Hero?

19

When Ana gets out of the hospital she finds that she is really far behind on her school work. Damon pulls her out for the rest of the year and has her home schooled. Jacob finds himself missing her and his job of guarding her.

Ana finds home school boring beyond belief. Perhaps there is no bullying at the house, but she feels caged in. Damon has become overprotective and doesn't let her out of the house much.

Once she heals Ana has to go back to therapy. That makes her grumpy and short tempered. She tries hard to keep it inside, but being locked into the estate and only being allowed to go to therapy makes it hard for her to be happy.

When she refuses to eat dinner for the third day in a row Damon calls her into his study. "Ana, what's going on?"

"You told me that I would never be a slave, but you didn't tell me you intended to make me a prisoner instead." Ana says trying hard to sound grown up and not be a petulant child, but she fails.

"Ana-" Damon begins.

"Don't Damon, I've heard it all before. I'm tired of being under house arrest. As lovely as the estate is, it's confining. Other kids can go to school, go shopping, hang out at the park, or mall or wherever it is they hang out. There are other kids to hang with. Jackson's family is lovely and I love spending time with them, but they are younger than me. Jacob has gotten better, but he still prefers spending his time away from me.

"I know you are doing this because you care, Damon, but," Ana sighs, "I can't stand it. Good night, Damon." Ana leaves and goes to her room leaving behind a thoughtful Damon.

"Ana, would you like to go to the aquarium today?" Damon asks the next morning.

"You know I've wanted to go to the aquarium, Damon." Ana replies listlessly hardly even bothering to glance at Damon. She doesn't really believe that he will take her.

"Get dressed and if you eat a good breakfast I'll take us, Jackson and his family and Jacob to the aquarium today." Damon says with a smirk.

Ana does look at him then, but with distrust. "What, you are going to leave Calum behind? You aren't going to bring an army with us? Why are you doing this now, Damon?"

Damon sighs and looks away from Ana before turning back to her and answering her. "You were right. I've been smothering you. That's no way to live. I've assigned Calum other duties. He'll be watching after things here so that I can take the whole day with you and not be interrupted." He gives her a smirk before continuing though. "The whole army bit, I like that. But no, since Calum won't be going I did assign Tony to take his place as my bodyguard. I could add more if you wish."

Ana is quick to reply, "No, that is fine." Now she finds she has more energy and desire to get up.

"I'm sorry, Ana. I thought I was going to lose you when I saw you pinned to the seat. There was nothing I could do and I'm not used to being in that position. I never want to be in that position again and so I overreacted. I'm sorry." Damon has never cared for apologies, but he feels that in this case he'd better.

Ana runs over to him and gives him a hug. "Thank you Damon."

"I promise, Little One, I'll try to not be so impossible in the future."

Ana giggles, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Damon."

"I said, TRY, Little One. I didn't say I'd do it." Damon smiles a soft smile as he looks down at Ana's smiling face.

"I love you, Damon," Ana's simple words make Damon tear up.

He bends down and lifts her up to give her a hug back. "I love you too, Little One." Going through the discomfort of apologizing was worth it if this was his reward, Damon thinks to himself.

Setting her down, "You should get a move on. You still have to eat breakfast and the others were told to be ready in half an hour. I'm having the cook prepare us a picnic lunch that we'll be bringing, so we'll make a whole day of it. Then if you wish we can go out for dinner. If you prefer we can return here to eat?" He isn't sure, since it was returning from a restaurant that landed them in the accident.

"Out to eat. Can I choose where we go?" Ana says excited as she races to her clothes and starts looking for the clothes she wants to wear.

"Any where you wish. I'll leave you to get ready now." Damon gives her one last smile and leaves the room. He makes his way to the study where Calum waits with his report.

"Is she doing any better?" Calum asks worriedly. They had all gotten worried by Ana's lack of, well attitude is the only way to put it.

Damon smiles at him, "She's perked right up. I didn't realize that my actions were hurting her so much." Damon drops his smile, "What did you find out?"

Calum's smile drops as well. He becomes angry. "The car that lost control did that because there was an explosive planted on his wheel. The driver of that car and the family of four in the car that he hit when he lost control all died."

Damon's visage grows darker. "Do we know who is responsible for this?"

Calum shows him an insignia, "This group, we have yet to identify who this mark belongs to."

"Was this a random attack or one designed to get me?" Damon demands angry.

He doesn't like the idea that there might be another group trying to horn in on his territory.

"We are still looking into that Damon. There isn't much chatter out there about this."

Damon lets out a grunt in reply. He doesn't like that someone could be after him with a vendetta and him not even know who or why. What's worse, it's putting Ana's life at risk. 

"Do you want more of the men to go with you, Damon?" Calum asks knowing what's bothering Damon the most.

"No, if she sees others she'll start asking questions." Damon shudders, Ana asking questions is like being interrogated. She doesn't leave off until she gets the answers she's looking for or told to leave it alone. He doesn't think she would on this one.

Calum looks at Damon with sympathy. They've all endured Ana's questioning, but not as much as Damon has.

"She's probably done with breakfast by now. I promised her this day, don't bother me unless it's unavoidable. She's getting very impatient with me, about this whole situation."

"I understand, Damon. I hope this day goes well," indeed they all do.