The next day Elena continued to put her things away in what was now not just Damon's bedroom but hers too. Damon was making space in the top of the closet, handing Elena some of his things he planned on moving to the basement for storage. The containers were neatly organized, not in an OCD sort of way, but in the typical neat Damon fashion. Elena was having fun looking at everything as he handed it to her, fascinated to see some of the things he'd kept over the years. Since they'd first met, she'd gotten to know him on a deeper level, beyond his false bravado, especially during the time they spent together trying to get Stefan back from Klaus. It was then she'd seen his humanity, it was then she learned to trust him without question, and it was then she had fallen in love with him. Despite how well she felt she knew him, there was still a whole other part of his life she knew very little about. Damon was never one to just volunteer personal information, only talking about his past when it was relevant to a situation or if she asked him directly. She was curious about the life he'd lived, and the things he'd done, over the century and a half since he turned before ultimately returning to Mystic Falls. Some of the boxes contained pictures from the places he'd traveled all over the world while others contained random mementos from both stages of his life, human and vampire.

Elena giggled and teased him when she came across a photo of him from the 1980's in a pair of tight black leather pants that left nothing to the imagination. No one could say Damon Salvatore was shy. He wore a black mesh shirt with of course a leather jacket, but this was not his signature type leather jacket. The jacket in this photo was a poplar design of the times adorned with chrome buttons, randomly placed zippers and chains. His hair was longer and fluffed out like a rock star, and he had on eyeliner that magnified the intensity of his already hypnotizing blue eyes. "Wow! Love the super tight pants. I'll bet you reeled in a lot of girls with those."

Damon walked over to her, grabbing the picture from her hand to look at it. He gave her one of his sexiest smirks, raising his eyebrows up and down. "Who said I needed the pants for that?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Of course, what was I thinking?"

He took the box out of her hands, putting the picture back inside, and placed it on the bed with the others. "You know this is going to take us a lot longer, if you keep looking through every box."

She smiled as he went back to pull down the last box. "I can't help it. You're so mysterious. I find myself wanting to know more," she said, batting her eyes dramatically.

He handed her the box and said, "Then just ask."

Damon rolled his eyes when Elena immediately opened the box, not surprised that she couldn't resist seeing what was inside. Her hand pushed the items in the box around, searching through its contents. Damon shook his head and returned to the closet to dust off the shelf before they put her things inside. As she rummaged through the box, she saw the end of a silver chain spilling out from a black silk pouch. She pulled it out, placing the box on the bed to free up her other hand, and untied the pouch. Curious, she peeked inside the pouch before pouring its contents out in her hand. A very old silver pocket watch spilled out. It was scratched and tarnished, with a large dent in the center, but she could still see the intricate design on its exterior. "Wow, this is pretty heavy, must be real silver. Was it yours?"

Damon stepped out of the closet, moving closer to her, to see what she was referring to. His face fell into a deathly serious expression at the sight of it. Carefully, he took the watch out of her hand, holding it like it was a fragile egg. Solemnly, he said, "Yeah, it was the watch I was wearing the day our father killed us."

Elena's eyes widened in surprise, as she looked from the watch to his face, seeing the strong emotions the sight of it stirred in him. Not knowing what to say, she swallowed the lump in her throat. She said, "It's beautiful. I can see why you kept it all these years."

He pushed on the button at the top to open it, staring pensively at what was inside. "That's not why I kept it," he said flatly, his eyes never leaving the watch.

Gently, she asked, "Then why did you keep it? It seems like such a painful reminder of that night."

"I kept it because it holds the last moment of my humanity." Elena swore she could feel her heartbreak at his emotionally naked answer. Still staring at the watch, he continued to explain. "When the bullet hit me, it split apart. A fragment hit the watch, stopping it at the time of my death."

Elena moved closer, looking over his shoulder, to see the time it had stopped. The crystal had a large crack down the center. She could see the hands had stopped at 12:15 am. Damon clenched his jaw and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. His eyes bore seemingly through the watch. He hadn't looked at it in over 100 years. Now here it was suddenly staring him in the face again...12:15 am. First the dream, now the watch. Why?

Elena wished she hadn't found the watch. She felt guilty for making him relive such a painful memory. If only there was something she could do or say to ease his hurt. In the end, all she could think to say was, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

Snapping out of his thoughts, he cut her off before she could finish her apology. "Don't be. It's not your fault." He closed the watch and tossed it back in the box before putting the lid on it. Then he stacked several boxes on top and collected them to take downstairs.

Elena just stood there watching him, concerned about the sudden shift in his demeanor. He went from sorrowful to cold and controlled in a matter of minutes. She hated it when he flipped the switch and shut himself off. I'm going to have to work on breaking him of that.

As he was heading out of the room, he turned back to say, "I'm going to take these downstairs. It's cleared out now so you can start putting your stuff up there." She just nodded, not sure of what else to say.

Damon was just coming up from the basement, about to head back upstairs towards the bedroom, when he heard someone at the front door. Before he even heard the knock, he flung the door open to reveal Caroline. She was standing there with her hand raised, about to rap her knuckles on the door.

Startled, she said, "Oh my God Damon. You scared me."

He gave her an irritated look, as he leaned against the door jam, folding his arms across his chest. "Why? I live here."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, I know. I heard you, but I didn't think you were that close to the door. Is Elena home?"

"What do you want Barbie? Haven't you done enough meddling this week?"

"How was I supposed to know you hadn't told Stefan yet?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it should have occurred to you when Elena told you to keep it quiet."

She gave him a frustrated huff. "Well I didn't think you'd keep it from your own brother, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised." He squinted his eyes, giving her a sarcastic look. Caroline growled when she tried to enter but was stopped by the barrier spell. "Ugh! I see you had the barrier spell put back up."

"Yep," he said, popping the "p" with his lips at the end. He continued to stand there against the door, looking at her smugly.

She crossed her arms, tapping her foot in annoyance. "Well are you going to get her so I can come in, or what?"

"Sorry, she's resting. No visitors. Bye-bye," he said, shutting the door in her face against her protests.

Elena came downstairs just in time to catch a glimpse of Caroline, as she attempted to stop the door from shutting on her. "Caroline?"

Caroline yelled, "Elena! Elena!" Elena rushed over to the door in time to pull it back open.

She gave Damon a dirty look. "What are you doing? Let her in," she said, grabbing Caroline's hand and yanking her inside. "Caroline, come in."

Caroline stuck her tongue out at Damon in satisfaction. As she walked in, she was received with an equally mocking action in return. Damon moved past them into the great room and poured himself a drink. He plopped himself down on the couch, resting one arm along the back while the other steadied his glass on the arm rest. Caroline followed Elena further into the foyer as Elena took her coat to hang.

"So Care what's up?"

"Well, as you know, today is my last day in town. So, I thought I'd come by and take you shopping to cheer you up."

"Cheer me up? I wasn't aware I was down."

Caroline smiled sadly and batted her eyes at Elena in sympathy. She looped her arm in Elena's and lead her into the great room so they could sit. "Come on Elena, you don't have to pretend to be brave about what happened."

Elena looked over at Damon, who raised his eyebrow at her, silently answering her unspoken question. She snapped to attention, attempting to cover her mistake. "Oh, um, I try not to think about that part."

"Well that's got to be a little hard when you're carrying around a constant reminder of that night."

Elena followed Caroline's eyes as they wandered down to her stomach. Before she could answer, Damon stepped in. "Way to make her 'feel better' Blondie. How about you just leave the cheering up to me?"

Caroline shook her head, grunting 'uh' at him, as she turned back to Elena. She grabbed both of Elena's hands, holding them in hers. She looked straight into her eyes and pleaded. "Elena, you're my best friend. I just want to help you through this difficult time any way I can. And right now I think you need to focus on the positive things like preparing for the baby. What better way to do that than shopping for cute baby clothes."

She knew, once Caroline got an idea in her head, there was no stopping her. Frankly it did sound kind of fun. "Ok, Care. You convinced me. It sounds like fun. I just need to hit the bathroom first. I swear I have to pee like every half hour."

Damon exhaled loudly, put his glass down on the coffee table, then stood up to leave. He said, "While you're doing that I'll grab a snack before we leave."

Elena said, "Damon, you're not going. This is girl time."

"Um, have you forgotten about your little hybrid tails? You're not going alone."

"I won't be alone. Caroline will be with me if I need anything. So, you don't have to worry. I'll still have a vampire bodyguard." They stared at each as if communicating with their eyes. Elena placed her hand on his chest, giving him one of her pleading looks that he could rarely resist.

Finally, Damon sighed, unhappily giving in. Averting his eyes from hers, he said, "Fine, go."

She looked up at him, smiling sweetly. She gave him a soft kiss to sooth his mood. "I'll be careful. I promise."

"Elena, he said fine. Now hurry up and pee already so we can go. I have to head back to my dorm around 5:00 pm for an early class tomorrow. And I want to make sure we have time to stop for lunch."

"Is Bonnie meeting us?"

"No, she had to go to some family function with her dad. It'll just be us."

"Ok, just give me a minute. I'll be right back."

They both watched her leave the room. When Caroline knew she was out of earshot, she asked, "So what's the deal with these hybrids following her?"

"Klaus is off on some werewolf scouting adventure and left his hybrids to stalk Elena in his absence."

"But Elena said Klaus doesn't know she's pregnant yet. So why would he have them follow her?"

Damon furrowed his eyebrows at her as if she were a moron. "Hello, because it's Klaus! Does he need a reason? He probably doesn't want his blood bag to go M.I.A. while he's gone."

She seemed to ponder this for a moment. "I know he's evil and all, but do you really think he'd harm the baby? I mean it seems like he'd be all for it."

"We have no idea what Klaus will or won't do. But either way, I'm not leaving Elena out there unprotected."

Caroline squinted her eyes studying him. She asked, "Are you sure you're ready for this fatherhood thing? Because Elena and her baby need someone stable, someone who will respect and cherish them, not some impulsive vampire who lashes out whenever he's upset."

Damon stepped closer to her in a challenging stance. His eyes were squinted, clearly showing how peeved he was at her insinuation. "Right, you mean someone like Stefan."

Caroline crossed her arms defensively. She stood up taller, indicating she wasn't going to back down from her statement. "Maybe."

"Yeah, because Stefan is so stable that he abandons her every time his guilt gets too hard for him to handle. Need I remind you that he let her drown all because he couldn't handle her being mad at him?"

Caroline stammered. "Well he...he was respecting her choice. It was romantic."

Mockingly, he replied, "It wasn't romantic. It was asinine. He got lucky she had vampire blood in her and didn't turn. And in case you haven't noticed, Elena doesn't always make stellar choices."

Caroline gave him a taunting smirk. "Clearly, she chose you."

Damon's voice rose, along with his anger. He was so sick of everyone thinking she'd chosen wrong by being with him. "That's right. She chose me because she needs someone who will keep her and the baby safe. Someone who challenges her when she's acting like an idiot, not someone who lets her do whatever she wants because he's too afraid of being the bad guy." For a fleeting moment, the look on her face made Damon think his words actually got through to her. Elena returned before Caroline could respond.

Elena looked between the two of them, aware of the thick tension in the room. She asked, "Guys, what's going on?"

Caroline shifted gears returning to her usual bubbly self. "Nothing. We were just talking about keeping the baby safe. Are you ready to go?"

"Um, yeah let's go." She turned to Damon, who was still shooting daggers with his eyes at Caroline, and waved goodbye. "I'll see you later."

As she was walking out of the room, he called out, "Be..."

From the hallway, she finished his line. "Careful. I know. I will."

They got in the car and Elena asked, "So what were you and Damon really fighting about?"

Caroline waved her hand in the air. "Oh, you know the usual. Him being a controlling ass."

Elena whined, "Caroline!"

"Ok, ok I know, but I couldn't help myself. He just set me off because he was mad that I told Stefan."

"Actually Caroline, I'm not very happy about that either. I told you not to tell anyone, and the first thing you did was call Stefan."

Caroline let out a surprised 'uh' sound. "I didn't call Stefan immediately. I...," She looked at Elena, sheepishly. "Waited a few hours."

Elena looked down at her hands, shaking her head with regret. She said, "He shouldn't have had to find out that way. He's only been gone a few months. None of us have even had a chance to readjust and heal. We were waiting to tell him once a little more time passed. We knew it would hurt him. Despite what you think of Damon, he does love Stefan."

Caroline shrank in her seat, feeling as big as an ant that she had upset her best friend. "Elena, I'm so sorry. I really just thought he knew, and I wanted to see how he was doing."

"I know Caroline, but that doesn't mean I'm not mad about it."

Caroline firmed her lips, giving her a tight nod of understanding before changing the subject. "Anyway, where should we head first?"

"You're the driver."

After they left Damon walked over to the bar and poured himself another drink. He put his hand in his pocket pulling out the pocket watch from earlier, looking at it in his hand recalling the night it stopped. He walked over to the couch, sat down and placed his drink on the coffee table. He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees opening the watch to study the time again. That time 12:15am just kept getting put in his path. In deep thought about what it all meant he found himself mindlessly clicking the button of the watch to open and close it over and over. After a few moments of staring off into space he was pulled out of his daze by the sound coming down the hall from the grandfather clock.

The pinging tune coming from it wasn't the sound it made when it rang on the hour but rather the specific melody of quarter past the hour. Damon stopped mid-click of opening the watch for the umpteenth time and turned his head to listen intently to the melody. A sudden flash of memory ran across his mind of the night he killed his nephew Zach after he had assisted Stefan in locking him in the cellar back when he first arrived in town. He remembered grabbing him from behind snapping his neck with the sound of that tune in the background. He went to the hallway to see the time on the clock…12:15pm. It may be afternoon this time he heard that sound but it was definitely am the night he snapped Zach's neck. It finally hit him, it was so obvious now. Mother, me, Zach, 12:15am…all point to one thing.

Caroline and Elena stopped to shop at one of the local boutiques near the edge of town called "That's My Baby" that carried everything infant related from the basic necessities like bottles and diapers to larger items like cribs and strollers. Caroline's eyes widened with excitement at all the baby stuff as soon as they walked thru the door. She squealed, "Ooooh look at all this stuff! It's so adorable. We are going to have so much fun."

Elena looked around feeling a little overwhelmed. She was only 19 years old with no mother to guide her, to tell her what she needed and what she didn't, to show her how to take care of the baby and just give her basic support. Sure she'd babysat plenty of times but it was different knowing that she would be responsible for a living, breathing infant. She had Damon of course but it wasn't like he had had experience with babies. They were both charting new territory together which could be a beautiful adventure but also a terrifying ride especially with the additional obstacles they were facing because of the baby's significance to the Original problem. She felt light headed as a queasy feeling came over her.

Caroline noticed how pale her face suddenly got. "Elena, are you ok?"

Elena took a deep breath letting it out slowly trying to regain control. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just got a little overwhelmed by all of this. I know this is really happening but seeing all this stuff makes me realize how unprepared I really am. I guess I just wish my mom was here to tell me what to do."

Caroline could only imagine how difficult this was for Elena reminding her how much she really did need her mom. She gave her a sympathetic look putting her arm around Elena for support. "I know how much you miss her. I'm so sorry she's not here but we'll all be here to help you figure it out and you can borrow my mom anytime you want."

A much needed laugh escaped Elena's lips, "Thanks Care. You always know how to cheer me up."

"That's what friends are for. Now let's go look at some cute pink dresses." Caroline lead them over to the girl clothes immediately setting her eyes on a fluffy pink dress with lacey frills along the seam and sleeves. She picked it up laying it against her chest so the front faced Elena. She squealed again, "OMG Elena! Look how sweet this is. Couldn't you just picture her with a little pink headband and black paten leather shoes?"

Yeah if he was a girl maybe. This is going to be harder than I thought. "Yeah, I'm sure she'll look…adorable," she said unconvincingly.

Of course Caroline didn't notice, she was too excited about tiny dress. "Ok, I'm buying this for you, no argument. I wonder what size I should get her?" Her eyes caught sight of another pink dress she squealed over. "Oh, what about this one? And this one over here?"

Elena just stood there watching, shaking her head in amusement as Caroline went crazy over all the tiny girl clothes. This went on for a couple of hours until Elena was exhausted and actually hungry. She managed to drag Caroline away from the store only when she told her how hungry she was getting.

They thought since they were at the edge of town they'd eat somewhere other than the Grille. The little Italian bistro they chose was within walking distance of the shop and would offer a nice change of pace, giving them a different selection of entrées to choose from. Besides the Grille was everyone's favorite hangout including Rebekah's and right now Elena just didn't feel like dealing with her again after the other day's run in. Having these hybrids following her constantly was enough to make her self-conscious and nervous about her actions and what she might accidentally say. As expected today's hybrid tail picked up following her and Caroline the second they exited the long, hidden driveway from the boarding house to the public street. For a change and to her relief, this hybrid didn't follow her throughout the store as she had expected when she spotted him trailing their car. She guessed the hybrid probably thought a baby store was too boring of a place for her to get into trouble so he decided to stay in the car. However, once they left he was back on their trail and now sitting 2 tables away as if he thought he was being inconspicuous.

The waitress had taken their order and dropped off their drinks when Elena, frustrated with being followed, said, "UH! I'm so sick of these hybrids. What does he think is going to happen anyway? I'm not just going to pick up and leave my friends and family…," she snapped her fingers, "like that."

Caroline could tell her friend was tired and irritable but hoped once she had something to eat she'd feel better. In the mean time she decided to take control of the situation hoping to get Elena to relax a little. She turned around looking towards the hybrid's table, waving to get his attention and said as loud as she could, "Hello, you're not fooling anyone. We know you're following us and it's upsetting my friend, you know the person most valuable to Klaus. You may be sired to him so you have to do what he says but that doesn't mean you have to be up her ass the whole time. The least you could do is move yourself over there," she said pointing across the room.

Caroline's bluntness shocked the hybrid who decided it was better to move across the room than deal with the wrath of the angry blonde vampire that Klaus just so happened to be infatuated with. She watched him get up and said in a fake sweet tone, "Thanks!" Turning to Elena whose mouth was hanging open in shock, she said, "See all better."

Elena laughed, "Oh my God Caroline I can't believe you did that."

"Yeah, well he was being rude."

Elena chided, "And Damon was worried I'd be unprotected without him. Not with Caroline Forbes around."

Caroline smiled at first then her expression turned serious. "Speaking of Damon, don't you think he's being kind of controlling?"

Elena sighed, here we go again. "He's not controlling, he's just worried about my safety like he always has been. The only difference is now there's more to worry about especially after what happened." Yeah, use the assault story. That should get her to stop.

But it didn't. Instead she asked, "Do you really think it's a good idea he helps you raise the baby? He's not exactly the most loving example for a child. I mean he'll probably end up teaching her how to be devious and throw a fit when she doesn't get her way."

Elena stared blankly at Caroline floored by her relentlessness in talking bad about Damon. He had every right to raise their baby. Even if Caroline didn't know the truth he was the man she loved. Why couldn't she understand that? Elena's hormones were in a constant state of fluctuation and she'd had enough of Caroline's mouth. She slammed her napkin down and lost it, "Just take me home."

Caroline looked confused, "Why? We're not done eating yet."

"I'm done. You think you know Damon so well but you don't know him at all. Yes, he treated you poorly when he first came to town but he had his humanity switch turned off. He's changed so much since then but you just don't want to see it. No one notices when he does something good because he doesn't go around pointing it out to get praise. He has saved all of you countless times and not once has anyone acknowledged it."

Caroline reached over touching Elena's hand attempting to calm her. "Whoa Elena, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"In case you haven't realized I'm capable of making my own decisions based on my own judgment."

Caroline raised her hands up in defense not wanting to upset her further. "Really Elena I'm sorry. I'll be quiet about it. Can we please just finish our lunch and then I'll take you home?"

Elena's chest was still heaving with anger but she managed to calm herself. "Fine, let's talk about something else."

Damon was upstairs when he heard the front door open indicating Elena was finally home. He could feel a sense of relief wash over him as he came down the stairs to see she was ok, watching her set her shopping bags down on the couch in the great room. Looking at the display of bags he teased, "Wow what did you and Barbie do clean the place out?"

Elena smiled slightly, exhausted from the long afternoon. "I swear it seems like it. You know how insistent Caroline can be. She just kept picking stuff out like this," she said as she reached into a bag and pulled out the pink dress with the lace frill.

Damon laughed shaking his head, "Adorable but pink is not his color. Sorry, gotta draw the line somewhere."

"Oh wait until you see the others."

Picking up one of the bags to take a peek at its contents he asked, "What are you going to do with all this pink stuff? Just for the record I'm not wearing it either."

She smacked him playfully on the arm. "What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to take it back tomorrow after Caroline leaves. I am going to keep the onesie's though because they're neutral."

He scrunched his face in a confused look. "What exactly is a onesie?"

Elena pulled out a cotton one piece item with short sleeves and snaps at the groin area and handed it to him before plopping herself down on the couch in exhaustion. "This is a onesie. It's a lot easier to change their diaper in these." Damon flipped it around looking at it front and back before tossing it on top of the bags.

Elena was lying on the couch with her legs up by the time Damon walked over to the couch to sit next to her, picking her legs up and placing them on his lap. Her head was resting on the arm of the couch and he started rubbing her legs just above the knee in a soothing manner. "You look pretty tired."

She sighed, "I am. It seems like we walked for hours. Besides you know how exhausting talking to Caroline can be." He just nodded as he continued to massage her legs. She asked, "So what did you do while I was gone?"

"Oh I spent time working on a puzzle."

She wasn't sure if he meant like a riddle or an actual puzzle you put together. She asked, "Puzzle, what puzzle?"

"Why 12:15am keeps suddenly popping up."

She shook her head having no clue what he was referring to. "I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

He explained, "The night we found out you were pregnant I had this dream about when my mother died." She raised her head off of the couch surprised that he mentioned his mother. His mother wasn't something he talked about so this got her attention causing her to listen more intently as he spoke. "I hadn't thought about it in over a century but in the dream I vividly remember the time on the clock. The clock in her room and the pocket watch stopped at the same time. It was nagging at me until I heard the hall clock chime. I remember it chiming in the background the night I killed Zach. It was the same time as the others."

Realization dawning on her, she asked, "Wait so your mother, you and Zach all died at the exact same time?"

He nodded, "Mmm hmm."

"What do you think that means?"

He answered simply, "That's when the Salvatore line ended."