The Beginning Of Our Forever [1]

12. Creating Precious Memories

Damon, Elena and Lizzie were the first to arrive back at the Salvatore house, just as the sun was beginning to set. Elena pressed her head against the window as they pulled up into the driveway, watching as the last slithers of amber light in the sky set behind the house, creating a faint aura around it. Elena smiled, but on the inside her heart ached with sadness. After meeting the twins, it had only just sunk in that she had missed out on 72 years of memories. Yes, reading Caroline's and Bonnie's diaries would provide her with some comfort, but it would never compare to the real thing. She felt like an outsider. She had missed out on so much, and now, almost everyone she loved was gone.

Her internal contemplation was quickly broken by Lizzie's shrill laughter from the back seat of Damon's car.

"Yes Damon! We beat the others!" Lizzie screeched.

"Of course we did," Damon replied matter-of-factly. He looked over to Elena and noticed her vacant face staring out of the window. He reached over to her and placed his hand on her leg, which made her jump as she snapped back to reality.
"Is everything okay baby?" he asked quietly, as Lizzie unbuckled herself, clambered out of the car and made her way into the house. Elena took a deep breath and put on her best fake smile, a skill she had almost perfected, as she placed her hand on top of Damon's and looked deep into his beautiful, blue eyes.

"Everything's fine," she lied, keeping her voice steady.

"You don't have to pretend with me Elena. You might fool Stefan and Caroline into thinking that you're okay, but I know you better than that," he spoke, in a way that always put Elena's mind at ease.

Elena relaxed, her composed exterior was defeated. Damon was right, he knew her too well. Elena was seconds away from explaining to Damon what was running through her mind when Caroline's car pulled up next to them. Josie dashed out of the back of the car and ran straight into the house. Damon flicked his head around to the direction of the house and bellowed after her,

"Don't you even think about it Josie! YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY BOURBON!"

"Bite me!" Josie shouted back, deliberately clinking bottle's together to worry Damon even more.

Elena couldn't help but laugh and Damon immediately looked back around when he heard her.

"It's okay, you go and save your Bourbon. I'll talk to you later," Elena reassured him. Damon was reluctant to leave, he never liked seeing Elena upset like this. He leant over and placed a long, hard but comforting kiss on her lips and climbed out of the car, before dashing into the house. Elena looked across at Caroline and Stefan in the car next to her and managed to catch the end of their conversation,

"... yes I got them all. Well, the ones I could find. I think Bonnie's daughter, Sheila, has Bonnie's. I put them all in Damon's bedroom, which I'm sure he will love taking up all the space," Stefan insisted,

"Is everything okay guys?" Elena called across to them. Caroline and Stefan's heads immediately snapped over to her, unaware that she was listening to their conversation.

Caroline and Stefan began to exit the car and so Elena followed suit. Caroline nodded over to Stefan and he left the two of them alone in the driveway.

"I had Stefan run an errand for me today. He went scavenging for all of the journals that all the other guys kept over the years. He found some of Matt's, Ric's and even some of Jeremy's old ones. I don't think Tyler ever bothered to keep any and we are pretty sure Sheila has all of Bonnie's, so you'll probably get them off of her tomorrow at the funeral," Caroline explained. Elena was confused,

'Why would you want all of their journals?' she thought to herself. As if she could read her mind, Caroline continued,

"I thought it would be a good idea if you read what has happened over the past 72 years from all of our perspectives. Instead of reading one persons at a time, you can read them all at the same time, so you never miss a thing."

Elena couldn't believe it, this was such a great solution to how excluded she had started to feel. She leapt forward into Caroline's arms,

"Thank you so much Car, you have no idea how grateful I am," Elena beamed, her eyes welling up. Caroline knew that there was no need for her to reply or say anything further, and so they just hugged for a while, neither of them wanting to let go.

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After unloading the cars with the heaps of new clothes and all of Lizzie and Josie's luggage, the six of them spent the rest of the evening cosied up in the living room, next to the open fire with a glass of bourbon in hand. Not one of them could think of a better way to spend their time than in the company of family. Josie and Lizzie had made their way up to bed first, with old age and a low alcohol tolerance proving that they weren't cut out for late nights anymore. Despite Caroline insisting that they could have the two biggest bedrooms in the house, they decided that they wanted to share the smallest room instead.

Elena, Damon, Stefan and Caroline decided to call it a night too, not long after the twins went to bed. Based on what was happening tomorrow, they decided that tonight probably wasn't the best night to drink to oblivion. Although, now she was a human and had been without alcohol for 72 years, Elena was well on her way anyway.

Damon helped walk a giggly and slightly drunk Elena very slowly upstairs and into his bedroom, whilst Caroline and Stefan flew up the stairs and into their room in a blur. After dodging the minefield of boxes of journals that now covered his bedroom floor, Damon managed to get Elena over to the bed. Knowing full well that she was too drunk to undress herself, he rummaged in one of the shopping bags, pulled out a band new set of pajamas and undressed Elena himself. Even though the alcohol had dulled her senses, Elena was taken aback at how delicate and gentlemanly Damon was being about the situation. Damon picked Elena up into his arms and pulled back the duvet cover, carefully placing her into the bed and wrapping her up.

Damon knelt down on the floor next to the bed and held Elena's hand with one of his and ran his fingers through her hair with the other. Elena had already started to doze off but Damon leant forward and whispered to her anyway.

"I know how you are feeling Elena. I can read you like a book. You feel like you're watching us all and the relationship we all have have, as an outsider, like you've missed out on it all. But the truth is, Caroline and Bonnie were constantly reminding us all to write everything down. They even tried to get me to do it for a bit. Basically, I'm just trying to say that everything that has happened is right here in front of you in these books. You can read it at your own pace, and we will all be here for you whenever you need. Tomorrow is going to be tough for us all, but I just want you to know, that no matter how upset I am, I will always be here for you." Damon had his head bowed and his voice was barely above a whisper. Elena was curled up, her eyes were closed and her heart was beating slowly and steadily. Damon looked up from the bed and smiled,

"... and you're asleep right now so I've just been talking to myself," he laughed, shaking his head. Damon rolled back onto his heels, kissed Elena's head, stood up and then went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Elena smiled as Damon's words danced around in her head. As a single, happy tear rolled down her face, she knew that the heartache she felt earlier was slowly subsiding.