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Damon was impressed, to say the least.
Not only could Christian play, but he could play well.
He wondered if Elena had mentioned that in one of their conversations, but didn't remember anything that particularly stood out, so maybe not.
But it was definitely interesting to see how much he and the boy had in common.
Beyond their looks, anyway.
And the more he found out, the more he wanted to know.
He wondered if Chris would be okay with them spending some one on one time with each other at some point.
Surely they were familiar enough by now that he'd be okay with it…and it couldn't hurt to ask.
Chris finished playing another song, and Damon smiled, as April and Elena clapped.
"That wasn't too shabby," he offered with a grin, and Chris smiled.
"Thanks, though I have to admit, half of the credit should go to this little baby."
He caressed the guitar with the same adoration Damon often showed his Camaro.
"She's one of my favorite acoustics," he admitted, "But I have an electric in my car."
Chris's eyes lit up, "Are you serious?"
Damon chuckled, and reached across the coffee table for his keys, and tossed them over.
"In the trunk."
"Awesome!" Chris shot, jumping up, "You coming, April?"
The girl shrugged, before standing up as well, and following him as he hurried out the door.
Damon smiled.
"I think you just made his year," Elena joked, and he looked over at her.
"Nah, weekend maybe, but the whole year is a lot to make."
She smirked, "Okay, smart ass."
He only smiled.
"But seriously," she stated, "Thank you. He's been dying to play forever, but his old guitar is practically busted, and I couldn't really afford a new one."
Damon eyed her, "If he's that into it, I have plenty of extras…or I could buy him his own. There's a guy I order from that crafts them himself, and-"
"No, it's okay," she stopped him, "Your parents are way ahead of you. Valentina called months ago, wanting to know what they could get him for Christmas. So next month, he'll have it."
Damon nodded, "That's good….Man, I didn't even think about Christmas."
She laughed, "It does tend to be the holiday that sneaks up on everyone."
He considered this, "Is there anything else Chris was wanting?"
"Not unless you can get your hands on a completely rebuilt 1970's Firebird," she noted.
He raised a brow, "Pontiac?"
She blinked at him, "You knew that?"
He nodded, "I love the classics. Eventually I settled on my Camaro, but the Pontiac's had quite a selection."
"Huh," she thought, "Who'd of thought."
He smirked, "That I'd know the difference?"
She shook her head, "That Chris would be into them too."
Damon measured her, "So, you're serious…about the car?"
She shrugged, "I don't know. Apparently my dad has a Firebird in his shed by the lake house, and he showed it to Chris last year. Ever since, Chris has been convinced that that's the car he wants. And he's turning sixteen soon, so a car is exactly what I should be getting him, but the one my Dad has is completely shot, and I don't even want to imagine how much the parts would cost. And buying one completely restored also cost an arm and a leg."
Damon thought about what she had said, and decided on something.
"Would Grayson sell? The firebird at the lake house?"
She stared at him, "I'm not sure why he wouldn't…but I don't know the first thing about repairing classic Pontiacs."
He smirked, "No, but I do."
Her brow raised, "You want to buy the car, from my father, and rebuild it?"
He nodded, "Yeah, why not? I owe Chris quite a few years of Christmas presents…and it's not like I don't have the money."
"Yeah, but-"
He grabbed her hand, "Elena, I want to."
She held his gaze for a moment, then nodded, "Okay…but I can't promise that my dad will sell it to you. It's not a secret how he feels about you being in town."
Damon shrugged, "That's his problem. If he won't sell, then I have about fifty numbers at my disposal to find someone who will."
She smiled a little, "The high life must be nice."
He stared down at their connected hands, "Actually, it is, sometimes…but mostly it's just lonely."
She gave him a look, "Right. I'm supposed to believe you never dated since leaving here."
"No," he admitted, "I did…a lot actually. And I built up a reputation for myself that I'm not exactly proud of…but it never meant anything. None of it did. And that, I do need you to believe."
She nodded, "I do…I get it. I didn't exactly have time to date a lot, but sometimes, the loneliness sucked. I can understand why someone would want to."
He considered this, "True…but random dates and one-night stands aren't always the easiest solution, trust me."
"No," she agreed, "But is there really any easy solution to being lonely?"
"I guess not," he allowed.
She was really close to him now, so close that he could easily lean down and kiss her again.
He wanted to.
But Chris and April could be back at any second and….actually, if they just went to get the guitar, they should've been back already.
He turned toward the door, listening.
Nothing.
And it was dark outside now.
Meaning two hormonal teenagers could be up to anything.
Great.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked, seeing his face.
He turned, looking at her.
"Elena, have you, by any chance, ever talked to Chris about, you know, the birds and bees?"
Her brow raised, "You mean, did I ever give him the sex talk?"
He nodded.
"We talked about it a little a few years ago, but he usually goes to Stefan for those type of questions."
Damon sighed, "Do he and April spend a lot of time alone?"
Elena blinked, "Uh, sometimes, I guess. Why? Do you think that they're…"
Her eyes widened at the possibility.
Damon felt a little pity for her, but answered honestly, "I'd be more surprised if they weren't."
"But he's-"
"A teenage boy," Damon answered straight, "Trust me, it's an unavoidable phase."
"Oh God," Elena groaned sinking into the cushion, "I'm not ready for that."
Damon rubbed her back, "Unfortunately, neither is Chris, but no one's going to be able to make him understand that."
He stood, and Elena glanced up at him, "What do we do?"
Damon considered that, then answered, "I'm going to talk to him, soon. Let him know that his choices have consequences. But first, I'm going to go make sure they aren't exploiting their teenage urges in my car."
He walked over to the window, and glanced out of the blinds.
It took his eyes a moment to adjust, but eventually, the streetlamp gave him enough light to be able to see well enough to spot Chris.
It could have been worse.
He and April were on the other side of the car, leaned against the back door, clearly wrapped up in a full on make-out session.
"Please tell me they aren't," Elena practically begged.
He shook his head, "No, they're just kissing."
He let go of the blind, and looked back at her, "I think they'd know that we'd come looking if they took too long."
She nodded, "So should we call them in?"
Damon shook his head, "No...but-" he reached over, hitting a light switch, "Turn on the porch light, and I give it a minute tops before they are walking through the-"
The front door opened, and Chris and April both came in, Chris holding the guitar case.
Damon shot Elena a "What did I tell you?" look, and turned to his son, "You find it okay?"
Chris nodded, but Damon could see the slightest hint of a blush, "Uh, yeah, in the trunk, just like you said."
Damon smirked a little as he noticed April's flushed face, "Okay, well, go put it in your room for now."
He checked his phone, "But it is a quarter past eight, and you did say April needed to be home by nine, right?"
Chris nodded.
"Okay, go put it up, and we'll take her home."
Chris did as he said, moving to the bedroom, and Elena stood, "Are we all going?"
Damon shrugged, "If you want?"
She nodded, "We can take my car."
"Sounds good," Damon smiled, then turned to April.
"Did you bring anything?"
She shook her head, "Nothing more than my jacket," which she was already wearing.
Chris came back into the room, "Are we leaving now?"
"I think so," Elena nodded, moving to grab her keys, "If we don't get April home on time, I doubt her dad will let her come back."
"That's a good point," April sighed, "He's a little eccentric that way."
Damon chuckled.
That girl really was a character, and it was easy for him to see what Chris saw in her.
She actually reminded him a bit of Elena.
Warm, sarcastic, positive…he was glad Chris had someone like that in his life.
He just wished they'd slow down before making a mistake they couldn't undo.
"Okay, let's go," Elena instructed, opening the door, and shuffling the kids out, before turning to him, "You coming?"
He nodded, "Yeah…let's go."
Elena couldn't sleep.
It had been hours since they'd gotten back from taking April home, yet she couldn't get comfortable.
Her bed felt colder now, too big.
That's what you get for letting Damon sleep in it with you, she scolded herself.
But deep down, she knew that she'd do it all over again.
It was harder still, knowing that Damon wanted to be in here just as much as she wanted him to be, and that Christian would probably be okay with it.
She was losing grasps of her reasoning for pushing Damon away.
Except for the fact that she was scared.
Scared of giving into him, and being hurt all over again.
Which seemed reasonable enough, in theory, but another part of her realized that she and Damon had both done a lot of growing and changing…a lot of maturing, and that maybe they could handle it.
But then maybe not.
And she still had Chris to think about.
Especially now that Damon had mentioned his opinion about the things Chris and April may be doing.
She sighed.
It wasn't like the thought had never crossed her mind.
But April was such a sweet, good girl, and Chris hadn't done anything to make Elena think something was up.
But then again, she did work a lot.
There were plenty of times Chris had gotten home from school hours before she'd be off work, not that there was really anything she could do about that, but still, it would have given him a lot of opportunity to do things he shouldn't.
Not to mention that, according to Damon, he'd snuck out the weekend before.
How many times had he done that in the past?
And April only lived a few blocks away…
Her head hurt as she span through all of the possibilities.
And to be honest, she didn't know what to do, or what to expect.
Damon was the only person she'd ever been serious about, and the only person she'd slept with, as a teenager.
And look how that ended up.
She loved Christian more than anything, but if given the chance, she would have wanted a different life for him.
And her being seventeen, barely graduated, getting an English degree online while working full time wasn't exactly the picture perfect life she would have chosen.
She didn't want April, or Chris, to have to suffer through the same.
But she remembered her nights with Damon.
No way would she have let anyone tell her to stop.
Not when she was so convinced that they were in love, and right for each other.
However in hindsight, she wished she would have been smarter.
Not that she regretted Damon, or having Chris, but she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if they'd backed off a little.
Maybe Grayson wouldn't have been so quick to run Damon out of town.
Maybe she wouldn't have ended up as a single mother, and maybe they would have had a chance.
But the "maybes" didn't matter.
What mattered was that Damon was back, and knew about Chris.
And could apparently pick up on things that she couldn't.
With that thought, she sat up.
Maybe Damon would know what to do about it all.
He'd been in the same boat before, and maybe he could relate to Chris.
She checked her phone.
It was barely past midnight, so maybe he'd still be awake.
Hoping that he was, she climbed out of bed, opened her door, and tiptoed down the hallway.
Coming into the living room, she used the faded light coming in through the blinds to help find her way to Damon's makeshift bed.
His body covered almost all of it, and she felt a little bad that he'd consented to sleeping on the old thing, just to spend time with her and Chris.
His hair was tasseled, and his eyes were closed.
Damn, so he was asleep.
She sighed, sitting on the edge of the fold out, looking down at him.
The moonlight made his skin seem pale, but outlined every curve of his muscles perfectly.
She wanted to trail a hand over them, rediscover the strength he held behind each of his movements, but that wasn't why she was here.
However, she couldn't resist brushing his bangs back, and cradling his face.
He'd aged some, since she'd last seen him, his skin no longer carrying the perfection of youth…but he was still perfect to her.
But then, the Salvatore's weren't lacking in the attractive genes department.
And Damon had always been beautiful.
She hadn't realized that she was stroking his face, until his eyes fluttered, and he settled against his bed, "Elena?"
"Shhh," she answered quickly, not wanting to wake Chris up.
He whispered then, "What are you doing in here?"
Good question.
"I was hoping you were awake," she told him honestly.
He sat up, rubbing his face, "I am now."
She nodded, "Sorry."
"Nah, it's fine," he assured her, "What's wrong?"
In hindsight, it now seemed silly that she couldn't just wait until morning to have this conversation, but he was awake now, so there was no point in changing her mind.
"I just wanted to talk."
He nodded, moving over the best he could, then tapped the place next to him.
She smiled a little, and crawled up next to him.
It was a tight fit, but he placed his arm around her, so it worked.
"What's up?" he asked.
She sighed, leaning into his shoulder, "What am I gonna do about Chris?"
His head leaned down against hers, "You mean about the whole April thing?"
She nodded, "I'm not really sure how to make my teenage son not have sex."
Damon seemed to think about it, before answering, "I don't really think you can."
"But we can't just let him," she reasoned, "Look what happened with us. What if April was to get pregnant? He isn't ready for that kind of relationship…"
Damon sighed, "I doubt you'll be able to convince him of that though. Trust me, my parents did a lot of talking when I was his age. It didn't stop us from sleeping together."
"That's my point," she reasoned, "There's no way he's going to stop, just because we tell him to."
"No," Damon agreed, "But there are precautions we can make sure he's taking."
"What do you mean?" she asked, looking up at him.
Damon shrugged, "Condoms, birth control, limited alone time-"
"Wait, so we're supposed to just let it happen?" she questioned, "Just give him a condom, give him a safe sex speech and that's that?"
"No," Damon corrected, "We can tell him that we think it's wrong, but if he's going to do it anyway, it's better if he knows he can come to us for contraceptives, instead of being afraid of us finding out, hiding it, and getting the girl pregnant."
"But doesn't that seem like we are enabling him?" she asked, conflicted.
He looked down, "You can call it whatever you want, but trust me, safe is better than sorry."
She shook her head, "I swear, yesterday he was taking he was starting kindergarten…how is this even possible?"
"Time has a way of catching up with you," Damon noted, his voice distant.
He leaned against the back of the couch, "I'll talk to him tomorrow."
Elena raised a brow, "You think he'll listen?"
"No clue," he answered honestly, "But it's worth a shot. I can pick him up from school, take him to the Grill. We can shoot some pool, and I'll bring it up."
She was still unsure, "I don't know, maybe I should try to-"
"Elena," Damon cut her off, facing her, "I know I haven't been a part of this rodeo very long, but these are the kind of talks dads are supposed to have with their sons. I've been there, I know how he's feeling, okay? Just let me do this."
The conviction in his eyes was so self-assured, that she could only nod, "Okay."
"Thank you," his words were simple, but filled with heat, and she couldn't help but swallow.
They really were incredibly close right now.
And his eyes were so focused, burning into her own.
"Elena…" he whispered, and she moved, closing the space between them.
The kiss wasn't urgent, but it was demanding.
His arm flexed around her, pulling her tighter into his body, and she shifted, as he pulled one of her legs over his lap, so that she was straddling him.
Her hands slid into his hair, angling his head to have better access, as his hands gripped her waist hard enough to leave bruises.
She could feel his growing desire pressing against her middle, and couldn't stop herself from grinding down against it.
God, she'd missed this.
His hand slid up to grip her back, flushing her chest against his own, as his mouth left her lips and trailed down her neck, and across her collar bone.
Every part of her was on fire, under his touch, and her head was a fog.
All she knew was that she never wanted this to stop.
She pulled his mouth back to hers, and her hands slid across his bare chest.
She could feel Damon's fingers caressing her, so close to the waistline of her shorts.
Just a little further down and he would be-
The click of an opening door had her frozen.
Damon too, as she pulled away, wide eyed, and looked toward the hall.
It was too dark to see anything, but seconds later, they heard the bathroom door shut, and a light come on from under it.
"Busted?" he whispered, so low she could barely make it out.
She shook her head, "Not if he goes right back to bed…but if I move, this mattress will creak."
Her words were hardly a breath, but Damon understood.
Silently, the waited.
A few moments later, the light turned off, and they heard the door open.
Elena's breath caught.
But luckily, the sound was followed by the shutting of a bedroom door, and she let out the air that had been trapped in her throat.
"Close," Damon whispered with a smirk, before leaning up and trying to kiss her again.
But that had been too close.
"No, Damon, we can't."
He eyed her, clearly waiting for the explanation, "What if Chris sees?"
"He's in bed."
"This time," she pointed out, "But who's to say he won't get up again? It's too big of a risk."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Damon urged.
She shook her head, "Damon this is a big deal. I'm not even sure that I'm sure about it."
"You were sure two minutes ago," he pointed out.
She gave him a look, "Heat of the moment. But seriously, now isn't the time."
"Fine," he consented.
She smiled at his pouting look, "Thank you."
She placed a short kiss on his lips, before untangling herself, and standing.
"I'll see you in the morning?"
He nodded, offering her a smile, "I'll be the one making breakfast."
She shook her head, turning toward her bedroom, wondering how in the hell she was supposed to get any sleep now.
Sorry to leave you guys there, but it felt like the right place to end it.
So the whole Chris/April thing is out!
How do you think their "talk" will go?
Opinions on the "almost busted" scene?
Do you think Elena's right in waiting?
Review please!