AN: Almost a hundred review for this story now – you guys are the best! Keep up the amazing reviewing and I'll keep writing. Vaishu – sorry, but there won't be much more, if anything, of Caroline in this story, and she won't be a vampire. I made the decision not to turn her back in Everything, when I didn't have Katherine come back to Mystic Falls. Hope you're not too disappointed! There might be some new vampire characters, though … And Nessa Lovegood, don't worry about your English, it's great – you don't have to be a native speaker to be able to put your thoughts into words, I should know! OK, let's get on with the story. Jenna and Jeremy meeting, a bit of a walk down memory lane – there will be more, I promise! – and some more interaction between Damon and Maddy. OK, that's it. And lots of hugs for my wonderful beta, sunshine2006578!

Disclaimer: The characters of The Vampire Diaries are the property of L.J. Smith and the people at The CW. I'm just borrowing.

Chapter eleven

"Oh my God!" Jenna exclaimed when Damon pulled up in front of the Four Seasons Hotel by Central Park. "We're staying here? One night in this hotel must cost more than I make in a month!"

"Depends on which room you want," Damon replied with a smirk. "The most expensive rooms are probably more like an entire year's salary."

"I told him that it was too much," Elena interjected. "But, as usual, he refused to listen to me."

"Didn't you say the exact same thing last time?" Damon pointed out. "And as far as I can remember, you ended up … enjoying the stay." He wagged his eyebrows at her and Elena blushed a little at the memory of the last time they had stayed at the hotel, glad that Jenna couldn't see her from where she was sitting in the back seat.

"You've stayed here before?" her aunt asked.

"Just once," she replied. "Back when we went to that concert my senior year, remember?"

"Right."

"OK, come on," Damon said. "You'll have plenty of time to admire the façade over the next couple of days. Believe it or not, there's an actual inside to the hotel too, not only the pretty exterior."

They got out of the car and he handed the keys to the valet before they entered the building.

"What about our bags?" Jenna looked behind them.

"They'll be brought to our rooms," Elena assured her. "Don't worry."

Damon strode across the lobby towards the reception desk and Elena and Jenna followed him. Maddy had fallen asleep in the car, but was now starting to wake up in Jenna's arms. She looked around herself, a little disoriented, rubbing her eyes.

"Hello and welcome to the Four Seasons Hotel, how may I help you?" a young woman behind the desk asked with a polite – but fake – smile when they stopped in front of her.

"We have a reservation," Damon replied. "Two rooms, under Salvatore."

She turned her attention to a computer screen. "Hang on just a minute … of course." She looked back up at them, the smile now even wider, and Elena assumed that she had seen that they were staying in the executive suites and was hoping to make a big tip. "Mr. Salvatore, welcome. Everything that you asked for has been done and I hope the rooms are to your satisfaction." She put two small envelopes on the counter between them. "Here are your keys, and if you need anything, just call down and I'll do my very best to take care of whatever it might be." The smile on her face had gone from polite to inviting, and Elena raised an eyebrow. Was the woman seriously hitting on Damon right in front of her? That was taking 'personal service' a little too far.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he replied dismissively, picking up the envelopes without meeting the woman's eyes. "Which one is the … specially equipped room?"

"This one," the woman told him, touching one of the envelopes and, in the process, his hand. He pulled his hand away and stared at the woman, sending a wave of compulsion her way. Her hand dropped to her side, her eyes slid out of focus and her voice became monotonous. "Have a nice stay at the Four Seasons Hotel."

"Thank you." Damon handed the envelope the receptionist had indicated to Jenna before wrapping an arm around Elena's waist and leading them in the direction of the elevators.

"She was … friendly," Elena noted quietly, voice a little annoyed.

"A little too friendly," he replied, frowning. "Sorry about that, she was bugging me."

"Oh, no, feel free to … discourage anyone like her. I definitely won't mind."

"I thought you didn't like it when I did that?" he pointed out.

"It was for a good cause."

He laughed and pushed the button for the elevators. "Good to know."

Jenna and Maddy caught up to them. "What's the 'special equipment' in our room?" Jenna asked, a little suspiciously, as she turned the envelope over in her hand.

"Relax, I didn't set up some sort of trap or anything," Damon assured her dryly. "I just asked them to childproof the place, which I'm sure they would have done anyway. This is an exclusive hotel, they wouldn't want a lawsuit on their hands because a kid got hurt in one of their rooms just because they didn't take the necessary precautions."

"Oh, well, thanks." Jenna hesitated as they entered the elevator. "You know, I wasn't sure about letting you pay for this trip in the first place, and now that I know where we're staying, I'm starting to think that I shouldn't. This must have cost a fortune."

"Don't worry about it," he disregarded, pushing the buttons for the thirty-first floor. "You're practically family now, you might as well get used to it."

"Trust me, Aunt Jenna, you don't have to worry about the money," Elena told her aunt. "I mean, I haven't actually seen any bank statements, but I'm pretty sure that he could stay here permanently if he wanted to."

"Still in the room," Damon pointed out in a slightly irritated voice. "Or, technically elevator, but whatever. You don't have to talk about me when you can talk to me. And you've never asked me how much money I have, or I would have told you."

Elena shook her head. "I don't care. But I've learned not to worry about the expenses when you pull something like this."

"You make it sound like it's something he does on a regular basis," Jenna noted.

"Well, kind of." Elena shrugged. "I mean, birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries …"

"And much more often if you would only let me," Damon hinted, and Elena rolled her eyes at him. They'd had this conversation before, several times, or at least different versions of it: when he had tried to convince her to let him pay for her college education after she had gotten into Duke, when he had wanted to buy her an apartment in Durham, when she was having car trouble and he had wanted to buy her some new luxury car, and again when she had turned twenty-one and he had wanted to take her to Vegas for an all-week, proper birthday celebration – which in his mind included lots and lots of alcohol and gambling. She didn't mind it if he went to some extremes when it came to her birthday and things like that, but she had to draw the line somewhere.

"I guess money is bound to pile up, like everything else, when you live for a hundred and fifty years," Jenna mused out loud.

Of course, it helped to be able to convince people that they wanted to give you money or inside information, Damon thought. He didn't do that anymore, of course, since he knew without a doubt that Elena wouldn't like it, but he didn't need to, either. He definitely wasn't going to return the money he already had, and they would easily be able to live only on the interest he got from his various bank accounts around the world, not to mention the profits from the dozen or so businesses he also owned and the money he made on the stock market. It was a hobby of his, stock trading, and after about fifty years, he had become pretty good at it.

"It does," he agreed. The elevator came to a stop with a 'ding' and the doors opened.

"This is the thirty-first floor," Elena pointed out as they left the elevator.

"Very perceptive of you," Damon complimented her dryly.

"Weren't we on the thirty-second floor last time?"

"And a good memory too. Yes, we were, and we are now too, but there are only rooms with terraces up there, and I didn't think Jenna would want to stay in one of those with Maddy. Not very kid safe," he explained, looking at the directory before heading left. "So they're on this floor and we're on the next."

"Oh."

"You're staying in the same room that you stayed in when you were here five years ago?" Jenna wondered as she and Elena followed Damon down the hallway.

"Yeah," Elena replied with a smile. "Damon said that he's feeling a little nostalgic."

"That's sweet. Romantic."

"And here we are," Damon said, coming to a stop in front of a door at the end of the hallway and trying not to pay too much attention to Jenna. He didn't mind the 'romantic' part much, but 'sweet'? That definitely wasn't him …

Jenna put the electronic key card in the lock and opened the door, a gasp escaping her as it swung open. "Wow!" she exclaimed, going into the suite. "This is amazing!"

Elena followed her through the door, looking around.

"Why don't you make sure they really did kiddie proof it?" Damon suggested from the hallway, and both Jenna and Elena turned to find him leaning against the opposite wall.

"You're not coming in?" Elena asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, that's OK, I'll just wait out here," he replied. "Go ahead, explore."

"You don't have to do that," Jenna told him. "Come on in."

He hesitated for a moment, but then came into the suite and closed the door behind him. Elena waited until Jenna had gone into the living room to admire the view before she spoke in a hushed tone. "What was that? I thought you didn't need an invitation at hotels?"

"I don't," he told her. "But Jenna doesn't know that, so I thought I'd give her the option of not letting me into her room."

She squeezed his hand. "That was very sweet of you."

Again with the 'sweet'. It was his turn to raise his eyebrows at her. "Sweet?"

"OK, sorry, not sweet. It was very manly, very … macho, very … sorry, can't think of anything else."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah."

Maddy came stumbling out of the living room at that moment, tripping over her own feet in her hurry to get wherever she was going. Damon caught her before she fell over, though, and swung her up in the air before settling her on his hip. "So, is the room to milady's liking?" he asked, tickling her. Maddy immediately started wriggling and squealing.

"This place really is …" Jenna cut herself off when she saw Maddy in Damon's arms and, for a moment, Elena thought that she might freak out and yank her daughter away from him. But she didn't. "It's too much, really, I don't know how to thank you," she continued.

Damon had frozen when he had seen the flash of worry on Jenna's face and relaxed when she didn't start yelling at him to let Maddy go. "Good, I'm glad you like it. And Little Miss Ticklish here seems to approve too."

"Tee!" Maddy exclaimed, pointing past Jenna into the living room.

"Trees?" Damon wondered. "That's Central Park."

"Up!"

He laughed. "Yes, I'm sure there are swings in the park, we'll have to check that out some day."

"Down!" Maddy started to wriggle again, indicating that she was bored where she was, and Damon put her down on the floor.

"See, you're not half-bad at interpreting baby-talk either," Jenna noted, following her daughter on her now slower progress towards the bedroom.

"Those weren't that hard," he brushed it off, turning to Elena, who was watching him with a slightly incredulous look on her face. "What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head. "Just … Damon Salvatore, the baby whisperer."

His eyes narrowed. "Shut up," he muttered, quietly enough so that Maddy wouldn't hear.

Elena laughed and followed Jenna and Maddy into the bedroom, where there was a crib set up for Maddy next to the large bed.

"I think I might be able to sleep here," Jenna said, flopping down on the bed. "Oh, yeah, definitely. A girl could get used to this."

"I don't think you'll have any trouble sleeping," Elena agreed. "If I remember correctly, the beds are very comfortable."

Damon gave her a look that clearly told her what he was planning on doing in that bed – and it didn't have anything to do with sleeping – and she quickly looked away from him to keep from blushing.

"Why don't we let you settle in, unpack or whatever," he suggested, turning to Jenna. "We said that we would be at Jeremy and Anna's place at six, so that means we have to leave in …" he glanced at his watch, "… fifteen minutes, actually."

"OK, why don't Maddy and I meet you down in the lobby?" Jenna replied. "I just want to change real quick, I feel all gross after spending the entire day in a car. Which means I need my bag, I thought you said that they were going to bring it up here?"

"I'm sure they'll be here any minute," Elena told her. "We're gonna get going, check out our own room. See you downstairs in a little while."

Jenna walked with them to the door and, as if someone had heard what she had said a moment ago, there was a knock on the door just as Elena was about to open it. "And that would be your bags," Damon concluded, reaching past Elena to open the door and let the bellboy in.

They left Jenna to get ready and took the elevator up to the next floor.

"This place hasn't changed much," Elena noted as they walked down the hallway. The carpet had been replaced with one in a slightly darker color but, other than that, everything looked pretty much as she remembered it.

"They stick with what works," Damon replied, shrugging. "The notion of 'luxury' is pretty permanent."

They reached their door and he opened it, standing aside to let her into the suite first. Their bags had already been brought up and were waiting for them inside the door.

"This brings back memories," she said, glancing at him over her shoulder as she went into the living room.

"Care to take a little stroll down memory lane?" he wondered, following her into the room.

She turned to look at him. "In thirteen minutes?"

"You know that, normally, I like to …" he took a few steps closer, reached out to loop one finger through a hoop on her jeans and pulled her closer, "… take my time, but it's been a long drive, and we're bound to be at Jeremy and Anna's for hours."

"Oh yeah?" She reached up, as if to kiss him, but stopped when their lips were an inch or so apart. "You're gonna have to keep that thought until we get back tonight."

Leaving him standing there, she went back into the foyer and grabbed her bag.

"Tease!" he called after her, but she just laughed before going into the bedroom to change, closing the door behind her.

It was a few minutes after six when the cab they had taken from the hotel pulled up in front of the building that Jeremy and Anna lived in.

"This is a nice building," Jenna noted when they had gotten out of the car. "I love the Village, but I could never afford a place here when I lived in the city, of course."

"Where did you live when you were here?" Damon wondered, holding the door open for Elena, Jenna and Maddy.

"I moved around a lot, subletting different apartments, mostly in Brooklyn. But I had a couple of friends at NYU and we went to John's Pizzeria in the Village at least once a week. They have the best pizza in New York, hands down."

"It is pretty good," Elena agreed, leading the way up the stairs. "We've ordered from there a couple of times."

"Have you tried their garlic bread?"

"Nope, just the pizza."

"You have to try it next time, it's the best I've ever had." Jenna got an almost dreamy look in her eyes and Elena laughed.

"Maybe we can do a movie-slash-pizza night tomorrow or Tuesday?" she suggested. "So you can get some of that garlic bread."

"Oh, yes, can we do that?"

"Of course," Elena assured her, coming to a stop in front of Jeremy's door. "This is it."

Jenna took a deep breath. "OK, I'm ready, you can knock."

The door opened to reveal Anna, a smile on her face. "No need, we heard you coming. Welcome, come on in." She opened the door wider and stepped aside to let them in, revealing Jeremy, who seemed to be hanging back and was looking a little hesitant.

"Hey, Aunt Jenna," he greeted her with a slightly insecure half-smile and a wave. "Elena, Damon."

Elena, seeing that Jenna was hesitating a little too, went into the apartment and gave Jeremy a big hug. "Hey, Jere, good to see you."

He hugged her back. "You too, sis. Having finished college looks good on you."

Elena made a shushing sound as she let go of him. "Don't say that, you'll jinx it. I haven't gotten my results back yet, for all I know I failed every one of my finals."

"Oh, come on, you know that's not true," Jeremy disregarded her worry. "You'll do great."

"So, Anna, need a hand in the kitchen?" Damon asked suddenly, and Elena realized that he wanted to give her, Jeremy and Jenna a moment alone. Either that, or he didn't want to be around for all the emotional stuff that was bound to be coming, but she chose to believe it was the first option. She sent him a grateful look and he winked at her.

"Yes, actually, you can help me with the … vegetables," Anna replied quickly, picking up on his intentions. "Come on."

They disappeared down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen, leaving the foyer in silence.

Maddy, who had up until now been quiet in Jenna's arms, decided that she was bored. "Down!" she ordered, drawing Jenna's attention away from Jeremy for a moment. She put Maddy down on the floor, holding onto her hand so that she wouldn't take off. She might not be walking all that steadily yet, but she still moved surprisingly fast when she got going.

"It's so good to see you," Jenna said, taking a step closer to Jeremy. "You have no idea."

He smiled that half-smile again. "I think I do. Might even have been harder for me. At least you didn't know I was alive."

"Don't you dare! Do you think it was easy for me, thinking that you were dead?" Jenna snapped. "Do you have any idea what I went through back then, thinking that you had just disappeared in the middle of freaking nowhere? The images that flashed through my mind every time I closed my eyes for months? Mass murderers, wild animal attacks, I don't know what else."

Jeremy got a sheepish look on his face. "No, I know it must have been really hard for you. I'm sorry about that, you know I am."

Jenna took a deep breath before answering, probably trying to calm down. She had said that she didn't want to think about the past, especially not during this trip when she got to meet Jeremy for the first time in years. "You'd better be. And I'm still mad at you. Just so you know." She glanced at Elena. "And the rest of you too, for that matter. The next time you think about trying to 'spare my feelings' or some crap like that, don't, OK?"

"We won't," Elena promised immediately. She had a feeling Jenna needed to get this out before she could move on to enjoying spending time with Jeremy again. And, after all, what were the odds of something like this happening again?

"You have every right to be mad," Jeremy assured Jenna. "I get it, and I understand if it'll take some time before you're … comfortable being around me, that's OK."

"No!" Jenna exclaimed. "Or, well … I don't want to lie, so maybe a little. This is all new to me, you have to remember that." She turned to Elena, a slightly pleading look on her face. "But I did pretty good with Damon today, didn't I?"

"You did great," Elena agreed. "And it'll get easier. Before you know it, you won't even think about it anymore."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Jeremy joked.

"But you're … you're doing good?" Jenna asked, a slightly worried expression appearing on her face as she turned her attention back to Jeremy. "I mean, it must take some adjusting, becoming a … this whole new life."

Elena could understand that Jenna had some trouble saying the word 'vampire'.

"It's really not that different," Jeremy hurried to tell her. "Sometimes I don't even think about it myself, since I feel just the same as I used to, I guess mainly because of this." He held up the hand where he was wearing the ring that Bonnie had spelled for him. "If I didn't have it, it probably would have been another story, what with the whole 'only going out at night' thing, but now I don't even have to worry about the sunshine."

"Right, Elena said that you had one of those." Jenna scrutinized the ring as well as she could from nine feet away. "It looks just like a normal ring."

"Yeah, it does." Jeremy twisted the ring on his finger. "And it was too, before Bonnie put the daylight spell thing on it."

Elena groaned: she hadn't realized that he was going to mention Bonnie, or she would have asked him not to.

"Bonnie?" Jenna asked, turning to Elena with raised eyebrows. "I thought you said that it was an old friend of Damon's who did the spell?"

Elena sighed. "I just didn't think it was my place to tell you about Bonnie being a witch," she explained. "So that's why I said it was someone else. Of course, I forgot to mention that part to Jeremy." She gave her brother a reproachful look.

"Sorry," he apologized, shrugging. "I didn't know it was a secret."

"I won't say anything to her, if that's what you're worried about," Jenna assured Elena. "I can understand if she doesn't want everyone to know."

"Thanks."

"Though, I have to say, I'm not that surprised," Jenna continued. "I mean, there were rumors about her grandmother while I was growing up, about how she was a witch. All the kids were afraid of walking past her house on their own and whenever something weird would happen in Mystic Falls, everyone always said it was her."

"I doubt much of that was true." Elena could only imagine the kinds of things that kids would be saying about a slightly creepy woman.

"Probably not. But you're really good?" Jenna repeated, returning to the previous subject.

"I'm really good, Aunt Jenna," Jeremy told her sincerely. "I mean, school's good, I love living here in New York, and me and Anna are doing great. Now that I get to see you again, and Maddy, things couldn't be better."

Jenna nodded, looking relieved. "Good, I'm glad." She frowned a little, moving another couple of steps closer to him. "Can I … I mean, would it be OK if I gave you a hug?"

Elena could see the relief in Jeremy's eyes, but he tried not to let it show. "If you have to," he replied, trying to sound nonchalant. He took a couple of steps closer to Jenna as well, though, but stopped before he reached her, wanting to let her take the last step.

"Come on, Maddy," Elena said, holding out her hand to Maddy who took it, releasing Jenna's hand.

"I won't bite," Jeremy promised, a teasing smile on his face, and Jenna laughed once.

"Not funny," she told him, taking the last steps necessary and, still a little hesitantly, wrapped her arms around him.

"Too soon, sorry," he apologized, hugging her back carefully.

As soon as she felt his arms around her, it was like everything finally clicked into place for Jenna, and she hugged him back tightly. "I've missed you."

"I know, me too. So much."

It didn't look like they were going to break apart any time soon, so Elena gave Jeremy a questioning look, nodding in the direction of the hallway and kitchen to ask if it was OK that she left them alone. He nodded a little, and she picked up Maddy before heading in the direction of the kitchen.

Both Anna and Damon looked up when she entered the room. "I take it he didn't eat her," Damon assumed, and Anna elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! When you do it, it actually hurts!"

Elena ignored him, turning to Anna with a smile. "I think they'll be OK."

AN: So, how was that? I didn't want Jenna to lash out too much at Jeremy – she did that during their conversation over the phone – but seeing him would still remind her of everyone having lied to her, so I thought a bit of an angry outburst was in place. OK, please let me know what you thought! Let's get this story past a hundred reviews!