Dear Diary
As Claire becomes three months old this week Damon and I have decided to put her into the nursery. I have to admit that the first night I was a complete wreck about not having her in my room. Damon had assured me she would be fine and after getting her to sleep he shut the nursery door. That whole night I was up worried about her and sat by her door all night.
At three months Claire is reaching out for objects and has started to play with some of her toys. Her pink bunny rattle is her favorite and shakes it with a big smile on her face as she sits in her bouncy chair. She is now able to hold her head up and has developed hand eye coordination. She also loves to kick her legs especially when we put on her sleeper that has rattles in the feet.
I can't believe it has already been three months since she has been in my life. Everything I do is for her and I can't imagine my life without her now. Even when I have nights where she keeps us up all night I wouldn't change any of it.
Elena
On a Sunday morning Jenna paced along the kitchen floor with a nervous look on her face as she held the phone to her ear with a hard grip. "Alright, thanks anyway" she said with a sigh as she leaned over the counter. "If you hear from him let me know" she added before ending the call and placing the phone on the counter. Before she could move she heard the front door and when she looked up she saw Jeremy saunter in.
Her eyes widened in both relief and anger when she saw the boy who had her scared to death all night when he never came home. When she saw him stumble like a drunk and how he reeked of weed, Jenna lost it on him. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" she demanded to know.
Squinting his eyes and holding his forehead as he heard Jenna's loud voice, Jeremy moved to the couch and collapsed in a huff.
"I have been up all night calling and trying to find you. For all I knew you could have been dead in a ditch somewhere" She yelled at him as he came to stand in front of the boy with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Can you please not yell" Jeremy moaned as he covered his eyes and ears from her loud voice. He looked terrible, his clothes were dirty as if he fell asleep in someone's garden, he had beer stains and god know what else on his shirt and the stench of cigarettes and weed did not go unnoticed by Jenna at all.
"Well I hope you had a lot of fun last night because that will be your last night out for a long time! I'm in charge here and I think you have abused me enough doing what ever you feel like and going against me!" Jenna told him as she waved a finger at him.
Jeremy let out a scoff as he got up from the couch, "Your not my mother!" he yelled at her in anger.
"Yeah well I'm your guardian and you will do as I say or promise me I can make your stay here a living hell!" she told him. "You are only fifteen and you will do as I say!"
"Screw you!' Jeremy mumbled under his breath as he turned and headed for the stairs. On his way up he could yeah some more yelling coming his way as both Elena and Damon came storming down. Although the two seemed a little too engaged in their own argument to notice Jeremy at all.
Elena came down the stairs in a huff as Damon came behind her looking just as pissed off as she did. They glared at each other as they moved around into the living room where Jenna was standing after her fight with Jeremy.
"Elena I just don't see what the point is of me getting up in the middle of the night when she's hungry?" Damon snapped at Elena.
"Because she's your daughter too!" Elena snapped back.
"Everything okay?" Jenna asked as she eyed the two tempered teenagers.
"Everything's fine" Damon mumbled without taking his glaring eyes off Elena.
"Damon doesn't seem to think he should have to get up with Claire in the middle of the night anymore." Elena said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"I said when you're feeding her!" Damon clarified. "Why exactly do I have top get up when all I do is hand her to you! You nurse her and sweetheart I'm not built that way."
Elena rolled her eyes and let out a huff, "So where were you last night? I was up a good two hours with her because she was fussy and you were fast asleep."
"Well since Claire is in her own room now, Jenna says there is no need for me to be in your room so I'm stuck on the couch downstairs and can't always here her!" Damon said pointing at Jenna and the couch where he sleeps.
"Don't make this Jenna's fault!" Elena said with a glare. "Trust me Damon I've been in the kitchen and have heard her crying before, she not a quiet crier!" Elena told him.
"You would know!" Damon snapped.
"Excuse me?" Elena called back as she stormed up to him in anger.
"Honey I was in the delivery room with you and I'm sure the people three floors below heard you!"
Gritting her teeth Elena went into attack mode but Jenna stepped in between the two and held Elena back. "Alright, alright that is enough!" Jenna told the two fuming teenagers. "Look you're both tired and I understand that these last few months haven't been easy but taking it out on each other isn't the answer. You both look exhausted."
"Some of us more then others!" Elena snapped.
"Hey it's no picnic sleeping on the couch!" Damon told her.
"ENOUGH!" Jenna yelled and got both of them to calm down and control their frustration. "Look you guys have dealt with a lot over the last few months BOTH of you. Maybe you just need I nice night out without Claire so that the two of you can enjoy some normal teenager stuff."
"I can't just leave Claire" Elena said.
"Listen I'll watch Claire and she will be fine"
Elena looked at Jenna for a moment and saw that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. With a sigh Elena ran her hands through her hair and then nodded her head. Damon too let out a sigh as he took a seat on the couch. As Jenna stepped back the silence in the house disappeared as Jeremy's music started blaring.
"What the hell is he doing he's going wake up-"
As if right on cue Claire's cries started up and both Elena and Damon let out another frustrated sighs. With her anger back Elena turned on her heels and headed for the stairs to get Claire. Damon sat there on the couch with his eye shut for another second but it was a second longer that Elena cared for. "Are you coming?" she asked him.
"Yes dear, if I wasn't there to hand her to you the whole system would fall apart!" he said with a grunt and then got off the couch and followed Elena up the stairs to get Claire. And possibly kill Jeremy.
As Stefan laid back on the couch in the living room in the Salvatore house, Amelia straddled his lap while she leaned down to kiss him. With his uncle out and Damon spending most of his time at Elena's this week Stefan had the house to himself. Amelia cupped Stefan's face as she deepened the kiss and let out a moan. Over the last couple weeks Stefan and Amelia had been spending a lot of time together. The two really got along great and Stefan found himself really starting to like this girl.
She had joined the group on many occasions to movies and town activities and for the most part she got along great with everyone. He had noticed Caroline and Bonnie being a little distant from her but didn't think much of it. Elena was always really nice to Amelia and it was Stefan's hope that Elena would help Caroline and Bonnie warm up to the idea of Amelia sticking around.
As things continued to get hot between the two there was a sudden knock at the door leading Stefan to having to end the make out session. "I should get that," he told her as he sat up. Amelia didn't really like the idea of stopping as she sat on Stefan's lap and frowned at him. She reluctantly gave in and rolled off his lap and sat on the couch as Stefan got up and headed out of the room to get the door.
With a sigh Amelia brushed her hair out of her face and glanced around the room as she waited for Stefan to return. She glanced over at some photos on the side table many of Stefan and his friends. As she got up she glared at the one of Stefan as he had his arms wrapped around Elena and Bonnie and with Caroline sitting in front of the three. As stared at the pictures in disgust she heard a phone vibrating and when she turned around she saw Stefan's phone on the coffee table lighting up.
She checked to make sure Stefan wasn't coming anytime soon and then moved over to pick up the phone. As she pressed one of the buttons the screen light up and she saw that Stefan had a new text message. Checking one last time to see if he was coming Amelia pressed a button to open the massage and saw that it was from Caroline.
Caroline: Hey so you are now a proud member of the team helping me to prepare for the barbeque! I want you in the town square 8am sharp sweetie ;)
Gritting her teeth Amelia glared at the message with jealously. She didn't like the idea that other girls were texting her Stefan. As she stood there holding the phone Stefan came back into the room carrying a box. "I guess my uncle ordered something," he said as he set the box in the far corner of the room. As he turned back around he saw Amelia standing there holding his cell phone. "What are you doing?"
"Why is that blonde Barbie texting you!" she asked ignoring Stefan's question.
Stefan was a little taken back by the tone Amelia was using towards him when just moments ago they were making out. "You mean Caroline?"
"Yeah, why is calling she calling you sweetie?" Amelia asked him angrily.
"That's just Caroline she calls everyone sweetie" Stefan explain and then stepped forwards to take his phone back. As he reached for it Amelia pulled away so that Stefan couldn't take it from her.
"Amelia can I have my phone please?" Stefan asked her not sure why she was suddenly acting this way.
"Why? Are you going to call Caroline?"
"I might if she needs me too. Come on just give me my phone," he pleaded stepping forward again to take his phone back. "Come on Amelia this is childish" Stefan said as he rolled his eyes at her.
"I'M CHILDISH!" Amelia yelled in anger, "I'M CHILDISH!" she repeated and with an angry grunt through Stefan's phone across the room and then stormed out of the house and let the door slam behind her.
Sitting on the couch in the gilbert house, Damon had Claire on his lap staring up at him with her head resting against his hands. Her little body dressed in a yellow sleeper was lying against his arms and she clapped her hands and had a big smile on her face as she looked up at her daddy.
She giggled as Damon talked softly to her while he gently bounced her up and down. He loved listening to her little laugh, it was apart of her little personality that was growing everyday.
As Damon sat there with Claire, Elena came down the stairs carrying a few baby bottles and headed for the kitchen to place them in the refrigerator. As she set them inside she froze for a moment and nervously thought about what she was doing. For the first time she would be leaving Claire and although it was with her aunt Jenna she was still nervous about it.
"Everything okay?" came Jenna's voice as she entered to kitchen.
Spinning around at the sound of her voice Elena sighed and then shut the fridge door. "Well because you got Damon all excited about going out tonight I had to spend the last thirty minutes vacuuming my breasts." Elena told her.
"So you got to try out that breast pump you got huh" Jenna said and saw that Elena didn't seem to be smiling. "Come on Elena I'm doing this for you. For the last three months you two have been focused solely on Claire and that's great but I think its time the two of you spend some quality time together without her." Jenna told her niece as she fixed Elena's hair.
Damon came into the kitchen carrying Claire while the two were talking. When Elena saw her baby girl she smiled and then went over to take her from Damon. Cradling Claire in her arms Elena kissed her little forehead as she prepared to leave her baby girl for the first time.
"She sleeps best with one soother in her mouth and holding another one, she likes her fuzzy pink bear blanket" Elena said as she slowly started to hand Claire over to Jenna. "Um if you rub her tummy she calms down and won't be too fussy, oh and make sure the milk isn't too hot, test it on your wrist first."
Jenna nodded and bounced Claire in her arms. She of course knew all this but knew that Elena would feel a lot better by telling her what to do. Elena stared at Claire not wanting to leave her and let out a sigh. "I usually put her down around ten and she should fall asleep no problem for you, but if she doesn't you can always put her in her swing she likes that."
With a sniffle Elena leaned forward and kissed Claire on last time and rubbed her thumb against Claire's little hands. Once she stepped back Damon stepped forward to saw goodbye to his little girl as well. Wiping away a tear Elena followed Damon to the front door so that they could leave. Slipping on her shoes she leaned against Damon for support but never took her eyes off Claire as Jenna stood in the hallway watching.
"Call me if she gets too much for you, I'll have my phone with me the whole time" Elena told her.
"I will, don't worry Elena we'll be fine. Now go have some fun." Jenna told them.
Damon smiled waved to his baby girl while wrapping his other arm around Elena and leading her out of the house. "Bye-bye baby girl," Elena said as she blew a kiss one last time before heading out of the house.
As the couple sat on the patio at a restaurant they politely smiled when their waiter brought them their drinks to the table. Once he left Elena's smile faded and she looked around the restaurant and out into the park. Nervously she rubbed her palm on her lap and bit her lip. Checking her watch for the millionth time she let out a shaky breath. She had been away from Claire for fourteen minutes and five seconds and it felt like a lifetime.
"Maybe I should call and make sure everything is going okay," Elena said to Damon.
Shaking his head Damon reached over to stop Elena from getting up. "She's fine" he assured her.
"Yeah but what if…"
"Elena we left her with your Aunt who has been with Claire just as much as us not a complete stranger" Damon told her.
Nodding her head Elena relaxed in her seat again and took a big gulp of her water. As she sat there she tried to think if she had forgotten to tell Jenna anything before they left the house.
"I'm thinking spaghetti," Damon said trying to get Elena to focus on something else.
"That sound great" Elena said but she didn't seemed to be paying much attention to him.
"Maybe we can take a walk after dinner?" Damon suggested as he watched Elena stare at her phone as if waiting for it to ring.
"I'm sure it will be good…" Elena said definitely not listening to him.
"Then I thought I would run naked through the park!"
"Sound like a great idea…wait what?"
Damon let out a sigh and rolled his eyes as he realized that this first date after Claire was born wasn't going to go as planned. "You know what, lets just forget about it, we'll try again in another eighteen years," Damon said as he pushed back on his chair.
"What are you doing?" Elena asked him as she set her phone down on the table.
"Look you obviously don't want to be here and it's torturing you to leave Claire even if its with your aunt" Damon told her.
"Look I'm sorry, but I'm worried about my daughter. Maybe you should too!" Elena snapped at him as she glared at Damon across the table.
"I DO!" Damon snapped back. "SHE'S MY DAUGHTER TOO," Damon reminded her.
"And yet you don't want to get up with her in the middle of the night anymore"
"I never said that" Damon said as he waved his finger around. "I said why should I get up when you are feeding her, why not have me sleep and get up with her the next time."
"Because you don't and I do."
"Well maybe you worry too much, exhibit A. you can't leave Claire for a couple hours" Damon said to her.
"And maybe you don't care enough!" Elena snapped back at him.
"Hey make no mistake! I love that little girl!" Damon said immediately in anger.
Elena froze in her spot as she regretted her words to him. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that."
"No you shouldn't have!" Damon snapped back and then looked away from her.
Elena sat there staring at Damon and could see just how much her words had hurt him. "Damon…" she said softly and reached a hand forward to rest on his hand.
"It happened once!" he blurted out as he finally turned to look at her with a guilty face.
"What?"
"A couple nights ago she was crying and yes I could hear her even when I was down stairs but I just laid there, I was exhausted and I just wanted to sleep. I blocked out her crying and went back to sleep. Like I didn't even care about her crying," Damon said as he put his head down. "I'm a terrible parent!"
"Damon" She repeated as she had tears in her eyes. "Can I tell you something?" she asked him as she got up from her seat and walked around to sit on Damon's lap.
"What? It can't be worse that me not liking my own baby" Damon said in sadness.
"I don't like her either sometimes" Elena said as she started to cry.
"What?"
"I mean I love her so much but sometimes hearing her cry I just can't help but think about how quiet the house use to be without her there. I miss sleeping, I miss having a life that didn't involved changing diapers and having a baby screaming at me like a house guest who just won't go away!"
"So we're both terrible parents?" Damon asked looking at the exhausted girl on his lap.
"Yeah, I guess we are" Elena said as she rested her head on top of Damon's while they cuddled and let all their anger just wash away.
"Peak a boo!" Jenna said in a happy voice as she removed her hands from her face and looked down at baby Claire as she sat in her bouncy chair. "Peak a boo!" Claire smiled and reached up for Jenna as her big blue eyes sparkled. "Oh I love you" Jenna said and then leaned forward to kiss the top of Claire's head.
Just then there was a knock at the front door and Jenna turned her head to glance at the door. "Who could that be?" Jenna said to Claire as she rubbed the baby's tummy and smiled at her before standing up to get the door. "It better not be your mommy and daddy that's for sure."
As she swung open the door she fully expected to see a dramatic Elena desperately needing to see her daughter but was surprised to see that her unexpected guest was Alaric.
"You look like you were expecting someone else?" Alaric said as he smiled at her.
"No I just, I thought Elena was coming back to check on me" Jenna said a she stepped aside to allow Alaric to enter.
"She's gone out?" he asked as she noticed Claire in her bouncy chair watching them.
"Yeah I told her that she needed a night out and well I'm not sure how she is taking the separation."
"So you have the place to yourself? I mean other then Miss Claire here."
"Not quite" Jenna said as she bit her bottom lip, "Jeremy is in his room brooding about how he hates life, hates me and how everyone on this planet is out to make his life a living hell!"
"So regular teenage joys huh?" Alaric joked.
"Yeah pretty much" Jenna laughed.
Feeling like she wasn't getting enough attention as the two adults made goo goo eyes at each other Claire let out a cry and waved her arms up in the air demanding some attention.
"Oh I think she's hungry!" Jenna said as she took off for the kitchen. "Can you get her for me!" she called back to Alaric.
"Oh um sure" he said a little nervously but moved over to unstrap Claire from her bouncy seat. "Come on little one" he said softly to her as she lifted her up. Her cries stopped a bit but she was still a little fussy and wanted to eat.
He carried her into the kitchen where Jenna was warming up a bottle. "So Elena was a little nervous about leaving Claire?"
"Yeah, but it's normal for her to be. Unfortunately she starts school again in a few weeks and she will have to leave her for a longer period of time. This is the first step I guess." Jenna said and then taking the warmed bottle she dropped a few drops on her wrist to test the temperature of the milk.
"That will be hard for her" Alaric said.
"I know but hey it's just something she has to do" Jenna said as she came closer holding the bottle. "Alright come to aunty Jenna!" she said in an excited voice and took Claire from Alaric and started to feed her.
"Your really good with her" Alaric said with a smiled as he watched Jenna with the baby.
"Thanks and hey it kind of like practice for me, anything I do wrong with her I'll be sure not to do to my kid" Jenna joked.
Alaric laughed as he brushed his finger over the top of Claire's head and where her soft black hair was starting to come in. "You'll make a great mother," he told her with a smile.
Jenna looked up from Claire as she started drinking from the bottle and smiled up at Alaric. The two stared into each other's eyes for a moment and then their eyes fell back on the little girl as she made an adorable cooing sound.
Taking a walk in the park, Damon had an arm wrapped around Elena's neck while she had an arm wrapped around his back and her other resting on his chest. Over dinner the two talked over their issues and then decided to enjoy the rest of their night out.
"I've missed this" Elena said as they walked.
"The silence?" Damon joked as he pulled her closer as she giggled.
"Yes that and moments like this, just you and me enjoying a moment," Elena said as she looked up at Damon. He smiled at her and then leaned down and captured her lips in a tender kiss. They were then interrupted by a phone vibrating and with a groan Damon backed up and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"Is it Claire?" Elena asked anxiously.
"Yeah they can't find her fuzzy"
"WHAT!" Elena said with wide eye and a terrified look on her face.
"Calm down I'm kidding" Damon said with a chuckle as he kissed her forehead. "It's Stefan he is having some girl trouble."
"So Claire's fine?"
"Jenna told you she would call is she had any questions, so I'm sure everything is fine." Damon told her as the two continued walking arm and arm. Elena nodded her head and started to breath normally after her little freak out. "No it seems he had a weird fight with crazy Amelia."
"She's not crazy" Elena said with a little laugh.
"Listen, I've dated crazy and that cat eyed girl screams crazy!"
"I think you all have to give her a chance it's not easy being the new girl in town," Elena told him.
"Yeah but you weren't a bitch when you came to town" Damon pointed out.
"I'm not sure why you, Caroline and Bonnie don't like her. I think she's nice, sure a little different… but not crazy."
"Unfortunately you can't help but try to see the good in everybody so you can't see it" Damon told her.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"No," Damon told her with a smile; "You gave me a chance" he added and looked down at her happily.
Elena smiled back and then cuddled up closer as the two continued through the park. There were a few other couples in the park walking along the lit path. "So who have you dated that was crazy?" she asked a little curious now.
"You mean other then Katherine?" Damon said with a smirk and Elena too couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah there was this one girl who use to cut off pieces of my hair when I was sleeping…"
"What?" Elena said with a laugh as she covered her mouth.
"Yeah, and to this day I still have no idea what she did with it all. I'm think some kind of voodoo doll witchy stuff," Damon told her as they both thought of what she could of down with his hair. "That went on for about two months."
"Two months!"
"Yeah it got to the point I noticed that my hair was really uneven on the one side," he laughed as he remembered the moment he first realized what the crazy chick had been doing to him while he slept.
"So are you gonna tell him about how crazy Amelia is?" Elena asked him still not fully on board the "Amelia's crazy train."
"I'll make sure she doesn't start cutting his hair but hey every guy has to date at least one crazy chick," Damon told her.
When Elena and Damon returned to the house Elena quickly ran through the house looking for her baby girl. She ran up the stairs and headed straight for Claire's room, Jenna was just leaving the room but as she spotted Elena she kept the door open so she could go see her baby girl.
Claire was asleep so not wanting to wake her Elena just stood over the crib and looked down at the peaceful sleeping Claire. "Mommy missed you" Elena said softly to her baby girl.
At the door Damon came up the stairs and came to stand beside Jenna as they watched Elena as she checked on her baby girl as she slept. "So how many times did she try to call?"
"Twice but mostly because she thought she forgot to tell you something," Damon told her. "After dinner she was fine and seemed to relax a bit more, I'd say for leaving Claire for the first time she did pretty good. She had fun."
"I'm glad" Jenna said as she nodded her head.
After Jenna headed down stairs Damon stepped into the dark nursery and came to stand beside Elena as they watched Claire sleep. "See she was fine" Damon told her as he kissed the back of her head.
"I know," Elena said with a sigh. "I'm not sure why I worried so much."
"Hey, don't worry I did the same thing when I spent my first night home without you guys," Damon told her. "Stefan was threatening to tie me to the bed so I didn't call you at three in the morning."
"So it's not just me?" Elena said happily. Damon nodded his head and then pulled Elena in for a hug. She stayed in his arms for a moment and rested her head on his shoulder, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For tonight, I know I started out like a real nut case but I'm glad we did this.' She said as she ran her fingers up and down Damon's chest.
"So I was thinking, tonight I'll keep the baby monitor downstairs so that you can get some sleep tonight, you were up all night last night so tonight you can catch up on some sleep," Damon said as he ran his fingers through Elena's hair. "I'll bring her into your room if she's hungry but other then that you can get the rest you need."
Elena smiled and hugged Damon once again, when she pulled back she looked into his eyes and then leaned back in for a kiss. The kiss was tender and Damon cupped Elena's face.
When they broke they stared into each others eyes for a little while longer before Elena backed away. "Goodnight," she said before taking one last look at Claire and then leaving the nursery to head off to bed. With a smile Damon watched her leave and then turned back and looked at his angel asleep in her crib.