When they were half way back to Mystic Falls Bonnie called Damon.
"Hey, we found him, we are on our way back." Bonnie said, she heard Damon sigh in relief.
"Thank god, is he okay?" Damon asked concerned.
"He will be, Lexi said to have the cell in the basement ready." Bonnie replied.
Damon bit his lip, "Okay, I will. What about Klaus?" Damon asked.
"We missed him, he left the club we found them at, he will be coming for us as soon as he realizes that Stefan is gone." Bonnie grimaced. "Grams and I are going to try and do a cloaking spell, it will only be temporary, but it will keep him off our trail for awhile." Bonnie explained.
"Okay, well hurry back." Damon said as he hung up the phone, he looked over at the girl beside him and sighed. 'Its too early to wake her' he said as he looked at the clock, which read 5:30 am.
He groaned as he got out of bed, slipping his pants back on. He went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He noticed for the first time how old he looked, he was always used to looking young and healing, but after his fight with Alaric the night before, and minimal sleep. Damon realized that he wasn't as young or invincible as he once had been. He chewed his lip, 'how will I protect her, both of them, if I can't even protect myself.'
He slipped out of the bathroom and into the hallway, he saw Jenna curled up in her bed, Jeremy in his. 'These people depend on me,' he thought to himself. He went to the kitchen and made himself some coffee, looking through the family phone book.
Alaric Saltzman 555-3456.
Damon took a deep breath in as he typed the numbers in his phone. 'God, I hate to stoop so low, I mean the guy hates me, but he is strong. I need to know how.' He thought as he hit dial.
Ring-Ring
"Hello?" a groggy voice responded.
"Hi, um I am the guy you tried to kill last night." Damon said with a nervous laugh.
"Damon Salvatore, what do I owe the unfortunate pleasure?" Alaric groaned.
"Hey, I am sorry to call you so early, and I am sorry about your wife okay," Damon gritted his teeth, he was horrible at apologies.
"You really have limited people skills, don't you?" Alaric laughed.
"I guess you could say that, but anyway I phoned to ask for your help." Damon said feeling all of his pride go out the window.
"The mighty Damon Salvatore asking for my help?" Alaric laughed again, wow was this ever rich.
"Yeah okay laugh it up, but I need to know how you are so strong? Like you're a vampire hunter, I need a few tips I guess. I mean when I was a vamp I was strong, but as a human… well I am pretty weak okay, and a fucking coward." Damon gritted his teeth, he didn't know why he was so open with the Alaric guy but something about him just seemed trustworthy.
"You really do put a lot of faith in me, if I didn't know better I would say we are becoming "friends"?" Alaric chuckled.
"You are a really strange man Alaric." Damon replied.
"Please if we are going to be hanging out all the time now, since apparently you need me to train you ha-ha call me Ric." Alaric said.
"Okay "Ric", when can we meet?" Damon said sarcastically.
"After school today? How does that sound, I will meet you at Elena's, I think we all need to talk, Jenna texted me last night pissed." Alaric said biting his lip.
"Yeah, well Elena sort of let it slip about the baby and one thing led to another and now Jenna and Jeremy know about everything." Damon said nervously.
"Fuck, this is bad, this puts everyone in danger." Alaric replied.
"I know, that's why I need your help, I need to get stronger, we need as much man power as we can. My brother is coming back to Mystic falls today, they found him, but he's not well. Stefan has issues with human blood, Klaus practically drowned him in it. I need your help Ric, please for Jenna, Jeremy and Elena." Damon practically begged.
"Okay, okay I will help you keep them safe, in return can you help me with something?" Alaric asked seriously.
"Yeah sure what?" Damon asked concerned.
"Where was the last place you saw Isobel?" Alaric asked firmly.
"Ric, Isobel doesn't want to be found, trust me, when she begged me to turn her she told me not to follow her, not to worry about helping her with the transition, I don't, I mean I didn't just turn people for fun. I have only turned one other person besides her and it went really bad for me. I don't know why your wife wanted to be a vamp or where she went. She just promised me not to look for her or follow her okay, the last place I saw her was the night I turned her outside your apartment." Damon sadly explained.
"Well, thank you for telling me, I am sorry about your face last night." Alaric apologized.
"You really aren't good with people are you Ric?" Damon laughed 'this seems like the start of a friendship to me,' Damon smiled to himself.
"You are a funny man Salvatore. I'll talk to you later, try and stay out of trouble." Alaric said as he hung up the phone, he couldn't help but smile.
Jenna came down the stairs a short while later, "Oh Damon Jesus, what are you doing up so early?" she said shocked to find him standing in the kitchen with only his jeans on.
"Sorry Jenna, they phoned me about Stefan early this morning, then I had to make a phone call, I guess I could have gone back to bed, but I just can't sleep." Damon replied as he took a sip of his now cold coffee.
"Are you okay? I mean I was hard on you last night I am sorry about that. Its just Elena has been through so much this past year, and now all this supernatural stuff and a baby!? Its not fair to her, she's just a kid." Jenna said grabbing a coffee cup and filling it, she offered Damon some more coffee, he nodded.
"I am alright Jenna, I know that all of this is hard on you all. I never meant for this stuff to happen, I mean I didn't even know about the curse until Sheila and Bonnie told me. I never meant to fall in love with Elena Jenna, it wasn't my intention." He said as he hung his head.
"Hey, its okay, you can't help who you love." Jenna took his hand and squeezed.
"No, you really can't, speaking of which I talked to your boyfriend this morning. Don't be to hard on him, its not his fault he didn't tell you what I was, that's all mine." Damon said.
"You talked to Ric?" Jenna was surprised.
"Yeah, I need to train to fight vamps Jenna, I need to be able to protect you all. As a human I am pretty fucking weak, Alaric is strong he's been hunting vampires for years now," Damon said taking a gulp of coffee.
"I am still not going to get over the fact that vampires, and stuff are real." Jenna sighed into her coffee. Behind her Elena was coming down the stairs, after waking up alone.
"Good morning." She grumbled out, going to fridge and getting herself a glass of orange juice and a yogurt.
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Damon asked nervously.
"Mhmm, yup." Elena replied groggily.
"So, I was thinking, El, we should probably book you a doctor's appointment pretty quick." Jenna said popping some bread in the toaster.
"Yeah," Elena replied quietly.
"Alaric had said he could hook us up with some witch doctor," Damon said as he finished off his coffee.
Jenna laughed, "Sorry, its just witch doctor, ha-ha." The laughter ran through the air creating a light and air mood in the dark and tense room.
Elena smiled at her Aunt, "Hey there's that smile, I was wondering when I was going to see it again." Jenna said as she brought her niece into a hug.
"Its all going to be okay El," she said as she smoothed Elena's hair. Elena felt the tears brewing, she bit her lip to keep them from falling.
Damon smiled weakly at her, knowing that she was hurting, in the process of less than a month; her whole entire world had been turned upside down.
On the road from New Orleans back to Mystic Falls
"So, Care, how are you feeling?" Lexi asked the newly sired vampire. The rest of the passengers were asleep.
"Weird, I haven't really had time to process everything." Caroline replied, watching the sun rising in the horizon. "I mean last week I was just the cheer captain, homecoming queen, young teen girl." She sighed, "And now, well know I am going to eternally be that girl." A silent tear fell from her baby blues.
Lexi took her hand from the steering wheel and patted her new friends hand. Caroline sadly smiled.
As they reached the Mystic Falls sign the girls heard scratching.
"Let me the fuck out of this trunk LEXI!" Stefan screamed from the back of the car.
"Looks like someone is awake." Lexi said rolling her eyes. The rest of the passengers jumped awake.