CHAPTER TWELVE

Caroline could hardly breathe as she rushed into the hospital in her pajamas, barefoot, and without a coat. When she'd got the call from Mystic Falls General, telling her that they tried to call Bonnie's first emergency contact, her father and hadn't gotten an answer so they were calling her; as Caroline was her second contact. She had known something was wrong.

Bonnie hadn't called her when she got home, or even an hour after she got home, not even 2 hour after she got home.

So, when the doctors told Caroline that Bonnie was in the intensive care unit of the hospital after an assumed fall down the stairs, she had sprinted out of the door and into her car.

"I..." Caroline haled as she crashed into the front desk.

"I'm looking for Bonnie Salvatore." she said quickly gripping her car keys and phone tightly.

The woman at the front desk seemed startled by Caroline's wide, panicking eyes and messy hair but she just typed into the computer slowly.

"She's in room 509B, in the ICU." the woman said and motioned towards the elevators.

Caroline rushed to the elevators, her feet smacking against the floor and pressed the up button repeatedly until ti finally opened and she got in, pressing the fifth floor button until it closed and started upwards.

"Why the hell is the ICU on the fifth floor!" she huffed and was ready to crash through the doors when the elevator finally stopped and the doors opened.

When she walked out a nurse instantly looked at her, casually, a little confused.

"Who are you looking for?" the nurse asked, and Caroline swallowed.

"Bonnie, 509B." she breathed and the nurse started walking forward, leading her.

"I'll find her nurse, or doctor to explain to you what's going on." the nurse told her and Caroline stepped into the room tossing her things down onto a chair, and stepping over to the bed.

Bonnie was lying there, in a hospital gown, covered with a white blanket, and an oxygen mask over her face.

Caroline inhaled, "Oh thank god." she whispered, watching Bonnie's green eyes flicker over to her face.

Bonnie didn't feel right, she could see things, and hear everything, nod, move her hands. But she couldn't get the words out, of that something was wrong. She felt dizzy, her vision was a little blurry. But the second she saw Caroline's blonde hair she moved her hand around slowly trying to find her hand.

Caroline took her bruise covered hand, holding it gently and furrowing her brows.

"Bonnie it's okay, I'm here." she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

Bonnie nodded, trying to comprehend what her best friend was saying, she knew it was good, but at the same time, she was confused.

A tall male doctor walked in with a clip board and another female doctor and male nurse following closely behind him.

"Are you Caroline Forbes?" he asked, and she nodded.

"I'm Dr. Harrison." he reached a hand out and she shook it with her free hand.

"What's wrong with my friends?" Caroline asked, her heart aching in her chest.

The doctor moved his clip board to his side.

"Bonnie was found near the bottom of the stairs at her home, she had appears to have taken quiet a fall." he started, "We're currently suspecting Anoxic brain injury. Which is caused by lack of oxygen to brain due to trauma."

Caroline inhaled and looked over at Bonnie who was squeezing her hand.

"We have her on oxygen as well as medication to reduce any possible pressure on the brain. She seems relativity responsive, so we don't believe there was any significant brain cell death." Harrison continued.

The female doctor with her name tag, 'Cottrell' moved her slip board in front of her.

"We are however waiting on MRI scans to come back." she explained and Caroline nodded.

The two doctors walked out and the nurse stepped over to Caroline.

"I'm Jared." he started.

Caroline nodded and used her free hand to run through her hair.

"Is there anyone else we should call on Bonnie's behalf?" Jared asked.

"Y-yes. Her husband, she just got married." she explained, "Damon Salvatore."

Caroline rushed over to grab her phone, and clicked on Damon's contact, and handing her ringing pone to Nurse Jared.

Jared blinked holding the phone to his ear.

Caroline hoped for Damon's sake he was already back from London, and not still there or on the plane.

Thankfully Damon answered.

"Is this Damon Salvatore?" Jared asked and Caroline motioned Jared to put the phone on speaker.

Bonnie's eyelids fluttered as she tried to gather what was going on around her

"Yes." Damon said slowly, Caroline could hear the sound of Fairfax airport in the back ground and exhaled.

"This is Jared, a nurse at Mystic Falls General, Bonnie Salvatore is currently admitted in the ICU with a suspected Anoxic brain injury due to head trauma from falling down the stairs." the nurse said and Damon inhaled sharply

"W-what?" Damon asked, his heart stopped in his chest.

"Her father didn't answer the phone, you being her husband are the only other person who can grant clearance, in the situation that she needs surgery and for some reason is unstable to give permission." Jared explained, "Do you grant clearance, with an understanding that something could go wrong during surgery?"

"Yes, I .. I grant clearance. I will be there as soon as possible." he replied, his voice shaky.

"Your wife is in room 509B, on the fifth floor ICU." Jared told Damon and the phone hung up.

Jared handed Caroline her phone back and the blond looked more than frightened.

"Please, call for me if something happens." he told her.

"Of course." she nodded and turned her attention back to Bonnie.

"D-Damon." Bonnie whispered, eyes scanning her best friends face and Caroline watched her brows furrow.

Caroline pulled the chair over so she could sit, and held Bonnie's hand with both of hers.

"He's coming, it's alright."

Ten minutes later, when Damon rushed into the ICU, he had came straight from the airport, leaving his luggage in the car.

Caroline stood up when Damon walked in, by passing the nurse that had questioned him.

"Thank God, you're here." she said and rushed over, throwing her arms around the man, not caring that she barely knew him.

Damon gave Caroline a hard squeeze, but his mind was on Bonnie, and he let go of her, walking over to her bed.

"Where's the doctor?" he asked, with a frustrated look on his face.

Rather, the nurse Jared walked in several seconds later.

"Good you're here." he said slowly and extended a clip board with papers on it to Damon.

Damon startled both Caroline and Jared by reaching out, and hitting the clip board away so hard that it flew out of the nurses hand and to the floor.

"My wife is injured. Can you have the common decency not to shove papers in my face the second I get here?" he said teeth gritted and Jared swallowed, picking up the clipboard and setting it gently on the end of Bonnie's bed before stepping out of the room.

Caroline stood along the end of the bed with her arms folded.

Damon sat down in the chair she had been and and grabbed Bonnie's hand.

Bonnie inhaled, opening her eyes, trying to focus on who was in front of her and she saw the black of Damon's hair, the blue of his eyes.

A small smile turned up at her lips and Damon swallowed.

"You're going to be okay." he whispered and his eyes scanned along her forehead that had several stitches, down to her bruised arms.

"They said she has an Anoxic injury?" Damon asked, his eyes looking into Bonnie's.

"Yes, I guess, I don't really understand." Caroline replied.

He held her hand with his other and Caroline watched as worry crossed over his face.

Doctor Harrison walked in after another minute and Damon looked over.

"Explain to me what youthink is wrong with my wife." Damon said, and Caroline paid special attention to the way Damon used the word 'think' as though the doctors didn't know what they were doing.

"An Anoxic injury, due to loss of oxygen to the brain. She should be fine, given no swelling starts." Harrison explained and Damon swallowed.

"How do you know no swelling has started?" he asked, "Have you even done an MRI?" He asked, standing up from Bonnie's bedside.

"We're waiting on it." the doctor replied.

Damon looked down at Bonnie, something wasn't right. If she had been in the hospital for an hour at the least, she should have been doing better. With the oxygen and the medication to prevent swelling.

"It could be a subderal hematoma, if you don't get the MRI's now, she could be permanently impaired!"he said quickly and the doctor seemed startled.

"I'll go check on it now." Dr. Harrison hurried out of the room.

Caroline was confused, "What's going on?" she asked.

Damon looked back down at Bonnie who felt like she was floating.

"Something's not right." he whispered, and she stepped over to him.

"She's confused, look at her. Her eyelids they're fluttering, she's eying us like she can't focus. If it was just a Anoxic injury, she should be able to speak, comprehend what's going on by now." Damon swallowed.

Bonnie inhaled, her fingers twitching a little as she tried to reach Damon's hand.

Damon grabbed her hand, and his blue eyes bore into her distant green ones.

"What's a subderal hematoma?" Caroline asked him.

He inhaled, using his free hand to wipe at his forehead.

"It's.." he swallowed, "an injury between the dura and the surface of the brain. There's acute, subacute and chronic. Bonnie could have a subderal hematoma and no one would notice at first, but over time blood slowly collects within the skull, and compresses the brain, increasing the intracranial pressure."

"An acute subderal requires immediate surgery, similar to epidural hematoma, or it could lead to coma and or permanent impatient." Damon finished, watching as Bonnie's eyes seemed to get more and more clouded.

Caroline looked at him slowly, "How do you know all this?" she asked, forehead crinkling.

Damon stood up straight and ran a hand through his hair.

"It's complicated." he replied.

Suddenly Bonnie's hand let go of Damon's and when he looked over she was seizing.

"Bonnie!" He inhaled and Caroline ran out into the hall to call for someone.

Damon watched as Bonnie seized trying to keep her from hitting her head against the metal barring of the bed.

Her heart monitor was everywhere, and his own heart was pounding.

Before Caroline could call for anyone, Dr. Cottrell came rushing in with two different nurses and she had the MRI scans in her hands.

"The MRI's show she's suffering from Epidural Hematoma, we need to stabilize her and get her into emergency surgery."

Damon was shoved away from Bonnie's bedside.

"Son of a bitch!" he inhaled.

Jared rushed in, "We need you to sign these." he shoved the papers back in Damon's face and he ripped them away from him, signing every possible line, whether or not he needed to.

"Just get her into surgery!" Damon shoved the clip board back at the nurse.

The doctors struggled to stabilize Bonnie but once they did, her bed was quickly rolled out of the room and Damon didn't even have time to look at her face one last time.

When Caroline was able to step back into the room, she had tears soaking her face and Damon was near tears himself, but he mostly had an angry look in his eyes.

"She's been here." he inhaled sharply, "Over an hour, bleeding internally, just laying there." his hands hook as he spoke, "Probably feeling herself dying, and they just stuck a oxygen mask on her, and gave her medication that's absolutely useless in her condition."

Caroline stepped over to touch Damon but he pulled away and pulled his phone from his pocket quickly.

Damon stepped over to the window of the room, leaning against the wall and tapping along his contacts.

He rung Rudy's number hoping to God the man would answer.

Finally after two more times, Rudy answered.

"What's going on?" he asked confused.

"Did you not get the hospitals voice mails?" Damon asked, clearly upset.

"I didn't, I've been in a show all night." Rudy replied.

"Bonnie's in the hospital, she apparently fell down the stairs." he told the man.

"What, is she okay?" her father asked.

Damon cleared his throat, "No, she isn't. They just took her in for emergency surgery. I really think you should be here."

"Yes, of course. I'll be there as soon as I can." Rudy promised.

"Where waiting in room 509B." he told him, and hung up the phone.

Caroline sat down in a chair, putting her face in her hands.

"I can't believe this is happening." she inhaled, her tears dripping through her fingers, onto the floor.

Damon practically stormed out of the room and over to the desk in the middle of the ICU.

The nurse on her cellphone, but he grabbed it and took it from her, setting it down away from her.

"Excuse me?" the nurse looked up at him.

"My wife, Bonnie Salvatore is in emergency surgery right now. After her surgery I want her transferred to Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota." Damon told the woman.

"Wait what?" she asked, just staring at him.

"I want, my wife to be transferred to the Mayo Clinic, after her surgery." her repeated with a little more intensity.

"I don't care if it takes a helicopter, I will pay for it." Damon told her and she nodded, before starting to type on the computer.

After it was set up for Bonnie to be transferred he walked back into the room and held up his phone again.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked, wiping at her face.

Damon pressed his contact, "Calling my attorney." he replied, before holding the phone to his face.


3 Weeks Later

Rochester MN

The heart monitor beeped in the background, at this point it was a sound that had blended in with everything else and Damon had become used to it.

He sighed, his eyes on the clock across the room.

2:01 AM.

Damon looked down from the clock and back at Bonnie who was lying on her back, her face peaceful, blank, even with the oxygen hose along the bottom of her nose.

He reached over and slowly brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, it was soft, curly, since the nurses had bathing her, washing her hair as best as they could without being able to take her from the bed.
Three weeks.

Bonnie had been in a coma for exactly three weeks.

Damon's facial hair was two weeks neglected, and he hadn't eaten or drank anything besides bourbon that day. He didn't want to sleep, or move. He was afraid something would go wrong with Bonnie when he wasn't there to help.

"Bonnie." he said slowly, hoping she could hear him, even just a little.

He scooted his chair closed and placed his hand along the top of her chest, feeling her heart beat.

"Please come back to me." Damon whispered, his eyes red, tired, but still a few stinging tears dripped from them.

Caressing her hand with his other hand, he inhaled slowly, feeling the nutritional IV that was stuck into her vein in order to keep her from losing too much weight while in the coma.

"I need you to wake up." his voice cracked, and he leaned his chin down, pressing it against the bar.

Damon looked to the side behind his shoulder a little after a second. Rudy was there, sitting in a chair, sleeping. He'd fallen asleep an hour before, after he was unable to convince Damon to take a nap.

Damon had known something wasn't right with Bonnie several weeks before and he had been right. Now, she was in a coma, and all they could do was wait for her to wake up; hope that her brain, nervous system wasn't damaged in an irreversible way.

The ICU unit of the Mayo Clinic was by far better than Mystic Falls General, but it was a never ending swirl of emergencies, even in the coma wing. People were dying, and getting worse every day. But, the hardest thing for Damon to watch, was people waking up from comas, people healing, people going home with their families. While Bonnie was stagnate in her condition.

"I went and got some air fresheners, that smell like hazelnut, because I know that's your favorite, and they wouldn't let me bring in candles." he conversed with her after looking away from her father.

"So, if you're wondering why the whole room smells like a Starbucks, that's why." Damon's lips turned up at the edges a little, but his eyes were sad.

He looked over at the pile of books he'd brought with him from Mystic Falls.

"You're probably getting tired of me reading to you huh?" he asked, looking back at her, "Too bad."

Bonnie's bruises were still there, they were a lighter purple, but they were far from healed. Her stitches on her forehead, and behind her head had been taken out already, and the scar was fading.

"You're still awake?" Enzo's voice came from the left and Damon looked over to see his best friend standing in the door way.

"Yeah." was all he said and Enzo stepped into the room.

"I have to warn you, your parents finally showed up. I saw them walking in the parking lot." Enzo said and Damon blinked.

He stood up from the chair, "If they think they're getting in here after three weeks of nothing, they're sourly mistaken." Damon replied and walked out of the door.

Enzo stepped furhter in the room as Damon walked out and stoof a few feet from the door, looking around.

He was dress in jeans, and a plain blue t-shirt, his black hair a messy, kind of greasy.

Inhaling, he was startled when Caroline was suddenly to the right of him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." she said slowly, holding several bags of chips in her hands.

Damon shook his head, "It's fine."

"You need to get some rest. You look like you're about to pass out." Caroline gave him a disapproving look.

He didn't response, so Caroline just walked back in the room, sitting down in a chair beside sleeping Rudy.

Damon turned around a little, rubbing a hand along his face and his slight beard.

His eyes flickered over to Enzo who was sitting in the chair he had been in, looking at Bonnie. Damon watched Enzo put a hand over Bonnie's and he was saying something, but he wasn't exactly a lip reader. His eyes were sad, just like everyone else, and Damon had to look away because it was too heart breaking to watch someone else do the very thing he'd been doing.

Damon pulled his flask out of his jeans pocket, hoping no one was looking and took a swig from it, before shoving it back.

"Damon." Giuseppe's voice came from behind him, and his hair stood up on the back of his neck.

He turned around and didn't waste a single second turning around and walking over to his mother and father.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon asked, speaking mostly to his father.

"We came here to see how Bonnie's doing." Giuseppe replied, but his face was expressionless.

"It's been three weeks, and you called once, this is the first time you've come to visit." he said clenching his jaw.

'But, we're here aren't we?" he replied and tried to move past Damon.

Damon placed a hand on his fathers shoulder, shoving him backwards, and Lily gasped.

"You are not going near her." Damon said through his teeth.

"Why not? She's our daughter in law." Giuseppe asked.

Damon took his hand off his father, "Because I don't trust you. Bonnie told me you threatened her, you know that."

"Your father apologized." Lily insisted.

"No, you apologized for him." he snapped at her, and she took a step back.

"I don't trust you, or believe a single thing you say. I don't believe she fell down those stairs" Damon said with an accusing tone.

Giuseppe stepped closer, "Are you accusing me of trying to hurt her?" he asked and Damon shoved his father back from him again, and his father quickly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't touch me!" Damon growled and ripped himself away from Giuseppe.

Enzo rushed out into the hallway, pulling Damon back from his father before he did something he'd regret.

"These two are not allowed in that room." Damon told the nurse who was standing near them, and she blinked, walking over to whisper to Nurse Cassie who was Bonnie's nurse.

Enzo pulled Damon several feet away from them.

"Have you been drinking?" he asked, but the answer was obvious by the smell of the man.

Enzo shook his head, disappointed, but it wasn't like he didn't understand.

"Come on, we're getting you some decaf, and then going to the hotel room. You need sleep." Enzo grabbed Damon's arm.

"Fine." Damon sighed and let his friend drag him out of the ICU.

Lily swallowed, looking over at Giuseppe once their son disappeared.

"Excuse me, but Damon doesn't want you in Bonnie's room, so I'm going to have to as you to leave unless you have someone else to visit." Nurse Cassie told them.

"We will." Lily said to her and waved her away.

"How could my own son think I pushed his wife down the stairs?" Giuseppe asked in a hushed my angry voice.

Lily looked at him, "I don't know, I'm sure he didn't mean it." she said, trying to assure him and put her hand on his wrist.

Giuseppe clenched his jaw, glaring across the unit at the closed door Damon had waked out of.

"You weren't even at the house, you were at meeting." she said queitly.

Giuseppe suddenly looked over at her, "Are you saying I would hurt her?" he asked, and grabbed her wrist.

Lily blinked, "N-no." she said quickly.

His hand squeezed her wrist painfully, and she looked up at him, her eyes wide, frightened.

"What are you saying?" Giuseppe asked, squeezing even harder until her hand was turning red.

"I-I, that you've never hurt her, or want too." Lily breathed, and he let go of her wrist in a quick tossing motion.

"That's what I thought."

Giuseppe turned, put a hand on her lower back, "Start walking, we're leaving." he shoved her forward.

Down in the cafeteria, Damon was sitting beside Enzo, drinking the last half of the coffee he'd gotten.

"You need to get a hold of yourself." Enzo said, and Damon just stared at the table.

"You can't fight in the middle of the coma wing." he said sipping at his own coffee.

Enzo sighed, "You can't just drink everything anyway."

Damon swallowed the coffee in his mouth and looked over at his friend.

"Don't tell me how to cope." he said in a rough tone.

"I'm not." Enzo insisted, watching as Damon shoved his empty cup away from him.

"She'll wake up." he said slowly grabbing the empty cup and standing.

Damon looked away, "I know she will."

After throwing the cups away, Enzo walked Damon outside through the parking lot in the dim lights to his car.

"Stefan still at the room?" Damon asked as they drove down the road.

"Yeah, he was a with you all week. He needed sleep, just like you do." he reminded him.

Damon looked out the window, not sure how to feel other than worried, and kind of numb.

"I don't care about sleeping." he admitted and Enzo furrowed his brow.

"You need too. You know Bonnie would want you to take care of yourself."

He swallowed, "You don't know what she would want."

Enzo shook his head, "She cares about you, I care about you. So, yes I do know."

Damon looked at him, tiredly.

Damon, Enzo, and Stefan had been sharing a hotel room the last few weeks, Caroline had her own and Rudy as well.

"I'm letting you take me to the hotel, so please, just, stop talking." said, putting a hand on his face.

Damon had thankfully been able to sleep a solid eight hours, and as he dragged himself to the shower at 11am he had a headache, one that had been with him the past three weeks.

He grabbed his flask from his previous pair of jeans to find it had been emptied.

"Damnit, Enzo." he whispered, and searched one of his bags, finding a half full bottle of bourbon. Pulling the lid off, he took two solid swallows, closed it and tossed it on his bed.

"Being sober sure didn't last long." Damon said to himself, he noticed Stefan nor Enzo were in the room.

He had remained sober for the first three days Bonnie was in the coma. On the fourth day, he had his first drink, on the fifth, he had two, and by the time day 12 rolled around, he was averaging half a bottle a day. It was the only way Damon could cope, or it was the only way he knew how to. Without it, he felt like he was going to fall apart.

Grabbed new clothing and shuffled into the bathroom. The shower was quick, hot and he scrubbed through his hair, over his body quickly with an all in one soap.

After getting out, he dried off, didn't bother combing his hair and got dressed.

"Damon, you there?" Stefan's voice said, and he opened the bathroom door, stepping out.

"Yeah." he replied, and looked at his brother who was standing near the opened room door.

"I'm about to go to the hospital, you want to ride with me?" he asked, seeing that his brother had already started drinking that morning, when he saw the bottle on the bed.

"Sure." Damon said slowly, and as he finished fastening his belt buckle, he stared at the
bottle on the bed before grabbing it and getting one more drink out of it before tossing it back down.

Stefan jingled his keys and lead Damon out of the door and to his car.

"Why are you torturing yourself?" Stefan asked his brother as they drove down the road.

Damon sighed and looked over at him, "What?" he asked.

"Drinking, it's not going to solve anything. You just smell like a fifty year old alcoholic..." he told him,

"Well, I'm not fifty, and I'm not an alcoholic." Damon insisted.

Stefan nodded, "Alright..." he didn't want to upset his brother any further. The last thing he needed was to piss Damon off and the next thing Damon was pouring bourbon down every possible tube to his stomach.

A bit later, Stefan walked beside Damon into the ICU and when they got into Bonnie's room, Caroline was there just looking at Bonnie, and Rudy was awake as well.

"Hey, you finally got some sleep." Rudy said as he noticed Damon showered, and not looking quite so disheveled.

"Fortunately" Damon replied and Rudy nodded slowly.

"There's been no change." Caroline told them, which wasn't a surprise.

Damon stepped over and sat beside Caroline, holding Bonnie's other hand and sighed.

"They came in to check her vitals a few hours ago but everything was the same." she told him.

"As expected." he shook his head.

Rudy frowned, "I know she'll be alright, she'd strong."

Stefan smiled a little at Bonnie's father. "Yeah, she'll pull through."

The doctor that had been caring and checking on Bonnie the last few weeks walked in slowly.

"I just wanted to see how everything is going with you guys." Dr. Fell said, looking around at them.

"We're coping. Trying to make sure everyone take's care of themselves." Caroline assured her.

The doctor nodded, "Remember, you can always talk to a counselor, or nurse if you need to. If you ever feel suicidal, or unwell, don't hesitate to ask for help." she said softly, placing her hands in front of her.

Enzo looked at her from across the room where he had been for a few hours, and they all nodded.

"Can you tell us anything more on her state?" Rudy asked, standing up from the chair.

Dr. Fell inhaled, "Well, there isn't much. She's no longer suffering any swelling, bleeding or pressure. As you know we have determined her coma, is Bonnie's bodies coping response to the trauma. It goes into a 'protective-mode', for sake of a better word, as this is the best way to keep the swelling and pressure from starting again. Sometimes, the body will prolong a coma even when the swelling,and pressure is not relevant, because it is in shock." she explained.

"You could compare it to, the way someone who breaks their leg, might be so afraid of walking again, that they are unable to. Bonnie's brain thinks it's protecting her." she continued and Damon swallowed hard.

"But, trying to wake her isn't possible?" Stefan asked, curious.

"No it isn't." Dr. Fell frowned.

"However, we believe when she wakes up, she should have no significant impairment. She may have temporary confusion, minor memory loss, and she may need a little help with walking, doing every day things for the first few days to a few weeks after coming out of the coma." she assured them.

Enzo pursed his lips, "You do believe she will wake up, though?"

She nodded, "Yes. There's nothing to make us think that she won't."

Everyone nodded.

Dr. Fell turned and left the room and Damon raked his fingers through his hair, clearly distressed.

Rudy stepped over to him.

"Why don't we go get something to eat downstairs?" he asked Damon, who blinked and looked back at him.

"Alright, I need to call the attorney and check on the case anyway." Damon responded, and gave Bonnie one last look before walking out of the room with Rudy.

They walked along the hallway, Damon shoved his hands in his pockets.

"It'll be alright, you know." Rudy said looking over at him.

Damon nodded, "Everyone keeps telling me that."

"Because it's true." he insisted and patted Damon's back.

"How do you.. even.. remain so composed?" Damon asked, looking at the man who looked tired, but hadn't lost any amount of glimmer in his eyes.

"I pray. I ask God every single morning, and every single night, to keep my baby girl safe." Rudy started, "And I remember that losing hope, isn't going to bring her back."

Damon licked at his lips, "Well, you're stronger than me." he sighed and looked at the floor as they walked.

Rudy shook his head, "No, we just all have ways of dealing with things."

He looked over at his father in law and nodded as they headed for an elevator.

Stefan took a seat next to Caroline in the room, looking over at the blond woman.

"How are you doing?" he asked, and she looked over at him, her hair pulled into a pony tail.

"The same. Missing my best friend." she whispered and rested her chin in her hand.

"Bonnie's great." Stefan said queitly, "I obviously don't know her like you, but she was always smiling, or sticking up for herself."

Caroline smiled a little, "She is, not was."

Enzo looked at them from the across the room, "She lit up every room, that's for sure." he added to the conversation.

Caroline looked over at him, and nodded.

"Bonnie still lights up every room, that hasn't changed." she said slowly eyed her face.

"There is no was, or did. Because she's still here. As long as she's still here, she's still Bonnie." Caroline reached over, touching Bonnie's hand.

"She's still bright, she's still my best friend." her eyes got a little wet.

Stefan swallowed, "You're right. No more, 'she was' only 'she is." he agreed.

Enzo's lips turned up at the edges, "She is." he repeated.

Caroline looked over at Stefan and chuckled, tears slowly dripping from her eyes.

"Hey, come here." Stefan furrowed his brow, Caroline waved it off, but he pulled her chair closed to him and wrapped arm behind her shoulders.

Caroline tilted her head, resting it against his shoulder.

"Why isn't your boyfriend.. ah, Matt here?" Enzo asked, curiously eying Stefan and Caroline.

Caroline sighed, "I don't want to talk about him."

Enzo shrugged and leaned his head back against the wall behind him and closed his eyes.

"She is okay." she whispered, just looking at Bonnie, and Stefan rubbed her shoulder slowly.

"I'm sure she is." a voice came from the left of them and Caroline turned her head.

Standing in the doorway was a tall, brown haired, man that she hadn't seen in over a year.

Caroline stood up from her seat.

"Kai?"


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