I Don't belong
By: Britney Alaine E. (casbuttsalvatore)
A delena story in association with It will always be Damon & He's the air she would kill to breathe
Chapter one: starting over
Life with Klaus had just gotten settled for Scarlett. While she was attending school, Klaus had set her up a room in Mikaelson Manor close to his and Caroline's and painted it her favorite color down to the precise shade, Venetian Red. He filled a bookshelf with all her favorites, which were classics such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Romeo & Juliet, and he'd bought her three whole cases of music ranging from Ed Sheeran to Artist Vs Poet. There was a large black heart statue that appeared to be dripping blood in a corner of the room and a black lace nightstand in the other that adorned a picture of her snuggling with him and Stefan on the couch once when she was little. He'd filled her closet with 50 pairs of converse in various different colors, 20 sets of heels for formal occasions, 75 casual day dresses, 67 evening gowns, 80 different colors and cuts of skinny jeans and over 100 blouses. Her closet was just as immense as Caroline's, and as Klaus stood back and admired his work he was sure she'd love it.
Klaus had let Scarlett lay out for a bit due to her recent birthday and today was her first day back at school, which had given Klaus the opportunity to do all of this. He had decided long ago that Scarlett was his daughter, and his daughter was going to have nothing but the best if it killed him. Being able to work at vampire speed, Klaus had accomplished all of this by lunch time and was now feverishly working on filling the manor with her favorite snack foods. Even though Scarlett drank blood, both she and Caroline seemed rather fond of Little Debbie Cakes and such, and they were running far too low on those items at the moment to appropriately meet a teenage girls needs.
While Klaus was playing house, Scarlett was proudly eating lunch at the popular table, as she always did. Scarlett was the most popular girl at Mystic High, much like Elena had been in her day before becoming pregnant with Ian. Her golden brown curls were tied up in a ponytail with a maroon colored silk ribbon that matched the the dress she was wearing, which was made of Chiffon and had been a birthday present from Damon. As head cheerleader, she had every boy on the football team at her beck and call, and all of them were currently crowded around her and her friends at their table, attempting to win a date from one of them. This annoyed Ian, who was the only boy allowed at the popular table, and who really didn't like anyone over there apart from his cousin. Maybe tomorrow he'd go sit with that shy little blonde girl at the reject table that absolutely no one talked too, that is, if Scarlett would allow it. Scarlett, as much as Ian loved her, was neurotic and shallow, much like Caroline, which Ian blamed on the fact that both his father and Klaus had never said no to her in their lives. He brushed his long raven hair from his eyes and forced a smile at Scarlett's best friend, Penelope, who was yet again trying to get his attention with her annoying love letters that seemed to get longer and more dramatic by the day. All Ian did was look at the first line "I'm in love love with you" and then fold it and place it in his jacket. He shot her his best impression of his father's "smolder eyes" as he'd heard Elena call it, and smirked.
"Thanks, babe." It worked, she was reduced to a speechless mess and Scarlett was suddenly overly aware of his existence.
"Ian, you're escorting Penelope to the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant this year okay? Since you seem to be flirting with her." Penelope, who was toying with her shoulder length brunette hair flirtatiously, got up and squealed before Ian had a chance to reply.
"Ian Salvatore is taking me to the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, can you believe it?!" The rest of the cheerleading squad congratulated her and told her how lucky she was, which pissed Ian off. He never said anything though, considering no one at the school had met his fancy yet and he wanted Scarlett to be happy. Of course, as a member of one of the towns founding families, he was expected to attend the Pageant, but he didn't want to be an escort and certainly not to Penelope Fell. Ian sighed in irritation and looked passed the flailing Penelope and the smug Scarlett, gazing at the blonde reject girl he'd thought about earlier.
'You know what? I'm going to go talk to her, that'll teach Scarlett to pawn me off to the highest bidder like I'm the tastiest blood at the blood bank.' He thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Damon was bouncing little Sam on his leg while searching the internet for a romantic getaway. It had been a long while since he and Elena had had a break from the kids, and Jenna and Alaric had offered to watch Sam while Ian and Stefani were at school while they were gone. Elena was in the kitchen making tacos for Damon's lunch, with some homemade sauce drizzled on it that consisted of blood and Texas Pete, and when she walked out with them Sam's arms shot up.
"Mommy!" Elena smiled and pulled her little boy into her arms, looking over Damon's shoulder at the computer.
"Oh Damon, Italy?" Damon grinned.
"Well baby, that is where my father immigrated from. Good ol' Giuseppe Salvatore, migrated to America just in time to help found Mystic Falls. Married a French settler named Mary, had an awesome son whom happens to love you very much, nine months later." Elena rolled her eyes and Damon chuckled, pulling her into his lap.
"And then the next time we go off somewhere we'll go to Paris." Elena beamed and pulled Damon into a kiss as best she could with a squirming two year old in her lap.
"That's so romantic." Damon nibbled at her neck playfully and was about to respond when they heard the front door open and slam. Ian grudgingly stomped through the house and Damon pulled back from Elena.
"Son, what's wrong?" Ian turned on his heels on his way up the stairs and his icy blue eyes were glazed over with tears.
"It's nothing you'd understand, Dad, just leave me alone." He grumbled, marching the rest of the way up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door. Elena flinched, knowing that if Ian had made a full transition yet the force would have snapped the door off its hinges. Elena gave Damon a knowing look, trying to soften the anger she saw manifesting in his eyes.
"Don't be angry with him, Damon, he's fifteen years old, he's a little hormonal. You remember how Jere was at that age." Damon sighed.
"Yes, and I hate to break it to you but your brother was a little dick back then." Elena rolled her eyes again.
"He's home two hours before he's supposed to be, something bad must have happened. Fix it." She demanded, pointing at the stairs. Damon kissed the top of her head and waited for her and Sam to get off of him before descending the staircase. He walked quietly up to his son's bedroom, which wasn't that far from his own, and listened at the door. He heard a loud thud followed by the creaking of bed springs and soft almost inaudible cries. When he knocked on the door, he received no answer, not even a "go away", which slightly worried Damon, though he wouldn't admit it. He opened the door to find a knuckle hole in the wall where Ian appeared to have punched it, and his son was laying on his bed, face first into his pillow. Angel, who was no longer a kitten but a fat lazy old cat, was gently nudging his face with her nose, in an attempt to comfort him herself. Damon's eyes fell on his son's hand, which was bruised and swollen from hitting the wall, but Stefan once. When Ian had been a baby Bonnie had made him a tiny one that Sam was now wearing, but Damon had saved Stefan's ring especially for Ian when he got older, since his first name also began with "S". Damon sat down on the edge of Ian's bed and cleared his throat.
"Sebastian." It had been a while since Damon had called him this, and it brought back a flood of memories of when Damon used to get mad at Elena for calling him what he now went by. He kind of liked and missed being called what his father had preferred, but never voiced it allowed. Ian sat up, but couldn't bear to look him in the eyes.
"Daddy…" Damon was largely taken back.
"Wow, that's something I haven't heard you call me in a long time." Ian shrugged.
"Well Sebastian is something you haven't called me in a long time." Now it was Damon's turn to shrug, feeling a little awkward.
"I miss it." Ian whispered softly. Damon smiled and ruffled his hair, another thing he hadn't done in a while.
"Me too, buddy." There was a long pause before he began speaking again.
"You going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to beat it out of you?" He joked, finally earning a small smile from his son.
"Scarlett is making me attend the Miss Mystic Pageant with Penelope Fell. Which isn't too big a deal I don't guess, but she didn't even ask me if it was okay, she just told me I was going with her. So, naturally, to get back at her I went to go sit with one of the unpopular girls to make her look bad right?" Damon tried so hard not so look proud, but failed and nodded for him to continue.
"I get over there, and the girl is the most beautiful thing I have even laid eyes on, looks like an angel. So, even though she's super unpopular I wanted to try and get to talk to her you know? I mean, she has this shimmering blond hair that falls to her hips and the most gorgeous blue eyes, I mean they are prettier than mine, Dad, and I'm the sexiest thing to ever grace that school. And then right there in front of her, when I'm trying to put my moves on and be all cool and shit, Scarlett marches right over there and exacts revenge by pouring hot soup on me. Then she told the girl she was a hideous freak and that if she ever touched what belonged to Penelope again that she'd make sure the entire school never talked to her again. And trust me, Dad, Scarlett has that power. She doesn't even need compulsion to do it either, she's just that popular." Damon's eyebrows rose and he sat there for a moment, drinking it all in.
"But Scarlett is such a sweet girl…" Ian sighed.
"She's sweet at home. She's sweet to the very core of her, we all know that. But Scarlett at school isn't the real Scarlett; it's a fake carbon copy of Caroline that she uses to get her way because I think she's insecure with men thanks to her daddy issues." He spat bitterly, and Damon fully understood but blanched a little bit at the thought of Stefan. He gently laid his hand on Ian's shoulder and shot him a very fatherly, loving glance.
"It's okay to like the unpopular girl, Bastian. I promise, Scarlett will get over herself eventually if you humiliate her in public enough, believe me, I've dealt with girls like that plenty in my lifetime. All you need to do is apologize to this girl on Scar's behalf and then play it as cool as possible until she falls for you." Ian, or Sebastian as he was now beginning to wish to be called, smiled up gratefully at his father.
"Thanks Dad, I guess you did kinda understand, huh? I mean after all, you did win over Mom." Damon snorted.
"Yeah, that wasn't as easy as it looks." Sebastian laughed and wrapped his arms around Damon, who in return pulled him into a bear hug.
"I love you, Kiddo." He smiled as Damon released him and Angel curled up in his lap.
"Love you too…Daddy."
