Alexandra Has a Nightmare

Alexandra Salvatore was normally not a child who was prone to having too many nightmares, even though she had all the reasons in the world to suffer from its cruel clutches: at ten, she had been cruelly turned into a vampire by the hands of her adoptive father's ex-best friend after her parents were found to have been sympathizers to the Augustine society, a group of people who captured and tortured vampires.

After that, she was forced to endure a life far beyond anything she ever thought was possible before. Her entire world had been turned upside down with the knowledge of what she was, and all that she had to accomplish in order to make sure she survived through the uncertainty and chaos of a world that was at war, and a world that longed to see species of her kind, destroyed.

What saved Alexandra was the loving bond she shared with her parents and family and friends that she surrounded herself with. In particular, she enjoyed a close and loving bond with her father, Damon Salvatore. He had been the one to feed her the blood that had completed her transition, and had been the one to also carry her home after finding her in a dark alleyway after the initial attack.

She was also fortunate to have a close relationship with her mother, Elena, and her uncle Stefan and the friends and family they surrounded themselves with. Even though it had been hard at first, she had gotten over the initial stages of grief and shock over the loss of her maternal parents and had adjusted (somewhat precariously) to the loss of her biological family and had learned to thrive with the cravings and blood lust that was a part of her new life.

Sometimes though, when she least expected it, the nightmares did come and snatch her up like the prey they assumed she was as she wrestled with their terrifying grasp. When she was younger, her father used to tell her that nightmares were just her mind's way of emptying all the unneeded junk in her mind, but that did little to help her when she was terrified and shaken by the images and sensations that flooded through her mind.

Tonight was no different; she could not even remember what the actual dream was, only that it was bad enough to jolt her to full awareness as she clutched her pillow with a vice-like grip, her screams muffled by blanket that was still wrapped around her slender body as she flailed around, trying to get free from what she still believed were the enemies of her subconscious.

It was only when light suddenly flooded into her room that she overcame much of her initial terror as she looked up at the sound of a pair of footsteps and then the eventual sag of her mattress as her father's body weight created added pressure to it.

Not able to keep the tears from falling down her face, she untangled herself as much as she could from the mess of the blankets and launched herself into the first pair of arms that she could find that she knew would bring her comfort.

"Hey," Damon said softly, raising his hand to brush away some of the tears that had stuck themselves to Alexandra like glue. "What happened, sweetheart?"

"I—I," she gulped, her voice trembling as she tried to forget the ugly images that were still parading across her mind. "I had a bad—bad dream."

"Oh, really?" Damon said, still speaking as softly as ever. "Why don't you tell your Mom and me about it."

Looking over at the mention of her mother, she was rewarded with the sight of Elena as she sat down on Damon's other side, reaching for her daughter's hand as she gently smoothed her hair back behind her ear, a comforting motion that Alexandra relied upon during times like this.

"It was—it was really scary," Alexandra said, as she fisted Damon's shirt in her small hand.

"What did you see?" Elena asked, switching from her hair to now rubbing Alexandra's back in small, soothing motions.

"I saw Enzo. He was—he was in my room the night he hurt me. I remember everything that he did to me again."

Over the last few months since her traumatizing turn, Alexandra had, for the most part, recovered from the tragic circumstances in which she had come into Damon and Elena's lives, but the after-shocks of something so horrible, still remained in her mind.

"Baby," Elena said, curling her finger under Alexandra's chin. "Enzo is gone. Dad killed him, remember?"

Alexandra nodded. "I remember."

"You know that he can never hurt you again."

"I know."

"Dreams can be scary, can't they?"

Alexandra nodded. "I don't like how they make me feel."

It was a strange feeling: on the one hand, she knew better than to believe they were actually happening. On the other hand, it all felt so real in her mind that it was hard not to take them all seriously when they happened because of how realistic those dreams actually were.

"No one does," Damon said with a slight laugh. "I have a suggestion for you," he added, tapping her nose with his finger. "We can either go back to sleep, or we can go out in the kitchen and get some warm milk."

"Warm milk?" Alexandra asked, wrinkling her nose as she turned to face Damon again.

"It's a little trick that my Mom taught me years and years ago."

"Okay," Alexandra agreed, allowing herself to step down onto the hardwood floor, her feet coming into contact with the cold flooring as she walked out ahead of her Mom and Dad and into the spacious kitchen that doubled as a meeting and gathering area for most days.

"Two hot milks coming right up," Damon said, as he lifted his daughter onto the counter next to him. "Your Mom likes this too."

"The way you make it," Elena corrected him, walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Any other hidden talents, Mr. Salvatore?"

"None that you don't already know about," Damon replied, arching his eyebrows suggestively.

"Get a room!" Alexandra teased, laughing as she said it.

"I think we have an audience," Damon said, smirking against Elena's lips before regrettably pulling away to finish making the milk.

"I think we do," Elena agreed. "A ten-year-old angel who is wearing Disney-Princess pajamas and has her hair in a braid."

It was a nightly ritual for Alexandra to go to bed wearing a selection of Disney pajamas—normally in the form of one of her favorite Princesses, and have Elena weave her hair into either a single braid or two neat ones.

That particular night she had elected to sleep in a single braid. Even though it was slightly askew from the tossing and turning it had endured, it still remained mostly in place and as perky as ever.

"Who's that?" Alexandra asked, deciding to play along, even though her brain was still making the transition from sleep to full awareness.

"I," Elena said, as she walked toward her slowly, "have no idea," she finished as she suddenly started a tickle attack on the little girl's sensitive stomach.

"No, Mommy! No, Mommy!" Alexandra yelled, squealing in delight as she tried her hardest to squirm out of her mother's grasp.

Once she finally succeeded in doing that, she looked next to her expectantly as Damon place a cup of hot milk next to her. Taking the handle carefully, she slowly placed the edge against her waiting lips and took a small gulp.

"Is it good?" Damon asked.

Alexandra took awhile to answer as she carefully swished the milk around in her mouth, her heightened taste buds working to figure out if they approved or not of something that was strictly the blood diet she hated and resisted with all her might.

"Yes."

"Good. You have a little," Damon said, gesturing to his mouth. "Milk mustache."

"Got milk?" Alexandra retaliated, as she flung some of the milk she managed to get on her fingers, in Damon's face.

"That's not fair," Damon replied with a fake pout. "You messed up my hero hair!"

"It could use a little grooming anyways."

"Oh it could, could it?" Damon demanded, as he stepped foreword and swept Alexandra off the counter, throwing her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes.

"Yes!" Alexandra said, wiggling in his arms as he carried her back down the hallway to her room. "Put me down!"

"Your wish, my command," Damon said, as plopped her down on her soft, springy mattress. "Do you feel better, princess?"

"Yes."

"Good. Do you feel like you can go back to sleep?"

"I think so."

"Good," Elena said, as she stepped in to tuck the blankets securely around her child. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mommy."

This is based off my story "Fire and Rain" which is an AU of seasons 5 and 6 of the Vampire Diaries, and centering around the discovery of a little girl, Alexandra, who Damon and Elena adopted after finding out she was in the midst of an ugly transition into a vampire.

These are a series of one-shots that are in no particular order.