A/N: Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed! You guys are amazing! Especially for you, I updated way faster then I normally would! I hope you all like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own the vampire diaries.

Chapter 13

Like Damon told her, they were home at noon. When they left the jet, their taxi was already waiting to take them home again.

Home. She couldn't believe she was already back. She didn't even get the time to call Caroline and tell her she was back, already. Not that Caroline would mind, she would probably be very happy that her best friend was 'finally' home.

She would see Stefan again. Maybe it was weird, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to living with him. The boarding house was his house too, she couldn't throw him out. The thing she worried about the most was the fact that there would probably be some kind of weird tension between them. She never really got the chance to say goodbye to him. The last time she saw him was at school, back then, they were still together. She wanted to stay close friends with him, but she wasn't sure if that was still a possibility.

Of course, she would need to see her dad too, and she wasn't sure she was ready for it. After all, she still hadn't entirely forgive him. It was true, she had thought about it, but at the moment, she didn't feel like she was ready to. He'd hurt her a big time. She actually wanted him to suffer for it, but deep down, she wasn't the person to do it. He was her father and she didn't really want to hurt him. She knew how it felt and it definitely wasn't a nice feeling, not at all.

Suddenly she felt an arm being wrapped around her waist, when she looked up, Damon was staring into her eyes. He looked a little bit worried, though that wasn't the only expression she could read. His eyes were full of lust, too, as usual. She really could get used to his new attitude.

Before she could register it, his lips were tightly pressed on hers and he started nibbling on her bottom lip. She moaned softly against his lips, all her thoughts were gone and she finally started to relax again. This was what she needed and he knew it. After all the stress and worries, it was like coming home again.

She slowly separated her lips, letting his tongue enter so he could explore her mouth. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and pulled him closer, while deepen the kiss. She took over the lead and started battling him. As much as she liked his sweet side, she liked his rough side even more. He happily took the invitation and they fought for dominance. Neither of them wanted to lose, they both liked challenges and they both were very bad losers.

She still hadn't forgotten their former bet, thoughts of it still tasted gross cause she lost it. Losing was really the last thing she wanted, certainly when it included Damon. Winning of him gave her a real feeling of victory.

The kiss got heated up even more and she could feel him growing harder against her lower body. Her juices were now floating heavily and she grow more wet with every single touch.

It wasn't until then she reminded they were still sitting in a cab. The driver would probably think they'd lost their minds or something. She immediately pulled back, her eyes growing wider. How did this happen so fast again? Why the hell did he have such a strong effect on her? She totally forgot about everything, even their problems. The kiss had been relaxing but it was also wrong, so wrong. She needed to think about Jeremy instead of her own pleasure.

A horrified expression washed over her face and she could see he was thinking about the same thing when he started smirking. He slowly came closer again, "We should do that more often," he purred into her ear.

She quickly pushed him away and he started laughing. "It's not funny," she said annoyed, even when she was trying her best not to laugh herself.

"I can ensure you, it is. You had to see your face." His smirk grow even wider and he looked at her like she was some kind of delicious plate of food.

"Damon! We can't let this happen again, not in a cab."

"Oh, so when we're alone it's okay?" he asked still smirking, very much liking her new ideas.

"I dunno," she answered innocently. Of course she wouldn't mind but she wasn't gonna tell him that.. It was worse enough already.

"You're such a bad liar, Elena. You should know that by now." He looked proud of himself and she didn't like it at all. He and his huge ego, couldn't he act normal? Though it was because of that he was never boring, she couldn't even be bored when he was around. It was just impossible, he always did something to make her world go upside down.

She deliberately didn't answer, knowing he was actually right. Not wanting to feed his ego even more, she just turned around again and started staring out the window. She expected him to throw her another comment but he didn't, and she was actually glad about it. At the moment, she had lose of words again, which started to get a habit lately. However when he was around, it was only worse.

When they finally arrived at her 'old' house, she was full of nerves. Her relaxed feeling had disappeared and a more tense one had showed up instead. The thought of really seeing her father again, had everything to do with it. As much as she wanted to say it didn't matter to her, it did. She did care about him even if she didn't want to at the moment.

"You should try to relax a bit, Elena. You're looking like you wanna run away any moment."

"Maybe I want to."

"Could be right but as much as I would love to leave too, we have to talk to your dad. It's important and you know it."

"We've to talk to Jeremy. He's the one in troubles."

"You know well enough Jeremy's still a teenager, he needs his father. So we've to speak to him too. And to be honest, I think you should talk to him, about more than only Jeremy's currently new situation. You should try to forgive him, Elena. I know you want to, you just have to admit it. Be better than him, don't hurt anyone."

"Even if he deserves it?"

"Certainly when he deserves it. I know he hurt you, but I also know it hurts you even more that you're fighting with him."

"I never told you that."

"It's obvious. By now, I can read parts of your expressions, Elena. You're very good at hiding your emotions but you have them and sometimes, they show up more than you would want them to."

"Still. I'm not ready to talk to my dad, let's not even think of forgiving him. I'm not gonna pretend like everything's just fine, it isn't. He knows that too."

"I never said you should do that. Just think about it, will you? I don't want to see you unhappy." He said it so plainly, yet with so many passion behind it. It meant more to Elena than she would ever admit. He wanted her to feel happy, he really wanted that, she could see it in his eyes. Though, she knew there was something between them, she didn't know he cared that much about her.

Even after all the time they spent together, she still didn't know what exactly she meant to him. She was good at hiding her emotions and feelings, but so was he. Sometimes she could see him through, but that wasn't as often as she wanted to. She always hoped, one day, she would truly know him. But she had some kind of feeling, she would never really be able to do that. He was way to mysterious for that matter.

It was nice that he was mysterious, but sometimes really annoying too. She could try as hard as she wanted to, but when he was hiding something, she couldn't get through him. Their relationship had made a lot of progress during the last few days, still there were unresolved secretes between them. They both kept secrets and they both needed to work on their relationship.

After all, it was getting a real relationship, she was finally starting to trust him, even if she still didn't know everything. One day, they would be closer together and she would know him better. But for now, she was happy with their progress and she wasn't gonna complain. Things were going pretty well, no pun intended. Their relationship was increasing and they were definitely bonding.

They still had a long way to go, but eventually they would get at their destination. Why she was so sure of it? She didn't have a clue. The only thing she knew was that she had fate in them, in him. Whatever people would tell her, there was something about him, something pretty good. If he wanted to, he could be an amazing person, the person who she loved.

"I hate to ruin the moment but we should go inside. You're freezing," he told her quietly, not wanting to wake her up from her trance. She was finally relaxing and he was afraid she would get all winded up again, when she realized she needed to talk to her father.

"Okay," she answered just as quietly, she still wasn't ready for this. But she would probably never be. It was the best to just get it over with.

When Damon pushed on the door bell, chills went through her body. She was going to see her father again, the man that changed her entire life with just one sentences. Even if it turned out not to be the worst decision in the world, if it was meant to be, she would have made the decision all by herself, just some time later. When she was really ready for it, not when her father thought she was ready.

She couldn't stop thinking about what would've happened if he'd chosen some other guy, some bad guy. How the hell could he have knowing they matched together?

Suddenly the door went open and all her thoughts disappeared at the same time when her father stood right in front of her, a big smile came across his face. "Elena honey, I'm so happy you're finally back. I missed you so much!" he almost screamed before hugging her tightly. She didn't return the hug, she just stayed in the same position, a bit overwhelmed by what was happening.

After a couple seconds he let her go again and looked her in the eye, she could read the hurt but tried not to think of it. Whatever her heart told her, she wasn't ready. Her brains were not ready to give in, not ready to forgive the person in front of her, the man she loved even more than herself. Time, she told herself, time would solve their problems, and a good talk too, maybe.

"Come in," John said friendly when he recovered from his state of shock. He didn't think his daughter would still be that mad at him, of course she had the right to be, he wasn't gonna discuss that. But she never stayed mad at him for more than a day, this was definitely longer than a day. It was too long, he missed his little girl. He missed his daughter, the woman that made him more proud than anything could ever have.

"How have you been?" he asked her when they were inside.

"Better. Certainly now my baby brother is in big troubles," she said sarcastically. "I really don't understand what got into him. How could he be so irresponsible?"

"I know, honey. But he didn't choose this. It happened and he can't ever take it back. He can only try to live with it, make the best of it."

"Like you made the best of my life, you mean?"

"Elena, please let not discuss this now. I know we need to talk but important things first, and that's your brother at the moment."

"Like usual, huh?"

"You were always important to me, Elena. You're my daughter, the only thing I wanted for you was happiness."

"And you decided that I wasn't capable of finding my own happiness?"

"I never said that. I never meant that either, I just wanted to help fate a little, nothing else."

"Please. Do you actually hear yourself? I'm not taking it, father. You did this for yourself and for no one else, as a father, you have the duty to make your children happy. Not to ruin their lives." All her anger came together and floated into this exact sentences, for her to only then remember, that her husband was standing beside her. She didn't dare to look at him, with the knowing he'd be hurt. What the hell did she say? Her life wasn't ruined, Damon made her finally happy.

"I'm gonna leave the two of you alone, so you can talk," Damon told her briefly, not making eye contact before leaving the room.

When he was gone, she could feel the tears welling up into her eyes, she didn't mean to hurt him. She loved him, she wanted him to be happy too. Wait, she loved him? Yeah, now she was sure, she did. It hurt her more than anything to know she made him feel bad, she harmed him badly with her words. Though her anger for her father was real, she didn't have the right to hurt her husband.

"Elena, I think you should talk to him," her father said suddenly, reminding her he was still there.

"It can wait, we first need to talk. With that, I mean really talk, about everything. Even the parts that will hurt both of us, we need to clear this out before I can return without bad feelings."

"Do you even understand how good he is to you? I didn't choose him without a reason, Elena."

"What do you mean?"

"I may have told him I would find a husband for you, no matter what his answer was. But I never would've actually chosen someone else than him. I've always seen those little sparks between the two of you, Elena. You're meant to be, if I hadn't brought the two of you together, you would've found him eventually. But that meant you needed to be hurt first, otherwise you would never even look at him the way you do now. I didn't want you to be hurt, so I helped fate a little bit. Only for your sake, not for mine. You got to understand that, honey."

"You told him you would search someone else if he didn't agree?"

"Yeah, I kinda may have told him I would ask Mason Lockwood."

"Mason? That bastard?"

"I knew he was a bastard, if Damon was really the kind of guy I thought he was, he wouldn't let me do that to you. Turned out I was right all along, he didn't let me. Though he tried everything to talk me out of all this, he told me you needed to make a decision like that on your own, he said you still needed to live your life."

"He did?" she asked in disbelief. All that time she thought he just did it out of boredom or selfishness, but he just did it cause he wanted to save her from her own father?

"He did. It was then I knew for sure he would be good for you, he thought about your life too, not only about himself. It gave me fate, just enough to let you actually marry him. I've to say I'm glad I did it back then, you're really cute together."

"You haven't even seen us together. But what did you mean by fate? How could you know we were meant to be together?"

"Easily, have you ever seen the way he looks at you? The way he smiles when you talk to him? Or better, the way you react when he's around you? You're completely yourself and still, he accepts you. He likes that part of you and even if you don't want to admit it, you've always liked him too. It was obvious for me, when you looked at him, there was always some kind of fire in your eyes. The fire your mother had when we were together. I'm sorry if I've hurt you, Elena. But I couldn't let this chance go away, the chance for you, the chance of happiness for my little girl."

"What if it ended bad? What if he didn't turn out to be the one you thought he was?"

"He did, didn't he? He turned out to be the one I thought he was and he's already making you happy. You can say whatever you want, honey, but I can see how you look at him, how you looked totally devastated when you thought about what you just said."

"That was again, your fault."

"I didn't say the words."

"No, but you made me angry. You made me say things I didn't entirely mean. I'm angry and you did ruin my life in some kind of way, you took a way my chance to make my own decisions. But you didn't ruin my life by choosing Damon, that's maybe the only positive thing about this all."

"Like I said, he's making you happy already."

"Yeah, and I just made him feel pretty bad and hurt. So thanks a lot, dad."

"Elena, go talk to him. Our talk really can wait some more, first things first, right? He's more important than our little talk. Jeremy isn't running away, neither is his child. We can talk tonight, when everyone's calmed down again. He and Anna aren't home, by the way. They're out shopping, looking for baby stuff."

"So he really means it with the girl?"

"Yeah, I think he does. Now, do you mean it with Damon?"

"I think so."

"Well, then go talk to him. Tell him what you told me, I'm sure he'll understand you." She hesitated for a second, she really needed to talk to her father. "It can wait, Elena. Now go!" her father pushed again, almost reading his daughter's thoughts.

She slowly nodded and started running towards the door, hoping she wasn't too late. Hoping Damon would forgive her.

A lot has changed. Elena's finally realizing she really does love him. Though she's still not quite ready to admit her feelings towards him, not to him personally. Also forgiving her father isn't easy. But now she finally knows the truth behind his actions, will she be able to forgive him for what he has done? More importantly, will Damon forgive her for what she said?

You know what to do if you wanna know it. I also answer to guesses ;)

I'm also officially searching a second beta so if anyone's interested. Let me know.

The next update will probably take a little longer. I'm having a surgery on wednesday so I dunno when I can update again. Maybe I'll update wednesday morning but I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, Have a nice week everyone!

Xoxo