Chapter Six.

I woke up on top of Niklaus' decaying body.
"Crap..." I whispered.
I felt a pain in my thigh, so looked down to see a large splinter of the door imbedded in my leg.
I grasped it and took a deep breath in before pulling it out.
I groaned with pain and looked in the cell.
Kai was gone...
"Double crap." I mumbled, getting up.
I put pressure on my staked leg, only to feel agony as I fell back on the floor.
There had to be shards of the door still in my leg...
I got up again and limped my way to the blood stash, grabbing one for me, one for Damon and two for Niklaus.
I limped back to the three and ripped the blood bag open for Damon, putting it to his lips, squeezing some out into his mouth.
He woke up slightly and grabbed the bag, now guzzling the blood down.
"Heal Bonnie." I groaned, sliding across the floor to give Niklaus some blood.
He did the same as Damon, grabbing the bag before opening his eyes. I left the other bag in his lap so I could check on Bonnie.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
She nodded, holding her head.
"What happened?"
"Kai siphoned Klaus." Damon told her.
"Oh no..." She groaned before realisation set in. "Where's the Ascendant?"
"Dammit. He must've taken it." Damon snarled.
"We need to go and check on the others." I told them.
"I'll go." Bonnie said, getting up.
I got up with her and remembered the splinters.
I yelped in pain, falling back to the floor.
"What happened?" Damon asked, concerned.
"The door broke when Kai broke out. I thought I'd got the whole splinter out, but there must still be shards in there." I winced.
"Hold tight." He said, picking me up bridal style and vamping us to the living room.

The sight was impressive – not the good kind of impressive, either.
Stefan had been staked in the stomach, Caroline looked to have had her neck snapped and Elena was nowhere to be seen.
"That miserable, siphoning, sociopathic bitch." Damon growled, tugging the stake out of his younger brother.
He then came over to me, sitting beside my legs on the couch.
"Show me." He said.
I turned to my side a bit and it looked pretty bad.
"I'm gunna need your pants off for this, I think." He grimaced.
"If you wanted my clothes off, you could've just asked." I smirked through pain. "Take me upstairs, at least let me keep my modesty."
Damon nodded and vamped me up to his room, laying me on his bed.
"Could've done this in my room, ya know. It would've been closer." I pointed out.
"My bed's comfier." He countered, sitting next to my legs once again.
I reached for the button on my skinny jeans and undid it, along with my zipper.
I pulled them down, wincing heavily when I pulled them over the wound and slowly took them off, throwing them on the floor next to us.
I couldn't help but notice a slight blush run through Damon's cheeks as he touched my thigh, observing the wound.
"This is going to hurt." He warned.
"I've probably been through worse." I chuckled out the pain as he dug his finger into my flesh.

The pain had slightly subsided, so I just laid there as Damon did his thing, feeling for the shards of wood.
I watched him, calmly, observing the concentration on his face.
For the first 'proper' time, I'd noticed his beauty. Damon was beautiful.
His jawline, his ice blue eyes, his ability to show or hide whatever he was feeling, as and when he pleased.
Our personalities were similar, which made me chuckle.
He was sharp-witted and sarcastic, but also very caring, protective and sincere. I was much the same.

Just then, our gaze crossed paths and Damonstopping digging.
"I'm sorry if I'm hurting you." He whispered, gently.
I just shook my head.
"No, you're fine." I replied in the same tone.
For the moment, we just sat in silence, enjoying each other's eyes.
What was happening?
I felt butterflies in the pit of my stomach, ruined by Damon clearing histhroat and continuing to search the inside of my thigh, making me flinch.
"Found it." He smiled. "Sit tight."
I nodded and shut my eyes tight as he stuck his thumb in the wound as well,picking the wood out.
A particular bit twinged as he tried to get it, making me let out a sharp groanin pain.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"It's fine. Just get it out of me." I winced and instinctively grabbed the sleeveof his t-shirt.
I saw his gaze falter as I did that. He glanced to my hand on his bicep, balledin a tight fist.
A few more tugs and one particular one that actually made me scream.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said quickly as he dragged the splinterout. "Got it."
I took a deep breath and looked down. There Damon held up the splinter, twoinches in length and annoyingly narrow.
"Bastard." I scowled at it.
Damon chuckled, getting up.
He went over to his dresser, pulled out a tiny box and put the splinter inthere.
He smirked and handed me the box.
"Souvenir." He said, simply.
I took the box and playfully scowled at him.
"I think you could do with a drink." He said, waving his pointer finger at me.
"Ugh, yes." I groaned, laying back on his bed, burying the back of my head in his pillow.
I could smell his natural scent on the material, which made me smile.
It wasn't often I was made to feel vulnerable – especially in front of someone else.
But this was nice. It felt good to not be the strongest one in the room for once.
Damon walked over to what looked like an alcohol cabinet and, sure enough, He pulled out a fresh bottle of Bourbon.
"My own personal stash." He smirked, holding the bottle up for me to see. "Aged sixty years."
"Hell... What was I doing sixty years ago? I think I was in Rome." I chuckled, remembering the late fifties.
"I was back here." Damon sighed, reminiscing.
He poured two glasses and went to the other side of the bed.
He handed me a glass and sat down with me as I sat up.
We clinked our glasses and drank, sighing simultaneously after we swallowed the warm liquid.
"What are we going to do about Kai?" I asked.
"We need to get the Ascendant back off him." He replied.
"And save Elena." I added.
He nodded.
"Man, am I going to make him suffer." He growled before taking a deep breath. "So come on, tell me about fifties Rome."
I chuckled, looking down at my drink.
"It was beautiful. All the people were so friendly, there always seemed to be something new to see and..." I cut myself off, remembering him.
"And what?" Damon pressed.
I came out of my reminiscent trance and sighed.
"And I had a wonderful time." I smiled, taking a drink.
Damon knew I was holding back, I could tell.
"What was his name?" He asked.
"His name was Giovanni." I gave a small smile. "The love of my life."
"What happened?" 
"I happened." I sighed.
Damon gave me a confused, but concerned look.
"I was on the run at the time. I'd pissed off the wrong group of Vampires. Fed on their leader, ripped out his heart. I met Gio in a small café one night in the middle of the city. He bought me a coffee and we talked until the café closed, then he walked me back to my hotel. It was a 'love at first sight' thing for sure. We were smitten. We spent every day for weeks with each other. When they found me, I told him I had to leave, he said I wasn't going anywhere without him. They found us and to get back at me, they ripped his heart out and forced me to drink from it."
A small tear escaped my eye and I wasn't aware of it until Damon's thumb stroked my cheek, wiping it away.
He was close, his face a few mere inches away from mine.
"That's awful..." He whispered.
"It's in the past." I sighed, turning away from him and taking a drink.
He sat back to his previous position we sat in the thick silence, just thinking.

Ten minutes later, someone knocked on the door.
"Entre." Damon called, dramatically, making me giggle.
Bonnie walked in, blank-faced.
"What's up, BonBon?" He asked.
"Stefan and Caroline are awake." She said.
"Ooh, goodie." Damon sighed. "We'll be down in a minute."
Bonnie nodded and left us in the quiet.
Damon sighed again, adding a slight groan to it this time.
"I suppose we'd better go join reality." He breathed.
I nodded, gulping down the last mouthful of Bourbon.
Just as I was about to get up, Damon grabbed my hand, pulling me back down. I fell perhaps an inch away from his face, feeling his warm breath on my skin, leaving goosebumps.
"Don't deny we had a couple of moments, earlier." He whispered, softly. "I'd like to see how many more of those I can have with you."
My breath hitched. I wasn't used to falling this quickly, or at all.
I pulled away and put my jeans back on before vacating the room, rapidly, not wanting to reply – not knowing how to.