A/N: Hey! I haven't written a VD story in AGES! Well, they keep changing the storyline, it's hard to write anything more than a oneshot(: Anyway, this is exactly like the summary says: Elena gets caught in a car accident. Everyone rushes to her aid and Stefan is forced to switch his humanity back on. Slight spoilers for 3x07. Kinda AU, I reckon but I hope you like(:

As Stefan watched Katherine dive into the lake under Wickery Bridge, he felt his heart thump uncontrollably in his chest. Not again. And this time, he couldn't do anything about it...the lake was laced with vervain. He glanced over at Damon, who was muttering 'Come on, come on, you useless bitch...' under his breath. Caroline and Bonnie were in tears. Alaric looked terrified...Stefan knew that Elena was practically a daughter to him...losing her would mean losing a child. Meanwhile, Sheriff Forbes was calling off all backup or ambulances, knowing that his rescue needed to be kept a secret.

It had been late at night and Damon hadn't heard from Elena all evening. Her phone was dead and the two Salvatore brothers went over to the Gilbert house to see if Elena was home yet. Damon seemed to be irritated by Stefan tagging along but with Klaus's orders, there was nothing else Damon could say. However, Elena wasn't there. She hadn't been seen since the afternoon. It was at that moment, that the news had come up with an urgent headline, stating that onlookers had seen a car spin off Wickery Bridge and sink into the lake. Jeremy was the one who recognised the licence plate as Elena's. While Alaric, Bonnie and Jeremy seemed frozen for a moment, Stefan, Damon and Caroline zoomed over to the lake, immediately diving in. Their attempts didn't last long, as they had to drag each other out of the lake when the realised vervain had been growing in it since the last time a vampire had swum. By this time, Sheriff Forbes had showed up and to everyone's amazement, Katherine. She dived in and Stefan had remembered that she was immune to vervain.

'Why do you even care?' Damon asked his brother, his eyes not leaving the lake.

'It was all fake,' Stefan said, confessing what he'd tried to keep a secret ever since prank night. 'Like Klaus said. The only thing stronger that his compulsion is my love for Elena.'

'You faked switching it off,' Alaric said in realisation. Stefan nodded. 'I had to attack her to make it look real. I had to act like I didn't care, become my old, ripper self. It was hard to control and even harder to see her so torn up. But it's what I had to do to protect her.'

Still no sign of Katherine. Or Elena.

'You let Lexi torture you?' Damon asked, sounding incredulous. Stefan shook his head. 'For a while. But when Elena left, I told her. I explained to her what I was doing and she understood. As soon as she heard Elena coming back, she stabbed the stake into me again. She knew how important it was for me to seem like a monster.'

Then, Katherine emerged, pulling her identical doppleganger from the lake. The four hundred year old vampire had been weakened, and collapsed on the pebbles as soon as Elena was out of the water.

'Elena!' Caroline cried, shaking her. Bonnie tried giving her CPR, Damon tried giving her his blood, Stefan tried too...but nothing seemed to be working.

'Move,' Katherine said hoarsely, pulling herself over to Elena.

'Why are you helping?' Damon demanded. 'Not that we're complaining.'

'I want Klaus dead,' Katherine reminded. 'Elena seems to be doing a good job of finding ways to kill him.' She ripped the skin off her wrist with her teeth and pressed it to Elena's mouth.

'How is your blood going to make any more difference that ours?' Stefan said angrily, kicking the grass as grief overwhelmed him.

'My blood is her blood,' Katherine snapped. 'Our bodies are made up of the same DNA that makes us look exactly alike, the same bloodlines and everything. What's more, she's my doppleganger. I think my blood will make more of a difference than yours.'

Elena suddenly sat up, gasping, her eyes fluttering open.

'Elena!' everyone cried, rushing to her side. She collapsed but Stefan caught her, just before her head hit the ground. She saw that he was drenched in lake water and tried to smile. 'You saved me again?'

'It wasn't me this time,' Stefan admitted. He brushed her soaking wet hair off of her face. 'I love you, Elena.'

'I know,' she replied, before her eyes closed and she fell into unconsciousness again.

A/N: Should I continue it or just make it a kinda weird oneshot? Read and review, pleeeease! :D