The Second Life Of Stella Salvatore

A Surprising Alliance

Damon's POV:

It was shortly after Stefan left that Ivy woke up while I was passing time by reading one of my favorite books. I didn't even know she was awake until I heard her small voice say,"Daddy, I have to use the bathroom."

I closed my book and looked over to see her sitting there looking at me with her big beautiful blue eyes. I smiled and helped her down from the bed. "It's that door right over there. Do you need any help?"

"No, Daddy. I'm a big girl."

I laughed at her words and she flashed me a smile before tottering over to the partially opened bathroom door. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the light switch then closed the door. I sat back in my chair and stretched with a sigh as I put my book on the little table beside me. I glanced over at Elena, who was sound asleep. I checked my phone for any text messages from Stefan, but got nothing. I had several Facebook notifications, one of which said that Caroline Forbes Mikaelson added 25 new photos to the album "Honeymoon". Wow. I don't think anyone would want to see any photos in that album. I smirked at my thoughts.

I put my phone up just seconds before the lights in the hallway started to flicker on and off crazily. I stood up and went over to the door, looking out into the empty hallway of the maternity ward. I went back into the room and was just about to sit back down in my chair when a shrill scream came from the bathroom. I bolted over there and tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Ivy? Ivy, can you hear me? Open the door, Baby. Open the door."

The doorknob wriggled a little bit and then the door swung open, letting me find my four-year-old all balled up in the corner crying. I ran in there and she jumped up from the floor just in time for me to pick her up and hug her to me. "Oh god, Ivy. You scared me half to death."

"There was somebody in the bathroom, Daddy. There was somebody in the bathroom and she was really scary." Ivy whispered in a very frightened tone as her little fingers gripped my shirt.

I opened the door slowly with the toe of my boot and peered into the bathroom where the light was flickering on and off like in the hallway. It was empty. "There's no one in here, Ivy. You were just imagining things."

"No, I wasn't. She was there. She was wearing a hospital dress like Mama and she had a bracelet like Mama too." She must have been talking about a hospital bracelet. "She tried to talk to me. She wanted me to talk to someone for her."

I couldn't comprehend what my little girl was trying to tell me. Was someone really in the bathroom trying to talk to her? If so, who the hell was it? And how come the bathroom was empty just a few minutes later? Had she been seeing things? Wait. Jeremy could see ghosts and communicate with them. In a way the ghosts could talk to anyone they wanted to through Jeremy. Could Ivy have been seeing a ghost? No. No way. It must have been her imagination.

"Well whoever it was is gone now, Sweetie." I comforted her as I wiped the tears from her little pudgy cheeks. I put my forefinger under her chin to get her to look at me. "I promise you no one will ever hurt you. I'll always be here to keep you safe."

"Pinkie promise, Daddy?" She held up her little pinkie and wiggled it.

I laughed softly. "Pinkie promise." She wrapped her tiny pinkie around my larger one to make my promise official. No matter how many pinkie promises or how many times I crossed my heart, I will always keep my promise to protect my little girl.

"Can we go see the baby in the nursery?" Ivy asked. "Cause I'm not sleepy anymore."

"Sure. Let's go see your baby brother." I stood up with her in my arms and we made our way down the hallway to the nursery window. The lights were no longer flickering, thank God. We stood there in front of the window, looking in at all the tiny babies in their bassinets. Some of them were wiggling a little and some were completely still as they slept.