Only plot mine

March 15, 1994

Caro diary,

I had another talk with Damon last night. He spoke in a way that I had never heard him speak before in all my years of knowing him.

As James had jumped out the window, Damon had looked out after him. Then, he had taken my hand and led me to my room, being careful to spread Katherine's ashes around the carpet.

When we got to my room, he sat me down on my bed and asked me "Bella, was that your other husband?"

I nodded. "Yes, that was him."

"You're a strange woman, Bambi. Even though you could have so much better, you always come back to me."

I looked up at him. "And what is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to convince me that you're not good enough for me?"

He shook his head. "No, I just think that you deserve someone with better personal habits. A beautiful, athletic genius like yourself should have more then just a man who swears and drinks all the time."

"Listen miseria di conteggio, do you love me, or not?"

He started. "Of course I do."

"Then why are you trying to push me away? I admit there are some things you do that bug me, but no one is perfect. Besides, I had a talk with Stefan awhile back, and he told me why you really dropped out of the University."

He nodded. "I missed you. There was no one around to motivate me to study. Father could try, but it just wasn't the same."

Just then, we heard a knock on our door. I told whoever was on the other side to come in, and was surprised to see both Andria and Dante come into the room.

Andria spoke in a quiet tone. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but Dante is having trouble sleeping, and having company at night usually helps. It seems like you two are the only ones awake."

"That's all right," I assured her. "What's the matter with him?"

She blinked. "He's having nightmares."

Just then, Dante cleared his throat. "Don't be overly dramatic Andria. They aren't nightmares, just really vivid dreams."

Andria narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, yeah? Then how come you wake up screaming and sweating from most of them? Uncle John said he would go crazy if he had to listen to you scream another night!"

"Who?" I asked her.

"Oh, our uncle John. He raised us. Our parents died when we were little. Well, actually when Dante was little and I was just a baby."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "That's all right. I didn't really know them."

I turned my mind and body over to Dante. "What were you dreaming about?"

Instead of looking at me, Dante looked at Andria.

"She was hurting tonight, Annie. Johan brought her in, and she was screaming and crying. I ran into her room. Everyone wanted to hold me back so I wouldn't see what had happened to her. But I looked anyway. She was wearing a red dress with rents and vicious tears all over it. What I could see of her body was covered in angry red slashes, as if she had been whipped over and over again. Most of her wounds were still bleeding. At of her, I fell to my knees, hitting my little fists against the hard stone floor. Then, Johan came to take me away. I was screaming as loud as she was by then. "Mama, Mama!" over and over again. But I never saw her again after that."

Andria said quietly, "how do you know that?"

Dante shook his head. "I don't know. But something tells me it's true."

Clutching Damon's arm, I tried hard not to cry. I remember that day too, as well as any of the others in my life.

Johan had just saved me from Grossmutter's prison and brought me back home. The ride itself had been horrible. The man with the whip had done a very thorough job, and anywhere I was touched burned me like an everlasting fire. As I was brought into my room and laid on my bed, Gianni came running into my room. His eyes were still red from crying over the loss of his father and now he had to see me like this.

It broke my heart to watch him suffer so, but I truly had no strength to move. Gianni was the only family member besides Johan to see me that night. Elena had been back in Germany at the time.

I wondered why Dante was having dreams of my son's past. I looked at Andria.

"How long has your brother been having these dreams?"

"All his life. I've had some too, but I don't see the same people in mine. I see a cute blonde girl, a tall, brown-eyed, sandy-haired guy, and a small, blue-eyed brunette."

I thought about that for a moment. Johan, Katherine, and Johan's wife Caroline. It had to be them.

It would make sense that Mia would not dream about me or Damon as we had not been alive in her memory. But she would certainly remember Johan and Caroline, her surrogate parents, both of whom I was very fond.

Andria spoke again. "As long as we've had them, Dante and I have shared our dreams with each other. Our dreams seem like they come from the same time period, but Dante has several people in his dreams that I don't. We've discussed the possibility of our dream people being siblings, but we don't know."

I looked at her. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

She nodded. "We tried to tell Uncle John about it, but he just got us appointments with a psychologist. Then, we told our psychologist and she thinks-"

"And she thinks we're reincarnations of the people in our dreams. She thinks we're regressing." Dante interrupted.

Just then, the clock on the downstairs landing struck one a.m. we'd talked all the hour of midnight.

I looked at the pair. "The two of you should probably get some sleep. You've got a lot of sightseeing to do later."

They both rose and nodded, walking to and crowding each other out the door.

At the sound of the door's slam, I sighed, looking at Damon. He had crawled underneath his covers and was now looking at me hopefully.

"Bella, do you want to spend the night? Now that our children could very well be back, I think it's time that we address some of your intimacy issues."

I hit him with a pillow. "Just because I haven't slept with you in over five hundred years does not mean I have intimacy issues. I didn't sleep with James either, as you may recall. Even though I love you much more then him, I will sleep with you when I feel like it. Now, I am going to my room and going to sleep. Sogni belli al negato." Sweet dreams to the denied.

As I walked down the hall to my room, I couldn't help but marvel over the wonder of miracles. All of my existence, I had carried with me the grief of the loss of my children. Now, if I was right, my greatest wish had come true, and my children had come home.

HannahluvsB2D- Just how much of the story did you actually read? Thanks for the review!

incarnated-soul- I'm glad I entertained you, and I hope this chapter helps answer some of your questions. Thanks for reviewing!

Medusa Descouedres- That's okay if you figured it out ahead of time. It means you paid attention to the story. Thanks for reviewing!

tyiagirl- Thanks! I hope you like this chapter too!

A/n- How long should I wait before Selina tells Dante and Andria who they are? Suggestions for how that scene will play out? Thanks!

Autumn