Chap 8

Sorry,' for the long wait, but it took me a while because I had to figure out some stuff.

Elena's throat was strangely dry, her tongue had forgotten how to function. Her lungs refused to allow her to breath. But Elena tried to force herself to despite all of this. Her throat locked up as a response, her vision grew dizzy, her nose started to bleed. Rick quickly handed her a tissue. It had been 2 weeks since Elena had arrived , Rick had given her time for her and Jack to get settled in. Elena had been able to buy Jack a crib, a real crib. Not a plastic fold up crib but a real wooden crib. IT was second hand but Elena could care lets and Jack didn't seem to mind either. Rick had bought Jack his 1st toy it was a blue teddy bear with blue eyes wearing a brown tie. Elena had given Jack her old baby toys at first but Stefan had destroyed all of them because he once tripped over one when he was over. He never said that toys weren't allowed it was implied.

Jack was more than thrilled to have a companion to share his crib with. Though he wasn't too thrilled about the baby vitamin formula that Elena could now afford to feed him. But it was a compromise he seemed willing to adjust to.

"Elena how you feeling"? Rick asked for the third time. It had been 15 minutes since the nose bleed.

"I'm fine", Elena answered.

"Elena your not fine, it's ok not to be. Ok", Rick spoke his voice kind. Elena opened her eyes to find 2 kind warm blue eyes staring back at her, she instantly felt a suffocating weight lift off her.

"It's just, I have this feeling that if I tell you, your going to die", Elena spoke her voice barely a whisper. Rick moved closer to Elena wrapping his arm around her, this had turned into his goto move when it came to comforting Elena. She seem to react well to it so he stuck to it. She embraced him fully Elena could feel love shower off of him onto her. Often times when Rick hugged Elena she started to feel like her old self before everything went so wrong. She instantly thought about her father how he would give her that same old smile and hug her squeezing he tight and kiss her on the forehead every night before bed. Elena could feel more tears threatening to fall.

"Elena I can understand why you would want to be cautious, but in this case I think it's going to do more harm not to tell". Rick spoke Elena could feel vibrations through his chest as he spoke. Rick let go of Elena to fully look Elena in the eyes. "Start from the beginning".

"Damit fess up", Klaus screamed. Damon didn't flinch he barely heard Klaus his eyes focused on his baby brother who sat across the room behind a mahogany desk. The walls covered in Large bookcases covered with priceless books and artifacts. On the wall behind Stefan hung the Family Crescent engraved in what looked to be gold and a dark blue marble. Stefan had went over to Elena's the following night needing to blow off some steam to find the room empty. Stefan sitting here now was not really concerned about the missing Elena but the feeling he had gotten standing in her empty room. He felt abandoned, betrayed, hurt. It scared him for the briefest second, that fear quickly turned into rage. He found Jenna asleep on the couch in the living room like usual. That's when it popped into his head, his half brother definitely had something to do with it.

"I already told you, I don't know where your whore is", Damon replied.

"Poppycock", Klaus exploded.

"Hoy mate it's been two weeks its obvious we don't have her", Enzo spoke shot Enzo a dirty look. Damon and Enzo had postponed the search when they first notice Stefan following them. Damon wanting to find and deal with Elena on his own first before Stefan would have her. Stefan could not be trusted when it came to the safety of the baby. Enzo caught on quickly and kept his mouth shut and the two stayed around town patiently waiting. But Damon had grown impatient after 2 weeks now putting his foot stood next to Stefan listening to the 3 men bicker back and forth from one to other over and over.

"I believe Damon", Kol spoke for the first time. "What is it that she stole from you"? Damon looked at Enzo unsure on what to say. Enzo seeing Damon's delay quickly spoke up on his friends behalf.

"It was just an old toy he had as a kid", Enzo lied smoothly.

"Star boy"? Stefan asked. His eyes meeting his brothers filled with concern. Stefan could actually remember the little action figure clearly. A little man with a silver shield painted on to his body, his helmet had a small star emblem on it that shone blue when in direct sunlight. Damon for a moment thought he had imagined Stefan talking. But the look in Stefan's eyes told him different.

"How do you remember that"? Damon asked. Stefan suddenly became aware of his surrounding dropped his eyes.

"I remember you would cry like a little bitch when my Father took it away from you", Stefan replied coldly. Damon didn't remember going to attack Stefan. Just one moment he was standing across the study the next moment Enzo was restraining him while Kol and Klaus laughed.

"It's for the better Damon let it go", Enzo whispered in Damon's ear. Damon looked at his best friend and smiled. Grateful that he was here with him. Damon would be ok by himself, but Damon liked having someone else on his side when facing them.

"We don't have her, and myself and Enzo will be leaving today weather you like it or not and we would appreciate if you stop following " Damon spoke.

The phone rang, the room grew quiet. Stefan lost his train of thought. Everyone held there breath as Kol answered the phone on the 4th ring.

"Hello", Kol answered. No purpose of saying the name of the residence only a few set of select people had there number. Kol's face grew grave. "Which hospital? Ok we'll be there shortly".

"Which hospital"? Stefan keys already in his hand. He could feel a smile threatening to come to the surface his face at the thought of Elena in the hospital.

"It's not Elena it's Dad. Elijah is already there".

"What's happened"? Klaus asked.

"He's been in an accident ". Klaus and Stefan started for the Study door, but Stefan stopped halfway through blocking the entrance slash exit.

"What about them"? Stefan asked his two brothers.

"You guys are coming with us", Klaus stated.

"Forget that", Damon replied.

"If you come with us I will tell you where Katherine is", Klaus offered. Stefan gave Klaus a sharp nudge asking him what he was doing. He shrugged his shoulders at Stefan. Damon noticed, but chose to let it go for the moment.

"Fuck Katherine we are out of here". Damon violently pushed past the Mikaelson brothers and stormed down the hallway. Enzo followed close behing. Just being in the same hallway brought back painful memories for damon.

4 year old Stefan crept along the large hallway. He checked behind curtains and looked into the various rooms along the hallway but to no success could he find Damon. Who was just a few feet ahead locked in a dresser that once belonged to the King of France himself Louis the 4th. Damon fought hard to hold the in his laughter of excitement at the game.

Pow. Damon heard it first, Stefan still a few feet away too occupied in the search didn't notice the sound. "Micheal please", his mother begged. He could barely hear her voice through the solid wall. Damon's first concern was Stefan. He quickly jumped out of the cabinet.

"DeeDee I found you", the 4 year old exclaimed he started to run towards Damon. The fighting stopped, the large wooden door a few doors down the hall slowly opened. Damon quickly pushed Stefan into the cabinet and locked it quickly. His father poked his head out his wild eyes locked on Damon.

"Come here you need to learn about how to discipline a woman when she lies", Michael ordered.

"Please Michael he's just a boy".

"Soon enough he will be a man, and a man needs to know how to handle his wife", Michael exploded. Damon watched his father run back into the room. He heard it the sound of fist connecting to a face. Damon knew that there was blood. There was always blood.

"DeeDee I'm scared", Stefan whispered through the crack of the door. "Let me out".

"Its only a game , you like games you have to count to a 1000 and then you can come out, not a second before".

"I don't want to play this game".

"If you do I'll let you have starboy for the night", Damon bargained.

"Damon", his father roared from inside the room.

"A week", Damon promised stefan. He unlocked the door so Stefan would be able to come out later on his own. He quickly ran into the room and locked the door tight, so this time no sound could escape.

It had been a solid month Elena had not seen Stefan. Her body was starting to heal, you could barely see the bruises now. Some of the major bruises were visible but for the most part her body was no longer predominantly covered in black and blue. Plus she was able to go to a clinic and see a real doctor. Jack had grown so much in the small amount of time. He was chubby, and had more color in his cheeks, he hair now longer and curly. His baby teeth operating at full swing. His new favorite thing to do now was bite anything in sight. Rick had helped Elena get a job as a teaching assistant to a Calculus professor at the school. Math was the one thing Elena had always been good at, so she been more than able to try out for the job as well as wow the professor. So Elena had a good steady income plus left over from selling Damon's car. She offered some to Rick to pay for rent and he gladly accepted it to start a bank account in her name. AS well as he himself adding money to it with every pay period he had. Rick had not told Elena yet what he was doing with the money he was planning it as a surprise for her upcoming birthday.

Elena once again excited for the day, she still couldn't get use to the feeling it was too unreal, too good. Jack had his own room now with his own set of furniture and his own set of clothes and room decorations. Elena happily walked in and admired the work that she and Rick had down with the colorful wall decorations. The theme had been a zoo type of carnival. The crib was empty, for a second Elena panicked. But then she herd Jack's giggle from downstairs, closely followed by Ricks. Once down stairs and down te narrow hallway filled with ancient artifacts Elena found the 2 in the kitchen. Baby formula was scattered throughout the room on the all floor and counter as well on Rick himself. Rick stood in long grew pajamas pants and a baggy UCLA t-shirt. His bed hair covered in baby formula.

"Uh Oh", Jack spoke at the sight of Elena. It was his new favorite thing to say now.

"Yea uh Oh in deed", Elena spoke smiling at her son. "Good morning Rick".

"Morning Elena, how did you sleep"? He asked. He started to wipe the baby formula from his face. Elena handed him a paper towel.

"Like a baby", Elena answered honestly. Elena turned to Jack and game him a kiss on his now fluffy soft cheeks. In return he wiped his hands which were covered in baby formula on her boob. "Jack".

At this Jack laughed, but seeing his mother's reaction his face quickly changed to an innocent I didn't know what I was doing I'm a baby face. "Uh oh", he spoke. Elena could feel her heart melt but she also knew better she would not be fooled like alaric.

"Don't you baby face me, you know what you did". Again a smile grew across Jack's face.

"Oh come on he's just a baby", Rick defended the little guy. Elena took a paper towel for her self and wiped the baby formula off.

"Precisely, he knows he can do it and get away with it", Elena said smiling. Even now she couldn't even be mad at him, he was too darn cute.

"I made you some scrambled eggs today", Rick spoke. He pointed towards the the kitchen table. Rick was able to wipe out most of the baby formula from his hair but he didn't even bother with his shirt.

"Ok thanks". Rick aimed for the trash can just behind Elena and squared up his shoulders as if he was playing backed ball and shot the balled up tissues. From the moment the dirty paper towels left his hand he knew it was a mistake. It landed square on Elena's face and stuck to it. Elena stood mouth open in shock.

"I am so sorry I was aiming for the trash", Rick apologized quickly. Rick rushed to take it off her face but elena quickly backed up, holding up her hands signalling for him to stop he did.

"Uh oh", Jack spoke. Elena had to move smart, she slowly took off the paper towels and wiped the formula off her face. Rick was trying hard not to laugh and was miserably failing. Distracted by trying to remain serious he didn't see elena pick up the bowel of baby formula and made a quick jerking motion in alaric's direction.

The formula his his square in the face. Rick quickly scrapped off what ever formula he could that was already on him and threw it back in Elena's direction. Who was laughing and ducking all at the same time. Baby Jack not missing a beat had already started to throw the remaining baby formula he had at the two battling before him the baby chair. Laughs once again filled the house.

Damon and Enzo watched on quietly outside the far east kitchen window, the two had found the address just a few hours ago. Elena had once again sold his car to a man who had decided to take a cross country tour of America. It had taken them weeks to finally catch up to him. The man was the least bit helpful in describing the sellar and also refused to give Damon back his car, threatening to call the police. So Damon did what he did best, he put the fear of god into the man beating him close to death and promising to return if the man was to ever call the cops. Enzo didn't comment on the way Damon went about it, no point.

The two men stood observing closely, Enzo and Damon shocked. They had been expecting Elena to be well a terrible person. But looking at her though the window for the first time Damon realized he might have been wrong about her. Damon didn't know much about her other than she and his brother had a very physical relationship and kid together. That she was once failing to take care of. Damon now thinking back to the night in the room started to remember strange details. Like how everything in the room was already broken before he had trash it, in fact there wasn't that much to break the girl didn't own much. He remembered that her closet was small yes, but also extremely empty for a teenage girl's closet. There was no sign of make up or music or the other junk that the girls her age had.

She's poor, Damon realized. The abuse that she had endured from his brother Damon now realized the magnitude of it. Did she ever want to be in a relationship with him? He asked himself. Did Stefan force her? He started to feel shame for the actions of his brother, for his actions. He wasn't that nice to her either. How did I miss the signs? He asked himself.

"You know you could go out if you want to tonight", Rick spoke. Bringing Damon back to present. "I mean I could watch Jack and you could go out have fun be young".

"I could but it wouldn't be as fun with out you two", Elena replied. The thought honestly scared her. She had learned her lesson about nice boys, they weren't any, no one is who they seem to be.

"Elena, it won't make you a bad mother to enjoy a night out once in a while".

"Exactly Rick I am a mother first and everything else a distant second. Everything that I need that is important to me is in this room. After going through everything. " Elena paused. "The other stuff just isn't important".

"Ok, but I was just saying you aren't in that situation nay more you can relax have fun for once. Do what ever you want to do and still be ok". Elena smiled at Rick, he was the nicest person she had seen in a while and she still couldn't get use to it.

"I know it's hard to believe but I've been living in a fairy tale ever since I arrive I know to normal people it might be boring but to me it's quite the opposite. I t won't be like this forever so I just want to enjoy it day by day". Rick took Elena's hands in his and he squeezed it softly.

"Uh oh", Jack spoke. Elena and Jack both turned to Jack and laughed. Jack had noticed a figure standing by a window unsure of what he saw. He wasn't scared but for some reason he felt compelled to say something. His mother and uncle laughed at him. Jack quickly forgetting what he saw also giggled along with them.

"How did I know you would find her", Stefan spoke from behind Damon. Enzo and Damon had walked back to the car 2 blocks away from Elena's house. Damon turned around to find Stefan and two of his minions standing close behind. "Here", Stefan handed him a manila folder. "It's the parental rights, he's been signed over to you, you can take it and be on your merry way".

"And you get the whore"? Damon asked. Stefan's eyes darkened.

"I already had the whore, I own the whore it's just a matter of getting back stolen property" Stefan spoke dismissively. Damon grew silent and looked over the paper work. "Don't tell me you are going soft, it's what she does. She plays the victim card well too well but thats all it is her pretending". Stefan lied. All I care about is my nephew, Damon told himself.

"Ok deal".

"Deal".

"Spread em", the words echoed in Elena's head. She opened her eyes, waking up from her beautiful fairy tale. Her first thoughts went to Jack, then to Rick and lastly aunt Jenna. Elena could feel his all too familiar eyes on hers. She looked him in the eyess for the first time in a 1 month and 16 hrs. He switched on the light .Elena didn't cry beg or scream for forgiveness. There was no point, she had woken up from her fairytale and had been thrown back into reality. He legs automatically parted for him. This place was sacred to her, nothing bad had ever happened here in Rick's house in his guest room. Here Stefan was about to take that away from her, she couldn't have that. Stefan distracted with removing his clothes Elena was able to kick him in the head and made a run for the door. Once through the door she made her way to Jack's room she froze in the door way. Damon held a crying baby Jack in his arms awkwardly unsure on how to exactly hold a baby.

"Your hurting him", Elena screamed. For the first time in a long time she felt angry. Who is this guy to come into Rick's house and touch my son? She thought to herself.

"What gives you the right to take my son"? Elena cried. She started to take Jack but a pair of new hands grab hold of her. She turned to see a man with chocolate brown hair and beautiful brown eyes starring at her. His grip tightening by the second. "Let go of me", Elena screamed. Rick moaned, his body awkwardly stretched out on the floor in an unnatural position in a pool of his own blood. Elena panicked no longer able to think straight. Elena fought Enzo with all the strength and rage she could muster tears blurring her vision she swung wildly trying to get out of his grip to no success.

"Stop it", Enzo ordered. Elena cried on and on. Damon backed started for the door, Jack crying loudly reaching his hand towards Elena who was also reaching for her son.

"Please, no not my son, punish me not my son", Elena begged Damon. "I'm the one you want I am the one who stole from you not him". Damon froze in the door way, Stefan now stepping out of the room partially dressed his face red eyes dark. Damon turned around in the door way to face Elena blocking Stefan from entering.

"Where is it"? Damon asked. He felt terrible for Elena but she had stolen something irreplaceable to him. Just thinking about it made his heart ache.

"It's back in my Aunt Jenna's house", Elena lied. She didn't take what ever Damon was looking for, that made him trash her room, but she needed to get them out of here away from Rick and Jack.

"Elena no", Rick moaned.

"Quiet", Enzo ordered and kicked Rick in his stomach once again all the while holding Elena solid in place.

"Where"? Damon asked.

"I will show you once you leave Rick and Jack alone", Elena promised.

"No can't do you lost all you parental rights, Stefan signed over his parental rights to me", Damon answered. "But if you tell me I will keep yo updated with how Jack is doing". Elena looked over Damon's shoulder at Damon a new rage she felt for him. Enzo restrained Elena as a new violent fit came over trying to attack Stefan. And Stefan glad of standing behind Damon.

"How could you, he isn't yours to give away".Elena roared.

"Elena" Stefan screamed, after a moment. Elena now started to cry, Stefan felt brave enough to talk to her. "You will tell Damon where that stupid toy is or you spreading your legs will be the least of your worries". Damon was having a hard time believing that she had taken it, he had already searched her room and house as well after she left. Damon saw it in her eyes the light going out in them, her starring blankly at Stefan who now pushed his way past Damon.

"She doesn't have it, she's lying", Damon spoke. His voice cold and emotionless.

"How do you know"? Stefan asked.

"She never had it, Katherine had it all along". Damon spoke the wheels now turning in his head. "She always had it". He laughed to himself. The laugh was short lived Damon eyes fell on Elena once again and his heart stopped.

He could see the color leaving her face, her body slipping into a lifeless trance of movements. Stefan shoved her to the ground violently, Elena didn't fight, she dropped crying she remained perfectly still. Enzo back away, Rick tried to move but failed the pain excruciating. Stefan kicked her repeatedly all the while he started to undress Damon could see the bulge forming in his brothers boxers. He felt his stomach flip. Jack's cries snapped Damon out of it, Jack shouldn't be seeing this he thought to himself. He motioned for Enzo to get Rick and turned and started down the long and narrow hallway. He froze at the sight of a picture of Elena Jack and Rick on the wall. It was recent on a perfect spring day, it looked as though they went to a park or garden.

"I've got him", Enzo spoke behind Damon. Damon made his way down the stairs Jack crying and fidgeting all the way down. Few steps from the door Damon heard the all too familiar sound. A constant thumping sound directly above them. Damon held back the throw up threatening to come bursting out at any second and picking up the pace walked out of the house.

"Where are we bringing him"? Enzo asked.

"To a hospital", Damon answered.

"Elena", Rick mumbled half conscious.

"Why bother with him"? Enzo asked.

"He didn't need to see that, no one should ever have to bare witness to that". Damon answered. Enzo knew this was bringing up old memories for his friend, he could now feel his anger once again changing direction now directly pointing at Stefan. Enzo wanted to speak against the deal he made with Stefan, but he knew he had to go about this subject subtly. Damon drove off with a full car, he had gotten what he came for but he couldnd't help and shake the feeling that he had still lost.