never really there

victoria- I know how frustrating this is. I had a whole different idea when I originally began this story but then I decided to go another way. I strongly urge you to just hang in there because this chapter includes some flashbacks with brotherly moments between Stefan and Damon and also a re-introduction of a character.

kinki- prepare yourself! Someone's coming back!

ALostHeart- A flashback is in this chapter. :D

tammy lynnea- thank you!

Jess- As the chapters go along, it will make more sense, I promise you. I just ask you to hang in there. And thank you about the boys. There's some symbolism with Morgan and Aiden and I'm glad you picked it up!

He hated this route. Taking Morgan to school resulted in the one way street to get to the elementary school but to get to the high school where he taught, he had to take a long loop around the highway.

The college stood high and majestic in the early morning light, the sun's rays dancing off the dewy grass. Glancing to his right, he could see the ground's already filled with people, filling the front yard with chairs. The small memorial emblazoned with names stood at the end of the front walkway. It was hard to miss it when you had to walk to the doors. Two people were on ladders by the front doors, pinning up a long pale rose banner with some words he couldn't make out.

It had been ten years. Ten long years.

"These projects..." He walked along the line of desks and workspaces, holding up the grade sheets in his hands. "...were something. I had never seen anything like them before in my whole entire life." Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed one of his favorite students starting to cower in fear. "And I just have to say...they are the best damn things I have ever seen."

There were about thirty different shudders of breathy relief that hit his ears after that.

"I'm sorry, I just had to screw with you because it's just so easy," he chuckled.

"Mr. Salvatore, wanna tell us why we keep falling for that?" asked a redheaded student named Penny. She waggled her eyebrows at him and he chuckled.

"Penny, give it to me later," he grinned. The rest of the students 'ooohed' and Penny received many playful pats on the shoulder. "When I call your name, please come up and get your rubrics. At the end of class, you can pick up your pieces, kay? Lily Alcott?"

One by one, each student received their grade sheets. He heard low whistles, sighs of relief, happiness, and squeals of pleasure. They had been assigned to do small ceramic pots that symbolized something sacred in their lives and then to write him a short little paragraph on why it was sacred. That was one of the reasons why he liked teaching this class so much because with these little projects, the kids got into them. They showed passion.

Passion he hadn't felt in quite some time.

An assembly cut his last class short so he dallied on over to the elementary school to pick Morgan up. He still had a good thirty minutes left before Morgan got out of school.

The grass was still wet from last night's rain. It soaked the bottom of his jeans right up to the ankle, making pretty little wet spots. He sighed in exasperation and continued to stroll across the grounds, sure he looked just like a big creeper.

Walking through these grounds, waiting for his own child to get out of school, he couldn't help but think about how long it had been.

"Come on, Stef! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, Damy!"

The eight year old chuckled as he came to a stop. "Please, you need to stop calling me 'Damy'. You're almost five now."

"But I like calling you 'Damy'. It's your name!" Stefan's green eyes were already starting to fill up with tears. As soon as he turned on those eyes, Damon knew he was toast.

"All right, all right. Keep calling me 'Damy'," sighed the raven haired boy. "Just-"

"Just what?" asked the light haired boy.

"Just don't call me that in front of anyone else, okay? I don't want to seem like a baby."

Even at four years old, Stefan was already very intelligent. He smiled kindly into his brother's face before shoving him down onto the wet grass.

"You're it!" he cried before taking off like a shot.

"You little-!" Damon was up and hot on his little brother's heels already, grabbing him around the middle and twirling him around. As he turned, his face lit up at the sight of their mother striding across the lawn towards them. "Hey, Mom!"

Antonia Salvatore let out a laugh of delight as she watched her sons. "Hey, boys! Damon, please don't drop your brother!"

"Why? He likes it!" Damon gently let Stefan slide into the grass, soaking his new jeans and shoes.

"Damy! You big meanie!" Stefan leapt to his feet and faced him, laughter dancing in his emerald eyes.

"Oh, good grief," Damon sighed, slapping his hand to his forehead. "Mom, can you please ask Stefan to stop calling me 'Damy'?"

Antonia shook her head. "That's your nickname...Damy."

"Mom! Not you too!"

Antonia started to laugh again and planted a noisy wet kiss on top of her son's glossy hair. "Sorry, kid. I guess your little brother got to me."

"Haha! So you're Damy forever!" Stefan giggled happily, jumping up and down in the grass.

"Come on, boys. Let's go home," Antonia leaned over and grabbed Stefan around the middle, lifting him up and throwing him over her shoulder. Stefan let out another amazing laugh that sounded so much like church bells ringing in the distance, holding on tightly to his mother's shoulder while Antonia leaned back an arm that Damon happily took.

Thirty two year old Damon let out a small sigh. It had been such a long time since that happy afternoon.

He sank down onto the same bench that he and his brother had ran by so many times in their fearless escapades while waiting for their mother to pick them up from school. He heard the final bell ring inside and knew that this day was finally drawing to a close.

"Damon?"

Damon's head shot up and he found himself looking into a very familiar pair of light blue eyes.

"Hey, Caroline."

The blonde lowered herself down onto the bench beside him, running a hand through her unruly hair. She didn't look at him, continuing to stare out into the sea of dark oak leave like grass.

"Your hair's getting longer."

Seriously? Her hair? That's all you can come up with?

Caroline chuckled and twisted it back over one shoulder. "Yeah, Tyler always said I should grow it out."

"It looks nice like that," he whispered. They both grew silent once again. "How's Emily?"

"She's good. She's happy," she whispered. "She loves kindergarten."

"That's good," he whispered, nodding silently.

"How are Morgan and Aiden?"

"They're really good too. Aiden's anxious to get into kindergarten so he can come with his brother to school every day."

"Is that Aiden talking or you talking?" asked Caroline, a slight smile on her lips.

"Maybe just a little of me," he held up his index finger and his thumb a hair apart.

Caroline gave a weak laugh. "How's Bonnie?"

"She's good too. She thinks she's going to make tenure soon at Logan."

"Tell her I said hello."

"You should tell her that yourself, Care."

Caroline let out a groan. "Come on, Damon. Are we really going to dance around this?"

Damon sighed too. "I just can't, Caroline. Not now."

"You should really go to the memorial tomorrow," she whispered. "It could do you a lot of good."

"Yeah, do me a lot of good to remember everything that happened that horrible day?" he snapped. "I never want to set foot in that college again, Caroline."

"I don't blame you."

"Mommy!"

Caroline's head shot up and she managed to get off the bench in time to catch the giggling five year old.

"Hey, baby!" Caroline laughed, scooping the young picture of herself up and whirling her around.

"Dad!"

Damon looked up in time to catch the barrel full of Morgan before he slammed headlong into him. "Hey there, buddy. How was school?"

"It was good, Dad. I got a hundred on my spelling test!" He happily held up the paper, waving it under his father's nose. Damon pried it from his fingers and looked over the words.

"Good job, buddy. I'm proud of you," He planted a noisy kiss on his forehead. "Hey, Morgan, you remember Caroline, right?" He gestured to the blonde.

"Yes, I do. Hi, Mrs. Lockwood."

"Hi, Morgan," Caroline smiled. She glanced back over at Damon and shook her head. It amazed her how much Morgan was starting to look like his father, right down to the dark hair and the icy blue eyes. "Congratulations on your spelling test."

"Thanks!" Morgan beamed at her.

That was it. That was the difference between father and son.

Innocence was clearly in the beautiful child standing before her.

But not his father.

"All right, little man. Say goodbye. We need to go home," Damon got up off the bench, easily throwing Morgan over his shoulder.

"Bye, Mrs. Lockwood! Bye Emily!" Morgan waved at the mother and daughter, still holding onto his test paper.

"Bye Morgan!" Caroline called back. Emily simply waved.

Damon pretended to tip an invisible hat in their direction before carrying Morgan away.

"I got tenure!"

Damon almost fell over, dropping the spoon he was using to stir batter in the process, as he caught his wife's body.

"I got tenure! I got tenure!" Bonnie continued to squeal, jumping up and down in happiness.

Damon laughed, hugging her tightly. "That's wonderful! I thought you weren't supposed to find out until next week?" he asked.

"Apparently, Mr. Saltzman was lying. I don't know. But it's official. I am going to be the official head of the art department at Logan College until I die!" Bonnie whirled around. "And you know what? We are all going out for pizza!"

"Yay!" Morgan, who had been standing in the doorway, screeched happily as he ran out of the room. "Aiden! Come on, we're going out for pizza! Mommy's a millionare now!"

Damon chuckled. "We're going to have to explain what tenure is to him."

Bonnie smiled. "How are you? Are you okay?"

Damon shook his head. "I'm fine," he easily lied, carefully placing the cover on the bowl of cookie batter and setting into the fridge.

"Damon..." Bonnie's voice was low. "What's going on?"

"I ran into Caroline while I was waiting for Morgan," he said quickly. "She was there picking up her daughter."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "Oh, my God."

"She's doing all right. Her kid...Emily? She's doing good too," Damon glanced away from his wife's peering gaze, turning away.

"Damon...?" Bonnie stepped closer, going up on her tiptoes and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. "Damon, look at me."

Damon sighed. "It's this day, Bonnie. Today and tomorrow and the rest of the week. I wish I could crawl into a hole and pull the hole in after me."

Bonnie nodded. "I know, I know. But you know what?"

"What's that?"

"It's okay to let it out. Just let out one big scream and cry for hours. It makes it better."

"How do you know that, Bon?" Damon whispered, trying desperately to push back the burning heat behind his eyes. "How?"

Bonnie sighed. "Maybe I don't. But just remember, you have a family that loves you. They understand that you need this."

Damon let his own sigh come out before pulling her close. "Thank you, love."

"I love you. You know that, right?" Bonnie murmured into his chest.

"Of course you do. I'm a lovable guy. It's hard not to love me," He wiggled an eyebrow at her and she laughed.

"Come on, let's get our sons and go get pizza."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And don't call me that."

"Yes, dear."

"Oh, god..."

I wanted to get another update up quickly because it's going to be awhile before I can get an update up after today.

And yeah, I know. Caroline's married to Tyler now. What are you gonna do? :(

I am so sorry that this is so confusing. I assure you that this will make more sense in the coming chapters. Please hang in there. :D