The Celestial Accord

Chapter 9 A Future Together

Damon immediately moved to her side, taking her trembling hands that she was looking at into his now warm ones. “Hey, look at me”. His voice drops, that vulnerability bleeding through again. “We didn’t f**k anything up. We just…. Evolved it…”Damon immediately moved to her side, taking her trembling hands that she was looking at into his now warm ones. “Hey, look at me.” His voice drops, that vulnerability bleeding through again. “We didn’t f**k anything up. We just. Evolved it; we were clearly meant to be, or it wouldn’t have happened”.

Stefan ends the room-service transaction and turns back, his expression thoughtful. “Bonnie said the protection spell should actually be stronger now. Your essence changed, which means Klaus’s tracking methods won't work the same way. It's like you’ve become a moving target.”

Damon’s thumb traces circles on her palm. “The spell adapts to you, and you just became something new. That’s not a weakness, Evie. That’s armor...armor we need right now, actually.” He motions to the food that was set up on the table and says, “Now come, let's eat and regain that strength of yours. You will need it for what Bonnie has in mind, I’m sure." He says with a slight grin. We'll figure out the rest with Bonnie later.

Then Stefan realizes something about the bonding. “Do you think that this is what Klaus wanted: that this bonding would allow for you both to have children?” Damon drops his fork to the plate and takes a deep breath, thinking about that possibility.

The fork clatters against the plate. The sound echoes in the sudden silence. Damon’s voice drops to a dangerously quiet tone as he repeats, “Children." He stands abruptly, running a hand through his dark hair. His newly warm body tenses with the weight of that realization. “Klaus doesn’t just want your blood for hybrids. He wants..”

He turns to Stefan, eyes blazing, as Stefan finishes, “A bloodline. Hybrid children with cosmic energy in their veins. That’s why he's been so obsessed with you, Evie. You’re not just prey-you’re a breeding ground for his army.”

She looks at both of the men staring at her with anger in their eyes like they could rip Klaus apart, and she confirms what they are suggesting. “I didn’t know about the bonding, but I knew about his obsession, that he wanted my children to have my children, that I knew. He had made that clear when he tried to seduce me, and I fled.”

Damon’s jaw clenched, fists balling at his side, his voice turning lethal: “Over my dead body, and I mean that literally now." Evie stands up and says, “No, that can't happen now... Now we're bonded. You are as important as I am now. I need you. But what he’s asking and thinking about... I think, honey, is that we, you and I could”

Damon freezes mid-motion, the implication hanging in the air between the two of them. His dark eyes lock onto hers with sudden, raw intensity. His oice, barely a whisper. “You mean...we could actually have children." "Together?”

He sits back down slowly, as the weight of that possibility has physically struck him. As Stefan moves towards the doorway again and says, The bonding created a biological bridge. “You’re no longer purely vampire; Evie’s no longer purely human. Theoretically, yeah. "

Damon reaches for her hand again, his grip firm but trembling slightly. “A future, an actual future with you? His voice cracks with emotion he rarely lets surface-hope mixed with terror. A family... a real family”, he thinks to himself. That is all he ever wanted growing up and now. “That changes everything.” She looks up at him and back down to their joined hands and asks, “Is that something you would want? You understand they would be hybrid children, not humans?”

Damon’s hand tightens around hers. He leans forward, his newly warm forehead nearly touching hers as he smiles and says, “Hybrid children with your cosmic blood and my strength? With you as their mother?” He pulls back slightly, studying her face with an intensity that feels almost reverent.

“I spent one-hundred and sixty-eight years thinking I'd never have this. Never have someone I'd die for. Never have a reason to build something instead of destroying it.” Stefan clears his throat awkwardly from across the room, giving them space, but letting them remember he's there.

Damon looks deep into her eyes and says, “You’re asking if I'd want hybrid children? Yes! I’d want children. In any form, with you.” Evie looks back just as deeply into his eyes as he is hers and sees nothing but the truth there, and a single tear slides down her cheek, overwhelmed by the intense emotions.

Neither of them knows, but that possibility is already a certainty, and they will be parents sooner than they think, for the cosmos has bigger plans for them than they could ever imagine.

Damon reaches up with his thumb, catching the tear before it falls. His touch is impossibly gentle for someone so dangerous. His voice is thick with emotion as he says, “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” He pulls her against his chest, his newly strong heartbeat steady against her ear. For the first time in over a century, that heartbeat is real-human, and vampire merged into something entirely new.

Stefan quietly excuses himself to join Elena in the other room, closing the bedroom door behind him to give them both privacy. Damon whispered into her hair, “Whatever comes next, we face it together. Klaus, the magic, everything. I’m not letting you go...ever.”

His arms wrap around her protectively, possessively-a vampire claiming his mate, a man claiming his future. After they finished their meal, Evie suddenly felt very tired, so she lay down and took a nap while Stefan and Damon met up with Bonnie and Elena in Stefan’s room.

Damon said to the group, “While we're here, I think we should get married. Do you think she will want that?” he asked his brother. Stefan’s eyebrows shot up. He set down his drink, studying his brother with careful consideration. “Marriage? Damon, you’ve known her for what-a few days?

Bonnie looks up from her grimoire, her expression thoughtful as she smiles at Stefan, then addresses Damon: “The bonding changed everything, though. You’re literally connected now.” Elena sits on the edge of the couch, a soft smile crossing her face as she studies Damon thoroughly and says, “He’s serious. I can tell by his face.”

Damon runs a hand through his hair, frustration and vulnerability warring in his expression. “I know how it sounds. And how I am never serious about anything, not really. But I’ve had one-hundred and sixty-eight years to figure out what I want, and I want her. Permanently. Legally. Everything. For as long as I can.”

Stefan leans back, considering. “Then ask her when she wakes up; I know she would want that too. I can see it in her eyes. She loves you." Damon smirks and says, “Yeah, she does. I am going to. God, I’m so lucky I got to meet her. I need Lexi. I can't get married without my bestie. I know you think this is crazy, brother, but I have never been more sure of anything in my life, or my death for that matter.” He chuckles.

Stefan’s expression softens immediately. He pulls out his phone. “Call her. Lexi would want to be here for this, as he hands his phone to Damon, Bonnie closes her grimoire, a knowing smile on her face. She’s in New Orleans with Caroline, protecting the perimeter. But she’ll come. For you.”

Damon’s fingers hover over his phone, then he dials. The line rings twice before he says, “Lexi?” Lexi’s voice cuts through, surprised to hear his voice on Stefan’s phone. She asks, “Damon? What's wrong? She continues, “I’m coming. I just ran into some things here, but I’ll be there, I promise, soon.”

Damon switches the phone to his other ear and walks away from the group and says, “Nothing's wrong. Everything’s actually...right for once. I need my best friend. I’m getting married...well, if she says yes in a few minutes, that is.” He chuckles at that last part.

There’s a beat of stunned silence on the other end. Then an excited shriek audible even through the phone: “YOU’RE WHAT???” Damon laughs at her reaction, nothing less than he expected, as he responds, “Yes, I feel I have found it. The other half of me, and I cant let her go. I need you here when I propose Lexi. She would want you here too”.

Lexis voice comes through the phone, breathless with excitement. “Oh my God, Damon! Yes! I’m leaving right now. Caroline can handle things here. This is huge!! Where is Evie?” She asks, excited to see how hes going to do this. He answers: “She’s napping. Its all been very hard on her, very stressful”

Damon’s face breaks into a genuine smile-rare and unguarded-as he looks over at the group and says, “I need a ring. Something that says you’re mine forever, and I’m terrified of losing you, but make it elegant, simple but precious..”

Stefan chuckles from across the room: “That’s very specific. There’s a jewelry store downtown. We could go now while she's still sleeping.” Elena nods enthusiastically, and we need to figure out the details. “Where? When? Vegas has lots of chapels, or do you want something more intimate?” She asks, invested now.

Damon stands, energy crackling through him-nervous, excited, alive in a way he hasn’t been in centuries. “Tonight I want to marry her tonight,” Elena giggles: “Well see if we can make that happen. So Vegas chapel, but elegant or silly, is the question,” she asks while she laughs and Damon gives her the side eye and says, “Really”

Damon’s expression is pure deadpan, though his eyes glint with amusement as he says, “Really? You’re asking me if I want to get married in some tacky Vegas chapel with an Elvis impersonator? He leans against the wall, arms crossed.

“Evelyn Hayes, the love of my life. Deserves better than that. She deserves elegant. Classy. Something that says I’m dangerous and obsessed with you but in a refined way." Stefan smirks from his seat as he says, “There's a boutique hotel with a private chapel. Rooftop garden overlooking the strip. We used to part there years ago. We could have it ready by tonight; I know the owners”.

Damon nods approvingly. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. Lexi will handle the flowers. Elena, you’re on the dress. Bonnie: He turns to the witch. Can you make sure the magic holds? I don’t want Klaus crashing my wedding, or anyone else for that matter…”

She smiles and says, “No problem, we got this. I'll put the city on a cloaking spell, good for 24 hours. But we will need to be gone for at least 15 days for her to figure it out after a while. Due to the absence of anything, his witches will see it.”

Bonnie’s fingers begin to glow with amber light as she traces symbols in the air. “Fifteen hours. That’s enough time for a ceremony, a celebration, and a clean exit. After that, we move to the safe house in the mountains.”

Elena stands, already mentally planning. “I’ll call the hotel now. They owe us a favor from last time. Private chapel, sunset ceremony, minimal staff. Stefan checks his watch and says, It’s three in the afternoon. That gives us twelve hours to prepare. Lexi will be here in four.”

Damon’s jaw tightens with anticipation and something deeper-fear masked by determination-when he says, “When she wakes up, I’m asking her. No waiting.”

What the group doesn’t know is Evie is already changing, and the babies inside have grown to 1 week's worth of growth in less than 24 hrs, which means if it continues at this rate she will give birth in 40 days instead of 40 weeks.

Stefan ends the room service transaction and turns back, his expression thoughtful. “Bonnie said the protection spell should actually be stronger now. Your essence changed, which means Klaus’s tracking methods won't work the same way. It’s like you’ve become a moving target”.

Damon’s thumb traces circles on her palm. “The spell adapts to you, and you just became something new. That’s not a weakness, Evie. That’s armor...armor we need right now, actually.” He motions to the food that was set up on the table and says, “Now come, let’s eat regain that strength of yours. You will need it for what Bonnie has in mind, I’m sure." He says with a slight grin. “We’ll figure out the rest with Bonnie later.”

Then Stefan realizes something about the bonding. “Do you think that this is what Klaus wanted: that this bonding would allow for you both to have children?” Damon drops his fork to the plate and takes a deep breath thinking about that possibility.

The fork clatters against the plate. The sound echoes in the sudden silence. Damon’s voice drops to a dangerously quiet tone as he repeats “Children." He stands abruptly, running a hand through his dark hair. His newly warm body tenses with the weight of that realization. “Klaus doesn’t just want your blood for hybrids. He wants..”

He turns to Stefan, eyes blazing, as Stefan finishes “A bloodline. Hybrid children with cosmic energy in their veins. That’s why he’s been so obsessed with you, Evie. You’re not just prey-you’re a breeding ground for his army.

She looks at both of the men staring at her with anger in their eyes like they could rip Klaus apart, and she confirms what they are suggesting. “I didn’t know about the bonding, but I knew about his obsession, that he wanted my children to have my children, that I knew. He had made that clear when he tried to seduce me and I fled”.

Damon’s jaw clenched, fists balling at his side, his voice turning lethal: “Over my dead body, and I mean that literally now." Evie stands up and says, “No, that can’t happen now... Now we’re bonded. You are as important as I am now. I need you. But what he’s asking and thinking about... I think honey is that we, you and I could…”

Damon freezes mid-motion, the implication hanging in the air between the both of them. His dark eyes lock onto hers with sudden, raw intensity. His voice, barely a whisper. “You mean...we could actually have children." "Together?”

He sits back down slowly, like the weight of that possibility has physically struck him. As Stefan moves towards the doorway again and says, “The bonding created a biological bridge. You’re no longer purely vampire, Evie’s no longer purely human. Theoretically…” “Yeah.”

Damon reaches for her hand again, his grip firm but trembling slightly. “A future, an actual future with you?” his voice cracks with emotion he rarely lets surface-hope mixed with terror. A family... a real family, he thinks to himself that is all he ever wanted growing up and now…

“That changes everything.” She looks up at him and back down to their joined hands and asks, “Is that something you would want? You understand they would be hybrid children, not humans?”

Damon’s hand tightens around hers. He leans forward, his newly warm forehead nearly touching hers as he smiles and says, “Hybrid children with your cosmic blood and my strength? With you as their mother?” He pulls back slightly, studying her face with an intensity that feels almost reverent.

“I spent one-hundred and sixty-eight years thinking I’d never have this. Never have someone I’d die for. Never have a reason to build something instead of destroying it.” Stefan clears his throat awkwardly from across the room, giving them space, but letting them remember he’s there.

Damon looks deep into her eyes and says, “You’re asking if I’d want hybrid children? I’d want your children. In any form. With you. Evie looks back just as deeply into his eyes as he is hers and sees nothing but the truth there and a single tear slides down her cheek, overwhelmed by the intense emotions.

Neither of them knows, but that possibility is already a certainty, and they will be parents sooner than they think, for the cosmos has bigger plans for them than they could ever imagine.

Damon reaches up with his thumb, catching the tear before it falls. His touch is impossibly gentle for someone so dangerous. His voice thick with emotion as he says, “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry”. He pulls her against his chest, his newly strong heartbeat steady against her ear. For the first time in over a century, that heartbeat is real-human and vampire merged into something entirely new.

Stefan quietly excuses himself to join Elena in the other room, closing the bedroom door behind him to give them both privacy. Damon whispered into her hair, “Whatever comes next, we face it together. Klaus, the magic, everything. I’m not letting you go...ever”.

His arms wrap around her protectively, possessively-a vampire claiming his mate, a man claiming his future. After they finished their meal, Evie suddenly felt very tired, so she lays down and took a nap while Stefan and Damon met up with Bonnie and Elena in Stefan’s room.

Damon said to the group, “While we’re here, I think we should get married. Do you think she will want that ?” he asked his brother. Stefan’s eyebrows shoot up. He sets down his drink, studying his brother with careful consideration. “Marriage? Damon, you’ve known her for what-a few weeks?

Bonnie looks up from her grimoire, her expression thoughtful as she smiles at Stefan, then addresses Damon: “The bonding changed everything though. You’re literally connected now”. Elena sits on the edge of the couch, a soft smile crossing her face as she studies Damon thoroughly and says, “He’s serious. I can tell by his face”.

Damon runs a hand through his hair, frustration and vulnerability warring in is expression. “I know how it sounds. And how I am never serious about anything, not really. But I’ve had one-hundred and sixty-eight years to figure out what I want, and I want her. Permanently. Legally. Everything. For as long as I can.

Stefan leans back, considering. “Then ask her when she wakes up, I know she would want that too I can see it in her eyes. She loves you." Damon smirks and says, “Yeah, she does. I am going to. God, I’m so lucky I got to meet her. I need Lexi. I can’t get married without my beastie. I know you think this is crazy brother, but I have never been more sure of anything in my life… Or my death for that matter”. He chuckles.

Stefan’s expression softens immediately. He pulls out his phone. “Call her. Lexi would want to be here for this”, as he hands his phone to Damon, Bonnie closes her grimoire, a knowing smile on her face. “She’s in New Orleans with Caroline, protecting the perimeter. But she’ll come. For you”.

Damon’s fingers hover over his phone, then he dials. The line rings twice before he says, “Lexi?” Lexi’s voice cuts through, surprised to hear his voice on Stefan’s phone. She asks, “Damon? What’s wrong?”.

Damon switches the phone to his other ear and walks away from the group and says, “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s actually...right for once. I need my best friend. I’m getting married...well if she says yes in a few minutes, that is.” He chuckles at that last part.

There’s a beat of stunned silence on the other end. Then an excited shriek audible even through the phone: “YOU’RE WHAT???” Damon laughs at her reaction, nothing less than he expected, as he responds, “Yes, I feel I have found it. The other half of me, and I can’t let her go. I need you here when I propose Lexi. She would want you here too”.

Lexi’s voice comes through the phone, breathless with excitement. “Oh my God, Damon! Yes! I’m leaving right now. Caroline can handle things here. This is huge!! Where is Evie?” She asks, excited to see how he’s going to do this. He answers: “She’s napping. It’s all been very hard on her, very stressful’

Damon’s face breaks into a genuine smile-rare and unguarded-as he looks over at the group and says, “I need a ring. Something that says you’re mine forever, and I’m terrified of losing you, but make it elegant, simple but precious.”.

Stefan chuckles from across the room: “That’s very specific. There’s a jewelry store downtown. We could go now while she’s still sleeping”. Elena nods enthusiastically “and we need to figure out the details. Where? When? Vegas has lots of chapels or do you want something more intimate?” She asks invested now.

Damon stands, energy crackling through him-nervous, excited, alive in a way he hasn’t been in centuries. “Tonight" I want to marry her tonight,” Elena giggles: “We’ll see if we can make that happen. So Vegas chapel, but elegant or silly, is the question,” she asks while she laughs and Damon gives her the side eye and says, “Really…”

Damon’s expression is pure deadpan, though his eyes glint with amusement as he says again “Really? You’re asking me if I want to get married in some tacky Vegas chapel with an Elvis impersonator?” He leans against the wall, arms crossed.

“Evelyn Hayes the love of my life. Deserves better than that. She deserves elegant. Classy. Something that says I’m dangerous and obsessed with you but in a refined way." Stefan smirks from his seat as he says, “There's a boutique hotel with a private chapel. Rooftop garden overlooking the strip. We used to part there years ago. We could have it ready by tonight, I know the owners”.

Damon nods approvingly. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. Lexi will handle the flowers. Elena, you’re on the dress. Bonnie:” He turns to the witch. “Can you make sure the magic holds? I don’t want Klaus crashing my wedding, or anyone else for that matter’..

She smiles and says, “No problem, we got this. I’ll put the city on a cloaking spell, good for 24 hours. But we will need to be gone in at least 15 days for her to figure it out after a while. Due to the absence of anything, his witches will see it”.

Bonnie’s fingers begin to glow with amber light as she traces symbols in the air. “Fifteen hours. That’s enough time for a ceremony, a celebration, and a clean exit. After that, we move to the safe house in the mountains”.

Elena stands, already mentally planning. “I’ll call the hotel now. They owe us a favor from last time. Private chapel, sunset ceremony, minimal staff”. Stefan checks his watch and says, “It’s three in the afternoon. That gives us twelve hours to prepare. Lexi will be here in four”.

Damon’s jaw tightens with anticipation and something deeper-fear masked by determination-when he says, “When she wakes up, I’m asking her. No more waiting.

What the group doesn’t know is Evie is already changing, and the babies inside have grown to 1 week's worth of growth in less than 24 hrs, which means if it continues at this rate she will give birth in 40 days instead of 40 weeks.