A/N Hi everyone. So this is a new Vampire Diaries fic that I started thinking and finally got down to writing. It centers on Alaric's daughter coming to Mystic Falls after Ric is put in jail for the three serial killings that have happened in town so far. This story is definitely a Damon/oc so no surprise there will be a lot of Damon/Asher interaction. Hope you all love it and review.

- Ash

Chapter One: Family Reunion

Ring. Ring. Ring. The loud, annoying ringing of my ring tone woke me. Next to me on my night table, red numbers off my plain, black box alarm clock told me it was one in the morning. I let out a tired groan before reaching in the direction of my nightstand for the annoying device that woke me up. My hand missed a few times, almost knocking over the lamp I kept there, before I finally got a hold of my cell.

"Hello," I answered groggily. God help the person who was calling me this late – or I guess I should say this early.

"Hello, is this Asher Saltzman," a women on the other end asked. Obviously she realized how late it was because it sounded like she was sorry for calling from the tone of her voice.

"This is she," I said, forcing myself to sit up and somewhat wake up. The deep red silk sheets of my small little bed pooled around my waist, revealing the black long sleeved shirt I was wearing. The nights were freezing in New York during this time in my small but up-scale apartment in the Upper East Side but I preferred it over the heat any day.

"I'm sorry miss but your father, Mr. Alaric Saltzman was taken into police custody today at the Mystic Falls sheriff's office," she said sounding disheartened. Of course she'd probably seen my dad's previous track record with the law. Most likely she was feeling sorry me. With my dad's previous run-ins with the law she probably thought I was in a poor, dysfunctional family. Well I guess there really isn't much a relationship between me and dad to even call it dysfunctional. It's mostly just non-existent.

A million things started running through my head at once, all the things I would have to do now. First thing, I had to get to Mystic Falls and bail out my dad. Mystic Falls I actually had an idea where it was. My dad usually tried to make some attempts at communication with me. "I'll be there as soon as I can," I told the women on the other line, already getting out of bed to pack a bag of clothes. I wasn't really surprised. My dad's job got him into trouble a lot more often than it seemed. This was probably the third time this year I was going to have to bail him out.

"I'm sorry miss but there's no bail. We're calling to suggest the arrangement of a lawyer," the officer said morosely.

"What, why," I asked. My hands came to a stop; still holding the red sweatshirt I was shoving into my bag.

"Alaric Saltzman is being charged for first degree murder," she said seriously.

"What," I exclaimed, nearly dropping my phone.

"Miss I think it would be best if you got here as soon as possible," the officer suggested.

"I'll be right there," I told her, hanging up.

I made sure to grab as much of the clothes as possible along with my passport, purse, laptop and books. There was no telling how long it was going to take to get dad out of this one. At least school wasn't a concern. I was on spring break from NYU. I locked up my apartment and made my way down the elevator to the front lobby of my building. The doorman held the door open for me as I made my way out.

"It's pretty late to be going out Miss Asher," he stated the obvious.

"I'm leaving for awhile," I told him. "Family emergency," I explained.

Lucky there are always cabs out in New York and I didn't have to wait long to hail one down. "JFK," I told the drive. I made a quick call to the airport. All I could hope for was that I wouldn't have to wait long for a flight to Virginia. I guess luck was on my side because there was a flight leaving in an hour. I bought my ticked and rushed through the rest of check in.

Sitting the plane, I realized there was nothing much else I could do until I saw my dad. I hated it, this feeling like I was useless and that I couldn't do anything to help. Despite our relationship I loved I pulled out my Ipod. I closed my eyes and tired to catch up on my sleep. There was no way I was going get any in the next few days or at least until dad was out of jail.

It seemed like hours passed before my plane finally landed. I grabbed my backpack from the top of the luggage compartments above my seat and rushed to be one of the first people out. As soon as I was out of the airport I realized how lucky I was when I spotted a line of taxis waiting. I guess they realized that people coming in this early would need rides instead of making their friends drop them off or pick them up at four in the morning.

The driver didn't look to happy when I told him I wanted to go to Mystic Falls. "It's an hour long drive miss," he told me. Really I didn't have that much of a choice so he started driving. Virginia wasn't really what I expected it to be. It was all just green. I looked out the window and saw field after field pass us by. Great, I thought to myself. Dad had to get stuck in a small town prison. It's out in the middle of nowhere.

We passed the "Welcome to Mystic Falls" sign and the driver asked where it town I wanted to go. "The sheriffs' office," I answered. The driver didn't even bat an eye at my strange request. Guess he ran into a lot of twenty two year old women who needed lifts to jails.

He pulled up to a large brick building that looked as old as the town. "Here you are ma'am," he said. I pulled out all the cash I had in my bag and paid the fare. I barely closed the door when the cab speed off, leaving the town behind.

It was really quiet inside the sheriff's office but I guess there's never really much going on around four thirty in the morning. There were a few officers in the prison who had a late shift and I guess weren't patrolling walking around, doing their work. One of the few officers on duty pointed me to the sheriff's desk.

"Hi, can I help you," the middle-aged, blue-eyed blonde woman sitting behind the desk asked. She was dressed in a standard police uniform as the others but her's had a sheriff's badge pinned on her chest.

"Yes, Hi," I tried to smile. "I'm here about my father, Alaric Saltzman. I got a call a few hours ago."

"I didn't know Alaric had a daughter," the woman looked at me in a shock. "How old are you," she asked, giving me a good look over. I knew I hair was mess from the plain but I had tied my shoulder-length red hair into a messy bun while I was in the cab ride to town. I had just thrown on whatever I had been wearing that day before I went bed when I had rushed out of my apartment so I was back in my black skinny jeans, my black halter top and my favorite light brown leather jacket and my black boots.

"Yeah, he's my dad and I'm twenty two years old," I told her. I tried to keep my composure. I knew dad never mentioned me. He used to say it was too dangerous in his work. "He and my mom split a little after I was born," I explained. I hoped she would just move one and stop asking questions with that.

"I'm Liz Forbes," the sheriff. I could tell by the change in her tone she felt sorry for me. Poor kid with a broken family and a dad who was in jail for murder. "What's your name," she asked, gesturing for me to sit.

"I'd like to see my father first," I told her. There was no way I was talking to this woman I hardly knew before I talked to dad. I need to what's going first.

"Alright," she said, giving me a slight nod. She got and walked around, folding her arms across her chest. "He's this way."

Sherriff Forbes led me down a narrow hallway with cells on both sides. Well, at least it doesn't reek like the others ones he's been locked up in, I couldn't help but think. A couple of the cells were occupied but they were mostly juveniles that were probably caught tagging a building or stealing. There were two cells left until we reached the end of the hallways when she finally stopped and turned to face the small cell on the right. I looked inside and finally saw my dad. He was sitting the on small bed in the cell, his head in his hands. He looked terrible. His clothes were rumbled, his hair was mess, probably from running his hands through it. My dad has this nervous habit of running his hands through his hair whenever he's worried or stressed about something.

"Ric, you've got someone here to see you," Sherriff Forbes announced.

"I told Damon and Elena to go hom…" he stopped talking as soon as he saw me. "Asher?"

"Hi dad," I said, giving him a small wave. The look on his face was priceless.