Stefan sat with Damon pulled into his lap for hours. As his brother dozed, Stefan laid his cheek to rest atop Damon's head and continued to hum The Loon softly.

Meanwhile, Damon's unconscious mind wrestled with itself. Somewhere within his head a little voice began to make sarcastic remarks about how very baby-like he was being.

"Toughen up Damon, you're really gonna let your little brother coddle you like this?"

But a weak, more vulnerable part of him argued, "But it hurts! It hurts so bad and… and Stefan… he makes it better…"

"Don't be such a baby! Sure it hurts, but you need to rough it out. You don't need anyone,"

"I need my brother,"

"Deal with it. And please, grow up and be a man!"

This steam of bickering was cut short when Damon felt his brother move out from underneath him again. Screw what the voice said, he did need Stefan and he wasn't going to let him leave. Damon's eyes flashed open and he sat up, reaching for Stefan's arm but the movement sent waves of agony through his protesting body. He fell back onto the pillow, teeth set and eyes clenched shut, desperately fighting for breath and trying to stamp down the pain before it overwhelmed him.

Then, like an angel, Stefan was beside him again, his hands carding through Damon's hair.

"Easy," he said gently, "I'm right here, just calm down,"

When at last Damon had managed to do so, Stefan moved back a little, talking all the while, "I'm right here but I have to check out the damage, okay? I need to see what's happened to you… do you think you could tell me?"

At first Damon began to explain, "S-Stefan I… it… it was…" but even speaking was too hard and he had to stop, fighting back the nausea that rose up his throat. At last he looked up at his brother and shook his head gently. No. No, he could not talk about it and no, this wasn't going to be okay and no, he didn't feel like he would ever be "Fine" again!

"It's alright," Stefan stated, "I'm just gonna see what I can do for you. You can tell me what happened later, don't try right now," and with that Stefan pulled back the covers to expose his brother and gently began to unbutton his shirt.

Stefan pulled Damon's black shirt open and was appalled to see that the skin underneath was such a deep purple that it nearly matched the fabric. Bruises covered every inch of Damon's chest and Stefan felt sure that beneath it all there must be some cracked ribs. To confirm this he lightly ghosted his hands over the area. Immediately Damon cried out, unable to hide the pain that even the slightest pressure brought on.

"Yupp, broken," Stefan thought as he began pulling the sleeves off Damon's arms. This caused yet another yelp.

Stefan had barely begun removing Damon's dark jeans when his brother screamed in pure anguish. The screams were terrified and shrill, expressing excruciating torture and growing higher in pitch and louder in volume as Stefan continued to tug. Beginning to panic, Stefan bit into his own wrist and forced it to Damon's mouth shouting, "Drink! Drink and it will heal you!" but the blood filled his brother's mouth and spilled out, overflowing with ever sob that Damon emitted. Damon's eyes slid slowly back into his head and his body went lax but the blood continued to flow into his mouth until he starting choking.

The choking sounds brought Stefan back to his senses. He removed his wrist from Damon's mouth and turned him onto his side, smacking his back none too gently to bring the blood up and out of Damon's airways. With a huge cough, blood spurted from Damon's mouth and he dragged in a pained breath.

Taking advantage of Damon's unconsciousness, Stefan ripped Damon's jeans away, leaving him exposed in only a pair of navy jockey shorts.

"Holy Hell!" Stefan gasped as he surveyed the damage to Damon's lower half. His brother's entire left leg looked damaged. The ankle was huge and puffy, several of his toes were broken and stuck out at odd angles, the calf a mass of bruises, the thigh had a gash which must have just clotted, and worst of all was Damon's hip. The very bone seemed to have dislocated itself.

Stefan fought the urge to throw up and turned to look at Damon's back. A dark bruise just barley poked above the elastic of Damon's shorts but it spanned the width of his entire lower back and a knot on the back of his head showed trauma to the upper neck and base of his skull.

Stefan started the process of patching his brother up. At the very least he needed to bandage Damon's lacerations, bind his ribs, check for a concussion, set all of the breaks, ice the bruises, and somehow pop his hip back into its socket. At the thought of this last task he felt sick yet again.

Caring for Damon had been awful. Even in his unconscious state, Damon would cry out at anything that shifted him even in the slightest, and Stefan would cringe, wishing he could somehow melt into the floor. At last Stephan finished the last task on his list, yanking mercilessly on Damon's leg until he heard it crack sickeningly back into place and shoving his hands over his ears until his brother's blood-curdling scream ended. He then hurried to the bathroom and returned with several different types of pain medication. He selected the strongest and then propped Damon up, ignoring the gasps and lines of pain that appear across his face, and forced him to swallow two of the little white pills. Then he placed several blanket back over his brother's still form.

Stefan then pulled out his cell phone and dialed Elena's number. "Elena's answering service," a male voice answered playfully, "Sorry but my sister is not available at the moment,"

"Great, it's Jeremy," Stefan thought with a sigh. "Look, I need to talk to your sister. Please Jeremy, now is not the time for games,"

Jeremy's tone suddenly became serious, "Oh, err, hi Stefan. Sorry, Elena really isn't here. She forgot her phone when she left. What do you need?"

Stefan sighed yet again. He needed to investigate the grill before the trail got cold. Maybe he would find something there that could help Damon. Anyway, he had to go to the grill and now but he couldn't leave his brother alone. With yet another sigh, Stefan explained the situation to Jeremy who got in the car and headed for the Salvatore house before he even had all the details.

When Jeremy arrived Stefan took him to Damon's room, set him in a chair beside the bed, and gave him some instructions, "If he wakes up, which he shouldn't, give him some of the pain meds. Keep him calm and make him drink some water. But before you do any of that call me. Call me the second he wakes up and I will come right back. I will get back as soon as I can," then he gently cupped Damon's cheek with his hand and tussled his brother's hair fondly before speeding out of the room.

"Damon?" Jeremy asked after several minutes. He stood and went to the bed, gently pulling the blankets away from the sleeping man's body and gasping at what he saw, "My God Damon! You look like shit, what the hell happened to you?"

Jeremy returned to the chair beside the bed and stared at Damon. He only felt shock. How could this have happened? Damon was supposed to be immortal: invincible. He was Superman. But even Superman couldn't stand against kryptonite. Jeremy just hoped that Stefan could find the answer to what exactly was Damon's kryptonite.

Damon began to wake up and dearly wished that someone would just hit him with an anvil and let him retreat to blessed darkness once again. He could feel ever muscle fiber straining and screeching in agony. He felt as if some beast were slowly clawing him apart. That's when he noticed the heart beat in the room. Stefan wasn't there but somebody else was. Damon clenched his teeth once again and forced his eyelids up.

At first he felt relief when he saw Jeremy; at least his brother had not gotten Elena to witness him in this humiliating state. But having a human in the room meant that he could not show weakness. He would be strong because he had to be.

Jeremy noticed that he was awake, "Damon!" he exclaimed, making Damon's head want to explode. Why was he talking so loud? Damon shrank back against the headboard but Jeremy wasn't taking a hint. He advanced with a bottle of pills in his hand and continued talking, "Stefan said to make you take these. Hey you're not looking so good… are you okay?" and Jeremy reached a hand out to pat Damon's leg, not knowing the injuries that lay beneath the covers.

The instant Jeremy's hand connected with his leg Damon literally thought he would die. Lightning shot up the length of his leg, slammed into his spine, and dissipated out every nerve ending. Damon opened his mouth but couldn't even scream. He just lay there with his mouth agape; lips stretched tight back, exposing teeth, but not making a sound. Jeremy, shocked yet again, took several steps back and Damon slowly collapsed in on himself, starting to curl up until feeling his injured ribs which sent yet another jolt of pain. He tried to ride out the pain but he couldn't speak, couldn't breath. He finally grated out one panting sob, "Stefan!" and then agony erupted from his leg and his chest as the bed was jostled slightly and that one whimpered word became a desperate scream, "STEFANNNN!"

Thank you so much to my lovely reviewers (although there were only 6 of you and I would love more), you are the reason I write. As always, read and review please. Let me know what you want to happen in the next chapters ect.