Hello! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot! :) Oh, and another thing I'm looking forward to next episode- Damon and Stefan bonding like they actually are brothers! I no joke almost cried when Damon and Stefan had their talk last episode! Anyway, please continue reviewing! :)
Elena pulled into the boarding house driveway at 6:50 a.m. She yawned as she turned off her car, and walked over to the passenger side. Damon was completely asleep, and she had no idea how she was going to move him. She sighed, realizing he was going to have to wake him up, and brushed her thumb against his bruised cheek. He slowly opened his eyes, which were still filled with pain.
"Hey," Elena said softly. "We're here. Could you walk just a little bit so we could get inside?" His eyebrows pushed together at the thought, but he nodded gently and tried to get up, groaning in pain while doing so. Elena put her arms around him in the way she had before, and he stepped out of the car. He leaned on her heavily, almost so much that she fell over, but they managed to get inside the house. She turned on the light, and looked upstairs where Damon's room was. No way could they go up those stairs, so she led him to the couch. He winced in pain as he lie down, clutching his hands to his stomach.
Elena ran down the stairs to get a bag of blood, and ran back upstairs to Damon. She sat on the ground so she was level with him, and opened the blood bag and put it to his lips. At first he drank it weakly, but the blood gave him a little more energy, and he drank faster, until the bag was empty. She could see the cuts on his face begin to heal, but the stomach wounds did not. She began to head towards the other couch, when she heard him whisper quietly.
"Elena, stay with me, please." She looked over at him, and she couldn't stand how weak and defenseless he looked. She walked over to the lights and turned them off. She quietly walked to him, and he scooted up so he was at the edge of the couch. She grabbed a comforter which was draped over the couch, and carefully climbed over Damon, and sank down behind him. She pulled the blanket over both of them, causing him to shiver in his sleep. She pulled Damon closer to her so her back was pressed up against the couch, and tucked her arms under his arms. He hugged her hands to his chest, resting the side of his head on her shoulder. They both lie there, together, holding each other close. His breathing slowed after a few minutes, and she knew he was asleep. Elena took a deep breath, and realized that for the first time in days, she knew exactly where Damon was; right in her arms. She fell asleep within seconds.
Damon opened his eyes, irritated with the light that was pouring into the room, disturbing his sleep. He looked around, confused of where he was. And then it hit him. He instantly lay back down. His body felt as though it was on fire. He writhed in pain for a minute, before realizing he was not alone. Soft hands were pressed against his stomach holding him close her. He looked over and saw Elena, sound asleep, her right cheek pressed up against his back. Damon's eyes scrutinized her face, and saw an emotion flicker across her face. She was scared. He turned his body towards her, even though it hurt more than anything, and stroked her cheek.
All of a sudden, the memory of the past night hit him. He remembered Rebekah, torturing him. She had stabbed him, bit him…truly tortured him. Then he remembered Elena saving him. No, not just Elena, but Ric and Bonnie also. They had saved him. He pulled Elena into a hug. "Gosh, I love her so much," he thought to himself. She stirred in her sleep, and slowly opened her eyes. They widened immediately to see Damon was awake.
"Damon!" she exclaimed, her voice sounding relieved. "How do you feel? Are the cuts still on your stomach? How's your head?" She put her hand on his head, almost as if she was feeling for a fever.
"I feel just about as good as a vampire who just got tortured could feel!" He laughed, but the motion of laughing caused him to suddenly squeeze his eyes shut. He curled up in a ball against Elena, yelling out in pain. Elena's eyes looked frantically over him, trying to think of any way to make him stop hurting. She was scared for him, and she didn't know what to do. So she just held him against her, half sitting, half lying down against the arm of the couch. After a couple minutes of hearing Damon's heartbreaking bellows, he finally quieted down, trying to catch his breath. He turned towards her, and she saw that he was sweating. He still had blood on his face, arms, and stomach.
"I'll be right back, okay?"She asked. He nodded. She stepped over him onto the floor, and walked to the kitchen. She searched for a few minutes before finding a bucket and filling it up with soapy water. She grabbed a rag and headed towards Damon. She peeled the comforter off of him, and dipped the rag into the water.
"Can you tell me about what happened last night?" Elena asked softly. She placed the rag on Damon's stomach, and he squirmed in pain. She carefully wiped a section of blood away, and she gasped at the size of one of the gashes on his stomach. He didn't say anything for a moment, almost as if he he was scared to tell her. He sighed deeply.
"I was at the Grill, drinking. I was drunk, but not drunk enough to go home with Rebekah," he smiled weakly and faked a shutter. "Anyway, I went to my car, and she somehow managed to sneak up and injected some kind of vervain into me. She took me to the mansion that you saved me from, and hung me up with those chains. When I first woke up, I was already in pain. The vervain was inside of me and it felt like I was being burned." He paused and winced as the rag wiped away the last of the blood on his stomach. Elena went on to cleaning his neck, which had multiple bite marks on it.
"At first, she tortured me physically. She would stab me with knifes, stakes, or anything that had a sharp edge." His jaw clenched at the memory. "But then, she started to torture me mentally." He took a shaky breathy, and she was shocked to see his eyes shiny from un-shed tears. Elena placed a hand against his face, and he put his hand on top of hers. "Do you know how vampires are able to get inside of people's dreams and change them to whatever they want?"
Elena took a shallow breath. "Yes," she said fearfully.
"She did that to me, but I wasn't asleep. It was more like a hallucination. I had no idea what was real or what wasn't. She made me hallucinate-" he took another breath, and his hand on her started to tremble. "She made me think that you were dead, Elena. She made me hallucinate you being attacked by a human. Just a human. And I was just watching, standing right there with you, and I couldn't move. I was screaming and yelling and trying with all of my might to save you, and I…" he looked down as if he was ashamed of himself. When he looked back up, she saw a tear fall down his cheek. She held his hand so tight, as if it would seize his pain. "I didn't. I didn't save you. You died, right there. Right in front of me. I couldn't do anything but just fall down and cry." He looked straight into Elena's eyes, and then spoke so quietly, she could barely hear him. "I thought it was real, Elena. It felt so real" And with that he laid his head down on Elena's shoulder, and hugged her as tight as he could without yelling out in pain.
"So when I heard you crying right before we came into the room, was that why?" Elena asked softly, tears falling down her cheeks as well.
"Yes. I was still having the hallucination when you, Ric, and Bonnie came in. It stopped the second Ric stabbed her, since she was no longer conscious." He looked at Elena, his eyes filled with passion. "I'm just so glad it wasn't real. I'm… I'm so sorry I didn't save you."
Elena pulled his face to hers, so that they were just inches apart. "Damon," she said. "You had no control over it. Rebekah was doing it, not you. I'm okay, okay? I'm fine." He nodded his head and Elena suddenly had an alarming urge to kiss him. Damon felt the exact same feeling wash over him, and he started to lean forward. Their lips were so close to touching when the door slammed open, causing Elena to bounce away from Damon, and look guiltily at the door. The guilt on her face quickly wiped away when Rebekah walked into the room, holding Alaric at her side. She had a knife pointed onto his neck, and she could see Alaric's face was bruised from her already.
"Let's do a little exchange, shall we?" she asked smoothly, her voice full of arrogance. "I get Damon, or I kill Alaric. Your choice."
How'd you like it? Oh and in case anyone was wondering, Alaric is not going crazy in this fan fiction, and he has done nothing bad to anyone. ALSO, he doesn't have his ring on, so Rebekah is able to kill him! Thanks again for those who reviewed and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review! Delena forever
