~Chapter 16

Elena POV

"He's almost done with his bottle," I whispered to Damon as I placed a kiss on Alex's forehead. He slowly opened his mouth and I gave him the remaining of his bottle. He continued to suckle quietly, with eyes almost closed while he held on to the bottle with his little thumb and fore-finger.

"I think he's tired," Damon softly said as Alex was now dozing off.

"Yep, I think we should now head home. What'd you think?" I replied back as I glanced at Damon, whose sight was fixed on Alex.

"Sure let's go," he answered back as he stood up from the bench and closed Alex's pushchair. I stood up with Alex in my arms, and handed the bottle over to Damon.

"Should I close it?" he innocently asked as his sight flickered from me then to the bottle in his hands.

"Of course!" I answered back with a giggle.

"Hey, don't be so insensitive," he replied back with a small grin as he finally closed the bottle and put it in my bag with the rest of Alex's stuff. I playfully nudged him softly as I returned his smile. Damon picked up Alex's pushchair and bag, while I carried a half-sleeping Alex in my arms. We quietly walked towards Damon's parked car.

"I'm not sure if you heard me or not earlier, but I meant what I said Elena," he whispered softly to me as he stopped walking and turned to me. He was referring to the confession part.

"I know," I answered back quietly. I wanted with all my heart to confess back my love for him, but I knew it was about time that he would declare it first. After all those times he couldn't just spit it out, even though I knew that he loved me back then.

We continued to walk awkwardly towards his car and when we finally arrived he opened the trunk and placed Alex's pushchair inside, along with my bag.

"I really hope you've changed Damon, because I like the new you. It's a side of you that actually deserves to meet your son," I told him as I slowly opened the back-seat's door and placed a now sleeping Alex in his car seat.

"But make one more mistake Damon and I'm out. We're both out, for good," I continued as I kissed Alex on his forehead and closed his door.

"We've talked about this Elena," Damon said in a low, patient voice.

"I know. I just wanted to make sure we're still clear. Because I don't deserve to go through it all again and neither does Alex," I said as I stared at him.

"I understand," he answered as he lowered his head and stared at the ground for a moment. Then he brought it back up and walked towards the back-seat of the car.

"Wait what are you doing?" I asked in alarm as I saw him getting in and sitting beside Alex in the back-seat.

"How are we supposed to get back home now, without a driver?" I continued as I saw him rolling down the window.

"Who says we don't have a driver?" he replied back with his usual smirk as he tossed me his car-keys.

I kept staring at his car keys which were now in my hands, for a long moment.

"Are you sure? I swear I've never seen anyone driving your car before," I asked him again.

"You're not just anyone Elena, now come on chop-chop we've got to head home now," he answered with another smirk as he placed himself beside Alex and watched his chest rise up and down from the breathing.

I smiled at the sight and headed towards the driver seat with pride.

"We're here sleepy heads," I announced with a grin as I pulled up in front of my house. I looked in my rear-view mirror and I could see Damon leaning on Alex's car seat sleeping soundly and also I could tell that Alex was sleeping too from his snoring, since I could only see the back of the car-seat.

I turned around in my seat and stared at Damon for a long moment. His black raven hair was sprayed messily over his forehead; his lips were slightly parted and his head was buried in the car-seat, which I was sure was about to make him feel sore as soon as he woke up. So I reached out to him and cupped his face in my hands in order to move it in the other direction. I shivered slightly as soon as I touched his cool, soft skin. I closed my eyes and unknowingly my lips curled into a small smile at the feeling.

Damon woke up with a small gasp and in a second he had grabbed my wrist with his hands in shock.

"Hey it's fine, it's me…" I whispered softly to him. He sighed in relief as he realized it was me.

"What's going on Damon? This is the second time you've reacted like this," I asked him softly.

"There's nothing to say," he answered back sternly.

"I mean it Damon. Tell me," I told him again, more stern this time.

"It's my dad Elena. He's a bastard as ever," he replied back with a sigh.

"You need to do something about it Damon. Have you got any bruises or scratches?" I asked him slowly.

"Sure thing," he answered back with a grunt as he removed his leather jacket only to reveal a buttoned up navy blue shirt. He removed the bottom buttons first, and I held my breath. Not only because I was seeing so many bruises, but also because I missed his toned, pale chest, his body, him. I remembered how much time I used to spend, ditching school, to stay tangled up with him, lazing in bed after having sex.

I gasped in shock as he revealed more and more of his chest. I could see that he had some really huge, ugly rounded blue and violet bruises and also some other faint yellow ones.

"Hey you really have to tell somebody. Maybe a cop or a social worker. They would reall-," I continued, trying to persuade him to share this with someone who could actually do something about it.

"No," he simply cut in with his deep velvety voice, "No," he repeated while buttoning once again his shirt.

"Don't tell anyone Lena, I'm counting on you," he again, his eyes pleading to keep his secret.

"You can't just think that I'm going to let it go like this," I whispered back.

"You can, because remember what used to happen a few months ago," he answered back in a low voice. "Remember," he continued his eyes boring into mine. I gazed at his ocean ones as ugly and dark memories came rushing to me. I suddenly snapped out of it and I realized what he was trying to do to me.

"You're trying to make me hate you, aren't you?" I exclaimed with an angry tone. He simply sighed as he leaned back in his seat and glanced at Alex's sleeping form.

"Well it's not working Damon!" I snapped at him.

"Elena, don't," he told me, this time softly.

"For now I won't, but if this happens again, you'll leave me with no choice Damon," I shot back with a sharp, stern tone as I lay back in my seat too with a huff like a little girl who didn't get what she wanted.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want anyone to go through what I went through," I told him back facing the steering wheel and not him. "Even if it's someone who did the same thing to me," I added under my breath.

"Shit, Elena! You know how I feel about what happened," he answered in a loud, angry tone. He sighed as he opened the back-seat's car door and stormed out.

"Where are you going?" I asked him as I put up my hands. He opened the passenger door and slid in the seat right beside me.

"Here," he whispered as he closed the door and turned to me.

"I regret every single second of those moments, even though there weren't a lot and you know that yourself right?" he said to me. I simply nodded back.

"But you've got to admit, we had some pretty good times," he continued with a wink, that made me burst into laughter.

"Yeaaa," I replied in a lazy tone, stretching the 'e' as I placed a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"We had," I continued with a smile. He simply smiled back at me and locked my gaze with his.

"I forgive you Damon," I declared after a long moment of contemplating whether I should say it or not.

"I forgive you," I repeated. A very small gasp escaped his mouth and left his lips slightly parted. I could tell that he could not believe what he was hearing. He lowered his face and looked down.

"I appreciate that Elena, and I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I needed it in order for me to move forward. Because every time I feel like I'm getting close to you, I fear that our history will part us again," he slowly told me, now raising his head up finally making eye contact with me.

"As long as the old you doesn't resurface then we won't be having that problem," I softly whispered back. I saw a smile slowly creep across his features and without realizing I moved closer towards him. I could feel his cool breath across my lips, which instantly made me slightly shiver. He leaned in more closely and I slowly closed my eyes, waiting for his lips to brush over mine. At that moment I forgot everything bad that happened between us and all I could recall was our handsome son and the best moments we had spent together.

I got tired of waiting for him to move closer, so I quickly closed the gap which was parting us and kissed his soft lips. I felt Damon gasp softly as he felt my lips crashing onto his. He cupped my face with both his hands and I could feel him kissing me with all of his might.

Then I heard a soft giggle which made me almost jump. Both Damon and I ended our kiss abruptly and moved our heads towards the back-seat. We found Alex wide-awake with his blue eyes shining with excitement.

"Mommaaa…" he managed to say in between his giggles. We had no choice, but to both burst into laughing.

"You sneaky little man," Damon whispered to him with a smile as he softly poked his stomach. Alex giggled again and flashed him his best smile.

A/N: The moment that almost everyone of you have been waiting for I guess :) Please review for me to update faster, because although I got some lovely reviews in the last chapter I only got like 5 :/ Just take 2 seconds :)