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Elena had gotten off work early, surprisingly, seeing as she had already finished her article for the week, and Elijah was apparently feeling lenient.

She walked out of the building with Caroline.

"Okay spill!" the blond demanded, "I've been dying for details all week,and you are being irkingly vague!"
Elena smiled, "I haven't been vague, I've been processing."

"Aaaand?" Caroline pressed.
"Damon's staying," Elena said, liking the way those words rolled off her tongue, "He's really staying."

Caroline hesitated as they reached their cars, "For Chris, or for you?"
"Does it matter?" She asked.
"Definitely," Caroline shot.

Elena sighed, "Both, I think."

"So you two are together?" Caroline fished.
She smiled, "I think we are. I mean, I told you we kissed...and we've kissed a bit more since then."

"Just kissed?" Caroline was almost pouting.
"Is that bad?" Elena's brow rose.

"No," her friend sighed, "I was just hoping you'd have gotten laid by now."
"Caroline!" Elena laughed, "Seriously?!"

"What?!" she defended, "It's probable worry! You haven't dated in forever! A girl can go crazy with that kind of pent up lust!"

Elena shook her head, "You would go crazy. I'm handling it fine...though I have to admit, we have had moments."
Caroline's eyes lit up, "Moments? Moments are good, right?"

Elena smirked, "Definitely. But I needed to be sure Chris was okay with me being with Damon before I actually felt okay with letting anything else happen."

"And from that smitten look on your face, I take it Chris loves Damon just as much as you do?"

Elena shrugged, "I'm not sure about all that, but they are definitely making progress. And Chris did tell me that he'd be alright with me and Damon being more than...whatever we are."

"That's great!" Caroline smiled, "You guys can all be a family now!"
Elena motioned toward her car, "Speaking of family, we should probably get home to ours."

Caroline nodded, "Yeah, probably."

Elena grinned, "So I'll see you at the Fall Festival tomorrow?"
"Of course!" The blond stated, "Don't forget that Valentina wanted us to bring a desert for the bake sale."

Elena froze, "Shit."
"You forgot," Caroline's eyes widened, "It's too late for you to order a pie, now! Oooh, she's gonna strangle you!"

"No, no, I'll bring something! I just have to get it tonight, and make it."
Caroline scoffed, "Wait...you're actually going to make it?"

"Are you suggesting I can't?" Elena challenged.
"No," her friend reasoned, "I'm just reminding you that your cooking skills are barely passable, and your baking skills are even worse."

She blinked, "Thanks, Care."

"Hey, I'm just being honest," the blond smiled, "But then again, you have Damon to help you, so go for it."
Elena rolled her eyes, "I can bake a damn pie."

"Sure," Caroline allowed, opening her car door, "Just make sure you have something. Or your likely to be murdered tomorrow."

She smirked, "Valentina isn't that eccentric."
"No, but your mother is," Caroline pointed out."

Elena nodded, "True...maybe I'll just go to her place and get some stuff. She's always baking."
Caroline nodded, "Good luck. Call me later though."

"I will," Elena promised, and they waved goodbye.

She got into her own car, sending a text to Damon, letting him know that she was going to stop by her parents house for dessert ingredients, before coming home.

As she walked into her childhood home, the smell of sweets hit her nostrils.
No telling what her mother was up to in here.

"Mom?" she called out.
"Kitchen!" the voice answered.

She walked that way, finding her mother and father both in the room, Miranda placing a plate of cookies out, while Grayson was trying to eat them.

"Elena, sweetie!" Miranda smiled, "Come help for a second?"
She nodded, shedding her coat, and walking over, "What do you need?"

"Move the cakes to the counter, so I have more room on the island. I tried to get your father to help, but he's more interested in eating them."
She laughed, and did as she was asked.

Once everything was in place and the cookies were all setting out, Miranda turned and hugged her, "This is a surprise."

Elena nodded, "Yeah I know. I just got off work, and remembered that I was supposed to bring a dessert for tomorrow. I was hoping you had something I could take home and make, so that I didn't have to make a late night run to the store."

Miranda nodded, "Yeah, of course! There's another two dozen cookies I need baked, and I think I have stuff for pecan pie."

"That'll work," Elena smiled, "Thanks."
Miranda nodded, "No problem. Let me go check the pantry."

She walked off, and Grayson cleared his throat, "So, uh, where's my favorite grandson?"
Elena looked up at him and smirked, "He's also you're only grandson."

"Minor details," her father joked.
Elena shook her head, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's actually with Damon."

That was all it took for Grayson's expression to darken, "You're leaving him alone with that man now?"
Elena felt herself grow defensive, "It's not like he's a serial killer, Dad. Chris is his son."

"Poor boy," Grayson spat, and Elena grit her teeth.
"Just drop it, alright."

"Sure," Grayson nodded, "As soon as you explain to me the logic of your thinking."
"I don't have to explain anything to you," Elena reminded him.

Grayson stiffened, "No, you don't. But I did figure that you cared about Chris enough to make the right choices."

She met his gaze, "I am making the right choices, Dad. And it's letting Chris have the relationship with Damon that he should have had years ago."

"You're gonna get that boy in a world of trouble, Elena. You don't know what Damon's been doing all these years, or what he's exposing your son to. Hell, at the very least, Chris is going to be destroyed when Damon eventually leaves again."

Elena shook her head, "You really don't get it do you? Damon's staying dad. He's going to be a part of Chris's life, and a part of mine. And if that bothers you, you need to find a way to get over it, because frankly, I don't give a damn what you think."

Miranda walked back in then, but Grayson was too heated to mind, "You're being naive, Elena! You really think you can change a man like that? Running is in his nature, mark my words. He's only here because he's wanting down your pants, and God knows you've probably given it to him the second he gave you a compliment."

"Grayson!" Miranda chided.
"I'm not going to let her ruin her life again," Grayson shot, turning to his wife."

"It's not our business," Miranda reminded him as she handed Elena a bag of the ingredients she needed, "Let it go."
"The hell I will," he hissed, "Damon Salvatore is nothing but trouble."

"You don't know him," Elena spit, "He's done nothing but try since he's been back. He wants to be here with us...and I want him here. You can assume whatever you like, but how dare you insinuate that I don't care about Chris! That's low even for you. And all the shit that you told him about Damon...that wasn't your place. You had no right!"

"Elena-"
"No, I don't want to hear it," she shot, "I'm going home to my son, and to Damon. You can call me when you grow up and get over yourself."

She turned to leave, saying a quick thank you to Miranda, as she grabbed her coat.

"Don't you walk away from me, Elena," Grayson demanded, coming up behind her as she made her way to the door.
"Damn it, I am still your father."

She ignored him, hurrying down the front steps and to her car.

He watched her from the front porch, but she didn't have it in her to feel bad.
She was so done with it.

All she wanted was to get home to her men.

Damon had a feeling that something was wrong with Elena the second she got home.
She didn't say much, but something about her seemed distant.

She'd wondered about where Chris was, and he'd had to explain how an hour after they'd gotten home, that Tyler kid and some others had stopped by, wanting to know if Chris could go study with them for a little bit.

Damon wasn't sure that they were actually going to study on a Friday night, but knew that he had to start trusting his son, if he wanted Chris to trust him, and had let him go.

Elena had nodded, unbothered, before announcing that she was going to start on something in the kitchen.

"You okay?" he asked, calling after her retreating back.
"Yup," she answered, and he shrugged.

Maybe she had just had a long day at work.
He turned on the TV and let it go.

A while later, he had just finished folding out his bed again, when Chris opened the door.

"You're home earlier than I expected," Damon noted.

Chris nodded, "Yeah, Mrs. Lockwood decided that we were talking more than studying, and she cleared us out."

"Ah," Damon noted.

"Where's Mom?" Chris inquired.
Damon motioned toward the kitchen, "She went that way earlier."

Christian made his way toward the kitchen, and Damon finished throwing his pillow at the top of his blankets.

He had half hoped he'd get to stay in Elena's bed, but didn't want to assume anything, especially with how new this all was to them.

A few seconds later, he heard Chris yell, "Uh, Damon. You might want to get in here."
Then Elena's protest of, "God, Chris, I said I had this, okay you don't have to-"

She stopped as Damon stepped into the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, eyeing them.
"Nothing," Elena insisted.

"She's trying to make a pie for the Fall Festival tomorrow," Chris explained.
Damon's brows furrowed, "I offered to help you."

Her hands landed on her hips, "But your mother told me to bring something. Me. Not you. And seeing as you can't really mess up pie that badly…"

He chuckled, "Oh you can definitely mess up pie."

"Seriously Mom," Chris nodded, "You should just let Damon do it…we all know how questionable your skills are in the kitchen."

She shook her head at the both of them, "You two are horrible. I can make pie if I want. Besides," she turned to grab a pad of paper off the counter, " Mom wrote down the recipe so I wouldn't mess it up. So ha."

Damon moved before Elena could react, and grabbed the paper from her fingers.
"You mean this recipe?"

She made a jump for it, and he held it above his head.

"Oh, come on. You gotta do better than that, sweetheart."
Elena groaned, "You're kidding me."

She jumped again, and Damon winked, yelling, "Head's up Chris!" before tossing the paper to him.
He caught it easily, and Elena whirled to him, "Chris, give it back."

He glanced over it, moving it just as she made a grab for it.
"This doesn't even sound all that good," he insisted.

"Christian James! Give it back or you are grounded for the rest of your life."
She lunged, and he tossed it back to Damon.

"Come on, Elena," he teased, "You know that I could make it better anyway."
She crossed her arms, "I'm not going to admit that, because my pie will be kick ass! Now give me my recipe!"

He held it out to her, but when she reached for it, he threw it back to Christian.
"I'm going to kill both of you," she promised, dashing for Chris who had ran around the island.

Elena caught his arm, and pulled down on it, "Give!"

Chris struggled against her before extending the hand holding the paper to Damon.
"Take it!"

Damon laughed at Elena's face when he grabbed it.

She let go of Chris, growling, "You two suck!"
Chris chuckled, "It's for the good of the town!"

Damon nodded his agreement as Elena stuck out her tongue at them, "I hope everyone hates your pie."
"Not possible," Damon insisted, "Especially since Chris is gonna help me make it."

Chris smirked, "I am?"
"Yup."
He grinned, "Alright!"

Elena huffed loudly, shooting them death glares.

"Mom, just face it," Chris placed an arm on her shoulder, "You're outnumbered here."

She shook her head, "How is this even happening right now?"

Damon grinned, "It's a Salvatore thing, right Chris?"
Chris was smirking, "Right, Dad."

Damon blinked.
Elena's breath caught.
And Christian's eyes widened, as realization of what had just left his mouth hit him.

"I…I just mean that…" the boy seemed to stumble over his words, swallowing as a light blush began coloring his skin.

Damon crossed the room before could process what he was doing, and pulled his son into his arms.

Chris was stiff at first, then finally, he relaxed, his own arms wrapping around Damon's back.

Damon held him tighter, suddenly feeling the need to cry.
He swallowed, fighting it back.

Elena however, was showing no restraint, as he caught her eye over Christian's shoulder, tears were beginning to stream down her face, but she was smiling.

"Oh, boys," she whispered, "My boys."

I really loved writing that last scene!

I've been dying to reach this part of Damon and Chris's development!

Also, gonna be starting a little drama with Grayson soon!

Please review with opinions! :)