Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries,just the plot.

~Stefan's POV~

My eyes flickered open to a very bright room. I winced and rubbed my eyes,letting out a muffled groan. What the hell happened?

I guess I'm in a hospital based on the machines hooked up to me and the very uncomfortable bed I was laying on.

I was about to sit up before I felt a hand push me back down,gently.

"Stefan,you can't sit up. You need to rest."A feminine voice told me. I looked up to see a pretty woman, dressed in scrubs,examining my IV fluid. I guess she's my nurse.

"W-Why am I here?"I asked her,confused. The last thing I remember was being at football practice..

"Your lung was punctured by your rib,causing it to collapse. You passed out before the medics got to you."She replied,scribbling a few things down on a clipboard.

Instinctively,I pressed my hand to my side and was welcomed by a sharp pain.

"Hey hey,take it easy..You just got out of surgery sweetie. I'll have the doctor give you more antibiotics when he examines you."She explained,removing my hand from my side.

"Are my sisters here?"

"Yes. I'll go get them after I'm done here. Your father is on his way here but he's coming from a business meeting so it may take a while."She answered,scribbling down whatever was on the machine to the report.

Shit. Of course my dad would be at a business meeting. He's probably going to be so pissed at me for getting hurt and making him have to leave.

"Stefan?"

"Yeah?"

"I asked you if you wanted to maybe rest a little more before visitors come. Are you alright?"She raised her eyebrow at me.

I nodded my head in response.

The nurse bit the inside of her cheek before setting down the paperwork on the side table.

"Your sister Elena told me that a kid hit your side pretty hard at football practice. Your injury is pretty common,especially when it comes to playing that sport. But..we did notice that you have excessive bruising all over your body,Stefan."She stated with a sympathetic expression.

Wait,is she possibly hinting as it being a sign of abuse? I mean,yeah she's right but why is she looking at me like she actually cared?Didn't she see this kind of stuff all the time at the hospital?Or maybe my dad made a deal with her or something so that he can test me.. Or maybe she's just simply stating the obvious and I'm over analyzing things way too much.

"Um..I-I get into a lot of fights at school.."I quickly lied,hoping she didn't notice my voice wavering.

"Alright. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."She patted my arm with a tiny smile.

"Wait but-"

"I'll go get Caroline and Elena for you. They've been really worried."She said,cutting me off. She grabbed the paperwork and walked out of the room,leaving me shaken.

What the hell?

Hopefully the nurse didn't suspect anything going on. Then again who cares? It's not like she can do anything about it. Nobody can..

After a few minutes drew by,the door opened,revealing a smiling Elena and a worried Caroline.

"Stefan!"Elena cried,practically running over to me. "We were so worried about you!"

"So I've heard. And I'm sorry. I must not have been paying attention when Tyler hit me."I shrugged.

"He's really sorry,he didn't think he hit you very hard.."Elena muttered. We all knew Tyler didn't hit me hard at all. Just enough to make my bruised rib crack I guess.

"It's fine. I don't blame him at all for it."

"Good because he's like,really freaking out about it. He didn't mean to hurt his bff!"Elena nudged me with her elbow.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. I looked over to see a distanced Caroline,with her arms crossed and eyes attached to the floor.

"Care."Her head snapped up at the sound of her name. "Don't even think think about blaming yourself for this."I frowned.

She let out a sigh and her arms flew to her sides. "How can I not? I shouldn't have let you play. I should've gone to coach and tell him that you weren't playing. You don't know how furious dad was when I called him."

I gulped at her words and shook my head. "I don't care about dad right now. He finds any way to be mad at me so I get used to it. But you can't feel guilty over this. I knew how badly I was hurt but I still played. So it's my fault."

"Yeah but-"

"Caroline..."

"Okay fine. But I still have to look out for my baby brother."She ruffled my hair and I laughed.

"Good. But I am only one year younger.."

"And?"She laughed. "I'm going to go call Tyler and Matt to tell them you're feeling better."Caroline pulled out her cellphone and walked out of the room.

After the door closed,I glanced over at Elena who was staring out the window. Her face looked solemn with a hint of sadness.

"What's wrong?"

I must've snapped her out of her thoughts because she immediately shook her head and a smile appeared on her face. A fake smile.

I breathed out a sigh and scooted over on the bed,carefully,patting the spot next to me. "Cmon."

She didn't hesitate to come over and lay down next to me.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "So tell me,what's up?"

She blew puffs of air in her cheeks and stayed silent for a few minutes. Finally she reached into her backpocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper,placing it on my chest.

"I got Mr. Saltzman to give us extra credit on our tests."She explained as I unfolded my test revealing an A at the top.

"Woah. Since when does he give extra credit that bumps up our grade to an A?"I asked with a chuckle. That seriously made me so relieved. I definitely didn't want to see dad and explain to him why I failed a test that I should've gotten an A on.

My eyesbrows scrunched together in confusion when Elena's eyes filled with tears at my question.

"Don't worry about it."She snapped at me.

What the hell?

"No I will worry about it. Tell me right now what happened."I demanded as a tear slid down her cheek.

"You stay away from Mr. Saltzman,Stefan. I don't want you staying after class with him and you stay out of trouble in his class. I won't have you getting a detention with him."She sniffled,completely disregarding my question.

"I-I don't understand. Why are you saying all of this?Did he fucking do something to you?"I hissed.

"Stefan I don't question what Uncle Klaus did to you,okay?So just drop it."

I gave a small nod and stared down at my hands,messing with the hospital bracelet on my wrist.

"Stefan I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."Elena sighed,grasping onto my hand.

"It's fine,Elena. I know what you meant."I answered,giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

I better not find out that,that sick bastard is hurting my sister. She's not going to go through what I went through.

~Damon's POV~

I walked through the hospital's entrance and looked around. I quickly made my way over to the receptionist desk with a lady typing away on her computer.

She looked up at me when I approached her. "How can I help you?"

"Uh,yeah I'm looking for a Katherine Salvatore; she's a nurse here. I'm her husband."I answered her,tapping my fingers against the counter.

She gave me a look of you-better-not-be-a-freakin-phyco-killer,before searching on her computer.

"She's in the five hundred wing."She answered after a minute or so of looking.

I added a thanks before taking off down the hallway towards the wing of the building.

"Katherine!"I half yelled down the hallway when I spotted her at the counter. She turned around when she heard her name and saw me.

"Damon! I was just about to call you!"She stated,hugging me.

"It's alright. I heard that someone got hurt during football practice on the news. They said it was Stefan. Is he okay?They didn't say what happened!"

"He's fine. He just woke up half an hour ago. He had a punctured lung so we took him into surgery before things got serious. We're gonna have to keep him here for a few days though."She replied.

I let out a sigh of relief and ran my fingers through my hair. "Am I able to see him?"

"Yes. But before you do. You should know that I found something..strange. When I examined him,God Damon he was covered in bruises and cuts."

I looked at her alarmed. "It couldn't have been from the injury?"

Katherine bit her lip before shaking her head. "No. He told me that it was from fighting at school,but I could tell he was lying. He couldn't even look me in the eye at all."She said,before writing a few things down on a paper form.

"Well is Elijah here yet?"

"No. He's at a business meeting out of town,but he should be here soon. Well,that's what he told me when I called him that is.."

I scoffed at that. Same old Elijah. I never liked him when my sister dated him,let alone married the guy.

"Now Damon,don't start anything okay?"Katherine told me,placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I won't. I'm just not very fond of him."I sighed.

"I know,hun. Caroline and Elena are here though. They're in Stefan's room."

"Alright. Do they know that you're their aunt?"I chuckled as she shook her head.

"Nope. To them I'm only their nurse. But hey,there isn't a better way to tell them right?"She laughed,picking up her work. "Stefan's in room 107. I'll be there in a few to check on him."

I nodded and kissed her cheek before I headed down the hallway that reeked of detergent and bleach.

Yay Damon made his first appearance! Tell meh what ya'll think! I know this chapter may have been a little bit boring but I've been thinking up some awesome plans for this story! I love reading your amazing reviews guys(:

Would love to read some more!

~Harmony