a little time jump :)

Chapter Two

Two Years Later

Damon crawls through Elena's bedroom window as she exits her bathroom, towel-drying her hair. She jumps when she sees him. "Oh, Damon. You scared me."

"Sorry. I had to get out of the house." Damon winces as he talks.

Elena frowns when she looks him over. "Is Giuseppe beating you again?"

Damon lifts his shirt up to reveal a couple dark-colored bruises. "Yep. It's not like I expected anything different from when he got back from his trip, but…"

"Come here. Bed, now. I'll get an ice pack." Elena runs downstairs and goes to the fridge to grab some ice. Jeremy's eating some mac 'n cheese at the table.

"Hey, Elena. Damon here?" Elena silently nods and puts a finger to her mouth, shushing him. She grabs the ice pack and quietly runs back upstairs.

"Here you go." Elena gently places the ice on Damon's stomach as she sits next to him. "Are you okay?"

Damon just shrugs. "Like I said, I shouldn't expect anything different. Stefan's completely oblivious, as usual. But I guess that's good. He should stay in the dark and, you know, keep his innocent thoughts about Father."

"You're a good brother. You're trying to keep him safe. That's admirable, you know." Elena says as she and Damon are laying on the bed."

"Yeah, well, he's the only family left that I actually care about. I'd hate it if something happened to him." Damon's absentmindedly playing with Elena's hair while she stares up at the ceiling.

"Being the older sibling gets tiring, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. I'd feel the exact same way if something happened to Jeremy, too."

They sit in silence for a while. Damon's looking up at the ceiling while Elena looks around her room. Her eyes land on the calendar and she smiles.

"Tomorrow's your birthday, Damon. You're going to be twelve!"

"Hmm, I'm not real excited for it. You know how I am with birthdays. It's just a number with no real importance."

"Of course it has importance, you idiot. It celebrates how many years you've been on the earth and not to mention the date that you came to be. Come on, be excited!"

Damon chuckles but doesn't say anything. Elena rolls her eyes. "Fine, then I'll be excited for the both of us. Yay! Whoo! Ugh, Damon, I'll buy you two cakes if you cheer," Elena pleads with a smile.

Damon glances over at Elena and gives in with a sigh. "All right, all right. It's my birthday. Yippee. Hallelujah."

"More enthusiasm or no cake for you."

"Yay!" Damon manages to spit out while Elena looks gleeful.

"That's the spirit! C'mon, your birthday's going to be epic."

"Hardly. Especially when I'm sporting these bruises." Damon grumbles.

Elena sighs and gives his stomach a quick kiss. "You'll be better in no time. Now stop complaining, grumpy pants." Damon's facial expression softens and he gives a small smile. "By the way, you're not going home tonight. Beating you on your birthday is completely unacceptable, not to mention any other day of the year. And before you say anything, Stefan will be fine."

"...alright, thanks."

Elena grins, "What are besties for? If not for annoying you, then it's for allowing sleepovers multiple times a week."

"Right, right."

Elena snuggles under the comforter and covers Damon with a blanket. "Goodnight, Damon."

"Night, 'Lena."

the next day

Elena wakes up with Damon's arms encompassing her. She grins and grabs the noise-maker from her nightstand. *HONK*

Damon immediately sits up as Elena bursts out laughing.

"Oh, that was priceless! Your face!" Elena rolls over laughing while Damon glares at her for a second. He suddenly gets an mischievous glint in his eyes and begins to tickle Elena.

"Aah! No, no! Damon! Eeep! Stooop!" Elena breathes between laughs. Damon laughs and continues tickling her.

"You brought this onto yourself, Elena. This is what you get for waking me up with an annoying noise-maker." Elena snatches he noise-maker off the floor and blows it again in Damon's face. The hole in the end of the plastic ends up spraying spit all over Damon's face. He abruptly stops tickling her and gives Elena a dumbfounded look.

"Is this what I think it is…?" He reaches for her again, but Elena squeals and jumps out of bed and into the bathroom, locking the door.

Damon jiggles the handle while knocking on the door. "Ohh, Elena, you're gonna regret that…" Damon says threateningly while smiling.

"Actually, I don't regret it at all because it was really funny. By the way, happy birthday!" Elena yells back in a sing-song voice. "You can shower after me! Don't worry, I'll be sure to use up all of the hot water, just for you!" Elena turns on the shower as Damon smiles and shakes his head while walking away from the door.

later in the day

Elena excitedly shuffles around the kitchen, occasionally peeping up at the two cakes on the kitchen island. Miranda comes in and smiles at Elena.

"Hey, honey. Your friends will be over in about an hour or so. Grayson is picking up Stefan like you requested, too. Where's Damon at?"

"Ah, he's just showering. It might be a short one though. I used up all of the hot water right before I got out. Oh, and thank you guys for picking up Stefan. Damon will appreciate it." Elena blurts out quickly, looking slightly frazzled.

"It's not a problem, sweetie. And those are the cakes you asked for - cookies 'n cream ice cream cake and plain angel food cake."

"Good, good. Can you help me hang up this banner? I can't reach." Elena admits with a chuckle.

"Of course. There we go…" Miranda lifts the banner above the table and ties it to the hooks. "Does that look good?"

"It looks perfect. Thanks, mom." Elena says sweetly. The doorbell rings multiple times in a row. "Oh, that's Caroline and Bonnie! They're the only ones who do that." Elena excitedly opens the door revealing Caroline and Bonnie standing there with presents.

"You guys made it!" Elena throws her arms around them both.

"Of course we did. Damon deserves to celebrate his birthday happy for once." Caroline says whilst smiling.

"And what better way to do that than with two cakes and presents?" Bonnie says while wiggling her eyebrows.

"Get in here, you two. Come, come." Elena pulls them both in the house just as Jeremy walks down the steps. "Jer, hey."

"Hey, Elena. Is dad home yet?"

"No, he'll be back soon though with Stefan."

"Ooh, is that cake? Two cakes?!"

"Uh-uh, you're going to have to wait until Damon gets down to blow out his candles."

"Ugh, fine. Tell him to hurry up."

Grayson and Stefan enter the house holding hands. "Honey, we're home! Hey, everyone." Miranda gives Grayson a chaste kiss and takes Stefan's hand.

"Hey, Stefan. How ya doing, bud?" Miranda asks while ruffling his hair.

"Good! Thanks for inviting me, Mrs. Gilbert." Stefan says, grinning up at her."

Miranda smiles. "Please, call me Miranda. Mrs. Gilbert sounds way too formal."

"I think Damon got out of the shower. I'm gonna go get him and bring him down. You think you guys could turn off the lights and shout surprise?" Everyone in the room nods eagerly. "'Kay, thanks!"

Elena bounds up the stairs and enters her room to see Damon drying off with the towel. "Hey, Damon. Are you almost ready?" He nods and puts his shirt on.

"Yeah, what're we doing? Oh, and don't think I forgot about what you did with that noise-maker and your spit. I'll get you back, 'Lena."

Elena smiles and wiggles her eyebrows. "Right, right, sure you will."

Damon wiggles his eyebrows back. "Don't underestimate me. Mark my words, I'll get you back so good." Elena laughs and grabs his arm.

"Let's go downstairs, hmm?"

Elena leads him down the stairs while Damon looks around. "Why are all of the lights-"

Everyone jumps out at once and yells "SURPRISE!"

"Wow...you guys did all of this?" Everyone smiles and nods. Damon turns to Elena who gives him a hug.

"Happy birthday, Damon. I got you two cakes like I promised."

Damon smiles back. "Thank you for this, Elena. For everything."

"Well, of course. It's your birthday, so you deserve it."

Damon turns around and sees Stefan. "Stef?"

"Damon! Hello!" Stefan runs over and gives Damon a hug. "Happy birthday, brother."

"Thank you, Stefan. Thank you, everyone, for this. I really don't know what to say."

"Of course, Damon. You wanna come here and blow out your candles?"

Damon nods and walks over to the ice cream cake. "Make a wish!" Damon closes his eyes and proceeds to blow out all twelve candles at once. Everyone cheers.

"You blew them all out at once! Good job."

"Heh, thank you. This is great, really. You all know I don't exactly get this at home, so I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, Damon. You're a part of the family."