I'm back! I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and its been a good new year so far. Since the Xmas exchange fics are finished, I'm back to updating these stories regularly. This chapter is a bit longer than usual to thank you all for being so patient over the past little while. No smut in this one, but it returns next chapter. This was just getting too long and I had to end it where I did or else it would have been a couple thousand words more than it already was. As always I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think.
"Hi." Elena said sheepishly to her friends who were standing on the other side of the door.
"That's all you have to say? Hi?" Caroline asked in disbelief.
"Okay, so clearly we have to talk about this. Come on in." Elena stated stepping aside to let her friends pass.
"Oh yes we do. I get back into town and immediately run into Bonnie, we decide that it's the perfect chance to have a good old fashioned girls night. So we go to your apartment only to find there's no one there. You don't answer your phone, so we immediately come here to see if Damon knew where you were and you open the door with THAT on your finger." Caroline ranted.
"Things have changed since you guys went to university." Elena started.
"No shit! I just can't believe you didn't call me to tell me that you were engaged!" Caroline whined.
"I'm sorry, it's been insane here. I just told my mom and dad last night, and we've only been engaged for a couple days. I was getting around to it." Elena defended.
"Sorry to interrupt but are you guys hungry? There's fried chicken in here for dinner." Damon asked coming out of the kitchen.
"I am, thanks baby." Elena said walking into the kitchen, and kissing Damon quickly. Caroline and Bonnie followed her into the kitchen and each grabbed a piece of chicken too before sitting at the table. The three girls ate in silence while Damon sipped a glass of bourbon trying to think of a inconspicuous way of escaping the house for a while in order to avoid girl time.
"I even brought "Magic Mike" and pedicure stuff." Caroline whined.
"We can still watch it, nothing has really changed." Elena offered.
"We can't have a true girls night with him here." Caroline whined.
"I am more than happy to make myself scarce for a while." Damon offered hoping that Elena would allow him to leave.
"Really? Thanks baby." Elena said standing up to kiss him. He returned her kiss for a couple seconds before gently pushing her away.
"You might not want to start something you can't finish for a while." He told her stepping away from her.
"I promise I'll make this up to you." She vowed before kissing him once more.
"I'm sure you will, but it's probably good for me to get out for a while. I need to tell Ric about this." He said taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her massive diamond.
"That's a good idea. I'll see you in a couple of hours." She said.
"You sure will. Don't worry about cleaning up the kitchen, I'll deal with it when I get home." He told her.
"We can do it together when you get home." She bargained.
"Sounds good. I'll see you in a while." Damon said shrugging into his leather jacket and kissing her before walking out.
After they were done eating dinner, the girls migrated to the TV room and sat down on the couch.
"So before we start, tell me how all of this came to be?" Caroline demanded.
"It's a long story." Elena told them.
"I still want to know." Caroline muttered.
"I'm curious too. When we left you said nothing about being ready to marry him." Bonnie interjected.
"Okay, it all started a couple months ago when I got attacked..." Elena started before Caroline's mouth snapped open and
Bonnie's eyes got wide.
"You got attacked?! When? Where? How?" Caroline demanded, her eyes wide and fearful for her best friend.
"A while back, he made me do things and he did things to me. He hit me and I never thought I was going to be the same again. I haven't actually been back to the apartment since. Once the man left me in the parking lot of the apartment, I fixed myself up as best I could and drove here. He took care of me and made me feel better. He made me feel brave enough to face the world again, and sat by my side when I told my parents what happened to me. After that I realized I didn't want to spend another night without him beside me, so we agreed that I should move in." Elena explained.
"When did the marriage thing come up?" Bonnie asked still trying to wrap her head around Elena getting attacked.
"Well we were heading to Richmond to tell Jeremy that I was moving in with Damon. I missed my brother and I wanted to see him. Telling him Damon and I were moving in together seemed like as good a reason as any to visit him. Damon picked me up from work that day so we could hit the road, but he heard a conversation between me and my boss where I told Dennis that Damon wasn't the marrying kind. Damon was offended at my words because I made it sound like I wanted to get married but Damon wouldn't let us. On the way to Richmond we finally talked about our issues after not speaking for a while and he told me he would marry me if it was what I wanted. He said there wasn't anything I could give him that he wouldn't take, and he would love to be married to me. So when we got to Richmond we met Jeremy and Katie for dinner then went to the mall to shop for a ring. He told me to pick whichever one I wanted, I saw this and it was perfect. He wouldn't let me put it on until we left the store and he got down on one knee and formally asked for my hand." Elena explained smiling at the memory.
"That's beautiful." Bonnie murmured as Caroline wiped a tear from her eyes.
"I'm so in love with him." Elena whispered.
"I can see that. So when's the wedding?" Caroline asked.
"Undecided. I need my maid of honour's help planning the whole thing." Elena whispered taking Caroline's hand.
"Me? Really?" Caroline asked the tears starting all over again.
"Yeah, you. Bonnie I want you to be my other bridesmaid." Elena turned to her other best friend.
"Wow thanks Elena." Bonnie mumbled.
"Yeah, thank you so much." Caroline sobbed throwing her arms around her friend's neck.
"You're welcome, but if you want to watch "Magic Mike" before Damon gets home we may want to start." Elena suggested pulling free from Caroline's embrace.
"Okay." Caroline said sitting back against the cushions of the couch. Elena got up and put the disc into the DVD player and turned the TV on before returning to the couch.
"Hey buddy, I was hoping I'd find you here." Damon said walking into the Grill and seeing Ric sitting at the counter with a glass of bourbon.
"I thought you would be at home in that newly engaged haze." Ric spat and Damon looked at him confused.
"How'd you find out?" Damon asked.
"Well let's see here, you and Elena told Grayson and Miranda. Miranda phoned Jenna and Jenna squealed excitedly for the entire next day. Needless to say I'm not too pleased to see you." Alaric muttered.
"In my defence I was coming here to tell you. Elena and I thought her parents should be first to know." Damon defended.
"This is true, it should go parents; Elena's because yours are dead, then best friends; which would be me. I should have known the day it happened, or at least the day after and I sure as hell shouldn't have found out through someone else." Alaric grumbled, clearly pouting.
"Would it make you feel better if I say I'm sorry? I don't want to spend the night drinking here alone and I really don't want to go home because Elena is having a girls night and Magic Mike is involved." Damon muttered.
"Yes it would, and name me your best man." Alaric bargained.
"Fine I'm sorry for not telling you I was getting married. By the way I was already going to ask you to be my best man." Damon said taking the seat next to him.
"What if I don't want to be your best man?"Alaric asked petulantly.
"You don't have a choice. I have to have two groomsmen as of right now because Elena has two bridesmaids. You Alaric Saltzman are my best man and you have no say in the matter." Damon told him firmly.
"Since you ask me so nicely, yes I would be honoured to accept the role." Alaric answered dramatically.
"Good. Now lets drink until you can't see straight." Damon suggested before ordering a bottle of bourbon.
"He is so hot." Caroline sighed dramatically as they watched Channing Tatum take his clothes on.
"He's not bad, but then again I'm biased. I wake up to Damon every morning." Elena murmured.
"Even you have to admit that Channing Tatum is hotter than Damon Salvatore." Caroline scoffed.
"No I don't." Elena shook her head.
"Come on Elena, Caroline's right. There is no man on earth right now hotter than Channing Tatum." Bonnie agreed with Caroline.
"Yes there is. Damon Salvatore is the hottest man alive." Elena scoffed.
"Come on... look at that ass. He has a great ass." Caroline called, pausing the movie just as Channing Tatum's ass filled the screen.
"I've seen better." Elena sighed rolling her eyes.
"Let me guess Damon?" Caroline asked.
"Mmmhmm." Elena hummed.
"Well in order to fully pick a winner, maybe you should let me appraise the goods so to speak." Caroline suggested wrapping some hair around her little finger.
"Caroline, that... is so not happening. Everything covered by clothing on his body belongs to me and only me." Elena hissed feeling possessive of Damon.
"Okay okay. How about we just agree to disagree about who's hotter?" Caroline suggested.
"That's probably safer." Elena agreed.
"Good, now that that has been dealt with can we get back to the movie?" Bonnie asked. Caroline clicked the play button again and the room went silent again.
"I wonder how much effort it would take to get Damon to dance like that for me?" Elena wondered rhetorically.
"Probably not too much. The guy would do anything for you." Caroline mused.
"I would do anything for him too. Maybe if he does this for me, I'll do something for him another time." Elena pondered.
"Can we get back to the movie and you can think about yours and Damon's sex life after?" Caroline asked.
"Right sorry." Elena apologized and turned back to the male strippers.
A couple hours later Damon walked through the front door the complete silence.
"What the hell?" He wondered as he walked into the TV room and found the three girls asleep on the couch. Caroline's face was smushed into Elena's breasts and Bonnie face was in Caroline's lap. The girls were a tangled mess of limbs, when he saw the empty bottle of tequila on the coffee table he knew why. They must have finished the movie and started drinking. He saw Bonnie shift slightly and open her eyes.
"Oh my God, I'm sorry." Bonnie said softly sitting up.
"That's okay. Did you have fun?" He asked softly not wanting to wake the other girls up.
"After Magic Mike we started taking shots. Normally we can last longer than one bottle, it must have been the movie and our relaxed states. We passed out." Bonnie explained.
"I can see that." Damon laughed.
"I need sleep." Bonnie sighed.
"Can you make it up stairs? Elena would kill me if I sent you and Caroline home tonight." Damon asked.
"Yeah. Where do I go?" She asked.
"Any room upstairs except for the one at the end of the right side of the hallway." Damon told her.
"Thank you." She whispered standing up and kind of wobbling her way to the stairs.
"One down two to go" Damon thought to himself. He gently shook Caroline's arm and her hand unexpectedly snapped back, connecting with his nose.
"Ah fuck." He hissed knowing it was broken. He quickly pushed it back into place as the blonde woke up hearing him curse.
"Did I hit you?" She asked groggily.
"It's fine. Can you make it upstairs?" He asked.
"I think so. You're letting us stay here?" She asked sitting up tentatively, relieved to note that her stomach was staying in place.
"Elena would kill me if I let you drive home. Take any room except for the one at the end of the right side of the hallway." He told her as she wobbled to the stairs.
"Let me guess, that's your room?" She asked.
"Yes. If you need anything at all tonight, you can either come down here and look for it or you can ask. You know where to find us." Damon said gently picking Elena up in his arms and carrying her towards the stairs.
"Okay. Damon you're really good for her. I'm happy she has you." Caroline murmured softly.
"Thank you I'm the lucky one in this relationship though." He replied as he tenderly gazed down at his passed out fiancee.
"You're giving her everything she's ever wanted. The big wedding, the loving husband. Elena is the best person I've ever known and she deserves happiness." Caroline explained.
"I will do everything in my power to make sure he's the happiest woman alive." Damon promised at the top of the stairs.
"I know. But I must sleep this off. Thank you for letting me stay." Caroline mumbled opening the first door she came to and was relieved when she saw a bed. Damon took Elena into their bedroom and laid her down on the soft blanket. He undid her shoes and slowly peeled off her dress pants and blouse that she wore to work earlier in the day. He left her bra and panties on her and pulled the blankets over her.
"Damon..." Elena whispered, her eyes only slightly open.
"Yeah baby?" He answered as he stripped out of his dark jeans and shirt, and slipping into a pair of black sleep pants.
"You have a much better ass than Channing Tatum." She murmured before drifting back into dreamland. Damon chuckled to himself for a second before slipping into the other side of the bed and shutting off the lamp.
The next morning Damon woke up to Elena snoring loudly beside him with the pillow covering her face. He laughed to himself knowing she was in for a rough morning when she woke up. He walked downstairs and immediately went to the basement to quickly drink a bag of blood before the other girls woke up. They weren't aware of vampires and didn't want to scare them to death especially when hung over. When he was finished he walked upstairs and pulled the ingredients for pancakes out of the cupboards and proceeded to whip some up for when the girls woke up. Damon heard steps on the stairs a few minutes later and seen Bonnie walk into the room with her head in her hands.
"Morning." Damon greeted her as he whipped up the pancake batter.
"Morning." She grunted sinking into a stool at the counter.
"I would ask how you're feeling but I think I already know that answer. Do you want some Advil?" He asked.
"That would be wonderful thank you. Thanks for letting us spend the night." She thanked him again.
"Not a problem, lots of spare bedrooms." Damon shrugged.
"Thank you anyways." Bonnie urged.
"You're welcome." Damon said as he poured some pancake batter onto the pan. A few minutes later another pair of steps echoed through the house.
"I feel like death." Caroline whined sitting down next to Bonnie and placed her head on the granite counter-top.
"Maybe you shouldn't drink so much." Damon suggested.
"It was fun last night." Caroline whined.
"Elena still in bed?" Damon asked realizing he hadn't heard her move around yet.
"Yep, she will probably just sleep away her hangover." Caroline alerted her.
"I doubt it. She will be here in a few minutes, especially when she catches a whiff of these pancakes." Damon claimed.
"We'll see." Caroline stated smugly.
"I am never drinking again." Elena muttered as she tied her robe around her body and walked downstairs. When she got there Damon had a smug look on his face and Caroline looked disappointed.
"Why are you so smug? You better not be gloating because I feel like shit." She snapped fetching a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water.
"Of course I'm gloating but this time it's not over you. It's over Caroline, I know you so much better." Damon bragged.
"I'm not even going to ask. My head is throbbing, do we have Advil?" She asked him.
"Yeah, the cupboard above the stove." He told her pointing.
"Thanks baby." She muttered standing on her tip toes to reach the bottle. She swallowed a couple Advil's and went to sit down beside Caroline and Bonnie as the three girls watched Damon prepare waffles.
"Why don't you go take a shower, it'll make you feel better." Damon suggested to Elena who was resting her head in her hands.
"Okay, there better be pancakes left when I come back." Elena warned everyone.
"Do you mind if we shower too?" Bonnie asked who was feeling marginally better.
"Have at it." He told the two girls who immediately disappeared upstairs. Damon shook his head and flipped the pancakes, wondering where this hospitable side of him came from. This was most definitely not like him. While the girls were gone Grayson called, telling Damon that the engagement party was set for Saturday. Damon agreed to be there and hung up the phone before three girls came downstairs looking refreshed.
"Thank God there are more than three bathrooms in this house. All three of us somewhat resemble humans now." Elena murmured as she walked over to Damon and reached up to peck him on the lips.
"That's good because breakfast is ready." Damon said pushing a massive plate of pancakes forward and three plates indicating that they should start eating. "Oh and Elena your dad called while you were showering, the engagement party is on Saturday." Damon told her.
"I'm actually kind of excited for that." Elena admitted.
"That's good, I'm sure you're parents wouldn't like it too much if the guest of honor wasn't happy about being there. Apparently he's inviting the entire town; he's excited." Damon told her.
"I always knew my parents would go all out for my wedding." Elena sighed.
"Well enjoy it." Damon told her as she started eating her breakfast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What do you think? Blue or Silver?" Elena asked holding two shirts up in front of her black bra encased body the next morning.
"They're both nice." Damon replied from bed.
"I know they're both nice, but I need to know which is nicest. I have to confess about the engagement to my coworkers today, and I want to look good doing it." Elena told him walking into the bedroom from the closet and straddling Damon on the bed.
"I don't think it's going to make a huge difference, which shirt you wear." He murmured laying his palms flat on her thighs.
"Which one would you prefer to strip off of me at some point?" She asked, changing her tactic.
"Well, in that case, I think I like the blue with the lacy sleeves and back." He chose appraising to two shirts.
"That was what I was thinking too." Elena admitted.
"Well good now good put it on before I start taking stuff off." He warned her. She squealed and jumped off of him, rushing back into the closet. He laughed as she ran away before returning a couple minutes later fully clothed.
"You're lucky." He warned her.
"Not really, if I really was lucky I wouldn't be going to work. I'd be with you in that bed." She told him pouting slightly.
You better get going unless you want me to make that want a reality." He told her.
"Alright alright I'm leaving." She sighed audibly. He laughed again and watched her leave. She knew he was watching her so she added a bit more sway to her hips than usual.
When Elena got to work she was immediately called into Dennis's office.
"Take a seat Elena, I need to discuss something with you." He told her.
"Okay, is something the matter?" She asked not sure what she could have possibly done wrong. As far as she remembered yesterday was her day off.
"I got an interesting phone call yesterday from your father." Dennis started.
"What did he say?" She asked.
"He invited me to an engagement party. Your engagement party. So I hear congratulations are in order." He stated with a smile on his face.
"Yes, I was coming in to tell you all today." Elena told him.
"I'm happy for you Elena, I guess you were wrong before about Damon not being the marrying type?" He clarified.
"I've never been so happy to be wrong before." Elena admitted.
"I bet. I'm calling a small little meeting to announce your engagement. It's not everyday that the towns most beloved doctor's daughter gets engaged." Dennis alerted her.
"Oh that's not necessary. I can just tell everyone." Elena shrugged.
"No nonsense. Your father suggested I do this, he's taking this wedding thing very seriously." Dennis told her. Elena smiled and Dennis picked up his phone telling everyone to meet him in the conference room in ten minutes. Elena smiled and walked with Dennis to the conference room, not bothering to hide her ring anymore since they would all know shortly.
"I called you all in here this morning to make an announcement. I would like to announce that our very own Elena Gilbert has just gotten engaged to Mystic Fall's most eligible bachelor Damon Salvatore." Dennis called over the group. Women immediately surrounded Elena grabbing at her hand to get a closer look at the sizable diamond on her hand.
"Wow that's gorgeous. You lucky girl." One woman said appraising the diamond.
"Thank you. It really is an amazing time in my life, I'm happier than I've ever been." Elena told them smiling.
"Everyone congratulate Elena then get back to work. We have articles to write." Dennis shouted over the group fawning over Elena. Everyone said their congratulations and left the room. Elena took a deep breath and followed them back to her cubicle.
"Congratulations again Elena." Dennis said patting her shoulder as he walked by.
"Thank you Dennis." Elena acknowledged him.
"Congratulations Elena." A soft voice from behind her sounded. Elena spun her chair around and saw one of the editors standing behind her. He was slightly nerdy with large framed glasses and a small amount of acne.
"Thank you Anthony." She said smiling at the guy she considered a friend in this place. He was the one guy who didn't try anything with her and was genuinely nice to her since day one. They had lunch together daily and she enjoyed his company.
"You're welcome." He sighed.
"So are we having lunch today?" Elena asked.
"I don't think so." Anthony sighed again looking anywhere but her diamond.
"Oh, do you have something else going on?" Elena asked confused.
"No, it's just that I clearly have to get over you if you're marrying another man." Anthony admitted.
"What do you mean?" Elena asked having a bad feeling about where this conversation was going.
"You're trying to tell me that you don't know how I feel about you?" He scoffed.
"I'm not following you." Elena probed.
"I really like you Elena, I have since you started working here. I mean, how many men would have plotted murder on whoever it was who hurt you? That day you came in here all covered in bruises, I immediately wished death on the person who hurt you! That is not an exaggeration. I have been sitting on the sidelines of your life since you started working here. I was your friend, hoping that someday that I would be more." He muttered.
"I'm sorry I lead you on Anthony, but I'm deeply in love with Damon." She apologized.
"I know that. I'm just sorry it's not me." He sighed before walking away. Elena laid her head in her hands wondering how she never knew how he felt. If she did, she would have let him down much sooner than she did.
At the end of the day Elena drove home and walked in the front door.
"How was your day?" Damon asked from the kitchen where he was cooking yet again.
"I'm a horrible person." She murmured sitting down at the counter.
"Now what makes you a horrible person?" He asked leaning down so he could look into her dark brown eyes.
"I inadvertently let someone on, not knowing how he felt about me." She answered.
"How did you do that?" He asked tilting her chin up so he could look at her.
"I was being his friend all the while he was apparently falling for me." She sighed.
"I'm not sure how to help you with this Elena. Do you want to keep being his friend?" He asked.
"Yes, he is one of the only people I actually like in that place." She exclaimed.
"Then keep being his friend. Don't give him an option! I know you Elena Gilbert, you are a persistent little thing when you want to be. You'll make him realize that he doesn't have a choice but to be your friend again." He told her smiling.
"Thank you, you always know what to say to make me feel better." Elena told him hugging him.
"I try." He told her hugging her back. "If that doesn't work, I can always go talk to him."
"Ah no, that would be the opposite of helpful I'm thinking." She laughed.
"Come on, a quick dose of compulsion and everything would be perfect again." Damon persisted.
"I think I want to handle this one on my own. Thank you for not being jealous." She whispered into his chest.
"Why would I be jealous? I'm the one who put the ring on your finger. You're mine." He told her possessively.
"Yes, I'm yours." She promised kissing his chest.
"Now, when you go back to work tomorrow, corner your friend. If that doesn't work take him lunch and corner him again. Keep cornering him every opportunity you get until he gives in and becomes your friend again. Persistence is key." Damon told her.
"But I don't want to hurt him." Elena sighed.
"But not being his friend his hurting you. Be selfish for a while Elena. I know what it's like to not have you at all, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'm sure he'd rather have your friendship than nothing at all. He's just hurt right now and he'll come around." Damon assured her.
"I hope so. Now therapist Damon, do you think I should give him some time?" She asked.
"If he asks for time then yes, but if not keep persisting." He told her.
"Where did you get so good at this?" She asked curiously, she'd never known him to make an effort with people.
"Damned if I know. I'm coming up with it as I go." He laughed.
"Really... you're not bad. I may have to come up with a way to thank you for your expertise..." She trailed off.
"I'm sure you could think of a way. But I need to get back to cooking. Your human drama has distracted me from my amazing dinner I am making for you." He told her.
" While you cook, I'll think of some brilliant way to thank you." She told him.
"I'll eagerly be awaiting that." He told her smiling.
"I'm sure you will..." She trailed off pondering.
When dinner was done Elena patted her completely flat belly.
"I think you should take me to bed." She stated.
"It's only 6:30." He told her glancing at the clock.
"Exactly, I think you should take me to bed." Elena hinted.
"Oh fuck how did I miss that little innuendo?" He asked smacking himself upside the head.
"I don't know. You're not really on the ball tonight are you?" She asked laughing at his moment of naivety.
"Apparently not. All your human drama has thrown me for a loop." He admitted standing up and taking the dishes to the sink, intent on leaving them until tomorrow.
"It's okay, but now take me to bed Damon Salvatore. You're in control, you can do whatever you want to me." She whispered in his ear.