Brave (Damon Salvatore x OC)

Lineage*

Early the next morning Damon knocks on Alaric's door. It had taken everything in him to tear himself away from Embers side in their bed this morning but his need to have a weapon to help protect her was pretty motivating. Alaric opens the door looking exhausted.

"Ah, he's still alive." He observes.

"Yeah, for now." Damon agrees. "I need your stake."

Alaric turns and goes over to a shelf and starts pulling some books out. "It's right behind these books here."

"A bookshelf!" Damon scoffs. "Really? At least I was trying to be clever about it."

Ric has gone very still and is staring at the empty shelf. "Where the hell is it?"

"Ha ha ha." Damon mocks. "Look harder, Ric."

"It's not here, Damon!" Alaric and Damon start pulling books off the shelf and searching through the other shelves.

"Maybe you just forgot which shelf you put it on!" Damon suggests.

"No, I didn't forget. It's – I – I put it right here! A stake doesn't just vanish into thin air!" Ric's voice is rising in panic.

"Who else did you tell, Ric?!" Damon yells.

"I didn't tell anybody, Damon! I'm the only..." He stops.

"What?" Damon demands.

"I'm the only one who knew about it, Damon." Ric whispers.

Damon shakes his head. "No. Are you telling me that your vampire hating alter ego has a stake that can kill an entire line of vampires, possibly mine??"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

.................

Ember walks down the stairs into the basement of the boarding house with a black duffel bag. She approaches the door to the cell and peers through the barred window.

"Ric?" She calls

"Yep. Still me." He responds from his spot by the wall.

Ember unlocks the door and enters the cell with the bag as well as a Tupperware bowl of soup.

"You know, you shouldn't be in here. It defeats the point of the whole being locked in a cellar thing." He points out.

Ember drops the bag on the ground. "Well, you still need the basics. Toothbrush, change of clothes, some books to help you sleep."

Alaric picks up one of the books and shows it to Ember.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?"

She shrugs. "Damon thinks he's funny. I brought you some others." He pull out the next one. Moby Dick, and looks at Ember who grins. "OK. I think I'm funny too."

Ric grins at her. "At least you two still have a sense of humor."

"Are you sure that you...? I mean you don't have to be kept in here." Ember gestures to the cell. 

Ric looks around. "Ah, no, this is... this is the right place for me to be. At least until you guys can convince my highly uncooperative alter ego to fess up to where I... or he hid the white oak stake."

"We looked everywhere. You.... the other you, hid it well." She holds out the Tupperware. "In the meantime. Potato soup!!"

Ric smiles at her. "Don't know that you can fix this one with food Em."

She shrugs. "You know me. I stress, therefore I cook."

He looks her over. She is still a bit pale with dark circles under her eyes and he would swear she had lost weight in the past few days. "You ok?" He asks taking a bite and almost moans at how good the soup tastes.