(1) The Phoenix (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Sixty-Five

Damon rubs at the back of his neck as he heads down the stairs and into the main room of the boarding house. It's quiet. Kind of the opposite of their entire lives at the minute. He pauses when his eyes land on Daphne. She's fast asleep on his couch. All scrunched up. Spellbook on her chest. Her wand clasped tightly in her hand. He lets out a soft breath and moves closer to her. Crouching when he reaches the couch. He touches her arm, moving his hand up to her shoulder.

"Daphne" He shakes her a little. To wake her up. She lets out a noise that assures him that she is waking. "Hey" He greets, she hums a little, still coming around as she shifts, straightening herself out. "You could have taken one of the beds upstairs" He brushes her hair back from her face. "Or joined me in mine" He teases as she sits up, she snorts a little and glances out the window.

"What time is it?" She asks. He glances at his watch.

"7.30" He answers. She groans.

"It was 7 when I sat down" She admits. It means she has only been asleep for about half an hour. She spent most of the night working on Stefan. On making sure that she got everything right with the spell, but she doesn't think that it's working. There was nothing about him that changed. And she wants so much for it to go right. They finished yesterday on such a high. She just wanted to carry it through. To keep it going. But all of the experiments showed that the key component was time. It needed time. So she has to give Stefan time. The spell time to take. Fingers crossed sort of thing. She presses her fingers into her head and massages. Her head is killing her. She knows it is the lack of sleep. The way she's been treating herself. She knows she has issues with self-care. It is a flaw. She looks after everyone else that she can forget about herself.

"You hungry?" He asks her. "I don't think we have much in, but I could probably manage some eggs"

"No, I'm fine..." She whispers. "Coffee though..."

"Coffee we definitely have" He assures her and then stands, heading off to the kitchen. Daphne watches him, turning to look over the back of the couch. Her eyes softening. She looks after people. But people looking after her; that's new. Especially outside of her parents. She's not used to it from guys either. Relationships were few and far behind at school, that last year bearing the biggest crop of affections. Though more often than not those affections were fumblings in the dark corridors, dark supply closets, in the Shrieking Shack. Daphne can't say that that wasn't an experience and the complete worst place ever to lose her virginity. "What are you thinking about?" Damon asks, she blinks and sees him standing behind the couch, watching her, two mugs of coffee in his hands.

"Oh, urm...not sure you want to know" She offers, he smirks.

"Now I really do want to know" He points out. "What had that pretty head of yours all...lost?"

"My virginity" She admits, he blinks, that was definitely not what he was expecting to hear from her. "I was just contemplating it"

"Okay" He draws out. "Because?" She shrugs.

"Brain still tired" She answers. "It wanders" He hands her the mug and then sits next to her, pulling her legs over his lap.

"Do you think it worked?" Damon asks, she lets out a breath and then takes a drink from her mug.

"My virginity?" She counters. "I'm pretty sure I definitely lost it in that shack, yeah" He snorts and shakes his head.

"Stefan" He corrects her.

"Oooohhh" She teases and he pokes her leg. "Maybe" She offers. "It seemed to take a while during testing for any sort of a result to show, so I will go down and have a look after this" She nods to the coffee. "Then I have to meet Bonnie and Abby," She tells him and then lets out a breath. "Take them to the coffin" Damon nods along. "Then I want to check in on Elena...."

"And eat?" He asks her. She doesn't really leave space for her own care, and he's noticed. He's trying to look after her. She leans over and kisses his cheek. He is surprised by it, considering the distance she's put between them. The space that she asked for. But he'll take the contact. It means that she isn't losing whatever she felt for him. He knows that there has to be something there. For the way things built between them. When she pulls back, he turns to look at her but she's turned her attention to her coffee, drawing her finger around the rim of it. He knows there is something here. And he knows she knows it too. He also knows she's scared of something, and that something is enough for her to keep at arm's length from her. Though compared to Klaus, he doesn't know what she could be scared of. He's the greatest threat they have faced yet. He brushes his hand over her knee, squeezing slightly before he stops, just rests his hand there. The two of them sit there in silence as they drink their coffees. Contemplating things. Their lives. The threats. Each other. There is a lot to work out. Yet, whilst they should be concentrating on finally getting rid of Klaus, neither can think of him. Neither of them can think of much other than them. Daphne knows she might be being a little unfair on Damon, she feels like she is. Like she is letting him down because she can't share in his unbridled desire to just let loose on one another. She wants to. She wants him. But she can't get over that fear. It's stuck inside of her like a virus. Infecting her. Every day he gives her reason to let go of her fear, but she knows she can't. She doesn't want to hurt him, and she knows that it is likely going to happen at some point when it wakes. The closer she is, the more damage it will do.