Dear Diary,
We have been enjoying our time as a family and as the summer days continue we hope to spend as much time together as possible. Each day our thirteen-month has been learning something new and it is now only a matter of time before she starts walking and I can just see that Damon and I will be busy trying to keep up with her.
Jenna says she sees a lot of me in Claire from when I was her age. I was just as curious and just as playful. She also says that much like I was Claire is also a daddy's girl. Damon always seems to brighten up her eyes and she is always happy when she sees him. She loves to snuggle up with him when he is watching t.v and I just love seeing the two together.
Come this fall the change of Damon being away for school is going to be hard on us all and a part of me knows Claire will have a hard time being separated from her daddy. I just hope that we are able to find a way to ensure that Damon gets to be with us as much as possible because I know the love between Damon and Claire so very special.
Elena
With the camera on record it was aimed at Claire as the little girl moved herself around the room. While babbling away and singing to herself she moved along the couch, coffee table and anything that she could hang on to help her walk around the room. She had a big smile on her face as her bright blue eye looked straight into the camera.
"Come baby girl show mommy how you can walk!" Elena said as she followed her around hoping to catch her first steps. "Come on walk for mommy" she repeated.
Claire just babbled away and then smiled at her mom before dropping to her bottom and crawling quickly away and over to her plush ladybug and hugging it in her arms.
"Aw are you giving your ladybug nice hugs?" Elena asked as she set her camera down and crawled over to her daughter and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
"Mama!" Claire chirped as she raised up her arms so that Elena could wrapped her arms around her and sit her on her lap and hug her while they sat on the floor in Gilbert living room.
The mother and daughter enjoyed some time alone together in the morning playing together. Holding Claire's ladybug in her hand she waved it in front of her and watched as a giggly Claire tried to reach out for her plush toy. While they sat there on the floor there was a knock on the door that interrupted Elena from playtime. "Who could that be?" Elena said out loud as she placed Claire down on the floor with her toy ladybug while she got up to get the door.
Claire let out a cheerful squeal as she played by herself and Elena couldn't help but smile at the sound of her laugh as she made her way down the hallway to get the front door. Turning the knob she swung it open and there standing on the other side was Bonnie who had a big smile on her face.
"Hey!" Elena said with a smile in return as she gave her friend a hug.
When they pulled apart, Elena stepped aside so that Bonnie could come in and make their way into the living room where Claire was still playing on the floor. Bonnie moved around so that she could take a seat on the couch and did a little wave at Claire who let out a cheerful squeal when she saw Bonnie.
"Someone is in a good mood today!" Bonnie said with a laugh as Claire got up and made her way over to Bonnie by walking along the couch. When she was standing in front of Bonnie she had a huge smile on her face and reached out her little arms so that Bonnie could lift her up onto her lap. . "Uppy!" Claire chirped.
"How's auntie Bonnie's favorite little girl?"
"She's in high spirits for someone who was up at five this morning" Elena said as she came to sit next to Bonnie on the couch. Her index finger touched Claire's chin as the little girl smiled and babbled away. "So what brings you to my necks of the woods?"
"I ah I wanted to show you these" Bonnie said as she wrapped one arm around Claire for balance and then reach into her large black leather purse with the other. She pulled out a large envelope and handed it over to Elena.
Curiously Elena eyed her friend for a moment and then took the vanilla coloured envelope into her hands. She eyed her friend on last time before opening up the envelope and pulled out several modeling photos of Bonnie.
Most of them were headshots with either a smile or sexy pout with her straight hair framing her face. There were also a few body shots with her posing in front of a brick wall in a leather jacket or black tank top and jeans. "Bonnie these are awesome!" Elena told her friend with a smile as she flipped through them all.
"Thanks" Bonnie said happily as she was really happy how they had turned out. Over the last week Bonnie had been working along side Connor Jordan the modeling agent she had met at the Mystic Falls Gala. Once he signed Bonnie as a client he took some modeling shots so that they could send them off to possible modeling opportunities. "I've got two potential modeling gigs coming up in a few weeks," Bonnie told her.
"That's so cool! I'm so happy for you" Elena told her friend. "I can't believe I'm going to be friends with a model!"
"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still have to audition for the job," Bonnie told her although she too was very excited about the idea. "Connor had been really great in prepping me for the gigs too."
"Claire-bear your auntie Bonnie is going to be a model!" Elena said cheerfully to the little girl.
"Ba-me!" Claire chirped as she tired to say Bonnie.
"Yes Bonnie" Elena said with a laugh as she reached out and took Claire into her arms.
"She's talking a lot more huh?" Bonnie said.
"Yeah its crazy," Elena said as she kissed Claire on the top of her head.
"Bug! Bug!" Claire called out as she reached her arms out wanting her plush ladybug toy that was on the floor.
With a giggle Bonnie reached down and picked up the toy and then handed it to little Claire. Her blue eyes went wide when she saw her toy and quickly wrapped her arms around her toy and snuggled with the ladybug.
"Can you thank you," Elena said to her daughter with a smile and Claire looked up at Bonnie with a big smile.
"Ba-me!'" she said happily and then two couldn't help but giggle at her.
"So what do you two have planned for today?" Bonnie asked.
Elena let out a sigh as she looked down at the little girl on her lap as she played with her ladybug. "Well in just over a month Damon will be leaving for school so I've thought we could spend the day outside at the park with Claire just the three of us" Elena told. "I want us to spend as much time together as we can."
Bonnie bit her bottom lip as her eyes averted from Elena's for a moment.
"What?" Elena asked as he eyed her friend.
"I take it your didn't hear the rumours about whose in town?" Bonnie asked her, as she didn't want to break up Elena's plans to have some quality time with Damon and their daughter.
"No who?" Elena asked as she cocked her head to the side wondering who could possibly be in town.
The knocking on the Salvatore front door echoed through the house as Damon strolled down the stairs while he stretched. Who ever was on the other side of the door was beating the crap out of the door with all their knocking and Damon was ready to knock them out. Today was the first time in a long time he was able to sleep in later then 8am and yet someone decided banging on the door at 9am was a good idea. Letting out a grunt he reached the bottom step and walked over to he front door and swung it open.
There standing on the other side with his fist up in the air ready to knock again was none other then Logan Fell. The guy had a huge smile on his face as he saw his friend open up the door. "Well it's about time!" Logan said and smiled and then invited himself into the house. "What's a guy gotta do to get a welcome home party in this town?"
Damon watched as Logan walked right past him and into the house while Damon still seemed a bit shock to see him here at all. "I had no idea you were coming into town" Damon told him honestly as he shut the front door and then followed Logan into the main room.
"Well I figured since I missed your 19th birthday a couple weeks ago I better drop by," Logan said as he collapsed on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. "Got stuck on a transport job in Tennessee that weekend" Logan told him.
Damon nodded his head as he moved around the room cleaning up Claire's toys and throwing them into the toy box. "Well don't worry you didn't miss much, Claire was sick so I spent the day trying to get fever to come down" he explained.
"God that's terrible! You definitely need to go out and party" Logan told him.
"Well I don't think that's going to happen in between now and when I have to leave for school" Damon replied as he took a seat on the lounge chair.
"I refuse to let Damon Salvatore lose his edge! So we are going to party!" Logan said with a huge smile.
Pulling up to the basketball court Stefan turned off the ignition and then him and Tyler stepped out. Dressed in black basketball shorts and a blue muscle shirts the two boys grabbed their duffle bags and threw them over their shoulders as they made their way to join the rest of their gang.
"Hey Tyler we have a new player!" called one of the boys as he passed the basketball to him.
Catching the ball Tyler looked a bit confused because this was the first time he had been told that someone new would be joining them. He held the ball in his hands for a moment and then did a couple bounces on the cement before voicing his question. "Who?"
"Me" came a sly voice with a hint of a smirk in the tone. Just then as Tyler felt chills he saw Klaus step out from behind the group so that he had a clear view of Tyler. Stefan was standing behind Tyler and noticed the uncomfortable and annoyed expression on Tyler's face knowing he was not pleased by their new addition.
"I didn't realize you played basketball" Tyler commented as he roughly shoved the ball over to Klaus.
Klaus smiled as he caught then ball close to his chest liking how he was getting into the kid's skin. "There's a lot I can do mate" he replied. "I'm a great listener, you should ask your girlfriend Caroline," he added with a smile.
"What are you talking about?" Tyler asked.
"Oh just that after her meeting with my brother about her trial date against her father her and I have some great chats. She is really nervous about seeing her father again, but I'm sure you hear all about it" he said with a smile as he started dribbling the ball and ran around the court before making layup. "So how bout it?"
Tyler angrily bit his bottom lip as the jerk became very cocky and also seemed to have the other guys thinking he was great. Tyler on the other hand wasn't fooled by his charming act and wasn't about to let some British rich kid come into his town and cause problems for him.
"All right lets do this!" Tyler called out as he threw his bag to the side of the court and then started to remove his shirt. "Shirt verse Skins" he told them and then they started picking team. As Tyler and another kid were captains Tyler made sure not to have Klaus on his team. Picking up the basketball he started to dribble it around and made his way to the hoop to do a layup. "Come on lets go!" Tyler ordered as Stefan his other teammates tossed their shirt aside and got ready to play.
Moving to the center of the court Tyler was taking the jump ball against Klaus and as they stood in front of each other their eye never leaving the other; it was if no one else was there to play. It was like the alpha male wanting to claim his territory at all cost and the other including Stefan were a little worried about how far Tyler and Klaus would end up going.
After knocking on the front door Damon swung it open and stepped into the Gilbert house. Whistling as he stepped over the threshold he made his way towards the kitchen where he could hear voices. "Morning" Damon said with a smile.
"Dada!" Claire squealed from her spot in her high chair as she reached out her little arms for her daddy to pick her up. As Damon moved into the room he caught sight of Bonnie rolling her eyes and Jeremy glared at him as he pushed past him as he was heading out the door. "Well I'm glad someone is happy to see me," Damon said as he moved over and picked up his daughter who was munching on some cheerios.
"Maybe if we didn't think you were about to run off people would be more happy to see you" Jeremy snapped at him as he picked up his bag.
"Well I'm glad you're in such a good mood this morning" Damon said to Jeremy with a smirk as he held Claire on his hip.
"It's his first day of summer school," Elena mentioned as entered the room after coming out of the laundry room with clean clothes for Claire. Setting the basket down on the floor by the hallway she moved over to Damon and gave him a quick kiss while both Jeremy and Bonnie rolled their eyes.
"So you all set for today?" Elena asked with a smile.
"Ah yeah" Damon said as he shifted Claire from one hip to the other. "Listen I'm not sure if you heard or not but Logan is in town" Damon said.
"Yeah Bonnie mentioned it" Elena said with a sigh.
"Look picnic in the park is great but do you think it would be alright if I went with him to this party tonight while he is in town?" Damon asked her and watched he face for a reaction.
"Oh so not only do you want to leave for eight months now you want to go party during the last two months Elena has with you" Bonnie snapped.
"It's one night, and for your information I won't be absent for eight months" Damon snapped at her in anger. "I got my school schedule and I will be able to come home more often."
"Yeah unless there is some big party on campus. Face it Damon, you always have been looking for a way to get out of town!" Jeremy yelled back. "First you knock up my sister and act like you will be there for her but now your bored of playing house and it isn't as fun as screwing a new chick every night"
"Jeremy enough!" Elena yelled "Listen I'm tired of everyone hating on Damon when you don't know the whole situation." Elena snapped at them.
"Look lets just drop it" Damon said not wanting the truth getting out of why he had to leave was because he spent the money on helping Jeremy.
Jeremy just rolled his eyes as he picked up his backpack and made his way out the door. "Hey Jeremy I'll give you a ride" Bonnie called out as she grabbed her purse and started to run to catch up with Jeremy. "I'll see you later Elena" Bonnie said just before closing the front door and leaving Damon and Elena alone in the house with Claire.
After they left Elena let out a sigh and then looked up at Damon and bit her bottom lip. "Why don't you just tell them the truth, Jeremy is bound to find out sooner or later," Elena told him. She was tired of everyone bad mouthing Damon like he was a bad guy when really he was being selfless.
"Well then he can find out later, when a relapse is less likely. Plus unless you, Jenna or I tell him he will never know." Damon said as he started to walk over to the family room and set Claire down on the floor. He watched as the thirteen month old pulled herself up on her walker and started to push it around the room while she babbled away to herself. "Anyway the reason I came over was because I got my school schedule in the mail today" he told her as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket.
Gaining interest Elena moved close so she take a seat on the couch next to Damon and look at Damon's class schedule as he set it on the coffee table. Biting his bottom lip he pointed to the class times. "Look I have two classes early on Thursday so I could be home Thursday night or Friday morning. Now if you look I only have a late class Monday so I wouldn't have to leave until Monday afternoon. Elena we can make this work" Damon told her and watched as Elena read over his schedule.
"Look we could also come up and see you, I don't want you to have to be on a bus twice a week that can get tiring" Elena told him as she wrapped her arms Damon's bicep and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Well either way we can make this work, I don't want to miss more then I have to" Damon told her and then pressed a kiss to her temple.
Elena smiled and then turned to look up at Damon and capture his lips as she cupped his face. She still had no idea how she was going to manage being away from Damon for so long. As their lips broke apart she couldn't help but smile. "Lets make the most of the time we have and then we can talk about the fall," she told him.
"Works for me" he told her as he leaned in and captured her lips again.
"28-26" Klaus called out on the court with a smirk as he dribbled the ball around Tyler while he gloated about his team being ahead. Tyler's eyes glared at Klaus as he followed him circling him slowly.
"Come on lets go, it's not over yet!" Stefan said as he clapped his hands together trying to move the game along before a fight broke out.
Wearing short jean shorts and a white tank top Caroline climbed the steal benches along the basketball court. Looking over as the boys played and the glistening sweat could be seen on Tyler's upper body and six pack as he ran around the court dribbling the ball and taking shots.
As Caroline climbed the stands she saw Klaus blocking Tyler's shot and then the two getting into a little shoving match and threw a couple angry words towards each other before Stefan came in and broke the two up.
The confrontation made Caroline roll her eyes as she walked along the stands and over to where the new girl Rebekah was sitting watching the boys play. While Caroline looked at the confrontation in disgust; Rebekah found the scene quite amusing and couldn't help but laugh as Caroline took a seat next to her. "Boys, like dogs they need to pee on their territory and defend it against the dogs that like to cross the line."
"I honestly don't know why Tyler feels threatened," Caroline groaned as she watch the boys go at it again.
"I wouldn't go putting all the blame on Tyler" Rebekah told her as she watched as her brother seemed to be really enjoying getting under Tyler skin, even more now since Caroline was watching.
"36-28" Klaus said as he took his position in front of Tyler for another jump ball after Klaus got a basket. "I thought you said you were good at this," Klaus said with a grin. "Looks like you could take a few pointers with basketball and the girl," he added as the two jumped for the ball. Klaus one the jump but instead of going into offense he started to block Tyler so that he couldn't get to the ball. One would even say he was being a little more aggressive then he should of and Tyler lost it on him.
"GET OFF ME!" Tyler yelled as he shoved Klaus harder then earlier.
"Whoa come down," Klaus laughed but Tyler was just getting started. Storming over to Klaus his frustration had reached his peak and he started throwing punches at Klaus. The game came to a halt as Tyler and Klaus were rolling on the ground taking turned punching each other.
"Unbelievable!" Caroline yelled as she got up from her spot and started to run onto the court. "Tyler get off him!" she yelled as she charged towards the boys brawl in complete anger at the despicable scene.
"Caroline stay back" Stefan said as stepped in front of her before she could reach the fight while some of the other guys started to pulled the boys off each other while getting hit a couple times themselves.
"Tyler!" Caroline yelled in anger as Tyler finally made eye contact with her while he brushed his arm across his fat lip as blood was dripping from his mouth. Looking at the disgust on Caroline's face and then over at Klaus as he too was wiping away the blood. Looking back at Caroline and how she didn't look at all amused he shook his head and then brushed off the guys holding him back and then turning and stormed off leave everyone on the court wondering where he was going.
While Klaus kind of just brushed off the incident and went back to playing, Caroline couldn't believe what had just happened and took off running after her boyfriend. "What the hell was that?" she yelled at him as she caught up to him.
"The guy is an ass Caroline!" Tyler yelled and then continued to storm off.
"Tyler you started a fight over nothing" Caroline told him.
"He's been trying to get on my nerves ever since I met him," Tyler told her as he spun around and looked at Caroline for the first time. "Every chance he gets he is trying to undermined me."
"I think you are overreacting" Caroline said as she shook her head.
"I don't like the guy Caroline! And I don't want you hanging out with him!" Tyler told her.
"Excuse me? Where do you get off telling me who I can be friends with?"
"When you go off telling him things about the court hearing with your dad and not me!" Tyler yelled back at her in anger. Caroline was shock and speechless at his words and when Caroline didn't deny that she had talk to Klaus about that she found herself looking away. To Caroline it wasn't about trusting Klaus more then Tyler but it was the fact that Klaus's brother was her lawyer and she saw him all the time at the office. "That's what I thought" Tyler said and then stormed off leaving Caroline standing there.
As the sun started to set Elena was crossing the town square like many of the other locals all coming together for a town movie night in the park. Scouting out her friends she found Caroline standing on a blanket lying out while she was texting on her phone. "Hey, where is everyone?"
Caroline gave a sigh, "Well Bonnie has some modeling gig thing and Tyler isn't really talking to me right now. There was a little issue at the basketball court this afternoon."
"Yeah Stefan filled me in on that" Elena said as she bit her lip and took her side on the blanket next to Caroline.
"So Where is Damon, this is suppose to be a couples night" Caroline pointed out as they looked at all the Mystic Falls couples cuddling up under a blanket.
"Well Damon's friend Logan is in town so they are off doing who knows what tonight so I guess I'm your date for tonight" Elena said with a little laugh.
"Fine by me" Caroline said as she pulled out another blanket and wrapped it around them.
"Oh I brought snacks," Elena told her as she pulled out chocolate and popcorn from her bag.
"God you are better then a boyfriend" Caroline stated as she hugged her friend closer and dove in for some chocolate.
"So Damon's off partying with the carefree Logan huh," Caroline said looking at Elena's face for any emotion about it.
"It's one night, I mean if he is still hanging around by the end of the week I may have an issue with him" Elena told her as the girls said together just as the movie Pretty Woman started to play on the big screen in the park.
As the movie played Elena munched on some popcorn and then glanced over to see Stefan sitting not too far away from them with the new girl Rebekah. The two were sitting really close with Stefan wrapping an arm around the small of Rebekah's back. Elena felt herself smiling and glad that Stefan was spending some time with a girl that seemed to be pretty normal, given that the last girl he was with was Katherine.
Still not quite sure what had lead Stefan to jump into bed with Katherine but she was glad that he seemed to be putting that behind him and not making this Katherine thing more that a one time thing.
"Stefan seems to really like her" Elena heard Caroline say softly.
"Yeah, and on a good note she seems normal. I mean Stefan hasn't had the best track record with women" Elena said.
"Yeah, there was the crazy Amelia girl who destroyed his car, the horrible Katherine mistake and not to mention the last girl he really like who ended up being knocked up by his brother first" Caroline said as she stated to laugh near the end of her sentence.
Frowning her brow Elena nudged Caroline in the elbow but the two just stated laughing. It was true Stefan's luck with women was terrible so they were hoping that this girl would be different.
The sound of a vibrating phone was going off on the nightstand and groans could be heard from the bed. Elena lifted her head to look at the clock and saw that it was just after seven in the morning. Rolling over she started to nudge Damon to wake him up so that he could answer his phone. "If's that's Logan tell him I'm gonna kill him!" Elena moaned as she collapsed back on the bed and covered her head with the pillow.
It had been a very late night with Claire, as she seemed to be waking up every couple hours. I teething baby was not a fun baby. Plus to add to that Logan had become a constant presence in their day to day. Whenever Elena had something planed for her, Damon and Claire or just her and Damon; Logan just seemed to invite himself along.
Damon reached over and shut off his phone when he saw that it was indeed Logan and then tuned back over to see Elena covering her head with a pillow. "Phones off he can't bug us now" he told her as his hands slowly started to creep toward her body.
At the feel of his touch, Elena felt her body explode with goose bumps and she craved more. "I wouldn't be so confident about that, he has been with us for the whole weekend."
"He's not here now," Damon said in a husky voice as he moved closer and started to suck on Elena's neck while his body covered hers.
While his hands explored every part of her body and his lips gave her more pleasure with every kiss, lick or suck her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she felt her breathing quicken and she was moaning uncontrollably now.
"Oh Damon" she heard herself say as she couldn't wait anymore and cupped his face and then captured his lips with her own. The kiss was hot and held so much passion as their tongues seemed to move together in a sort of dance between their mouths. Everything was perfect… or at least until…
"Hey Damon!" came a voice as the door swung open and Logan came barging into the room.
Elena let out a scream and then started reaching for blanket to cover herself up while also using Damon's body to shield herself from Logan's wondering eyes, as he stood there shocked at the two in bed.
"WHAT THE HELL MAN!" Damon yelled as he threw a pillow at Logan to break his stare. "GET OUT!"
"You didn't answer your phone I thought… I should go… oh by the way your baby is crying" he said and then ran out of the room.
Elena ran her fingers through her hair and let out a deep breath and looked at Damon. "He has got to go!"
"Anything we do, Logan is there, following Damon like a puppy!" Elena said in frustration as she was helping her aunt Jenna clean the kitchen. A few days had gone by and what was once thought of Logan's visit just being for the weekend turned into him taking up resident in the Salvatore house. Elena didn't really have a problem with Damon spending time with his friend, she wasn't a controlling girlfriend or anything but the way Elena saw it, it was she only had two months with Damon before their time together would be cut back to just weekends and she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.
"How long is Logan in town?" Jenna asked as she put away some dish plates.
"I have no idea, but he doesn't seem to be in a hurry to leave anytime soon" Elena explained as she leaned against the newly cleaned counter top and stare in the direction of her aunt.
"You should just talk to him let him know you need some family time, or get Damon to" Jenna told her honestly.
"Yeah I guess" Elena said as she crossed her arms over her chest and exhaled heavily. Checking her time it was now 2pm and she had about an hour or so before Claire woke up from her nap so decided to go and pack up some of their things so they could head over to the Salvatore house once she woke up.
Sitting in the café across from the town square Caroline was checking her messages hoping that Tyler had called her. Ever since the blow out fight between Klaus and Tyler happened she hadn't heard much from Tyler and he seemed to be avoiding her calls. With the sigh and tossing her curly blond hair back, Caroline took a sip of her coffee and stared out at the kids playing in the park without a care in the world.
Earlier today she had had a meeting with Elijah as they discussed and documented what Caroline could remember about her father and the horrible time her and her mom went through when he was still in their lives. She hated talking about the things that happened back then because she had spent years trying to forget them and now she was forcing herself to relive the nightmares over and over again. That is what they were; nightmares. There were so many times lately where she would wake up screaming or crying at the thought of her dad being back in her life and it terrified her.
Earlier today Elijah had given her some news that she desperately needed to tell Tyler. Today she had been given a court date in February where she was now set to come face to face with her father. As scary as it was before, having and actual date written down and placed on the calendar just made it all seem s much more real. When she had left Elijah's office she went into the bathroom and just started to cry because it was now official when she would have to see her father. Yet she wasn't about to back out because she had two little sisters now who Caroline had the opportunity to save from having to go through what she did.
"And why are you sitting you here alone love?" came a calm British voice from behind her. As he came around the table Klaus had a smile on his face as he came to stand in front of Caroline as she sipped on her coffee. When Caroline gave him a warm smile and he took the opportunity to pull out the empty chair in front of her and took a seat at the table with her. "This is a beautiful spot," he told her as he could see the whole town square from their table.
"Yeah this is one of my favorite spots in town" Caroline told him, "It feels so relaxing to just sit here and watch as everybody goes about their day."
"It does seem very calming here," Klaus told her. "It's has a beautiful view" he added as he continued to stare at Caroline.
Looking up at him her eyes connected with Klaus as he stared only at her while they sat in the busy café. A slight smile crept across Caroline's face as she stared back at him and bit her bottom lip. She had to force herself to look away and focus on drinking her coffee while Klaus continued to smile and stare at her.
She still had a smile on her face as the two sat there together but it started to fade when she saw who was standing across the street watching as her and Klaus sat in the café patio together. Setting her coffee cup down on the table she made eye contact with Tyler across the street as he looked anything but please to see her sitting there with Klaus.
After just staring at her for a moment with as little emotion as he could he turned on his heals and walk away. He could see the pain written all over her face as she was caught having a good time with someone he couldn't stand but he wasn't about to go over there and give Klaus the satisfaction of him making a fool of himself so he just turned an left while Caroline sat there frozen unsure of what she should do.
With Claire dressed in her blue pajamas Damon carried the thirteen month old back into his room after giving Claire, her nighttime bath. "I'm not sure who benefited from that bath, me or her?" Damon announced as he stepped into the room where Elena was tidying up a bit. When she turned to see the two entering the room she noticed that Damon's shirt was drenched and his hair was dripping wet.
Elena couldn't help but laugh at the sight as she slowly closed the gap between them and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek. "Did you get daddy all wet with your splashing?" she asked the little girl who giggled back at her mom.
"I'll be wearing a rain coat next time" Damon said he knelt down and stood Claire up on her feet while he continued to hold onto her hands. "She's gonna do it soon, I can feel it" Damon said as he walked the little girl around the room.
"Her doctor said she will do it when she is ready" Elena told him as she moved back over to Damon's bed as she watched Damon try to get her to take a few steps on her own.
"I know and she's been so close a few times but seems a bit camera shy" he told her as he let Claire sit on her bottom and then crawl over to her blanket and plush ladybug. Watching her with a smile Damon closed the gap between him and Elena as they stood next to his bed. His hands came up and rested on her hips while hers circled around his neck.
"It'll happen" Elena told him and then leaned in for a kiss.
Responding to the kiss Damon wrapped his arms tighter around her and then fell back on his bed and pulling Elena with him. She let out a playful squeal while her lips were still pressed against his as she came to straddle him.
"There is an infant in the room," Elena said with a giggle as she leaned down for another addicting kiss.
"I'll behave" Damon joked with a chuckle.
"I doubt that" Elena laughed as she ran her fingers through his hair as Damon sat up but kept Elena straddling his lap.
"Hey Damon!" came the sound of Logan's voice as he barged into the room once again. "Oh… god you to need to get a room!"
Rolling her eyes and clenching her jaw Elena removed herself from Damon's lap and as she stood up she turned to look at Logan not at all amused by his presence yet again. "WE ARE IN A ROOM!" she snapped at him as she hands on her hips.
"My room!" Damon added also a little annoyed.
"Oh, well there is also a baby in the room how much could you actually do?" he laughed as he just brushed off the fact that both Elena and Damon didn't seem to be in the mood to deal with him right now.
"Anyway Damon there is a party in 20 minutes just off the campus" Logan told him. "Lets go get hammered!"
"Okay that is it!" Elena yelled having had enough of Logan just walking in and thinking Damon could go off and get drunk with him every night. "Look Logan I'm not sure why you are still in town or when you are leaving but I have had it! You and Damon were out all last weekend together and that was fine but now it's been a week! Not only that but you are constantly barging in on us, once in a situation I would not like to repeat and also you have weaseled your way into our family time. Oh and don't get me started on the fact you have eaten all the fruit that I had cut up for Claire the other day. Logan this is getting ridiculous! I have less then two months before Damon goes off to collage and no offence but I don't want you involved in every family outing we have. The picnic a couple days ago, our movie date last night, seriously we need boundaries!" Elena yelled while Logan stood their dumbfounded.
Damon as still sitting on the bed watching as Elena flipped out on Logan and while a part of him felt a little bad for Logan he had to admit seeing Elena all fuming and claiming her territory was really hot. He as so caught up in watching his girl telling Logan off that he almost didn't see Claire as she got up on her own two feet and started to slow wobble across the room. His eyes widen in shock as the rest of his body froze. "Elena" he said calmly not wanting to scare Claire and have her sit down.
"Look I get Damon is your best friend and all" Elena continued.
"Elena!" Damon repeated as he gritted his teeth as is eyes still followed Claire wobbling around.
"What Damon!" Elena yelled as she turned to Damon as her eye with full of fire. She was expecting Damon to come to Logan's defense and then noticed that he was pointing to something across the room. Her eyes slowly gazed across the room until they landed on Claire waddling towards her with a smile on her face. Her eyes widen and her jaw dropped at the sight of her baby girl walking all on her own. "Oh my god… Damon get the camera," she said softly.
"What?" he asked not hearing her, as his eyes hadn't leave Claire.
"Camera!" she repeated.
"Crap yes!" he said as he reached into his pocket for his phone and started to press buttons trying to get the video camera.
"Language Damon!" Elena scolded but she had a huge smile on her face and tears in her eyes. "Look at mommy's big girl!" Elena said softly to Claire a she was walking straight towards her. "Damon are you getting this?"
"Why is this so slow?" Damon grunted as he fought with his phone trying to get it to work. He was now on his feet frantically trying to to get the video to start working knowing Claire could sit down at any moment.
"Damon" Elena squealed as Claire was getting closer and closer.
"I'm trying I'm trying!" he said. "Got it!" he cheered as he held out the phone to capture Claire walking but just as the little girl smiled straight into the camera she then dropped to her bottom. "AHHH I missed it!" Damon cried as he fell back on the bed with a laugh. "She so did that on purpose!" he cried as Elena stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around her little girl.
As the weeks went by summer in Mystic Falls was quiet the entertaining one. It seemed as if the Mikaelson kids had made themselves right at home, especially Klaus who liked nothing better then to get under Tyler's skin. Tyler and Caroline spent many weeks of the summer on the outs with Caroline still befriending Klaus whether Tyler liked it or not.
Jeremy was doing his best to stay out of trouble while he was at summer school and he continued his road to recovery. Although Jeremy and Damon weren't getting along due to Jeremy unhappy that Damon would take off for school in the fall he did his best to keep his thoughts to himself when he was with Elena knowing the situation was not one she wanted to talk about.
Stefan seemed to have put his indiscretion with Katherine behind him as he started to get to know Rebekah and spent many of his summer days working with her at the local swimming pool as lifeguards. Stefan had to admit that spending his days around a pool was so much better then delivering pizza's like he did last year. He also like the view since Rebekah was his partner most days and they spent their days wearing bathing suits and glancing at each other across the pool.
Reaching for his bottle of water next to his chair, Stefan chugged back a gulp. Looking over at Rebekah in her one-piece red swimsuit he smiled as she glanced back at him with a smiled and flipped her straight blond ponytail back. Over the summer break they had really gotten to know each other including the fact Rebekah wasn't interested in following in her family's footsteps of becoming a lawyer but wasn't sure how to break it to her parents especially.
"Someone has come to say hi" Stefan heard a voice say and then turned around to see Elena walking towards him with little Claire holding her hand but pretty much walking all on her own as she wore her pink and lime green polka dot one-piece swimsuit and little white sandals. Stefan smiled at his little niece, as she was getting a lot sturdier on her feet now.
"Hey" he said happily as his little niece had a huge smile on her face as she was walking towards him.
"Break time Stefan!" called one of the lifeguards as he came over to take his post.
"Thanks" he said and then walked over to where Elena and Claire were standing. "Look at you all ready to swim!" Stefan said happily as he reached down to pick Claire up in his arms and gave his niece a big huge.
"Ever since we saw you here yesterday she has been saying pool over and over again" Elena laughed as she watched the loving relationship between uncle and niece.
"Pool!" Claire chirped as she pointed to the pool where a number of kids were playing.
"You know we have our own pool" Stefan laughed while Claire seemed really memorized by this pool.
"This one has her favorite lifeguard" Elena told him, "Plus she likes seeing all the kids."
"Want to go swimming?" Stefan asked as he started to walked towards the shallow end on the pool while Elena followed behind with the diaper bag and wearing a black swimsuit cover. Elena set her stuff down on an empty table knowing that Caroline would be joining them soon and then started taking off her swimsuit cover to real her black bikini. Slipping out of her flip-flops she followed Stefan who was already in the water and holding an excited looking Claire as she slashed her hands in the water.
Claire just loved the water, pretty much the whole summer Damon and Elena had spent in his backyard getting the little ladybug use to the water and now she loved to splash and kick her little feet in the water. With Stefan holding Claire in his arms he slowly moved around the shallow end of the pool.
"Look at you" Elena said as she clapped her hands while she moved through the water to get closer to her daughter as she splashed around in the water with her uncle Stefan.
"Mama!" Claire squealed while she kicked her feet in the water. Reaching her little arms out for her mommy Elena took Claire into her arms as she bounced them up and down in the water. Pressing a kiss to her temple Elena looked over at Rebekah as she was keeping an eye on the kids in the pool.
"So you and Rebekah seem to been getting pretty close" Elena said with a knowing smile.
She could see Stefan blushing a bit as he thought about Rebekah. Elena had gotten the chance to get to know her a little also since was hanging around the Salvatore house and she seem like a really great girl.
"She's really great" Stefan said as he stayed a float in the water in front of Elena and Claire. "We have so much in common and she is someone I can talk to and these last few weeks have been amazing," he told her but then Elena saw the smile on his face slowly disappear.
"But…"
"But in the fall she is going back to England for school" Stefan told her sadly. "I don't know if I should get involved with someone who is going to be leaving in less then a month."
Elena bit her lip knowing where Stefan was coming from; she didn't know how she was going to be able to handle being away from Damon during the week never mind being across an ocean. "Look you'll never know until you give it a try and while the long distance thing is hard maybe it can work for you guys," Elena told him with a smile. "People have long distance relationships all the time and they make it out okay" Elena told him and it was a statement she herself was trying to convince herself to believe.
"I hear Damon's packing today" Stefan said as he remembered seeing his brother's room covered in boxes as he was preparing to move some things into the dorms.
"Yeah, he's hoping to get it done this afternoon so that he won't have to worry about it. After that he will have the rest of the day to spend with us unless Logan finds a way to weasel himself in again" Elena said as she rolled her eyes.
"He still hanging around" Stefan said with a laugh as he was gently splashing in the water with Claire.
"Not as bad but yes, I'm not sure what is going on but he doesn't seem to be leaving anytime soon" Elena told him as she hugged Claire close to her chest. "I've got less then a month with Damon before he has to leave and I'm hoping Logan gets the message that we need time without him. Last night he joined us for a movie night and somehow he ended up choosing the movie" Elena told him.
"Logan was always the one who followed Damon around, whatever trouble Damon was getting into in high school he usually had Logan involved somehow too" Stefan said as he reached forward and brought Claire back into his arms.
"Damon said he would talk to him but nothing has gotten Logan to leave yet," Elena said with a sigh.
"Well he has to go back to work sometime right?" Stefan replied as he slowly spun Claire around in the water.
"That's what I thought but he has been here for almost a month and a half now" Elena told him as she moved around in the water and then started blowing bubbles in the water in front of Claire that made her giggle in excitement. "I don't want to be a demanding clingy girl friend but I'm really getting tired of sharing Damon with Logan" Elena said with a nervous laugh.
Just then they heard a whistle and when Stefan turned around he saw the lifeguard waving him over. "I guess that means break time is over" Stefan said with a grin as he handed Claire back over to Elena.
Taking Claire back into her arms Elena smiled, "Ok can you say bah-bye to uncle Stefan?" Elena said softly to the little girl as she held up her tiny arm to wave. "Bah-bye."
"Bah-bye" Claire said just as Stefan smiled and then hopped out of the pool.
With the boxes all packed and sitting to one side of his room Damon had his hands on his hips as he let out a sigh. Summer was going to go by fast and before he knew it he would be packing everything up and moving to Virginia State University. Staring at the box on top he moved over to tape it shut but took one last glance at the picture frame on the top that held a picture him and Elena holding Claire hours after she came into the world and changes his life for the better. Next to it was a recent picture of the three of them walking in the park and a happy Claire walking all on her own in between them. Smiling at the picture he closed up the box and then taped it closed.
"Everything packed?" uncle Zach asked as he entered Damon's room.
"Pretty much" Damon said with a sigh as he turned to face his uncle.
"These next few weeks are going to go by fast," Uncle Zach said as he stepped further into the room.
"You're going to have a lot of traveling to do each weekend if you plan on coming home" Zach said stating the obvious.
"There is a bus I can take, it would take about three hours since there are a couple stops but it means I get to come home" Damon told him.
Zach nodded and looked at his nephew with a serious expression. "Damon you have grown up so much in the last year and a half. To be honest I never thought you would end up going to college but here you are. I'm proud of you and the fact that you won't let me pay for college tuition just shows how much more responsible you have become. Listen since you won't let you pay for your tuition let me do this for you" Zach said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a car key.
"What's this?" Damon asked as he accepted the keys into his hand.
"Car keys to the 1969 Chevy Camaro Convertible in the garage, it's yours now and this way you won't have to spend six hours on a bus each week" Zach told him with a smile.
"Uncle Zach" Damon said feeling like he couldn't accept the gift.
"Consider it a late graduation present" Zach told him and then the two shared a hug, as Zach was so proud that the Damon he had taken in when he was seven had grown up so much. "I want you to be able to come home and see your family as much as you can," he added
"Thank you" Damon said as he was still hugging his uncle tight while trying to hold back tears.
Just as the two were breaking a part there was a soft knock on the door and Logan peak his head inside. As he stepped into the room Zach gave his nephew one last nod before exiting the room.
"What's going on?" Logan asked.
"My uncle just gave me the keys to the Camaro" Damon said with a grin.
"OH MY GOD THAT IS AWESOME!" Logan yelled with wide eyes. "I remember when we use to take joy ride in that. Now it's yours holy crap!"
"Just think of where he can drive that baby! Party weekends in Florida man!"
"No Logan it's so I can come home on the weekend" Damon responded.
"Well not every weekend, you got to experience the college lifestyle some time" Logan said.
"I'm not going to college to party" Damon replied.
"What? That is why everyone goes to college," Logan laughed as he shook his head. He couldn't believe that this was the same Damon who he had once made all sorts of plans to crash college parties with whether they went to the school or not.
"The car is so I can come home and be with Elena and Claire" Damon explained.
"Are you serious? You're going to spend every weekend back in this boring town that you have been wanting to get out of for years?" Logan said not totally believing what he was hearing.
"That was a long time ago" Damon responded.
"So" Logan said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"So things have changed," Damon snapped back.
"I'll say" Logan said in a huff. "The Damon I new didn't want to go to college, he just wanted to crash the parties and sleep around to save money on hotels as he finally ditched this place. What the hell happened to you man?"
"I grew up Logan" Damon snapped. "I have a daughter now that I need to provide for and protect. This isn't just about me anymore it's about my family."
"Damon your nineteen you can't honestly tell me you see yourself playing house with this chick Elena. When we were in high school you had no plans on getting married, you even laughed whenever Katherine mentioned you and her getting married and you have known Katherine a lot longer the Elena. You can't be thinking of marrying a girl just cause you knocked her up."
"I'm not, and I never said I was getting married tomorrow but yes in the future I think Elena and I can make it work and it isn't because of the fact we have a daughter. If I were planning to marry Elena because she was knocked up I would have done it already. When I do marry Elena it will be because I love her and want to spend the rest of my life with her. Look I'm sorry Logan but a lot of things have change since you left town and started working on the road."
"I got fired" Logan blurt out sadly.
"What?" Damon said softly as he stared at his friend.
"About three months ago, I had a transport go wrong and it cost me my job. I hated the job so I wasn't too upset about it but I thought if I came back here we could do some of the things we had talked about in high school."
"I'm sorry Logan, but I can't get up an leave when I feel like it anymore" Damon told him.
"Yeah, I'm starting to get that" Logan mumbled as he turned away from Damon and started kicking at the ground and then slowly left the room and Damon standing there letting out a deep sigh.
"Bonnie Bennett!" as raspy woman's voice called out as she sat behind a desk as she smoked a cigarette.
With a shaky breath Bonnie pulled at her sleeves and then got to her feet. This was her fifth audition of the summer and she had yet to get a modeling job and she was really starting to lose her confidence that she could actually be successful. Holding her résumé and self portraits Bonnie made her way up to the front desk pass a number of other girls who were also waiting got their chance to audition.
"Far door on the left" the lady with the raspy voice said without looking up at Bonnie as she smoked her cigarette and read her book.
Nodding her head Bonnie made her way to the end of the hall and stood in front of a closed door. As he hand touched the doorknob she took a deep breath and slowly turned the handle. The person on the other side for this door held the power of starting her modeling career and she was hoping that this audition would be the one to get her foot in the door. Turning the knob she pushed open the door and slowly stepped inside and looking around the empty room.
"Come on in" came a woman's voice, as she sounded kind of bored, obviously she had to sit through a lot of auditions and seemed to just be waiting for the day to come to an end.
Bonnie gave her a bright smile as she handed over her résumé to the woman. The woman accepted the document and then with a sigh she pointed for Bonnie to stand on the platform in the middle of the room. Biting her bottom lip she made her way over to the eight-inch high platform and stepped up while the woman followed behind her.
Chewing on the end of her pen the woman circled around Bonnie as she stood on the platform and as she eyed Bonnie she frowned, nodded, cringed and let out a loud sigh. This was the part Bonnie hated. She hated them eyeing her and cringing at her flaws. Every so often the woman would reach out and inspected her curves or size closely and then step back not giving Bonnie much indication if they approved or not.
The woman picked up her clipboard and as she removed the pen from her mouth and started to jot down some notes. "Thanks for coming in but I don't think you are right for the part" she said without taking her eyes off her clipboard.
Bonnie bit her lip trying not to let the rejection affect her too much in front of the woman as she nodded her head and stepped down from the platform. "Thank you" Bonnie said but the woman had already made her way to sit back down and wait for the next model.
As she left the room Bonnie kept her head down and she walked down the hall and quickly made her way out of the building past all the other potential models waiting for their turn. When she stepped out on to the street Connor was leaning against his car waiting for Bonnie and typing something on his phone. Making her way closer to him Connor looked up at Bonnie with a smile waiting for the verdict but when Bonnie didn't smile he knew the answer to his question.
"Don't worry this isn't over yet" Connor told her.
"Maybe I'm just not cut out for this" Bonnie said as she was now losing her confidence.
"No, no, no this will happen I promise you" Connor told her. "Maybe we have to change our strategy though," he told her as he ran his fingers through her hair and eyed her body figure. "Maybe what we need is a make over and a new diet. You are a beautiful girl but maybe we just has to tweak a few things a few things," He told her with a smile and Bonnie nodded as she gained a little more confidence.
The rest of the summer flew by faster then anyone wanted it to and the new school year was just a few days away. As each of the final days past by Elena dreaded the fact that she was that much closer to having to say good-bye to Damon.
Over the summer Claire's walking was getting even more stable and she seems to be accomplishing something new everyday. Now she was fascinated with the vacuumed and always wanting to help her mom or aunt Jenna push the vacuumed. She was also attempting to move around in many different ways such as climbing, running and jumping. She was definitely keeping Elena and Damon very busy during their last summer days.
Shifting her body as she lay curled up in Damon's bed. Elena's eyes fluttered open as she started to wake up feeling Damon spooning behind her. His nose was pressed against her soft hair as he breathed in her sent. This was one of her favorite things about the morning, having Damon right next to her and the thought that this morning would be the last time they could do this before next weekend really made her want the morning to last forever.
Looking up at the clock on the nightstand that read 6:30am in bright green digital numbers. Biting her bottom lip Elena let out a long depressing sigh as she new she only had six hours before Damon would be heading off. When she shifted again, she felt Damon start to move as well, his hands started to run up and down her thighs as his lips started to suck and leave kisses on her neck.
Loving the sensation on his lip and hands on her body Elena let out a low moan as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. At the sound of her moan, Damon rolled her onto her back so that he could then cover her body with his own as he finally captured her lips while her arms moved around his neck. As the kiss deepened the room heated up and the sound of their heavy breathing increased as moans of pleasure filled the room.
Lying in the wrinkled sheets Elena's head rested on Damon's chest while his lips were pressed against the top of her head and his fingers trailed up and down her arms while basked in the after glow. Her eyes couldn't help but look over at the clock again so see it read 7:15am. "Five hours and fifteen minutes" Elena said out loud as she cuddled closer to him.
"I know" Damon said in a soft voice as he kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms tighter around her. "I don't want to go" Damon told her as she turned in his arms so that her bare chest was pressed against his and her hands could run up and down Damon's chest as she left kisses trailing up to his lips.
"It'll be Thursday before we know it" Elena told him as traced her finger a long Damon's jaw line. "We're doing this for our future, we can make this work."
"I don't know if I can be away from her for so long," Damon said sadly. Since the day she was born he had been with Claire everyday and now he wouldn't be able to see her for about three days in a row.
"We'll call you everyday," Elena told him as she ran her fingers up and down his chest. "You know how she loves to talk on the telephone now" Elena added with a giggle before leaning down for a kiss.
"I want you to capture everything she does on camera, I don't want to miss anything" Damon told her as his voice was starting to crack while he tried to keep it together.
"I promise" Elena told him and then sealed it with a kiss. When she pulled away she had a little smirk on her face as she sat up and threw back the sheets. "Come on we have about thirty minutes before she wakes up" Elena told him as she jumped off the bed and started to stroll towards the bathroom while wearing absolutely nothing. "Coming?" she asked as she glanced back over her bare shoulder to where Damon was lying on the bed.
Not having to be asked again Damon jumped to his feet and raced after her into the bathroom. Elena let out a squeal in excitement when she saw him coming running after and wrapping his arms around her and then lifting her up into the shower just as he was turning on the water.
With the last box placed into the back of the Camaro, Damon shut it closed, as he was all set for the hour and forty-five minute drive ahead. Licking his lips Damon took a brief pause while he made sure he had everything. The trunk was full and the back seat on the Camaro was piled up so he hoped that was everything. As he turned back to face the house his uncle and brother stepped forward.
"Drive safe" Uncle Zach told his nephew as he gave him a hug.
"Thanks" Damon replied.
Zach was doing his best not to cry but a part of him couldn't believe that this moment had actually come that he would have to let Damon go and let him figure out his future. Before a single tear could fall Zach pulled away and stepped back onto the porch next to Jenna, and Jeremy.
"Stay out of trouble" Stefan told his brother as they clapped their hands together and then gave each other a hug.
"Easier said then done" Damon joked.
When Stefan stepped back Jenna came forward and gave Damon a hug. If two years ago someone would of told her that she would be trying not to break down as Damon Salvatore was leaving for college she would of laughed. "You are going to do great there" she told him and Damon could only nod his head. It was so strange how close he had become with Jenna since they never got along before Elena came into the picture. Unfortunately for Jenna the tears started to fall whether she wanted them or not as she pulled away. As she moved to stand back on the porch Jeremy stood their rolling his eyes at how emotional they had become of Damon leaving like it was the last time they would ever see him. Jeremy for one still couldn't believe Damon was running out on his sister while she took care of their daughter.
"Dadda!" Claire called out as she started running out of the house after getting her diaper changed and ran down the driveway and over to her Daddy. Elena was came out behind her and watched as the little girl jumped right into her daddy's arms when he knelt down and scooped her up in his arms. As Damon hugged his ladybug the others decided to give them some privacy so slipped back into the house while Damon spent his last moments with Elena and their ladybug.
He pressed kisses to Claire's cheeks as he hugged her tight knowing the tears in his eyes were now falling uncontrollably. "Daddy loves you so much ladybug," he told her. "You have to be good for mommy, and don't do too many cute things until I get back" he told her as he hugged her tight.
Claire was resting her head on her daddy's shoulder with her eyelashes leaving butterfly kisses on Damon's neck. "Dada" she said while Damon held her tight and whisper loving words in her ear.
Elena's eyes were now full of tears as she stood there watching Damon holding their almost fifteen month old. Elena reached out and ran her hands up and down Claire's back and then her eyes met Damon's. "God I'm going to miss you guys so much" Damon said as he reach a hand out and pulled Elena closer to him so that he could capture her lips. They did their best not to crush Claire in between them as Elena cupped his face and the salty tears on their cheeks mixed. The kiss deepened as Elena tongue danced with Damon's while her fingers moved through his hair. They were almost lost in each other until they felt Claire squirm in between them.
When Elena pulled away they rested their foreheads together while their eye remain closed. "I love you so much Elena" Damon whispered as his free hand that wasn't holding Claire started to run through her hair while he kissed her again.
"I love you too" Elena responded tearfully as she kissed him again.
When she finally pulled away, Elena wiped away her tears as she tried to compose herself again. As Damon checked his watch he knew he had to get going so after pressing one last kiss on top of Claire's head he stated to pry her off him so he could hand her back over to Elena. Claire didn't seem to be ready to let go and started to cry and grip hold of her daddy.
"Come on baby" Elena said knowing that this was breaking Damon's heart as his ladybug was clinging to him. When she finally did let go, it was too late Damon was already a mess. He kissed his tiny hands as Claire rested her head on her mommy's shoulder while she still cried for her daddy. "Can you blow daddy a kiss?" Elena asked her little girl and through her cries the little girl brought her tiny hand to her mouth and then blew him a kiss.
Damon bit his lip as he opened the driver side door while Elena took a step back while trying to sooth their little girl. "Say bah-bye" Elena told Claire as the little girl continued to cry wanting to go with her daddy.
"Bah-bye" Claire's little voice said as she waved her hand.
"Bye-bye ladybug" Damon replied as he slipped down into the car and turned on the engine. Once he closed the door, Elena stepped up to the window of the car and knelt down to Damon's eye level.
"Give daddy a kiss baby girl" Elena said and then the little girl leaned forward so that gave her daddy one last kiss.
"Love you ladybug" Damon said to her and then his eyes looked at Elena as he leaned in to give her one last kiss. "I love you," he said softly.
"I love you too. Call us when you get there" She replied as she touched his cheek. Standing up and stepping back from the car Elena hugged her little girl while Damon slowly backed the car down the Salvatore driveway and pulled onto the road. As she got Claire to wave again, Elena couldn't hold back anymore and she burst into tears as she too waved Damon off as he drove down the street and towards Virginia State University.
Let me know what you think!