Vampire Diaries Imagines

No Show - Alaric Saltzman

Something felt off when I walked into my classroom, I just couldn't place it. It was like something wasn't right. So, I took a moment after everyone filed in to look around the room and noticed that someone was missing. That someone being my daughter.

YN was normally sitting front and center, working on one of her many drawings right after lunch. Out of all classes, it was out of the norm for her to miss mine. Something wasn't right.

I walked up to where her best friend, Jeremy, sat in the seat behind the one she normally took up and asked, "Hey, where's YNN?"

"Said she wasn't feeling all too great, so she called Stefan, and he came and got her a few hours ago." The young Gilbert boy explained. "I thought you knew. I mean she was gone before third period."

Shaking my head, I said, "Had no clue. She seemed fine when we left the house this morning." I sighed as I thought back on the events first thing this morning. "Wonder why she didn't say anything about feeling sick."

Jeremy shook his head slightly. "I don't think she meant she was sick, Ric. I mean, think about it, she called Stefan, not Damon."

It was at that moment I understood what he meant. YN would call Damon when she was sick because he was the person who would make soup and sit to watch movies with her until she eventually fell asleep. When she called Stefan... well, that was her way of telling everyone that she wasn't in a good head space, and she needed the haven in the younger Salvatore to tell her that she wasn't crazy, and everything was going to be okay. My daughter didn't always come to me during the day when that was the case because she didn't want me to worry too much the rest of the day. But what she didn't know was that I was constantly worried about her.

Nodding, I said, "Thanks, Jer. I'm gonna check in with him then." I walked back to my desk, grabbed my phone, and shot Stefan a text. How's my girl doing?

I hadn't expected him to reply as quickly as he did but it only took about thirty seconds for my phone to go off from him texting back. Not good, man. She was already shaking when I got there.

A sigh involuntarily left me as I read the words on the screen. I'll be home soon.

Her breakdowns were becoming more and more frequent since Isobel came to town. It broke my heart to watch my child relive the death of the only woman who has ever been her mother and suffer for it. But knowing she has people who care for her other than just myself this time around takes enough of the weight off my shoulders to get through the day. At least for now.

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When I got home, it was all too quiet. It almost seemed as if no one was even there even though I knew better than to think that since both Salvatore vehicles were parked right out front. As I walked through the house, I noticed that Stefan, Damon, and Elena were all seated in the lounge area. Damon was staring a hole in the mantle, Elena was fidgeting with a ring on her finger (I found that was a nervous tick she had), and Stefan had his eyes fixated down the hallway ready to jump up at YN's call. This arrangement told me everything I needed to know without asking a single question.

I placed my things down and headed towards her room without a word to anyone else. The closer I got the more I could hear the faint sounds of the classical music YNN plays when trying to calm herself down. Though I don't think it was working. I was slow to open the door, letting the slight creak of the hinges announce my incoming without scaring her. When it was fully opened, I noticed that her bed was empty there was no physical sign of her ever being in there. But I knew all too well just where to find her. So, I rounded the bed and, sure enough, there she sat in the far corner with her knees to her chest and wrapped in her favorite blanket as tears rolled down her face.

"Hey, baby girl," I said in a soft tone as I sat down beside my daughter on the floor. "What's going on in that beautiful head of yours? Huh?"

She didn't say a word, only just shook her head slightly and leaned into my side. YN was never big on voicing her thoughts or emotions. You couldn't push her into talking about them either. No matter how hard you might have tried, if she didn't want to talk about it there wasn't going to be a word that came out of her mouth about the topic. It was something she undoubtedly inherited from me. So, I didn't try any further to get her to talk. I just did the only thing I knew best to do in times like these and wrapped my arms around her tightly in hopes that it would ground her. I held onto my little girl as she wept what felt like a million tears into the fabric of my t-shirt.

YNN didn't have to tell me what was wrong, I already had a pretty good idea of what it was. For that alone, I will always blame Isobel for my daughter's fragile mental state. I curse the woman I once claimed to love for breaking her heart not only once but twice. She didn't have to go about her day-to-day life worrying about whether YN was safe from not only the world around her but also from herself as well. For what she had done to me, I can move on from, but I will never forgive her (even now that she truly is dead) for what she had done to my child.

For now, though, I'm not going to worry about that. I'm more worried about getting YNN back to herself. So, I stood up with her in my arms and carried her upstairs to my room. As we passed the trio, they all stood up, every one of them wore a concerned look on their face. I just shook my head and continued on my way, holding YN tightly to my chest. I watched as Damon headed towards the kitchen out of the corner of my eye, probably to make her a cup of her favorite tea, while Stefan and Elena sat back down in their seats. None would leave until they knew for sure that my YHC-headed girl was okay. Honestly, I don't blame them because I didn't plan on leaving her side until she was back to the happy-go-lucky girl I raised. Just as I did before and will continue to do over and over again in the future.