Bonnie wakes up from her restless slumber with Damon next to her. His eyes are droopy and his head starts falling forward starts falling asleep.

"You can go home you know." She snaps him out of his near slumber. "You didn't have to stay this long. I know we dropped in on you unexpectedly. You can go back to your life."

"Stop that"

"Stop what?"

"Acting like I'm here out of charity. Bonnie, I'm here because I want to and need to be here. What do you think's going to happen once we leave this hospital?"

"I honestly don't know Damon. It's not like I can go back to living in my dorm room and my dad sold the house. I think we have to go back to Atlanta at my mom's. I don't know where that leaves you."

"You both come live at the house with me. Trust me we have the room."

"I don't know about that Damon. I don't really want to depend on you that much and what about Stefan. Doesn't he get a say? Besides, you don't have any baby things like a crib or a car seat. Where is she going to sleep?"

"I can buy those things and you know Stefan wouldn't mind. It's not like you'd be depending on me I mean she is half my responsibility and I think a roof over her head counts and since you're her mother it's kind of a package deal."

"You say that now, but—"

"Just think about it," he says interrupting her, "You wouldn't be a burden and I want you guys there. I can use the company." He chuckles slightly at that last remark.

She's about to respond but is cut off by a soft knock on the door. It slowly opens and Abby Bennett's form comes creeping in holding the stuff Bonnie had prepared and left at home.

"I didn't know if you guys were asleep," she whispers putting the stuff down in a corner. She then walks over to her daughter and kisses her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine mom. I got the epidural like you suggested and barely felt a thing, but I'm very sore right now. It's like I'm finally feeling all the pain the drugs wouldn't let me, but I think it's far less painful than if I hadn't."

"That's good," she says walking over to the bassinet, "I had one with you and if I had any other kids I would have done it again. They're a godsend." She picks up the baby carefully from her crib as to not wake her up. She cradles her to her chest and studies her features "Well aren't you just a pretty little thing." She starts swaying and bouncing her. "And I'm not just saying that because I don't hold back when the baby's ugly." Bonnie snorts. "Welcome to the world baby girl. It's loud and bright and filled with more heartbreak than you'll ever know, but enough warmth and love to make it worth it." Abby smiles down at her granddaughter adoringly.

They stay like that for a moment while Bonnie and Damon watch how natural she is with her. They were still getting used to holding her without feeling like hey were going to drop her.

Abby breaks the moment and looks to Bonnie smile adorning her face. "Are you sure about this now?"

"One hundred percent," she says with conviction.

Abby give a nod of affirmation. "Well, then does she have a name? I don't want to be calling her baby girl for the rest of her life."

Everyone in the room laughed.

Abby was lying beside Bonnie in her bed running her fingers through her daughter's hair. Bonnie was mirroring her actions with her own daughter. Damon went to the cafeteria to give them time alone together.

"You know you gave me quite a scare. First I come home to find you gone and then I find out from Damon of all people that you were in Mystic Falls and in labor no less."

"I'm sorry, it was kind of a last minute decision. I felt he needed to know."

"I get that, but you could have at least told someone. You didn't leave a note, you left your cellphone, you didn't even take your bag, that should have been in your car weeks ago."

"I didn't think I'd go into labor. I thought I had time."

"How did that work out?"

"You know it's been a long day, I don't really feel like being reprimanded right now especially since there's nothing I can do about it now."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, just…don't do that again."

"Yes because I plan on being in this exact situation again."

"Hey, you don't what the future has planned. But I was more talking about this: taking off without telling me. You have more to think about than just yourself imagine if you would have broke down on the highway you would've had no way to call for help."

"I get it. I was stupid, but it worked out in the end. She's here and we're both safe."

"Yes and I'm glad for that." She kisses the side of Bonnie's forehead. "Listen, I got the crib set up in the guest room, well I guess it's not the guest room anymore, which is why it took me so long, but I was thinking about getting your old bassinet from your Grams' house while we're here so she can be close by for the first few weeks."

Bonnie clams up. "I don't know mom."

"I'm sure it's still in the attic. I don't think anyone has touched anything in that house since she died."

"Not that, I don't know about going back with you. Damon offered to let us stay with him."

"Oh." She paused looking at her daughter with uncertainty. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Well no, but it's kind of unfair to take her away from him again."

"Yeah, but think about yourself for a second. Do you really want to live here? Raise her here? I know what this town was like when I was here and it'll be far worse for you. Do you really think that's best?"

Bonnie thinks back to Caroline and their conversation earlier and tears start welling in her eyes. She can only imagine getting more of that and as selfish as it sounds she doesn't want that. She starts shaking her head too emotional to get out words.

Damon walks back in and find Bonnie cradling their daughter. Abby was missing from the room. It looked like she had been crying, but the smile on her face and the look of awe as she stares down at their child make him not ask why. He just plops down next her on the bed and joins her in staring at their daughter.

Her eyes are closed and she opens her mouth in a yawn that melts her parent's hearts. She opens her big eyes at them and is met with adoring smiles. She stretches her tiny arms and legs until she's satisfied and resumes sleeping.

"You know we're going to have to find a name for her right," Damon says breaking the silence.

"I know, I thought about a few while I was pregnant."

"Well let's hear them because I don't have any ideas."

"Okay, I was thinking about Margaret and we'd call her Maggie for short." Bonnie looks down at her baby trying to match the name to her. Damon looks unsure.

"I don't know. I like Maggie, but does she look like one to you?" They look at her features and see if the match with the name Maggie.

"I'm not sure either. Want to hear the other names?"

"Sure."

"Alright I was thinking Delylah, but with a 'Y' and we would call her Lyla or Shelia after my Grams."

"Delylah's beautiful, but do we really want our named after a terrible song and I kind of want her to have a name that's all hers."

"That song wasn't that bad or even at all, and the name existed well before it came out." Bonnie starts to protest.

"Yeah well that's all people will hear when they see her name. And not that bad? 'ohh it's what you do to meee, ohh it's what you do to me'," he sings off key.

"Alright, point made, but if you're going to be this picky what names do you have? You can't just shut down mine without replacing them with something."

"I don't know how about Isabella."

"Ugh, nope, way too much Twilight."

"Huh?"

"Seriously, you know Hey There Delilah, but you don't know Twilight. Didn't you have like 12 girlfriends at the time, not one of them made you watch that movie?"

"I guess I blocked it from my memory and to go off your point, it was a name well before it came out."

"And still all anybody will think is Twilight when her name is uttered. You complain about a song barely anybody remembers well think about a craze that ruled everything for a half a decade. No, just no."

"Okay, point made, but we still don't have a name for her."

"Yeah well, you didn't try very hard."

"I'm not exactly equipped for this. Baby names was never really high on the list of things I thought about."

"Well me neither, but I figured it out it's not so hard."

"Alright if it' not so hard I want you to look at her and tell me what name she should have."

She takes the challenge. Staring down at her going through a list of names, some she saw in a baby book and others she had cataloged in the back of her head. Finally, she finds the perfect one.

"Maybelle," Bonnie says softly.

Damon looks at their daughter and matches the name with her face. "That kind of came out of nowhere but I think I can work with that. What about her middle name?"

"I want you to come up with that I want you to give her something," before we leave "and please real suggestions, no Krystal's with a "K" or any other stripper names."

"Noted." He goes through the same process as she did thinking of names that flow nicely. He rules out ex-girlfriend's names quickly and starts thinking of Bonnie. "Jade," he says with complete seriousness.

"I said no stripper names."

"No seriously think about it. Maybelle Jade, MJ, Maybelle Jade Salvatore. It sounds nice doesn't it and it fits her."

Bonnie stares down whispering the names to her. "Maybelle Jade, is that your name?" She affectionately runs her fingers down her daughter's cheek. She responds by smacking her lips together and turning her head.

"I think we have a name," She smiles up at him.

"Welcome to the world, Maybelle Jade Salvatore."

"Bennett Salvatore."

"I'm sorry, I meant 'welcome to the world Maybelle Jade Bennett Salvatore'. It's gonna suck, but I'll try my best to make life as great as possible. But no matter what know that I love you and always will." They both take in the moment. Damon finds the moment perfect and can only get better with one more thing. "Have you thought about what we talked about earlier?"

Bonnie nods her head giving him a sad smile. "Yes, I have."

Damon's at the vending machine trying to get a soda, trying being the optimum word, he's pressed the button about fifty times and nothing has come out. He takes to beating the machine. First, he simply pushes the front watching it cave in and when that doesn't work her starts kicking it, hard. Eventually, he starts hitting it like a madman so far gone that he's forgotten why he was hitting it in the first place. That's how Abby finds him.

"I take it she told you."

Her voice is enough to snap him out of his trance. "Yeah, yeah she did." His voice is strained.

"You know taking it out on that vending machine won't help."

"It helps a little just be happy I'm not drinking."

Abby put her hands up in mock surrender. "If you say so, but you and I both know that you're not dealing with anything."

"I shouldn't have to!"

Abby gives not physical reaction to his shouts. "Well, Damon Salvatore I think you've just gotten your first lesson in life not being fair."

"That's really what you think of me?"

"Yes, you've been handed everything your entire life. While my daughter had to lose some of her college years, lose her friends, and lose her home, you got to stay here completely oblivious a privilege she wasn't granted. She's had to deal with the brunt of the consequences of a mistake you both made. How's that fair?"

"You think I wanted things to happen like this? She chose to deal with them by herself instead of just coming to me. We could have worked something out."

"And why do you think she chose that? Why do you think she didn't come to you in the first place?"

That took him aback. He never really thought about why she didn't come to him. Was she afraid he'd reject her? Given his state of mind six months ago he wasn't so sure if he wouldn't have. He probably would have told her to get rid of it and given her the money too. She was his best friend but was she worth losing everything for? Now he wasn't really given much of a choice, nor did he care. Nothing much had mattered to him since she left and now he had something that meant everything.

"You didn't think about that did you?"

"No, no I didn't, but it doesn't matter now. She's here, our daughter's here and we should be together. It's what's best. We're family now. I'm trying to do what's best for my family."

"And I'm trying to do what's best for mine."

"And that's breaking us apart?"

"For now, yes. You may not be my favorite person right now I'm not doing this to hurt you Damon and neither is she. She's coming home with me Damon. I know it's not ideal, but it's what's best and if you thought about anything but yourself you'd see that too."

"Now all of sudden you want to be a good mother to her? You spend most her life away and now you decide to intervene? How would you know what's best for her?"

"You know, I'm going to let that slide because you're angry, but think about this. She came to me. You and this town drove her to come and find me. I'm not the enemy here." And with that, she left him in the hall alone with his thoughts.

"I really wish you wouldn't go. Why do you have to leave?" Damon said pleadingly. They were outside his house at her car. She had long since been released from the hospital and decided to stay with Damon for a few days to completely recuperate before making the long 6-hour trek back to Atlanta. Also, she wanted to give Damon and Maybelle a little more time together—it was the least she could do.

"Because no one wants me here Damon. I am the girl who slept with her best friend's boyfriend and have the evidence of it on my arm. Call me selfish, a bitch, or whatever, but can only deal with so much. At least there they'll just look at me as just a young mother, not a betraying backstabbing bitch."

"Who care about what they think?" he starts indignantly.

"You don't get to say that because you don't have to deal with the same things I do. You're a man, hell, you're Damon. Having a baby out of wedlock from cheating on your girlfriend is expected of you. They just brush it off as typical behavior and when you step up to be a father to your daughter you'll get praised for not being a deadbeat. I don't get that. I get called a man-stealer, trapping him with a baby. I get no praise for taking on motherhood because to them it's my duty, but that won't stop them from criticizing my mothering skills or saying things like 'I should have given her up' whereas you would get 'he's trying the hardest he can'. It's part of the reason I left to begin with. It's different for women, it's different for me, so excuse me if I don't take your 'I don't care' attitude because it's not as simple as that."

"What about our daughter? Have you thought about what leaving is doing to her?" He's on his last thread. He knows she's right, but he has to try.

"I have and I'm saving her from the consequences of our mistakes and having to hear those comments, having people expecting her to screw up at every corner. I'm leaving for both of us."

"But you're leaving me, both of you."

"I know, but it's better this way and it's not like you can't come see us. You know exactly where we'll be."

"Because moving across state-lines is just so easy."

"I never said it'd be easy, but it could be worse."

She has him there. "Can I at least say bye to her."

"Of course, I would never keep her from you."

Damon refrains from commenting that she already did. She takes Maybelle out of the car seat and gently hands her over to Damon. He's still not used to holding something so tiny and alive, but he manages. She's awake for once and staring straight at him. Her eyes are that same blue hue every baby has, but he thinks hers are the prettiest. Whenever people would talk about their kids with pride he'd always brush them off, but now he gets it, he gets the pride of wanting to show off someone you love with all your heart, especially when they're apart of you. He'll still brush people off when they talk about their kids, but now it's because none come close to his.

Damon holds her close to his chest and plants small kisses on her face. She wiggles a little enhance his fear of dropping her, but not enough to give her back. He takes in her smell and memorizes it because he knows it's going to be a while before he sees her again. Tears start forming in his eyes. "It's ridiculous how much I already miss her, she's only been alive for like five days."

"I know it's crazy how someone so small can take over your entire world." He nods in agreement.

He rocks her swaying side to side while he takes her in for the last moment. "Goodbye, baby girl. I love you." He kisses the side of her head one last time before handing her back to Bonnie. "Be good for mommy," he says teary-eyed as Bonnie puts her in the car.

After she's sure Maybelle's secure she closes the car door and turns to Damon. "Bye Damon." She reaches up on her tippy toes and kisses him on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, really," she says earnestly and then gets into the car. He stays in the same spot long after she's left. It's worse than the last time, she's taken more than a piece this time, but his whole life.

He's still in his same spot right in front of the fireplace except this time without whiskey. He doesn't know what he'll have to be prepared for next and he hopes to be sober for it. For the first time in a week, he hears someone at the door. A part of him hopes that it's Bonnie with his daughter coming to stay with him so they can be a real family, but she made it very clear that that wouldn't be happening. He doesn't really care who's at the door he just hopes it isn't Elena to hit him some more and remind him why he was in this situation. Why his stupidity has left him alone in a large empty house.

"Still moping I see." Now that's a voice he hasn't heard in a while. He turns his head to get a full glimpse at his brother. They've never really been all that close, but he welcomes the company.

"Yeah, well, not much else to do."

"Oh, I bet." He walks around the couch and sits right next to his brother. "Hey, did you have a baby?" Damon looks at his brother with his mouth agape. "Ahh, he remembers. Mind telling me why I had to get that information from Caroline?"

"I was going to tell you when we got home, but you weren't here."

"Yeah, probably because I don't live here."

Damon's eyebrows rose in confusion. "When did you move out?"

"Umm a few months ago. You don't remember the moving van, decidedly not helping while your girlfriend and her friend did. How drunk were you?"

If that wasn't the question of the century. How drunk was he? How drunk has he been since she left to not notice his own brother leave? He knew it was quiet, but he just thought that was because Stefan was only there during the hours he was asleep.

"Why did you move out?" he quickly says avoiding the subject altogether, "please tell me you didn't move to Vegas to become a showgirl?" His sense of humor is back, kind of, he's not sure if he has anymore jokes left in him.

Stefan laughs. "Same old Damon and no, I didn't move to Vegas. You really don't remember any of this?

"No brother I don't."

"I knew something was off with you, but I didn't think it was this bad."

"It's not that bad."

"Really? Please tell me what you consider that bad because forgetting your own brother moved out seems pretty high on the list of things that are that bad to me."

"Well, it's not like you died and I forgot that."

"But I could have died and you wouldn't have known."

"Look let's not get into the logistics of things. You moved out, I now know, and now we can move on from it."

"Yes let's move on. You want to tell me about cheating on Elena with Bonnie?"

"Not really."

"You can only avoid so many things, Damon."

"Fine, I slept with Bonnie. We were drunk, silently agreed to never let happen again and it didn't. What more do you want?"

"I don't know how about the events that led to her on right outside our door and in labor?"

"You know about as much as I do on that front brother. And it's my door, you moved out remember."

"This is still my home Damon. This is still where I grew up."

"Yeah, and you decided to leave."

"All of us can't be Peter Pan Damon. Some of us want to grow up, get jobs and start their own lives. They don't want to be tethered to the past forever."

"I'm not tethered to the past."

"Oh, and what have you been doing since father died? Sitting around in an empty house drinking yourself into an early grave thinking about how things used to be."

He had him there, but the details weren't quite right. He had been thinking about how things used to be, how he enjoyed life and how he should be enjoying it more without Giuseppe criticizing him at every corner, but he couldn't—one part was missing.

"Alright, but things are going to change." They have to change.

"How? From where I'm sitting you're doing the same exact thing."

"See this is why I didn't tell you. I wasn't in the mood for a lecture. I already had one crappy father I don't need a replacement."

"Finally, an answer."

"What?"

"As to why you didn't tell me."

"Yeah well, you can get a little judgmental."

"And it really wouldn't matter unless you were thinking the same things in the back of your head."

"I didn't know your major was in psychology?" Damon says indignantly.

"It's not but I've known you my entire life. I know what makes you tick and I know what does and doesn't get to you."

"If you know me so well how come you didn't know I was that bad or why?"

"Because I thought you could handle it," he says thoughtfully.

"And that's fine. It's not your job to make sure I'm alright just like it's not your job to make sure I fall in like. Contrary to your beliefs I'm a grown up and I am responsible for myself."

"Well then start acting like it." Stefan gets up and to head the door. "And at least send me some pictures of my niece. At this point, I feel like she's some figment of everyone's imagination."

"I can show you some right now. I got a ton at the hospital and quite a few while they stayed here." He decides to stay. There's a smile on his brother's face that Stefan hadn't seen in a long time as he brings up the photos and he can't help the optimism that rises in him. Things may not be alright but they were going to be.

After Stefan left things at the boarding house were slow. He tried to stay away from bourbon, but it was hard. He called Bonnie every day and facetimed with Maybelle. She sent pictures of every little thing. It surprised him he never got annoyed by them, but every picture made him feel a little bit less like he was missing out. It helped, but none of it was what he really wanted. He wanted them with him, he wanted the sleepless nights—he was already up might as well make it worth it—the diaper changes, but most of all he wanted Bonnie. When she was staying with him things felt like they were starting to go back into place. Refraining from alcohol wasn't a challenge because the necessity for it was gone. He was even surprised by how little Elena's absence from his life hurt him. Granted lately he hadn't been all that invested in their relationship but he worked hard to get her—she was all that he had ever wanted since he was sixteen and had finally earned when he turned 20. All that work and he messes it up in classic Damon fashion and like classic Damon, he didn't care in the end.

He felt bad for what he did to her especially when he thought about someone doing that to his little girl, but none of felt like the mistake it was. It was like Elena told him, it was a choice. He chose to sleep with Bonnie knowing full well that he was tied to Elena—the love of his life—and he still did it. He didn't have the excuse of not being fulfilled in their relationship and seeking for more elsewhere. He just plain and simple wanted Bonnie and he took it selfishly. They both did.

He didn't know when it happened or how it happened but everything felt right with her. There was almost no work involved everything just locked into place. Loving her didn't come with a price and neither did the love her received back. Things just were. At first, he thought he could have his cake and eat it too, but as he quickly realized that wasn't the case. Now everything's a mess and it doesn't know how to fix it—he doesn't know how to get her to come back with him because he can't bring back her reputation, he can't make people respect her, and he can't undo it all, to begin with, but he wouldn't even if he could. Everything happens for a reason.

Damon knew it was rash, but honestly, it was the sanest thing he's done in months. He didn't think he just drove. His life wasn't in Mystic Falls anymore hadn't been since she left. He was just existing letting life pass him by while his brother and girlfriend had moved on and he basically sat in the same spot and drank. He didn't care where he was just as long as it was with her.

Damon frantically knocks on the door and he hears a baby's cries fill the house. He winces at his tactlessness. Abby answers the door. "Damon, I didn't know you were coming."

"Yeah I didn't exactly call, I can come back later if now isn't a great time." He motions to his car.

"Don't be ridiculous, come in." Abby motions for him to follow her in.

"Actually can you just get Bonnie? I have somethings I really need to say to her." Abby looks at him with suspicion but complies nonetheless. Bonnie walks to the door holding Maybelle and he can't help but break out into a smile. Her face is tear-streaked but she's as adorable as ever. It hurts him a little when she hands her over to Abby, but he came here to tell her something and he wanted to say it before he lost his nerve.

They stand out in the driveway awkwardly. Bonnie looks a little disheveled with her hair pulled back into a messy bun wearing a stained tank top with no bra and sweatpants. He looks about the same as when she left except the bags under his eyes are a deeper shade of purple—he really needed to get some quality sleep.

They stand in silence too long which is why Bonnie decides to break it. "Why are you here Damon?"

"Because I had something I needed to tell you and it couldn't be done over the phone."

"Okay, are you ever going to tell me or are we just going to stand out here until the end of time."

"I love you," he nearly shouts at her.

Bonnie looks at him wide-eyed taken aback by his statement.

"And not in a you're my best friend kind of way or you're the mother of my child way either," he continues, "I'm in love you. Everything sucks without you, everything always sucked without you."

He stares off into the distance for a moment figuring out how to formulate what he's going to say next. "My life was miserable when you left the first time. It was like you took a piece of me with you and I wanted it back immediately and tried filling it with booze, but now I realize you were the only thing that could fill it and that I want you to keep it because it was always yours."

He looks her in the eyes unwavering. "I don't know exactly when you invaded my life this way but you did and you were meant to. We were meant to sleep together and were meant to have Maybelle because it was always meant to be you and me."

He starts pacing in nervousness. "I know our situation sucks right now and we're nowhere near a place where this could work, but I'm will to do whatever it takes to get you back, both of you back. I'll move here and get my own place, hell I'll even move in with your mom. I'll get a job something I never thought I would do." He stops and with that unwavering conviction he continues, "I'll leave everything behind and make a life here with you because what's the point if you guys aren't there."

The tension is heavy between them and for a while neither of them speaks.

"Wow, that's a lot." Bonnie takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "I honestly don't really know what to say. I get it. I felt it too, the shift, but…" she trails off. "Damon, you were the first thing I've ever been selfish with," she says with a newfound conviction, "and though it didn't happen in the best circumstances it's still the best decision I ever made because now I have her. I have her to think about and needs come before mine, but that's not why I'm saying yes. Obviously how can I say no to that? Us being a family. We obviously have a lot, a lot to work on, but I love you too. I didn't want to and I tried to fight it and for a while I was. But here you are, and there's nothing stopping me. It's my turn to be selfish." She goes up and cradles his face in her hands. "I love you."

He wastes no time and kisses her. It's a slow kiss, a soft one, none with the passion from before but this one's better, this one's home.

A/N: So this is the end as of right now, I may add more but it would just be little vignettes of their lives after this, but I like that parallels between the beginning and end, so I might not. I know some of you wanted this to go on longer, but honestly, I wanted to end it here while the story still had a point because otherwise I'd just be adding chapters that would lead nowhere and it would go unfinished—I don't have the greatest track record with finishing fics. I hope you all enjoyed it because I enjoyed writing it.

P.S. If anyone was wondering about the name it came from a random name generator based off the parents names and Maybelle was the one I liked best. Jade came from Bonnie's eye color and I liked the initials MJ.