Chapter 28

Damon

I finish mowing the lawn and grab the weed-eater from the garage. I trim down around the edges of the house and trees. I walk to the front of the house looking for anything I missed. After finishing I walk back to the garage and place the weed-eater back in its spot.

I take the trash can out for tomorrows pick up and head up the walkway back to the house. As I walk inside my mom comes around the corner from her room. "Elena's been trying to get ahold of you."

I tilt my head and pull my phone out of my pocket. "I forgot to take it off silent from breakfast."

I look at my missed calls and there are 4. I look up to mom, "did she call you?"

Mom shakes her head. "No, Miranda texted. I told her you were mowing. But she did say it was important."

I mouth thanks as I hit the call button on my phone. The phone rings a few times and Emma answers.

"Hello?" she says questionly.

"Emma? It's Damon. Is Elena there?"

"Yeah. Just a second," she says.

After about a minute the phone is passed over.

"Damon it's Miranda."

I raise my brow and mom looks at me.

"Hi Mrs. Gilbert. Is something wrong?" I ask.

"I have you on speaker. Elena is next to me."

"Okay…" I trail off.

"You might want to sit down." Miranda says.

I go into the living-room and sit on the couch. Mom follows and snaps her fingers to get my attention. She mouths what and I shrug.

"Okay, I'm sitting down." I say slowly then straighten my back. "Wait. Sitting down is for bad news. And why are you talking and not Elena."

I grip my hair. My eyes stinging as a tear slips out. She can hear me. I choke out; "Lena baby. Don't do this. Please don't do this."

Mrs. Gilbert is calling my name and I ignore her. I press my fingers into my eyes. "Are you breaking off the wedding? God please don't. Lena I need you. I can't fucking live without you."

"Damon no!" Elena shouts into the phone.

I wipe my face. "No? You're not breaking it off? You don't want to end things?"

"Oh god no. I love you so much," she says.

Mom is rubbing my back and stares at me. "Then what's going on that you couldn't say yourself?"

"Emma can you leave the room please?" she asks her sister.

What feels like a lifetime later Lena finally gets back. "Sorry she doesn't need to hear the entire story."

I flop back onto the couch; "okay."

"My ring fell out." Elena whispers.

"Okay. I mean you lost it? I have it insured so even though I can't replace…" I trail off as she interrupts me.

"No. My birth control ring." she says to me.

"Oh. That's fine. We can wait until it's working again or use condoms."

I hear a snort of laughter on their end and something about too late.

"Lena?" I ask. "What are you saying?"

I sit back up and turn to face my mom. She makes a motion to get on with it. I roll my eyes.

"Imsayingimpregnant" Elena says, really fast.

"I'm sorry. Repeat that. Slower. Please"

"I'm about 5 weeks." she mutters into the phone.

Color me confused. I shake my head. "What do you mean you're about 5 weeks?" I ask her.

Mom gasps and grips my arm. Then it registers. My phone slips out of my hand. She is about 5 weeks. Her birth control ring fell out. I was told to sit down. Holy fuck. She's pregnant. Elena is pregnant. With my baby. Mine. "Wow…" I trail of in a whisper.

"No, he doesn't look mad. I think you broke him. You're about 5 weeks. Pregnant? Oh my god. I'm going to be a Grammy." I hear my mom say into my phone.

Grammy. Mommy. Daddy. Oh shit. He's going to kill me. But I'm marrying her. We have the money.

I stand up and grip my hair. I shake my head. Then I laugh. "Yes!" I shout fist pumping the air.

"Yes, that was him. He did a fist pump." mom says into my phone.

I grin at her and shrug; "I can't be upset about it. I'm marrying the love of my life and she's having my baby."

"He is happy. Listen." she says hitting the speaker button. "I love you Lena and I know we're only 18 but I don't care. You're marrying me and having my baby. I'm going to be a daddy!" I say excitedly to them. "Sorry Mrs. Gilbert;" I add with a cringe. "And please don't let Mr. Gilbert kill me. I want to marry Lena so bad and spend the rest of my life with her."

Mom and Miranda laugh. "Well now you better do right by my daughter."

I smile bigger. "Always. You're my forever Lena."

Elena chokes out a laugh. "You're my forever too Damon. I love you."

"I love you too baby." I tell her.

Almost 4 weeks has gone by since Elena first found out she was pregnant. It's the day before our Senior prom and Lena has her first appointment today after school. Miranda told me that she has attempted to inform Grayson of the pregnancy but hasn't been able to reach him as his troops prepare to come home.

I drive her to the Obstetrician, and we walk into the office. Both of our moms were unable to get off work today to come with us. Elena walks up to the reception and signs in. I take her hand as we sit down to wait.

Picking up a pamphlet to read is speak lowly, "you alright?"

She nods; "yeah. I'm good."

I flip through paper then shake my head and set it down. I grab another and Lena takes it from me; "you don't want to read that. Trust me."

I snicker and lace my hand back through hers; "are you excited?"

She looks around the waiting room and back to me, "kind of. I guess I'm more nervous."

I kiss the back of her hand. A woman walks into the OB's office. I would guess she is towards the end of her pregnancy. Her stomach is round like she's hiding a watermelon. I look over at Lena and picture her that far along. I know she will look even more beautiful.

The nurse calls Elena's name and we follow her back towards the patient rooms. Lena steps on a scale, then sits down and has her blood pressure taken. We go into a patient room and she hands Lena a gown. After asking her to change she tells us the doctor will be in soon.

We wait about 10 minutes. There's a knock and her OB enters. "Hello Elena, how are you doing this afternoon?" he asks as he walks over to her.

She smiles, "I'm doing good so far."

He turns to me with his hand out, "I'm Dr. Johnston. It's a pleasure to meet."

"Nice to meet you," I say with a small smile and shake his hand.

He nods; "okay. So, you had blood work completed already, and you're approximately 9 weeks today."

He has her lay back on the table. She places her feet in the stirrups, "I guess. I went to change my NuvaRing and it was gone. I don't know when it fell out."

He pulls over a machine that has a few different types of probes on it, "okay. Well first thing is we'll do an internal ultrasound and get a more accurate read. We should be able to hear the heartbeat."

The doctor places a glove on the long skinny probe, and he applies a lubrication. He slips it between her legs as he turns on the machine. After pressing a couple buttons; a black and white image fills the screen. He pushes another button and a rapid whooshing sound surrounds us.

Lena gasps and grips my hand tighter. I tilt my head; "is that?"

The doctor smiles, "that is your baby's heartbeat. It is nice and strong. 165 beats per minute."

I kiss the back of Lena's hand and smile at her. We both look back to the screen as the doctor speaks, "based on my readings I would say that you're actually 10 weeks and 2 days. So, it wasn't because of the ring falling out. It just failed."

We look at the screen as her doctor points to it; "here is the head and body. The legs and arms look good."

Our baby. I could see our baby. And fuck if I don't have tears in my eyes. I look down and Elena is crying. I wipe at her face and kiss her forehead, nose and mouth. She laughs and shakes her head.

The doctor sets the prod back down and pats her leg. "So, everything is perfect. I want you to come back in 3 weeks so we can do another ultrasound. You can get dressed and head out. Make sure to schedule your next visit with Marie at the front desk."

Elena nods her head and sits up. After getting dressed, I follow her out to the front desk. She makes her next appointment and is handed a small picture.

We walk out of the office and head over to the hospital to see our moms. Lena hands me the picture and it's the sonogram of the baby. "You can show our moms."

I smile and kiss her temple, "god I'm so fucking happy right now."

We walk into the empty clinic. Miranda is sitting behind the desk and she yells my mom's name. My mom comes from around the corner as we stand in front of the desk.

Mom clasps her hands; "well?"

Lily nods, "how did it go?"

I smile and place the sonogram on the desk in front of them. Mom swipes it and they both stare at it. Mom looks up and gives a watery smile; "the baby."

"Aww" Lily coos. "So, your actually further along then you thought?"

Lena bites her lip, "yeah he said my ring failed and that it happens."

They both nod.

Lily hands the sonogram back to me. "You should get a copy of that and put it in an envelope for your dad. That's how you should tell him." She said looking at Lena.

Elena shrugs, "I guess there's no better way."

I stare down at the sonogram. Conversation continuing around me, but I'm lost in the image of my child. Who would've thought that I'd be so excited about this? Just a few months ago Elena and I were discussing whether or not we even wanted to have kids. Now here we are.

"Yeah Damon?" Lena asks gaining my attention.

I smile sheepishly; "hmm?"

Mom laughs, "he wasn't paying attention."

Elena rolls her eyes at me and I snicker; "sorry."

I'm not sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Oh well.

I lace my fingers through hers, "so what were you saying?"

"I told mom that you would probably hang out at our house for a few hours before the girls come for the night."

"Yeah. Sounds like a plan." I tell her.

We are laying together in Elena's bed. I lift up her shirt and place my hand on her stomach. You can't tell she's pregnant, but I know that my baby is in there. I move on the bed and position myself leaning over her legs. I lean on my elbow and trace patterns over her.

Lena is scratching the back of my head with her nails. Her eyes open. "So, I was thinking about NYU."

I place a kiss below her belly button and hum. Letting her know that I'm listening.

"I still want to get my degree, but I think going for nursing instead would be better."

"So, you don't want to go for physician's assistant anymore?"

"Well becoming a registered nurse would be a lot easier. I would get an Associate's degree and I can become certified in 12 to 18 months."

"I mean yeah, if that's what you want to do babe." I say looking at her.

"I want to have more to do with the patients. That's all I care about. Also…" she trails off.

I tuck her hair behind her ear; "also what?"

"I was thinking about maybe taking the first year off after the baby is born."

That surprises me, "you'd want to do that?"

She leans up on her elbows, "is that a terrible idea."

I smile; "no it's not a terrible idea. I love that working is important to you, but you don't have to right away. It's your choice."

"Come here" she whispers trying to pull me up to her.

I kiss her stomach once more and move above her.

"You're perfect," she says hugging me.

I chuckle; "that's debatable. I just want you to be happy."

I kiss the top of her head and let my lips slide down to her temple. I kiss her cheek, down her jaw and finally reach her lips. I move mine slowly over hers, keeping the kiss sweet. I hum into her mouth and her bedroom door flying open gets our attention.

We both look over and see Emma standing against the door holding her chest.

"What's up?" Elena asks her as I push myself up to sit.

"D-d-down." Emma stutters breathing fast.

Elena sits up, "what's down Emma?"

Emma puts both hands over her mouth and quietly says, "daddy."

Elena jumps up off the bed and I follow her as she runs towards the top of the stairs. I grab her arm just in time as she tries to run down the steps and misses one, "watch it."

She mouths sorry and points. Tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Is that my girl?" her father says as he comes around and looks up at us.

"Dad" Elena smiles and walks the last couple of steps down. She jumps into his arms and he laughs. I stand there watching. Emma comes behind me and pats me on the shoulder.

"Good luck," she whispers as she steps around me.

About a half hour later, I finished making the spaghetti for dinner when Grayson comes into the kitchen.

He takes a water from the fridge, "so how have things been?"

I place the plates onto the island and look at him. "Things have been great. We found a place perfect for us in Greenwich Village. So, it's close to the school."

He sits down on a bar stool just as Elena comes back in the room. I raise my brow at her, and she shakes her head.

So, she hasn't told him yet. Fuck I'm nervous.

Lena shows me an envelope and shrugs; "hey dad um this is for you."

He looks back at her, taking the envelope in his hand. Elena hurries around the island to stand next to me. He opens the envelope and pulls out the sonogram.

Lena bites her bottom lip and I grip her hand tight.

Grayson slowly looks up at us and backs down at the sonogram. He puts both down on the island and moves to stand.

Elena tries to step in front of me, but I hold her in place.

Grayson looks at us and his expression is blank. He puts his hand up, palm facing us. He shakes his head no and walks to the back door.

After a minute I look at Lena, "what do you think he's doing?"

Elena shakes her head; "I have no idea."

I hand her a plate and tell her to eat. I put some spaghetti onto her plate and top it with sauce. She goes to sit just as Grayson walks back in.

He clears his throat, "I'm obviously not happy about this just because you're still so young. However, there's nothing I can do about it."

We nod.

He grabs a plate to serve himself; "All I have to say now is Damon, you better take damn good care of them."

I him in the eyes and give a curt nod; "yes sir. Always. I promise."