A Prevailing Love (2) // TVD

Chapter Sixteen of A Prevailing Love

Damon Salvatore paced his room with a hand running through his hair in a very stressing manner as he listened to the steady breaths of Cassidy Gilbert. She was still unconscious from earlier when she had managed to make her way home and saw the sight of Damon and Hanna.

He still couldn't understand how he didn't see that it wasn't her.

Now that he had thought back to it, he could see all of the signs and differences of how it wasn't her.

He let out a breath as he let his hand drop to the side and go to the side of the bed she was curled up in and looked down at her. His brows furrowed tightly in worry as he saw the pained expression on her face. Although, she seemed better now that she was in different clothes than that long red dress that was covered in her own blood and was ripped from the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant.

She was in one of his older white t-shirts and the blanket was covering the rest of her. Caroline had been the one to change her for she had felt it would be inappropriate if Damon or even Stefan did it.

He was even surprised Caroline didn't kick him out of the room and go be elsewhere. He was very grateful that she allowed him to stay, because all he wanted was to be beside Cassidy's side. He could tell that she had to have been through some pretty messed torture and he wanted to be there to make sure he could help her get through the memories.

Damon took her frail hand into his own and he couldn't help but to notice how she was paler than normal. She seemed more fragile than normal and seeing her this way felt like someone had gripped his heart.

"Damon?" he heard a soft voice at the door that snapped him from his trance on Cassidy. He looked up to the owner of the voice to see his little brother standing there with his arms crossed over his chest leaning against the bedroom door frame.

"Bonnie thinks she's going to be all right. It shouldn't be damage any worse than Kai," Stefan had explained and Damon only seemed to get more worried for the brunette. He remembered the pain Kai had caused to not only her but her sister and Bonnie.

He remembered life inside that prison world and being with Kai and watching him begin to do to Cassidy and Bonnie before Bonnie had spared him was something he wanted to protect those two from. He failed with Cassidy.

"Stefan, I — I failed her," Damon had barely spoke above a whisper as his eyes adverted back to his brother. Stefan's brows had furrowed in wonder of what Damon had been talking about. Stefan let out a sigh as he saw his big brother look back down to the current eldest Gilbert.

He could feel the hurt or even disappointment in himself coming off of Damon and all he wanted to do was go to his brother and give him a reassuring hug. He kept himself back from doing that though as he watched Damon bend down and give the brunette a kiss on the forehead.

"I want to make her feel better. To feel safe, Stefan but I know when she wakes up she isn't going to want anything to do with me after seeing what she saw," Damon explained as he looked back up at his baby brother. Stefan could see the inner fight Damon was struggling with and as before all he wanted to do was give his brother a tight reassuring hug.

Then a different idea came to him to suggest to the hurt vampire.

"How about you show her through memory?"

xXxXx

Damon looked out at the low current of the creek as he stood at the edge looking out at it with a small smile tugging at his lips at the thought of the memory place he decided to pick with Cassidy.

One of the many time he had to compel her even before he decided to be with Elena. Pieces of him loved the human Cassidy a lot more than Elena.