"Are you awake?" Elena whispered
"Yeah. Are you?" Damon whispered into the back of her neck
They both fell into silent laughter
"I can't sleep." Elena complained "I'm too keyed up."
"Me too." Damon said "In a good way I hope?"
"The best." Elena confirmed "The only thing is I have two surgeries tomorrow and I need to sleep."
"Do you want me to go home?" Damon offered "it might help."
"No!" Elena said quickly rolling around so they were face to face "don't do that. I'm so happy you're here."
Damon kissed her gently and pulled back. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Elena smiled "about what?"
"About whatever is keeping you awake…" Damon said knowingly
Elena sighed "Well, it's just…us."
Damon smiled "okay…"
Elena went on "I'm really happy this…" she took his hand under the sheets "…has finally happened but I feel kind of selfish about it…"
Damon frowned "Selfish? About what?"
Elena cleared her throat "Okay, so you're twenty three years old…"
Damon sighed and rolled onto his back "Almost twenty four." He added
"Okay, you're almost twenty four but I'm thirty! And I have a kid-"
"-who I love…" Damon butted in
"I know you do, but you're not her dad, you're her nanny and I don't want you getting into trouble with the agency for dating their client."
"First off, yes you're thirty but I don't care. Age is just a number Elena, it's not as if we're breaking the law by being indecent or anything. And I love Jenny, I love taking care of her and yes we're completely breaking the rules of the agency by doing this but it's not like I don't care because I do…I just think it's going to be worth it."
"Can you speak to them about it?" Elena asked
"I will." Damon said "First thing tomorrow. If it comes to it I can just move on to another family or something…"
Elena cringed "Damon, I feel like I'm screwing this up for you. I trust you with Jenny and I don't want you to move on…"
"Only if it comes to it." Damon said gently "Maybe they'll be okay with us having a relationship."
"I hope so." Elena said glumly
"There are a lot of great nannies available, I can recommend a great one for Jenny if it comes down to it." Damon tried to soothe her
"She loves you." Elena said
"It's not as if I won't see her anymore. Hopefully I'll be around a lot…" Damon said rolling back onto his side and looking Elena in the eye.
"Is it worth it?" Elena said quietly. She knew he was too good for her. He could find someone younger who wasn't so tied down.
"I think so." Damon replied gently stroking her check "Elena, I think you're amazing."
Elena's heart was racing, her eyes felt moist. This was more than she'd dared to hope for.
"You don't have to tell me this…" she whispered
"Stop." Damon said "Believe it, Elena because I think you need to hear this. I'm crazy about you. In fact I think I'm falling for you…"
She smiled as he wiped away the moisture under her eye. "You know you're exactly describing my feelings for you?" she laughed
"Really?" Damon smiled "Well that's a relief; I thought I might scare you off if I told you!"
"Are you kidding me?" Elena replied "was it not obvious that I really liked you?"
"You're so nice and I didn't want to hope that you felt the same about me or wanted more." Damon explained "But god, I've been falling hard since that night we had dinner on the balcony."
"Really?" Elena smiled. "It's been that long for you?"
"Definitely." Damon confirmed as he snuggled in closer to her
"It's been that long for me too." She added as he settled down against him.
"Do you feel better now." He asked
"A little. I won't feel better until we find out about your job." She said
"Don't stress." He said before he yawned "Get some sleep; we can sort it out tomorrow."
Elena yawned too. "Goodnight."
Damon kissed her slowly. "Night." He said before he left her with a small kiss.