George R.R. Martin
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Briar beamed at Elena before filling her mouth with popcorn, the older woman smiled at the girl and turned her attention back to the screen. Seconds later she felt Damon's hand gripping hers and turned her head to look at him, he had the most genuine smile on his face and her heart warmed at the sight.
Damon was a man who had everything, yet the little things in life were what made him truly happy.
They still hadn't mentioned anything to the girls about their relationship but they had offered to take them to the movies and then to have dinner. It was a beautiful Saturday night and Elena found herself between Briar and Damon with Violet sitting on the other side of her dad. It was such a simple act, going to the movies and yet Elena had never felt happier. She couldn't help but think about how often we took things for granted.
Once the movie ended they headed to a quiet little Italian place downtown Damon loved and the girls chatted the whole way there. Damon had never seen them so happy, stars were dancing in their eyes and his heart soared with emotion at the sight of both girls on each side of Elena, both holding one of her hands.
How he wished he had met her first. Why had life been so cruel in denying her to him for so long? Where had she been hiding when he needed her the most? Elena had come into his life to bring him back to life, to show him that not everything in the world was treacherous. Why couldn't she had come sooner?
"Do you like it Violet?" Elena asked the younger girl who was currently stuffing her mouth with pizza
"Hmph" The girl said while moving her head up and down
"Pizza's her favorite" Briar said with a smile on her lips
Elena and Damon laughed slightly while shaking their heads and continued eating.
"Uncle Stefan said he was taking us to Coney Island next weekend-"
"Can we go daddy, please daddy, please?" Briar turned her blue eyes onto her father "Please, please"
"Yes daddy please" the other sibling joined her sister's pleas
Damon looked at both of them with a raised eye brow "Is there any way I can win when both of you team up against me?"
"Nope" Elena whispered while winking at him
"How about we all go to Coney Island next weekend?"
Briar and Violet looked at each other with growing smiles on their faces "Even Elena?" Violet asked
"Of course"
The girls looked at each other again and there was so much excitement and emotion in her eyes that Damon felt his heart breaking for them. He loved his girls, more than anything, but in moments like this he wondered how much he had been denying them, he had closed himself to love, and maybe then he never knew how to show it to them.
"Thank you daddy!" Briar said and jumped off her seat to go towards him, climbing onto his lap. He was about to chastise her for her behavior but then she placed a kiss onto his cheek and all protest died on his lips. He hugged her and breathed in her grape scent, a new shampoo Caroline had gifted her with.
Elena's eyes watered at the scene and the emotion inside her was too much, for a moment she felt like an intruder in this family scene but then Damon looked at her and there was so much love in his eyes that all of her doubts vanished. This was exactly the place where she was supposed to be.
"This is the best day ever!" Violet squealed and jumped off her seat before climbing onto Elena's, who yelped in surprise. "Thank you for being our nanny" Violet whispered into her ear and she couldn't help but laugh at her words.
"You're welcome"
The girls went back to their seats and continued their dinner without any more movement. Briar told them about her ballet lessons and how much she loved them while Violet told them she didn't like to have lessons every day. They ended up teaming up against Damon once again when it was time for dessert and he ended up losing again.
Briar and Violet smiled the whole time, they couldn't hide the happiness they were experiencing. For the first time in their lives they understood what it was like to have a complete family and they never wanted that feeling to go away. They were happier than they ever were before and wanted Elena to stay with them forever.
"Today turned out good" Damon said in a hushed voice as they drove back home. The traffic was as dense as always and the girls were exhausted so they had both fallen asleep in the back seat.
"More than good" She said while smiling at him, he moved his right hand and gripped hers right on top of the gear shift.
"I'm planning something" Damon announced
"Uh uh that can't be good" Elena joked
"I want to take the girls away on vacation" He said, his eyes fixated nonchalantly on the road, but Elena could tell that his whole body was filled with tension "To Italy"
"Okay"
"And I want you to come with me"
"Damon I-"
"Don't worry, you won't have to pay for anything" He said quickly
"Like hell I won't" She said a bit loudly and then turned around to see if her outburst had woken up the girls. Luckily, it hadn't. "Damon, I'm not with you so you can pay for my things"
"I know, and you have no idea how much I love you for that" He spoke truthfully, he had been so used to Katherine always wanting whatever he could give her that he thought everyone was the same. It was a hard habit to break but he was doing his best in trying to move away from old habits. "But I want to do this for you, Elena, and not because I think you'll want me more because of it but because I love you"
"Damon-"
"I love you so much Elena and I want you to always feel cherished" His eyes abandoned the road for a brief moment and stared at her, the lights of the city illuminating his face "I want you there with me, with us"
"Okay" She agreed, because honestly there weren't many things she could refuse with this man "but I'll get to pay for some things"
"Elena-"
"At least my plane ticket Damon" She told him as she gripped his hand
"Okay" He said with a half-smile and Elena beamed
"Oh my God I can't believe we're going to Italy" She continued in a hushed voice in fear of waking up the girls. She could barely stop herself from jumping up and down on her seat.
"Now that's the reaction I was going for" Damon said with a smirk before bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it softly
"You are the best boyfriend ever" She told him and leaned to press a kiss on his cheek
"Now you're just making me feel better" He said and she smiled at him before resting her head on his shoulder as the night extended in front of them.
"You just keep making my dreams come true Damon" Elena whispered, her voice filled with emotion. Damon took a shaky breath, not trusting his voice yet, Elena had no idea how true that statement was, he wanted to make every single one of her dreams come true "I have no idea what I did to deserve you"
Damon was certainly not perfect and he was more than aware of that fact, he had made so many mistakes in the past and to this day still continued to make them, but when Elena was with him he felt like he was the best man in the world. She gave him hope, she changed him, made him a better man.
He wanted to be perfect for her, he wanted to be perfect in her eyes and he would spend his entire life trying to do that. Elena was his salvation and he would fight for her with all he had.
"So, what do you think?" Elena asked with a smile on her face as she observed the painting in front of her. It was an abstract blend of different shades of blue and how light reflected differently on each one. It was completely different from everything else she had painted before, she just sat one day in front of a canvas thinking about Damon's eyes and somehow had ended up with this.
"I think it will be a success, just like everything else" His thick, deep, accent echoed in the empty room and even Elena couldn't deny that even though she was crazy about Damon there was something alluring about Elijah Michaelson.
"Now I just think you're only being kind" She answered with a smile and moved to get her purse which was currently resting on top of a deep blue sofa placed against the back wall of the gallery.
"I'm serious, I'm still amazed at the success of the exposition, I think there's a lot of great things in store for you Elena" He told her
"Well thank you" She answered and started looking for her keys. She heard his footsteps approaching and lifted her eyes to see him standing almost in front of her.
"And I also wanted to ask you out"
"Huh?"
"Dinner, tonight or this weekend" He said with a half-smile
Elena stood there speechless for a few seconds remembering all the things Caroline and Damon had told her about Elijah's attraction to her, and how could she have been so stupid as not to see it?
"Uhmm Elijah I think I may have given you the wrong impression" She balanced her weight from one foot to another "I'm not available, I'm with someone"
She saw his face fall, but just for a split of a second, he composed himself quickly enough and raised an eye brow "Salvatore?"
Elena flushed and nodded "Yes, I'm so sorry if I ever-"
"No, dear Elena you have never given me the wrong impression, I've been fascinated with you since the beginning." He said as his piercing eyes stared at her and she felt herself blushing even more "But that's all on me"
"Is that why-?"
"Oh God no" He laughed softly "I thought you knew me better than that"
"I do, of course I do. But I couldn't help but thinking…."
"No, Elena, your talent is real and I'm genuinely interested in your work"
"I hope things can continue being the same between us" Elena told him softly. She enjoyed Elijah's friendship and loved working for him, she truly didn't want things to go south between them.
"Of course" He reassured her "I can promise you I won't bring this up ever again, unless you want me to of course" He said with a smirk
Elena couldn't help but laugh slightly at his joke "Thank you and I'm so sorry"
"There's nothing to be sorry about" He answered before turning around and heading towards his office "See you around Elena"
"See you"
Elena huffed and started walking towards the door. She didn't know if she should tell Damon about this little encounter, she knew he wouldn't be happy with it but she didn't want to hide things like that from him.
As she drove home she couldn't help a small smile from forming on her lips at the thought of lying in his arms tonight. Things had been so great between them and they had been enjoying more outings with the girls lately, Elena felt it was finally time to tell them, for the first time in her life she was genuinely happy and wanted to shout it out to the world, she wanted everyone to know that she and Damon were together.
When she arrived home she saw that most of the lights were already out so she figured the girls were already sleeping, knowing Damon he was probably working in his home office because that man truly didn't know how to stop. She wanted to surprise him so she tried to make her entry as quietly as she could.
Elena practically tip toed through the hallway with a smile on her face, but once she was close enough she realized that surprising him was not on the agenda tonight. Enzo and Bonnie were inside with him, she didn't realize their cars were parked on the entry but now she could hear their voices inside, she was about to turn around and leave when the mention of her name stopped her in her tracks.
"You can't lie to her forever Damon" Bonnie said from the other side, Elena moved closer and rested her ear against the door
"I know Bonnie but how can I bring up something like that"
"I honestly wouldn't want to be in your place" Enzo said in a troubled voice "Things are not going to be pretty when she finds out"
"Which is why you should have told her in the first place, Damon keeping this a secret is a major mistake, the lies are going to keep piling up" Bonnie said in an exasperated voice, Elena could hear Damon's sigh and dread grew in the pit of her stomach.
"Don't you think I know that Bonnie? I know I've brought this on myself!" His voice grew louder and Elena almost flinched at the tone
"Easy mate" Enzo said "We know, we know this isn't easy for you. And I know that you can't just go in there and tell her 'hey you know what? My wife is actually not dead' there's just no easy way to say that"
"God, I wish I had done things differently"
The conversation continued but she couldn't hear anything else, her mind was frozen and that line 'My wife is actually not dead' kept repeating in her head. Katherine was alive, she had been alive this whole time and Damon had been feeding her a bunch of lies, Stefan as well.
Her eyes brimmed with tears as an ache in her chest started growing. She wanted to leave, she wanted out of this place immediately but she would give him a piece of her mind before, because God knows he deserved it, he broke her heart, Elena Gilbert had truly opened herself to love for the first time in her life and he had ripped it apart.
She swung open the door and stared into his shocked blue eyes "Oh you are going to regret complaining and starting a fight about me keeping US a secret when you're the one who's been keeping the worst secret of them all!"
Damon opened his mouth to speak but no words came out as he stared at the broken expression on her face.
He had ruined things.
Just like he always did.
So, the shit finally hit the fan. What do you think?