thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! :)
thanks bfireworks5, meangirl8, NicoleR85, winxgirl1997, Ryn of Magic, Tvd2014 & daryllover for reviewing! :) i know i haven't had a lot of damon/jade lately, but i really wanted to write a father/daughter chapter! hope you like it!

The Next Step

Jade woke up the next morning, smiling at the sight of the flowers on her nightstand; orange lilies. Turning over she spotted Damon there, but he was already awake, smiling. These moments with him were the ones that were perfect, when they just got to be together. Surrounded by everyone else and all the drama that currently came with the house was what put the major strain on them. There was nothing she could do about it, she knew that, but asking him to be ok with her having a baby was a lot.

"Thank you," Jade smiled, kissing him once.

"You're welcome," Damon said, letting his hand rest on her waist. "I didn't want you to feel left out on the flower exchange." Jade smiled a little bigger. She was happy that Vicki was getting some attention outside of everything that was going on internally with the family; she deserved to have a little fun.

"I love you," she told him.

"I love you too," he said back, moving to take her hand in his, kissing the back of it.

"Guess what," Jade said now.

"Hm?" Damon asked.

"I talked to Mason last night," Jade was saying; she saw Damon's strain not to make a face. "And, he's heading out to the bayou this morning to talk to the wolves out there. Peace treaty type deal with wolves and vampires," she shrugged.

He had explained it to her, but Jade wasn't going to get into it now. Basically, things had been tense between the two parties for years. It was always that way between the two species, but it seemed particularly tense in the New Orleans area. Klaus had been talking about an alliance between the two, wanting more control himself; Mason agreed that it would be better, especially for the baby, if both sides aligned. He also thought it would be better if he went out to talk to the wolves rather than send Klaus.

"I wasn't really listening," she whispered to make him crack a smile. "But, that means, it's just me and you at the doctor today." She was never going to exclude Mason from anything with the baby, but she knew that it was just a little something to brighten Damon's day that Mason couldn't come along.

"Sounds good to me," Damon smiled at her.

"I know you've been waiting for an us day," Jade continued. "And I really appreciate you putting up with all of this." She bit her lip. "But, my dad asked to steal me after for lunch today."

"It's fine," Damon assured her; he knew she and Klaus didn't have a lot of time together since coming to New Orleans and that was something that she wanted as well. "I haven't really had a chance to make fun of Vicki yet for her new boyfriend," he smirked, making Jade giggle. While he did have plans with Vicki that afternoon, it wasn't to torment her over Marcel's new crush on her.

They were going shopping for an engagement ring.

"Hi," the ultrasound tech said that morning, some new girl neither of them had seen before. It was a nice change because they weren't consistently getting the confused looks wondering why Jade came in with two different guys. "My name's Jenny, I'm going to be doing your ultrasound today." She paused while she set up the monitor. "So, you're Jade and you're..." She drifted off. "The father?"

"Ah," Damon hesitated. As much as he would like for it to be his kid, he knew Jade probably wouldn't like it if he just said yes, given that she was trying to include Mason.

"Adoptive," Jade informed her. "It, um, wasn't going to work the other way," she said; Damon gave a small smile. While he knew Jade wasn't going anywhere, it was nice to hear that she wanted it to work with him, that she didn't just see him as an outside party on this, but that she wanted him to be the step-father.

"Oh," Jenny nodded politely. "Well, let's get you checked out so you two can get out of here." She started the monitor, using the wand on Jade's stomach. "All right," she smiled. "So, I can officially tell you that you're having a girl. I know there was some speculation?"

"Jade's got a sixth sense about that," Damon commented, teasing her; Jade made a face at him.

"You guys are sweet," she told them. "Everything looks good with your daughter, she's growing well and has a strong heart beat." She smiled. "I'm sure you both will make wonderful parents."

"You're sure this is ok?" Jade was asking as Damon was dropping her off in the quarter to meet up with her dad. He had just pulled over, allowing her to get out and she was now leaning against the driver's side window. This was the first morning she had gotten to spend with just him in awhile and now she was leaving to hang out with her dad.

"I'm not his biggest fan," Damon admitted. "But, he is yours." He smirked. "Or, one of yours," he said sweetly.

"Well, I'm yours," Jade smiled, kissing him once.

"Jade?" Klaus was saying as he spotted where she and Damon were, coming over to meet her.

"Have fun," Damon encouraged her, squeezing her hand before pulling away to leave. He meant it too; he and Klaus no where near got along, but he knew how much it meant for Jade to have her dad around.

"You too!" Jade laughed as he started his car. "Harass Vic for me," she grinned and he made a face as he left.

"Harassing Vicki?" Klaus asked curiously.

He had no idea what Damon and Vicki were up to; if he did, he probably would try to find a way to stop it. He understood that Damon made her happy, but he was hoping that it was going to phase itself out. He thought, and hoped, that he wasn't going to have to push very hard because watching Jade have a kid with someone else was really going to wear on Damon. Truly, he was rooting for Mason, for him and Jade to get together and continue to have children.

"Ah, about her love interest," Jade joked, but then became serious. "You don't think it's a bad idea, do you?"

"Marcel and Vicki?" Klaus asked, motioning for her to follow; she nodded. "I've never known Marcel to take these matters lightly." There was a time where Marcel was even with Klaus's sister. Since the originals left New Orleans and Marcel stayed it wore itself out. "I'm sure he knows better though, that I'll kill him if he hurts her."

"You adopting Vicki?" Jade teased him, wondering where they were going.

"She's your sister sweetheart," Klaus assured her. "I hope you know I take this all seriously."

"No, I know," Jade nodded, giving a soft smile. They didn't have much time to hang out together, but she knew he was taking being a father very seriously; he even jumped to help out Vicki and Matt. Vicki, of course, was always going to be with them. While Matt had a lot of scholarship offers, he was never going to have to worry about paying for school or anything like that. Him and his future family would never have anything to worry about, neither would Kelly.

"And I really appreciate all of this, we've never had anyone else really looking out for the three..." She trailed off when she saw where they were and recalled what she had told Mason months ago about things she never got to do with her step-dad, father-daughter dates. "The zoo?" she questioned.

"We haven't had much time, you and I," Klaus said, walking side by side with her through the entrance.

"Considering I've almost died, twice," Jade said lightly, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I think it's time we change that," Klaus said as they stopped at the first exhibit. "I really want you to know that I'm here for you Jade, that my only interest is taking care of you. Getting to know my daughter, and being there for my grandchild." Jade smiled.

"These were always my favorite," Jade told him, breaking the getting to know you ice with her favorite animal; giraffes.

"Why's that?" Klaus asked. Jade thought about it as she turned to the exhibit.

"They're so tall," Jade said, making her dad laugh. "I was the runt in my class, all the way through high school." He smiled at her. "What's your favorite?"

"Surprisingly, wolves," Klaus said lightly and Jade smiled. "They were my favorite, when I was young," he continued as they walked to the next exhibit; they were quiet for a moment.

"How did you meet my mom?" Jade asked and he looked at her curiously. "I've been dying to know, my whole life." She shrugged. "I always wondered what happened, because I know Kelly never had much luck with guys."

"Ah," Klaus said, a little bothered by the not much luck comment, though it was true. "Your mom was twenty, she was in school, and she took a long weekend with some girlfriends to Chicago." Jade knew that part of the story. "I was at a bar I used to go to in the twenties, Gloria's. She was there and...I don't know." He wasn't going to lie to her and say something like it was love at first sight; that wasn't it at all.

"Much like you and your sister, your mother was absolutely stunning," Klaus told her. "She was fun, and out of all her friends, seemed to have more of a wild side."

"That sounds like Kelly," Jade agreed with a soft smile.

"...she found out about me that weekend," Klaus admitted hesitantly. "She ended up staying those few nights with me, I compelled her to forget." He was quiet. "Then she went back to Virginia with her friends." He looked to Jade. "That's all I know, until the night I met you."

"Um," Jade said. She knew the truth hurt as they walked along to see the next set of animals. "She dropped out, had me." She gave a slight smile. "I barely remember it, but it was kind of awesome. Just me and Kelly, making it work." She smiled a little bigger. "She waitressed at this one diner, it's closed now, but I used to just sit in the booth while she was working and just color for hours and hours." That made her dad smile.

"My little artist," Klaus teased her.

"Hardly," Jade snorted a laugh, then became serious again. "And, that's how she met Vicki and Matty's dad," she continued. "She got pregnant with Vicki, suddenly I was a flower girl and I was adopted." She didn't look over at him. "You know the rest of that part."

"Jade," he said, getting her to look over at him. "If I knew about you, I would have come. I would have taken you away from there." She gave a half smile.

"And Vicki and Matty?" she asked lightly, wanting to get away from the subject of her step-dad.

"And Vicki and Matt," he nodded in agreement with her, moving ahead with her to the next spot. "I'm surprised Matt or your mother hasn't tried to come down yet."

"Matt needs to stay out of this, and he knows that," Jade explained. "He's even been pulling away from his friends in Mystic Falls, which I know is hard but..." She bit her lip. "He needs to stay safe, normal." She shrugged. "I mean, I'll still see him and stuff. Maybe meet up some place with the baby," she said, touching her stomach. "I miss him," she admitted.

"I'm sure," Klaus nodded in agreement. "You're an amazing sister sweetheart." She smiled at him appreciatively. "What about your mother?" He knew that Kelly wouldn't typically just stay out of this so easily, after she worked so hard to become a better mom, to be involved with her kids. Jade being pregnant and in so much trouble seemed like the kind of thing that would draw Kelly to Louisiana, but instead she was either calling or texting everyone in the house around the clock to check in.

"Yeahhh," Jade dragged it out a little bit. "I mean, she knows that Matty really needs her right now, rather than leaving him alone." She paused. "Plus, I might have asked Stefan a favor...to swap the vervain out of her coffee for a few days and then compel her to stay put."

"That's my girl," Klaus said now, making Jade smile. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Jade admitted. "Being pregnant is like being stoned, I'm hungry all the time." She thought about it. "Which you probably didn't want to know that I know that," she said to her father; he kissed her forehead.

"I want to know it all," he assured her, leading the way out.

Klaus took Jade for lunch in the French Quarter, sitting outside while they talked and ate their food. Things were going great between the two of them, and Klaus was thrilled to see his daughter so happy. With her no longer linked to the witches and with the family gaining a greater footing with the vampires in the city, he was convinced that things would work out perfectly for all of them.

"Hey there," Marcel greeted them; he had been walking down the street when he spotted them at their table. "I hope I'm not interrupting," he said apologetically.

"You guys talk, I'm gonna run inside real quick," Jade said, getting up from her seat as she was going to use the restroom. "Nice touch with the flowers, by the way," she commented to Marcel. "If you really wanna get in good, bring her cupcakes. Those red velvet ones with the icing like that," she said, holding her fingers an inch apart.

"Thanks for the tip," Marcel smiled as he pulled over his own chair while Jade walked inside. "I like her," he nodded back at the door.

"So do I," Klaus said with a smile.

"You two seem to be getting along great, I'm really happy for you man," Marcel continued. "I wanted to talk to you about something though, about the wolves?" He had heard through the endless whispers of a constantly growing grape vine that Mason was heading out to the bayou today. "There's something you should understand-" As he was saying this, he was getting knocked out of his seat.

"Mason!" Jade shouted as she was just coming back outside.

"Were you going to explain what you did to them?" Mason snapped as Marcel was getting back up. When Mason went out to the bayou to see the werewolves what he found was that they were all turned to their wolf form though they were two weeks from the full moon. He found one member of the pack that had never triggered her curse and she explained the dispute with the vampires, how Marcel had a curse placed on them so they were only human on the full moon.

"What is going on?" Klaus demanded.

"I went to see the wolves, just to find out that they're stuck as wolves thanks to him," Mason said, shoving him. While he was a hybrid now, Mason was always a wolf first. What had happened to them infuriated him, and his new vampire nature just magnified his temper.

"Mason, stop!" Jade shouted as the fight between him and Marcel continued to escalate further through physical violence. Klaus had to sped over to get Jade out of the way as their fight continued to wreck the restaurant. Unfortunately, this lead to Jade falling, which brought her right to the hospital.

"What happened?" Damon demanded as he showed up at the hospital that evening with Vicki.

"She's fine," Klaus was saying as he came out of Jade's room alone. "The vampire blood-"

"What happened?" Damon repeated angrily. All he heard was that a fight broke out and that landed Jade in the hospital. He didn't stay on the phone much longer to get any other details before racing to the hospital with Vicki. The younger Donovan sister moved by Damon to go into the hospital room to check on Jade.

"Mason and Marcel had a disagreement, about the wolves in the bayou," Klaus explained.

"Mason?" Damon asked now.

"Damon, she's all right," Klaus emphasized, with Mason coming around the corner now with a water for Jade.

"These things don't happen to her when she's with me," Damon said.

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Mason stopped. "I had no idea she was even there."

"And when you did, you still kept going?" Damon argued. "She could have gotten seriously hurt today, your daughter-"

"Don't," Mason cut him off.

"These things don't happen to her when she's with me," Damon reiterated. "We were fine before either of you." He turned to go into the room, but angry now, Klaus was the one that grabbed him to pull him back. As he did, the small box that held the ring he and Vicki picked out that afternoon came out of Damon's jacket pocket.

"Damon," Klaus said seriously as Damon picked the ring back up and placed it back in his pocket.

"You're pissed it's me, I get it," Damon said sarcastically. "But, again." He stopped to look at Mason. "I'm not the one that got her in here." And, with that, he went into the hospital room to see Jade and Vicki.

Vicki left the hospital that night, alone and exhausted. Jade had been kicking them all out one by one, though Damon wasn't going anywhere. Now, more than ever, she was rooting for Damon and was thrilled to help him pick out a ring that very day. Feeling someone being her, she whipped around quickly.

"Whoa, whoa," Marcel said, backing off. He had a small white box in one hand, flowers in the other. "These are for your sister, is she all right?"

"She's lucky she's a hybrid," Vicki commented. "She healed up fast, but they're keeping her just in case."

"You gotta know I didn't start that fight," Marcel insisted. "Mason wasn't letting up, I never would have done that with your sister there. I have this rule about kids, I-"

"I've heard," Vicki stopped him. "And I get it," she sighed. "He's got a werewolf temper under a vampire magnifying glass. Wasn't anything you could do."

"Doesn't mean I don't hate what happened," Marcel continued. "Give these to your sister for me?" he said, handing her the flowers.

"Mason's gone for the night, but sure," she nodded, knowing he was afraid of controversy with anyone in her family at this point after what happened. "What's that?" she asked about the box.

"Something for you," he said, handing it to her. She handed him back the flowers so she could open it; inside there was one red velvet cupcake with the thick cream cheese icing.

"More of my favorites," Vicki commented, fighting off a smile. He had found out more about her in a week than Tyler ever did, things Jeremy took weeks to find out but never did a whole lot with. She wasn't used to this much attention.

"Good night Vicki," Marcel smiled at her, giving her the flowers once again before disappearing.

thanks for reading! :) really hope you liked it, more soon! please let me know what you thought!

also, i have another curiosity poll if you guys would check it out! thanks!

if anyone here read love is blindness i wrote a one shot based off that on a suggestion from Asma20 if you're interested! :)