AN: Please Read…
Okay, so thanks to my first reviewer, I am posting this chapter earlier than I originally intended. I'm going to pick this up, and the next chapter will involve more action. This is not a Bamon fic, so don't get too excited. It's certainly not a Delena fic, so don't even start to think that. Anyways, I hope that for anyone reading this that they are entertained and that to show it you are planning on reviewing. I, like I said in my AN in Discovering Secrets, am not going to continue to post if there are no reviews. I like to know people's opinions, so please don't hesitate; do it for seven year old Damon and your own imaginations, because let's face it you can imagine how it's going to end all you want, but that doesn't mean that I intend for it to end that way…so, please after you finish the chapter review and tell me what you think, it can be as simple as "I hate it!" or "I love it!", I really don't care just as long as you post…so thank you, to those that do in fact review. J
Oh, and P.S. I'll be happy to try to incorporate any relationships that don't go with a romantic Bamon or Delena, so that's another reason why you should post a review, because who knows your idea might just be incorporated…Enjoy Chapter 2.
Chapter 2: A New Day
Stefan wakes as the first rays of sunlight come through the curtains of the large windows. He sighs and stretches and suddenly remembers the events that took place last night. He closes his eyes and wills it to have not happened. He wants to look at his brother's face and see a young face without lacking color. He opens his eyes and looks down to his brother.
Unfortunately, Damon's small head is turned away, but Stefan can tell just by listening to his brother's shallow breaths that Damon is far from being a healthy seven year old. Stefan sighs and decides to wake his brother up. He nudges his brother gently and Damon begins to stir.
Damon feels like he's exhausted and the memories of last night come rushing back to him as he opens his eyes. He was going to die at the hands of those tomb vampires, but Stefan saved him. His own brother, who he thought he'd lost by kissing Elena two nights ago. Of course it turned out to be Katherine, not Elena, much to his dismay. He blinks a few times, his eyelids feel heavy and his eyes are having trouble focusing. He suddenly remembers fully, now, he's seven not twenty-four. He sighs at the realization.
"I think we should go downstairs, maybe Ric and Bonnie are still here." Damon quickly turns his head to the side and sees that his brother is there in the chair by his side. Was his brother there the whole night?
"Okay." Damon responds. He wants to say more, but stops when he hears how hoarse and weak his voice sounds.
Stefan watches as his brother tries to feebly get out of the comforter and he moves in to help. Once he has the comforter off of his brother, Damon sits up, and Stefan knows his head must be spinning. Damon, however, tries not to let it show and sits on the side of the bed, allowing his legs to loosely hang over the side of it. He stands up and Stefan notices his will is the only thing allowing him to stand upright.
"I think I may have a lingering present from last night, courtesy of the tomb vamps, I guess." Damon offers a feeble attempt at humor.
"Well, come on, we'd better get downstairs, maybe we can get ask Bonnie to look at you and see how bad the damage is." Stefan says as he stands up and starts to walk out of the room.
Damon rolls his eyes, "Yeah, I'm sure she'd just love to help me. I am going to pinch myself if Bonnie ever wants to help me so that way I can wake up." He responds as he follows his brother out of his room. He stops after a couple steps and puts his hand on his head and groans.
"You okay?" Stefan asks.
"Yeah, no need to add another worry line to that forehead of yours, Stef…I'll be just fine and dandy." Damon responds as he forces himself to start walking. He walks passed his brother.
"Damon, you lost a lot of blood last night, if you're not feeling well, you should tell me." Stefan adds in a distressed voice.
"Please, Stefan, isn't it too early in the morning to be brooding." Damon responds as nonchalantly as he can.
Deflecting, should've figured as much. Stefan thinks to himself as he follows his brother down the hallway, stairs, and into the living room.
"Wow! Damon, you look really pale." Ric says as Damon enters the room.
"Ahh…nice to see you too, Ric." Damon responds as he plops down on the couch near the chair Ric is sitting on.
"Is he okay?" Ric asks turning to Stefan.
"He's right here, Ric." Damon says exasperatedly.
"Yes, but unlike you, he won't deflect." Ric answers, annoyed. Damon just sighs, rolls his eyes and leans back into the couch as a response. "Well, at least I know the spell didn't affect your personality."
"Nope, I'm still me, just stuck in a little body." Damon snorts back.
"Except for the vampire part." Ric adds.
Damon rolls his eyes again. "Uggh…please, Ric, you're starting to sound like my broody brother."
"Where's Bonnie?" Stefan asks.
"I think still asleep. She stayed down here until I started breathing and told me that you said it was okay to stay here—" Ric explains, but is interrupted by Bonnie.
"Hey, Ric. Oh, Stefan you're up…and Damon too, sorry, I slept in." Bonnie says as she joins Damon on the couch. "Look at you, you're a mess. Stefan, didn't you think it'd be a good idea to clean him up?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice. Come on, Damon, she's right you should be clean." Stefan says, and Damon weakly gets to his feet.
Bonnie's eyes grow large when she sees how weak Damon is. He can barely stand up. She wants to help him, but realizes that it'd probably ruin his pride, and she wouldn't want that. As annoying as Damon is, she for some reason wants him to still be Damon around her, at least then she knows how to handle him.
He takes a couple of deep breaths and walks over to Stefan.
"Oh, my gosh! You will…" Caroline starts to say as she walks into the boarding house, but stops short when she smells that all too intoxicating smell of blood. She breathes, but can't help herself she lunges toward the smell, hoping to taste it.
Ric sees this and watches as Stefan pushes Damon back in desperation. Damon hits his head on the wall, and Ric and Bonnie rush forward to him. Ric looks up at Stefan and notices him holding Caroline back.
"Caroline, breathe, please, just tell yourself you don't need it!" Stefan shouts, but stops when the smell starts to be too much for him too. He turns around and looks down at his brother, who is on the floor with a growing puddle of blood beneath him. Stefan's face starts to transform, but he turns around, with Caroline still in his arms and breathes deep breaths.
"Stefan? Caroline?" Elena's voice is heard from the doorway. "What's wrong?"
Caroline quickly snaps out of her blood craze and turns to face Elena, "Sorry, I just lost it for a moment."
Stefan snaps out of it, too, and looks at Caroline, "You should probably get a handle on that, Caroline."
Caroline bites her lip, "I still smell it, Stefan, what is that, where's it coming from?"
Stefan's eyes widen in horror as he remembers what just happened. "Damon!" He shouts as he turns around and notices his brother is lying in a growing pool of his own blood and Ric and Bonnie are fussing over his unresponsive body.
"Damon? Wait what?" Caroline asks, not understanding.
"Stefan, what's going on?" Elena says as she takes in the sight.
Stefan rushes over to his brother's body and quickly feels for a pulse, and breathes a sigh of relief when his brother has a faint one. "Stefan, you're going to have to give him blood." Bonnie says.
"I don't know what that'll do to him, Bonnie." Stefan responds, "If I give him too much he could begin to go into transition, and immortal child, is wrong by all standards. Damon wouldn't be able to handle it, and I can't deal with it if he can't because, then I'd have to take care of it." Stefan explains.
"You have too, and we'll all watch him, to look for any signs." Ric answers.
Stefan looks up and notices that Ric's face is expressing just as much worry as his voice is. "Okay," Stefan says, as he bites into his own wrist and presses it down into Damon's barely open mouth.
Damon begins to drink quickly and he groans as the wrist is pulled away. He presses his eyes closed and frowns when he hears loud talking and arms wrap protectively around him.
"We should get this cleaned up." Bonnie says.
"What's going on?" Elena asks.
"Damon somehow got turned into a seven year old and we've been trying to keep him out of trouble, first two tomb vampires attacked and now this, we're worried about how much trauma Damon can take." Ric answers quickly.
"I'll go get towels," Bonnie says as she gets up and rushes upstairs.
She wanders into Damon's room and as quietly as she can she sneaks into view of the bathroom.
"Damon?" She hears Stefan ask over the running water.
"Uggh…Stef?" She can barely hear Damon's voice.
"It's okay, Damon." She hears Stefan's voice again, but this time it's barely holding onto any composure. He sounds on the verge of sobbing.
"I can clean myself." Damon grumbles, feebly. Bonnie rolls her eyes, if she had a dollar every time Damon showed off his pride and ego, she'd be a billionaire right now.
'Humor me, Damon, please." Stefan says, his voice still on the verge of breaking.
"My head hurts." Damon moans in pain.
"I know, and I'm going to clean you up and then put you in my room…it's darker in there and closer to me, when I'm downstairs so I can hear if your distressed." Stefan explains.
"No, Stef…please." She hears Damon's weak plea.
"What's wrong, Damon?"
Silence is all that follows, but Bonnie knows what it is, he's scared. The great, egotistical Damon Salvatore is scared. She figures that she'd better leave, before she's caught, so she sneaks out unnoticed, and finds her way to the closet where she grabs a few towels and wanders back downstairs.
"Damon, what's wrong?" Stefan asks again, worriedly.
"I don't want to be left alone. You can carry me around downstairs; I just don't want to be alone because what if I'm attacked." Damon takes deep breaths in between each syllable. Stefan is exhausted just be listening to him, he can feel his brother's pain. He hates it, how much pain Damon's in.
Damon leans against the edge of the tub and sighs. Stefan holds his arm protectively around Damon in order to keep his brother above the water line. His eyes glass over, since when was his brother, his big brother scared, weak, and exhausted. He'd much rather deal with the whiny, bratty child he'd come home to yesterday morning, than this broken, and injured boy he has to support. His brother is supposed to be strong and invincible, not broken and barely hanging onto life.
He sighs and gently brushes Damon's hair out his eyes, "Okay, Damon, you can rest in my lap downstairs."
Damon only nods in response and lets his eyes flutter closed as Stefan washes him off.
Stefan watches his brother and feels the exact moment when his brother loses his battle with unconsciousness, because he's now supporting Damon's entire weight. He wipes his brother off and makes sure that he's clean. He picks him up and gently places him on the towels laid out for him on the floor. He wraps Damon in them and gently dries him off. Stefan winces when he hears his brother moan softly in pain, as Stefan makes contact with Damon's head and neck. He sighs and looks his brother's neck over. It's scabbed and bruised. He can't help it, he just starts to sob. This should not be his brother, his brother's strong.
"So, wait, we have no idea what happened?" Elena asks again.
Caroline sighs and grumbles, "That's what she said, Elena."
"Okay, okay, gosh, I'm just curious, okay; I mean this can't be easy." Elena shrugs and lounges back against the couch.
"Here comes Stefan." Caroline says. "He should be in bed, Stefan."
"I know, but I…" Stefan stutters. "I didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone. Any vampire can enter, so…"
Bonnie bites her lip, as much as Stefan has a point; she knows that Damon was afraid to be left alone. Stefan's just allowing his brother to keep whatever dignity he has left. She says nothing.
"That's a good point, should Damon stay with me, then?" Elena asks.
Stefan sits down and cradles a pallid Damon in his arms. The towels are milk white and Damon is nearly the same color.
"No, then we'd have to explain who he is to Jenna." Alaric reminds them.
"Well, he can't stay with me; I nearly tried to kill him." Caroline states.
"Bonnie?" Stefan asks.
"What?" She sighs, she knows what they're going to ask her, and as much as she wants to say no, she needs to say yes. "Alright fine, he can stay with me, my dad's almost never home, and I live alone, now that Grams is gone. So, yes, he can stay with me. Just make sure he has clothes, Stefan."
Stefan nods. Just then Damon decides to stir uncomfortably.
"How much blood has he lost?" Elena asks.
Stefan frowns, "A lot."
Caroline disappears and fills a glass with water and brings it back into the room, "You need to get him to drink as much water as he can, Stefan." She says as she hands it to him.
Stefan nods and he gently shakes his brother awake with his free arm. Damon slowly opens his eyes and Stefan helps him to sit up to prevent him from going to sleep, "Damon?"
"What?" The words didn't come out with the desired annoyance, but everyone in the room knew what it was meant to sound like.
"Caroline says you need to drink this." Stefan says. Damon leans against Stefan and nods in agreement and sticks out his hand. Stefan sees his brother's shaky hand and knows his brother won't be able to hold it, but Damon's insistence makes him place the glass in his hand.
Bonnie watches in horror as the glass proves to be too heavy and Damon can't manage to hold it. Stefan quickly catches it before it meets the floor and holds it to Damon's lips so he can drink. No one says anything, while the brothers interact.
Stefan offers small words of comfort whenever Damon starts to falter in his ability to drink the water. Damon slowly sips it dry and then collapses back into Stefan's arms.
"Okay, so you can take him to my house and put him in my bed for the rest of today, so he can rest. No one's there so he can really get some rest and sleep for the rest of the day." Bonnie offers.
"Okay," Stefan nods, "Thank you so much, Bonnie."
"You should run him over right now." Bonnie says.
Stefan nods, "I'll keep him in the towel and then I'll go to the store later today to buy clothes, and I'll give them to you." With that Stefan disappears.
"I've got to talk to Stefan, and find out how he's doing." Elena says with certainty.
"How are you doing, Ric?" Caroline asks.
"It's just weird, Damon's my friend and yet he's seven…it's hard to believe that he was such a homicidal vampire now." Ric says.
Caroline nods, she understands that Ric is probably just as worried as Elena and Stefan are, but like Damon, Ric has trouble showing his feelings.
"Okay, so the computer is in the next room, so I'll go in there and start searching for ideas." Bonnie says and stands up and briskly walks out of the room.
"Okay, Damon, you're going to stay here for a while, until we can figure out how to fix this." Stefan says as he grips Damon's hand.
"Okay, Stef." Damon replies. His eyes are still closed.
"You're going to be alone here, for a while until Bonnie comes back, and then she'll watch out for you, but don't worry because no vampire can enter this house, so you'll be safe, Buddy." Stefan explains.
Damon nods, "Thank you." Then after that, Damon falls asleep, and his hand goes limp. Stefan lets his arm fall to his side.
Stefan's vision goes blurry with emotion. He can't even begin to describe the emotion he feels. He decides to leave while, Damon is peacefully asleep. He steps out of the room, not before making sure the windows are closed and the curtains are shut over them. He then walks out of the room and closes the door behind him.
He decides to go back to the boarding house and grab some money and buy some clothes. He hopes that everything will wind up being okay in the end and is thankful he has friends, who care enough about him and his brother enough to help