Why, hello there! I'm so tired I can barely hold my eyes open, but I have been trying to update all week, so I'm sticking it out a few minutes longer. Not the longest update, but I think Delena fans will be pleased. :)
THANK YOU so much for all of your kind words! The reviews keep pouring in and I'm just blown away. I have had a few requests to pick a day to update each week. As much as I would LOVE to do that, I just can't commit to a certain day. Real life is pretty busy. But, I promise to update as often as I can!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Vampire Diaries.
The world stood still.
"What?" Damon asked, not sure he heard Elena correctly. He couldn't have heard her correctly.
"My parents are dead," she said, disbelieving. "The police officer that called said a drunk driver was speeding on the wrong side of the road. My dad was driving. He swerved out of the way. The car went off the side of a bridge. Both of them were declared dead at the scene." She let out another choked sob. Any anger or resentment Damon had from just minutes earlier dissipated. He didn't hesitate in his actions.
"Come here," he said, reaching for her. He pulled her into his arms and she didn't resist, wrapping her arms around him and holding on tight. She cried hard, her face buried in his chest. He just held her, waiting until she was ready to speak again. He ran a hand through her hair. At some point, he started to murmur comforting words to her, knowing they were no comfort at all. Neither of them heard Molly enter the room.
"Mama?" came her little voice. Elena jumped, springing away from Damon and turning away from Molly, trying to hide her tears. Damon went into action.
"What's up, Princess?" he asked, crossing the room. He scooped her into his arms and started towards the living room, giving Elena a chance to pull herself together as best she could.
"Mama said she was gonna give me a bath," Molly said. "But, she not come upstairs." Damon deposited her on the couch and sat down beside her. He had to navigate carefully. He didn't want to tell Molly anything without Elena there. He didn't know how to handle death, let alone death and a three year old. He was still trying to comprehend that the Gilberts were really gone.
"We're still cleaning up from dinner," he said, taking in Molly's grubby face and clothes. "Tell you what, you hang out here for a few minutes and watch cartoons. Your mom and I will finish up in the kitchen and then one of us will give you a bath. Deal?" Molly eyed him.
"Mama not let me watch toons after dinner," she said.
"Well, you can tonight," Damon said. "Special treat." Molly shrugged.
"Okay," she agreed, settling in. She wasn't going to argue if she was getting a special treat. Damon made sure she was occupied before standing to return to Elena. He found her in the hallway, chewing on her nails.
"I have no idea how I'm going to tell her," she said, fresh tears starting to fall. "I have no idea…"
"We'll figure it out," Damon said, reaching out and taking Elena's hand. Elena sighed and ran her free hand through her tangled hair.
"I have to go to South Carolina," she said, her mind racing. "I have to ID their bodies, officially, even though they had their IDs on them. I have to… Oh, God, I have to make funeral arrangements!" More tears fell. Again, Damon pulled her into him again and just held her. She let him for a few minutes before pulling away again. "I need to look up flights," she said. "I need to figure out how to get their bodies back here. They have burial plots in the cemetery they bought after Jeremy died. I'll need to take care of their estate and Dad's practice. And Molly. I have to figure out how to tell Molly. She's three years old. She isn't going to understand…"
"Hey, hey," Damon said, reaching out and brushing her hair out of her face. "One thing at a time, okay? I'll take care of Molly's bath and get her into bed. Before I do that, I'll call my dad and see if we can use the Salvatore Racing plane. We won't be able to leave tonight, but with luck, he can get us out of here first thing in the morning." Elena raised an eyebrow.
"We?" Damon realized he hadn't considered anything other than going with Elena. He squeezed her hand.
"I'm going with you," he stated. "I know you aren't going to leave Molly here." She shook her head. She knew Molly would be in good hands with any of the Salvatores, Damon included, but she couldn't take being apart from her baby right now. "And, you don't need to be alone. I'm coming with you."
"You don't have to…"
"Elena, it's settled." They looked at one another for a long moment before Elena nodded slowly.
"Okay." She didn't have it in her to argue. She shook her head. "I have no idea what to do right now." It didn't seem real, that her parents were gone. She didn't know what the next move was supposed to be. There wasn't a checklist for dealing with dead parents.
"I'll give Molly her bath and get her ready for bed," Damon said again. The bath and bedtime routine wasn't exactly in his parenting skillset to date, save for reading her a story the night of her birthday, but there was no time like the present. "You take some time to yourself to do whatever you need to do right now – take a hot bath or go sit out on the patio for a while. Once Molly is in bed, we will figure out tomorrow's plan, okay?" Elena nodded.
"I should call Jenna," she said. "She's Mom's sister. Both sets of my grandparents are gone and Dad was an only child, so I guess that's it." She shook her head yet again in disbelief. Her family was gone. "I'll come tell Molly goodnight after her bath." She wiped away a stray tear as more threatened to fall. Without much thought, Damon stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her once more. She returned his hug, grateful for the comfort.
"It's going to be okay," he promised. "Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually, it's going to be okay."
Elena padded softly though the house and let herself out the back door. The humid air hit her as she took a breath. She turned towards where the swing she had seen photos of was supposed to be and gasped, her hand flying to her chest.
"Hey," Damon greeted. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Elena dismissed his apology with a wave of her hand.
"It's fine. I didn't realize you were out here. I thought you were sleeping in the living room."
"Couldn't sleep," Damon admitted. He didn't tell her he had had another nightmare about his Talladega crash. They had slowed down, happening only once in a while since he got back behind the wheel at Daytona. They were occurring more frequently now, though, and he had a feeling it had a lot to do with the spring race at Talladega in just over a month. "I'm guessing you can't either."
"No," Elena confirmed. She sat down beside him on the swing and pulled her knees to her chest. "This day has just been so surreal. I can't wrap my head around any of it."
As promised, Damon had called his father and asked for the Salvatore Racing plane. Giuseppe hadn't hesitated and they flew out of the small Mystic Falls airport early that morning. Elena wasn't sure when Damon went home to pack a bag, but he was at her house when she fell asleep – hours after he had managed to bathe Molly and put her to bed – and he was there when she woke up. He had drove them to the airport, stopping at The Grill to get them some breakfast.
As soon as they landed in South Carolina, Elena was all business, putting on a brave face and tackling the tasks in front of her. They had rented a car and gone first to her parents house where she deposited Damon and Molly for most of the day, but not before sitting Molly down and trying to explain to her as best she could that her grandparents were gone. The child hadn't really understood, but they hadn't expected her to.
It had been a long day. Elena had gone first to the police station where she met with the responding officers who then took her to the coroner's office. With tears pouring and hands trembling, she had viewed her parents' bodies, confirming it was them, and signed a bunch of papers. She had spent a lot of time on the phone, arrange for transport of their bodies and coordinating arrangements with the funeral home in Mystic Falls. She had ended the day by going to her father's practice. It was small and in the heart of downtown. Standing in an exam room, she had broken down, realizing he would never touch his instruments or write in a patient's chart again.
When she finally returned home, it was nearing dinnertime. She could tell Damon was at his wits end with Molly who was excited to be in a new place so close to the water. She hadn't napped and had refused to eat most of the food the house had to offer, and so Elena had agreed that they would go out to dinner. It was a decent restaurant, situated on the water. Sailboats had bobbed as the sunset in a spectacular display of oranges and reds, but Elena didn't see any of it, too absorbed in her grief to see the beauty around her or notice Damon's looks of concern as he helped Molly with her chicken tenders.
Back at the house, Elena had taken care of giving Molly a bath and getting her in bed, needing to stay busy as much as she needed to be near her daughter. She couldn't bring herself to sleep in her parents' bedroom, so she and Molly were in their spare bedroom – the one they had decorated with their daughter and granddaughter in mind – and Damon had taken the couch. Now, with nothing to keep her busy, she found the house suffocating.
"How are you holding up?" Damon asked softly.
"I can't believe they're gone," Elena replied. Tears threatened to fall once more. She wondered vaguely if she had any more tears left to fall. "Did I tell you they were planning to come to Mystic Falls for Easter?" Damon shook his head. Elena let out a bitter sort of snort. "They were going to drive up on Thursday. They asked me to bring Molly down to South Carolina, but we travel so much that I just wanted to be home for more than a few days. The thought of having almost two full weeks of sleeping in my own bed made me ask them to come to Mystic Falls. They readily agreed, of course. They haven't seen Molly or I in person since I left California in January."
"You talked to them a lot though," Damon reminded her.
"I did," Elena agreed. "I talked to Mom almost every day and Dad at least a few times a week. We tried to FaceTime at least once a week. I texted them both all the time." She sighed. "I can't believe I'm never going to get to speak to them again. They won't get to see Molly grow up." Her voice broke and the tears started to fall. Again, Damon didn't hesitate. He put an arm around her and pulled her to him, letting her cry into his chest.
"Your parents loved you so much," he said into her hair. "And they loved Molly. They were good people." His own throat tightened as he thought about the Gilberts. Before he left Mystic Falls, he had considered them a second set of parents. Grayson was always willing to patch up a minor racing injury or shoot some hoops in the driveway. Miranda would talk racing with him while making dinner. He wouldn't get the chance to apologize for his behavior towards them and that hurt. After a few minutes, Elena straightened up, although she still leaned against Damon.
"It's beautiful here, isn't it?" she asked. Damon nodded.
"It really is. I took Molly to the beach for a while today. It's a short walk from here. You can see the ocean if you walk to the end of the yard. Even she noticed the 'pretty houses' and all the boats." The town was known for its small, seaside down charm and antebellum architecture.
"I guess its mine now," Elena said thoughtfully. "The house in Mystic Falls, too. Not sure what I'll do with this one though."
"Keep it," Damon suggested. "You and Molly can escape down to Beaufort whenever your schedule allows." A thought occurred to him. "Whatever happened to that lake house your parents used to have?" He remembered the house well. They had spent a lot of time there, both alone and with her parents and brother.
"They sold it after we moved to San Bernardino," she said. "It didn't make sense to keep two houses in Mystic Falls and then buy a third in San Bernardino. They didn't want to sell the family home, so the lake house it was. I guess this is the replacement." She knew she wouldn't sell the Beaufort home. She didn't intend to live there, but she knew she wouldn't let it go. It was her parents' last home. And she was seeing it in person for the first time without them there to show her around.
"We had a lot of fun at that lake house," Damon commented. Elena nodded.
"We did," she agreed. "I suppose it will be nice to bring Molly here from time to time. Probably not as frequently as we went to the lake house, but hopefully she will have good memories, too."
"Molly has a lot of people around her who love her," Damon said. "She's going to have good memories of her childhood, no matter what." He would make sure of it. Without warning, Elena's tears started to fall again. He tightened his arm around her, ready to just hold her again. Despite the circumstances, he was enjoying being able to touch her so freely. "You're going to get through this," he told her softly, running a hand over her hair. Elena shook her head.
"I'm all alone," she said. "Jeremy, my parents… They're gone. It's just me and Molly." She broke down. Damon pulled her even closer, both arms encircling her.
"You're not alone," he told her firmly. "You have me. You have my family. You aren't alone, Elena. Not even close." Elena simply cried harder. Damon let her cry for as long as she needed to, holding her close, no idea how much time went by. Finally, she sat up, wiping at her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm such a mess…"
"Don't apologize," Damon said, reaching out to brush her hair out of her eyes. "You get to be upset." He cracked a small grin. "You're not alone," he said again. "You know my parents like you better than they do me." As he was hoping she would, Elena let out a short, light giggle.
"That is true," she teased before going serious again. "Thank you, Damon, for being here. I know I kind of dumped Molly on you, but I don't know how I would have gotten through today without you."
"She's my little girl too," Damon reminded her. "You didn't dump her on me. It's been good, getting to spend some time with her, playing with her. She really does love the beach."
"She has always loved the water," Elena said. "But really, Damon. Thank you. For being here, for arranging the flight down, taking care of the rental car… You have been wonderful." Damon swallowed past the lump that had formed in his throat.
"I would do anything for you," he told her softly. She couldn't speak in response. Instead, she just nodded. A few moments passed before Elena cleared her throat.
"Why can't you sleep?" she asked. Damon shook his head.
"It's nothing."
"Damon." Elena gave him a pointed look. He sighed.
"I had a nightmare," he confessed. "They had died down after the Daytona 500, but they are starting to come more often again."
"Talladega is next month," Elena said knowingly. Damon nodded.
"Yeah," he agreed. "It is."
"You will be fine," Elena said reassuringly. "It's just a car and just a race, right?" Damon cracked a small smile.
"I guess," he said, although there was nothing convincing in his voice. She leaned back on the swing and pulled her knees to her chest.
"Tell me something to take my mind off things."
"Something that will take your mind off things…," Damon repeated. He thought for a moment and then grinned. "Can you keep a secret?" Elena gave him a pointed look. "Molly, right. You absolutely cannot tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."
"I'm a vault," Elena promised. He thought there might be the faintest of twinkles in her eyes.
"Ric and Jo are married." Elena's jaw dropped.
"No, they aren't!"
"They are," Damon insisted. "Got married while we were in Vegas."
"Shut up, no they didn't," Elena argued. Damon was effectively taking her mind off of things. "I met Jo while we were in Vegas. There would have been a wedding. Ric likes me! He would have invited me!"
"Ric loves my parents, and he didn't invite them either," Damon pointed out. "There was a wedding, though. I was there." Elena scoffed.
"Why did you get to go?"
"They needed a witness," Damon explained. "And seeing as they met because of me nearly dying at Talladega, who better?" Damon spread his arms wide. Elena rolled her eyes.
"They should have had a wedding."
"They did," Damon said again. "$150 got them a marriage certificate and an ordained guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt." Another thought occurred to Elena.
"So, if they're married, how does this work? Ric lives in Virginia, possibly at the shop, because I swear, he never leaves, and Jo lives in Tuscaloosa…"
"She's finishing up her fellowship next month," Damon said. "Then, she's moving up here to take an attending spot at the hospital. It worked out well – there wasn't an opening for an attending in emergency medicine in Tuscaloosa. Ric's down in Alabama now, visiting her, meeting the family." He smirked. "Breaking the married news."
"I'm going to kick his ass for not telling me."
"You can't," Damon reminded her. "You're not supposed to know."
"I'm not going to tell anyone," she said. "But, I'm certainly going to make sure he knows I know." She looked at Damon. "Whether or not he kicks your ass for telling me is your problem." Damon laughed, making Elena chuckle as well, feeling lighter then she had in 48 hours. She let out what passed as a content sigh.
"I'm going to try and get some sleep," she said. "You should do the same."
"I think I'm going to sit out here a little longer," Damon said. "I'll be in in a little while." Elena nodded.
"Okay," she agreed, standing. She gave him a soft smile. "Goodnight, Damon."
"Goodnight, Elena." She went inside, leaving Damon alone on the porch. He blew out the breath he had been holding since Elena appeared on the porch and let his head fall back.
He still loved her. He always had. Even at his worst, he knew, deep down, that he loved Elena Gilbert. No matter how many women he slept with, how many races he won, or how much bourbon he drank, she had always been there, in the very back of his mind. He had a lot of regrets in his life, but walking away from her remained his biggest one.
He wanted her back.
If he were honest with himself, he had wanted her back since the moment his father informed him of her return. He had denied it for a while, too busy focusing on his return to racing and what he didn't know at the time were some of his last alcohol and women infused outings. It was no use in denying it now, however. His anger over Molly was still there, but it had been buried underneath falling for her all over again, watching her as a mother, as a professional. He wanted her. He wanted to give Molly the family she deserved to have.
There was an ocean of issues between them. There was Molly, and the three years he had missed of her life. There was the fact that he just walked away, left her quite literally in the middle of the night. She didn't trust him, at least not in the way she needed to, if they were to have a future. He had demons of his own he needed to face. He needed to figure out how to right things with his parents, Stefan. He needed to finish his NASCAR probation and be the driver he knew he could be.
He wanted her back.
Now wasn't the time to bring it up. He had to work through his own mess, and her parents had just passed away. He reasoned all he could down for now was exactly what he had been doing for the last several weeks – spend time with Molly, keep his nose clean, and be there to help Elena when he could in hopes that it would build her trust in him.
He blew out a deep breath and stood from the swing. He quietly let himself back in the house and tiptoed down the hall to the guest bedroom. The door was cracked, so he pushed it open just enough to peek in. Molly was sleeping soundly, one leg thrown out from under the covers. Elena had fallen into a fitful sleep beside her. He smiled to himself as he watched them sleep.
If he had it his way, Elena would be his again and Molly would have the family she deserved.
He just had to cross an ocean first.
I really wanted to show Elena and Damon growing closer and closer. The ocean between Damon and Elena is metaphorical, of course, but it's pretty big. And deep. And stormy. We're back in Mystic Falls next update.
Let me know what you think!