❝𝙽𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝, 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑е 𝚠𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚜. 𝙰𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚎 '𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚐 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚜,
𝙵𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚞𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢,
𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢.
𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚎 (𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚜),
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚙𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 (𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚜𝚎).
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚟𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚎, 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎,
𝙰 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎,
𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚎.❞
𝙼𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 – 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝙿𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚜

After rushing home, when Stefan walked in his room, he spotted a crow. He knew that crow and he turned to the balcony to see his brother standing there.

"Damon," Stefan said.

Damon smirked at him, "Hello, brother."

Stefan asked, "Crow's a bit much, don't you think?"

"Wait 'til you see what I can do with the fog," Damon replied.

"When'd you get here?" asked Stefan. He glanced around, "Where's the triplets?"

He never really understood the way Damon latched onto Peyton, Elliot, and Ashton, especially when Damon brought them over to meet Stefan introducing them as Damon's kids. Damon had said he adopted the kids because they were orphaned due to a man in a Santa Claus costume murdering the parents.

Stefan still didn't get why Damon had chosen to make the triplets his responsibility.

"I left them behind in New Orleans," Damon replied. "I got tired of lugging them around, you know?" He chuckled at the horrified look Stefan gave him, "Don't give me that look. They go wherever I go. Or I take them to wherever they want to go."

Stefan asked, "Where are they, Damon?"

The door opened and the three teens walked in. Ashton still wore glasses and a beanie, but occasionally wore contacts, and Peyton's hair was curled like always. It was like they never changed, just grew and aged. Peyton was 5'6, Elliot was 5'8, and Ashton was 5'10.

Peyton wore an owl locket that had vervain in it.

Elliot and Ashton wore a black and blue bar necklace that had vervain on it somewhere.

All Damon said was, "What? You think I'm going to let my kids become food to some other vampire?"

Stefan asked, "When'd you get here?"

"He missed us," Ashton said to Peyton and Elliot, or Damon, or the three of them.

"Well, we couldn't miss your first day at school," Damon said. "Your hair's different. I like it."

"It's been fifteen years, Damon," Stefan told him.

"Thank god," Damon replied. "I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look...did not suit you. I couldn't make the kids suffer anymore than they had. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads."

Sure, Stefan hadn't seen Damon in years, but that didn't stop Damon from dropping the triplets off on Stefan at random times, especially once at one in the morning, however, Stefan hadn't talked to Damon during those times. He just made the three kids be the messenger between them.  

Stefan asked, "Why are you here?"

Damon asked, "You mean to tell me, you didn't miss your dear niece and nephews?"

Peyton did an overdramatic gasp, "That's hurtful, Uncle."

Stefan looked at the three and said, "I did miss you three, but why is Damon here?"

"I miss my little brother and they missed you," Damon replied.

"You hate small towns. It's boring," Stefan said. "There's nothing for you to do."

"You know the kids, they've kept me busy," Damon told him.

Peyton said, "Anything to help."

"You know, you left that girl alive tonight," Stefan said. "That's very clumsy of you."

"Ah," Damon said. "That can be a problem...for you."

"Why are you here now?" asked Stefan.

"Like I said, the kids missed their uncle," Damon said.

Stefan asked, "You almost got ran out of New Orleans, didn't you? That's why vampires don't adopt human children."

Elliot asked, "We lasted this long, haven't we?"

Damon said, "Besides, Stefan, I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word...Elena."

The three human teens knew about Katherine and doppelgӓngers and all that, being witches and all.

Stefan ordered the teens some pizza, considering that they were humans and needed actual food to survive. It was a miracle that Damon had kept them alive for almost eleven years. The triplet's birthday was on Halloween right at three in the morning for bonus points, according to their birth certificates.

Then that left Stefan to help the three teens unload their luggage so they can catch up as Damon suggested.

So, after he got their luggage in their rooms, separate rooms because Ashton snored.

Stefan found Damon reading one of Stefan's journal, out loud, "She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?"

"She's not Katherine," Stefan said.

"Well, let's hope not," Damon replied. "We both know how that ended." Of course, Damon told the triplets about that, once they were old enough to understand. "Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?"

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work," Stefan said. "Do you really want your kids to see that?"

"Come on," Damon said. "Don't' you crave a little?" He started hitting Stefan.

"Stop it," Stefan told him.

"Let's do it," Damon said, "Together. I saw a couple of girls out there."

"Hey, Uncle—" Ashton stopped in his tracks seeing Damon shove Stefan.

Damon stopped what he was doing and asked, "What, Ash?"

"I just wanted to know when the pizza is getting here," Ashton said.

"It'll get here when it gets here," Damon told him, the thing he usually says when the kids got anxious over food delivery. "I call dibs on the pizza deliveryman."

Ashton just walked away.

"Let's just cut to the chase," Damon continued taunting Stefan and shoving him, "Let's just go straight for Elena. Imagine what her blood tastes like." Stefan's face transformed, "I can!"

"I said stop," Stefan said and tackled his brother out the window.

Elliot heard glass shattering and looked at Ashton, whose room was right across the hall. The door was open. Peyton left her room to stand in the hall between her brothers' open bedroom doors, having heard the glass shattering too.

Elliot asked his siblings, "What the hell was that?"

"Family reunion," Peyton replied with a shrug. Ashton nodded.

There was a strange sound, like a body getting thrown into something.

Elliot said, "It sounds more like Family Feud to me."