This amazing story was requested as a birthday gift for the Incredible and Amazing Birthday Girl, Noctis (Eliza0978)! I am so sorry it is two days late, but with the help of the amazing Milana0304 we got this beautiful story of sickness and love written for her. I hope she and everyone enjoys it! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, NOCTIS! <3
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Jeremy paced outside of Damon's room. It was late he doubted Damon was still awake but still he was scared to go in and check. Ever since the early morning he had felt sick to his stomach and he just wanted some comfort… Ever since Elena and Jenna kicked him out to live with Damon, he had closed himself off. He knew he wasn't loved or wanted, and he didn't understand why Damon took him in. Jeremy whimpered and hugged himself tearing up, he desperately wanted to go ask Damon for a hug or for anything, but Damon would laugh in his face. He let out a soft sob, as his stomach churned and lurched, he swallowed the pooling spit and slowly went to knock on the door.

From inside the room he heard Damon call "come in". Shaking, he opened the door to see Damon was sitting up in bed- reading.

"Hey Jer, you alright?" Damon said softly. looking at Jeremy's tear stricken face, he closed his book and patted the empty space on the bed next to him. 

Jeremy crept over and sat next to him pulling his knees up to his chest, hugging himself again. As much as he wanted to tell Damon what was wrong he knew he wouldn't care, "I couldn't sleep."

Damon paused before looking over at Jeremy, "would you like some hot chocolate and to sleep in here with me?"

Jeremy looked at Damon in shock, "what do you mean?". 

Damon moved his hand and started rubbing Jeremy's back, "would you like some hot chocolate and then to sleep in here with me?" 

Blinking in surprise Jeremy nodded, "if you don't mind," he whispered, burying his head in his knees. 

"Not at all buddy, cream and marshmallows?" Damon said gently, softly kissing Jeremy on his head before getting up. Jeremy nodded, and once he knew Damon was out of the room, he cried softly begging for Damon to come back.

It wasn't long before Damon came back and sat next to Jeremy, handing him a cup of warm hot chocolate. “I used to do this with Stefan back when we were human… our parents used to argue at night, when he was asleep and he would come into my room, scared. Sometimes I'd go get hot chocolate, or warm milk and honey, but no matter what, he would always end up falling asleep. We used to live in this house, which we've never really told anyone. I'll have to show you my old room one day.”

Jeremy leaned back listening to Damon, sipping at the incredible hot chocolate that was soothing his stomach, “it's strange hearing about you and Stefan being close… you've always seemed to hate him.”

Damon slipped his arm around Jeremy's shoulders, pulling him softly so he laid on Damon's shoulder. “I don't hate stefan… i can't hate him, he's my baby bro. We've just grown apart.”

Jeremy nodded, before closing his eyes, as he listened to Damon talk about his relationship with his brother. He wished his relationship with Elena could be the same, but luck just didn't seem to be on his side. 

"Jeremy, did you hear me?" Damon asked in a calm voice. He was concerned because he could feel the boy's temperature was rising, and he had a sneaking suspicion it didn't have anything to do with the hot chocolate. 

Damon looked down, running his hand through Jeremy's sweaty hair, realising he fell asleep. He shifted Jeremy, taking the cup out of his hands, laid him down, and turned off the lamp. Damon remained sitting up, with Jeremy cuddled up to his side. He rubbed his hand through the kid's hair. He just held him for a bit. Jeremy had gone through so much these past few weeks with being kicked out and adopted, and he was struggling with school, well Damon wasn't surprised about the kid struggling to sleep. Damon smiled as Jeremy snuggled up to him, almost like he was desperate for some kind of comfort, but what worried Damon most was Jeremy's little whimpers. He would let the kid sleep for now.

A few hours had passed and Jeremy's whimpers had increased and his face had become more tense, as worried as Damon was he knew that Jeremy needed sleep right now, he had heard the countless nights of him crying when he thought no one knew. Jeremy rolled over into Damon's lap, hiccuping a lot. Damon, now extremely worried, sat Jeremy up against his chest and turned on the lamp. “Hey bud i need you to wake up” Damon said rubbing Jeremys arms. All of a sudden Jeremy hiccuped and vomit dribbled down his shirt.

Gagging Jeremy vomited down his shirt whimpering, “im sorry ive made a mess” as he wrapped his arms in a self hug sort of manor crying to himself. Damon smiled softly “it's okay Jer you can't help being sick. Do you think you can make it to the bathroom or do you want me to carry you?” 

Resisting the urge to lean into Damon, Jeremy nodded “I can walk”. Jeremy shakily stood and made towards the bathroom tears silently dripping down his face, suddenly he burped and froze as sick lurched into his mouth. Damon was at his side in seconds rubbing his back, “let it out its okay i can clean it”. Jeremy gagged and puked down himself onto the floor and collapsed back into Damon's arms sobbing. 

Damon gently picked up Jeremy and hugged him close, carrying him to the bathroom. “I don't know how to deal with a sick kid, Jer, but I'll try my best i promise.” he kisses Jeremy's temple gently sitting down on the floor next to the toilet, and plopping jeremy into his lap. Jeremy whimpered softly “i thought you didn't like me, nevermind care” 

Damon sighed softly, shifting jeremy so he faced him, “i've never hated anyone Jer, if i hated you and didn't care about you, i would have never adopted you. I wouldn't be sitting here at 2am, in the bathroom with you, whilst you get sick. Jer, you're like my own son, I love and care about you, and I'll never stop caring. Even if you wake me up at night from nightmares, or you call me crying whenever, I'll always be here for you okay? Always." 

Jeremy sobbed, refusing to look Damon in the eye looking down "can I have a hug?" He whispered quietly, reaching out his hands slightly.

"Of course," Damon scooped Jeremy into a tight hug, but he was careful of his stomach. They stayed like that for a while just talking about random things just Jeremy snuggles with Damon.

"Damon!" Jeremy whimpered, tugging on his shirt to get his attention. 

Damon looked down "you okay bud?"

"I'm gonna be sick…" Jeremy started crying again, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Almost immediately, Damon had Jeremy positioned over the toilet, rubbing his back.

"It's okay, Jer, get it out, I've got you." Jeremy gagged and let out stringy bile, but not much else. He leaned back into Damon and let him wipe his mouth.

"Do you think you're done?" Damon asked softly stroking Jeremy's hair, feeling Jeremy nod he moved Jeremy and let him rinse his mouth out, whilst Damon cleaned up the toilet and the sick in the room. He also gave Jeremy some Pj's to change into.

Damon picks up Jeremy and takes him back to bed, quickly changing into some joggers and a loose tank top and climbing in next to Jeremy. "Are you comfortable?" Damon asked softly, feeling Jeremy snuggle into his side, as Damon wrapped his arms around him after turning off the lamp. Upon receiving no answer, Damon realised that Jeremy had fallen asleep on his chest.

He settled himself down, relaxing against the headboard, as he tried to ignore the niggling smell of sickness in the air. Being that the smell wouldn't leave his heightened senses alone, he focused on breathing through his mouth, so as not to notice the smell until he finally nodded off.

When he woke up next, he knew something was wrong, but he couldn't place it. He looked down, quick to take in that Jeremy was sound asleep and rolled away from him, in his sleep. Next thing he noticed was, he felt cold and clammy, something he had not felt in a very long time. The last thing he noticed was, he wasn't feeling so hot in a icky, gurgling, cramping  stomach kind of way. 

He rolled over onto his back, before turning to look at the clock. "Only 4:02 am, what the...?" he asked softly, cut off by a cramp that made him jump up and dash to the bathroom.

So started his misadventures in the bathroom for the next hour, he went back and forth repeatedly from the bed to the bathroom, with the worst case of diarrhea he'd ever had (even when he, himself, was human). By the time he returned to bed at 5 am, he was sore as hell, beyond exhausted, pale as a ghost, dangerously dehydrated, and nauseated to high heaven. 

He collapsed on the bed, being careful to not wake up Jeremy, as he reached into a cooler he kept under his bed filled with bags of human blood. He pulled 2 out, bit into them both, and drained them in rapid succession. 

"Your skin feels different,"Jeremy mumbled, as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He took one look at the vampire and knew something was wrong. "You're sick, aren't you?" he asked, his voice betraying his uncertainty. 

Damon shook his head no, as an odd feeling washed over him, and a rush of heat started deep in his belly before starting to rapidly rise to his chest. He reached up to rub his chest, before realizing the feeling was still rising. He jumped up from the bed, staggered close to falling over, and grabbed the side table to stay upright. 

"Bathroom!" Jeremy yelped, scrambling out of bed to help when he saw Damon had no balance at all. He grabbed the vampire's arm, dragging him to the bathroom, even as he heard the 170 -ish year old choking on his own breath. 

Damon allowed himself to be dragged, until he could collapse in front of the toilet, He dropped to his knees, a loud thunk as his knees landed on the file floor. He didn't even have a chance to breathe, before all the blood he just ingested came rushing back up to meet the now deep red water. It just seemed to keep coming, even after he thought for sure he'd be empty.

Jeremy stayed in the bathroom with Damon, rubbing his back, looking odd and out- of-place. He could feel each heave that wracked the older man's body, and he didn't know what to do to help. He chewed his bottom lip, looking around for any ideas to help, but his nerves were making him come up zilch.

"Hey! What's going on?" Stefan exclaimed, as he ran into the room, hearing his brother's and Jeremy's hearts racing. He was not happy when he saw the blood red water. 

"He's sick… It's all my fault…" Jeremy admitted, hanging his head, as he waited to be yelled at. 

"Not your fault, I got sick… so what?" Damon asked, leaning on the toilet in exhaustion, before heaving again.

Stefan sighed softly, before walking around Jeremy and taking the kid's hand to rub circles on his brother's back. "When we were growing up, before we became vampires, if we got sick we were the ones to take care of each other. Damon here, liked to drink too much and would and up in this position a lot… me, I had a weak immune system, so I was ill all the time." he admitted, earning a weak smile from Damon, when the poor man finally slumped back against the wall. He flushed the toilet, grabbed a cold washcloth, and a cool glass of water. 

He handed the washcloth to Jeremy, before motioning to Damon. "Wipe around face and neck." he instructed, as he bit his thumb dripping a couple drops of his blood into the cup of water. Once the blood had dissipated, he offered the cup to Damon.

Jeremy did as he was told tentatively, cleaning Damon's face first, then wiped down his neck being slow and methodical. "You are really warm." he observed, looking at Stefan in concern.

"That water will help." Stefan said, trying to be calm and reassuring. 

"I'll just puke it back up." Damon said in a tired voice, his breathing and shaking in his body betraying how hard he was trying to stay in control. 

"It has my blood." Stefan stated in a normal flat voice, his eyes begging his big brother to try. "I'll bring pillows and blankets in here, so you don't have far to go." he offered, hoping to bribe Damon into drinking the blood spiked water. 

Damon accepted the cup and nodded his agreement, gulping it all down with a grimace. 

Stefan bustled around, grabbing the necessary supplies, and returning with armloads to the bathroom so fast Jeremy had to close his eyes, and so did Damon. A moment later, a makeshift bed was made big enough for three. 

He laid down to one side, making sure that there was plenty of room and access to the toilet if needed, then patted beside him for Damon. 

Once Damon was snuggled up and comfortable against Stefan's, the sick vampire patted beside him which both surprised and relieved Jeremy, who happily curled up in Damon's crook of his legs, making sure not to be too restraining.
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As it would turn out, no one felt sick when they woke up next. Whatever had caused the illness was gone and done now.

I hope this story is as good as expected. And I hope you all enjoyed this story! As always like, comment, and request away. If you have special occasion requests, I'm happy to oblige, just let me know. Love you all! <3