DISCLAIMER: I only own the plot (of the fanfic).

Chapter 10

||1 WEEK LATER||

A week passed, and Willow eventually had enough strength to go home. There was no infection and she seemed to be healthy overall, so the doctors released her after a final checkup.

"When we get home I can make some soup and we can watch a movie on the couch." I tell Willow as I help her dress in a pair of her pajamas. It was a short sleeve shirt with an elephant holding a flower along with a matching pair of grey leggings that seemed baggier than usual. The doctors said weight loss was an inevitable part of being in the hospital but it still worried me since she was already tiny enough.

"Can we watch Brave?" She asks me, a spark of excitement in her eyes.

"Sure can." I say, sliding her top over her head and quickly glancing at her scar. The stitches were removed yesterday, and the scar should be fully healed in the next three weeks.

"I'm happy we can go home." She says, giving me a toothy grin.

"I am too," I say, grabbing the bags and scooping her into my free arm. "Finally, we can sleep in our bed!" I say, wiggling her back and forth as she giggles and cheers.

"Yay!" I hand her, her pillow and toy dog, double-checking we have everything before leaving the room.

I walk out to the SUV and unlock the trunk where I toss the backpack full of clothes and an extra blanket. I toss my purse on the front seat and then strap Willow into her car seat, placing her blanket over her lap and making sure she was comfortable for the ride.

"Do you want to listen to music?" I ask as we leave the hospital area.

"Okay. Can you play Shake it Off?" She asks me, cuddling her toy dog close to her face.

"Of course." I say, turning on the radio system and setting my phone up with the playlist titled "Will's Favourites."

As we drive we sing, Will dances lightly and wiggles her legs around to the beat of the song.

"SHAKE IT OFF!" She sings loudly, making me laugh a little as I reach my hand back to her.

"What a beautiful voice." I tease, tickling her toes and making her squirm.

"Mommy," She laughs, trying to pat my hand away with her other foot only to have me tickle it as well.

"What's the magic rhyme?" I ask, raising an eyebrow through the rear view mirror.

"I'm a belle, a southern belle, a 'Bama belle, a Dixie Belle, now stop your spell!" She chants, my hand freezing when she finishes her rendition. "Oh thank goodness." She sighs, lifting her feet and crossing them on her car seat.

"I love you Will." I say, winking at her through the mirror.

"Love you too mommy," She says in a sing song voice, nodding her head to the rhythm of the new song.

~.~.~

We arrive home around 6:30, Willow happily singing the song that shut off after I cut the ignition.

We get inside and I rest her on the couch, playing some cartoons for her while I get to work on making the soup. I toss some vegetables and noodles into chicken broth, adding a dab of Tabasco, which Willow oddly loves since it makes it spicy. But the minute you offer her a plain piece of fruit she'll refuse to eat the "vile" substance.

"Hey Bug, the soup is ready." I call to the living room, pulling down two bowls and grabbing some spoons as well.

"It smells really yummy." She says, skipping in her step as she walks into the kitchen and looks to the pot on the stove. I turn off the gas burner and reach for the glasses, filling them with cold water and placing them on our places at the island. Just as I grabbed a ladle for the soup the doorbell goes. I drop the spoon by the pot and place a few saltine crackers on Willow's place mat before heading to the door. She munches on the stale crackers when I leave the room.

I open the door and there stood Damon, awkwardly holding his hands in his pockets as he gives a very sad smile at me.

"Hi, uh sorry if this is a bad time. I just wanted to check on her… and you… the both of you…." He trails in his words, furrowing his eyebrows when I do, as if we mirrored each other's actions.

"We're fine, thanks." I say, holding the door and leaning around the knob slightly. "About last week-" I begin to say, hoping he remembers. "Thanks for that."

"No problem. I'm glad I could be of some comfort." He says, eyeing his feet for a moment before looking to me again. "Is she feeling okay? Did everything go well with the surgery?" He asks.

"Yeah, her stitches are gone and she's got another 3 weeks of recovering to do before returning to school."

"Oh… what are you going to do about work?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows and causing those familiar concerned wrinkles to appear just in the center of his forehead. I submerged the urge to reach up and smoothen them out like I once did.

"I don't know yet. I might have to take my vacation days or something, right now I have another four medical days to use and then I have to go back."

"I'm sure someone could take care of her. How about some of your friends?"

"They all have work, or school of their own to attend." I say, my mind going into confession mode instead of "don't say a thing to him" mode.

"If you need any help, I'm staying at the Boarding House while Stefan goes to Croatia for a month."

"Thanks." I say softly, smiling weakly at him.

"Well, I'm glad you're all good, give Will a hug for me." He shrugs and turns to walk off the porch.

"Wait," I say, he turns on his heel and nods for me to continue. "I just made some soup, Will and I were just about to sit down for dinner. Maybe you'd like to join us? I think she'd really like you, I mean she likes everyone but you may seem funny to her or something… oh gee I'm rambling." I say, licking my lips and shifting my feet around.

"I could go for some soup." He said, our smiles meeting at the same, genuine happiness.

"Come on in." I say, breaking the protection that the house had from him and his vampirism. "Just to let you know, she doesn't know anything about the "magic" world. So no blood." I say, lifting my finger and pointing to the small dab of blood under his ear. He fails to find the location so I lick my thumb and do it myself, clearing away the red mark. He laughs and I do to, removing my hand from his neck and leading him through the hall.

"Hey Will, we have a guest tonight. This is Damon, he's gonna hang out with us for a while." I say, she nods and smiles brightly at him.

"Hello," She waves, grabbing her last saltine cracker and offering it his way. "Want my last cracker? I already had six and I still haven't had my soup!" She exasperates, I giggle as Damon laughs, moving to sit on the free side of Willow and taking the cracker.

"Thank you." He said, resting his elbows on the counter.

"Mommy makes really good soup. And she puts Tabasco cause it makes it spicy." Willow explains as I pour 3 bowls of soup, making sure Damon's was just a bit bigger so then I can watch him suffer through the human food. As a joke of course.

"Here we go." I say, placing the bowls down and quickly admiring the matching eyes that look at me. Identical, that's the only way to describe the blueness of their irises.

"Thanks." Damon smirked, taking his spoon and blowing on the first bite.

"No problem." I smile back, walking to Willow's other side and starting my own bowl of soup.

As we sit I lean back tapping Damon's seat with my toes. He leans back and scowls at me.

"Really?" He mouths as I laugh. "This. Is. Disgusting." He mouths afterwards, I blow him a kiss and offer a quick middle finger before sitting properly again.

"What's so funny?" Willow asks, looking between us.

"I think the giggle monster got me." I admit, tickling her toes with mine, causing her to squeal.

"Real bad." Damon adds, copying what I did and tickling under Willow's arm causing her to burst out into laughter.

"Magic Rhyme, Bug." I remind her, her laughs becoming choppy as she starts her chant.

"I'm a belle, a southern belle, a 'Bama belle, a Dixie Belle, now stop your spell!" We both stop, her laughter persisting afterwards as she catches her breath.

"Meanies." She whispers, starting on her soup again. Damon and I laugh despite ourselves making her giggle as well.

Comment, Like, Follow :)

-Valentina