Chapter five

I forgive you

Hey there, it took a little longer but I'm back with the next chapter. As I said before…it will explain how Ally's father died. Anyway, I won't keep you too long from reading, dear readers. If you want to review, then don't hesitate.

Previous

"I want to go home," she squeaked, like a little wounded bird.

He nodded, raised his arms to her and she allowed herself to fall in them. She put her small arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

And so he carried her all the way back to the house, while the rain fell mercilessly on them...

Once they were back home, it looked like a dog with very wet feet had walked through the house. A trail of water and mud meandered through the hallway into the living room. Damon had not paid further attention to it, it would dry naturally.

He had more attention for the little girl that was lying in his arms. Ally trembled and her lips were blue with the cold.
Both of them were soaking wet and the warmth of the house was pleasant, but couldn't change much to it.
He took Ally on one arm as he pulled one of the blankets out of a closet. He spread it across the couch and laid Ally down on it. He folded the rest of the blanket over her and she pulled it further up to her chin, while looking up at him with her big, brown eyes.

"Thank you."

Those were such simple words, but somewhere they felt good. He was not used to someone thanking him. And this time…well…although they felt good, he had the idea that they didn't belong to him.

"You shouldn't say that," he said while he sat down on the edge of the couch.

Ally didn't ask why, but he could see at the look in her eyes that she didn't understand.

"Because…you were absolutely right. I'm annoying…and mean…and probably much more than that, but…"

"I understand you," she said and those words made him frown of surprise. He had not expected to hear a four year old child say something like that. And especially not against him…cause in his whole-eternal- life he had never met someone who understood him…or wanted to understand him.

"I mean…," she said with a little frown, as if she had to think about what exactly she would say. "I've been naughty…I wasn't allowed to take your phone, or to call Elena…or call you annoying…"

"Yeah…I haven't forgotten that part yet," he grinned.

She paused for a while and then she whispered almost inaudibly: "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, kiddo," he said with a smile of which he noticed with pleasure how easy it went. "You're not the one who needs to apologize. I'm the one to do that."

He turned towards her, held a hand on his heart and said solemnly: "I'm sorry that I didn't want to play or that I ignored you, or yelled…or scared you…In fact I'm sorry that I've acted like a complete idiot."

Wow, he had never thought that he would actually say that, but he had…and it hadn't been that bad. Now he understood why Stefan was always so straightforward about his feelings.

Ally laughed briefly and said: "You're funny."

"Well…that's better than being mean," he laughed.

"I forgive you too," she said then, softly.

"Thanks, Ally."

He could not believe how much those words meant to him. How much she meant to him. He only knew her a few hours and the greatest part of those hours, he had found her annoying, but the moment when she was gone…alone in the cold, rainy and hard world, had flipped a switch in his head. How much he denied it, deep inside him, he cared about her…and perhaps he had to show it a bit more to her. She was a little girl after all and now he knew better than to yell at her.

She sat up and swung her arms around her knees, while staring in front of her.

"You know, somewhere I knew that you would run off again the moment that I went to sleep."

"Sorry…I wanted to come back before you woke up, but…"

She swallowed and in her eyes he saw the beginning of what would eventually become tears.

"I miss him…mom says that I've got to forget him…but I can't."

Damon realized that she was talking about her father and even he wasn't that impolitic to ask her what had happened to him. It was already bad enough that about half of the Gilbert family felt the need to die before they had seen their children grow up.

"You don't have to forget him, Ally," he said while leaning his head against the couch. This wasn't a subject he was good at, cause he always did the opposite of what he told her to do. He oppressed his feelings till it made him indifferent. But…that wouldn't help a toddler.

"He was there…and then suddenly not more," she said with eyes as if she was looking into her memories. They were glassy, unusual large.

"He left and didn't came back. Mom said he was a hero. He rescued a woman from a fire, but he couldn't save himself."

Poor thing…her father had died in a fire…hero or not, it didn't matter to him. The man had left his daughter in the lurch.

People didn't think at those kind of things when the put their life at the line for another person. They just forgot and didn't return, leaving their family with a broken heart…forever.
He had never thought of this before…but since he knew Ally, there had changed some things.

Slightly, though. Nothing dramatic.

"As you are now, you make me think a bit of him," she said. "Daddy was a nice guy too."

He smiled. That was something he didn't hear very often. Mostly because he didn't want to be liked. If you were a nice person, people were expecting that you remained that way…and he didn't want to live up to any expectations.

But…how hard could it be to be nice to a little girl?

He threw a glance at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already six o'clock.

"So… I guess we should get you something to eat," he said while he stood up and started to walk into the kitchen.

Ally followed him with the blanket still around her. She sat on a chair at the kitchen table, while he looked awkwardly around him.

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and saw how she looked at him with a big smile.

"What?" he asked.

"You don't know what to do, huh?

Was it that obviously? He hadn't been a human for one and a half century…and back in those times he hadn't even been the one who had to cook. They had had someone who did that for them. In other words…he had no knowledge of it.

"Yeah, not really," he admitted. "Tell me…do you like pizza?"

How did you like it? Not too boring, I hope? I know that I make a lot of mistakes, definitely when it comes to finding the right English words. Sometimes I use a word in the wrong context…but…
anyway…curious about what's going to happen next? Stay tuned. Next chapter will be up soon.
Btw, don't forget to review, it helps me a lot