A/N - So here it is! The final chapter. I've had such fun writing this story and it's been lovely to read your kind reviews and words of encouragement. I hope you enjoy this final instalment. One final little review at the end would be much appreciated :)
Gracie x
Epilogue
Over a year later…
"I actually can't believe you're going," Caroline sobbed, hugging Elena as Damon and Klaus awkwardly shifted from foot to foot in the living room of Caroline's apartment. "I'm not going to see you every day."
"Care, you hardly see me every day now," Elena replied, laughing a little at her friend's reluctance to let her go. "Besides, Mystic Falls isn't that far."
"It's further than a train ride," she mumbled, sniffing.
"But you know you're always welcome, right? And Damon makes the best Christmas dinner, so you should come then. You can meet Ric and Jenna - and Gibson."
At that, Caroline straightened a little. "Still can't believe your friends named their kid after a bourbon brand."
"Are you kidding? He fell in love with Jenna because she was the first woman to ever enjoy his favourite drink. What else were they gonna name him?" Damon returned as Klaus pulled his girlfriend away from Elena.
"Come on love, let them leave."
"Don't want to. I hate you for writing her letter of recommendation you know."
"I know." Klaus replied. "I'm a terrible person."
Elena shook her head, grinning as she picked up the final box of her things. What could have been a sad occasion - leaving New York and the life she'd made there while on her final placement - was instead, an extremely happy one. When she'd discovered that a junior doctor's position had come up at Mystic Falls General, there wasn't a single part of her that doubted whether she wanted the job. It meant she could make that little Virginian town her home - with Damon. She'd asked him his opinion of course, and the smile that had been etched into his face had told her everything she needed to know about how he felt.
They were going to live in the boarding house - where else? - so had no need to ship or buy any furniture. There were a few boxes of Elena's things that she'd moved out of the apartment she'd shared with Stefan (plus her clothes of course) but other than that, the move was pretty simple. Damon would still have to fly to New York a couple of times a month, but aside from that, pretty much all of his work was computer-based and could be done from his study in Mystic Falls.
They had the weekend to get settled - not that there was much settling to do; since Jenna had given birth to Gibson the previous summer, they'd spent many journeys road-tripping to see the three of them, calling in at Jeremy and Bonnie's too - and Elena started her new position the following Monday.
"Promise you'll call me when you get there," Caroline sniffed, clutching Klaus' arm as he stroked her hair with his other hand. "And that you won't forget to visit."
"Of course," Elena smiled. They'd done the big gushing statements about how much they were glad they met each other the previous night and there was no need to rehash everything. "You guys have fun living together."
Even though Klaus practically lived with her best friend, they'd never made it an official thing, but as Elena had packed away her things, Klaus had arrived with his. They'd joked that it was like the episode of Friends where Chandler moved in with Monica, except nobody was fighting over candlesticks. Elena felt significantly better about leaving, knowing he'd be there. More than just a supervisor by the end of her term at the hospital, they'd become friends. Even Damon was happy to hang out with him if the girls were at work.
"You ready?" Damon asked, taking the box from her. She nodded and grinned again.
"Let's go."
X
They stopped at the same gas station they'd stopped at the very first road trip they took together. Only this time, Damon didn't make her eat an apple. He just smiled as she settled back into the passenger seat with a box of Twinkies - he never had to ask now - M&Ms and enough packets of gum to keep them going for months.
Back on the road after a few minutes, Damon turned the radio up and smiled as Elena pulled out her sunglasses and hummed along to the tune of the songs, her feet resting on the dashboard. She knew how much he loved his car, and yet he still let her put her feet there. He must really love her.
"What're you thinking about?" he asked, reaching to rest his hand on her thigh.
"Christmas."
"We just had Christmas."
"I know, and it was even better than the year before. Imagine what the next one could be like."
He was glad of the sunglasses to hide what he knew would be given away in his eyes. She always understood him, even if he thought he was able to hide something. He did, however, silently thank the universe for forcing her to work a couple of extra double-shifts last week. It had meant he could carry out his plan without any suspicion.
"What're you thinking about?" she asked, turning towards him.
"Well, now I'm thinking about Christmas."
"The last one or the next one?"
"The next one."
"Oh yeah? You gonna let me make the cranberry sauce again?"
"Of course," he smiled. "It's tradition."
X
The hours ticked by, during some of which she dozed off, waking gently to the purring rumble of the Camaro's engine and Damon's hand warning her thigh, and some eight hours after they'd left New York in the rearview, they passed the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign. It made Elena's heart jump.
She turned to Damon, grinning. "I can't believe we're doing this."
His smile made her want to burst. "I love that you love it here."
They sat at the red light of the cross roads, and Elena frowned when they turned right instead of left.
"Why are we going this way?"
Even hidden by his sunglasses, she could see his raised brow accompanying that trademark smirk. "You'll see."
Jenna and Ric, she realised. They must be throwing some sort of 'welcome home' party or something.
But they didn't stop at Jenna and Ric's house. Instead, the car slowed to take a left, then a right until Damon finally stopped right outside the little house that reminded her of her own childhood home. The owners had finally put up a porch swing and the place looked perfect.
"What are we doing here?"
Damon said nothing and turned the keys in the ignition, the engine sleeping. He got out and she watched him from the passenger seat with narrowed eyes.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked. Those sunglasses were dangling in his hand now. They'd spent the best part of the day travelling and Elena was tired. Too tired to take part in the riddle he seemed intent on spinning
"Damon," she sighed a little, getting out of the car. "Can we just go home first. I feel kind of gross and I could do with some actual food and -"
She stopped mid-sentence as he tossed her a key.
"What's this?"
"It'll open the door," he replied, with a nonchalant shrug as if all of this was perfectly normal. "To our home. This home."
"What?" She knew her eyes were wide. Elena looked down at the key in her hand and then back up at Damon, who was smiling.
"You were right about it needing the porch swing by the way. Definitely completes the front of the house don't you think?"
She was speechless. Was this for real? Had this perfect man actually bought the house she'd fallen in love with the very first time she'd visited the town?
"Damon...I…"
"Jeez Elena," he huffed, rolling his eyes at her as he took the key from her palm. "It's freezing out here. I'm going inside."
Her brain didn't seem to be connected to the rest of the body. She simply stood on the path as she watched Damon climb the couple stairs to the porch before slipping the key into the lock. He turned it and the door opened, revealing a hardwood floor. Finally, as he turned around to look at her again, Elena felt her feet move forward towards him, stumbling as she made her way towards the open door.
"Are you serious?" she managed to choke out. "You bought this place?"
"Yup. Our names are on the deeds and everything."
"Our names?"
"It's your house too Elena," Damon replied, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "And that's your porch swing I hung outside."
She looked around, surveying the expanse of hardwood flooring and bare magnolia walls, imagining where they'd hang photographs and coats and a dog lead.
"Our porch swing," she said with a smile. "You mean our porch swing."
"Actually, I mean yours. It's from your old house. Jeremy wanted you to have it."
At that, her eyes filled with tears. "My dad made that swing," she choked, moving to stand against his chest so that he could wrap his arms around her and she could kiss him in their house. "God I love you."
"That's good," he smiled, murmuring against her temple. "Just remember that when we have our first fight while we're furniture shopping."
Elena closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. They really were going to make the best life together. "Thank you Damon," she whispered against his chest. "And not just for the house."
He released her with a quick kiss pressed onto her forehead. "Go check it out."
She nodded, stepping away as she quickly brushed the tears away from her eyes. They did this every so often - she'd thank him and he'd act as though everything he'd done was nothing. Really, it was everything. He'd given her everything.
X
"Damon, I love it," she told him, returning to the living room where he was waiting for her to finish her exploration of the house. "The kitchen, the floors, the bathrooms, the porch swing. Everything."
He was standing beside the fireplace, watching her with a tensed jaw. Her heart suddenly sped up. He only looked like that when he was nervous. Worried.
"Damon?"
His eyes met hers before resting on the mantlepiece. On a little black box. On a little black box that looked like...no. But her feet were travelling to it before Elena even realised she was moving. She looked up at him, tracing her fingers over the plush velvet case as she silently asked to open it. He nodded and swallowed thickly.
Sitting inside, nestled on a white cushion was the most perfect ring she'd ever seen. A large sapphire sat proudly between two square-cut diamonds, brilliantly clear and sparkling in the shard of late afternoon sun cutting through the window.
She looked back up at him and swallowed. "Is this…."
"If you want to. I understand if you don't, or you want to wait."
He was giving her an out. After everything, he never took for granted that she'd always want him. Every time, it made her vow to love him harder. Love him more - like that was even possible. "You bought this house and you hung up my porch swing," she whispered, setting the box in his hand. "And you saved me from….well you know what you did for me. What part of any of that would make me not want to marry you?" She trailed her now free fingers along his jawline, smoothing out the muscles so they relaxed. "Now ask me properly."
Looking down at the box in his hand, then back at her, Damon smiled and dropped to one knee. "Elena Gilbert, I want to love you forever. Hell, I'm going to love you forever, and that swing took me hours to hang, so will you make me the proudest man on earth and marry me?"
Holding out the ring, he traced the inside of the band with his thumb, revealing the inscription she hadn't noticed earlier. I'll always keep you safe. And that was it. She was nodding and crying and throwing her arms around him, hot, happy, salty tears falling against her lips as she kissed him and he kissed her right back.
"Here you go," Damon said, dropping a kiss to Elena's hair as he handed her a steaming mug of hot chocolate with the marshmallows she loved. She attempted to sit up a little in order to shift her feet off of the swing to make room, but he stilled her, lifting the blanket she was snuggled under before gently taking her feet in his hands. Sitting down in the small space between the armrest and her warm body, he repositioned her so that her legs were draped over him and he could remove the flip-flops she insisted on wearing...even though it was December and absolutely freezing.
"She asleep?" Elena asked, trying not to let Damon catch the wince she'd just made as the baby kicked particularly vigorously. Too late. He saw everything.
"I told you not to hang those lights," he scolded, setting down his own mug of hot chocolate so that the hand that wasn't rubbing her feet could rest on the stretched skin of her stomach. "And yes, she went down eventually."
"I told you I could have put her to bed."
"And I told you to rest. One of these days you'll listen to me," Damon muttered, stroking the pad of his thumb across her stomach.
"It's the first Christmas that Isabella will really understand the fuss," she pouted. "I wanted the lights up for the first of December."
"And I said I would have done it when I was finished with the other stuff."
"You don't let me do anything," she faux-grumbled. "Spoilsport."
"Yeah, I'm the worst."
"Never," she smiled, stretching towards him with her lips. He met her, resting his arm on the back of the swing so that he could hold his weight off of her.
"Pretty sure porch swings aren't made for that," Ric cut in, clearing his throat as Damon reluctantly pulled away, resting his hand back against her bare skin. It seemed to be the only way she got any peace from the kicking. Baby was showing very promising signs as a soccer player.
"What are you doing here?" Elena asked. "Shouldn't you be making sure you're around in case Jenna goes into labor?"
"I live five minutes away," he returned. "I'm hardly going to miss anything. Besides, she's the one who made me come."
"Why?"
"I bought the wrong kind of cookie dough and now she wishes she never met me."
Elena and Damon both failed in their attempts at stifling chuckles. Jenna's raging pregnancy hormones were a constant source of amusement - for them obviously, not Ric - and he was often made to leave their house while she calmed down.
"Where's Gibson?"
"In bed. Thank God the poor guy sleeps through anything. He probably spends half his waking hours wondering why his mom has turned into a psycho."
"Ric!" Elena admonished. "She can't help it!"
"You say that Elena, but I've never seen you wave a knife in front of Damon's face while simultaneously threatening to cut off his penis."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"You want a drink?" Damon asked, making to get up.
"No point," Ric replied, gesturing for him to stay. "She'll call me in a minute telling me to get my ass back home. So...your house looks...festive."
"Elena overdid it."
"I love Christmas," she shrugged. "And I wanted Isabella to get into the magic of it this year now that she's old enough to understand."
"Yeah," Ric replied. "Old enough to understand she's gonna get a shit-ton of presents that all require batteries you don't have."
"Already taken care of that one." Damon smirked smugly. "All wrapped up with batteries already inside."
"You've wrapped the presents already?! It's literally only just turned December."
"You just get into the flow once you put on Michael Buble and a Christmas sweater," Elena replied.
"And pour a very large glass of bourbon," Damon added.
"Yeah, she's gonna think Santa's got new elves helping him this year. Some of the wrapping looks a little...rushed."
"She'll be tearing that shit off faster than you can blink," Ric replied. "I think Gibson managed his in under an hour last year. Here we go…" he trailed off, pulling his phone out of his coat pocket. "As expected, a text telling me to get my ass home. Well guys, have fun not experiencing psycho tendencies first-hand."
Elena and Damon shared a look, but neither said anything. Ric still didn't know about Damon's run-in with Katherine those years ago, and they weren't about to tell him now.
"Good luck," Elena called as he made his way down the porch steps and along the sidewalk. As Ric held his hand up behind him in a wave, the monitor crackled to life with the sounds of whimpering. Damon sighed and made to get up but Elena's hand on his stopped him.
"I'll go."
"You need to learn to sit still," he returned with a quick smile, but she swung her legs a little clumsily so that her feet were now resting on the floor.
"I'm pregnant, not sick. I'll go."
Damon rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath but helped her up, his eyes resting on Elena's stomach. She grinned and ran a hand through his hair as she made her way back inside and upstairs towards their daughter's room.
"Momma?" questioned the little girl as she appeared in the doorway, rubbing tiredly at her blue eyes with a pudgy little hand.
"Right here baby," Elena replied softly, picking Isabella up from her bed. She stroked her little brown curls until she was lolling her head against Elena's shoulder. "Why the tears?"
"I thinked he might be here?"
"Who?"
"The man with the red suit and the hair on his face."
"Santa?" Elena asked, rocking the little girl until her eyes were closing for a little while longer each blink.
"Uh huh."
"Santa doesn't come for a few weeks yet. He's busy in his workshop."
"I don't want him to come."
"Why not?"
"He might take me away in his carriage."
"Listen Bella, nobody is going to take you," Elena replied. "Not while daddy and I are here. We wouldn't let anything bad happen to you, do you understand?"
Isabella nodded. "Can I see him?"
"Santa?"
"Daddy."
They'd decided, when they became parents those three years ago, that Isabella would have her own room and that she wouldn't stay with them. In every parenting book Damon had read (and God, he'd read a lot) it emphasised the importance of a routine from the get-go. But looking at their daughter, sleepy and blue-eyed and totally Damon aside from her hair and skin colour, she couldn't refuse. Not when the porch was decked in the pretty lights and the snow was falling lightly outside.
"Isabella Salvatore, you should be in bed," Damon admonished lightly as Elena appeared back outside, cradling their daughter - who was bundled up in a padded pink coat, hat, scarf and mittens - on her hip.
"She's a little upset about Santa," Elena replied, sucking in a breath as the baby kicked against her ribs. Damon noticed - of course - and held out his arms to take the little girl from her. She settled herself against him before Elena joined the two of them beneath the blanket, tucking it around them so that they were snug together on the little porch swing she loved so much. "And a little confused. She thought he might come to take her."
"You know Bella, your momma always makes sure nothing bad happens to me, right?"
The little girl nodded, bouncing her brunette curls.
"And I always make sure nothing bad happens to momma,"
"Uh huh."
"And we both make sure nothing bad ever happens to you. So you never have to be afraid." Damon continued. "And Santa is special because he comes to houses where little girls have been good, and he brings them presents, remember."
"Like the book you read me?"
"Exactly."
"But what about the baby? Won't Santa bring him any presents?"
"Of course he will, if he's born before Christmas. But if he's born after Christmas, Santa will wait until next year."
"He'd better be born before Christmas," Elena muttered. Damon smiled gently and leaned to press a kiss against her head.
"Go to bed. I'll bring her up when she's asleep."
Elena shook her head. "No way. I want to enjoy this too."
X
They both put Isabella back to bed, Damon carrying her up the stairs while Elena followed behind, struggling to make the final few without stopping for a rest. Despite his instructions that she should lay down, she accompanied him to the pink-walled bedroom which housed all the fairy wings and sparkly ballet pumps she'd never envisaged buying until that glorious summer's night they'd discovered she was pregnant. Leaning tiredly against the doorframe, she watched as Damon brushed a few stray curls from the little girl's face before pulling up the white cotton sheets adorned with pink butterflies.
"Come on," he whispered to her, turning out the lamp. "Our turn."
As he did every night, Damon removed Elena's clothing, starting with her long cardigan. Each layer revealed more of her protruding stomach and as he guided her to sit on the bed, she closed her eyes against his hands, soft and warm and loving against her skin. When he'd removed everything, he folded the clothes, setting them on the chair by the chest of drawers opposite their bed before pulling a t-shirt from one of them for her to wear. Since they'd moved to Mystic Falls, she'd slept in nothing but his t-shirts - when he didn't have her naked of course. Forcing her eyes open, Elena dragged the material over her head while Damon undressed and pulled on a pair of pajama pants.
That bed was heaven. It had seen everything, and Elena was pretty sure some of the things they'd done in there would lead her straight to hell, but it didn't matter. Tonight though, it welcomed her comfortingly as she sunk into the mattress and Damon began raining kisses across her skin. She didn't have to say when she was too tired to be with him in that way: he just knew. And he would always do this - shower her with so much love she wasn't sure she could breathe.
His lips trailed delicately from her collarbone, his stubble lightly scratching against her skin, up towards her ear before travelling downwards to her stomach. Pushing the cotton material of the t-shirt upwards, he smoothed his hands over the taut skin. His lips then jumped to her arms; to everywhere she'd ever been scarred. They'd long since healed yet he seemed to have memorised every tiny inch of her skin that had ever been marked, burning and soothing and loving with his lips until everything about him consumed her. He reached with his left hand to entwine his fingers with hers as he made his way to his final destination: his favourite scar. Only for him, did Elena ever now wear a bikini, but that long, clean line stretching across her lower abdomen captivated him so fully every time that she couldn't help but love it. It was where their daughter entered the world from after all.
She knew she was drifting off, her senses a haze of everything Damon, but before sleep claimed her, she reached for him, her hands grazing his chin, signalling. He pressed a soft, warm kiss against her lips before stretching out for her to lie in the only position she was comfortable for the whole night: half on top of him. His hands smoothed her long hair to the side, exposing her neck so that he could lay his lips there and breathe her in. The movement they made against her skin made Elena smile into her pillow before she whispered his words right back.
"I love you too."
A/N 2: Now that this story is complete, I have posted the first chapter of my new Delena fic, 'Unscripted'. Also, in part three of my postings today, I've finally updated 'The Embargo'. Go check them out x
