AN; Just got out of another rough period caused by my bipolar disorder, but hanging in there.
Sorry for any mistakes in the text. I just write whenever I feel the flow and manage to get out of bed.

5 YEARS LATER

DAMON'S POV
Thursday, February 5, 2014

Damon put the gun and his badge on the counter and shrugged out of his leather jacket and attempted to rub his eyes. He was tired and annoyed with how his day had proceeded from the minute he'd opened his eyes. He pulled a hand across his face, stretching, trying to figure out whether he was on the verge of sleep or possible starvation. He'd missed lunch due to the new case and he'd been too buried in the extended research and paperwork to actually care about nourishment.

Being a single father hadn't been easy and it wouldn't be any easier as he got home from work every single day and heard the music booming out through the front door. 'Fucking hell', he'd started to think to himself.

He could hear Liam upstairs, hoping the fifteen year old hadn't stirred or caused more trouble in school than last week. Hell, Damon was surprised the kid hadn't been suspended yet. The whole parent thingy had been so difficult. He'd screwed up more times than he could or even would allow to count or even remember. He was far from a perfect uncle, far from a perfect parent - but kids didn't need perfect parents, they needed real ones - or so he'd been told.

He'd struggled, he'd pulled his hair and he'd been so close to giving up completely but somehow, he'd pulled through. Liam tested his patience on a daily basis and they often went head to head, disagreed and fought loudly with one another. Living with and raising a teenager - let alone a boy - at the age of thirty four had never been on his agenda but, life had been thrown at him and he'd accepted it.

Alright, fine, truth be told, he loved the kid, he really did but man, Liam knew how to push his buttons and Damon hated that part of their relationship.

He'd also managed to fuck up everything with her and just the mere thought of it had his heart leaping in his chest. No. Not tonight. Damon shook his head, he wouldn't allow himself to let the thought of her and their fallout four years ago ruin the little sanity he still had left.

Instead of yelling Liam's name throughout the house, he did the only thing he could think of and texted him, telling him to get his ass downstairs. Low and behold, ten minutes later the kid finally seated himself at the kitchen island, a boring expression on his face.

"Lost your way?" Damon asked, raising a brow.

"Ha, funny."

"Any homework?"

"Nope."

"Liam." He said sternly.

"What?"

"I've had a rough day so don't test my patience." Damon warned with a tired sigh.

"I can tell, you look like shit."

"Thank you."

Damon tried to hold back the remark he had on the tip of his tongue. The absolute last thing he wanted at the moment, was to fight with Liam. He just wanted to order food, take a shower and fall into bed without any trouble whatsoever.

"What the heck?" Damon glared at Liam as he noticed the huge amount of food he'd ordered.

"You said, 'order food, I'm starving'." Liam explained.

"Yeah, thing is, you've ordered food for an entire class of body builders."

"Not like you can't afford it." Liam shrugged.

Damon was just about to answer, scold Liam and let him know that he had no intention of handing him any extra money this month, when the front door creaked open. A green eyed man entered the kitchen and pulled a hand through his hair - in what looked like despair and nausea.

"Hey brother." Damon sighed and took a sip from his beer, still glaring at Liam.

"What's with all the food?" Stefan motioned for the kitchen counter, eyeing the pile of Chinese boxes waiting to be opened, the delicious food devoured.

"This little punk," Damon tilted his head to look at the teenager. "Ordered food for an entire football team. Sit down and help us, because I don't think my fridge can handle this amount of Chinese food."

Stefan ruffled Liam's hair and sat down at the kitchen island as Damon handed him a plastic plate with noodles and fried chicken. He raised his eyebrows as he noticed the nervous look on his brother's face. Stefan was usually calm and collected.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Maybe he's high." Liam shrugged his shoulders and shoved food into his mouth.

"Hey." Damon scolded him. "Stef, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost and not the friendly kind."

"Yeah," Liam chuckled, rolling his eyes in amusement. "Because we all know that Casper doesn't–"

"Okay, enough with the sarcasm." Damon waved his hand. "What's wrong?"

"Lenny kicked me out." Stefan gasped and burst into tears.

The teenager and the young man looked at the third person across from them. Liam stopped eating and Damon frowned at his brother's sad face.

"Did he find someone who's a lot more masculine than you? Because that shirt looks like it left Barbie's wardrobe." Liam grinned, trying to lighten the mood in his own weird way.

"Hey! That's enough. Don't talk to your uncle like that." Damon lightly slapped the back of the teenager's head.

"Ow, what the h–"

"Show some respect."

"Oh, come on. Seriously, it's not my fault that he likes to shove his dick in–"

"Liam." Damon raised his voice and glared at his nephew as he handed - his now silently crying brother a beer. "Apologize and go to your room. Now."

"I'm fifteen, not a baby."

"I know, which means it's way past your bedtime."

"That's not fair!"

"Liam." The blue eyed man said sternly. "Do as I say or you have to spend the weekend with grandma and grandpa."

Okay, threatening Liam with his parents wasn't nice but hey, it usually worked like a charm. Liam loathed his grandparents and they weren't fond of him either. Damon rarely talked to them anymore because they'd chosen to walk out on him when he'd been left with his sister's son. He'd been in desperate need of parental guidance but they'd never cared enough to be apart of his or Liam's everyday life. Whatever, it was their loss - or so he told himself.

Stefan was still a permanent part of his life and had been an amazing uncle to Liam throughout the years and Damon was and always would be grateful for that. His brother had stepped up and helped when necessary.

"Oh, you wouldn't." Liam sneered.

Damon raised his eyebrows and sent his nephew a superior look - smirking devilishly. The teenager's face fell instantly - his eyes black. He gulped as he backed out of the kitchen and dared to roll his eyes at Damon before heading up the stairs with heavy footsteps, making sure to stomp his feet.

"Stefan." Damon said as he turned around to meet his brother. "Okay, enough with the tears. You need a drink."

Damon walked across the kitchen and found a bottle of bourbon in one of his cupboards and poured his little bro a double. He watched as Stefan gulped down the liquid. He grimaced and coughed a couple of times before wiping away his tears.

Stefan had always been the emotional one and Damon hated it when his brother cried. Stefan had stepped out of the closet two years ago and no one had been that surprised when he introduced the not so hidden boyfriend he'd been dating in secret for a couple of months. Lenny had taken his brother with storm, had swept Stefan off of his feet, opening his eyes to the world, showing him that life would move on if he just let the prejudices of others go.

Lenny and Stefan had been close, hell, Damon thought they would last forever. His brother loved the man with every fiber of his being - that hadn't been difficult to see. Therefore, Damon was totally perplexed by the news.

"What happened?" Damon asked as he sat down at the kitchen island, eyeing Stefan.

"He decided that he wanted to move on and just, threw me out."

"Doesn't sound like Lenny."

"I know, right? I barely recognized him. He was so… brutal."

"Brutal?" Damon tried not to grimace. "Brutal how? He didn't hit you, did he?"

"What? NO." Stefan shook his head violently. "He wouldn't hit me."

Damon nodded slowly. He agreed with him, Lenny wouldn't hit his brother. Damon had know the man long enough to know that he wasn't the kind of type to lay a hand on someone, intent on causing physical pain.

"Stefan, what happened?"

"I don't know. He..." Stefan trailed off. "He proposed."

"What? He proposed?"

"Yeah."

"I don't understand. He proposed and proceeded to kick you out?" Damon frowned, not knowing what to think.

"I said no, that's why he threw me out." Stefan burst into tears once again.

"Why on earth did you turn him down?" Damon questioned and grimaced at the wailing sound as his brother cried.

"I panicked!"

"Well, apologize."

"He doesn't want to talk to me."

"Lenny loves you. For heaven's sake, Stefan, he proposed to you and you said no. Sorry baby bro, but I don't blame him for lashing out."

"I know." Stefan cried. "Man, what am I supposed to do? How do I fix this?"

"You apologize and then you tell him yes. You want to marry him, don't you?"

"Of course!" Stefan wiped his tears and sipped from his beer, clearly trying to compose himself.

"Then go home and tell him. Seriously, Stefan. If I could go back and change things, there's one thing I would change. I ruined so much four years ago. You can still find your happily ever after, don't let fear hold you back."

It took about an hour to convince his brother that he needed to go home and fix things with his boyfriend - hopefully, soon to be husband. Damon was happy for Stefan, but just like all the Salvatore men, he had a habit of screwing things up. Damon had screwed up royally four years ago and he'd been so hellbent on changing his life after the incidents that had ruined so much of what had been his life back then. He'd stopped working at the firm.

He'd changed his life. He'd grabbed Liam by the arm, they'd moved and he'd started a new job, working his way towards the promotion he'd been so desperate for. Being a criminal investigator, working as a detective had been exactly what he'd needed. Sure thing, he'd missed seeing Ric at the office every day, but he'd been in need of a change. Law enforcement felt like home, he'd found his calling and had no plans on going back to court.

Moving from his hometown had been the right thing to do. He'd bought a house twenty minutes outside the big city and had felt as if life could finally just be plain and simple as long as Liam tried to make it work in school. Sure, there had been ups and downs but they'd managed to build a home together. It might lack the lovey dovey shit but whatever.

Damon shook his head as he headed up the stairs, intent on talking to Liam before going to bed. They had some stuff that needed to be discussed sooner rather than later.

"Hey." Damon said before opening the door, not bothering to knock before entering.

Liam was sprawled out on his bed but sat up as Damon sat down on the armchair in the left corner. He had to push some of the clothes to the side in order to actually sit his ass down but, he had a mission - he could scold Liam for the dirty laundry later. The kid was fifteen, he knew how to wash his clothes.

"Don't you know how to knock?"

"No." Damon replied as he eyed him.

Despite the fact that Liam wasn't his biological son - Damon could easily see a part of himself in Liam. The blue eyes were only a simple recognition that blood and DNA related the two to each other. Liam had the Salvatore-fire burning in his personality and there was no question that he would grow up to be a handsome man one day. Unfortunately, he'd inherited the smirk and constantly witty mouth - that also came with the Salvatore-DNA.

"I know that you stopped by the station yesterday."

"So?"

"If there's anything you want to know about your mom, you could just ask." Damon said. "Trying to get private files on her case is not the way to go."

"You don't get it."

"What don't I get? Come on, Liam. Tell me. What are you looking for? And why do you need to dig into a case that the police closed two years ago?"

"I'm trying to find my dad."

Damon flinched at the sentence, staring at Liam as if someone had just dropped a bomb in the room - honestly, it kind of felt like someone had.

"You're trying to find your dad?"

"Yeah." Liam nodded, ruffling his hair the same way Damon did when feeling stressed. "I didn't know where else to look. I thought maybe… I don't know what I thought."

"Look, I know that we butt heads and that, most of the time, we don't get along but it was your mother's choice." Damon said slowly, clasping his hands, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Your mom didn't want anyone to know anything about your father. She never mentioned him, didn't leave any kind of information that we could use to find him."

"That doesn't mean it's impossible to find him."

"Katherine didn't want you to find him. If she'd wanted you to know him," Damon paused briefly. "She would've left clues but she didn't. I take that as a sign. She never wanted us to figure it out. She never wanted us to know."

"And how do you know that?" Liam questioned, irritation ringing in his voice.

"I'm just doing what she wanted, trying to keep you safe from whatever she fled from. I'm granting her last wish, it would be rude not to."

"And?"

"And we have to respect that."

"Why, because she's dead?" Liam snarled, the former irritation growing to anger.

Damon clenched his jaw, trying to regain some of his focus. His deceased sister was a touchy subject to say the least. He didn't like talking about Katherine. It hurt and he didn't really know how to deal with any of it. He hadn't cried the way Liam and Stefan had; he'd gathered his emotions and he'd shut them off, had refused to let them overpower him.

They'd received the news of Katherine's death two years ago. Liam had been thirteen and Damon still remembered the face the young boy had made once he realized she wasn't coming back for him - ever. Damon had wanted to comfort him but Liam had pulled away, crying in his room for Damon to hear whenever her passed by at night.

Fuck, just thinking about it had his intestines aching. He tried to think straight, diving into the discussion instead of letting his emotions conquer his heart.

"What if my dad wants to see me?" Liam raised his eyebrows, challenging his uncle.

"You're fifteen, if he'd wanted to find you don't you think he would've by now?"

"What if he didn't even know my mom was pregnant?"

The thought had crossed Damon's mind too but Katherine had explained the situation in a very well detailed letter that Liam didn't know of yet. Hell, he would never know the letter existed because Damon had burned it, just like he'd been instructed.

"And what if your mother wanted to keep it that way?"

"I want to find him."

"That's not a decision you're old enough to make. Besides," Damon huffed, standing up. "Where would we even find a clue to who he is? Liam, your mother wrote specifically not to try to contact your biological father. She didn't even leave us his name."

"Just because it seems impossible," Liam said. "Doesn't mean it can't be achieved."

Suddenly taken aback, Damon blinked a couple of times as he recognized the words his sister had once used to persuade him to follow his dreams. Shit! Some days, Liam reminded him painfully much of his deceased sister - so much that it hurt to look at the teenager. Maybe that was the main reason as to why they constantly fought with one another? They rarely got along.

"Do you really want to find your biological father? It could lead to a lot of things - things you might not be ready to face yet."

"Like what?"

"He might not be what you expect or he might not even be able to track at all. Liam, the chance to find him is one in a million. It would take a lot of time, dedication, hope and strength to go on a journey like that."

"So what, you forbid me?" He chuckled.

Damon looked at him and shrugged as if the question wasn't even pronounced. "What do you think?"

"Do you forbid me to search for him?"

"Yes."

At that, Liam froze, staring at his uncle, frowning. "Why? You can't do that."

"I'm your legal guardian and that means that I literally have the right to do what I believe is the best thing for you."

"Hey, have you heard anything about MJ at your school?" Damon asked as he leaned against the counter the next morning, sipping on his coffee, eyeing Liam. The dark hair, the posture, overall features, the blue eyes and slightly eerie mannerisms that mirrored so many of his own had him biting his tongue. The likeness between them were uncanny sometimes, he could admit that. He took another sip of his coffee.

"What's MJ?" Liam yawned, pulling a hand through his disheveled hair.

"Mary Jane?"

"Who the fuck's Mary Jane?"

Damon wanted to roll his eyes at the slow process in Liam's head, but deep down, he was happy that he obviously didn't understand the nickname so he decided to make it easy for him. He knew the teenager wasn't a morning person and never had been, so the confusion in his squinting eyes caused Damon to try to hide his grin.

"Marijuana?"

"Oh, you mean pot? Could've just said so." Liam sneered, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Whatever, have you heard anything?"

"About what?"

"Do you think," Damon emphasized the words and spoke slowly and aloud, gesturing as he carried on. "That there's anyone selling at school?"

"Drugs? Or pot in general?"

"Both."

"I don't think so." Liam gulped down a huge amount of coffee, spitting it out the moment he realized it was too damn hot to swallow.

Damon choked on his own little sip and laughed at Liam's misery as the teen glared at him.

"Do you need a ride to school?" He asked, knowing very well that Liam would refuse and turn down his offer.

"No."

"Fine. Well, I'm working late so behave and all that."

"Sure. You too." Liam nodded.

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