"Damon, I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat in two days." Ana says coming over to Damon's house a few months later.

Damon's smile at her coming over drops at her words. "Why haven't you eaten in two days Little One?"

"Mrs. Drescott left after breakfast yesterday morning. There was food in the cupboards and fridge then, but when I got home from school all the food was gone." Ana explains even as Damon takes her into the kitchen and gets her a bowl of fruit salad as he makes her a sandwich.

"What about Scott? Is he hungry as well?" Damon demands. He has a feeling he knows where the food has gone.

Ana shakes her head. "No, at least not that I can tell. He has friends over right now and I can hear laughing and music coming from in there. I thought I heard noise from food containers as well."

Damon is furious. This isn't the first time Mrs. Drescott has left Ana attended by only her son, Scott. But it is the longest time so far. He now understands how the other girl went missing for a week before she was reported missing. 

Ana has never been starved before either. "Scott threatened to hurt me if I said anything to anybody." Ana whispers when Damon demands why she didn't say anything to him before or to Jacob.

"Jacob doesn't like me anyways. I don't want him to get into trouble. He does what you told him to. Nobody bullies me in this school like they did in my other one. But neither does he want to be my friend." Ana says it all in a small lost voice.

Damon sits next to her, "Don't you have any friends there?"

Ana shakes her head no, "They know I'm a foster kid and don't want to get foster kid cooties. They treat me like I'm dirt or something. If it weren't for Jacob I'm sure that I'd be bullied constantly."

"I'm sorry Ana. Hopefully this won't last much longer and I'll be able to be your guardian." Damian says and pulls Ana into a hug.

"I don't know, your men don't like me either. They say that this is a waste of time and blame me for having to be out here instead of in the city where they belong. Even Calum hates me, but he hides it really good."

At her words Damon becomes furious. His men think that guarding something of his is a waste of time? "Ana, love, I've never asked you before and I'll never ask you again, but would you be willing to dance for me and my men?"

"You want me to strip in front of your men?" Ana asks fear widening her eyes.

Damon is quick to reassure her as he holds her close to him once more. "Oh, no, sweetheart. Go back to your house and change into your swimsuit or grab it and change into it here. There's even a pole here. Apparently the previous owner liked to pole dance."

"Just dance in my swimsuit?" Ana asks timidly as she pushes against Damon. She had only finished physical therapy last month and isn't sure how good she'll be dancing. "I don't know how good I'll be. I haven't danced since the fire and..."

"You'll do great, you were incredible that night even though you were hurting. The therapists said that you've regained full motor control, so you shouldn't have any trouble dancing. But if you don't want to you don't have to." Damon is quick to reassure her. He doesn't want to force her into doing something she doesn't want to do.

Ana looks at him long and hard, "You have a reason for wanting me to do this though, don't you?"

"Yes, you belong to me Ana and they need to see just how special you are. But they seem to be blind to the inner you and so they need to see the outer abilities you can do. Even though you were hurting you were the best dancer I've ever seen and I've grown up watching strippers at the clubs." Not just watching either. Females had taken a special interest in him at a very young age.

"Okay, you think that this will stop them from hating me. It won't work, but I'll do it." She goes to hop down, but Damon stops her.

"Why do you think it won't work?"

"Because they think I'm a weakness to you. It has nothing to do with how valuable they think I am. They think others will target you through me and they will have to protect me, in order to protect you." Damon keeps his face blank, but her words once more show how incredibly mature this eight year old is. He can't believe that she is actually ten years younger than him and not ten years older.

Ana slips down from her seat and races out the door. Damon calls his people over and has them go downstairs where the pole is. He holds Calum back and is about to talk to him when he hears the front door open and close bringing Ana back.

"I'll talk to you after this meeting." Damon says and lets Calum find a seat. Damon regularly holds meetings down here so he keeps the seats set up.

Ana calls out to him and he goes up the stairs. He's not happy when he sees the tears running down her face. "You don't have to do the dance. I'll just have the guys go back to what they were doing...." he trails off as Ana shakes her head.

"That's not why I'm crying. I heard Scott talking outside my room. He didn't know I was home. He's having another party tomorrow night. His mom isn't coming home for a few more days. He thinks that by tomorrow I'll be hungry enough that he'll be able to do whatever he wants just so I'll eat. He's not going to invite you to this party because he thinks you'll try to stop him from doing whatever he's going to do."

"He actually said that out loud?" Damon is beyond furious now.

"His friend asked him if you were going to be there this time. Apparently the girls don't pay any of them any attention when you come. He was happy at Scott's reply. Damon, he's going to hurt me tomorrow." Damon holds her close to calm her down.

Once she's calm he tells her to go into the bathroom and splash cold water on her face. "I'll talk to my men. You stay here as long as you want or feel you can before you have to return to that house. I'm not going to let you get hurt Ana. I promise. What did I tell you about my promises?"

"That you always keep them. Damon, can I still dance? I know that it's not going to help anything, but still I want to show them that I'm not completely worthless."

Damon looks down at her and strokes her hair, "Sure honey, if that is what you want. Go wash your face and change into your swimsuit. I'll talk to my men for a bit and you come when you're ready okay?"

Ana nods and rushes into the bathroom to get ready. She's more than a little excited and scared. She's never danced for such a large group before. She hopes she doesn't disappoint Damon though.