"I let it fall, my heart and as it fell you rose to claim it. It was dark and I was over, until you kissed my lips and you saved me…but there's a side to you, that I never knew, never knew…. I set fire to the rain." ~Adele, Set Fire To The Rain

Ch. 1

"No! Damon! Baby, please wake up!" Elena yelled, falling to her feet as sobs racked her chest. The rain fell down harder, as she struggled to cling to Damon's bloody broken body on the Wickery Bridge.

"Oh my God, no!" shouted a voice emerging from the car that had smashed into the stone railing opposite of where she stood. She knew somewhere inside that Damon had to be alright, but at the moment her consciousness could only register one thing. Damon was bleeding, and unconscious, and he didn't appear to be responding. Her emotions swerved from despair to irrational anger.

"Damon! Oh God…" came the voice from above her. Her stomach dropped lower in her body as she registered the person responsible. Someone she'd trusted. Someone she'd once loved, but even more devastating, someone who was a lot closer to the situation than she could imagine. It was Damon's half brother, Stefan McGuire.

Daring to look up into the eyes of the man who possibly took his brothers life, she blinked at him through the blinding headlights of his mangled car, and the cool rain as it came down in sheets around her.

"How could you?" she growled, her heart distraught with grief.

"Elena I didn't…I couldn't…I'm calling for help!" he announced rushing to his car to retrieve his cell phone.

Elena continued holding her broken man in her arms. His breathing had slowly returned, causing a sense of relief within her. Yet his eyes, their cool crystal blue, remained closed. She didn't know if he could hear her, but she kept saying his beautiful name over and over in his ear.

"Damon…Damon…come back to me." She said, breathing a silent prayer up above that he would return to her once again.

Moments later Elena heard the sound of sirens behind her, all the while clinging to her love and choosing to ignore the pain welling inside of her. Pain that had begun to set in from her lower abdomen, and chose to ignore the feeling of blood running down her legs.

"Could you please state your name and relationship to the patient?"

"My name is Elena Gilbert, I'm…I'm…." Elena grappled with the right words to describe her connection to Damon Salvatore. He was so much more than her boyfriend. He was the love of her life, and if he never woke up neither would she.

"Ma'am you need to let us at least take a look at you. You seem to be bleeding and we are doing everything we can to save him, but we need to help you." The first responder reassured her. She was a young lady. Elena guessed she was in her early twenties. She had long brown hair and had kind honey colored eyes. Her badge stated that she was with Mystic Falls General, and her name was Rose.

"Come on honey," she said, lifting Elena to her feet.

They'd somehow made it off the road and back to the hospital moments before. Elena had refused to leave Damon's side and had ridden in the ambulance with him. She'd refused treatment; wanting the EMT's to make sure he was breathing. That he was still there with her. Although they had assured her many times that he was stabilized she couldn't ignore the gnawing feeling inside of her that kept telling her he wasn't alright.

"Elena, we have to make sure you're alright. Please lay down."

Looking at the empty white bed in front of her she slowly sat down. Her wet evening gown was soaking through the cotton beneath her and she found she could barely feel it. Her body must have been shaking but she couldn't feel. She didn't feel anything.

"Lay down for me honey. Tell me what hurts." Rose told her, encouraging her to speak to her.

Elena's voice died in her throat. Everything hurt; her heart, her body, and her soul. She couldn't distinguish the source of the pain. She was in shock. Everything had happened so fast. One moment she was happy, and in love, her heart so full that she could barely breathe. The next she was screaming. Sobbing and praying that he would be ok. She couldn't be in a world without him because there was no life without him.

Slowly obliging, Elena laid down on the hard mattress. Rose, wasting no time lifted her skirts and found the source of the bleed.

"Elena, listen to me. This is very important. Are you pregnant?"

Elena's attention was finally caught for the first time all evening.

"Yes, I am." She said her heart rate escalating as she remembered the doctor's advice to be careful during this first trimester. She knew the pregnancy had already suffered a traumatic beginning. Surviving another one might not be possible.

"Elena, I don't want to alarm you, but your body has been under severe stress. Its possible you could be miscarrying the fetus."

"What?!" Elena asked, her voice breaking. This couldn't be happening, not now.

"We're going to run a few tests to know for sure, but for now please try to calm down. It could possibly save the pregnancy. Some women experience this type of reaction during post-traumatic stress. So just relax, and try to stay positive. I would also like you to change out of your dress. We need to get your temperature back to normal as fast as possible. You're going to be ok, Elena. You're in good hands." Rose said, standing up and handing her a hospital gown to change into. Elena's shaking hands grasped the fragile fabric but her arms seemed frozen at her sides, unwilling to move.

"Here, I'll help you." Rose said, coming to stand beside her.

Rose looked at her with sympathy and understanding. She helped Elena stand up and quickly unzipped her dress. As Elena felt the fabric fall away from her body she pushed away thoughts of other hands doing the same. Of her body wishing the person doing this was not really lying in the hospital bed somewhere possibly taking his last breath.

"Damn it how did this happen?" Stefan said, pacing the Emergency Room with vigor. His hands tangling in his hair as he replayed the last hour or so through his head. He'd only looked down for a split second it seemed to answer a call.

Everything in his body regretted wanting to take that call. The one he might possibly regret for the rest of his life.

It was his fault. All his fault. He was the reason Damon was fighting for every breath he breathed, and for the first time in his life he found himself experiencing new emotions: Repentance, slowly followed by despair and grief. He had to be alright. He just had to be. Even though he'd spent so many days trying to derail his happiness he'd never wanted this. He'd never wanted to kill his brother.

"Lord, please save him. Just give him one more chance." Was all he said, as he sunk into the chair behind him. Waiting once more for an absolution that might never come.

Beep. Beep. Beep. That was the only sound Elena heard as her heartbeat pounded within her ears.

She did her best to breathe as Rose and Dr. Fell performed a sonogram on her abdomen. Looking at the monitor in front of her, she silently hoped with all her might for the sound of another heartbeat.

"There it is." Rose said, her voice full of relief.

"What? What is it?" Elena asked anxiously, her mind jumping to the worst possible conclusion.

"Ms. Gilbert, you are still with child. It seems your placenta has shed some of its lining but its nothing to concern yourself with. As long as we monitor your bleeding and make sure you get plenty of rest you and baby should be just fine."
"Oh thank God!" Elena exclaimed, a smile breaking her face for the first time in hours. "What about Damon? I need to see Damon now. I need to tell him." She explained.

"So he's the father?" rose asked again, intrigue lining her words.

"yes, please, I need to see him."
"He's still in surgery but I'll let you know the second he gets out. We will keep you informed of his condition as much as possible but for now you need to try to rest." Dr. Fell said, her voice firm and serious.

Elena recognized the tone; it was the same one her mother would have used on her.

"I understand, but I need to know he's alright. I can't do this without him." Elena said simply as her heart constricted in her chest and tears sprung to her eyes.

"We know sweetie. Let us check on him, and we'll let you know."

"Thank you."

Darkness….

That was all he saw. Voices, and hushed tones surrounded him. Music of the night filtered behind his eyelids and he forgot for a moment where he was.

Until the pain sank in, a blinding pain from his body that radiated from his chest, and his head. It was practically unbearable.

"Ok, he's back. Let's work fast people." He heard a harsh voice state as he continued to feel the burning sensation in his chest, and then darkness consumed him once more.

Time passed. To Damon it could have been hours, weeks or days. He honestly didn't know. The only thing he knew was the feeling within his hands when her skin touched his. Her hands were intertwined within his own and he could hear her softly crying. He could feel her tears hitting the skin of his arm as she said his name over and over. He wanted to reach out; to touch her and let her know he was still here, but his body wouldn't listen to him.

"Damon, please come back to me." She said, her voice breaking with her tears.

I will…was all he could silently promise her…I will Elena, I promise.

******AUTHORS NOTE*********

Well there you have it, chapter one of the sequel to Forbidden Desires. If you hadn't had a chance to read it please do so now! Thank you again to all my wonderful readers! Be good and review!