Chapter 45

"God I wish we could just give her some blood and get her all healed up," complained Damon, sponging away the blood from his unconscious daughter's face.

"Me too, brother," sighed Stefan. "But you know the risk of her becoming a vampire becuase of her condition is too great. I couldn't live with myself if she turned this young."

Damon nodded, stiffly, grimacing as he turned Ottilie's head and found another patch of blood to clean up. "Stefan, you should go," he said, noting how his brother was becoming twitchy and restless due to his long exposure to fresh human blood. "Can you get Lexi? Might also be worth calling Alaric to ask him if Jo would mind coming to check on her. She's been unconscious for a while…"

Stefan nodded, already on his way out of the room, taking deep breaths to try and control his blood lust. "Lexi!" he called, and she appeared in front of him.

"You good?" she asked, frowning at him as she noticed the little black veins slowly disappearing from his eyes.

He nodded, "yeah, I will be. Can you go and help Damon with Otti? It got a bit… much…" He looked away, hating himself for not being to be more in control. Lexi smiled sadly at him and rubbed his arm comfortingly before speeding off to help Damon.

Stefan took out his phone and dialled Alaric to ask if Jo would mind checking Ottilie over. Alaric and Jo had been dating for a few months now, and she was seemingly well versed the antics of the supernatural, having been a witch herself – the twin of Kai, much to everybody's surprise, and being Ottilie's designated doctor, she was always happy to check in with her.

"Jo and Alaric are on their way," shouted Stefan to Damon, putting his phone back into his pocket. "I'll be back in a bit," he added, before speeding off to the woods to clear his head.

"How's she doing, Damon?" asked Lexi, gently, peering over the sofa at the young girl lying stone still, her eyes firmly closed, and her head still bleeding, albeit it slower than before.

"She's taking a while to come around," said Damon, biting his lip in worry. "She must have been hit pretty hard – she's still bleeding."

"Jo will be able to help her, don't worry," said Lexi soothingly, absentmindedly brushing a lock of jet black hair from Damon's forehead to keep it out of his eyes as he held a rag to Ottilie's head, trying to staunch the blood flow.

He looked up at her and their eyes locked for an instant, before Lexi quickly looked away, staring at her feet, her cheeks reddening slightly.

"Damon?" came a small voice, and Damon's eyes snapped down to his daughter, whose eyes were fluttering open.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said gently, holding her face gently to stop her moving about too much. "Just lay still for me, Otti," he instructed, as she started to move too quickly in a bid to sit up, "nope, you stay there. You've lost a lot of blood and I'm still trying to stop the bleeding."

She fell back onto the sofa, groaning as she felt her head throbbing. "Is Greg okay?" she said weakly, as Damon nodded at her, smirking.

"Your boyfriend's fine, little lady," he teased, watching as he cheeks flushed, pleased to see a little colour to her face.

"Leave her alone, Damon," said Lexi, rolling her eyes at him and stepping forwards to sit next to Ottilie. "You've really done a number there, Otti," she said, pointing to the large cut in Ottilie's hairline.

"I didn't do it on purpose…" huffed Ottilie, not liking all the fuss.

"Jo is on her way to have a look at you," said Damon, "I want to make sure you're not so concussed that you'll have to go into hospital."

"Eurgh, I really don't want to go to hospital," moaned Ottilie.

"Well then you shouldn't have gone and got yourself kidnapped then," said Damon, shrugging as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Ottilie started to argue back just as they heard a knock at the door.

"Saved by the bell…" smirked Damon at his fuming daughter, as Lexi went to answer the door, coming back followed by Alaric and Jo.

"Hi Otti, Damon!" greeted Jo, brightly. "Come on then, let's have a look at you." She moved over to the sofa, pushing Damon out of the way gently, and began checking Ottilie's pupils and general responses.

"It's all a little sluggish," said Jo, eventually, putting her little torch back into her bag that she'd brought with her. "But I don't think she needs to go to hospital for observation or anything, as long as you're happy for me to stay for the rest of the night and keep an eye on her?"

Damon smiled gratefully, "absolutely, thanks, Jo. I really appreciate it."

Alaric smiled fondly at his girlfriend, whilst she got out some more equipment.

"Well that was the good news," she said, less brightly now. "The bad news is that she needs some stitches. Sorry, darling, this might sting a little."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Damon, rushing between Ottilie and Jo, "you can't just start stitching her up – can't you numb it or something?"

Jo rolled her eyes at him, giving him a look that told him he was being a complete idiot. "I'm not utterly heartless, Damon," she said, scathingly. "Obviously I'm going to numb the area first! Get out of the way! Ric, can you sort him out please?"

She looked from Ottilie to Lexi, sharing a smile with them. "Honestly," she sighed, "sometimes the parents are worse than the patients!" Ottilie giggled and Lexi moved to sit by her to hold her hand whilst Jo made quick, neat work of numbing and stitching the wound.

"All done," announced Jo, as she and Lexi helped a wobbly Ottilie into the kitchen, guiding her to a chair. "She's going to need something to eat," she said, looking pointedly at Damon, who quickly downed the rest of the drink he held in his hands, courtesy of Alaric.

He got to work making her a cheese sandwich with fruit on the side in a bid to get her blood sugars up a bit, and watched in relief as she tucked into it after he'd put it in front of her.

Damon inspected the criss-cross pattern of stitches across his daughters head. "Looks sore," he commented, subtly admiring Jo's neat work.

"It's okay," said Ottilie, "I've had worse," she added, before taking another bite of her sandwich.

"So what actually happened?" asked Ric, and Damon launched into telling them the adventures of that night.

Ottilie had spent the rest of the weekend resting and recuperating, and she was glad when Monday came around and she could get out from the confines of the house and off to school.

"Are you absolutely sure you're up to going in?" asked Damon, for the third time.

Ottilie rolled her eyes at him, and grinned, "Yes, Dad, I promise, I'm fine!"

He held up his hands in mock defence, "okay, okay!" he said, "I'm just making triple sure!"

She kissed him on the cheek and got out of the car, having spotted Greg, waiting outside the school doors. "I'll see you later?" she asked Damon, who nodded.

"I'll pick you up. Try not to get kidnapped, please. I have plans for tonight and really can't fit in rescuing you."

She laughed, and shutting the car door, ran over to Greg, holding clasping her school bag. Damon watched in amusement as Greg, without a moment's hesitation, threw his arms around his daughter, hugging her tightly, before putting his hands on her shoulders, pushing her away and looking her over, as if to check she was okay. Suddenly realising they were at school, he blushed deeply and looked away.

"Are you okay?" Damon heard Ottilie ask Greg, gently, knowing how traumatising the whole event must have been for him.

"Yeah, I'm actually fine," came the reply. "I don't know why I'm just accepting the whole vampire and witch thing, but I'm actually not too bothered by it. You're a witch, your family are vampires, so what?"

Ottilie grinned up at her best friend, relieved beyond belief that he was taking it all so well, and Damon watched, smiling, as the two young teens walked into school together, her shoulder brushing gently against his upper arm. His daughter was in good hands.