After coffee, the men retired to the living room again to talk, and I thought I would retire to the privacy of my own room. Before I could go upstairs, Adam called out " Just a couple more things, Mimi come here." I went into the living room. I sat down on a chair. Adam said "Now that Damon has joined the pack, he's staying with us. He's your new 'bodyguard', keeping you safe. He will also share your room. You will sleep in the same bed." My jaw dropped open. In the same bed. Really.?! Adam said firmly. " No arguments, Mimi" " But couldn't he sleep in a different bed or even in the room next door?" Adam looked at me and said in a voice he rarely used and at which point I knew I must now obey. " In the same bed, you have a big bed, you'll both sleep in it just fine. He'll always put you to sleep and make sure you don't have nightmares." I was silent. Outraged. How could I trust this man? He's practically a stranger. Just because he fixed my body or treated my wounds doesn't mean anything. I didn't feel safe. Without saying a word, I turned around and left. Adam said. "Damon will be bringing his stuff up soon, make sure there's room for his clothes too." I nodded and walked upstairs like a robot.

I compacted my clothes neatly onto a couple of shelves and also compacted the dresser to make sure there were a couple of drawers for Mr. I tried to figure out how I would adapt to this. So far, very little had been demanded of me and now, in fact, when the real situation arose, it was difficult to obey. But I did it anyway. I also cleared space in the bathroom and thought " Fine, I'll learn to share, no big deal. Somewhere in between, when I get myself in shape, I'll get some money somewhere, save up, and buy my own house where no one dictates who I sleep with!"

Footsteps were heard from the stairs and soon the door opened. Damon had three tube bags with him, he came into the room and put them on the floor, looked around, and said " Look at all the shades of pink and rose, fine, Baby let's see how we put this room together." I didn't answer anything. He picked up one bag at a time on the bed and put his clothes in the closet. I tried not to stare but he put t-shirts and socks in the dresser. He didn't have any underwear. Soon he had unpacked all three bags and pushed them bundled up to the back of the closet. Then he collapsed into bed. He looked at me lazily and said " Which side?" I pointed to the left side of the bed, where I had mostly slept. Damon rolled over to the right side and patted the bed. " Come on baby, come try sleeping with me." I decided at that point to be a big girl and then take a roofie without that having to wrap itself around me. He looked at me for a moment and added. "By the way Baby, I'll sleep naked then." I'm lucky I didn't take a deep breath. I was satisfied that the bed had individual blankets. I got my voice back when I said. "You sleep, you both have your own blankets. You can be under your blanket however you want." He chuckled, huskily. "We'll see what our first night together is like." I said, "I'm going to take a shower, excuse me." I pushed my way into the bathroom and pulled the door shut. There was no lock on the door, so I hoped he'd at least let me take a shower by myself.

I took off my clothes and threw them in the laundry basket. The house also had a basement with a sauna and a swimming pool and a laundry room. I headed for the shower. I washed myself with hot water and rose-scented shower soap. The hot water brought out my natural strawberry scent more clearly. I wrapped myself in a bathrobe and wrapped a towel around my hair, which would soon need to be cut and bleached again. I came out of the bathroom and went to sit on the bed, drying myself off. I took the towel off my hair and dried it some more. I was in a lazy mood and decided to let it dry naturally, I didn't feel like brushing or drying it anymore.

I had reserved a nightgown for myself. I'd put on an oversized shirt and a dressing gown for when I went for my evening snack. My original plan was to read anatomy after my shower and then have a late supper, but now I didn't know how I would do it. I opened the bathrobe and slipped my hands out of the sleeves and tried to get dressed under the cover of the bathrobe. An amused voice behind me said. "Baby, I treated you for a week in medbay. I know every square inch of your body, I've seen it all." I got my shirt on and got up and took the towel and robe back to the bathroom to dry.

When I came out Damon took me by the shoulders and directed me to sit at the dressing table. He took a brush and started brushing my hair. Gently, nurturing. I said casually. "It could use a trim and a bleach again." Damon was silent for a moment and said, "Long hair suits you, these are in good shape, I don't know about bleaching though, red hair could be your thing." I said, " Actually I have had red hair in the past, and pink, blue, I don't know I just learned to blonde." Damon said. "I'll take you to a hairdresser one day and get this hair done." Then he finally braided my hair tightly. "Well now that's better. " He said with satisfaction. I said, " Thank you, it's been a while since anyone has done my hair." Damon said, "I can always do your hair, Baby." I got up from my chair and decided to be brave and go read. I grabbed a book from the nightstand, opened my bed, and slipped under my covers to read.

Damon came to his side. He took the bedspread off the bed and folded it neatly on the bench at the end of the bed. Then he took off his shirt. He was in really good shape and also completely hairless. Down to his armpits and arms. He rolled over on his back and put his hands under his head. I tried to concentrate on reading. I had about five minutes to read when Damon said " Let's play a game like this, I'll tell you something about myself and then you and then me again. The name of the game is to try and surprise me. I've read everything Samuel has written about you, so I know quite a bit. I'll only tell you about myself if you tell me something I didn't know before."

I looked at Damon for a moment, sighed and put the book down, and started. "I'm a virgin." Damon said, " Doesn't count, the fact is known." I looked back and whispered sweetly " My zodiac sign." The look on Damon's face was something to behold. Gotcha, I thought triumphantly. Damon said, " Fine I'm a lion in my horoscope." We continued to get to know each other for three hours, I told him about my family and the house I lived in before I was kidnapped, I had lots of little details that no one knew yet. When Adam called us downstairs for dinner, I knew Damon was old, cruel, killed a lot, and by his own words fucked almost as much, had a brother. He's nowhere near the character on the TV series, he's possessive, he's an anesthetist, he can drive a car, he plays the piano, and he's fought in many wars. Before we went downstairs, I said "Damon, tonight you get to give me a sedative without any spooning. I can take it." Damon looked at me for a moment and said, "Let's see now."

We went to dinner. The table was set again with sandwiches, coffee, croissants, juice, and soda. I wasn't really that hungry, the duck dinner and the cakes had kept me relatively full and my stomach wasn't screaming as usual. I took a couple of sandwiches and ate them. Damon watched for a moment and stood up. Adam was deeper in the kitchen and Damon asked Adam a question. Adam said, no, she hadn't eaten. Then Adam came back to the table. Damon followed after a while with a plate in his hand with four layers of sandwiches, two pieces of bread on top of each other, and something in between. Damon put the sandwiches in front of me.

"Eat them, Baby, they're peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Peanut butter and jam." I tried the first bread and it was surprisingly tasty. I had eaten all four sandwiches pretty quickly and poured myself some more coffee. I always had to drink my coffee with sugar and cream.

After dinner, I went back upstairs. Damon stayed to talk to the men. I went to my bed and picked up another book and went to read. I wondered as I passed what else the future would bring.

Damon said "I'm getting to know Mimi a little bit now, as you saw. She is very unsure of herself and I have to take this slowly. She doesn't trust me nearly enough, and she even just said she'll take a shot and doesn't need any comforting. We have a job site here. The good thing is that we have time. She doesn't smell of any heat, not even of sexual maturity. I don't want to traumatize her about sex because it's an essential part of any relationship. " she continued "I keep Mimi safe as best I can, but she has a pretty strong will hidden away. She's nowhere near showing you everything. There will be surprises, I can guarantee you that."

Samuel said. "How do you want to handle the anesthesia?" Damon thought for a moment. Bran pulled a bottle from his pocket and said. "This one will do without injections. I've used it a couple of times. Chloral hydrate. Works like a dream. Six drops in the juice and in 5 minutes she's out." Samuel thought for a moment and looked at Damon. "I'm not sure how that adds confidence. Plus there's a bad risk of overdose with that as you know and remember." Damon nodded. " I'm glad it's working but for now I want to be as transparent as possible on this, now it would backfire if I secretly drugged her."

Damon said, " Just give me the drug to take with me and we'll see how it goes." Samuel got Damon 8 pre-loaded syringes. One per night, those should last a little over a week. Damon chatted with the men for a while longer about the general affairs of the pack and the future in general. Then he decided to go upstairs. Mimi usually went to bed at 11 pm sometimes earlier. Adam said " That's your responsibility, Damon, now see that Mimi gets enough rest. I've mercilessly put her to bed up to 6 pm if she's exhausted." Damon nodded. No pressure, he thought. He headed up the stairs to the top floor. This was going to be interesting. Even halfway up the stairs, he knew this wasn't going to work.

He could hear Mimi's heart beating frantically which meant that Mimi had gotten worked up or was nervous. Now Samuel had told him that this was actually just a very mild dose of sedative and it wouldn't be long before Mimi would probably be sleeping on saline alone. Damon had his own strong suspicions that this night would not be a peaceful one.

I read in bed and tried not to think about the future. Then I started to visualize it if that would help. It didn't. The minutes ticked by and when I heard footsteps on the stairs my pulse quickened. I tried to calm down. I'm a big girl now. It's just one injection. You take it and sleep like a baby. Yeah, right. Damon came into the room. He had a box in his hand. My heart was pounding. Damon walked to his side of the bed and put the box in the drawer, he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Your heart's pounding like it's the last day, you must be pretty nervous." He said calmly. "Or maybe you're just having that effect on me," I said nervously back. I said. "Fine now I'll go to my side and you stick it in my upper arm real quick." Damon said, " Let's try it that way." I said, "I'm fine, it'll work fast and I'll be asleep in no time." I went to my side. I pulled the blanket over me and left my top hand on the blanket. My nightgown was short-sleeved, so there were no obstacles. I waited.

Damon took the syringe in his hand and tried to act quickly. He pressed the needle into the muscle and the plunger into the bottom. The substance was inside. If only it worked. Mimi hurriedly pulled her arm inside the blanket. Damon took off his shirt and trousers, he had no underwear. He pulled his own blanket over his body and rolled over onto his side, facing Mimi. Mimi was face to the wall, and Damon couldn't help but sniff Mimi's hair, which smelled of roses and Mimi's own strawberries. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

I felt the needle press into my arm and the stinging like a substance followed immediately. I pulled my hands under the covers and waited for sleep. After 10 minutes, a slight snore behind my back told me that Salvatore was asleep. The medicine didn't seem to work but I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. I eventually fell asleep and then they started again. Spike, Drusilla, the green stuff, the bullet I jumped in front of to save Adam, the aconitum bandages. The feeling of being blown up. Or drowned.

Damon woke up. Mimi rolled over in bed, tossing her head from side to side, brow furrowed, hands clutching the covers. Suddenly, she jumped up and opened her eyes, but she wasn't looking anywhere. "Still asleep, shit!" Damon cursed. He got out of bed and pulled his pants up. He scooted over to the other side of the bed and grabbed a couple of syringes. He sniffed. The injections were indeed mostly salt water. Damon knew those drugs wouldn't do any good, calming wouldn't work. Mimi would have to be sedated. He left the room and shut the door. He sprinted to the medbay and took out a 2 ml syringe. Then Damon went to the medicine cabinet and used his own key to open the box containing Mimi's strong sedatives. He took a clear solution. This was the kind used to sedate large animals and was very strong. Damon drew 1.2 ml of the medicine which would be more than enough and he would only give her what she needed. He took the thinnest needles he could find.

Then he headed back upstairs. Mimi was nowhere to be seen. Then he looked under the bed. Mimi was trembling there. He reached under the bed and pulled Mimi out. Mimi didn't put up a fight. She was caught in some nightmare so bad that she was incapable of acting. Damon lifted Mimi onto the bed and came to his side. He gathered Mimi into his arms and stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. But where Mimi was at the moment, Damon had no access. Damon muttered to himself. 'Fine let's do this the hard way then." He turned Mimi almost crosswise in his arms and took her arm. He took one of the needles and slipped it into the crook of her elbow. Mimi didn't even flinch. He attached the syringe to the needle and pressed the plunger very gently. Slowly, until he noticed that the trembling stopped, Mimi relaxed in his arms and finally sighed and went limp. Damon let go of the plunger. It was at the bottom. He picked up the needle and syringe and put them on the table. Then he transferred the now completely limp woman to the bed and tucked her in. Then Damon undressed again and went back to sleep. The rest of the night passed peacefully. He woke up in the morning and to his surprise, Mimi was nowhere to be seen. The blanket had been turned aside, so Mimi had gone out on her own. He had been so sure that the medicine would keep Mimi asleep until noon. He heard the water running in the bathroom and someone rattling around in there. Mimi was there.