It was a quiet night with both the Salvatore brothers at home instead of being out like usual. Damon was sitting on the steps of their porch while Stefan was beside him, both lost in their memories.

"It's her birthday today," Damon mumbled, "we never really got to know when she was born but the day she had come to us, me and her began to celebrate it as a birthday later on."

Stefan nodded, staring ahead into the distance, "she would be twenty now, wouldn't she?"

He nodded, a soft sigh escaping his lips.

Both the brothers were seldom on tolerable terms but there was still one link other than their blood relation that kept them together.

That link was Melanie.

A little girl they had taken in when they had found her on their doorstep in a heavily injured state and from then onwards they had treated her as a younger sister. Melanie brought happiness into their lives and made them feel more human than they had ever done so in centuries.

Years had passed and in between, Stefan and Damon had gotten estranged too but the girl had brought them together again. Unknown to Stefan, Melanie had another link to them than just being their adoptive sister. She was in fact Damon's daughter but that truth was known only to her, Damon and Enzo.

However, the reason she was no longer with them at the moment was because she had gotten terribly hurt in the past month.

Klaus Mikaelson had found out about her link to the Salvatores and tortured her to get information out of Damon for the moonstone he needed to perform a deadly ritual. That incident tore them apart, especially Melanie who had been severely traumatized.

In the end the only thing they could do was compel her to forget everything, including themselves, and they sent her off to another city under a new identity and a new life so that she wouldn't ever get hurt due to them again.

Melanie Salvatore was at the moment in San Francisco, living her life as Alyssa Grace.

Damon had made sure to erase everything from her new life that could remind her of them and had sent his then girlfriend Andie Star along with Mel to take care of her. Andie regularly kept them updated about her and they knew Mel had started her university classes and was doing fine in her own life.

But that day was the day they had first met her and it all brought back memories hence the brothers hadn't bothered to go out, instead they were seated together, talking about a chapter of their life they had had to unwillingly close.

"I need a drink," the elder remarked, getting up to go in and fetched a bottle of bourbon and glasses shortly after.

Stefan was about to object but noticed the empty look in his brother's eyes which made him relent.

Perhaps Damon really needed to let out all that he was burying inside him for so long yet he couldn't do it sober.

Damon poured the dark liquid into the glasses then sat back on the steps, offering one to Stefan who reluctantly took it. The former drank his glass in one go, refilling it while Stefan had only taken a brief sip.

In next to no time, the elder brother had almost finished the whole bottle while Stefan looked at him with sympathy in his eyes. Never before had he seen his brother so torn and desperate.

"I can't live without her," at last Damon let out the words he had never said before. 

"But Melanie is gone and is not coming back. She'll be safe away from us and from the horrible truths of the supernatural world," he tried to comfort him.

"I know, Stefan, I know very well. She's over there while I'm over here and I can't bear it. But I want her safe. It's a big price to pay, but I'll do it. I'll stay away from Mel. I'll do whatever it takes to keep her far from danger."

Stefan knew the bond Damon had with Melanie was incomparable. Ever since the girl had been just three, she had Damon wrapped around her little finger as the latter looked after her and cared for her just like a father would do so for his own child. 

Little did Stefan know that he was actually Mel's father and that was what made him even more cautious towards her.

Yet all that had happened had resulted in Damon's little sunshine being sent away from him and he was slowly disintegrating by every passing day.

He longed to see her again but didn't do so because he feared she would see him and remember everything. So he kept himself away from her intentionally despite being aware of how she was and whether she was okay or not from Andie.

Still merely knowing about her was not enough as compared to being able to be with her. But that was something the Salvatore brothers couldn't do so.

Damon was withering away without her even though normally he chose to keep that fact hidden.

But right then in the pale moonlight and the silence of the night, Stefan could very clearly see that his brother was suffering much worse as compared to him.

"Damon, why do I feel like there's something more to it than what you've told me?"

A derisive laugh escaped his lips and blue eyes locked with soft green, "because there is more."

"Tell me then. Share it with me, I know you'll feel better to get it off you."

"I promised Mel never to tell anyone."

"Mel's gone," he reminded him for what seemed like the hundredth, "I'm the only one you've got now. Tell me."

Damon took in a deep breath but eventually decided to share his burden with Stefan.

"Do you remember the day she had come to our place?"

"Yes. I remember it as well as if it was just yesterday."

"And the first thought I had when I looked at her was that she had my eyes. The same shape, the same color... My eyes..."

Stefan nodded, recalling the striking blue color of those innocent eyes, "yeah, that seemed weird to me too."

"There's a reason for that," his voice was low as he resumed, "she had my eyes because she is my daughter."

Stefan choked on his drink, turning to look at him with a shocked expression on his face, "what?"

"Yes..."

"But you're a Vampire. And as far as I know, vampires can not..." But Stefan's voice trailed off seeing the pain on his brother's features.

"I never told you about my time in Augustine, did I?"

But at that remark, a slightly guilty look swept over Stefan's features, "no. But I know some parts of it... I read your journal."

Contrary to what the younger brother expected, Damon didn't lash out at him, "ah that solves things altogether. Then you would also know that I had a child, created as part of an experiment at Whitmore College."

"You wrote that the hybrid child never came into existence," his voice was uncertain as he remarked, judging the expression on his brother's face closely.

"Yes that's what I believed until a few years back. Until Mel told me herself who her mother was and Katherine came back to torment us. I had told you that Katherine attacked Mel that's why we had to come to Mystic Falls to stay with you so that we could protect her, hadn't I? What I didn't tell you was that she had attacked her with vervain, proving it to me that Melanie was indeed my daughter. A half human, half Vampire hybrid."

It seemed as if Damian couldn't take the past memories anymore as he stood up, throwing away the empty bottle of bourbon.

"Where are you going?"

"Not to San Francisco," he replied vaguely.

"I know that. But still where are you going?"

He took in a deep breath, "out to hunt. Don't worry, I won't attack any of your friends."

Stefan knew he was unstable and in that state he could be very dangerous and reckless as well. So he decided to go with him.

"Wait, I'm coming too."

"I thought you were on an all animal diet?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"I still am. But I have to make sure you stay out of trouble."

Damon's eyes softened very slightly as he nodded, "how touching. Come along then."

***