Hello again! The little plot bunny for this one came while I was deliriously reading through articles for my two papers due this month (cries) and since it hasn't left me I decided to do something with it. Main pairings will be Damon/Bonnie and Jeremy/Tyler, so if you don't like slash then DON'T READ! Don't say I didn't warn you! This is my twist on the Traveller story line minus the doppelganger confusion. Not really sure how long this one will be. Since I am writing other stories, I will update only if people wish me to continue.

WARNINGS: violence, possible sexual content at a later time so ratings might change

Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or characters associated with it. I only own my OMCs and this plot.

Belgium, 1979

The stark cold air of winter whipped against Damon Salvatore's body as he traveled across the snow covered lands of eastern Belgium. There was nothing but snow for miles and miles and miles, stretching on like a never ending land of white with short glimpses of grey buildings that were either destroyed or partially still standing. It reminded Damon of the state of the world during the Second World War, where desolation and grief seemed to surround him. Thank God it was over.

He stumbled up the hill to a completely devastated village. He frowned when he saw fires still burning and the putrid smell of decaying corpses filled his nose. Tents lay destroyed; tapestries flew in the air in defeat. There wasn't a person in sight and this made him growl in annoyance. The last human he came across was yesterday and he was already hungry again. Traveling for long periods tended to make his bloodlust spike. But he was curious as to what happened here. It didn't look like any other city that he had come across; it looked more of a campsite.

With his numb fingers he pulled out the piece of paper he'd ripped out of a Bible to write down the information given to him by the kind woman at the bar he compelled in the last town. She'd already been compelled before and made to forget so he couldn't get much but it was better than his dead end from this morning. When he'd found the purple tulip left on the table for him he knew he was on the right path. Katherine had been through here and he was catching up. It was about time too, as he'd been looking for her since 1923; the same year that his younger brother went missing from an underground Chicago nightclub.

Damon stumbled down the hill into town, his supernatural hearing picking up shouting and cries from farther beyond him as another village was attacked and people were rounded up. As he took in his surroundings and saw the various symbols that decorated the tents, he understood why the village lay in shambles.

"Travellers," Damon growled lowly. He wasn't particularly fond of their species as they'd tried to kill him a few times in the past. No supernatural creatures were. They had the power to undo the magic that ordinary witches possessed. Their magic was the purest of the earth and they used it to protect themselves rather than to attack. He was surprised he could walk through this village without being killed by the magic undoing his vampirism. Perhaps it faded when the spell casters died.

"Hello?" he called, trying not to sound desperate. God was he hungry. What he wouldn't give for even a dog to come crawling out of hiding.

He continued on this path for quite some time, becoming more and more discouraged when he found no one alive. He found a couple dead bodies but turned his nose up when he realized they were frostbitten and already decaying. This village had been attacked days ago and nobody knew.

A shrill cry stopped him in his tracks. That one was definitely in his vicinity. He listened intently and picked up the sound of a heartbeat drumming hard. Smiling wickedly, he followed the noise of both the heartbeat and the crying to a destroyed hut. Large patches of straw and wood lay in the snow, half burnt or destroyed by whoever attacked. Half of the roof was missing and Damon could hear the crying that had turned hysterical clearly.

When he reached the lone step of the first house he winced and covered his ears as the cries assaulted his ears sharply. Determined not to be outdone, he let his veins appear under his eyes and rushed into the room with every intention of scaring his victim into silence. He entered through the back of the hut and was more than surprised to see a woman on the ground covered in blood. In her crooked arm, a baby screamed for attention.

Damon froze in the doorway, taken aback. It hadn't dawned on him that the crying was from an infant, which now presented a problem for him in terms of feeding. He may have been a vampire and he may have given into bloodlust one too many times but vowed to never hurt children. There had to be a special kind of hell for vampires that killed children, and he would be the king of it if he drank the blood of this poor, defenseless infant.

He was by the child's side in seconds and he gently scooped the babe into his arms. He was freezing and red-faced from screaming. He tucked him in the side of his warm Peacoat, cooing to him as gently as he could.

"You're alright," he soothed. "It's alright now."

Slowly, the cries subsided as the baby was warmed by the material. Wet brown eyes stared at him innocently through dark lashes, rosy cheeks just waiting to be pinched and kissed. Damon allowed himself a small smile at his innocence. It felt foreign to him; he couldn't remember the last time anything made him smile since Stefan's disappearance.

A sudden gasp from the woman on the ground and a hand grabbing his ankle made him jump. He flushed to himself when he realized that he hadn't heard her heart still beating because he was too focused on the baby in his arms. Tucking the baby further into his coat, he leaned down to hear the woman wheezing her final words.

"Take him, please…save my Jeremy," she begged with tearful brown eyes. "Take my Jeremy."

Before Damon could answer her head hit the ground again with a soft thump, this time for good. He pressed two fingers to her pulse just to make sure, sighing as he pulled them back. The baby, Jeremy, made a soft noise that captured his attention again. Now he was staring at him as if he was expecting something that Damon couldn't give.

A piece of gold chain flashed just under his neck. Damon frowned when he pulled it from his shirt and saw a talisman resting on his chest. Engraved on the dark metal were the symbols for water, fire, air and nature.

"Interesting," he muttered as he reached out for the talisman. It burned him and he hissed, dropping it immediately. A dark scar appeared on his hand briefly before it faded. His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before Jeremy's gurgling laugh made him scowl.

"Not funny," he reprimanded. He was awarded a toothless smile and he couldn't help but smile back.

Taking the babe in his arm he checked the rest of the house to make sure no one else was alive. When he deemed everyone good and dead he dragged their bodies to lay them in the first room. He removed his coat and wrapped Jeremy in it before draining all the bodies of blood. Jeremy watched him with childish curiosity, not even flinching when Damon would raise his blood-coated face every once and a while to savor his meal.

"Delicious," Damon sighed when he finished draining his third victim. He looked at the dead bodies of the two children and felt guilty for wanting to have them next. Internally, he knew he was being foolish in not wanting to take blood from someone who no longer needed it but it felt wrong. But he was hungry and who knew when he would come across someone again.

Damon closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Behind him, Jeremy was making all kinds of noises to indicate his excitement at being warm. Finally making a decision, he murmured a quiet apology and gently drained the children of their blood. When he was done he laid them back by the rest of their family, all of them matching in paleness of their skin.

As he stood to leave he frowned when he looked at Jeremy. He was staring back at him with such wonder it made his usually cold heart melt. The longer he watched him the more he realized that he couldn't leave him there. He wasn't particularly fond of anyone that could do magic but he wasn't enough of a bastard to leave a child to freeze to death. And even if he didn't, whoever destroyed this village might decide to come back and he'd never survive if the wrong person found him. The voice that sounded like his long lost brother reprimanded him for even thinking he leave without him.

"Fine," he grumbled to himself as he scooped Jeremy in his arms. He gurgled as Damon covered his head before stepping out into the biting cold once more. After about 20 minutes of walking the dark-haired vampire looked down at the bundle in his arms and a small smile stretched his lips when he saw him sleeping.

You can't keep him, you know, the rational part of his conscious admonished. You don't know how to take care of a child! And how are you going to look for Stefan when you have this burden to carry?

But he's so young. It's not fair just to leave him somewhere and hope someone decent finds him.

He's not your problem! You're a vampire! You drink human blood to survive! One day he's going to grow up and then you're going to drain him too!

Would not!

"Shut-up," he groaned out loud. Jeremy pressed closer to him as he whined in his sleep. His rational side was right; there was no way he could keep looking for Katherine and Stefan if he was saddled with caring for a child. The right thing, and smart thing, would be to leave him some place safe like a church and hope that the local priest would take mercy on him. That was the best plan.

Securing him tighter against his body when the wind started picking up, Damon used his quick speed to make it to the next town he saw in the distance. It was dark by the time he reached the beginning of it and was comforted when he saw a few people leaving buildings with torches. He roamed through idly, looking for any kind of church or sanctuary and finally came upon it in the middle of town. It was probably the biggest building he'd come across all day and he was nearly relieved when he found it.

He climbed the steps of the Gregorian styled chapel, the dark color of the stone making it appear foreboding. The only source of light was the two torch holders on either side of the door. Damon placed Jeremy on the first step and tucked his coat around him tightly so he would stay warm until someone found him.

"This is for the best," Damon told him as he stroked his tiny fingers with one of his long ones. "Someone in the church will take you in and give you a good life. Might not be the best but it'll be better than how the rest of your family turned out."

Jeremy's fingers wrapped around his. His toothless grin was back and Damon wondered what he could be possibly smiling at.

"You wouldn't want to be around me anyways. I'm not exactly father material," Damon sighed. "I don't know how to take care of a child. And I have to find my brother. He needs me more than you do."

When Jeremy's smile grew, Damon scowled in annoyance. He allowed his eyes to turn black veins to appear under his eyes like he was ready to feed. Instead of crying as he thought he would, Jeremy merely laughed and reached to grab at his veins.

"Seriously kid, I can't," Damon shook his head, normal facial features back in place. Without another word he took off down the stairs, intent on heading for the street when he heard him start crying. He slowed his steps and eventually stopped, closing his eyes as he listened to the baby cry.

He's not crying for you idiot! Keep walking!

Don't you dare leave that poor child! Who's to say the priest will take care of him? He might hate Travellers!

You hate them too! They tried to kill you a few times, remember? If you raise this child he might turn out the same! And you might kill him when you get hungry enough!

What if he can help you find Stefan? He can do magic!

No! Keep walking! We have things to do and taking care of a stray baby isn't one of them!

With that last thought, Damon continued marching down the street. He heard the door to the church open and he ducked behind a worn tavern wall. The nun that answered picked the baby up and he could hear her cooing to him gently. He sighed in relief; he would have a good home just like he promised.

"What's this?" she murmured as she found the talisman around his neck. She gasped immediately. "Witchcraft!"

Damon's undead heart lurched at the pure terror in her voice as she went back inside the church screaming for her fellow sisters. Jeremy's crying never ceased and it was ringing in his ears, damning him for leaving him in the arms of religious zealots that hated witchcraft and anything to do with it. Why he didn't think of that before he had no idea. Now he felt like a fool for taking the baby from one bad situation to another.

Cursing, he pulled himself away from the wall and sprinted back up the stairs of the church. He threw the door open, half expecting to be thrown out, and followed Jeremy's cries all the way to the back of the church where the nun had taken him. He stopped in the doorway as four other nuns crowded around the distraught babe.

"Look, he's one of them!" one of them shrieked as she held the talisman in her hand. "The mark of evil!"

"What if he's the Anti-Christ?" another wailed in agony. "Oh Sister Olivia what do we do?"

"The magic runs deep in his veins. There is no amount of purging we can do to save this child. We can only hope that God will take pity on his young soul and allow him into the Kingdom of Heaven," Sister Olivia said solemnly. "He mustn't be allowed to live any longer to spew more evil."

"We should give him to Father Marcus! Let him deal with this impurity!"

"Or you can give him back to me."

The nuns gasped as Damon made his presence known. Jeremy's wailing finally stopped as his wide brown eyes locked in on him.

"Who are you?" Sister Olivia took a step back as Damon came closer. "What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering verbally, Damon allowed the veins under his eyes to speak for themselves. The nuns screamed as they ran for the other side of the room but the vampire was faster. He ripped out their throats one by one, saving the one that held Jeremy for last. She cowered against the wall, offering the child to him like a sacrificial lamb.

"Here! Take your evil devil spawn!" she whimpered as she tossed the babe at his feet. Damon merely stepped over him, bearing his fangs at her. She shrieked and shielded her face as he grabbed her by the throat and snapped her neck in the next moment. He sank his fangs deep into her neck and drank his fill before tossing her dead body aside.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his thin long-sleeved shirt and took his coat that was still wrapped around Jeremy. Once he put it back on he grabbed the babe in one arm, tucked him in tight and left the church. He made sure to keep him hidden as he passed people rushing up the steps of the church to see what the commotion was about.

"Alright, that was a bad idea," he admitted to the gurgling baby. "That was my fault kid. I should've known they would've thought you were the devil."

Drool dribbled down his chin when he opened his mouth to yawn. Damon sighed and used his sleeve to wipe his face.

"You can tag along for now but when we get to London, you have to go in a shelter or something," Damon sighed as Jeremy rubbed his face against his shirt. "I mean it. I don't do children."

He wondered when he'd become so desperate for companionship that he'd settled for talking to a child that couldn't even understand him. He took Jeremy's warbling as a positive thing and let the fact that he didn't regret saving him as much as he wanted to sink in. He'd been alone so much in the past fifty years that he nearly forgot what it was like to have someone as company that wasn't afraid of him.

Jeremy cooed happily against him and he allowed himself one small smile. The kid was cute and, alright, maybe he liked having someone around to talk to that needed him. But once he got to London, Jeremy was going to have to find a new home. And he would make sure that the people in it wouldn't try to kill him.

16 Years later: Paris France, 1994

The bar was heavily crowded for a Wednesday afternoon, though Madi Gras probably had something to do with it. Damon had celebrated enough of that holiday to last a lifetime, yet he always found himself in the middle of celebrations. But the reason for his visit was far from social.

The local pub about two blocks from his house was always crowded and today was no exception. They were well known for having the best prices on Cognac he enjoyed on a daily basis and it was normally a quiet place for him to drink in peace, with the exception of holidays. It was his respite from his lackluster job as an automobile salesman before he had to get back to his second job, which required him to be ten times more sober than being a salesman.

However, today's respite was spent doing other things.

He kept his eyes trained on the table in his line of view in the back corner. They'd been there for some time. The blonde woman swirled her amber colored drink in her hand as she kept her ice blue eyes fixated on the man in front of her. Damon lowered his head and slowly sipped on his Cognac as he used his super hearing to listen to their conversation.

"What did you discover about the information I gave you?" the blonde spoke in fluent French.

"You were right," the man's voice was hushed. "The bodies that were found were all drained of blood with two puncture wounds on the side of the neck. And there was a purple flower found on each one."

"Do you think….?"

"It was her. Katerina Petrova was here in Paris."

"Do you believe she is still?"

"I am not sure. She is looking for something."

"What?"

"Some sort of stone to break a curse of some kind. Has your coven heard of anything?"

"Whatever it is she wants my coven and I are better off not knowing. Arielle says that she is looking for a witch to help her to replace the one that was murdered. Perhaps to break this curse you speak of."

The blonde held her hand over her glass and the dark amber filled it to the top.

"That is a very convenient trick," the man chuckled. "If only I were blessed with the gift of witchcraft instead of the gift of immortality."

"That is rather unfortunate," she smirked.

Damon continued to eavesdrop but the crowd had started growing and becoming more rambunctious, making it hard to hear. They never brought up Katherine's name again, but now that he knew someone who knew of her, he could use his own measures of making people talk. The witch was too powerful but her vampire friend…he could take him.

After another hour the witch left, making the excuse to get back to her children. Damon stayed behind as the vampire had two more drinks before he left out the back door. He followed him moments later, spotting him in the covered alleyway where he had a human woman cowering against the wall.

Damon found a piece of wood resting by the wall of the door and drove it into the vampire's back. He cried out in agony and fell to his knees. The woman screamed as she started running towards the opening of the alley. Damon blocked her path and she ran into him.

"Get away from me!" she screamed hysterically. Damon grabbed her wrists as she tried to shove him away and grabbed her chin firmly with the other hand.

"Stop fighting me," his eyes dilated as he compelled her to do exactly that. She went limp in his arms immediately.

"You never saw us and this never happened. You went to the bar, had a couple drinks and went home," he said softly. She repeated his words verbatim and he let her go when he was satisfied. When she was gone, he turned his attention to the vampire that was slowly, and noisily, trying to dislodge the wooden beam from his back.

Damon swiftly wrenched the wood from his back and he cried out in pain. He slammed the vampire against the wall in the next second and pushed it through his stomach, earning another cry of pain. He held his throat and squeezed tightly, cutting his cry short.

"Who are you?" he wheezed.

"A friend of Katherine Pierce's. I believe you know her as Katerina Petrova," Damon twisted the beam around and he whimpered. "I want to know everything you do."

"I—I don't know anything! I've never met her!"

"Is that right? Then how did you know about the purple flowers?"

"They were found with the bodies! I did not know it was something that she did regularly!"

"I find that hard to believe. A vampire like you knows that she leaves a purple flower with every body she drains. A vampire that she's is good with," Damon snarled. "Where is she?"

"I do not know!"

"I heard you and the witch talking! You're one of her informants!" he snarled at the vampire he held against the dank wall of the dark alley by the neck. His hand squeezed just a little tighter around his throat and he coughed up more dark blood. "Where did she say she was going?"

"I d-don't know any more than what I told the witch!" he sputtered. "P-Please—!"

Damon twisted the stake in his stomach as he pushed it further into his body and he howled with pain. With all the noise of the festivities it was drowned out.

"I think you do. But if you're not going to tell me then there's no point in keeping you alive—"

"She said…she was going back home!" he wheezed through terrified sobs. "She said she h-had to go home to find a stone of some sort!"

"Where?"

"I—I don't know! S-Somewhere in the States! A p-place called Virginia!"

Damon's brow furrowed.

"You said she was looking for a stone?"

"Yes! I don't know what kind of stone it was! She wouldn't say what it did! Please let me go!" he pleaded tearfully. Damon dropped him and he curled into a ball.

"If I find out you're lying to me, I'll come back and finish this," Damon grabbed him by his jacket and slammed his head into the wall. The broken vampire nodded frantically. Satisfied with this answer he pulled the stake out.

"Get lost," he snapped. "And if you tell anyone I was here, I'll tear your head off your shoulders."

The vampire nodded frantically before he was gone in a blur of clothes and blood. Damon dusted the imaginary dust from his hands and went back inside. He took his usual seat at the end of the crowded bar, which was miraculously open, and ordered another whiskey on the rocks. As he drank he mused over the information he just learned. Katherine was going all the way back to America for a stone? It sounded suspicious enough for Damon to want to make the journey back too. If he could find Katherine, she could lead him to Stefan.

It had been over 70 years since he'd last seen his brother. After his disappearance from an speakeasy back in Chicago he vowed to find him. Damon knew for a fact that Stefan didn't just up and leave, not without his belongings or without him. They'd made a promise to keep in touch if they decided to go their separate ways and Stefan wasn't one to break a promise. He wanted to know who took his brother and why.

The sound of a glass breaking in back of him followed by obnoxious laughter had him turning around. He was on his feet instantly when he recognized the young boy that was engaging a rather heavy set man in a wrestling match and winning. The man grunted and groaned as his arm slowly but steadily sank down to the table and those watching erupted into cheers.

"You've got to be kidding," he growled as he watched people pat him on the back.

"The champion of champions!" a boy with sandy blonde hair shouted gleefully. "That was brilliant Jeremy!"

Damon's eyes narrowed when Jeremy was handed a dark drink from a woman with blonde hair and bright pink lipstick. She kissed him on the cheek and he grinned when everyone cheered more. The black-haired vampire scowled as he watched him down the drink before calling for a new opponent. He crossed the room in seconds, wedging himself between his friends and patrons and pulling him out of his seat.

"Damon?" he cried as he took a look at his irate guardian. "What're you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. You're supposed to be at school," his eyebrow rose. Jeremy smiled sheepishly.

"They let us out early?"

"Nice try," he snatched the drink out of his hand and shoved it into his friend's hand. "Say goodbye."

Jeremy waved helplessly to his friends as he was dragged out of the bar. When they were outside Damon didn't release his hold but dragged him down the street instead.

"You're lucky everyone was too drunk to realize that you're half that man's size and there's no possible way that you could beat him in an arm wrestling match on your own!" he scolded as he marched through throngs of people. "I told you not to use your persuasion Jeremy! People are going to get suspicious when you suddenly get everything you want!"

"Relax Day. No one noticed," Jeremy grinned. "But did you see how fast I beat him?"

Damon snorted, "You cheated. Using persuasion to lower his arm isn't winning."

"Whatever."

"This is the third time I've caught you drinking in public," he snapped as they rounded the corner. "Did you even go to school today or did you and your boozy friends decide to start celebrating Madi Gras early?"

"We went until lunch! We weren't doing anything for the rest of the day!"

"And you persuaded your teacher that you and your friends needed a day off, didn't you? Just like you persuaded the bar owner to let you in, again," Damon said flatly. Jeremy sighed loudly.

"It's not a big deal Day—"

"It is a big deal Jeremy. People can sense when you do magic, I've told you this I don't know how many times! If vampires and witches are around they'd know exactly what you are and they'd kill you!"

"No one's realized it yet. Maybe there are no witches and vampires around to sense it," he protested. Damon rolled his eyes and dug his fingers back into his shirt as he continued dragging him down the street.

"Maybe it's time for you to be home-schooled. You clearly can't be trusted in public without adult supervision."

"You already tried that. It didn't work," Jeremy smirked, a habit he most definitely learned from him. It irked Damon almost as much as it made him proud.

"I'll handcuff you to the kitchen table. You won't be going anywhere then."

"You wouldn't. I'd use magic to get out of it anyway," Jeremy grinned. Damon rolled his eyes but continued to berate him as they walked through the crowded streets. They reached their suburban neighborhood twenty minutes later.

"What were you doing there?" Jeremy accused when he had closed the door behind him. "I thought you were following a lead."

"I was," Damon gave him a pointed glare. "Why do you keep ditching school Jeremy?"

"I didn't ditch the whole day!"

Damon folded his arms, same glare in place. Jeremy sighed as he dropped onto their worn couch.

"School is boring," he whined. "I already know everything!"

"But we talked about this. People are going to ask questions if they don't see you in school," Damon sat next to him. "Just like I have to keep up pretenses with having a job, you do too."

"But it's so repetitive! Everything we're covering you taught me when I was younger so it's pointless for me to go."

"I taught you early so you could be ahead, not to ditch because you think you're too smart."

Jeremy sighed dramatically and slumped into the couch. Damon's lips twitched as he watched him but he refused to smile, lest he let Jeremy believe he wasn't in as much trouble as he wanted him to believe.

"I'm bored Damon. I feel like every day is the same old thing," he grumbled petulantly. "I don't get to practice my magic unless you're not around, no offense. We don't do anything fun like we used to and the only time we get to go somewhere is when you're chasing a lead on Katherine or Stefan and you just make me wait until you come back."

Damon sighed. He knew Jeremy was restless like every other boy his age and he couldn't blame him. In becoming his self-appointed guardian he'd done everything possible to keep his heritage hidden. When he wasn't looking for Stefan or Katherine, he was researching the history of Travellers and found that the gypsies were just as hunted now as they were before by supernaturals and humans alike. The best way to protect Jeremy was to stop him from using magic, which was proving quite difficult as this was the age when his power was blooming and he wanted to use magic for every little thing. It amused him and annoyed the hell out of him at the same time.

"I don't let you do magic to protect you Jer. If anyone knew about what you could do you'd be killed. Travellers aren't liked very much."

"Why?"

"Because the kind of magic you can do is pure. You can utilize the earth and manipulate it how you want. Everyone wants that kind of power, even witches."

Jeremy sighed as he tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling.

"I hate being a Traveller. It's pointless," he scowled. "I don't want to be different if I'm going to be killed for it."

"That's life kid. When you have something people fear, they make you the enemy so they can destroy you," Damon mimicked his position and stared at the ceiling as well. "I hate having to monitor your every move but I wouldn't do it if I didn't think something would happen to you."

"Then let me practice! Let me learn how to defend myself and you won't have to worry about me!" Jeremy exclaimed. "I can use natural magic to protect myself and you. You just have to let me get stronger."

He'd thought about it but he was still afraid that someone would realize that he was a part of the gypsy heritage. Jeremy needed to practice to become stronger and hone his skills but his paranoia got the better of him. He couldn't protect Jeremy forever but his irrational, overprotective fatherly mind told him he could.

He snorted inwardly. If only Stefan could see him now fretting over the well-being of his wild sixteen-year-old charge.

"Natural magic is what draws them to you," he leaned back on the couch with him. "Vampires and supernaturals sense it. We have no idea how many of them live near us."

"You never told me why that is."

"I don't know. I've been trying to find out. All I know is that if a vampire senses you, they'll rip your throat out before you could even complete a spell. You can't underestimate them."

"And you can't underestimate me! I saved your life once, remember?"

"You'll never let me forget it," Damon rolled his eyes. "But let's not forget who's kept you healthy and fed your entire life."

"Look Day, I know you just want to keep me safe but you're smothering me," Jeremy turned to him. "Can't you just let me practice for an hour or two a day? I just have so much building inside me that I'll explode if I don't get to let it out!"

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. Jeremy did need an outlet, one more productive than ditching school and participating in drunken arm wrestling matches. But he was also concerned that Jeremy might accidentally kill him should he not be able to rein in his power.

"I'll think about it," he said as he stood. "My lead panned out today. He told me where Katherine was going."

Jeremy shot up immediately, complaints forgotten, "Where?"

"America. Mystic Falls, Virginia to be exact," Damon pulled a book from the dusty bookshelf by their fireplace. He blew dust off the spine before opening it. It was a photo album with pictures dating all the way back to 1860. He was just barely a man then, Stefan even less so. He stared at a picture of him and Stefan when they were older and he let out a slight smile. This was one of those times that he missed his brother fiercely. He would've loved having Jeremy around.

"Didn't you used to live there?"

"Yes."

"Are we going?"

"Yeah," he flipped the page and found a picture of him, Stefan and Katherine Pierce, as she had went by when she was staying on their plantation. He couldn't help running his finger down her cheek, forever capturing the woman he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. Now when he looked at picture of her he wanted to rip it to shreds. But this one picture he kept to remind him that they were all human once.

"When?"

"We'll leave at the end of the week," Damon shut the book and set it back on the shelf. Jeremy made a noise of protest.

"But I have school! I have friends Damon!"

"You don't even go to school and you told me you persuaded those boys to be your friends," Damon's eyebrow rose. "I don't think they'll miss you too much."

Jeremy flipped him the bird. Damon chuckled as he ruffled his thick brown hair.

"C'mon. Let's make dinner."

"You make it. I suck at cooking with that stove."

"How about you use your magic and make something good?"

The smile that lit Jeremy's face made Damon remember why he decided to keep him. He watched from the doorway as Jeremy used his hands to summon ingredients and cooking utensils he needed, his face bursting with happiness and a childlike wonder that hadn't escaped him over the years. There were day where Jeremy could really try his patience and he had a hard time remembering why keeping the brat around was a good idea. And then there were days like these where the amount he felt for the kid was overwhelming.

The sixteen years he spent with Jeremy had been some of the best for as long as he could remember. Parenthood was not easy by any means and sometimes Damon wondered why in the hell he thought he could raise a child alone, and a supernatural one at that. But for some reason he couldn't bring himself to give Jeremy up. Perhaps it was his conscious that sounded too much like his brother telling him that he needed the kid around. He'd been right, even if he hadn't wanted to admit it to himself.

Jeremy had taken his loneliness away. He'd been alone for fifty years in his endless search for his brother and he hated it. He blamed Katherine for destroying his heart and making him unwilling to open up to another when he had given her everything and she'd left him vulnerable and broken. He spent years dragging Stefan around the world in search of her, angry, confused and deeply in love with someone that had turned into a ghost. It was only until Stefan knocked some sense into him that he realized that Katherine never truly loved him. Not the way he had loved her.

"Do we have ham?" Jeremy's question knocked him from his thoughts. He shook his head, ridding Katherine from his mind as he joined Jeremy in the kitchen. As he watched him eat supper, he felt nostalgia fill him as played through memories of life in Mystic Falls when he was human. He hadn't been back there for over 100 years and he wondered how different it was

"I can't wait to see where you lived," Jeremy said through bites of his baguette sandwich. "I bet it was really nice."

"It was for the time."

"Is your house big?"

"Yes. You'll like it."

"What does it look like?"

Damon smiled, "You'll see when we get there."

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