1.

Elena Salvatore took her diary and opened it. Hmm, the last entry, how appropriate. This diary had experienced her tears, her rage, her grief. Elena didn't know when, if ever, she would want to read these pages again, maybe someday. When this pain would be completely gone.

Today she would begin a new phase, she would let Damon go. Their love, it had been wild, wonderful so perfect, and she had two lovely daughters to remind her of it, but now a new time would begin, a time when she would love again, a time when she would smile. She was moving, to another town, away from mystic falls. She picked up a pen and began to write.

Good diary, today I smile and I'm believable. My smile says, I'm fine, thank you. Yes, I feel much better. I am no longer a sad widow who lost the love of her life.

I'm starting over, brand new. I'm letting Damon go and starting a new life, learning to love and be with another again, to be happy. I have to, if only for my girls. Yes, I'll tell them about Damon, every day, and my longing will never diminish.

But I need this and more importantly, the girls need this. For the last four years I have been in recovery, I have become a doctor, a mother, and a widow. A role I never wanted. Today begins a new era.

Elena closed her diary, took it to one of her moving boxes, and sighed. It was almost time, but she would have to visit Damon one last time, one last time before her new life began. She knew this was how she was supposed to be, Jack had come into her life and he had supported Elena, through this darkest of times.

When she had been alone and pregnant, Jack had been there for her, standing by her, helping to raise her girls and all her friends and acquaintances had supported her too. Damon's shooter was never found, and there weren't even any suspects, but Elena had heard rumors that a certain Rebekah Michaelson had found out something, and had done something to some gang members.

Revenge on Damon. But that didn't bring him back and Elena knew that without Jack's support, she wouldn't have lasted, no way.

But now it was time for her to move on with her life. Open a practice elsewhere, raise her girls in a safe environment, and start loving. To have that wonderful feeling again. The burning emptiness that Damon's brutal death had left inside her had begun to ease ever so slowly.

How unfair and cruel life can be. How she hadn't had time to tell Damon he was going to be a father. She had replayed it over and over in her head so many times, whether it would have made any difference. But when you can't change the past, you just have to move on.

Elena knew that the moving company would come and pick up the boxes, so she grabbed her bag, got in her car, and drove off. The route was painfully familiar and she had almost lived here at first, sitting and crying, writing in her diary so that her tears had dripped into it and smeared her writing.

Elena parked her car, picked up her bag, and walked along the quiet cemetery. She went to Stefan's grave first, left a bouquet of flowers there, and said,

" Oh, you still take care of me, don't you, at least it looks like it. But now I'm ready to move on, to smile in a way that's believable. "

She remembered wistfully their time together and she remembered Stefan's farewell too. She knew that Stefan and Damon were at peace, together and that was good. Elena sighed and touched the plaque once more, then continued on her way. A familiar route.

She arrived at Damon's grave. Someone had brought fresh flowers, probably Caroline or Bonnie. Bonnie had helped him pack and entertained the girls. They loved Aunt Bonnie. They thought she was the coolest aunt there was. Bonnie had helped and helped a lot.

She went to sit on the grave and said,

"I know you understand and accept this. It's time for me to really think about the girls now, they are starting school and they better start somewhere new so that everyone doesn't look at them and know what they lost, what I lost. I miss you so incredibly every day, and the longing hasn't gone anywhere. And it never will. But you gave me the greatest gift you could ever give. Our daughters. And I see you in them every day. Daniella's eyes, they're yours. And Stephanie's attitude, she gets that from you. I don't see much of myself in them, to tell you the truth, and all our friends, yes, they see you too. "

Elena sighed and thought for a moment.

She dug out Damon's favorite bottle of drink and put it on the grave. She continued,

"I'm letting you go, I'll always remember you and maybe we'll meet again someday, but I have to be able to move on and learn to love. And you weren't nearly as selfish as you were at first. You were as perfectly imperfect as you could be and can be but you were mine and our love was wild, fun, and fierce. And now it's time for me to move on. I don't know when I'll be here, maybe someday and I'll tell the girls about you every day. Everyone has told them. You're not forgotten. You're a legend and your legend will live on, every day. Caroline will see to that, no doubt. "

Elena stood up.

She touched the cold stone. She wished it was Damon. She did and had for many years. This was hard, much harder than she would have thought, but she did it.

She took the ring Damon gave her, their wedding ring, and put it on the grave, she buried it and said,

"I have to move on, you understand and I know you would have wanted it. You loved and cared for me much more than I would have thought in the beginning."

She also took the pendant from around her neck that Stefan had originally given her, to keep Damon out of her mind, but that pendant let Damon into her heart and now it was time to let go.

She laid the pendant on the headstone. She heard footsteps approaching and soon Jack was there. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and hugged her.

Jack said,

"Are you getting ready? The girls are already waiting in the car, they are so incredibly excited about the new house and maybe the puppy to come. Come on darling, we have a long drive. "

Elena sighed and took one last look at the headstone.

She turned around and looked into those familiar eyes, kissed Jack, and said,

"I'm ready, we can go."

Jack looked at her and said,

" Elena, when you accepted my proposal, my life was brightened, you are so perfect, and I was feeling epic. We choose our path, our values, and our actions, they define who we are. And you Elena Salvatore are the light of my life. I told you you won't be sad forever, remember? We'll have our epic wedding and a honeymoon you won't forget. I promise. "

They turned and walked together to the car. Elena sighed and thought to herself that yes, fate is just an exciting thing. Bonnie had worked her magic and found the last hidden Doppelganger, Stefan's Doppelganger, Jack. Jack had changed his last name to Salvatore and proposed to her. That's how it always was, doppelgangers ended up together.

They went out to the car and Daniella said,

"Daddy, is it a long drive?"

Jack smiled and said,

" Yes, it is, but we'll stop every now and then for a bite to eat and a walk."

He got behind the wheel, watched as Elena sat next to him, and fastened her seatbelt.

The black raven watched from a tree as the car drove away. He tilted his head and flew over the headstone. He had watched and heard everything and he had understood. He took the pendant that had been left, in his beak and flew away, leaving one big black feather in its place.