thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! :) and thanks for favoriting/following me!
i'm really glad you liked it! sorry for the delay in updating!
and thanks daryllover for your input! :)

Daddy Issues

"Do you want me to take you home?" Mason was asking Jade.

She was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the wall with her knees up to her chest, hyperventilating. She glanced over at the desk, but Klaus was already gone. Everything felt fuzzy and surreal. That was her dad, her father was standing in front of her at work today; not only that, but she had drunkenly introduced herself to him the night before on her birthday. To top it off, he was over a thousand years old but didn't look a day over twenty-three, the age she was now.

"N...no," Jade shook her head quickly.

"You sure?" Mason asked skeptically, offering a hand which she graciously accepted as he helped her to her feet. "I already talked to Annette, told her you were sick from Vicki's cooking last night," he added on with a half smile; Jade continued to shake her head though. "Do you want me to at least call Vic or Matt?"

"I want out of here," Jade told him, still feeling like there was a weight on her chest. "I want away from everyone to think...just..." Her mind continued to race. "Please get me out of here."

"Yeah, ok," Mason nodded reassuringly, leading the way out of the hospital towards his jeep.

"How's work?" Damon asked, reaching Jade on her cell phone and figured she could answer because she had taken a break; what he really wanted though was to make sure she wasn't coming back anytime soon.

It felt like he was sneaking around, but really what he was doing was trying to keep her safe. What he and the others hadn't realized when they rescued Jade from being kidnapped was that you couldn't kill an original. He and Stefan discovered that when Elijah showed up at their home, requesting to speak to Jade. When Elijah saw Elena there, he confirmed that Klaus would not only be coming for his daughter but also for Elena in order to break the curse. Right now, the three of them were discussing what to do to keep that from happening.

"Ah...ok," Jade replied, seeming uneasy.

"You want me to stop by?" Damon asked.

"No," Jade answered quickly, maybe a little to quickly. "No, I just...it's been crazy here and I'm not even half way done."

"When are you off?" Damon asked her.

"Missy called off," Jade lied, though Damon didn't know that. "So, I said I'd stay through the rest of her shift, till nine."

"Ick, twelve hour day?" Damon complained, though he was glad it kept her out of the house most of the day and evening.

"Yeah," Jade agreed. "Sucks...but hey, I gotta go. I'll, um, text you later. Or just see you after."

"Ok," Damon nodded. "Love you."

"Love you too," Jade said back before hanging up; Damon sighed as he replaced his phone in his pocket.

"Does it bother you how easily lying to my niece comes to you?" Elijah asked Damon skeptically, to which Damon responded with an eye roll.

"You and I both know that this is to keep her safe," Damon reminded him. "And, I didn't lie to her about anything." Stefan gave him a look now. "What? She didn't ask me who I was with, and besides you're being all sketchy with Elena."

"Sketchy about what?" Vicki demanded as she had entered the house and made her way into the main room where she heard the three of them talking; she nodded at Elijah. "Who's that?"

"Elijah," he introduced himself to her, offering his hand but Vicki looked past him at Damon and Stefan in surprise.

"Before you go off," Damon started.

"The Elijah who's supposed to be dead in a farmhouse somewhere?" Vicki asked them skeptically.

"The one and only," Elijah told her.

"What are you doing here?" Vicki asked.

"Jade's dad is on his way to town," Damon answered for him. "He's worried about her, and I think he's right."

"How nice of you two to agree on something," Vicki commented sarcastically, crossing her arms over herself. "Ya know, after you tried to take his girlfriend. And you..." She shook her head at Damon. "Killed him or whatever."

"We have a common interest," Elijah told her. "And that's keeping your sister safe."

"Shouldn't you be talking with her about all this?" Vicki asked, continuing to look between the two of them.

"C'mon Vic," Damon complained. "You saw your sister last night." Vicki just shook her head, still not thinking this was right. "Don't say anything Vic, ok? I've heard nothing but bad things about this guy. Terrible things. All he's going to do is break your sister's heart." Vicki groaned, hating being brought into this.

"What do you guys want to do?" Vicki finally asked.

"Didn't tell him where you were?" Mason commented as the two of them found a place to sit and Jade hung up her cell phone. It was over a two hour drive, but they ended up in Virginia Beach. Jade wasn't kidding when she said that she wanted out of Mystic Falls and away from everything; living in Florida, Mason remembered how beach trips were always the most relaxing.

"He's already all edgy and worried sounding," Jade mumbled, not really looking at Mason but instead grabbing handfuls of sand and letting it fall between her fingers.

"What are you thinking about?" Mason asked after she was quiet for a moment.

"What to do about all of this," Jade muttered, looking at him finally. "Where to even start." Mason shrugged.

"What do you want?" Mason asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" Jade asked in confusion.

"What do you want to do," Mason explained. "Now that you've met your dad."

"What I want?" Jade repeated, not understanding.

"It's not that hard," Mason half laughed and she shook her head. "C'mon Jade, you've waited your whole life to meet this guy."

"And it turns out he's a thousand year old vampire-werewolf thing," Jade scoffed. "Who wants to kill a girl that I used to babysit." While Damon and Stefan had tried to keep the ritual a secret from her, Mason had told her about it while they were on their way to the beach.

"Forget all that," Mason started off and she laughed at him.

"Forget all that?" Jade questioned and Mason nodded.

"He's here, he showed up at the hospital today, because he cares about you," Mason informed her, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket. "When you started freaking out, he gave me this so you could call him." He shrugged. "He left to give you space, but I think he wants to know you." Jade shook her head as she shoved the paper into her own pocket. "What do you want Jade?"

"I don't know," Jade mumbled.

"Yeah you do," Mason encouraged her. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to my dad," Jade said softly; looking to Mason he had a look like he was expecting her to go on and she sighed. "I want to know about him, his family...how he met my mom." Mason nodded.

"What else?" Mason asked curiously.

"I used to want everything," Jade snapped, though she didn't mean to. "Ok? I wanted him to teach me how to ride a bike, and drive, and scare away my boyfriends." She rolled her eyes. "I wanted to go to the zoo and have stupid father-daughter dates at the grille."

"That's not stupid," Mason told her and she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe not when you have a normal dad," Jade quipped.

"Oh, you mean my werewolf father with the hot head temper?" Mason asked her and she fought off a smile. "Yeah, it was all normalcy in the Lockwood house."

"It beats this," Jade commented and Mason shrugged.

"I guess you won't know until you try," Mason told her.

They spent most of the ride home that night in silence, not talking about Klaus or what Jade wanted to do about the situation. When they got back to the hospital though so she could get her car, they sat in Mason's jeep for awhile longer, mostly in silence still as she played with her phone in one hand, the slip of paper with Klaus's number in the other.

"Well?" Mason asked finally and Jade rolled her eyes as she unlocked her phone to dial the number.

"This is so screwed up," Jade muttered as she dialed her father's number.

"Hello?" Klaus answered and Jade felt her stomach drop; nerves?

"Um...hi," Jade finally said and he recognized her voice.

"Hello there," Klaus greeted her; they were silent. "How are you Jade?"

"Ah..." Jade looked at Mason like he would know the answer and he shrugged. "Sorry about before?" she offered, though it came out more like a question.

"That's perfectly all right sweetheart," Klaus assured her and Jade was confused; why was he being nice to her? It then occurred to her that dad's should be nice to their daughters.

"Um," Jade wasn't sure where to start. "So...I guess we should probably talk or something."

"I would like that," Klaus told her.

"Is...tomorrow ok?" Jade asked nervously, as if he could shut her down at any moment.

"The sooner the better," Klaus promised with a smile.

"Um...ok," Jade said. "I'll just...talk to you then...bye," she hung up awkwardly.

"Well, at least the awkward part is over," Mason teased her and she shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Thank you," Jade told Mason now. "For today."

"Anytime," Mason promised her. Wow, did he want to kiss her. He had never wanted to kiss someone so badly, but he refrained, shifting awkwardly in his seat as he remembered she had a boyfriend and he was just the guy best friend. "You should get home," Mason offered now. "Before Vicki and Matt worry or something."

"I'm the parent," Jade teased him as she hopped out of his jeep. "Night Mason."

"Night Jade," Mason said as he watched her go.

"Hey," Vicki greeted Jade when she came home that night, sitting at the house with Damon while Matt was out with Caroline. "You're back late."

"I got held up at work," Jade lied, wondering why she was still lying to them; maybe because she knew that this wasn't her greatest idea. "You two having bestie night or something?" she asked lightly as she walked by them into the kitchen and put her stuff down.

"I was just waiting on you to get home," Damon told her, half smiling as he came into the kitchen with her. "I actually wanted to talk to you Jade, about before," he reminded her as they were supposed to talk about her dad before she left for work that morning.

"Well," Jade started off, deciding to come clean. "If it's about my dad, I already know."

"You know?" Damon asked in confusion.

"He came by the hospital today," Jade went to explain and Vicki came speeding into the kitchen.

"Whoa, what?" Vicki asked now and Jade rolled her eyes at the eavesdropping.

"And he just came clean to you about everything?" Damon asked skeptically.

"No, he came to tell me who he was," Jade informed him. "And that he was the guy I was talking to at the bar last night."

"You're kidding me," Damon said and she shook her head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know," Jade said in exasperation. "I was freaking out, and I knew you were already worried. Then Mason was there-"

"Mason?" Damon asked now and Jade rolled her eyes again.

"Ok, don't start," Jade warned him, walking away so she could go upstairs to change out of her scrubs.

"He told you about your dad?" Damon asked and Jade shook her head as they stepped into her room.

"Is that what you're taking out of this story?" Jade asked him in annoyance, pulling her tank top over her head. "Not that my long lost vampire dad showed up at my work after being at my party last night, but that I spent the day with Mason? And before you start," she cut him off, holding up a hand. "Yeah, it was the whole day, because I freaked out at work so we went down to Virginia Beach."

"Instead of coming home," Damon stated.

"I didn't want to come back to this," Jade snapped at him. "With you freaking out, and Stefan freaking out." She crossed her arms over herself after pulling on her pajama pants, looking at the closed bedroom door. "And Vicki and Matty listening right outside my door." Vicki and Matt took that as an invite to come in.

"You can't just try to take care of this by yourself Jay," Matt told her gently.

"He's right," Damon agreed with him. "I've heard a lot of stories about him over the years Jade, ok? He's dangerous." He motioned to her. "You know that, Mason told you everything we know," he motioned between him and her siblings.

"About us seeing Elijah?" Vicki said, realizing quickly that wasn't what he meant by the looks she got from the both of them.

"Seriously?" Jade asked Damon.

"Apparently regular stakes don't work on originals," Damon told her. "And this just proves my point, because he's worried about his brother coming into town to. Do you know what he told me today?" Elijah had told the Salvatores why he was against his brother, that Klaus had daggered all of their siblings then dropped their coffins into the ocean so they could never be found.

"He can tell me about it tomorrow," Jade said now and Damon was confused.

"Elijah?"

"No, my dad," Jade corrected him.

"You can't be serious Jade," Vicki said now.

"You all had your little meeting, now I'm going to have mine," Jade told them. "I'm seeing him tomorrow."

"No, you're not," Damon said instinctively and Jade just shook her head at him.

"I'll call you afterwards," Jade said now. "You should probably go home."

Damon, of course, didn't go home but opted for sleeping on the Donovans' couch instead. Jade was pretty pleased with herself for managing to get out of the house to meet her dad for lunch at the grille without waking him, but then of course she realized she shouldn't have been surprised when Damon managed to beat her there and was already sitting at the bar.

"Jade," she heard a voice saying and she saw Klaus sitting alone at a nearby table.

"Um...hi," she said feeling nervous suddenly as she sat across from him.

"Damon knows he can join us, right?" Klaus asked her and she shook her head.

"I think he knows I want to do this by myself," Jade answered. "But, ah, he worries."

"He's heard about me then," Klaus observed and she nodded. "Which means you have too," he commented and again she nodded. "And you're still here."

"Damon's a vampire," Jade said now. "So is my younger sister Vicki." She shook her head at the memory. "She actually bit me once, when she was transitioning. And I have this massive drinking problem..." She realized she was rambling. "I give people chances and they give them to me too. And I've waited twenty-three years to meet you."

"Well, I hope I don't disappoint," Klaus told her with a smile and she gave a weak one back. "So, do you want something to eat?"

"I'm sorry," Jade said quickly. "I'm just really nervous, I think I might throw up again."

"Maybe the father-daughter grille date wasn't the best idea then," Klaus said and Jade was a little confused that he knew her exact wording of it. "Mason said something about a zoo?"

"Oh," Jade blushed, a little embarrassed. "I was just ranting about a lost childhood, I..." She paused. "Mason called you?"

"I think he knew you were nervous and wanted to make me aware," Klaus explained. "He seems nice," he offered.

"He's my best friend," Jade nodded. "He's a werewolf too, he's sort of been...helping me understand it."

"Did you trigger the curse?" Klaus asked curiously and she shook her head.

"I guess I'm just worried that..." Jade trailed off as someone came over to their table. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too Jade," Matt senior, her stepfather, told her. "Your mother told me to stop by to get a copy of the house key, but she's busy so can I just have yours?"

"No," Jade told him through her teeth. "Because Kelly isn't living at the house anymore, it's mine."

"I don't think so sweetheart," Matt senior said.

"She signed it over to me right around the time I signed to be Vicki and Matt's guardian, so they're mine too," Jade informed him, just like she had told Kelly when she kicked her out of the house in the first place. "And I'm going to tell you now, if you show up at the house you'll get arrested." She rolled her eyes. "Again."

"Ooook," Damon came over now, cutting in and standing by the table as he saw this situation spiraling out of control quickly. "Hi," Damon told him with a fake smile. "Are you Jade's step-dad?"

"Who are-"

"Damon," he held out his hand, taking her step-dad's in a handshake. "Her boyfriend." He squeezed just tight enough that Jade's step-dad grimaced in pain as it felt like his hand was being crushed. "You should probably get out of here," Damon was compelling him now. "Before one of us," he motioned between him and Klaus. "Decides to take your worthless head off. Ok?"

As her step-dad left the grille and Damon noticed Kelly coming out from the back, seeing Matt senior leave while Jade was left with Klaus, he knew that the chaos was far from over.

thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, more soon! :)