Thank you to my amazingly awesome beta Kitty (trouble and she knows it) this had to be my fasted betaed chapter yet... yay us. There are only a few chapters left in this story, definitely under 10... I'm thinking around 5. The next installment which will be called Never let me go, will be out shortly after Safe in my arms ends. As always you know the drill... read and review.
"You're sure mom and dad said we could do this?" Aurora asked nervously as they walked down the front sidewalk of the villa they were staying in.
"Of course they did. Do you think I would lie about something like that?" A look of annoyance on his face.
"I'm sorry. It's just mom and dad aren't here. They're off getting a few groceries." Aurora said, her apology clear in the expression on her face.
"It's alright." He said as they ran down the street. The two teenagers looked around them at everything as they walked to the beach.
"I still think we should have waited for mom and dad." Aurora said still nervous that maybe Aiden wasn't tell her the truth.
"They said we could do this. What's going to happen Aurora?" He asked rhetorically.
"Aiden, I have been kidnapped and assaulted. I am the wrong person to be asking." Aurora told him.
"But nothing has happened since then really. Dad dealt with the threats and besides we're in Italy. No one knows us here. It'll be fine." Aiden assured his sister.
"Fine." Aurora said giving in as they neared the beach.
"Hmmm should we be good parents and buy chocolaty cereal for Aurora?" Elena asked as she perused the shelf for breakfast cereal for the kids.
"You know how I feel about chocolate for breakfast." Damon said shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm well aware of how you feel about that. Those fights between the two of you are so funny." Elena said laughing at the memory.
"She is too much like you. She likes challenging me at every turn." Damon said scowling at his wife.
"She learned from the best. Now cereal... what do you think?" Elena asked.
"I suppose we should buy it, that way be can be sure she's eating in the morning. She's a teenage girl, we need to make sure she's eating." Damon said giving in.
"Very true. Alright chocolaty cereal is in the cart. You're going to cook breakfast most mornings though, so we only need a small box." She said.
" I plan on it." Damon agreed. They continued walking through the supermarket, picking up everything they needed.
"So what do we want to do today?" Elena asked as they continued to walk.
"I know what I want..." Damon said trailing off.
"And that's not going to happen. We are not spending this entire trip having sex Damon. So not going to happen. You are going to show us around Italy, and we are going to spend time together as a family." Elena remarked.
"Fine. Maybe we can hit the beach or something today." He suggested.
"That sounds amazing. I'm sure the kids would be up for that too." Elena said.
"Then it's settled. Once we're done here, we'll go back to the villa. Unload the groceries and grab our beach stuff and the brats then go to the beach." He said.
"Sounds good, let's finish up here. I've never been on an Italian beach before." Elena said with a dreamlike expression on her face.
"No shit Sherlock. You've never been to Italy." He said laughing at her.
"Shut up." She said elbowing him in the ribs. He continued to laugh as they made their way to the tills. Damon conversed with the cashier in perfect Italian as the man rang up their order. Damon paid him and they left the store, loading up the items into the car.
"That's odd." Elena said when they arrived back at the villa they were renting for the month.
"What is?" Damon asked as he grabbed a couple bags from the back of the car.
"I don't hear any heartbeats." Elena said as she carried her bags into the house. Between the two of them they were able to take all four bags in one trip.
"Maybe they're outside in the backyard." Damon suggested.
"I'll go look. You put the groceries away quickly." Elena said.
"Yes ma'am." He said as he did exactly as she told him to do. Elena walked to the back door not overly worried yet. When she stepped outside and still didn't hear the heartbeats she flashed back to Damon's side.
"They are not here. Damon where the hell could they go?" Elena demanded, her eyes wide with terror.
"I'm sure they're fine, just calm down. We'll go find them." Damon said trying to calm his wife down.
"Damon, last time one of our kids went missing it was Aurora, and she was kidnapped and assaulted by Samuel." Elena said frantically.
"I know. Let's go. Where do you think they would go?" Damon asked.
"I don't know." Elena said running a hand through her hair.
"Let's try the beach." Damon said wracking his brain for places where the kids could have gone.
Aurora lay on the beach with her sunglasses on working on her tan, while Aiden was talking to a couple girls a little ways away.
"I still think you should give me your numbers. I'm here for a month, I have lots of time." Aiden said plastering the familiar smirk that he had learned from his father on his face.
"You haven't earned that yet." The one girl said in heavily accented English.
"Well what do I have to do?" Aiden asked seeing the girl's knees go weak. His way with women was a trait he had learned from his father. He didn't have to do much work to get a girl to do whatever he wanted.
"Hang out with us a bit. Tell us your name." The girl said.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." He said smirking.
" My name is Siena and this is my friend Gabriella. What is your name?" Siena asked.
"Aiden Salvatore." He said.
"Italian. I must say I am interested in you. Gabriella has a boyfriend, but I am single." Siena said taking a step closer to him.
"I am too. I just got out of a relationship and I'm looking to have some fun on this trip." Aiden said closing some more of the distance between them.
"I'm always looking for some fun." Siena said seductively.
Damon stopped the car a block away from the beach knowing they didn't have time to search for a parking spot closer. Not caring if someone saw them they used vampire speed to get to the beach area. The two vampires stopped and scanned the beach area searching for the kids.
"I see Aurora." Elena said.
"I see Aiden. I'll get him, you get her." Damon said as they separated to get the teenagers who were in heaps of trouble. Elena walked over to her daughter who was sun tanning without a care in the world.
"Aurora." Elena said her voice calm.
"Oh my God, mom. You scared me." Aurora said sitting up.
"Come. It's time to go home." Elena said not getting mad.
"Okay." Aurora said confused. Elena was just relieved that nothing had gone wrong, but she knew she would feel differently when they got back to the villa.
"Aiden come with me right now." Damon said grabbing Aiden's arm.
"Dad, I'm working my game." Aiden whispered.
"I don't really care. Let's go. We'll be talking about this when we get home. Your mom and Aurora are already on their way to the car." Damon said his voice deceptively calm.
"Alright." Aiden said knowing there was no reason to argue. His dad would always win. "I'll see you around Siena." Aiden said to the beautiful brunette.
"Call me Aiden." She said blowing him a kiss as she walked away.
The car ride was completely silent on the way back to the villa. But the minute they walked through the front door it was a completely different story.
"Go sit down." Damon ordered the kids. The relief they felt at finding the kids unharmed was gone, replaced by anger.
"I don't understand." Aurora said. As far as she knew they had said her and Aiden could go to the beach.
"What the hell made you think that you could just wander off without telling us?!" Damon yelled.
"I thought you knew." Aurora said back and Aiden had the sense to look guilty.
"Well we didn't know. We got back here and couldn't hear you anywhere. You mom was so worried remembering what happened last time one of you went missing." Damon said.
"I'm sorry." Aurora said.
"What were you guys thinking?" Elena asked, placing a calming hand on her husband's arm.
"We wanted to go to the beach." Aiden said shrugging his shoulders.
"That attitude is going to get you nowhere Aiden." Damon warned his son.
"Why would you go without us? This is a new, strange place. We can't protect you if we don't know where you are." Elena said trying to make them understand.
"I'm really sorry mom. Aiden told me that he talked to you." Aurora said.
"Why would you do that?" Elena asked.
"I wanted to go to the beach. And I didn't want to wait for you guys. We're almost 17 years old. We need some freedom. I wanted to work on my game." Aiden said shrugging again.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw you were gone? I'm your mother and I immediately started thinking about what it was like to come home from the boarding house that day to find the house ransacked and Aurora gone. It's every mother's worst fear to lose her children." Elena said her voice breaking at the end.
"I'm sorry mom." Aurora said sincerely, she could only imagine what her mom had gone through when she had been kidnapped.
"Well you won't be doing that for a while, since you're both grounded. No leaving the house without us. The furthest you can go without us is the backyard. Until we know we can trust you. You didn't have your cell phones. You didn't tell us where you were. You acted completely irresponsibly and now you have to face the consequences." Elena said.
"Grounded? For what?" Aiden demanded.
"Don't talk back. Your mom said you're grounded, there is no discussion. If you want to fight it, I'll add another week." Damon warned his son. Aurora said beside him looking suitably repentant.
"Fine. This is so fucking stupid. I'm going to my room." Aiden said standing up and stalking upstairs.
"I'm sorry." Aurora said as she followed Aiden upstairs and went to her own room.
"Ugh. It's times like these that I hate being parents to teenagers." Elena sighed, sinking into the couch.
"We could always sell them to the zoo when we get home." Damon offered.
"I'm pretty sure we would miss them at some point." Elena said. Damon sat down beside her and she curled up into his side.
"So what do you want to do today?" Damon asked as he ran a hand down her back in a soothing gesture.
"I wanted to go to the beach." Elena sighed.
"We still can. We didn't say they couldn't leave the house. We said they couldn't leave the house without us." Damon said shrugging.
"I suppose. Maybe we should just stay in today. To me it kind of ruins the sentiment of grounding them when we're taking them to the beach only a few minutes later." Elena said.
"I guess you're right. Do you want to go outside and swim? The pool is really nice, and if either of our glorious children decides to sneak off somewhere, we'll hear them." Damon suggested.
"Sounds great to me." Elena said sitting up. They walked upstairs hand in hand into their bedroom. Aiden and Aurora's doors were shut tightly, angry rock music emanated from Aiden's room while no sound came from Auroras. They could hear her heart beating in the room so they knew she was in there. Once they had their suits on Elena went to tell the grounded teenagers that they were going for a swim, while Damon made his way outside. Aiden ignored her and Aurora smiled and said she might join them later if she was allowed. Elena smiled at her daughter who was being good about her grounding. It was like she knew she was in the wrong. Aurora was so much more level-headed than her brother.
"I think he hates us." Elena sighed when she got into the pool.
"He's a teenage boy. I'm pretty sure he would be abnormal if he didn't hate us." Damon said wrapping his arms around her, pulling her flush against him.
"That's true. You are much better than I am at this." Elena said burrowing her head into his chest.
" No I'm not. I've just been told by other parents that if your teenagers don't hate you then you're going about it the wrong way." Damon said.
"I'll keep that in mind." Elena whispered. She lifted her chin and Damon smirked, bending down slightly so he could kiss his wife.
"Ahh, you have no idea how much I want to fuck you right here, right now." Damon groaned.
"I would totally be into it, but we can't. Aurora said she might join us." Elena said smiling.
"Of course she did. Why is it that pretty much every girl we know has cock-blocked us at least once?" He asked.
"She didn't cock-block anything, we were never doing anything." She said.
"But we would have been." Damon argued.
"Not here we wouldn't. Don't you remember the distress the school girl costume caused?" Elena asked.
"Ah right. You ran our kids out of their own house. Bad mother. Bad." He said wagging his finger at her.
"Shut up. It was all your fault. You're the one who demanded a glass of water, while I was dressed like that." Elena said scowling at him.
"It was all part of the fantasy. It had to be done. And for the record it wasn't fun for me either. I dint get any for several hours after that." Damon said running a hand down her back.
"Exactly. That's what happens when something like that happens." Elena said smirking. They both heard the french doors open and Aurora stepped out.
"You coming in?" Elena asked smiling at her.
"Yeah. You believe me right? About not knowing that Aiden didn't actually ask permission?" Aurora asked.
"Yeah I believe you. Aurora we don't want to smother you and him this month. We would have let you go to the beach as long as you had your phones and you told us you were going." Elena said.
"I'm sorry." Aurora said again.
"It's over with. If you go through with your one week grounding then you will be free again. Just don't do anything like that again. When in doubt call or text us." Elena said.
"Okay." Aurora said smiling.
"Good. Now swim. Your dad is cooking genuine Italian cuisine for us tonight, and I for one am very excited." Elena said grinning.
"Me too." Aurora said.
"Now what do you say to double teaming your dad?" Elena asked her daughter giving her a conspiratorial wink.
"I'm in." Aurora nodded her head.
"This is so not fair." Damon said as he immediately backed out of Elena's grasp.
"That was seriously the best lasagna I've ever had. I thought Lilah's mom made the best, but yours was so much better." Aurora said after the meal was finished. Aiden was completely silent during the meal no matter how many times Elena tried to pull him into the discussion.
"Aiden if you're not going to be here, then just go upstairs." Damon said sick of his attitude.
"Whatever." Aiden said stomping back up the stairs. Elena shook her head and sighed before standing up and getting to work on the dishes.
"I'll help you." Damon offered.
"Why don't you and dad go sit down. Open a bottle of wine. I'll clean up the kitchen." Aurora offered.
"Why are you offering? What do you want?" Damon asked suspiciously.
"I am trying to work my way back into yours and moms good graces. I don't like the idea of you guys being mad at me. Life is short you know." She admitted.
"We're not mad at you, but we aren't going to let you take back that offer. Thank you." Damon said reaching for the opened bottle of wine on the counter and taking it into the living room.
Aiden sat upstairs in his room listening to his music until he got a text message from Siena.
A few friends and I are hanging out tonight if you want to join us. I hope you come. I really want to see you. ;) S
Aiden immediately replied to her message and looked out his window for a potential escape hatch. He knew he would be busted if he walked downstairs and went through the front door. His window was already open, so that made his escape easy. He climbed out the window and used the lattice outside his window as a ladder. It was so conveniently located he officially loved whoever built the house. Once he was done he silently ran away, having been really experienced in sneaking away from home.
After they all watched a few movies, everyone decided it was time for bed.
"I'm going to check on Aiden before I come to join you." Elena said.
"Okay." Damon said disappearing into the bedroom. Elena knocked on Aiden's door a couple times before just giving up and opening it. Her eyes widened when she seen his empty room.
"Damon!" Elena called. Damon was beside her in seconds.
"He's gone." Elena said her eyes wide.
Aiden made it to the location on the text message and immediately found Siena.
"You came." She said leaning in and kissing his cheek.
"This is just what I need." Aiden said grabbing a beer from a bucket.