Chapter 11

Stefan and Elena weren't talking, and the atmosphere was tense whenever the group got together. Nobody except the Salvatores and Elena knew why they'd fallen out, and they didn't want to share what had happened at the picnic. Ottilie was doing well. With a healthy diet, she was starting to look less frail, and had even grown a few centimetres over the months since Stefan and Damon had adopted her. That weekend, Rebekkah Mikaelson had offered for Ottilie to go and stay with them. She thought that maybe Damon and Stefan might need some time to themselves for a change. Ottilie was very excited at the thought of a sleepover at the Mikaelson mansion, full of some of her favourite people.

On Friday after school, Damon helped Ottilie pack a small bag to take with her for the weekend. 'You'll be good, Ottilie, won't you?' he asked teasingly, knowing full well that she'd be no trouble for the Mikaelsons. She nodded enthusiastically. 'I promise!' she said. She said goodbye to Stefan, who was more drawn and quiet than usual since the incident with Elena, and Damon drove her to their friends' mansion. He carried her bag to the front door whilst Ottilie hopped up the stone steps. She rang the ornate doorbell and the large wooden door opened almost immediately. 'Kol!' she cried, happily.

'Hello darling!' he said, and swept her up into his arms, spinning her around. 'Do you want to come and see your room?' he asked. She nodded and he took her hand, leading her into the house. Damon followed, and saw Klaus with Rebekkah. He went over to them. 'Thanks for having her,' he said. 'God knows I need to have a good chat with Stefan this weekend.' They nodded. 'It's no trouble at all, it'll be fun to spend time with her!' said Rebekkah excitedly. Damon chuckled at her enthusiasm.' You say that now,' he joked, 'but wait until she gets you up at 6am to play with her!' Rebekkah shrugged.

'I have all the time in the world to sleep,' she retorted, teasingly. Damon sighed, suddenly nervous about leaving Ottilie for an extended amount of time. Klaus seemed to sense his unease and placed a hand on his shoulder. 'Don't worry, Damon' he said. 'We will look after Miss Ottilie as if she were one of our own.' Damon nodded, knowing that he spoke the truth. 'Just don't let her get too excited or worked up, you know… I'm just finding it hard to trust other people with her, no offence'. Rebekkah smiled kindly at him.

'We understand,' she said. 'But we know what to look out for, and should the worst happen, you're only a call away,' Damon nodded.

'And Elijah trained as a heart surgeon about 50 years ago,' joked Klaus. Rebekkah rolled her eyes. 'Bloody hell, Klaus. Way to fill him with confidence!' Damon laughed,

'It's alright,' he said. 'I know she'll be okay with you.'

Klaus called Ottilie down to say goodbye to Damon, and she hugged him close. 'Have a great time, little lady,' he said, placing a kiss on her head. She jumped up and down, excited.

'I will do, Damon. Have a nice weekend with Stefan!' she said. And with that, Damon left her to it.

As he drove home, he noticed the full moon, heavy in the sky. 'Well if that isn't an omen, I don't know what is…' he thought drearily to himself. He found Stefan nursing a glass of bourbon in front of the fire. 'Brother,' he said. 'We need to talk.' Stefan nodded, unwillingly.

'I just can't believe what Elena said about Ottilie. I didn't think she had a horrible bone in her body, but she's reacted so badly to everything that's happened with Otti' he said, sadly. Damon poured himself a drink. 'I think we need to come to terms with the fact that Elena isn't perhaps who we thought she was when she had our undivided attention.' Stefan disagreed. 'I think she's maybe just scared that with our focus on Otti, that we won't be there to save her when she needs us.' Damon shrugged.

'Then she obviously doesn't know us very well' he said.

'What do I do, Damon? I can't be with someone who hates my family' he said. The corners of Damon's mouth moved inadvertently to a smile as he heard Stefan talk of Ottilie as his family. 'I think you're going to have to talk to Elena,' he said. 'You know, reassure her that all is fine. Why don't you take her out for dinner tonight? Show her that you value spending time with her and all that?' he suggested. Stefan nodded, brightening a little.

'That's a good idea actually Damon. I'll text her now.' Damon sniggered into his bourbon as Stefan scrabbled around for his phone. 'They don't call me cupid for nothing, you know,' he murmured, watching as Stefan rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Ottilie was having the time of her life at the Mikaelson mansion. She climbed trees in the huge garden with Kol, then sat with Klaus as he showed her how to paint. Rebekkah and Elijah were going to take her for a walk the next day, and Rebekkah, much to Elijah's dismay, promised that it was a very muddy one. And so she came that evening to be sitting in the kitchen, eating her way through a huge piece of pizza when she felt a strange sensation come over. It was cold and menacing. 'Mr Elijah,' she whispered, feeling the need to stay quiet. 'Do you feel that?' He looked at her oddly.

'Are you quite alright, Miss Ottilie?' he asked her gently. 'Are you feeling unwell?' She shook her head. 'No, I'm sorry. I just felt a bit weird, that's all. It's better now.' He took her hand in his, gently feeling for her pulse. The other hand went to her forehead to check for her temperature. Finding everything in order, he announced that maybe she was just tired. She agreed, suddenly feeling very sleepy. 'Come on then, little miss sleepyhead,' he teased. He took her by the hand and lead her up to the huge guest bedroom where she was to sleep that night. He wished her a pleasant sleep and left her to get ready for bed, which she did as quickly as possible.

She soon fell asleep, and started having a very strange, unnerving dream. She was walking through the Mikaelson mansion in her pyjamas, barely making a noise. She got to the back door and let herself into the garden. She looked up at the full moon and stood there, staring at it for what felt like ages. She could hear screaming, and sounds like bones breaking. It started softly, and got louder and louder until…

She awoke with a jolt and was shocked to find herself standing in the garden by one of the trees she'd climbed only hours before. She looked around, trying to work out how she'd got there. It was cold and she wrapped her arms around her, thankful she was at least wearing full length pyjamas. She stepped towards the door to let herself back inside when she heard a growl come from behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks, and backed slowly up towards the tree. Looking around for where the noise had come from, she was horrified to see two, large yellow eyes staring at her from about 40 metres away. She panicked and began to climb the tree as fast as she could, using the footholds that Kol had shown her. She got as high up as she could, and looking down, saw a huge wolf at the base of the tree, prowling around. It started to jump up, trying to get a grip on the tree trunk. She was just out of reach. Her heat was thumping, and her breath was coming in ragged gasps. 'Help,' she managed to whimper, 'Help!' Her vision started fading as she felt a huge pain in the left side of her chest. Then the world tipped upside down and she was falling into darkness.

Klaus was awoken by the howls of the wolves. 'Full moon,' he thought grimly. He got up, thinking he'd check on their guest, and made his way to her room. He found her bed empty. 'Elijah!' he roared, who appeared impressively quickly for the middle of the night. 'What's wrong, brother?' he asked.

'Ottilie is gone, we need to find her.' Elijah didn't look too worried.

'She can't have gone far, Niklaus' he said. Klaus stormed out of Ottilie's room and went downstairs. 'Need I remind you, brother, that tonight is the full moon. If she even left the house, she's in danger.' Just then, both brothers heard it. A quiet, desperate, 'help, help!' and they tore off in the direction of the plea. They looked in horror at the scene that presented to them. Ottilie was holding onto the branches of the tree, her little face paler than death, looking at the large wolf, snapping around the base. Klaus ran at the wolf, just as the little girl's hold gave out, and she began to fall, seeming to float through the air, limp and lifeless as a doll. Elijah, seeing that the path was clear of the wolf dove to catch her, trying desperately to lessen the impact. He just made it, catching her under her shoulders and knees and falling to the floor with her. He rolled, getting onto one knee and pulling her up so that he was holding her shoulders and her head lolled on his knee. Her eyes were shut fast, and he could hear the racing of her heart. Klaus had managed to get rid of the wolf, which, having seen the glint in Klaus' eye, had turned and run for the woods. 'Call Damon,' said Elijah, grimly. He set the little girl flat on the ground, checking to see if she was breathing.

'Damon,' said Klaus into the phone, 'you need to come over. Ottilie's had a tachycardiac attack.' He heard Damon swear profusely down the phone.

'I'm on my way,' he heard him say. He looked at Elijah who was gently shaking Ottilie's shoulders, trying to get her to come round. 'Miss Ottilie,' he said, 'can you hear me?' There was no response and Elijah gathered her into his arms. 'Come brother, we must keep her warm.' They hurried her into the house and set her down on a table in the first room they came to. 'Rebekkah!' shouted Klaus. 'Bring us some blankets! Kol, get the door open. Damon is coming over.' His siblings sprang to action from their bedrooms, not even questioning his demands due to the desperation in his voice. Rebekkah appeared with blankets and Klaus wrapped them around the tiny figure on the table, trying not to disturb Elijah who was checking her over. 'I'm not happy about this,' Elijah muttered quietly. 'It's taking too long for her heartrate to go back to normal.' Klaus swallowed thickly, noticing the lights of the car coming up the drive. Stefan and Damon leapt out of the vehicle and sped through the open door. 'What happened?' demanded Damon, running over to his little girl. 'How long ago did this happen?' asked Stefan, a little calmer than Damon. Elijah stood back from Ottilie, still keeping a hand on her wrist to monitor her pulse. 'She said that she felt a bit weird earlier, but I put it down to tiredness,' he said. 'Then we heard her and she outside, up a tree with a bloody wolf snapping at her,' added Klaus.

'A wolf?!' exclaimed Damon. He held Ottilie's face in his hands, gently stroking her pale cheeks. 'She's been unconscious for about 5 minutes,' said Elijah. 'Her heartrate isn't slowing. If she doesn't improve in the next minute, we need to take her to the hospital' The Salvatore brothers nodded grimly. 'Come on, sweetheart,' whispered Damon. 'Wake up, you don't want to go to hospital, do you?' As if on cue, Elijah moved suddenly closer to Ottilie, placing his hand over her heart to feel her heartbeat starting to settle. He held his other hand over her mouth and nose, feeling the soft, steady output of air against it. He sighed in relief, 'she's starting to steady out,' he said. 'Her heartbeat is slowing and her breathing is more stable.' Stefan looked like his knees were about to give out at any moment and Rebekkah lead him to a chair. Klaus leaned heavily on one the chairs around the table and Elijah placed a comforting hand on his back. Kol held back, terrified by what had just happened. Damon pulled Ottilie into his arms. 'Otti,' he whispered, 'I'm here Otti, let me see you open your eyes please sweetheart.' Her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed up at him, disorientated. 'Damon?' she said, 'What are you doing here?' Damon almost laughed but felt tears of relief spring into his eyes, and so buried his face into her long her, holding her close. 'You gave us all a scare there, love,' said Klaus softly, taking one of her small hands into his.

'Miss Ottilie, I'm so very sorry that you found yourself in such a dangerous position in our home. It is unforgiveable' said Elijah sadly. Ottilie shook her head,

'No, Mr Elijah, I'm sorry – it was my fault for being outside!' Stefan came over to her.

'That's a good point, Ottilie,' he said, seriously. 'What were you doing outside when you were meant to be in bed?' She began to cry silently, tears rolling down her face. Stefan is so angry with me, she thought. 'I'm really sorry, I was asleep and I had a dream, but then when I woke up, I was outside. I tried to come back in but then I saw the wolf. I didn't do it on purpose, I promise!'

This time, it was Kol's turn to console her. 'It's okay, Otti. I believe you. It's just very strange that we didn't hear you leave!' Klaus looked down at Ottilie, who was starting to fall asleep. 'Might I suggest,' he said, 'that we take Ottilie back up to her room to sleep. Are you happy for her to stay here?' Damon nodded.

'Maybe one of us should stay outside her room whilst she sleeps? In case she was sleep walking?' suggest Rebekkah. Kol offered to do so and Damon carried the now sleeping Ottilie to her room, setting her gently into her bed.

When he came back downstairs, having left her under the safe guard of Kol, he thanked the other Mikaelsons for taking care of her. 'I'm just sorry that we had to,' said Rebekkah. 'I really hope it won't deter you from leaving her with us again, but we'd understand if it did.' Damon smiled kindly at her, and Stefan wondered for a moment at the great change in his brother, since Ottilie came into his life. 'You did everything you could, and it wasn't your fault' Damon said. 'I trust you, and unfortunately this condition is a part of Ottilie's life now, and by default, mine. As Stefan said a few weeks ago, we have to learn to deal with the worry for Ottilie.' He looked over at his brother.

'Besides, she's going to have to come and stay with you more often. I believe that tonight was a success on the "Stelena" front, am I right brother?' Stefan rolled his eyes.

'Elena and I are back together,' he explained to the Mikaelsons. 'We managed to actually spend some time together' he said.

The friends said their goodbyes and Damon and Stefan left to go back home. Back at the Mikaelson mansion, the siblings sat around the table where Ottilie had been lying only a short time earlier. 'So,' said Klaus slowly, 'what do we tell Ottilie when she asks about that wolf?' Elijah stood up to go to bed.

'That's a problem for tomorrow, brother. I, for one, have had enough stress for one day. Goodnight Niklaus, Rebekkah' he said, heading up the stairs.