...

Oh no. This was bad. So very very heartbreakingly bad. Caroline covered her hand with her mouth as silent tears ran down her cheeks.

She was hiding behind the doorpost, peeking in on Jo and the twins. The other woman was saying goodbye…

Admittedly, Caroline had sometimes had dark thoughts in which she'd wondered how different things could have been if Jo had never returned, had stayed dead. Now that it was certain that she would soon be gone again, Caroline felt horrible about it and so sad. She was sad for the twins, mostly. They would lose their mother who they had barely even had a chance to get to know. But she was also sad for Jo, of course. Dying unexpectedly was one thing, but then getting to go back only to be forced to leave your beautiful daughters, that was just cruel.

And poor Alaric. She had seen him late last night, sitting alone in the dark of the kitchen, crying silently. She hadn't known whether she should go in to console him, or do him the favor of pretending she hadn't noticed. She did the latter, because she just didn't know what to say that could make it even remotely better.

"I love you girls," she heard Jo say as she hugged the two close. "And l'll always be there for you, up in here," she touched their little foreheads, "just a thought away."

"We'll still miss you, mommy Jo," Lizzie said. She looked sorrowful but wasn't crying, contrary to her sister.

"I know, sweetie. I will miss you girls too. But mommy Caroline and daddy will always always be there for you, right here, okay? They love you just as much as I do." She smiled, wistfully, "And I mean, at least you get to say that you had three parents for a little bit - there's not many people that can truly say that."

"So..." Josie was still sobbing. "We're extra special?"

"You are extra special." Jo smiled, and hugged the twins one last time, before she stood up, waved, and walked past Caroline out the door.

The two women exchanged a glance. Jo crossed her arms across her chest and said, "Thank you, Caroline. I know this all," she made a wide gesture, "was hard for you. I'm so sorry if I made it even worse."

"Oh Jo, no," Caroline started, but Jo wasn't done yet.

"I'm really truly grateful for what you did. Please know that. - For allowing these wonderful, amazing girls to live. For being a great mother to them. And for helping Alaric. I know he and I had our… difficulties with this whole situation, but through all of it, I always loved him." Her eyes were swimming now, but so were Caroline's. She could barely see anymore. This was tearing her heart out. "Promise me you'll look out for him, too, will you?"

"Of course." It came out as a rasp. Like she should clear her throat, but the moment was too intimate to do that. The prominent bump appeared between Caroline's eyebrows as she fought back her tears.

"Goodbye, Caroline."

Caroline wanted to say something, but nothing sounded like a great choice of last words, so instead she bent forward and gave the other woman a big hug.

"I'm glad they got to meet you, Jo."

Jo nodded, then waved and went down the stairs where Bonnie was already waiting for her.

...

With a sigh, Damon looked up again from behind the bar. He was ready to close; he had sent Matt home an hour ago, telling him he would take care of their last guest. Who was very reluctant to leave.

He would have to go over there.

"Ric," he said when he'd gotten to where the man was sitting, swigging a bottle back and forth, even though it had been emptied a while back. "I'm sorry, pal, but you'll have to head home now. Want me to call you an uber or something?"

Alaric looked up at him, suddenly stopping his bottle's movement.

"Closing shop?"

"For the night, yeah. It's three in the morning man. Or is that still three at night? I never know where they draw the line…" Damon leaned back in his chair a little, scrutinizing his friend. Were they still friends, though? They hadn't been very friendly lately. Alaric had staked Damon. He'd pretty much given up on their friendship then. But he had done it for his daughters. The best of reasons. And Damon had to admit that he had been an asshole back then, when he was still under Sybil's spell.

Nothing good had come of that, everyone knew it.

Damon sighed again.

"I'm sorry, Ric," he muttered, staring at the other man, who sat down his bottle finally, and stared right back.

"It's everyone's favorite words to me today." He looked defeated, but his tone was trying to go for something else.

"I don't mean Jo," Damon went on, playing with the peanuts on a little plate on the table.

Alaric raised an eyebrow at the admittance. "What then, do you mean?"

"Ric. Can we… can we get this over with and be real friends again already?"

Alaric shot him a glance, then tried to drink a sip out of his empty bottle, scowling when he realized it wasn't going to happen.

"We went out together to get Elena back. Enzo…"

"I know. It's not like it was a very fun road trip with lots of opportunities for bonding, though. Don't you agree?" Damon got up and walked behind the bar table. He grabbed one last bottle of beer from the fridge and brought it over. "Last one. And then I'll give you a ride."

"What happened to calling me an uber?" Alaric scoffed.

Damon grinned at him. "I just realized that a friend would handle this situation differently?" He asked, before his grin vanished and he got more serious again. "I meant what I said. I'm sorry. And you had every right to stake me. Okay? But now I want my buddy back. My brother from another mother," he paused and saw Alaric's frown slowly melt away a little. "We've had way worse stand between us, haven't we?" He started counting on his fingers, "Isobel…"

His friend raised a hand to stop him. "Let's not get started, okay? I'm tired, it's late - or early," he noted pointedly," I had too much to drink, my second wife just died for the second time, and my kids are with the woman that birthed them and that they call mommy and that at one time I thought I really loved, and now I'm not so sure about that anymore, either."

Damon nodded, and got up. He'd gotten the message. "I'll let you know when your ride gets here," he said and turned around, waving over his shoulder.

"What I'm trying to say," Alaric raised his voice, "is that I could really really use a friend."

Damon stopped in his tracks, his shoulders slumping, ridiculously relieved. A strange warm feeling washed over him as he slowly walked back over to Ric's table and patted the other man on the shoulder.

"Your ride is here," he said, and his friend got up slowly.

They exchanged a long glance, then Ric suddenly hugged Damon rather fiercely, and after Damon's initial awkward surprisedness, he returned it in like manner.

"I'm gonna get married soon," he whispered, "you might want to get in touch with Stefan and throw me an awesome bachelor party."

Ric couldn't help a laugh despite everything going on in his life.

"So that's why you were so keen on making amends…"

Damon wiggled his eyebrows at him, gave him a pat on the back, then led the way out back, to where his car was parked.

"Let's get you home, Ricky."

"Can we agree to not use that as a nickname please?" Ric scoffed as he toddled past the other man rather awkwardly.

"I kinda like it," Damon grinned and Alaric's arms shot up in surrender.

...

[Three years ago...]

...

After that first time, they had both acted a little shy around each other. Bonnie's cheeks flushed when she saw him next, and his lips curled up into a rather suggestive grin as he said, "Good morning, Bonnie Bennett. I made you some breakfast."

Waffles. He'd made her waffles. From scratch. Not just the box mix. She pushed a strand of unruly curls behind her ear and sat down, acutely aware of the fact that they both were in the almost exact same spots they had been when… She felt herself flush again and looked down on the plate in front of her to cover it up.

"This looks really good. Thank you," she muttered.

"My pleasure."

You could say what you wanted about Lorenzo St. John, but impolite, he was not. He was actually rather… sweet.

He sat down beside her, swiveling in his chair as he watched her eat. She shot him a sideways glance.

"What?" She asked. "Do I have syrup all over my mouth or something?"

"I'm just admiring you, love. You're beautiful."

She raised an eyebrow. Now she knew he was making fun of her.

"I'm wearing flannel pajamas," she stated, with a bite of waffle still in her mouth.

"Your point?"

She glared at him. Please tell me this wasn't all some elaborate play of his, she thought. The next few days, weeks, months, or however long she'd had to hide from Alexandria St. John and her goons could become rather awkward if that was the case.

"You're making fun of me, right?" She asked him, but then she saw the cutest confusion in his face. "You're," she gave a surprised half chuckle, "you actually think I'm beautiful. In my pajamas…"

She was incredulous, and he was oblivious. He nodded, a smile in his eyes.

"If you ever have kids, I hope they'll have your eyes," he told her, and she wasn't sure whether she should smile or frown. Her face tried to combine the two.

It was such a strange thing to say so early. Because this was at best the start of a more intimate relationship, and you simply didn't bring up kids that early in the game. Especially if you were a vampire and couldn't even have kids. So she simply smiled and returned back to her food, wondering all the while what she saw in him. Or, if she even saw anything in him.

…

It was months later when they eventually brought up the topic of kids again.

She told him about Caroline's crazy life as a mom and how unexpected that had been since Caroline hadn't thought she would never be a mom, and how Bonnie had told her that she hoped she'd make it look as easy when she would finally be a mom some day herself.

Bonnie bit her lip, suddenly feeling awful and nervous when she saw the guarded withdrawn expression on his face.

"I'm so sorry. I mean, I don't even know whether you ever wanted to have kids or not, and here I am talking like an insensitive idiot-"

"You want kids," he interrupted her.

She looked at him. It was a statement, but she nodded anyways.

"Yes," she whispered. "Whenever Elena and I would talk about how we picture our lives as grown ups, I always thought there would be at least one kid running around in my home, maybe more," she admitted and grabbed his hand, holding it tight. "I didn't mean to hurt you with this."

"You didn't, love. I just… couldn't bear to see you unhappy because you're stuck with me, who can't have kids."

"I'm stuck with you in the good way, babe," she told him. "You're not getting rid of me so easily. We can adopt, if we want, or… I don't know, find a sperm donor or something." She felt herself flush and chuckled. "Whew, this got awkward fast. I'm sooo sorry," she muttered and fanned herself a little. Her face was burning.

Enzo smiled, but it wasn't a very happy smile, and it made her feel even worse. She wished she'd never brought it up. At least not this early on in their still young relationship.

"I did want kids. Before…" he trailed off, growing quiet for a bit. He sighed, "I never really had a family. And even now…" he was staring out the window. "I wanted my own family. I don't know… I guess I wanted to feel like I belong to someone, with someone, and I wanted to prove to myself that I can do better, better than those who brought me into this world."

Her heart broke a little for him then, and it wouldn't remain the only time it did.

"You do belong with someone, babe," she assured him, forcing him to look at her by turning his face toward her, "you belong with me."

He gave her a sad smile.

"I would have liked to have a child with you, Bonnie Bennett," he muttered, "I'm sorry I won't be able to give you what you always wanted." He paused and his head dropped, "Maybe we should just…"

Her face scrunched up.

"No," she said, strongly. She knew where this was headed. He was going to break up with her over this. She wasn't going to let him.

"I'm not gonna let you get out of this so easily, Enzo," she told him firmly. "Did you hear what I said? You belong with me. - You belong with me."

And he'd given her the smallest smile and the biggest kiss in return.

...

...

Caroline thought her head was going to explode. Bonnie had called asking her what exactly real contractions were supposed to even feel like, so now she was worried Bonnie was actually in labor. But she couldn't be there for her friend because she'd also promised Damon to help with his stupid - okay, cute - plan to propose to Elena.

Then she also had the kids with her, and Kevin from productions had told her they needed her back at headquarters to discuss something important. They were probably going to fire her! She just knew it.

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" She hissed the expletive as she was put back on hold with the fifth flower shop she had tried to call. "Come on!"

"You're not supposed to say that, mommy."

"I know, sweetie, I'm so sorry," she looked over to where her girls "helped" her decorate by pouring huge amounts of glitter pretty much merely over themselves and she sighed and slumped down on the ground, huffing.

"Is this a bad time?"

She looked up, startled, and found herself staring straight at Jeremy Gilbert. Little Gilbert was really not little at all anymore…

"Jeremy!" She called out a little too shrilly. "Elena told me you were back in town after your parents…" her voice grew quieter and quieter as she realized that maybe his return and his parents' demise weren't actually things they should make a big deal out of. Elena had told her that her little brother had had a bit of a breakdown. Still, she couldn't help but ask with concern, "You holding up alright?"

He grimaced, feeling a little awkward. But the one good thing when talking to someone you've kind of known all your life yet have never been super close with, was that it was sometimes easier to talk about something you kept from others.

"Eh," he muttered, "I guess I'm just ready to be done with people dying on me over and over again…"

She nodded at him, sympathetically. She thought of Jo, and shot a glance at Lizzie and Josie. "I know…" She sighed.

He shrugged.

"I'm," he was contemplating whether he should say it out loud or not. Caroline was looking at him with an understanding friendly smile, her forehead scrunched up a little. He knew she had her own sorrows. He decided to rephrase his half finished thought, "Do you think anything… anything could happen to Elena, or Damon - or you… - because of the stuff Bonnie did?"

Caroline bit her lip. She couldn't say she hadn't thought about it a few times, but then…

"Honestly? I'm trying to ignore it. Maybe because I already messed with whatever Bonnie did." She grinned a little sheepishly. "I mean, look at me, I'm a bit of a train wreck. Here I had the chance to be human again, and the first chance I got, I turned back into a vampire - and now I'm talking to a vampire hunter…"

They both grinned at each other, then their faces turned serious again. Caroline noticed Jeremy bite down hard. He was fighting his own demons. She felt bad for him. He'd always had it especially tough, like all the collateral damage always affected him.

"Yeah," he said, and the sound of that one word made her want to hug him. Except, that would probably be weird.

So she settled on saying, "We'll just have to wait and see. You know, Bonnie said that Kai's spell actually came undone, so I do believe that Elena is fine. And as for us vampires-turned-humans… I'll just hope for the best?" She forced a chuckle, and saw his features soften.

"Probably the way to go," he allowed, then pointed to her girls, "That's a lot of glitter."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. Ugh. I'll probably have to vacuum it all up - but don't tell them I said that!"

He grinned and pretended to seal his lips shut. They both looked at each other for a moment, as if silently agreeing on moving on.

"Damon sent me here." Jeremy finally explained his showing up there. "He said he got something planned and that you could use some help?"

She smiled at him. He looked so out of place that it was almost funny. "Ya, I mean, you can… actually…", she was lost for words. "I'm in over my head! I got nothing done yet and Damon wants to get this whole show running tonight already. I don't even know what to do…"

"Well, I got nothing better to do than help my future brother-in-law look good so… tell me what I can do."

She smiled, gratefully. "You're a godsend, Jeremy Gilbert, do you know that?"

And with that she quickly began to utilize him so that they could get everything done by the time Damon needed them to.

It turned out to be a fun day after all; it took her mind off of things to be occupied with someone else's dream, and the light banter between her and Elena's brother soon felt so natural as if he'd never been gone and they'd always been close.

It was just really… nice.

...

"Damon…" Elena whined. "I'm getting tired and it's kinda cold, so I'd really rather just head home."

He had taken her out to lunch earlier and told her to pick out a new dress afterward. He had made her wear it right away. He had said he wanted her to get her mind off of things and do something fun again for once. He had said he wanted to give her the best date night she'd had in at least three years. And while it was sweet and she'd had a great day, she was kind of done. She just wanted to snuggle up with him for a bit. Maybe a little more than just snuggle… And then sleep.

But Damon wasn't having any of it.

"Come on, Elena!" He said, "Just for a bit. I know this is not a super romantic end to our super romantic day, but I want to show you something real quick."

Elena had stepped out of the car and looked around her, bewildered.

"I've seen the hospital many times, Damon. And it's not exactly a place to go for a walk or anything…"

"Humor me." He smiled, extending a hand for her to grab. And she did. They were already there, so why not just get it over with. Let Damon have his brief moment, walking the aisles of the hospital with her, showing her his "something." This was where soon, the new slew of students were supposed to be learning, among them one Elena Gilbert.

She would really go down that path, she thought. Her crazy life, with all the crazy things that had happened, had led her to this moment, this place. She would really become a doctor after all.

When they entered the hospital, she fully expected someone to call them out and tell them to leave. But no one seemed to mind. Damon casually draped his arm around her neck and kissed her temple as he swaggered through the building, guiding her over to… the new wing? For one odd moment she wondered whether he'd made a random donation or something and named it the Salvatore wing. She rolled her eyes at herself just as Damon opened a door and pulled some hanging plastic foil out of the way.

What she saw was like out of some other world. There were string lights everywhere, and flowers, all kinds of white flowers, fragrant and so beautiful. It was like a sea of light.

"Damon…" she muttered, smiling over at him, where he smiled right back at her. Was this…?

"Follow me," he mouthed, and so she did, further and further down that canal of light, until at last, they walked into where the new information desk was situated. There were more lights here, and a table with two chairs. A bottle of champagne waited and as Damon ushered her into one of the chairs, a man started playing the piano in the corner where the waiting area would be one day.

"Did you… did you do all this?" she whispered, surprised. And happy. Her gaze fell on the floor around them: it was glittering like crazy.

"I had some help," he told her, smiling as he noticed her expression, "it can come in handy when you know a party planning obsessed girl with two little helping minions."

"Caroline…" She grinned. "Damon, this is wonderful."

He had planned everything. They had a delicious dinner, brought out by a waiter in a tuxedo, they had champagne, they had molten chocolate lava cake… And then?

Damon walked over to her, extending his hand. "May I have this dance?" He asked and smiled at her, and she took his hand and followed him into the middle of the room. The piano player began playing a slow song, and together they waltzed across the room. Like in a fairy tale.

And just when the song was over, Damon did what she'd pictured him do so many times in her dreams, but it was so much better in real life. He dropped down on one knee, looking at her intently, as he took a small something out of his pocket. There was no box, just a ring.

Elena's eyes widened. It didn't technically come as a surprise - because, why else would Damon have put up this show for her? Yet it didn't make it any less breathtaking.

"Elena Gilbert, will you marry me?"

He looked at her, waiting, hoping. Knowing. He still broke into the sweetest deepest smile when she suddenly said, "Yes!"

And she sank down on her knees before he had a chance to get back up again and kissed him fiercely.

...

Thank you all so much. Thanks especially for the proposal suggestions! Thanks ironcrusher for the reminder that Delena love to dance. I had something else pictured first, but settled on this version for the proposal.

mlruhol: there might be some scene between Caroline and Kai, we shall see.

Anna: we might have to revisit some of Bonnie's changes... there's definitely still uncertainty there.

deenew: definitely still need a scene for Bonnie and Enzo. :)

Shadowdancer: you're spot on as always about the impact of death on the returned. Also, I'm just in love with your in depth reviews. :*