A/N; I want to apologize in advance for the pain and the angst in this chapter. It hurt me to write Damon in any kind of pain but I just went with the flow and felt that this was what he would be showing in this circumstance. So I did my best to capture how real and open his feelings would be. I promise you these are absolutely Damon's babies but his first reaction is not all 100% positive. So please bear with me it will be worth it. He is not nearly the tough and cocky guy that he is portrayed in TVD but I think this is an accurate representation of where he and Elena are at in their relationship.

Oh and one thing. I am curious with my readers if you have liked the way any sexual situations have been written thus far? I am asking mostly because my highschool age daughter loves my stories and has been reading them too and so I am shying away from graphic words and so far have not done much oral anything either. I want to make the lemons tasteful and yet still smoking hot so please let me know if you have liked it as it is or if you would like it to be more detailed or more creative and detailed. I really value your opinions all of you so I would love to hear what you think.

Lastly, this chapter is dedicated to "1 fan". A guest reviewer who just posted a review last night and had read both previous books in the last two days! Incredible and I am so honored that you spent that time on my stories. That is why I got this chapter out today and had been working on it all weekend. Reviews make me want to write faster and I am just as excited to hear from you all as you are to read the next chapter! I couldn't respond to you privately but I would love to hear more of what you liked if you are interested in pm ing me that would be great.

Anyway enough talk, enjoy Damon and Elena's first reaction to the babies. I hope it comes across real and raw and the way you imagined. And if you are excited to get the next chapter quicker, take that minute to send me a quick review. Thanks so much. Enjoy!

His eyes were locked on hers and his hand had not left her smooth, bare stomach. He could feel a slight sweat between his hand and her body.

"Elena," he breathed, as his mind was racing a million miles an hour. "I, uh...you..." He struggled desperately with what to say in a situation he had no idea how to even begin dealing with. He finally sighed and laid his head back down on her belly. He was drinking in her scent to calm his racing thoughts. And some part of him was drawn to her and he could not explain it, but he needed to hear that awe-inspiring sound again. He could not even grasp it now, even after hearing it twice, as the rhythmic 'thump, thump,' echoed against his ear.

He thought he must be dreaming. Yes, that must be it. They had just talked about a baby and Elena seeing him as a father in her dream before. He was dreaming and imagining that he could hear his child's heart beating strongly.

"Damon, what?" Elena grabbed for his bare shoulders and her nails dug deep crescents in his skin, telling him this was absolutely not a dream. He winced as he felt her nails draw blood in her apparent shock and he lifted his head off her belly. Her fingers then flew to his head, gripping the back of his neck to level his eyes right with hers again.

She felt like she was drowning and any words from his mouth sounded so muffled compared to the rushing of blood in her ears. What was he saying? He was not making any sense. He heard what? Her mind was a massive mixture of emotions too. Disbelief, shock, amazement, confusion, joy. Her eyes were riveted to his as she spoke again.

"Damon, what are you saying? I, uh..I have no idea what you are talking about?" And she truly didn't. He had heard a heartbeat...in her...oh my God! What did that mean? There was no way. He couldn't, she thought. He had said so. So how? She felt like she was ready to faint. "A baby?"

He nodded to her slowly, his face nearly glowing in the morning light. She had not even realized that in the time that they had made love the sun had come up and now in the dawn of the day, his eyes were such a brilliant blue against the paleness of his skin.

He saw a myriad of emotions tear across her face as she held his face tight in her hands. The expression he had settled on after feeling very likely all that she had, was just calming his face and breathing deeply. He felt light headed, and looking back at her, he saw her eyes start to roll back in her head as her hands slipped from his face. He leapt to catch her before she fell down into the blankets and cradled her naked body in his arms.

"Elena, hey baby wake up." He felt a shiver race through him as he said the word 'baby'. He had simply called her one of his very wide range of pet names and somehow 'baby' was the first one that fell from his lips. He held her head in the crook of his arm against his shoulder and gently caressed her face. He pulled the sheets and blankets up over her seeing goosebumps all across her skin. Maybe she was cold or maybe it was from shock, but he immediately set about warming her with his body and the blankets.

She started moaning almost right away and he sat up to lean down by her face. "Hey, Lanie. Are you okay?" He was stroking her face and running his fingers across her cheek as he stared down at her, as her eyes focused back on him.

She groaned and sat up in his arms and ran her hand through her bed messed hair. She moaned and leaned her head back in his embrace. "Oh my God, Damon. I had such a crazy dream!"

He looked at her, frowning a bit at what she was thinking even though he had thought the exact same thing barely few minutes ago.

He saw her staring at him and he shook his head and moved his hand back down to her stomach and stroked the skin tenderly. "You are not dreaming. That wasn't a dream... unless we are both dreaming the same thing right now." She was looking thoroughly confused back at him. "And before you freak out and pinch yourself, let me tell you I would know if we were awake from the gashes your nails left on my arms. Trust me angel, we are awake."

She looked quickly at his shoulders and saw 5 tiny trails of blood down each arm and she shook her head, trying to make sense of all her feelings. "Okay, so if we are not dreaming..." she placed her one hand on top of his where he was endlessly running his fingers over the soft skin of her belly and twined his fingers in hers. "Then how could I possibly be...pregnant?"

Damon shook his head at her. "I honestly have no idea. All I know is I know what I heard right here." He brought her hand back to her middle and continued caressing her there. "And... that I love you."

She looked up from where she was snuggling into his neck and his head came down, his lips capturing hers in a gentle kiss. "I love you too Damon, so much." She pulled back from his lips after a few moments and continued to lean her back against his arm, sitting practically in his lap.

"But I thought...I mean... you told me vampires could not procreate." Had he been honest about that? Could her and Stefan have gotten pregnant? She had never used any type of protection and had never given it a second thought, until now.

"We can't. I know that Elena. I would never lie to you about something like that, I promise," he whispered, like he had read her mind. He kissed her hair and ran his lips by her neck, his hand still not leaving her stomach; like there was a magnet there and he could not pull away, even if he wanted to.

He looked solemnly into her bemused brown eyes. "I'm serious. I have been alive over a hundred years and been all over the world and I have never, ever heard of a human having a vampire's baby. Or vampires having a child together."

"But Damon, I swear to you, I have not been with a human in months. Since May last year, before my parents died. I was with Matt and only a few times, cause it was so awkward since we were kid best friends."

He nodded, understanding. That could not possibly be it then. It had been almost a year since then. He leaned his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes. "Shit, Elena I have no idea. And I think I've said that a couple times already." He tilted her chin up so she looked at him again. "I trust you baby. I know you would tell if there had been anyone else."

She shook her head rapidly at him. "No, there has been no one. Matt is the only human I have been with. I've only slept with 3 people in my life, Damon. Matt, you and.."

He stiffened in her arms, still not allowing his hand to leave her stomach. "And Stefan," he finished her sentence, feeling like his throat was choked with vervain as he said his brother's name. He saw her eyes fall away from his instantly and she buried her head against his chest. He knew she was just as devastated at the possibility as he was.

"No, no Damon. Like you said that is not possible. He is a vampire too just like you. I could not possibly be pregnant then." She saw the hurt and sadness in his eyes the second he said his brother's name and she squeezed the hand that was still intertwined with his on her stomach. She had not even noticed till right now that the warmth of his hand had not left her tummy since she had woken up.

Damon nuzzled his head against hers and kissed her hair. He had been feeling the vibrations of what could only be a heartbeat against his palm the entire time they had been talking and it was more real than ever for him.

He knew it couldn't possibly be his or Stefan's but he vowed right then that if by some freak possibility Elena had conceived with Stefan and his brother did die, that he would love and protect that baby with his life, for Stefan.

She leaned into him feeling at a total loss for words. Her mind had been going over things too, time frames and when she had last been with Stefan. She choked on a sob realizing in that moment that she had not gotten her period yet this month. She was late. She was never late.

"What, sweetness?" Damon called to her, hearing her upset about something.

"I know its not possible, but Damon, I am late. Not by much but I've always been every 30 days like clockwork."

"Well I hate, hate to ask baby, but do I want to know the last time you were with my brother?"

He did hate to ask. Fuck, he never wanted to think of them like that. He had heard and seen enough as they were together. He had forgiven Stefan for what he had done in flaunting her in front of him but that did not mean it didn't hurt like hell to even think of it.

She sniffled and wiped her nose with her arm. "Oh God, um. It was before the Masquerade Ball." She swallowed hard knowing it must be hurting him to hear this. "I was helped Mrs. Lockwood sort masks and Stefan nearly died in the vervained well...and we had been together that morning."

"The day I killed Mason." Damon thought back.

"Yes, I ended it that night, after Katherine got Jenna to stab herself."

"So that was like 3 weeks ago give or take." He voice got quieter as he continued. "And.. we were together just yesterday." There was a long silence from both of them before he spoke again. "So there is no way it could be mine."

He was silent again after that, his eyes down away from hers as he tried to hold back the sob building in his throat. The knowledge was glaringly obvious that it had to be Stefan's baby, if in fact they had found some miracle way for vampires to reproduce.

Elena shook her head back and forth again, like rattling her brain around would help her think more clearly about that crazy possibility. She spun around and straddled his lap, her legs winding around his naked torso. She tunneled her fingers in his hair and pulled his head back up. "God Damon, look at me."

She shook him and waited till his eyes slowly and begrudgingly found hers. She could see the despair in the depths of his eyes, on his face, in the fallen lines of his gorgeous smile. She saw a tear slip silently down his cheek and she kissed it before it fell from his face.

He looked like he had already loved and bonded with the baby and was losing them before they had even met. His face looked like he already had a lifetime of love, laughs, memories and deep, deep connection with this child and that after all that, he was still losing them.

She crushed her body against his, her arms winding around his neck and holding the back of his head. "God Damon, don't cry. Baby please don't cry. I don't know anything about all of this. It seems too unreal. Like a giant cosmic joke."

He sniffled and felt more tears pooling at the edge of his dark lashes. "You mean like how you are a doppelganger that is destined to be the damn Original's sacrifice. Just so he can be more powerful! And how I fell in love with a woman who was born to die?"

His tears slipped one by one down his cheeks freely. "Like that cosmic joke. That no matter where we go..." His voice was rising along with his anger at how cruel the universe really had been to both of them. And questioned what they ever did to get such a sucky hand at life. "...that bastard could find us and take you away from me...cause there is no fucking way to kill him!"

But he wasn't done. "And now I find out that the universe, or fate or whatever is allowing Saint Stefan to possibly have a child. Something no vampire would be given such an amazing gift. He who already won Katherine, saved you from drowning, loved you, ha ha, saved me from burning alive by the council, saved you from Fredric killing you both. Hell, I tried to save Caroline and he ended being her hero because my blood turned her and Stefan stepped up to help her through that. I turned Vicky cause I was bored and Stefan saved you again from her and Matt lost his only sister." He sucked in a deep breath. "I even killed my brother's best friend and now I just stole his girl while he was fucking dying! I am the one who should be in the bed with that bite, suffering. He should be here with you and his baby."

Elena was sitting up more, trying to calm him by putting her hands on his face and he grabbed them and held them between them and he pulled his face away from hers when she tried to kiss him. Where was all this coming from? she thought. She was aching inside hearing him pouring out his pain, his loathing of himself and his worship of his brother at her. "No Damon, no," she whimpered not knowing what to say to his rage. "That is not true."

"The hell is isn't. You bet Stefan deserves this. Hell, he is dying and he wouldn't be at all if I had just killed the damn wolf when I had my hands around his throat, instead of me taking my time and gloating and giving baby brother a chance at him. You know I only did that cause I knew he would make sure you were not in the tomb with the wolf when he confronted him. And all I had wanted to do was to hold you so, so damn badly. That I ached inside after carrying you back to my brother after everything was over and wanted to feel you again. Shit while I was holding you, Stefan even saved Katherine from being torn to pieces in the tomb. He was even the hero that stopped you from being fucking raped right in front of us. He deserves this, not me!"

He fell back against the headboard his breath panting out of him and he raked the tears off his cheeks angrily. His brother was dying in the next room, and he was here naked and so, so in love with the woman of his dreams. He would gladly trade places with his brother for some small attempt at redemption for all the horrible things he had done for so long.

"Do you know that I actually told I loved you days ago already?" He found her eyes again, his voice cracking with sadness as he spoke. "The day Stefan and I rescued you from Elijah and you ran into his arms. That night I brought you your necklace back and I told you I loved you." He sniffled again seeing the pain in her eyes. She felt sorry for him. She pitied him."

"Damon I..." He held his finger to her lips and felt them quiver at his touch. "Not yet Elena. Please let me finish." She shut her mouth right away. "I told you I didn't deserve you then. That Stefan did and then I compelled you to forget that I was even there. I was right. Stefan does deserve you. He does not deserve to be dying."

Elena's mouth fell open at his revelation. She had felt like something had happened that night. There had been this charged energy all around her room and she even thought she had smelled him on her when she closed her eyes that night. "Oh my God Damon, I had no idea."

He laughed. "I know you didn't. I was never going to tell you that. But I was right. Stefan doesn't deserve this."

Elena grabbed for his head again feeling him loosen his grip on her hands and she stared hard into his eyes. "You are right. Stefan doesn't deserve this." She saw more sadness flash across his face. It was like he had opened up the darkest parts of himself for her to see and been so vulnerable for her but he actually thought she believed him. She shook her head realizing how what she had said sounded to him.

"No, no Damon. Stefan does not deserve to die! That is true. I don't know anything about all this with a baby. I don't." She threw herself at him, colliding them both with the headboard and clung to his neck. "All I know is that I love you. I want you. I am marrying you. And I want to be yours forever Damon. Just yours. Not Stefan's not anyone else's." She was been crying into his neck, her arms so tight around him he actually sounded like she was hurting him.

He opened his mouth to argue and she put her hand to his lips. "No baby, my turn. You need to listen to me." He closed his mouth and was quiet just like she had been before.

She sat back up, sniffling back more tears and held his face in her hands again. "Damn it baby! Did you not hear anything I said to you yesterday? How much I loved you? How I poured my heart out and kissed and licked and healed every injury you had. How much I loved how you smelled, how you tasted. How safe you made me feel." He was quiet and but his eyes were on her and he was listening to her.

"You are my hero Damon. You saved me more times than I could count in just the last few days. Not to mention all the times before that. Stefan did not save me when I was drowning. You got me breathing again or I would have died on the bank of the river. You saved me when the vampire cause my car accident and was going to kill me. You saved me when that woman almost put an arrow in my back at Duke. You saved me from the creeps that would have taken me to Klaus. Damn it Damon, you saved me from myself and were willing to die for me and put yourself between an Original vampire that had just ripped the hearts out of two other vampires like it was nothing and you were willing to die for me! Don't you see how amazing you are?!"

She pounded on his chest now, so angry that he hated himself so much and she wanted him to see what she saw. She had never seen him feeling guilty about anything. He never felt guilt. Stefan was the one full of guilt and regret. This was so different then she had ever heard from him.

"You healed Caroline when she could have died, you spared Liz when she found out who you were, you compelled Jeremy to take away his pain when Vicki died, you saved me from the tomb vampires plans to kill all the founding families on Founder's day, you helped me rescue Stefan from the tomb vampires, you rescued me by dancing with me at Miss Mystic Falls and I will never forget that. I miss dancing with you like that. That was the first time I really started having feelings for you. Really. You stayed with me when we trapped Stefan when he was high on blood and just sat on the ground in your basement and comforted me. And Stefan didn't save me from being raped. You did, by being willing to die and let your brother kill you."

Damon shifted his body under her. And grabbed her hands again. "Well I could tell you a bad thing I've done for each of those and much much more!"

Elena struggled to get her arms free of him. "I don't care! I don't care Damon, I love you! Why can't you just open yourself up to the possibility that you are worth loving? Believe it and trust me if you don't trust yourself. See yourself how I see you!"

She finally wrenched one hand out of his again and pulled his hand down between them to rest on her belly again "I would love nothing more than for this baby to be yours. It would be so perfect. It would be more amazing that I would ever have dreamed. But whatever happens, it will not change my feelings for you and how much I love you."

She was panting now too in anger and she finally saw him relax and the sad lines on his face turn into the smallest hint of a smile. "I do trust you Elena. I do. I don't know what came over me. I feel safe with you, more than with anyone in the whole world. I wanted to be real with you and show you how I really felt."

She was snuggling in to him, her head on his chest with their hands still between them. Damon could feel the precious heartbeat again under his palm. It hadn't gone away. It was real. As real as the feelings he just poured out to her, thinking she would reject him and leave him just like everyone else. Like in some bizarre way he was testing her.

But she didn't leave. Instead she held him tighter and fought all the bad about him and filled him with the knowledge of all the good. She was what was good in his life. She brought out the good in him. She was his salvation, just like he had thought the day she had walked into his parlor. And she reminded him that he had done so much good for more than just her and he knew she would want him to focus on that.

She interrupted his thoughts. "I'm so glad you can be open with me Damon. You have no idea how much I love that. I want us to be able to fight and then be able to talk it out and of course enjoy the hot make up sex afterward.

He smiled as she looked back up and him. "Ooh, I like how you think sweetness. Let's do that." The fight forgotten, his eyes were teasing and had such a hungry look in them for her.

"We will honey. But first I want to hunt around here for a pregnancy test. Maybe with dad being a doctor or mom still young there might be one so we can prove this. It still feels so unreal Damon. I just want to get some kind of confirmation before we tell anyone." She was about to climb off his lap when he pulled her back down so she ended up beside him in the bed.

"I think I can help you with that, Lanie." She looked up at him as he lifted her hand and placed it on her stomach and then placed his hand on top of hers. She looked confused at what he was doing. "Just trust me. Close you eyes and just feel." He lay right against her and put his other hand on her head and closed his eyes.

She thought this was very strange but she did trust him more than anything. She saw him close his eyes and she let hers slip closed too. She felt calmness and peace and then she there was total silence. She could hear no sounds from the cabin. Nothing from outside even and then she heard it…

Fast, powerful 'thump, thump,' over and over again. It was loud and clear and it even sounded like there was more beats hidden behind the loud ones. Like her mind was filled with the amazing and glorious sounds of her baby's heart beating strongly. She was in awe and she saw this light behind her eyes that filled her vision. Beautiful, and bright, like sunshine. And then she heard was sounded like water, swishing sounds that were heard around the sound of the heartbeats. And then more swishing.

Then just like that it was over and she felt Damon lift his hand from her head, his other hand still caressing her belly. She lay beside him and her smile could not have been bigger and she saw him beaming at her too.

"Oh, wow Damon, that was amazing! How did you do that? I have never heard anything so incredible."

He smiled back at her. "So it worked? I had never done that before. I held it as long as I could. I had only heard of vampire's being able to share their thoughts and feelings with a human. It is much more complicated than just creating a dream for you. It's pulling your consciousness into my mind."

"Yes! I heard it all! That was just so..." She had no idea what to say. Instead she threw herself forward and kissed him passionately. Her arms wrapping around his neck, her body pressed into him. Was there nothing this man could not do for her?

When they finally broke away, after hungrily kissing for a few minutes she was breathing hard and her eyes looked so dreamily at him. "You know," he grinned. "Now that I know it's there, I can even feel it between us right now when you are so tight against me. It feels unbelievable. It just took me with my head right against you to hear it the first time."

"I heard so many echos in my mind when you did that, Damon. Like there were more heartbeats behind the strongest one. And I heard swishing like water. What was that?"

He shrugged at her, his hand still on her belly. "I'm not sure. But the swishing I heard too and think it was the baby moving. However tiny it must still be. My vampire hearing can pick up the slightest bit of movement in you."

"Well I am in awe of you Damon. Thank you so much for showing me that. That was as incredible to me as seeing my parents and you letting me say goodbye to them, and seeing us meet for the first time and sharing my feeling of our first kiss."

She sat up finally and his hand slid from her stomach. He looked up at her with a huge pout on his lips. "Oh, sweetie. Let get up and see Bonnie. Maybe she would be able to tell us more about this." She ran her finger across his pouty lips and stroked his cheek. "C'mon, no matter what I love you. Just hold onto that. Promise me?"

He nodded at her and started to sit up too. Talking to Bonnie might give them more insight into everything. He paused for a second. "Oh, I almost forgot. Care wanted me to tell you that she was going to get blood to heal Stefan from Klaus. She can save him, She should be getting back here any time now with the cure."

Elena's eyes were wide. "Really? That is wonderful. I had no idea we knew what the cure even was."

"Yes, turns out Klaus' blood is the cure and she has him all tied up like bondage play and is going to blood share from him and steal his blood."

Elena frowned. "Klaus' blood? Wow. And Care playing bondage, eek. Well isn't all that dangerous to use Klaus like that? Is she going to be okay?"

Damon ran his hand up hers as she pulled the sheet around her. "She is so strong. I'm sure she will be fine. And she is determined to get the moonstone from Kat so that would save you too. Blondie is really stepping up to help us."

She smiled at him as he shrugged his boxers pajama pants back on. "That's great. Maybe everything is finally working out for everyone. And a baby. That is just more amazing news." She ran her hand over her stomach over the sheet and smiled at him. "But I need to get dressed and then we can see Bonnie. But there are no clothes for me here." She started headed back to her room to find more clothes. Hoping Stefan was still resting peacefully.

He pulled her in back onto the bed and leaned over her for one more bruising kiss. Her hands dug into his hair right away, she moaned into his mouth as he ran his hands all over her through the sheet. He looked into her eyes as they broke apart. "Thank you, Elena. Thank you for not giving up on me. For believing in me. You have no idea how much that means."

She smiled back at him. "You are so welcome, honey. And you can show me later how much it meant to you. I'd love that."

"Absolutely." He lifted her back up to her feet and they both left the room, as he closed the door behind him.

A/N; I cried writing that last part with Elena hearing the babies heartbeat through him. 'Sob'

I hope you loved it too. Let me know!