Daddy Issues

*AGE CHANGE FROM 12 to 14; Birthday no longer on Founder's Day*

Emma trudged her way downstairs, the events of last night haunting her mind. It was unfortunate that there was no cure for Rose to take to survive the werewolf bite. She was punished to a life of fear because of Katherine and her last moments were in pain. No one should have to go through that. And then of course Emma remembered the surprise visit from John. Just when things were getting somewhat better, he comes to make it worse. She went into the kitchen where she found John drinking coffee while watching the news on TV.

". . . We will be holding a memorial in town square today to honor all those we have lost. Join us in hopes that as a community, we can begin to heal." Mrs. Lockwood said on the television.

"Emma." John greeted after he turned of the TV as she opened the fridge to pull out orange juice.

She simply ignored him, opening the cabinets and grabbing a small cup.

"I see you still wear the vervain bracelet I gave you." John continued, pointing to her wrist.

Emma, in quick movement, unhooked the bracelet and tossed it in the garbage, to which she proceeded to pour the juice in the cup and return the carton of orange juice in the fridge. She brought the cup up to her lips and took a couple of gulps of the juice.

John cleared his throat, "Oh, well, do you want me to make you-" He stopped talking when he saw the blank expression Emma was giving him. "Never mind." he said, sipping his coffee again. Finally, he took the hint.

A minute went by before Elena walking into the kitchen.

"Morning." John said, only to be cut short.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked, getting straight to the point.

John tried changing the subject. "Coffee?" he offered, holding out a mug.

"We're not doing that. We did that last night. No more avoiding. Why are you here?" Elena asked one more time.

"I'm here to protect you. That's all I can say." John admitted, which earned a laugh from Emma.

"Yeah, and how's that been going?" she countered, glaring up at her uncle.

"I'll tell you more when I'm convinced I can trust you." John stated, giving a side glance at Emma.

"Oh, god, I'm late." Emma heard. Jenna walked in the room with Alaric behind her. She set her purse on the dinning room table and made the move to go to the coffeemaker but stopped when she saw John.

"That's what you get for hitting the snooze 3 times." Alaric said, his smile vanishing once he realized what happened.

"What the hell?" was all Jenna could say.

John side stepped the Gilbert sisters and put his hands behind his back. "Hey, good morning to you, Jenna. Alaric."

Jenna turned her attention to Elena and Emma. "It's okay I'm confused, right? Because we were not expecting you, like ever."

"Well, I got in late last night. The girls let me in." John explained to Jenna, who almost wasn't convinced.

"You know," Alaric injected. "I'm probably just going to take off." He eyed John and gave Elena and Emma uncertain looks before he made his way out of the house.

Jenna watched him leave. "I'm still confused here." she pointed out, hands placed on her hips.

"I decided to come back and stay for a while." John said, glancing at Elena.

Jenna immediately shook her head. "Not here, you're not." she fumed.

"Actually, you can't stop me from living here." John claimed.

"Actually, I can as legal guardian."

"Yeah, about that," John started, making Emma widen her eyes in realization of what John was getting at. "Elena, you want me to explain the situation, or would you like to do the honors?"

Jenna looked from John to the girls. "Okay, what's going on?"

Elena awkwardly scratched the side of her head. "I'm sorry, Jenna. I should have told you earlier but-"

"I'm Elena's biological father." John finished. "There. Now you know." And with that, he left.

Jenna scoffed and crossed her arms, the look of betrayal written across her face. "What?"

And for the next half hour, Elena did her best to explain the situation to Jenna, of course minus the vampires in the story. It was expected for Jenna to be angry, more like furious, to have such a huge secret to be hidden from her by the ones she called family. Jenna had to excuse herself and left the room to have some time to process what she heard.

Emma went over to Elena, who had sat at the dinning table with Jenna, and hugged her tightly. A knock at the door was heard, making Emma let go of Elena to answer it. When she opened the door, Damon pushed past her.

"Where's John?" he asked, looking around the the house.

Emma shrugged. "Don't know. He left after he dropped the bomb about being Elena's dad to Jenna."

Damon looked at Emma with a confused expression. "That's public knowledge now?"

Elena entered the hall. "Apparently." She looked down dejectedly and nodded when Damon asked if she was okay. "Jenna's head must be spinning right now, but I'm okay." she answered, drinking some coffee.

"He say what he was doing here?" Damon asked.

"No. You know, Stefan thinks that he's telling the truth about wanting to help me." Elena expressed, clearly doubting John would be much of a help.

"You believe him?" Damon inquired of Elena.

"No. I don't believe him for a second." she replied, setting the mug down.

"What do we do?" Emma asked, crossing her arms.

"Kill him."

Emma groaned at the only option Damon ever brings up. "Come on, Damon."

"I'm joking." Damon said, right when he made it to the front door. "Okay, I'm a little serious."

"Damon." Elena stressed, a look of disappointment on her face.

Damon rolled his eyes. "I won't hurt him. I'm supposed to be the good guy now, remember?"

Emma raised an intrigued eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"I will have a very civil conversation with John." Damon declared. He smiled at the girls and went out the door.

Emma glanced at Elena for a second and started to follow Damon. "There's no way I'm missing this." she said, grabbing her jacket and running after the vampire.

~~~~♡~~~~

The trio made their first stop at The Grill to see if John was hiding there. And sure enough, there was John, bothering poo Jenna and Alaric on their lunch date.

Elena grabbed onto Damon's arm before he could walk over there. "Remember. We just need answers. Please don't do anything stupid." she pleaded.

Emma noticed John and Damon have some sort of staring contest.

"Yeah, but stupid is so much more fun." Damon protested, grinning proudly.

"Damon, seriously." Emma said. "Just keep it together. Be the better man." she asked.

Damon let out a groan of disappointment. "Okay, then." he said, before walking over. "John, buddy. How you been?" Damon greeted.

John smiled, looking down. "I've been all right, Damon. It's good to see you."

They smiled at each other for a little bit longer, which made this whole encounter more awkward. John had excused himself and began to light some candles for the memorial for the people who were killed by a vicious 'mountain lion'. Damon naturally followed him to have a one on one conversation.

Elena had been called over by a friend of hers from school and Jenna needed to use the restroom. Emma sat in the seat next to Alaric and picked a french fry off of Jenna's plate.

"So, clearly, I've been out of the loop. Care to explain to me why John is here?" Alaric asked, leaning closer to Emma with his arms folded on the table.

Emma finished chewing the french fry. "Well, as I'm sure you know, Stefan tried contacting Isobel but instead of bringing back her, he brought back John. He says he's here to protect Elena, but he won't tell us exactly how."

"And you guys trust him?"

Emma immediately shook her head. "Oh, god no. There's no way in hell that I believe one word he says."

Alaric chuckled and took a sip of his water. "Good. At least we're on the same page."

Emma nodded and looked over at Damon and John. Their talk was getting a little heated. She only hoped that Damon would keep his promise and not kill John, no matter how tempting it was. A moment passed by when the young girl's head began to pound like crazy. Emma brought a hand up to grasp her head as she whimpered in pain.

"Emma? Are you alright?" Alaric asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"M-my head. It hurts." Emma cried, squeezing her eyes shut.

Alaric reached and grabbed a glass of water that was on the table. "Here, drink this."

Emma grabbed it but once it was in her hand, she let out a gasp as the glass slipped out of her hands and shattered on the floor, the sound echoing in her ears.

Caroline was being dragged by her legs through the woods by a strange man. There was a bullet wound on her forehead. The man opened the door to a trailer and threw Caroline in a cage inside, locking it. As he stepped out of the trailer, he started talking to someone but the man's head was blocking the person's face. A few seconds passed and the man finally moved and revealed the other person to be Jules.

"Emma!"

Emma blinked multiple times to see Alaric's worried face in front of her.

"Are you okay? You blanked out for a second." Alaric informed her, beginning to clean up the water that spilled when Emma dropped the cup.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows in confusion until she realized that she had a vision. She shot up from her seat.

"I got to go." she said quickly and made her way over to Elena and Damon. "Guys, we have a problem." she said, just as Elena's phone rang.

"What's wrong now?" Damon asked, glancing over at the girl, but he was taken aback when he saw her wide eyes.

"Stefan?" Elena said through the receiver.

Emma quickly pointed at Elena. "Let me guess, Stefan. You're about to tell Elena that Caroline was taken by Jules." she said, knowing Stefan could hear her on the other line.

Elena gaped at Emma. "Is that true, Stefan?" she asked Stefan.

Damon turned to Emma. "How did you know?"

"I just had a vision of someone who's working with Jules lock Caroline up in a cage." Emma explained.

"Okay, I'll tell him." Elena said, hanging up the phone. "Let's take this somewhere else."

The three of them walked away from the crowded restaurant to the bathrooms in the back. Along the way, Elena had explained to Damon that Caroline had been talking to Tyler. After they made sure no one else was in the bathroom, Damon began complaining.

"Why am I just finding out about this now?"

"Stefan was worried that you-" Elena tired to explain but was interrupted.

"That I would what, I would kill him? Of course. That's what needs to happen." Damon finished, as if stating the obvious.

"Damon, not Tyler. Just get Caroline back and leave Tyler out of it." Emma ordered.

Damon dramatically rolled his eyes. "Why not? He's a werewolf and he needs to die. I'm willing to kill. It's a win-win."

"Please." Elena begged, grasping onto Damon's arms. "Too many people are dying."

"Why do you keep doing that?" Damon questioned, earning a confused look from Elena.

"Doing what?" she asked, letting go of him.

"Assuming that I'll play the good guy because it's you who's asking." Damon and Elena stared at each other for a while, which made Emma shift uncomfortably in place. Suddenly, the bathroom door opened to reveal John, much to everyone's displeasure.

"Do you mind?" Damon said to the oldest Gilbert.

"What's going on?" John asked, looking at the sisters.

"Nothing you need to worry about, John." Emma snapped, her tolerance of him lessening.

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"Well, guess what, John. Trust works both ways so get out." Damon demanded.

"Look, we don't have time for this. We need to save Caroline." Elena stated.

Damon shook his head. "We don't need to do anything. I'll take care of it." He turned to Emma. "Did you see where they took Caroline?"

"Not clearly, but it was somewhere in the woods. They have a beat down trailer where they're keeping her. I hope that helps." Emma replied.

"It's good enough." Damon turned around and poked John's chest. "First dad duty, ground your daughter. Keep her here." And he went out the door.

Emma knew better than to follow him but that didn't stop Elena. Though, John blocked her way.

"I'm going, too." Elena protested, but John wouldn't let her go.

"No, no, I'm with Damon on this one. Just tell me what's going on?" John asked, holding onto Elena.

She ignored him and he left the girls in the bathroom as we waited out side.

Emma lightly touched Elena's arm. "I know I usually side with you on stuff like this but I think we need to let Damon and Stefan handle the problem."

Elena was bewildered. "What?"

"We're dealing with angry werewolves who can instantly kill Caroline if things don't go their way. If we go, we won't be of help what's so ever." Emma stressed.

Elena scoffed and burst through the door and Emma followed her. They were both stopped by John, who was patiently waiting for them. Why won't he just go away?

"You two are not leaving this restaurant." he declared, arms crossed and everything.

"You can't tell me what to do." Elena pointed out, shaking her head.

John stepped forward. "Yes, I can. Want to know why? Because I'm here to make sure you stay safe."

"I've got that covered." Elena tried to leave again but John held out his arm.

"You mean the deal you made with Elijah? You really think he'll keep his promise? Putting your faith in him was a dumb move."

"Like we should put faith in you?" Emma injected, glaring up at the man. "After what you did to Stefan and Damon?"

"We've had our differences, and I've made mistakes, but we're family." John said.

Elena raised a finger up to John's face. "You don't get to use that word. That word is off limits to you."

John sighed. "Fine, but it doesn't change the facts."

Elena halfheartedly chuckled. "You're right. Facts are facts, so listen up. You may be my father, but I am never going to be your daughter. You got that?" She pulled down John's arm and walked away, leaving Emma with a stunned John.

Emma started to laugh which made John look at her confused. "She told you."

It wasn't long before Elena wanted to go back home, so the Gilbert sisters went back to their house. Emma was going upstairs when Elena stopped her.

"Hey, Em?" Emma turned around to see Elena pointing to her wrist. "Where's your vervain bracelet?"

Emma held up her wrist. "Oh, I realized John gave it to me so I threw it away."

Elena smiled but shook her head. "I can understand why you did that, but it's the only thing that will keep you safe from compulsion."

Emma shrugged. "I know, I was just going to find something else to use."

"Maybe you could use mom's necklace." Elena suggested.

"Really?"

Elena nodded and dragged Emma to first Emma's room to get the necklace and then Elena's. Elena set the locket, after opening it, down on her dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. She pulled out a vial of vervain in plant form and sprinkled a little bit over the picture of their parents and closed the locket. Elena raised it up and told Emma to turn around. She clipped it around Emma's neck and faced her towards her mirror.

"There, so mom's always with you." Elena said, squeezing Emma's shoulders. "I'll be right back, okay?" Emma nodded and Elena disappeared downstairs.

Emma grasped the locket as she stared at herself through the mirror. She wanted to avoid wearing it. As stupid as it sounded, it, in a way, made her parent's death final. Like the locket was supposed to be the only that represented their life. Emma brushed away the single tear that fell from Emma's eye and made the move to go downstairs when she saw John staring at her sorrowfully. She walked right past him and raced down the stairs. When she entered the kitchen, she saw Elena and Stefan embracing each other.

"Oh, sorry. I'll come back." she said, backing up.

"Hold on, Emma. I may need you for something." Stefan said, letting go of Elena.

Stefan had explained how Caroline was really shaken up from the kidnapping and he thought it was a good idea for Elena, Bonnie and Emma to stay with her for the night, to make her feel better. And that is exactly what they did. They had the best girl's night ever, which let them escape the crazy supernatural world they lived in.

~~~~♡~~~~  

YES I UPDATED AGAIN TODAY. I know, I know. How the heck did I write another chapter? The same day I already updated on? Well, all I can say is. . . I don't know. Honestly, I just thought of you guys, my fantabulous readers, and I just typed my butt off. Now, this chapter is shorter then the other's but still worth the read. So I really hope you liked this chapter and the one before this and have a good night or morning, depending on where you live XD!