AN: Alright here's chapter four. Glad to see some reviews and few more favorites to this story. I really hope you guys are enjoying this story. No warnings other than for the usual language.
Responses to reviews:
SummerMoon: Thank you, glad you like it. Alex wasn't always like this, but as stated in chapter one via advice from Jeremy, it's going to take something drastic for Alex to get his head out of his ass. I wasn't originally going to put in the full scene of when Alex met Shorty, but perhaps I will. Maybe towards the end, make the story come full circle so to speak. ;)
: Remember this is about Damon and Elena's children mainly. However, we will meet all seven of Caroline and Stefan's children along with Bonnie and Jeremy's two in chapter 5. So keep a look out for the next update. Now concerning Sara's background, that will all be revealed in due time. ;) This is mainly Sara centric as she is my favorite. I will let you in on a little secret. I will be writing a prequel to this story that will revolve around Sara's life before she came to live with the Salvatore's. But all about Sara will be found in future chapters. But for now, her mother is in prison and she's never known who her father is.
Hope to see a few more reviews. Will have chapter 5 posted as soon as possible. Something short but sweet. A tender moment between the three fathers and their children while the moms are away.
Now Enjoy :)
Chapter Four – A Rare Moment
It has been a few days since the whole stolen car and quarry explosion had happened. Damon and Elena had settled on a new plan concerning who was watching Alex. Instead of Nick staying at school in the afternoons, he and Alex now came home. Damon would make sure Alex was doing his homework and if he had to go somewhere, Nick would be home to watch them. Of course, with Nick and Alex going home in the afternoons that put an end to the carpooling situation. Both Nick and Sara took their cars to school now. No charges were placed due to the explosion as the guy who had tampered with the bulldozer in the beginning accidentally gave himself away when he heard about what had happened and was arrested.
Outside of the Grill, Damon leaned on the side of his vehicle in the parking lot. A smile broke out on his face as a familiar car pulled up a few parking spaces away. Elena threw her car into park and got out of her car, all but running into her husband's arms. "Damon!" she called as she kissed him hard.
"You know I thought we were going to have lunch here, but perhaps we should have it at home?" he laughed as he gave her a look that could still melt her insides.
"Oh like not being home has ever stopped us before." Elena laughed as she practically bounced in place. Damon knew she was excited about something from when she had called him from work to see if they could meet for lunch.
"True, we have had some good times in this old place." He laughed. "Now, what's this news that you have to tell me?" he asked as he held the door open for her.
"Well, you know about the conference that's being held in Richmond this weekend?"
Damon nodded as they slid into a booth. "The one about the pollution from the power plant?"
"Exactly. Well Mystic Falls Daily wants to put a story in about it and they asked me to cover it!" Elena exclaimed.
"That's great baby!" Damon smiled as he leaned across the table to kiss her.
"Isn't it! They want me to cover the entire conference so they're paying for a room and I was thinking…" she said giving Damon a knowing look. "That we could go away for the weekend."
Damon smirked. "Baby, as much as I would love to spend a weekend away with you I'm fairly certain that when we came back we'd only have two breathing children or no children at all as they'd kill each other. Besides, I don't trust Alex to not try and pull something if either of us were gone." He sighed as the waitress came to take their order.
Upon the waitress leaving, Elena sighed. "You're right. We can't ask Nick and Sara to keep an eye on Alex all weekend."
"But you know what you can do? Why don't you asked Caroline and Bonnie to go with you and make it a girl's weekend. You know time away from the husbands and kids, I think you're supposed to do those every so often."
"Oh yes, I believe that's what keeps us from eat our young." Elena said with a roll of her eyes.
"That could be taken with multiple meanings." Damon laughed.
"True, but you're right. I should see if they'll go with me."
"I'm sorry, what was that? I'm right? I don't hear that nearly enough." Damon laughed as the waitress came back with their food.
"Oh stop it." Elena said as she flicked a french fry at him.
"Hey!" he said as he prick up the fry and ate it.
"So if I take the girls with me then that means you husbands will have to watch all the children. You sure that we'll still have three kids when I get back?"
Damon scoffed. "If we only had two would that be so bad? We could send Chief to school in Alex's place, at least we'd know his grades would improve."
"You're terrible." Elena laughed, as bad as it was she couldn't help it and that fact that it was probably true made it all the funnier. While Alex had been grounded his grades had yet to improve, in fact he'd even landed a few detentions for skipping class. It was no wonder Damon didn't want to leave for the weekend no matter how much he actually wanted to. Alex was bound to try something with them out of town wither or not they had someone stay at the house. While Elena knew they could probably ship Alex off to stay at either her brother's or Caroline's or even go as far as to ask Alaric to stay at the house, they hated imposing on others. Elena's laughter died and the smile on her face turned to surprise and then a scowl as she watched the front door. "Sara Alyssa Salvatore! What are earth are you doing out of school?" Elena demanded as she saw her daughter walk towards them.
"Hi Mom. Hi Dad." She said with a smile.
"I say again, why aren't you in school?" Elena asked.
"Relax." She said as she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. "I won the senior raffle and got a pass for free lunch at the grill and thought I'd use it today. I get both lunch periods off to come." She explained as she showed her parents the lunch pass from school.
"That's great, honey. Hey does that free lunch extend to others?" Damon asked.
"It does not." Matt said as he walked by them. "Usual Sara?" he called.
"Yeah, with a vanilla milk shake please." Sara said as she slid into the booth next to Damon.
"Bacon?" The look Sara gave him made him quickly write bacon down on her order. "Stupid question." Matt said as he walk past them again to put the ticket in the window.
Sara laughed. "So besides lunch, what are you guys up too?" Sara asked, she could see the excitement that was still radiating off of her mother.
"Your mother's work is sending her to Richmond for the weekend to cover the conference that's going on concerning the pollution from the power plant." Damon informed his daughter.
"Wow! That's great mom." Sara smiled.
"Thank you, Sweetie."
"So are you two going away for the weekend?"
"No, your father is going to stay home with you and the boys, but I am going to see if your Auntie Care and Aunt Bonnie want to come with me. Sort of a girl's weekend."
"Awesome, but Daddy you could totally go with Mom. Nick and I can handle Alex." Sara offered.
"Thanks Princess, but I'm gonna stay home with you kids. If your aunts go with your mother then your uncles and I can have a guy's weekend."
"With us kids?" Sara smirked.
"With you kids." Damon nodded.
"Well in that case, can I go to a party Saturday night?" Sara asked, biting her lip.
"Sara, if there was something you wanted to do this weekend, why did you offer to keep an eye on your brother?" Elena sighed.
"Because I don't mind and you guys deserve a weekend away."
"Thank you Sweetie, but your father and I told you that when we set this punishment for Alex that you and your brother were not to put your lives on hold."
"So I can go to the party?"
"Now hold on a minute. What party? Who's throwing it and will there be parents present?" Damon chimed in going into over protective dad mode.
"Joey Lewis, he's on the football team with Bobby and Link. He's throwing a big party at his house and yes his parents know." Sara said as Matt set down a plate of food in front of her along with a vanilla milk shake.
"Hey you taking about the Lewis party?" he asked. "I gave Link permission to go. Mr. Lewis was in here the other day and I asked him about it. They know about the party, rented a tent for the back yard and everything. Guess it's a last day of summer party or whatever."
"Thanks Matt." Elena said before looking at Damon. It wasn't often Sara asked to go to a party or for anything for that matter and she deserved to act like a teenager.
Damon sighed. "Does Nick want to go too?" he asked and Elena kicked him under the table. "Ow." He muttered.
"No Nick doesn't want to go, but Link is going and so is Bobby. Lizzy wants to go too, but her parents won't let her unless I go and I really, really want to go. Please?" Sara begged and if she was begging it meant she really wanted this.
Elena smiled and Damon groaned. "Okay, okay you can go, but there is to be absolutely no drinking or smoking. Or boys, absolutely no boys." Damon said though this was Sara he talking to here.
"Oh thank you Daddy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sara said as she hugged Damon and then moved to the other side to hug her mother.
"Your welcome baby. Just be smart and if anything happens you'll call your dad, right? Promise me, even if you end up drinking you'll call?" Elena said seriously to her daughter. Both she and Damon had always told their children that if they were ever in any trouble that they could always call and they would come get them no matter what happened or where they were.
Sara nodded. "I promise, but I don't plan on drinking or smoking or anything."
"Yes, but things do happen. So before you go I want details and for you to make sure your phone is charged." Damon said.
"I will Daddy." Sara said as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "That's my alarm. I gave myself five minutes to get to school before the class bell. I got to go."
"Okay, sweetie. Have a good time in class and we can talk later on when you get home." Elena said as she hugged her daughter good bye.
"Okay. Bye, love you both and thank you." Sara said with a smile as she hugged and kissed both her parents and quickly rushed out of the Grill.
Damon shook his head. "We're really going to let her go, alone?"
"Damon Salvatore, she's not a little girl anymore. She a good girl and can take care of herself. Besides Link will be there and Lizzy, she'll be fine. Plus if anything happens she'll call. She deserves to have some fun and act her age for once. She's going and you are not to tell her otherwise when I leave tomorrow night." Elena chided.
Damon sighed. "Ok, alright. She can go."
"And no stalking out the party."
"That would be rather difficult with Alex. I'll just see if I can get Nick to go with her." He said thoughtfully. Elena just rolled her eyes at her husband. They finished their lunch and then Elena went back to work and Damon went to the town hall to deal with some council stuff.
When Elena walked through the front door after work she was met with a very exuberant looking Caroline.
"Hey, there's my favorite sister-in-law and best friend! I cannot tell you how excited I am for this weekend. Do we have to leave tomorrow night, can't we leave in the morning? Ohhh, let's leave tonight! Get the party started early!"
"Hi Caroline, uh how much have you had to drink?" Elena asked warily. "And we can't leave tonight because we all have to work tomorrow, remember?" She had called both Bonnie and Caroline on her way to work and they screamed at the idea of a girl's weekend away.
"Hardly any, okay well maybe a glass of wine or two. Elena, I cannot tell you how much I need this. I love my kids but seven, Elena. Seven. I need some kid free time." She said.
"Ah uh. What did Alex do?" Elena sighed. She knew Caroline all too well and when she started complaining about kids it was usually her students. Yes, she had seven children, but they were the most well behaved children in the world. They hardly fought and when they did it was usually quickly settled. While she understood the need to get away sometimes even with well-behaved children, there was something about Care's tone that made her wonder what her youngest child had been up too. He'd been too quiet as of late since the whole car fiasco, another reason why Damon insisted on staying home.
"Yes, Caroline. What did Alexander do?" Damon said as he came down the stairs. Currently none of the kids were home, but were due back any minute. Sara's practice would be just about done and Nick had to drive carpool because Sara's car was making a funny sound when she went to start it up this morning and the tires on Alex car were all flat due to lack of use. Though when Damon when to fill them up before working on Sara's car they had refused to inflate, it wasn't till he took a closer look that all four had small slash marks in them. Wither someone had slashed his tires on purpose or Alex did it himself he was unsure of.
"Well, it wasn't in my class. Lord knows if that boy did that in my class he would not be breathing right now."
"Spit it out Caroline!" Elena snapped.
"Alex has detention all next week because he stole a can of paint from the art room and propped it up on John Fields' door. And when he opened it…."
"Covered in paint?" Elena finished.
"Bright neon pink."
"Fuck!" Damon swore. "Why didn't the school call us?"
"It happened during fourth period and Stefan and I dealt with John. Turns out Shorty was involved as well and while he got suspended we were able to talk John into detention for Alex since he's never done anything like this before other than skip class and that his grades are terrible."
"Well thank you Caroline for that." Elena said as she made a beeline for the bottle of wine on the coffee table in the living room and took a long drink from it.
"Where we wrong to step in?" Caroline asked, confused.
"No it's fine Caroline. We appreciate you and Stefan handling it and obviously you told us after it happened as soon as you could." Damon explained.
"Maybe we shouldn't go to Richmond. I can get Jane or Martin to cover the story."
"No." Whined Caroline.
"No." Damon said as he joined Elena. "You're going. You're going to cover the story for work and then relax with Caroline and Bonnie for the weekend. I will deal with Alex and everything else. Caroline, what do you know about this Joey Lewis kid?"
"Damon, she's going." Elena groaned.
"I'm sorry, did I miss something? Does Sara, my sweet niece Sara, have a date?" Caroline said almost hopeful.
"Over my dead body!" Damon growled.
"Well it's a little late for that, Damon." Caroline snickered.
"No Caroline, she doesn't have a date. But this Joey Lewis is throwing a party and a bunch of kids are going, including Link and Sara asked to go. We just want to know more about him." Elena explained.
"Oh, well he's a good kid. Lives over at the old white mansion, remember the one Klaus and his family hoarded themselves in all those years ago? That one. His parents have a ton of money. He's on the football team and a senior, so Stefan would have him now. I haven't had him since last year. But yeah, he's a pretty good kid, good grades, is never in any sort of trouble. So you're letting Sara go? Is Nick going?"
"Yes, we are and no he's not. At least Sara said he wasn't, but if he wants to he can." Elena said. "We've felt kind of guilty lately what with Nick and Sara always keeping an eye on Alex. In fact Sara had even told Damon he could go with me so we could have a weekend away when she found out."
"But when she found out I was staying home she asked to go to the party and well, it kind of hit us that even though we told them not too, we have two pretty great kids who care about their brother and they seem to pretty much have given up their social lives. They deserve to not have to keep an eye on their brother who is the same age as they are when they haven't screwed up their lives." Damon finished.
"Yeah, they're pretty great. Now Elena, about this weekend…" Caroline started as she dragged Elena towards the kitchen while a car could be heard coming up the drive. Chief quickly got up from his bed in the living room and started barking, running towards the door.
"Kids are home." Damon called.
"Do not start yelling at Alex!" Elena yelled. "Drag him into the kitchen and then we can yell at him together."
"Baby, I love you!" Damon called causing laughter to sound from the kitchen. He opened the front door for Chief who quickly dashed outside and up to Nick's parked car. Chief knew better than to run up to a moving car no matter who it was, Sara had taught him early on to wait on the porch. "Hey kids!" he waved to them.
"Alex, I can't believe you!" Sara shouted as she slammed the front passenger door. "You covered VP Fields in paint. Bright pink paint, Alex!"
"Oh like you didn't laugh Sara, c'mon! He's a prick! It was funny." Alex rolled his eyes at his sister's dramatics.
"No dude, it was embarrassing." Nick said as he shut his door and walked around the car.
"Oh c'mon! If anyone else had done it, you would have found it funny as hell." Alex whined.
"Maybe so, but the fact that our brother who doesn't have to greatest track record right now and is hanging around with some rat faced low life…"
"Hey Shorty's not that bad!"
"Rat-faced low life and it was embarrassing." Sara said through clenched teeth. "Not to mention you could've been suspended along with him. Lucky for you Auntie Care and Uncle Stefan were there to talk him out of it." She finished before she was so rudely interrupted by Alex trying to defend that thing he called a friend.
"Why do you care? It would mean less time for you and Nick to babysit me for Mom and Dad." Sneered Alex.
Sara just stared at her brother who at one point in her life had been her best friend. She didn't recognize this Alex anymore. "Alex if you don't get why Nick and I agreed to helping out, trying to help you out, then clearly you've had your head in your ass for far longer than we thought." She huffed before rushing up the stairs and into the house. "Hi Daddy." She muttered as she passed him with Chief at her heels.
Nick just shook his head at his brother. "Dude." He said before he followed his sister into the house.
Alex just stood there in the front yard. "Seriously?!" he shouted. Damon cleared his throat and Alex finally realized his father was standing there for the first time. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked sheepishly.
"Oh since the car came up the drive way and before you try to blame anything on your brother and sister, your Aunt Caroline is in the kitchen with your mother. She told us what happened at school."
"Dad, even you got to admit that Fields is a jackass."
"Inside. Kitchen. Now." Damon growled.
Alex sighed. "Yeah, I'm going."
Dinner in the Salvatore house was a tense affair. Damon had cooked up his Cajun Chicken Alfredo as it was fairly quick and easy. He had denied help from Sara as he was sure instead of sautéing chicken she was more likely to stab Alex. Not that Damon hadn't had the thought of doing that as well. Before dinner, he and Elena had talked to Alex about his actions and how disappointed they were in him. While he was still on his ultimate grounding, Damon and Elena had decided that Alex was going to replace the paint he had stolen from the art class by going to the hardware store and would be buying several new cans of paint with his own money to donate to the art program. Naturally Alex had thrown a fit about it and went off about how it was his money, which lead to a very heated argument with Damon threatening that they would just take it out of his allowance that he currently wasn't getting and wouldn't be getting till the amount was paid for. That just lead to even more shouting between father and son till Elena put a stop to it and sent Alex to his room and Damon to the kitchen to prepare dinner for their two other starving children.
Now at the table, the table of five sat quietly eating before the silence began to drive Elena crazy. She was not going to let her last family dinner with her husband and kids till she came back sometime on Sunday consist of silence.
"So Nick, Sara told us about the Lewis Party and we gave her permission to go. Since Alex with be with your father and Jeremy at your Uncle Stefan's, would you like to go as well?" Elena asked him.
"Oh, uh thanks mom, but I really had no interest in going. I mean the whole dumb jock scene…" Sara cleared her throat while raising an eyebrow at her brother. "Present company excluded." He said with a roll of his eyes, but smirked all the same. Sara lowered the eyebrow and turned her attention back to her food. "I really just don't want to go…" Nick turned his attention from his mother to his father. "And for the record, Sara can handle herself. Besides Link is going, he can look out for her though she's been able to kick his ass since we were little and still can." Nick said with a wink in Sara's direction who smiled at him in appreciation. While it was no secret to anyone that she was daddy's little girl, she didn't like that fact that he still treated her like a fragile child. She had never been fragile a day in her life, her birth mother had saw to that.
"Okay, okay. Note taken. Sara is going to the party and Nick if you want to come with me and Alex you can, but you can stay home if you want too." Damon huffed.
"Thanks Dad. I'd be happy to spend some time with everyone. Besides someone as to look after the younger kids while you, Uncle Stefan, Jeremy and Rick drink." Nick smirked. Sara and Elena giggled into their glasses of water.
"Hey, we watch the kids." Damon defended himself.
"Yeah for all of two seconds." Alex mumbled as he stabbed at a piece of chicken.
"Just what a mother wants to hear before she and two other mothers go away for the weekend and leave their husbands and the fathers of their children in charge." Elena chided with a smirk.
"And we'll be just fine." Damon assured. "And that enough out of you two." He said given his sons a knowing glance. Nick and Alex just shared a knowing look between them before going back to eating, identical smirked on their faces. The sound of a chair protesting as it was forced back across the floor away from the table interrupted the tender family moment.
"Excuse me." Sara said before practically running out of the kitchen and up the stairs with Chief running after her.
"I got it." Elena said as she stood and walked out of the kitchen after her daughter.
Upstairs Elena gently knocked on Sara's door before she let herself in. "Sara, sweetie?" Elena called. Inside Sara was sitting at her window seat with Chief's head in her lap. She stroked his head gently as a few tears escaped from her eyes. She quickly wiped them away as she saw her mother come into her room. "Oh honey, what's the matter?" Elena asked as she joined Sara on the seat and wrapped her arms around her.
"Nothing, it's stupid." Sara said avoiding eye contact with her mother.
"Sara talk to me. What's upset you?" Elena asked concerned. "Despite all the yelling from earlier, dinner was going rather well."
"Yeah, too well." Sara muttered.
"Explain."
Sara sighed. "It was normal, Mom. Like it always was or well used to be any way. It was nice."
"It has been in a while since it's been like this hasn't it?" Elena asked while rubbing her back in a soothing motion.
Sara sighed. "I don't know what it was more that upset me, the fact that dinner was like it used to be or knowing that this was a rare moment of peace within the storm that is hurricane Alex." Sara sniffled.
"Oh baby, things will get better I promise you. It's a phase and it will pass." Elena assured.
"Guess it's a phase Nick and I skipped." Sara said.
"Perhaps, but I'm sure the two of you could have other phases that Alex doesn't go through. Just do your father and I a favor and wait till Alex is out of this one before you go running off with some biker gang and get tattoos or your brother decides to run off with some girl, okay." Elena joked.
"Now wait a minute, why do I have to become the tatted up biker skank while Nick runs off with some bimbo?" Sara scoffed.
"You wanna run off with some bimbo? Sara is there something you want to tell me?" Elena inquired.
"Mom!" Sara laughed.
"Okay, so you don't have to run off with some biker gang and I'm sure Nick would never run off with some gold digging hussy."
"So we've gone from Bimbo to Gold Digging Hussy, eh?"
Elena shrugged. "What can I say? No one will ever be good enough for any of my children." She stated.
"Alright Mom. Whatever you say." Sara said.
"And don't you forget missy. Now, shall we go back down stairs and finish dinner?" Elena asked.
Sara nodded. "Okay, let's go. And for the record I'd never get a tattoo."
"I know, I know. You're fear of needles." Elena laughed and together, mother and daughter left the room, went down stairs and back into the kitchen.
"Everything alright?" Nick asked.
"Everything's fine sweetie." Elena smiled at her oldest child as Damon set down both her and Sara's plates in front of them. The steam coming off them indicated that he had reheated them up for them. "Thank you Darling."
"Thanks Daddy." Sara smiled softly before tucking into her dinner. She knew her father had heard the conversation she and her mother had just had upstairs.
"Sara, have you been crying?" Alex asked. "What is it your…ow!" he shouted as Damon kicked him under the table and Nick stomped on the foot closest to him while Elena glared at her youngest child.
"Young man if you want to live to see your next birthday I suggest you never ever finish that sentence or say it fully to your sister or any other women." She scolded.
"Sorry." Alex muttered before stuffing his face.
"Yup, rare moment." Sara sighed under her breath as the family continued on with their dinner.
AN: That's chapter 4. Hope you all enjoyed it. Chapter 5 will be up soon I'm hoping. Please review.
