Alaric walked into the Grill with Luna on his hip. He had been taking care of her since she showed up at the school yesterday. Damon had visited for about an hour but then he asked his friend to look after the little girl for a while longer. Not that he minded. The teacher saw Jenna sitting at one of the tables, looking depressed "What has you looking so down?"
Jenna's head snapped up and she smiled at the duo "Hey, Ric. Luna. How is my favourite four-year-old."
"Good," she bounced "Uncle Dami asked Ric to take care of me."
Ric and Jenna exchanged looks over the little girl's head "I'm not quite sure what he planned but it's Damon, so…?"
"Ah," the older woman nodded and stole Luna from Ric's arms, settling her on her own lap "About your question… I'm apparently playing historical society hostess to some writer who's doing his book on small-town Virginia."
Alaric blinked "Well, that sounds…"
"Lame?" Jenna offered, tickling Luna's sides. She really liked the little girl. For some reason, the four-year-old could wrap almost everyone around her little finger. First, big bad Damon, Stefan, Ric… They were all suckers for her "Yeah, but Carol Lockwood played the 'dead husband' card, said she was too busy to deal. Plus, my sister kept most of the archives, so there you have it."
"Want a little helper?" Alaric questioned, gesturing to Luna "Damon wanted to do something and I'm not sure if I want to know… Better she's safe with you."
Jenna looked at her boyfriend for a moment and then down at Luna "Is that something you would like to do? Helping out a friend in need?" Luna looked up at her with wide eyes, not really knowing what the two adults were talking about. She blinked a few times and nodded with a tilted head. The two adults snickered at the look and Jenna got up "Well, then." The older woman quickly kissed Ric goodbye and left with Luna in tow "So, let's go meet this mysterious writer." She buckled Luna into her car and took off to Lockwood Mansion where Carol said they would wait.
"Jenna," Carol smiled as soon as the two stepped through the door "Thank you for doing this… Hi, Luna, right? What are you doing with Damon's niece?"
Jenna ruffled the little girl's blonde hair "Babysitting."
"Not a baby," Luna huffed, glaring up at the older woman.
"Fine. I'm looking after her for Damon… Or rather Ric. Men, you know?" Jenna rolled her eyes and looked around "So where is the guy?"
Carol startled into motion "Right. Mr. Smith is in the living room. Please." She lead Jenna and her small aide through the foyer and into the living room where Elijah was waiting "Elijah, this is Jenna Sommers. Jenna, this is Elijah Smith."
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Sommers," Elijah greeted with a small smile, his eyes flashing to the four-year-old at her side. Now that he knew the truth, he couldn't unsee his little brother in her. How Rosemarie hadn't seen it, he didn't know but on the other hand, he was grateful. The fewer people knew, the safer she was. The Original had to admit that she was cute though… Perfect and unique.
"Mr. Smith," Jenna shook his hand "Please call me Jenna."
"Then you may call me Elijah." The Original looked at Carol and smiled "It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Lockwood."
Carol nodded "Elijah."
Once Elijah, Jenna and Luna were outside, the vampire turned to the little girl, crouching down "Hello, there."
Luna peaked up at the man for a second before her gaze returned to the floor. This was the same man who killed the vampire. When she and Elena got kidnapped. She really wasn't sure what to think about him. On one hand, she felt uneasy but then there was also something about him… It made her feel at home "'lo."
"Let's get to mine," Jenna spoke up, resting one of her hands on Luna's head "Everything should be there."
All the way to the Gilbert's residence, Elijah glanced over his shoulder at the girl… his niece. This is going to take some getting used to. He wanted to get to know her, to get close to the little one but… Elijah doubted it was going to be easy. Especially if she had anything to do with those two vampires who killed him.
"Come in," Jenna gestured once they were at the front door. Luna immediately skipped off to the living room where some of her toys were still stashed from yesterday "The files are in here. Hold on." She opened the closet, rummaging around in there "Make yourself at home. I just need to look through this stuff."
Elijah nodded and immediately headed to the living room where his niece was playing with some toys. Before he could say anything, the little girl was up and in one of the corners of the room "Well, I guess that answers that question," the Original mumbled to himself "I don't want to hurt you, Luna. It was Luna, wasn't it?" The blonde tilted her head curiously and nodded "What were you playing just now?" He sat down on the sofa, trying to appear less intimidating. Luna crawled towards her toys carefully, ready to run if she needed to. She pointed to the floor where some boards were lying along with letters "You're learning to read?"
"And write," she whispered shyly.
Elijah smiled "And how is that?"
Luna shrugged lightly "Momma showed me my letters but they were hard… Now, Uncle Dami helps."
"You're a smart little girl, aren't you? How old would my lady be?" Luna giggled at the half bow the Original did and held up four fingers "Four? So you're a big girl already."
"I think I found it," Jenna called over to them and Elijah groaned internally. Really? Now?
He got up and ruffled Luna's hair "It was nice talking to you, princess." With that, he left her in the living room and walked out to join the older woman.
Luna just continued to spell and sound out the letters. At least she hoped that it was the right way. The words were relatively easy like 'fish' and 'frog', so there wasn't much she could do wrong… Not anymore at least. After another twenty minutes, Jenna came into the room "Come on, love. Let's get you to your uncle, hm?"
"Yeah," the four-year-old exclaimed, abandoning her game in favour of running to the older woman. As much as she liked Jenna and Ric, she really wanted to go back home.
Jenna laughed "Well, then come on." She scooped the small child up and strapped her into the backseat again. It wasn't even a question of where Damon could be. There was only one possibility and that was the Grill.
"Where is she?" Damon demanded, whirling around in the parking lot.
"Uncle Dami," Luna shouted, rushing towards her vampire uncle. The oldest Salvatore froze and caught the little one when she threw herself into his arms "Missed you, Uncle Dami."
Alaric was standing next to Jenna but when Damon looked at him, he came over "So we're just letting her get away?" Damon hissed at the man "'You've been marked'". What the hell kind of wolf throw-down crap is that anyway?"
"Damon, look up!" the teacher murmured "Just look up." The vampire did so and after a moment Luna followed suit "If this werewolf stuff is true, one bite and you're dead. One bite! Alright? Don't risk it. Just go home, lock your doors and we'll deal with it in the morning."
The oldest Salvatore looked down at his niece and then back at Ric "Yeah. I'll see you."
"Sure. Bye Luna."
"Bye, Ric," the girl waved, laying her head down on Damon's shoulder.
The vampire smiled "So, how was your day?"
"Cool. Ric took me to the Grill and then I went with Jenna and then there was 'Lijah… He is a writer…"
"Woah, woah," Damon cut her off harshly "Elijah?" Luna nodded, her eyes wide "Dammit. I don't want you to talk to him, alright?"
The four-year-old pouted at her uncle "But…"
"No buts, Luna," he replied firmly "You'll stay as far away from him as you can." He put her down at the front door and walked into the house, locking the door behind the two of them. Once he was in the living room, he stopped, staring at the person standing in front of him "You just can't stay away, can you?"
Rose rolled her eyes "You don't answer your phone."
"What do you want?" Damon sighed.
"Rose," Luna called, attaching herself to the female vampire's waist.
Rose smiled down at the blonde girl and patted her head "Luna. How was your time with… Ric?"
"Fun," she grinned.
"I wanted to apologize, Damon," the older of the two vampires murmured "I'm sorry about Luna and I'm sorry for listening to Elena. She… There's something I have to tell you about her."
Damon raised his eyebrow "And what would that be?"
"Elena… Do you know how she treats Luna?" Rose questioned carefully.
"What do you mean?" the oldest Salvatore frowned, his smug expression dropping from his face.
Luna tugged at Rose's jacket, hoping to stop her from telling her uncle. She didn't like Elena but she didn't want to get her into trouble either… "From what I've seen the Doppelgänger seems almost… verbally abusive at times. She constantly glares at Luna, calls her brat. I can only tell you what I've seen so far but… I don't think that you should leave her alone with Luna anytime soon."
Damon gaped at the older vampire for a moment before he fell to his knees in front of his niece "Luna? Look at me, little moon." When she didn't do what he asked, he grabbed a hold of her child gently and raised her head "Is that true? Did Elena really do what she said?"
Luna bit her lip, chewing on it uncertainly "Yes," she breathed after a few moments.
Suddenly, there was the sound of glass breaking from the kitchen. Damon lid in front of Luna and Rose as the window shattered and a wolf lunged into the living room. The oldest Salvatore grabbed a sword that was hanging on the wall and swung it "Protect Luna," he commanded. What happened next, left him speechless though. Rose pushed him out of the way just as the wolf jumped, throwing her on the floor. Damon stabbed the sword forward but not fast enough. The wolf had bitten down on the older vampire's shoulder. As soon as it was gone, he knelt down "How bad is it?"
"It hurts," Rose hissed.
Damon watched the bite mark heal "It's healing." Then a low whimper reached his ears "Luna." He whirled around to search for the girl "Luna? Where are you?" There was another whimper coming from underneath one of the side tables of the sofa. Within a second Damon had his niece in his embrace, shushing her gently "It's alright, little moon. The wolf is gone. See?" Luna didn't answer, instead, she buried her face in her uncle's neck and started crying. She hated the full moon. She hated it. It was the time when the bad man hurt her momma worse. He didn't believe in locking himself up, so he roamed the house. Sometimes he caught her or her momma and hurt them "Let's get you to bed, hm?"
"You bring her up," Rose told him "I'm going to change."
Damon nodded, carrying the crying four-year-old to her room. For once, he didn't try to get her changed or to brush her teeth. She was way too upset. After he tucked her in, he sat next to her, carding his hand through her long locks "It's alright, Luna. Please… Stop crying, okay?" Damon was a bit out of his depth at the moment. Ever since Luna had started living with them, she was a happy child. There has never been a moment where she cried as much as she did now and he didn't know what to do? Oh, what the heck…
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away
I'll always love you and make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me and love another
You'll regret it all someday
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away."
When he was done, Luna had stopped crying for the most part and actually fallen asleep. There were still some tears falling from her eyes "Goodnight, little one."
"That was good," Rose complimented quietly, leaning against the doorway.
"Thanks," Damon smiled slightly "I wasn't sure what to do, so… yeah." He got up after pressing a kiss to Luna's forehead. With one last look, he closed the door quietly and left the little girl to sleep.