It was nearing sunset when Damon finally arrived back at Elena's house. She was lounging on the couch with Sollievo, flicking through TV channels when she heard him knock on the door. She glanced at the clock and frowned; 6:30pm. When he had said he would be back later, she didn't think he had meant seven hours later. Sighing she stood up and started for the door.
He was grinning when she opened it.
"You're late." She frowned.
"Technically not," he grinned. "I never said what time I would be over."
She clearly wasn't impressed. "I've been waiting for seven hours, Damon…!"
She squealed when he suddenly swept her up into his arms, carrying her out of the house, shutting the door and starting for his car in the orange light of the sunset.
"Believe me, sweetheart," he assured her as he placed her in the passenger seat, "This is going to be worth the wait."
She sighed, folding her arms across her chest. "It had better be. I've been all alone all day…"
He leaned over and kissed her lips softly, smiling when he pulled away. "Can you ever forgive me?"
She was clearly trying not to smile. "I suppose that all depends on what this surprise is."
He laughed and shut her door, getting in the driver's seat and starting the car. "I can promise that you're going to love it."
Elena raised an eyebrow, wondering just what Damon was positive that she would love.
VvvvV
"Alright, no peaking…"
Elena grinned. "I couldn't peak even if I wanted to! I can't see through your hands!"
Damon had pulled over of the side of the road quite randomly after about a half hour of driving, telling her they had to walk the rest of the way, but that she couldn't look, so he would lead her. Of course, Elena's already growing curiosity had spiked even more at this odd request, but she had agreed, wanting to find out just what it was that he had in store for her. After around seven minutes of walking under Damon's guidance, he halted. Immediately, the scent of roses wafted into her nose. "Can I look yet?" she asked, and Damon grinned. "One…two…three."
He slid his hands away from her eyes and down to her shoulders, and her eyes widened at the sight before her. In the middle of an absolutely gorgeous clearing was a blanket spread out, covered in rose petals, with a picnic basket waiting for them. Of course, Elena was finding it hard to believe it had taken Damon seven hours to do, unless he picked the roses himself, but it was an incredibly sweet gesture all the same.
"What's all this?" she giggled, beaming up at him.
He grinned and kissed her cheek. "I thought we could have a nice sunset picnic, and then spend the night out here, stargazing."
She grinned. "Romantic."
"Mm… I thought so." He said, nuzzling gently at her neck.
She giggled as he led her toward the blanket and they sat down. "What did you bring?" she asked.
"You're typical most romantic food," he grinned, opening the basket and pulling something out. "Chocolate covered strawberries."
"Ooh…" Elena grinned as he leaned over, feeding her one. "Mm…"
Damon grinned. "Good?"
"Obviously," she giggled.
They continued to eat the strawberries until the sun was completely gone, being replaced by thousands of twinkling stars overhead. Elena lay down on the blanket, and smiled when Damon lit several candles around the blanket and then moved to lie down beside her. "Do you realize how beautiful you are?" he whispered, brushing he cheek gently with his fingertips.
She shut her eyes and leaned into his touch. "Well, you seem to frequently realize it enough for the both of us."
He chuckled and leaned over, softly kissing her lips. Elena kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and deepening it. She squealed, bursting into a peal of giggles when he rolled on top of her and began to kiss his way down her neck, growling and playfully nuzzling her. Elena, becoming a bit annoyed with his delaying, pulled his lips back to hers and began to unbutton his shirt.
"Mm… wait." He muttered against her lips, pulling away.
She pouted. "Why? You couldn't have possibly brought me out here just to look at the stars…?"
He grinned. "No, I didn't. I brought you out here to give you your surprise."
She frowned in confusion. "I thought this was my surprise?"
His grin widened. "You can come out!" he called, and Elena's frown deepened. "What are you talking about…?"
Her eyes widened when Damon moved to sit beside her. "Oh, my God!" she cried, jumping up in shock.
"Elena!"
She was hit with astonishing force as a group of people ambushed her, hugging her and laughing. Bonnie, Caroline, and Matt were all hugging her and talking over each other, with Elena, beaming, in the center of it all. "What are you guys doing here?" she cried.
Matt grinned. "Damon called us last night and told us how much you missed us. We were all just waiting for an excuse to rush home and see you…"
"Seeing as though you haven't been answering our texts," Caroline said, frowning as she backed up to give Elena some room, as did Matt and Bonnie. "I'm considering not giving you your present from Paris just for you ignoring me…"
Elena's eyes widened. "You brought me something… from Paris?"
"Obviously," Caroline gushed, smiling full on again. "What kind of a friend would I be if I went all the way to France and didn't bring you all back extravagant gifts?"
Bonnie raised an eyebrow. "And just how extravagant are we talking?"
"Well," Klaus stepped forward, "I happen to have paid for them, so price really wasn't an issue…"
Bonnie, Elena and Matt's eyes all widened at the mention of "Price not being an issue." If that was the case, and Caroline was on a shopping spree in Paris…
"You didn't buy me an entire store, did you?" Elena asked, suddenly a bit nervous.
"As tempted as I was, no. Come on, we left them back at your house, Elena!" Caroline was gone in a flash, and Elena sighed, raising an eyebrow at Damon. He grinned. "We can finish our picnic some other night."
She smiled and walked over, taking his hand as he stood up. "Thank you."
He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "You're welcome."
VvvvV
"Open them! Hurry, hurry, hurry," Caroline squealed, bouncing up and down on Elena's couch beside Klaus as the other four sat in front of their large boxes and gift bags. Damon was a bit surprised that he had received a gift from Caroline, but grateful just the same. "Bonnie first," Caroline insisted.
Bonnie raised an eyebrow but shrugged, pulling the tissue paper out of her gift bag. "Oh, wow…" Bonnie said with her eyes wide as she pulled out a rather extravagant diamond and garnet pendant. "It's… beautiful, Care." She didn't want to know how expensive it had been.
Caroline beamed. "We were walking through the biggest jewellery store in France, and it positively screamed you. Plus, I thought, since it's a crystal, it might have some kind of witchy power harnessing thing…"
Bonnie smiled and hugged Caroline. "It's perfect. I don't know how to thank you."
Caroline grinned. "You can thank me by wearing it more often than on special occasions like my mom is insisting on wearing the bracelet I got her…"
Bonnie nodded. "I promise."
"Good. Open yours now, Matty!" Caroline said, grinning.
Matt opened his box, and looked a bit confused. "This is… a great picture of a car, Care."
Caroline laughed. "It's not just a picture, Matt."
Matt grew even more confused, and then he dropped the picture in shock as realization dawned on him. "You didn't. You didn't…!"
Caroline giggled and Klaus pulled a set of keys out of his jacket pocket. Matt looked like he had stopped breathing. "You bought me a car…?"
Caroline nodded. "We both thought you could use a new one; that pickup truck has seen better days, and living in the capital of our country kind of calls for you to have a sports car…"
Matt jumped up and ran over, hugging Caroline and spinning her around. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He looked at Klaus, his eyes sincere. "Thank you."
Klaus shrugged and Caroline laughed, returning Matt's hug. "You're welcome. You've worked so hard the past few years; you deserve it."
Matt grinned and backed up, and Caroline looked at Damon and Elena, her eyes glinting with excitement. "You two need to open yours together."
Elena raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Caroline rolled her eyes as if it should be obvious. "Because the go together, duh!"
Elena glanced at Damon. He shrugged and picked up the large box Caroline had placed in front of him. Elena did the same, and they both ripped off the paper and opened their boxes. They looked at each other and Damon raised an eyebrow as they both pulled out identical keys. Damon glanced at Caroline. "Did you buy us a car, too?"
Caroline giggled. "Nope." She glanced at Klaus. "You should tell them; it was your idea."
He grinned at the confused pair in front of them. "Well, while we were in France, Caroline and I decided to buy a villa, and it's really quite amazing, but we won't be using it anymore…"
"We're going to Italy after we finish up here," Caroline added in, beaming.
"So, since we no longer require it… we've decided to give it to the two of you."
Elena's eyes widened, and Damon looked shocked.
"You're giving us… a house?" Elena gasped.
"A mansion." Caroline corrected, grinning. "With cobblestone pathways, a rose garden, a marble in ground pool and hot tub, not to mention the entire house is made from beige sandstone; it's gorgeous!" She grinned wider. "And now it's all yours!"
Damon and Elena were obviously speechless. Klaus grinned at Caroline. "I told you they would be shocked."
"Care… this is too much…" Elena protested feebly.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Can't you just thank me and accept it?"
Elena smiled and rushed up to her friend. "Thank you!"
Later that night, while the girls were up in Elena's room, gossiping and catching up, Klaus pulled Damon aside when Matt went to the bathroom. "I got you a little gift of my own, too."
Damon raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Klaus grinned. "You'll thank me when you see it, believe me."
Damon frowned in confusion. "What is it?"
Klaus chuckled. "Let's just say, Elena's going to look ravishing in it."
A grin pulled at Damon's lips; maybe Klaus wasn't such a bad guy, after all…