A Fresh Start (Damon, OC, Klaus)

14. Too late

Damon had been driving home when Jessica called him. Initially he was happy when he saw her name on his phone's screen, but 4 seconds into the call he knew something was horribly wrong. Her speech was completely slurred and she wasn't making much sense. He tried to get her to tell him where she was but she just kept saying the wrong one was saved. Now he was panicking. He was pulling into his driveway when she mentioned it. How did she... he looked up at the house. Now she was crying. He slammed on the brakes ready to jump from the car, but her next sentence stunned him making him freeze for a second, she loved him.

Him, Damon Salvatore, was loved. He started pleading with her as he got out of the car. The phone went dead. He nearly took the front door of the hinges rushing into the house just in time to see her fall. He screamed her name and tried to catch her but he was a micro second too late.

Damon fell to the floor, he pulled Jessica onto his lap. For the first time in his long life as a vampire Damon Salvatore didn't even notice the blood. He just held her, gently rocking back and forth, tears flowing down his face.

Elena was getting very worried about Jessi. She hadn't turned up to her mother's funeral, she wasn't at home and now there seemed to be a problem with her phone. Elena and Stefan were in the car on the way to the Salvatore home, she turned to Stefan who was driving.

"Something is wrong Stefan, I just know it is. Where can she be?"

"Look when we get to the boarding house, you wait there and I'll go find..." Stefan's voice trailed off as they turned onto the driveway. Damon's car was sitting in the middle of the driveway, engine running and the door wide open.

Stefan was immediately out of his own car and using all his speed to run to the house. It took Elena slightly longer to get there and when she did she was slightly out of breath. She saw Stefan just standing in the entrance hall to the house, just staring in, horror etched on his face.

"Stefan? Stefan what is it?"

Stefan couldn't answer. Elena followed his gaze and screamed. Damon was on the floor holding Jessica, rocking back and forth. What caused her to scream was the vast amount of blood and the way Jessica's lifeless eyes were staring at the ceiling.

She and Stefan moved closer, Damon didn't even seem to notice they were there.

"Damon?" Elena said his name so softly. He didn't even acknowledge them. Stefan reached out to check Jessica's neck for a pulse, not expecting one when Damon let out a roar. He pushed Stefan, sending him flying across the room and crashing into some shelves.

"Don't touch her... just, don't..." Damon snarled. He went back to rocking, rubbing Jessica's hair, almost as if soothing her.

Elena couldn't take her eyes of the scene in front of her, and could feel the tears quietly fall down her cheeks. It wasn't fair, how could one girl have so much terrible things happen to her. Stefan picked himself up and came to stand next to Elena. Damon was mumbling,

"I was too late... too late... I couldn't catch her... too late..."

Suddenly Elena jumped, "Oh my god, she's alive! Look at her hand, her fingers are moving."

Three sets of eyes fell on Jessica's twitching hand, and as they watched the wounds on her head and body started to disappear until they were completely gone.

Stefan remembered first, couldn't believe they had forgotten, but with everything that had happened in the last few days... He knelt in front of his brother,

"Damon, when you saved her life, you gave her your blood."

Damon looked confused for a second, Stefan continued, "Damon, she has vampire blood in her system."

Elena noticed the briefest flickers of hope on Damon's face, before it was replaced with one of regret and worry. He looked up at Stefan,

"Please, take her home. She won't want to see me, especially now. I've done everything wrong, I need to do this right."

Stefan understood, Damon stood up and carried Jessica to Stefan's car and placed her ever so gently on the back seat. She was flickering in and out of consciousness. He placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I think I loved you too." He whispered against her skin. He stepped back and moved out of Stefan's way. As Stefan and Elena took off, Damon walked back into his house. For the second time in less than a week he had to clean Jessica's blood up from a floor. He wished he could be there when she woke fully but he knew it was impossible. She would hate him for this. As far as he could tell she had tried to end it quickly while drunk. Now she faced another decision, die slowly and painfully or complete the transition and become a vampire.

The selfish part of Damon hoped she would choose the latter. He no longer could imagine a world without her in it, even if she hated him.