The Fallen Slayer {1}

Light Flicking In and Out

"So...what has it been, 8, 9 days?" Damon asked as he tossed Stefan the bottle for Joy who was screaming in the younger Salvatore's arms.

Honestly, this really was not how he saw his life going a few years ago. Not once did he imagine playing babysitter for the child of Klaus Mikaelson and Buffy Summers.

Protecting a one-month-old while her father was being taunted by an immortal lunatic was not exactly high on his list of plans for eternity.

Since they had returned from Willoughby, he and Stefan had been on Joy duty. With Silas taunting the Mikaelson family intent on getting The Cure, it wasn't safe for Joy to be there. Given that Silas didn't much give a crap about them, ironically they were safer company than a family of crazy originals who would drop body after body to protect the little girl currently giggling in Stefan's arms as she yanked on his hair.

It was safe to say out of the two of them, Joy had chosen Stefan as her favorite Salvatore.

And until Joy could talk or do more than just cry and fill her diaper, Damon wasn't going to complain about it.

Unlike Stefan, he wasn't a baby person.

Stefan was a natural with Joy, it was honestly a little creepy just how easy Stefan had managed to handle having a baby in the house full-time.

Catching the bottle of milk with ease as Damon tossed it to him, Stefan just shrugged "I don't know." He admitted as he held the bottle up for Joy who wrapped her tiny hands around it as she started drinking.

While Joy was normally a happy baby, it didn't change the fact that she missed her parents who were keeping their distance to keep her safe. With Klaus being taunted by Silas and Buffy coming off a murderous high after killing four more people, it meant that neither of them could be near the little girl right now.

Something that had Joy's sleep pattern being pure hell for Stefan.

She would wake up every 20 minutes, screaming at the top of her lungs causing every light in the house to flicker until someone picked her up and comforted her.

"I lost count after Joy woke me up for the 6th time last night." He stated pointedly as he glared over at his brother who had been very little help when it came to Joy over the past week.

Damon rolled his eyes "It's not my fault that the second she sees you when I am with her she cries till you pick her up. You're the tribrid whisperer, not me. Though I can guarantee I will be the fave uncle when she is a troubled teenager." He was positive that once Joy was a teenager she would be calling him for help when she was drunk instead of Stefan.

He had fun Uncle Potential.

Stefan gave off more over-protective stepfather vibes than anything.

Ignoring the sharp glare Stefan was throwing at him, Damon just made his way over to the bar, happily pouring himself a drink "We lost count of the consecutive days in which Buffy Anne Summers has not killed or tortured anyone. I'd say that's, progress brother."

While there had been two demon bars in a 50-mile radius that had been destroyed, there hadn't been any more humans dropping.

Buffy had shifted her focus back to demons rather than humans.

Which meant that killing those four humans in Willoughby had been more about getting them to back off their Cure plan than anything else.

Adjusting Joy in his arms as he held the bottle to her lips, Stefan let out an exhausted breath as he rubbed his tired eyes "So what are we gonna do, babysit for another 150 years till Buffy gets control of her body completely again? If she even can after so long. You really wanna deal with another teenage Buffy?"