A/N: Today's prompt comes from XxtogetherforneverxX.

Damon was thumbing through Gone with the Wind, reading his favorite parts and skipping Scarlett's more irritating moments when his phone vibrated next to him on the couch. He glanced at the screen and was surprised to see it was the Gilberts' home number.

"Did you lose your charger again, babe?" Damon grinned.

"Damon, it's Jenna."

Her voice was slightly hysterical, and Damon stood up, letting the book slide out of his lap.

"Jenna? What's wrong?"

"I need you to drive me to the hospital. Rick is in Richmond visiting his parents."

Damon figured it was the baby. A couple weeks early, but apparently that wasn't too weird—not that he would know from personal experience. He was halfway to the door when he realized she hadn't mentioned Jeremy, who was supposed to be home, studying for his Calculus exam.

"Jenna. Where's Jeremy?" He struggled into his jacket, trapping the phone between his shoulder and his ear, and grabbed his keys off the hook.

Jenna made a strange, gasping, hiccupping sort of noise and something like panic settled in Damon's stomach.

"There was an accident," she whimpered. If he weren't a vampire, he probably wouldn't have been able to hear her. "He was just going to pick up some ice cream."

"I'll be there in five minutes." Damon said. He didn't mean to hang up on her, but he shoved her phone in his jacket pocket without even thinking as he ran out to the car. For once, he was actually grateful for Stefan. His brother could be a pain in the ass, but he knew his way around an engine, which meant the Camaro remained in excellent condition, despite how little Damon actually drove it.

He all but floored it the entire way from the boardinghouse to the Gilberts'. He turned into the driveway to find Jenna pacing on the porch. She waddled down the stairs towards him, and he leaned across the passenger seat to open the door for her. She lowered herself into the car slowly, and Damon sort of regretted not getting out to help her.

She looked over at him, her face tearstained and her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

Damon shifted into reverse and backed out of the driveway without saying anything. He felt like there was a weight pressing down on his chest, getting heavier the closer they got to the hospital.

"What happened?" He asked, unable to keep it in any longer.

"I don't know." Jenna whispered. "He was taking a break from studying and we were going to watch an episode of True Blood and we were out of Chunky Monkey. He was only supposed to be gone ten minutes." Jenna twisted her hands in her lap and Damon couldn't help reaching over and grabbing one of them, squeezing tightly. She squeezed back, sending him a grateful look.

The ER waiting room was empty when they arrived, and they both walked straight up to the receptionist's desk.

"I got a phone call," Jenna said, her voice wavering. "My nephew. Jeremy Gilbert."

The receptionist typed something into her computer, her acrylic nails clacking on the keyboard. "Why don't you both have a seat?" She suggested, "He's in surgery right now."

"Surgery? Can't you tell us what happened?" Damon demanded.

"I'm afraid that's all I know."

Jenna sighed and pulled him back over to the uncomfortable chairs. They sat silently, minutes or hours crawling by.

"You should get some rest," Damon said. His voice was hoarse and his throat felt scratchy, so maybe it had been hours. "This can't be good for you or the baby."

Jenna glared at him. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. I just think you should sleep. I'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Damon, I'm the size of a whale. I'm never going to get comfortable in this chair anyway."

Damon sighed and draped his arm across her shoulders. "Just try, okay, Jenna? The last thing we need is for something to happen to you too."

She shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable, before finally giving in and leaning her body against him, using his shoulder as a pillow.

Despite telling her he'd stay awake, he manage to snatch ten minutes of sleep here and there, only to jerk awake abruptly, hoping to find it was all a bad dream.

All he was doing was sitting, with Jenna drooling on his shoulder and the receptionist regarding him suspiciously, but he could feel things starting to spin out of control. It felt like there was an elephant on his chest and a fist holding tight to his heart. At some point during the night, he smelled blood and seconds later the EMTs came running into the hospital with a gurney, it's wheels squeaking on the linoleum floor.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out. Rick.

"Yeah?"

"What the hell is going on? Nobody's here and nobody's answering their phones." The vampire hunter barked into the phone.

"We're at the hospital." Damon said hollowly.

"Is it the baby? Jenna? Why didn't anyone call me?"

"It's Jeremy."

"Jesus. I'm on my way."

Damon hung up. He glanced down at the screen on his phone and saw that it was two in the morning, which meant they'd been sitting here for almost seven hours with no news. Damon was certain that in this situation no news must mean bad news.

"What's going on?" Jenna murmured, lifting her head of Damon's shoulder and stretching her arms over her head.

"Rick's on his way. He freaked when he got home and there was nobody there."

Jenna slapped a hand to her forehead, "I meant to call him."

"No sense worrying about it now."

"What time is it?"

"Little after two. Still no news."

Jenna buried her face in her hands.

As if on cue, an exhausted looking doctor came through the swinging doors into the waiting area.

"Are you Jeremy Gilbert's family?" He asked.

"Yes," Damon and Jenna said simultaneously.

The doctor sat in one of the seats opposite them.

"What happened? What's going on? Is he going to be okay?" Jenna asked quickly.

The doctor had one of those calming, soothing voices, but Damon refused to be lulled into a false sense of security. "Jeremy was involved in a car accident. The police were able to gather that a pickup truck ran a red light while he was driving through an intersection."

Damon inhaled sharply, the bleachy hospital smell burning his nose.

"Is he going to be okay?" Jenna repeated.

"He had a lot of internal damage and several broken bones. He's been in surgery to stop the internal bleeding. He's stable now, but..." The doctor hesitated and Damon froze.

"But what?" Damon demanded.

"He hasn't regained consciousness. We believe he suffered a serious head trauma during the accident. We've done an EEG to determine the level of brain activity."

"And?"

"There is still involuntary brain activity—he's breathing on his own, which is a good sign—but the level of higher brain activity is almost nonexistent."

"I don't understand. Is he going to wake up?" Jenna asked, her hand clutching Damon's tightly enough that it probably would have hurt if he were human.

"I'm afraid I don't know. He's young and healthy—

Damon resisted rolling his eyes at that. Anyone who spent almost seven hours in surgery with severe internal damage and head trauma could hardly be considered healthy.

"—so he might have a better chance than most, but…" The doctor hesitated again, his expression growing uncomfortable, "he might not."

Damon shuddered as his world tilted onto its side and slipped into chaos.