I don't own the vampire diaries and I don't own the characters.
This takes place after the events in my fanfic Soulmates always find a way.
The POV's will be from Damon and Elena.
Enjoy.
Feedback is appreciated.


There will be some flashbacks in this chapter and they will be in italics. I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I said in the summary that some secrets should stay buried, well in this chapter you find one between Damon and Elena that they should never have to remember. Keep reading to see how they work through it.


Chapter 11- Expectations...how they're met...how they're not

Elena's POV

"God Caroline just shut up!"

I snapped the words at her before I even really thought about what I was saying. It had been 6 months since that night we were all together and happy. Everything seemed to be going alright until after about a month and then everything went to shit. Klaus and Damon had left to follow a lead on Katherine, she had somehow found out that a doppelganger was indeed alive and she wanted said doppelganger dead. Their plan was to find her, lure her here, and then let history take it's course. Caroline had left to check up on them to come back saying nothing more than 'They haven't found her.' I kept asking if there was anything else and for 3 months she said no, until one day she told me the truth.

"Fine Elena! If you want me to tell you that I saw Damon all over some random woman then fine for fucks sake I will!" Caroline had screamed it at me and the surprise of her words had made me stumble backwards.

"No. You're lying! Damon wouldn't do that!"

She laughed. "Yeah right, because the Damon we know from now and in the future has such an easy time keeping it in his pants! Tell me Elena, how many women were there in the next century? Let's name them...Rose, Andie, Rebekah, Sage, ME!, you of course, and the occasional I need to feed and you want sex thing right?"

I was seeing red. Everywhere. "Shut your fucking mouth!" I had turned to leave the conversation at that but I should have known Caroline wouldn't stop. In all my years of knowing her she always had to have the last word.

"It hurts doesn't it? Knowing that he knows you're here, pregnant with his kid, that you will be together in the future and yet I still see him with another woman. I guess Damon Salvatore never changes, he'll always be the man whore and you will always be the girl who is never enough...not even when you have his kid."

I had stopped walking and turned to face her. Damon wouldn't have been with anyone else, I know that for a fact. Always, only me. I'd heard it an I'd seen it in his eyes. I ran back to her and punched her in the face. I knew that it had hurt because she was surprised, that's the one way I know how to hurt a vampire. I glared at her silently daring her to say one more word against Damon, she didn't. Instead I felt myself flying through the air, I felt myself collide with a wall and so many things happened at once.

"Ahhhh!" I had screamed in pain at exactly the same point Caroline had screamed and grabbed her head. Bonnie had hit Caroline with an aneurysm and I felt Jeremy pick me up and lay me on the blankets. I was still in so much pain and it was hard to stay focused. Caroline had recovered and was now apologizing over and over again. Jeremy had gotten up and pushed her against the wall.

"She's fucking pregnant Caroline! She's hurt and she's pregnant! Get the fuck out of here!" He comes back to me.

Elijah is shaking his head and examining my stomach. He had seen enough babies being born in his already nearly 500 year life that he took on the role of my doctor. I didn't have that experience but I knew already, I hit my lower back and I knew what he'd say was wrong. He didn't look at me and he didn't speak to me. Instead he stood up quite calmly and spoke to Caroline.

"Go find Damon. Tell him he needs to be here by tonight."

She shook her head. "I told you the last time I found him he was getting ready to fu..."

"Shut up little blonde vampire! I will rip your heart out and not think twice! This wasn't supposed to happen! She still has 2 months left...but now you've forced her into labor! I wouldn't give a shit if Damon was in the ground dead I'd dig him up to get him here...now GO BEFORE I KILL YOU!" He yells at her and she flees the church.

My head is resting on Jeremy's lap and I look at Elijah. "What will happen to him Elijah? If this isn't supposed to happen now how will it affect..."

"I don't know Elena." He sighs and comes to sit next to me. "I don't know. I don't think it will if he's healthy and believe me he will be, I'll make damn sure of it."

"How?" I know the answer. This is how Asher becomes the vampire-witch-human baby.

"I'll give him my blood and Christopher can heal him the rest of the way."

I take my eyes off his and look out the window. I never wanted this, well I did but I wanted Damon here for all of it. He's supposed to be here, with me, loving me, holding me, but he's not. I want so hard to believe that Damon wouldn't do what Caroline had said but...she was right. I knew Damon and how he was in the future. He was lonely, and when he got lonely he did things he regretted. He used people, women, and I didn't want to believe her. I was glad it was just Elijah, Jeremy, and Bonnie with me, I didn't want to be around anyone else. Christopher and Elliot probably knew nothing about this seeing as they were 'acting' in town while gathering information. I could hear the 3 of them talking but I didn't want to hear it honestly. After a few hours the pain ceased and I heard the doors open.

"Where is she?!"

He was worried about me. I quickly pushed what Caroline had told me aside and focused on the present. His lap replaced Jeremy's and I could feel him stroking my hair, kissing my forehead, kissing my cheeks, kissing my lips and whispering 'I love you'.

"How the hell did this happen? She has 2 months left..." Jeremy, Elijah and I all look at him confused. "Okay...judging by your faces I should already know but I don't so what was it? What ha..." His voice trailed off as he saw the wall across from where I was laying and I saw him put two and two together. I could see the anger in his eyes and he looked directly at Caroline. He laid me back in Jeremy's lap and got up to face Caroline. "YOU FUCKING DID THIS BLONDIE! She's your best friend and she's pregnant! You threw her into a fucking wall, what could have possibly possessed you to do that!"

"I told her you dick! She got mad because apparently she thinks your a saint."

"Ahhhh!" I couldn't hold back the scream and it seemed to silence the whole room.

Elijah worked quickly spouting out orders. Jeremy moved to hold my hand while Damon held me. I screamed again and Elijah told someone, anyone, to cover my mouth so no one would hear me. Jeremy obliged and put his hand over my mouth. I could still breathe but no one would hear me. It had lasted only 20 minutes and then Damon and I were staring at our son. He wasn't breathing but Elijah quickly bit his wrist, at first Asher wasn't sucking but slowly he started to. We saw him take his first breaths and he even grew a little bit. Elijah handed him to me and I got to hold him, I looked at Damon and handed him our son. He looked every bit the proud father and I could tell he already had so many plans for Asher, but we both knew neither of us would be there for him growing up and I could see that pain that Damon tried to mask.

I was brought out of the memory when I heard Jeremy come out of the church with Asher. "I know your out here trying to not think of what a bitch Caroline is but I think someone is hungry and sorry sis I'm not built that way. I love my nephew but you have to feed him."

I laughed and I turned around to take Asher. "Yeah I know lil bro. I can't believe her...how could she still believe those things about him?" I start to feed the little man and Jeremy sits down next to me.

"Honestly Lena, I don't know. I mean I believe him when he said he wasn't with any woman and I know you do too. Hell everyone here does except Caroline. I can't figure it out...it's like...oh shit now I know!"

I watch him jump up and run back into the church. I pull myself up with Asher and follow him. I walk in to him holding Caroline against a wall, I swear this shouldn't surprise me it's like a regular occurrence.

"Tell me Caroline! Who fucking compelled you to break apart Elena and Damon?!"

His words shocked me. Had she been compelled? I wait for her answer as I hear the door open behind me. I catch the scent, bourbon and woods, I know exactly who it is! I turn around and motion for Damon to be quiet and he nods.

"Caroline Elizabeth Forbes you tell me right now or I swear I will rip your heart out!" He plunges his hand in her chest and she finally answers him.

"I wasn't the one compelled Jeremy Evan Gilbert! But...I will not tell you anything more." She pushes Jeremy off and I see them struggling each wanting the upper hand. I feel Damon tense behind me and I know something is off. Finally Caroline is tricked and Jeremy snaps her neck. She falls to the ground and Damon turns me to face him. His arms are wrapped tightly around me and he picks me up to carry me to one of the seats. We sit down and then hell breaks loose when Klaus walks through the door.

"What the hell happened to Caroline?" He rushes to her side and he sees that she's already healing.

"What happened was that Caroline was telling too many lies and we got tired of listening to her. She'll heal so don't freak out." I yell it at him as I hand Asher to Damon and stand to face the original himself. Before we get too much into an argument Damon speaks up. It's a whisper but it sounds like a scream and it shatters my world.

"Caroline didn't lie Elena. I'm so sorry."

I feel the breath being sucked out of me as I struggle to stay standing. I turn around and he's putting Asher in his little bed. He takes a step to me but I step back. I shake my head, "No. No, no, no, no." I mutter it over and over. This can't be true. Caroline had to be lying.

"Elena please...I can explain."

"No, no, no, no, no." I keep backing away from him and I feel Jeremy's arms lock around my shoulders. I finally let my knees give way and he catches me as the sobs escape my chest.

"Elena, she didn't lie but you weren't supposed to find out this way. There is a whole lot more to the story please listen to me. I didn't want to hurt you, she didn't want to hurt you. I was..."

"Shut up you fucking dick and stay the hell away from my sister and my nephew!"

I close my eyes as Jeremy says the words I knew I'd never be able to say but that probably needed to be said. I shake my head and look at Damon when I hear his knees hit the floor, I know I shouldn't have heard that but it felt like ever since he first spoke the words I'd never wanted to hear I could feel and hear everything much clearer.

"Lena, please. I love you." He's in pain. Good, I think to myself. He should hurt for this.

"No Damon. You don't. If you did you wouldn't have done that, no matter what. Go, please just go. It hurts too much just go Damon."

I shove away from Jeremy and run out the back door. No one follows me and I don't really know where I'm going. I just know I need to get away from there. I know Jeremy will watch Asher until I get back, this isn't the first time I've left the church but this is the first time I've left it knowing that I probably won't see Damon again for a while and it hurts. It hurts more than anything else. I find myself at the quarry and sit down looking across the water. It's funny I would come here. This is the place where everything was always made better. Everything I'd heard about Damon in this century at least we'd talked through here, it always ended with us being closer. I knew now this wasn't going to happen again. I was broken too much and not even Damon could fix it this time. I knew there was only so many times I could break before I could shatter and it's happened. I shattered.

"Elena...baby...please."

I don't turn around to face him. I stay in my spot, shattered and broken, and alone.

Damon's POV

She needed to know everything. I had to tell her the complete truth, but to do that she needed to listen to me. I knew she was hurt and I hated knowing I had hurt her. I didn't mean to and I swear I would never do anything like that, not to Elena. "Please Lena. Just listen to me." I kneel next to her and she finally turns to look at me. I wish she hadn't. Her eyes, they look so broken and all I wanted to do was take that pain away.

"No. I can't listen to anymore. I defended you Damon! God, I must have looked like a fool telling everyone that you wouldn't sleep with anyone." I open my mouth to talk but she holds up her hand. "Look, I'm a strong person and I know what needs to happen." She takes off my mothers ring and I shake my head over and over again. "Here. You can still be in your sons life but I refuse to be the girl who you just want around when you feel like it. I love you Damon, I do, but I can't be with you. Not right now." She gets up and walks away.

"I was compelled...I didn't sleep with her...I was compelled." I choke the words out but I knew in my head that she never even heard them. I'm sitting there holding the one thing in my whole world that would always belong to her. I got up and started the walk back to town as I remembered that day in it's full clarity. I know what I needed, I needed to feel pain. Pain just as bad if not worse than what Elena was feeling.

I had been searching for Katherine with Klaus and so far there had been nothing. We were a few hundred miles away from Mystic Falls and I was sitting in a bar alone. Klaus needed to hunt and I didn't want to see that, so I decided to have a drink and think of my Elena. That's when all hell broke loose. I felt a hand on my shoulder and when I turned to my right I was met with the brown eyes of the vampire I knew would turn me into a monster. Katherine.

"I need you to do something for me." She locked eyes with me and I tried my best to lose the eye contact. I knew she was compelling me but I couldn't tear my eyes off of hers. "Forget that little girl who loves you in Mystic Falls and have fun. Let loose and forget. Find any woman and take her, take her in as many ways as you want. But...forget this too. You won't remember me."

I blink and she's gone. "Shit." I mumble to myself. I know this is the last thing I needed at the moment and I knew I wasn't strong enough to find compulsion. I start walking the streets and reluctantly I attract the attention of a woman. I groan to myself as she keeps coming on to me. Elena...I try very hard and sometimes I'm able to break through the wall and remember her but then the memory is gone just like that. I don't notice that I'm kissing the girl and heading to a sleazy hotel in town until Klaus grabs me and Caroline grabs the girl. They look at us for a moment and then Klaus shakes his head.

"He's compelled Caroline. He's not cheating, he's compelled." He turns to the girl and compels her to go home and forget about me.

Caroline looks at me as she speaks. "Elena can't know about what we saw. Can we take away the compulsion?"

Klaus nods, "Yes. We need to get him to the Salvatore mansion. They have a witch there that can use a spell to find out who compelled him and to take it away. Giuseppe will let us in, he's known about this plan all along. Let's go."

He grabs my arm and rushes me to my house. I was quite surprised to find out my father knew about all this the whole time. I guess acting runs in the family, I vaguely wonder if Stefan had been acting as well. I don't have time to dwell on it as I'm soon face to face with one of the housekeepers. She sits me in a chair in the living room and I feel her hands on my head. For a second I don't feel anything then the pain starts. "God dammit woman that fucking hurts!" I try to pull away from her but she's too powerful. I hear her ask a question out loud, "Who compelled you?" The pain is still too strong and I end up yelling when I don't mean to. "Katherine!" The pain starts to reside and I see the memory of the moment when she compelled me reverse itself. It looks like it's in slow motion but it's over in just a minute. I blink my eyes and look around me.

"Well, that hurt." I rub my head and groan, this left me with a headache.

"Yeah well now you have Elena to worry about." I look at Caroline as she speaks. "She obviously can't know that you almost slept with some random woman and she can't know that Katherine was one step ahead of you, so what do we do Salvatore senior?"

I sigh and put my head in my hands. "Lie. We keep it from her. It will break her if she finds out and I can't hurt her like that. I'll tell her one day...when the time is right. It's not now Barbie."

I'm sucked out of the memory when I enter the small bar in the middle of Mystic Falls. This task should be easy, pick a bar fight. I laugh to myself, I've been in a lot of those. I grab a glass of bourbon and scope out the tables. I need big guys, because I need to feel the pain. My eyes find a group of men that are easily twice my size, 3 men should do the trick. I walk over to them and randomly punch one. Yep, I inwardly say to myself, that did it.

I'm punched repeatedly and pushed out the side door. All 3 men start beating up on me and I don't fight back, not once. I feel my nose break and I feel my jaw dislocate. I feel the ribs break as they kick me since I'm now kneeling on the ground. The pain is welcoming. I knew Elena's pain was much worse but I could take this. I needed to feel pain like she was, she couldn't be the only one hurting. I feel one of them pick me up and slam me into the wall. "Fuck!" I cry out and my vision starts to blur. I feel light-headed and I know something serious is wrong. I struggle to grab the wall and push myself to stand. I can't focus and I am fighting the feeling to just pass out right here.

"Damon?!"

The voice breaks through and I try to focus on who it's coming from. I see whoever the guy is knock out all 3 men in just one minute. Lucky dude he caught a break, he took them by surprise. I feel him grab me under my left shoulder and pushes the right against the wall to help me stand. I look at him and I see his green eyes. "Stefan?" How could my brother be here? Why is my brother here?

"Shit Damon. What are you doing? Are you drunk, crazy, or just plain stupid?"

I try to keep my eyes from closing but I can't. I need to talk back to him but only one word comes out of my mouth. "Elena." I close my eyes and I feel myself drop to the floor. Blackness. That's all I see, but I can surprisingly still hear him.

"Okay, I'll take you to the church. I'll take you to Elena. Hell maybe one of the 4 vampires there can heal you."

I feel him pick me up, when did my baby brother get so strong? I try to open my eyes and I fail. My head doesn't hurt anymore. In fact, nothing does. Great just fucking great. There goes my need to feel the pain. I hear a kick and a bang. My mind registers that it's a door and then I hear more talking, damn if only I could open my eyes.

"Stefan! Oh God Damon! What happened?!" Elena. Her voice. It sounds worried, and sad. She cares, she still cares about me.

"He's hurt. He's passed out I think. He got the shit beat out of him, but he didn't fight back. I waited for him to fight back but then I saw his head hit the wall and I could tell something seriously went wrong. He won't wake up."

I feel her place her hand on my cheek. I want to lean into it but I can't make my head move. I see a light, it's bright. I want to give myself over to it but I feel like something is holding me back.

"He needs help Elena. He's dying. Make the call for him Elena. Do you want me to save him...would Damon want me to save him?" Elijah?

I want so bad to say yes. I never meant for my plan to feel pain to go this far. I never wanted to die. I don't hear her answer but I feel something press against my mouth. At first I start to gag but then I stop refusing it. I drink the blood and slowly the light feeling my head starts to fade away. I open my eyes and it's still blurry but I can see just one person. "Elena." I slur her name but she nods.

"I'm here. Damon, I'm here."

She takes my hand and I try to squeeze it but I can't move it yet. I'm still tired. "Sorry. So...sorry."

"I know. I know it all. Caroline told me. I'm sorry I didn't listen."

I weakly nod my head. "Tired. So...tired." I close my eyes and I feel her pull me into her lap.

"Sleep Damon. I'll still be here. Always, only you."

I fall into the blackness once more but this time I know something I didn't last time. She knows, and she still loves me. Most of all, I know I'll wake up and be with her.