Bleueeddevil06, thank you for being my beta!

Damon helped Elena dress in the room that had been his while he was human. He kissed her bare shoulder and said, "I used to love watching Emily dress you. It felt good to have her in on the secret and to know that you were both working together for us to be together. From the beginning, she talked about us like we were a foregone conclusion, which was nice. Of course, now I know why. I was so confused about what made you single me out so quickly."

She smiled over her shoulder as he buttoned her dress up. "It was always about you. She worked so hard because she knew I was in need of you and that Bonnie, her ancestor, gave her life so I could get to you."

"Well, I know that now," he said and squeezed her ass. "But having her there, in on the secret, mattered."

"It's weird. I've had four closest friends in my life. Caroline, I told you about her, she was/will be difficult, but I love her. Then Bonnie, obviously. She was my best friend. But now I add Emily and Rosa. The Bennetts are amazing."

"Which is why we need someone to knock up Rosa. You need another Bennett."

Elena giggled, "You realize she's gone through menopause, right?"

"Oh."

Rosa had the entire household staff waiting in the hall when Elena and Damon exited the room. He looked at Rosa and smiled, "you were always good at anticipating problems. Thank you." Damon and Elena then both compelled every staff member not to recognize them or be able to recall a description of them or their names. They would look like complete and forgettable strangers to them.

They then made their way down to the dining room for breakfast. James was there looking nervous. Not unduly so, but Damon admitted to himself that while he didn't side with the council, all he knew about the vampires was that they were dangerous.

"Good morning to you, James," Damon said, drawing the attention of the other two in the room, Stefan and his namesake.

"Wow, while I'm thrown that you're obviously an unaged Uncle Damon, what has me floored is how beautiful she is." Damon, the youngest, said.

Damon bristled, and Rosa scoffed, "he's just proven he has eyes. No need to rip them out of their sockets."

Stefan was a flirt and said to Rosa, "what makes you think he wasn't talking about you, beautiful?"

She laughed, "because I'm forty-seven, and I look it. She's...She is older but looks like she's in her twenties."

He chuckled and said, "I wouldn't say you look in your forties. I would have guessed thirty-five at the most." Stefan then leveled a look at his uncle. "So, we have a vampire in the family—interesting."

"Two, actually," Elena replied. "You can call me Auntie." she teased.

"Well, this is a good 'bite me' to the council. I'm a fan," younger Damon said. "Pun intended. I'm loving this."

They all sat at the table and were served breakfast.

Elena looked at Stefan and said, "do you accept us?"

"What is 'us?'"

"A witch and two vampires. Rosa is a half-sister to the Bennetts." Rosa was a witch but not powerful at all. Her strength lay in her iron will. She could do minor spells, but she figured that was the balance in exchange for her existence.

Stefan took a bite of his breakfast and leaned back in his chair. He swallowed and said, "what is it you want me to accept? I expect father already has. You're here at breakfast after all, and he can't be compelled. While we hate the council, we aren't fools. We drink vervain."

"Us into your home, and introduce us to the next generation. Stefan, your wife, Mary, is pregnant with her first child and visiting her family for a week before she goes into confinement," Elena said. "You love her."

"Is this a threat?!" Stefan yelled, banging his hands on the table and standing up in a fit of rage.

"No! An offer of help," Elena said soothingly. She was the one speaking because they all knew Damon came off as abrasive. "We are offering to help," she repeated. "Childbirth is dangerous. We would like to give you this." She handed him a glass vial. "It is a vial of vampire blood. If she's bleeding out or having trouble, it can heal her. It can also help with the pain after birth. We want to protect this family. We would never threaten you. We are promising to preserve the generations of your family."

He sat down hard in his chair, and he fought valiantly but still lost against the tears rushing to his eyes. "She believes this birth will kill her. Yes, I love her. It's why she's visiting her family. It's to say goodbye. Her own mother died while giving birth to her. Her stepmother loves her like her own daughter, though." He wiped the tears off his face hard.

Damon, the younger, said, "you have my acceptance. Not that you need it. Mary is an incredible sister. She's the only reason that Stefan and I get along. And I found I actually like him. She's the heart of this family."

Damon watched Stefan smile at his brother's words. "That's because I was a total prick before I met her. I realized I had to straighten up for her to even look at me."

He then looked at Damon and Elena. "You have my gratitude and my word. I will do my best to ensure you are always welcome in the family home."

James smiled. "I'm going to have the portrait of you moved, Damon. It will be my plan to have it shown to the heir in secret–no need to set the servants talking."

"You don't give them vervain, so they won't be noticing anything about us."

The younger Damon chuckled. "And we thought we were so smart."

Rosa was laughing when she said, "call your wife home. Tell her the plan and give her comfort, Stefan. Be the man that can protect her."

He looked at Rosa and smiled at her. "That, I can do. I felt helpless before, but now I'm not anymore. She begged me to let her say goodbye, and I would do anything for her. I would work with anyone and anything. She lives through this, or I will be a dead man walking."

Damon looked straight at Stefan and said, "you, I understand completely."

They were back at the hotel for lunch, and were shown to the same private dining room. The one Damon compelled for their use only. He chuckled when he heard the same middle-aged waiter from before asking another waiter to switch with him. He couldn't hold back a smirk when the waiter walked in and bowed low to them all. "I will be your waiter again today. Rosa, what would you like to drink? Champagne?"

By the time he left, she was barely holding in a laugh. "If you didn't compel him to ignore my skin color, he wouldn't even look at me!"

Damon looked at her thoughtfully. "Which means he isn't looking at your outward appearance. He likes what you are on the inside."

"He would throw me out of here if he could see my skin color. It's why you got a private room, so you didn't have to compel every patron!

"I know how long it takes. I understand why my mother picked my name. Rosa is Italian, but that isn't it. I'm named after Rosa Parks. You told her about that extraordinary woman. The elderly black woman who will break the law in Detroit by not giving up her seat for a white man."

Damon took Rosa's hand in his and squeezed it comfortingly. "Good, you don't accept racism. I never did, and I was a rich white man in the south. Elena told me three of her four best friends are black." He smirked, "and Bennett's. Color doesn't matter to her. I think it might be the last name."

Rosa's head snapped to Elena so fast it would make a vampire jealous. "I'm one of your best friends?"

They were interrupted by their champagne coming, and their waiter, Frank, brushed Rosa's hand as he gave her the drink.

Elena laughed when he left. "That's bold for a waiter even in my time." She then turned to Rosa. "Yes. Why does it surprise you that you're one of my best friends?"

"You're my godmother!"

Elena shrugged. "Yes, but more importantly, you've become my friend. All of the Bennetts have been different. Bonnie was my confidant, Emily was my lifeline, and you, you're my protector. You take after Damon a lot. And you know that's a compliment."

"I'm the weakest of the Bennett witches, you know that!"

Elena scoffed, "you're also the most violent Bennett witch I know."

Damon leaned back and said, "one of the things I really like about her."

The waiter returned, asking for their lunch order and trying to catch Rosa's eye. When they placed their orders and he left, she huffed out, "I don't really want to eat here again. He's annoying."

Damon smirked, and when the waiter, Frank, returned, he grabbed his neck and locked eyes with him. He said, "you can't tell anyone or react outside this room, but you can see her color now." Damon looked at Rosa. "You're welcome."

Frank turned, grew pale, and fled the room. It took a while for him to return with their lunch, but Damon was glad it was taken care of. He hated Frank for caring.

When he returned with their lunches, he looked at Damon, the man of the group. "I wasn't able to tell anyone."

"Correct," he replied noncommittally.

"I need to talk to you in private. Apparently, I can with you."

Damon rolled his eyes but acquiesced. He figured at least he could compel him to ignore her color and her.

In the corner of the room, in full hearing of Elena and her vampire senses, he said, "why don't I care? I can't ask anyone else; I need your help. I was told since I was a child…She's amazing, though. When she laughs, she sounds like an angel, and I'm irrationally jealous that it wasn't me that told her the joke. I want her to look at me. She won't, and it makes me feel cold. Suddenly, somehow, I realized it was because she didn't trust me because of her color. I don't care. My family will; they will disown me, but I'm okay with that."

Damon realized this man was very much like James and his family. They were taught hate and lived with fear in their prejudiced hearts until they realized they were better than that and their hatred.

Damon motioned for Frank to follow him and then held the chair next to Rosa for him to sit in. He did. Damon then called the manager in and explained his request. "Your waiter here is exceptional, and I wish to have him join us." Damon already compelled the man to give him his every demand. "Get us your next best waiter and tell him he will be tipped well for caring for all of us."

Rosa squirmed in her seat. Elena had relayed to her what he said. The problem was that his racism was the only thing holding her attraction at bay. She had no intention of marrying, she knew she shouldn't even be born. Plus she knew that deep love like her parents' and Damon and Elena's took supernatural intervention. She wondered if that was what was happening now. He had overcome a lifetime of prejudice and maintained his attraction to her. She found that wildly erotic.

He took her hand when the manager left, and she was lost. A racist white man from the south was touching her and looking at her like she hung the moon while seeing her color. She looked at Damon, "promise me–"

"Don't you dare!" he yelled. "I would never compel adoration for you. You don't need that. You're amazing all on your own!"

She looked at Elena and rolled her eyes, "calm your husband." She then looked at Damon. "Promise me you can forgive him. I find him attractive."

Damon chuckled. "The moment he said he didn't care about your color, he was forgiven."

"Good."

She looked at Frank. "How old are you?"

"Thirty-nine and I have nothing to give you. My family will disown me, and so will all my friends. I. Don't. Care. You draw me to you like a moth to a flame. I would give up everything for you, but will you accept that? I have nothing of value to give you."

"You're so sure of your feelings already that you would give up everyone you know for me?!"

He nodded. "I feel it," he raised her hand to his chest and placed it there. "I feel it in my heart. I didn't believe in that until I met you. You're beautiful, and honestly, so is your skin color. It makes me think of warmth and sweetness." And Rosa found the stirrings of attraction to a white man in Virginia in a foreign land to her.

He frowned. "I have nothing but a job I will lose."

Rosa smirked, "and still, you over coming your prejudice for me has me admitting that I have a fortune. I don't need your money. I'm a strong woman with my own wealth. I only need you to be willing to walk away from hatred for me."

Rosa wasn't dumb. She knew binding love when she saw it. She just never believed it would be for her. It was one of her few magical abilities. She didn't see it in him until he was allowed to see her truly.

Elena rolled her eyes at Damon and how accepting of this all that he was. She realized she was more jaded than he was. "He's not good enough," she stated.

"Who is good enough for her in your mind?"