Echoes

Chapter Nine

Not much to say here in the way of an intro. It's Christmas at the Salvatore and Saltzman's. Jeremy's family is out of town, so hopefully there aren't too many little ones running around to keep track of.

Jackson, Kennedy, Madison, and Reagan are Jenna and Alaric's kids. (Quinn is Jackson's girlfriend.)

Claire, Brayden, Nathan, and Emma are Damon and Elena's kids.

There is a small jump in time in the latter part of the chapter. Hopefully it isn't anything that will leave you confused.

Rating: M - adult content, violence, mild language, sensitive subject matter
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The remains of a tray of cinnamon rolls sat in the midst of the dining room table. Unfinished glasses of juice sat long-abandoned in the excitement of Christmas morning. Damon gingerly stepped through the discarded wrapping paper now littering his living room floor. "We're leaving for Jenna and Ric's in five minutes. Hurry it up everybody. Let's move."

"Ready!" Brayden leapt off the stairs and positioned himself in front of his father.

Damon slowly circled his son. "What part of you can take one of your presents with you is that?" He pointed out Brayden's bulging pockets and Transformer in each hand.

"They're all Transformers." Brayden grinned hopefully, his bright blue eyes sparkling. "Only one is new. I have exactly one present with me." He held up the bright red fire truck.

"You're going to be a lawyer someday."

"That's what Mom always tells me."

Caught on a technicality. By child number four, Damon had learned to word things with no loopholes, but he had other things on his mind this morning. "You got lucky this time." Damon ruffled Brayden's dark hair as he began to climb the stairs. "Wait here. I'm going to see if your mom's ready." He carefully mounted the stairs while trying not to spill the mug of tea in his hands. Even with the lid, he splashed a bit of the hot liquid down his hands. As he opened their bedroom door, he heard Elena sigh just before the toilet flushed. He came around the corner into the bathroom just as she'd finished splashing water on her face. "Are you going to make it?"

"Right now, that's debatable." She placed her elbows on either side of the sink and leaned her forehead into her hands.

He stepped close to her and ran his hand over her back. "I can take the kids by myself. We could tell everyone you weren't feeling up to the trip."

Elena shook her head. "And then Jenna would be here in five minutes. No, I don't want to ruin everyone's Christmas morning." She slowly stood and closed her eyes.

So far, so good. At least she didn't seem to be judging the distance to the toilet. If she could stand upright and drink a few sips of tea, they might actually make it. Whether or not she'd pass the Jenna-test later was still up in the air. Their kids didn't notice she hadn't eaten breakfast, but his almost-mother-in-law would notice Elena skipping the meal, especially if Jenna made extra baked French toast. But Elena didn't need to be reminded of that now.

"If you're sure." He looked back at Elena for confirmation. "Everyone's ready. I even braided Emma's hair."

"This I have to see." Elena took a step toward the doorway and hesitated.

"Just a second," Damon pressed the cup into Elena's hand. "It's peppermint. It shouldn't make you sick. Two sips before you leave this room."

Elena frowned and shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Elena, you haven't held food down in over a week. If you don't want them to engrave your name on your own personal room at Mystic Falls General, you at least need to drink something."