Author's notes: Nope, I still don't own TVD. I wish I did, but I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit. Only the plot of this story is my own.

Sorry the size of the extended family has blown a few of y'all away. I promise we won't have any more family gatherings where everyone is represented. Chapter 2 was just a moment to check in on everyone (and help establish ages).

Warnings: mild adult content, sensitive subject matter, language, violence

Braydon jumped off the stairwell - still three steps from the bottom. His Cub Scout cap sat perched at an angle atop his dark hair.

"You're sure you have everything?" Elena looked suspiciously at his knapsack.

"Dad checked."

Damon checked. Fighting back the urge to roll her eyes, she distinctly recalled driving out to the campsite at two in the morning the last time she let her husband check the camp-out supplies. He might be able to cook. He might be great at putting all their crew to bed. But he did not excel at camping.

"He did, huh? Just like last time when you managed to forget your sleeping bag in the back of his car?" Braydon fidgeted under her expression. She ran the checklist through her head. "Let me see your flashlight."

Braydon frowned as he lowered the bag onto the floor. Rummaging through his camping supplies, he finally withdrew the red-lensed light.

"Turn it on." Elena nodded at the piece of her son's camping equipment.

Click.

Click.

Braydon stared at the flashlight in his hand.

"I'm thinking that y'all didn't check it." Braydon's mock-surprised expression answered for her. Elena laughed. "You were going to have a very dark night hike." She waved toward the kitchen. "Go get fresh batteries out of the drawer." She glanced out the front window as a deep blue minivan rolled into their driveway. "Hurry! Mr. Hayes just pulled up."

Braydon dug through the drawer until he found a box of batteries. He hurriedly dumped the old batteries into the trash before he put fresh ones in the tube.

"Hey Jack!" Elena opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. She waved at the tall, dark-skinned man. "You sure you're ready for this? No co-scoutmaster for this one? Just you with all them for the three-day weekend?" She reached down and caught hold of the collar of the yipping gray dog making a mad dash for the open door. "No, Molly."

Scoutmaster Hayes laughed as he reached out to shake Elena's hand. "Are you kidding? I live for Camporee. We're going to earn our Night Orienteering badge tonight. Aaron's been practicing for weeks." He waved up up at Damon as he put the finishing touches on the Christmas lights on the roof. "Looks like Damon has the more dangerous job. I'd never get up on your roof. Six boys in one cabin is nothing. Since it's a county-wide campout, we're not even doing our own cooking." He yelled up, "Be careful up there! Do you think you have nine lives or something?"

"Speaking of..." Elena clutched the dog to her chest. "No jumping off the bunk beds this year." Her eyes conveyed the nature of her warning. "I have no desire to drive out to the camp at midnight this year. My car can almost drive itself, but that doesn't mean we really want to make the trip."

"I promise, Mom."

"Okay." She lifted the cap off his head and bent to kiss the top of his head. "Have a good time." She looked back at Jack. "Do we pick him up at 10 on Monday?"

Jack turned to watch Damon descend the ladder. He reached out to steady it as Damon lowered himself down the final rungs. "Yep, unless you want me to bring him home. I'm just around the corner."

"No, we'll come get him." Damon placed his hands over his son's ears. "You'll probably be tired of him by then."

"Dad!" Braydon took off his hat and swatted his father's arm.

"Just messing with you." He adjusted his son's backpack. "Have fun!"

Braydon picked up his bag and looked back and forth between his parents. "Bye!" He waved as he ran to the van.

"Not too much fun!" Elena warned.

Damon turned and walked to the porch. Reaching down, he plugged in the extension cord. "How does it look?"

Elena stopped watching the van as it drove away and turned her attention to the white Christmas lights on the house. "Wow! They're all lit! That has to be a record."

Damon studied his work. "I'm going to have to get Claire to check the lights for me every year." He jogged up the steps and opened the front door. "Hey, Claire, come out for a second."

After a minute, Claire joined them on the porch, looking more than just a little suspicious. "What do I need to do now?"

"Nothing." Damon shook his head.

"Look." Elena pointed at the roofline.

"You're going to be my new official assistant." Damon patted Claire's back. "I think this is the first year everything's been lit on the first try. For that, you deserve to pick what we're having for dinner tonight." He walked to the ladder and broke it down before he carried it into the open garage.

Claire didn't hesitate for a second. "Burgers."

"On the grill?" Elena walked to the door and set the puppy down. She turned and looked at the sky. "It's probably the last nice day for a while. Why not? I've had enough turkey for one Thanksgiving weekend."

Damon kicked the door closed behind him as he walked into the kitchen with the last of the burger patties. Elena had just finished assembling the burgers and was handing out the plates. "Here you go, Claire." She turned and gave her daughter a plate. "Let's see..." Elena lifted the top bun from the burger. "Emma, here you go."

"Ketchup?" Emma blinked her chocolate brown eyes up at her mother.

"Ketchup." Elena confirmed.

"But no pickles."

"Definitely not. No pickles."

"Pickles are gross." Emma turned up her nose, glaring at the jar on the counter.

"Exactly." Elena giggled, showing her own no-pickle cheeseburger.

"Some people have no taste." Damon ran his hand over the small of his wife's back. He kissed the back of her neck.

"Not at the table." Nathan frowned up at his parents. "Eww."

"Mommy doesn't eat pickles, either." Emma brushed her hair behind her ear. "I'm just like Mommy."

"I know. You're exactly like your mom. At least that's what Jenna likes to say." Laughing, Damon reached for the last two filled plates. Watching his daughter examine her burger for the smallest pickle contamination made him laugh more than it should have. Based on Jenna's all-too-frequent comments, Emma was just like Elena growing up. Watching the way she already knew how to wield those chocolate-brown eyes made him wonder how Elena's parents survived. "Mustard and pickles." He handed Nathan his plate.

Damon's cell phone buzzed in his pocket and disrupted the peaceful evening.

"Please tell me that's not camp." Elena hid her eyes behind her hand.

"Not camp." Damon frowned as he looked at the caller ID. "Hey Liz." His face took on a serious expression. "I'm going to take this outside." His smile faded as he walked through the back door, stumbling slightly on the uneven stone on the patio. "When?" He paused and waited for Liz to continue. "I'll be right there."

Sensing something was wasn't right, Elena followed him to the back door. The sun had already faded into the purple blackness of sunset. She waited for him to pocket the phone. "What's wrong?"

"Watch the little guys for a minute." Damon nodded at Claire before taking hold of Elena's arm to pull her fully onto the back porch. Only after the door was completely closed, Damon answered, the serious note in his voice even frightening himself. "That was Liz on the phone. There's been an attack in the woods." He watched as the color drained from Elena's face. "We don't know anything yet, but Liz wants me to meet her. A Boy Scout troop found a body while they were hiking."

"Braydon's hiking."

"I know." Damon bent down next to the flowers that had grown next to the back porch since Claire was a baby, broke off a stem of bright blue flowers, and placed it in his pocket. The impact of the action wasn't lost on Elena.

"Damon?" Her eyes widened in fear. "You don't think."

"They're saying it looks like an animal attack." He met her concerned expression as he ran his hands over her shoulders. "We don't know anything yet." He kissed the top of her forehead before he reentered the house.

Pulling his leather jacket from the hall closet, he turned to Claire, Nathan, and Emma. "Sorry, I'm going to have to leave for a while. Town stuff." He smiled and faked an unconcerned expression. "I'm not sure how late I'll be. We'll light the house tomorrow night." As if as an afterthought he added, "Be good for your mom." He turned and looked once more at Elena before he walked into the night.

Damon's car rolled to a stop at the edge of the clearing. If Liz hadn't the lights on in her car, he easily would have missed his destination. Why had the boys hiked this close to Wickery Bridge? He hopped out of his vehicle and reached to check for the vervain in his pocket.

"Damon!" Liz called out from the darkness. She walked past a cluster of her officers. "I've been waiting for you, Mayor Salvatore." She walked to his side and lowered her voice. "The coroner is out of town. He was spending Thanksgiving at his sister's in Richmond. He'll be here, but it'll still be a while." She escorted Damon to the edge of the tree line. "I thought it would be better if you had a chance to see what we were dealing with before Scott took a look." Her voice was scarcely above a whisper.

"A Scout troop found it?" Damon tried to sound relaxed.

"Or them...we can't exactly tell." Liz seemed to flinch, but it was difficult to tell in the light of the full moon. "The boys went back to camp with their leader. I think he's going to call their parents."

Damon looked down at his friend. "Do you remember the troop number?"

Liz pulled out her notepad and flashlight before looking down at her scribbles. "87."

That figured. Elena was going to have a heart attack if she hadn't had one already. Damon shook his head.

"Why?"

"That's Braydon's troop."

"I'm sorry, Damon. I didn't know. I don't think he was one of the ones who saw the body. I talked to both of them. But they're all pretty scared."

Liz and Damon crunched through the fallen leaves. The wind had picked up as the night had progressed and he could feel the threat of snow in the air. The weather forecast called for the first snowfall of the season in just a few days' time. If the boys hadn't happened upon the scene when they did, the body could have gone much longer without being discovered.

They walked deeper into the woods. The headlights from Liz's patrol car faded from view, but they no longer needed light to guide them.

The smell.

Something long since gone bad.

Death.

Animal attack.

There was only one kind of animal attack in Mystic Falls, and they both knew that too well. Hell, Liz knew that too.

Long ago, Damon was well aquainted with the stench. But that was a lifetime ago - one he'd done his best to atone for. It was a rotten smell that permeated ever fiber of your body.

"Over here." Liz half-stepped, half-slid down the embankment to the creek. A deep ravine had been cut by the floods during the past spring. The body, or was it bodies, had been tossed in the hole with no real attempt to cover the evidence.

Damon pulled his flashlight from his jacket pocket and lit the macabre scenes below. Yes, they were dead. Two different colored shirts led him to believe he was looking at two bodies, but beyond that...

"When's Daddy going to be home?" Emma frowned from the doorway. Her pink bunny slippers peeked out from beneath her long, lilac nightgown.

Elena turned away from pulling Nathan's blankets up beneath his chin. "I'm not sure Sweetheart." She leaned down and kissed her son's forehead. "Sweet dreams, Nathan." She placed her hand on Emma's shoulder as she guided her out of the room. As she clicked off the overhead light, she blew him a kiss. "I love you, Buddy."

"Daddy's always home to tuck me in." Emma's lower lip trembled.

"Most of the time." Elena corrected. "Sometimes Mommy and Daddy are gone."

"But then Kennedy's here." Emma folded her arms in front of her.

"Well, tonight something came up." Elena followed Emma into the Pepto-Bismol pink room. She tugged the fluffy bedspread back and patted the mattress. As Emma reluctantly slid into her spot, Elena looked at the bookshelf. "So, what's your Dad reading you these days?"

Emma broke into a broad grin and reached for a worn pink hardback book.

"Pinkalicious?" Elena looked skeptically at the book.

"Every night!" Emma nodded eagerly.

"Your daddy must really love you." Elena ruffled Emma's deep brown hair. "Okay, Pinkalicious it is. Pink. Pink. Pink. Pinkalicious loved the color pink..." Emma nestled into the pillow and closed her eyes. She whispered the words along with Elena, never missing a word. "You could probably read this to yourself."

"But it's more fun when you read it to me." Emma yawned.

"I know." Elena swept Emma's bangs back from her forehead. "Good night, Sweetheart. Go to sleep. No waiting on Daddy."

"But he'll come give me a goodnight kiss, won't he?" Emma's eyes widened in concern. "He always gives me a goodnight kiss. Even if I was already asleep."

Elena nodded as she turned off the light. "I promise." She walked to Claire's room and leaned in the door. "I'm going to read for a bit. You want me to tuck you in?"

"No." Claire shook her head as she looked up from her journal. "I'm good."

"Don't stay up too much longer."

Claire looked at the clock. "Thirty minutes?"

Elena pursed her lips. They were already more than a little off schedule. With Damon not home, everyone's nerves were a little ruffled. Elena's most of all. She needed all the kids to be asleep, that way no one would notice if she totally broke down. "Twenty."

"Deal." Claire stretched to the ceiling, yawning. "Dad's out late."

"He needed to help Sheriff Forbes with something."

"But he's alright, isn't he? He hasn't called. He always sends a text if we're going to bed without him here."

As if he could hear their conversation, Elena's phone chirped from its place on the hallway table. She walked to retrieve it and smiled at the text message. She could reassure her daughter in good faith. "That's a note from your dad. He just wanted to let us know that he's fine, but he'll be late. Really late. Like don't-wake-him-in-the-morning-late."

Claire smiled and leaned back on her bed. She closed her journal and reached out to turn out her light. "Maybe I will go to bed."

"I think that's a good idea." Elena blew Claire a kiss as she left the room. Now Elena was alone with her worries. She glanced at Braydon's empty bed while walking past the boys' room.

Damon had taken vervain with him. Elena replayed that memory in her head. Fighting the overwhelming panic creeping up her spine.

Vervain.

That meant…

He put vervain in his pocket. He was suspicious. People died in Mystic Falls - not often - but it happened. Mrs. Merriweather had passed away just a few weeks ago. Her son found her body when she hadn't returned his phone calls.

No one called Damon that night.

Liz was worried. As mayor, Damon was still the head of the town's secret council. The council hadn't met in years. Elena would know, since she was one of the three Gilbert representatives.

Elena's heart sped in her chest as if she'd been training for a marathon. She tried to swallow through a dry mouth. Liz hadn't called him because of town business. She'd called him for council business.

Oh God no.

A shiver ran through Elena. Things had been normal in town for so long, she'd assumed Mystic Falls might have just become a normal town.

That would be too easy.

She reached for her spiral notebook and favorite purple pen. She'd transfer the images flowing through her head into her next chapter. Val wanted this book to be scary...Elena had plenty of scary to work with in her memories.

Fifteen years earlier…

Bonnie and Lucy leaned over the discolored pages of the book Luka had snuck from his father's collection.

"But will it work?" Stefan leaned forward on his elbows. Worry was etched on his face.

Lucy looked up at him with a distinctive Be Quiet expression on her face. She resumed her study of the page.

Elena sat frozen on the couch, content to let the others debate their next move. Her arms still showed the handprints of those that had pulled her into the woods days before. She'd only been barely conscious when Damon had held his bleeding arm to her lips.

Over the past hours, she seemed to become more aware of her surroundings; but, as always, the blood did little to heal her deep cuts and bruises. Elena still wasn't totally Elena, though.

Now she was safely tucked between brothers on their leather couch. She leaned over and curled against Damon's shoulder.

Stefan noticed.

Stefan noticed everything about Elena that night.

Stefan definitely noticed who saved her. Damon felt the weight of his brother's stare even without turning to look at him. Elena's breathing choked in her chest. Damon reached around Elena, pulling her closer against him. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "You're okay now. You're safe. I promise."

Stefan's muscles tensed with each word. He'd deal with is brother later.

"I think it should." Oblivious to the tension between the brothers, Lucy's words sounded like a shout in the silence of the Salvatore living room. "We can do it." Lucy nodded at all three occupants of the couch.

"This is a strong spell. A powerful one. It's the right spell." Bonnie nodded tearfully.

"What does that mean?" Elena spoke for the first time since her rescue.

"We can take the Petrova curse away." Bonnie's hesitant smile spoke volumes.

"You won't be the doppleganger anymore." Luka gave Elena a hesitant smile. "Klaus won't be able to use you. No one else will be trying to kill you to keep him from making hybrids either. It's a win-win."

"You won't be going back on your promise to Elijah. You don't have to run. You can stay here. You're still safe, but you can't be used to break the curse."

"Could it really be that simple?" Damon fought his suspicious nature. He didn't like resorting to using the witches' help, but Elena would die if they didn't.

"I think it can." Lucy sat back on the couch. "We remove the curse from Elena, and the world will just wait for the next chance to break the curse." She reached out and took a drink of her water. "In 500 years or so, the two of you can come protect the next Petrova doppleganger."

"Oh no." Damon shook his head. "That one will be on her own."

Elena startled awake, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Sorry." Damon slid into bed next to his wife. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Elena struggled to breathe normally. She hadn't dreamed of that night in years. She still wasn't sure what part of the night had happened and which parts her subconscious dreamed up. The only thing she was really certain of is after the spell, she'd no longer been of any value to Klaus. He'd tried to use her blood, but it didn't work any longer.

That night felt like a lifetime ago.

"You're shaking." His eyes flashed with concern as he pulled her to him and tucked her under his arm.

"Bad dream." She blinked back tears. No need to worry him over a bad dream. He looked like he'd had a difficult-enough night of his own. "What did you find?"

"They were dead." Damon answered simply. "But I couldn't tell. They'd been there for a long time."

"They?" Elena's brow knitted together. "I thought Liz said a body."

"It was kind of hard to tell." Damon slid his hand up and down Elena's arm. "But it looked like two people, not one."

"Do you think?" Elena couldn't fully voice the question. "Could it have been? Are they really?"

"The bodies had been there for a long time." Damon looked into Elena's frightened eyes. "Probably, yes. But there's no reason for them to be coming after you." He kissed her hair. "Sometimes they're just passing through. It happens. I wouldn't have let Braydon stay the rest of the night if I thought it was dangerous."

"Still..."

"I know. But we're all going to be safe." Even in the dim light from the moon filtering through the edge of the shutters, Elena could see Damon hadn't completely convinced himself.