Again, Awesome reviews!

You guys are so inspirational!

It seems like some of you have mixed feelings on different points of this story, and I love that! But I think we can all find common ground on one thing.
HATING GRAYSON! Lol.

Working on that scene now ;)

But on with it!

Chris fought the urge to close his eyes.

He'd only been in this god awful history class for thirty minutes, and already, he felt like his head was going to explode.
Though that might have something more to do with the alcohol he'd consumed than the class itself.

He wiped his hand down his face.
It had been a really long night.

After the first few drinks, they'd just started talking.
They didn't even really hit the deep stuff, which Chris was kind of grateful for, but he was sure that they'd come to some sort of unspoken understanding.
He may not be Damon's biggest fan, but maybe the whole "giving him a chance" thing wouldn't be so bad after all.
Though it was one of those things that only time could tell.
He'd just have to wait it out.

Unfortunately for him, word of his father's arrival in Mystic Falls seemed to spread over the weekend.
Everywhere he turned, it seemed like someone was talking about Damon being back.

Mostly girls.

Which was actually even more annoying.

And he'd even had a few ask him if he was related to Damon.

He'd opted for the no comment, and pushed through the hall, until he reached his locker.
He was changing out his books when a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Hey, Chris, do you-"
"Look, if it's about Damon, just bug off! I have no-" he stopped when he realized it was just April.
"Oh, hey, sorry," he apologized.

She raised a brow, "You seem tense."
He shot her a look, "So you haven't heard the news then?"

Confusion clouded her face, "What news?"

"Damon Salvatore's back in town," Chris mocked, "Like, OMG isn't he just the cutest?"

April laughed, hitting his arm, "Okay, that's not funny. I seriously thought something was wrong."

He chuckled, "No more than the usual."
She eyed him, "Anyone giving you a hard time?"
"Nah," he shrugged, "They just speculate…anyway, were you asking me something?"
"Oh, yeah…I was just going to see what happened last night. You never called so…"

"Ah," he'd actually completely forgot, "What do you say we ditch, and I'll tell you all about it?"

She smirked, a mischievous gleam in her eyes, "I know a place."
He chuckled, "This is why I love you."

She took his hand, pulling him down the hall, "No, you'd love me anyway."
"That's probably true," he reasoned, and let her lead him along, not complaining one bit.

Elena felt Damon's hand on the small of her back as he led her to their table, and tried to fight off the blush that was coloring her cheeks.
Such an innocent touch really shouldn't affect her.
But it was Damon.
Everything about him affected her.
Soon, they were seated, and had their food ordered.
"So," she began, "Last night?"

She'd tried to bring it up in the car on the way over, but he'd insisted that they wait.
Damon leaned back into his seat, eyeing her, "I really don't know what's happening between me and Chris. Like I said, we talked last night…not about anything important, but just the fact that he was willing to sit in the room and have a conversation with me…that's got to say something right?"

Elena smiled a little, "Chris isn't unreasonable, Damon. You just have to find a way to get through to him…though I have to say, alcohol might not be the best choice."
Damon smirked, "Yeah, that was just a buffer," he sighed, "I have no idea what I'm doing with any of this."
Elena nodded, "I've had fifteen years to adjust, and I still have no idea what I'm doing half the time."

Damon gave her a look, placing his elbows on the table, "Now I'm sure that's not true."
"It is though," she insisted, "I mean, I love Chris, don't get me wrong. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him…but half the time it's just taking it one day at a time. And the older he's gotten the more complicated that's become. All the hormones and acting out…sometimes I don't feel like I have a handle on this parenting thing…it's scary, it really is. But I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Damon eyed her, his gaze intense, "Chris is lucky to have had you."
She could feel the blush coloring her cheek, "I'd like to think so…he's the best thing that's ever happened to me, Damon."
Damon sighed, "I know…but I feel as though I should still be apologizing to you…"
Elena shook her head, "No. We both made mistakes. There's a world of things that I'm sure we both wish we could change…but I don't want to have to go through that weird, finding ways to make it up to each other phase. This is how things are, and we just have to work with that."
Damon nodded, "So…how exactly do we work with this?"

Elena let her head rest on her hands, "Well, did you mean what you said? About wanting to stay in Mystic Falls? Be in Christian's life?"
"You know I did," he insisted.
"Then we'll start there," she said simply, "Chris needs you, Damon, whether he knows it or not. So we'll just have to try this out, and see what happens."
Damon nodded, but held her gaze, "And what about us?"
Elena blinked, "What about us?"

He shot her a look, as if it were obvious.

"Look, Elena, I know I screwed up in the past. But leaving here…that doesn't mean I got over you. I didn't want to leave you. I just truly felt like I needed to, like you would be better off if I just left you alone…but do you think it's a coincidence that neither of us have settled down after all this time?"
Elena saw where he was going with this, but she couldn't allow herself to go there.
Not with him, not yet.
"Damon-"
"No," he cut off her interruption, "Just hear me out, please."
She sighed, nodding, and he continued, "Neither of us wanted things to end up the way they did between us, and yes, I was an idiot, and made stupid decisions, but now, especially knowing everything about our son, I think we owe it to ourselves to give it a chance…for Chris's sake, if nothing else."

Elena looked down at the table.
He had a fair point, but she couldn't…she wasn't ready for that.
Damon had been her entire world, all those years ago, and at one time, she would have taken him back in a heartbeat, especially if that meant giving Chris a family…but she'd grown up some over the years, and she knew that even though Damon's intentions were in the right place, they weren't ready for this yet.

"I understand what you're saying, I really do," she told him, "But I think it would be better if we worked on being friends first. Christian isn't a young child anymore…and yes, I think he needs you in his life, but that doesn't mean he needs us, together," she took a breath, "We need to be focusing on him right now, not us. And trying to jump into a relationship with each other, just because of Chris, might do more harm than good."

Damon's brows furrowed, "You say that like Christian is the only reason I'd want to be with you…"
Elena gave him a look, "Isn't he?"

"Hardly. I mean, he is definitely a factor, but he's not the only reason. We were pretty damn good together once, Elena."
She huffed, "Yeah, nearly half a lifetime ago."

He sighed, "So you're going to tell me that there's nothing left, at all, between us? That being around me does nothing for you? Because I can't play complacent, Elena. If I'm going to be in Chris's life, then I'm going to be in yours too, and there is too much between us for there not to be some kind of feelings."

Elena shook her head, "But that's exactly my point, Damon. There is too much between us. We don't need to complicate this any more than we already have. Trying to work out our feelings for each other is just going to make it messy. And Chris doesn't need that."

Damon couldn't argue with her point.
But that didn't mean he had to like it, or completely agree with it.
His mind had become clearer last night than it had been in a very long time.

He wanted to be in Chris's life, yeah, but he also wanted to be in hers.
And not as a damn friend.

He wanted a family with them.

Something inside of him told him that she wanted the same thing, but she wasn't ready to go there yet.
Not that he could entirely blame her.
He'd really been an ass the last time they were together, and had shattered all the trust she had in him.
He couldn't expect her to just jump back on the wagon because he flew back in her life.

No, she would need more than that.

But he'd do whatever it took. Because in the short time he'd been back in her company, he felt whole again.
Which is something that he'd been missing for a while.
So if friendship was where he had to start, he would do that, for her…and for Chris.

"You're right," he finally said, nodding, "We need to focus on Christian right now. Let him get use to me being around."

She seemed to relax a little at his words, "I think he'll warm up to the idea the more time the two of you spend together."
Damon nodded, "I'm hoping the same, but I don't want to push him."
Elena sighed, "To be honest, he might need a little pushiness. He's a lot like you with his stubbornness. Let him call all of the shots, and he'll think he can have his way with anything. You can't just be there and hope that he'll try to include you in his daily routines."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Damon insisted, "Follow him around everywhere? Talk him into staying at Mom's with me so we can try the whole bonding thing? Because I seriously have no clue how this works. I'm willing to try anything, but I don't know how to force myself into his life without intruding."
Elena's brows furrowed, "I see what you mean."

The waitress brought their food then, and Damon fought a groan when the girl's eyes widened.

"Hey, you're Damon Salvatore, aren't you?"

One fucking break, please.
"In the flesh," he shot, and the girl practically squealed.

"Oh my god! Can I have your autograph?!"

Damon's eyes shot to Elena, who almost seemed a little startled.
"Uh, I'll get it to you after desert, okay darlin'?"

Excitedly the girl nodded, "Thank you!"

He politely gestured for her to carry on, and when she finally left, he focused back on Elena.

"I'd almost forgotten," she stated.

He raised a brow, "Forgotten?"
"That you were famous," she explained, "I guess with everything going on, it wasn't registering. Is it like that everywhere?"

He sighed, "Not really, well, sometimes…there's ups and downs to it."

She nodded, but didn't comment, so he shot them back to their previous topic.
"So, about Chris…any ideas?"

Elena seemed to hesitate, clearly thinking.

After a moment of silence, he wanted to interrupt, but before he said anything, she brought her gaze back to his.
"There is something we could try…something that would let you spend more time with him, on a daily basis. But it might be a little…uncomfortable, at first."
His brow raised, "I guess anything's at least considerable."
She nodded, "Okay, well, I was thinking that you could maybe start staying with us…at the house."
Damon eyed her, "You mean sleeping over? Or living there?"

Elena shrugged, "Either, I guess. There's only two bedrooms, but the couch folds out into a bed, and it would let you be around Chris all the time."

He considered this.
Spending time with Christian every night, living in the same house…seeing Elena every day.

"I think it might be worth trying," he told her, keeping his voice level.

She nodded, "Yeah…okay. But I need to at least run it by Chris. If he's completely against it, then I doubt it will help much."
"Good point," Damon agreed, "So ask him tonight?"

Elena nodded, "Yeah…and I should probably do it alone. I think he might be more honest if it's just the two of us."

Damon wasn't thrilled about that.

He wanted to be there to pitch his case, but he was also sure that Elena knew Chris better than he was ever going to, so it would probably be smart to let her call the shots.
"Yeah, that'll work…I'll probably be at Mom's by then, so uh, call me?"

She nodded, "Of course."

Christian wasn't sure what to think when he got home to find Damon's Camaro gone.

It wasn't like he had expected the man to stick around all day, but maybe a small part of him was hoping that he'd still be there.

Chris shook his head.

One night with the man didn't exactly mean that he was going to jump head first into the father thing.
It was stupid of him to expect too much.

He waited until Tyler drove away before heading toward the porch.

His conversation with April was still playing in his head.

They'd skipped third period, which was really just study hall that no one went to anyway, and followed a trail up behind the high school, that lead up to the west wing, which was now only use to host dances.

They'd sat under the awning, against the building, and snacked on the gummy worms she'd had stowed in her purse.
He'd told her everything about his talk with Damon the night before, and how he was thinking about giving the guy a chance, see if this whole father thing was going to work out.

April, of course, had been her usual encouraging self, telling him that she was proud of him for making that decision, and that she thought it would be good for him to have a relationship with Damon.

She had said it with such conviction, he couldn't help but believe her.

Even when he'd tried to play it off, she'd called him out.

"He's your dad, Chris. Nothing anyone does is going to change that. And it's fine to be hesitant, I mean, on purpose or not, he still hurt you. But this is good. The two of you need to work this out. And not for his sake, but for yours too."

And, as usual, she was right.

He sighed, walking into the house.

"Mom, I'm home," he called out.
"In here," her voice came from the kitchen.

Curious of the smells that accompanied it, he dropped his bag and made his way toward her.

"Cooking already?" he asked as he entered.

Elena pushed her hair back from her face, pulling a dish from the oven.

Peach cobbler.

"Who died?" he wondered aloud.

She gave him a look, and he chuckled.

"Face it mom," he insisted, "When my dog ran away, you made cobbler. When you had to go on that week long seminar thing, you made cobbler, when you forced me to participate in the Parade last year, you made cobbler. When Aunt Care insisted that we-"
"I get it," she interrupted, chuckling, "It's obvious that I should make desert more often."
He smirked, sitting down on a stool, "Yeah, yeah, just fess up. What's going on this time?"

Sighing, she took off her oven mitts, and leaned her elbows on the table.

"I need to talk to you…about Damon."
Chris blinked, "What about him?"

His mom eyed him for a moment, before answering, "I think…we thought, that it might be a good idea for the two of you to see each other more."

Chris had expected as much, but that didn't really seem cobbler worthy.

"And….?" He pressed.
She bit her lip, "And I may have put out the idea of him staying with us for a while?"

Chris's brows furrowed. Damon…living with them?

"Staying here?"

Elena nodded, "But it's entirely up to you."

He considered that, "Where would he even sleep?"

"On the couch, it folds out…but if you aren't comfortable with the idea of him being here then we can-"
"No," he cut her off.

Damon had made the first step.
He'd offered to be a part of Chris's life, and was apparently willing to do anything to keep up his end.
And whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was curious about the man.
He actually wanted to know him.

"I mean, there's no harm in trying it out, right? If it doesn't work, then he can just go back to Grandma's?"
Elena nodded, "Yes, of course."

Chris turned it over in his mind.
Damon actually staying with them.

This was surely to be interesting.

"Yeah, I guess that's okay then," he reasoned, and Elena actually moved around the island, and pulled him to her.
He wrapped his arms around her, "Thank you for working with me, Chris. I really do think he wants to try."
Chris nodded, "I just want things to be okay."

She kissed the top of his head, only able to do so because he was sitting down.
"They will be, baby. I promise."

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!

I know you were probably wanting more from the Chris/Damon night talk, but they will have plenty of bonding moments, trust me!

So what did you guys think about the lunch "date"?
Do you think Elena is right in insisting that they just stay friends?
How do you think things will work out with Damon moving in?

All opinions and advice are appreciated! :)

Please review!