To her great surprise Elena only called Damon once during the day to check in, Damon sounded chilled as he explained that he'd taken Jenny to the local park for some fresh air. Elena liked this as she wanted Jenny to get out and about and not just stay cooped up in the house all day long. She's ended the call feeling calm, finished her lunch break and took her next client without a second thought at how Damon was coping with her daughter. The day moved past in a blur and before she knew it she was in the elevator in her building.
"Hey." She called as she took her coat off and closed the front door
"Hey!" Damon called "Look, Jenny! Momma's home."
Elena followed his voice and found Damon sitting crossed legged on the carpet with Jenny beside him. She dropped the plastic cup she was holding and crawled towards Elena.
"Hey baby." Elena cooed as she scooped her daughter up and kissed her. "How's she been?"
"She's been great." Damon smiled as he stood up, "She's a great kid." He began lifting up plastic cups that were littered around the carpet. Elena recognised them, they were from a picnic set she'd bought last year when she was dating Matt.
"What's with the cups?" she asked
"Oh I hope you don't mind." Damon apologised "I found them in the cupboard. You said she was nine months and I remembered that at that age babies like to play with things like coloured blocks and stacking cups, it helps with development."
Elena smiled "Sure, don't worry. You can treat my home like yours when you're here, I mean it, if you want to make some food or have a coffee help yourself."
Damon smiled "Thanks Elena. Well I should get going." He said
Elena's face fell for a second. She liked coming home and having someone to talk to. "Would you like to stay for dinner and celebrate your first day?"
"I can't" Damon said in a sorry tone "I actually have to work tonight."
"You have another job?" Elena asked
"Yes, I work in a bar. It's not a steady job, my friend Alaric owns his own place, I help out when he's short staffed…" Damon explained "But thanks so much for the offer I'd love to another time?"
"Yes, definitely." Elena smiled "Well, have a good night at work and I'll see you Monday."
"Monday?" Damon said "Don't you want me tomorrow?"
"Oh I give myself Sundays off from work." Elena explained "Sorry I should have mentioned that, I guess you can enjoy a lie in tomorrow."
"Well why don't we do dinner tomorrow then?" Damon suggested "We're both free, you can learn more about me and see what I do with Jenny."
"Are you sure? I mean you don't have to spend your day off with us…"
"No, I insist." Damon said "I'll come over at say three and we can hang and then get some food?"
"That sounds good." Elena smiled "I look forward to it."
"Cool, alright well I'll see you then. Bye Jenny." Elena felt her stomach flip when he leaned in a rubber Jenny's shoulder.
"Bye bye." Elena said, moving Jenny to her hip and making her wave.
When he left Elena set Jenny in her high chair and set about making some dinner. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and was shocked to see she looked flushed.
Elena awoke at ten to eight when she heard Jenny crying, she'd been having a dream, a good dream but she couldn't remember what it was about so she got up and made Jenny a bottle and then carried her back into her bed and they cuddled and watched some bad television.
Eventually she got up and got showered. She tried on three different tops with her favourite jeans before she realised that this wasn't a date. This was a 'getting to know you' meeting with her employee, her ridiculously good looking employee who was six years her junior. Eventually She went for a semi casual grey top that showed off her chest in a subtle way and added some Smokey eye shadow for effect. She put her hair up as it made her feel younger.
There wasn't much house work needing done as she'd done it all yesterday and Damon had left the place spotless before he'd left too. So she left Jenny playing with her plastic cups again while she did the washing up.
The buzzer went off at ten to three and she answered it
"Hello?"
"Hey, It's Damon."
Elena laughed "I gave you a key."
"Yeah." Came his voice through the speaker "But I didn't want to just barge in."
"Damon its fine you can let yourself in." She clicked the buzzer and thirty seconds later she heard a key scrape the lock.
"Hi." He said
"Hello." Elena said and god damn it she was blushing, she'd forgotten how intensely good looking he actually was. Her memory had cheated her with all the fine details.
"Hey there Jenny." Damon said going and picking her up. Jenny giggled when he swung her up into his arms and Elena couldn't help but melt.
"She's really taken to you." She managed to say without adding 'and so have I…"
"Good because I've really taken to her." Damon added tickling Jenny's belly "It's a gorgeous day, I think we should go to the park again?"
"The park sounds great." Elena encouraged "I'll get her sun hat."
"I'll get the push chair." Damon said
Elena walked into the other room and grabbed Jenny's hat and sneakily added a touch of lip gloss to her lips.
When she returned Damon was clicking the buckled on the push chair
"You look great." He said out of the blue, looking up
"Thank you." She smiled as she placed the hat on Jenny's head. And that's when she remembered her dream from this morning, she'd been kissing someone. That someone was Damon.