on our bed with Sol-leks and Laddie beside us and photo albums scattered all around. Emma was rapidly getting her memory back, although she still had not mentioned either Jaime or Boromir. Benny thought that she probably did remember them, but was blocking it out because the memories were too painful. She was remembering a lot of her childhood though, including the abuse that she suffered at the hands of the monster who called himself her father. Sometimes at night I would wake up to find her crying. All I could do was hold her and whisper comforting words until she fell asleep again. It was hard for me, seeing her like that but not really being able to help. All I could do was be there and show my support.
One afternoon, we were looking through the photographs when we came to one of her and Jaime while they were at school. Emma stared at it for a long moment, then looked at me and back to the photograph, her eyes narrowed.
"That's the bitch who tried to steal my baby," she hissed. "She tried to come between us, didn't she? She betrayed me, more than once. I…I remember now. I thought that she was my friend…but I'm not sure that she ever really was. I hated her then and I really hate her now. She hurt me, Damon, she really hurt me."
"It's okay." I whispered, taking her in my arms and holding her close. "I know it's hard. But you have to remember that we are together now. Jaime and her family can't hurt us any more."
"I know that" she said quietly as she clung to me. "But she nearly destroyed our family, didn't she? I hate her, I just hate her so much. And I'm not sure that I can ever forgive her…"