A/N: I'm posting two chapters at once, just to set the scene for things. I also have the next four finished and am now editing. Reviews are always appreciated and encourage faster posting and writing. =)

If you haven't read them already, I highly recommend SecretIndulgence24's stories. "Lifting the Weight" may rank as my favorite Delena one-shot of all time, largely because I can SEE everything playing out on screen. It's a story that could be part of a TV episode, literally. All kinds of amazing, as are her other two fics.

Chapter 1

There was a soft knock on Elena's door and Jeremy stuck his head in. "Hey. You … uh, you have a visitor."

Elena looked around at her friends. They'd spent the last 24 hours chasing down every possible avenue of escape—anything that might potentially keep Elena human. They had failed. Bonnie's absence in the room spoke volumes about their failure and the repercussions Elena's transition would have on their already strained friendship.

"You're out of time," Caroline said quietly, reaching out and taking Elena's hand.

"You sure you want a vampire for a big sister?" Elena asked Jeremy wearily, knowing what his answer would be. They'd done little more than argue about it ever since she woke up after the accident.

"What's the alternative?" he retorted, eyes red with fatigue and grief. "You can't die, Elena. I can't let that happen."

Her brother had nobody else. Not even Alaric. If only for that reason, Elena's 'decision' had been made the moment her friends returned without an alternative solution. She couldn't abandon Jeremy. Unable to speak, she nodded and bit her lower lip, indicating he should send her visitor in.

The door opened all the way. Elena sat up halfway in surprise, swaying from the minimal effort. Caroline steadied her. She'd been expecting Damon with blood bags. She was not expecting Damon pushing an ashen-faced Matt in a wheelchair.

"What's going on?" she asked uncertainly.

Damon's clenched jaw spoke volumes about how tightly he was keeping his volatile emotions in check. Nevertheless, the venom in his voice betrayed him as he wheeled Matt towards Elena's bed. "Since Matt was the one who helped kill you, he wants to be the one that now makes you undead."

Elena let out a horrified gasp. "Damon, you can't compel him to do this!"

"He didn't." Matt's voice was hoarse but steady. "I offered, Elena."

Damon pushed the wheelchair right up to her bed and locked the wheels. Elena looked from one to the other, taking in Matt's hospital gown, the sling his arm was in, the pallor of his face.

"You can't," she said firmly. "You're hurt."

"You only need to take a little bit, Elena." Damon rubbed his jaw, about as tired as she'd ever seen him. "It won't affect his healing."

The vampire's clothes were soaked with mud for some reason she didn't understand, his face set in a grim mask that betrayed his emotional turmoil. It was his stolen blood that was responsible for her life. Once again, he had saved Elena when she didn't want to be saved, albeit unwittingly this time. The irony was too much for her to think about at the minute.

"Why can't I just take from a blood bag?" she insisted.

"I don't want you to." Matt leaned in, blue eyes cloudy with exhaustion. "I'm the reason this is happening to you, Elena."

"No. I'm the reason," Stefan spoke from the corner of the room where he'd been standing silently for the last 45 minutes. "You don't have to do this, Matt."

Surprisingly, Damon didn't jump in with a scathing attack. Nobody had said much of anything to Stefan after the initial fight that occurred at Elena's bedside when Damon first discovered why she was dead.

"There's always me." Jeremy raised a hand.

Damon batted his hand down, scowling. "Not an option," he pointed out, indicating Elena's horrified face. "Obviously."

They were trying so hard to be helpful and yet they were robbing her of the only decision she had left. Elena shook her head vehemently.

"No. Matt, I'm not going to—"

"I want to!" Matt shouted, startling them all with the sudden volume. "Don't you get it?" he demanded, staggering to his feet and grabbing Caroline's arm to steady himself. "Vicky died and I never had a chance to do anything about it. I wasn't there. I didn't even know about it until months later! Caroline became a vampire and you guys kept it from me. Bonnie turned into a witch and I didn't know for ages. First, Tyler was a werewolf, now he's a hybrid. And I can't do anything about any of it!" He slammed his unbroken fist into the metal armrest of his chair. "I was driving the car when it went over the bridge. You're dead because Stefan saved me. I'm the one who should have died. I wish I would have died!"

Elena grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. "Matt, don't—"

"I want to do this, Elena. Please. This is something I can actually do for somebody." He held out his wrist, visibly shaken. "Just—bite me. Take what you need and finish this thing."

"I don't know how," Elena whispered, eyes darting automatically to Damon. "How do I—" she trailed off, almost gagging at the word that now had an entirely new connotation. Feed.

He nodded his head at Caroline, indicating she should move aside. Reluctantly, the blonde scooted over so she knelt behind Elena, one hand hovering protectively on her shoulder. Matt edged onto the bed, looking up at Damon for assistance.

"How do I do this?"

Damon took Elena's shoulders and turned her gently, aligning her body with Matt's arm. His touch reassured her somehow that she might actually make it through this new challenge.

"All you have to do is hold it to your mouth," Caroline explained. "Everything happens automatically."

"How do I know how much is enough? What if I hurt him?"

"You won't." Damon lifted Matt's wrist and held it up to her. "Just lean in, Elena. You'll know what to do."

One last time, she looked up at Matt for confirmation that this was what he wanted. He nodded stiffly, even more pale than before.

"Go for it."

She no longer had a heartbeat. Already, she missed it. If she'd been human, her pulse would have been pounding in her ears as she inhaled the scent of the blood right beneath his fragile skin. Instead, the only reminder of her humanity when her fangs pierced Matt's wrist were the tears that filled Elena's eyes as he flinched. She almost pulled back, but somebody's hand was at her neck, refusing to let her quit.

"You have to drink, Elena. Not just bite him."

Matt's blood flowed into her mouth, coating her lips, her tongue, her teeth, and she hated that she craved the thick sweetness suddenly—she lost track of time as the heady liquid surged through her, every bit as potent as any wine ….

"Elena. Elena. Elena, that's enough. Elena." Strong hands pulled her away insistently, grasping her shoulders firmly and shaking her. "Enough."

She blinked, bewildered at the sudden change, feeling as though she'd missed something. "Wh-what?"

The room was awkwardly silent and she looked around, trying to understand what was wrong. Everything was brighter suddenly, more vivid, so much that her eyes stung and she blinked repeatedly, finally focusing in on Matt who was somehow back in the wheelchair, so white it looked like somebody had drained the color right out of him. Caroline was applying pressure to his wrist, while Damon held his own up to Matt's protesting lips.

"Matt?" Elena whispered, horror filling her slowly as she glanced over at Jeremy and saw him exchanging a tense look with Stefan. "What did I do?"