At the end of yet another day of grade 2, Aurora ran up to her dad who was waiting for her to be finished.
"Daddy, can Lilah come over?" she asked her dad doing her best impression of puppy dog.
"Not today. Aiden is at home sick." Damon said instantly feeling terrible for upsetting his little girl.
"Please daddy." she begged.
"Not today." he said again trying to be strong.
"Daddy." she whined with her lower lip jutting out.
"Fine princess. Lilah can come over." Damon sighed shaking his head.
"Yay!" Cheered the little girl, who immediately ran over to her best friend to tell her the news. Damon sighed shaking his head, he knew that eventually he would have to learn how to say no to her. The two girls climbed into the backseat of Elena's SUV. Damon missed the days where he could drive his Camaro wherever he wanted. The entire way home the car was filled with the sounds of little girls chattering about barbies and princesses. He was beyond relieved when they pulled up in front of the house and they immediately jumped out.
"Honey we're home." Damon called when he walked in the front door.
"Well look at this, Lilah is here again." Elena said with her hands on her hips.
"I tried." he stated.
"It might be a good idea to say no every once in a while. I never expected the big bad Damon Salvatore to give into the demands of a seven year old human." Elena laughed.
"It's not my fault. She's evil. She's too cute for her own good. Her puppy dog eyes are more effective than vervain, stakes and fire combined." he said.
"This is great. Damon Salvatore's weakness in a 7 year old girl. Can't wait to tell Stefan and Ric." Elena said.
"They would understand. They've been subjected to her evil before too." he said.
"Do you want to play barbies?" Aurora asked her friend.
"Sure." Lilah said. Aurora went to her closet to dig out the bin of barbies, and dragged it out. She opened the lid and dumped the entire bucket on the floor. Lilah immediately dug in and picked up the princess Aurora doll.
"That's mine!" Aurora shouted.
"But you always play with her!" Lilah shouted back.
"That's 'cause she is mine and has my name!" Aurora argued.
"That doesn't matter!" Lilah argued back.
"Yes it does!" Aurora yelled.
"I want the doll!" Lilah cried.
"Well you cant have it!" Aurora shouted.
"I wont play with you anymore if I cant have the doll!" Lilah shouted.
"If you don't give me the doll I will tell my mommy and daddy on you!" Aurora yelled.
"I wanna go home! I don't wanna play with you anymore!" Lilah cried.
"Fine go home!" Aurora yelled.
Damon walked into Aurora's room with a questioning glance. "What in the world is going on up here?"
"Aurora wont let me play with the Aurora doll!" Lilah yelled at the same time as Aurora yelled: "Lilah wont give me my Princess Aurora doll back!"
"Girls calm down! Aurora let Lilah play with the doll this one time." Damon tried to calm them down.
"No! I wanna go home!" Lilah yelled.
"I don't want to let her play with it! It's mine!" Aurora shouted. Damon put his hands over his ears wishing Elena would have came up instead of him.
"Okay come on Lilah we will phone your parents. Aurora…" He said as Aurora was giving him the puppy dog eyes again. "Aurora clean…" He tried to say. "Clean up this mess, and stay here till I get back!" He said as he closed his eyes so he couldn't see the expression on her face.
"Daddy no!" Aurora cried.
"Aurora yes." Damon said as him and Lilah backed out of the room.
"You did very good up there Damon, you were very strong. I am very proud of you!" Elena congratulated him with a wide grin on her face.
"I would have paid to see you deal with that." Damon stated before picking up the phone to call Lilah's parents.
"It would have been easy, you're the one who cant stand up to a 7 year old." Elena said with laughter.
"Oh be nice." Damon said.
"Oh be nice? What happened to the badass Damon that I used to know?" Elena asked.
"Shut up." He said disdainfully. Elena laughed as Damon dialled Lilah's parents to come and get her.
A while later Lilah was gone and they hadn't seen Aurora since Damon told her to clean her room.
"We should probably check on her." Damon said.
"Oh no. I will check on her. You will just give in to whatever she begs of you. Last time we told her to clean her room and you went to check on her, I found you cleaning her room for her. I'll check." Elena said.
"Good idea." Damon agreed going into the living room where Aiden was laying on the couch sleeping. Elena walked into Aurora's bedroom and found her sitting on her bed.
"Why aren't you cleaning your room?" Elena asked.
"I don't wanna." she whined.
"Doesn't matter. Clean your room." Elena said firmly.
"I don't wanna. I want daddy." she whined.
"No. This is your mess. You clean it up." Elena said.
"Lilah should have helped me." she stated petulantly with her arms crossed.
"She would have if you would have shared your doll." Elena said.
"It's my doll. I don't want her playing with her. She's mine." Aurora yelled, her face red and wide blue eyes.
"Don't yell at me, and clean your room." Elena ordered.
"No." she screamed and started crying.
"Crying wont work on me sweetheart. Clean your room. If its not done by supper time you're grounded." Elena stated before walking out of the room and shutting the door. Elena shook her head and walked back downstairs where Damon was sitting next to Aiden.
"How's my other baby feeling?" she asked.
"He's still sick. That was impressive by the way. You put the 7 year old girl in her place." Damon cheered.
"She's mad at me now." Elena said sitting down.
"She'll get over it." Damon stated.
"I'll go start on dinner." Elena said pressing a kiss to her little boys forehead as he whimpered; his fever getting worse.
"What about me? He got a kiss, why don't I?" Damon asked pouting adorably.
"At least now I know where Aurora gets her pout from. Its cute on her, not so much on you." she said pressing a soft kiss to his lips.
"I am adorable." he remarked as she walked into the kitchen.
"Keep telling yourself that." Elena shouted back as she dug through the freezer.
The next day Damon dropped Aiden and Aurora off at school, Aiden was feeling better. Aurora walked onto the playground and stopped in her tracks. She saw Lilah playing with Samantha, one of the girls that were mean to her.
"Lilah do you want to come over today after school?" Aurora asked her friend.
"No. I'm playing with Samantha." Lilah said petulantly.
"Fine." Aurora said stalking away. When the bell rang Aurora walked to her desk and sat down. Lilah took her seat beside her and the two girls ignored each other. When lunch rolled around Aurora sat down at her table and Lilah came and sat down beside her.
"I don't want to fight with you anymore." she said.
"Me neither." Aurora sighed.
"Do you want to be my best friend again?" Lilah asked.
"Yes. Do you want to come over after school? You can play with my Aurora doll." Aurora offered.
"Sure." Lilah said smiling at her best friend. Aurora hugged her friend, their fight forgotten.
