A/N: I will not be held responsible for any feels that occur while reading this update. I will allow you to blame me for the perfect man that is Stefan Salvatore though. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Stefan shined his flashlight along the trail as he and Katherine walked along at a leisurely pace. "Elena!" Stefan called out. Katherine held her flashlight up too. They came to the spot on the trail where Stefan had taken Elena down to the river. "I want to check down there" Stefan said, getting off of his horse and handing his reins to Katherine.

Katherine sat on her horse uneasily as she watched Stefan slip away into the darkness. Their horses danced in place, feeling just as uneasy as Katherine. Bats flew about overhead and wolves could be heard howling in the distance.

She could hear Stefan calling out Elena's name and knew he was getting further and further away. It made her nervous. Where the hell was Elena and why was Katherine out there helping Stefan? She didn't even like Elena.

Stefan followed the water, hoping Elena was waiting down there. Maybe P.J. had untied himself and taken off, leaving Elena stranded. It was the best possible outcome.

But the longer Stefan walked, the sooner he realized that Elena wasn't down there. He stopped and let out an exhausted sigh. She could be anywhere. Alone and hurt.

The thought was excruciating.

Stefan turned around and ran back to where he had left Katherine. She looked relieved to see him as he took his reins back and go back in his saddle. "There's no tellin' how far P.J. travelled after he got away from Elena" Stefan said.

"What if we went back to where I found P.J. and tried to retrace his steps?" Katherine suggested. "He'd probably take the easiest path."

Stefan looked at her, remembering how when they were little, he had followed her everywhere, trusting her judgment when he didn't trust his. "Lead the way" Stefan said. Katherine turned her horse back and began trotting off. Stefan wasn't far behind her.

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Elena woke up again, the pain even more intense than she last remembered. She had been in and out of consciousness for the last hour, finding it difficult to stay awake. But something always seemed to wake her. Pain or the feeling of not being able to get warm.

She wanted nothing more than to be back at the ranch with Stefan. If she could, she'd take it all back and settle for him taking her on a trail ride when he had time. She wouldn't have gotten mad at him or stormed off. She definitely wouldn't have taken P.J. out when Stefan had told her not to.

She always had been good at regrets.

Elena kept her eyes shut when she felt herself begin to cry again. She was confident that she was not going to die. Someone would find her. She was just scared about how long she would be out there before someone did find her.

Carefully and painfully, Elena rolled over on her side, thinking maybe she could at least crawl. Just the simple motion of turning was enough to make her cry out in pain and stop any further movement. She felt dizzy now too, and like she needed to get sick.

Aside from her back and left leg being sore, it really just was her head. She couldn't remember how she had landed when she hit the ground, but the pain she felt was a sure indicator that her head had taken a hit.

Elena lay back down and tried to find some way to relax. What made her relax? Stefan. Stefan's arms around her, holding her close. Kissing her and just being with her.

He was incredibly forgiving and Elena hoped that this time would be no different. Stefan was fair and kind and probably the most generous human being she had ever met. But he was only 18 and she realized that it did hurt him to have to watch her leave. She would feel the same way if things were the other way around and she had to watch him leave.

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Stefan circled his horse back around to face Ric and Katherine. "We've covered this whole area twice. We need to try somewhere else" he said frantically.

"Anywhere else we search would mean P.J. travelled a long ways from where I found him" Katherine stated, stopping her horse.

"So maybe he did!" Stefan snapped. He was exhausted and worried and it just made him irritable.

"Stefan" Ric warned. He gave him a stern look, telling him to lose the attitude. They were all tired and worried. Stefan dropped his head and looked down at where his hands were holding his reins. "You and Katherine head north, I'll head East. If we don't find her, we'll head back and call for help" he told him. Stefan sighed, but managed to nod. "Meet back here in half an hour" he instructed before riding off.

Katherine walked silently next to Stefan, the only sound was the footsteps from the horses that seemed to be in sync. "I should've just takin' her ridin' like she wanted" Stefan said, feeling the guilt weighing down on his shoulders immensely.

Katherine fought the urge to roll her eyes. She was over the mission to rescue Elena. Especially if it was going to revolve around Stefan feeling guilty. "Elena did this to herself" Katherine pointed out. "If you ain't got no horse sense, you got no business bein' 'round them" she added.

Stefan chose to ignore her comments, knowing that Katherine wasn't Elena's biggest fan. "Come on. We're losin' time" Stefan told her, kicking Red forward. Katherine blew out a frustrated breath as she took off after Stefan. "Elena!" Stefan yelled, pointing his flashlight across the grass as he searched for her.

Elena's eyes slowly opened, having heard someone. She listened, but all she could hear were the wolves who were howling relentlessly now. She closed her eyes again and sucked in a sharp breath, trying to ease the pain in her head. It didn't help.

"Elena!" she heard someone yell, though it sounded as if that person were far off in the distance. It was probably her head playing tricks on her, but it almost sounded like Stefan.

"Stefan" Elena whispered. The sound of his name brought tears to her eyes. Then she heard her name again, and it sounded closer. "Stefan" she said, this time a little louder. "Stefan!" she yelled, then winced as the pain coursed through her body.

She rolled onto her stomach, groaning the whole time. But she wanted to be able to see if anyone was coming. Her vision was blurry, but she could see something moving past up ahead. Another figure came into view, moving just as fast. "Elena!" someone yelled, this time, a female's voice.

"Elena!" came the second voice, and that one definitely sounded like Stefan. There was no mistaking it.

"Stefan!" Elena yelled again, ignoring the pain that just the simple effort of yelling his name brought. "Stefan!" she yelled again.

She wasn't loud enough though. Their calls got fainter and fainter as they continued moving.

Minutes passed, and she was alone once again.eHe

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Rebekah pulled up to the ranch just in time to see Damon trying to get on his horse. She jumped out of her truck quickly. "Damon Salvatore, step away from that horse right this instant" she ordered.

Damon smiled, kind of liking the bossiness she was displaying for him. "I called you thinkin' you and I could go together lookin' for Elena" he told her, trying to get his boot in the stirrup once again. Rebekah was behind him quickly, yanking him back. "Owe!" Damon yelled, grabbing for his injured leg. "You wanna get rough, we can take it up to my room" he said, giving her a suggestive smile that earned him a hard slap in the shoulder. "Damnit woman that hurts!" he cried out.

"This ain't no time to be funny. Elena could be hurt" she told him, taking the reins from him and leading the horse back to the barn.

"Come on Bekah, I can ride" he whined. "I just need some help gettin' up is all" he said, walking behind her.

"We'll take my truck" she informed him, putting his horse back in his stall. Then she was walking past him again and heading for the house.

"What are ya doin' now?" Damon asked. All that walking was killing him.

"Findin' somethin' that belongs to Elena" she said, letting herself inside and heading up the stairs. She rifled through Elena's laundry basket, pulling out a shirt that had not been washed. "Come on" Rebekah said, passing by Damon when she was downstairs once again.

Damon opened her truck door to find her family's hunting dog in the front seat. He looked at Damon, but made no move to get up out of the passenger's seat. "Get in the back" Damon ordered, staring at the dog. The dog just stared at Damon, then yawned.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "You get in the back" she told Damon. "He earned his stop next to me" she added, getting in the driver's seat and buckling up.

"Son of a …" Damon trailed off, shutting the door. He opened the backdoor and climbed in, groaning and cussing the entire time.

Rebekah parked next to Ric's truck and trailer, then let her dog out. "Alright boy, come here" Rebekah said, holding out Elena's shirt for him to sniff. He wagged his tail and looked expectantly up at Rebekah. "Go on now. Go find her" Rebekah told him, letting him go. The dog tore off into the darkness.

"Shouldn't we follow?" Damon asked, coming to stand next to Rebekah.

"He'll bark" Rebekah told Damon. Then she leaned against her truck and looked out into the darkness, waiting.

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Elena winced when she felt something warm touch her face. She opened her eyes and her heart stopped when she was looking into the eyes of an animal. A dog. Her first thought was one of the wolves had found her. But this appeared to be a domestic dog, a hound based on his floppy ears. The dog whimpered, then let out a series of ear piercing barks that made Elena cry out, begging him to stop.

Stefan and Katherine both pulled up on their reins when they heard a dog barking. They turned their heads to listen. "Sounds like Bekah's hound" Katherine said. She knew that bark from countless nights of being woken up every time the damn thing decided to bark at a raccoon.

Stefan looked her way and she nodded. Both kicked their horses forward and ran towards the barking. Stefan was thankful that Red had the endurance he did since he had been running all night.

"Stop, please stop" Elena begged, covering her ears with her hands and curling into a ball. But the dog continued to bark. She didn't know how long it had lasted. At least five minutes, if not longer. Elena didn't know who the dog was, but she wished he would have gone away.

"Elena!" she heard someone yelling.

Her eyes opened suddenly. "Stefan" she said, lifting her head slightly. All she could see were horse hooves thundering across the ground until they were stopped right in front of her.

"Elena!" Stefan practically cried out, sliding down from his horse and collapsing next to her. His hands gathered her face so he could look at her. The next thing Elena knew, there was a bright light shining into her eyes and Katherine standing over the top of her. Elena tried to shield her eyes, not happy at all about the bright light.

"What hurts?" Stefan asked quickly, looking her over frantically.

Elena burst into tears. Happy to be found, but still in a lot of pain. "My head" she told him. Anything else that hurt was masked by the pain she felt in her head.

"Can you walk?" Stefan asked her. They were maybe a mile from the truck.

Elena shook her head, hating that she was crying in front of Katherine. "My head hurts so much" Elena told him. "I keep falling asleep" she added.

Stefan and Katherine both looked at each other. Concussion. That was the most likely answer. Stefan brushed his hand lightly over her forehead, pushing her hair out of her face. "Elena, did you hit your head when you were in the car accident?" he asked her. Because if she had, hitting her head that hard for a second time was a really bad situation.

Elena nodded slowly. "I had a concussion" she said, taking a sharp breath in when she felt a sharp pain hit her head.

Stefan felt himself start to panic. "We have to go" Stefan said, picking Elena up in his arms. Elena wrapped her own arms around his neck and held onto him. Katherine followed behind them with the horses.

"I'll ride ahead and see if I can't get the truck closer" she announced. Stefan watched as she and the horses galloped off into the darkness. The dog followed after her.

Stefan walked at a brisk pace, adjusting Elena in his arms every now and then. She wasn't heavy, but he was tired. "Please make the pain stop" Elena whispered. Her tears ran down his neck and soaked his t-shirt.

"Hold on Elena" he told her, picking up his pace as he followed the path Katherine had taken.

"I'm so sorry" Elena said, crying even harder than she had when he found her.

"Shhh … don't worry 'bout that right now" he told her, concentrating on where his feet were going. His only thought was to get her to the truck and then to the hospital.

And then to never let her out of his sight again.

When he caught sight of the truck lights, Stefan saw Ric running towards them. "She alright?" Ric asked.

Stefan was nearly out of breath, but still managed to shake his head no. "She hit her head" he huffed out. "And she's hit her head before" he added, passing Elena off to Ric.

"Take my truck. I'll take yours and the trailer with the horses back" Rebekah offered. Stefan looked down to see the dog at Rebekah's feet. Stefan gave him a quick pat on the head before running to the truck.

"Thank you" Ric told Rebekah. Stefan climbed in and then grabbed Elena from Ric.

"Everything's gonna be okay" Stefan told Elena, hugging her close.

"I'm so … tired … Stefan" Elena said, feeling her eyes close easily.

"Keep her awake Stefan" Ric instructed as he got in and started up the truck. He pulled out onto the road and then eventually made it to the highway.

They ended up taking her to the memorial hospital in Laramie because it was closer than the trauma center in Cheyanne. It had been a real struggle to keep Elena awake and they had to pull over twice so she could get sick outside of the truck.

When they got her through the emergency room door, there was a full waiting room of people, waiting to be seen. "Hang on" Ric said, leaving Stefan's side as he went up to the front desk. Stefan couldn't hear what Ric told the nurse, but she ended up looking back at Stefan holding Elena in his arms. Stefan shifted Elena slightly to keep his grip on her, then kissed her hair softly as a silent apology for moving her.

Before Stefan knew it, a gurney was being wheeled out and Stefan quickly walked towards it and placed Elena on it. His heart broke when she held onto his shirt with her hand. Elena's eyes were closed, and the look on her face told them just how much pain she was in.

"We'll take her back and run some scans. If you could fill these out for us, that would really help" a nurse said, handing Ric a clipboard. Stefan's worried face looked back and forth between the nurse and Ric. He didn't want to leave Elena by herself. "We'll bring you back when we're finished" the nurse assured Stefan. Ric nodded, giving Stefan the reassurance he needed to let Elena leave his sight.

Stefan let out a slow breath as he gripped her hand in his and then slowly pulled it away from his shirt. Then he bent down so he could whisper in her ear. "I gotta let them take you so they can take care of you" he whispered. "I'll be right here waitin', I promise" he told her, kissing her cheek gently. "I love you."

Elena's hand squeezed his. Tears slipped through her closed eyelids and Stefan gently brushed them away. "Stefan" she said weakly. "I … I … lo …" she began, only to find that she couldn't quite form her words as well as she had wanted to.

"Shhh" he told her. "Take your time" he said, kissing the hand he was holding. He held his breath, waiting for her to tell him what he thought she was going to tell him. That she loved him.

Elena took a small breath before trying again. "I … I lost … him" she said slowly. More tears appeared as she turned her head in towards him, wanting the comfort of being as close to Stefan as possible.

It wasn't what he thought she would tell him, but it broke his heart to think she was so scared that she had lost her horse. "He's back at the barn now. Katherine found him and brought him home" Stefan whispered quietly.

"We need to get her back there" the nurse said, pulling on the gurney.

Stefan held Elena's hand and walked beside her for as long as he could. When he had to tell her goodbye at the doors, he felt himself start to get choked up. He bent down once again and pressed his lips to her forehead softly. "You're gonna be alright. I'll see you soon" he told her.

Stefan let go of her hand and they began wheeling her through the doors. He watched Elena continue to cry and it took all the strength he had not to run through the doors after her. "I love you!" he called out after her, though his voice failed him and she wouldn't have been able to hear him clearly. Stefan threw an arm over his face to hide the fact that he was crying now too. "I love you Elena" he cried softly as he stood there at the doors.

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Stefan watched Ric pace back and forth in front of the payphone he was using to talk to Jenna. He looked scared as hell to be talking to Jenna, and Stefan wondered what Jenna's reaction was to Elena being in the emergency room. Angry?

The doctor had come out an hour before to let them know they had run the preliminary tests and determined Elena had suffered a concussion. No other injuries, such as fractures or internal bleeding were present. However, they wanted to run some more scans to determine the severity of the concussion to make sure there was no bleeding in her brain. And since Elena had already suffered a concussion a year before, they were using extreme caution in diagnosing the extent of her fall.

Ric hung his head low and Stefan had to look away. He knew Jenna had to be worried sick about Elena. Stefan was worried sick about Elena.

Not five minutes later, the same doctor came through the doors. Stefan jumped to his feet and could see Ric running towards them out of the corner of his eye. "As you know, I spoke with Elena's aunt earlier and she faxed over a release of information so that I could share Elena's information with you" he stated. Stefan wondered who had called Jenna first. "We've determined that Elena has no bleeding happening in her brain. There is slight external bruising and swelling on the back of her head which is to be expected. The intense pain she was experiencing was due to her reinjuring the same area, which …" the doctor said, checking over Elena's chart. "Appears to have been from a car accident a year ago" he stated.

"So she's gonna be okay?" Ric asked, asking what Stefan so desperately wanted to ask.

The doctor nodded. "I'd like to keep Elena overnight just to monitor her. I've given her a light sedative to help her sleep. If no complications arise, you can take her home tomorrow morning. She'll most likely experience headaches for the next few days, and we'll make sure to give her something to take for those."

Ric let out a breath he had been holding. "Thank you so much" he told the doctor. When the doctor left, Ric ran his hand through his hair. "If I never have to see another hospital again, it'll be too soon" he muttered.

Stefan agreed. "I'm gonna go see if I can sit with her" he said, leaving Ric standing by himself.

They told Stefan he could sit with her for a few minutes, but no one ever came back to kick him out, so he stayed.

Even though she was sleeping, she didn't look like she was peaceful. He wondered what she was thinking about, or if she was even thinking about anything. Was she thinking about him, and did she know he was sitting right beside her?

The clock on the wall read just after one in the morning. His eyelids grew heavy, but he wanted to stay awake, just in case she woke up and needed him.

So he leaned forward in his chair and rested his head on her bed, wanting to just close his eyes for a minute.

A/N: Did you see my evil act in this update? Let's discuss on Twitter.