A/N: Wow! This alternate ending got completely out of hand. I've decided to post it in two parts. Let me know what you think! Love you guys. Thanks for the encouragement. 😊
Epilogue 2: Alternate Ending – Part I
Damon loved this part. When he pierced Elena's skin with his sharp incisors and she arched beneath him before falling apart in his arms with him not far behind. Granted, they hadn't done this often. Elena was still human and she required a certain amount of blood to function optimally. In fact, this was only the second time Damon had partaken of Elena's delicious blood since they'd ended the spell – about 3 months ago – that had brought them together in the first place. Since this indulgence was so rare, he planned to enjoy every last drop.
Damon pulled and sucked at the puncture wounds, prolonging Elena's ecstasy, but then he released her and allowed the wound to weep. Gathering the dripping blood with a steady finger, he made a trail of enticement all the way down to her navel and beyond. Then, returning to the start, he traced his tongue down the path he'd laid for himself, meticulously lapping up the ruby red goodness, and if he spent more time than necessary licking and sucking her luscious breasts…well, who could blame him?
Elena squirmed beneath him, already ready for more, and he was happy to oblige. He flipped her over and pulled her up until she was on all fours in front of him. He re-entered her from behind with a swift thrust and she cried out. God, he was so gone for this girl. He plunged into her again and again while reaching around with eager fingers. He rubbed her clit greedily, roughly, holding almost nothing back.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." She called and kept calling until the curse words were just barely intelligible noises. She reached out to steady herself, grabbing the headboard with both hands, knuckles white. The new position placed her in the most mouth-watering position. Damon couldn't help but move the hand that had previously been on her hip to her buxom chest. He groped and teased, flicking her nipple until Elena's backward thrusts became sloppy with pleasure.
Damon liked to believe that he had stamina and control. He liked to believe that he was the god of sex. He liked to believe that he could run circles around any other lover. But when it came to Elena, her obvious enjoyment always undid him. He managed only a few more thrusts before reaching release, with her following quickly after.
They fell together in a heap on Damon's – correction, on their – four poster bed. Sheets tangled, pillows askew.
"That was amazing," Elena said as she sighed happily, moving into his arms until he was spooning her close.
Damon lifted his own wrist awkwardly and ripped it open with his still sharpened teeth. He brought it to Elena's mouth in order to heal the wounds on her neck. She ingested the necessary amount, but she didn't stop there. She continued to hold his hand in hers, licking until all the blood was gone. Then she placed feather-light kisses over his veins. It was more intimate than any moment he'd experienced before, and his heart might have flipped over just a little bit. As they fell asleep happy in each other's arms, Damon found he was glad Elena didn't have super hearing. He had to hold on to as much dignity as possible.
Sleep had always been a reprieve of sorts for Damon, especially after becoming a vampire. He loved sleep for the break it gave him from all the emotions and his heightened senses. Granted, he didn't wallow in sleep like some depressed human. He didn't find comfort in it. That wasn't vampire nature. A depressed vampire usually just flipped the figurative switch, and if not, a bloody kill usually took care of any mental anguish – at least temporarily. No, sleep wasn't really a coping mechanism, but he still enjoyed it.
And, he had to admit, that sleep had gotten even better lately now that he and Elena were together. Going to bed with her in his arms and waking up with her head cocooned in the space between his neck and shoulder, well, that was akin to Heaven for him.
This morning was no different. He woke up to the smell of her hair and the feel of her skin and the beat of her heart. Wait, was that a second heartbeat? Damon stiffened. Someone else was in the room with them.
He continued to feign sleep as he listened intently, but other than the extra faint heartbeat, he could hear nothing. Perhaps the house guest was in another room altogether.
Damon dared to open his eyes a crack, but when he saw nothing, he opened them further and dared to look around. He sat up completely and Elena shifted away from him. When she resettled, he took a moment to appreciate the beauty of her naked form before straining his ears outward once more.
It became clear rather quickly that the extra heartbeat was coming from Elena. Damon felt sick. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't' speak. The implications were crashing around him. He simultaneously longed for the oblivion of sleep from just moments before while also wishing to rip someone's throat out.
Elena stirred. She looked up at him and smiled, but then she immediately frowned. She lunged off the bed and ran to the bathroom. Damon could hear her heaving, but he was still too numb to do anything.
A few minutes later, Damon listened to the sink run and water splash in a detached manner. Elena came back into the room, red with embarrassment. "I don't know what happened. I must have eaten something last night that didn't agree with me. I hope I'm not getting sick. I've missed enough school already."
Damon still sat unmoved.
"I'm going to go home and get ready for school." She walked up to him and kissed the top of his head. "I'll see you this afternoon."
Damon stared at her stonily.
"Damon? What's wrong?"
His glare was starting to unnerve her, he could tell. Finally, willing his voice to work, he spat, "You're pregnant."
Elena gasped and grabbed her stomach.
"How could you know?" she asked, voice wobbly as tears sprang to her eyes.
"I can hear the heartbeat, Elena." He said, voice cold, eyes dark.
"But we were so careful." Elena sobbed. "The diaphragm, the plan B. How could this happen?"
"Yes, Elena. Please, do enlighten us? How could this happen?"
"Damon, why are you being so mean?"
He was tempted to yell at her, to roar his frustration, hurt, and betrayal onto her, but something inside him stopped him. He deflated, exhausted. He barely managed to whisper, "Just go, Elena. I can't stand to look at you."
She gasped, shocked. "Damon, I don't understand. Can we talk about…"
Damon, now enraged, roared, "Get out, Elena, before I tear your throat out!"
She grabbed her dress off the floor and wrapped it around her in one quick motion before running out the door.
Alone, Damon began to sob. He'd been so happy. Now everything was ruined.
Elena slowed down long enough to throw her dress on in the foyer before grabbing her keys and jumping in her car. She fumbled with trying to put the keys in the ignition for a bit, but she wasn't in the right head-space. Her whole body was shaking, her hands were jittery with nerves and dread and shock. Finally, she just dropped the keys to the floor board, laid her head against the seat, clutched her stomach, and sobbed.
Saying the next few days were tough on Elena would be an understatement. She was trying to come to terms with the idea of being pregnant and of becoming a mom at eighteen. And if that wasn't bad enough, the love of her life was spending his time ignoring her and getting drunk at The Grill. She could honestly say that dealing with Katherine and even Klaus had been easier than this. If it weren't for Bonnie and Caroline, she wouldn't have made it through.
But even with the girls going with her to her first ultrasound appointment where Meredith confirmed her pregnancy, and even with a life growing inside of her, she still felt all alone without Damon by her side.
Elena just couldn't understand the flip. He'd been so kind and gentle when they had first found out what Klaus was up to. Hadn't Damon been the one to encourage her to raise a baby with Matt in the first place? Hadn't he shown her how, at one point in his life at least, he'd wanted to be a father? It's not like any of this was Elena's fault. She didn't choose it. So why was he acting as if she had?
Then an idea struck her which prompted her to drive straight to The Grill and face Damon head on.
Damon vaguely noticed Elena slide onto the bar stool next to him, and he tried to ignore her as he took another deep sip of his whiskey. She continued to stare and he continued to ignore and drink deeply. Her presence was unnerving. He tried to disregard the part of him that wanted to reach out and touch her, but he was done with all that. He wouldn't be betrayed by a doppelganger again.
"You know, it's not exactly couth to be a pregnant woman at a bar," Damon slurred at her finally.
Elena flinched, "You're drunk."
"Gold star, Sweetheart."
"This probably isn't the best time for us to have this conversation, but since you always seem to be drunk these days, I'll just say it. I don't know what I did to make you so angry. None of this is my fault. Then it occurred to me that maybe you want me to get rid of the baby now that we're together. Is that it? Are you mad because I didn't immediately offer to have an abortion? Because if that's the case, you didn't exactly even give me time to absorb that I was pregnant, Damon. I'm willing to discuss options with you if you'll just fucking talk to me."
The whole time Elena was talking, Damon's eyes were widening in disbelief. How can she be so incredibly dense?
When she finally shut up, Damon snarled at her. "I know this baby isn't from the whole Klaus debacle, Elena. I know you had to have fucked some rando since supposedly being with me. You can give up the pretense. I'm done." He glared at her, waiting for her reaction.
He expected her face to morph from confusion to understanding to guilt, but all he saw was confusion and maybe contempt. And for the first time doubt flittered around in Damon's head. What if there was another explanation for all this?
"Damon," Elena started slowly, as if he was a small child and Elena was trying to explain something complicated to him, "I've only had sex with you." She had lowered her voice to an angry whisper. Even in anger and distress, Elena still tried to preserve decorum.
He wanted to believe her. Really, he did, "And before that?" he asked.
"Stefan and I hadn't been together for a while, but he couldn't have gotten me pregnant anyway. You know that. I don't understand what's happening here."
Damon sighed and rolled his eyes. She clearly wasn't going to give up the game unless he spelled it out for her. "Elena, that night Klaus compelled me to impregnate you with Matt's little swimmers, yes?"
Elena nodded.
He continued, "I went to find the extra vials, and then I had an idea. Klaus's compulsion was specific. I had to inject Donovan's junk into you, but I figured out a loop-hole. I dumped all but about a quarter of the contents of the vial down the sink. Then I provided a sample of my own," at this, Damon's eyebrows rose twice in what he was hoping was a seductive manner. "Finally, I filled the vial with my sample, effectively killing Matt's little guys with my own."
Elena just stared, confused.
"Elena, my vampire guys would have killed Matt's human guys instantly. I pumped you full of nothing. There's no way your pregnancy had anything to do with that night." Damon looked at Elena fully now, making sure she would understand what he woefully understood already. "If you are pregnant, it's because of someone else, sometime else."
Elena sucked in a sharp breath and then she slapped Damon across the face. "You're wrong."
Damon was all too familiar with being slapped by Elena, and he allowed it for posterity's sake. "I'm not wrong. Perform a science experiment. I'm sure ole' Doc Meredith would be happy to help you out."
"Damon," she said so gently he winced, "there has to be another explanation. I haven't cheated on you. Damon, look at me." When he did, she touched his face and he resisted the urge to pull away from her. "I haven't cheated on you," she repeated.
He didn't say anything. He just looked into her eyes with a deep sorrow. How could it be true?
"Compel me and ask me," she finally said, confident.
And it was his turn for his eyes to widen. "You're on vervain."
Elena reached up and unclasped her necklace. "I stopped drinking it when I found out I was pregnant. I wasn't sure it would be good for the baby." She sat the necklace on the bar top and waited. When Damon did nothing, she ordered more forcefully, "Compel me."
In one swift motion, he turned and grabbed her head, weaving his fingers in his hair. He got into her face until he was only inches away, "Elena, tell me the truth. Have you had sex with anyone else except me and Stefan this year?"
He watched her pupils widened and return to normal as the compulsion took hold. She answered robotically but truthfully, "I have not had sex with anyone other than you and Stefan this year."
Damon let go of her and sighed. What the fuck is going on here?
"Maybe you were wrong about the sperm thing, Damon. It's ok. I'm not mad at you. I just want you back. Please, don't abandon me with this. I need you."
He ignored all the most important parts of what she'd said. "I'm not wrong, Elena." He sat quietly thinking for a few minutes, trying to suss out any other explanation.
Finally, he lit up, "You were compelled."
"What?"
"It's so obvious. I can't believe I didn't think of it already. Klaus had a backup plan. If the injection didn't work, he had you compelled to sleep with as many guys as possible until you got knocked up."
"I just told you," Elena said exasperatedly, "I haven't slept with anyone else."
"You were compelled to forget."
Elena looked frightened for a moment, but then her face hardened, "No. No, Damon. I've been with you almost every night since the whole Klaus debacle. When would I have had time to sleep with all these other men? Besides, until just days ago, I've been drinking vervain."
"And just ask the knife that impelled Jenna's stomach just how easy it is to switch someone's vervain supply?" Damon snarked back at her.
He watched doubt flick across her face again. Then, in horror, he watched a tear slide down her cheek. She wiped it away furiously. "Either way, Damon, I haven't done anything wrong and you're being an ass." With that, Elena slid off her bar stool and walked away without looking back.
It took him a whole five minutes to realize she was right and run after her.
With Damon back on her side, things were significantly easier. He was appropriately contrite, and with her ultrasensitive breasts, the sex was amazing. After, he lay with his ear to her stomach and listened to the little heartbeat. Moments of silence passed, and Elena thought he'd fallen asleep like that, but then he said, "I don't know how this is all going to work, Elena, but I'll help you figure it out. I'll do whatever it is you need me to do."
"You don't want me to have an abortion?" she managed to ask. She didn't know what she would do if he said yes.
"Elena, it's like you think I don't know you at all."
She huffed a laugh. "Well, you thought I would cheat on you, so maybe you don't."
He lifted his head to smile at her. It wasn't like Damon to apologize, and she didn't expect it; therefore, she was pretty surprised when he says, "I'm sorry about that, by the way. I guess I'd just been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and that felt like the appropriate sized steeled-toe work boot, if you know what I mean?"
Elena nodded. She did know. He would often admit while they were making love or cuddling or just spending a nice day together that he couldn't believe it was real. He never expected to get the girl. He didn't feel like he deserved it.
He scooted up the bed toward her and placed his forehead to hers. "And to answer your question, no. I don't want you to have an abortion."
"Okay," she half whimpered, half croaked as she tried to keep the tears at bay, and he kissed her. It felt like home, and she knew everything would be okay.
"You guys up for a road trip?" Meredith asked as she met them at the door of the hospital.
Elena and Damon looked at each other, confused.
"Come on. Let's go pick up Matt, and I'll explain on the way."
After Damon's confession about tampering with the injection, the couple had gone to Bonnie hoping that she would be able to determine if Elena had been compelled or if the conception had been some other sort of supernatural occurrence. Bonnie did some research but couldn't find anything significant. She said she could possibly undo a compulsion, but it would be painful and bad for the baby. She didn't recommend it, especially if they weren't sure one existed in the first place. Instead, Bonnie had sent them to Meredith to help rule out Matt as the father. Meredith agreed to help straight away.
"We can do the test here, send it off, and wait a week for the results like normal," she explained once Matt was in the car, "but if something comes back abnormal, we'd be inviting trouble. I thought that as long as Damon was coming anyway, we could put him to work compelling everyone and then just do the test ourselves. We just have to drive to the lab. It'll be fun!"
Meredith's pep was unexpected but contagious. Elena couldn't help but laugh.
Meredith directed them to the DNA Diagnostic Center in Richmond. While they drove, she explained the non-invasive prenatal paternity test. Paternity could be determined safely with just a cheek swab from the potential father and blood work from the mother. It was 99.9 percent accurate.
Damon scoffed. "This sounds like a pointless endeavor. What we should be doing is trying to find a way to recover Elena's lost memories safely. That, or we could ignore the daddy dilemma altogether."
"What are you saying, Damon?"
"Just that, why do we have to find out who the father is?" He paused a beat while Elena stared at him. He shrugged and finally offered, "I'll help raise it." He glanced at her for a moment. Elena could tell he was nervous. Normally, he'd have no compunction about looking away from the road. He liked to show off his vampire reflexes. "I mean, if you would want that." He tagged on at the end.
Before Elena could say anything in the affirmative, Damon glanced at the review mirror. "What do you think, Meredith? I could teach this kid how to have real swagger."
Meredith snorted from the backseat. "That's all we need. Another little Damon Salvatore running around."
"Kill me now," Matt chimed in.
The moment was ruined and Elena didn't know how to get it back. She pictured the two children from the vision that Damon had given her during their time imprisoned at Klaus's home. The two children she'd come to think of as theirs, even though they weren't real. She knew the truth. Damon would be a great father. She didn't doubt it even now. She just didn't know how to tell him.
Compelling their way into the lab was easy. Meredith wore her lab coat and her hospital badge, and Damon told the receptionist that she was a visiting technician from corporate making annual checks. They were escorted through to the DNA lab without hesitation.
Elena took in the sterile space, the chrome and white surfaces, the microscopes, the men and women meandering around in lab coats and plastic goggles. A few of the workers looked up at them as they entered, but they all returned to their tasks without comment. Most were too consumed in their work to notice.
Meredith walked over to a work space. She took out a vial of blood from her bag, a sample Elena had provided a week ago at her pregnancy confirmation appointment. Then she procured a Q-tip and swabbed Matt's cheek. She placed the sample in a medical receptacle and labeled it "Sample One." Then, to Elena's surprise, she procured another Q-tip and handed it to Damon.
"Okay. Your turn," she said.
Damon looked at her quizzically. "Do you need a refresher course in Vampirism 101?"
"Well, if anything about this pregnancy were normal, we wouldn't need to do this at all. Just give me the sample, Damon, and then get to work compelling these people. Since this isn't my area of expertise, we'll need to ask one of these lovely doctors to perform the test. This is basically all they do here, so any of them should be able to help us."
Damon yanked the Q-tip away from Meredith, swabbed his cheek, and thrust it back in her face. He muttered, "what a waste of a good Q-tip," before he walked over to a balding man with a wrinkled forehead and a pocket protector. Elena watched as Damon spoke to him quietly. Seconds later, the man was walking toward them, glassy eyed.
The doctor, whose name badge read "Edwards," took the bloodwork and both samples – Damon's now clearly marked, "Sample Two" – from Meredith without question, then he looked at Elena, "These tests aren't instantaneous. They take time. That's why this isn't usually done in person."
Elena nodded. "We understand. We'll wait."
The testing took all day. Damon eventually got bored and started wondering around the facility. Elena, Matt, and Meredith stayed put and chatted. When Damon eventually returned, he brought with him a pack of Uno cards from the break room. They whiled away the remaining hours playing Uno and yelling at Damon for cheating.
"There's lots of blood in this place," Damon noted off-handedly allowing the veins below his eyes to darken and swim.
"Don't you dare," Meredith warned even as Elena felt a jolt of arousal run through her.
What the fuck is wrong with me that I was turned on by that?
"It was just an observation. Besides, I had a snack before we left home." He winked at Elena and smiled smarmily at her, because of course he could tell how she was feeling. He could probably smell it.
Elena sighed before dealing a new hand.
Finally, Dr. Edwards came back. Damon had picked him because he looked like the brainiest of the lot, and he did seem pretty invested in his work.
"I've never seen anything quite like this sample," he said again. He'd told them this quite often throughout the day, and Damon couldn't wait to compel him to forget all about this.
"What did you find, Doc?" Damon urged.
"Well, 'Sample Two' is indeed the father of this, this, this…" the doctor trailed off at a loss.
Damon had been pretending disinterest until this point, shuffling the Uno cards in one hand like a card shark. But at the doctor's words and Elena's gasp, the cards went flying across the lab.
"Oh, dear. This is a sterile environment. We'll have to pick those up," the doctor mumbled.
"What did you say?" Damon asked, bewildered.
"We'll have to pick up the cards at once."
"No, no. Before that," Damon said exasperated. He walked up to the doctor and grabbed him by the tie, but it was a clip-on, so the tie just snapped off in his hand.
"Who is the father?"
"Presumably, you are, if you were indeed the giver of the second sample that was provided to me. But what you are and what the fetus is, that I cannot say. Not human, definitely. It is quite the mystery." The man continued to ramble to himself.
Damon looked stupefied.
Meredith managed to ask, "Are you certain you didn't get the samples mixed up?"
The doctor looked deeply offended. "Excuse me, miss, but I've been doing this job for longer than you've been alive. I don't make mistakes like that. I'm not a millennial."
Matt laughed, but he was the only one.
Damon stepped forward with purpose and grabbed the doctor's face none too gently. "Forget all about this. We were never here. You got to work this morning and felt ill. You went home sick. You didn't do any work today."
Damon released the doctor and watched as he cleaned up his things and headed toward the door.
Afterword, without saying a word to Elena, Damon went around the room and started compelling the other staff members to forget about their presence. He was acutely aware of Elena and Meredith and even Matt. He noticed their disbelief and Elena's elation. He could feel her eyes on him, but he wasn't ready to process the information. It wasn't possible.
When he'd finished his rounds, he said, "I'm going to compel the receptionist and check security – make sure we aren't on camera anywhere. I'll meet you guys at the car."
"Damon –" Elena tried to get his attention.
"I'll just be a minute. Go, Elena." He pushed her out the door.