Chapter 32

Damon took Ottilie home later that evening when Dr Laughlin was satisfied that she was fine, and he looked over at his daughter as they sat together later that night, huddled together on the sofa. He held her close to him, stroking her long hair gently, making sure she was feeling relaxed and safe.

"Do you want to tell me what happened, sweetheart?" he asked softly, trying not to startle too much from the heavy silence that had been weighing on him since he got home.

His daughter just shook her head, not speaking. Come to think of it, she barely said a word since she'd come around in the hospital.

"Ric said that you looked a little roughed up when you walked into his classroom?" Damon tried again, but to no avail. He sighed, giving in and grabbing the TV remote and turning it on.

"It's never happened at school before…" said Ottilie, suddenly in a tiny voice. "An attack, I mean."

Damon muted the TV and they both stared at the moving, silent pictures on the screen.

"Do you know what happened to me? I don't really remember."

Damon reshuffled her gently so that she was looking at him, and told him what Ric had told him a few hours ago.

"According to Ric, you were late to class and arrived looking a little worse for wear. He said that you were sat next to your classmate, Greg, who alerted him when you fainted. Apparently this Greg stopped you falling. I should probably thank him…"

Ottilie hid her head in her hands, and Damon saw a subtle flush spread across her cheeks, and smirked. "That's so embarrassing," she murmured, horrified that she'd have to go back to school after the weekend and see everyone again.

Damon chuckled and lifted her head from her hands gently, "oh sweetheart," he teased gently before hugging her to him, loving her reaction - so very human, he thought.

The phone rang early the next morning, and a bleary-eyed Stefan ran to answer it, almost forgetting that they owned a landline phone and wondering who could possibly still have that number.

"Hello?" he answered, groggily.

"Good morning, Mr Salvatore," came a woman's voice down the phone. "My name is Diana Blythe, I'm Greg Blythe's mother. I believe he's in the same class Ottilie?"

"Oh hi, good morning," replied Stefan, not sure what to say but briefly remembering Greg's name coming up in conversation with Damon when he explained to him what had happened to Ottilie.

"Yes, we were just ringing to see how Ottilie was doing? Greg was quite concerned about his little friend yesterday, and wondered if might be able to come over to see her while she's no doubt resting?"

Stefan had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at the squawks of embarrassment that he could hear coming from who he presumed was Greg. "How kind," he replied. "You'd be most welcome to come over later this morning? I know that Damon and I would like to thank Greg for his help yesterday." He could almost hear the woman smile down the phone, so proud was she that her son was such a gentleman.

It was decided that Greg and his parents would come over for coffee later that morning which gave Stefan plenty of time to tell Damon and to get Ottilie up and about. She was often exhausted after her attacks and unable to do much more than eat and sleep. Next on the agenda was to find Lexi and fill her in on the morning's events.

Having told Damon what was going on, Stefan went to check in on Ottilie, who although still very pale and supporting a scratched face and bandaged ribs, grinned when she saw him. "Uncle Stefan!" she cried, holding out her arms for a hug but failing to conceal a wince as she pulled at her cracked ribs.

"Morning Otti! Feeling better? There's someone coming to see you a little later on so you need to get up now."

She looked up at him, confused. "Who?" she asked, her brows furrowed as she tried to narrow down the already short list of people who were likely to come and see her.

"I believe he's one of your school friends who helped you yesterday," said Stefan, noticing her pale face colour as she blushed and her mouth fell open.

"Oh my god, Greg?!" she almost shrieked. "This is so embarrassing, I'm in my pyjamas!"

Stefan was laughing now which only added to Ottilie's annoyance. Luckily for Stefan, before Ottilie could use her magic to stop him laughing, Lexi swooped in, rolling her eyes at her hysterical best friend.

"For goodness sake, Stefan," she said, grinning at a very pink Ottilie, "There's a boy coming over and we need room to work. Out, please!" she ordered, pointing at the door. Stefan left the room, still laughing and Lexi took a seat by Ottilie on the bed. "So, who's this Greg?" she asked, with a knowing smile.

Ottilie shrugged, "he's just a guy in my class. He's nice though, and he helped me yesterday."

Lexi nodded, deciding not to press anymore, and got up, opening up Ottilie's wardrobe. "Come on then, let's choose something nice to wear – something comfy and casual, but not pyjamas, hey?" she teased.

Ottilie nodded, smiling at Lexi, and got slowly out of bed. Lexi helped her dress and did her hair nicely into two braids, and then helped the little girl down the stairs where the two brothers were making breakfast.

"I'm sorry, Ottilie," said Stefan soberly, sat opposite to her, still trying his best to stop from laughing.

Ottilie huffed and rolled her eyes at him, just in the way that she'd Lexi do, but she couldn't help but smile at him as she sat in front of the huge plate of food he'd made for her. She did her best to eat it but had to give most of it to Damon to finish as she was still struggling with her appetite.

An hour or so later, the doorbell rang, and Stefan, playing the gracious host, went to answer it, welcoming in a man, a woman and a young boy. Stefan introduced himself before turning to Damon, Lexi and Ottilie, who had just entered, and introducing them too.

"It's lovely to meet you all, I'm Diana, this is Ted, and this is our son, Greg." The boy looked up shyly at the Salvatore brothers and Lexi, his face a similar shade of embarrassed red to Ottilie's.

"Coffee?" asked Damon, diffusing any tension in the room as the guests accepted and followed him into the parlour, commenting politely on the house and the décor, leaving Greg and Ottilie alone in the entrance hall.

"Um, are you feeling better, Otti?" asked Greg, shyly.

She nodded, 'yes thanks. And thanks for looking out for me yesterday," she replied.

Greg shrugged as if it were nothing, but smiled slightly at her. "You know, it was really scary," he said quietly, "I thought you were going to die," he added, looking at his feet.

"I'm sorry I scared you," Ottilie replied, unsure as to how to respond to that.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. It wasn't your fault. It's just that, you're my friend, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you," he said quickly, a little louder than he'd planned to, not wanting her to feel bad.

She smiled up at him, and took his hand shyly. "Do you want to come and get a drink? Damon makes a really good hot chocolate – I could ask him to make you one?"

The taller boy nodded and followed her through the house, not letting go of her hand until they were about to walk through the door of the parlour.

Damon stood in the kitchen preparing the drinks and listening carefully to the conversation between his daughter and her friend. Part of him knew it was wrong to eaves drop, but the other part wanted to make sure she was safe. He smiled as he listened, knowing now that Ottilie was in good hands, and that although his newfound fatherly instincts were yelling at him to hate any male she interacted with, that Greg was one of the good ones, and so he got to work on the hot chocolates, waiting for Ottilie's little footsteps to come running through to the kitchen, bringing her to ask for one. God he loved his daughter.