Stefan sat still in shock. His mind was blank and all he felt was pain. Tears streamed down his face as he sat hovering over Elena's lifeless body. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her anymore.
He replayed the incident over and over again in his head, torturing himself each time.
He tried to grab Elena straight away. She refused. She was too stubborn, too selfless. Even when he tried to grab her a second time along with Matt, she still refused. As he finally pulled her lifeless body out, he already knew…she was dead. But he refused to let himself believe. He earnestly began performing CPR on Elena's dead body, sobbing in fear and pumping her heart in desperation.
No no no…..I was too late….she is gone.
Stefan sobbed harder, crashing his head into Elena's body and crying into her chest.
He suddenly looked up over at Matt's body laying on the side. Matt was alive, but still unconscious.
He may have more injuries. I have to take him to the hospital.
Stefan called 911 and the ambulance arrived a few minutes later. They arrived at the hospital and Dr. Fell saw him standing to the side as he watched the people hovering over Matt's body. She then realized Stefan was standing in front of someone's body on a gurney. It was Elena's. She ran up to the body
"let me see her" she said quickly.
Stefan just stared at her, with pure sorrow in his eyes. One of the doctors looked over at Dr. Fell and said,
"She is dead Meredith, there is nothing we can do."
"I don't care" she said as she grabbed the gurney and started rolling it away into a private room.
Stefan didn't say a word. He had no idea what was going on, but he followed Meredith into the room.
"What are you doing?" he finally asked. He put his head down as he looked at Elena's body again. He closed his eyes, fighting back sobs.
"Stefan," Meredith said.
He was still looking down.
"Stefan you have to listen to me." He finally looked up at her.
"She has vampire blood in her system, Stefan. She had a brain hemorrhage when she came in today and she would have died. I used vampire blood to help her."
Stefan froze. His eyes turned back to Elena and he just stared at her. He didn't know what to say, what to feel.
Meridith's pocket vibrated. "I have to go Stefan, they need me. I'm not sure what we are going to do now, but take her body down to the morgue, Stefan. Nobody is there right now. Walk out this door and to the left. Nobody will see you if you go that way and you don't have to explain anything to anyone right now. But go quickly."
Stefan still didn't know what to think, he was still frozen. But he blankly followed her instructions. He picked up Elena's body and took off as Meredith watched to make sure nobody would see.
Stefan walked into the darkly lit room. It was empty as Meredith said it would be. He placed Elena's body on one of the metal beds and sat next to her. His emotions finally started to surface and his mind began to ramble. He replayed everything in his head again.
She is not gone. She is not gone. But why did I do this? Why did I believe I had enough time? I should have known…After all this time, I couldn't keep her from becoming what she never wanted to become. I failed her…I ruined the life of the one that I love. Who knows if she will even want to complete the transition? Either way, Elena will suffer more.
He lowered his head again, crying.
He suddenly heard a loud gasp and he snapped his head up as Elena jolted awake.
She was breathing heavily and he starred at her, still in disbelief, He knew by now she would wake up, but he didn't know what to do or say to her. He didn't know what to feel, except remorse.
Elena looked at him with both confusion and relief in her eyes.
"Stefan," she said. She abruptly moved closer to him, throwing her arms around him, holding him. And then she quickly moved back, getting a better look at his face.
"Stefan, what happened? What is going on? Is Matt ok?" She frantically began asking questions.
"Matt will be fine, Elena," Stefan replied. He looked at her, a concerned and fearful look in his eyes.
"Do you feel ok?"
"I feel sort of strange," she said.
Suddenly someone barged in the room. "Elena?"…..it was Damon.
Elena looked up. "Damon?"…"Guys what is going on are you guys ok?"
"I think we are going to be fine," Damon muttered.
He stood a few steps in front of the door. He wanted to run to her, but he saw Stefan sitting there with her.
Elena turned to look at Stefan again and he spoke.
"Elena, you died."
She stared into his eyes, nobody needed to say anything else. They all knew what this meant. In a way, she already realized seconds before Damon walked in.
"I'm in transition," she whispered, fear and shock in her voice. Damon was still standing in front of the door, just starring.
"I'm so sorry Elena," Stefan cried. "I tried to get you out as soon as I could but it was too late. Elena I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". He lowered his head again.
Damon suddenly started moving forward, stepping towards them. His face grew cold and confused as he starred at Stefan
"What do you mean you tried to get her?" Damon began shouting. "Did you just leave her there? You saved Matt first? Stefan what the HELL did you do? I knew something like this would happen, I knew you would do this!"
"Damon stop!" Elena shouted. "Please Damon just stop."
"No Elena, HE did this!" Damon moved to Stefan, violently grabbing his shoulders and shouting at him. Stefan just stood there, refusing to react. He still felt numb with remorse and regret. He didn't know what to do with himself.
Elena began crying for Damon to stop, and soon Meredith walked in.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Damon stop!"
He stood still, starring coldly at Stefan. Meredith walked up to him and grabbed his arm. She gently pulled him to the doorway. Damon said nothing more and took one last look at Elena. She looked at him, with sadness in her eyes but no sign of objecting to Meredith pulling him out of the room. He finally turned his head and followed Meredith out the door.
Damon didn't quite know what to think either. He was furious at Stefan. He hated Stefan because he was right all along. He knew Stefan would kill her someday. He knew Stefan would let this happen and the only one he could trust was himself. Yet still, he felt a small wave of relief. He was angry because Elena was now upset and she may not even complete the transition. He knew how stubborn she was and how she valued her humanity. But he couldn't help the feelings of relief washing over him. It didn't happen the right way, but this was what he has secretly always wanted. He never quite saw it as a possibility, but the fantasy of Elena becoming a vampire had always lingered in the back of his mind. But now it might be real…
Back in the morgue room, Elena was looking at Stefan. They were silent for a few seconds and Elena couldn't help but feel the pain Stefan was going through.
Stefan was shaking his head, still continuously muttering "I'm so sorry."
He finally looked back at her, "Elena what can I do? What do you want me to do? I'll do it."
The confusion of the past events lingered in her mind. And she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Her head suddenly began swarming with images of Damon. She was very confused, and ignored these thoughts that came rushing to the surface.
Elena looked into Stefan's eyes with the deepest sincerity. Despite the look of fear and worry on Stefan's face, she looked at him and felt nothing but comfort, warmth and love.
"Stefan, this isn't your fault."
He looked at her, shaking his head.
"No Stefan," she said.
She grabbed his hands as she spoke again. "I did this. I made you save Matt. Stefan this is my fault. I knew what I was doing, you have to believe me. Stefan I knew about the vampire blood in my system. In that moment I just wasn't sure if I would be able to hold on long enough. I didn't. But you had to save Matt, Stefan. I couldn't bare to live knowing that we sacrificed him to save my own life. Stefan I would of suffered so much from that. My mind is rambling Stefan, I'm scared, but I need you to understand that this isn't your fault. Please, Stefan."
He didn't truly agree with her. He hated himself and he couldn't even respond to what she had said. Stefan finally spoke.
"Elena just tell me what you want. I know you need time. But please just tell me what you need right now Elena, what can I do for you right now? Just please…"
Elena looked down. She wasn't sure where to go from here. She didn't know what she wanted. Then realization flooded her mind.
"Jeremy," she said with slight panic in her voice. "Stefan, I need to go home."
He nodded and Elena got up, clinging on to Stefan as they left the room.