The Beginning Of Our Forever [1]

2. The First Goodbye

Damon led Elena back across the stone path and past the stone building that her coffin was placed in. Whilst walking, Elena began to recognise some of the names on the older headstones and it suddenly dawned on her that they were in Mystic Falls graveyard. It looked completely different, all of the headstones were covered in greenery and all of the paths were overgrown with weeds.

There was however, a section of the graveyard that had been well managed, the weeds and prickle bushes cut down and a small area had been planted with various flowers species. This is where Damon was leading Elena.
As they approached, Elena became more and more worried. There were two headstones in this area. In her head she presumed that Bonnie hadn't been buried yet, so it was just a question as to who the two headstones belonged to.

Elena stopped about 5 feet from the first headstone and Damon turned around to face her.
"I don't think I can do this," Elena said sadly.
"I have missed out on so much, and now two of my friends-" she gestured towards the headstones, "-are gone, plus Bonnie too" she continued.

"You don't have to do this alone, you know that. I'll be here with you all the way, whatever you need me to do" Damon replied, gripping her hand tighter in a sense of reassurance.

Elena took a deep breath and walked towards the first headstone. She fell to her knees in front of it. In her heart she already knew that it would belong to Ric but it was still hard to actually see the words written in stone before her eyes.

"Oh Ric, I had a feeling this would be you." She leant forward and placed a hand on top of the headstone, her other finger tracing over the letters. She looked at the date he passed away and noticed that it was almost twenty years ago. She spun around to look at Damon, who was looking just as sad as she was. A tear trickled down her face and Damon knelt down in front of her to wipe it away.

"I know what you're going to say baby but please don't be sad, I looked after him when Jo died. He was a mess, don't get me wrong, and it took him a while but he fought through it and eventually he was stronger than I've ever seen him. Weren't you buddy?" smirked Damon as he placed his hand on Elena's on top of the headstone.

"He was lucky to have you there with him," Elena replied, looking up from the floor and into Damon's eyes. She stroked Damon's hand with her thumb and smiled.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you Ric, but it seems like you had someone just as great as me here for you instead," Elena joked. Damon spluttered out a laugh.

"He sure did," Damon replied, standing up and brushing his jeans down. Elena looked back around and faced the headstone.

"Along with Jenna, you were the best replacement parent I had. I'm so sorry that things didn't work out the way they should have with Jo and your beautiful babies. They would have been the life you deserved. You went through hell and back to have a human life- we both did. I love you Ric- we both do." Elena just managed to get the last few words out before the tears got the better of her. She kissed her index finger and placed it on the engraving on Ric's headstone. Damon placed his hand on Elena's shoulder and she reached her hand across her chest and placed it on top of his.

She pulled on Damon's hand for support and climbed back on to her feet. She picked off a few of the leaves that had gotten stuck to her dress and sniffed away the rest of her tears.

"God that was awful," Elena sighed. She caught sight of the other headstone out of the corner of her eye and felt a sickening feeling develop in the pit of her stomach.
"Please tell me that the other one won't be as hard as that," she whispered.

Damon wrapped his arms around Elena's waist from behind and snuggled his head in the hair resting on her shoulder.
"I can't promise you that. But you know if I could make this any easier for you then I would." Damon whispered into her skin whilst planting little kisses along her shoulder blade and the back of her neck.

Elena spun around whilst still contained within Damon arms. She snuggled her arms underneath, around his waist and then slotted them into the back pockets of his jeans.

"Damon Salvatore, I honestly don't know what I would do without you," Elena began to smile when she saw a smirk emerge from Damon's lips.

"I know," he replied cockily, before bending his head down to steal a kiss.