I have no excuses yet again but here you all go. There is only one chapter left of this story before the third and final installment. I hope you all haven't abandoned the story after my disappearance from it. As always let me know what you think. Thank you for all the support I have received while writing this story.
"Do we have to leave tomorrow? If we could stay a few more days I wouldn't even complain about seeing more "history" as you put it." Aiden whined.
"No, we have to get home. We've been gone for a whole month now and it's time to get back to our lives. In Mystic Falls."
Elena told her son.
"But I haven't seen Sienna since you guys grounded me." Aiden complained.
"That's probably a good thing, she was a bad influence on you. Besides you can't have a real relationship with someone across an ocean from you. Long distance relationships are hard, but this kind of distance would be nearly impossible. There are plenty of girls in Mystic Falls you could date." Elena insisted.
"I don't want to date Sienna. Hell I don't want to date anyone. I just want to live my life with a string of meaningless one night stands for the foreseeable future. I don't want commitment. It's too hard." He admitted.
"Meaningless one nights stands are just that meaningless. You can't live your life like that." Elena insisted.
"Dad made it work for years." Aiden pointed out.
"You really need to stop using my past as a template for your future. I'm man enough to admit that my life was empty before I met your mom. I finally after over a century I started living my life. You don't want to live like that Aiden." Damon insisted.
"It just won't. I'm not that lucky." Aiden sighed as they all carried their bags to the car, ready to head to the airport.
"Aiden James Salvatore, your life will be fulfilled and happy. You will get everything you want and that's that. I as your mother will not settle for anything less." Elena stated firmly as she slid into the passenger seat of the car.
"Yeah Aiden James..." Aurora chimed in, teasingly. Anytime the middle names came out, they knew they had better pay attention.
"Right, Aurora Charlotte.." Aiden fought back.
"My middle name is awesome. I love my name. I for one am excited to get home, I want to tell all my friends all about my awesome trip to Italy." Aurora said.
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Several hours later the plane was finally descending into Richmond.
"I hate flying." Aiden muttered when they got off the plane and gathered their luggage.
"You'll get used to it at some point." Elena assured her son as she walked hand in hand with her husband.
"I'm sure I won't. I hate flying. I think I'll just drive everywhere for the remainder of my life." Aiden stated firmly.
"Well it'll be kind of hard to get somewhere across the ocean via car." Damon noted as they followed the kids through the airport.
"I will find a way. I think I'd rather swim." Aiden retorted.
"Well you have fun swimming across the Atlantic." Damon spoke as they came to the entrance of the airport.
"I'm so happy to be back in the continental US." Elena sighed when they came to their SUV.
"Me too. I'm can't wait to be sleeping in my own bed again." Damon sighed happily, kissing Elena's temple.
"I can't wait to tell Lilah about the trip." Aurora breathed buckling herself into the backseat of the car.
"Fine, I'm happy to be home too." Aiden gave in stifling a smile.
"That's the spirit. Now lets see how fast I can get us back to Mystic Falls." Damon decided as he started up the engine and speeding out of the parking lot.
"As quick as possible dad." Aurora told her dad as she leaned against the back of the seat and closed her eyes.
When Damon parked in front of the house a while later, Stefan's car, Caroline's car and Jeremy's car were all parked outside.
"Looky looky what we have here. A welcoming party. And look who just showed up, your mom and dad, and Alaric and Jenna." Damon said as he pulled into the garage as the welcoming party waited for them outside the door.
"We were going to pick the lock and surprise you. But you got home sooner than we expected. Lilah is on her way over too." Stefan told them as they walked towards them.
"What's with the welcoming party?" Damon asked, just wanting to get inside and take a nap before making love to his wife in his own bed.
"We all wanted to welcome you home. We even brought lunch that we were going to stuff into the fridge until you got here." Stefan explained as Lilah pulled up.
"Aurora!" She squealed as she flung her arms around her friend.
"Hey Lilah." Aurora laughed, hugging her back hard. After all the emails they shared while Aurora was gone, their friendship was restored.
"How was Italy. You have to tell me everything." She insisted as Damon unlocked the door and everyone piled into the large house.
"Alright alright. But I'm hungry. Air plane food sucks ass." Aurora murmured as she walked into the kitchen where her grandparents and Stefan were unpacking foo.
"Dig in weary travellers. You've had a long journey." Stefan told them. Aurora took that as her cue and filled his plate with food as Aiden followed suit. Everyone filed into the living room and sat down eager to hear about the families holiday.
"Aurora tell me all about your holiday. Were there any hot guys?" Lilah asked, chomping at the bits for some answers.
"Oh yeah... Italian guys are the hottest." Aurora sighed.
"Excuse me. My 16 year old daughter does not think young Italian guys are hot." Damon interjected.
"Ignore my dad. There was this one guy he was gorgeous." Aurora started.
"Dad present." Damon stated glaring between the two girls.
"Alright alright Mr. Salvatore, we'll go discuss this upstairs." Lilah told him smiling.
"You do that, but keep in mind that the conversation is to be kept g rated. I can hear you." Damon told them as the girls ran upstairs.
"Now since your dad is done being Damon-ish, how was your trip to Italy, Aiden?" Stefan asked stifling laughter at the exchange that had went on between them.
"Well I got grounded, mom and dad played strip poker. I met a hot girl, got busted for sneaking out. Dad interrupted me and the hot girl Sienna having sex. We did some boring as fuck sightseeing that mom insisted on." Aiden explained.
"Well sounded like a fun trip. Strip poker,really?" Jeremy asked shaking his head.
"It was an amazing trip. Breaking up minor sex notwithstanding." Damon muttered.
"So what landmarks did you guys see?" Miranda asked leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.
"Everything of importance that I have seen more than enough times." Damon answered.
"You're really not a sightseeing person are you Damon?" Jeremy asked.
"Nah, I'm more interested in what's going on nowadays than the past. Life is too short figuratively to live in the past." Damon explained.
"Damon makes a good point. Especially when you live like we do." Stefan added on.
"I guess that's true when you have an eternity at your disposal. But when you're human, you need to see and experience these things." Grayson interjected.
"This is true. But I have seen the Vatican more times than I care to count. I'm happy I can get my kids to see them, but I personally have no interest in seeing all those places again." Damon told them.
"So what was your favourite part of your trip?" Alaric asked.
"Strip poker," Damon said without hesitation.
"I'm sure it was. Elena?" He asked.
"You're all going to laugh at me but it was all of the quality family time we spent together." Elena answered.
"I'm not laughing. That is such a mother thing to say. Aiden what about you?" Alaric asked.
"Almost having sex with Sienna. It may have got me grounded but it was so worth it." Aiden smirked.
"Ugh Aiden..." Elena groaned with her head in her hands.
"I'm sorry mom but it's the truth."Aiden said with no apology in his voice. Elena shook her head but couldn't hide the smile on her face.
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Aurora and Lilah laughed as Aurora told Lilah about the night Aiden got grounded.
"Wow, your brother is a winner. I can't believe he got caught by your dad." Lilah laughed.
"Yeah it was great. So are you going to that party tomorrow night?" Aurora asked.
"I was planning on it until I got grounded. It took a lot of begging to get my mom and dad to let me come here today to
welcome you home." Lilah sighed.
"Damn, I'm going. I was really hoping you'd be there. Even Aiden is working so it looks like I'm going alone." Aurora sighed.
"Well at the very least I can help you pick something hot to wear." Lilah offered.
"Sure. So what happened to get you grounded?" Aurora asked.
"I may or may not have said no to my mom and dad. They are sick of teenage attitude so now I'm grounded. It's crap but I guess I understand." Lilah decided.
"It still sucks. So dear fashion guru, what should I wear to the party?" Aurora asked.
"It's in the woods, so something cute and warm." Aurora decided.
"Okay, jeans and a hoodie sounds good to me." Lilah suggested.
"Jeans and a hoodie? That's your great idea?" Aurora asked.
"It's cute. It looks like you're not trying too hard." Lilah shrugged.
"Oh fine. I'll wear that." Aurora sighed with a smile on her face.
"Good. You are going to look cute at the party. I wish I could be there. By the way I think you should call an invite
Landon. Give you guys a chance to talk a bit." Lilah suggested.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Aurora sighed.
"Come on Aurora. It's been over a month since you last talked to him. Now is as good a time as any." Lilah insisted
handing her the phone on her bedside table.
"I'm scared of being rejected again. It hurt so much at Miss Mystic Falls. I don't want to go through that again." Aurora whispered.
" You don't know that you will Aurora. Just ask him to go to the party with you as friends." Lilah insisted, placing the
phone on her leg.
"Fine, I'll call him. But you better be planning on comforting me when he turns me down." Lilah sighed picking up the phone and dialling Landon's number.
"Hello?" Landon's mother answered.
"Hi, is Landon there?" Aurora asked timidly.
"Who is this?" His mom asked.
"Aurora Salvatore. I just got back from holidays and I wanted to talk to Landon." She answered.
"Sure. Just one moment Aurora." She said disappearing from the line.
"Hello?" Landon answered wearily.
"Hi, Landon. It's Aurora." She greeted him.
"Hi Aurora, how was Italy?" He asked.
"It was wonderful. I'd go back in a heartbeat but I'm happy to be home too." Aurora answered honestly.
"I'm happy you had a good time. So why are you calling me?" He asked awkwardly.
"Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to go to that party tomorrow night with me. We could go as friends." Aurora
suggested.
"I wasn't really planning on going. I was just going to stay home with my Stephen King books." Landon demurred.
"Come on. It would be fun. It would be a good chance for you to step outside your comfort zone a little bit." Aurora insisted.
"Alright. Tell you what, I'll let you know tomorrow. I have to ask my mom." Landon agreed.
"Sounds good to me. I'll talk to you tomorrow Landon." Aurora said smiling.
"Talk to you tomorrow Aurora." He told her before hanging up.
"So what did he say?" Lilah asked curiously. She was almost bouncing off the bed in anticipation.
"He said he'd ask his mom and let me know tomorrow. It wasn't a no, so I'm taking it as a victory." Aurora murmured.
"Woohoo! Yay for Aurora and Landon." Lilah cheered throwing her hands up in the air.