Endless Souls

A Campout Full of Stories

I wake up in his arms. My husband, my Damon. I wake him up with a gentle kiss and he stirs, then opens those warm, beautiful crystal blue eyes I love so much. He smiles down at me and I feel a chill.

"Do you feel that?" I go over to the window and peeking through the curtain, I'm pretty much blind from the whiteness. I pull the curtain back and I smile.

"Damon come on! Let's go outside!" I pull a pair of skinny jeans on then a black sweater. I wake Jack up and Ember comes in with Landon in her arms.

"Hey mom. What are you doing up?"

"Why?"

"Mom it's 7:00."

"I thought Jack would want to play in the snow."

"And I do!" He giggles and I laugh at his hair. He dresses for the snow and we head outside. I'm tackled into the snow, which has to be at least 4 feet deep. The gloomy skies amplify the blueness of his eyes and as the snowflakes fall in his perfect raven hair, and he stares down at me with so much love that it fills me and consumes me entirely. He pulls me up and I smile at him.

"You look so beautiful in the snow." He mutters. I tackle him into the snow, my lips colliding with his and fireworks exploding in my brain.

"Mama! Daddy!" Jack flashes to us and smiles.

"Can we make a snow fort?"

"We'll make the best one ever."  He grins at me then I pull Damon up and we go to the middle of the yard. We make little squares and pack them together. By noon, we have a 5 foot wall and an entrance which makes it look like an igloo. Damon lifts me up and we make it 6 feet. We go inside and dig a little bit to make it seem bigger. We put a couple lanterns inside and Jack runs inside.

"Thank you mama! Thank you daddy!" He runs into our arms and we grab a couple sleeping bags.

"So we can sleep in here?"

"Of course. It'll be fun." We go inside and I make lunch. Damon takes the jacket off my shoulders. I start chopping some onion and Damon pulls one of my straps down and kisses my shoulder. He pours me a glass of wine and I look back at him and smile.

"I love you."

"I love you." I finish the burgers and soup then I put it out on the table. Damon kisses my neck and I let a small sigh escape my lips. He wraps his arms around me, pulling me closer to him. He suddenly goes from romantic to playful, and bites my neck making me giggle.

"Okay I give up!"

"Finally." He makes himself a burger and a bowl of soup then we sit down in the living room. I take bites out of my burger and I fall asleep in Damon's arms. I wake up in the same place, still in his arms but he doesn't see.

"Dad, I can't."

"Damien you've put off college for 2 years."

"So? I'm not going. Tori and I have Hayden now so I need to be here. Sorry I'm such a disappointment."

"Damien-" Jack runs in and I look up at Damon. He pulls me closer and Jack jumps in my lap with a flashlight in hand.

"Can we go out to the igloo now?"

"Let's go." We change into our pajamas and we head outside. It's big enough for all of us, Quinn, Caroline, Klaus, Ember, Damian, Elizabeth, Landon, Tori, Damien, Hayden, Damon, Jack, Wendy, and me. We all sit in our sleeping bags, Damon, Jack, and me in one, Tori, Damien, and Hayden in another, Ember, Damian and Landon in one, Quinn, Wendy, and Elizabeth in one, Caroline and Klaus in the last.

"Mom, we should tell stories."

"Okay. Let's spin this bottle and we'll tell stories by who it lands on." I spin and it lands on me.

"Okay, okay. I want to tell Damien about the day he was born and the next few days after." He smiles at me.

"So, your sister was only 13 about to turn 14. She came in, woke me up and asked me if we could go to the Louvre. I told her that we couldn't. Your dad was off to fight Silas and I went into labor the day he was coming back. When you were born, Meredith handed me this perfect baby blue blanket and when I pulled back that beautiful blanket which matched your eyes,I saw your perfect raven hair and when you opened your eyes I just saw you and you looked exactly like your dad. Meredith went to get Ember and I just smiled at you. Then I told you, hey Damien. It's mommy. I will always protect you. You're my son and I love you so much. I'm so excited to see you grow up and you'll always be my son no matter what." A tear slips down Damien's face and tears flow down mine.

"That night I went to the Eiffel Tower with your dad. The next few days after Klaus bombed us with ghost drama, you barely left our arms. I'd stay up late telling you about the family I wanted you to meet. Damien, I can't believe that you're almost 22 and you have a wife and a daughter. You have become a strong and brave man and you've grown up to be everything we wanted you to be. I love you Damien. I will always love you because you're my son."

"I love you too Mom." I smile at him and I wipe the tears away from my eyes. I spin and it lands on Ember.

"So I want to tell this story to Elizabeth." Ember smiles at her.

"When you were about 6 years old, you were fascinated with fire. You took a piece of wood out of the fireplace and you swung it around and it hit the Christmas tree. I came in and you turned around and you just smiled at me real big and said, 'it was too cold in the house mommy. I wanted to make it warm.'" Elizabeth laughs then Ember spins.

"Dad it's your turn." He pulls me onto his lap and I look up at him, his eyes dancing with life.

"This is for Ember, Damien, Wendy, Will and Jack. I want to tell you all about how your mom and I fell in love."

"I love this one." Ember says with a smile.

"The night I met your mom was the night her parents died. Her eyes were dancing with light and she smiled so big I didn't think it was possible. I'm going to skip forward a year and tell you about when your Uncle left us the first time. Mom needed to get away. She had to. We were in a brand new city, Denver to be exact. The first night there, your mom kissed me and well one thing lead to another." I laugh.

"The next few days there were amazing. We were able to kiss and laugh and hold hands in public without worrying if anyone saw. We went to the mall one time and she loved it so much. We held hands and kissed and god I was so happy. When we went home though we had to hide it. She told me she didn't know who to choose. She actually chose me. We went to her house and it didn't matter who was there. She lit a fire and we sat on the couch cuddling and well kissing. Then I did a couple things that I will regret for the rest of my existence and I lost her. Stefan went away again and Mom fell into a state of depression. I took her to the Lockwood swimming hole and she kissed me again. We made out in the car and that night she begged me to spend the night with her. We became friends with benefits, then one day Stefan came to the house and confused her. She thought I was eventually going to leave her. That night it was different for both of us because we were in love. We genuinely loved each other. 8 weeks after I turned your mom into a vampire, we found out she was pregnant with you Ember. I proposed to her then I died. It was horrible. I cried almost every night because of how broken she looked. She would cry herself to sleep at night, always wearing one of my shirts. I saw as her belly grew and how she always seemed to be alone when she had the chance. I wanted to be there for her but I couldn't. I would lay with her in bed and she would make little circles on her baby bump." He looks down at me.

"But I knew I had to make it back to her. Because I love your mother more then anything in the world." My eyes tear up and I press my lips to his insistently. He smiles and I yawn.

"We should get to bed." Jack is already asleep, and I lay down next to him, kissing his forehead and closing my eyes.

"Goodnight everyone." I turn the lantern off and Damon drapes his arm over Jack and I, then I fall into a deep content sleep.