"You sound disappointed I'm here?" Katherine said as she smiled at Damon.
"No I just thought maybe I avoided hell, but guess not," he smiled at her.
"What do you two want?" Bonnie asked.
"It's time for the party to start. You've been up here fighting long enough," Qetsiyah said sounding amused.
"Oh, this is going to be great. A party with a psychopathic bitch vampire and the original third wheel," Damon groaned.
"Wow a vampire that's creative," Katherine sighed.
"He's just jealous," Qetsiyah said kissing Kat.
Bonnie's brow furred and Damon's eyes budged. They glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes to gage each other's reaction. "I-we need to get her down stairs," Bonnie said ready to get as far away from the gruesome scene before her.
"See you two down stairs," Damon said as he carried Sarah out the door following behind Bonnie. "That was weird."
"Yeah I don't think weird is enough to describe what we just saw."
"I know shouldn't she be searching for Silas or something?" he wondered.
"I don't know but that wasn't right."
"Did you two find out about Kat and Questyiah?" Lexi asked.
"Lexi," Bonnie smiled as she embraced her.
"Hey, Damon," she said with more malice. "Didn't quite make it back did you?" she sneered.
"Not quite."
"And I give up my third chance at life for nothing go figure."
"Whatever you ca-"
"Hey this is a party not a boxing ring," an older women with long dark hair said. Her skin was milky and clear like fine porcelain. Estella was a true to life snow white.
"Mother," Damon said not believing his eyes. She was everything he remembered down to the smell of rose oil radiating from her hair.
"You never look that surprise to see me," she smiled as she hugged him and kissed his cheek.
"This isn't real," He said to himself.
"I'm gonna get lost," Lexi said. "It's nice seeing you Mrs. Salvatore."
"You too Alexia," she said with the very warmth Damon missed. "How is my little princess," she smiled at Sarah who was looking at the older woman just as mesmerized as her father.
"I just-You're here?" he breathed.
"Where else would I be? It's not every day your granddaughter turns two," she caressed Sarah's face and she smiled.
"There's literally a circus out there," Giuseppe said as he embraced Estella. "There's Nonno's baby girl," he said as he reached for Sarah.
"Stay the hell away from my child," Damon yelled.
"Damon," Bonnie said shooting him a look.
"He's not coming near her. He only knows how to screw kids up."
"You're failures are no one's fault but your own," Giuseppe yelled.
"You promised," Estella said turning to him. "Don't start this."
"Your son is insulant and careless. The thought of him as a father to that little angel is mortifying and yet I'm the problem," Giuseppe said with an air of arrogance about him.
"You're the one that raised me ergo where I get it from, so as long as there is air in my lungs you are going to stay away from my kid."
"Damon can we talk?" Bonnie asked.
"No we can't" he said not glancing over at her.
"NOW!" she yelled.
"Fine," he said following her to the kitchen.
"This thing with you and your father needs to stop," Bonnie yelled.
"Stop?" Damon let out a dry laugh. "He killed me… The first time," he shrugged.
"You loved being a vampire. You're a grown man and a father act like it."
"It's the principle I'm doing what's best for Sarah, and you," he smiled.
"Sarah deserves all the family she can get. This house is full of people that care about her, and your dad is one of those people. Get a grip and apologize to him."
"Over my undead-dead body," he said pondering his words as he said them out loud.
"You're ridiculous you know that, and I can't believe that I'm tethered to such a selfish man child for all of eternity," She said nearly in tears she was so upset.
"Well maybe you'll think before you hold another guy's hand."
"I think I'm cured," she said storming out the door.
Damon took a few breaths and slowly realized he could have handled the past fifteen minutes of his life better. He looked at Sarah and he could tell she agreed. "Don't you dare look at me like that," he said smiling at her. The little girl gabbed his nose and laughed. "I wish playing who-got your nose could make daddy feel better too," he smiled. "But unfortunately for daddy, he won't be at ease until your very stubborn mother forgives him, which means we have apologizing to do." Sarah's face fell. "I know it's my least favorite thing to do too."
Soon the pair came out of the kitchen and found Giuseppe and Estella. "Here goes nothing kid." Damon said and Sarah give him a kiss on the cheek. He found himself smiling and he realized that his little girl did deserve everything Bonnie said and so much more. "Mother… Giuseppe."
Giuseppe turned as if he were going to leave, but Estella stopped him. "Yes Damon?"
"I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted. It means a lot to both Bonnie and I to have you two here for Sarah. She deserves all the love she can get. And I'd be a bad father if I denied her that."
"Thank you," Giuseppe said.
"Don't make me regret this moment," Damon warned.
"You won't," his mother said kissing him on the cheek. "Let me hold my sweet pea," she said taking Sarah from Damon.
Soon the little girl was being passed around the house and out in the back yard. Rudy arranged for a local petting zoo to bring a few animals and for pony rides. Giuseppe was responsible for the clowns and acrobats, and Shelia did a little parlor trick magic show that Sarah liked the most. "Go figure our daughter would eat up this poor excuse for a magic act," Damon said trying to get some kind of a reaction from Bonnie.
Bonnie for her part had fought everything inside of herself to talk to Damon. She had spent the majority of the night with Grams or her father. She didn't want Damon to think the way he dismissed her was okay. She wasn't going to reward him for trying. He didn't deserve a single word of her precious breath. Bonnie sucked in a breath and moved on to another part of the room. "Maybe next time you should just say I'm sorry and not insult her Grandmother," Mason said as he patted Damon on the back and handed him a drink.
"Why is my house full of people I don't want to see," he smiled.
"Because you knocked up an incredibly amazing woman and made a pretty great kid. How you did it is another story," Mason laughed.
"I mean it's obvious, I'm a catch."
"Like the flu," Mason laughed.
"Like a bonita fish."
"I still think you're more like the flu," he said toasting his glass against Damon's and finishing his drink.
"How long are you going to drink your sorrows away before you actually go over to her and I don't know say something?" Katherine asked.
"And are we sure this isn't hell?" Damon wondered aloud as Mason laughed.
"At least we both have significant others that won't murder us in our sleep tonight," Katherine said.
"She does have a point."
"I tried to talk to her, but she's in her judey Bonnie mood. It will pass," he shrugged.
"As long as you're okay with that."
"Look Kronk and Yzma I can handle Bonnie," he stressed.
"Is that why she turned down your proposal?" Mason asked making Damon choke on his drink.
"What are you talking about?"
"You don't remember how pathetic you looked New Year's Eve when you asked Bonnie to marry you and she said no in front of the whole town. It made the cover of the newspaper the next day."
"Why would she do that?"
"You asked her because you knocked her up. What kind of girl do you honestly think Bonnie is? Especially since you where pinning after that girl you met in college."
"Oh yeah the one that married his brother and they moved to Portland together," Mason reminded him.
"Well this has been a telling experience."
"Look I know I'm not the best for advice."
"So why start?" Damon asked.
"Well here I go anyway. Bonnie is still here for a reason. If she really didn't want to be with you, she would have stayed with her dad like he tried to order her, and stayed away from you. However she is living with you and raising your daughter like you're a big happy family. You have a chance to be something great for her, take it."
"That was scary it almost sounded like you cared," Damon said.
"I think she does," Mason laughed.
Stefan heard a bottle break behind him and he knew he hit a nerve. It was hard to explain the adrenaline rush that came with the hum of the heart of man threating to kill him. He could already taste his blood like saltwater taffy on the boardwalk. The veins under his eyes grew dark and the man lunged at him with the broken glass. Stefan moved slightly to the left and grabbed the man's wrist hard. He turned his arm around breaking it and causing the three patrons and bartender to gasp. Stefan smiled a cold smile and ripped the man's arm off.
Damon woke up panting for air. His heart was racing and he could still feel thick warm blood oozing down his throat. He needed it. The feeling, and feeling. Then he noticed Bonnie wasn't beside him. And there was the faint sound of a piano in the distance. He made his way down the corridor to the Bonnie playing the piano. He watched her for a moment taking in the sight of her engrossed in the piano as if nothing else in the world existed. He finally decided to join her and sat beside her on the piano bench. "Hey."
"Hey," he said not expecting her to be the first to speak. Then he noticed the light in her eyes. Had they always shined like that? Did she always smell like honey and berries? Did she always look at him with so much hope in her eyes?
"What are you staring at?" She asked.
"Were you always this… beautiful?" he asked.
"Wow," Bonnie said moving to get up, but he stopped her.
"It's too late for us to fight."
"I asked you to marry me on New Year's Eve," he smiled. "You told me you were pregnant on Christmas and I made up my mind to ask you to marry me. I knew you would say no, but I didn't think you'd slap me and throw champagne in my face, which thinking back on it you had no business with."
"It was yours. You told me to hold it for a sec. Then you got down on one knee and asked me to be more than your baby mama," she snorted. They laughed. "It was a pretty big ring I'd give you that," she said.
"Isn't this weird?" he asked. "It's like being two people at once?"
"Grams said soon we'll remember less and less of our lives before. We'll remember bits and pieces of everyone so when they dye they can be mixed into our lives."
"I remember wanting you to say yes more than anything I've ever wanted. And it never really happened," he said putting a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I want this to work for more than Sarah. I want us to be happy, but you were right." He said causing her to look up at him.
"About what?"
"I don't know how I did it, but I think Stefan needs me. He's gone off the deep end and I promised I'd be there for him. I've failed more times than I can count, so I owe him."
"So you want to go back?" she asked.
"Yeah," he smiled, however Bonnie didn't seem as excited as he thought she'd be. "Is something wrong?"
"We can't go back. I talked to Grams, and Sarah can't exist without us both being here," she confessed.
"So I can't help my brother," he said.
Bonnie placed her hand on his and the met eyes. "We're going to help Stefan I promise, just not the way we originally thought."
