Hi again! Thank you for reading the last three chapters! Also, a big thank you to anybody who reviewed and favourited this story! I really hope you guys are enjoying it!

I've worked really hard on this chapter and to make up for the shortness of the past chapters I've made sure that this one is over 2000 words! :P

Anyway, I'll let you get on with reading it!

Thanks again,

Derouiche :)

Love is Fire

Chapter four

The boundaries which divide life from death
are at best shadowy and vague.
Who shall say where one ends,
and the other begins?

Bonnie's POV

My eyes slowly fluttered open to a clear white light, was this heaven? Was my pain really over? But, then it hit me, the distinct sterile smell; something between bleach and latex rubber gloves came to mind, I willed my eyes to focus, and gradually four washed-out walls formed around me. The sound of footsteps scurrying in the distance, the bleeping of machinery and the mumbling of human voices suddenly striked my ears; a tight knot formed deep in the pit of my stomach, I knew exactly where I was and it was NOT heaven.

Erghhh I moaned, as I tried lifting my hands to my head, but, I was swiftly stopped by the plastic tubes connected above two bandages wrapped firmly around both of my wrists, I glanced downwards to see that the tubes were wired up to a monitor which was rapidly forming little blue spikes up and down the screen. Little by little I turned my head to my right side only to realise that I had another set of tubes coming out of my nose, I followed the little tube with my eyes and realised it was connected to the drip standing by my bedside. This was great, just great I thought sarcastically to myself.

My thoughts were stopped mid-track as I realised that I could hear a steady bout of snoring coming from the far left hand corner of the room, I steadily turned my head towards the steady breathing, I could see the body of a man slumped on the visitor's chair, his face turned towards the wall. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed the black leather jacket draped across his arm. I couldn't see his face, I was dying to know who it was, but, I just didn't have the energy to keep my eyes open any longer; so, I rested my head back against the pillows, and fell into a deep and fitful sleep.

Elena's POV

The tyres screeched at my pathetic attempt to park the car, I couldn't care less; I just had to see if she was OK. As soon as I hit the handbrake I grabbed the car keys and threw them to Stefan.

"Stefan, could you please park the car somewhere that isn't the main entrance of the hospital. I'm going to run up, I NEED to see her" I almost shouted the last part. Stefan sensed my urgency.

"Just go Elena! I'll be there as soon as I can!" He shouted back.

I saw him jump into the driver's seat as I left to sprint for the entrance. Pushing through the doors I ran up to the nearest reception desk.

"Hi, I'm looking for a Bonnie Bennett" I said out of breath. I began tapping my foot impatiently against the tiled floor as she flicked through a list of patients on the prehistoric computer sat on her desk.

"Oh, here we go, she's in room 309, up on the intensive care ward" I was puzzled, how the hell was I meant to find her room? She caught wind of my thoughts.

"Straight up this corridor, take the lift to the third floor, walk out of the lift and it's the first door to your right love" She smiled up at me.

"Thanks!" I shouted back at her as I dashed down the hallway, reaching the lift I hit at the 'up' button, come on! I screamed to myself.

PING

"YES!" I shouted to no one in particular, I rushed into the lift, ignoring the weird looks I was given by passers-by; I couldn't care less what they thought about me right now.

FINALLY!, the lift reached the third floor; I jumped out and ran to the kind looking nurse stood by the ward entrance.

"Hi, I'm Elena, I spoke to somebody about my friend Bonnie Bennett" The words spilled out of my mouth.

"Oh! Elena! Hi, I'm Brenda Barnes, I called your cell, remember?" I nodded my head – how could I not remember?

"OK Elena, come this way, don't let what you see shock you, she'll hopefully recover soon" she whispered reassuringly, looking into my eyes, as she gently patted my hands.

She left me at the doorway and walked off to see another patient. I took a deep breath and then pushed open the door.

"OH MY GOD" I inhaled a sharp breath, as, I saw a frail Bonnie with wires and tubes sticking out of nearly every part of her body. The noise I'd made seemed to wake-up the man sat in the corner of the room. He turned to face me. Wait… I did a double take by the entrance, that isn't Damon! That's …

"Oh hey Elena, it's me, Jason from high school, remember?" He said as he stood up from the chair.

"Yes, I know, Jason Stolas, how could I forget? You were practically Bonnie's first love back in high school" He smiled at me. I was just a little confused, I looked around the room, where's Damon? I thought to myself.

"Are you looking for something Elena?" He looked up at me innocently, flicking the brown locks of hair away from his electric blue eyes.

"No, no" I flustered with my reply. I guess he never did come back. So, Jason was the one who'd found her, but, how? I needn't ask the question out loud as he began to answer himself.

"I've been with Bonnie all of this time. I mean I'd come into town to deal with some business, so, I thought I might as well visit Bonnie whilst I was down here"

"I reached her house and found the front door wide open, so, I suspected that something was wrong. I walked in and began to look for her. It was good that I'd gotten to her when I did, I mean, I'd dread to think of what would have happened to her if I'd got there any later" He added, with more of a serious tone.

"Thank you, I'm so grateful Jason for what you've done and I'm sure Bonnie is too, you saved her life" I looked up at him in appreciation.

"It's nothing" He said as Bonnie began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes.

"Bonnie! Bonnie! Thank God you're alive!" I ran at her, nearly crying. I took her into my arms and hugged her.

"Ow owww" She squeaked in protest.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Bonnie!" I jumped back, giving her some room to breathe. I looked back at Jason who was still standing there.

"Hey, Jason, you don't mind if I have a little private time with Bonnie?" I didn't even know why I had to ask him, but, I thought since he'd saved her life and all I'd show some appreciation.

"Yeah, no problem, go right ahead"

"Thank you so much Jason, I'll never know how to repay you for this" Bonnie croaked.

As he was leaving the room he swept right past me lightly brushing his fingers against my arm; it was the smallest of touches, but, I felt a tingle gradually spreading through my arm, I shivered. I quickly forgot about it as I turned my attention back to Bonnie.

"Bonnie, I'm so glad that you're getting better, but, I'm just so shocked… I… I just can't believe you did that to yourself" I glanced down at her wrists to emphasise the point I was making. She groaned inwardly.

"Elena, I'm not in the mood for this right now"

"Bonnie! I just don't understand why you're SO upset, SO depressed that you would… you would try to KILL yourself!" I shouted.

"OK, this all happened after Damon left, so, I'm guessing it was ALL for him! I knew you kind of liked him, but, I didn't know it was THIS much!" I added, not letting her get a word in edgeways, not as though she even bothered to argue.

"Bonnie… you do know that he never liked you… it's me that he's always loved, but, I don't want him! I want Stefan! He was just playing with you...I just didn't want to tell you because I never wanted to hurt your feelings!" She flinched at my words.

Bonnie's POV

WHAT THE HELL! I was seething. I was boiling inside. My best friend saying this to me! How could she? How selfish and self-centred was she? She knew about Damon and I! She knew that I loved him and that he loved me!

"He was never playing me! I know he loved me! I can prove it!" I pulled my hand towards my neck and began to feel for the necklace that Damon had given me. It wasn't there. Oh my God, where was it? It was the only piece I had left of him!

"So where's the evidence?" She glared at me.

"Listen Bonnie if he loved you so much, why the hell did he leave you then?" She spat back at me. I could feel tears pricking at my eyes.

That was the last straw.

"Get out! You, you bitch!" I screamed so that she could here me over the machine beeping hysterically by my bed. As she stomped out of the room and slammed the door shut I finally let the tears fall and began to sob.

Damon's POV

I was enjoying living life solo, but, to tell the truth there was a small piece of me that was kind off missing them; although I would rather die a slow and painful death than ever admit that aloud, in fact, why the hell did I even think that in the first place?

I smirked to myself as the night breeze swept through my hair; who the hell cared, I was having the time of my life.

BLEEP

Oh shit I thought to myself as I saw the red light flashing by the gas meter, I rapidly spun the steering wheel to my left, with the tyres screeching in protest, I parked at the gas station, and jumped out of my car. I grabbed the nearest gas pump, opened the valve, and pushed it in. Seen as I was waiting for the gas to fill-up I thought I'd save time and pull out my wallet to take out my credit card, as I un-clipped the wallet and began fumbling for my card I noticed a small photo neatly placed into one of the slots, pulling it out I realised it was a photo of Bonnie smiling… what the hell? To top it all off she was practically sat on ME, YES ME, and I had her face cupped gently in my hands as I kissed her cheek. I froze. What – the – FUCK was this? Was this some sort of messed-up joke? This never happened! I protested to myself, I couldn't look at it any longer; I ripped it all out and stuffed it into the back pocket of my jeans.

Having paid the machine I got back into the car, slamming the door behind me, I sped off onto the highway. Just as I rounded the corner I crashed into something head on. As I pulled the car to a speedy halt my back arched and my neck snapped back hitting the headrest. SHIT that hurt and SHIT my car is RUINED! Rubbing my neck I quickly looked out of the windscreen, I could see a black lump right in front of my car, and then… I could swear I saw a flash of red light piercing right through me.

My senses were on full alert right now, I could feel that something was wrong, just as I thought this the smell of acrid burning hit me, I looked into the rear view mirror to see giant flames of orange and red licking at the back of my seat rapidly making their way towards me. FUCK FUCK! I screamed. I quickly grabbed for the door handle, WHAT THE FUCK! It was LOCKED! I shook it as hard as my vampire strength would allow me and the piece of shit STILL wouldn't budge. The flames had overtaken the front seat, the heat was pummelling me and the black fumes had begun to choke me. With the last of my strength I clenched my fists and striked the front window as hard as I could, again and again until my fists were bleeding. I didn't know what was happening, it was as if the car had suddenly mutated into some sort of monstrous iron cage imprisoning me until the raging fire brought about my death.

My eyes clouded over, as, my mind was transported elsewhere, the cloud dispersed and there was an image before me, I tried hard to focus, the image moved across and exquisite hallway and swept swiftly up a wooden staircase, the image whizzed past the other rooms and halted in what looked like a bathroom. Somehow this house looked familiar, my face scrunched up in concentration as the image focused into something that looked like, a bathtub? Wait, was that blood? My eyes began to move across the image, I spotted a figure outlined in the water, but, just before I could figure out who the hell it was the image before me had disappeared and before I knew it the whole world had turned black.

Thank you for reading this chapter! There are going to be even more surprises in store so just keep reading.

A big thank you to anybody who reviews, it really pushes me to write to the best of my abilities.

Derouiche :)

P.S Remember, anybody who reviews gets an exclusive preview to the next chapter! :D