Chapter 52

"Any change, brother?" asked Stefan, looking around the door into Ottilie's small hospital room to see his brother looking tired and strained, seated by his daughter's bed, his elbows propped on his knees, his head in his hands.

Damon looked up as he heard his brother enter the room, shaking his head. "No," he said tiredly, "they said she'd had an uneventful night compared the last couple, but that there's no sign of her waking up any time soon."

"But it's been almost a week now," said Stefan, exasperated at the lack of development in Ottilie's condition.

Damon just shrugged, somewhat dejectedly. "I guess she'll wake up when she's ready to – besides, whilst she's asleep she's healing. God knows she needs that."

Stefan nodded, thinking back to the rather alarming report from Jo, who, after being called by the hospital, had rushed straight into Ottilie's surgery.

One week earlier

"The good news is that we were able to fit the ICD whilst she was under anaesthetic so she shouldn't have any more attacks – or at least, no more of this magnitude," she'd announced to the room of worried family and friends, all pale faced and exhausted, none of them daring to ask what the bad news was.

"The bad news is that some of her ribs were broken and punctured her spleen and one of her lungs. We managed to treat these in her surgery, but they'd caused massive internal bleeding, and we estimate that she lost about 45% of her blood volume. This caused her to go back into cardiac and respiratory arrest a few times but we've got her on a life support machine and a transfusion and we're hoping that if we take it day by day, we will start to see some improvement..."

Damon felt his knees start to give way and his vision swam with little black dots as he began to crumple towards the floor, only to be caught by strong arms, linking around his own. He vaguely made out Alaric and Stefan dragging him to a chair and pushing his head down between his legs, and a comforting hand stroking his back as he gasped in air, trying to push the dizziness away.

Jo watched her partner trying to comfort his best friend and before turning grimly back to the rest of the group, all frozen in horror. "She's in a coma now, but she's stable and you should be able to go and see her pairs soon. I'm really sorry…" she added, knowing that nothing she could say would make them feel any better, and momentarily hating her job before she turned back up the corridor to go and talk to the other doctors about Ottilie's outlook.

"This is my fault," muttered Damon weakly, still pale and shaky.

Stefan looked at him, baffled as to how he could blame himself. "What?! How?"

"I must have done it wrong – pushed too hard – I could feel her ribs breaking, and I should have stopped."

Stefan shook his head, "no way, Damon, you kept her alive. If you'd stopped, we wouldn't be here at all – we'd be in a morgue…"

Damon didn't reply, turning away in a bid to hide his tears, but Stefan noticed and embraced him, holding him tightly as he felt his brother trembling. "Jo said we could see Ottilie. Shall we go and ask her now?"

Damon just nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and Stefan lead him gently down the corridor, following the route that Jo had just taken.

They were soon shown in to a small room with just one bed, on which a small girl, so pale that she almost blended in with the sheets, was laying, covered in tubes, wires and machines. Damon stifled a sob as he cautiously approached his little girl, shocked into silence as he took it all in. He'd seen his daughter hospitalised before, but never with this amount of medical intervention, and it took him a few minutes to absorb it.

Stefan walked over to his niece and took one her hands in his. "You know, Damon, some studies suggest that patients in comas can hear what's going on around them, even if they can't yet respond. Talk to her, it'll comfort her to know you're here."

Damon just started at him, still too shocked to take in what his brother was saying, so Stefan started talking gently to Ottilie, stroking the back of her hand gently.

"Hey, Otti, we're all very worried about you, you know. You scared us! But everyone else is just fine, you saved us all, and I'm so proud of you." He looked up at Damon who was now listening intently, and gestured at him to come over and join them, which he did, although hesitantly.

Sitting down on the opposite side of the bed to Stefan, Damon took Ottilie's other hand, mindful of the wires and IV lines, and brought it slowly up to his face to kiss it gently.

"I'm going to leave you alone for a few minutes, okay?" said Stefan, getting the idea that Damon wanted to be on his own with his daughter for a while. Damon nodded and Stefan got up to go and inform the rest of the worried group about Ottilie.

"I'm really sorry that I hurt you, Otti," whispered Damon, stroking a loose curl away from her face and smiling fondly as it joined the others spread prettily over the white pillow. "I was just trying to keep you alive," he said, the look of sadness returning to his face. "Please wake up, let us see those gorgeous green eyes and that smile again – I miss it already."

He heard a gentle knock at the door and turned to see Lexi, looking nervous and holding a small piece of paper. He gestured at her to come in and she quietly took the seat where Stefan had been sat, overwhelmed by the situation.

"Erm, so when I woke up and Otti had gone, I was holding this note – it's from Otti and it's to you, me and Stefan. I thought you should read it first. I guess she was planning this all along…"

Damon nodded slightly before taking the note offered to him, taking a deep breath and unfolding it. The letter was short, written in Ottilie's neat handwriting, and on reading it through, he felt tears prick the back of his eyes again.

Dear Damon, Stefan and Lexi

My family – the best I could ever have hoped for. Thank you for taking me in when I had nowhere to go, for protecting me when others wished me harm, and for loving me when nobody had before.

I am grateful to you all beyond belief, and that is why I must apologise for what I'm about to do. I know it will cause you pain, but it is the only way to defeat Marcel. I don't know what is going to happen, but I do know that I will do anything to keep you safe.

Please pass on my gratitude and love to our friends, and thank them for looking out for me. I am simply returning the favour.

All my love,

Ottilie

Silently, Damon passed the letter to Lexi, who on reading it, burst in tears.

"Can you take it to Stefan?" asked Damon, quietly, his face never leaving his daughter's. Lexi left without a word, taking the note with her. "You returned the favour ten times over, sweetheart," he said softly. "Please, please, come back to me."