A/N : Pssst...LOOK AT THE TITLE, that's all I'm gonna say.


CHAPTER SEVEN - Baby, Now That I've Found You


Elena and Alaric immediately rushed to Mercy Medical Center right after John Paul made the phone call to Ric. They didn't know anything specific, except that Jeremy had an accident in school after one of his art classes. Elena's nerves had been frayed since the incident at the park, and not knowing anything regarding Jeremy's condition was driving her even more to the edge.

"Jeremy Gilbert?" Elena demanded, once the finally reached the nurses' desk at the ER.

"Excuse me?" one of the nurses asked her. "Please remain calm, Miss."

Elena was about to scream at the nurse, when Alaric decided to intervene. "Excuse me, Nurse Reis," he said, looking at the woman's name tag. "My name is Alaric Saltzman. I'm the legal guardian of the patients that was brought here not too long ago. His sister and I just received the news of his accident. Surely, you can understand the reason for our distress," Ric explained.

Nurse Reis expression softened, looking at Elena with sympathy. "What's the patient's name again?" she asked.

"Jeremy. Jeremy Gilbert," Elena replied in a gentler tone.

Nurse Reis typed the name on the keyboard and then looked at her screen. "Gilbert, Jeremy...yes. Brought in for deep incision to his hand. The intern should be done with his sutures now. He's in exam room 3." she pointed them to the direction of the room.

"Thank you," Elena mumbled in response, before rushing towards the room, followed by Alaric.

"You'll be discharged tonight. I see no reason to keep you for observation. Although, I expect you back here in five days to have the stitches removed," Elena heard the doctor ordering Jeremy, as they entered the room.

"Elena? Ric?" Jeremy was surprised to see them. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"I called them," it was John Paul who replied.

"I told John Paul to call your family, Jer," a young woman chimed in, as she brushed a few strands of hair away Jeremy's face, an act that didn't go unnoticed by Elena.

"What happened?" Elena asked worriedly, taking her place by Jeremy's side.

"It's nothing serious, really." Jeremy assured his sister. "I just sliced my hand open with a mat cutter while I was framing a painting. It was a stupid accident. Like I said, nothing serious," he explained. "Right, Doc?" he turned his attention to the man next to him.

"Dr. Joel Goran," the doctor tried to introduce himself to Elena, who was busy holding Jeremy's uninjured hand. "Right," he said, realizing he was being ignored. "Jeremy suffered a deep incision to his left hand. The wound was irrigated and sutured, and we gave him a tetanus shot, for safety precaution. I also prescribed antibiotics and meds for the pain."

"I won't be needing them," Jeremy refused.

"Right...tough guys don't need Tylenol," the young woman by Jeremy's side scoffed, as she caressed the side of his face. Elena noticed that John Paul averted his eyes while this was going on.

"You will be taking them if you don't want that wound infected. You got seven stitches, Mr. Gilbert. You're lucky. Half a centimetres to the left, and you'd be having a different conversation with another doctor," Dr. Goran warned Jeremy. Then, his pager went off. "I need to take this," he excused himself, before he hurriedly left the room.

There was an awkward silence in the room for a brief moment, before the still to be identified woman spoke. "Hi, I'm Cassandra Cartwright, Jeremy's...friend. But you can call me Casey," she introduced herself.

"Oh, right..." Jeremy said. "Casey is John Paul's best friend." he nodded towards John Paul, the normally chatty young man remained silent during the conversation. "She's in my Art History class, and she's also one of the students participating in the academy's Art Exhibit," he added. "Casey, this is my elder sister, Elena Gilbert, and my legal guardian, Alaric Saltzman," Jeremy introduced his family.

"Pleasure to meet you," Casey replied politely.

"We're grateful that you brought Jeremy to the hospital," Ric spoke. "It's getting pretty late. You probably should be heading home," he told Jeremy's friends.

"But-" Casey tried to protest.

"Ric's right," Jeremy interrupted. "Doc already said that I'll be alright," he told both his friends. "Make sure she gets home safe, man," he said to John Paul.

"I'll take care of her," John Paul assured him, before guiding Casey towards the door.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Jeremy told Casey.

"Goodnight," Casey said, nodding her goodbye to Ric and Elena, before she and John Paul made their exit.

Once they left, Jeremy turned his attention to his family. "I'm sorry, you guys," he apologized. "This wasn't a big deal."

"I was so worried," Elena replied.

"John Paul shouldn't have called you two," Jeremy said.

"No, he did the right thing," Ric told him. "We're your family, Jeremy. We deserved to know if you got hurt."

"It wasn't even serious," Jeremy argued. "One of you could have healed me easily. Casey just panicked when she saw the blood," he explained.

"Casey seems to have a crush on you," Ric teased him.

"Please...she just a friend. She's not even my type," Jeremy insisted.

"Does John Paul know that?" Elena wondered out loud.

"John Paul? Why?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"Because he's in love with Casey," Elena pointed out.

"No-" Jeremy contradicted.

"Yes," Elena insisted. "There was something in the way he looked at Casey. That pained look on his face when he catches her staring at you? I've seen that expression way too many times on Damon's face...back when I was with Stefan." she said emotionally. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "I think you should clear things up with your friend. You don't want to be stepping on anybody's toes," she told her brother. She turned her head away and quickly stood up. "Excuse me...I'm gonna to the restroom, fix myself. I must look like a drown rat." With that, she quickly ran out of the room.

"Elena-" Jeremy called out.

"Leave her be," Ric said. "It's been a long and tiring day for her," he added.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked worriedly.

"I'll tell you all about it later," Ric replied. "Right now, I'm gonna go find someone to discharge you," he said, before leaving Jeremy in the room.


"Please, tell me he's going to be alright," Elena heard a woman begging one of the nurses. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't see her face.

"Come with me, Jillian. The police would want to take your statement," the nurse said, as she led the woman away.

Elena strained to see her face, but a flurry of activity erupted in the emergency room, as paramedics, nurses and doctors came rushing in, wheeling a patient in on a stretcher. Elena tried to get out of their way,as they brought the patient to the nearest trauma room, and into the bed. Elena's curiosity regarding the woman disappeared, and was replaced with fear and concern once she identified who the patient was that the paramedics just brought in.

"Damon..." she whispered once she found her voice. She tried to follow the medical staff inside the trauma room, but her feet remained frozen, as she stood and watched in horror through the window.

"25 year-old male, flatline," she heard one of the EMT's said.

"All right, how long down?" one of the doctors asked.

"Unknown...his friend found him in his office...possible adverse reaction to prescription drugs...we've been working on him for 15, gave him two rounds of eppy, two of atrophine," the EMT replied.

"Been any signs of life?" the doctor asked again.

The EMT shook his head. "Sorry, Dr. Foster. We got him back once, then we lost him again," he answered.

"Right...let's get him on a monitor." Dr. Foster told the staff. "Check ventilation" she ordered one of the interns. "And page Dr. Bell. She might want to know that her favorite patient is back," she told one of the nurses.

"I'm here," Dr. Bell announced, as she entered the room. "What his status?" she inquired.

"Monitor's up," one of the nurses announced.

"No readable pulse," another nurse said.

"Asystole!" a third nurse yelled.

"No spontaneous respiration," Dr. Foster told Dr. Bell.

"No response to pain," the intern added.

"Does anybody have any good news?" Dr. Bell asked.

"Pupils are…fixed and dilated," Dr. Foster answered.

"No corneal reflex," the intern said.

"Well, we got him back before...we can do it again." Dr. Bell announced. "Let's have a high dose appy, a pulse ox and a title CO2 detector," she began to bark orders to the staff.

It was at that time that Elena entered the trauma room. "Please..." she whispered at first. "PLEASE...don't let him die!" she pleaded out loud, tears running down her face. She was on the verge of pushing everyone off of Damon, and feeding him her blood.

Dr. Bell looked at her, and then turned to one of the nurses. "Get her out of here," she said. "We're going to have to do a gastric lavage...I need an intubation tray...get the crash cart..." Dr. Bell's voice faded away, as the nurse led her out of the room, and into the waiting area.

"You need to stay here, sweetie," the nurse told her. "You need to let us do our job, okay?" she asked Elena calmly.

Elena looked at the woman's name tag. 'Nurse Paz Aquino', it said. She was sweet. In a way, she reminded Elena of her Aunt Jenna. She stared the nurse in the eye. "You need to save him," she said.

"That's what we're doing," Nurse Aquino replied. "Are you his friend?" she asked Elena.

"He's the great true love of my life," Elena whispered in response.

Nurse Aquino's eyes brightened at Elena's answer. "We're going to do the best we can to save him," she reassured Elena. "I'm going back in that room, and make sure that he makes it back to you, okay?" she added, before turning around to return to the trauma room.

Elena was on her way to follow the nurse, when she heard someone call her name.

"Elena! There you are! We've been looking for you. Jeremy's been discharged," Alaric informed her. "What's wrong?" he asked, noticing the distress in her demeanor.

"He's here, Ric," Elena replied. "All this time, he's been here all along," she said.

"Who's here?" Ric asked.

"Damon," Elena replied. "He's been here...waiting for me to find him...to save him," she cried, as she turned her attention back to the trauma room's window, desperately seeking any sign of life from Damon.


Jeremy searched inside another empty room, looking for his sister. Ric had filled him in about what happened back at the park, and he was starting to worry about Elena. He walked further down the hallway, towards yet another room, when he noticed a woman standing in front of the vending machine. Not just any woman though.

"Bonnie," he whispered. He wanted to run towards her, but he remembered their last encounter not too long ago, when she didn't seem to recognize him.

"Think, Jeremy...THINK!" Jeremy screamed inside his head.

He finally worked up the courage, and walked closer to her. He cleared his throat before he reached out to her.


Jillian ran her hands all over her face, and then combed her hair with her fingers. It had been a long and stressful night, and it wasn't over yet. She just finished giving her statement to the police, but she doubts that they'd be making any arrests. Jessy's family were filthy rich and very powerful. She growled in frustration, as her anger boiled inside of her. She shook her to clear her mind. The voices were back again.

No, Jillian! Focus! She screamed at herself inside her mind. Jack needed her to be strong.

Aggghhh...she whimpered softly, as she felt a stabbing pain inside her skull. Not now...please. Not. Now...she willed herself to stay strong, but her hands were having tremors.

"Are you alright?" Jillian was startled at man who asked her.

She turned around to face the young man. "I'm fine," she answered, before pushing her way past him. She couldn't continue, as her feet wobbled, and the floor seemed to dance beneath her. She would have collapsed, if the man hadn't caught her in his arms.

"I got you," the man assured her with a smile.


"I've seen you before," she said to him.

Jeremy had his hopes up when he heard her say this. She helped him stand, and didn't let go of her until she was steady on her feet.

"I ran into you before...I was in a hurry to get to a cab," she remembered.

And just like that, Jeremy's hopes were crushed. "Actually, you ran over me, pushed me to the ground, and then stole my cab...not that I'm holding a grudge or anything," he replied with a forced smile.

"Did I really? I don't remember that part," she feigned innocence.

"Yeah...you seem to have selective memory," Jeremy pointed out. He caught her again, when she wobble on her feet. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she insisted, as she pried herself of his grip.

"Maybe we should get you to a doctor," Jeremy suggested. "I heard this place was full of them," he added jokingly. He instinctively brushed his hand on her cheek. "You should sit down...wait, I didn't catch your name," he realized.

"I never threw it at you," she retorted.

"Tell me your name," Jeremy asked.

"You may call me Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone," she replied sarcastically.

"That's not your name," Jeremy told her.

"I didn't say it was my name. I said that that's what you may call me. Have you always been this stupid or did they train you for this?" she responded glibly.

Jeremy was about to mouth off an equally smart-ass reply, when a voice called out to him.

"Mr. Gilbert, there you are! Your guardian, Mr. Saltzman, has been looking for you," the nurse informed him.

He turned his attention back to the woman he loved, only to find that she disappeared again. He let his eyes roam around the hall, but he couldn't find her.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no...you won't get away that easily. Not this time," he swore, as he began to search every room in the area.


Elena held on to Damon's hand, her fingers laced with his. She leaned closer and gently pressed her head to the left side of his chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when the heard that sound which reassured her. The sound of his heart beating. It wasn't strong, but it was steady.

Damon's alive. Elena whispered to herself, as she let Damon's heartbeat soothe her nerves. "You came back to me," she said, as she gave him a gentle peck on his lips, and tears of joy began to flow from her eyes.

Elena strained to hear the conversation outside the room. She let her vampire ears listen in on the chatter at the nurses' station.

"Some girl roofied him," said one female nurse.

"Can't say I'm surprise. Have you seen the man? He's pretty freakin' hot!" replied another female nurse.

"Honey...I'm a lesbian, and if given the opportunity, I'd mount him." said another nurse.

"Hey, he's a good man," said a voice Elena recognized as Nurse Aquino. "Show some respect," she demanded.

Elena growled in fury, as she listened in on the conversation. She already overheard the doctors talking earlier. It seems that the reason why Damon was rushed in the ER was due to an 'adverse reaction to Lorazepam'. Somebody did this to him. And she can't wait to find out who.

"That bitch is dead," she whispered menacingly, as dark veins crawled around her eyes.

She tried to rein in her anger, and focused on taking care of Damon. She stared at the pale color of his skin, his breathing, far from normal. His eyes has yet to open. Elena shook her head. Damon was far from being okay. Even she can see that he was very ill, and she was no doctor. Left with no option, she bit into her wrist, and leaned closer towards Damon.

"Elena, don't!" Alaric appeared out of nowhere, and stopped her, pulling her away from Damon and out of the room.

"Let me do this, Ric!" Elena snarled and hissed, as she struggled against the older vampire's grip. "How could you just stand there and look at your best friend in this condition?"

"We don't know the conditions of his return, Elena. What if giving him vampire blood only makes things worse? Have you thought of that?" Ric tried to reason with her.

"Bullshit! Tell me honestly, Ric...if that was Jenna laying on that bed, on the brink of death...would you feed her your blood if you knew that it's the only way that she can be saved?" she asked him. She waited for answer, but was met with silence. "I thought so. Hypocrite!" she lashed out. She was about to return to Damon's side, when Jeremy appeared out of nowhere, running towards them.

"You'll never guess who I just saw..." Jeremy said, gasping to catch his breath.

"Let me guess...you saw Bonnie," Elena answered, still glaring pointedly at Ric.

"Yes, but she wasn't a hallucination," the younger Gilbert argued.

"I know, Jer," Elena replied, tilting her head towards he room.

"Oh, my God! Is that Damon?" Jeremy asked disbelievingly.

"Yep," Elena answered, mimicking Damon's casual response. "In the flesh."

"They're both back," Jeremy gasped.

"We need to get him out of here," Elena said with conviction.

"He's too weak," Ric contradicted.

"That wouldn't be a problem, if you'd just let me heal him," Elena pointed out.

"And what if you make things worse? What if your blood isn't the solution?" Ric pressed.

"Then just help me get him out of here! He can stay with us until we find some answers," Elena insisted.

"They know him here, Elena. Now, we can compel the nurses and the doctors and the rest of the medical staff, but what are we going to do with the CCTV cameras? Like you said, Damon's been here the whole time. People who knows him are bound to look for him." Ric tried to reason with her.

"So, what are you suggesting?" Jeremy asked the older vampire.

"There's no easy solution to any of this, Jer. Nothing we do can solve this tonight," Ric replied. "How about we just go home for now?" he suggested.

"That's you answer, Ric? That we go home and sleep on it?" Elena scoffed.

"Look, you said it yourself, you look like a drowned rat. You really want Damon to see you like this when he wakes up?" Ric asked.

"She didn't recognize me..." Jeremy muttered softly.

"What?" Ric asked.

Jeremy stared at Ric, then at Elena. "I meant Bonnie," he replied. "She didn't recognize me. I talked to her, and she has no idea who I am," he informed them. "And if she doesn't remember me, there's a huge chance that Damon has no memory of you," he deduced.

Elena pressed her back against the wall, her body slowly sliding down the floor. "I can't take anymore bad news today."

Alaric helped her stand up again. "Let's just go home for now. We'll come back later, when we've had time to process all this," he told her.

Elena didn't want to, but she had no strength to refuse. She took one last look at Damon. "I'll come back to you...I promise," she whispered, before allowing Ric and Jeremy to lead her out of the hospital.


Less than a few hours later, Elena was freshly showered and properly dress. She returned to the hospital, without bothering to let Ric know where she was going. She wasn't sorry for wanting to be with Damon. She wasn't about to apologize for needing to be by his his side.

"I can't believe I actually beat you here," Elena was jarred out of her thoughts, as she looked up to see Jeremy with a smug look on his face.

"Hey, I had to get ready. I can't let Damon all icky," Elena replied with a soft smile.

She and Jeremy headed over to Damon's room. Much to Elena's horror, they found the room empty. No sign of Damon whatsoever. Elena began to panic again, fear creeping inside her heart.

"He checked himself out against medical advice a couple of hours ago. Missed him by 30 minutes," Alaric told them, as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Can't say I'm surprised. He always has been stubborn as a mule, that jackass," he chuckled. "Aren't you two supposed to be at home?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep," Elena asked him back.

"Can't believe you fell for that," Ric replied with a smile.

"Have you seen Bonnie?" Jeremy inquired.

"Also not here," Ric replied. "Don't worry, I've been busy," he assured the Gilbert siblings. "Nurse Aquino," he called the young woman.

Elena gasped in shock. "You compelled her?" she asked.

"Only way we can get some answers," Ric answered. "Answer all their questions. Tell them everything that you told me," he ordered the nurse.

"Do you remember me?" Elena asked the compelled nurse.

"Yes...you're Jackson's girl," Nurse Aquino replied.

"Jackson?" Elena wondered.

"Jackson Crow. That's Damon's new name," Ric clarified.

"Does Jackson have a friend?" Jeremy's turn to ask, before he gave a perfect description of Bonnie.

"That's Jillian. Jillian Nightingale. Jackson's best friend," the nurse answered him.

"I must say...those names are pretty creative," Alaric muttered.

"Where is 'Jackson'?" Elena pressed.

"He checked out of the hospital against his doctor's advice. He doesn't like hospitals that much," Nurse Aquino replied.

"Do you know where I can find him?" Elena pressed.

"Sure, I can get you the address," the nurse answered.

"That would be of great help, thank you," Elena told her, as she watched the nurse write down Damon's address. Elena smiled as she took the paper from the woman. She was on her way to see Damon.

I'm coming, Damon. And I'm not letting you go ever again. Never again.


~END OF CHAPTER SEVEN~


A/N :

*There you go, my faithful readers! How did you like it? Hit the REVIEW button and let me know.

*Some of the characters I used are a reference to another show? Can you guess which ones?

*Pardon the medical jargon. I'm not an expert at doctor's lingo.

*Many thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it.