Christmas had been chaotic. There was Jenna and Logan, Jeremy, and Elena who celebrated first thing in the morning so it felt more personal, but then Katherine, Isobel, and John had come right after making it very awkward and barely civil. Somehow they had made it through, Elena suspected due to John bringing copious amounts of alcohol and pie.

By the afternoon all her friends had stopped by and it became even more hectic, enough that John and Isobel excused themselves and rather quickly the mood lightened.

New Year's was different. New Year's, for the sake of having plenty of room and much smaller adult supervision, was held at the Salvatore house. Caroline was supposed to arrive this time as well, back from spending Christmas with her Dad and said Dad's boyfriend, which Elena hoped would help alleviate some of the tension Katherine always seemed to cause. Jeremy and Anna were off in the corner already making out by 10pm. They left half an hour later to go and have privacy, which made Elena sigh. Jeremy was doing better, especially with Anna's help, so she really didn't want to say anything.

Damon and Katherine were currently arguing about what ingredients and how much went best in the spaghetti he was making for everyone, and before Damon could stop himself, he snapped, "God, I'm going to hate having you as a sister-in-law."

Stefan laughed so hard and mockingly it appeared that Christmas had miraculously arrived again just a week later, and Elena couldn't help but blush as Bonnie giggled beside her as well. Damon refused to look at any of them, instead grabbing the garlic from Katherine rather forcefully, and the party went on, albeit with Stefan teasing Damon with wedding jokes every chance he got. With how often Damon had teased him about the same in reverse, Elena didn't blame him.

When Caroline arrived it was with sparklers, decorations, more booze and sparkling cider (the cider for Damon just in case, she had told Elena before), and even some dessert that looked professionally done. After unloading everything onto the various counters she huffed, adjusted her beautiful, glittery, short dress and smiled at Elena. "Thanks for having me! Or I guess, thank you for having me," she told Stefan with a flirty smile, who was staring before he welcomed her. Elena barely held in a giggle before she ran off to tell Bonnie, who was reminiscing with Matt about their old lifeguard days.

"Once again, the blonde curse strikes Stefan Salvatore," Elena told them in a whisper, laughing. "You'd think he would have broken the pattern by now."

"In his defense, she is pretty hot," Matt shrugged, earning an elbow in the side from Bonnie.

Elena laughed at the two, shaking her head. Bonnie looked at her more seriously then, asking, "Do you think Elijah will come for Katherine's sake?"

Elena's twin was busy reluctantly helping sort some of the items out in the kitchen while she still argued with Damon back and forth.

"I don't know," Elena said softly. "I'm not even sure if I should hope he will or not, to be honest."

"Well I hope so," Caroline said, scaring all three of them as she came up behind them. "He's good for her, which you wouldn't think many people would be, no offense to her of course."

"Of course," Bonnie laughed, having warmed up to the girl over the past few months.

"So I feel like I might make things super weird if I ask him directly, and I totally want to be here tonight and as far away from my mom as long as possible-,"

"Yeah, he's single," Matt interrupted with a chuckle.

"Thank you!" Caroline replied bubbly. "I see why Bonnie likes you."

All four of them laughed until there was a knock on the door. Katherine slunk a little further into the kitchen, although Elena heard Damon tell her twin that it was probably just Alaric. When Stefan opened the door it wasn't, Alaric but Elijah, who wasn't alone. Next to him, with a cocky grin, was who Elena had gathered from Facebook and Instagram was Caroline's ex Klaus. Katherine walked furiously over to the two guests now, hell on high heels, and demanded of Elijah, "Why the fuck would you let him come with you?"

Elena and Bonnie had both moved to hide Caroline behind them, but it wasn't much use with the girl's bright blonde hair. When Klaus moved forward to enter Katherine shoved him back out the door, and when Klaus tried again muttering some words that Elena couldn't catch, Stefan moved forward as well.

"Get him out of here," Katherine spat at Elijah.

"I would if I could," Elijah replied, sympathy running through his tone. "But he knows, and he's threatened to tell our father."

Katherine looked backward at where Caroline stood behind a slightly taller Bonnie, now uncharacteristically quiet and still.

"I promise to be on best behavior." Klaus grinned, and Elena could practically hear the trouble and ego rolling off his tongue. Slowly, with a nod from Caroline, Stefan and Katherine stepped back to let the two brothers in and Stefan immediately came over to Caroline. He stood close, and Caroline definitely noticed with a small smile, and Katherine kept both Elijah and Klaus company with only barely veiled insults and threats.

"Here I thought our friends were dramatic," Damon said, coming forward now the spaghetti was done.

He was glared at by everyone in their circle, not that it affected him much.

"He's not dramatic," Caroline shot viciously at Damon, her anger rising quickly. Elena had to hand it to her, she looked scary for once, and now she started to see how she could have put up with Katherine. "He's obsessive, and controlling, and physically abusive."

Damon and Stefan's expressions both turned rather dark. Elena, and now after the beach everyone but Caroline, knew why. Damon began to walk away, Elena hoped not to cause a huge fight, muttering, "Let me go poison his plate."

With a slightly suspicious and worried look, Matt followed him.

"I won't let anything happen to you," Stefan told Caroline so softly that Elena felt guilty for even being there to witness it.

Caroline only barely managed a smile and nod. "It's fine. Katherine needs him to be here if- if he knows what he does."

"You're a good friend," Elena said sympathetically, and Bonnie nodded.

With a sigh, Caroline told them. "I didn't use to be. We fought all the time over and over. When my Dads finally moved back to town things were a little easier with them at least, but it's hard to happy when your mom's a bitch at home, you know? She doesn't have any idea who I am."

Stefan was watching her with the sort of empathy that Elena had used to see when she was still desperately grieving her parents, so she pulled Bonnie away and let them talk alone. Bonnie looked at her watch and moaned, announcing that it was only 11pm. Elena groaned as well, wondering if they were even going to make it to midnight without mass murder. For the first time she had a boyfriend to kiss on New Year's and the whole thing was threatening to be a disaster.

While Bonnie and Elena helped set the table, Damon finished up cooking dinner, and Caroline roped Stefan into helping her with decorations. For whatever it was worth, Katherine kept Klaus at bay as she conversed with both of the brothers, a Jekyll and Hyde act going on whenever she turned from one to the other. This could only last so long, though, and finally they all sat for dinner together, hoping to be done by 11:30.

"So are you a Junior like Katherine?" Stefan asked Caroline, and Elena smiled to herself at him immediately trying to keep the peace by starting with her.

"Yes," Caroline replied, but her usual perky tone was much more subdued. "Ready to be done with school already. Luckily I've taken some summer classes so I'll be able to graduate a semester early."

Even Damon looked a little impressed. Elijah smiled at Caroline, maybe hoping to get back in her good graces, but the blonde ignored him.

"Going into broadcast journalism, of all things," Klaus added with a laugh. It wasn't kind.

Defensively, Stefan shot back, "Well if she's graduating early and pulled this party off, I think she'll be plenty organized for the job."

"What about you, Elena?" Elijah cut through diplomatically. "Bonnie?"

Elena hesitated. She hadn't really told anyone this out loud, too afraid that someone would say she wasn't smart enough or that she didn't have the discipline, but she answered, "I used to want to be a writer like my mom- but after everything that's happened in my life I think I want to be a doctor, like my father was before he passed."

Most of her friend's had various looks of surprise, and Damon squeezed her hand from beside her.

Bonnie answered next, saying, "I want to be a counselor. Something where I can really help people."

"Well you lot are boring," Klaus commented, rolling his eyes.

"And what do you want to be? Future prison inmate?" Damon snarked back with a smirk.

Klaus didn't seem to find it funny, especially when his brother couldn't quite hide a smile as well. "Politician, actually. Rule the world, and all that."

"Sounds about right," Matt muttered. Turning to Damon, he desperately asked, "Where's Alaric?"

Bitterly, Damon answered, "Off banging someone who's name I'm not allowed to disclose."

Matt's eyebrows raised, as did Stefan's, but Caroline seemed to gain some of her personality back as she told them all to finish dinner so they'd be done in time. Elijah and Katherine cleared the plates, off having a separate conversation, and Caroline pulled out the sparklers for everyone except Klaus, who seemed to find her hate for him amusing. It wasn't the same as Elena and Damon used to share, she noted. There was something predatory instead of insecurity underneath it all that made her uncomfortable, and she wished that Elijah hadn't come at all if it meant bringing Klaus with. They took a few pictures with the sparklers, made some funny faces, and Stefan stayed right by Caroline the entire time in a way that made it nearly impossible for Klaus to engage with her. It was sweet, Elena thought, and so completely Stefan.

It was about 11:45 when Klaus left after it became clear no one would let him kiss Caroline, leaving Elijah without a ride. Katherine asked him to stay, and Caroline generously offered her car instead so neither Katherine or Elijah would be seen together by their parents. Elijah accepted graciously, Katherine gave what Elena considered to be her only type of smile- her lips barely turned up at the ends- and Stefan glanced at the blonde with his own appreciative look.

By the time it was 11:55 and they all had drinks in hand, it was clear who was kissing who. Damon was watching Elena fondly and she was smiling back herself. After years and years of playing cat and mouse they had finally reached this point- finally reached the beginning of a year where they would be officially together.

"Are you ready for this, Gilbert?" Damon asked her, smirking.

"Just as ready as you are, Salvatore," Elena laughed back, glancing at the countdown on the TV. "Can you believe it's our first New Year's together?"

"After everything?" Damon asked with a grin. "Yes. But I wouldn't wish for anything different. Well mostly." He gave her a wink.

She knew what he meant. All the people they had lost that had forced them to grow more and more, all the ups and downs that they themselves had caused for each other. "I love you, Damon."

His eyes became soft as they watched her, and he also replied, "I love you too."

And then the countdown ended and they were kissing deeply, kissing almost better than they had ever before, and Elena didn't bother stopping just because other people were in the room until Bonnie was coughing loudly and snapping, "Don't you Salvatore boys have any decency?"

Elena pulled away quickly then, surprised to see that Stefan and Caroline had still been kissing as well. She shot him a teasing wink that made him roll his eyes, but she noticed he was trying very hard not to blush as Caroline grinned proudly herself. Katherine and Elijah were holding hands, but unlike the other couples they looked much more serious and grim. It wasn't fair, Elena thought, that Katherine had to keep her relationship secret just because of one mistake. And it sure as hell was hypocritical that their birth mother had made Katherine do what she hadn't done herself. Elena sent her a smile that Katherine ignored but Elijah modestly sent back.

Back to being more bouncy than Elena had ever seen her, Caroline called for cake and more champagne, and with happiness floating through her Elena complied with Damon in tow.