Roots and Wings

“Dammit!” Stopping the task from scrubbing herself raw, Noelle quickly rinsed the shampoo and soap off her hair and body before shutting the tap off and stepping out the shower.

Grabbing a random towel from the towel rack, she wrapped it tightly around her body, an annoyed sigh leaving her lips when her keen ears caught the doorbell ringing again for what had to be the fifth time.

With more force than was really necessary, she opened the bathroom door and quickly padded her way barefoot down the hallway and stairs before crossing the foyer to reach the front door.

“Somebody better be fucking dying,” Noelle angrily muttered, flipping the switch for the porch light on, and yanking the door open. She blinked in surprise when she caught sight of who was standing there and the faint grumble of, “Oh. It’s so not gonna be me. It was Armani.” Before her attention quickly shifted to his bloodied arm when her nose caught the smell of blood and her eyes tracked the faint traces of red on his shirt. “What the hell happened to you?!” And then her nose clicked. She had smelled that blood before. It had stained her teeth not even past an hour ago.

Well...fuck.

“I fell.” Damon said simply, trying to shrug nonchalantly and failing miserably when a flinch worked its way up his slowly healing arm. Oh, the burden of leaving snacks to the last minute. “Really, really bad.” In a blink, his blue gaze had quickly shifted from her face and slowly trailed over her body once he caught what, or the lack of, what she was wearing. Slowly moving his gaze back to her face, he smirked unrepentantly, “But I think I’m feeling much better now. And I’m sure I could be feeling amazing with a little help.” He finished with an eyebrow raised in suggestion.

She breathed a sigh of relief in her mind at his apparent lack of knowing before raising her own eyebrow at him in disbelief. Trust him to flirt shamelessly even when he was bleeding all over her porch. “Yeah. Like that’s gonna happen. And since you’re not on the verge of dying or even close to it, goodnight now.” She moved to slam the door in his face, when a foot caught between the door and doorway at the last minute. Seriously. Dripping wet plus Mystic Falls chilly weather? She was gonna finish him off, Katherine be damned.

“Okay, okay. I give. You’re not gonna leave me bleeding all over your porch now, are you? So, I’ll play nice...for now anyways.”

She rolled her eyes at him before stepping out of the doorway and wordlessly offering him an invitation to enter.

She noticed that Damon’s eyes widened a bit and resisted the urge to laugh at the situation she unwittingly put him in. She watched amusedly as Damon shifted in his spot a bit before an easy smirk crossed his face and his eyes twinkled mischievously. “Ah-ah-ha. Where are your manners, beautiful lady?”

She scoffed, playing along, and smoothed back a strand of wet hair before waving her arm in a mock bow. “Mi casa es su casa. Happy now?”

Damon crossed the threshold, stopping a few feet in front of her, his mirk widening just a bit more. “Like you wouldn't believe.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, fearing that they might actually fall off if she continued to do that, and closed the door before making her way into the living room, feeling Damon’s presence trailing behind her.

“Wait here while I go grab the first-aid kit from the bathroom.” She motioned to one of the couches, not waiting for a response as she made her way back up the stairs and into her room.

Snagging a black loose long-sleeved shirt and some black shorts from the laundry hamper, she quickly dressed herself and quickly headed for the bathroom cabinet.

With first-aid kit in hand, she made her way downstairs and let out an unlady-like snort as she watched Damon walk around the room, looking at the few things that adorned her living room.

“Sit.” She pointed at the couch, setting herself at the end and opening the kit, feeling the couch shift downwards as Damon settled himself next to her, his torn jacket already taken off leaving him in his shirt.

She took a look at the wound, deciding that it wasn’t that bad and thus, she might be going soft, before staring to clean it with a cotton swab. Silence and searching, curious looks echoed in the house as she continued to dress the wound.

She put the last touches in bandaging his wound up, looking back up at his eyes and finally acknowledging his expression. “What?”

“And what where you doing showering at four in the morning?” Damon asked with dark eyes and a mischievous smirk.

“None of your business.” She retorted a raised brow and a pointed look as she stood up, gathering the bloody swabs and tissues with her and throwing them in a nearby trash can. “Now that’s done and all..what is it now?”

The look of concentration on his face slipped, being replaced by one of puzzlement before he shook it off and a calculating one took its place.

“Tell me, how do you feel about paying a little visit to Stefan?”