Dear Diary

Summer has begun and the weather is hot, hot, hot! Damon and I are enjoying our time with Claire as she turns two months old. It's hard to believe how much she has grown over the last two months. She can be a very happy baby and smile every time she sees Damon or I. She tracks us and other objects with her big blue eyes and has started to make other noises other then just crying. I remember I got all excited when she made her first oh and ah sounds and had Damon running around the house looking for the video camera.

We try to capture as many moments as we can of Claire and her milestones. While many may find some of her actions as nothing to get excited about, Damon and I can't help but praise our baby girl with all her little accomplishments.

Things with Damon and I have been going great, we have been together pretty much everyday and we have fallen into a bit of a routine since we are together everyday and pretty much every night. We still have some sleepless nights with Claire but take turns getting up with her so that we aren't as exhausted. Over the last couple months Damon and I have gotten to know each other a lot better. We have spent many nights talking while caring for Claire and have really bonded. Damon has really become the kind of guy could see myself spending the rest of my life with and not just because of our mutual bond with Claire.

Elena

Sitting at the kitchen table at the Salvatore house while eating his cereal Damon found himself nodding off a bit. His eyes were closed and his head started to nod forward as if he were going to fall asleep in his cereal. It had been another long night with Claire, as she didn't seem to want to settle as all.

He had left the Gilbert house quite early that morning since he was out of clean clothes. Pretty much every night this week he had slept over at the Gilbert house and he was feeling a little home sick. While Jenna never complain about him being there he knew the arrangement made her a little uneasy as well as created hectic mornings with only one bathroom.

As his head almost fell into his cereal Damon suddenly jerked up and shook his head, he had had three cups of coffee this morning but it didn't seem to be doing him much good really. As he took another spoon full of his cereal the doorbell went off and echoed throughout the house. Looking at his watched Damon saw it was only 8am and wondered who would be up at this time and ringing their doorbell.

Since uncle Zach was away on a business trip and Stefan was asleep Damon got to his feet and headed for the door. Still half asleep he tripped over his overnight bag and almost lost his balance. He stumbled over his feet a couple time but when he caught his balanced he found himself much more awake then he had been moments ago.

Swinging open the front door he was surprised to see who was standing on the other side but didn't have much time to react as they came in for a big bear hug. "Hey bro! Long time no see!" Logan said with a big smile as he entered the Salvatore house.

"What? What are you doing here?" Damon asked his friend who just seemed to show up out of the blue. Logan move into the main room and Damon followed after shutting the front door.

"Man you look like hell!" Logan laughed as he took in Damon's exhausted face expression.

"Thanks, a newborn can do that to you" Damon snapped back, as he watched his old friend fall back onto the couch and place his hands behind his head. Still unsure as to what Logan was doing here Damon walked around to stand in front of where Logan was lounging on the sofa and stared down at him wanting answers.

Logan stared up at Damon and then just rolled his eyes at his friend. "I came to see my buddy for his big day!" Logan said as he sat up.

"Big day?" Damon asked not quiet sure where this was going.

Logan stared at Damon for a moment thinking he was joking but when Damon still seemed completely oblivious. Logan scoffed and looked around the room wondering how Damon could forget. "Man it's your birthday tomorrow! You know the big one eight!" Logan said waving his hands around.

Damon looked up at his friend as the gears in his head started to turn and try to remember what the date was. "My…wow I completely forgot!" Damon said shaking his head.

"You're kidding me right? Damon Salvatore doesn't have a wild night planned and a line up of gorgeous women to choose from?" Logan asked as he got to his feet and shook Damon's shoulders.

"I've kinda lost track of time lately" Damon said honestly and it was the truth. Since Claire was born keeping track of what day it was wasn't really a priority.

"I'll say" Logan said as he took in Damon's appearance and the dark circle under his eyes. "Come on man your gonna be 18! I mean sure eighteen isn't exactly the same as turning twenty one but you can vote now," Logan told him. "Oh and hey if we leave now we could be in Quebec is a few days and get crazy drunk with the French!"

"We're not driving to Quebec" Damon told him with a stern face.

"Actually I have a delivery I have to make there so yeah I'm going to Quebec. I've have a couple days layover here and then I'm hitting the road and you my friend can come with and maybe meet a sexy Mademoiselle for yourself," Logan said with a wink and then nudged Damon in the forearm.

"Okay, first of all the last time I took off on a trip with you I got hell for it!" Damon told him remembering Florida before Claire was born. "Second I have a daughter now, I can't just up and leave her."

"Isn't that what the mother is for?" Logan asked as he started to snoop around the room and touch the artwork. He picked up a statue that Zach had gotten in Australia a few years ago and started flipping it upside down to see what it was.

Damon glared at his friend and snatched the statue out of his hand. "No that is not what she is for and she also happens to be the other reason I'm not leaving town!" Damon told him.

"Oh… so you and her…"

"Yeah" Damon said as he set the statue back in its place and then lead Logan away from it. As he was pushed away he noticed a picture on the mantel of a young brunette holding a newborn baby. "Ooo is this her here? Damn she's smokin!" Logan said as he picked up the picture.

"Give me that!" Damon growled as he took it away from Logan, "Your attention span is worse then a two year old." Taking the picture back he set it back on the mantel and then with his arms crossed looked at his friend who stood there smiling.

With a smile Logan started to trot around the room with his hands behind his back with an innocent look on his face. Damon watched his friend closely not enjoying his little game. Just then Logan tripped over Damon's bag and tumbled to the floor. With a sigh Damon shook his head as he thought about the idiot in front of him.

"What is this?" Logan said as he checked out the bag.

"It's my over night bag I take to Elena's" Damon told him.

Logan looked up at his friend as he became quite interested in the story behind the bag. "So um how often do you stay over there?"

"I've practically been there every night for the last two months" Damon explained like it was no big deal as he took a seat on the couch.

"Holy Crap!" Logan said with excitement and he jumped over to the couch with wide eyes. "You lucky bastard! Who knew knocking a girl up was the perfect excuse for her to continue sleeping with you!" Logan said with a huge smile. "I should have knocked a girl up along time ago."

"It's not like that," Damon told him honestly.

"Okay sure you have to deal with a screaming baby but after…. It's bowchickawowow!" Logan said as he winked and raised his eyebrows up and down.

"Hey, it's not like that at all trusted me!" Damon told him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we haven't…" Damon made a gesture with his hands and conveys the rest and he saw Logan's eyes widen in show.

"Wait are you telling me that you two haven't got your freak on!"

"Not since camp last year" Damon pointed out and then saw the horrified look on Logan's face.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE YO DAMON SALVATORE!" Logan yelled as he got to his feet and stared at Damon. "The Damon I remember didn't' go a week without banging a chick and now you expect me to believe that you haven't banged a girl in a year?"

"Ten months or so" Damon said as he bit his lip.

"God man I need to get you out of this town, it's killing you" Logan said.

"Okay you're over reacting" Damon said as he rolled his eyes.

"Overacting! Damon it's a sad day when I'm getting laid more then you!" Logan pointed out.

"We just had a baby" Damon said with a laugh, "What little free time you do have we are sleeping."

"In the same bed?"

"Yeah for the most part" Damon told him.

Logan seemed to be going into some kind of fit as if Damon was dying. He paced the room making irritable noised. "Damon don't you see what's happened!" Logan said as he came to stand in front of his confused looking friend. "You and this Elena have skipped the best part the crazy sex and moved straight into being an old married couple who thinks cuddling is even too much work."

"We are not!" Damon said with a laugh.

"Oh you are Damon! Damon Salvatore the Mystic Falls womanizer god is dead! And old boring celibate Damon has taken over! God help the next generation of womanizers who think of you as a role model."

Listening to Logan talk Damon sat there at first thinking his friend was nuts and then started to think about how his observation wasn't that far off. Him and Elena would sleep in the same bed and would just end up sleeping. The old Damon would never have done that, in fact he's wouldn't of slept in the bed with her at all. No he would of banged her and then handed her, her clothes and shoes while showing her the door. What the hell had happen to him?

As Elena struggled down the stairs with a big suite case she dragged it into the family room with an exhausted sigh. As she set the red bag down she opened it up one last time and started to go through it to make sure everything she needed was accounted for.

As Elena went through her mental checklist Jenna walked in bouncing Claire against her chest as she was in a sitting position looking out at where her mama was.

"Diapers check blankets check, pacifiers check!" Elena mumbled to herself as she rummaged through the bag.

Jenna looked at all the stuff Elena had packed and couldn't help but laugh, "How long are you planning on staying at the Salvatore's?" she said with a giggle.

"Two nights" Elena informed her.

"And you need all this?"

"Hey I've cut back a lot from what I had this morning" Elena said as she zipped up the bag after making her final check. "I want to make sure I have everything."

"Elena we only live ten minutes away, if you forget something it's not like your have to get on a plane to get here." Jenna told her as she sat Claire down in her bouncy chair. As Jenna and Elena talked Claire kicked her little feet in her blue and white stripes summer dress and watched her mommy and Aunt Jenna very closely. She had a little blue bow in her hair as she bounced in her chair.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jenna asked Elena once again.

Elena rolled her eyes as she brought in the baby carrier. "It's two nights, we'll be fine and besides I'm sure you and Jeremy will be thrilled to have a quiet night."

"Oh don't worry, I'm looking forward to that" Jenna sat as she handed Elena the bibs she had forgotten to pack. She then knelt down in front of Claire and tickled her little toes, "I'm just going to miss her so much!" she said in a soft baby tone. Seeing her aunt's smile Claire gave her a cute smile.

Elena couldn't help but smile as she looked down at Jenna with Claire and she knew that Jenna was definitely going to miss having Claire around over the next two days. After two months of Claire waking up everyone in the middle of the night, Elena and Damon figured that they could spend some time at the Salvatore house and give Jenna and Jeremy a break as well as allow Damon to relax in his own house since he spent pretty much the last two months at her place. They had planned to spilt their time between the two houses anyway and figured if they started off switching houses early with Claire she would settle well in both homes easier.

As Jenna played with Claire the doorbell went and with a smile Elena twirled around and headed for the door. As she opened it up she found Damon standing there. "We're just about ready," Elena told him as she invited him in. As she shut the door behind him she smile up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Happy Birthday by the way!" she told him before giving him a quick kiss.

"Thanks, although I totally forgot" he said honestly as she shrugged his shoulders. "I guess being sleep deprived it getting to me." He told her and watched with a smiled as Elena walked across the room towards Claire.

"How couldn't you forget your own birthday?" Elena asked with a giggle. "We have to do something special, it's your eighteenth!"

"Actually I hear it's already taken care of" Damon told her. "I had a friend drop by yesterday and he is crashing at my place for a couple days and apparently planned a party within 24 hours of being here." Damon told her. As soon as he entered the family room and Claire could hear his voice she let out an excitable squeal. With a smile on his face Damon hurried over to his baby girl and stated to play with her little hands as she sat in her bouncy chair.

"Crashing at your place? Does he know we're staying there too?"

"I told him so we'll see how well this goes" Damon told her since Logan seemed to think a two month old baby wasn't going to wake him up in the middle of the night.

As Damon entered he noticed the big packed bag Elena had and looked at it and raise an eyebrow. "How long are you planning on staying? I thought we said two days not two months," he said as he lifted up the very heavy bag.

"That's what I said," Jenna said with a laugh.

"I know but traveling light with a baby isn't really possible" Elena informed him.

Shrugging his shoulders Damon lifted the bag and swung it over his shoulders with a grunt due to the weight. As he held the bag at the door Elena picked up Claire and moved towards the baby carrier. "Alright everyone cover your ears!" she warned them and then as soon as Claire was placed in the baby seat she started to scream bloody murder. Elena talked softly to Claire and made hushing sound as she strapped her in.

"Where's the grenade pin?" Damon yelled out over Claire's screams.

Elena headed for the door carrying the baby seat, "Front pouch of the bag" Elena yelled back over the sound of the screaming baby. With a nod Damon reached into the front pouch of the bag he was carrying and pulled out a pacifier. Since Claire was born Damon had referred to the pacifier was a grenade pin since it seemed to sooth Claire and if it fell out of her mouth before she was ready to give it up she would screamed so that the heavens could hear. Hence that if the grenade pin is pulled Claire exploded with screams.

Fiddling with the pacifier for a moment Damon turned and plopped it into Claire's mouth and all three watched as her cries softened. It didn't make her stop completely but they were sure the neighbours couldn't hear anymore.

"Oh I'm so going to enjoy tonight," Jenna said with a smile as she watched the two teenagers deal with their screaming baby as they headed for the door.

As Damon opened up the door he came to a halt when he saw who just so happened to be standing on the other side. Alaric was just about to ring the doorbell when the door opened and then came face to face with Damon. The two stared at each other, awkwardly since the last time they ran into each other was one they both hoped to forget.

"HEY!" Alaric said awkwardly as he saw Damon and Elena standing there with Claire. "I was just coming over to see if Jenna was still interested in that town history tour the Lockwood family is putting on."

As they stood there Claire's cries started to get louder so Elena excused herself and quickly made her way to Damon's car so that she could get Claire buckled in. Once she was gone both Damon and Alaric tried not to make eye contact with each other.

"So how's everything Damon?" he asked nervously.

"Fine…"

"Have you mentioned to Elena about…"

"I have no plans to relive that!" Damon answered without looking at Alaric.

"Oh good!" Alaric said, "So I guess I'll see you guys around…"

"Yeah" Damon said and then hurried past Alaric to join Elena by the car. The awkward run in didn't go unnoticed by Elena but when she asked Damon what was going on he told her it was best for everyone that that story is never told or heard by anyone.

Shrugging her shoulders Elena climbed into the passenger seat while Damon drove the car down the driveway. She waved to Jenna as the car drove off and the little family prepared for their first night at the Salvatore house.