Brown's Hotel located in Mayfair, London built 1837

Elena stepped into Brown's hotel on Damon's arm. It was spectacular, and if she had any breath, it would have been taken away. The muraled walls and high, vaulted painted ceiling caught her eye along with the beautiful tiled floor and the enormous crystal chandeliers. They turned toward the front desk built of deep dark mahogany wood and polished to a mirror shine.

Damon refused to give her anything but the very best, and even then, he fought to improve her experience. Elena sighed when he locked eyes and compelled the man at the desk. "personally ensure everything goes perfectly for us all."

Rosa giggled from behind them and Emily shushed her daughter. She was thirteen and she wasn't becoming headstrong –she had always been headstrong. In Emily's mind, it didn't help that she idolized Damon. And as Angelo, Emily's husband and Rosa's father, looked at their daughter smiling; she admitted that he didn't help either.

Emily thought about why they were there. As much as Elena loved the Mediterranean and Palermo, Italy, they had a boy to save. It was 1880 and a workhouse in London had a four year old Enzo St. John. A boy that was destined to love Bonnie, her ancestor. She smiled and grew excited that she would be able to get to know the man who was destined to love her so completely. They just didn't want him destined for suffering.

When Damon got three large rooms at the hotel, he smirked over his shoulder at Angelo and said, "you're welcome."

"Why is papa welcome?" Rosa asked, confused.

"You have your own room and it's because Damon thinks you're mature enough," Elena lied while Emily blushed. "He's telling your father he thinks you're a young lady."

"And maybe in nine months, you'll have a sibling," Damon quipped to Rosa, and Elena smacked his arm.

Rosa's response shocked them all. "Oh, in that case, thank you! He can't keep his hands off mama. Not that she complains about it at all." Emily realized it was way past time to move Rosa's room further away from theirs.

Damon barked out a laugh. "Damn, I can't wait until you grow up. No offense Emily but she's going to be my favorite human." Emily laughed and of course she didn't mind at all. Rosa was going to out live her. It's how it was supposed to work. Her precious daughter, the only one destiny allowed her to raise, had vampires who cared for her and her well-being. They would be able to remain with Rosa when she couldn't.

The next day Angelo took Rosa around to the shops in London and to the dress maker. She was thrilled to have beautiful dresses made for her and to look at the beautiful confections in the fancy stores and go shopping. They were wealthy with Angelo's woodworking and Emily's healing abilities. They wanted to keep her away from the workhouses and from breaking her heart. They knew it would be bad.

Damon had already reserved a fourth room, a bath, and a visit to a tailor for Enzo that morning. Also, food was to be prepared for him the moment they walked in the front door of the Brown's Hotel. He and Elena had also visited the most prestigious boarding school in the morning, and he compelled a spot for Enzo the moment they would need it.

The two of them had spent long hours going over what they should do for him. They were afraid to raise him and have him look at them as parents rather than friends. Elena desperately wanted him to become an equal with Damon. He and Alric would be his closest friends, and she desired that for him.

Instead of being raised in poverty and suffering he would be raised in wealth and opulence. He still wouldn't have parents to tuck him in at night, but in England and most other countries at the time, boarding school was considered a mark of the elite. It wasn't a way to get rid of your child. And it was often reserved solely for the heir when money wasn't as free-flowing. It was a way to ensure they had the right friends and connections.

Damon, Elena, and Emily walked into the fourth workhouse that day searching him out. And even though Elena couldn't get physically sick she felt it. Emily had thrown up twice already. Damon was pissed and clenched his fist and almost attacked five men. He had attacked one, leaving him dead and drained of blood in the alley.

"Enzo St. John!" Damon yelled.

They saw a dirty four year old pop his head up from what he was doing. "What?"

Finally —Elena breathed out a sigh of relief. He and Damon were why she was sent back to the past. Finally, she was able to locate the other half of her mission. A man that died to protect her and Bonnie.

Damon was on the workhouse owner instantly and compelling his obedience and his compassion. Enzo was unchained from the machine and handed over to Damon immediately.

It was Elena who walked over and bent down to Enzo. "You're protected now. Come with us, and I promise everything will be okay."

He blinked at her and sniffled, wiping his nose on his dirty sleeve. "You're pretty."

Damon chuckled. "At least we know he's smart."

Elena and Emily each took one of his hands as they exited the workhouse. Enzo was now saved, and Elena felt the most at peace she had ever been. She hadn't failed Bonnie, her dear friend and the one who enabled her to fix the lives of so many.

They got Enzo to the hotel and his eyes grew wide and he backed away nervously as he entered the lobby. "I don't belong here. I'm going to get beaten for this."

Again Elena sank down to her knees and looked him in the eyes. "No, this is your life now, and you belong. We will protect you in every way. We promise. You're special just for being you."

He blushed and scuffed his foot against the tile of the lobby. "But… the man said I was worthless. That I was thrown away and didn't matter anymore."

Elena's eyes misted up. For a boy of four to say those big words meant he heard them over and over enough that he memorized them. He might not know the full meaning, but he would have learned them eventually.

It was Damon who was standing next to her who responded. "Adults can lie. Learn that now. Trust us and learn to think for yourself with all others."

Elena looked up at him and rolled her eyes, "really, Damon?"

"Am I wrong?! Tell me about my father."

She frowned and looked at Enzo. "We will and can do anything for you. Have you heard about boarding school?"

He nodded. "Only the lucky rich kids go there."

"You're one of them. Now you're among the richest of them. You will have everything you want; work hard. You need to learn Italian, and the headmaster knows to put you in lessons."

As Elena, Emily, and Rosa helped clean up Enzo and feed him, Damon made his way to the lounge in the hotel to meet with Angelo. They spoke in Italian. "Our girls are doting on him."

Angelo smiled and held up his glass of brandy in a toast. "I got you a bourbon."

"Drinking bourbon in England. That's funny to me."

"They have a good relationship with the United States now."

"Yes, but they still despise the French."

Bourbon, made in Kentucky, was named after the Bourbons, the surname of the king of France during the Revolution. Lafayette, Louisville, many places were named after the French. It was their help during the revolution that had helped ensure America could defeat England. It was the very same King Louis who helped them that lost his head in the revolution in France. At the time of the war in America they were thrilled to do anything that diminished England's power. The drink was named in the king's honor.

"Ah, yes, the Frogs." Angelo mocked.

Damon chuckled and took a drink. "You were one too, if not by nationality, by meaning."

He rolled his eyes in response. "The moment I laid eyes on Emily that ended. I didn't "hop" from bed to bed anymore, like the French."

"No!" Damon said laughing. "According to Rosa you have a wonderful time in your own bed."

Angelo raised his glass to Damon and said, "as horribly disturbing as that was to hear from her. I will admit to you that 'bed' isn't the only place I enjoy her."

Enzo was scrubbed raw and dried and dressed in clothes that didn't quite fit, but were clean and expensive. They would be tailored later once he had clothes in his wardrobe.

Now he was eating and groaning. The hotel had provided rich meat and sauces with blanched and heavily buttered vegetables. He felt sick to his stomach. His little body didn't know how to handle such filling foods. He was throwing up everything quickly.

Elena ordered bread and ham, hoping to train his stomach to handle proper food. She wanted to weep for him, but she held back. She didn't want to upset him.

He ate the bread first, using it to try to fill his stomach. He asked for water, but Elena denied him. She knew it was a way for the impoverished, even in current times, to fill their bellies during a meal. She made him eat the ham before handing him a glass of water. Blessedly he kept it all down.

They spent a month in London training Enzo's stomach and shopping. They ensured he had the best wardrobe, and the women enjoyed shopping for themselves too.

The young headmaster of the school was compelled, and so were all the teachers and other staff by the time Damon felt comfortable. Enzo was now the most protected child in the school. And Damon would get letters from everyone who worked there telling him how Enzo was.

When they left Enzo at the boarding school, Elena cried. As much as she knew why they couldn't raise him, it still hurt. Damon assured her that Enzo was excited and thrilled to be one of the "lucky rich boys" and be at boarding school. After all, they saved him from the workhouse.

In 1903 Elena turned Enzo into a vampire. He had been living with them in Italy after completing Oxford after boarding school. He was twenty-seven and already close friends with Damon.

Still, he had to learn who he was, and he traveled the continent of Europe frequently. They both were thrilled that he was out exploring and enjoying himself. Everything he did added to a good and happy life.

He had greatly enjoyed faking his death for his Boarding School and Oxford friends when it got to the point where it was obvious he wasn't aging. He compelled a shit ton of people, but when it was done it was reported in every newspaper that he died in a carriage accident, naked, with five naked women. He hoped they got a kick out of that one.