20. I'd Leave My Happy Home For You

"Dr. Laughlin?" A police officer asked, approaching Jo while she was on duty at the hospital.

"Yes?" Jo asked confused.

"Hi, I'm Officer Baker" the police officer introduced, "Is there somewhere private we can speak?".

"Sure" Jo replied, leading the officer into an empty hospital room, "What's this about?".

"I'm here regarding Professor Saltzman" the officer informed, "I understand you two are engaged to be married".

Jo looked at the officer infront of her in worry, "Is something wrong?" she asked.

The officer stayed quiet for a moment, "Nope" he finally said, "Everything is just right".

Jo watched in shock as the man infront of her suddenly started stripping his clothes off, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa! Wow. uh--oh, my god, no, I don't think so--".

"Surprise" Aria and Rebekah yelled, running into the room and throwing confetti at the stripper they hired.

Jo looked at Rebekah and Aria in amusement, "No, no, no, this can't be happening" she said, very amused with the situation.

Aria made Jo sit down on a chair and after placing a plastic tiara on her head, the three started dancing around the room with the stripper.

"Happy bachelorette!" Aria and Rebekah yelled.

***

"An entire diner to ourselves, actual heaven" Jo said, as her, Rebekah and Aria sat in an empty diner.

"If Caroline would be here we would be having a spa day, but she needed a few days away which is why Nik took her and their kids to New Orleans for a few days, but don't worry they will be at the wedding" Aria said.

"Understandable" Jo said, smiling at Mia who was currently on her lap.

"Thanks for letting the triplets join your bachelorette" Aria said, as she carried Alec and Rebekah carried Asher, "I couldn't find any good babysitters for them".

"It's all good, I love your kids Aria" Jo assured.

"And clearly they love you" Rebekah said, looking at Mia who was busy smiling at Jo.

Aria chuckled, "Anyways, since the master of party planning isn't here, me and Rebekah planned for us to just stuff our faces all night".

"You're geniuses" Jo praised, making the two girls laugh.

"But wait, didn't you say you were a vegetarian?" Rebekah asked, looking at Jo's beef burger.

"Beks" Aria warned.

"I'm just saying, that burger in her hand isn't vegetarian in any shape or form" Rebekah defended.

"The baby is not okay with the no-meat thing" Jo informed, "Besides, it's my party, and I'll eat what I want to", Jo takes a sip of her strawberry milkshake, "I do wish this was vodka though".

"You and me both" Aria said, taking a sip of her chocolate milkshake.

"Hey, I don't want to know what Ric's doing, do I?" Jo asked the two vampires.

"Nope" Rebekah replied, "But with Kol and Damon in charge of his party, it's not going to be anything good".

"Lovely" Jo said.

"Relax, it won't be that bad" Aria assured.

"Assuring her or yourself?" Rebekah asked.

"A bit of both" Aria replied, making Jo and Rebekah laugh.

***

While Aria was with Jo and Rebekah, Damon texted her to meet him at the Town Square, so after leaving the triplets with very eager Jo and Rebekah, Aria agreed to meet up with him.

"Don't tell me you got a lap dance and now you feel guilty" Aria said into the phone, as she walked to the town square while munching on to some curly fries.

"How'd you know?" Damon teased.

"Oh my god, am I going to have to kill a bitch?" Aria teased.

"Maybe" Damon replied.

Aria chuckled, "Spoiler alert, I'm on a bit of a junk food high so I might be a bit more giddy then usual".

"That will explain why you're walking around town eating curly fries" Damon said.

Immediately Aria started looking around, "Where are you?" she asked confused.

"Look up" Damon replied.

Aria looked up and saw Damon standing on top of the clock tower, "What are you doing up there vampy?".

"Waiting for you witchy" Damon replied.

"Coming up now" Aria said, smiling at Damon.

***

Damon and Aria sat on top of the clocktower together.

Aria put her head on Damon's shoulder, "I love being up here with you" she whispered.

"Me too" Damon whispered, kissing the top of Aria's head, "Can I ask you a question?".

"Go for it" Aria said, as Damon laced his fingers with her.

"If I was to ask you to leave Mystic Falls with me, will you?" Damon asked.

Aria lifted her head from Damon's shoulder and looked at him in shock, "What?" she asked.

Damon sighed, "I just--lately I've been wanting to start somewhere new" he admitted, "Just with you and our kids, somewhere far away from here".

"I remember you telling me once that you didn't want to raise our kids here, I thought that was a in the moment thing, but you actually meant it?" Aria asked.

Damon nodded, "Mystic Falls is our home, but we've both gone through some pretty awful crap in this town, I don't want all that to come back and effect our children".

"But where will be go?" Aria asked confused.

Damon looked at Aria, he then stood up and held his hand out for the tribrid, "Come on, there's something I want to show you" he said.

"Where to?" Aria asked, putting her hand into Damon's.

"Well, down, for starters, unless you want to wuss out and take the stairs" Damon teased, helping Aria stand.

Aria laughed, "Never" she said, "Plus, we only live once, right?".

"Once or twice" Damon replied.

Damon and Aria looked at each other, with huge smiles on their faces and their hands intertwined with each other, the two soulmates jumped off the clock tower.

***

"Damon, where are we going?" Aria asked confused, as her and Damon walked the dark streets of Mystic Falls.

"Ask my what I like being about a vampire" Damon suddenly said.

"What?" Aria asked amused.

"Come on Ria, ask me" Damon urged.

"Okay" Aria laughed, "So Damon, what do you like about being a vampire?".

"I like all of it, the speed, the feed" Damon replied, "Everything's so heightened, and eternally looking great in a black leather jacket's not the worst thing either".

"Oh, trust me, it isn't" Aria said, admiring Damon in his leather jacket.

Damon chuckled at Aria, "I'm forgetting something though" he said, "Hmm, oh, I remember", Damon stopped walking and looked at Aria, "Getting in people's heads is quite a bit of fun too".

Damon gestured his head to the side, turning to the side, Aria gasped in shock after seeing a beautiful two story house infront of her.

"Wow" Aria whispered.

Damon stood behind Aria and wrapped his arms around her waist, "This is the dream" he whispered, "You, me, Asher, Alec and Mia, living in a house like this, living the happiest life we ever could".

Aria sighed, "Damon, I know you, and I know how much you love the thrill and danger, will you able to leave all the behind behind to live a normal life?".

"That was the old Damon, this Damon, he just wants the four most important people in his life to be safe and to be happy, with him" Damon replied, he made Aria face him, "I've had so much fantasy in my life Aria, enough for a hundred lifetimes, now I just want normal, with you and my kids".

Aria stared at Damon for a moment, tears welling in her eyes, "I don't want to live in a two story house" she whispered.

Damon frowned, "Ria--".

"I want you to own a bar" Aria interrupted, "And on top of that bar will be our very spacious apartment, where our kids will grow up and I will write best selling books, and every night when you come upstairs from the bar, you will see your crazy family of four very eagerly waiting for your arrival, we might also adopt a cute little puppy".

Damon looked at Aria, he never knew he was capable of loving someone as much as he loved Aria, yet here he was, madly and deeply in love with the tribrid, and the way their future looks, it definitely didn't seem like he was falling out of love anytime soon.

"We're going to have that" Damon stated, "I don't know when, but we're going to have that dream, maybe in a year or maybe in two, but I promise you Aria, I will fulfill your dream".

Aria smiled, she put her hands on Damon's neck, "I know you will" she whispered.

Damon smiled, "I'm going to kiss you now" he stated.

Aria smiled, "I will be offended if you didn't" she said.

Without wasting another second, Damon smashed his lips on to Aria's, their moment was broken when Damon's phone started ringing.

"Hang on" Damon whispered, taking his phone out of his pocket, "Ah, Kol" he realised, answering his phone, "Better be good, Mikaelson, Aria and I are having a moment".

"Lily came after the triplets" Kol informed, shocking both Damon and Aria.

Aria snatched the phone from Damon, "Are they okay?!" she asked, "Tell me my kids are okay, Kol!".

"They're okay" Kol informed, "Rebekah managed to protect them from her but Lily got away and the triplets won't stop crying".

"We're on our way" Aria said.

After hanging up on Kol, both Damon and Aria rushed towards the boarding house, wanting to get to their children immediately.

***

Damon and Aria ran into the boarding house, where the bachelor party for Alaric had now been ended by the two originals, and immediately they saw Kol and Rebekah trying to calm their hysterical children.

Without wasting a second Aria rushed over to Rebekah and grabbed Mia from her, while Damon grabbed Asher and Alec from Kol.

"Hey, it's okay" Aria whispered into Mia's ear, "It's okay, you're okay, mamma is here, she's not going to let anything happen to you".

"What happened?" Damon asked Kol, trying calm his sons down.

"Enzo arrived at Alaric's party after you left" Kol started, "He was looking for you but when he didn't find you, he came to me, he told me that Lily was back to being a ripper and she was looking for Aria, blaming her for losing the one thing that would bring her psycho family back, and she knew she couldn't directly attack Aria so she decided to use her weakness her against her".

"Your kids" Rebekah told Aria, who was hugging Mia to her chest.

"Immediately I tried to call you two, but none of you were answering your phone, so I called Rebekah who told me the triplets were with her and Jo at the diner and while I was on the phone with her, Lily ended up coming to the diner for the triplets" Kol continued.

"I was able to hold her off for a bit, and after realising I was too strong for her, she ended up stabbing me in the neck with a fork and running away, but the chaos ended up scaring the triplets" Rebekah said, looking at the triplets who had finally calmed down after being in their parents arms.

Aria didn't say anything to either Kol and Rebekah, she just turned to Damon, "Can you bring Alec and Asher up to their nursery?", Damon nodded in response.

Without saying anything else, Aria went upstairs with Mia, and Damon followed after her shortly.

***

Damon and Aria stood in their kids nursery, after ages of walking back and forth, both of them had successfully managed to get the triplets to fall asleep.

"I'm going to kill her" Aria said, finally breaking the silence, "I know she's your mother Damon, but she shouldn't have gone after my kids".

"No, she shouldn't have" Damon said, feeling equal anger as Aria.

Aria looked at Damon, tears in her eyes, "What would have happened if Lily had succeeded in harming the triplets? I mean, she's their grandmother for gods sake, what kind of grandmother tries to harm her own blood?".

"The diabolical kind" Damon replied, staring at his kids, "I'm going to find her Aria, and when I do, I promise she will suffer for going after my family".

"She's your mother" Aria whispered, "I can't ask you to go after her".

"She went after our kids" Damon snapped, "She went after the people who mean the most to me, you're delusional if you think I'm going to just sit back and do nothing".

"I didn't say that" Aria defended, "I just don't want to put you in a difficult position".

"You're not" Damon assured, "You and my children mean the world to me, Lily better pray she doesn't come infront of me, because even I don't know what I'll do once I see her".

After that both Aria and Damon stayed quiet, both deciding to spend the night in the triplets nursery, none of them comfortable with leaving their children alone for the night.

***

Presenting 6x20 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria and Rebekah ordering a stripper for Jo's bachelorette party?

Thoughts on Damon wanting to leave town with Aria and their kids?

Thoughts on Damon and Aria's dream about their future together?

Thoughts on Lily trying to go after the triplets?