A/N: Ok, this really should have been part of Chapter 12, but I was too eager to get something out to you guys, so here's the rest of this mess. I'm definitely glad this part is over. I'm ready to get back to our love birds.
Also, if you guys are interested, I've started a new story. It's called Moving On and it features (gasp) an AU/AH Elena and Klaus. I've got the first two chapters posted. I know this seems like a strange pairing, but I couldn't get it out of my head after reading After the Fire but Before the Flood by adlyb on AO3. If you haven't read that one, check it out. It's basically the only version of events in the TVD universe where I could possibly imagine Elena going for Klaus, but it's so good.
Chapter 13
Outside, Elena followed Caroline to the side of the house to a cellar entrance. Of course, Elena thought gleefully as she watched her friend yank the storm doors open easily enough. Without hesitation, Elena began running toward the opening only to be stopped by Caroline's outstretched hand.
"He won't have left this unguarded. Let me go first."
Elena nodded reluctantly, following behind her friend at a safe distance. It didn't take long to find out that Caroline had been right. Another behemoth of a hybrid lunged at them almost immediately, but by now Caroline was old hat at taking them down. "Insert arm, grab, twist, and yank," Caroline dictated as she performed each action, finishing it off by a swift kick to the torso. The hybrid flew through the air and landed, sprawling, with a thud.
Once the body was out of the way, Elena could clearly see a murky hallway, several barred doors on either side. She ran to the first, elated to see Damon waiting there. "Are you ok?" she breathed.
"A little bored," he smirked, reaching through the bars for her hands. "Forget about me. How are you?" At this, he took in the sight of her, still half dressed in jeans and a hospital gown.
"I'm fine." At his skeptical face, she nodded vehemently. "Really. I am. Stefan and Elijah burst in to take down Klaus, and I got away. But we better hurry just in case." At this last, Elena broke away from Damon to search the dead hybrid for keys, but Caroline was way ahead of her.
"Catch," the blond said, throwing a key ring in her direction.
When Elena turned back to the cell, Bonnie was at Damon's side. "It's done," she said simply. "The spell is complete. Klaus should be gray and pasty by now."
For the first time in days, a huge smile stretched across Elena's face. "Thank you, Bonnie." Her heart felt near to bursting at the love she felt for her friends at that moment, thinking of all they had done to rescue her. Again.
Elena returned to the task of unlocking the cell when Damon surprised her, stilling her hands through the bars. "Don't!"
"What?" Elena looked up, surprised. "Why?"
"I'm not sure the desiccation lifted the compulsion. I'm going to back up to the corner. You let Bonnie out of here, then lock that door back ASAP. Grab Matt and Rebekah. Leave me."
"Damon, that's ridiculous. I'm not going to leave you down here to rot." Elena continued to put the key in the door.
"Wait. I'm not suggesting you leave me down here forever. Just until you can have the doc upstairs get you some Plan B and some spermicide or something. Better safe than sorry, Elena. I'm not taking any chances. You shouldn't either," Damon did that eye thing he always does and Elena found that she couldn't refuse him.
"Ok. I'll wait here with you then. It's not like I can compel the doctor anyway." At this, she turned to Caroline.
"I'm on it. Give me the keys. I'll let Bonnie out, just in case Damon tries anything. Then I'll grab the others." Caroline pointed in the direction of the other doors that Elena assumed must house Matt and Rebekah. "Then I'll take care of the doctor. We'll get you what you need, Elena, and all this will be over."
Elena felt the gratitude swell again.
"OK, you," Caroline snapped at Damon. "Into the corner where you belong."
-o-o-o-o-
Caroline and the gang had been gone a while. Elena and Damon leaned against the bars of the medieval dungeon door, back to back. Not the most comfortable, but neither wanted to be too far away from each other.
"Did you realize, earlier, I was able to initiate a vision without us being in the same room?" Elena asked.
"Hmm."
"Why do you think that is?" Elena continued when she didn't get a response.
Damon shifted, turning ever so slightly to look at her. Elena scooched back so she could see his face. "Maybe our bond is getting stronger. Bonnie did mention the visions would change the longer the spell went on." He smiled, though half-heartedly. "Won't be long before we're in each other's heads all the time."
Elena mock gasped. "Heaven forbid," she chided and giggled. She found it hard to believe she could laugh at all, after everything.
Then Damon turned completely. "Elena, look at me."
She did, without hesitation, sensing that what he was about to say was important.
When he locked eyes with her, he said, "Elena, take the key. Open the door. Don't run."
She felt the compulsion immediately. Her body moved without her permission. "Damon, don't do this," she whimpered as she turned the key in the lock. "You don't want to do this. It isn't you. It's Klaus." Damnit! Why didn't I give the keys to Caroline before she left?
When Damon was out of the cell, he took her hand and led her back outside and around the house. Before she knew it, she was back in that awful converted hospital room. No doctor. No Klaus. But evidence of the struggle was all around.
Damon leaned her against the hospital bed. He caressed her face, and she noticed a tear in his eye. A memory tried to flutter up, but she couldn't catch it. "I'm sorry, Elena. I'm so, so sorry." At least he had the grace to apologize as he bent down and delicately removed her jeans and underwear. Rising, he compelled her once again. "Lie down. Don't move off the table."
She strained against the compulsion, but it did nothing. She knew exactly how Damon was feeling right now. Every fiber of her being wanted to rebel against what he was saying, but she just couldn't. She had to lie down.
He slid her town the table until her bottom was against the edge, and he placed her feet delicately in the stirrups. His palm slid up her bare thigh and he stroked her knee lovingly, a wistful gaze in his eye. He's saying goodbye Elena realized, watching him. He thinks that after he does this, I'll never be able to forgive him.
Abruptly, Damon released her leg and looked around. Hope flashed through Elena when she realized what he was looking for. All the equipment was there, somehow miraculously still resting on the flimsy instrument table, but there was nothing in it.
"I'll be right back," he said, grimacing, and left the room.
-o-o-o-o-
Damon took his time searching for Matt's sperm. He knew the longer he took, the longer Vampire Barbie had of returning and rescuing Elena. Still, he couldn't make himself not look. His legs moved on their own accord.
He found it far too quickly. It was being refrigerated. In the kitchen of all places. He grabbed a vial and stuffed it in his pocket. Compulsion or no, Damon wasn't about to go carrying Donovan's giz in his bare hands. Vomit.
Back in the room far too quickly, Damon watched heartbroken as Elena struggled to remove herself from the table. He hoped she could. He prayed that she was mentally stronger than he, but even if she was, he knew it wouldn't matter. He would just catch her again. Mental strength versus physical strength. In reality, there was nothing Elena could do.
As he approached her, she pleaded "Damon, you don't have to do this. Fight it. You can fight it."
"I wish I could, Elena. You have no idea how much I wish I could," he told her as he fought the waves of nausea that threatened.
He watched her slump back defeated as he picked up the syringe and removed the bottle of sperm from his pocked. He fiddled with the device a few minutes, but it was straight-forward. Turkey baster indeed, he thought.
"Just wait," he heard her whisper. "Wait a few more minutes for Caroline to get back."
Damon was already shaking his head, but as if summoned at the mention of her name, Caroline rounded the corner. How did I not hear her was his last thought before blackness engulfed him for the second time that day.
-o-o-o-o-
There was some awkwardness as Caroline and Elena waited for Damon to wake up. Elena was still stuck lying on the bed, compulsion intact, even if Damon's neck no longer was. They spent the time catching each other up on what had happened while they were apart the last couple of days.
Apparently, Caroline had gotten a call from Bonnie right after Damon and Elena had headed to Klaus's. She, along with Tyler, had had to restrain Stefan from barging over. That's when Elijah had shown up. At first, they'd planned for Damon to help initiate the desiccation spell, hence the note that Bonnie had magiced to their guest bedroom cell. But they realized they needed a plan B, so Stefan and Elijah were put on desiccation duty. Bonnie needed to be much closer to Klaus in order to perform the spell properly. She refused to take any chances. So she got herself caught snooping around his house by one of Klaus's hybrids. Elena knew everything else.
"Where is everybody else now?"
"Stefan took Matt and the doctor home and is taking care of the compulsion. They'll both wake up tomorrow thinking they've had the flu for the past few days. They won't remember anything else. Tyler and Jeremy are tailing Rebekah and Elijah for a bit. Just to make sure they really do leave town. We should hear from them soon," Caroline explained.
"And Bonnie?"
"I'm here," Bonnie said and she came around the corner and knelt beside Elena, taking her hand. I'm so glad you're ok."
Elena felt tears prick at her eyes. So many emotions flooded through her. Exhaustion along with continued apprehension at what was still to come mixing with relief that it was mostly over. But on top of everything, she felt a deep and abiding love for her friends. She was so grateful for these people in her life.
"So," Caroline said finally, breaking the mood, "have either of you ever used one of these thingys before?" She whipped out a pharmacy bag and pulled out a small box.
"What is it?" Bonnie asked.
"A diaphragm. To help keep Elena from getting knocked up. I know how they work, but I don't really know how to, umm, use it…" Caroline trailed off awkwardly.
Damon chose that moment to stir, catching all of their eyes. "Don't look at me," he quipped, "I'm sterile, remember?"
In the end, though, Damon removed the compulsion from Elena, and she was able to figure the device out alone, without an audience. Caroline had also brought her a Plan B bill from the pharmacy, and she had it and a glass of water on standby. Elena returned to the hospital bed when she was ready, but she didn't lie back down. When Damon came back in, apology written all over his face, she told him, "It's ok. It's not your fault," and she kissed his eye lids and ghosted his lips with her own before placing her hands over his on the syringe and helping him do that last thing he ever wanted to do.