Year 2000

"It is nice that your boss wanted to have us over," Elena Gilbert murmured to her father John who was sitting next to her, hands on the steering wheel as they drove through a new town they were supposed to call home.

After the divorce, John Gilbert wanted a fresh start, and that meant getting as far away from his wife Isobel as possible. If he was disappointed he only managed to get a job a mere four hours away, he never mentioned it. But he assured Elena it was a good job, one that paid well. And although the town was a lot smaller than where she had spent her early years, he said it was a good place to live out the rest of her childhood until she eventually left him for greener pastures—college and such. Those were his words, not hers. Besides, she was only twelve at the time. Old enough to have an opinion, but still too young to care either way.

"So what is your boss like? It is Giuseppe, right?"

John nodded as he checked his side mirror before changing lanes. "He seems nice enough. He is smart, too. And his wife is beautiful. Her name is Lillian."

John Gilbert was one of those men who seemed like they never aged. Only he wasn't ever young looking. What stood out the most was the way he always looked worried—as if the world was going to end and he was the only one in on the secret. When things got worse with his wife, the worry turned to stress, turned to fear, and slowly turned to acceptance. Elena believed that for him the acceptance was the worst part of all—knowing and believing that it was just him and his daughter against the world. Then he got offered this job. She didn't think she had seen him smile since before The Breaking Point: when Isobel threw a chair at his head.

"Where was he from?" she asked. "Giuseppe doesn't sound like American."

"The Salvatore family originated from Italy."

"Oh."

He nudged her side with his elbow and smiled down at his daughter. "Guess how many kids they have?" he asked.

Elena shrugged, pushing aside her thoughts. "How many?"

"Guess, Elena," he said, his voice filled with anticipation.

"I don't know. Four?"

He shook his head.

Elena sat higher in her seat, her eyes wide, and asked, "Six?"

He laughed. "They have two boys – Damon and Stefan. Damon is the oldest. He is the same age as you. Stefan is a year younger than you. Giuseppe also has a younger brother, Zach. Zach has a daughter who is ten. See, Elena? You will fit right in."

Elena looked down at her flip-flops, denim shorts and T-shirt that had a picture of a cat and the words Look at meow. "Maybe I should have worn a pretty dress or something. Tried to impress them, you know?"

It took a while for him to answer, and when he did, the words resonated so loudly that even now, when she was an adult, she still could hear them loud and clear. "You impress people with your mind. With your kind heart and humble attitude. And while you are a beautiful girl, your looks or the way you dress shouldn't be the reason people are impressed by you. And when you are older and boys start to notice you, I want you to remember that. Because if it is only your looks they are attracted to, then they are not the one for you, Elena. You can do better. You will do better."

That speech alone was reason enough as to why Elena had chosen to move away with him instead of staying with her mother.

"Unless it is Justin Timberlake," Elena joked, trying to hide her true reaction to his words. "Then he can like me for my looks, right?"

John chuckled under his breath. "You can totally do better than Justin Timberlake."

"I think not!" she said seriously.

He laughed, a sound so pure that at that moment she almost hated her mother for trying so hard to take that away from him. Yeah, she was young, but she wasn't blind. Or deaf. And although she was sure she didn't know everything that went on with them, she knew enough.

Elena went back to thinking about Giuseppe and Lillian and their f children. "Dad…"—she looked at him sideways—"are you sure you want this job? These people might be in some weird sister-wife cult. You never know…one day you are working construction for him and the next you are asking people to drink the Kool-Aid."

John playfully rolled his eyes. "I should monitor your TV watching more. Enough true crime shows for you." He slowed the car to a stop. "I think we are here." Then he leaned over the steering wheel to look at the number on the mailbox. It was basically all one could see from the street. That, and a long gravel driveway surrounded by endless trees. "Yeah. This is it," he said to himself, turning the car to creep slowly between the open gates on either side of the driveway. "This is a beautiful house," he whispered.

Her eyes widened. "Wow."

It was as if time slowed when the Salvatore house came into view. Beautiful, white two-story house, dark shutters on the windows and a wraparound porch. There was also a detached garage with an apartment above, and the yard was kept, neat and trimmed to perfection. It was the kind of house one would see in magazines. Elena guessed they shouldn't have been surprised considering Giuseppe Salvatore owned the largest construction company in Mystic Falls, but still…she had never seen anything so grand before. At least not in real life.

A smaller picket fence surrounded the house, probably to keep their children within viewing distance on their hundred plus acres of property. Lake not included.

As they got closer, people started to appear from what seemed like everywhere. One. Two. Three. Four….Elena caught her breath and her fingers fidgeting with her top and the only thing that went through her mind was that she should have worn a pretty dress.

Her father wasn't kidding when he said that his boss was tall. He was also wide. Not overweight, just large…and extremely intimidating, although Elena doubt he meant to be. He just had this deep voice that seemed to echo around him.

Giuseppe introduced John as—his new foreman—and Elena to his family while they stood in their front yard. There were a lot of names and a lot of head nods mumbled between those names.

"You are such a pretty girl, Elena," Lillian said. The sun beamed down on her, making her white dress pop and her dark hair glow. Lillian Salvatore looked like an angel, and Elena's chest tightened as she tried not to miss her mother. She added, "You will be going to the same school as Damon and you will be in the same class together once the summer is over."

"Isn't that great?" John said, nodding in Elena's direction.

Elena forced as smile. "Great."

A boy with dark hair and bright blue-grey eyes smiled at her. "I'm Damon, Stefan's brother. Don't worry, I will look after you."

Oh crap, he is unbelievable cute, Elena thought.

She was twelve and he was also twelve. And he was cute.

He was cute and he was looking at her.

"I will introduce you to Newton," Damon said, shaking his baseball mitt from his hand. Elena watched it fall to the perfectly green grass beneath their feet, and then looked up at him. He was still smiling. Still cute. "You will like him."

"Thank you." Elena swore she had never felt lamer in her entire life. Who is Newton? she thought.

Then a scruffy grey dog of uncertain ancestry lunged forward to greet Damon.

"This is Newton." Damon leaned down to scratch the dog affectionately behind the ears. "We have got company."

She looked down at Newton and held out her hand. "Hello, Newton."

Newton stared at her for a moment longer, his gaze unflinching. Evidently concluding that she was neither a threat nor prey, he sniffed her fingers. Satisfied, he sat back. Gingerly, she scratched him behind his ears. Newton chuffed a bit and licked her hand.

"He likes you," Stefan said. "Mostly he ignores people. He only likes Damon."

"Newton always terrifies me," a young girl wearing a high ponytail said nervously.

Damon glared. "Generally speaking, Newton doesn't bite, Sarah."

Sarah made a face at him before turning her attention to Stefan. "Let's go play baseball, Stefan."

"Sure," Stefan said.

"Where did you get him?" Elena asked Damon as she got to her feet.

"The animal shelter." Damon gave Newton another affectionate scratch behind his ears. "It was love at first sight, wasn't it, Newton?"

"Don't forget you refused to leave the animal shelter until we got him for you, son," Giuseppe said with a chuckle.

Lillian smiled. "I like having a dog in the house. He keeps an eye on those boys."

"That's a fact," John said. "I have always wanted to get a puppy for Elena but her mother is allergic to furs."

"You can play with Newton anytime you want. He is a really smart dog," Damon said cheerfully. "Plus he likes you, Elena."

Giuseppe motioned to his house. "I will get started on the grill out back."

"I will check on the pie," Lillian said.

"Sounds great." John squeezed Elena's shoulder and followed after him.

Elena started to go with him, but a hand landed on her arm, and she turned to Damon who was smiling wider, looking cuter. "You want to see something cool?" he asked.

He took her to his secret hideout; somewhere far away from the picket fence, but not far enough that they couldn't see the house. Newton bounded ahead and headed towards Damon's secret hideout with the ease of a creature who relies on a variety of senses to get around.

Why Damon showed his hideout to her when it was supposed to be a secret, Elena had no idea. But she didn't care. It was a space between two trees and an old blanket hung between the trunks, hidden beneath a bunch of leafy branches. "This is cool," she said.

"Just wait." He cleared the branches and pointed to a tin box in the corner of the space.

"What is it?"

"A secret stash," he whispered, looking around him. Elena did the same. Honestly, she had no idea what she was doing. She just liked being with Damon because he was cute.

He got down on his knees, dirt flying up from the impact. "Come on," he said, waving a hand at her while picking up the box with the other.

Elena got down on her knees next to him, their arms touching while he lifted the lid. "Dammit!" he spat.

"What is wrong?"

"Stefan," he said simply.

"What about Stefan?"

He shook his head as he pulled out a single Snickers bar. "He must have stolen the others. There is only one here." He held it out to her. "You have it."

Elena shook her head. "No, it is yours."

"But you are my guest. My friend."

Hiding her smile, Elena grabbed the chocolate from him, unwrapped it, broke it in half and pulled it apart. Then she handed him his half. "Friends share," she told him.

Damon smiled back at her. Newton positioned himself at Damon's feet, looking expectant.

"You know you can't have chocolate, buddy," Damon said to Newton.

"Newton can't have chocolate?" Elena asked curiously.

"Dogs can't have chocolate," he explained. "They can't digest chocolate. A vet at the animal shelter told me that."

"Oh."

They ate in silence.

"My brother is so dumb," Damon said after a while. "The only things in here were Snickers, and he is allergic to nuts."

A giggle burst out of Elena. "Then why would he take them?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Because he is Stefan."

Lillian called for them a few minutes later, and Damon stood quickly, wiping his chocolate-and-dirt-covered hands across his Superman logo t-shirt. Then he held his hand out for Elena. "Ready?"

Elena took his hand; the first boy she had ever been nervous to hold hands with. He released it as soon as she was on her feet. "Race to the fence?" he asked.

After looking down at her clothes, Elena shrugged. "Okay."

"You are going to join us, aren't you, buddy?" he said to Newton before turning back to Elena. "Ready?" He had the sprinter pose down, even back then.

She copied his stance and ignored the fact that he was in sneakers and she was in flip-flops. "Ready."

"Go!"

Newton won.

She was not bad. At least she won Damon.

Damon puffed out a breath as he took the paper plate from his mother. "She left you in the dust, son," Lillian teased.

Elena giggled.

Damon said, "That will be the last time." And it was.

Lillian laughed and ruffled his hair before handing Elena her plate. Then she looked between Damon and Elena a long moment before she grinned at them. "Damon and Elena." Her smile grew wider with every second. She pointed to Damon and then shifted her gaze to Elena. "You two look so good together. When both of you are together, I'm going to call you two Delena."

Elena raised her brows. Delena? She glanced over at Damon. Just in time to catch him grinning.

"Delena," he repeated. "Delena means Damon and Elena. I like it."

This is my new Delena story. Got this inspiration from a close friend. We always take things and people for granted, don't we? Tomorrow is not a promise to everyone. Don't take anything for granted. You won't know how long you will have them and don't make yourself regret.

Enjoy:)

And thank you for all the support and kind comments for my previous DE story "Kiss Me or Kill Me". Please make sure you check out those amazing writers like Salvatoreboys4ever, scarlett2112, delenadreams, Rachel3003, TheLittle MissVixen, VitsAsh etc.