Kismet | Damon Salvatore

Chapter 25

It was their secret.

Bonnie was not made privy to their plan. They made sure Kai was still looking for the Ascendant, and began brainstorming how they would do the unlinking and how they'd make sure they got only Lily out of the prison world, accounting for every scenario.

And, of course, Maribel was quick to return to her lab.

"The first injection worked," she said proudly the next day when Damon came to pick her up. "Liz's spinal tumor is steadily shrinking. They had her do physical therapy today and aside from her fatigue from earlier, she is doing just fine. I think if we wait a week, it'll be gone for good. Then I can move onto her brain. If I can manage to figure out how to cure her without hurting her."

Damon pecked her lips. "If anyone can figure it out, it's you. Now... are we really going to dinner with your mom?"

"Yes," she said. "If we're going to potentially run away together in the near future, she has to at least meet you once and see what a great person you are."

Marina was as enthusiastic as Maribel expected her to be.

"Come in," she said as kindly as she could muster when they showed up at her door carrying containers of food. "What did you make?"

"Oh, this?" said Damon, noting how nicely wrapped the containers were. "I'm not capable of setting aluminum foil that nicely. We got this at the store."

"We've been busy in the lab," explained Maribel, walking ahead to the kitchen so they could set down the desserts. "So, we figured we'd order some pastries. I hope you like them."

Marina smiled tightly when she saw Damon didn't have a jacket on. "It's freezing outside."

"Is it?" asked Damon. "One of the perks of being a vampire. It doesn't bother me. Beli needed my jacket more."

Her mother's head snapped toward Maribel when she realized the jacket she was wearing didn't belong to her. "You two spend quite a bit of time together."

"We're dating," said Maribel simply. "It's expected."

"Even in the lab?"

"Damon's learned to be very quiet while I work. And, ever so often, I talk about my ideas with him."

"I don't understand any of it," Damon admitted, "but if it helps her cure cancer then I just go ahead and listen."

"Right," said Marina. "Meredith told me all about that. She told me about you being kidnapped, too."

"Damon rescued me," said Maribel. "I'm okay. And before you make assumptions, it wasn't his fault I was kidnapped in the first place."

"I wasn't going to say anything." But they both knew that was a lie.

"Something smells delicious," said Damon, sniffing as he entered the dining room.

"I made a few things Maribel mentioned you'd tried," she said. "Enchiladas, rice, beans, hand-made tortillas with some tomato soup."

"That sounds delicious," Damon replied good-naturedly. "I'm starving, can we eat?"

"Of course."

It was awkward with just the three of them. Maribel would have liked for her sister to join them. Damon tried to make pleasant comments about the food and her mother's decor. Marina answered half-heartedly, though keeping up a fake smile that she seemed to think was sufficient to convince them that she liked Damon.

She clearly didn't.

"So," she said as Maribel served the pastries they brought, "what are your plans, Damon? Will you go to college?"