Okay, I love the next couple of chapters! Lol. They were so fun to write!

Can't wait to see what you guys think!

Enjoy :)

It was past 9:00 when they finally made it back to the house, and Elena felt exhaustion in every part of her bones.
Not to mention she still had to get up and go to work tomorrow.
And she had to send Caroline those files.
Plus a shower was probably a good idea.
And her headache was raging.

She groaned.

"You okay?" Chris asked, as they entered the living room.
She nodded, "I'm just tired, baby."
He accepted this, "Yeah, me too. I think I'm gonna go take a shower then get in bed."

She nodded, "Sounds good."
He kissed her cheek, "Love you."

She offered him a smile, and he turned, heading to his room.

Sighing, she took a seat on the couch.

"You sure you're feeling okay?" Damon pressed.
"I think you were right."

"About?" he inquired.
"This might be some sort of bug," she caved, "My head's still hurting, my throat feels dry, and I think I have a fever."

He crossed the room, sitting next to her.

Before she could ask what he was doing, he had cupped her jaw, and pulled her head closer to him, as his lips rested on her forehead.
After a second, he pulled away.

"Yeah, you feel a little warm. I'll make you some tea. Where's your medicine?"
She shook her head, "I've been drinking wine. The pills are probably a bad idea."

He considered this, then nodded, "Well, tea it is then. I'll put some on. Why don't you go soak in a bath. It'll make you feel better."
She thought of the half full container of bubbles she had under her sink, "That actually sounds amazing."

He smiled, "Good. So go take a bath, I'll make the tea and bring a cup to your room when it's done."
She nodded, "Thank you…but I have to send Caroline those emails first."

He eyed the computer, "Will it take long?"
She shook her head, "Not at all."

"Okay then."
He disappeared into the kitchen, and she opened her laptop.

Just as she had said, it took barely any time at all to attach the file to an email and send it off.

Damon was walking into the room as she finished.

"All done?" she asked.
He nodded, "As soon as the water boils I'll bring it to you."
"Thanks," she said again, standing.

He took a few slow steps closer to her, then gently reached out and pushed her hair back, his hand lingering on her cheek, "Are you going to be okay?"

She smiled, "It's a headache, Damon, not the end of the world. I'll just relax, get some sleep, and it'll all be fine. Good as new for work tomorrow."
He raised a brow, "If you say so."

"I do," she insisted, bringing her hand up to cover his, "Things happen. I just have to learn to work around them."

She was sure he could hear the accidental double meaning in her words, but couldn't make herself care.
Not tonight.

"I'm going to go take that bath now."
He nodded, letting his hand fall, "Yeah, of course."

She bit her lip, then decisively turned, passing Chris on the way to her bedroom.

Christian had hurried with his shower, wanting to find out what was up with his mother.
She had seemed a little out of it, and Damon had looked concerned.

He toweled off, and got dressed, making his way into the living room.
Damon was still in there, folding out the couch so he could sleep.

"Hey," he addressed, announcing his presence.
Damon glanced up at him, "Chris…"

"Is Mom okay?" he asked, not beating around the bush.
Damon straightened, eyeing him, "Why wouldn't she be?"
Chris shrugged, "She seemed off."

Damon caught his drift and nodded, "Oh, that. Yeah, she's just not feeling very well."
"Is she sick?" Chris pressed.

"Might be getting that way," Damon admitted, "She has a headache and a fever. But bugs happen all the time. It'll pass."
Chris nodded, feeling a little better, "Is there anything I can do?"

Damon glanced to the kitchen, "I made her some tea…do you know if she takes sugar, or?"
"Honey," Chris told him, "She drinks it with honey."

Damon smiled gently, "Thanks."

He nodded, "I can get it, if you want?"
"If you don't mind," Damon allowed, and he shrugged, heading toward the kitchen.

He'd watched his mother make this a million times.

And he even tested it after pouring the honey in.
Not bad.

He took the cup back into the living room, just to find that his father was no longer there.
He turned around the corner, and glanced down the hall.
Damon was standing at his mother's door, listening.

"Everything okay?" he asked, coming up behind him.
"Just making sure she wasn't getting dressed," Damon explained, "But I think she's still in the bath."

Chris nodded, opening the door.
"Mom?"

"Yeah?" her voice did indeed come from the bathroom, "We got your tea."
"Okay, thanks. Just sit it on the night stand. I'll get it when I'm done."

He did as she asked, and told her goodnight, before joining Damon back in the hall.

"She'll get it when she's through."
Damon nodded, and led them into the living room, "Well, hopefully it'll help."

He scoffed, "Even if it doesn't, I doubt we'll know."
His father raised a brow, "And why's that?"

"'Cause Mom's a martyr," Chris explained, "Even if she feels like crap, she'll play it off so no one worries about her."
Damon smirked a little, "I guess some things don't change."

"She's always been like that?" Chris pressed, curious.
"Always," Damon agreed, sitting down on his make shift bed.

Chris sat down in the chair across from him, "How long have you known Mom?"

Damon relaxed back into the mattress, seeming lost in thought.
"We kind of grew up together…but she was younger than me, and we didn't exactly hang out with the same people. I only knew her from around school, and the Founder's events our parents dragged us too."

Chris laughed a little.
That at least, was something that he could definitely relate to.

"Yeah, Mom likes going to those things, and she's constantly having me involved with one committee or another."

Damon chuckled, "Well, as a Gilbert, and a Salvatore, you never stood much a chance."
His tone grew serious then, "But that's not to say you shouldn't participate. Be involved. Trust me…you don't know how good you have things until you lose them."

The magnitude of emotion in his voice startled Chris.

"Are you thinking about Mom? About when you left Mystic Falls?"

His father sighed, their gazes meeting, "I don't think that it's something I'll be forgetting any time soon," he admitted, "I walked out on a lot more than I realized…for reasons that stopped making sense a long time ago."

"Reasons like what?" Chris pressed.

Damon sat up, facing him.
"It was complicated…and I don't want to talk bad about your family, so I really don't think that-"

"I'm not a kid, Damon," Chris insisted, "I deserve to know."

Seeming conflicted, Damon finally sighed.
"I'm sorry. You're right. You do need to know. The choices of your life have been taken away from you too much already."

Chris nodded, "So what happened?"

Damon met his eyes as he spoke, "You're aware that Grayson isn't my biggest fan, right?"

Chris nodded, "I've heard."

Damon nodded, "Well, he never did like me much, even before your mother and I got together, but that's mainly because he didn't care much for my father. When I started dating your Mom, Grayson was polite, but not very happy about it."

Chris stayed silent, letting him continue.

"Then your Mom and I started talking about college, and what would happen after I left, with her still being in high school. You know, normal fears that every pair of high school sweethearts have, I guess. But we thought we had it worked out. Elena had a passion for writing, she always has, and she figured that she could do her stories on the side, while becoming a professional song writer."

"Grandpa told me that she wanted to be a doctor," Chris stated, a little confused.

"I think she did, at one point," Damon allowed, "When she was younger, maybe. But that was always more of Grayson's dream for her, to follow in his shoes. But Elena was too creative, too free spirited to ever be happy as a doctor, and I think a part of Grayson knew that."

"Grandma did say that you two being together changed her some," Chris allowed.

"It may have," Damon nodded, "But Elena was stubborn. She knew what she wanted, and no one was going to change her mind. And she wanted us to be together, working on music."

"So what happened?" Chris asked, trying not to sound too accusing.

Damon sighed, "I was an idiot, that's what. I went away for a semester in L.A, and it was hard. Really hard. The music business is a tough world, and to be honest, I felt like I was failing miserably. Your Mom would stay up on the phone with me for hours, reminding me of why I chose to do this, telling me not to give up, and for the most part, it worked."
He sighed, "Though somewhere in my mind, I must have had some doubts. I came home for Christmas, and I finally got to see her again. I couldn't tell you how happy I was, being back around people who cared about me…it's not something that you realize you miss. But I did. And your mother was no less committed to me than the day I left. It was calming, settling."

"Then how could you just walk away?" Chris inquired, his voice small.

It didn't sound like Damon had planned on leaving at all, yet something would have had to have happened.
Even though this was beginning to sound different than everything he'd ever assumed.

"I'll admit that your mother and I might have made some poor choices," Damon stated, "We weren't exactly careful, when we were that age, and obviously, you wouldn't be here if we were, but point being, we didn't think of the consequences our choices could bring. Like sneaking into her window once everyone had gone to bed, and sneaking back out, expecting not to get caught."

"By Grandpa?" he asked.

Damon nodded, "I'd been home for two, maybe three days. I only had a few weeks off from school, and I wasn't going to waste any second I could spend with Elena. Unfortunately though, Grayson's hours at the hospital had switched while I was away, and he had pulled into the drive, just as I was sneaking out."

Chris felt a wave of uncomfortableness.
Like he knew he wasn't going to like what Damon was about to tell him, but he needed to hear it anyway. He had to know.

"I was almost out of the yard when he called out to me," Damon continued, "Scared the hell out of me, to be honest. I mean, your Mom was under eighteen and I wasn't. He could have easily pressed charges…but he said he only wanted to talk."

"Talk?" Chris tried.
Yeah, his grandpa was good at talking. He knew that first hand.

"Yep," Damon sighed, "And I'll give it to the man, he knew just what buttons to press."

Chris swallowed, "So Grandpa made you leave?"

Damon immediately shook his head, "No, Chris. I'm not saying that. Not at all. My leaving wasn't Grayson's choice, it was mine. He just gave me the push in that direction."

"How?" Chris asked.

"He told me things I was already thinking, but didn't want to admit. That Elena would be better off as a doctor. That she had a promising career ahead of her, and that I was only going to get in the way of that with all of our California nonsense. He told me that she deserved more than a struggling musician who had nothing to offer her. And he was right. Elena's always deserved a hell of a lot better than me. I tried to defend myself…I told him that I loved her, that I'd make sure she was taken care of, but he had me feeling about ten inches tall. How could I take care of Elena, when I wasn't even sure of my own future? I had no other plans than making it big time, and there was no guarantee of that happening. By all means, it shouldn't have. I was lucky to pick up with the company I did, and even then, there have been times when I was scrounging for change just to get by. Grayson was right. That wasn't the life either of us wanted for Elena."

He seemed lost in the memory, the words just pouring.

"So I did what I thought was the right thing. I told myself I'd let her go…give her a chance. I never wanted to leave her, but I was convinced that it was selfish of me to make her go through all of that, especially when she had so much potential. But I loved her, and it was the hardest thing I'd ever done. I watched her heart break. Literally, as I told her things needed to end between us. It killed me to hurt her, but I was so sure she'd be better off in the long run. I lied through my teeth, in so many ways, just to convince her that this was the best thing for us. And that's a choice I've regretted ever since."
"Especially when I found out about you, Chris," Damon swallowed, "It was then that I had to accept that I'd messed up. I didn't free Elena, I abandoned her. And you have every right to hate me for that."

Chris nodded, but he didn't hate him.

He felt his throat grow thick, but he knew it was true.
There was so much conviction, too much pain and regret in Damon's words for them to be false.

Which means that Grayson had embellished quite a bit over the years.

"Grandpa told me that you left her, but he didn't mention all of that," Chris told him, guilt for the grudge he'd held against Damon turned his stomach, "He made it sound like you only wanted Mom for sex, and took off after you were done with her."

Damon sighed, "I think that he might have believed that, Chris. Elena is his only child. He was very protective of her, and she and I, well, we weren't exactly innocent."

"He shouldn't have made you out to be the bad guy," Chris insisted, "And why are you defending him? He's only ever talked down about you, and the rest of our family."

Damon seemed to weigh his answer, "He's only human, Chris. And he's your grandfather. I'm sure he has his share of regrets too, but I can't worry about him. I didn't come back for him, and I'm not staying for him. You and your mom are all that matter to me, Chris. Let everyone else worry. I'm more concerned about being okay with you guys."

Chris nodded.
But still, his world seemed a little shaken.

Grayson may not have meant to lie to him, or maybe he didn't even believe that he had, but Chris felt as though he was old enough to understand the gist of what had happened.

And if he was sure of anything, it was that Damon would have stayed.
If he'd known Elena was pregnant, there was no doubt in his mind that Damon would have stuck around.

The weight of what could have been, pained him.

Everything that the "supposed to be" adults in his life, kept him from having.

A part of him wanted to be angry, but what good would that do?

Damon was right. They didn't have time to worry about the past.
They just had to make the best out of the hand they had now.

He met his father's gaze, decided.

"Well, if it helps…I'm glad you're here, now, Damon."

The man's smile was answer enough.
"Yeah. Me too."

So what did you think?

Chris finally got to hear Damon's side of the story! :)

Please, please leave a review!