A/N: Lots of love for Damon last chapter. Lots of hate for Stefan. Think those feelings might be about to increase this chapter...
So I'm going on holiday for two weeks to California which is somewhere I've never visited and I'm VERY excited! I leave tomorrow so if anyone has any recommendations for must-see places, let me know. Wanted to get this posted before I left and I've already written the next chapter so I can post as soon as I come back.
I noticed earlier that I have 69 alerts for this story which is great, but some of you are silent. Let me know what you think guys! :) To all of you lovely people who did review, I love you.
Enjoy x
Chapter 9
"I can't believe you've never been to the zoo!"
"I've been to a zoo before, I just haven't been to one in New York." Elena replied rolling her eyes.
"But you've walked the High Line?"
"No."
"Isn't the rule of moving to New York to do all the tourist stuff in the first few weeks?"
"Well then I guess I broke the rule."
Damon had been quizzing her on the various attractions she'd never experienced after discovering that she'd never visited the Statue of Liberty. So far, he'd found out that she'd achieved her main goal of eating a slice of pizza whilst walking through Times Square but...yeah she'd bought it from a 7/11 and in his eyes, it didn't count as pizza. Elena refused to believe him.
She'd spent the night initially peacefully sleeping but then at some point, her subconscious had decided to replay all of the incidents with Stefan over and over on repeat until she woke up and was glad that tiredness replaced the pain. Elena couldn't be sure when Damon had left, but he hadn't been there when she'd woken sweating and breathing heavily and although she was glad he hadn't seen her like that, there was a pang of disappointment that she knew she had no right to feel.
He'd come back though early the next morning, dressed again in black and smelling like something from another world, with a decent cup of coffee and a sesame seed bagel and something in her chest had lifted as he'd smiled at her with a boyish half-grin.
Their light conversation was cut short however, by a commotion at the nurse's station, and Elena felt herself weaken at the sight of a very dishevelled Stefan demanding to see her. A silent moment passed between her and Damon in which he stood from the chair, giving her hand a brief squeeze. She was surprised when he didn't leave the room, but almost wished he had when Stefan caught a glimpse through the blinds and stormed towards them.
"Elena!" The brunette's eyes widened as Stefan didn't threaten Damon as she'd expected him to, but enveloped her in a hug she wasn't ready for, especially when her nose was assaulted by the smell of stale alcohol. "I've been so worried! I've only just found out that you didn't come home last night and when I rang here they told me you'd collapsed and...baby are you okay?"
He was smoothing down her hair roughly and all she wanted was for him to get his hands off her.
"I'm fine." She managed as he drew back and appraised her, swallowing as he eyed the red mark on her wrist. Before she could say or do anything else, Klaus rounded the doorway, the closest to running Elena had ever seen him move.
"Elena?" He questioned cautiously, eyeing Stefan and Damon in turn.
"It's fine Klaus."
"Of course it's fine!"" Stefan half-snapped. "I'm her boyfriend."
"We have a very strict policy on visitors." Klaus told him.
"Then you might want to question what the hell he's doing here." He nodded towards Damon who, Elena observed, had taken several steps towards the other side of her bed - nearer than he had been initially, looked mildly annoyed though he made no effort to speak directly to Stefan, or even, it seemed, speak at all.
"Right now, he's been approved." Klaus returned. "You haven't."
"Actually," Elena spoke to the three of them. "I'd like to talk to Stefan - alone."
Stefan pulled a face of triumphant arrogance and the other two men exited her room without question. As he rounded the doorway, Damon turned to look at her and offered a look that she couldn't decipher. She wasn't even sure she wanted to.
X
"I can't believe you've just left her in there with him!" Caroline cried, her blonde curls bouncing in fury.
"And how long have you been outside?" Klaus asked her, making no attempt to move more than three feet from Elena's room.
"The entire time. I wanted to make sure she was okay."
"Then I trust we all have the same goal, love." He replied with a drawl. "Security has been notified and there are people on standby if needed."
Caroline huffed in agreement and the three were helpless to do anything other than wait while Stefan and Elena talked in private.
"Stefan," Elena began, taking a deep breath and unconsciously gripping the bed sheet. "We need...I need...things between us haven't been working lately." She breathed out, relieved she'd finally managed to start as she meant to continue. "We both know that."
"I can change Elena." He replied desperately. "I know it's all my fault and I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you, I-"
"-It's not just that." She continued. "Things between us, even without...you know…" she couldn't bring herself to say the words, even now, "haven't been like they used to be for a long time."
"Just tell me what to do Elena. Tell me how to change or what to say to make you stay. I'll do it. I'll do anything." He grabbed at her hand, squeezing it in both of his making it hard for her to pull away.
"There's nothing you can do now. I just need some time to think about everything that's happened?"
"What is there to think about?" Stefan's voice was louder now, angrier. "I'm all you've got left. I moved to New York to be with you! To support you!" Elena's eyes flickered to the open blinds where she knew the others were waiting within earshot if she needed them. His own green eyes narrowed at her brief change of focus. "It's him isn't it?"
"Who?"
"That gunshot victim. You think I'm stupid Elena? I catch you in his room on the night your parents died and now I find him in here this morning."
"This has nothing to do with Damon." She lifted her chin higher in a thinly-veiled attempt to be brave as her eyes clouded with tears over the mention of her parents. "I just can't keep doing this."
"You think you can just leave me with rent and bills to pay and I'm just going to let you? You selfish b-"
"-You're done here." Klaus interrupted. "I have security ready to escort you away from the building should you choose them to be needed."
"Elena please!" Stefan pleaded this time, changing tactic as the woman in question fought a desperate urge to scream and cry and throw something against the wall. "I love you!"
"I…" she faltered because the sudden realisation that actually, she wasn't sure she did love him. She had done, not long ago, and she still loved what they had. But it was precisely that: had.
"You're leaving now." Klaus confirmed, and Elena stared at the wall ahead as walked away, cursing in desperation as he rubbed the back of his neck harshly. He hadn't rounded the corridor before she was consumed by grief. Grief for the end of her relationship, for her parents' deaths, for what she'd become, for the situation she was in.
"Elena," Caroline breathed softly, making her way over to her friend. The men retreated - Klaus back to work and Damon to the waiting room as the blonde clambered onto Elena's bed to wrap her in a hug.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered into the curtain of dark, brown hair as Elena shuddered and cried against her. "But you're safe now and there's always a spare room at my place."
"Thanks Care."
The blonde wiped at her friend's tears. "When you're discharged, we'll go and get your stuff together."
Elena didn't even want to think about going back to that apartment right now. She had a change of clothes and toothbrush in the bag she'd brought to work the previous day - surely that would do.
"We don't have to...I can wear….I have some stuff."
Caroline nodded, realising what she meant. "Okay." She pulled back, checking her watch with a grimace. "I should get back to 312. Stupid kid's fever won't go down."
Elena couldn't help but laugh a little through her tears at her's friend's extraordinarily poor bedside manner when it came to children. "I'll come see you as soon as I can."
Only around three minutes after Caroline left her room, Elena had another re-visitor: Damon.
"I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye." He told her, not sitting down as he rested a hand on her shoulder. "And I wanted to make sure you were okay….as much as you can be."
"Thanks," she smiled gratefully.
"You're going to stay at Caroline's?"
Elena nodded and Damon offered the smallest of smiles.
"Take care Elena." He said softly, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. She couldn't help the way her eyes closed as a soft sigh left her mouth. There was a lump in her throat and although Elena wasn't sure exactly what had caused it, she knew the man in front of her had something to do with it.
"You too."
She watched as he left her room and made his way down the corridor, and she wasn't sure what 'take care' meant, but she cried anyway.
X
"Elena, it's me." Caroline's voice filtered softly through her apartment door as Elena heard the key turn in the lock. "Oh my God that smells delicious."
Elena was surprised to see Klaus follow her friend into the apartment with a large holdall in each hand that she recognised from her apartment.
"We stopped by to get you some things." Caroline told her, noticing the way the brunette was eyeing the bags as Klaus set them down on the wood floor.
"You didn't have to."
"I know."
Elena smiled gratefully as she stirred the pasta sauce at the stove top. "Thank you."
"Klaus is going to stay for some food."
"I hear you're quite the chef."
She chuckled a little as Caroline grabbed the bottle of red wine from the counter before finding three glasses from a cupboard. "Not really, it's just that I can cook a bit, whereas Care really can't."
"Hey!" Caroline responded indignantly. "I made you ramen noodles the other night!"
"I'm not sure pouring boiling water on dried noodles constitutes making them, love." Klaus returned, much to the blonde's annoyance.
"This is my apartment, Klaus; I expected you to be respectful otherwise you can buy your dinner to go."
Elena smiled to herself as she listened to the pair bicker-flirt back and forth. She'd been at Caroline's for three days now and as much as she was incredibly appreciative of the time everyone was giving her, she was no longer sick and not having to go to work was giving her plenty of time to think about her parents and Stefan….and Damon….and actually, all she wanted to do was be back at the hospital.
Dinner was a little tense, not least because Caroline and Klaus kept sneaking glances at each other from behind their forks. Elena wanted to ask Caroline when and how she'd managed to pick up some of her stuff, but that was a conversation to take place out of their supervisor's earshot. She wanted to know about Stefan and what he'd said and how he was and whether it was Caroline or Klaus who had decided to make their evening's mission going to her apartment.
A knock sounded at the door, making her jump. Both Caroline and Klaus eyed her warily before the blonde made her way from the kitchen island to the apartment threshold. Elena dipped her head, grateful for the curtain of dark silken hair that covered her face as she did so. It was ridiculous that she was paranoid about a single knock on the door, especially as there had been no indication from Stefan that he knew where she was - though it wouldn't be hard for him to find out - but she was and her heart felt like a bass drum inside of her chest. It was this precise reason that Caroline always notified Elena of her presence from the other side of the door before she stuck her key in it. It was just another trait of her friend that Elena was extremely appreciative of.
"Damon!" The blonde exclaimed after peeping through the little hole and opening the door.
Elena's head snapped up as the man in question entered the apartment, looking a little bewildered at the sight of Klaus who - with a knowing grin - went back to his pasta.
"Pasta arrabiata," he mused with that smirk that had been ever-present when he'd been the patient. "I hope it's been than the hospital's."
"It is." Caroline answered quickly, gesturing to the empty bar stool beside Elena. "Elena's not that bad."
"Not that bad." His smirk was wider this time as he took a seat next to the chef. "Sounds delicious."
"Don't be an ass. Grab a fork if you want to see for yourself."
"Such an attentive host." Damon replied, finding no need to begin a cutlery search as Elena hopped off her stool, finding their guest a bowl and fork.
The awkwardness since Damon's arrival had only increased and Elena was finding it difficult to continue eating, especially when his lips closed around his fork and it reminded her of the soft kiss he'd pressed against her temple the last time she saw him.
"Isn't anybody going to ask why he's here?" Klaus questioned into the room, increasing the tension tenfold. Damon set down his fork and Caroline took a large swig of wine as Klaus continued, "Okay, I will. Mr Salvatore, what brings you to Dr Forbes' humble abode?"
The blonde scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"The New York Board of Tourism, if you must know." Damon answered. "I find it imperceivable that Elena has not fully experienced the best tourist spots that our fabulous city has to offer, and I thought someone should do something about it."
"And by someone, I assume you mean yourself." Klaus replied as Caroline was silently but giddily raising her eyebrows across the counter at Elena.
"If you have tomorrow off Elena, I insist that you experience at least a fraction of the attractions available with a City Pass." He waved two tickets in front of her and Elena found herself struggling with a response. She'd intended to force her best friend and supervisor into letting her return tomorrow.
"Actually, I-"
"-I guess the tourist board is in luck." Klaus drawled with one perfectly raised eyebrow. "Tomorrow is Elena's last day off. Would you believe, the patients aren't healing themselves? A shocking act of defiance."
Elena wasn't quite sure what to say, but offered Damon a small, nervous smile which he returned before finishing the final few mouthfuls of penne in his bowl.
"Better than the hospital's," he said as he put his fork down for the final time. "Significantly."
"Thank you," Elena replied with a blush, watching as Damon rose from his seat, nodding towards the group.
"Elena, I'll pick you up at eight tomorrow morning."
"Eight!?" Caroline spluttered. "That's like, super early for someone who's supposed to be enjoying their last day off."
"The earlier we leave, the more we see," he returned simply. "Get plenty of rest tonight."
Easier said than done, both Elena and Caroline knew. Her same nightmares that she'd experienced in the hospital were a constant source of anxiety each time Elena clambered into Caroline's spare bed, and every night since she'd stayed over, she was woken several times by Stefan's voice, sounds of crashing bottles and hands against skin and wheezing as air expelled involuntarily from her lungs.
"Make sure you tell her it's you before you knock," Caroline instructed quietly as she saw Damon to the door. "She tries to cover it up but it scares her when she doesn't know who's on the other side."
"Got it." Damon nodded. "She okay?"
Caroline shrugged. "I'm not sure."
Damon nodded once more before making his exit and a silent vow to never make her feel unsafe.
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