Chapter 15 – Can we be saved?

Elena drove towards her home. She knew it was probably a rough move but she needed to see them, him. She knew the way by heart. She remembered how she used to eagerly drive that road, impatient to get home to her family. That very family she had walked away from, without even looking back or thinking twice. And here she was now, sneaking around to see that very family again, her heart full of regrets of a decision she took without realizing the depth of it all.

Soon enough, the house appeared in view, and Elena felt herself grow more and more stressful yet, somehow, she couldn't wait to get closer.
After parking her car on the roadside, Elena got out and started walking through her house's walkway. She could make it, she told herself.
She heard giggling and felt her heart swell. She would recognize her little girl's voice anywhere. Turning in the corner, there they were. Of course, they could not see her yet. She started making her way towards them but stopped suddenly.
Damon.
There he was with a laughing Michael on his back.
"I want to be on daddy's shoulders too!" yelled a pouting Sophia. The sight of her family in front of her made Elena smiled, a genuine smile, not the one she had been faking for so long. They were there, at some steps from her. All she had to do was get out of that hidden corner and she'd have her kids.
But she could not move.
"Okay everyone. Soph, let's leave those boys. Time to get that dress" said a smiling Caroline, coming out of the house. HER house, Elena thought. It was horrible but she was jealous of her best friend.
"Yeah Auntie Caroline, let's have a girls' day!", exclaimed an over-excited Sophia. Elena felt her heart break into pieces. "Girls' day" was how she and Sophia would always call their mother-daughter time. And though she knew she was the one to blame for leaving all that behind, she could not stop the tears from falling.
"Okay dad, let's go. I am bored. Let's go already, Uncle Steffi is waiting." wailed a clearly bored William.
William, her son had not changed a bit. He was even more the spitting image of his dad, physically and behaviorally.

They look so happy, Elena thought. She could not go there. She would ruin everything, she already did once. All of Damon's words ran into her mind.
"While you figure yourself out, I'll repair the damages you've done here." And he seemed to have been able to. Her children looked happy, and her walking out there would ruin all of that, she was certain of it. She hid herself more; making sure no one would see her.

"Hmm actually, I have something to do. You go along with your aunt Caroline; I'll join you guys as soon as I am done." She heard Damon say.
She watched Caroline take care of her kids, watched them interact with her just like they used to be with her. She knew she was hurting herself but she could not tear her gaze away. She watched as Caroline's car drove away with her children, feeling helpless,

"You still suck at sneaking around, even after all these years", she heard him say, and she was taken aback. He knew. He knew she was there. He had seen her.
"Damon…" she said, coming clear in front of him.