An Eternal Christmas

Chapter One

The pitter-patter of tiny feet could be heard, only barely, walking across the old floorboards of the boarding house. The small brunette girl tip-toed down the hallway from her bedroom, to her parents' room. She opened the door, hoping to surprise them on Christmas morning. She traipsed across the floorboards, hoping that one wouldn't creak underneath her foot, and smiled brightly when she reached the foot of her parents' bed without making a sound. She climbed onto the bed slowly, stopping when her mother moved slightly. She moved again, and sighed when she realised that her father was laying there watching her every move.

"Daddy! I was supposed to surprise you and mommy!" Gracie Salvatore whispered, slightly annoyed her plan had been foiled.

"Gracie, you were very quiet, even with daddy's hearing he couldn't hear you until you opened the door." Stefan said, extending an arm in invitation. Gracie smiled and lay down, snuggling into her father's side.

"But I still didn't surprise mommy." The girl whispered.

Her father smirked, a cunning look crossing his face.

"I have the best idea, why don't you go and wake up uncle Damon and auntie Caroline, I am sure they will appreciate that at," he looked at his clock on the bedside table, "seven fifteen on Christmas morning." He suggested.

Gracie giggled before jumping off the bed and running out of the room, her plan to be quiet forgotten, it wasn't often she got the opportunity to wake up her uncle.

"That was mean." A voice muttered quietly beside Stefan.

He looked down to see his wife, Elena, half asleep and looking at him sleepily.

"That was payback." He replied, kissing her before getting out of the bed, putting on a pair of sweats and a shirt before walking out of the room to make breakfast.

As Stefan was about to put a pan full of bacon on the hob he heard the cry, that he knew was coming, sound through the house.

"Grace Salvatore!" Damon bellowed through the house.

Gracie ran though the kitchen door and straight into her fathers' arms, knowing he could shield her from the wrath of her uncle Damon. Soon enough he appeared in the kitchen, albeit he looked slightly disheveled. Caroline walked past Damon and into the kitchen, shooting Stefan a glare in the process.

"And what, dear brother, did I do to deserve that wake-up call?" Damon asked through his teeth, signalling in Gracie's direction with his hand.

"I told you that I would get you back for the rest of your life for that stunt you pulled at my bachelor party." Stefan told him, turning and setting Gracie down on the kitchen island behind him.

"What stunt?" Elena asked as she walked into the kitchen, wrapped in a robe and carrying unopened Christmas cards.

"Stunt? There wasn't one?" Damon said, glaring at his brother, daring him to say otherwise to Elena, who would be very angry with Damon.

Elena turned around with her hands on her hips to look at Damon, her look saying 'do I look like I was born yesterday?'. Damon raised his eyebrows and wiped the smirk from his face before he walked to take a seat at the table beside his wife.

"I didn't mean to annoy you uncle Damon, I just wanted to wake you up on Christmas." Gracie said innocently, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she had definitely learnt that look from her mother.

Damon smiled, he couldn't stay mad at his niece, no matter how much she annoyed him. He lifted her into his arms and put her onto his lap.

"It's okay, sweetie, why don't you go and wait in the living room for presents?" He suggested and she happily jumped from his lap, muttering to herself that she isn't glad her uncle isn't going to 'turn into the Grinch that stole Christmas'.