A/N: Okay, chapter two! :)

Her eyes slowly opened as the sedative wore off. Everybody was watching her. Finally her eyes found Jeremy's face, then moved around the bed, to Bonnie, Stefan, Alaric, Jenna, and Damon.

"What- what happened?" She murmured.

"You were in an accident, Elena. Don't worry, you're fine," Jenna answered. The four adolescents all looked at each other, and Alaric caught it, realizing something was going on.

"Hey, it's kind of crowded in here. Damon, why don't you and I go get some water for her?" Damon gave him a glare, which Alaric returned with a look saying 'I-need-to-talk-to-you'.

Damon looked at her one last time and squeezed her hand (which Stefan certainly didn't miss), and got up. He and Alaric walked out of the room.

Alaric spun on Damon. "What the hell happened?"

Damon sighed, and rubbed his hand over his face. "She went off the bridge with Matt. Wickery Bridge."

Ric's eyes widened. "And?"

"And, Meredith had given her my blood when she collapsed, and it was still in her system, and Stefan saved Matt instead of Elena, which I am going to kill him for, by the way-"

"Oh, no."

"Yeah, she's turning into a vampire. No need for the theatrics."

Alaric rolled his eyes at Damon's supposed insensitivity, but then got back on track. "What is she going to do?"

"I don't know, Ric! She just- I mean, she didn't- I don't know, okay?"

Alaric sighed. "Let's just get the water."

At that moment, Caroline came speeding down the hall. "Oh my God, what happened? I just got a text from Bonnie to get to the hospital ASAP, and that it was about Elena! Is she okay?!"

Damon gave her the patronizing look he reserved just for her. "Depends on your definition okay. She's in transition."

Caroline's eyes widened. "Oh my- what? How?"

"She went off the bridge with vampire blood in her system. Look, as much as I love playing 'Previously on Elena's Life-'"

Caroline cut him off. "Wait, who's blood?"

"Mine."

Caroline glared at him. "What the hell did you do, Damon!?"

"I didn't do anything! It was that naive idiot of a doctor, Meredith! There was something wrong with Elena that she didn't tell us, and gave her my blood!"

Caroline put a hand over her mouth. "Where is she?" She said after a moment.

Alaric pointed towards her room. "She just woke up. Be careful with what you say, Jenna's in there."

"Okay. Where are you two going?"

"We had to talk. We're getting her some water. Next thing to do on the list is get Jenna away from her long enough so we can talk to her." Alaric replied.

Caroline nodded, and went inside. Alaric turned to Damon. "I'll get some chairs, you get her water." Damon normally would have argued, but he was preoccupied. Now that she'd woken up, then next thing was on his mind- her decision to either die or turn. The two of them went off to their destinations.

Caroline rushed in, and once her gaze found Elena, who was now sitting up, a sympathetic look took over her face. Jenna turned around.

"Oh, Caroline. Don't worry, she's gonna be fine. She was lucky."

Caroline didn't know how to react to that. "Uh, that's good."

"You know, I'm right here. You can talk to me yourself." Caroline realized that she didn't know what was happening, which explained the fairly chipper mood. Caroline smiled.

"Right. Sorry, Elena."

Damon walked in carrying a pink plastic cup of water. He walked up the the bedside table where Jeremy had previously been standing, and put it there. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty's awake. I was starting to think I was going to have to lay one on you."

Elena rolled her eyes, but smiled, oddly finding comfort in Damon's typical teasing, even though Jenna frowned. Her joy didn't last long, though- although he was joking and teasing, she could see his eye's were full of concern when they met hers. He immediately looked away, but it was too late- she looked around the room, and realized everyone but Jenna were carefully masking worry. What was going on?

"Hey, uh, Jenna, do you think you could go find a nurse? My head hurts."

Jenna stood up. "Yeah, of course. I'll find Dr. Fell, too- she said she wanted to see you when you woke up. I'll be back in a bit."

The minute the door closed behind her, Elena looked at everyone. "Okay, whats' going on?"

They all looked at each other, unsure what to say. Stefan spoke up. "Okay, do you remember what happened?"

Elena's brow furrowed. "Kind of. I remember Matt and I went off the bridge- Oh my God, Matt! Is he-?"

"He's fine, Elena. He's in another room down the hall." Bonnie spoke up.

Elena took a breath. "Oh, good. I kind of remember what happened after that... Stefan was there, and I made you take Matt first. I can't recall anything after that, until now. Did I pass out or something?"

They all looked at each other.

Elena huffed. "Someone tell me what is going on!"

Stefan took a deep breath and looked at her. "You didn't pass out. When you were here in the hospital, Meredith didn't tell us how bad your injuries were. You had brain damage, and she gave you some of Damon's blood. Then you went over the bridge, and you..."

Elena's mouth dropped. "I... died. Didn't I?" She almost whispered. He nodded.

She closed her eyes. She couldn't believe it. She wasn't sure if she would ever choose to turn... but she didn't want it to be like this. So many thoughts were racing through her mind- what would she do? Would she rather- literally- die? What if she did? Would she be able to fight the need for blood? What about if she turned? What would she do with herself? And what about Jenna? Either way, she'll have to say something to Jenna. Come up with a fake illness? Her breaths started to shake. She took a deep breath- she couldn't fall apart. She only had a day or so to decide- and possibly that time to live. She couldn't spend it breaking down. She opened her eyes, and looked back up.

She realized Alaric had come in while she was thinking. She gave him a weak smile, which he didn't return. "Okay, what now?" She asked.

Damon spoke up. "There has to be something we can do- reverse it, or whatever. Witchy?" He looked at Bonnie, who shrugged.

"I've never heard of anything- but I can look through the grimoires, see if I can find anything."

"Well then do it!" Jeremy exclaimed.

Elena looked at him. "Jer..." She said softly. He needed to accept what was happening.

He looked at her defiantly. "No, Elena. We are going to try everything to fix this. I can't let you..." He shook his head. "Bonnie, can you do it now?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yes. I'll go." She grabbed her bag and flew out the door as Jenna and Meredith walked in.

"Where is she off to?" Jenna asked.

"Uh, she just got a call from her dad- he said it was important. She'll be back later." Elena lied.

Jenna nodded, and gestured for Meredith to take the stage. "Okay, Elena, how are you feeling?"

Elena's brow furrowed. That was a simple question with a complicated answer. "Well, I understand what's going on."

Meredith nodded, getting the double meaning. "Okay, that's good. You're vitals look good, but you need some water- oh good, you have some. Okay, I'll be back to check on you later."

Elena nodded, and Meredith walked out. She noticed Caroline tapping her foot and glancing at the door. "Care?"

"Oh, sorry. I don't mean to be insensitive, but I'm really worried about Matt..."

Elena nodded. She'd prefer Caroline stayed, but knew it would be hard for her. "Go ahead. I'll be-" She was already out the door.

Jenna looked at her. "The nurse said that you'll be here for overnight- I should go get you some clothes, toothbrush; Jeremy, do you wanna come pack a bag too?" He looked toward his sister, but nodded. They headed to the door. Jenna turned around. "We'll be back soon." Elena nodded, and they left.

Alaric pushed away from the wall. "I think I should go talk to Meredith about how to handle this- we can't have her send a nurse in here to do a check-up and not find a pulse."

Damon stood up. "I'm coming too. I have things to say to her..."

Alaric looked at him. "Damon, I don't think that's a good idea."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill her or anything. Plus, even though you are an ex-obsessive vampire hunter, I know more about it that you do."

Alaric hesitated, but consented. "Fine. Stefan, you should stay here with Elena."

Stefan nodded. "Yeah, of course."

Alaric walked out, and Damon followed him, but turned around in the doorway to watching as Stefan moved closer to Elena and stroked her face. He would've given anything to trade places with his brother, but this is what Elena wanted. Well, the Stefan part. And he couldn't be selfish with her. Elena looked up when she realized he was still there. Their eyes met for a moment, but he turned away and shut the door behind him.

He and Alaric were walking around, looking for Meredith. "Damn it, where the hell is she?" Damon growled.

"Relax, she's around here somewhere."

Right then, Damon saw Dr. Fell standing at the nurses' station writing in a chart. He rushed toward her, with Alaric following him. He grabbed her shoulder and roughly spun her around.

"What the-" She exclaimed.

"What the hell is wrong with you! You completely ruined Elena's life!"

She was stunned. "I- I had to, she was-"

"And you kept it a secret! We could have protected her until it was gone, but you kept it to yourself, and she-"

Alaric stepped in, trying to pull Damon back. "Damon, stop."

He didn't even look at him. "After everything, you go and make things-" Meredith was cowering behind Alaric, as he kept shaking Damon. "-you bitch! You can go to-"

"DAMON!" Alaric shouted. Damon stopped, and looked at him, then looked around. Everyone had stopped and was staring at him. He pulled away from Alaric and raised his eyebrows at his audience. "Hello? Don't you have patients to kill?" He said. They frowned and glared, but turned away.

Alaric turned back to Meredith. "He's sorry about that."

"Speak for yourself," Damon muttered. Alaric glared at him.

"Maybe you should go check on Elena."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Relax, I already promised I wouldn't kill anyone. Anyway, my dreamy brother is with her." Alaric knew he was joking, but still heard the hurt in his voice, and figured out that Elena had made her choice, and it wasn't Damon.

"Fine, stay here. Look, Meredith," he said, turning back to her, "we need to make sure that you don't send any nurses in to check on Elena. If they notice anything weird..."

Meredith nodded. "Like no blood pressure or pulse? Yeah, I got it. I already put her down as a sensitive patient, which means I'm the only one allowed to see her. Now, we are going to keep finding tapes so that the monitor has the date right, which may be a problem-"

Damon cut her off. "You know what, this is boring. I'm going to go find some dinner. Maybe a blonde?" The two glared at him. "Kidding. I'll take that suggestion and go see Elena. Don't worry, I'll make sure to tell you the details if I walk in on anything steamy!" He called as he walked away, and just caught the eye roll they gave him before he turned the corner. He decided that on his way he would go find some dinner- just in blood-bag form.

As he wandered down the halls, he started tuning everything out, getting lost in his thoughts. He didn't know how to act around Elena- he had put his heart on the line, and chose Stefan. He automatically wanted to go to his fail-safe: cold, snarky attitude, but he still loved her, and found that he couldn't do that. Not that it would matter, anyway, if she chose to die- a thought he couldn't bear. They had gone through so much to save her life, and this had still happened.

He suddenly paused as he walked down the hall, and used his enhanced hearing- yes, he definitely heard something coming from a door behind him. He turned around and walked that direction, and then leaned his ear to the linen closet and realized it was crying- Elena. His hand went to the doorknob, but hesitated. What would he be getting himself into? But it was Elena- he knew he couldn't walk away. So he turned the knob, and slowly looked inside.

She was sitting against a shelf in the far corner, with her head in her hands, sobbing. He could hardly tell if she was breathing at all. When she heard the door open, she looked up, and she started crying even louder.

"Elena?" He said softly.

"I, I, I can't d-do this, Da-Damon!" She cried. He walked over and sat down beside her, unsure if he should touch her. She leaned into him, though, so he took that as a cue and wrapped his arms around her. She probably didn't realize what she was doing, because she snuggled in closer to him. He stroked her hair.

"It's gonna be okay, Elena," He said, trying to convince himself as much as her.

"No it's not!" she sobbed.

"Where's Stefan?" He asked.

"B-Bonnie called and n-needed him for-for somethi-" She couldn't finish. He pulled her into his lap, and she wrapped curled up and put her head on his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears.

"E-everybody's working s-so h-hard to fix th-is, and Je-Jenna doesn't eve-even know about anyth-thing, an-d I know that the-there isn't anything we ca-can do, and I'm trying s-so hard not to fall apa-art, but I don't know what to d-do, Damon!" She said, gasping.

He couldn't stand seeing her so upset. "Shhhh, Elena," He whispered. "We'll figure it out. Just calm down. Take deep breaths. Don't worry, I'm here. Shhhh." He continued stroking her hair as she slowly started winding down. He leaned back against the shelf, and just got lost in the moment. He knew Stefan would kill him for this, but right then, he didn't care.

Finally she had calmed down to just shaky breaths. "Everyone's trying to reverse it, but what am I gonna do if we can't?" She asked.

"I don't know, Elena. But we'll figure it out, okay?"

She nodded, and snuggled further into him. "I'm really tired, Damon," She mumbled sleepily.

"I'll take you home." He stood up with her still in his arms, and slowly walked out of the closet, trying to inconspicuously get her out of the hospital so he could speed back to her house. He got some sad looks, but didn't run into anyone, so he got her back to the house quickly, and went inside. He walked her upstairs, trying not to wake her up, and set her gently in her bed and pulled the covers over her. He turned to go home- he was exhausted, too- when he felt her hand around his wrist.

"Don't go." She mumbled.

His brows furrowed in indecision. "Elena..."

"Please?" She said softly, opening her eyes to look at him. She reached behind her and pulled back the covers, inviting him in. She obviously doesn't know what she's doing, he thought. He was just about to pull away- he couldn't take advantage of her like that- when her gaze intensified slightly. "I won't let you leave."

He sighed. He knew he could overpower her, but it wasn't worth hurting her. He decided to just lie with her until she fell asleep, and then would leave through her window so Jenna wouldn't see him. He nodded, and she smiled groggily. He climbed in bed beside her, and pulled the covers back over them. She wriggled so her back side was against him, and he automatically put his around around her waist. She laced her fingers through his, sighed, and closed her eyes.

He worked hard to stay awake, but lying there in the soft bed with her beside him, his exhaustion got the best of him and he fell asleep.

A/N: Okay, I really hope you like! And I'm not going to do the thing with the town council, because it was Alaric who tipped them off to everything, and since I changed that, it wouldn't really happen. So, I guess I'll figure out some other way to have her turn. And I know everybody's reactions are different than in the show, but since the circumstances are different, I think it fits. At least, I hope it does. (: Review please!