The whooshing sound of his ventilator and the pulsating blip of his oximeter threaten to lull me to sleep from exhaustion. I'm sitting here beside him stroking his hand. I whisper 'I love you's and occasionally I reach up to finger a few wisps of his hair from his forehead.

As my eyes start to close, his heart monitor alarms, stunning me back to alertness. One of the nurses rushes in to check each of one his machines. As it turns out, it was only an alert to signal that one of the leads from his heart monitor came off. "Nothing to worry about," the nurse tells me. She squeezes my shoulder and glances at me with sympathy and complete understanding in her eyes before leaving me alone with him again.

My eyes begin to droop once more and soon I'm being transported back to a much, much happier time.

I'm squeezing his hand with all my might, pushing as hard as I can. "That's it Elena, the doctor can already see the head," he says encouragingly, his voice giddy with excitement. He kisses my forehead.

"You can do this sweetheart. In just a few moments, we'll meet our baby." I can feel the contraction begin to peak once more and I push as if my life depends on it. His eyes literally beam when a lusty cry makes its presence known.

"It's a boy, Elena. We have a son!"

I'm startled awake as my brother encircles me with his strong yet warm arms. Tears fall unfettered down my cheeks, finally letting them fall in the comfort of my brother's arms.

"Take a break Elena, you need some rest. You're barely running on fumes as is. I promise I'll stay here with him. And sweetheart, Jack needs to see his mommy. Go home, take a shower and even a sleeping pill if you have to. I know that you don't want to leave him but you're going to collapse if you don't get some real sleep."

As soon as I walk into my house, I throw my purse down. Almost immediately, Caroline envelopes me in a hug. Unable to hold my tears in, I can hardly get the words out. Regaining my composure, I tell her how he's doing. Reluctantly she goes home. She's truly been a godsend, staying with Jack as much as I need her to so I can be with his daddy. Gathering my baby son in my arms, I hold on for dear life, pressing kisses to his chubby cheeks.

"Come baby, let's take a nap," I say aloud, holding him flush against my chest as I ascend the staircase. Sighing heavily, I lay him down in bed. After putting on some more comfortable clothing, I drop onto the bed beside him. Although I know that he should be in his crib, I need to hold him, to have something, someone tangible and a part of him in my arms. Mere moments after my head hits the pillow, my eyes drift closed.

My dreams take me back to that fateful moment when our lives were irreparably torn apart.

I'm standing in the nursery getting Jack ready for the day. I change his diaper and blow belly kisses to his soft flesh when he steps into the room, clad in his running clothes. Softly he places a kiss to my forehead before taking Jack in his arms. He snuggles our boy to his chest and tells our little man how much he loves us. It's a perfectly normal day just like any other. Every morning he runs, comes home to shower and then he leaves for work. It's a day just like any other day. The sun is shining, there isn't a cloud in the sky and yet a mere hour later, the world as I know it ceases to exist.

When I answer the doorbell, our dear friend Liz, who's my best friend's mother but also the chief of police, is standing there, eyes reddened and glassy.

"Elena, there's been an accident. We need to get you to the hospital right away."

Suddenly Caroline appears beside her looking at me with sad, mournful eyes.

"I'll stay with Jack, Elena, you go with mom."

Seized by fear, I mechanically grab my bag and we leave. On the way to the hospital Liz tells me that he was the victim of a hit and run driver. His body was thrown nearly thirty feet, disastrously landing on his head. He has a life threatening brain injury. They've already taken him to surgery by the time we arrive at the hospital.

Minutes pass like hours before the neurosurgeon finally makes an appearance.

"I'm so sorry, Elena," Doctor Fell says as she steers me into, what I assume is, her office.

"His injuries are catastrophic. The force of impact was so severe that not one area of his brain was spared. He's alive, in ICU, for now. You will have to make a decision, Elena. I don't foresee any possibility of recovery. I know this is soon, and we will keep monitoring him for a couple of days, but you may want to consider organ donation."

I'm numb as I slump back in the chair I don't even remember sitting down in.

"Can I see him before I make any decisions?"

Understanding eyes meet mine, "Yes, of course, come with me."

Here I am, once again standing at his bedside. We're surrounded by our families. The time has come to say goodbye. He's officially been declared brain dead. There is no hope to be had anymore. I hand Jack to Jeremy before kissing his forehead, his cheeks, the corner of his mouth. An unending flood of tears mar my features. I tell him I'll love him forever and that it's okay for him to leave. Somehow, someway, Jack and I will survive. Hospital staff are standing outside of his door waiting to take him to a surgery suite to harvest his organs.

Feeling Meredith's hands on my shoulder, she squeezes gently. Reaching up, I lay one of mine on top of hers. Tears are falling unbidden down my cheeks and onto my neck. The pain is deep, visceral and cuts me to my very core.

"Elena, you can accompany us to the door of the operating room if you'd like. You can hold his hand for a few more minutes."

"Thank you," I whisper, reaching up to wipe my eyes. When I give her a nod, several staff members walk in, unplug his bed and his ventilator from the wall and start to push him out of the room. Clutching his hand in mine, I follow along refusing to let go for even a moment, knowing this will be the last time I hold it while his heart still beats inside of his chest. Our family follows the solemn path behind us.

When we reach the door, I pull him into my arms one last time, mournful cries leaving my lips as I tell him how much I love him. When I feel my brothers hands on my shoulders, I finally let go of his hand and bury my face in Jeremy's chest, turning away only when he disappears behind the double doors.

Eighteen months later:

Lifesource has contacted me. Apparently the man who received my husband's heart wants to meet and thank me. They told me the man had been days away from death when a heart, his heart, became available for transplant. My husband's gift saved his life and many others. I'm filled both with anxiety and excitement to meet this man. I look at Jack to calm my nerves. My boy has grown so much in the past year. They say the eyes are the windows of the soul. Every time I look at my – our - son, I see him. I'm so grateful for that.

The ring of the doorbell ends my thoughts. Sucking in a fortifying breath, I slowly place my tremoring hands on the doorknob. After staring at it for several seconds, I finally twist the knob, opening the door.

And there he stands. A smile spreads across both of our faces. For the first time in over a year I feel an instant reaction to a man, and it's not only because I know exactly why he's walking and breathing … and here. I reach out to shake his hand. He grabs it and looks into my eyes. With my conceding nod, he places my palm to his chest. I feel his heart thrumming a strong cadence against this man's ribcage.

"His heart still beats inside of me. I can never begin to thank you enough, Mrs. Donovan. My name is Damon … Damon Salvatore."

*LifeSource offers hope and healing through excellence in organ and tissue donation. "Our vision is that everyone shares the gift of life."

This is about 500 words longer than the original Halo and more accurate as far as the organ procurement process.

Thank you Eva so much for helping me with it this time around. Love you more than I can tell you.

I really hope you all like this. I will post the updated version of Damon's story which is a prequel to this as the second chapter and then we'll post the present day version of Damon and Elena as a stand alone story. I'm not through writing it yet but the title is 'Halo: Through the Mist'.

Please have a look at my other stories. 'Dig', 'Nothing Left to Fear' and 'Turn the Page' are all in progress.

Please remember to click the *REVIEW* button. I would appreciate it so much if you let me know your thoughts. Thank you all for your support.

I also just updated 'Angels Fall'. I would love to hear your thoughts on it as well.

Hope you all have a safe and wonderful day. We'll see you soon for part 2 of this.