I don't know if this story will work out or not but I hope you like it.
Chapter 1.
As he drank the rest of the bourbon from the bottle and stared down at the carved writing in the small stone that had been placed out here. It was wrong to be looking at in so many ways, the first being that Alaric Saltzman should still be here, with him, helping him babysit the kids, as he put it but his on and off best friend wasn't here anymore and he missed him so much more than he would ever admit to the other's especially Elena.
Elena, the name rang in his head, Elena Elena it was all he ever thought about, she had made her choice, and that choice was Stefan. So now Damon didn't have anyone who needed him anymore, no one that should care if he left town by himself and never ever set foot in it again but even he knew himself he couldn't do it, and it was all because of Elena. She seen him as a friend and nothing else now, Stefan still said he was his brother and nothing, would ever change that but he loved Elena and why wasn't that enough?
Like always his love had never been enough, not to his father, not to Stefan, not to Katherine and not to Elena. Not one person would care if he had to walk away now because most of the people in Mystic Falls despised him anyway. He sighed getting up dropping the empty bottle and glanced one more at the stone. How he missed Ric. He looked away and then began trudging slowly through the woods, back to the Salvatore's, he wouldn't be staying there anymore there was no need for it and the only other place he could go was Alaric's apartment.
His feet trudged through the mud as he walked, he couldn't even bring himself to run. But something in front of him made him stop in his tracks and he had to do a double take before he realised that what was in front of him was the shivering body of a child, small and fragile. Why is this little girl out here by themselves? He wondered to himself. Damon frowned, what was going on? He quickly moved onto his knees beside the small frame and the mass of hair covered the little girl's face.
The little girl moved slightly, her eyes still shut "Mommy" she whimpered causing Damon's frown to deepen and he moved the hair from her face, her pale cheeks slightly rosy from the cold and her eyes were red and puffy from what looked like tears, why was she out here in the first place? Who would leave her out here in the cold and darkness where anyone or anything could get her? Damon wasn't really sure what to do here but against his better judgement he picked the small girl up as if she were a feather and then he ran.
He went straight to the boarding house, which only Stefan was in at this particular moment. He walked in, the bundle in his arms and casually walked past Stefan who was then in front of him with in seconds. He stared at the bundle in his arms with wide eyes and he looked from the girl to Damon who showed no emotion on his face whatsoever.
"What have you done?" Stefan asked.
"I haven't done anything" Damon replied.
"Why do you have a small girl in your arms? what did you do to her?" Stefan demanded obviously jumping to the wrong conclusions "She's just a child"
"I didn't do anything" Damon snapped at his idiot younger brother's "If you must know I found her"
"You found her?" Stefan asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes Stefan" Damon replied "I found her...in the woods"
"What are you going to do with her?"
Damon wasn't sure how to answer him, what was he going to do with her? He couldn't just send her back out in to the woods with nothing to protect herself. He frowned deeply and stared down at the girl's now pink cheeks.
"Damon" Stefan began.
"I don't know yet Stefan" He replied harshly and went to walk past him.
"Don't hurt her"
"I'm not going to hurt her!" Damon hissed "I might be a monster but I draw the line at harming a small child!"
He stormed away from his brother and walked up the stairs into his room, he lay the girl on the bed and watched her for a minute. What was he going to do? How was he going to do, whatever he was going to do? Why did it always seem to be that he got himself into these kinds of messes but yet he couldn't have left her out there alone and defenseless, not a child even he wasn't that cold and heartless no matter how e portrayed himself to Elena or Stefan or Caroline or Bonnie or anyone else, he wouldn't leave someone as helpless as that, never mind a small child.
It was hours before the girl woke up, terrified of her surroundings her bright green orbs met Damon's the instant she opened her eyes. She didn't say anything, she just stared at him wide eyed and jumped when he moved towards her.
"It's okay" He nodded "I'm not going to hurt you"
She made a noise and Damon sighed and perched on his knees in front of the bed, and she tried to cower away from him, pulling the blanket up closer to her face, her little heart was racing wildly in her chest and Damon forced a smile.
"I'm Damon" He said.
She didn't reply, her eyes traced over his face as she relaxed and lowered the cover but only slightly.
"Where is my mommy?" She asked finally, her voice soft.
Damon didn't really know how to answer her in all honesty, what was he to tell her? "I don't know"
The little girl thought for a minute before her lips turned to a pout and she looked around the rather large room before looking back to the man known as Damon. But the memories of what had happened to her mother flooded her mind and she let out a little gasp, Damon frowned and sat on the bed next to her, tilting his head to one side.
"My mommy..." She said her green eyes big and wide "She..."
"It's ok" Damon nodded "It's ok"
He wasn't good at this sort of stuff, what was he supposed to do? But when he fully looked at the little girl's face there it was, a small tear tracing it's way down her cheek and Damon felt for her. He rubbed it away with his thumb and she flinched at the touch.
"I'm not going to hurt you" He said staring at her.
She looked back up at him, the green eyes searched his. She didn't look any older than maybe five or six.
"What's your name?" Damon asked.
"Evelyn" She sniffled, her voice small, looking away.
He nodded, finally realising what he should do. He would take care of her...or he would try to anyway...there was nothing better for him to do in this godforsaken town anyway. He had complained to himself a lot lately that there was nothing keeping him here, but now here there was a little angel in disguise come to give him something to do other than obsess over Elena every minute of everyday...now he had something.
"Well Evelyn...would you like to stay here?" He whispered.
Her brows furrowed and she looked at him tilting her head but she didn't answer.
"I can keep you safe" he said.
She blinked, and let out a wheezy cough and her wide eyes looked around everything in the room before looking back to his pale face, he seemed hopeful not like he usually felt. When she looked back at him...she nodded ever so slightly and Damon smiled at her, she was pouting for a minute but then she smiled back but the smile didn't reach her eyes and Damon knew that whatever she'd seen happen had traumatized her.
He wanted to keep her, to protect her from anything that threatened her and he wanted to keep it like that forever. He picked her up softly and took her downstairs, to where Elena was now sitting with Stefan, the two of them turned instantly at his movement to look and Elena's eyes bulged. What was he doing with a child? She wondered to himself.
"Stefan...Elena...this is Evelyn" He smiled bitterly at the pair "She's going to be staying here"
Elena looked to Stefan, who stared at Damon "Are you sure that's a good idea?" He muttered but it was only audible for his brother and girlfriend to hear.
"Yes I do" Damon replied.
He no longer cared for what Stefan thought about his actions or what Elena thought even though it filled him with sadness when she looked at him disappointedly.
"Ok" Stefan replied and he stood up.
He walked over carefully, just a few inches away from the little girl and his brother, Evelyn coward back from him, not sure what to do. She didn't want him to take her away, but when Stefan smiled at her she suddenly felt okay again. She blinked at him and he instantly seemed to be taken with her, much to Damon's dismay.
Elena then moved next to Stefan and stared at the adorable little thing in front of her.
"Evelyn this is Elena" He said "And Stefan"
"Elena" She said back, repeating his words. It was strange how she'd gotten to grips with what was happening so quickly, it wasn't like that of a child her age "Ste..fan" She said more slowly as if it was bothering her.
"What age are you Evelyn?" Stefan asked smiling at the little girl.
"five" She replied.
"Five" Elena said softly "You're only five"
The little girl nodded at Elena who smiled at Stefan for a minute before going back to cooing over the little girl, but Damon could see that Elena was struggling a little being around a human, but knew that she wouldn't hurt this child, mostly because she was a child and Elena still felt everything human...vampirism for the Doppelganger was complicated that way.
Damon wasn't sure what he needed to do next...he'd never looked after a small child before...unless you counted Stefan, he'd watched Stefan from a young age but that was because they'd been playing football and Stefan was maybe a few years older than Evelyn at the time and that was a century ago.
But what he did know was that he was going to keep her safe, no matter what the cost and no matter what he had to do, he would keep her safe...