Jessa fell into post hero life easier than Damon. For all his complaints, he was actually used to being in the thick of the drama of Mystic Falls. Luckily, redecorating and renovating the house was going to be something of a full-time job.

Jessa's life before returning to her hometown became her life after returning. She called the people who usually helped keep the cogs of her life running smoothly and let them know that she was going to relocate to Mystic Falls. They made the required requests for packers, movers, and within a week everything showed up. It was almost like magic.

Ric was a godsend for Damon's sanity, and Jessa's. He helped Damon limit the usage of compulsion with contractors, decorators, builders, suppliers, and anyone else that was necessary to his vision for their house. He also helped Tyler, Jeremy, and Matt get side jobs with some of the builders, so they learned from the experience.

The wedding date was set for the following autumn. It gave plenty of time for the house to be finished, and for Jessa's book tours to be done. She had agreed to limit the travel dates so Damon could accompany her. Then they could buy things for the house, pick up things for the wedding and see if her idea for a honeymoon at home would stick.

The meddling kids still visited regularly. Bonnie being the most constant, with Caroline and Tyler the two follow-ups. They felt the closest to Jessa. And found Damon to be pretty easy going with Jessa as a buffer. Bonnie was learning that magic didn't always need incantations to work, sometimes the feelings alone made the difference. And it went without saying that Caroline and Tyler felt that Jessa understood them in a way that most people didn't.

Caroline's ability to event plan was proving useful for the wedding. She and Jessa were having a blast picking out things that were just right for the type of wedding that suited Damon and Jessa's relationship.

The two people that hadn't really been seen much were the two that most people would have assumed would have been the most seen. Elena and Stefan. Days after Jessa broke through Stefan's Ripper, Elena showed up on their doorstep and made a demand of Jessa that ruined any hope of a relationship between the two women. This in turn caused an irreparable rift between the brothers.

Elena, as she had started to believe when she overheard Ric and Bonnie talking about Damon and Jessa's chances of having children and their real immortality thought that Jessa was holding back from being able to remove the supernatural part of people. She firmly believed that because Jessa could save Damon from the hybrid bite, and remove the doppelganger blood necessity from the hybrid recipe, then she could in fact, remove Stefan's vampire part and allow him to survive. She demanded that Jessa do so, and allow Elena to have the happily ever after that Jessa and Damon were going to have.

When Jessa reminded her that she had already explained why that couldn't happen. Why it wouldn't work and why she couldn't do it without killing Stefan. Elena called her a liar and said she just didn't want Elena to have happiness because she was still angry because of what had happened with Katherine. She grew angry, said horrible things, and had to be asked to leave repeatedly. Finally Damon called Stefan and told him to come remove her. Stefan, of course, took Elena's part. Now, once again, the brothers were at odds. It saddened Jessa, but it wasn't something she could do anything about.

"Jessa," Damon called, he was downstairs in the library. It was one of the few rooms they'd agreed needed no change. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I'll be right down." She called. Looking at herself in the mirror one last time. She looked pretty.

It was their engagement party, officially. They were having it at the Grille and she was nervous. Stefan and Elena could gate crash and make a scene. She could have magically blocked the party, but it seemed like cheating. Mostly she just wanted to announce it to the world that she was getting married to the man of her dreams. Why should they hide?

"Babe?" He called again, sounding worried.

"I'm coming." She said, coming down the stairs. Her dress was a tea length black lace, and her shoes were kitten heels. Her hair was tumbling down her shoulders and she looked like a vision to him.

"My God, what did I do to deserve you?" He breathed. "You're beautiful."

She smiled up at him, in his grey velvet suit he definitely made her heart beat faster. "I'm fairly certain you're what fallen angels look like." She reached up to kiss him. "I love you."

"I love you." He held out his arm after wrapping her in her coat. "Shall we?"

The Grille held all their friends, plus most of the town. Stefan and Elena were blissfully not there. The well wishes rained down on them, as everyone wanted to know how they met.

"Through our families," Jessa said, diplomatically.

"Yeah," Damon said. "Our mothers were the best of friends."

"Yes, we were." A voice said.

Everyone stilled. Jessa's eyes met Damon's and they both turned. There near the bar stood Madeline Warren and next to her was Jessa's Papa. While Jessa and Damon saw them as they were before they left her in the 1800s, the rest of the party goers saw the glamour her mother had created. The earth tilted and Jessa felt the air leaving her lungs, her eyes rolled up and she folded. Before she could hit the floor, four arms gripped hers, Damon's and her papa's.

Cool compresses were pressed to her face as Damon's voice was speaking in her ear. "Jessa, honey, open your eyes."

"Damon." She said, clutching at him. "Damon, where are you?"

"I'm right here, honey." She felt his hand on hers. "Open your eyes, baby."

She opened her eyes, and there were his blue ones staring back. "Oh thank god. I had the weirdest dream." She said. Looking around she realized it wasn't a dream. She started to sit up and felt dizzy. Someone, her mother handed her a small glass of soda to sip. She took a sip dutifully, and gave her mother a look that clearly said they needed to talk about timing. She glanced further around looking for her Papa. He was behind Damon, smiling shyly. She gave him a small nod. Handing the soda back, she gestured for Damon to help her up.

"Sorry, everyone, I forgot to eat today. Too much excitement." She said apologetically. "I'm going to grab a table."

She moved to a small high top in a corner and waited for her family to join her. Damon sat next to her. Her mother and papa sat across from them. She waited for someone to speak.

"Hello, Jessica." Her mother started. Jessa raised an eyebrow, thinking that's rather a bit too little.

"Hello, Mother, Papa." Jessa said. "Welcome, HOME." The snark was heavy, and clear.

Damon held her hand, hoping he was giving her comfort. He didn't speak, she could tell he didn't trust himself to.

"Jessa," Papa started, but then he seemed at a loss for what to say.

Her mother sighed. "You're angry." It was a statement and Jessa didn't feel the need to agree or add to it. "There's no way to make that better or fix it. We can move past it, if you'll allow it."

Jessa sat still, waiting. Surely her mother wanted to give more than just that.

"You're to be married. I thought you'd have questions. You've read the book. So you know about your father and I. Damon has clearly become truly immortal. There's more for him to learn as well." Her mother fumbled with her words, unsure of herself. "I want to be a part of your life, Jessa. We want to be a part of your lives."

Jessa sat back, taking this in. Finally she felt like her mother was being honest. "Very well, if Damon is agreeable, we'll take it day by day."

Damon looked at her, shocked he'd be included in the decision.

"Damon, you're my family now. If you want them to be included, that's part of your choice. If not, that's something we'll discuss as well. We don't have to choose now." Jessa said, looking into his eyes. He nodded.

"Tonight's a party celebrating our love. It's not a night to make decisions like this. We'll hold off for tonight." He said, looking at Madeline. "You can stay at the house with us, and we'll make the choice together."

Her papa looked at the two of the approvingly. She was watching him as well. He looked the same, of course, but his eyes looked older. She wondered if she should still call him "papa" it was a dated name. Did it still feel right? She hadn't spoke to him, yet. Damon sensed her thoughts because he asked her mother if she'd like to accompany him to the bar to meet some of their friends and get a drink.

Alone with her papa, they took a moment to sit and stare. To weigh the differences. He broke the silence first.

"I've read all your books." He said, smiling. "Well, the ones I could discern were written by you."

She blushed, "My papa gave me a love of reading, I would have hated to deny others the joy of it."

He moved to take Damon's seat. "I missed you, Princess." He said, reaching for her hand. His touch had the same soothing effect of Damon's minus the passion, of course.

"Oh, Papa, I missed you so much." Her eyes blurred with tears. Her head rested on his shoulder. "I had Damon, though."

"Damon," he mused, "your mother said, I had my doubts. Do you really love him my Princess?" She could hear his worry.

"Oh, Papa! We were made for one another." Her smile could have lit up the room, and in that he knew that Damon Salavatore would be the husband of his daughter and the father of his grandchild(ren).

HOURS LATER~~~~

Back at their house Damon had just shown his future in-laws to their guest rooms. Jessa was settled into their bedroom when he realized that there were four people with super hearing in one house. No one was going to be having sex in the house that night, or until the in-laws left. He crawled into bed beside his future wife and saw that she was giggling.

Groaning he asked what was so funny.

"Bet you wished you hadn't invited them to stay right about now, don't you?" She asked, full on laughing.

He buried his face into his pillow and growled.

The next morning, after a cold shower, Damon was sitting across the breakfast table from his future in-laws and watching Jessa flit about the kitchen making breakfast like Martha Stewart on crack. Why was she so chipper?

"So I got up really early this morning and made triple cinnamon scones. And I fresh squeezed orange juice. And in case you felt like having coffee I made some that one of the carpenters left behind. If anyone would rather have a full bacon, sausage, eggs, toast breakfast I could probably do that instead?" Jessa said, looking around the kitchen.

Damon looked at the other two faces staring at his future wife and realized that she was the only one who looked like she got any sleep. Huh. He wondered what was going on.

"Jessa?" Damon asked, "Why are you bouncing around like you've had a caffeine drip going since midnight?"

"No reason." She said, not making eye contact. She placed the scones on the table and rushed back to get the coffee and orange juice.

Her parents looked about as awake as Damon felt. Plus they looked as irritable. As Jessa sat the two drinks down, he gently took her wrist. Her pulse was going crazy.

"Jessa," He said, pulling her onto his lap. "Why is your pulse beating like it's about to take flight?"

She looked around like she wanted to escape. Her chest was heaving from the need to move. And her eyes were still darting around.

"Honestly, I don't know. I couldn't sleep." She said, practically wiggling off his lap. "I couldn't lie still. You drifted off and I got up. I ended up watching late night TV. Then I watched cooking shows, hence the scones. Then I made the coffee. Then I made the orange juice. Thank God you people finally woke up. I was going bonkers."

Her mother snapped up as she was talking. She took in the table and listened. Then she shook her head. She walked over and took a finger to the side of her daughter's neck. And tested the side of her own. She nodded slightly. Shook her head a little as though she had some weird internal monologue, until Damon realized that she was talking to Jessa.

Jessa was listening as her mother was asking her about her love life. How often did she and Damon have sex. Jessa would have blushed, but honestly at this point she was was far out of her own skin she would have told anything to anyone. So she did, a few times a day, and a couple times a night. Last night was one of the very rare times that nothing happened all day and all night. She asked other things, like were they being careful. Which was an easy yes.

Then her mother said that she and papa were going out, now. The implication was clear. Jessa and Damon needed to have sex. And they needed to do it immediately. It was why she wasn't just out of sorts. It was why she was literally climbing the walls.

Damon watched as his future mother-in-law informed him and her husband that they were going out to reacquaint themselves with their former home. They'd be gone all day. And then they were.

Jessa had barely waited until they left the room. She turned on this lap and kissed him. His eyes closed and he realized just how much he needed her touch, but he also realized how much she needed it. He felt her pulse slow with ever flick of his tongue against hers. And that's when he realized why her mother left. This was something Jessa NEEDED to be healthy and happy.

Thank god he could give it to her. He pulled back long enough to apologize for what he was about to do to the scones, coffee, and orange juice until he realized that her mother had cleared the table for him. He laid Jessa out like the breakfast he truly wanted and carefully began what they both needed.