After becoming obsessed with countless awesomely written TVD fics, I decided to try my hand at one… Hopefully this will make the next few months go by a little faster. This is my first fic in a few years. I'm really excited to know what you all think. I want to thank caseycoop for graciously beta-ing my story.

Lastly… I do not claim to own anything.

Remnants

Chapter One

"It's okay to love them both... I did."

Elena stared at the now empty space where her manipulative, calculated, selfish ancestor/evil doppelganger had only moments ago occupied.

"It's okay to love them both... I did" the echo of the words spoke emanates through her mind.

Forcing reality back into her mind, Elena turned to Damon... Only creating more havoc throughout her already too consumed mind. Damon. Cure. Alive. Stefan. Gone. Klaus. Katherine... Like flashing signs, words rushed through her mind culminating to an explosion of relief to the simple fact that Damon was alive, cured; followed closely by an overwhelming sense of loss, guilt and panic.

Stefan. The memory of Stefan came to her, telling her that he was going to do anything to save his brother, racing through her mind. He had known on some level that that would be their final time together, even if only for a while; he had known, he had to have. Klaus would not have just handed over the cure with a smile and a "you're welcome". No. He knew.

"Elena..." a weak and desperate plea pulled Elena from her thoughts.

"Damon…" Elena replied as she ran to his side and climbed onto his bed. Her hands reached out and cupped his face as her eyes desperately searched his.

The vile of blood lay in-between Elena and Damon; Elena picked it up, pulled off the lid and brought it towards Damon's lips. "Drink," she coaxed.

"I'm okay..."Damon began to protest.

"Drink" Elena repeated, this time with more force.

Damon did as he was told.

Elena could visibly see the vampire's colour return to his face. She released a heavy breath that she felt like she had been holding throughout the whole ordeal. Their eyes once again met, locked into place; for the first time, Elena allowed her mind to wonder back over the very recent events that led to this very moment. Flashes of Damon's confession of love, her own confession of knowing... something she wasn't ready to elaborate on yet. Their ki… no Elena didn't even allow herself to finish forming the word in her mind, pushing the memory further back; she was definitely not ready to confront the meaning and her feelings about their shared kiss. Her memory instead raced further back to when she found Damon in the town square in the height of his delirium, when he thought she was Katherine. In those fearful moments Damon was reliving critical memories and Elena was experiencing them first hand; this train of thought led to Katherine. Then came the inevitable questions... Why did she save Damon? Did she really care? Had she really loved him? Did she still? Is this all just a sick game to her?

Time no longer had meaning... How long had this pair been caught up in this immense emotional stare? The remnants of the infection were still leaving Damon's system causing him to cough, breaking their connection.

"Are you okay?" Elena panicked.

Damon silently grabbed Elena's hands and held them close to his body to calm her and to prove that he was in fact okay. "I'm good..." He breathed.

Elena felt her emotions begin to rise to the surface, she tried with all she had to hold her tears at bay and nodded her head in understanding, but she was losing this fight.

Damon took in the sight of this headstrong creature falling apart in his arms and it broke him. Even while he was literally on his deathbed Elena was being strong, for him. But now, it was like she was crying for everyone; he held her closer. He didn't know what felt worse, the thought that only moments ago he was never going to see her again, or, seeing her now in so much pain; it was a tie he decided with a furrowed brow. He gently rubbed her back and brushed his fingers through Elena's hair; he then allowed for the first time the attempt of comprehension of what actually happened, more specifically what didn't happen. He didn't die; there was no more infection, he could feel the blood working through his veins. The fact though that he now had Klaus' blood in his system was enough to make his stomach turn, even though he was very much thankful to be alive.

His mind raced to Stefan...

"Stefan…" Damon whispered to himself, but it was enough to pull Elena from her state.

"Damon, we have to get him back..." Elena pleaded.

Damon put both his hands on either side of Elena's head and stared directly into her eyes. "I promise you Elena, I will do everything to get him back."

"We," Elena corrected.

"Elena..." Damon began to argue, but one look from her and he knew it was a lost cause.

"You need to rest, I'm going to call the others and tell them what's going on."

Damon knew he was in no shape to go anywhere just yet, but he also knew that Elena needed her rest more.

"I may be weak, but you are emotionally exhausted. You need your rest as much as I do."

"No... I'm okay, I'll just see if Bonnie can do a locator spell so we can at least know if they are still in the state."

The thought of Stefan not being in the country anymore was inconceivable. Before Damon could argue any further she already had her phone in her hand; but before calling Bonnie, she thought she'd let Stefan know Damon was okay by texting him. Hopefully Klaus hadn't made him get rid of his phone. And maybe he would reply to let them know he was okay… Without wasting time, Elena sent the text then dialed Bonnie's number.

Not even a full ring later, Bonnie was on the other line.

"Elena?"

"Bonnie, I know it's late… Sorry but..."

"What's wrong? Is it Damon? Is he..." Bonnie trailed off.

"No... He's okay, Stefan found the cure, Katherine brought it to us in time..."

"Wait, Katherine? Where's Stefan?" This had Bonnie in a panic.

"That's why I'm calling. Are you up for a locator spell? Stefan had to make a deal with Klaus to get the cure. According to Katherine, he is bound to Klaus for a decade..."

"10 YEARS?" Bonnie shouted into the phone. "I'll be right there. Are you at the Boarding House?"

"Yeah… I'm going to call Alaric, I think he's at my house and I want to see how Jeremy's doing."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Bonnie, you there? What happened?"

Elena knew her friend too well.

"Bonnie!"

"I'll tell you as soon as I get there."

"Tell me what? Tell me now!"

Bonnie sighed in defeat. She really wanted to be face to face when she told her best friend the news.

"Everything is okay now... But earlier we got a call from Alaric about Damon, so we went looking for him because we were scared about the state he was in and what he might have done to you in that state.."

"Bonnie!" Elena was beyond frustrated.

"Sorry. Anyway, Jeremy found him. He brought him to the Grill and Sheriff Forbes was looking for Damon and heard he was there..."

Bonnie took a breath before relieving the events that followed.

"Sheriff Forbes shot at Damon, but Damon being in the state he was in moved out of the way not realizing Jeremy was behind him..."

Bonnie heard Elena gasp, but she continued.

"Jeremy was shot.. In the chest... He died..."

Damon heard everything Bonnie was saying and watched Elena turn paler by the second. Before he had time to process the information, in a split second he was at Elena's side holding her up before she had the chance to fall to the ground. Elena's phone hit the ground and Damon could hear Bonnie calling out to Elena, so he picked it up.

"What happened?" Damon demanded.

"Alaric and I took him to the witches death house and I begged them to bring him back and they did... Damon, tell her I'll be right over, I'll bring Jeremy."

Damon dropped the phone and turned to Elena who was in a state of shock.

"He's okay... He's alive," he cooed. "Bonnie is bringing him right over, it's okay. Elena, please look at me."

TBC…