New update for ya! Enjoy :)
Elena stared up at the Boarding House, her home for all intents and purposes.
It looked almost the same as it did the first day she'd laid eyes on it during her junior year of high school.
The only real difference being the number of cars parked in the circled drive and the giant sign that hung over the front entrance, declaring it the Salvatore Boarding School.
Or as Damon liked to refer to it, Saltzman's School for Gifted Youngsters.
He'd also called it "Alaric's School of Witchcraft and Vampirism" but no one else had found it quite as amusing as he had, so it had been dropped.
The Salvatore Boarding School would soon be up and running, with Ric, Caroline, and Dorian working as educators.
To everyone's surprise, Jeremy had also volunteered to stay and help with teaching, being an experienced supernatural vampire hunter and all, and Ric had agreed on a trial basis.
They were looking to officially open in just a few short weeks, which meant that the time had come to move on with her own life.
"You okay?"
Elena turned to see Damon leaning against his Camaro, waiting for her.
She smiled sadly, nodding at him, before giving the house one more glance over.
She'd already said her goodbyes to everyone inside, and knew that she would be back to at least visit at some point, but still...it was hard to leave your home.
Your physical one, at least.
She let out the breath she'd been holding and started across towards the car; towards Damon.
He smiled at her and opened the passenger's side door.
"You got everything you need, right?"
She nodded, sliding into the seat, "It wasn't much."
It was true.
They had only packed the car with the essential items they would need for their relocation, and the rest they planned on having shipped to them after finding the place they wanted to live.
"What about you?" she asked, as he walked around to get into the driver's seat.
He started the ignition while looking over at her, "I have everything I need right here."
She smiled at the sentiment and reached for his hand.
"We're really doing this."
He squeezed her fingers, "Last chance to change your mind."
Elena shook her head, "No...I'm good. I'm ready."
Damon nodded, then switched gears and soon enough, they were pulling out onto the road.
Despite what she had said, it didn't really hit Elena that they were actually moving away until they drove across the town border.
The small "Welcome to Mystic Falls" sign was haunting as it faded away in the rearview mirror, and she couldn't help but feel a that the entire situation was a little bittersweet.
To distract herself, she reached over and took Damon's hand.
The corner of his mouth turned up in a private smile, and it helped dissipate the "bitter" part.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" she asked him, for probably the millionth time that week, "I mean, this is us actually moving."
He chuckled, "Elena, do you know how many times I've left Mystic Falls over the years? How many times I've come back? This is just another transition. One I'm more than ready for."
"Except you're human this time," she reasoned, "I get that you've seen the world, but this is it now, for both of us. We have the next sixty or seventy years to do everything we want to do and then it's over."
"It's a little soon to be getting into the technicalities of our mortality, isn't it?" he teased, his hand playing with her fingers now.
She sighed, "I'm serious, Damon. I don't want you to have any regrets about how we spend our life. It's the last lifetime you're going to have."
The smirk was back in place, and he even glanced over at her briefly, "I'm not going to regret anything about spending it with you. No matter where we go or where we end up...It'll be the perfect life, as long as it's with you."
The romantic words brushed at her worries, and eased her chest, but as much as she wanted to go on faith, what laid ahead was so uncertain that she couldn't quite force herself to believe there wouldn't be any hiccups.
"So what else is going on in that pretty head of yours?" he pressed, reading her expression as they hit the open highway.
She shrugged, "Nothing. And everything. The future is so unpredictable, and that's terrifying and exciting and terrifying…"
"We're gonna figure it out," he promised, "Day by day. I mean, this is what you wanted, right? New York, med school, me?"
She shot him a look, "Of course. I'm one hundred percent sure about you, and yes, New York has some of the best pre med programs in the country, and being a doctor is the best thing I could hope to do with my life."
"But?" he prodded gently.
"But I'm worried," she said, "What if I don't get in to any of the schools I want? What if you hate living in an apartment? What if anyone finds out the truth about us and-"
She stopped when Damon started laughing, "This isn't funny."
He shook his head, "Baby, there is no way you won't get into any school you want. And if you're that worried, try to remember that you have a vampire best friend who can compel your acceptance."
"Yeah, but I don't want her to have to. That wouldn't be fair."
"Screw fair," he told her, "You've gone through a lot over the years because of supernatural interference in your life. At least this way, you'll benefit from it."
"Yeah, but-"
"And as for where we live, I told you, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy."
She still wasn't as certain as he seemed to be, "You say that now. But what happens if I do get in to school and I'm busy all the time and then med school is going to be even worse, and you'll get bored and...you're laughing again."
She narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend who was trying to fight back his amusement, "Damon, I'm serious. I know that us being together is all that you've been fighting to make happen for the past half of a decade, but this is your life now too. Your only life. I don't want you to feel like you wasted it by waiting on me. I want you to enjoy it."
"So I'll buy a bar," he said offhandedly, "Or I'll find another job, or I'll go to school too, or I'll binge an entire season of Dance Moms in a ridiculously fast amount of time."
"Damon-"
"My point," he stopped her, "Is that there are options, Elena. Millions of them. Ones that I'm sure I've never even thought to consider before, but now I can. We'll figure this out. But in the meantime you are going to have the life you wanted. You're going to become a fancy surgeon and save lives and do anything and everything you want for the next seventy years. And if all I ever do for the rest of my life is watch you get everything you've ever dreamed of...well, then, I got everything I wanted."
He smiled at her, and Elena couldn't help but smile back.
He was making it so difficult to be stressed about the impending uncertainties when he talked as if whatever was awaiting them was paradise.
And maybe for him, that's what this was.
Life with her was what he wanted more than anything, and he sounded as though he was already satisfied with it.
And for now, she would accept that and be happy.
Damon still had years to figure out the human thing and to find a new future dream for himself, but for now, he was content with starting this life with her.
And after all that they'd endured to get to this point, she decided that that was enough for now.
She would take a moment, or two, or a year, and just be happy with the fact that she had actually gotten her happiness, and that Damon had gotten his.
She squeezed the palm he held, and he looked over.
"I love you," she told him, smiling a little, and he smiled back, "I love you, too."
They fell into a comfortable silence for a moment, until she recalled something he'd said.
"So…" she smirked, turning in the seat to face him, "Dance Moms? I'm guessing I can blame Caroline?"
Damon laughed, and it played like music in her heart, making anything that waited for them ahead more than worth the struggle.
It was a little bit of a drive to New York and she was going to be sure and hear that sound as much as possible for the next five hours.
And, while she was at it, the next seventy years.
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Keep it up! :)