CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | RESCUE ME

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SINCE EVELYN BECAME A VAMPIRE, CELEBRATING HER BIRTHDAY BECAME SUCH A TRIVIAL EVENT. When she was mortal, it was more of a celebration of her life and her future plans, but since she became a vampire it felt pointless. She remembered her mother's voice was vividly saying how she could cherish every birthday because she didn't know how many she would get— little did she know, Evelyn would get countless birthdays.

The brunette vampire wandered back into her bedroom, a towel wrapped around her body while she rubbed her wet locks with a hand towel while Damon smiled up at her. "Good morning to you, too. You know, if you woke me, I'd have joined you in the shower."

"And that's precisely why I didn't wake you, Damon. I wanted to wash, not have sex," Evelyn smirked toward her boyfriend, then wandered over to her closet while she glanced at Damon's reflection in the long mirror beside her. 

Damon grumbled under his breath, then pouted. "God, you really are a spoil-sport, aren't you?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes as she glanced between him, and her closet. "Are you gonna stay wrapped up in those silk sheets all day?"

"Are you complaining?" Damon raised a brow and spoke in a playful tone. "Because if I didn't know any better, Miss Austin, I'd say you were complaining."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Salvatore." The brunette vampire chuckled softly. She pulled out a pair of jeans and a crop top but immediately heard a tut leave Damon's lips. 

"No. No, not that outfit. Put it back." Damon immediately spoke as he watched her eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"What're you talking about? What's wrong with this outfit."

"It's all wrong for the vibe that I'm goin' with today." The Salvatore lifted himself out of the bed and wandered in front of his girlfriend. Evelyn resisted the urge to let her eyes glance over his perfectly carved body as he stood bare in front of her. "I promised you a date, right? So, dress up."

"Today?" Evelyn echoed as she watched him nod. "Damon, we can't just go on a date, what about—"

"—What about nothing, Evelyn. It's your birthday." He stated bluntly while the girl's eyebrows knitted together in complete and utter confusion. "Huh, you'd think I'd forgotten about your birthday."

"No, no. It was just that I'd almost forgotten about it."

"Well, no. I have lots planned for today. So, as I said before—" Damon twirled the brunette back around to face her closet before he smacked her bum gently. "Get ready."

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Once Evelyn had gotten ready for the date as requested by Damon, she headed downstairs to find that he was absolutely nowhere in the house. During her search throughout the dozens of rooms, she received a text telling her to meet him on the edge of town underneath a large oak tree just a little before the border of Mystic Falls itself.

Once she approached, her eyes widened. She saw Damon sat underneath the tree with a picnic basket beside him and a smirk across his face. "You came."

"Well, I couldn't just leave you hanging, could I?" Evelyn chuckled softly as she wandered over to the vampire. As she sat down beside him on the light-blue picnic blanket, she pressed her lips softly against his. "So, a picnic, huh? How very Damon Salvatore of you."

"Actually, as much as I'd love to take the credit for this, it was Caroline's idea. In fact, she helped me plan the entire thing." Damon wriggled his eyebrows and then lunged toward the picnic basket. "For you." He pulled out a flask that could only contain one of two things— blood, or booze.

Evelyn thankfully took the flask from Damon's grasp, flipped the lid, and sniffed the contents. "Mm. B positive, my favorite."

Damon grinned to himself almost as if he were praising himself for getting her favorite blood type correct. He wanted everything to be perfect— every little thing. "So, indulge me, Miss Austin, why would you think I'd forget your birthday?"

"It's just a birthday, isn't it?" The brunette vampire shrugged simply as she watched his brows knit together. "I mean, I've had countless since I was human and they've all felt the same."

"What'd you mean?" Damon pressed again. 

"They've felt pointless. Birthdays are to celebrate the years you've been alive. To celebrate life. It feels kind of redundant when I live forever, you know?" Evelyn glanced at Damon, who nodded understandingly. "I mean, after a while, you just forget and keep living."

"It's not even just that, is it?" The Salvatore glanced back up to her as he watched her eyes drift to the ground. "You miss your family, don't you?"

The Austin vampire nodded. Even as kids, Damon remembered how much of a celebration Evelyn's parents had devised for her birthday. Understandably, her birthday was a reminder that she outlived them. "It hurts a little more, yeah."

"You will always have a family. You know that, don't you?" Damon lifted his hand up toward the brunette's cheek and let his thumb dance across her skin. "I guess, in a way, they live on through you— the most beautifully, imperfect woman I know."

Within a few moments, the clouds above began to darken as a loud thunder rippled through the sky. Evelyn and Damon's eyes widened fearfully as the clouds above them threatened to rain, but eventually, the fear turned in a chuckle.

"This is just our luck, right?" Evelyn chuckled softly, she glanced up to the sky as a large droplet of rain fell onto her face. As she lifted her hand up and wiped the water away, she turned back to Damon. "So, as much as I was really enjoying this, I think maybe we should get going."

"Whatever you want, baby." Damon nodded with a smile.

Evelyn pushed herself up from the ground as the rain started to pour harder. All she was concentrated on was getting in Damon's Camero, which was parked just behind them, and get back into the warmth.

"Evelyn," Damon called out to the brunette. As she turned back around to face the Salvatore, he was down on one knee in front of her. The look of surprise on Evelyn's face only caused the smirk on his to grow. "Evelyn Austin—"

"—Oh, my God." Evelyn's mouth gaped open. She felt her heart thump harder inside of her chest. At this point, she wasn't even concerned about the rain the ripped down from the sky and the thunder that struck all around them. All she cared about was the man she loved, down on one knee in front of her.

"Evelyn Austin, the day you walked into my life, we were nothing but children, but I swear to you it was the best day of my life. Granted, I didn't fully understand my feelings for you back then but believe me, baby, I do now. You are the single-most-important woman that has ever walked into my life. You've kept me grounded. You've kept me sane. You've given me the strength to fight. You've given me a place to call home— because you are my home. Everything that you are, is everything that I need, and the day that you died, I was aimlessly searching for versions of you, but nothing worked. Nothing fit my heart the way that you did. And, when you came back I was so blind. I wasted so much time being afraid of loving you. So scared that I would lose you again. But, I don't want to waste another second. So, Evelyn Austin, will you marry me?"

Damon remained on bended knee in front of Evelyn as the rain poured down on top of them both. They were soaked but utterly drenched by love. Endless, passionate love that consumed them.

"Yes!" Evelyn gasped out immediately without a single second of hesitation. "Of course I'll marry you!" The Austin vampire ran straight into his arms and crashed her lips against his. Both her arms wrapped around Damon's neck, while his hands clasped against her cheeks.

After a few moments, Damon pulled away and rested his forehead against Evelyn's. "So, best birthday ever, or?"

"Best birthday ever." Evelyn beamed brightly as their lips pressed against each other once more.

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As the newly engaged couple pulled out just outside the Salvatore House, Evelyn's eyebrows furrowed at the distinct sound of music blaring from the house. "What's going on?" She immediately asked Damon with an inquisitive look in her eyes.

The Salvatore smirked, turned off the engine, and wriggled his eyebrows to Evelyn. "Have a look yourself, birthday girl."

The Austin vampire jumped out of Damon's car and headed right up to the front door of the Salvatore House. She pushed it open and the first thing was dozens of people inside the house while music blared through her ears. She glanced at Damon, who smirked, then pulled her inside the house.

"She's here!" Caroline yelled out immediately. She dropped what she was doing and hurried over to the engaged couple with Elena and Bonnie at her side.

"Happy birthday!" The three teenagers smiled warmly toward Evelyn as they pulled her in for a hug. It was genuinely the first time that Evelyn felt like she was one of them.

"Yo, Care-bear," Damon called out to the blonde vampire in a raised voice. "Where's my brother?"

"Upstairs," Elena answered for the benefit of Caroline, who was too indulged with her best friend's entrance. The doppelganger's eyes then returned back to Evelyn, who was showing off her engagement ring. "Oh, my God. Damon proposed? Wow, congratulations!"

Evelyn chuckled awkwardly in return to Elena. She was worried about how Elena would react, given she was in love with Damon at one point in her life. "Hey, Elena, I—

"No, I mean it, Eve. Congratulations." The doppelganger pulled Evelyn in for a hug while Bonnie and Caroline exchanged looks. "I'm actually really happy for you both. You deserve to be happy, and Damon deserves to be with someone as great as you."

"Okay, well if that's all over, can we grab a drink?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow to her friends. "Because I am painfully sober."

"Yeah, let's get a drink," Elena suggested toward the Bennett girl, and the two headed off amongst the crowd in an attempt to find some booze.

The Austin vampire turned her attention to Caroline and smirked. "So, apparently I have you to thank for today."

"Ugh. He told you?" Caroline exasperatedly sighed. "God, Damon cannot keep a secret, can he?"

"He and I are trying this whole honesty-thing since the whole Ripper-Virus situation. So, I guess he felt like he should've said something, I don't really know." Evelyn shrugged, then grabbed her best friend by the hands and smiled. "But, thank you for helping him, Care. It means a lot to me, you know that, right?"

"Of course. I wanted you to have an amazing birthday, and if that means working with the Devil himself to make you happy, you know I'd do it." The Forbes girl wriggled her eyebrows suggestively toward Evelyn while they both chuckled. "I love you, and I hope you've had an amazing birthday."

"I have." Evelyn nodded. "But, I just need to ask you one more thing."

"Anything."

"I need your help to find the perfect dress."

"Oh, my God. I thought you'd never ask!" Caroline squealed excitedly as the brunette vampire chuckled. "Right, okay. I have so many ideas and—"

"—Woah, woah, woah. Slow down, there." Evelyn interrupted Caroline's wedding dress monologue. "I didn't mean right now, Care. Right now, all I wanna do is celebrate my birthday and get drunk with my friends. Can you do that?"

"Absolutely."

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