AN: So I'm literally the worst fanfic writer ever. I know I still have Disturbingly Human to update, but I lost my motivation and real life got in the way and blah blah blah, you know the story hahaha :) I'll try to update soon, but for right now my muses are pushing this story on me ;) Anyways, I've recently become addicted to Delena and Delena fanfiction,so I thought I'd give it a chance. This story came to me when I was reading another fanfic (I'm fairly certain it was LoveEpicLove's Sweet and Sexy Mistakes...and if you haven't read her other stories,you really should!) It's based off the movie by the same name, but I'm going to tweak the story so that it fits Damon and Elena and whatnot. I don't know if anyone has done this storyline before (I hope not! I don't want to copy off of anyone!) but let me know! Well I'm babbling and I'm sure you want to get on with it,so without further ado, here's While You Were Sleeping ;)

Disclaimer:I don't own anything.


There he was.

Elena was working yet another night shift at Mystic Grill, and the only difference from every other late shift is that it was Christmas Eve. She should be spending this time with her family, just like everyone else. Except she didn't have any left.

For a moment, she let herself remember the last Christmas Eve she had been able to spend with her family. It was five years ago, and just thinking about it brought a tear to her eye. Elena's parents had thrown their annual Christmas Eve party, and everyone important to her had been there. Elena's parents had agreed not to exchange gifts that year, but each had secretly bought something for the other and been pleasantly surprised that night. Aunt Jenna had brought Logan Fell to the celebration, and he proposed that night much to her surprise and delight. Jeremy had been happy, receiving a new guitar from "Santa" and playing holiday melodies until the wee hours of the morning. Elena brought Matt to the party and at that time, they had been extremely happy. It was all perfect, and she had all the hope in the world that it would continue.

Until that hope had been shattered, of course.

That New Year's Elena's parents, as well as Jenna and Logan, had gone to the Gilbert's lake house to celebrate the occasion. Elena had been ecstatic because their absence meant that she could throw an outrageous party for her and her friends. She was on her second bottle of champagne when her phone rang. She was afraid to answer it, in case it was her parents, but she did anyways. The person on the other line changed her life forever. Apparently on the way to the lake house, Logan, who had offered to be the designated driver, had swerved to miss a deer and had driven off of Wickery Bridge. Logan was the only one to make it out of the crash alive, and he was paralyzed from the waist down. Within a few short minutes, Elena and Jeremy had been made orphans.

Elena was forced to grow up fast. The following day was the worst day of her life, which she spent trying to console Jeremy and stay strong for him without falling apart herself. She quickly withdrew from her friends and Matt, spending all of her free time at Mystic Grill earning money to take care of her and Jeremy. It wasn't exactly the ideal way to spend the second semester of her senior year, but she had no choice. When Jeremy offered to get a job, she refused, saying that she wanted him to have as normal a high school experience as he could. Eventually, Matt broke up with her, and the only friend she has left was Caroline.

Thank goodness for Caroline. Just when Elena had been pushing everyone away, she had been pushing right back. She had seen Elena at her worst, the times when she wouldn't even let Jeremy see her, and Caroline had always been there with an encouraging word, a pint of ice cream, or words of malice towards the people Elena hated. Thanks to her persistence, she and Elena were still best friends. However, she was spending the holidays with her boyfriend Tyler and his family, and thus, she couldn't be with her.

Jeremy was currently going to college for graphic design, and he loved every minute of it. Though Elena had given up her dreams of going to college for journalism for the time being, that didn't mean she discouraged Jeremy. She was still working as often as she could to put him through school, and she hoped that one day she would be able to do the same. He too was not able to come home for the holidays, as he was meeting his girlfriend Anna's parents for the first time. When Anna had originally asked him to spend Christmas with her and her family, he hadn't wanted to leave Elena alone for Christmas. However, Elena urged him to go, reassuring him with repeated "I'm fine"s and "I'll be okay"s. Eventually he relented and went to New York with Anna.

So that's how she came to be working late Christmas Eve.

No one was there, except for him.

He had been coming in every night for the past few months, and from the moment she set eyes on him, she fell in love. He always came in dressed in a suit and ordered a burger with fries and a beer. He almost always sat there with a book or the paper and didn't say a word to anyone. It wasn't until he paid one night with a credit card that she found out his name. Stefan Salvatore. What a romantic name, she thought to herself. Though he had never said anything more than "thank you" to her, she couldn't help but feel her palms sweat and heart rate speed up when she was around him. It was surprising that she didn't know more about him, seeing as how Mystic Falls was a fairly small town. Whenever she tried to find out more about him, all she discovered from people (well not people, just Caroline) was that he worked for his family's business, Salvatore Industries, which had varying interests including land and timber. He also lived in the old Salvatore Boarding House with his family, but she was not sure who else lived with him. She really needed to get out more.

As she was the only waitress there, she quickly walked up to him and took his order. She contemplated striking up a conversation with him while his food cooked, seeing as how they were the only two people in the restaurant, but he seemed wrapped up in the daily paper and she didn't have the courage to interrupt. His food was ready soon after and she swiftly delivered it to him, hoping he would eat quickly so that she could avoid the awkward situation and go home to her trusty dog Mason and have a pathetic Christmas celebration.

She tried to not stare at him, but she couldn't help it. His chiseled jaws and cheekbones, his green eyes, and his sandy blonde hair all drew her eyes to him. She then tried to keep busy by counting the money in the cash register, cleaning tables, refilling the salt and pepper shakers….anything that would keep her from looking at him and thinking about him.

Finally he finished his dinner and beer and left a one hundred dollar bill on the table, yelling out, "Merry Christmas!" before walking out the door. She was floored by his kindness; he obviously knew how much the check would be, seeing how he ordered the same things every time, but he didn't have to give her an almost 600% tip. She rushed out to thank him, but she was stopped in her tracks.

Before her unfolded a scene out of a nightmare. There were four masked men surrounding Stefan, yelling at him to give them his money and keys to his car. When he refused, one pulled out a gun and Elena's heart stopped in her chest. Before she could even blink, Stefan knocked the gun out of the man's hand, but didn't see the other man on the opposite side come towards him. When he realized the other man's approach, he couldn't defend himself in time. The man landed a punch to the chiseled jaw that Elena was earlier admiring. Stefan lost balance, as he was moving to block the blow, and fell backwards onto the pavement. He landed with a cracking noise, and soon there was blood surrounding his head.

The men looked down and knew that if they continued in their pursuits, they would undoubtedly be caught and thrown in jail. They ran away, and as soon as they did, Elena finally found the ability to move, which in the previous moments had eluded her. She rushed to Stefan's side, talking to him and trying to garner a response. When that didn't work, she checked his pulse and noticed it was there, but weak. She whipped out her phone and quickly dialed 911. She described the situation to the dispatcher and urged desperately that they hurry. She hung up and cradled Stefan's head in her lap, not caring about the blood all over her clothes. She prayed to a god, any god, to spare him. She saw his eyes flicker up at her for the briefest of seconds before they shut again. She had hope that he would pull through, and she took the breath she had been holding since she ran outside as she saw the flashing lights of an ambulance approaching.


A/N: Anyways,let me know what you think ;) Reviews keep me motivated and I'd love to hear what you have to say!