Damon shrugged off the icy glares Elena was hurling at him as he gently pushed Maya into the Gilbert house. He had accepted Jenna's invitation to a BBQ she and Ric were hosting, feeling relieved that he had finally revealed the truth about vampires to her. Even though Elena was furious with him for doing so, he knew it was better for Jenna to be aware and careful, especially with the cunning and ruthless Katherine lurking around. Ric had also confided in him that Jenna's knowledge had eased the tension between them, as he had been able to explain the mystery of Isobel to her. She had been angry, of course, but also understanding of why he had kept it a secret from her before.

She'd been angrier about Elena and Jeremy lying to her. Jeremy had apologised. Elena had not. And that was the last he'd heard of it. She'd forgiven him the fastest, understanding that he hadn't told her before because he was protecting his family, especially Maya.

"Hello Elena," Damon greeted politely, hoping they could keep things civil, for Jenna's sake.

"Damon." She replied frostily, before smiling down at Maya.

"Hello Maya. How are you?"

"Konnichiha Elena, anata wa totemo shitsurei desu" Good afternoon, Elena, you're being very rude.

Elena smiled at her, oblivious to what he was sure was a well-crafted insult. He hadn't failed to notice what Maya was doing whenever she interacted with Elena, even if he didn't know enough Japanese to call her out on it. If he cared too, which right now he didn't.

"I see the Japanese lessons are going well."

Damon wondered if Elena knew just how patronising she sounded.

"Superbly." Maya chirped back, giving her the most insincere smile, he'd ever seen grace his daughter's face.

"Damon, Maya." Jenna appeared in the hallway beaming, "I'm so glad you could make it."

"Thank you for inviting me, Miss Jenna." Maya replied, smiling much more genuinely at Jenna than she had at Elena.

"Yeah, thank you for the invite, Jenna. It was very nice of you to think of us. Maya brought pie."

Maya held out the boxed-up pie Dobby had helped her make, as Damon held up a bottle of wine.

"And I brought wine."

Jenna laughed, delighted.

"Both very welcome." She said taking the pie and the wine from them. She turned to her niece, "Elena, could you take them into the kitchen please."

"Sure Jenna," Elena said through gritted teeth, grabbing the pie and the wine and walking away.

Jenna turned back and smiled at Maya.

"How did the soccer match go this morning?"

"It was great, my team won."

"Maya scored the winning goal," Damon added proudly, knowing Maya would never say it herself.

"You did? Congratulations. Why don't you come on through, Pearl and Anna haven't arrived yet, but Ric's here, and my friend Mason Lockwood as well."

Perfect. Just who he wanted to talk to. Tyler had shared his suspicions with them about his uncle's weird out of the blue, return to Mystic Falls, and Damon was inclined to agree. Then again, he was inclined to be suspicious of anyone new who showed up. Especially if they were connected to the people he claimed as his in some way. And Tyler was definitely one of his people.

"So, how was Maggie's birthday meal? Where is it Enzo's taken her this weekend?" Jenna asked as they headed through the house.

"It was great. He's taken her to Virginia Beach for the weekend."

"Wow, I'm sure they'll have a great time."

Jenna led them through the kitchen, they waved at Caroline and Bonnie, who were in there chatting with Elena, as they passed. They both waved and smiled back, side-eyeing Elena knowingly, when she did nothing but glare at Damon. Clearly, they were up to date on the whole Jenna knowing about vampires drama. Elena, however, was very much not up to date on the Caroline was a vampire drama. Caroline had mentioned that she wanted to wait until she had more of a handle on it before telling her. Damon applauded her decision-making. Her emotions were incredibly heightened right now, and she needed to be around people who fully supported her, and he wasn't sure Elena would be able to do that.

Damon followed Jenna through the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard, where Ric and Mason were standing by the BBQ, chatting, and laughing as Ric flipped the burgers and hot dogs. The smell of grilled meat and charcoal filled the air, mingling with the scent of fresh-cut grass and flowers.

"Look who's arrived." Jenna called as they stepped outside onto the patio.

"Ric you know Damon, this is his goddaughter, Maya."

"Damon." Ric nodded to him and then smiled down at Maya, "Hello Maya, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Hello, Mr Saltzman." She replied, smiling back at him.

"Ric, please. You're not one of my students, and we're not at school anyway."

"Okay, Mr Ric."

He looked stumped for a minute, but let it go when Jenna laughed, and Damon just shook his head.

"And this is Mason Lockwood." Jenna introduced them both to Tyler's uncle, "Mason, this is Damon Salvatore, and Maya."

Mason held a hand out to Damon, doing his best to maintain eye contact, he couldn't help throwing a few curious and knowing glances at Maya.

"Hey, nice to meet you. I've heard great things about you."

Damon shook his hand firmly.

"Really? Can't imagine who you must have been talking to for that!"

Jenna laughed again. Mason didn't offer his hand to Maya, but he did smile and offer her half a wave.

"Hello Maya, it's nice to meet you. Call me Mason."

"Hello Mr Mason."

Caroline popped her head through the doors and grinned at them all, speaking to Jenna first.

"Anna and Pearl are here."

"Thanks Caroline. I'll go and greet them." Jenna said, leaving them alone.

"You're welcome, Jenna," Caroline replied, turning to Damon and Maya, giving them both a bright smile, "Would you like a drink?"

"We've got beers, if you want one." Ric interjected, looking at Damon.

He glanced down at Maya.

"I think I'll stick to the soft stuff for now." He said, declining Ric's offer.

"There's lemonade," Caroline offered.

"Perfect. Lemonade kiddo?"

"Yes please."

Caroline disappeared for a few minutes and came back, with Jenna and Pearl on her heels, and two glasses of lemonade, which she handed to Damon and Maya. As Jenna introduced Pearl to Mason and Ric, Caroline nudged Maya's shoulder.

"Want to come hang out with us inside, Cosmo?" She asked.

Caroline had given up on trying to find a nickname from Maya's actual name, since she'd turned her nose up at every single one. Since seeing the, still incomplete, but predominately space-themed, mural Maya had been painting in her room, and knowing her current life-goal, Caroline had taken to calling her Cosmo. Since Maya had made zero objections to that, the name had stuck. Maya disappeared inside with Caroline, and Damon turned back to Ric and Mason, who both looked a bit curious.

"Maya still wants to be an astronaut then?" Jenna said to Damon.

"Yep. Absolutely determined to fly spaceships one day."

Pictionary?" Jenna suggested, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled over the table after they'd finished eating. There was a round of enthusiastic nods as everyone agreed to the game.

"But Jeremy and Maya can't be on the same team. With their art skills, the rest of us wouldn't stand a chance." Anna said, grinning and nudging her boyfriend who chuckled.

"That won't be a problem." Caroline replied, wrapping her arm around Maya's shoulder. "Cosmo's gonna be on my team. Aren't you?"

Maya grinned and nodded, laughing at the betrayed look Damon sent her. His blue eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open in mock horror.

"What about me, kiddo?" He asked, pretending to be hurt. "Don't you love me anymore?"

"Pictionary had two teams Damon, so we might consider letting you on ours, right Cosmo?" She winked at Maya, who played along.

"Yep." She said, nodding solemnly.

Everyone but Elena, laughed at them teasing Damon. She just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Right." Jenna said, clapping her hands. "Well, there's eleven of us so a team of six and a team of five?" She looked around the room, waiting for confirmation. Everyone nodded. "And since Jeremy and Maya can't be on the same team, they can pick their first team members, and whoever they pick, will pick the next and so on. Sound fair?" Everyone nodded again, Jenna smiled at Maya. "Since Maya's the youngest, I'm gonna let her pick first." She said. "So, who'd you want Maya?"

"I want Care." Maya said, giggling when Damon pretended to collapse, clutching his heart. He fell to the floor, making a dramatic show of his agony.

"Okay, Jeremy?" Jenna asked, ignoring Damon's theatrics.

"Anna." He grinned at his girlfriend who grinned back, both ignoring the small huff that came from Elena, though if Maya had heard it, Anna definitely had. She shot Elena a glare, wondering why she was being so rude.

"Of course, Caroline?" Jenna continued, moving the game along.

"Bonnie." Caroline said, pointing at her best friend. Bonnie nodded, smiling.

"Anna?" Jenna prompted.

"I pick mom." Anna said, gesturing at Pearl. Pearl smiled and hugged her daughter.

"Bonnie?" Jenna asked.

"Elena, wanna be on our team." Bonnie said, hoping to cheer her up.

"Sure." Elena said, shrugging. She didn't really care, as long as she wasn't on Damon's team.

"Pearl?"

"I'll pick you Jenna." Jenna smiled and nodded, before looking at Elena.

Jenna smiled and nodded, before looking at Elena.

"Mason." Elena said quickly, before Jenna could even ask. She wanted to get this over with.

"Well, I'm picking Ric, which leaves Damon for you, Mason."

"I guess I'll pick you to join the pack then." Mason said, flashing an amused and knowing grin at Damon. He helped him up from the floor, slapping his back.

"Good thing I'm such a confident guy, or being picked last might have made me self-conscious." Damon said, brushing himself off.

"As if." Elena muttered, under her breath. Unfortunately, Jenna overheard her, and sent a warning glare her niece's way. She didn't like her attitude, and she was going to have a talk with her later.

"Jeremy, Maya. Why don't you rock, paper, scissors, to decide which team goes first?" Jenna suggested, "And I'll go grab the flipchart."

Maya might have cheated a little, using her legilimency to beat Jeremy at rock, paper, scissors. Not that anyone but Damon, who sent her and amused look, would know that.

"All right teams. Since we've lost most of the Pictionary set, we're gonna play it a little differently. Each team will take it in turns, and each member of each team will take it in turns to, pick a card, and draw whatever is on it. You have a minute to guess what your team member is drawing if you don't it passes to the other team, and we'll keep a tally of scores. So, who won rock, paper, scissors."

"Maya, did." Jeremy answered.

"All right, come on up Maya." She held out a marker to Maya in one hand, and a stack of cards in the other. Maya took the marker and the top card, and the game began.

It was a lot of fun, most of them weren't amazing at drawing, but they weren't terrible either. Maya supposed she could have used her legilimency skills to help her team win, but that wouldn't have been as much fun as laughing at some of the terrible guesses people threw out. Like now for instance, Damon was taking his turn to draw, and it was hilarious.

"Dress! Ballerina!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Puppy, puppy! Puppy with a tutu!" Caroline guessed.

Damon shook his head at both of them.

"A dog! Hound-dog!" Bonnie tried, quickly followed up by Caroline's excited.

"You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog!"

"Dances with Wolves." Mason said when Damon shook his head at Caroline.

Maya couldn't hold back her laughter, absolutely certain that it hadn't actually been that on Damon's card, and he was just poking at Mason for fun. Caroline saw her laughing and caught on to what he was doing and started laughing as well, as did Anna when she realised. From the look in Mason's eyes, he knew exactly what Damon was doing as well.

"Mason wins."

"How is that a wolf?" Jenna asked.

"I must agree with Jenna, Damon. Your drawing skills could use some work." Pearl said, hiding a smile.

"Everyone's a critic."

"Right!" Jenna clapped her hands together. "I say we break for some of pie, Maya made." She grinned at Maya, "I'm sure it's delicious."

Anna slid into the chair across from Maya, and gave her a conspiratorial smile. She moved her fingers, signing to her. Over the few weeks that they'd lived in the boarding house, Anna had taught Maya sign language, so they could communicate secretly, mostly for the purpose of playing pranks on Enzo, but it also came in handy for conversations one of them wanted to keep private.

"He's doing it on purpose, isn't he?" Anna asked, glancing at Damon's empty seat.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"He thinks he's funny."

Anna rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched as she fought off a smile, clearly seeing the amusement in the way Damon had been making dog-jokes at Mason's expense. Jenna carried a stack of plates to the table and passed them around as Damon came in behind her with the pie, and a cake knife that looked to be made of silver.

Maya rolled her eyes. Damon knew as well as she did that silver had no effect on werewolves, so this was obviously another dig at Mason. He put the pie down on the table and slid it across to Mason, with the handle of the cake knife pointing towards him.

"Mason, why don't you start us off?"

"Sure."

Mason spun the dish around, so the knife was pointing away from him and picked up a slice with his hands. There was a slightly appalled silence from those who didn't know what Damon had been doing, and from those who did, but were sticklers for good manners.

"I apologize, I'm an animal."

"So, Mason," Alaric said when the silence got awkward. "You and Jenna never dated?"

"She was always lost in Logan Fell land."

"My first mistake. Mason was a catch; he had the girls lining up." Jenna said.

"Really?" Damon grinned at Mason. "I had you pegged as a lone wolf."

"I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were."

Maya, Caroline, and Anna all giggled at Mason's innuendo. Maya had to hand it to him, he'd given as good as he got.

"How about a toast?" Mason suggested, raising his glass, "To new friends."

Everyone echoed his words, clinking glasses and taking sips.

After the pie was finished, Damon took a stack of plates to the kitchen, unsurprised when Mason followed him with his own stack.

"Jenna just suggested 'Guitar Hero'. Might be time to Mutiny!" Mason said cheerfully.

"Well, I just happen to like 'Guitar Hero'. So you my friend, are barking up the wrong tree."

Damon heard another round of laughter from the table and knew that the girls were still listening to him baiting Mason.

"okay. Enough with the innuendos, you win, you're hilarious."

"Thank you."

"Come on, man. You know what I am, judging from the giggles so do a lot of the other people here. And I know what you are. But understand this, I don't care about some age-old feud that doesn't apply to us. And considering your goddaughter as more in common with me than she does with you, I figure you don't care either."

"You're right. I don't care about the feud between vampires and werewolves."

"Truce?" Mason asked holding out a hand.

Damon grabbed it and shook.

"Truce. But if anything, you do, threatens the safety of anyone I love, especially Maya. I won't think twice about ripping your heart out. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. Also, you might want to have an honest conversation with Tyler, he might surprise you with what he already knows."

Mason frowned at him, but before he could say anything Damon held up his hands.

"Relax. Tyler's one of the people I'd rip your heart out over."

When Damon and Maya arrived back home, Dobby met them at the door, ears waggling in a sure sign that he was feeling exceptionally anxious.

"Mister Damon and Miss Maya is having visitors."

"Who is it, Dobby?"

"It is being Lord and Lady Malfoy, and Director Picquery. They is waiting in the living room for you with Mister Stefan."

Damon frowned, wondering what had brought them here without warning. It could only have to do with Sirius Black, but what sort of news couldn't be sent in a letter and had to be delivered in person.

"Thank you, Dobby." Damon nodded to the House-elf and headed for the living room, Maya on his heels.