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PROLOGUE

"Grayson, are you sure that this is the only way? There must some other way. Please, I don't want to lose my daughter," Miranda pleaded with her husband as she cried.

Grayson's face was streaked with tears as he held his wife against him, "I wish to God that there was some other way Miranda, but they know she's here and who knows when they'll come again. No, this is the only way to keep her safe. Plus she'll be with John; he'll take good care of her."

John watched the scene from the door and cleared his throat to get attention from the two. Startled the pair looked at him, having forgotten that he was there. "Everything's ready, I think we should get Elena now." He said tentatively not wanting Miranda to break down even more.

"Yes…I..uh…I'll go get her," Miranda stammered and started for the stairs, but before she could even get there halfway , she started sobbing uncontrollably. Grayson hugged for a second and then turned to John, "Look after Miranda, I'll get Elena."

Nodding John gathered Miranda in his arm uttering mindless consoling words to her as she broke down completely.

With a heavy heart, Grayson trudged up the stairs and into the room of his beautiful 10 year old daughter. Looking at her sleeping so innocently without a care in the world, not knowing that her world as she knew it was going to be wrenched away from her because of her own father brought a fresh wave of tears into his eyes. Blinking away his tears, he knelt by Elena's bed and shook her gently, "Elena, sweety wake up."

Opening up her eyes blearily, Elena looked at her father and sleepily whispered, "Daddy?"

"Come on Elena, it's time to wake up." Grayson pasted a false cheery smile on his face and waited as Elena sat up on her bed and tiredly rubbed her eyes.

"But it's nighttime Daddy, not morning," Yawning, she complained.

"What do you know, you're right, my smart little girl," He smiled at her. "Alright now sport, why don't you go freshen up, you look like you're gonna fall asleep just like that. Chop, chop!" Saying that, he ushered the bewildered girl into the bathroom. He then pulled out a suitcase from her closet and started packing up her clothes quickly.

Now fully awake, Elena came out to see her father moving frantically around her room, stuffing a suitcase with her belongings.

"Are we going somewhere Daddy?" Her soft enquiry startled her father who dropped the clothes in his hands in shock.

"Um…uh….No Elena, we are…uh…not going anywhere….uh…." Grayson didn't know how to finish the sentence without it sounding too cold.

"Then why are you pack….are you sending me away?" Elena asked wide eyed.

'Smart girl," Grayson thought with a pang in his chest. Seeing no other way, he decided to tell the whole truth-minus the vampire part- to his daughter. He sat down on the bed and motioned for Elena to sit next to him, "Elena sweetheart I need to tell you tell you something."

Seeing that as confirmation of her query, she shook her head and said with tears in her eyes, "Please don't send me away Daddy, I promise I'll be a good girl…I promise."

Unable to control his emotions, Grayson picked Elena up and hugged her as if he didn't ever want to let her go.

"You're the best daughter any man can ask for sweety and I promise you, you didn't do anything wrong, but…there is something I have to tell you." Grasping his daughter's chin, he made her look at him and braced himself for what he was about to reveal to her, a secret that he and Miranda had thought to tell Elena when she was all grown up, but sometimes, wishes are just that, wishes.

"Elena, your mother and I, we're not your real parents," Elena gasped but before she could say anything, Grayson continued. "But it doesn't mean that we don't love you, because we do, a lot. And it's also not the reason that you are leaving."

"But then, why?" Elena hoarsely whispered.

"Because there are people after you Elena, people who want to hurt you. We thought they didn't know who you were, but there was one man who found out. We got rid of him…..but we don't know whom he may have told. We- your mother and I- feel that it's best that you leave Mystic Falls to go somewhere where you cannot be found."

"W…Why are people after me…..what did I do." She cried.

"Nothing sweety, it's just that your mother's family, your real mother's, had some people after them and they were after someone special from that family," Taking a deep breath, he plunged on, "They were after you Elena."

Terrified, Elena repeated her question, "But why me?"

"I think you should tell her Grayson." John spoke from the doorway of the room, startling the father daughter duo.

Gulping, Grayson considered the wisdom of such an action when Elena made it for him.

"Please Daddy." Elena looked at her father with tear stricken face and Grayson folded.

"Remember all the stories I told you about, the ones about vampires?" Seeing Elena nod he continued, "Well, they were not stories, vampires are real."

"Vampires can't be real, you said so yourself Daddy." Elena said trying to make sense of it all.

"I lied." Grayson said simply. "I didn't want you to be frightened of them. The truth is vampires exist and the vampire from whom all vampires came from, an original vampire, a man named Klaus, is after you. You see long ago, a magician put a curse on vampires and werewolves, yes even they exist, and told them that the curse can only be broken if they kill a special girl, this girl will come after every couple of years and they will know it's her because she would look exactly like the girl whom he used to cast the curse with."

"And this girl is me." Elena said slowly.

"Yes." Grayson looked at his 10 year-old sadly hating burdening her with such information.

They all kept quiet for a few minutes before Elena spoke again, "What was the curse Daddy?"

"The curse was that vampires can't walk in the sun and werewolves can only become werewolves on full moon." John supplied when he saw that Grayson wasn't going to answer. He directed his next statement towards his brother, "Did you tell her about Isobel?"

"Isobel?" Elena looked around at her father.

"Isobel is the name of your real mother Elena," Grayson informed the young girl in his arms

"Why did she leave me? Did she hate me" Elena tearfully asked.

"No Elena, she didn't hate you. It's just that she was very young when she had you, still a child herself….and she couldn't take care of you, so your mother and I took you as our own as we always wanted a child and well at that time we didn't have any." Grayson reassured the panicked girl, but then she asked the question that he didn't know how to answer. "Who was my real dad?"

He whipped his head to looked towards John was looking at Elena pensively but before Grayson could say anything, John quickly walked over to the suitcase on the bed and snapping it shut he addressed Elena, "Come on, you need to go now."

John started to leave but Grayson grabbed his arm, "Why do you want to keep this a secret when she knows about everything else already?" He challenged his brother.

John narrowed his eyes at his older brother and held his gaze for several moments before sighing in defeat. Turning towards Elena, he answered her question curtly, "I'm your father, now let's go." Saying that, he hastily left the bedroom, ignoring the shocked gasp from Elena.

Dazed, Elena stood there and wasn't even aware of Grayson leading her downstairs. She didn't even really register the teary goodbyes from her mother and father, and she certainly did not remember getting in the car and leaving her home, her family.

John drove the car for hours and then stopped at a motel far from Mystic Falls to get some rest. Even during this reprieve, Elena was quiet, still processing everything that had happened over the night, when her entire world had shifted and she didn't even recognize what was what anymore.

It wasn't until they were back on the road for the second time that she finally spoke up, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

John didn't need to ask what she was talking about, "I thought that it would be better for you. I'm not father material but Grayson is and I wanted you to have what you deserve, a father who could love you and give you what you need, not me."

She twiddled her thumbs around assimilating his answer before asking another, "And, Isobel, my….mom?"

He remained quiet for so long that Elena though that he wasn't going to answer but finally he spoke, "Isobel was…a child. Too young; she couldn't even take care of herself much less another person. She was still studying and…didn't want the responsibility of a mother. She, as well as I, didn't understand how to be parents and we were so scared of it all; so when Grayson and Miranda offered to take you, we jumped at the chance. Isobel gave you up and left, never looked back. While I…I was stupid. I want to make it up to you now Elena." He looked at Elena for a moment to fully convey his intent. "I want to try to be a father to you….I know I can't be as good as Grayson, but I want to try. I want to fix my biggest mistake, giving you up. Will you let me?" He requested softly.

"Yes." She whispered softly and John silently uttered a prayer of gratitude. Elena looked out of the window before turning back to look at her real father, and said, "You were never there for me before, but you're here now and that's what matters. And you are really sorry for what you did, so you mean it right?"

John smiled slightly before replying, "Yeah, definitely."

He made a mistake in giving up his daughter but he sure did not make a mistake in choosing the people he gave his daughter up to.

…

It had been nearly two days since Elena had left home and she was starting to miss her parents and her little brother. She wondered if she could ever go back to her home. She decided to ask her newly discovered father.

John got a sad look on his face and he looked at Elena with pity, "No Elena, you can never go back, ever." He sighed and said, "Actually…I have been meaning to talk to you about that," At her quizzical look, he plunged on "We have to change our names now, so that we cannot be tracked. I have already taken care of that. We are not Elena Gilbert and John Gilbert anymore; we are now Julie Davis and Thomas Davis from now on, father and daughter, even your parents don't know our new names. And Elena, you have to forget all about your past, you never lived in Mystic Falls, you lived in Denver and you never knew any Gilberts, got it Julie?"

Elena looked down trying to fight the tears that threatened to fall and slowly nodded.

John reached inside his pocket and pulled out a drawstring bag and giving it to Elena, he said "I got this for you; this necklace has vervain in it, an herb that will protect you against vampires. Never take it off"

Elena opened the small bag and took out a small silver heart shaped locket with colorful butterflies on it. "Thanks." Elena whispered clasping it on.

The car grew silent and time crept along slowly. Soon it was night and they were passing a sign welcoming them to Los Angeles.

Breaking the tense silence, John said, "Well this is it, our new hom-"

He was cut off suddenly as a car crashed into them.

…

A/N: okay so although this story is gonna be Delena, it will be a long road to it, so don't expect Damon to come in next chapter (he may, you never know ;)), and if he does, Elena is not gonna fall for him at once, I want their romance to be gradual and it has to feel natural to me, so please don't be mad at me for delena not happening for some time =). Other than that R & R =)