CHAPTER 2

A few weeks had passed by and Damon was becoming more and more entranced by his caretaker. He learned her name to be Guinevere Pierce, yet she liked to be called Gwen. She spoke French, Spanish, Greek, and Bulgarian. She was on her way to find work in Maryland when she had first found Damon. "I was trying to keep away from the gun shots, take the civilian path road. I was about to hit the main road out of town when I heard you." "What did you hear? I thought I was unconscious."

Gwen finished folding a pair of Damon's trousers. "You were murmuring. Shaking and crying a bit. I heard the branches moving about you. You were leaned up against a tree." Damon looked at her a bit confused. "How did you carry me back to the house? And how did you know where the house was?" Stefan came in. "Stop asking so many questions, brother! Be happy someone as pretty as Gwen found you." Damon relaxed a bit and Gwen looked down, smiling.

To change the subject, she got up from where she was sitting on the bed next to Damon and crossed the room to pour him a glass of water to drink. She handed it to him and sat next to Stefan on the bed across from Damon. "How do you feel today?" Gwen asked. Damon closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. Gwen and Stefan looked at each other a bit confused.

"The same." Damon sighed and smiled mischievously. Stefan laughed and stood up. "Gwen, would you like to take a walk outside?" He offered his arm. "I would love to." She said, gathering her skirts and rising from the bed. They both looked at Damon and Gwen asked, "Would you like to come, Damon?"

The next thing he knew, they were walking, three in a row, the brothers on either side, arms interlocked through their expansive gardens. It belonged to their mother at one point, but she had died of Consumption when Stefan was eight. Every petal on every flower reminded Damon of her. His father had demanded he stay inside and rest, but Gwen somehow had managed to persuade him that a walk would do him some good.

They sat down in the grass and talked about the sunlight, books they had read and various other things. Then Damon started to ask questions. "Where were you born, Gwen?" She blinked and smiled gently. "Bulgaria. Why?"

"I'm just asking. How did you learn English?"

"I spent some time in England and I had a, um, a tutor, you could say." She smiled. "Why are you taking such an interest in this all of a sudden?"

He shook his head. "No reason. Just curious."

She smiled and looked down at her fingers in the grass. "You really want to know more?" Stefan suddenly took interest and inched in closer. "I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. My parents were very wealthy, so my father would buy us meaningless trinkets in order to appease our need for him. My mother though, was an angel. She was raised on a farm, so she never saw the need for all of the things he would buy us. When I turned 4, my mother decided that I could have my own horse. I named her Krasimira. In Bulgarian it means "beautiful peace". I wasn't big enough to ride her but my parents let me take care of her. She died when I was 12, but I wasn't there to see her. I kind of got really, um, sick, you could say from the time I was about five and a half to when I was 17."

Damon and Stefan were silent. "Don't worry, I got better!" Gwen laughed. The two boys almost looked hurt she would laugh. "Did you have any brothers or sisters?" Stefan asked. "Yes actually. I had a little sister." Damon seemed to smile at the thought. "Her name was Katerina."

They spent quite some time in the grass and finally they decided to get back up because Damon felt like standing in the sun. As they reached the edge of the garden, Stefan stopped. He unlocked arms and walked a few feet ahead of him, digging in the underbrush and retrieving an almond shaped ball. "Teach me that game you told me about before you left, Damon. What was it called, Football?" Damon smirked as he saw the enthusiastic gleam in his younger brother's eyes. "Oh all right." He left Gwen's side and took the ball from his younger brother. Gwen took a seat on the stone bench between two rose bushes.

They began with small passes since Damon was supposed to take it slow. After a few minutes, they were all laughing. "Would you like to play, Gwen?" Stefan asked. "She can't, Stefan- it's not lady like." Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Ladylike?" She gathered her skirts and marched over to Damon. She put her hands out and he placed the ball in her hands. She walked backwards farther than where Damon was standing. "Go long Stefan." Both boys' eyebrows went up in astonishment. Stefan obeyed and backed up far enough.

Gwen readied herself and threw the ball. It flew straight, cutting into the air. Both boys' eyes followed its path in the sky. It hit its target and Stephan caught it, making a breathless noise as it hit him in the stomach. He jerked back a bit, the force almost knocking him off his feet. Damon let out a huff of air in astonishment.

Gwen let out a giggle and soon, the three of them were in hysterical laughter. As the laughter subsided, the bell for lunch rang in the distance. "Mary will have my head if you're out here for too long, Damon." She held her hand out towards him and he looked at it strangely. "What's wrong?" Gwen asked. "Nothing." Damon walked over and took her hand. He looked down at their interlocked fingers. Her hand felt cool and smooth. He yearned to see what she felt like if he were to hold her in his arms. He almost had to shake his head to clear his thoughts as Gwen repeated his name. "Damon?" She sounded worried. "Oh no. You must have been out too long. Or maybe it was too much excitement for you?" He shook his head slowly. "No, no. I'm fine. I promise. Just thinking." Gwen smirked and said, "Thinking requires too much. One must act in the moment and waste absolutely no time." "Are you a philosopher as well as a linguist?" Damon smiled back at her proud of his comeback. She rolled her eyes playfully and began walking back, toting Damon along behind her.