Sigh. Here it is. The last update. The epilogue. I kind of wanted to put it off, because that means this story is complete. I have grown so fond of all of you and of these particular iterations of Damon and Elena and their family. And Molly. Molly is such a doll.

Thank you, so much, for all of your support. Thank you doesn't cover it, but thank you so so much for it all. You made writing this all that more enjoyable. So thank you. Thank you so so much.

I'll stop saying thank you now so you can read, but... Didn't someone want more kids?

Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries.

"Where is his helmet?"

"I have it."

"Okay, well, what about his neck brace?"

"Got that too."

"His gloves? His boots?"

"Got it all," Damon replied patiently. "I grabbed the kitchen sink, too." Elena narrowed her eyes at her husband.

"That is my baby you are about to strap into a kart," she reminded him. Damon shrugged one shoulder.

"If you want to be technical about it, this is your baby." He reached out and gently pinched the cheek of his baby daughter who was content to be in her mother's arms.

"You know what I mean!" Elena snapped. Damon refrained from rolling his eyes and reached for her.

"Gray is going to be fine," he promised, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her to his side. "You have seen him drive, Elena. He knows what he is doing."

"He is barely four years old!" Elena protested. "You waited until Molly was five before you stuck her in a kart. Let's give Gray another year." Damon snorted.

"We are already here, and he is already wearing his suit. Hell, he is already sitting in his kart." Damon nodded towards where their son, the spitting image of Damon, was perched in the seat of his child-sized kart, awaiting race time, which was still a half hour off.

"I don't like this," Elena stated. "And watch your mouth in front of the baby."

"Ellie isn't going to repeat that, right Ellie?" he asked. His littlest daughter batted her long eyelashes and gave him a sweet smile while she sucked her thumb. He smiled at her. Not quite a year old, Eleanor was their content child, happy to be held by one of her parents, particularly her mother, or to sit and play quietly with a puzzle or her doll. She was as smart and as bright as her older siblings, but more of a wallflower than the outgoing Molly, a sweet soul compared to Gray who was rambunctious and quick-witted, much like his father. She was also the child who looked the most like Elena, although even she favored her father.

"Are you sure Gray is going to be okay?" Elena asked nervously, glancing at her son.

"He is going to be fine," Damon said soothingly. "I know he's little, but I was his age when I started racing. I didn't wreck anything until I was seven."

"That's comforting," Elena muttered. Damon chuckled and kissed the side of her head.

"He is going to be fine," he said again. He reached for Eleanor. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's go give Gray some last minute pointers on how to win this thing." He took Elena's hand and led them to Gray's kart. "What do you think, buddy? You ready for this?"

"Is it time to go racin' yet, Daddy?" Gray replied. "Sittin' here is borin.'" Damon grinned proudly.

"It is," he agreed. "Waiting to race is the worst part. You still have a few minutes." He stooped down to Gray's level, Ellie in his arms. "Let's go over our strategy one more time."

Elena stood back and watched Damon with two of their three children, a small smile playing on her lips. He was lightly bouncing Eleanor, even as he talked to Gray. Ellie looked at him with interest while Gray hung on his every word. Even now, she found herself marveling at how far life had brought them in the last five years.

It hadn't always been this picture perfect. When Damon first moved in, it took them a while to adjust, to find a rhythm. Molly had struggled with what it actually meant to have her daddy there all the time, finding it hard to understand that it wasn't a special occasion to have Damon around, but the new norm. Elena, too, had struggled with sharing her space, having lived on her own for so long. There had been arguments about dirty clothes left on the floor and whose turn it was to go to the grocery store. They had worked through things though, talking it out and, eventually, finding common ground.

Damon had gone on to win three more races that season. He had been one of the last three standing at the end of The Chase, only to end up finishing second. He hadn't taken the loss well, having been so close after fighting so hard to get his life and career back, and had spent a full week in a towering temper before Elena told him he could go stay with his parents until his attitude improved. She had meant it and he stormed out of the house, only to come back a few hours later with his tail tucked between his legs, asking for forgiveness.

He had proposed at Daytona a few months later and gone on to win his first Daytona 500 the next day. They had married during the Father's Day bye week, a small ceremony on the beach in Beaufort with just their closest family and friends. Gray had joined them a few months later.

Being pregnant with Gray would forever be one of Elena's favorite times. She had actually enjoyed pregnancy, loved feeling their baby growing inside of her and receiving only clean bills of health each time she went to the doctor for a checkup instead of warnings to slow down and take care of herself as she had with Molly. The best part had been watching Damon experience pregnancy for the first time.

He had drove her completely crazy. He was even more overprotective, asking a thousand questions a day and doing what he could to keep her off her feet. She had to frequently remind him that she was merely pregnant and completely capable of driving their daughter to school and handling press conferences. But, it was all worth it to see his face light up the first time he felt Gray kick and absolutely nothing could compare to the moment, right after Gray was born, that he had been handed his son – Damon Grayson Salvatore – for the first time.

Elena knew he was trying to make up for missing out on Molly's early years. He had thrown himself into being the father of a newborn, changing diapers and waking up for 3AM feedings, even though it was Elena who was propped up in bed, breastfeeding. It had been the end of the racing season and as much as he hadn't wanted to, Damon had had to leave Elena at home. He had won the championship that year, figuring he had to have something to show for it if he was being forced to leave his wife with a newborn, an almost five year old, and his mother, for good measure.

Eleanor had been somewhat of a surprise, even if they had talked about having one more child to complete their little family. After losing a bet, Damon had won the right to name the child and dubbed her Eleanor Kate, deciding if Gray carried his name, one of their daughters should carry Elena's.

When they learned Eleanor was on the way, they had made the somewhat difficult decision to move into a bigger home. They were already running out of room in Elena's childhood home and knew a third child would cause them to be bursting at the seams. They had ended up purchasing a house within a mile of Damon's parents. Caroline and Stefan were nearby as well, giving Ginny the perfect loop to visit all of her children and grandchildren whenever she felt like it. And she did, often, her husband usually at her side.

Damon – with Stefan still by his side – had won two more NASCAR championships in the years since Gray's birth and was in position to vie for a fourth this season. At 35, he still had several good years left in him to race, and planned to keep it up, at least for the foreseeable future. He and Stefan would eventually take over as co-heads of Salvatore racing, once they decided to hang up their own fire suits and convinced their father to do the same.

Elena had left Salvatore Racing after Gray's birth, choosing to stay home with her children and join Damon at races as his wife as opposed to his publicist. It wasn't that every day was perfect, but they loved on another, and their children, and even after five years, kept their promise to talk things through, whether they were arguing over who did the dishes last or having an all out war over whether Gray was old enough to race, a war Elena had clearly lost.

"Mama!" Elena turned to see Molly hurrying towards them, Caroline trailing behind her.

"There you are," Elena replied. "I was starting to wonder if Aunt Care was ever going to bring you back." Caroline waved at Elena and made her way towards Stefan and their son, Connor, who was standing beside a kart of his own.

"She was telling me about how I should curl my hair," Molly said. "She says I ruin it by wearing my riding helmet so much."

"Aunt Caroline doesn't know what she's talking about," Elena said. "Your hair is beautiful."

"I know," Molly said seriously. "It is just like yours." Elena smiled at her.

"There is that modesty your Daddy passed on to you," she said.

"That's not modesty, sweetheart," Damon piped in. "That is simply knowing you come from a superior gene pool." Elena had to chuckle. Eleanor reached for her and Elena took her from Damon, propping her on a hip and listened as Damon returned to discussing the race with Gray. Molly stood at her side, playing with the phone Elena still thought she was too young to have, but she had convinced her father to agree to. "Got all that?" Damon asked Gray.

"Got it," Gray said with a confident nod.

"And, remember, it's not about winning or losing," Elena added. Gray looked at her.

"I know," he said. "It's about beatin' Connor."

"That's my boy," Damon said, clapping his son on the shoulder.

"Damon!" Elena chided. "Gray, Connor is your cousin…"

"Not on the track," Gray volleyed back. "'Sides, he don't even like racin' as much as I do."

"How do you know you like racing?" Molly chimed in. "You have never raced before."

"I could beat you," Gray shot back. "All you ever wanna do is ride your stupid pony."

"My pony is not stupid! You are stupid!"

"Enough!" Damon said in a stern voice. Molly and Gray fell silent, recognizing their father's tone as the one that told them not to push their luck. "Gray, let's get you in your kart. It's almost time."

"Make sure his helmet is buckled on tight," Elena instructed. "And, don't forget his neck brace. He has to have that."

"I have it, Elena," Damon said patiently. He had come to terms with the fact that she was always going to be overprotective of her children. He tended to be the mediator, letting them get away with testing their limits, be it racing karts, riding horses, or learning to walk, while ensuring their safety, even when they were just playing in the backyard.

"Gray, I want you to be careful," Elena said as Damon helped him with his fireproof boots. "This is your first race. You don't have to try to win this one, okay?"

"Mom, I'm a racecar driver and a Salvatore," Gray said. "We win."

"Yeah, Mama, that's kind of the point of racing," Molly added. Elena gave Molly a warning look. Molly just shrugged.

"Just – be smart, okay?" Elena asked, using the phrase Damon often used with Gray when it came to racing. "Make good decisions."

"I know, Mom," Gray said. He held out his hands and let his father help him with his gloves.

"Make sure the harness is nice and tight when you strap him in, Damon," Elena continued.

"I will," Damon promised.

"And, Gray, don't drive too fast." Gray turned to his mother, ready to protest. Damon stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Humor her," he muttered to his son. Gray rolled his eyes before turning to his mother.

"Okay," he said. Damon gave him an approving nod.

"Are we all set to go racing?" Giuseppe asked, walking up to them, his arm linked through Ginny's. They had aged in appearance over the last five years. Giuseppe had scared them all two years ago with a heart attack, but had recovered well, although he often complained about his wife's tendency to cook much healthier these days.

"All ready!" Gray said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "I'm gonna beat Connor!" Giuseppe chuckled.

"You probably are," he agreed.

"Giuseppe!" Ginny chided. "Connor is your grandson, too!"

"Oh, Tesoro, I know. I love him, dearly. But Connor would rather have microscope in his hands than a steering wheel. He likes racing well enough, but his heart isn't in it, not the way our Gray here loves it." Elena refrained from sighing. Giuseppe was only encouraging Gray's love of racing, not that he needed to as Gray, like his father, ate, slept, and breathed all things that went fast.

"Even so," Ginny said. She turned her attention to her grandson and had to smile. He was a spitting image of Damon, but in that moment, she was strongly reminded of Damon's first race more than thirty years ago. "Gray, I'm sure you will do very well." Gray nodded.

"I will," he promised them. A thought occurred to him. "Hey! Maybe Connor will be my crew chief like Uncle Stefan is Dad's crew chief! He's already my best friend, just like Dad and Uncle Stefan!"

"There's a thought," Damon agreed. Despite his encouraging Gray to beat Connor, he knew his son and nephew were thick as thieves. Connor was almost two years older than Gray, but the two had been inseparable since Gray's birth. Connor didn't have any siblings – at least not yet – so Gray was his person, his sidekick, the one he got in trouble with, just as Damon and Stefan had been growing up, and still were today. Stefan and Caroline were about to rock Connor's world, however, as they were in the process of adopting a young boy and girl from Malawi to join their family.

"All set," Damon said to Gray after checking over his equipment once more. "You just have to wait for the command to start engines now. Mama and I are going to be right over," he pointed to the makeshift pit road at the kart track, "watching. Stay in your kart when it's over. I'll come help you, okay?" Gray nodded.

"Got it," he said. He rolled his shoulders, just like he saw his father do sitting in his cockpit, waiting for the race to start. "They need to hurry this thing up." Damon chuckled and squeezed his son's shoulder.

"Race hard, son." Gray merely nodded. Elena stepped forward.

"Gray, I want you to…" Damon stopped her by placing a gentle hand on her elbow and giving her a pointed look. She sighed, knowing Damon was right. She had to let Gray do this. "I want you to have fun," she said instead of the safety lecture she had been planning. "We will see you after it's over, okay?"

"Okay, Mom."

"I love you, Gray." She was always going to tell her boys she loved them before a race.

"Love you, too," Gray replied, but only because he had heard his father tell his mother he loved her before every race. Ginny and Giuseppe wished Gray good luck and together, they headed to the pit area where Caroline and Stefan were already waiting.

"Let me have this one," Ginny said, taking Eleanor from Elena. While she had a special bond with each of her grandchildren, she had a soft spot for Ellie. She appreciated the child's quiet nature and had hope that she would be the grandchild that actually helped her bake the cookies instead of showing up just in time to eat them. Not that she minded that, either.

"Mama, I still need to pack for camp," Molly said, taking Elena's hand. Even with an independent streak a mile wide, she had never stopped holding her parents' hands. "I can't forget my riding clothes. Or my helmet. Oh! I need to remember Copper's new halter…"

"We will get you all packed as soon as we get home," Elena promised. "I have a list of everything you need, and we went shopping for all of your camp supplies."

"You sure you want to go the full two weeks?" Damon asked, draping an arm over Molly's shoulders. Elena gave him a knowing smirk over Molly's head. He flared his eyes at her in return. He could strap his son into a kart and not think twice about it, but he wasn't especially fond of the fact that his oldest daughter, at eight years old was, in her words, finally old enough to go to an overnight riding camp.

"Are you kidding me?" Molly asked. "Two whole weeks without Gray? Of course I want to go!" Damon tried to hide his sigh of defeat.

"That's not very nice," he said in response. Molly shrugged.

"Gray's not very nice," she replied. Elena pursed her lips to keep from chuckling. Molly took her role as big sister seriously. She was incredibly loyal to her siblings. She was fiercely protective of them and often played the role of mother hen if left in a room alone with them. Gray, however, knew how to push all of her buttons and did so frequently. Elena and Damon liked to say they spent as much time breaking up fights between the two as they did traveling to races.

"Gray is your little brother," Elena reminded Molly. "I had a little brother, too, and Stefan is Daddy's little brother. We love them, no matter how annoying they may be."

"Trust me, Uncle Stefan is still annoying," Damon said.

"I heard that!" Stefan called.

"Meant for you to!" Damon fired back.

"And they never grow up," Elena told Molly seriously. Molly giggled.

"Back to the topic of camp," Damon said, stopping several yards away from where his parents and Stefan and Caroline had gathered. "If you change your mind and want to come home, just call us. We will come get you – and Copper – in a heartbeat."

"You are gonna be in Phoenix next weekend," Molly reminded him. "So, even if I did want you to come get me – which I won't – you wouldn't be able to get there for like, a day." Elena had to work to keep from smirking at Molly's reasoning. As much as Molly looked like her father, she was developing a personality that closely resembled that of her mother.

"We would figure it out," Damon said. He reached out and tugged at one of Molly's braids. "We will miss you while you are gone. Maybe not your riding boots being left in the middle of the downstairs hallway, but we will miss you."

"I will miss you too, Daddy," Molly promised. "But, me and Copper will be home before you know it." Damon gave Molly a little squeeze. Elena beamed at him.

Even though Gray and Ellie had come along, there was still a special bond between Damon and Molly that was special, unique. He had a different connection with each of their children, just as she did, but Elena knew there would always be a little part of Damon that tried to make up for the time he missed with Molly. It was why he often let her get away with little things like sneaking an extra scoop of ice cream or forgetting to put her riding boots away. It was also why he had caved and helped Molly convince Elena to let her start taking riding lessons three years ago.

Like Gray, Molly had wanted to race. At five years old, Damon had – somewhat against Elena's wishes – gone out and bought Molly a kart and all the equipment that went along with it. She had raced exactly three times, finishing in the middle of the pack each time, something Damon was happy about, and had liked it enough to make Damon think maybe, just maybe, Molly would stick with it.

And then she had her first riding lesson.

The moment Molly was lifted into the saddle of a stubby little pony, he had known her racing days were over. She had lit up like the Rockefeller Christmas tree and never looked back. After a long talk, with first one another and then with Molly, they had bought her a pony, Copper, for her eighth birthday, under the condition that Molly would help care for it. They had to tell her five times over to clean her room, but they had never once had to ask her to muck out Copper's stall or remind her to feed him.

The more serious she became about it, and the more Gray got into racing, Damon knew they would have to change their weekends of traveling to every race as a family. Molly wanted to compete in horse shows and Gray wanted to race. With him traveling every weekend, and his wife and three kids going with him, they couldn't do those things. He planned to keep racing, but knew Elena would likely start staying home more, just as his mom had done with him and Stefan while their father went off to races, to make sure their kids were able to pursue their own passions. He knew, too, that he would likely retire in a few years to make sure he was there for all of those moments, too.

"Looks like the race is about to start," Elena commented, watching the activity on the starting grid. She had to admit that it was a cute scene, little boys and a couple of girls, all between four and six, wearing fire suits and helmets, strapped into their little karts. "He is going to be okay, right Damon?"

"He is going to be fine," Damon assured Elena. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him as they resumed walking towards the rest of their family. The sound of Ellie giggling at her Nonno drifted back to them. "The kart maxes out at 30mph. He has the best equipment, the best safety equipment. He wll be fine, Elena. I promise." He placed a soft kiss on Elena's temple.

"Hey, Daddy?" Molly asked, walking a few steps ahead of them.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Did you win your first kart race?" Damon snorted.

"Of course I did," he said. "I'm Damon Salvatore." Molly and Elena both snorted and rolled their eyes, making him laugh. They had heard the story of how Damon won his first ever race a hundred times over. Damon was oblivious, however, to the fact that Molly was making fun of him and his love of telling it.

They took seats along the low pit wall, Damon retrieving Ellie from his mother. Molly made herself comfortable in Elena's lap, a moment Elena appreciated as Molly was often too busy being independent now to indulge her parents' desire to keep her little. She gave Molly a little hug, and mother and daughter traded a smile. Damon took Elena's hand.

"He is going to be fine," he said again, trying to ease her mind. He gave her hand a squeeze, then winked at her. Even now, he was still head over heels in love with her. It was harder to spend time alone together these days, but they still found time for one another. Both of them loved the couple of hours in the evenings, after the kids were in bed, as that was their time to just be together.

It hadn't been an easy journey. There had been ups and downs, bumps, bruises, and, when Molly was five, a broken arm after she fell running in the garage at Pocono. Damon had broken his foot mowing grass two weeks later and had to miss several races. Elena had an emergency appendectomy in the middle of a snowstorm, leaving Damon in charge of three kids and her recovery. They had argued and made up, loved one another even when they may not have liked the other all that much.

While she knew Damon had a laundry list of things he regretted, she didn't regret one single thing that had happened between them or to them. She believed it was all part of some grand design, a bigger plan. They had to go through mountains, valleys, and oceans to find one another again.. A lot of their life focused on winning – winning races, winning championships, winning year-end awards. But, ultimately, Elena believed they had won the best prize of all – each other, and their little family.

"Gray is going to win this thing," Damon said excitedly several minutes later. Elena smiled to herself as she watched her little boy drive around and around the tracking, looking every bit of the Salvatore he was. Damon had no idea she was thinking about winning in that moment, too.

"I think we have already won," she said. He looked at her and smiled, gave her another wink that promised more later before turning back to the track.

Gray won the race.

In the end, they won. Damon, Elena, the Salvatores - they all won. They won so much more than a race.

Please, tell me what you thought, one more time!

Oh, and as for whether I will write another story... I may. Make sure you follow those author alerts!