RARITY - A Damon Salvatore Fanfiction

Rose

When I finally arrived back at The Salvatore Boarding House, Elena was the one that answered my persistent knocking on the front door.

"Where is she?" I asked desperately as I stepped inside.
"Damon's room..." Elena said quietly, looking to the ground. "I'm sorry, Grace". I nodded, my eyes stinging again as I made my way upstairs. I had received a text an hour earlier. Rose had been bitten by a werewolf. He knew what this meant just as much as I did. He stayed true to his word and let me go back to them.

As I reached the door, I stopped outside, lifting my hand up to knock before hearing a soft exchange of unexpected words.
"Look after her, Damon, trust her" I froze, not knowing if I should intrude or not. "She needs you... and I think you need her".
"But she's an original... how can we even-"
"She's still Grace" there was a silence then, a pause as Damon considered this as my first remained in the air, barely an inch from the door. "Besides, there was a time when you and her-" I knocked then, unable to stop myself as I gasped silently, not even noticing that my face was streaming with tears.
"Come in" Rose said weakly.

I pushed the door open, my hands shaking as I saw the pair before me. Rose was propped up against a pillow as Damon sat opposite her, avoiding my eyes. She looked pale, her skin coated with sweat as she smiled at me gently.
"Rose?" I stood still in the doorway, my eyes wide in a mixture of shock and pain.
"I'm sorry Grace" she whispered, her own eyes brimming with tears as she saw me. I rushed forwards then, sitting myself down next to her before gently grabbing her hand. "I'm so sorry Grace, I-" I cut her off suddenly as guilt washed over me. "No Rose, I have more reason to be sorry..." she smiled at me, laughing slightly before wincing in pain. I could feel my lip trembling as I tried to smile back in comfort. "I can't do this without you, Rose, please" I barely know what I was asking for as I placed my other hand over the both of our own. "If anyone can, you will" she muttered in response, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Her eyes flicked upwards towards mine as she smiled again. "No more running, right?"

"No more running, Rose".

It was then that she doubled over in pain. Her hand gripping mine fiercely as she coughed up blood.
"Rose?" my voice was panicked as I held onto her. "Rose!" I shouted, tears freely falling from my face as I watched my friend writhe in agony helplessly. I felt a grip on my shoulder, attempting to pull me back, I turned to face Damon, his blue eyes shimmering with his own tears. "No, I can help her!" I shouted at him, I used my free hand to cup her face, her eyes delirious and wide as she stared back at me.
"You're not in any pain, you're safe, go to sleep" her chest still shook as she nodded gently, her eyes fluttering slightly.
"I'm not in any pain" she paused, squeezing my hand gently again, "I'm safe" she murmured, a smile tugging at her lips before her eyes finally shut. I lifted our hands up, kissing hers before placing it gently down again.

"Grace, you don't have to, I can..." Damon started, I turned to face him, my eyes flickering to the stake in his hand as I struggled to stop my rapid, painful breaths. "Go" he pleaded again. I mouthed a silent thankyou before I stood up shakily, my head spinning slightly. I felt Damon's hand grab my arm to steady me, before I walked towards the door. I turned back just as I reached it, the silence of the room was heavy with pain.
"Damon?" I said, barely above a whisper. He looked up at me then, the silence painfully dragged out.
"Yeah?" He managed, the tears in his own eyes threatening to spill over.
"Stefan told me you're good with dreams" I choked out, my fingers fiddling with the corner of my jacket. Damon nodded in response, understanding what I was asking.
"Saint Austell... that's where she grew up" I paused, staring at the ground in thought. "She liked the fields,the horses... the sun". He nodded once more, his eyes fixed on me. I tried to exhale once more, but all that came out was a strangled cry. I sped out of the room, finding myself in the parlour. I sunk to my knees and cried infront of the fireplace, not knowing how many hours passed, until I fell asleep on the floor. Drained and exhausted.

I woke up some time later, shooting up in confusion at the unfamiliar surroundings. It took me a moment to realise I was simply in the spare room, clearly someone had carried me up to bed. I heard a knock at the door then, I murmured a quiet "come in", and I sighed in relief at who it was.

"Stefan?" I smiled sadly at him, causing him to do the same. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, passing me a glass filled with red liquid.
"We've, uh, had a rough couple of weeks, haven't we?" He started, as I gulped down the contents of the glass, before nodding in agreement. I knew from both my brother and Elena that he had been trapped in the tomb with Katerina. I hadn't seen him since The Masquerade Party.

"I'm... sorry about Rose" he said, looking to the ground as he shifted nearer. I felt my eyes stinging with tears again. I felt pathetic for letting my emotions get the better of me.
"I just... wish I was here sooner, I could've stopped this from happening I could have gone to Klaus and-" he cut me off, his hands grabbing my shoulders gently.
"Hey, listen to me" He said, making me glance up at him. "This was not your fault, there was nothing you could have done, there was-" I cut him off this time, the anger at myself rising over. "There was, Stefan, you don't understand..." I whimpered, my voice shaking with emotion. "People end up hurt or dead because of my actions and I can't... I..." I paused, blinking hard in a feeble attempt to not cry.
"I'm sorry I wasn't more truthful with you about who I am" I started, looking glumly into the empty glass before placing it onto the bedside table. "You're supposed to be one of my closest friends and I-" I choked, the tears spilling over. "-I don't have anyone else left" I cried quietly. It was then that Stefan shifted towards me again, I heard a soft "hey" as he put his arms around me comfortingly.
"And now I'm so scared, Stefan..." I started, my hands shaking as I choked out another sob. "I'm scared i'm going to lose you too, and Damon and Elena and everyone I've met here and I-" he cut me off this time. Pulling away and looking me in the eyes.
"Grace, you're not going to lose me, or any of us for that matter" he smiled comfortingly. "We'll stop Klaus, we have to".

We spoke for what felt like hours. In the years that we had known eachother, we had both been through so much. Yet, this was the first time that we had actually sat down and spoke about it. About everything. As two friends. We both knew that things were only going to get worse from here on out, but we were content with happily sitting and talking, laughing and embracing a quiet moment. These were all too rare not to enjoy.

By late afternoon he was due at Elena's however. I was glad that they were back together now, their love only grew with time it seemed. Stefan deserved a love like that. As he stood up and made his way towards the door I remembered something suddenly.
"Oh, and Stefan?"
"Yeah, Grace?" He turned, smiling still.
"Thanks for bringing me up here last night" I nodded as I glanced around the room that I had somehow managed to claim.
"You've, uh, got Damon to thank for that actually" Stefan responded, nodding with a knowing smirk as he did so, before closing the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts once more.