Replaceable [Damon x OC]

Chapter 17

Aelynn stayed with Damon for the better part of an hour before she made her way back to her home. As she started to walk to her room, she looked up the stairs. She could see the lights on in Elena's room. She let out a sigh before she made her way up the stairs and saw Bonnie and Elena on the bed, hands interlocked as they spoke about everything.

"Are you both okay?" Aelynn asked, leaning on the door frame, her arms folded.

It wasn't until the adrenaline had worn off that she realized how tired she was. Something about Emily gaining control over Bonnie's body had worn her out. It was possible, she had thought, that when Emily had touched her, she created a connection and was able to draw energy from it. She would remind herself to look into that more later.

Elena and Bonnie looked at the girl in the doorway. She knew she looked wrecked, she felt it. She looked at their wide eyes and how they moved to get up from the bed like she could fall over at any time.

Once the two girls got close to her, Aelynn moved back and waved one of her hands slightly.

"I'm fine," she saw the way Elena looked her over clearly not believing her sister, "I promise. I'm just tired, and still concussed. Remind me to never let Caroline plan what we do at a sleep over again."

This earned laughs from her friends as they went back to Elena's bed.

"I'll be in my room, have fun up here," she said and then quickly made her exit.

She knew that Elena and Bonnie needed each other more in that moment. Yes, the night was extremely traumatic for Aelynn, but she dealt better with it alone. She found that out when she found out her parents had died. She couldn't take people asking her how she was, it felt like she was drowning. Every time someone tried to talk to her, it was like her lungs were filling with water all over again.

The Gilbert girl went to her bed and sat down with shaking legs, her head now throbbing. The last day or two had been decent enough in terms of her pain. The dull throbs hadn't been unmanageable, and no one seemed the wiser after the day they met with sheriff Forbes to discuss Vicki's disappearance. She hadn't been spacing out, hadn't felt nauseous, and wasn't losing her footing. That decidedly changed as a wave of sharp pain went through her head. She got out of her bed and stumbled her way to the bathroom, where she stayed for the next couple of hours.

Jeremy was the one to check up on her, in the middle of the night. She heard the door creak open and winced when the lights turned on. It was little relief when the lights did turn off and she felt a hand on her back.

"Jesus, Aelynn," Jeremy mumbled, "you said you were fine."

She didn't even look up, "and I was," her voice was hoarse from the twenty minutes of dry heavy she just did, "I had two good days."

Jeremy sat next to his oldest sister and grabbed a towel from the closet they were next to drape around her shoulders. She didn't realize she was shaking until she had tried to grab on the ends of the towel, but her hands felt weak. She leaned her head back against the wall, her eyes still closed.

"Hey," Jeremy's voice was gentle, his hand going to her shoulder, "you can't fall asleep right now."

She knew he was scared, and she felt awful for letting him see her like this. Like it was her own fault for getting hurt, for not taking it easy when she was being pulled in every direction. So she nodded, opening her eyes and staring at the floor of the dark bathroom.

"Don't tell Jenna," She whispered, not wanting any special treatment or worse, doctors visits.

Jeremy let out what sounded like a laugh, "I am not making any promises, this is the second concussion this year. We're playing it safe." he started to stand up, leaving the space next to his sister, "c'mon, let's get you in bed," he extended a hand out to her.

She eyed his hand suspiciously, "you just said I couldn't go to sleep."

"I never said bed," Jeremy chided, grabbing her hand to pull her up, then looping it around her midsection to be sure she wouldn't fall.

- - -

The sky was still filled with stars when Aelynn opened her eyes again. The pain in her skull has subsided just enough to where she could keep her eyes open and not feel like she was going to throw up. She let out a soft groan and went to rub her eyes as a figure sped towards her. She was about to let out a scream when a hand went over her lips and she was met with Damon's blue eyes.

"Shh, shh," he tried to soothe the girl, "it's just me," his dark brows were furrowed with concern as he looked over the girl's face.

Aelynn looked at Damon, her head tilted slightly as she mouthed 'why'. She watched as Damon looked at his lap, words on the tip of his tongue but not coming out. Then his eyes flicked up to her. Her hair was in a messy bun, curtesy of her brother, she was in a shirt two sizes too large for her, and the fluffy comforter was now bunched around her.

Finally, he broke the silence, "I was worried about you," his voice was barely above a whisper as he went to take one of her hands into both of his. His hands only grasping her fingers, but the warmth still spread through her body.

She couldn't discern if she was awake or dreaming. If she was dreaming, she did not want to wake up. Compared to how she had been waking recently, this was a welcome change to her. She would be the first to admit in that moment her brain felt fuzzy, like everything around her didn't quite feel real. Right then, she was okay with it.

"Worried?" she whispered, "about me?" she used her free hand to point at herself.

Damon's eyes held an emotion she couldn't quite recognize, maybe it was pity, may it was regret. To her, they looked the same.

He let out a soft sigh, as if to gather himself. Aelynn realized she had never seen him act vulnerable in any sense unless there was a large event happening. This was foreign to her, at least with him. She had to fight to remind herself that he had hurt Bonnie, had hurt Caroline. But still, she sat there with his hand grasping hers.

"You," Damon cleared his throat, "you stayed. I could've hurt you. But you stayed."

She only nodded in response.

"I thought," he looked to her ceiling, his head hanging back and she watched his throat bob, "I thought I was going to lose everything." He looked back at her, "I thought I'd lose you."

She stared at him, confusion etched on her face and her head tilted slightly. "Lose me?"

He nodded, "you care so deeply for everyone else that you forget to care for yourself."

"And you hate yourself so much that you refuse to let people care about you," she countered softly, her other hand going over his.

Damon's eyes went to their hands, "because of who I am, because of what I've done, I can't be as close to you as I want to be."

Aelynn stared at him, her mind racing with what he meant.

"I can't put the one person who keeps believing that I'm a good person at risk, over and over and over again," his eyes never met hers. She felt a pit forming in her stomach.

And then, she heard words that sent her mind whirling.

"I care about you, Aelynn, and I hate that I do."

---

Hello! It's been a while. I'm so sorry if this chapter is awful to read. I've done so much in show scenes that I felt like I needed to make a scene outside of it. I will freely admit I had the worst writers block with this fanfic, but hopefully it goes away. I'm also working through the Teen Wolf Fanfic as well.

I just started a new job, which is amazing, and I just graduated from college! Time honestly flies by. I remember starting this account in high school.

Let me know what you think of this chapter and what you think this cliffhanger leads to :)