Chapter 41

"Otti!" shouted Damon from the kitchen, waiting to hear his daughter's footsteps padding down the stairs. It had been a week since the encounter with Kai, and Ottilie had recovered quickly, thanks in no small part to Damon and Stefan doting on her.

Presently, she arrived in the kitchen and Damon, smirking at her, held up a letter, waving it at her. "What's that?" she asked, confused.

"That, little lady, is a letter from your school."

Ottilie looked shocked and worried, her mouth falling open. "Oh my god, did I do something wrong?"

Damon chuckled, enjoying the irony of her fearing she'd done something wrong in comparison to the actual content of the letter. He shook his head, deciding eventually to put her out of her misery. "No, Otti, you've done nothing wrong. On the contrary, the school sent a letter to inform me that they'd advise you to move up a grade in some of your subjects."

Ottilie's face remained shocked, trying to take in this information. She knew she'd done well that year, and she'd worked hard, but she didn't know she'd done that well.

"What subjects?" she asked, suddenly realising that some of her lessons wouldn't be with her friends anymore.

"History," Damon smirked, "I wonder why…" She just rolled her eyes. "French, Spanish and Maths."

Ottilie tried to mask a groan, "but they're going to be so much harder!"

Damon shrugged, "well we can help you? You don't have to do it, Otti, but you should really think about it and whether it is the best thing for you to do."

She nodded, her mind racing as she wondered whether she could cope with skipping ahead in those subjects. She found them relatively easy, but didn't want to push herself too far.

"What's going on?" asked Stefan, as he and Lexi entered the kitchen.

Damon smirked at him. "We have a genius in our midst," he joked, looking at the two other vampires' confused faces. "Otti has been advised that she can skip a year in a bunch of subjects."

Stefan smiled widely at her, proud at her achievements. "That's great, Otti, well done! Which subjects?"

"History, French, Spanish and Maths," replied Damon, before Ottilie could answer. "She's worried that they'll be too hard, but I said that we could help her? I think it's fair to say that we are all pretty good at history" he smirked again, catching Lexi laughing at his joke.

"Nice one, Otti," she said warmly. "We can help with French and Spanish too. You know, I first met Damon in France, remember?" She looked over to Damon, her eyes slightly glazed as she reminisced. "You were the perfect French gentlemen. Man you sounded good speaking French."

Stefan looked at her dumbfounded, whilst Ottilie turned to Damon.

"You speak French, and you never told me?" she accused.

Damon shrugged, "there's a lot of things I've never told you…" he retorted, pulling a face at her which she readily returned.

"What else do you guys know?!" exclaimed Ottilie in disbelief that they hadn't raised it sooner, or whilst she'd been struggling with homework.

"Well I speak Spanish and German…" said Stefan shrugging, somewhat apologetically.

"French, Russian and Mandarin," smirked Damon, loving the astounded look he was getting from his daughter.

"I was the first woman to get a degree in Mathematics from Duke," said Lexi breezily, as if it were nothing.

"You guys are unbelievable!" said Ottilie. "I cannot believe you've never told me all this, and you never offered to help me with my homework!"

They just laughed at her, only Stefan and Lexi having the grace to look a little guilty.

"We just wanted to make sure that you earned your marks by yourself," defended Damon, "not everyone is lucky enough to have the likes of us," he gestured to himself, Stefan and Lexi, "gracing their home with the superior knowledge."

Ottilie glared at him, before laughing. "Fine, have I proven that I can earn my own grades?"

They all nodded. "Yup," said Damon, popping the 'p', "and from tomorrow, we will spend the rest of the week conversing entirely in French. Okay?"

Lexi and Stefan exchanged looks, knowing that Damon was just showing off now, but Ottilie readily agreed, knowing the practice would help her get ahead for the start of term. "Then Spanish?" she asked, looking at Stefan hopefully. He nodded, smiling at her.

Lexi and Stefan left to go and meet Caroline at the grill, but Damon stayed a little longer to wait with Ottilie until her friends came to pick her up to go for a walk.

"Joking aside, Otti," said Damon, serious all of a sudden, when they were alone in the kitchen. "I'm proud of you. You work hard, and it shows."

She smiled at him and went over to hug him. "Thanks, Dadd…. Damon," she said, blushing as she realised her near slip up.

It didn't go unnoticed by Damon, and he kissed her softly on the head. "You call me whatever you want to, little otter." He swore he felt her squeeze him a little tighter.

A short and uneventful chapter, I'm afraid, but I wanted to show more of Ottilie and her familial relationships. Stay tuned for more action! Thanks for reading, SEG21 xx