Neeeext chapter! :)

god, this one was hard to write... you'll see why soon ;)

enjoy!

Chapter 11

"Take the blood, Damon," Stefan says, his voice soothing yet commanding as he crouches over Damon's bed with a cup of Klaus's blood. Damon just shakes his head. His skin is raw and red, and it's coated with sweat, yet he's still shivering. Any vampire can hear his heartbeat fading and slowing down. We've wasted so much time on getting Klaus and attempting to persuade Damon, he doesn't have much time left before the bite kills him. And yet he still refuses, lying in bed and staring into space, occasionally mumbling something about a spell, Rose, or some other random things none of us understand.

"I can't take it until I see Rose… I have to see her first. To know that she's here," he mumbles feverishly. We all look at him sadly. I understand how much he wants to see her already, however there's one problem with that – "Damon, for the spell to work you need to go back and save her from Jules. Sadly, I don't think you'll be able to do that if you die from the bite," Stefan says quietly. Damon just continues staring into space and smiling goofily for no apparent reason.

Stefan looks up at me, face radiating sadness and desperation. He shrugs his shoulders in defeat, as if to say 'what else do I have left to do?' I gesture a stuffing motion with my hand – 'force feed him!' he shakes his head. 'I can't do that' he mouths. He tilts his head in thought, looking slowly from me to Damon.

"Come and give me a hand," he says, and reaches out to hand me the cup. I take it with a sigh and sit down on the edge of the bed. Damon still ignores me, continuing to stare into space and mutter under his ragged breath.

"Damon," I say gently, trying to catch his attention," you need to take the blood now. If you don't take it now you're gonna die, and then we won't be able to save Rose. Only you can save her. Besides," I say, my voice cracking, "I need you to take this. I need you to live – we all do," Damon finally looks up at me. His eyes, once such a piercing blue, are red and swollen, and they already hold death in them. And yet they are still able to look at me closely, scan every inch of my face, and then pass to Stefan's and from him to Bonnie. I know exactly what he sees when he looks into every face – desperation, terrible sadness, and fear of what might happen if he doesn't take the blood soon. Our faces must make him realize how little time he has left, because he nods slowly. We all breath a sigh of relief, but our happiness is short lived when a sudden spasm passes through Damon's body and causes him to gasp for air as he struggles against the sudden lack of oxygen.

"Give him the blood now, Elena!" Stefan yells over Damon's strangled screams. I try to bring the cup close to his face, but his arm suddenly spasms and the cup nearly flies out of my hand.

"I can't do it!" I yell back, desperately trying to find a way to give it to him, "he keeps on pushing it away!"

"Hurry up!" Stefan bellows as Damon starts turning blue and his grip on the edge of the bed starts to slacken. I stick my hand in the cup and dip my fingers into the foggy crimson liquid. When I pull them out they are covered in Klaus's blood.

"Here, Damon. Take this... please take it!" I scream as I stuff my hand into his mouth, but he doesn't suck the blood off. His lips get stained red as I desperately try to get him to take the blood, but he just lies there, shaking uncontrollably.

"Damon! You have to take this! You have to live…" I sob. I reach out to stroke his face, trying to get any sort of reaction out of him. As suddenly as they started the spasms stop, and an eerie silence spreads as we all look at Damon's pale, blood stained face.

"Damon," my voice sounds higher pitched than usual. I look at Stefan, my vision swimming again. His eyes are big and full of tears, and he looks at his brother in shock.

"Give him the blood, Elena," he says quietly.

"Stefan, I tried – but he wouldn't take it… I'm so sorry."

"Give it to him, trust me. He's not dead – he can't be dead," he whispers. I look at him sadly, "I'm sorry… but we're too late," I whisper back. He looks up at me, and I see a slightly crazy glint in his eyes. He shakes his head.

"No!" he yells, turning around and punching the wall, leaving a hole. "No, he can't be dead. He just can't - do something!" he yells at Bonnie, "bring him back!" Bonnie doesn't move, but only cries silently into her hands as we watch Stefan's breakdown.

"Stefan, he's dead. There's nothing we can do," I say through my sobs. He turns to look at me.

"Give him the blood."

"Stefan, it's too late –"

"Trust me." I do as he says. I bring my bloody hand to Damon's mouth, praying that he'll somehow wake up and drink it. For a second there is silence, and no one moves as we stare at Damon, waiting for something to happen. But nothing does. Stefan cradles his face in his hands, and his sob pierces the silence of the night.

"I'm sorry," I whisper again. Just as I'm about to move my hand another hand suddenly grabs and holds it firmly in place. I turn to look at it in shock, and I realize the hand was Damon's.

"Oh my god," I squeak, "hang on, he's not dead!" Stefan looks up at us.

"Come on," I say as I wait for Damon to take the blood, "come on…" his lips latch around my hand and his tongue licks off every drop of blood there was on my hand. My cries turn into a watery, hysterical laugh as I watch the marks the wound left start to fade.

"Yes! He's ok… he's ok!" I say, and start crying all over again. Stefan gets up from his perch on the floor and comes to look at Damon. Damon's eyes open slowly, and as he looks at our tear streaked faces he has the nerve to burst into a wild, crazy, overjoyed laugh. I join in, and so does bonnie, but Stefan remains silent, staring at his brother.

"Stefan!" I say shocked when he slaps Damon hard across the face, "what the hell was that?! Your brother nearly died and all you can do is slap him?" Stefan ignores me, and leans in close to his brother's face.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again. Because if you do, I will kill you," he says. For a second Damon just looks at him, but then he just starts laughing again. He punches Stefan's shoulder back, hard, and this time Stefan joins in to the laughter.

"What on earth just happened here?" Bonnie says, voicing my thoughts. I look at her exasperated face, a mirror to mine.

"I have no clue," I answer, "But it turned out ok in the end."

I can hear Bonnie's chanting from the living room even from outside, but I push it away from my mind as Stefan and I continue walking hand in hand in the cool summer breeze.

"Are you ok?" I ask gently, looking at him closely. I'm not surprised at how shaken he seems. Stefan might act like he hates his brother, and resent him for messing up his life in so many ways, and not know what to think about him most of the time – but in the end, Stefan loves Damon. And the thought of losing him tears him apart.

"I'm fine now," he says, giving my hand a gentle squeeze, "but the question is – are you ok? That probably made your emotions really mixed up and hard to bear, and I'm surprised you haven't had any breakdowns yet." I think about what he said. He's right – that should have triggered something in my jumble of unbalanced emotions, and it should have affected me somehow, but for some reason I feel fine. I'm controlling the emotions.

"I'm good," I say, reassuring him, "I somehow managed to get over that mess today and deal with the emotions."

"I'm really proud of you," he says, stopping to look at me. He leans down and places a gentle kiss on the tip of my nose, whispering, "I think you've finally learned control." I nod slowly, suddenly out of breath from how close he is. When did he get so close? Whatever, I don't care. All I want to do is kiss him right now.

"Stefan," I whisper, but whatever I wanted to say escapes my mind as he leans in and kisses me. His hands find my neck and they burn, searing hot, against my skin. I reach out and wrap my hands around him, wanting him as close as possible. I gasp when his hands travel down from my neck, stopping right in the center of my lower back and slowly and gently lifting me up into the air. I wrap my legs around his waist, never breaking the kiss. My hair covers his face, but he doesn't complain, and I don't care. All that matters right now is him.

"Listen," he suddenly breaks the kiss, and we both gasp for air. I groan quietly and try to pull his lips back down to mine, but he holds back, tilting his head towards the house.

"Listen," he says again, and I give up and try to hear whatever he hears. I focus on the house, and for a second it's just a jumble of noises, but then it all arranges itself and I can tell what's going on. I hear a silent sob – a woman's voice is whispering something.

"Damon… oh my god, I've missed you so much!" it says. I know that voice.

"Do you hear it?" Stefan asks quietly. I turn to him and nod, smiling. He smiles too.

"Come on," I say, tugging on his arm and pulling him towards the house, "let's go say hi to Rose. I haven't seen her in quite a while."

Yay! happy ending for this chapter!

i bet you were afraid Damon would die, right?

i hope you were, cause that was kinda the point! :p

let me know what you thought!