AN: Here's chapter 2 you guys. I'm glad to see this story had gotten a few reviews and even a few people are following. I hope that some of you will consider reviewing. I always look forward to your guys' opinions. There are no warnings for this chapter other than for fowl language. Enjoy!
Chapter Two – Under House Arrest
The next morning Damon and Elena were up and sitting in the kitchen. Well that is Elena was sitting at the table drinking coffee with her morning dose of blood and Damon was cooking breakfast for them and the kids. They had talked about what they were going to do with Alex and had consulted Nick and Sara for their opinion to ensure that they were okay with effectively babysitting their brother. They were officially taking everything away, literally everything, and Alex was not allowed to be alone at home. His freedom was effectively gone.
Elena had called Caroline to tell her what had happened last night and what they were doing about it. Care had even offered up her home with the same rules as well seeing as she had seven children at home and the older kids could always use help looking after the younger ones when she or Stefan couldn't be home with them right away. Her home was also to be used as a backup place for Alex to go when one of Elena's family members couldn't be with him. Both Caroline and Stefan taught at Mystic Falls High school with Care being a 10th and 11th grade English teacher and Stefan a 12th grade AP History teacher.
As Damon began plating the eggs, bacon and toast he'd been making the sound of footsteps and paws with claws reached their ears.
"Morning." Nick yawned as he took his usual seat at the table. He was dressed for school, but still had a case of bed head that needed to be taken care of.
"Good Morning." Sara said with a smile. Though typically not a morning person, it was the middle of soccer season and therefore every morning she and Chief ran 2 miles before school, so Sara was awake, alert, and freshly showered at 7:30 in the morning.
"Good morning my loves and a good morning to you too Chief." Elena smiled as she ruffled the dog's fur before he took his spot beside Sara's chair, having already been fed his breakfast when he and Sara got back from their morning run.
"Morning kids." Damon said as he set a plate of food in front of each of his children and slipped Chief a few pieces of bacon. "Almost time for Chief to have his claws done don't you think, Sara?"
Sara nodded. "He has an appointment with Sally today. I'm taking him after school." She informed, referring to their vet.
Unlike most dogs, Chief didn't mind going to the vet seeing as Dr. Sally McBiel always kept treats in her pocket. Not that Chief was one to misbehave, but it was learned early on that Chief was more likely to cooperate if Sara was with him. There was a time a few years ago when Sally had been busy and couldn't be the one to see a five year old Chief so her associate had to take the appointment. Needless to say, Chief had not been a fan of the change nor the male doctor that had agreed to see him. When the new vet had suggested a muzzle or sedation as it seemed Chief was becoming increasingly agitated the more time went on, Damon had suggested another idea and quickly called a twelve year old Sara from the waiting room. The moment Sara was in the room Chief had calmed down and with Sara's help the vet had been able to finish his exam without a growl or whine from the Shepard. The male vet had said he'd never seen such an attitude change in a dog just because of a person walking into the room. It wasn't till later on when Dr. McBiel filled her coworker in on the relationship that Chief and Sara had with her parent's approval that other doctor began to understand.
"That's great sweetie, but don't you have practice?" Elena inquired.
Sara nodded as she finished chewing the bacon in her mouth. "I do, but Coach said I could be late as long as I promised to bring Chief back with me." She laughed. "Said he could run the final round of laps with us and maybe play a game of keep away. Besides the girls haven't seen him since the last time I brought him and I think he'd enjoy it." She said as she patted the dog's head.
Elena just shook her head at her daughter's explanation. "Well you two have fun today." She said as a loud thump could be heard from upstairs.
"Guess your brother is finally up." Damon said as he put down a plate of food in front of Alex's empty chair. The four members at the table finished their breakfast quietly as Alex rushed around upstairs, realizing that he was running late.
"What the fuck happened to my door?!" Alex shouted. Sara and Nick were practically shoveling the food into their mouths, not wanting to be around when Alex came down stairs or when their parents dished out Alex's punishment knowing full well that yelling would result from it. Both teens finished and pushed back their chairs.
"See you in the car," Sara called to Nick as he rushed up stairs to finished getting ready. "Bye, love you." She said as she kissed both her parents. "Be a good boy and I'll see you in a few hours." She said to Chief at the front door. She gave him a loving pat on the head and then ruffled his ears, but when she saw Alex coming down the stairs she bolted for her car nearly slamming the door behind her.
While Nick had been lucky enough for Alex to not see him, he had seen Sara and it unleashed the anger filled tidal wave inside him. "Hey!" he shouted after his sister. When the door shut behind her he stomped his way into the kitchen where he saw his parents sitting at the table drinking coffee with their morning dose of blood. "Why didn't anyone wake me?!" he demanded.
"Alex, you're seventeen years old! You're old enough to have the responsibility of waking yourself up for school." Elena scolded with a frown. With how much she'd been frowning and scowling as of late at her youngest son, she was amazed she hadn't developed permanent wrinkles. It was another reason she was thankful for being a vampire.
"Have a seat, Son." Damon commanded with a scowl on his face.
Alex sat down at the table and shoveled his food into his mouth. For all the running around he had done a few moments ago he was still wearing yesterday's clothes now wrinkled from sleeping in them, smelled like a stale ashtray and bourbon was seeping through his pores. There was no way Elena was letting her son out of the house like that if she could help it. With a nod to Damon her husband quickly got the silent message and sped up to Nick's room where he told him that he and Sara could leave without Alex this morning. Nick's face flooded with relief at the fact of not being trapped in the car with a brooding Alex even if the school was only seven minutes down the road and nearly gave his dad a bear hug before Damon sped back down into the kitchen. Alex was so hung over that Damon was sure he didn't even notice he had left the table.
"Alex, you're mother and I need to talk to you." Damon started.
"No time dad….Late" Alex said through a mouth full of food. At that time Nick made his way down stairs shouting a quick 'Goodbye!' and was out the door in seconds. The sound of Sara starting up her car as it was her day to drive her and her brothers to school reached Damon and Elena's ears. Each Salvatore child had their own car, but unless they had different plans after school that required them to take more than one vehicle they carpooled in the morning per the request of their parents to save money. Unfortunately, the sound also reached Alex's ears. "What the fuck?" he swore as he scrambled out of his chair, placing his nearly empty plate on the floor for Chief to finish. Chief sniffed at the plate, but showed no interest in food. He threw his nose in the air and walked out of the kitchen.
Damon and Elena shared a look. 'Snubbed by Chief. Never good.' They both thought. It seemed even the dog disapproved of Alex's behavior as of late.
"Alex sit down." Elena spoke.
"Can't. Gotta go." Alex said as he rushed out of the kitchen towards the front door. However, he wasn't even through the living room when he saw his sister's car driving away from the house … without him. "Hey wait!" Damon was soon in front of him. "Dad! I'm gonna be late for school!" Alex whined as he saw Sara's car disappear from view. "Dammit! Why didn't they wait?"
"Alexander go sit down!" Damon growled. "Your mother or I will take you to school when we have finished talking and you have showered and put on clean clothes."
Alex could see that whatever his parents wanted to talk about was important so he went back into the kitchen and sat at the table where his mom was still waiting. "Ok, so talk." he huffed. "But you guys don't have to take me, I can just drive myself." He said as he pulled out his car keys from his pants pocket. Elena quickly snatched them from him. "Hey! Mom!"
"Quiet." Elena commanded. "You will not be taking your car to school or anywhere else till we say otherwise." She said as she pocketed his keys.
"What? Why? I just got those back!"
"Yes and now you've lost them once more. In fact you've lost everything, car, phone, TV, videogames, stereo, your door meaning no privacy. You…"
"What! You can't! That's not fair!" Alex shouted as he leaped out of his chair, interrupting his mother.
"Sit down!" Damon roared. "We are sick and tired of your behavior, Alexander James!" Damon threw the busted off lock on to the table even though it had been quickly replaced with a new one after dinner. "Stealing alcohol, smoking, having no regard for yourself or others that live in this house, you're grades are terrible! Alex, your Aunt Caroline told us you're failing her class! In fact, you're failing all your classes! Alex at this rate you'll be held back again, is that what you want?"
"What your father is trying to say Alex is until you grow up, get yourself together and start making some drastic improvement in both your attitude regarding school and here at home you're grounded."
"What? For how long?"
"Until we say otherwise. You are to go to school and then you are to come home. If your mother or I can't be home with you after school you will either be with your brother or sister. If…"
"What?!"
"If they can't be with you, you are to go to Aunt Caroline and Uncle Stefan's until one of us or your siblings come to get you. You are not to be alone in this house and there will be no more smoking or drinking. Consider yourself under house arrest, because if you don't shape up you'll find yourself in jail and your mother and I don't want to see that happen." Damon finished before he had been interrupted.
"You can't do this!" Alex shouted.
"We can and have. Now, march yourself upstairs and shower and put clean clothes on. I will not have my son going to school smelling like a bar!" Elena demanded, pointing in the direction of the stairs.
"I hate both of you!" Alex shouted before running out of the kitchen and upstairs.
"And be quick, you're already late as it is!" Damon shouted after him.
Though Alex couldn't slam his bedroom door he could slam his bathroom door and did so. Damon just turned to his wife. "Maybe we should take that one away as well?" he suggested and Elena couldn't help but giggle. "Why did we think becoming parents would be a good thing?" Damon asked as he wrapped his arms around Elena, though she could tell he was joking.
"Because we wanted more in life." Elena smiled.
"But why kids? Why didn't we just adopt a dog? Why did we adopt kids?"
Elena laughed. "We did technically. We got a dog with one of them and the other two aren't so bad."
Damon sighed. "At least we have two good children."
"We have three great kids, Damon. One is just going through a bad patch. I'm sure you went through one at some point in time." Elena teased.
"Well yeah, but…. You know what, never mind." Damon said as he began to clear the table. Elena smirked and picked up Alex's plate off the floor. She looked at it in her hand and shook her head.
"Snubbed by Chief." She said and Damon could only nod.
"Right." He said as the clicking of nails on the tile alerted of Chief's presence.
"Hey boy. You want this?" Elena asked. Though they didn't typically give chief table scraps, there wasn't much left and they hated to waste food. What good was having another mouth to feed in a sense that you couldn't feed him left overs once and a while? Chief sniffed at the plate before barking and wagging his tail. She laughed and set it on the floor. Chief quickly polished it off.
Damon scoffed. "Thought so. Like you're ever one to say no to food Chief." Damon leaned down and picked up the clean plate. "When did we start talking to the dog? Have we really lost it that much? Damn kids." He muttered but was smiling all the same.
Elena laughed before Alex could be heard stomping down the stairs. She sighed. "I'll take him to school." She said as she kissed Damon. "I'll see you later. Love you."
"Love you too, Baby." Damon said as he kissed her back. "Have a good day at work. Have a good say at school, Son!" He called. He was met with a slam from the front door. He chose to ignore it and cleaned up the breakfast dishes with a sigh. "I hope he changes his ways soon, Chief ol' boy." He said to the dog that was laying by the back door. Chief's response was dog like sigh and looking in another direction.
Sara slammed her locker door shut as the warning bell rang signaling for all students to get to first period within the next five minutes. As she turned from her locker door she came face to face with her 'twin.' "Alex! You scared me." She breathed. From the look on his face, it was a good thing she and Nick had left without him.
"How could you?!" he hissed.
Sara scrunched up her nose at the smell of his breath. While he may have showered and put on clean clothes, he hadn't brush his teeth. In fact Sara couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him preform the act of oral hygiene. "How could I what?" she asked.
"You ratted me out to mom and dad!"
"I did no such thing! Alex, you broke into Dad's liquor cabinet then went into your room and got drunk and high! Nick and I wouldn't have even had to show them the busted lock for them to figure it out. They're vampires remember, they hear everything! Why do you think we never got away with anything when we were little, Stupid! Next time, instead of blaming others for your actions why don't you take some responsibility and own up to it!" Sara snapped as the 2 minute warning bell rang. "You best get yourself to Auntie Care's class before your late and wind up with detention…again."
"At least if I got detention you wouldn't have to babysit me." Alex sneered.
"I'm not, Nick has the first shift on account I have to take Chief to the vet then go to soccer practice." Sara informed before rushing off to AP English with Mr. Crosby.
Alex rolled his eyes at his sister's back before spinning on his heel and walking towards Caroline Salvatore's classroom. As usual he was the last to enter and surprisingly the only seat available was one in the front. "Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Salvatore. Please, have a seat." Caroline said as she continued writing out today's lesson on the board. "Alright, today class…."
'RING'
The bell sounded signaling to the students that second period was over and it was now time for first period lunch while second period lunch had a 20 minute study hall. Alex quickly left his algebra class with Mr. Burns and made a beeline towards the cafeteria. At least he wouldn't have to see either of his siblings till the end of the day seeing as they both had second period lunch. Or so he thought. Just as he rounded the corner, there stood Nick.
"Brother." Nick said as he looked down at Alex.
"Piss off." He sneered as he shoved past Nick.
"I'll be waiting outside your 4th period class to pick you up in case you had any ideas about running off!" Nick shouted over the crowd of students. A raised hand in the air with a single finger pointing towards the ceiling was all he got in response from his younger brother. "Prick." Nick muttered before he went on his way towards study hall.
"Dude, it's not fucking fair!" Alex hissed as he sat outside in the quad with his pal Shorty, occasionally sneaking drags from a joint when the teachers weren't looking.
"That's fucked up dude. Parents man. They…they just don't….just don't understand." Shorty said between drags, already high off his rocker. Shorty lived up to his name sake. He was just barely over five feet tall, standing at around 5'2". He had pale, acne prone skin, short brown hair, and beady, hazel eyes. He was thin and had what was described as a rat's face by Sara and she called him such. Thin, narrow and a mouth full of yellow buck teeth.
"This is bullshit! I'm practically a prisoner in my own home. They took everything, even the keys to my car and I just got those back too!"
"Man that sucks. You know what you need? You need to come hang with me and the gang after school. Were gonna go down to the old quarry and drink."
"Wish I could Short, but along with everything else my parents have taken away my freedom. My siblings are pretty much babysitting me when my parents aren't around." Alex sighed.
"Now that's fucked up, but they have their own shit to do. They can't watch you 100% of the time."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah and when they can't I'm supposed to go to my aunt and uncle's house."
"Damn, you weren't kidding when you said your life is over." Short said just as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch and first period study. Shorty and Alex stood and threw their styrofoam trays into the trash.
"See you later man. If I don't show up to my aunt's classroom for study hall I may as well be dead." Alex said as he ran off, knowing full well that Shorty was going to ditch the rest of the school day as he always did after lunch.
"I can't believe your brother." Rachel Lamont exasperated as she, Nick, Sara, and their friends Bobby Bass, Susan Reardon, Lizzy Belmont and Lincoln 'Link' Donovan sat down at their usual table. Rachel was a few inches taller than Sara, was of average weight with long, dark brown curly hair, light brown skin, and brown eyes. Bobby was 6'6" with black hair, pale skin and blue eyes. He was large in a muscular way and was on the football team. He was better known as Tank to his teammates. Susan or Suzy as they sometimes called her, was 5'4" and a little on the pudgy side. She had black hair, pale skin and green eyes. Lizzy was just slightly shorter than Sara at about 5'7" and was thin as a twig. She was on the soccer team with Sara and had pale skin and blonde hair with hazel eyes and a face full of freckles. Finally, Link was the son Matt Donovan and was as tall as Nick. He had blonde hair, tan skin, a muscular build as he was also on the football team with Bobby and had brown eyes.
During study hall Nick and Sara had filled their group of friends in on what had happened last night and how for the time being Alex would be hanging out with them if possible or one of them would be missing sometimes. While their parents had made it clear that their social lives were not to be put on hold because of their brother, Nick and Sara didn't like that if their parents weren't with Alex that he'd been dumped onto one of their aunts or uncles and was probably more likely to try and give them the slip. It was embarrassing to say the least.
"Really, what's gotten into him lately?" Link asked.
"You mean he hasn't always been like this?" Lizzy asked in a British accent. She and her family had moved to the States in the middle of last year's school year when her dad got transferred back to the States for work. While his job was in Richmond, he had wanted his family to have the luxury of growing up in a small town than a busy city. So here they were in Mystic Falls. Lizzy had dreaded the move but quickly came to like the sleepy town when she met Sara and her friends and was given a chance to try out for the soccer team even though the season had already started. To her, Alex had always been the drunken stoner reject.
"No he wasn't." Nick sighed. "I don't really know when it started or why, but Alex has just really given up on everything."
"I can't say as to why, but I can say as to who and when." Sara said gaining the attention of her friends. "It was just before Thanksgiving last year and the school was doing its annual canned food drive. Alex and I had brought in a large bag of food and we dropped it off at the office that morning. Well at the end of the day Alex and I had stopped by the pile of food and looked for what we had brought in and just as we were about to leave we saw someone swipe a can of peaches and run off with it. Alex ran after him to confront him and the guy tried to give off some spiel how he brought the peaches from home and that we were high when in reality he was the one higher than a kite. Well Alex called bullshit naturally because the can of peaches he had taken was actually one we had brought in and he told him so. The guy laughed, apologized and handed him back the can and walked off saying he was off to The Grill for a milkshake. Alex put the can back and we went home. The next day I saw Alex hanging out with the thief and it's been downhill ever since."
"Who was the thief?" Susan asked.
"Like you have to ask, Suzy. Who do you think?" Rachel scoffed.
"Shorty." Was the mutual response that went around the table.
"That guy is just bad news. When does he graduate?" Link asked.
"Next year, if he actually does graduate. I'm hoping he drops out before then. I don't think my parents could take another year with him hanging around Alex." Sara said before taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Why don't they just compel Shorty to stay away from Alex?" Bobby asked.
"They don't like to unless absolutely necessary and before you ask, they have tired it. He's on vervain. Pretty sure Alex gave him some." Nick explained. "And he's usually too high or drunk to care that he's pissing off vampires. The dumbass."
"But he is scared. That's why he doesn't come around the house anymore. Remember when they first started hanging out? He was over a few times." Sara reminded her brother.
"Oh yeah. Dad came home and caught him and Alex with a joint and dad practically vamped out at the smell of it. We all got a lecture than night." Nick recalled.
"Some good it did." Link said as he crushed his soda can. "So you guys are effectively babysitting your brother?"
"In a way." Sara nodded.
"I've got first shift cause Sara has to go home and take Chief to the vet before soccer practice."
Lizzy squealed. "Ohhh, are you bringing Chiefy to practice?" she asked
"Yup, it was Coaches condition that I could be late as long as I brought him with me." Sara laughed.
"Oh yay!" Lizzy said as she clapped her hands in delight.
"Yeah, should be fun." Sara laughed before the bell rang for third period. The group got up, disposed of their lunch trays and headed off to class. For Sara, Nick and Link it was AP History with Uncle Stefan.
As the final bell of the day rang signaling the end of school students piled into the halls. Nick waited outside of Alaric Saltzman's history room waiting for Alex. Uncle Rick as he was dubbed outside of school or in private came to stand in the door way. "Good luck." He said as Alex shrugged his way past them.
"Thanks." Nick said with a smile and a roll of his eyes that was meant in good nature before catching up to his brother.
"So is Sara dropping us off at home?" Alex glowered.
"Nope. We are going to the library before heading out to watch the end of Sara's soccer practice." Nick smirked.
Alex groaned. "Why can't we just go home? Sara's going there any way."
"Well Sara's probably left by now, so unless you want to walk home, and I don't, we're going to the library." Nick stated. "It's not like you've got anything better to do at home."
"Thanks for reminding me." Alec scowled as he glared daggers into the back of his brother's head.
"Hey it's not my fault you're an out of control jackass begging to get landed into juvie." Nick said as he dragged his little brother towards their destination.
"So how is he, Sally?" Sara asked as she sat in the examination room with Chief at her feet.
"What can I say, Sara? As always Chief is the perfect picture of health. I swear he's going to live forever. Hey, that vampire blood doesn't work on dogs does it?" Sally laughed.
"I don't think so." Sara laughed as well. "Well thanks Sally, but we got to get going. I'm already late enough for practice as it is." Chief barked in agreement. He was excited to play ball with his Sara.
"Well you two have fun and I'll see you guys next time." She said as she gave Sara a hug and chief one final treat as they walked out of the exam room and into the lobby.
"We will, bye." Sara said with a wave as the two walked out the front door and towards Sara's car. Sara reached into her purse and grabbed her car keys hitting the unlock button on the remote. "Chief, door." She said and Chief barked before rounding the front of the car and moved to the passenger's side. With his nose he opened the front passenger door and got in. As Sara got in behind the wheel and started up the car she hit the window button for his side. As the window slid down into the door Chief used his front paws to close it. "Now if only you could buckle yourself in." Sara joked as she did so herself and quickly backed out of the parking lot and drove off towards the school.
Sara parked in the back by the fields. She had already changed into her shorts and t-shirt before she left home so all she had to do was put her cleats on when she got the field. From where she parked she could see the girls doing drills. She grabbed her soccer bag from the back seat before she and Chief walked over to the team. As she walked she pulled out her cell phone and texted Nick.
"Salvatore! 'Bout time you two got here. Stretch and the two of you can do a warm up lap." Coach Biers said with a smirk on his face.
"Can we run a lap with them?" some of the girls asked. It wasn't every day Chief got to join them since the girls would rather play with the dog than run laps and drills, but if they were volunteering to run a lap, who was he to stop them.
"Alright, everyone run a lap!" he yelled and the girls practically cheered as Sara finished stretching and she and Chief took off. Behind them the entire team followed.
In the library Nick and Alex sat a table in the back. Nick was catching up on some studying for a history test that was coming up and Alex, well Alex was catching up some sleep. His argument had been that no one said he had to be productive during his sentencing, though Nick clearly remembered that his brother's grades had been one of the many issues their parents had brought up with him. Beside his notebook, Nick's cell phone buzzed and Sara's name lit up the screen. Nick viewed the text.
At the field with Chief. - Sara
Nick quickly put his phone away and began to put his things away in his backpack. "Hey, wake up." He said as she shoved Alex.
"What? What?" Alex said a little too loud and they received a 'shhh' from the librarian. "Is it time to go home?" Alex grumbled.
"No, but it is time to go to the soccer fields." Nick said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.
Alex only groaned as he slung his backpack over his shoulder as well and the two brothers made their way out of the library and towards the back of campus to the sports fields.
Out on the soccer field practice was wrapping up so Coach Biers had allowed for the last 10 minutes of practice to be spent playing keep away from Chief. Well they were trying to play any way, Chief kept getting the ball and would run for one of the goals with it in his mouth with the girls running after him. They were having the time of their life. Nick wasn't sure who was having more fun, Chief or the team.
"Look at him go. I've never seen them move so fast." Coach Biers laughed.
"Now if only they'd run like that during a game." teased the Assistant Coach, Wendy Parks. Both coaches knew they had a pretty great team on their hands.
"I don't know you guys, they're pretty good as it is." Nick said.
"That is true and your sister is going to take us to playoffs again." Biers said. "I'm gonna be sad to see her go come June." A beeping sound came from his wrist signaling the end of time. He blew his whistle. "Time's up girls, practice is over!" he shouted. There was a collective groan from everyone on the field.
"Can we still play with Chief on the field?" one of the girls, a junior, asked. At the thought of being here any longer than he had to Alex groaned and banged his head on the row of bleacher seats in front of him. From where she stood on the field Sara could see Alex's patience beginning to disappear.
"Sorry ladies, but I gotta get these boys home. Plus its dinner time isn't it Chief?" Sara said as she looked to the happy dog sitting at her feet. Chief let out a bark. Some of the girls groaned in disappointment, but said their goodbyes and gathered up their stuff.
"See you girls tomorrow afternoon. I want you all here an hour before the game to we can get a few drills in." Coach Biers informed.
"You guys ready?" Sara asked as she walked over to her brothers on the bleachers.
"Was ready forever ago." Alex mumbled as he made his way towards Sara's car.
"How was he?" Sara asked Nick as the two walked together.
"Fine, but then he always is when he's sleeping." Nick said.
"Seriously? Does he ever do homework? I know Auntie Care has a big paper that's due soon for her class, bet you anything he hasn't started." Sara sighed.
"Probably not. If he did his grades probably wouldn't be so bad." Nick said.
"Yo, let's go!" Alex shouted from the car. His siblings sighed. Sara reached for her keys in the side pocket of her bag and hit the unlock button. "Finally!" Alex muttered as he got in the back seat.
Sara moved to the back and threw her soccer stuff in the trunk before getting in the driver's seat and stated up the car. Nick looked down to Chief.
"You gonna fight me shotgun?" he asked. Chief just barked and walked up the front passenger side and flipped the handle with his nose and got in. Sara had already lowered the window and he shut the door with his paws. Chief barked at Nick before looking to the back door then back at him. "Figures." Nick smirked as he got in the back with Alex.
"You just lost to a dog, dude." Alex laughed.
"Sara why did you teach him that?" Nick groaned.
"Because he's full of potential and you have to admit it's a neat trick." She laughed as she backed up and drove away from the field.
"But why does he always have to get the front seat?" Nick whined.
"Because it's his seat." Sara said as she looked at Nick through the rearview mirror.
Soon the car fell into a comfortable silence amongst the siblings and their canine. Sara drove quickly through the streets and was soon pulling into their drive way. As she got closer she honked the horn signaling to her parents that their children were finally home as both of their vehicles were in the driveway. Alex barely waited for his sister to put the car in park before he unbuckled himself and opened the door.
"Hey!" Sara shouted, throwing the car in park as he left the vehicle. "What's with him?" she asked as she turned to face Nick who shrugged. Together they both got out of the car, Chief opening the door himself with his paw, getting out and then pushing the door close and waited for Sara by the trunk as she pulled out her soccer bag. "C'mon boy, inside." She said as she slammed the trunk shut.
"How was school everyone?" Elena asked when all three of her children came into the kitchen.
"Good," Sara and Nick replied as Nick grabbed a can of soda from the fridge. Alex just shrugged before walking out the back door.
"How was Cheif's appointment?" Elena asked.
"It was good. As always he's in perfect health thankfully." Sara informed. "Nick can you hand me a water?" she asked as she refilled Chief's water and food bowls.
"Sure." Nick said as he grabbed a water from the fridge and set it on the counter for her. "Where's dad?" he asked his mother.
"He's outside grilling up some steaks for dinner."
"Yum." Nick said as he moved to the back door to go say hi to his father.
After feeding Chief Sara had gone outside to see how long they had before dinner. "Hi Daddy." She smiled as she approached the grill Damon stood in front of.
"Hey Princess. How was practice?" he asked as he flipped the steaks.
"I don't know who had more fun, Chief or the girls." She laughed as Nick came to stand beside her.
"Hey dad. Smells good." He said as he took a sip of his soda.
"Sure does, Son. How was school? How was Alex?" he asked warily.
"School was school." He shrugged.
"And Alex?"
"Was Alex. He slept in the library while I studied and then moaned and groaned about watching the last 45 minutes of Sara's practice. Which I found hysterical by the way." He said looking at Sara. "Chief's pretty good, but he's a total ball hog."
Sara laughed. "That he is, but the girls loved it. How much longer till dinner daddy? I wanna know if I'll have enough time to shower."
"You should shower regardless, Sara. Phew. Stunk up the car." Nick said as he waved his hand in front of his face with a huge grin plastered to it.
Sara rolled her eyes before she shoved him. "Oh please, I was barely there for an hour, I don't smell that bad."
"But you do smell." Nick laughed before going inside.
"Shut up Nick!" Sara shouted at him before laughing.
Damon smirked at the good natured sibling squabble that he loved to hear. "You've got time Sara for a quick shower if you want to before dinner." He told her as he set the lid back down.
"Oh good." She said before turning and going back inside and heading upstairs to shower.
About 15 minutes later Sara came back down stairs freshly showered to find Nicking helping their mother setting the table as Damon brought in the steaks. "Where's Alex?" she asked as she looked around. He was nowhere to be seen.
"Outside." Damon responded as he set the steaks on the table.
"Is he coming in?" Elena asked as she grabbed the salad from the fridge. "Sara can you grab the dressings?"
"Sure thing mom." She said as she went to the fridge to grab them.
"I told him dinner was ready. If he doesn't come in soon he'll just have to reheat his dinner." Damon said still a bit ticked off where Alex was concerned. The fact that all he had done was sleep and complain to his brother when he should've taken the time to catch up on school work when they had told him his grades needed to improve did not put Damon in a good mood. However, he tried to not let it show in front of Sara and Nick.
"Well everyone let's eat." Elena said before things got tense. The family minus Alex sat down together to eat while Alex roamed the property moaning and groaning about his parents and siblings.
AN: Well that's the second installment. Please review. Hopefully chapter three will be up in a couple of days. I may do a double post seeing as four is already written. Perhaps if there are 3-5 reviews I'll do a double chapter post. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Feel free to ask questions and i'll PM you or post individual replies in the beginning of the next chapter.
