Stefan stood at his brother's side staring at the heart monitor as it beeped steadily.
"I never saw this coming."
He looked down at him.
"I wish you had of told me everything. I would have been there for you. I would've helped you. I haven't changed so much that you would ever think that I would ignore you just because Caroline asked me too."
He looked back at the closed door behind him. "No, this is all because I was the one that dropped you into peredition. Just like I was the one who left you at the mercy of the Augustine's without ever bothering to look for you."
He looked up at the cold metal ceiling and sighed. "You told me that you never faulted me for that, but I hated myself anyway. I did some bad things to try and make up for it. So when I dropped you. Something that is clearly my fault no way around that. You decided to spare me. Then see me turn into the ripper or ruin our relationship."
He took his brothers hand. "But that wouldn't have happened. I have Caroline now and Emma and I have you. I still have you because you're not going to die on me. Because no matter who comes into my life I still need my younger brother."
"There here," Alaric said coming through the door. "The fire departments also here. There going to air lift him through the whole after they assess the safety."
Stefan released his brother's hands just as the paramedics came through the door.
"I'm sorry sir, but you're going to have to give us some room."
Stefan nodded and backed up a bit.
Alaric whispered into his ear. "He's going to be fine. He's a fighter vampire or human."
"Doctor just tell me when is he going to wake up?" Stefan asked standing outside of Damon's room in the burn unit.
"He's currently under sedation. We can wake him up at any time?" Jo said looking down at his chart.
"Fine, do it. Why haven't you done it already?" Enzo barked pacing impatiently behind the pair.
Jo sighed and looked at the obviously frazzled man behind her. "Because its more of a mercy thing than anything."
"What do you mean?" Stefan asked looking through the window of his room. Where he was hooked up to even more machines than he was before.
"He's going to be in a lot of pain. We're going to have to start him on morphine and a combination of other drugs to manage it."
"How do we fix it?" Enzo barked.
"Calm the hell down. We're in a hospital for crying out loud," Stefan said growing tired of the man's theatrics. He moved to stand between him and the doctor.
"Its only been a couple of days and we've been using every bit of that time to come up with the proper steps to help him through this."
"Then you have answers," Stefan pressed. "Listen I'm not trying to push."
"Which you very well should?" Enzo stated coming to a stop beside Stefan crossing his arms across his chest.
"He's been in this proverbial Coma since he got here. Bring him out of it we need to talk to him. Now."
"Yes love, we miss him," Enzo sneered. Giving off the tone that there was more than just concern behind it.
She smacked her lips. "I'll go get the nurse."
Enzo watched her leave. "It's been two days we've heard hide nor hair from Bonnie or Vanessa. As your mutt Tyler has confirmed their scent is gone. There not in the land of the living and the only one who knows even a little bit about that is wasting away in this hospital room."
"And it's all my fault." Stefan finished knowing already what he was going to say.
"Actually, its mines." Enzo said backing off and leaning against the wall.
"I'd ask you to repeat that, but I know you wont," Stefan smirked.
Enzo banged his hand against the banister finding it hard to get his words out. "I should have come to you when I saw that things were getting out of control. I let my ego get in the way of things and perhaps he would not be lying in there now if I sought help earlier."
"Yeah, maybe those children would still be alive."
"And here comes self-righteous Stefan," Enzo said wagging a finger at him. "How long did that take, all of 2 minutes mate?"
"The truth hurts," Stefan said stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Here's a dose of truth for you Stefan." Enzo said smirking and pushing himself off the wall. "You took a child from a hospital. You compelled a witch to do your bidding. What were your exact words . . . until you bring him back to life or until you pass away. Whichever comes first."
Stefan's jaw clenched as he looked at Enzo wearily.
"In my day pass away meant death." Enzo chuckled.
"What's your point?" Stefan gritted through his teeth.
"You're not angry at me for killing those children. You're mad that you weren't there to do it yourself."
Stefan slammed him against the wall. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't rip your heart out with my bare hands. I'm a father. I'd kill anyone who'd even think to lay a hand on Emma. I wouldn't wish that on anyone else."
"Because that's what good Stefan is supposed to say. But the Stefan I saw when Damon was missing would have slaughtered a whole block full of children all tidy in their beds if it meant there was even half a chance of rescuing his brother from his suffering. Because human lives are so fleeting."
Stefan released him and walked to the window. "I've learned a lot since raising Emma."
"Enough to change your nature, mate." Enzo said walking up behind him. "Look at him."
Stefan lifted his head and stared through the window. "You have known Emma all of a year and you have been dating Caroline for less than that. This man, your brother, your vampire brethren has spent decades with you. Centuries by your side."
"And a few centuries where he wasn't."
Enzo stared at the reflection of Stefan in the mirror unfazed. "If you can look at me now and say that some pretty faces have all but ensured that you wouldn't have helped your brother through his suffering. Well then, you don't deserve to be his brother."
"You keep throwing around the word suffering as if its supposed to mean something to me, but what you forget is that you were the only one to see this suffering." Stefan said angrily turning on Enzo.
"I was." Enzo said not taking his eyes off of Damon. "I thought it was fun in the beginning. It was like i had the old Damon back. Killing whoever we wanted with no concern for human life. I felt like myself for the first time in a long time. But that train got old fast."
"How so?"
"I started to stare at the second hand on my watch as it ticked down to 6 o'clock and nightfall fell. With trepidation over what I was going to have to do next to help him. Waiting for him to drop to his knees in agony clutching at his back as if something I couldn't see was beating him. And I was powerless to stop him. He wouldn't move from the floor no matter what i did or said. It was hard for him even to get to his feet at times. So i would go out hunting for his first victim. Force feeding him the blood threw a cup because he couldn't take it from the vein."
"He couldn't bite?" Stefan asked stunned.
"Not initially, no. Its like he just forgot how. The first victim usually restored his facilities. Helped him focus. He could actually track his prey without my help, but not very well."
Stefan frowned not sure of whether to believe him or not.
"A new spasm would come about every 5 minutes. So when you're trying to compel a woman to come to you. You can imagine how that might not help."
"He actually had to compel them something definitely must have been off. Damon prides himself on being able to turn on the charm with anyone," Stefan smiled slightly remembering his brother in better times. "Whats the significance behind there being six victims?"
"It was to stop the spasms. By the second victim it was every 10 minutes. The third every 20 minutes and so on until the pain was reduced to a dull backache because it truly never went away until sunrise."
"Gotcha." Stefan nodded. "Listen, despite how things turned out i'm happy that he had at least one person that he could count on through this. I'm not even sure I could stomach seeing the unflappable Damon Salvatore in such a state." He tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "I think i'm going to go find that doctor."
Enzo weighed the options in his mind as he watched Stefan's retreating form. "It was eight."
"What?" Stefan asked while turning around.
"By the time he was taken we were up to eight people a day. Sometimes his focus wouldn't return until we were on victim number 6. It just depended on the day." Enzo shrugged opting for the truth.
Stefan pushed him back slamming him into the wall in full Vampire mode as the veins under his eye changed. "None of that was worth you coming to me and telling me before."
"He started to forget them. Theirs names, their faces, where we had gone. He was going to quit cold turkey."
Stefan returned to his human form. "What happened?" He pushed him roughly. "What happened?"
"He, he . . . he lost consciousness. He was out for a whole day." Enzo stammered.
"The night Caroline had that bright idea for us to go on a double date and he stood Bonnie up."
"That very night, mate."
"And Elena couldn't reach you on the phone because you were with Damon."
"Trying every trick in the book to wake him. I promise you that." Enzo said sincerely.
"So after that you figured it was eight or nothing."
"I told him it was six and nothing changed at least in his mind anyway."
"What the hell is your problem? You wish you were Damon's brother and not me."
Enzo hissed.
"So not only do you isolate him from any friends and family that might help him, being Alaric, me, Bonnie even. But you take up with his ex-girlfriend, Elena. Maybe you don't want to be me. Maybe you want to be Damon."
Ezno pushed him hitting him across the face.
"Hey, what are you two doing?" Jo yelled out. "You two get it together or I'll have security escort you out."
"You keep anything involving Damon from me again and I'll kill you." Stefan whispered.
Enzo. "Tsk, tsk now Stefan. The real you is showing."
Authors Note: For the purposes of my story Jo is not a witch and has no clue about Vampires. Just kinda wanted to put a recognizable face to the doc.