ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴍᴇ ⇴ ᴛᴠᴅ ² ✓

forty two

"We have to get her to the hospital." Meredith instructed sternly to the two teens, pressing two fingers to Billie's bloody wrist.

Elena shook her head for a second. "But Stefan already-"

Meredith nodded to the vampire who'd previously given Billie some of his blood to heal her wound and stop it leaking anymore than it already had, gesturing for him to pick her up so they could move quickly. "She's lost at least four pints, she'll need a transfusion, even with the extra help."

Stefan held his breath, eager to get out of the room drowning in the sweet stench of blood. He hooked an arm under Billie's legs, the other around her shoulders, trying to pick her up as carefully as possible even though the clairvoyant remained completely unconscious.

It had rattled him more than he would've liked to admit, the thought that they'd been to late and Billie had really died. When he fell off the wagon, Stefan'd never had a constant in his life like he had with Billie that summer away and it terrified him to lose her.

He'd lost his freedom refusing to kill the love of her life and she'd kept him afloat for four months when he'd felt it would have been easier to just let himself drown.

Seeing her cold and barely breathing was a shock to him mostly because until now, he'd considered Billie untouchable, never thinking about the possibility that she could be hurt.

It made Stefan wonder if the clairvoyant would ever consider turning one day.

⇴

Billie woke up expecting a barrage of headaches and pains and blood. But when she finally opened her eyes, she felt surprisingly fine.

"Billie!" Georgie exclaimed thankfully, reaching forward to hug her niece affectionately. "I'm so glad you're alright, how are you feeling?"

Harper squinted her eyes slightly at the sunbeams shining into her unfamiliar room. "Positively peachy... where are we?"

Georgie looked around, almost forgetting herself in her relief of Billie's awakening. "At the hospital, a friend of yours carried you in... Stefan? Said you passed out all of a sudden."

That was definitely not what happened, but Billie nodded anyway, allowing her aunt to continue, a worried frown over her young face. "Have you been forgetting to eat Billie?"

Closing her eyes a moment to compose herself, Billie nodded, rubbing her temples awake. "Uh... yeah, that must be it. I've just been... studying pretty hard, must have slipped my mind."

Georgie hummed quietly, silent for a second before speaking. "Well... I guess if you're feeling better now, we can get you home, maybe stop at McDonald's? Remind you how good the taste of food is so you never forget to eat again?"

The offer brought a little laugh from her niece, rubbing her eyes as she sat up fully.

"That sounds amazing."

She smiled happily to the younger girl, squeezing her hand softly once before coming to stand. "Alright, let me get dressed and we'll head out."

The blonde slipped out of the room, leaving Billie in the quiet alone for all of three seconds before the door opened again and a familiar witch popped her head in. "Mind if I come in?"

A bright smile spread over her cheeks and Billie kicked the sheets off her legs, rushing to her feet to embrace her friend. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in the middle of nowhere at vampire academy."

Bonnie laughed at her choice of words. "I was, but I came back into town to get Alaric some herbs so he doesn't... you know."

They pulled apart and Billie wobbled on her feet slightly, sitting down quickly before it showed and pressing a hand to her side where she could have sworn was a gaping knife wound.