"Yes" Abby cried out.

Damon quickly rolled off her and off the bed, he reached for his pants.

"Who told you, you could move?" Abby asked between pants as she sat up.

Damon froze, stiffening the muscles in his back. "I'm suppose to help Abraham with the back patio." He said quietly. "You, I didn't think you wanted me to stay around after."

"Lie down, vampire."

Damon did as told and the woman snuggled up to him, tracing his chest with her finger. "Back at the summit who were those vampires who had your attention all night?"

He was honestly surprised she noticed. "My sire and my brother," he answered with only a little hesitation.

"Ah," she nodded. "Your brother talked to me after the summit. I suppose he thought because their was a treaty now that I would want to talk to vampire scum." Damon kept his eyes on the ceiling. "He asked me could I free you." Damon frowned. "I told him no, but the funniest thing is that if it was the sire who had asked I would have had to consider it, but she never asked. Isn't that funny?" She didn't say anything else, which told him she was waiting on an answer.

"In a way," he answered truthfully. In a sad sort of way it was funny.

She laughed as if he had said the funniest thing ever. Damon simply continued to stare at the ceiling.

"You can go now."

He didn't waste time. He bolted out of bed, grabbed his clothing and made himself scarce.

(MM)

"No one knows how insane she is."

Rose snuggled further into him. "She hides it well," she sighed.

"No, I think her mother knows." Damon said thoughtfully his mind whirling with all of the thoughts of the interactions between Sheila and Abby. Sheila always seemed to be watching Abby, waiting; and Abby always seemed to be 'acting' around her mother. The ex Bennett clan head always seemed to be waiting on something when it came to Abby. "I think she knows and she scares her too."

Rose was quiet for a moment."Vampires can be heartless creatures, but she's something else. What made her the way she is?"

Damon was quiet for a moment. "I think I did." He admitted quietly. His stomach twisted because of the fact. "I attacked her when she was a child. She's just paying me back for what I did to her."

Rose turned to face him fully, a sad smile on her face. "You regret it?"

Damon sighed and pulled the thin blanket further up Rose's nude body. "I regret all of it. It wasn't my choice to become a vampire but I regret it."

Rose placed a gentle kiss on his chest. "I have something to tell you."

Damon gave the woman his full attention as he ran his fingers through her hair. "What is it?" The nervous look that came over Rose's face scared him. He sat up fully, propping his back up against the wall behind the bed. "What's wrong, Rose?"

Rose also sat up, pulling the sheet with her as she hugged it against her chest. "I'm pregnant."

Damon's eyes widened and a second later his body stiffened in fear. "She can't find out." He blurted. "She'll kill us both if she finds out."

Rose nodded quickly. "I know, that's why we aren't going to tell her you're the father. She won't find out." She caught his eyes. "She won't and we will figure this out."

Damon was calmed a little by her words. He looked down at her stomach, allowing himself to feel hope and awe. "So I'm going to be a father?" He had never thought he would be.

(MM)

Damon watched as Rose's stomach swelled with his child with an odd mix of excitement and fear. Abby never mentioned anything about it to him but Rose had told him she had been asked and she simply had told the witch that the father of her child could have been any of the vampires that attended their small get togethers. She seemed to be believed even though Abby had sneered at her and called her a slut. They both seen that as ideal when faced with the alternative.

Things were going well and Damon found himself truly happy for the first time in the long time.

It didn't take long for that to change. It was the night of his child's birth, he had been suppose to be attending to Abby but she had never showed.

The next morning when he had awakened in his room, nothing felt different. When he walked through the mansion and the land in search of Abraham to get started on their work, he did notice that a couple of the other slaves and human servants wouldn't meet his eye. But he hadn't thought anything of it, considering he was always avoided by other because of his status as Abby's personal slave.

It wasn't until he got to the Witches prayer yard which was half a mile from the mansion did his world completely crumble. He barely even noticed the others standing in the court, no, his full attention was on Rose, his light in the darkness, mounted to a tall wooden pole with a stake through her stomach.

His eyes burned and filled with tears at the sight. He moved towards her as if he were in a trance, the crowed parted for him and the whispering stopped.

"He's here," Abby's voice cut through the haze in his mind, pulling his eyes off of Rose and onto Abby. She was dressed in black today. "What do you think?" She waved her arms out as if she was showing him a beautiful painting.

Damon swallowed hard. "What? What is this?"

"Nothing just a little burning of the trash ceremony."She turned away from him to address the crowd. "You see, I've been betrayed." She said. "These two vampires have been conspiring against me behind my back."

"That's not true," Damon quickly said without thinking. "That's not it at all."

"And to show what happens to vampires that betray me, I will burn her." She continued speaking as if he hadn't said anything at all. "When the sun reaches the top of those trees. Rose will be no more."

"No," Damon cried, tears leaked from his eyes. "She's pregnant, please My Lady, don't do this."

Abby laughed unhappily. "She's no longer pregnant, vampire. How else do you think I found out about this little tryst? The child was born last night, a healthy baby boy."

Damon's heart clinched and a fire he had not felt in a long time suddenly ignited inside of him. "What have you done to my child?"

Abby laughed again. "Your child? You don't even belong to you, vampire. That was my slave you impregnated so that made that offspring mine to do with what I pleased, and that's exactly what I did."

Damon growled. "What did you do? Why are you doing this? Haven't I paid enough for what I did to you when you were younger?" He knew he shouldn't have mentioned the act that had started all of this because Abby's whole face darkened. But Damon wasn't thinking clearly. He moved threateningly in the direction of the witch, but found himself face down in the dirt, his whole back feeling as if it was going to cave in. He struggled to move, but found it fruitless. He glared at the witch before him.

"Damon," his vampire hearing aloud him to hear the weak whisper. His eyes snapped away from the witch and onto Rose, forcing him to strain his neck so he could see her. She stared down at him with glassy eyes and a soft expression.

Damon couldn't take it. A sob climbed up his throat. He was angry. Angry at Abby and angry at himself for being unable to keep his promise and for being weak. "I'm so sorry." He whimpered. "Please, Lady Abby," he began, not bothering to take his eyes off of Rose, likely because his knew his pleas wouldn't work. "Please don't kill her for something that was my fault. Don't punish her please."

"I am not punishing her, vampire, I'm punishing you." Abby said calmly.

He knew that all along.

The sun topped the trees and Rose was no more.