Alright guys, this is a build up chapter, but it will introduce Grayson finally!
Hope you enjoy :) And thanks for all the reviews!
After his conversation with Elena, Damon hadn't quite been ready to go back to his house.
His father was probably at work, and who knew what his mother was doing, so he went to Stefan's instead.
"You want another beer?" Stefan called from the kitchen.
"Nah, I'm good," Damon insisted, "Three's my limit today."
"Alright."
Stefan walked back into the living room and sat on the couch opposite of Damon, continuing with their conversation.
"So what do you think Chris will decide?"
Damon shrugged, "I really don't know. I'd like to think that he'll give me a chance, but fifteen years is a long time."
Stefan nodded, "For what it's worth, I never thought Elena should have kept it from you."
Damon shrugged, "It is what it is, brother. I made my choices back then, and I paid for them…now I'm just trying to do the right thing."
He looked down at his phone then, "Speaking of which, I told Elena I'd be at Mom's…so I should probably go."
"Yeah, okay," Stefan nodded, standing, "Thanks for stopping."
Damon stood, embracing his brother, "We'll do it again, soon, I promise….say hello to Caroline and the kids for me. Sorry I missed them."
"There will be time later," Stefan noted.
Damon agreed, "Lots."
Damon took his time getting home.
Elena had his cell number, and she hadn't called yet, which led him to assume that she either hadn't asked Christian about their arrangement, or the answer wasn't what she had hoped.
He almost wanted to laugh at how nervous he felt.
Seriously, concerts filled with thousands were no big deal, but just the thought of this teenager rejecting him had his stomach doing flips.
He pulled into the drive, taking deep breaths.
Giuseppe's car was the only one in the drive, so Damon knew Elena hadn't come over.
This was frightening and relieving.
Either way, he'd accept the situation, and try to make the best of it.
Which was really all he could do at this point.
Making his way inside, he decided that if Elena hadn't called him by nightfall, he'd call her, and they'd decide where to go from there.
He felt a little better, having this plan, and made his way into the living room.
Giuseppe was there, drink in hand, some document looking paper in the other.
"Father," Damon greeted, walking toward the older man, and the drink bar, to pour himself a glass.
"Damon," Giuseppe peaked over the top of his reading glasses, "You're home…good, I was hoping to talk to you."
Damon felt his eyebrow raise, "What about, exactly?"
"I spoke to your mother earlier," Giuseppe noted, "She told me that you knew about Christian."
Damon nodded, "I called her this morning."
"Wondering why we helped Elena keep Christian a secret, I'm sure."
"I'd be lying if I said that it didn't come up," he allowed, and Giuseppe sighed.
"Your mother probably explained it perfectly…but I wanted to apologize."
Damon blinked, "Uh, okay. Thanks…"
Giuseppe sighed, "I actually need to apologize for more…"
Damon wasn't sure where he was going with this, but allowed the man to keep talking.
"I know that you and I never saw eye to eye on things, but when you left…when you didn't come back, it made me realize just how hard I'd been on you," Giuseppe sat the papers down, and Damon held his gaze, "It was wrong of me to try to stop you from doing the things you loved, and that you were clearly good at. I never should have drove you away with my intolerance."
Damon was confused at where this was coming from, but offered his father a smile, "You didn't drive me away, Dad…but thanks."
Giuseppe nodded, "But I still need to ask you something."
"Sure, what is it?"
The eldest Salvatore exhaled, "Did you know Elena was pregnant? Before you left, I mean?"
"Of course not," Damon insisted, "I never would have left her if I'd known."
Giuseppe accepted this, "I believe you. My sons aren't cowards…we can't run from our problems."
Damon took a sip of his drink, "No, we just bury them in work and booze."
Giuseppe chuckled, "A learned habit, I'm afraid. I know I wasn't around as much as I should have been. Not nearly enough. I drank too much, worked too late, and have more regrets than I can count," he placed his hand on Damon's shoulder, "I don't want to see you make the same mistake, Damon. Christian is a good kid…and I'm sorry that you weren't able to find out about him sooner."
Damon nodded, "Yeah, me too. But you're right. I don't want to make the same mistakes I watched you make. I want to be there for him. I don't want Chris to feel like I abandoned him…but I'm not sure how to make it up to him."
Giuseppe grabbed a bottle, pouring some into both of their glasses, "I don't think it's about making it up to him, Son."
"Then what do I do?" Damon asked, for the first time in forever, seeking advice from his father, "My entire life has changed over one weekend, and I'm completely lost."
"So is Christian," Giuseppe reasoned, "And Elena. It's a change for all of you, and it's going to take some adjusting. I only wish that we had handled things better back then, but the fact of the matter, is that we can't change that now. All any of us can do is support you. And you need to support Chris, no matter what he says, because like it or not, fatherhood is a very big role that you have very little time to work into. Just remember that nobody's perfect, Damon. We just do the best we can."
Elena waited until Chris started his homework before going into her room to call Damon.
Her mind was still churning at the situation.
Christian had given the okay. He actually wanted Damon in his life, and Damon wanted to be in his…theirs.
She felt as if she were still trying to process the fact that he was even back in her life, let alone about to be in their son's.
She felt a certainty that things were about to change.
Though if it was for the good or the bad, she'd have to wait and see.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand, and pulled up Damon's number.
He answered on the second ring.
"Elena?"
"Yeah, Damon, hey."
"Hey," he answered back, "I was getting worried."
"Sorry," she swallowed, "I got a bit distracted."
More like she'd been stalling, but whatever, same thing really.
"Ah," he offered, "So…did you talk to him?"
Elena almost smiled at the sound of the hesitancy in Damon's voice.
"I did…he's willing to give it a shot," she told him and chuckled when he sighed in relief.
"That's...good," he stated, "That's good."
Elena exhaled, "Yeah, I was kind of surprised at how quickly he agreed. I guess whatever you two did the other night worked. But don't take that as permission to give him alcohol every time you want to talk with him."
She heard Damon chuckle, and couldn't help but smile.
"Well, I'll try to refrain from setting too bad of an example," he promised.
"Good," then she sighed, "You're sure you want to do this? Because if you're having doubts, or second thoughts, I'd rather know now then after Chris gets use to having you here…"
His words were clear, deliberate, "I am sure, Elena. I want this."
She relaxed a little under his assurance, "Okay, just making sure."
"I understand," he told her, "But you don't have to worry about that. This idea, I think it'll work out. And I want to be in Chris's life…this has to work."
Elena nodded, even though he couldn't see her.
"So when do you want to come over?"
He hesitated, "When can I?"
She considered this, "Well, Chris knows that it' going to happen…so I guess whenever you want."
"Okay…tonight then? I'll need to wait until mom comes home, so I can tell her what's going on, but after that…it won't take long for me to gather my clothes."
"Tonight sounds great," she insisted, the nerves in her stomach turning.
"Alright then. I'll see you in a few hours."
She exhaled, "Yeah…see you then."
She could hear the smile in his voice, "Oh, and Elena?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
Chris glanced over his homework assignment for the week, unimpressed.
The semester was ending soon, which meant final's week was coming up, and all of the teachers seemed to consider it the perfect time to load them down.
He groaned, reading over his note about needing to do that extra credit for his history class.
It was a simple report over the settlement of Mystic Falls, but the need for him to have to do it was irritating.
However, irritation was better than failing, so he'd have to pick his poison.
If he was being honest with himself though, this focus on his school work was really just a distraction.
His mother had come in earlier, to let him know that Damon would be coming over, that night…to move in.
Even though he'd agreed to it, the idea was still a bit unsettling.
It had just been him and Elena in the house for as long as he could remember, and that was suddenly about to change.
And he had no idea what to expect.
So instead, he was choosing to just see what happens, and was focusing on his homework.
Sucking it up, the closed his folders and stood.
At least he was blessed with having two founding family members for parents, so surely the Salvatore side or the Gilbert side would have something of interest that he could use.
"Hey, Mom?" he called, walking into the living room, where she was sitting, typing away on her computer, probably working on her article.
"Yeah?" she glanced up.
"I have a history report due next week, over the founding of Mystic Falls. Do you think Grandma and Grandpa might have something I could use for references? My teacher doesn't want us using Google for the answers."
Her brows furrowed, concentrating, "Well, if I remember right, my parents have a whole stock of Johnathan Gilbert's journals."
"Johnathan Gilbert? The original settler of our family?"
She nodded, "The same. You want to run over there? I'm sure Grandma can dig up something. She is in charge of the Historical Society Events, after all."
Chris nodded, slightly impressed, "Yeah sure…or I could go, you know, take the car?"
Elena smirked, "Nice try, kiddo. But you don't have your license yet."
"I have my permit," he reasoned, "Which is almost the same thing."
Standing, she closed her lap top, "Keep dreaming, baby, but you don't need to get in any more trouble with Liz."
Chris couldn't help the disappointment that flooded him.
He was so ready to have his license. Not that hitching rides with Tyler was awful, but still, it would be nice to be able to do for himself.
He heard his mother sigh, "Well, I guess since I'll be in the car, and you do have a permit, a little practice couldn't hurt."
She reached in her purse and pulled out the keys, handing them to him.
A grin shot across his lips, "Thanks, Mom."
Within twenty minutes, they were pulling up into the Gilbert's drive way, and Chris was pretty satisfied with himself.
His driving was definitely improving.
His sense of accomplishment was forgotten, however, by the time they reached the door.
His mother knocked twice, before turning the knob and letting herself in.
"Mom, Dad?" she called.
"Elena?" Miranda Gilbert came to greet them.
"Hey," the two women greeted, then Miranda moved to hug Chris.
"What are you guys up to?"
Elena slid off her jacket, "Chris is doing a history project for school, I thought he could use those old Johnathan Gilbert journals, or whatever else you had packed away."
Miranda nodded, "Of course! But I actually had your father take them up to the attic a few months ago. The darn things kept popping up everywhere, and the Historical Society Charity Event has already passed this season…Grayson!"
"In here," a voice called from the kitchen.
The trio made their way over.
"Elena and Chris are here," Miranda announced.
Grayson looked up from the onion he was chopping, "Oh, hey guys."
"Hey Grandpa," Chris addressed.
"Do you remember what you did with all of the stuff from the Historical Society?" Miranda asked.
Grayson thought for a moment, "Should be upstairs."
"Well, Chris needs some of it for a school project, can you go get it, please Dear?"
He nodded, putting down the knife, and washing his hands, "Sure…Elena, sweetheart, could you come help me?"
Chris straightened, "I can help, Grandpa."
Grayson smiled, placing a hand on Chris's shoulder, "You sure can. I need someone to work on this," he motioned toward the dinner he'd been preparing, "And it's a well-known fact that these Gilbert women can't cook."
He winked, and Chris grinned.
It was kind of true. His mom did her best, but could probably out bake her any day.
"No arguments there," Miranda weaved, throwing up her hands, "But I'll help you here, Chris. I haven't seen you in forever anyway."
Chris nodded, "Sure."
Done :)
So what did you guys think?
I found some irony in writing the Damon/Giuseppe scene.
A father giving his son fatherly advice on being a father to his son. lol.
But did you like the conversation?
And Damon's moving in! So of course tensions of many kinds will start flying ;)
The next chapter will have the Elena/Grayson talk I'm sure you've all been looking forward to!
But I just wanted to point out something in advance.
Yes, it is perfectly okay to hate Grayson for what he did.
But I think that, in his mind, he was truly doing the right thing.
He made a mistake, which is easy to do as a parent.
It's easy to hate him as a Delena lover, but as a parent, he was just trying to get his daughter away from a guy he thought was bad for her.
So while he is the one being slammed in the story, try not to hate too hard lol.
He'll find his redemption :)