"Ana?" Damon stops short as he was about to walk into his study. "Why is part of your hair blue?" He throws a dirty look at Jacob who just stands in Ana's shadow.

At Damon's voice Ana stops walking. "Some kids at school thought it would be amusing to dye my hair by dumping blue dye in it." Ana is furious. If there was one thing she really likes about herself it was her hair. Neither blond nor brown, but a golden color.

Damon's eyes go to Jacob and bore into him. "And where were you, Jacob, when these kids decided to have their 'fun'?"

"It was during art class and the teacher put me in a group on the other side of the room. I tried to change groups, but the teacher wouldn't listen to me." Jacob knew that Damon would blame him for not stopping the bullying.

Damon's eyes take on a dangerous gleam. It looks like he'll need to have another talk with the principal at the school. "And the kids that did this to her?"

"They were sent to the principal's office. After school I paid them a little visit off school grounds. That's why we are late sir." Jacob responds as fast as he can and still have his words intelligible.

"Ana?" Damon goes to her and lifts her chin up. He sees the tears in her eyes and it makes him angry. "We'll figure out some way to fix this." He makes a few calls and then ushers Ana outside.

Jackson opens the door for them and they enter the SUV.

They go to a hair salon and they are ushered in immediately.

In the end the hair stylist manages to dye her hair all the same color. She tells her that the color will fade in a few weeks and to return then.

Damon thanks her and gives her an extra large tip before they exit the salon.

"Damon, I can't go to school with my hair like this. It's against school policy." Ana says. Although she likes how the blue color looks with her eyes, she's still trying not to cry.

"I've set up an appointment with your principal. I'll be talking to her about what happened and what we had to do to fix it. If she won't allow you in school because of that then you and Jacob will be pulled out and home schooled for the rest of the year." Damon is still very angry about what happened. 

Damon also knows that the school can't afford to have any more students leave. Pulling Ana and Jacob out will cause them a lot of trouble. But neither is he going to put up with the bullying. The school has a strict no bullying policy.

"Damon, what did she say?" Ana jumps on him the minute he comes back from the meeting with the principal.

Damon sighs, "The kids swear that it was an accident, but the teacher saw what happened. It was intentional. The kids are suspended for three weeks. If it happens again they will be expelled. Also there was a warning that Jacob better not take further action against the kids. The school can't do anything about what he did since it was off school grounds. Finally, you will be allowed to go with your hair colored. I warned them that if there are any further incidences of bullying you that you and Jacob will be pulled and home schooled. I'm still not happy about leaving you in school, Ana. I'd prefer you here."

"I need to go to school. Your home is lovely, but I hardly ever get out. Maybe school isn't great but it beats staying here all the time." Ana says it all without being bitter but she feels a bit confined here.

Damon is hurt, "It's your home as well, Ana."

Ana shakes her head, "I'm tolerated here. You are the only one that believes I belong here."

Damon pulls her to him and hugs her. "But I'm the only one that matters, Ana. This is your home now. You know that you are allowed to be anywhere other than private rooms."

"Damon," Ana says after he lets her go.

"Yes, Little One?"

"Why do some of the maids have short skirts for their uniforms and others have long ones? I've asked but nobody will tell me. The maids get a scared look on their faces and leave as quickly as they can and the men either ignore me or tell me to ask you."

Damon sighs again, "Let's go into my study for this, shall we?" Damon stands up and offers her his hand. Ana takes it readily and walks by his side to the study. Damon opens the door and lets her in ahead of him. He's been dreading this talk since she moved in. That she's waited this long to ask him is nothing short of miraculous. 

Damon takes her over to the sofa and they both get comfortable.

"You remember what your father did to try to save his life?" Damon begins.

Ana nods, "He gave me to your father as a slave."

"My father spent a lot of time and money buying and selling slaves. The maids in the short skirts are slaves and the ones in the long skirts are servants that are working here willingly."

Ana looks at Damon, disappointment in her eyes. "Oh, I see."

"I haven't bought or sold any slaves since I took over." Damon says, but he's not sure who he's trying to reassure here.

"What does it mean for the slave, Damon. I mean, what's the difference between the slave and the servants?"

"Well the obvious one, the slaves aren't here willingly and the servants are. The slaves don't get paid and the servants do." Damon doesn't want to continue.

"What else, Damon?" Ana gets a note of command in her voice that Damon responds to automatically without thinking about it.

"The slaves can't say no if any of my men or visitors want to have some fun." This conversation is making him squirm now.

"Damon, I don't understand. They can't say no to what?"

"They can't say no to having sex," Calum says from the doorway startling them both.

Damon sends a look of thanks and irritation. He doesn't like it when people interject in his conversations, but this time Calum said what he was finding it hard to say.

"So, they are forced to have sex?" Ana says eyes wide and tear filled. She looks away from Calum and turns to Damon.

Reluctantly Damon nods his head.

Ana jumps off the couch and runs past Calum and out the door. They could hear her running up the stairs.

"Thanks for that. I don't know if I should hit you or reward you for what you just did."

"How about neither. It's about time she understood. How have you managed to keep her from finding out this long?" Calum says striding over to the couch and chairs and taking a seat in one of the chairs facing Damon.

Damon shrugs, "It's just never come up until tonight."

Ana shuts the doors connecting her room with Damon's and does something she's never done before, she locks the door on her side. She's not afraid of Damon, but she doesn't want to be around him right now either. She had locked her room door when she came in.

Ana falls asleep after crying for a long time. She had thought Damon didn't keep slaves since he hadn't kept her as one. It hurt her to find out that he did actually keep slaves.

It isn't long before the nightmares hit. After she wakes from each one she cries herself back to sleep all over again. The next day, the maid wakes her up and she hasn't gotten much sleep at all. The maid takes one look at Ana and leaves to find Damon.

"You're not going to school today," Damon insists. "Jacob can get your schoolwork for you."

He strokes her hair, but she makes no move to even look at him. 

"Ana, what's wrong?" Damon asks with a bit more authority to his voice, "Why didn't you come into my room last night if you were having nightmares?"

Again Ana remains silent and doesn't look at him.

"Ana-" Damon starts getting irritated but he's interrupted by Ana.

"I thought you were different. I thought that since you didn't keep me as a slave that you didn't keep slaves. I was wrong. Are you just waiting until I get older to make me a slave because you can't do so now because the authorities put me in your care?"

"I wouldn't treat a slave the way I've treated you Ana. You aren't a slave and you never will be if I have anything to say about it." Which he does, she's under his protection and the others won't touch her unless they want to start a war with him.

"But you're just like the others. Please leave me alone." Ana says and doesn't respond to anything further that Damon says or does.

The maid brings in her breakfast as Damon leaves and the last thing he hears is her telling the maid to take it away, she's not hungry. Ana always eats, it's a reflex from when she was starved by her parents and then her foster brother. Damon hits the wall in anger leaving a good sized hole.