Elena takes another panicked gasp of air. She practically grew up in Mystic Falls Hospital, so the environment itself has zero effect on her. The nature of her visit, however, has her windpipe in knots. She scans her father's office in search for something, anything, to provide a distraction. The back wall offers a plethora of distracting words. University of Virginia School of Medicine. John Grayson Gilbert. John Templeton Foundation Grant. General Medicine. DeafNation Inspiration Award 2012 to Damon Salvatore. Wait. Damon is usually a territorial tyrant over things like this. Why does her father have Damon's award?
John has been pacing outside his office door for several minutes. Several minutes ago, he saw his daughter's back through the door window. That instant, he knew. He knew why she was here. He palpated around his breast pocket and fiddled with the edges of a crinkled, three-year-old piece of paper. He has read this piece of paper to himself every night for the last three years. He has wanted to give this piece of paper to his daughter every night for the last three years. The time may have come for it to belong to its rightful owner. He takes a few panicked gasps of air before he pushes through the door.
She looks up at her daddy with big, brown, innocent doe eyes. "You were wrong ..." Her daddy hands her a folded piece of paper. She can hardly stop her hands from tremoring as she unfolds the piece of paper. The confused creases on her forehead match those on the timeworn paper.
Elena, My Beautiful Baby Princess,
It's no easy task being an ordinary parent to an extraordinary child. I've failed in that task, and because of my prejudices, I've failed you. I'm haunted by how things might've played out differently if I'd been more willing to hear your side of things. For me, it's the end. For you, a chance to grow old and someday do better with your own child than I did with mine. It's for that child that I give you this letter. I don't ask for your forgiveness or for you to forget. I ask only that you believe this, whether you are now reading this as a 21 year-old or older, I love you all the same as I've always loved you and always will.
Daddy
The words are beautiful, but they make no sense to Elena. John's next verbal explanation makes the written words make sense.
A few months before Elena's 21st birthday, Damon had asked John for Elena's hand in marriage. John was taken aback but only because Damon and Elena had not even been on a date yet. Damon was sure though. He would marry her one day. Elena may have had a strained relationship with John ever since she decided to dedicate herself to mixed martial arts, but Damon still believed asking her father's permission was the right thing to do. John was reluctant in his head. Damon was not necessarily to blame for Elena's interest in mixed martial arts but her marrying him would only deepen her hooks. John's Baby Princess would be a ruthless killing machine for life. More importantly, he needed to reassure himself about something else first. John told Damon to give him time to think over the proposal.
Damon's deafness came from mutations in his Connexin 26 genes. Elena had just seen one of John's colleagues for a pre-Invicta tryout medical, complete with bloodwork. John borrowed one of her blood samples to test for possible Connexin 26 mutations and fucking hell, Elena had a dormant mutation. Had she not had the dormant mutation, any baby Damon and Elena had would have no chance of being deaf. But now, with Elena's mutation, should Damon and Elena have a baby, the baby would have 50% chance of being deaf. Any baby Damon and Elena had would have 50% chance of being deaf. Any baby Elena and any other man - without a mutation - had would have no chance of being deaf. John was in a real dilemma. Damon was a strong, persistent child who turned into a strong, persistent man. Not all disabled people were like him. Life utterly destroyed some of them. Life also utterly destroyed some of the people around them. The absolute last thing in the world John would want was for Elena to follow in the tragic footsteps of Gabriella Salvatore, Damon's mother. For this very reason, John lost his head when he found his daughter and Damon in the throes of passion. Even while enacting threats of violence and actual acts of violence, the only thoughts reeling in John's head were horrific ones involving Gabriella. She tormented his dreams for many months after.
John terminates the story there. Elena implores him to continue, to reveal the real story behind Gabriella's sudden disappearance. He stands firm. Gabriella's story is not his to tell. One day, John hopes Giuseppe will eventually tell all to Damon and Stefan, because they deserve to know.
Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback, follows, and favourites. Special thanks to sea-seva, vamomoftwins, Kitsune3904, and FCgrl.