𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕡𝕚𝕥𝕪 ~ 𝕂𝕒𝕚 ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕣

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕪 𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥

When Damon returns he's alone, "where's Stefan?" I ask, "he's dead." He tells me with a smirk, "what?" I stand up from my seat, "relax the boss man wanted a meeting." He shrugs, "that's not fair, today was his last day." I say glaring at Damon, "why didn't Cade talk to him tomorrow, you do have eternity with him." Damon shrugs again, "how should I know, hey I could kill you and then you could ask him yourself." He suggests with a smirk making me roll my eyes and walk away from him.

"Hey. Surprise, surprise." I hear Matt say as he and his father enter, "Matt! I thought you said that you weren't coming." Caroline says shocked, "Uh. apparently, the Mystic Grill wasn't good enough for this guy." He laughs pointing at his dad. "Holidays are special. I convinced him he should stick around for the people he loves." Peter responds, "Which is a hell of a lot more than he can say for you, Peter Maxwell." Damon says making his entrance shocking Matt, "Ooh! We've been waiting for you." Sybil gasps.

"Well, Damon's alive, as you can see." Caroline starts off sounding done with everything, "Bonnie and Enzo are late. And Stefan's dead! Merry Christmas. I've got gifts." She says taking a swig from the bottle.

"Let's make sue we all get back to the spirit of Christmas. At the heart of it is forgiveness. So, Matt. Peter." Caroline says trying to be optimistic, "Thanks." He murmurs taking the box. "And my mother taught me to always be prepared for anything." She says handing Sybil a box.

"Now, this one... is for Damon. Even though we've had our moments, I know that there is a future you that is going to ask for my forgiveness one day. This is for that guy." Caroline says handing him a small bag. "Anyway..." Damon clears throat, "I'm sure you're all asking yourselves why I barged in tonight. Relax. I come bearing a gift. Now, unfortunately, I'm only gonna be able to give it to the most despicably evil person in the room, and that's gonna be a tough decision. But tonight, one lucky little elf is gonna get an all expense paid, one-way trip, straight to hell. Meaning, I'm gonna kill one of you. Let's eat." He winks as we all just look at each other.

"These are the au gratin potatoes. Stefan made them. They're a Salvatore recipe." Caroline says putting the potatoes down, "Hey, where the hell is Ric? What was he, reading the dictionary to those girls?" Damon asks lifting a rather large knife, "You are not going to kill Ric... or anybody else. We are just going to sit here and enjoy this nice dinner just like Stefan wanted." Caroline tells him, Damon then slams the knife down making a loud sound, "What? Was just breaking some bread." He shrugs as we all look at him, "Why are you doing this?" Matt asks, "It's kind of his job." Sybil shrugs. "To murder innocent people?" Damon smirks, "Look who's talking about murder." Peter looks at his son in disbelief, "I never killed..." Matt starts, "Oh, yeah? Your old flame Penny is pretty dead as a door..." Damon interrupts Matt who slams his hands on the table as he jumps up. "I never murdered anyone." He says anger dripping from him.

"Matt. Please." Caroline says making Matt sit back down. "You know, at least Ric looked a little torn up when that stake went in my heart. And you looked pretty psyched. But I forgive you, Mattie. You've had a lot of tragedy in your life. Here's the deal. Ric was just doing the parental thing, much like what he's doing upstairs right now. Do I want to kill him? Yes, but that's personal. This should be principle." I roll my eyes at Damon, "It's all personal, Damon." I say, "What about this... Peter fellow? I've heard so so much about you." Sybil smirks as she angers Matt, "Back off." He hisses, "Or what?" Damon asks amused.

Damon then proceeds to ask peter what the worst thing he had ever done was, "I told you. I gambled away lots of money. I cheated on my taxes for sure. I don't know what else you want to know." He says frightened as Ric walks in, "Well, look who decided to join us. I was just asking Peter what's the worst thing he's ever done." Damon smiles at Ric who gives his own sarcastic smile back. "Oh, well, mine was not making sure you that you were permanently dead. I see you're wreaking havoc as usual." He says taking a seat. "Damon, drop this stupid game." I huff irritated, why was it so hard to just have one nice meal. "Oh, but humiliating public confession is so fun." Sybil smiles as I glare at her. "You left your son. You abandoned your family. And your answer to the question what's the worst thing you've ever done is... 'Uh, I guess I gambled and cheated on account of my dishonesty.'" Damon says imitating Peter.

"I was a kid." He says back as Damon picks up that large knife again. "Well, unless your last name is Pan, you haven't been a kid for a long time. So, explain to me the last 20-plus years." Matt can't help himself, "None of your business, Damon." Damon then slams the knife into the table narrowly missing Matt's fingers. "Enough! Enough. This has gone way too far. You do not need to answer him." Caroline says to Peter. "Yes you do. And quick." Damon says as he zooms over and pulls Peter from his chair.

We all stand as he slices into Peters cheek, "Next cut goes a couple inches lower." He says moving the knife down to his neck as Matt takes a step forward. "What are you gonna do, Donovan? Kill me again? Let's hear Papa's story while he still has some vocal cords. Last chance. What kept you away for more than 20 years?" He asks before going to stab Matt.

"It was shame, okay? Just look, I was... I was ashamed. Kelly was pregnant again and I... I couldn't come back and be another toilet scrubber in this town, I had... I had to get out." Peter explains breathing heavily. "Wow. It's worse than I thought. He didn't have a reason at all. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner." Matt takes a seat sadly as he lets the news sink in. Whilst Sybil takes Peter to the kitchen.

"Ah I wouldn't." Damon says as we all hear Peters screams from the kitchen, thankfully Enzo and Bonnie make it on time with the fork, saving Peter although Damon speeds off and grabs Sybil before we can.

With everyone gone I went back up to my room to see the girls going through my stuff, "hey kids what're you doing?" I ask making them jump, the shut my dresser and turn to me guiltily. "Nothing." Arabella shrugs giving me an innocent smile as she holds something behind her back, "really, so you're not hiding something behind your back?" I ask raising an eyebrow at them, she shakes her head but it's Kaiara that cracks, "sorry mommy we just wanted to see pictures of daddy." She says making me falter for a second. "Oh...that's ok but you should've asked me." I say taking a seat, "did you find any?" Arabella nods and shyly comes to sit beside me, she holds the picture out to me and I smile softly at it. "Come here." I say to Kaiara who was still stood at the dresser.

I wrap my arms around them as we look at the picture, "this picture is special, this was when your daddy and I got married." I tell them as they nestle into my arms, "you look so pretty momma." Kaiara smiles, "daddy looks pretty too." Arabella says making me laugh, "he does doesn't he?" They both nod, "what was daddy like?" They ask. "Your dad was funny very funny, and loud and he liked to eat a lot, like you." I laugh as they giggle, "but he was special, you know how you girls can do special things?" I ask and they nod, "that's because you're magic, just like your dad." They look at me wide eyed, "daddy was magic?" I nod, "he was special like you Arabella, you know how you siphon, your dad could do that too." She grins, "but I can't siphon." Kaiara pouts, "that's ok, because you're still special and you have your own magic." I say.

"Why isn't daddy here with us?" I give them a forced smile trying to keep it together, "your dad, he had to go away for a while." I say, "but why?" I shrug, "I don't know, but I know that he didn't want to go, he wanted to be with you guys, and you should know that he loves you so much." I say, "can you tell us stories about him." I nod, "how about I show you?" They grin, they always loved it when I showed them things, "ok hold my hands and close your eyes." I instruct before showing them some of my favourite memories with Kai.