An Eternal Christmas
Chapter 1: Oneshot
I'm back! I told you guys I would be back with an Eternal spin off and here I am. I decided that before I came home from university for the holidays I would get a holiday chapter up for you guys. I really hope that you enjoyed Eternal, I know that I really enjoyed writing it. It's a storyline that you don't find many completed versions of, so I hoped you liked reading it.
AN: This is going to be set after the pre-epilogue but before the post-epilogue, so Gracie is about four and a half years old.
The pitter-patter of tiny feet could be heard, only barely, walking across the old floorboards of the boarding house. The small brunette girl tip-toed down the hallway from her bedroom, to her parents' room. She opened the door, hoping to surprise them on Christmas morning. She traipsed across the floorboards, hoping that one wouldn't creak underneath her foot, and smiled brightly when she reached the foot of her parents' bed without making a sound. She climbed onto the bed slowly, stopping when her mother moved slightly. She moved again, and sighed when she realised that her father was laying there watching her every move.
"Daddy! I was supposed to surprise you and mommy!" Gracie Salvatore whispered, slightly annoyed her plan had been foiled.
"Gracie, you were very quiet, even with daddy's hearing he couldn't hear you until you opened the door." Stefan said, extending an arm in invitation. Gracie smiled and lay down, snuggling into her father's side.
"But I still didn't surprise mommy." The girl whispered.
Her father smirked, a cunning look crossing his face.
"I have the best idea, why don't you go and wake up uncle Damon and auntie Caroline, I am sure they will appreciate that at," he looked at his clock on the bedside table, "seven fifteen on Christmas morning." He suggested.
Gracie giggled before jumping off the bed and running out of the room, her plan to be quiet forgotten, it wasn't often she got the opportunity to wake up her uncle.
"That was mean." A voice muttered quietly beside Stefan.
He looked down to see his wife, Elena, half asleep and looking at him sleepily.
"That was payback." He replied, kissing her before getting out of the bed, putting on a pair of sweats and a shirt before walking out of the room to make breakfast.
As Stefan was about to put a pan full of bacon on the hob he heard the cry, that he knew was coming, sound through the house.
"Grace Salvatore!" Damon bellowed through the house.
Gracie ran though the kitchen door and straight into her fathers' arms, knowing he could shield her from the wrath of her uncle Damon. Soon enough he appeared in the kitchen, albeit he looked slightly disheveled. Caroline walked past Damon and into the kitchen, shooting Stefan a glare in the process.
"And what, dear brother, did I do to deserve that wake-up call?" Damon asked through his teeth, signalling in Gracie's direction with his hand.
"I told you that I would get you back for the rest of your life for that stunt you pulled at my bachelor party." Stefan told him, turning and setting Gracie down on the kitchen island behind him.
"What stunt?" Elena asked as she walked into the kitchen, wrapped in a robe and carrying unopened Christmas cards.
"Stunt? There wasn't one?" Damon said, glaring at his brother, daring him to say otherwise to Elena, who would be very angry with Damon.
Elena turned around with her hands on her hips to look at Damon, her look saying 'do I look like I was born yesterday?'. Damon raised his eyebrows and wiped the smirk from his face before he walked to take a seat at the table beside his wife.
"I didn't mean to annoy you uncle Damon, I just wanted to wake you up on Christmas." Gracie said innocently, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she had definitely learnt that look from her mother.
Damon smiled, he couldn't stay mad at his niece, no matter how much she annoyed him. He lifted her into his arms and put her onto his lap.
"It's okay, sweetie, why don't you go and wait in the living room for presents?" He suggested and she happily jumped from his lap, muttering to herself that she isn't glad her uncle isn't going to 'turn into the Grinch that stole Christmas'.
"The Grinch? Is your daughter serious?" Damon asked, pointing between Stefan and Elena.
"Well, you do have some green fluff growing right there." Elena joked, pointing towards Damon's chin before running from the kitchen. Stefan and Caroline were laughing as he took of from the kitchen in search of her.
"He's such a child." Caroline said as she picked up two plates from the counter, walking towards the living room with them. Stefan couldn't help but agree as he carried the remaining breakfast plates into the living room.
He stopped suddenly, nearly crashing to Caroline who was stood stock still in the doorway between the hallway and the drawing room. He looked up, not sure what he was expecting to see. He saw Damon and Elena, chasing each other around the living room, both of them using their Vampire speed to their advantage.
"Guys, come on, stop chasing each other." Stefan sighed as he walked further into the living room, Caroline walking tentatively behind him.
"Stefan's right guys, we need to open presents and start lunch before everyone arrives at one." Caroline said, passing a plate to Gracie.
Soon enough, breakfast was eaten and cutlery was discarded. As the youngest in the house, Gracie opened the first present. It was from her parents, it was a silver necklace that was encrusted with the same stones as her parents' daylight rings. She loved it and asked her mother to put it on for her. Next was her present from Caroline, she and Damon usually bought gifts together but this year he put his foot down, he needed to get her something and he wasn't telling anyone what it was.
"Thank you, aunt Caroline!" Gracie gushed as she looked appreciatively at the pleated pink dress that was laying over her lap. Caroline was constantly getting designer clothes for Gracie, it was difficult for Elena and Stefan to find a normal shirt or jacket that hadn't cost two hundred dollars to send her to school in. She has a wardrobe that every young girl wants.
Next was the dreaded gift from Damon, well it was dreaded by her parents, Gracie was extremely excited.
"We have to go through the garage to get your gift honey, I couldn't bring it into the house and if I tried your mom would kill me." Damon said, standing up and taking Gracie's hand without looking towards Stefan and Elena.
Stefan and Elena looked at each other before following the pair and Caroline into the garage and into the back garden. Before they even got there, they heard the squeal of their four-year-old daughter. They were not expecting the scene that was in front of them.
Damon was standing besides a still-squealing Gracie who was pointing at the chocolate brown Labrador puppy that was sitting in the back garden.
Elena was standing with her mouth hanging open, staring at the obscene gift that Damon had somehow purchased without any of them realising.
"Uh, Damon?" Stefan was the first one of them to form words.
"What Stefan?" Damon asked, handing Gracie a pink lead from a box of gear that was at his feet.
"At what point were you going to ask us about this?" He asked, using his index finger to point between Elena and himself.
"Well, I wasn't. That's the whole point of a Christmas gift, Stefan. Besides, she loves it." He replied cockily, pointing towards Gracie who was running a brush through the puppy's fur.
"Damon, she's four years old." Elena commented.
"Well, that is what my beautiful wife is for, she used to do have a dog and she has agreed to help Gracie." Damon told them.
Elena and Stefan then turned their glares to Caroline.
"You knew about this?" Elena asked her, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Of course, I did, you should have been how excited he was to get her for Gracie, and besides who do you think bought all of the gear? It's all pink, that should have told you." Caroline laughed, looking sweetly and laughing when Damon ducked his head.
"You'll help Gracie learn how to train her?" Stefan assured himself one more time.
"Of course, we all can, it's not that hard." Caroline said, reaching into the box of gear and pulling out another pile of multicoloured leads for the puppy.
"Okay then, now that's settled. Now remember Stefan, you may be on an animal diet but the puppy is not dinner, okay?" Damon mocked in a typical Damon fashion, wagging his finger about.
Elena's eyebrows nearly shot off her forehead in sheer disbelief that Damon had just said that.
"Daddy, you wouldn't, would you?" Gracie asked sternly, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows at her father sternly. That was another look she had gotten from Elena.
"No, honey, of course I won't." Stefan assured her, still shooting daggers at Damon, who was smirking besides Caroline, satisfied with his little joke.
"Look Stef, stop creating frown lines. I have ordered a kennel and everything that she needs, it will be fine I promise, I will even hire someone to clean the kennel so we don't have to." Damon said as he hooked his arm around Caroline's shoulders and walked back into the house.
Stefan and Elena reluctantly agreed to the over extravagant gift, they knew what it was like saying no to their daughter and they couldn't bring themselves to do it this time.
Once everyone was inside and the puppy was sleeping on Gracie's lap, the others started dinner, everyone would be there soon. Soon enough, with them working together all of the food was prepared and in the oven, ready for their guests at one o'clock.
Once they were back in the living room and the rest of the gifts had been opened, the doorbell rang. Gracie, wearing her new pink dress leapt up to answer the door.
"Hi aunt Bonnie! Merry Christmas, Enzo." Gracie cheered when she saw who was on the other side of the door. She told them everyone was in the living room and waited by the door as she could hear another car coming, another perk of her vampire side, she got her excelled hearing and sight from her father. She waited patiently for the car to pull up, it was Tyler. Once he graduated, Tyler had moved to New York, but he agreed to come and spend the holiday with them back in Mystic Falls.
"Hi, sweetie!" Tyler called as he locked his car, carrying a bag of gifts in one hand and embracing Gracie with the other.
"Are you having fun in the city? Momma said you lived in New York now but you are here for Christmas because you missed me too much." Gracie wondered, furrowing her tiny eyebrows.
"Yeah, I am having fun, but I do miss you, honey." Tyler told her, reaching into the bag for a gift and handing it to her. Gracie hugged him again before taking off in the direction of her parents.
"How you doing, man?" Tyler heard behind him as he was about to walk though the open door.
"I'm doing great, how have you been doing?" Tyler replied to his longest friend, Matt, who was now the sheriff.
The pair walked through the front door, Matt closing it behind them as they continued to catch up between themselves. But, of course it was inevitable they would be interrupted by Damon.
"Look, puppy another little puppy is here for Christmas." Damon mocked, lifting up Gracie's puppy and using its paw to wave at Tyler. Elena sped over and covered Gracie's eyes as Tyler used his middle finger to make a rude gesture towards Damon.
"Damon, Stefan, the table needs to be set." Caroline called from the kitchen. Damon rolled his eyes before following his brother into the dining room to set the table.
Half an hour had passed. The table had been set and more gifts had been shared between them, albeit the majority of them were for Gracie. She had been spoiled this year.
"Dinners ready." Elena called as she walked out of the dining room wearing a very festive red dress, Caroline followed wearing a matching green one.
"Jeremy and Ric not here yet?" Elena asked Stefan as he wrapped his arms around her.
"No, he…" he was interrupted when the front door opened and Jeremy rushed in, Alaric at his side.
"Freaking planes were all delayed, I was waiting ages at the airport to pick him up." Alaric said as he took his coat off, shaking the snow from it before hanging it on the hook.
Elena ran over and hugged her brother, she hadn't seen him in weeks. At the same time, Damon stepped away from Caroline's side and came to greet Ric.
"Now that everyone is here, can we eat?" Gracie whined from where she was sitting on the drawing room steps, taping her white pump laden foot on the wood.
"Of course, we can, honey." Stefan said, picking up his daughter and carrying her through the house, he kissed Elena on his way past.
The whole gang convened around their Christmas table, talking amongst themselves and talking about how life had changed since they had spoken last. Jeremy told the group about his new girlfriend, who he wanted them to meet soon, he promised Elena he would being her to their next gathering. Matt spoke about how well the new recruits were doing for the police department. Tyler told everyone about his promotion in the city, and the new penthouse he had bought, he then went on to invite everyone there for next years' holidays. Bonnie and Enzo were talking about the renovations that they were making to her parents' house, along with Caroline's expertise in design of course.
The holidays were the best time of the year for the group, it was their opportunity to spend time with one another, reminiscing about new times and old times, and they would continue to talk about the times they were yet to share together.
There it is guys! I hoped you liked it, let me know if you want me to do any more of these spin offs, any suggestions!
I just wanted to wish my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, it would be great if you left a review it would make my holidays better knowing you enjoyed my writing this time!
Happy Holidays Y'all!
Louisaxo