The next morning Elena looked like a warrior from olden times, her hair braided like a mohawk at the top off her head and lose in the back with several tiny braids hanging around the sides of her head with some going up into her mohawk braid.

She had on a pair of black artfully ripped jeans, a dark grey tunic that went around mid-thigh and had a sidelong cut at the bottom, a black zip-up hoddie and a pair of black combat boots.

"So, Alaric had some information on this whole thing?" Elena asked into her phone.

"Yeah and he was willing to share. Seems like your egg-donor is in Grove Hill." Damon answered from the other end. "Alaric's picking me up in an hour."

"Have fun." Elena told him. "And call if you want dinner at casa de Gilbert later."

"I'm hoping I get to kill someone on this trip and that would be fun, so cross your fingers." Damon laughed as he hung up.

As Elena closed her closet door and saw someone standing behind it. She reacted on the instinct that came from sparring with Damon and punched the someone in the face.

"Uncle John?!" Elena gasped when she saw who she had punched.

"Elena." John rubbed the side of his face were Elena's punch had landed. "That's a good right hook."

"Thank you." Elena smirked devilishly. "I'm not sorry for punching you though. I mean you did sneak up on me so..."

"I guess I did deserve that punch." John admitted.

"You did." Elena nodded and thought quietly 'and so much more, dickhead'.

"I just thought we could talk." John said after a while. "We haven't had a chance to catch up."

'There's a reason for that.' Elena thought but out loud she said, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well...I know you know." John tried to be subtle and Elena saw an opportunity to be a bit of a bitch and hint very, very subtly that she knew that he was her bio-dad.

"How babies are made? Definitely." Elena smiled innocently. "A few years too late there, Uncle John."

"What? No!" John looked slightly disturbed by the thought. "It's really silly to keep pretending. What would your mother say if she knew you were dating a vampire?"

"Who am I dating?" Elena asked, because as far as she knew she wasn't dating anyone.

"Damon Salvatore." John said like it was obvious.

"Hold that thought." Elena pulled out her phone, dialed and put it on speaker.

"Miss me already, Elena?" Damon voice chuckled from the other end.

"Hey Damon." Elena chirped and then she whispered without moving her lips so only Damon could hear her. "You're on speaker with me and uncle John."

"What can I help you with?" Damon asked with a laugh.

"I just wanted to know if you knew that we were dating, because I had no idea." Elena hummed.

"We're dating? Since when?" Damon asked sounding a bit weird but Elena pushed that to the back of her head.

"Apparently I'm dating a vampire, aka you." Elena giggled. "Which is funny because as far as I knew I wasn't dating anyone."

"That must make the dating very exciting." Damon said mock seriously.

"Oh very." Elena agreed. "I seem to get around a lot too, first with Stefan and now you. I wonder who's next."

"Maybe Harper." Damon hummed in thought. "Didn't you agree to go shopping with him today? You did guilt me into paying for a new wardrobe for him."

"Yeah and Pearl is coming to." Elena responded with a smirk knowing that she hadn't guilted him into anything, he had offered. "I'm helping her buy some new stuff for her store."

"Have fun with that and say hello from me." Damon chuckled. "I have to go now, seems like my ride is here. Bye Elena."

"Bye Damon and have fun." Elena raised an eyebrow at John as she hung up the phone and said, "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Really?" John asked.

"What?" Elena looked at him with big innocent eyes.

"So, Miss. Zhu found some property to buy then?" John asked to change the subject.

"Yeah she bought dad's old office." Elena smiled.

"She can't have." John denied.

"Well, she did." Elena told him.

"No, really, she can't have." John repeated. "I have the last say in the selling of any property that used to belong to my brother and his wife."

"Until either me or Jeremy became legal." Elena nodded.

"Exactly!" John nodded. "And neither of you are off age and I haven't signed over any property to her so that means she stole it!"

"You might not have signed over a property to her, but I did." Elena smirked.

"You are not legal yet." John said with a glare.

"Not by age, no." Elena shrugged, still smirking. "But by emancipation? Absolutely."

"But...she's a vampire!" John glared at her.

"And...?" Elena drawled. God, he was such a hypocrite.

"She kills people!" John fumed.

"This conversation is boring me." Elena sneered and walked away.

XOXOXOX

"Come on Harper." Elena begged. "Can you just show us?"

Elena was sitting outside a fitting room in a men's clothing store with Pearl, waiting for Harper to come out in one of the outfits she had chosen for him.

"But what if I look bad?" came Harper's muffled voice from within the fitting room.

"You won't, I would never have you try on clothes that would make you look bad." Elena promised. "And if you don't like the style then we'll try something else."

"Okay." Harper said as he came out.

Beside her Pearl gasped and Elena smiled brightly. Harper looked really good in the dark blue dress pants matched with brown shoes and a brown belt topped off with a light blue button up shirt and a light grey coat.

"Does it look bad?" Harper looked at Pearl when she gasped.

"You look very good, Harper." Pearl smiled at him.

"The important questions are; Do you like the style and do you feel comfortable?" Elena asked seriously.

"Yes, I do like the style of the clothes." Harper smiled slightly as he looked at himself in the mirror. "And I feel very comfortable. Thank you, Miss. Gilbert, for your expertise in this matter."

"You are very welcome." Elena smiled, then she added. "And you can call me Elena."

"Of course, Miss. Elena." Harper bowed his head at her.

Elena smiled and decided to leave that discussion for another time as she called over a sales person. When the young person came over Elena looked at the androgynous appearance and decided to ask. "Not to seem rude, but what pronoun do you prefer?"

"Thank you for asking." The person smiled brightly looking very happy at getting asked. "I prefer the pronoun they/them but you could always just call me Ezra. Not many people actually take the time to ask and just assume so thank you again for asking."

"No problem. I just think it's better to ask then to just assume." Elena smiled back. "Anyway, Ezra, I was wondering if you could help us?"

"I'll do my very best." Ezra nodded, ready to work.

"I want these pants" Elena gestured at the pants Harper was wearing. "In dark brown, dark grey and black plus the ones he's already wearing."

Ezra pulled out a notepad and started to write everything down.

"I want the shirt in the same style but in several different colors, both light and dark but no neon or print." Elena continued. "Say five light colored ones, including the one he's wearing and five dark colored ones."

Both Harper and Pearl looked at Elena with big eyes as she gave Ezra orders.

"Four belts, the one he's wearing and one in the same style except in black and then two belts in a thicker style in brown and black." Elena was almost done and finished with, "And the gray coat he's wearing plus one in the same style in black."

"I will get right on that." Ezra smiled and called over another sales person to get them to start getting all of the items that Elena ordered. Then they turned to Harper. "If you could go back into the fitting room and change back into your clothes, we will take these to the check out after we have taken all the sizes."

Harper nodded and walked back into the fitting room to do as requested.

"How long will this take?" Elena asked. "I only ask because we can go and do our other errands and come back later if that works for you?"

"That would be really helpful." Ezra smiled. "That way we won't have to feel any stress. If I could just have your phone number, I'll text you when your order is done."

"Sound good." Elena smiled and rattled off her phone number just as Harper came out of the fitting room, back in the clothes he had on when they arrived.

Elena said bye to Ezra and together with Harper and Pearl, she left the store to go get whatever it was that Pearl was looking for.

XOXOXOX

Several hours later Elena was making tacos in the Gilbert kitchen when Anna and Jeremy walked in.

"Hey guys, you staying for dinner?" Elena looked at them and smiled.

"We'd love to." Jeremy walked over to hug his sister.

"By the way, Elena, you did an amazing job with the clothes for Harper." Anna smiled.

"Thank you." Elena blushed slightly. "I just hope he is happy and comfortable."

"He looked very happy as he showed them off to me and Jeremy." Anna reassured.

"That's great." Elena said as she placed the chopped tomatoes in a bowl. "Could you guys set the table for 4?"

"Is aunt Jenna joining us?" Jeremy asked as he pulled four plates from the cabinet.

"Nope, she's on a date with Ric." Elena informed him. "Damon is on his way, he just wanted to take a shower before he came over."

"Which I did and now I have arrived." Damon said dramatically as he walked in.

"Hello Damon, you are just in time." Elena said as she placed the last bowl on the dinner table. "Anna, Damon, do you want blood or soda with the food?"

"Soda's fine." Anna smiled and sat down.

"Both if that's okay?" Damon asked.

"Of course." Elena hummed as she walked over to the fridge to get the soda and the blood.

"Thank you." Damon smiled as she gave him the blood in a tall glass.

"So, how was the 'errand'?" Elena asked after a while.

"Futile." Damon took a bite out of his taco. "Although, I think I witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis."

"What are you guys talking about?" Jeremy asked.

"Oh, right." Elena smiled and proceeded to tell him and Anna about what had been going on.

"So not only does your uncle want the device my mom has but your biological mother is in town?" Anna groaned.

"Seems like it." Elena shrugged, then she smirked. "And on my uncle, I might have punched him in the face earlier today."

"What?" Jeremy chuckled.

"He snuck up on me and since Damon has been training me, my natural response to that is to punch." Elena giggled. "He did compliment my right hook though."

"I wish you had gotten it on film." Anna said wishfully. "He accused my mother of manipulating you into selling the property to her."

"Okay, now I want to punch him." Jeremy growled, he liked Pearl even if she hadn't like him at first.

"I don't know if that is an insult to me or a compliment to your mom?" Elena hummed.

"What do you mean?" Anna sipped her soda.

"Well, either uncle John is insulting me by calling me naïve enough to be manipulated or he's complimenting your mom for being cunning enough to manipulate me into selling." Elena explained her thoughts.

Annas phone started to ring before she could say anything. "Hey mom!...What?!...Is she okay?"

Anna started to breath heavily, having a hard time talking so Elena grabbed the phone. "This is Elena."

"Hello Miss. Elena." Harper sounded rattled on the other end. "Is Miss. Anna okay?"

"She's doing okay, Jeremy is helping her calm down." Elena reassured. "What is going on?"

"Jonathan Gilbert tried to stake Miss. Pearl a few minutes ago." Harper explained. "Luckily he only caught her shoulder before I broke his neck but I wanted to warn Miss. Annabelle."

"Shit, shit, shit." Elena cursed lowly.

"I'm sorry for killing you Uncle, Miss. Elena." Harper sounded apologetic.

"That's just the thing, you and Pearl need to get out of there." Elena insisted. "He has a ring that will bring him back!"

"What?" Harper gasped.

"I can't explain now but if you and Pearl can get to the Gilbert house I can explain then." Elena told him. "And then Pearl, Anna and you can move into the Gilbert cabin until you can buy something else."

"We'll be there in half an hour." Elena heard Pearl say before Harper hung up.

"Hey Anna, breath for me, your mom and Harper are on their way here and they are both okay." Elena pulled the relived vampiress into a hug.