Hey, guys! I'm already back! I told you all it wouldn't be long. I finally have all of my inspiration back and I've been writing like crazy since. Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows for this story and all of my other ones! It honestly means so much to me and I promise I will continue writing one shots and stories about our favorite couple. Besides, it's fun. The only reason that last chapter took so long is because for some reason I was having major writers block on everything I was writing because I was stressed. But, now I feel so much better and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things.
I came back to you all with this chapter so fast because the other one was short and It didn't have Delena in it so I wanted to hurry up and give you all this since you've been so patient and kind with me.
Huge thanks to my beta. Go check out her stories for me; Salvatoreboys4ever
Enjoy! Lots of Delena.
The heat of the day has ebbed to a comforting warmth. The sunshine has lost its brightness and the colors of the verandah are softened. Elena's eyes drifted to the cool glass of champagne in her hand and the soft music dancing around in her ear drums, taking a drink. She laid her elbow on the table, her brown hair lying over one shoulder of her silk dress. She lolled her head to one side, pushing out her red lips in thought.
The mansion was beautiful. A large old-fashioned chandelier hung from the dark wooden beam that ran down the center of the ceiling. Twelve branches stretched out from the central base, each one's formerly silver color now tarnished with a brown hue. At the ends of each arm was a small space, just the right size for a thin candle to slot into, although only one of the spaces were filled. The feeble glow of that singular candle did a measly job of lighting the room, instead the faint glow only illuminated the chandelier itself and a small section of the barely rotting ceiling.
Music filled the air without effort, like the waves filling holes in beach sand; the sound rushing in and around every person in the room. Some react to the slow tempo while others continued to chatter, but it spoke to them in some manner. And by the way the couples were dancing, they couldn't possibly ignore it. The girls continued their dance, and to the old pedagogue every movement was full of poetry. They advanced, retreated, their arms waving from side to side, their heads swaying, their garments fluttering and dresses moving with the wind, yet seeming to show glimpses of dark, flashing eyes beyond. A lively beat can lift them, elevate the spirit, or move them to dance, whilst a slow one can relax the mood. Before the notes filled the air every person was an island, with it they all feel the same tidal flows and the beginnings of togetherness feels warm like a welcoming hug.
A grin spread over Elena's face in the next moment, wide and open, showing her over-whitened teeth. Emily began dancing to the music, throwing her hands in the air to the slow beat of the music. Her entire being moved with a purposeful clarity even as an unbalanced child. Her loud giggles softened the room able to be heard plainly through the halls, as if her gentle sound could make the lamplight more golden and the fires burn warmer. Her smile only grew wider when she caught a glimpse of Matt and Elena staring at her.
"What, mommy?" Emily asked, grinning from ear to ear as her cheeks flushed under their gazes. She stopped dancing and curled her hands under her chin, looking back and forth between the couple, slightly embarrassed she had been caught in her own little world.
"Nothing, baby. Me and..." Elena paused, stopping herself from the name she was able to call her boyfriend. They had discussed this for weeks and even agreed when Emily asked they would tell her a little white lie. She would rather have Emily think Matt was her biological father than have to explain why he real father wasn't around. She couldn't bear to see the heartbreak on her baby girls' face when she told her Damon didn't want her.
But, now, it felt weird and out of place. The thought of Matt being referred to as "Daddy" or "Dad" from Emily seemed unreal. She had always imagined Damon in his place and Damon being the one to raise their daughter right by her side. Of course, that was all blown to hell but it was surreal.
She chickened out. Emily could decide if she wanted to call Matt "Daddy".
"...Matt were just looking at you dance, baby. Do you mind if we do?"
Elena faked a smile, not knowing if it was for Emily or Matt who was staring right at her.
Hiding her emotions weren't her. And, she had a feeling her daughter would know her smile wasn't genuine. She just hoped it wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass later.
Emily's cheeks turned redder and she shrugged in return to her mother's question. She walked over to the table and sat in a chair in the middle of Matt and Elena. She looked over behind Elena and turned her head back to the table, fidgeting with the ends of the table cloth, suddenly nervous.
Elena opened her mouth to ask Emily what was wrong but was abruptly cut off when a voice filled the air from behind her.
"Elena?"
She turned, smiling when she saw Mason standing there, a nervous grin spread across her lips as if already asking her what he wanted.
"Would you mind coming with me for a minute?"
She nodded wordlessly and stood from the table. She tilted her head back to the little girl, swaying her feet, moving the table cloth and blew her a kiss.
"Mommy will be back in a few baby. Be good and listen to Matt."
Emily smiled and waved back without responding, watching her mother walk away with her boss. She turned her head, licking her lips nervously when she saw Matt talking to a man, his gaze turned away from her. She silently hopped off of her seat and tip toed away before disappearing from sight.
The walk back from Mason's office was silent until they had went their separate ways giving her a silent thanks. She was done for the night. He had promised he didn't need for something else and advised her to enjoy the rest of her night with her family instead of being his maid and wasting all of her time when she could be spending it with her daughter. She couldn't do anything but smile to herself at the fact she had landed herself with the perfect boss that actually cared about what his employees thought of him and treated them with respect unlike some of the business men walking around in his mansion.
Her body suddenly tensed, the muscles under her skin tightening. She turned and looked behind her shoulder to make sure she wasn't in any danger, not that anyone would want to kidnap or hurt her anyways but she wanted to be sure. When she saw nothing, Elena started walking back to the table where Matt and Emily had been at in the previous minutes.
When she reached the empty table, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Her initial thought was that Matt had taken her to the restroom but it quickly vanished when she realized Matthew had never taken Emily to the restroom nor even seen her in the bath when she was washing Emily's body. He always felt it would be wrong to see a child not his naked, to which Elena appreciated. At least then, she wouldn't be paranoid her boyfriend would hurt her daughter but now it only alarmed her since her was strongly opposed to taking her anywhere with her mother.
Instead of pulling out her phone and impatiently waiting for his text back, Elena went off in search of Emily and Matt alone.
She ran through the list of places it could be in her mind, checking off the ones she had already been too. As Elena scanned the crowd in the science museum she suddenly realized she could see no sign of them. She started to move amongst the families, her eyes darting more wildly with each passing second, noticing any toddler with a glint of blue, hoping it was her blue sundress. The more anxious she became the more pronounced became her intellectualization of the whole process.
Her daughter was missing.
Her feet began to gradually pick up with each step she took, her fear washing in with her blood, turning it cold to the touch.
She was ready to start screaming for Emily, not caring if she made a scene when she heard the tiniest but recognizable voice behind her.
"Mommy?"
Her head instantly whipped around at the sound, her body following moments later. And, her breath of relief at the sight of Emily, smiling soon died off when she realized that it wasn't Matt holding her.
The first thing she noticed was breathing taking crystal blue eyes, mirroring Emily's. But instead of welcoming and warm, they were uninviting and glinting with mischief. He had strong arched brows and eyelashes so thick, it could be illegal. He appeared before her, in all his grandeur. A tailored black suit and black trousers with a charming red tie, a white button up shirt hiding just beneath the jacket. His physique well muscular and perfectly proportioned and no doubt well admired by the opposite sex. His soft, feather-like black hair brushed away from his brow. He had distinct cheekbones and an angular jaw, his pale skin made him look devilishly handsome.
Damon.
There was an ache that comes and goes, always returning in quiet moments at the thought of him... but now, it was brutally painful to see him standing in front of her and their daughter wedged in between his right arm and chest.
The nausea swirled unrestrained in her empty stomach. Her head swam with half-formed regrets. Her heart felt as if the blood had become tar as her heart struggled to keep a steady beat. The heartache was like a red hot coal placed in her chest; it glowed and burnt her at the same time, but it did not cool quickly like in water, it throbbed and tortured her in all her walking hours and there was no relief to be found.
In his arrogant triumph at her look of anger, he smirked - just a small pouting of the lips; a narrowing of the eyes and a tilting of the head on his god like face. He seemed amused at the way she regarded him, which only served to make her angrier.
"Give me my daughter." Elena demanded through clenched teeth, her blood boiling like liquid fire inside of her body.
In response, Damon turned his head to the child in his arms. His smirk was now gone, only a look of question on his face. "Do you care if I hold you, Emily? You don't mind do you?"
Emily silently shook her head, answering his question only making Elena's hands clench into balled fists at his antagonizing behavior. He knew exactly what he was doing. Emily had no real grasp of what was going on around her or who was holding her and the fact that Damon thought he could just waltz back into their lives and just take Emily from her, was all the more infuriating.
"I want you to put down my daughter. Now. She's not your little plaything. You can't have her and throw her out when you're bored."
Damon's mouth twitched at what she was hinting at but played with the ends of Emily's raven black hair, ignoring Elena's statement.
"And, it doesn't help the fact that you kidnapped my daughter. Just hand her over to me and we won't have any problems, Damon."
His eyebrows raised, obviously shocked. "Elena, I did not kidnap anyone. I found Emily wandering around looking for someone named "Damon" so what a coincidence it would be that I heard and stumbled upon her."
"Yes, what a coincidence that would be." she snapped back, crossing her arms.
"She's quite the looker. Very beautiful..." Damon replied, turning his attention back to Elena who in return was fuming that Damon had even found Emily. He sighed and raised an eyebrow, his face void of emotion. "She looks a lot like her father doesn't she?"
Elena's breath hitched in her throat, the fear traveling in her veins but made sure it never made it to her facial muscles or skin. His complexion remained pale and matt, his eyes as steady as if he were shopping for shoes. She couldn't show it though. That was probably what Damon wanted to see.
But, it didn't stop her from taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart.
"Damon, please, don't do this." Elena begged, taking a step towards Damon and Emily. "Just give her to me, please."
His eyes flashed with indignation and anger, his crystal blue orbs turning dark.
"I can hold my daughter if I want too. She's mine. Or, did you seem to forget that? Just because you hate me doesn't mean I can't hold my daughter."
Emily's eyes widened, her head whipping around at Damon, her mouth open, teary eyed.
"You're my daddy?"
Both parents turned to the child, astonished at what just came out of Damon's mouth. Elena went to correct his mistake but was abruptly cut off when another voice stepped into the hallway with them.
"Elena, what's going on?"
The brunette sucked in a breath, terrified of the person that had found them. God knows what he just heard. More problems that she just didn't have time for.
She responded immediately, thinking on her feet before looking to the man. "Nothing's going on, Matt. I was just talking to one of Mason's employees about tonight."
Damon rolled his eyes at her lie and silently put Emily down on the floor in case something went down for whatever reason. But, he didn't fail to miss the blue eyed child still staring at him with awe at his revelation. He walked in front of Elena and sized the man up and down, smirking in amusement before turning his gaze back to Elena.
"Is this the boyfriend, Elena? The one I've heard about?"
Elena glared at him and faked a smile, nodding. "Yes, this is Matt. And, now it's time to leave." Elena reached down to grab Emily but was shocked to see when Emily hit her hands away from her.
"No, don't leave. The party hasn't even begun yet. Matt, is it? I'm guessing short for Matthew?"
Matt opened his mouth to respond but Damon continued. "I just want to know something. Tell me if you know my name."
Matt crossed his arms, obviously annoyed with Damon and his antics, just as Elena was.
"Damon Salvatore."
Matt seemed confused for a moment and he looked to Elena before the name sat in his mind and his eyes squinted at Damon, realization dawning on him.
"I'm Elena's husband. Nice to meet you."
"Damon!" Elena chastised. She couldn't believe he just said that. Did he only come back around to make her life hell again? It seems like that's all he's wanted to do at least.
"What?" Matt asked, angry tears in his eyes, walking over to Elena. He stopped a few feet away from her and Emily, his mouth wide open. "You told me you left him. You told me he was gone. You told me you divorced him! Why would you lie to me?"
Elena's face fell and turned pale, knowing she had been caught. She never expected it to come out this way. Or at all. In a perfect world, she wanted to just pretend that she was a single women with a baby living a happy life. But, now she was in danger of losing it all because of her past.
"Matt-"
"No, Elena!" Matt yelled over her not saying another word before turning around and walking away from the hallway, no doubt heartbroken and angry.
Guilt started eating at Damon's inside, his blood turning cold like ice from his actions. He regretted every word he had said previously, wishing he could redo or take it back.
He turned to Elena and Emily, opening his mouth to speak but was promptly cut off when her palm landed on his right cheek causing his head to snap to the side and his flesh to turn red.
He looked back at Elena and his heart clenched terribly at the sight before him. Hot, angry tears coursed down her cheeks and dripped from her stubbled, wobbling chin. Her eyes continued filling with tears glistening in the light, bouncing sadness through the atmosphere.
"Don't Damon." Elena spat, pointing a finger accusingly at him. "This is all your fault. Stay away from me and my family. We don't want you!"
She turned away without caring the affect of what her words did on him and picked up her screaming daughter that wanted her father, walking away from the hallway without a glance back as Emily kicked in her arms yelling at her mother to go back.
Emily's scream died down as they walked farther away from Damon, leaving him alone once again with an aching heart.
Cliffhanger. I'm sorry. I can't help it.I already know what's going to happen next so I do want that out soon. So, I'll get right on it because I'm so excited for what's coming up! Tell me your thoughts and all that below. I would love to hear them. I just wanted to squeeze this in because I'll be studying for a couple days for an upcoming test so I doubt I will have time to get this in tomorrow so I just threw it in now.
I want to give a huge thanks and shoutouts to my amazing friends. I want you all to go check out their stories! I know they would love them; Salvatoreboys4ever, scarlett2112, VitsAsh, MovingOnIsNeverEasy, deepwater1978, Wilb, Mariah April May.
Bye. Love you all.