*The Next Day

Stefan' POV

Jake and I head up to the barn seeing as Gram wouldn't let us go back to school yet and then she schooled us in laser tag and kicked us out so she and Mrs. Gilbert could set up for the wake.

"Do you think Willow had the foal?" Jake asks as we walk the path to the barn.

"Dude I am not missing that birth so she better not have," I say ruffling his hair .

"I bet I can beat you there," Jake says before sprinting off towards the barn.

"You're such a cheater," I call after him as I jog just so he can have the win.

*Elena' POV

I hop out of the car with Caroline in tow as we finally get to the boarding house after a long boring Stefan less day of school. We walk into the door and start towards the kitchen where Gram Salvatore is yelling at my mom about how she's not dicing the tomatoes right. I look at Care who is giving me the same horrified look that I gave her. We push through the door expecting to see smoke and burnt food everywhere but instead we see Gram Salvatore cooking and my mom just chopping vegetables.

"Oh Girls you can wipe the horrified look of your faces I wouldn't let anyone let alone Miranda near my secret sauce," Gram says placing the lid of the pot back on. We all laugh and Care goes closer to Gram to help and I go give my mom a hug.

"Hey where are the boys?" I ask her as she returns to cutting the tomotoes.

"After I showed them the real way to play laser tag I sent them to the barn to check on Willow," Gram answers coming over and handing me a bottle of wine and an opener. "Could you be a dear and open this the wine needs to breath before it goes into the sauce?"

"Of course," I say moving over by Care who was put in charge of preparing the napkin and silverware.

"How much do you want to bet Gram did some flips and ran up a wall then shot Stefan at the same time she shot Jake?" Care whispers over to me.

"I think it was more she hung from the ceiling and took them by surprise," I whisper back.

"Maybe or she used the curtain as a vine and swung through and shot them like twelve times each," she replies.

"Or she jumped from the top of the stairs and pile drived Stefan while shooting Jake," I say.

"Actually Stefan was tying my shoe," Jake says startling us.

"Both of you are cheaters," Stefan says coming through the back door shooting me a smile as he walks over to grab the lid for the sauce pan. "I demand a rematch."

"I'll just win again," Gram Salvatore says handing Stefan the wooden spoon so he can stir the sauce.

"Didn't you just say no one could touch the sauce?" Caroline asks.

"I'm the favorite," Stefan says sticking his tongue out at Jake.

"More like the least favorite Grammy shot you first," Jake replies sticking his tongue out back at Stefan.

"You two no I don't have favorites. But to answer your question Caroline Stefan spent a lot of time in the kitchen with me while his brother ran around with all those girls in town," Gram says as she places pasta into boiling water.

I never knew Stefan spent so much time with his grandmother. I figured every summer he went to New York he was clubbing and sleeping with everyone possible.

"I think all of that Lena and Mrs. Gilbert need to spend the summer with you this year Gram," Stefan says. "Maybe then they won't have to rebuild another kitchen."

I throw the cork at him/ "That was one time and I was eight. How was I suppose to know that would happen if you microwaved a whole bag of marshmallows?" I say.

"To be fair dear you did almost burn the house down making eggs this morning," my mom says. Stefan starts to laugh and I shoot him a glare which makes him stop.

"My goodness Stefan why didn't you teach them what I taught you?" Gram asks.

"Probably because it's impossible," Care laughs out and Stefan joins in. Then we're all just sitting in the kitchen laughing like a bunch of idiots.

*Damon's POV

I'm pacing in the hotel room that my mom brought me to. She's sitting on the bed dressed for the wake. Next to her is a suit and she's tapping her foot impatiently waiting for me to get dressed. I can't go to this wake. The deal Stefan made prohibits me from going near any of them well except mom but no one is surprised by that.

"Damon just get in the suit so we can go," she sighs out.

"Mom I can't if I go Stefan will make it his mission to keep me from the baby," I say as I continue to pace.

"Nonsense. Whatever he does is nothing compared to what can do," she says standing and handing me the suit. "Now go get dressed." I do as I'm told I've learned not to question my mother's intentions. Besides I'm leaving for rehab tomorrow so I should at least be able to say good bye. I get dressed in ten minutes and we get into the rental and drive to the boarding house. The whole town is already there as we pull in and park. We walk to the door and mom grabs my hand giving it a reassuring squeeze as she pulls me in the door, There's chatter everywhere but everything goes silent when I walk in. No one moves. Then Jake runs through the room and over to Stefan who lifts him up. Stefan and I make eye contact. He shifts Jake over to Katherine who unwillingly lets go of Elena's arm. They all hate me. Stefan takes a couple steps towards us then looks back. Someone must've nodded him to continue because he turns back taking a deep breath and continues his walk to me. I look past him and see Gram Salvatore struggling in Grayson Gilbert's arms. She's most likely muttering about how she's going to kill me with the salad forks. I look over at my mom who has a slight smile on her face and it's then that I realize this is what she wanted. She wanted to show Gram and Stef that no matter how hard they tried I'd always be on her side. Well at least she wanted me on her side alcoholic or not she wanted me unlike dear old dad and the golden boy.

"Hello Brother," I say as he is just merely steps away.

"Damon," he replies coldly. I smirk at him and we stand there staring at each other with anger in our eyes.

A/N Hope you guys enjoyed the update. Thanks for all the reviews! Love all the feedback. I might just update sporadically these next couple weeks I have some final projects to do for school but I'll try to update at least twice each week. Let me know what you guys think of Damon showing up. Do you think he'll keep up his hatred for Stefan or do you think he'll breakdown and beg for forgiveness? Love you guys xoxoxo