32. Into The Shadows.

 Bran returned to the house and noticed everything that was going on, putting a tired Samuel and Adam to sleep; he then sent Damon a message about it, the address of the house, and the door code, as Damon would be part of the pack. Damon arrived within half an hour. 

Bran met him and said, "Welcome. You can leave your bag in one of these guest rooms. You'll probably get your room or something once Adam and Samuel wake up. They've been nursing Mimi for a week now. This is some jelly, and I can't understand Samuel's notes when he writes in doctor's slang on purpose. But I'll show you around the house first."

 Bran showed Damon around the Arizona house. They were upstairs, and Bran opened the door to the main bedroom. It was Mimi's pink, magenta, and purple room, like something from Barbie or a teenager's room with pink lace curtains. Damon looked in the closets and drawers.

There were children's and young people's clothes that were fit for Mimi, and she liked to wear them. Damon found several velour jumpsuits, some fluffy sweaters, children's pants, and jeans, shapeless and loose. He would have his work cut out for him. Mimi didn't know adult clothes were available for such small women. She was tiny, slender, but he knew his ways of women's clothing.

Bran watched from the doorway as Damon browsed through Mimi's tops, not bras but just children's tops, little girls' comfy panties, and he could see the determination and planning in his expression. Then, after searching the room, he finally took Damon to the medbay.

Medbay was a large facility with equipment such as X-ray and CT machines and even an MRI. It was downstairs, and Damon went through this big space, looking at equipment and analyzers, examining supplies and medicines. Damon was actually a genius; his mind worked like a machine as he went through everything and remembered pretty much instantly where everything was; he listed the contents of the medbay in his mind so it would be easier for him to operate.

Bran had already gone over to Mimi's place to check while Mimi was lying in jelly. Her upper body was almost healed, but her back was still scabby. Bran did not know if any silver was left in Mimi, and he was already wondering if he should call the wizard to pull the rest out if there were any left. Damon finally walked over to Mimi and looked at the small, frail creature submerged in the warm jelly.

He saw the scars and open wounds on her back. They didn't heal so well when Mimi's weight was on them; Mimi was on her back with her head slightly raised, but with part of her back pressed against the pool, the wounds didn't heal so well. A clinical treatment plan was already starting to develop for Damon.

He examined Mimi, looking through first. From the waist down, Mimi was already growing thin skin; it was still red, and Damon could almost see the muscles under the delicate skin. That was very susceptible to rupture from just the wrong rub.

Bran said: "Mimi is still asleep. Samuel has left the IV bags ready, so you only have to change them. You can change the jelly in about ten hours."

Damon grunted ineffectually; he had his own plans going, and his genius mind was already combining everything he knew was available in the cabinets as he drew up the right treatment plan.

Bran showed her how to make the jelly. Damon nodded thoughtfully and started reading Mimi's medical records and treatments. How much Mimi had already suffered. The list of medicines was impressive. How resistant Mimi already was to many human drugs, but the animal sedatives worked somehow.

Mimi was more animal than human, and while Mimi wasn't officially human, her DNA was six-stranded and had no human DNA on it at all. Damon could see from a couple of DNA tests that Mimi's DNA was constantly changing. This evolved. There was those vampiric genes and Damon could not wonder what kind of vampire she would be. Well, he would have little better idea once she would wake up more. He was pretty good to see who would do good vampire and who did not.

Apparently, Samuel had at one point kept Mimi asleep for up to 20 hours a day. Damon disagreed with Samuel's treatment instructions and did things differently with Mimi.

He told Bran, "I have my own plan going; I don't think Mimi will need sleep in the incubator after this. I wonder if I can get her well enough to focus on feeding her and getting to know each other. Let's see if I can get her mind focus on other things that her need of safety."

Bran nodded and said, "I'll leave you to your work, then. I'll go and get the kitchen ready, and I'll explain things to Adam and Samuel when they wake up. Don't worry about a thing. Just concentrate on the patient."

Bran walked away, leaving Damon to tend to Mimi.

 Damon would not put Mimi in any more jelly. He looked in the cupboard for bandages, dressings, and gauze and applied gel and antibiotic ointment. Samuel's super-strength antibiotic would also be an unnecessary burden on Mimi, and Damon took that out, too. He had an instinct that told him how to deal with Mimi, so for some reason, he knew this would work.

He looked up last of bloodwork. There was few tests taken and her cortisol was still elevated even it had been dripping and Damon suspected she might be in pain. He added muscle relaxants and painkillers, took the antibiotic and stomach medicine off, and waited an hour for the medicine to take effect. He knew that Mimi's resistance to the drugs would be a problem, so he made cocktails for several medications when it was possible to keep the dose reasonable as the drugs worked together.

This was his expertise was anesthesiologist. He knew his way of drugs and keeping someone out cold. 

He then lifted the unconscious woman onto the treatment table and took his first good look at Mimi. He was now in doctor mode, and his gaze was clinical; he was not seducing but healing. 

Mimi's facial features were delicate,sharp and clearly supernatural, her eyes quite large, and for some reason, Damon knew they were blueberry blue. Dark as night. She had dark eyebrows and long black eyelashes. There were dark circles under her eyes, and no matter how deeply Mimi slept, she looked somehow tired.

He couldn't see any scars from the cosmetic surgery and suspected that vampire blood had been used to repair the wounds. He didn't know what Mimi had looked like before, but she looked a bit like a fairy or some kind of magical creature. There was something supernatural about this.

He got to work and turned her over on her stomach first so he could deal with her back, which was in worse shape.

Damon dressed all the ragged cuts with thick, cushiony gel bandages and also applied bandages to Mimi's lower body to protect the fragile skin. Now, if his vampire side had been awake, this would have been a quick fix to heal Mimi with his blood, but there was no chance of that yet.

Then he put plenty of nutrient solutions in the IV, tucked Mimi warmly into a soft hospital bed, and continued reading. He put Mimi on her side first, giving her back time to heal properly. He adjusted Samuel's IV sedation bag and added another sedative, making a cocktail that would keep Mimi even more asleep. The muscle relaxant would enhance them even more.

When Samuel woke up three days later and walked into the kitchen, Bran was there. He was waiting for Adam to wake up, too. Damon had gone to give both men anesthetic injections to keep them asleep and recovering for a few days.

As Adam walked irritably into the kitchen, Bran said, "Sit down, and I'll tell you a little bit about what's going to change."

The men sat down after Bran had already set the table. They went to eat breakfast and drink coffee.

Bran said, "Well, you will have a new pack member; do you remember the vampire that alerted us to Mimi's condition? His name is Damon Salvatore, and he is currently tending to Mimi. He was a scientist for over a thousand years, a doctor, and soon to be a vampire again, and he's a werewolf now; he has a white patch where Mimosa has a black one, so he's Mimosa's mate, and Mimi's too. This is now the protector you've been looking for for Mimi. Damon will be part of the pack, period."

His voice was steady and left no arguments.

"He's a nice guy and very good at what he does. He's going to be the caretaker of Mimi's lust when the time comes, and he's going to teach Mimi that this is a woman, not a child. I know, Adam, that when Mimi wakes up, she will want to hang on to you, but for now, we have Damon, and you must give Damon space to work his magic with Mimi; let him be Mimi's safety and protector." 

Adam said, "Fine, we'll see how it goes. But if Mimi seeks protection from me, I won't deny her. I'll be Mimi's protection."

A voice from the door said, " Good morning, I'm Damon, Damon Salvatore, and yes, Adam, I've heard that you are Mimi's security, but let me get to know her when she wakes up, and we'll see where we go. She's a woman. Not a child, even though her wardrobe says otherwise."

Men turned their gaze, seeing tall black-haired man wearing scrubs, his ice-blue eyes stared at them and he was not afraid to say his peace of mind. 

The men nodded and introduced themselves. Damon came in for breakfast, and they began discussing Mimi enthusiastically. With each additional fact he learned about Mimi, Damon mentally wondered what an exciting challenge he had before him. All of them came to conclusion that there was no need originals to give any horde to protect Mimi. 

After the meal, they returned to the medbay, and Damon explained his observations and treatment to Samuel, and he found nothing wrong. On the contrary, Samuel was positively surprised at how carefully Damon treated Mimi and how carefully he had taken everything into account. He went over Mimi's medication with Damon, and they looked at her wounds and skin.

Damon had already developed his own routine for taking care of Mimi. He had closed most of the wounds and no longer needed to bandage her lower body. The skin had grown well.

The only thing that bothered Damon was the one he couldn't do anything about. How could anyone recover mentally from that kind of abuse? Damon had read in Mimi's papers about her insomnia and possible nightmares. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming urge to protect her.

Adam told him how he put Mimi to sleep every night by holding her close and then administering the drug. Samuel showed him the dose, and it was tiny compared to what Damon was now using, but it seemed that Adam's closeness was the key. It would be a while before he could get Mimi to trust him that much, and he could have gigs going on at any time, so he wouldn't always be there.

He would not replace the security that Adam brought completely, but to provide her with her own security with him. So that if he had to go somewhere, at least Mimi would still have Adam.

Samuel said, "Have you thought about it? Mimi is still quite skinny, and the incubator is a safety net for her. It could help her get over it properly. "

Damon looked at the papers he was looking at, Mimi's blood test results, and said, " No, she doesn't need to sleep in a Plexi box for two weeks. Her cortisol has dropped. It is not gone fully but incubator is not answer here. It's no good, as she has supernatural photographic memory, so that time won't help. Still, being awake, eating, and getting to know me and the recent change will help distract her and give her some perspective on the future, not just remembering the old and slowly recovering on her terms. She has you wrapped around her little finger as completely as you can be. She sets the pace, not you, and that's one thing I'm going to change."

Adam was pleased. Not only did Damon do the job, he was told to get Mimi in shape, but he also challenged Samuel. And in doing so, him too. Adam realized Damon was making his own case, but they had gone on Mimi's terms, and maybe she was used to going on her terms. 

It was good that someone challenged the lady and Adam was amused by how Dr. Damon challenged Samuel and got him to argue. Damon and Samuel went over Mimi's history for hours, and then together, they considered different treatments. And issues to come, such as Mimi's distant heat.