Twas the night after Christmas and Damon was holding his wife in bed. They'd spent Christmas Eve with those they considered their extended family. Her parents, Ric, Bonnie, Liz, Caroline, Tyler, Carol, and Matt all came over to have dinner and do a present exchange. They also sat around and talked about how Christmases had changed from when Damon and Jessa had been children to how they were now.
Madeline and Johan had an awkward moment when they thought that Jessa was going to turn cold toward them about the Christmases they'd missed when they had faked their own deaths. She hadn't, not after Damon had begun discussing his favorite moments of having her at his family Christmases. He still couldn't believe that she still had the vaguest memories of those times, but with his help they were coming back.
Their more current family members, watched and listened, as Damon reminded his wife of the past. Drawn into a world that sounded so strange to them, yet with Jessa's power, and her mother's help unfolded like a movie. It was magical for them all.
Watching the first Christmas after Jessa's parents' "deaths" should have been difficult, but Damon and his mother, Lily had been adamant that she had the best celebration that they could manage. Together, with Hattie's help, they worked to bring all Jessa's favorite things to pass. Damon and Lily found copies of Jessa's favorite books, lost in the fire that burned her house and wrapped them carefully. Hattie, with the help of the kitchen staff made every light delicacy Jessa had ever craved, the night before Christmas hoping to tempt her always light appetite. Even Stefan and his father got in it and worked to find dresses in her favorite colors and styles that they hoped would put a smile on their newest family member. The whole house worked overtime to make that Christmas one to remember, so Damon was shocked that she didn't really recall much of it.
After walking through the entire holiday with their family, Jessa finally stopped the vision, and showed Damon and others what she remembered about that Christmas. It was the night after a very long day of Christmas. She remembered smiling through presents, and forcing herself to taste every treat that Hattie had made. She took the books that Lily and Damon had thoughtfully replaced for her, not wanting to tell them that the ones lost had held flowers that her father had picked for her, and she'd pressed inside the pages. She had allowed Hattie to help her hang the very pretty dresses that Mr. Salvatore and Stefan and picked out for her up in her closet. Then she let her help her get ready for bed. As Hattie left the room, and as Jessa lowered the wick of the lamp, she crawled into the large bed, and considered the day.
Thinking about how her new family had tried so hard to make her feel welcome, and replacing what she'd lost was nice, but heartbreaking. She felt a sob rise in her throat. She tried desperately to hold it back because Hattie had left a crack in her door and she was already halfway in her bed and didn't feel like getting back down to close it. The sob wouldn't stop and it escaped, the door pushed open and there he was. Damon, it was always Damon. He could seemingly feel her every emotion and find her at a moment's notice. Without even questioning if she needed him, he was at her bedside, and then he was holding her. And that's all she needed to let loose the pain she'd felt all day long. She cried for the family that wasn't there on Christmas day. Her mother and her papa. And Damon held her as her heart broke into a million little pieces one more time.
"That's what I remembered from my first Christmas with your family, Damon." Jessa said, pulling everyone out of her mind. "I guess that's why holidays with your family tended to be so vague." She gave a sad smile. "The only bright spot tended to be you, and sometimes Lily."
"Oh, baby," he said, pulling her into his lap, and breathing in her hair. "I never once considered that. Jesus. What that must have been like for you? And you always put such a sweet spin on it for us." He shook his head. "You were always making it better for me." He kissed her head, not even noticing that they were in their house surrounded by their family.
"What did I say before, Damon?" She asked, pulling back so he could look into her eyes. "Never think about redeeming yourself with me. You and me, we're perfect." She cupped his face between her hands and kissed him. "Now, we're making everyone here very uncomfortable." She smiled and pulled away. "So I'm curious. What should we name the babies? Let's take a poll?" She asked, eyes sparkling with mischief.
He groaned. "We're NOT naming the twins by poll." He said, glaring around the room. "So don't even THINK that it's going to happen that way."
Jessa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, but I really want some ideas." She said, looking around. "For instance, should we stay with the whole vintage Italian thing? Or should we just stay with vintage period?"
Everyone sat for a moment considering. Ric had a glass of bourbon. "Jack is a nice name." He said, grinning.
"Great," Madeline said. "Booze related names. That's a great idea."
Tyler ran to the kitchen and grabbed a dry erase board Jessa kept for lists. "Let's keep track on this." He said, holding a marker. "So should I add 'Jack' or was that a really terrible joke?" He asked, looking from Ric to Madeline.
"Joke," Ric said, gulping down a shot of bourbon.
"I like the name 'Dante'," Carol Lockwood offered. "It keeps with both vintage and Italian." She took a small sip from her red wine. "And since Jessa is very literary, it checks that box as well."
Jessa smiled, she couldn't deny the truth in all three. She nodded at Tyler.
"Bella," Caroline calls out from beside the tree. "It's from a book, too. Italian, sort of old."
Damon groaned. "Doesn't count as bookish. It's from those Twilight books. The sparkly vampire ones. So NO. I don't care about the rest. Just NO NO NO."
Jessa cringed. Shaking her head at Tyler. "Sorry, Caroline. I can't have Daddy wanting to spew irritation every time he says the baby's name."
Liz was thinking when she smiled. "It's not Italian, but Roselyn. It's floral, like Damon's mother's name, and vintage, so it has an old school feel."
Damon smiled. "I like that one. Add it to the list, Ty."
They kept going until midnight. The names grew to add: Levi, Enoch, Theo, Isaiah, Gian, Antony, Lucan, Nicoli, and Silvio for boys. For girls Isla, Opal, Amelia, Antonia, Bellissa, Eleonova, Carina, Elesabetta, and Sarafina.
After everyone left, flush with food, drink, presents, and the feeling that their world was growing, but for the better and Jessa's parents had begged off for bed, the couple sat together for awhile in their favorite room. As the fire in the fireplace started to die down, Damon held his wife and told her how much he loved how their lives had turned out. How he couldn't have imagined this future, had he even been tempted to assume she'd come back into his orbit. Smiling and kissing her hair he reminisced about how many Christmases they'd missed, and how he couldn't wait to make up for them with their two little ones.
She'd turned carefully in his arms and smiled, eyes shining with joy and love. "I couldn't have imagined all this either, Damon. I guess for a writer, I don't have that great of an imagination." She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him with all the emotion that she felt. Joy that they were finally together. Elation, if a little fear, of the family they were expecting. Love, so much love that it almost hurt.
As they left the library and made their way to their bedroom, she had to chuckle at how quickly everything fell into place. He looked at her curiously and she shook her head, leading him into the room. Undressing in front of him, watching the fire of desire flare to life in his eyes, she didn't even have a moment of distress at the growing bump that had caused her such irritation at Thanksgiving. She didn't even have a second of shock when he dropped to his knees in front of her to kiss where their babies were growing within her. A tear fell from her eye as she listened to him whispering that he loved them, and their mommy, and he couldn't wait to meet them.
"I love you, Damon Salvatore." She whispered as he rose to pick her up and carry her to bed. Her face was buried in the crook of his neck, but she knew he could hear her.
"Until time stops, Jessa." He answered, carefully laying her on the bed, and stepping back to undress himself. "And then I will find that damn clock and restart it."
Smiling, they fell into the intimate bubble that popped up between them and the world, making love and knowing that they had found what others would envy. True love, even after walking through darkness.