Chapter 2

Waking up went surprisingly easy, considering the pain he had felt before he fell asleep. Darkness gave way to a light grey and he felt the familiar texture of a pillow beneath his right cheek. Cautiously opening his eyes he was startled to notice nothing changed. All he saw was still a light grey color. Starting to panic about his apparent loss of sight he moved a hand towards his eyes. A hand suddenly clasped itself around his wrist, stopping the motion. Panicking, Alaric struggled to free his hand, pain starting to build behind his temples. "Easy there Ric, you're no match for me, even at your best days...and I'd dare say this isn't one of it" "Damon?" Alaric groaned. "I can't see..." A low chuckle resounded and suddenly the world came back into view. He groaned as the bright light hit his eyes and opened them more slowly the second time. Slowly recognizing his own living room, he tried to get a clear picture of what had happened, but failed miserably. Of the hundreds of questions tumbling around in his painful head, "what" and "how" where the only two that made it out of his mouth.

"Well, apparently the guy you gave a KO was a really sore loser and decided to shoot you when he came round again." Damon answered.

Gingerly touching his head, Alaric remembered the events that lead up to him loosing consciousness; a groan escaping a he remembered the pain.

"Don't worry; he's been taken care off." Realizing Damon had continued talking, he tried to bring his attention back to the now. Slowly easing himself into a sitting position, he blinked against the lightheaded feeling washing over him. He focused his attention on the vampire, who was still standing close by. "You pushed me, out of the way..." Alaric suddenly realized. "Yeah well, I hate cheaters" the vampire shrugged, turning back to his own seat. "Damon..." the vampire looked back at him, one eyebrow rising. "Thank you for doing that" The vampire shrugged again, face carefully blank as he walked to the kitchen instead. "I need a drink"

Alaric leaned back against his couch, shoving the bandage around his head away, as it once again sagged in front of his eyes. Damon had surprised him, something he didn't think was possible anymore, as he had learned to expect the unexpected when being around the vampire, but it had happened now. The vampire had not only saved him from getting shot in the head, but also brought him home, patched him up AND stayed with him until now.

"But why?" Alaric snapped his mouth shut as he realized he had said those last two words out loud. "Why what?" Damon asked as he reentered the living room, carrying two glasses filled with liquor in with him. He accepted the glass offered to him, slowly sipping it, the warmth of the drink soothing some of his aches. "Why did you help me?"

Damon shrugged, "You think I want to be the one to tell Elena and Jenna I let you bleed to death on a parking lot? Na-ah, I value my undead life, thank you very much!" he grunted as he lowered himself in the chair. "Damon, seriously...""Ah, but I am serious. An angry Elena is a force to be reckoned with!" the vampire fake-shuddered.

Alaric sighed, this was going nowhere. Changing tactics, he asked: "How long have I been out?"

"Couple of hours, it's nearing sunrise" Damon replied, downing half of his glass in one sip.

"And what have you been doing all that time?" Alaric asked, nearly shuddering at the thought of what Damon could have done to his apartment when he wasn't awake to stop him. "Been busy" the vampire replied cryptically, but there was something in the tone, that made Alaric look more closely at him.

The vampire seemed to hold himself in a rigid pose, sitting on the edge of the seat, instead of lounging in it as he usually did. Movements like bringing the glass to his mouth were carefully measured and deliberate and his jaw was tightly clenched. "You're in pain. What happened?" Alaric questioned. "Nothing I can't handle Ric, so back off" Damon riposted; though there was no real heat behind his words. "No you're not getting away with it that easily" the teacher insisted. "You saved my life, so the least I can do is get you back on your undead feet if you're hurting" He ignored the eye-roll Damon directed his way and continued, battling a wave of dizziness as he lifted himself of the couch. He positioned himself in front of Damon, who hadn't moved yet. "Take of your shirt, Damon!" Alaric savored the few seconds he saw the vampire's eyes grow large in surprise, before the stoic mask fell back into place. "You'll have to buy me flowers and dinner first, Alaric" Damon responded in a high-pitched voice, batting his eyelashes at him as he too rose from his chair and made to move past the teacher.

Acting on instinct, Alaric grabbed the vampire by his shoulder as he walked past, forcing him to turn around. Seconds later he felt himself getting slammed against a wall in his living room, black spots appearing at the edges of his vision at the sudden change in position. He almost felt grateful for Damon's hand around his throat as it kept him upright. Damon's blue eyes, mere inches from his face, were dilated, his voice a strangled growl. "I said, back off, Ric!"

Raising his hands in silent surrender, Alaric felt himself slide down against the wall as Damon released him and walked towards his kitchen. Rubbing his aching temples, Alaric made no move to rise from his position on the floor. Surprised, he pulled his hand back as the connection of fingers and head resulted in a wet feeling. Staring at his blood-coated hand, he quickly raised his other hand to the same position his left one had occupied seconds ago. However his right came back clean. Puzzled, Alaric alternated his gaze between his left and right hand, before realization finally dawned on him...Damn that guy and his black shirts...

Supporting himself against the wall, he picked himself up from the floor and carefully made his way to the kitchen.

Stopping in the doorway to his kitchen, he quietly took in the scene in front of him. Damon was standing with his back towards him, bracing his hands against the counter, his drink abandoned near his right, shoulders hunched over. Something caught his eye as he walked past his sink and he turned to get a good look at it. In between smears of dark red blood lay at least 10 splintered and deformed bullets. Picking one up to examine it closer, he hissed in pain as a sliver of the material buried itself under the skin of his thumb. Cursing under his breath, he dropped the small object back into the sink, opening his drawers one by one until he finally located his pair of tweezers. Pulling the offending piece from his finger, he grimaced, shaking his head at Damon's tired remark. "Nasty little things, aren't they…" Facing the vampire, who had now turned to lean with his right side against the counter, he was shocked by how young Damon looked when he wasn't pretending. Lines of pain clinging around the edges of the dulled blue eyes, a flicker of fear swirling in their depths; Damon looked no older than the 22 years he had lived before being turned.

Alaric waited until he caught the wandering blue-eyed gaze before asking in his most intimidating angry-teacher-voice: "What really happened, Damon?" He could see the internal struggle flashing behind those blue eyes and he felt inexplicably happy as the vampire finally relented, shoulders sagging as he gave in; recognizing this for a sign of trust that Damon rarely gave. "Fine…If you really want to know…Loser-boy wasn't too happy with me saving your head from exploding like a piñata, so he decided to take it out on me. Imagine my everlasting surprise when the bullets turned out to be made of wood. What kind off thanks is that for saving your ass" Damon huffed at that. "Well it didn't do him much good. He won't be a problem anymore, that's for sure" Alaric sighed "What did you do with him Damon?" "Got rid of him…couldn't even drain the bastard, was full of vervain. When did the bad guys become so well prepared?" Damon grimaced and took another swig of his drink. "And then I got you home and got to play nurse on us…By the way Ric, you're a lousy host" Damon suddenly remarked. Alaric blinked stupidly, not following the sudden twist in the conversation. "Not a single drop of blood in your house, Ric" The vampire explained. The teacher shook his head as Damon continued to rant, not in the least fooled by the vampire's attempt at diversion. "…and I couldn't leave you to go and get some, 'cause what kind of nurse would I be…" "Damon" "And drinking from you, yeah not an option too, 'cause you know: vervain, and off course my previous point…"
"DAMON!" Alaric nearly yelled, finally getting the vampire's attention back. Damon just shrugged, looking entirely unapologetic as he leaned against the counter.

"Did you get them all out Damon?" Alaric asked, putting them back on the previous topic. Damon once again shrugged. "Loser-boy knew how to aim…"

Alaric decided to take that as a 'no' and slowly moved towards the vampire, who almost unperceptively stiffened. "Let me take a look?..." It was both a question and demand, and after a few seconds Damon once again gave in. He slowly took off his shirt and turned his back towards the teacher. Alaric nearly gasped at the sight the vampire's back presented. There were nearly 10 already healing wounds on Damon's sides and lower back; the edges of the slightly closed holes black and blue. But higher up, neatly positioned between the shoulder blades, right over the spine, two larger wounds were visible. Blood was still leaking from them, and from the ragged edges inflamed lines leapt outwards. Searching his counter, he quickly located his abandoned tweezers and held them under the running water, rinsing off his own, vervain-filled blood. Momentarily lighting one of the pits on his stove, he sterilized them as best as he could. Damon followed all these preventive measures with a raised eyebrow, but refrained from speaking.

Slowly turning Damon around so he was facing the counter again, Alaric brought his tweezers up to the first wound, but hesitated slightly. "This will probably hurt…" The vampire huffed. "Just get it over with Ric"

The teacher tried to steady his shaking hand as he inserted the tweezers in the first wound, trying to get a grip on the bullet. He felt Damon stiffen under his fingers and he tried to work as quickly as he could. "Got it!" Alaric exclaimed triumphantly, feeling fairly proud of himself as he dropped the bullet in the sink next to the others. "One down, one to go!"

"Glad you're enjoying yourself so much, Mr. Nightingale, but could you get this done before you're old and grey!" Damon snapped. "Sorry" Alaric responded as he started to get the second and last bullet out, but this one seemed to like its surroundings, for the tweezers kept slipping of its smooth surface. Alaric tried different angles and increased the pressure, seeing Damon's back muscles straining more and more, and he could hear his counter creaking in protest to the grip the vampire was holding it in. "I can't get it out Damon, sorry, it's too slippery…"

"Use your fingers Ric, worked for me too" Damon ground out between clenched teeth. Alaric blanched but obediently put the tweezers away. He inserted his fingers in the bullet wound, feeling around for the bullet, his other hand squeezing the vampire's left shoulder in support. He tried to ignore Damon's pained grunts, when he finally managed to close his fingers around the bullet and pulled it out, immediately tossing the offending item away. Damon had sagged against the counter as soon as it was over, riding out the waves of pain. Alaric carefully placed a hand on the vampire's biceps and when he got no adverse reaction from that, he used his grip to steer him into a sitting position on a kitchen chair, not liking the lack of reaction from Damon. He poured a glass of liquor for the vampire, who downed its contents in one go. Damon sighed, the pain in and around his blue eyes slowly fading as his posture started to relax and his usual walls came back up. "You okay?" Alaric questioned. "How's the head Ric?" Damon deflected; reaching for his black shirt and putting it back on.

The teacher's hand went to the bandages still wrapped around his head, realizing he hadn't felt it, until now, when a slight headache started to reform. "I'll leave you to rest then" Damon said knowingly, walking past him towards the front door. Already half outside his door, Damon turned back to face Alaric. "See you later Ric. Try not to get yourself killed in the meantime…" Damon smirked, grin only growing at Alaric's scowl. "Oh and Ric" the vampire added, almost as an afterthought "Nice tweezers-skills you got there…" The teacher rolled his eyes at that, shaking his head in amusement. "You're very welcome Damon" he responded to the veiled 'thank-you', but he was talking to his own door, the vampire had already sped away. "Would it kill you to say 'thank-you' like a normal person…" he muttered as he closed his door, rubbing his temples.

But who was he kidding; 'normal' had not applied to his life for quite some time now. Not after he had met Damon Salvatore…

THE END

Well, that's it for now. Please let me know what you think of this story, reviews make my day :D