Damon paced the parlor of the boarding house, his patience all but worn thin. But it was his fault. He was the one that made her turn everything off. But it broke him every day, seeing the empty shell his Elena had become. She was everything to him. She was his light, his world… and without her, what did he have? He should have tried harder, shown her was strong enough to handle her at her worst. But he had given in to Stefan. And now she was suffering. More than Damon could bear.
Their attempt to torture Elena into feeling had failed. The amount of pain they put her threw made him sick to his stomach. But he was out of options. Elena was starving. He could feel it in his bones. No matter how much she denied it now, he knew they had a connection, more powerful than either of them could have ever imagined. He had been through some dark times in his life but when Elena lost Jeremy, Damon felt her pain crushing him on the inside. And he felt the dark void that engulfed her when she turned it off. If he was honest with himself, he was scared to death. He may never get her back. It may be too late by the time she realized feeling was worth it.
He heard the car pull up and had the door open before Bonnie even got to the steps. "'bout time" he grumbled. "Any luck?" He really didn't want to involve magic, but it might be their only shot. He had begged Bonnie to find a way to help her, even if it meant digging deeper into the magic. He didn't care. He would do whatever it took.
Bonnie frowned at his rudeness. "I have something I'm going to try," she said heading to the basement with her bag. She set up various candles around the cellar where Elena lay lifelessly. "Don't get your hopes up." Elena's grief had clouded everything in her so badly, it was almost impossible for basic spells to get through to her.
Damon folded his arms as he stood in the doorway, his eyes locked on Elena's face. "She's weak," he said bluntly as Bonnie tiptoed around the sleeping vampire. Elena wouldn't be able to harm anyone with the blood she had lost and the lack of feeding. He'd be lucky if she even opened her beautiful eyes that he missed every minute of every day.
Her wild curls were fanned out over the lumpy pillow, her beautiful face sunken and gray. "She's starving," Bonnie said in a hushed whisper, her voice nearly cracking. "She can't last much longer." Elena's absence in all their lives was taking its toll on every single one of them. She held them together and without her, they were all falling apart. She was the strong one that helped everyone get through the nightmare of their lives.
Damon knew exactly what happened to a vampire when they starved and it was brutal for him as an experienced vampire. For Elena, as a fledgling, her body was caving in on itself. "I know she can't," he said. She would need blood. He would be unable to deny her pleas for nourishment much longer. Their demons called to each other. He wasn't strong enough to deny her anymore.
Bonnie's eyes closed as chanted some ancient language. Damon gave up trying to keep track of everything in her spell books. The air softened, her eyes darkening as they focused on Elena. A dark glow flickered around her friend's prone body, it wasn't a strong glow but it was there. Bonnie's brow creased seeing a white glow around Elena's abdomen. Her eyes returned to normal as she glanced at Damon with wide eyes. "Oh my god," she whispered.
"What?" He demanded taking an angry step toward the witch as she got to her feet. He didn't like the look on the witch's face. Maybe Elena was too far gone… he was going to lose her. His fragile heart started to crack; the thought of losing his entire world was crippling him. "What did you see?"
Bonnie blew out the candles and rushed him out of her cell. Damon secured the lock before going upstairs. "It's not possible," she said shaking her head.
"What's wrong with her?" Damon said angrily. "Tell me Bonnie!" It didn't like the feeling of dread that came over him. He couldn't watch her die in front of him; watch her slip away from everyone. They had to do something.
"She's pregnant," Bonnie said. "Elena's pregnant."
Damon backed away from her as if she burnt him. The floor disappeared from under his feet as he collapsed on the couch. "She's… she's a vampire Bonnie," he said shaking his head as logic tried to reason with him. Vampires couldn't have children. He knew that for a fact. He wasn't proud of it, but he slept with enough vampire women to know. But then again Elena was different. He'd like to say it was because she was the doppelganger, but Katherine never ended up pregnant. It just didn't make any sense.
"I've only read about it," she said folding her arms. "Only when a vampire mates with their soul mate can they reproduce. But the chance of ever finding your soul mate… and mating… well it's only happened in stories. I've never heard of a real account of this Damon."
"Oh my god," Damon said running a hand through his hair. That's why she was so weak. She had a growing life inside of her. A life they created together. A life that could be damaged already after the days of torture. At his own hand. "This can't be happening."
"What are you going to do?" Bonnie whispered. "You don't know what's growing inside of her Damon. You don't know what this could do to her. It could be a demon. It could be killing her or making her worse."
"But I can't make any decisions without her Bonnie," he said sadly. He couldn't take their child's life, demon or not, without talking to Elena about it. She would want him to consider every available option before harm. Emotions or not, he couldn't risk her hating him forever. "I have to fix her. Don't tell anyone. She's not safe." He needed more time to help her. He needed another plan.
Bonnie sighed. "Look, I believe Elena's feelings for you were real," she said honestly. "You didn't sire her on purpose and you didn't make her love you. This proves it."
"Awww," Came an eerily familiar voice. "Are we interrupting?"
"What's going on?" Stefan asked.
Damon's face hardened as he glared at Katherine. He could barely stand the sight of her, especially now being so distant from Elena. Not like she made it any easier for any of them. Constantly reminding them of what they lost. What he had lost. And every second he spent looking at Katherine made him want to break her jaw into a thousand pieces. "What the hell is she doing here?" he growled, clenching his hands to hide their shaking. He couldn't handle anymore taunting, especially from Katherine. He would snap.
"I'm going to talk some sense into perfect Elena," Katherine said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "If you hurt her Katherine, I will rip you to pieces slowly," he said, in a dangerously low voice. "Are we clear?"
"She won't," Stefan said, moving between them. "We need to reach a deeper part of her Damon. Katherine can be ruthless. Just with words. She's doing this for me Damon. It'll be fine."
Katherine brushed passed Damon, rubbing the length of his body, causing him to almost snarl at her. "This is a bad idea," he said pouring himself a drink. He headed to the back porch with a bottle of scotch, unable to listen to Katherine taunt his love. He wanted her to wake up, more than anything. But he wasn't sure how much more trauma he could witness. How could he tell Elena she was pregnant? What if she didn't want a baby? His heart ached at that thought. Never in his life did he imagine this could happen. It was the best and worst thing all rolled into one.