I can't believe there are 100 reviews for the first 3 chapters! I have written pretty far ahead in this one and I really love Damon's character. I started typing with one Damon in mind, but it morphed into another. Actually, he's still the same Damon I imagined, just with more layers. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. :)
Thank you so much for your reading and reviewing! And now, Damon's first encounter with Molly.
Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries. Or The Velveteen Rabbit.
Damon slipped into the large conference room quietly. It was a full house, the whole of the marketing department as well as every driver on the Salvatore Racing roster and whoever else Giuseppe thought important enough to invite sitting shoulder to shoulder to be formally introduced to Elena. Giuseppe was explaining her role in the organization to those gathered, but spared Damon a reproachful look for his tardiness. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the back wall, squeezed into a darkened corner where could observe without drawing Elena's attention. Although Giuseppe was doing all the talking, Damon's eyes were on Elena.
She carried herself differently. She stood taller, exuded an air of confidence she had lacked before. He remembered her insecurities well. When they were together, she did a good job of coming across strong and independent, but she never quite believed he loved her as much as he had once upon a time. She had never believed she was good enough, pretty enough, enough enough to be with him. He wondered now when she had figured out that it had always been him that wasn't good enough for her.
Standing next to Giuseppe, she smiled and nodded as he spoke, laughed at a joke he made. As he watched her, Damon tried to sort out what he was feeling. Her re-appearance stirred something in him. He felt nostalgic, watching her. She reminded him of a time when things were simpler, when there weren't demands and stipulations, ultimatums and last chances. She was proof that there had been a time in his life when he had drove wide open, without a laundry list of issues trailing behind him. He was pulled out his reverie when Giuseppe asked her to say a few words.
"Thank you, Giuseppe," she was saying. With just a few words, she already had command of the room. "I'm grateful for the chance to be a part of Salvatore Racing. With the team Giuseppe has assembled, I know we will do great things." She paused and smiled brightly. Genuinely. "It's good to be home."
A murmur of congratulations and welcome homes ignited from the crowd. Giuseppe let them go for several moments before re-capturing everyone's attention.
"Daytona is six weeks away," he told the crowd. "We're throwing Elena in head first. She's ready to hit the ground running, which means the rest of us should get back to what we were doing before this meeting. Let's go win some races."
A cheer went up through the crowd that made Damon roll his eyes. His father emphasized teamwork and the idea that Salvatore Racing won and lost as a team. Damon knew that wasn't true, at least not in his case. Failure would always fall squarely on his shoulders. He turned to leave with the intentions of returning to the engine he had been tinkering with before the meeting.
"Damon, you hang back a minute," Giuseppe stated. Damon sighed and reversed course. He sat down on a now abandoned chair and waited for the crowd to thin out. He was careful now to look anywhere but at Elena and busied himself by making small talk with some of the other drivers in the room, most of whom hadn't quite warmed up to him, being the team owner's son with a sordid history. Finally, the last of the crowd left the room, leaving him, Elena, Giuseppe, and Stefan.
"Stefan, I'm sure your team has plenty of work to do before we head down to Daytona for testing next week," Giuseppe said, giving him a pointed look. Stefan sighed, but nodded.
"I do," he agreed. "I'll stop by your office later. I've got some stuff I want to show you that might improve the aerodynamics on the Sprint cars."
"Okay," Giuseppe replied. The two exchanged the briefest of looks, but Damon caught it.
"Don't worry, Stef," he spoke up. "Dad will be sure to fill you in on whatever he's about to ream me out for now." Stefan didn't say anything, just shook his head as he left the room. Giuseppe sighed audible and rubbed his temple. Elena, who had taken a seat at the opposite end of the table from Damon, remained quiet, observing. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Giuseppe moved so he was standing at the table's midway point, directly between Damon and Elena. They both looked at him, waiting.
"Damon," he started, "Elena has assured me that she can work with you in a professional manner. Will you be able to do the same?"
"I am nothing if not a professional," Damon said easily.
"Damon."
"I can be a professional," Damon replied with a slight edge in his voice. "Elena has nothing to worry about."
"We're adults," Elena added. She looked briefly at Damon and then back at Giuseppe. "What happened when we were kids is in the past." Giuseppe studied Elena for a long moment, knowing full well that nothing from the past was still in the past. They also hadn't been kids, but young adults, capable of making better choices than those that were made. Still, he nodded.
"Let's not make Elena's job any harder than it has to be," he said to Damon.
"You know, I'm really tired of everyone assuming I'm going to be the one that screws up," Damon countered. "How do you know Jeff or Martin won't mess up?"
"Jeff has two kids and a wife and Martin leads a youth group full of other driver's kids before races on Sundays," Giuseppe countered with practiced patience.
"Are we done here?" Damon asked, preferring not to do this in front of Elena. "I was in the middle of something before this meeting started."
"Go," Giuseppe said with a shake of his head.
"Elena, it was a pleasure," Damon said with a nod in her direction as he stood.
"Damon," Elena replied with a nod of her own. "We'll talk in the next couple of days about strategy for this coming year."
"Marketing strategy," Damon replied sarcastically. "Sounds fascinating." It sounded like someone else giving him another list of acceptable behaviors. There was a knock on the conference room door and a moment later, Caroline peeked her head in
"Hey, Elena," she said, glancing at Damon. "Um, we're back and I have a conference call I need to be on in a few. Where should I…" Before she could finish her sentence, however, something small pushed past her and blew into the room with a blur of blue and hair.
"Mama!"
"Hi, baby girl!" Elena replied happily. Damon watched in surprise as a tiny little girl climbed into Elena's lap and wrapped her arms around her tightly, Elena hugging her back. "How was your first day of school?"
"It not my first day," the girl countered. She sounded older than she looked. "It my first day at my new school, but not my first day of school." Elena raised an eyebrow.
"I stand corrected," she said, amusement clear. "How was your first day at your new school?
"Fun!" the child cheered. Damon couldn't take his eyes off the scene before him. He didn't know what he had expected. He knew full well that Elena had likely moved on, was probably in a serious relationship, maybe even married. He had never considered the possibility that she might have a child, too. "We learned about the letter 'M' and played outside."
"Oh, yeah? What did you learn about the letter 'M?'" Elena asked, completely absorbed in her child.
"Damon? You had something you wanted to get back to?" Giuseppe asked. He looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah," Damon agreed, tearing his eyes away from Elena and the little girl. He noticed Caroline standing near the door then. She appeared anxious, but he didn't bother to wonder why. With Caroline, it could be as simple as someone putting dressing on her salad at lunch instead of delivering it on the side.
He looked back at Elena and the little girl once more as he made his way to the door. The child sat in Elena's lap, talking animatedly, dressed in a dark blue dress, tights and boots, a big bow in her brunette hair, the same color as Elena's. He was nearly out the door when the girl looked in his direction. She smiled at him, but he couldn't bring himself to smile back. He was struck instead by her vivid blue eyes.
He tripped over a small, pink backpack with a big 'M' embroidered on it and a miniature red pea coat that had been abandoned in the hallway. Elena had a daughter. And that fact bothered it far more than it should.
Damon turned the wrench in his hand with a skill that came not from years spent around garages, but a pure love of what he was doing. He finished tightening a bolt into place and locked the wrench around another. The lights went out.
"What…?" he started, just as they popped back on.
"Sorry," Stefan apologized, appearing suddenly in the doorway of the garage bay. "I didn't realize you were still here. Thought I was the last one out."
"You usually are," Damon mused. He put his wrench back into position and started cranking away on the screw.
"That for the Camaro?" Stefan asked, taking a couple steps into the bay Damon had taken over with his junked out shell of a car.
"Yeah." He didn't offer anything else.
"You know, there's that guy a few hours south of here, fixed my Porsche up after Caroline backed into it…" Damon shook his head.
"I've got it under control," he said. Stefan shrugged.
"Suit yourself," he said. "Lock up when you leave."
"Yeah."
Stefan took a few steps towards the exit, but then stopped, his back to Damon, debating. Caroline was waiting at home with dinner and it had already been a long day. But Damon was his brother, despite everything, and he knew him well enough to know that something was bothering him. He turned back around and moved closer to Damon.
"Everything okay?" he asked, trying to sound casual. He picked up a socket wrench and spun it in his hand.
"Peachy," Damon replied. He moved his wrench to another bolt.
"You sure?"
"You care?" Damon countered, sparing a glance at Stefan. Stefan sighed.
"You're still here and it's eight o'clock at night," he pointed out. "You're usually pre-gaming for another night out right about now."
"There's only a few more weeks before the season starts," Damon reminded him. "With Daytona testing and everything else going on, I won't have much time to work on the Camaro." Stefan nodded in understanding.
"Then there's the fact that Elena Gilbert has reappeared." Damon's wrench slipped. Anyone else would have missed it, as quickly as Damon recovered, but Stefan knew Damon almost as well as he knew himself. He saw the wrench slip and knew it for what it was.
"Apparently she's the best racing publicist out there," Damon said. "Dad wanted the best, he went out and hired the best. So he told me."
"She is good at her job," Stefan agreed.
"And she has a kid."
Stefan nodded once. Caroline had found him in his office after picking up Molly, dramatically slamming the door shut behind her and telling him how she had tried to keep Molly out of the conference room, but she had managed to slip past her anyway, and she was now certain Damon knew he had a child. He had calmed her down, pointing out that Damon hadn't made a scene yet and likely was still oblivious. As confident as he was that Damon hadn't yet connected the dots, he had to make sure.
"She does," Stefan confirmed. "A little girl. Cute kid."
"She looks like Elena," Damon continued, focused on the engine suspended by chains hanging from the ceiling. Stefan raised an eyebrow. Molly had Elena's hair color and that was where the similarities ended.
"A little bit," he said to Damon, figuring it best to agree.
"Hand me that screwdriver by your left hand since you're still here," Damon said. Stefan obliged, his well-trained eyes looking over the work Damon had done so far. The Camaro would be the definition of an American muscle car by the time he was done with it.
"You sure you're okay?" Stefan asked.
"Stop pretending like you care," Damon said in a bored voice. He wedged the screwdriver into a hard to see space to loosen a screw. "I'm just fine." Stefan sighed. He had long ago learned that if Damon didn't want to talk, he wouldn't.
"Lock up when you leave," he said, repeating his earlier instructions.
"Yep."
This time, Stefan didn't bother turning around.
"Autumn passed and Winter, and in the Spring, when the days grew warm and sunny, the Boy went out to play in the wood behind the house." Molly signed contently, snuggled into Elena's side. Elena smiled softly, her check resting against the top of Molly's head as she read from the worn book.
"And while he was playing, two rabbits crept out from the bracken and peeped at him. One of them was brown all over, but the other had strange markings under his fur, as though long ago he had been spotted, and the spots still showed through. And about his little soft nose and his round black eyes there was something familiar, so that the Boy thought to himself:
"Why, he looks just like my old Bunny that was lost when I had scarlet fever!"
But he never knew that it really was his own Bunny, come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be Real."
Elena closed the book. "The end," she said, dropping a soft kiss on the top of Molly's head.
"Read again?" Molly asked sleepily.
"It's bedtime," Elena replied. "You have already had two stories tonight."
"But The Velvet Wabbit is my favorite," Molly protested, even as she yawned.
"The Velveteen Rabbit," Elena corrected. "And I know it's your favorite. We can read it again tomorrow, okay?"
"Can we take it to the races?"
"We won't leave without it," Elena promised. While she wasn't necessarily looking forward to traveling nearly every weekend with Salvatore Racing, Molly seemed to have taken a shine to the idea of flying from race track to race track. Damon had been the same way when they were younger, always eager to head to the next state, the next track. She got out of the bed and pulled the blankets up around her. "Are you excited to sleep in a real bed tonight?"
"I like the air bed," Molly replied. She rolled over on her side and propped her head up on her hand.
"You're silly," Elena told her. "You get to sleep in Mama's big bed tonight. Isn't that way better than the air mattress?"
"I guess," Molly said with a dramatic shrug of her shoulders that made Elena laugh.
"We will get your bed all set up in your room tomorrow, okay?"
"Can we get a pony?" Molly countered. Elena sighed and shook her head.
"No," she stated. "No ponies."
"Aunt Care-line said…"
"Aunt Caroline is not the boss," Elena told Molly, gently but firmly. "Now, lay down and I'll pull the blanket around you just the way you like. I'm going to wash my face and brush my teeth and then I'm going to go to bed too." Molly did as she was instructed. Elena pulled the blanket around her and tucked her in.
"Mama?"
"Yes?"
"Do you like your new work?"
Elena studied Molly for a few moments. It would never cease to surprise her, just how smart and perceptive her child was. She often forgot Molly was just closing in on three years old. She often seemed older than she was.
"I do," she answered truthfully. "I like getting to see Aunt Caroline and Uncle Stefan and Gigi and Nonno almost every day. I missed them when we lived in California."
"I miss Nonnie and Pappi," Molly replied, referring to Elena's parents.
"I miss them too," Elena admitted. "But we will see them soon enough." She smoothed a hand over the comforter. "Do you like your new house?" she asked. It was important to her that Molly be happy. They had been in Virginia for less than a week and their things had only been delivered that day, but so far, Molly seemed to settling right in, despite the quick turnaround between the time they left California and the time they arrived in Virginia and started what would be their new normal.
"I guess," Molly said. "Can we make my room pink?"
"The painters will start next week," Elena told her. "They will make the whole house pretty colors."
"Pink?"
"Just your room," Elena said with a shake of her head. "What about your new school? Do you like it?"
"It's fun," Molly confirmed. Then she frowned. "Mama, do I really have a daddy?" It was Elena's turn to frown.
"Of course you do," she said. "Everyone has a daddy."
"But my daddy's not here," Molly continued. "Katie said I don't have a daddy if he's not here." Elena sighed. She knew Molly would ask questions at some point, but it broke her heart to hear her actually asking them, especially so young.
"What has Mama told you about your daddy?" she asked Molly.
"That he loves me all the way to the moon and back, even if he's not here," Molly said. Elena nodded.
"That's right," she confirmed. "Even though your daddy isn't here, he loves you very much. Don't let Katie tell you any different, okay?"
"Katie said Frozen was dumb because girls can't freeze things with their fingers," Molly said. "But that's just because we don't have that kind of magic. Katie is dumb so I won't listen to her."
"We don't say people are dumb," Elena corrected. "That's not very nice."
"Katie's not my friend," Molly stated.
"You just be nice to people," Elena told her. "Even when they are mean to you. Okay?"
"Okay," Molly agreed. She yawned. "I'm sleepy."
"Yes, you are," Elena agreed. "I'm going to get ready for bed. I'll be right back."
Elena left Molly and went into the bathroom. She leaned on the counter and took a long look at herself in the mirror. The last six weeks had been nothing shy of a whirlwind. After giving her notice to the Marcos', she had set to work purging her house, deciding what to take with her and what to donate to charity. There had been a going away party for her parents and then then another one thrown by her friends for her and Molly. She had scrambled to pack, hired a moving company, enrolled Molly in a new preschool and tried her best to prepare herself for going home.
She had opted to drive from California to Virginia. With Molly in tow, it was an undertaking no one had been thrilled with. Her parents and the Salvatores had did everything shy of turn up on her doorstep and force her onto an airplane to stop her. But she had wanted the time alone the drive provided her. It gave her time to reflect, to decide how she would handle Damon, how she would introduce him to Molly, how she would explain to Molly that he was her father.
Her biggest worry, however, was how Damon would react. She was prepared for him to be angry. She could hardly blame him. Not only herself, but his entire family too, had kept a very big secret from him for nearly three years. Once he knew the truth, she wondered if he would step up and be a father to Molly. More so, she wondered if he had the capability to step up and be a father, given his behavior in recent years.
With a heavy sigh, she set to her routine of washing her face and brushing her teeth before bed. Molly had and always would be her top priority. The truth could come out at any moment. When it did, she had to ensure that Molly didn't get hurt. Even if she, herself, was bound to.
Damon draped a towel around his neck and exited the Salvatore Racing gym. He whistled to himself, pleased with how his workout had gone. He wasn't quite to his former level, but he was getting there, session by session. He set his trajectory towards the shop, intending to work on his Camaro before an afternoon driver's meeting, figuring it would be a waste of time to shower after his workout when he planned to get good and greasy.
"Damon."
Her voice was as familiar now as it had been years ago. He turned to find Elena standing at the end of the hallway, dressed in dark wash jeans and a long sleeve top, her hair pulled half back and held in place by an ornate hair clip. He took a beat to acknowledge her, tripped up by both her appearance and the fact that she was more beautiful than he remembered.
"Elena," he greeted, his voice smooth despite the surprising turn of nerves he felt in his stomach.
"Got a minute?" she asked. Damon shrugged.
"I guess," he said. He started walking in her direction. "Did I already do something to get myself in trouble?" Elena looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Have you?" she countered. Damon shook his head.
"Not this week," he answered. "Call it second nature to figure I'm in trouble for something when someone around here asks to speak to me."
"Maybe you shouldn't get yourself in those situations so often then," Elena stated as though it were the simplest solution there was. And, Damon reasoned, it probably was.
"If I'm not about to be reprimanded for leaked iPhone photos or eyewitness accounts of debauchery, what can I do for you?" he asked.
"I think we should talk," Elena said. She was all business, Damon noted. He nodded, not entirely sure what she would want to talk to him about. He had expected her to keep her distance as much as possible.
"Let's talk," he agreed.
"Come on," Elena said, motioning towards a nearby door that led outside. "Let's go for a walk." Damon fell into step beside her, his curiosity growing. It was unseasonably mild for January, a nice enough day by all accounts. But, if she wanted privacy, he didn't see why they couldn't go to her office. They remained quiet as they exited the building. The grounds around Salvatore Racing were well-kept and Elena lead the way down a foot path that looped around the sprawling complex.
"So, we're walking…," Damon started. He heard Elena sigh.
"I know we both told Giuseppe we can work together," she started. "But, I thought we should talk it out. I know Giuseppe surprised you with my hiring. He surprised me with the offer. So, I wanted to address the elephant in the room. Can you work with me?"
Damon looked at her with a raised eyebrow. He was surprised at her gumption. It looked like he was right about her being surer of herself these days.
"Oh, I think you can remember just how well we work together," he said smoothly. He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the sentence formed, but he couldn't stop himself. It was instinctive, for him to slip on a cool demeanor and pretend he wasn't affected by his surroundings. Elena sighed again and shook her head.
"Be serious, Damon," she said. "Can you work with me? Professionally? Not as an ex-girlfriend or former friend, but as a co-worker?"
"Like you said, we're both adults," Damon answered. "I can work with you, if you can work with me." Elena nodded. Neither of them knew if that statement held truth.
"Good," she said. "That's all I wanted." She turned to head back to towards the office, but Damon reached out and grabbed her arm, surprising himself as much as her.
"Why did you take the job?" he asked. It was a question he had been pondering since Giuseppe told him she was joining the team. He hadn't necessarily intended to ask her right then, but the words had slipped out before he realized he was asking them.
"It felt like the right thing to do," Elena answered easily. "My dad retired and they moved to South Carolina to open a small family practice in a coastal town. When Giuseppe called with the offer, it made sense to accept it, move home and closer to my parents."
"A family practice in a coastal town in South Carolina?" Damon asked. "Sounds idyllic."
"Looks like it, judging by the pictures they've sent," Elena countered, ignoring Damon's sarcasm.
"And it appears you have a daughter," Damon continued. Elena looked at Damon quickly. He raised an eyebrow. "Or you don't," he added. Elena sighed and shook her head once. She hadn't expected Damon to ask about Molly and she certainly hadn't been ready for it. But, from what she could tell, he didn't seem to have any idea that Molly was his.
"I do have a daughter," Elena answered. "Molly."
"Cute kid," Damon commented. They had resumed walking, slowly heading back in the direction they came from.
"She's pretty great," Elena said. The thought of telling Damon the truth, that Molly was his child, briefly entered her mind, but she dismissed it almost as quickly as it came. Now wasn't the time.
"So, where's her dad?" Damon continued his line of questions. "I am, of course, assuming by the lack of a ring on your finger and the 'Gilbert' of your last name, that you aren't married." Elena nervously ran a hand through her hair. Damon's questioning was getting too close to the truth.
"He's… Not in the picture," Elena answered, giving the same response she always gave when someone asked about Molly's father.
"Ah, dead beat dad," Damon mused. Elena shook her head.
"No," she said simply. She felt herself shifting into defensive mode. She had made sure Molly believed her father was a good man. Deep down, she knew Damon was a good man. Even though Damon had no idea about Molly, Elena felt a need to make sure he knew Molly's father wasn't a bad guy.
"One night stand," Damon guessed. Elena shook her head again.
"It's complicated," she said. "It's just me and Molly."
"Elena Gilbert does complicated," Damon said. "Interesting turn of events." Elena remained silent, suddenly eager to put some distance between her and Damon. "How's your brother?" he asked, changing the subject. Elena stiffened. Damon raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.
"He's dead," Elena answered bluntly. Damon stopped in his tracks.
"What?" he asked in disbelief.
"He's dead," Elena repeated. "Died two years ago."
"I didn't know," Damon said with a shake of his head. He wondered how he had missed the news that Jeremy Gilbert had died. He hadn't exactly been in talks with his family. He certainly hadn't been chatting with Elena. But surely he should have heard something, somewhere, about the grandson of a racing legend dying, if only whispered about in the garages of race tracks.
He shook his head again, as though trying to clear away a fog. Though he knew Elena wouldn't lie about something like the death of her brother, he still didn't quite want to believe it. He had always had a soft spot for the mousy headed kid. A bit reckless and only mediocre behind the wheel, he had moxie all the same. And despite his many flaws, the kid had loved his older sister.
"He overdosed on pain killers," Elena told Damon. "He chased them with alcohol. Nothing we didn't see coming, if I'm being honest. Drugs and alcohol ruined him." Damon didn't miss the look she shot in his direction. He diverted his eyes to the ground for a moment.
"I'm so sorry, Elena," Damon said sincerely. He wanted to reach out, comfort her, but he could practically see the wall Elena had put up between them so he kept his arms at his side. "I would have come to the funeral…"
"There wasn't one," Elena told him as they resumed walking once more. She knew Damon wouldn't have come to the funeral, even if there had been one. "He wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread along the shoreline. Bit of a morbid dinnertime conversation topic a few weeks before he died."
"Still, I'm so sorry," Damon said. "I know you two were close." Elena nodded, the threat of tears stinging at the back of her eyes. She refused to let them fall in front of Damon.
"We were," she agreed. "He was always there for me." They arrived at a side entrance of Salvatore Racing. Elena quickly swiped her employee badge and pulled the door open. "Thanks for the chat," she said. She started inside. Once again, Damon reached out and stopped her. Even now, he couldn't let her leave him upset.
"You okay?" he asked, his eyes searching hers. Elena looked at him for a long moment. Then she nodded.
"I'm fine," she said. Without another word, she turned and walked inside, the door shutting behind her. Damon remained on the other side of the door for a long moment, and then shook his head once more, reeling from the news of Jeremy's death and confused by his conversation with Elena as a whole. It had been like talking to his best friend and a total stranger, all at once.
Sighing, he dug his own badge out of his wallet and swiped it, returning to his intentions of working on his Camaro with hopes he would be able to distract himself.
Thoughts on what Damon thinks about Molly? Is he completely oblivious? On to them already? Feeling like something isn't quite adding up? You don't have a lot to go by right now, but I'd love to read what you think!
It was really important that Elena tell Molly her father is a good man. She feels a lot of guilt about how things have gone and I think her telling Molly her dad loves her, even if he isn't with her, is a way she makes up for that. But, again, I'd love to hear what you think!
And I'm sorry about Jeremy. :/
Up next - you'll learn more about Talladega.
Let me know what you think!