Elena sat in the middle of her living room floor while she quickly wrapped the presents she had gotten for Damon. Jeremy and Anna had agreed to help her out by trying their hardest to keep Damon busy, but knowing Damon, he'd pop up at anytime of the day which would ruin the surprise.

She had gotten him a total of three gifts. Although she knew it wouldn't compare with the however many gifts he had gotten her, she had to save the rest of her money for gifts for the rest of her family and friends. Working at the local coffee shop had been a good thing after all. She laughed as she remembered her first day of work. She had been hired as a waitress. On the first day, a customer came in asking for a regular glass of coke along with a rice crisp treat. She had gotten the order correct and was on the way to the customer when suddenly, a large roach darted across the floor, scaring Elena in the process. Within seconds the tray was flying through the air as the paper cup containing the coke busted on top of her head. Needless to say, she'd been the joke of the place for a while.

She let out a relieved sigh as she finished wrapping the rest of Damon's presents. At least she knew there was no way he'd be able to ruin the surprise now. All she had left to wrap was Matt, Caroline, Stefan, and Alaric, which meant that so far she had Damon, Aunt Jenna, Jeremy, and Anna finished.

Slowly, the living room door creaked open causing Elena to look around quickly. She grabbed her necklace assuring herself that whatever was in the house wouldn't be able to compel her into something she didn't want to do. She stood up slowly as she got into a low crouching position and made her way into the kitchen – being careful not to allow herself to enter any dark rooms or corners. Suddenly, she felt herself being brought into a body as a hand clamped around her mouth, stopping her screams.

"Show me mine," he whispered, "And I'll show you yours."

Damon dropped his hand from Elena's mouth as he laughed uncontrollably. One of the best things about being a vampire was super speed and the ability to remain silent, even while walking.

"Do you have any idea on how much you scared me!" Elena shouted as she walked away from Damon. Her heartbeat was slowly allowing itself to relax.

"I think I caught on as soon as you bit my hand," Damon smirked as he held up his hand, allowing her to see the perfect marking she had left him, "and judging by how fast your heart is beating, I'd say I scared you more than I had planned to."

"I thought you were a vampire!" Elena said as she smiled. Despite the fact that he had nearly killed her to death, she had to admit that it was amusing.

Damon coughed as he raised an eyebrow. "Last time I checked, I do still have fangs."

"You know what I meant," Elena said as she rolled her eyes and walked back into the living room with Damon following her.

"I'm guessing I was a second late," he pouted as he looked at the gifts under the tree they had previously decorated, "I knew I shouldn't have allowed Anna and Jeremy to take me into the bar. Damn you, alcohol."

Elena laughed as she took a seat on the couch and patted the spot next to her, signaling for Damon to take a seat as well. However, before he had the chance to sit down, she was back on her feet and rushing to the kitchen.

"Want some hot chocolate?" she called out as she buried her head into a cabinet.

"Although some Elena sounds pretty delicious right now, I guess hot chocolate will do. For now. Put vodka in mine," Damon smirked as he stretched his entire body across the couch and allowed himself to relax.

"Damon," Elena said as she grabbed two coffee cups from another cabinet and placed them on the island, "Aunt Jenna would not approve of you drinking in her house."

"Is Aunt Jenna home?" Damon said as he scanned the room, "Didn't think so. Besides, I'm old enough to drink alcohol. Even without vampire years, I'm still twenty-five. However, if you want to go into my vampire years...I think I'm 146 years old."

"I didn't know I was dating such an old man," teased Elena as she completely disappeared from Damon's sight.

"I like them young. Tighter," he found himself laughing as a roll of paper towels came flying from the kitchen, stopping suddenly as it bounced off of his head.

"You know you'd agree if you were in my place," smirked Damon as Elena appeared into the living room and handed him a steaming cup of hot chocolate, "Oh, little marshmallows. Delicious."

Elena laughed as she flashed him a full grin. "Could you get anymore cheesy?"

"Actually," he smiled as he licked the area around his lips, removing any lingering chocolate, "I could."

"Please, spare me," she replied quietly as she allowed herself to lean in Damon's arms which were waiting for her.

Normally, Damon Salvatore was not one down for the cuddling and cute stuff that couples did. Frankly, he could careless about the girl. His game was once the type of game that involved one night stands, one day drinks, and then one night of disposing of the body. But Elena was different. Elena was...well Elena. He found himself worrying about her every second of the day – even though he knew she could take care of herself. He found himself wanting to hold her and kiss on her, and not the sleazy type of stuff either, the whole I'm in love with you type of stuff. He smiled to himself as he realized that his feelings for Elena were stronger than any of the feelings he ever had for Katherine.

"What?" she asked as she allowed herself to look up at him before resting her head against his chest.

He ran his fingers through her dark hair as he planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "Nothing."

"Tell me," she demanded as she felt her eyes slowly closing.

"Just thinking," he replied quietly.

"About?" she mumbled. It was clear that she was falling asleep in his arms.

"You."

Damon waited for a reply but got nothing but silence. He slowly leaned his head over only to find Elena's eyes closed shut. He laughed to himself lightly as he continued to run his hands through her hair and sip on his hot chocolate. He was turning into a huge softy.

XxX

"Remind me again why I agreed to do this," groaned Jeremy as he followed behind Anna.

Anna had begged and begged him until he had agreed to accompany her to the local elementary school's Christmas play. However, seeing the look upon her face whenever he agreed made up for every ounce of displeasure he felt.

"Because, you love me," she whispered as she watched the kids perform with a large grin across her face.

"A Merry Christmas, Uncle! God save you!" called out a young boy who outstretched his hand towards and old man who appeared to be disgusted by the gift.

"Why doesn't he want it?" Anna whispered as she leaned over to Jeremy, never looking away from the scene on the stage.

"You've never seen this play before?" Jeremy whispered back as Anna shook her head sideways.

"It's about this old man who hates Christmas and is visited by three ghosts who change his mind," explained Jeremy.

"Humbug!" shouted the old man as he shook his fist angrily in the air, "I do. Merry Christmas! What is Christmas time but a time for buying things for which you've no need nor money. A time for finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer. What reason do you have to be Merry? You're poor enough."

Jeremy looked over to find Anna whipping away at tears that were falling from her eyes, causing him to laugh to himself. He used his thumb to bush away the remaining tears that had escaped Anna's fingers.

"Why are you crying?" he laughed.

"Because, it's so sad. He's being so mean to that poor child who wants nothing but a nice celebration with his family," she whispered softy.

"Come here," Jeremy whispered as he wrapped his arm around Anna and pulled her closer to him, allowing her to cry into his shoulder.

XxX

"It was nice of you to offer me dinner," Jenna smiled as she walked besides Alaric.

"I figured you could use a break from the teenagers," he laughed, "Although, they are all an extraordinary group if I do say so myself."

Jenna laughed along as she nodded to his statement. "Got that right. I never though I'd be good at this whole parenting thing. When the child services asked me if I would be the legal guardian, I was a bit unsure. I mean, I was fresh out of collage and barely twenty-two years old. But then they said if I didn't, that Elena and Jeremy would be split up and those poor kids had already lost enough. I couldn't let them lose each other."

"That was very brave of you," Alaric started, "Not many young women would take on such a responsibility."

"I know, I know," Jenna smiled as she looked down at the snow covered ground, "At first, I wasn't able to get through to Jeremy. He was barely fifteen at the time of his parents' deaths, and you know how it is at that age, every little problem makes you believe drugs could help. Elena, Elena kept more to herself. She quit a lot of things and became distant for a while, but after meeting the Salvatore brothers, she opened up a lot more and became the Elena she once was."

"They appreciate you. I've never really bonding with Jeremy, but Elena, Elena's a bright child and she loves you. She understands that you didn't have to take her in but you did it for her own good," Alaric smiled as he reached over and took hold of Jenna's hand, causing her to blush in the process.

"Elena told me how...her birth mother was your wife," Jenna said quietly. She instantly regretted the comment as Alaric lowered his head towards the ground.

"I'm sorry-" she started.

"No, no, it's fine. Isobel never informed me that she had a child. If she would have, I would have searched and searched until I found her. I would have helped her raise her. But Isobel wasn't that type of person. She was...selfish," he sighed as he remembered the way Isobel had treated Elena at their recent meeting.

"She's not much of an intelligent woman, if you ask me," smiled Jenna.

"And why's that?" Alaric asked as he smiled as well.

"Because," Jenna said as she looked up at him, "She let you go."

XxX

"You're awake," Damon smiled as Elena walked into the backyard, hugging herself tightly as the bitter cold hit her like a ton of bricks.

"What are you doing?" yawned Elena as she walked over to Damon's side.

"Building a snowman," he laughed as he looked at his pathetic excuse for a snowman.

"That's a snowman?" Elena laughed as she pointed to the pull of snow with two rocks used as eyes.

"It's my first try," muttered Damon as he tried to shape it up but failed miserably. Elena laughed even harder as she grabbed Damon and hugged him tightly as he found himself laughing along with her.

"Would you like some help?" she smiled as she kneeled down into the snow and slowly started rolling a ball of snow.

"I'd enjoy some," he smirked as he leaned down and scooped up a handful of snow as well.

Elena looked down as she made sure the snow was compacted together. Suddenly, she felt something wet hit her in the back of the head followed by the laughter of a male. Damon. She smirked to herself as she quickly spun around and threw the snow in her hand back at him with all her might. Her smirk quickly disappeared as Damon caught the snowball in his hand and smirked forcefully at her before throwing it back at her, hitting her straight in the leg.

"That's cheating!" she called out as she ran in the opposite direction of Damon.

"How so?" he whispered as he popped up in front of her, causing her to run right into him.

"Some of us don't have super vampire abilities," she said as she rolled her eyes, "Besides, a neighbor might see."

"Fine," Damon groaned as he turned his back to her and held up his right hand, "I, Damon Salvatore, promise not to use my abilities to my advance. I will kick Elena's ass fair and square."

Elena's mouth dropped as a third snowball flew at her, landing straight on her shoulder. Damon smirked at her before quickly grabbing two handfuls of snow and throwing both at her. She laughed as both snowballs impacted her at the exact same time. Quickly, she scooped up her own handful of snow while on the run. She smiled as she watched the snowball smack Damon straight in the face.

"Elena, don't hurt the merchandise," he smirked as he continued to chase after her.

XxX

"That was the best play I've ever seen," grinned Anna as she walked out of the elementary school with Jeremy at her side.

"Anna," he laughed at his girlfriend's enthusiasm, "that's the only play you've ever seen."

She was quiet for a moment before allowing herself to laugh along at her stupidity. "Well, even if I would have seen another play, I'd still say that it's the best one I've ever seen."

"Do you understand it now?" he asked as he grabbed her hand as she made their way down the snow covered sidewalk.

"Absolutely. I can't believe they made us think Tiny Tim was going to die! Those kids are extremely good actors and actresses," Anna smiled as she pictured the play in her mind once again.

"Seems like someone enjoyed themselves," he smiled as he looked down at Anna's large grin which symbolized her happiness.

"Oh, I did Jeremy. I want to spend every Christmas like this – for the rest of our damned lives," she said as she stopped him.

"What?" he asked, unaware of what was wrong with his girlfriend.

"I just realized something," she whispered with a small smile.

"What?" he repeated slowly.

"I get to be with you forever – literally."

XxX

"What on Earth is all that noise?" Jenna asked as she walked into the living room of the house, only to hear loud laughing noises as well as sounds of impact.

"Sounds like children," commented Alaric as he walked into the kitchen as Jenna checked the house for whatever could be causing the noise. Slowly, she stopped as a large smile appeared on her face as she looked out the kitchen window. Alaric followed her gaze only to find Damon and Elena chasing after each other with snowballs in each of their hands.

"I've never seen her so happy," Jenna whispered as she continued to watch the two, "As much as I want to hate Damon, after seeing him with Elena for the past weeks – how he acts around her, how he talks to her, it shows that Damon actually does have a heart."

"I've been knowing Damon for sometime now. And I'll be honest, I hated that bastard the moment we met. But, I do have to say, that when Damon's around Elena – that's as human as he'll ever seem," added Alaric.

"They're watching us, you know," smirked Damon as he caught up with Elena. Elena peeked over her shoulder to find Alaric and Jenna smiling at the two.

"Why?" she said in between breaths.

"They like to watch us together," he said with a small smile, "Because we're so happy together."

"Eavesdropping again?" she said with a sly smirk.

"Can't help it when I hear my name mentioned," he said with a raise of the eyebrow, "And nice smirk, I'm digging it."

Elena rolled her eyes as she felt herself being tackled into the snow and tickled forcefully by the handsome vampire she had grown to love.

XxX

read and review!

And if my story is all mixed up and confusing,

im sorry but for some reason when I upload it on FF,

it like takes away my separators. Lol