Chapter Two
General
"Can you hear me?"
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Focus on my voice, can you hear me?"
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Elena struggled back into consciousness.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Her eyes felt heavy.
When she managed to crack her lids open, the blurring figures around her were disorientating. She tried to focus and picked out a face peering down at her.
She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision; it was a nurse. She must be in the hospital then.
"Good you're awake, what's your name sweetie?" The nurse asked.
"Elena." She whispered.
"Is there someone you can call?"
She tried to push past the fogginess in her mind.
"Damon, call Damon." She said groggily.
The nurse grabbed a pen and paper and asked for the number.
Usually Elena could recite both of the Salvatore's number's off by heart without even thinking about it but now she struggled to get the numbers to make sense as they swirled around her jumbled brain.
Finally she managed to get them into the right order and the nurse disappeared. Left alone, she slipped back into a heavy slumber.
Damon sighed and pulled the phone out of his pocket. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. He had had a crappy day, not that that was out of the ordinary.
He looked at the screen and frowned at the number…he recognized it. With a slow sinking feeling he realized that it was the number at the hospital. He quickly picked up.
"Damon Salvatore, how can I help you?" He asked.
A woman's voice came over the line.
"Mystic Falls General. I'm sorry to bother you. Do you know an Elena?" She inquired.
Damon stood up, his glass of scotch falling to the floor unnoticed.
He felt ill, he had dreamt about getting a phone call like this. Well, dream is a loose term, it had been a nightmare; the voice on the other end of the line telling him that there'd been an accident and Elena hadn't made it.
He swallowed thickly.
"What happened, is she ok?" He asked, trying to hide the panic in his voice.
"She's going to be fine, she's been asking for you. If you could come in, we need to ask a few questions."
"Yeah, of course. I'll be there in a minute." He said quickly, already half way out the door.
Damon reached the hospital in record time, his mind desperately trying to prepare his heart for the worst.
He ran up to the reception the minute he arrived.
"Elena Gilbert?" He asked.
A passing nurse heard him.
"Are you Damon?" she asked.
He turned and nodded.
"If you could come with me?"
He followed the nurse into a small office. She shuffled through some papers.
Damon fidgeted by the door.
"We have no information on Elena other than her first name. I'm assuming you can help us there?" the nurse handed him a form.
He quickly scribbled down Elena's name, birthday and phone numbers.
"What happened? Can I see her?" He asked.
The nurse sighed.
"Are you related to Elena in any way? She's a minor, we can't release this information unless…"
Damon thought fast.
"I'm her fiancé." He said, snickering internally at how much that lie would irritate Elena.
The nurse raised her eyebrows but nodded.
"We responded to a 911 call from Elena's house. We found her…unconscious."
Damon sat down feeling dizzy. If he had just gone to Elena's house last night like he usually did…
"We brought her in and she had to have immediate surgery; she had internal bleeding. She has a broken wrist, three broken ribs..." She broke off when she saw Damon's devastated face.
"Oh god Elena." he whispered.
The nurse sighed.
"There's something else." She hesitated.
Damon waited, wondering what the hell could be worse than what he had already heard.
"It looks like domestic violence, she's covered in bruises. And there's evidence of…sexual abuse."
Damon's head snapped up, his mind reeling.
The nurse looked at him awkwardly.
"I'm going to have to ask you a few questions…" She said.
Damon glared at her.
"Surely you don't think that I did this to her." He said angrily.
"Personally, no. Legally, I have to ask."
He sighed.
"Look, I would never hurt her. And I don't know who would." He said sincerely.
The nurse nodded.
"We are going to have to call her legal guardian. Do you know the number?" She asked.
Damon scribbled it down and asked impatiently to see Elena.
The nurse led the way down a corridor and pushed the door to a ward open.
"Elena honey, Damon's here." She said softly.
There was no response.
"She's been drifting in and out of consciousness but she's stable… I'll give you some time."
The nurse left and Damon walked into the small room.
She was lying awkwardly on the bed, her dark hair fanned around her face. There was a shadow of a bruise across her cheekbone and her eyes were swollen and tired. Damon was unnerved by how painful the sight of her, so fragile and broken, was.
He pulled up a chair and sat by her bed.
Elena's eyelids fluttered open and she gazed blurrily around.
"Damon?" She murmured.
He brushed her hair off her face and trailed his fingertips lightly over her bruised cheek.
"I'm here." He whispered.
(Request) I don't feel particularly inspired by this story... So let me know if I should continue or not!
I know I have a lot of songfic requests to catch up on, I am working on them now :)