Emotional Rescue

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It was the second night Emma had slept with Damon, but unlike the first night, the second night did not hold a peaceful sleep for her. Ever since Katherine had broken her leg, the pain medication she'd been taking had brought with it the comfortable side effect of making the girl sleep a dreamless sleep. However, the day's atypical activities had messed up Emma's pill schedule, and the result was not good.

Damon was lying on his stomach, and he could feel Emma's warm breath against his arm, which gave him a sense of comfort. The vampire's sleep was relatively light, so he noticed when the girl started to become restless. Opening his eyes, he looked away and, frowning, watched as Emma shrank further against him. He watched with curiosity as her previously peaceful expression became pained. She frowned and the corners of her lips curved downward as her fingers twitched uncomfortably.

He had already witnessed Emma's nightmare from afar, the first and only time he had watched her through the window, but seeing it up close, lying next to her, was something completely different. Damon turned to the young woman and touched her face gently, and she winced and mumbled something he didn't understand, pulling away from his touch.

Not knowing quite what to do, Damon sat up in bed and took her by the shoulders, shook her gently, and asked, with obvious concern in his voice, that she wake up. The girl merely twitched her fingers even more and tried to escape his physical contact. When she muttered, in a huff, 'leave me alone', the vampire had enough and shook her harder.

Emma woke up startled and sat up in bed, and Damon gave her a little space. She looked to the side and then focused her brown eyes on the vampire's, and let out a relieved breath. He was staring at her with frowning eyebrows, and he noticed when her relieved expression turned into an embarrassed expression. Looking away, Emma threw the covers aside and tried to get out of bed, but Damon held her by the wrist.

"What are you doing?" he questioned.

"I... I have to... The door", she stammered, still not looking him in the eye. Damon loosened his grip on her wrist and began to stroke the area with his thumb. Emma was sitting on the bed, looking down at her thighs, covered by her sleeping dress.

"The door is locked, the windows' too", he assured her, remembering that when he had seen her having a nightmare in the distance, she had gotten out of bed and checked to see if all the openings in the house were locked.

"I'm sorry", she whispered.

"There's nothing to be sorry for", he replied and she nodded, still looking down. "Hey, look at me".

"I'm so embarassed", she confessed, covering her face with her palms. "You weren't supposed to see that, no one was supposed to see..."

It was strange for Damon to see Emma so vulnerable, and he understood how difficult showing some weakness must be for her, but something inside made the vampire feel victorious that he was the one to share that moment with her. The selfish part of Damon reminded him that he knew another part of Emma that no one else did. He then pulled her onto his lap, taking her by surprise. However, it took only a few seconds before Emma nestled the side of her face against Damon's shoulder as she felt his fingers caressing her back. The girl clutched his shirt possessively, keeping him there with her, and he almost smiled for it.

"I don't wanna talk about it", she whispered, and he pressed her even tighter against him.

"We don't have to", he assured her. "Do you want me to go?" he asked. If Damon said he wasn't dying to know the reason for her nightmares, he would be lying. But he wasn't going to pressure her to tell him; he wanted her to tell him when she was ready, because that would mean she trusted him more than she trusted anyone else.

"No", she replied, gripping his shirt between her fingers tighter, and Damon smiled satisfied. The vampire then got back under the covers, pulled Emma against him, clasped her back to his chest, and slipped his legs into hers, taking care to leave her injured leg free. He positioned one arm under her neck and pressed his hand against her shoulder, while his other hand held her belly. He enveloped her possessively like an octopus.

"Sleep, doll", he ordered, pressing her even tighter against himself and sinking his nose into her hair. She hesitantly reached for his hand that was on her stomach and intertwined her fingers tightly with his so that he held her completely within his embrace. hE couldn't help but smile against her strands as he concluded, once again, that she needed him and, above all, felt safe with him. Something inflated inside his chest and instinctively Damon rubbed the tip of his nose against her shoulder before they both drifted off to sleep. This time, a peaceful sleep.

As the first rays of sunlight streamed in through the windows of the apartment, Emma awoke and made her way to the bathroom. She was still haunted by embarrassment and by how vulnerable she had been the night before, and she just wanted to get somewhere Damon couldn't see her. The girl had already showered the night before, but she still turned on the shower and slipped under the water. The sound of the water heater was her ally in camouflaging the low whimpering sound she let out during the long minutes she spent under the shower crying.

Emma performed her entire hygiene rather slowly, hoping to postpone any conversation with the vampire about the previous night. She didn't want him to question her about the nightmares, or about the way she clung to him to feel safe. It was all rather confusing, and she no longer knew whether to feel more shame for showing her vulnerability to Damon or to feel safe glued to his body in her quest for comfort. When she finished brushing her teeth and combing her wet hair, she realized that she hadn't picked up a change of clothes, so she wrapped herself in her thick robe before leaving the bathroom.

Damon was in the kitchen passing some coffee and, to the girl's relief, he simply wished her a good day and made a few jokes, acting as if nothing had happened. The vampire sipped his coffee as he watched the girl spread a generous portion of jam on some toast. Emma was still in her white robe and her hair was still wet, and Damon couldn't help but notice that the wet strands were darker and highlighted her whiskey-colored eyes. He also couldn't help noticing that her cheeks were red, probably from the hot water, and that this made her unbearably attractive.

"Bonnie will be our secret weapon", Damon commented, and Emma swallowed her food before looking at the vampire.

"Okay... How?"

"She's pretty sure that she can kill Klaus, especially now that she has all that power and Klaus has no clue", the vampire explained, shrugging. "And the house is clear, we have our head-quarters again".

Emma wiped her hands on a napkin and faced the vampire.

"It's quite unfair that you have no say about who enters your house or not. I swear I don't get it. If a human owns the house, a vampire must be invited in. But if a vampire is the owner, then another vampire can just... enter?" Emma commented, and Damon stared at her with a smile on his face. "What?"

"You're a fucking genius, you know that?" he asked, still smiling at her.

"I am pretty smart indeed, but why are you saying this?", Emma questioned with a raised eyebrow. Damon pulled his stool up until it was practically glued to her.

"Isobel offered a safe house, and you're absolutely right. The Boarding House has free entrance for any vampire because I am the owner, unless..."

"Unless you give it to a human", Emma added, and Damon smirked. The girl smiled smugly. "God, I am a genius!". The vampire stood up and pulled out Emma's chair, causing the girl to complain.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you need to put on some clothes", he joked, winking at her. "We have a lawyer to call and a house to sell to your cousin".

.

Damon called the lawyer on the way to the Boarding House and asked Emma to let Elena and Stefan know of the arrangement. Stefan seemed surprised and excited by Emma's solution, and it wasn't long before the lawyer arrived at the house with the papers for Gilbert to sign.

The two vampires were outside the house, while the cousins and Bonnie were inside with the lawyer. Damon propped his elbows against a wall on the porch of the house and sighed. So far, their plan was pretty solid, but the vampire still had his doubts. Things never came easy for him, and everything was too easy.

"You really think Bonnie can take on Klaus?" the older man asked.

"She said she can channel enough witch's power to kill him", Stefan replied, moving closer to his brother, "Elijah thought that would work and he was an Original, so..."

"Yeah, we just need to find him", Damon pointed out, turning to face his brother and propping his back against the same wall. "Could she do one of those witch tracking spells?"

"Nope", Stefan replied sighing and crossing his arms. "Not without something that belongs to Klaus. Believe me, I've already asked".

Damon threw his head back, huffing, feeling defeated. What good was having a plan if they didn't even know where Klaus was? The only two people who might know how to find the Original were dead. Well, one of them certainly was. Elijah was very dead, with the dagger stuck in his chest, in the basement of that very house. The other person, however, Damon still had his doubts. The vampire frowned.

"Do you think he killed her?", Damon questioned his brother, trying to appear indifferent, even if that was the last thing he felt. Stefan looked at him and seemed to think about what to answer.

"Katherine?" the younger man asked for confirmation, and Damon nodded positively. "Probably".

"It's not like she didn't have it coming", the blue-eyed Salvatore replied, after a few seconds in silence. "Fucking bitch".

"How's Emma's leg?", Stefan asked, remembering that it was Katherine who broke the girl's leg. Damon snorted and rolled his eyes.

"She's stubborn, that one", the vampire replied rolling his eyes. "I offered her my blood, but she doesn't want it. So she keeps walking with those fucking crutches. I swear that one of these days she'll fall and break the other leg". Stefan stared at his brother with interest, and Damon raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You offered her your blood?"

"Yeah, so?", Damon asked.

"Nothing", Stefan replied, shrugging. Damon opened his mouth to reply, but had no opportunity to do so, as the door to the house opened, revealing Elena with a folder of documents in hand. The lawyer shook the girl's hand and said goodbye to the two vampires with a nod.

The two Salvatores then walked toward the door, but were unable to enter the house. Elena smiled.

"I'm sorry, I totally forgot", the girl apologized and gave her boyfriend a wide smile. "Stefan, would you like to come inside my house?"

"I would love to", Stefan replied, and Damon rolled his eyes. Elena made room for her boyfriend to enter the house, and soon after faced the older vampire.

"Oh, what are we? Twelve?" he asked debauchedly. "Dolly already did this, so save it".

"Dolly?", Elena questioned.

"That would be me!", Emma shouted from the living room. The girl was sitting on the couch with her leg stretched out on the coffee table. Damon smirked, but Elena followed with a frown.

"If I let you in, do you promise to obey the owner of this house?" the girl asked and Damon frowned.

"No?" he replied, incredulously.

"Seriously Damon", she complained. "My way, you promised. I call the shots. No lies, no secret agendas. Remember?"

"Oh, just promise already, would ya?", Emma shouted from the room and Damon laughed through his nose.

"You sound very British sometimes, you know that?", Damon shouted back. When he turned back to face Elena, the girl was still frowning. He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Elena. Sure".

"Then please, come in", she finally allowed him in, and the vampire walked briskly into the living room, where he plopped himself down on the couch next to Emma with a grimace and crossed arms.

"I thought you were on my side", he complained, and Emma stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait, where are you going?", they both heard Stefan's voice and turned their heads back. Elena was with Bonnie already standing by the door, ready to leave.

"To school", Elena replied, as if it was obvious.

"What? We didn't create a safe house for you to leave it", Damon exclaimed.

"Yeah!", Stefan agreed. "Guys, Klaus is out there. We know that".

"Right, but where?", Elena questioned in defiance. "No one knows! Look, I really appreciate what you guys are doing and I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that I'll be safe here, but I'm not gonna be a prisoner".

Emma rolled her eyes and turned forward again. She picked up her cell phone from inside her jacket pocket and opened some kind of game. Damon muttered a "Your way, Elena" and turned to face forward again. The vampire picked up Emma's cell phone and punched it into his own pocket, receiving a complaint from the girl. Stefan, Elena, and Bonnie continued their conversation about the girl being safe in the witch's company. It wasn't long before the sound of the door closing reached Emma's ears.

"A little ungrateful, aren't she?", Emma complained, and Damon faced her with a grimace.

"Right?"

"Can I have my phone back, please?" she asked, holding out her hand to him with her palm facing up.

"No".

"Seriously, I have to text Alaric", Emma explained, and Damon frowned.

"Why do you have to text him?", Damon asked annoyed. "I thought he was Jenna's boyfriend, not yours".

"Because he's my coworker?" she replied arching her eyebrows. "And I need him to bring me the substitute teacher's reports. I'll get back to work tomorrow, so..."

"Tomorrow is tomorrow, today is today", Damon replied, getting up from the couch and walking over to the drink cart. "And today you're with me, so... No Alaric for you. Only the sexiest vampire alive".

"Well, we don't know how Klaus looks like...", Emma teased and Damon grabbed a pillow from the armchair Stefan was sitting on and threw it at the girl, who giggled. "Are you drinking? It's nine in the morning!"

"So?" he shrugged, and poured himself a generous glass of bourbon. The vampire then walked back to the couch, taking a seat next to the girl. He offered her a sip, but Emma denied it with her head and stared at him for a long second with an arched eyebrow. Damon snorted. "I'll get you the damn reports, okay? Jesus, you're insufferable".

And Damon did, in fact, get the damn reports for her. The two of them ended up spending the entire day together at the Boarding House. He sat on the couch drinking and searching through the documents they had picked up in Isobel's office. She, sitting on the floor with her immobilized leg stretched out, leaning forward on the coffee table making some notes.

The vampire occasionally glanced at her, and eventually found himself more interested in watching Emma mumble lowly as she wrote things down than reading the documents he had in hand. The girl had put her hair up in a loose bun, and she would occasionally bite the end of her pen as she read the reports. She looked damn sexy when she concentrated, and the bun left her neck very exposed. Damon felt his body respond to her image involuntarily. His teeth itched against his gums. Annoyed, he drank an entire glass of bourbon. He felt his cell phone vibrate inside his pocket and picked it up. The message was enough to take him away from the temptation to grab Emma's neck. The girl turned to him, waiting for him to tell her the content of the message.

"There's gonna be a dance at the school", Damon announced, and Emma snorted.

"Argh, yeah. I'll be supervising", she complained, turning her attention back to her reports.

"Klaus will be there".

"What?" the girl questioned incredulously, turning her face to him and dropping her pen.

"He compelled a student to give Elena a message. He'll be at the dance. And so are we".

"What the fuck do you vampires see so much in high school things? And girls? Honestly..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Damon asked arching an eyebrow.

"First, Stefan's over a hundred years old and still goes to school. Now Klaus, who's what? A thousand years old? And he's going to a high school dance? You guys need to get a job", the girl exclaimed, and Damon burst out laughing. The vampire dropped the empty glass on the arm of the couch and walked over to her, sitting down on the floor beside Emma. The girl stared at him "What? Am I wrong?"

"No, you're right", he replied, and continued to stare at her. The girl rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her work, but it was simply impossible to stay focused when she felt Damon's eyes burning into her.

"Okay, why are you staring at me?" she asked, dropping the sheets on the table and turning to him. He smirked.

"I like to look at you", he replied teasingly, and Emma felt her cheeks catch fire. Fortunately, the door to the house opened and Stefan, Elena and Bonnie came in like a hurricane.

The girls narrated, for what seemed like the tenth time that day, the message they had received from Klaus. The dance was in two days, and Damon was determined to use the opportunity to kill the Original once and for all, but Stefan was right that they didn't even know what the vampire looked like. Emma had texted Alaric as soon as Damon begrudgingly finally returned her cell phone to her. The professor didn't take long to arrive.

"Sorry I'm late", the man said.

"Since you're here", Damon began, looking strangely uncomfortable in Alaric's presence. "I need you to put me down as Emma's chaperone at the dance. Klaus made his first move".

"What?", Emma asked, and Damon walked over to her, putting an arm over her shoulders and pulling her close.

"I'm gonna be your hot date, Dolly", he teased.

"I'm not a sheep", she complained, crossing her arms. Elena huffed.

"Okay, so we find him and then what? Hmm? What's our plan of attack?", Elena asked.

"Me, I'm the plan", Bonnie replied, and everyone turned to the witch. "He has no idea of how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him".

"That's not gonna be that easy", Alaric laughed debauchedly. "I mean, he's the biggest, baddest vampire around".

"Alaric has a point, what if he..." Damon said, and before he could finish his sentence he ran at vampire speed towards Bonnie, trying to simulate an attack, but the witch was faster and with a simple wave of her hand threw the vampire against the coffee table. Damon rose from the floor grunting in pain.

"That was awesome", Emma exclaimed, and Damon rolled his eyes and walked over to her.

"Are you sure you don't hate me?" he asked playfully, and she held back a laugh.

"I don't, and to prove it I can even lend you my crutches", Emma joked, and Damon smirked. Stefan and Bonnie stared at the two of them with interest, it was as if the older vampire turned into a different person around Emma. It was as if he had turned back into the brother that Stefan had longed for.

"About that... We have to take care of this leg, huh?"

"Anyway..." Bonnie interrupted them. "It doesn't matter that he's na Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him".

They all discussed for quite a while how they could go about identifying Klaus. Damon insisted on his theory that the Original probably looked older than the students at the school, and Emma suggested that everyone keep an eye on the staff and other adults at the dance. The young woman knew a good number of the school staff and assured them that she would be able to identify if anyone different was present.

Emma's cell phone rang, and the girl excused herself and skipped into the kitchen. Damon watched her with an arched eyebrow, but had his attention stolen by Bonnie, who was saying something about the amount of power she believed she had to use to kill Klaus.

"Jen?", Emma answered the phone.

"Hey, Emma", Jenna answered on the other end of the line. "I... I'm just calling to check up on you guys. How's Elena and Jeremy?"

"They're fine. They miss you. We all do" Emma said, and waited for Jenna to answer, but the line went silent. "I'm so sorry Jenna".

"Well, I have to go now..."

"Jenna, please. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, I swear I did, but... It wasn't my story to share..."

"We can talk some other time, Emma. Now I really have to go", the woman cut her niece off and disconnected the call. Emma took the phone from her ear and stared at the device, propped against the kitchen counter.

"Who was it?" Damon asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Jenna" the girl replied, punching the phone into her pocket and sighing. "She's still pissed. She'll never forgive me".

"She will", the vampire commented, moving closer to her. The girl followed his movements with interest, but was taken by surprise when Damon caught her around the waist and placed her on the kitchen counter, just as he had done in her apartment to help her put on her shoes. "Now let's finally take care of your leg".

"What do you mean by 'take care' of my leg?" she questioned.

"You need two function legs to dance, doll. So, you're drinking my blood to heal it", he explained as if it was obvious.

"Now?"

"Yeah, now. Why?" Damon asked, and had to hold back his laughter when Emma opened and closed her mouth several times, not knowing what to answer. The girl looked alarmed from the kitchen door to him three times, and he smirked. "Alaric and Bonbon are gone, Stefan and Elena are upstairs. We have the kitchen all for ourselves".

"Okay..." she replied hesitantly and ended up pouting her lips, which Damon considered adorable. "So how do we do it? You'll pour me a glass of blood? What if I throw up?"

"No glass, and you won't throw up", he assured, and took off the leather jacket he was wearing. Emma raised an eyebrow in question. "You'll drink from me".

Damon was excited at the possibility of feeding Emma with his blood. Something stirred inside him, and he wanted to see her drink straight from him. The vampire listened to the girl's heart beating fast and stared into her eyes. Without ever taking his eyes off her, Damon brought his own wrist to his mouth and carefully buried his fangs in his own flesh, deep enough that the place began to bleed. Emma swallowed dryly, but her amber eyes betrayed her and her pupils dilated. Should it be so sexy to watch him bite his own wrist?

"Now you just drink", he said, bringing his wrist close to her mouth. His ice blue eyes burned her amber ones, and the girl brought her lips carefully to the wound. Damon knew that she had done it unconsciously, that she hadn't done it to provoke him, but as soon as he felt the tip of her tongue rub against his wrist, he shifted his eyes to her lips and unconsciously stepped forward, fitting himself between her legs.

Emma carefully sucked the blood from the wound, and Damon felt his pants tighten. Gods, it was so fucking good. Without even realizing it, he brought his free hand up to her exposed thigh, sliding his fingers up and down inside the skirt of her dress. The girl's thighs twitched and her heart skipped a beat, and Damon had to clamp his lips together to keep a moan from coming out. It wasn't supposed to be this way, he shouldn't be turned on by watching her suck his blood, but he couldn't help it.

It was all damn sexy, and the blood she drank only made the girl turned on too. It was a common effect in humans who drank vampire blood, he knew that because that was what happened to him when he drank Katherine's blood. The only problem was that it made it harder for Damon to control himself and not take a completely reckless action. Because, dammit, what he wanted most of all was to push her panties aside and sink his teeth into her neck as he fucked her until he forgot his own name.

Emma pulled back and carefully held Damon's wrist between her two hands. When she lifted her face, she came face to face with the vampire's dilated pupils. His face was only inches from hers, and the girl held back a sigh. Her lips were red from the blood, and a single drop trickled from the corner of her mouth, running damn slowly down her jaw toward her neck. Damon didn't even realize that his breathing was as heavy as hers, and neither of them could break eye contact. The vampire was still caressing her thigh with his other hand, and Emma, feeling his fingers brushing too close to her panties, felt her own nipples harden against the dress she was wearing. The girl forced herself to look away and let go of his wrist.

"It's normal, you know", Damon said, still not moving, and his voice sounded huskier than Emma would consider prudent, given the situation they were in. "To feel this... good after drinking vampire blood".

"Good to know", she replied in a shaken voice, and Damon averted his eyes to the drop of blood now running down her neck. Without being able to even think straight, he brought his mouth to it and licked the drop, drawing a gasp from Emma. The vampire squeezed her thigh with some force between his fingers in response, and the girl held back a moan.

Emma took a deep breath and carefully pushed Damon away. She had to stay away, otherwise she would do something she was sure to regret later. Damon was good to her, he was a good friend, he was the person she trusted the most, she couldn't just fuck him to death in the middle of that kitchen. That would ruin everything, she knew it would.

"I have to go now", she said, taking a deep breath and propelling herself off the kitchen counter.

"You could stay", Damon replied, and she snorted.

"I rather not", she replied, propping her plastered leg on the floor. In fact, she felt no pain at all. The biggest discomfort now was having a cast immobilizing a leg that was perfect. The girl didn't dare look at the vampire and picked up the crutches that were propped up against the refrigerator. She would have to decide what to do with them now that she no longer needed them. "Your blood let me too... weird and... turned on, so I really can't stay in the same room as you right now".

Damon smirked.

"So you staying here is a great idea", he teased, and she stared at him with frowning eyebrows, as if threatening him. He grinned. "I'll drive you home then".

"Absolutely not", she cut him off, making a negative sign with her hand. "You stay here, the hell away from me".

Emma was serious, but Damon couldn't stop smiling. It was fun and too damn sexy knowing that she was horny for him. For him and because of him. But he knew she was right. What would happen if the two of them just had sex? Would it be the best fuck of her life? For sure. Would it be the best fuck of his life? He wouldn't doubt it, his pants were absurdly tight against his cock to indicate that there was a good chance the answer would be 'yes'. But what about the next day? It was better that she went home and stayed well away from him anyway.

And so Damon called a taxi for Emma, and the two of them said goodbye at the front door of the Boarding House awkwardly. Before she left, however, Damon crouched down and used his hands to break the cast and free her leg, causing the girl to have to take a deep breath. She pointed her index finger at his face and threatened him.

"Stay away", she said, but soon let out a breath and her expression relaxed, "Please".

Damon replied with a grin and winked at her. He watched the girl get into the cab before closing the door. Taking a deep breath, the vampire headed up the stairs to his room, ready to take a shower and do something he hadn't done in a long time: masturbate in the shower. Fuck, Emma.