This is just a brief chapter before the real fun begins. From the next chapter and on, the story will follow the TV Show. So next chapter, will follow the events of the Pilot but without the 'Stelena' parts obviously - that's why I'm writing the story after all. I hope you like this anyway. Please, read and review!
Interlude - Aftermaths of an Accident
May 2009
Stefan was hunting in the woods near Whickery Bridge when he heard the car accident. He run, wanting to help whoever was in trouble but when he arrived, the ambulance was already there. He observed the scene from behind some trees. The local police was there too. He watched while the bodies of a man and a woman were brought out of the water. He shook his head, sadly. Then he saw her. A girl, of about seventeen years of age, brunette. The only survivor of the accident. He squinted to see her better and almost cursed out loud. "Katherine!" He whispered. But it wasn't possible. Katherine was dead. She had died in that fire in 1864. How could she be here now? He decided to observe her, to make sure it was really her or someone that - strange as it seemed - only looked like her.
Elena startled awake, a gasp making its way out of her throat. "Hey" Someone close to her was saying "Elena, calm down". She recognized Jenna's voice and turned towards her. "What? What happened?" She asked in a whisper. "You don't remember?" Jenna asked her, a frown marring her face. In a second everything that had happened, the accident, the car filled with water, Damon saving her, everything came back to her. "Mom and Dad?'" She asked, even if she already knew the answer. Jenna shook her head at her and Elena burst out crying. They hugged, trying to find comfort in each other before Elena asked about Jeremy. "Where's Jeremy?".
"He's outside. Do you want me to call him?"
"Yes, thank you". Jenna left the room for a few minutes before returning with Jeremy in tow. Elena looked at her little brother and immediately noticed his red and puffy eyes. He had obviously been crying, his face looking haggard and somehow older. They hugged each other, Jeremy telling her how glad he was that she was okay.
Those words seemed to remind Jenna of something she meant to ask Elena because she said "How were you able to get out of the car anyway? The doctors said that it's a miracle that you survived". Jenna looked both puzzled and glad. Elena smiled at her before thinking once again about Damon, the mysterious stranger she had met on the side of the road before being saved by him. "Someone got me out of the car". She whispered, her mind still immersed in thoughts of Damon. "Who?" Jeremy asked curiously. Elena shook her head, trying to return back to the present and answer her relatives' questions. "I don't know. I mean...I don't know him very well. I met him tonight, we talked a little while my parents" She tried to force the word out but it was a struggle "were driving to come pick me up. Then I woke up near the river under Whickery Bridge, and there was him, hovering over me, making sure that I was okay. I think he was probably near and must have seen the accident and tried to help. He called an ambulance and then...he was gone". Jenna and Jeremy both looked confused at that but Elena couldn't give them a more through explanation than this.
After a few more words exchanged among the three of them, Jenna and Jeremy left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She thought about Damon for awhile, wishing she could see him again but she was so tired that it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
Damon had compelled one of the nurses to allow him to enter Elena's room and he was now standing at the feet of her bed watching her sleep. His main reason for being here was to compel her to forget that she had ever met him but now that he was there he couldn't bring himself to actually do it.
Elena - probably sensing his presence in the room - began to stir. Damon wasn't sure if it was better for him to leave or stay and talk to her.
"Damon?" Elena's voice brought him out of his thoughts. Damon smiled at her.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked her before almost cursing himself at the idiocy of the question. "Physically...I mean". He amended a second later.
"Fine, seeing that I almost drowned" Elena answered with a shrug. She propped herself up against the bed headboard, a pillow behind her back.
Damon sat on the chair next to the bed, not knowing what to say. He would have retorted with sarcasm usually, in a situation like this, but he was pretty sure Elena would not appreciate it. Her parents had just died after all. And that reminded him "I'm sorry" At Elena's questioning look he explained "For not having been able to save them".
Elena shook her head at him, a sad smile on her face. "It's not your fault. You have already done so much. You jumped in the water to save me, a complete stranger basically. Thank you, for saving me". She was saying those words because she knew it was expected of her, but Damon could see that she really didn't mean them.
"It's not your fault Elena. Don't you dare blame yourself!" Damon said in a forceful voice. Elena looked surprised at that. "How did you...?"
He didn't let her finish the question. "I saw that expression of guilt enough times on my brother's face to recognize it easily. The difference is that Stefan deserved to feel that guilt. You certainly don't. Your parents didn't die because of you Elena. It was an accident".
Elena was shaking her head in denial. "You don't understand. If it wasn't for me, they would have never crossed that bridge in the first place. It was because I called them to pick me up that they were driving there. If I hadn't gone to that stupid party, they would never have died".
"And maybe, they would have died some other way, some other day. You can't know that and beating yourself up for it is not going to serve anything. Your father told me to save you and I did. Don't waste his sacrifice by feeling sorry for yourself and wishing that you had died in your parents' place. Your parents wanted you to live. So live and be happy". At the end of Damon's speech Elena was silently crying and continuing to shake her head.
"I don't know how..." She whispered brokenly. Damon put an hand on her shoulder, feeling awkward because he had never been very good at comforting people but he wanted to try for this girl, even though he didn't know why.
"You will. In time. Maybe now it seems impossible but...you will find something to live for eventually...". Elena didn't seem convinced but didn't protest further.
"I'll leave you to sleep now. I just wanted to see you, make sure you were okay. And...to say goodbye!"
"Goodbye? You're leaving?" Elena asked a little panicked. Damon winced at the devastated expression on her face but nodded. "Yes. For a few months. I'll probably be back in September. I have a few things I have to take care of".
Elena lowered her head almost in defeat, her gaze pointed towards the blanket covering the bed. "Oh" She merely said in response.
"Hey" Damon said, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him. "I'll be back okay? We'll see each other again. And you'll have a little time for yourself, for mourning in peace and stay close to your family".
Elena nodded, her eyes wet with tears. "I'll miss you" She said in a whisper. Damon felt something tug at his heart but he ignored it, or at least tried to. When was the last time someone had said that they would miss his presence in their lives? He couldn't remember. "I'll miss you too" He said with a gentle smile that was completely foreign for him. He kissed her forehead gently and then left the room, forcing himself not to look at her one last time. He wasn't sure he would have found the strength to leave otherwise.
