Summary: Things are getting more intense and Elijah isn't sure if that's an extremely wonderful thing or something entirely different, but regardless, it's terrifying. Satisfyingly terrifying.
A/N: SO LONG SINCE I'VE LAST UPDATED! I am SO sorry, guys! But here you are, my dears! c:
Two months. It has been exactly two months since this thing that Elijah can't even explain has been happening. He's gotten to the point where he admits to himself that he's falling for this man. He still hasn't been able to say it to the person who needs to hear it, but that's fine. Things are great just the way that they are. Besides, who can be sad when Lily's around?
That was his last thought he remembers before he feels a light weight on his chest waking him up. He thought he was slightly having trouble breathing but really, it's Lily. Lily is squishing his cheeks together and he has to admit, it's pretty cute. He's thoroughly confused though.
Raising a brow, he locks his eyes on the little girl who looks like she's been crying. She's sitting on his torso just staring down at him with sad eyes. "Lily?" He calls out but doesn't move because she looks pretty damn content with touching his face. "Are you okay?"
She doesn't answer, just continues to squish his cheeks.
Elijah stares back but this time pushes up into a sitting position and asks again. "Lily, talk to me. Are you okay?"
"I miss daddy." She says with a sniffle.
Elijah just stares at her more but he can understand that. It's not like he can just take her home. Plus, it's been about a week since Damon left the country for work. Both he and Stefan has left. So he reaches out and hugs her as he scoots towards the edge of his bed. He glances at the clock and grins as he stands, holding onto the child tightly. "Then let's call daddy."
She presses her cheek to Elijah's and nods. "M'kay." That makes her feel significantly better.
Elijah's takes Lily to the living room where his laptop is still on the table from earlier when they both were in there doing homework. It takes him all of five minutes to download Skype and create an account for them to use. And he even listens when Lily insists that the name on the account should be, 'Elijah & Lily' but not with the word 'and'. She wants the 'and sign'.
"Ampersand." Elijah murmurs.
"Huh?"
"That's what the 'and sign' is called."
Lily just grins. "Oh. Ampersand, yeah, I want that."
Elijah grins back at her and types in Damon's name and searches for him. It doesn't take long because there really aren't that many Damon Salvatore's that pop up after hitting enter. Once he adds him, he sits and watches the screen with Lily. Elijah knows for a fact that Damon is awake because it's five o'clock in the morning for them so it's ten o'clock for Damon.
Just like he thought, Damon is awake and accepts the request. So Elijah doesn't waste any time. He hits the call button immediately.
It rings a few times and he can feel Lily squirming in his lap. Obviously she's anxious. When the ringing stops and he sees Damon's bright face and messy bed head, he just melts.
Damon is surprised to see Lily and Elijah up so early but he's not complaining because he misses his baby girl. "Lily-pop, good morning, baby."
"Good morning, daddy. I miss your face." She squeaks as she kisses her father's cheek on the computer screen.
"I miss your face too, honey. Is that grumpy Lijah bear that I see back there?"
"Yes!" She shouts as she tilts to the side to give her father a clear view of Elijah and all of his bed head glory.
Damon smirks and lightly taps his lips. "Good morning, Lijah bear." He's only teasing because he likes the reactions that he gets out of the man when he uses that nickname. But he'll let up eventually. Maybe.
Most likely not.
"Good morning, Damon." He manages to say all while moving back out of view. He can't handle Damon and his...well, his everything.
"Such wonderful bedhead that you have, Elijah."
Elijah definitely doesn't run his fingers through his hair to fix it. It's hopeless though and he only makes it worse.
"Sweetheart," he says, now focused on his daughter again. "Have you been behaving? If you haven't you don't get the surprise that I bought for you."
"I have! I helped wash the dishes yesterday!"
"Did you now? Did you manage to not flood the floor? You know like you did when I let you help me last time?"
Lily grins, nods and uses her index finger and thumb to represent a small space. "Only a little bit of water, daddy."
"Oh, well then I guess that's okay."
Elijah realizes that he's being too quiet but he doesn't want to intrude. A man and his daughter are having a moment and he feels like this shouldn't include him.
But the Salvatore's don't agree.
"Daddy, I've decided that Lijah should be like another mommy. Like a second mommy."
The room goes quiet and Elijah chokes on absolutely nothing. Perhaps it's his anxiety that he chokes on…or maybe it's his embarrassment that he's being referred to as Lily's second mother but at the same time, this is all flattering. Concerning, but flattering.
"Lily." Damon says, pausing for a moment while he chuckles. "Baby, that's um—" He laughs again and directs his gaze to Elijah who looks like a deer in headlights. "Well, what do you think about that, Elijah?"
"Um, Lily, you know I could never replace your mother right? No one can ever—"
"Silly, I know that. Mommy is always my number one mommy. I said second mommy. Like an extra mommy. A Lijah mommy!"
Elijah laughs this time because this little girl is something else. "I see."
"So you are second mommy now. You do mommy things. You make the best fishtail braids…well kind of 'cause Klaus makes the best but you have nice ones too! And you make the best costumes when we play save the princess."
Damon is crying now from laughing so hard. How is this his daughter? She's way funnier than he is, he's sure of it.
He guesses it's official though, Elijah is second mommy and they're probably going to spend the rest of the night/morning discussing this new Lijah mommy thing.
The second week goes by fast since Skype is now a daily thing in the morning. Lily still misses her father, but she's also having fun spending so much time with Elijah's family. That's becoming one of her favorite things to do.
"Cupcake?" Klaus calls out quietly as to not wake up Kol.
It's the day before Damon comes back home so Elijah figures they could spend their last day with his brothers. Klaus told them to come over for lunch and Kol had spent the night so why not make a day of it. Rebekah is in class but she plans to stop by later that evening.
"Ready?" Lily whispers, leaning over the arm of the couch with her nontoxic marker in hand.
Klaus nods and points to Kol's forehead. "Right there."
Lily smiles and starts drawing on Kol's forehead. There's a few smiley faces and a kitty face that she starts on when Klaus hands her the black marker. She gives him whiskers and a black nose before giggling. "Kitty Kol."
Klaus chuckles and stands up when his brother start moving around. He's obviously a bad influence, but it's totally worth it.
"Is this what happens when I leave you two alone?" Elijah says from the doorway with the groceries in his arms. He had stepped out for like twenty minutes to pick up a few things for lunch.
Lily smiles and looks up from where she's drawing. "Lijah!" She moves away from the couch and just latches onto his leg like she's used to doing. "We drew Kol a costume. Do you like it?"
Elijah looks over at his brother, examines his face and smirks. "Of course. I love it. It suits him." His brother is sly and quick on his feet. Now he can look like his inner cat. "How about we make dinner, Lily?"
The little girl nods and runs off towards the kitchen. She loves to help him cook, that means she can taste test everything in the process.
"Kol will want revenge." Elijah says to Klaus.
"We're prepared. We have battle plans, brother. We aren't amateurs."
"Of course you aren't."
Klaus smirks and grabs their markers and flees. He can't be caught red handed when Kol wakes up.
It's around eleven o'clock at night when Elijah hears his doorbell. He's grateful that Lily is out cold because it took him two hours to get her to sleep. She was too excited about the fact that her father is coming home.
When he makes it to the door he's met with Damon leaning against the door frame with his jacket draped over his shoulder and sporting that signature grin that he has. It's endearing but also so alluring that he wants to slam the door in his face. Elijah sometimes just can't handle how cute this man is. "Do you realize what time it is, Salvatore? Surely you have some manners left." He teases.
Damon grins and tilts his head. "I do apologize, Mr. Elijah but I just couldn't wait to see your pretty face. You know, Mr. Jawlines for days? I missed that a lot."
Elijah rolls his eyes and steps aside so Damon can come inside. "You're utterly ridiculous."
"You love me." He mutters as he enters the house, closing the door behind himself.
"Yes, I do." Elijah replies but doesn't realize the extent of his words.
Damon pauses and just stares at Elijah for a moment. Did he hear that right? Yeah, he did, he's sure of it but he doesn't know how to respond. He hasn't prepared for this yet. He never does.
"I love you and Lily." Elijah adds on because there's no turning back now after blurting out what he has been thinking about for months now.
This is it for Damon. He moves forward and just grabs Elijah by the collar of his shirt and pushes him into the wall. He loves that. He loves that Elijah includes Lily because his daughter is the most important person to him in the world and Elijah is saying all of the right things.
Smiling, he presses closer and kisses him on the cheek. "I love you too." He kisses him again but this time on the lips. "I love you and your family."
The feeling is mutual.
And no one can describe how amazing that feeling is.