Two Months Prior
It's Valentine's Day, but Elena Salvatore can definitively state that she's never felt less sexy in her life. Between the oatmeal stain on the left shoulder of her scrubs from battling Grays at breakfast this morning to the purple bags under her eyes from staying up to late to finish reports, it's all she can take to write out an IOU note and leave it on the counter for Damon to see when he gets home.
Love you, babe. It reads. We'll do something special soon, I promise. Just the two of us. Happy Valentine's Day!
While it has been one of the greatest joys of her life to give birth to and nurture four beautiful children, some days she finds herself missing simpler times when it was just her and Damon. And, if she's honest with herself, there are times when her mind aimlessly wanders to the days she reveled in as a vampire. Of course, at the time it was all she could take to get through it, but that was before she became a mom. Some of that super speed and compulsion would come in handy these days.
"Mommy…" A little voice calls out, halting her train of thought and drawing her back to reality. "Can you tie my shoes?"
Luther, one of her five-year-old twins comes hobbling over to her, shoelaces dragging the floor, looking frustrated. They've been working tirelessly to master the skill for weeks now, but, much like potty training and trying new foods, success is hit or miss. She kneels to fulfill his request, kissing him on the cheek when she's finished and not bothering to rise from the floor, knowing it won't be long before Levi comes in asking the same favor. Sure enough, it's only a matter of seconds before she's lacing up a second pair of shoes.
"Come on, guys!" She calls out in the tone Damon fondly makes fun of every chance he gets. "We're going to be late. Get downstairs now!"
While waiting for the kids, Elena pulls her calendar out of her purse to check her schedule for the week. As a college student, she dreamed of becoming a doctor and making the world a better place, but that was before Stef came along and surprised everyone. Instead, she graduated from nursing school with a 2-year-old and thought of herself as more of a hero than ever before. Damon once asked her if she had any regrets and in complete sincerity, she couldn't fathom things turning out any differently. Her intense little girl with her father's sapphire blue eyes had been worth every change of plan, even if it means putting herself through graduate school at 32.
"Downstairs now, gang! I mean it!" She smiles to herself at the sound of little feet hurrying around on the second floor and realizes that the tension she feels is already subsiding. Crazy as her life may be, it's exactly what she always dreamed of. Running a hand through her shoulder-length mess of mom curls, she lets out the final warning, and then charges up the staircase to round up all the little bodies and backpacks she can find.
It's barely two o'clock in the afternoon, but Damon has officially checked out for the day. He prefers to teach morning classes when his mind is fresh and his coffee is piping hot. The history department typically lets him do as he pleases, but then there's office hours, and for all of his talent at avoiding things he isn't particularly fond of in life, he hasn't yet managed to think of a way out of discussing term paper guidelines with over-invested freshmen.
Fortunately for him, office hours in mid-February are relatively pointless, so rather than do something productive like plan his next lecture or grade last week's quizzes, he reclines with his legs crossed on top of his desk and throws darts aimlessly at the board on the back of his office door musing about how he should spend Valentine's Day with Elena.
They've done the whole romantic dinner at an expensive restaurant thing countless times and it just doesn't feel right. Bonnie would offer to babysit in a heartbeat, but he knows that it would be a strained attempt at reconciliation, and she would probably end up more frustrated with him than ever before.
He gets it—that's what she probably doesn't understand. He knows that he isn't rising to the occasion as the best father on the block. She is balancing motherhood, domestic duties, and a swing shift at the hospital, all while studying to be a nurse practitioner, and she's doing a damn good job at it. He, on the other hand, is failing miserably at keeping everything together in the meantime. She yells at him when he tries to help her and so he stops trying, and then she yells at him for not trying hard enough. She's always been a stress fighter, but its only gotten worse as the years have gone by. He can't help but feel like their life together is becoming a one-woman show and that it's just a matter of time before she realizes he is more of a detriment to her success than an asset.
Nevertheless, he's determined to keep trying because a life with her is the only human life he's ever wanted. Just as a dart lands swiftly on the target, the idea of the century bursts into his mind, and, just like that, he's on his feet, grabbing his jacket and telling the department secretary he's taking the rest of the day off.
The afternoon at the hospital drags on, so much so that Elena thinks she might scream if another patient presses their call button just to ask for some toothpaste. It's a small hospital and they're already short-staffed, so while she's technically the lead nurse in her department, her work life is very similar to her life at home—wiping bottoms and noses, retrieving lost items, and offering words of encouragement to tearful faces.
She's tired. She rarely admits it to herself, but it's a fact. When she gets a free minute to fill in charts and eat a granola bar in the break room, she feels the weight of it all in her joints and muscles and she knows that she should slow down, but she doesn't have time to worry with that now, not when there's one more chart to write, one more parent-teacher conference to attend, one more sink full of dishes to wash, and one more exam to study for.
As she takes a deep breath and attempts to find some solace in her moment alone, her eyes fall on a box of pink and red cupcakes on the break room table. That's right, she laughs to herself. It's Valentine's Day. Of course it's Valentine's Day. Her heart wretches in guilt. She's been so selfish lately when it comes to her relationship with Damon, treating him like another obligation on her to-do list rather than as her soulmate and partner in crime.
He's trying, she knows that. She can see it in his eyes every time she launches into a frantic tirade, blaming him for everything and nothing in particular. It's the tenderness in his eyes that keeps her centered, stable. This fact alone sends her thoughts spiraling out of control as her heart rate skyrockets. She rarely does anything spontaneous anymore, but part of her that she has long since buried within still craves the recklessness that he brought into her life all those years ago.
Her mind is awash with explosive memories as she clocks out, informing the department manager that she'll be taking the afternoon off without stopping so long as to see his reaction. It's exhilarating, and it shouldn't be, considering she once jumped off of a clock tower and drove a car through a brick wall. Even still, as she throws her car in reverse, she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the rearview mirror and she knows that this mission she's about to embark on is just as risky as any before.
Author's Note: Ahhh... I'm so excited to finish this Valentine's Day storyline that I can hardly stand it! Stay tuned! In the meantime, I know this is completely different from the introduction, but I promise it will all make sense soon!