In the Eyes of the Butterfly

Chapter 3

Damon looked long and hard at the house that he had woken up in that morning trying to figure out what the hell had happened to his life to where it had turned out exactly like this. He could tell that Rebekah wasn't joking with him when they had their conversation earlier, but he wasn't really sure how he was just going to go on living in this life without knowing how the hell he got in it in the first place. Sighing he knew that it wouldn't do him no good to not figure out. He had to face his problems head on and there was only one way to do that. He had to talk to Elena.

Getting out of the car, Damon headed to the house and unlocked the door still marveling that this place was his. The door swung open as he stepped inside and went into the kitchen where Elena and Arianna were sitting at the table as Elena watched Arianna color silently. She looked up from where she sat and smiled wearily at him probably still reeling from what occurred that morning. He really hadn't wanted to hurt this girl, but he didn't know her as well as she thought he did and that silently killed him inside. More than she could ever possibly know.

Sighing, Elena pulled a strand of hair back behind Arianna's ear to get her attention as their daughter looked up at her wondering what she was going to ask her.

"Hey sweetie, do you mind going and playing in your room while mommy and daddy make dinner. I'll let you know when it's time to wash up."

"Okay, mommy." The little girl said getting out of the chair and making her way up the stairs.

Elena turned to him giving him a slight nod of acknowledgment as she went to the fridge and started to gather condiments from it.

"Did you want to help me with dinner or did you have plans with someone else tonight?"

He knew she would be mad when he came back to the house, but he still needed his answers and he wouldn't get them by avoiding her forever. If he was stuck in some alternate dimension he would have to play by it's rules. No matter what those rules were.

"No. I can stay."

"Great than you can help me cut the tomatoes for the salad."

"Sure."

Damon went over to where Elena had gestured and grabbed a knife as he stated to cut the tomatoes trying to remember the last time him and Rebekah had done something like this.

The silence continued as they worked in a cohesive unit in the kitchen gathering and making stuff for dinner until Damon couldn't take it anymore. He had to talk to her no matter how pissed off she was at him running out of there this morning. He needed answers and the only way he would be able to get them is if he asked her about them which wouldn't happen if they were going to ignore each other for the rest of the night.

"Elena-"

"Where were you?"

"What?"

"I called your work after you rushed out of here so fast this morning and they told me that you hadn;t been in yet and don't bother lying and saying that you came in later because they called me and said you hadn't been in all day, so please say me the trouble of you lying and tell me where the hell you've been all day."

"I can explain that..."

"By all means go ahead and explain what you were doing all day."

"Elena I know that this won't make sense to you when I explain it but I want you to keep an open mind..."

"Just get on with it Damon. Tiptoeing around the subject isn't going to make things better."

"I know, which is why I'm not going to. The reason I wasn't at work today was because I went to go see Rebekah this morning."

Hurt and betrayal flashed across Elena's face as she turned around gripping onto the counter for support. It pained him to see someone as great as Elena in this mood, but if he were to stand any chance in this new world of his he had to be honest with her. Well at least as honest as he could be without landing himself into a psych ward for sounding like a total whack job.

"Why? Why did you go see her?"

"Elena. I know that me seeing her hurts you, but I woke up this morning very dazed and confused about the past and why everything happened the way that it happened and I panicked. I went to go see her to get answers and all I seemed to get was more questions."

"Well what do you expect when it comes to Rebekah?"

"Why do you talk as if you know her?"

"Because there was a time that I did know her. It's a shame that you already forgot about how we actually met."

"What?"

"Wow. Are you really so shallow and self obsessed that you don;t remember any of the times that we spent together?"

"Sometimes I just need you to remind me."

Elena sighed as a single tear fell down her cheek. He hated that he didn't feel anything for this person who loved him so much, but this wasn't his life. He didn't know anything about this girl and he possibly never would, but it didn't mean he wanted to see her cry. She would just never understand what was going on here.

"Elena, I know that this is hard, but I feel like I haven't been myself lately. I juts need you to help me okay. I don't want to feel this way anymore. I want us to be just the way we used to be, because I hate seeing you cry. Please Elena."

Elena sighed suddenly more frustrated than sad. He didn't blame her, if the situation was reversed he would be pissed too.

"Fine. Fine. If it makes things between us better again than I'll try anything."

Damon nodded willing her to go ahead with her story hoping that it would trigger some memory in his head.

"I remembered the day we met as if it were yesterday-"

Six years ago

"Okay. You're the best. Just remember that and everything will be alright. You got this you know you do." Elena Gilbert said to herself as she stood outside of the movie studio that she hoped she would soon work at.

Taking a deep breath, Elena opened the door where she held up her head high trying to exuberant confidence before everything came crashing down. Elena yelped as she collided with two other people, where one's hot coffee spilled all over here. She yelped jumping two feet back as the blonde girl who's coffee spilled on her narrowed her eyes as if she was the inconvenience here.

"Watch where the hell your walking you idiot." the blonde girl said looking down at the one splotch of coffee on her sleeve.

"Excuse me?"

The blonde woman opened her mouth to speak when the man who stood by her grabbed her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze as to silence her. Great. Just great. She was the one with scolding hot coffee on her and this gorgeous guy was comforting this stuck up bitch.

"Calm down Rebekah. Obviously it was just some misunderstanding. Maybe you should apologize to her for spilling your coffee on her."

"Excuse me? Why the hell are you defending her when she just ruined my new jacket? Do you not get how expensive this is?"

"Yes, because I bought it. Now do me a favor and go meet with the clients while I take care of a few things. I'll meet you up there after a while."

Rebekah sighed as she walked passed Elena bumping into her hard before breezing right through her to whatever meeting they had been in a hurry to catch. Elena sighed in frustration wondering how a human being could be so vein before the man who had spoke to her before finally said something.

"I'm sorry about my wife's behavior. She can be something else some days. Are you okay, by the way? I know scolding hot water can't be pleasant on anyone's skin."

"Well your wife sure as hell didn't make it better with her lack of apology."

"Again I'm sorry about that, Rebekah didn't really grow up in a home where an apology was really a thing so I always take it upon myself to apologize for her."

"Well no offense but you shouldn't have to apologize for her."

"You're right, but I still would like to make it up to you."

"How so?"

"You obviously were looking dolled up for a reason. Let me at least get you a new suit so you could go to wherever you were heading. I'll even pay to have your shirt dry cleaned if that's what you want."

"Why should I take up your offer? I don't even think I have time to do all that. I'm late enough for my interview with the boss as is."

"Oh you're the new intern that we're interviewing today."

"Yep. That's me. Now if you don't excuse me I'm late enough and I really just want to get this interview done."

"Looking like that?"

"What the hell do you expect me to do? I'm already late and I sure as hell won't get the job by being more late than I already am."

"Well you sure as hell won't get the job looking like that either. Come on, let me help you. It's the least I can do and I can put a good word in with my boss as to why you're late so he could at least give you a fighting chance."

"Fine. What else do I have to lose?"

"Excellent. Come on I know just the place to go."

Elena sighed not knowing what would happen next, but excited to see what the hell would happen.

Car horns blared on the street as Elena and Damon walked on the street side by side as she bit into a hog dog that he said she just had to try. It had been an hour since they had gone out in the city and now she had a new business suit for her newly arranged interview and her old one was now in a dry cleaner ready to be worked on. Now they were just enjoying time together until her new interview as they told each other a little bit about each other. It was possibly one of the best times she had had in a while.

"So what do you think of your hot dog?"

"You're right. It is one of the best ones in the city."

"I'm glad that at least you could agree with me. Rebekah always seems to hate what I like. I can't find anything we seem to have in common."

"I know I probably shouldn't impose on someone else's relationship. But why are you married to her if you have nothing in common with her to begin with?"

"I guess when you know someone for all your life than you just feel obligated to end up together."

"But why though? I mean just because you grew up together doesn't mean you have to stay together. People separate all the time, it's only natural."

"You've never met Rebekah before. She's been planning our wedding since she could form a basic, cohesive thought. She's always thought that we were meant to be."

"Do you believe that you two were meant to be?"

"Does anyone really know who they're supposed to end up with?"

"Avoiding the question I asked you isn't a real answer."

"What would be a real answer for you?"

"I don't know. Tell me you can't imagine life without her. That marrying your childhood sweetheart was the best decision of your life. Anything besides the cliche and overused answer that you just gave me."

"Alright. You win. If you must know there are times where I feel like me and Rebekah are meant to be. But-"

"But what?"

"But sometimes I still think about the what if's. What if I was with someone else besides Rebekah? What if there's another girl out there for me and I'm just staying with Rebekah out of obligation to both our families?"

"I'm sorry, Your families are involved in this?"

"Isn't everyone's?"

"No. Most families don't interfere with a person's love life. Well at least mine didn't."

"Consider yourself lucky then."

"Come on. Your parents couldn't be that bad."

"You haven't met our parents. They've had this marriage arranged since the two of us were in diapers."

"Wow. Those seem like some pretty heavy terms and conditions."

"I wasn't aware anyone read the terms and conditions anymore."

"I tend to skim over them every once and a while to see what I signed up for."

"Why do I have a feeling only you would do that?"

"I'm not sure. It's not like you know me or anything."

"Maybe some day I will."

An alarm blared between them causing them to separate away from each other as Elena looked down to see that it was time for her meeting with the big boss. She wasn't even aware how close her and Damon had gotten until she looked up and could peak at Damon's face through her lashes. He smelt good. Like really good. So good that she didn't know how anyone of the female species could stand to be away from him at any given moments. No wonder Rebekah had stuck her claws in him as fast as she could. From what Elena could tell he seemed like a great guy who she wouldn't mind being friends with.

"I guess I better get going. Wouldn't want to fuck up my second interview that I was very fortunate to get another chance for."

"No. I guess we wouldn't want that." he said seeming a little bit more than flirty.

"I guess if I get this job then that means I'll be seeing you around."

"I hope so." He said with a smile as Elena walked away not knowing what her life would hold next.

"So what happened next? How did we get from that point to being married and having a baby together."

"Two babies."

"I'm sorry what."

"I wanted to tell you this morning, but you ran out of here so fast that I couldn't." She said handing him a photo from the inside of her purse pocket.

Damon looked down at the sonogram in his hands and it dropped to the table. He couldn't believe it Elena was -

"I'm pregnant."

Damon's breath stopped short as his muscles contracted. Dammit. How could this be? Why couldn't they have dropped him off on an easier part of this Damon's lifestyle?

"Damon, please say something. We have been planning on this for a while. You even told me how much you wanted another baby. Do you-Do you not want this anymore?"

Damon took another deep breath trying to remind himself that this wasn't his life, but it was somebody else's so he had to think about how the other Damon would logically respond to this question. He was being selfish and still playing this all wrong. He would never get more to the story if he was just acting like his normal self. He had to be him no matter how he felt about Rebekah.

Gathering all the courage he could muster, Damon got out of the chair and hugged Elena as tightly as he could trying to reassure her that he was still the husband that she had grown to love.

"Are you kidding me? This is the happiest news of my life. We're gonna have another baby. Thank God."

"You mean you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad? You're pregnant and we can have that big family like we've always planned on having. I mean this couldn't have happened at a better time. God I love you." he said taking her face in his hands trying his best to look at her lovingly.

"I love you too Damon Salvatore. I can't believe it we're having another baby." she smiled glowing.

"We're having a baby." He smiled back giving her a kiss that he hoped was convincing.

She pulled away smiling at him as she looked around the kitchen wiping a happy tear from her cheek.

"You know what. I don;t really feel like cooking the rest of this meal. How about we order pizza and enjoy a movie night with our little girl."

"That sounds perfect."

She gave him another kiss and smiled.

"I'm going to make that call." she said heading towards hr phone.

"Try not to take too long. We have quite the night ahead of us."

"I'm looking forward to it." she said leaving him to wonder what the hell he was going to do next.