Ok here is the next chapter. I hope you like! If you do send me your love :)

Copyright: Not mine but L. J. Smith

Blissful Distortion

For the first time since Stefan had left Elena found a peace in the most unlikely of places. For months now she had been dreading the time of day when the sun would set, leaving her in a world where daylight would be drained out of her little town and leaving her alone with the night terrors she knew would come to her. Her courage had begun to waver and the mask that she had been wearing in front of her dear friends and remaining family was beginning to slip. But now there was a blissful feeling of nothingness.

After her encounter in the shower a black vacuum that had engulfed her had somehow distanced her from the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her. Everything that had happened to her seemed to have been picked up, moved to a spot in front of her in a hazy cloud of vapour. She found that she could concentrate and draw the floating cloud to her, observe the event that it contained and simply dismiss it to call forth another. She found that she had a type of omnipotence over the thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The most refreshing part of her current location was that she had been relieved of the burden of feeling anything she did not want to feel. There was no emotional pull to the darker emotions only a contented calm that saturated her whole body. Her calm wasn't at all affected by the things she saw and she began to weep with relief. Closing her eyes she decided to dismiss the hovering clouds which promptly faded to non-existence and revel in her zen like state.

Of course the calm that she was now experiencing was not something that she would be permitted to keep. But she'd be damned if she wasn't going to fight for it.

Jeremy was frantic as he stood there trying to think of what to do next. Instead he ran his hands through his hair and waited. Realising that that wasn't helping to ease the tension he felt he began to pace instead. Once the few seconds of pacing had passed he was back to square one. Luckily at this point he felt a shift in his awareness as the hairs on the back of his neck stood completely to attention. Turning so that he was facing the front door Jeremy swiftly took a step back as he noticed that Damon had arrived without taking the courtesy of knocking on the door. He had merely stormed through and stood inches away from Jeremy. His usual smirk has been stripped from his face and instead he seemed to scowl at his.

'Where is she?' he snarled at Jeremy.

Instead of answering Jeremy shifted his position slightly to the left so that he wasn't blocking his access to the stairs. Taking the hint Damon leaped up the stairs taking three steps at a time. Belatedly realising that Damon would never actually attack him, Jeremy shock himself out of it and headed up the stairs after him. When he finally caught up he found Damon leaning over Elena who had been lain out on her bed covered in the sheet sized towel. Gently he traced his index finger across her forehead sweeping a lock of hair that had fallen across her face he traced further down to search for a pulse at her neck. Damon stopped short of checking her for injuries with her brother present and so turning his head slightly he asked Jeremy what had happened. Jeremy heaved a sigh as he began to explain.

'Honestly man.' Stuttering slightly he seemed at a loss to where to start. 'I don't know. One minute I'm getting impatient to use our bathroom and head over to the door to let her know that she's been in there a while. The next thing I know I hear a noise followed by a thud and she didn't answer when I asked if she was ok.' Walking over to the bathroom to look for anything that might suggest what might have happened Damon noticed that the door had been forced in from the outside and was barely hanging on to the last hinge attached to the frame. Impressed he turned to Jeremy to show his approval. Jeremy couldn't help but blush slightly at the approval he saw on Damon's face.

'Huh…um … yeah I got a bit worried,' he shrugged, 'I don't remember doing it only that I was once on the other side of the closed door and the next I found Elena collapsed in the shower. She would have killed me if I had gone through her room.' The thought sobered them both and Jeremy continued to explain what had happened,

'She was just lying there so I quickly grabbed the biggest towel I could find, turned off the shower and picked her up as best I could. She was so still. Alaric was called away again, Caroline wasn't answering her phone and Bonnie is at the old house conversing with the ghosties. I didn't know what else to do'

Looking very much like the boy who had just lost his parents all over again Damon stepped closer to Jeremy and placed a reassuring hand of his shoulder and squeezed slightly.

'Great to know I'm your fail-safe kid' he tried lightening the mood.

Smiling sheepishly again Jeremy responded without hesitation, 'Actually you were the first one I called. I didn't realise what everyone else was doing until after I had called you.'

Still in shock when Jeremy left the room, Damon headed back to where Elena still slept. Her hair had begun to dry and he didn't feel comfortable letting her lie in a wet towel sheet. After making sure that the sheet wouldn't move he picked her up, sheet and all, pulled her bed covers away so that he could place her more comfortably in the dry warm bed. Once she was covered by the bed linen Damon put his hand under the covers, grasped the corner of the damp towel and steadily began to pull the damp sheet out so that her body was entirely covered and warm. Throughout this entire process Damon was grateful that Jeremy hadn't returned and Elena hadn't woken up. His reputation, what was left of it, would have been entirely shattered if anyone thought for a moment that he had an ounce of gallantry. But then he didn't particularly like the thought of ogling Elena whilst she was unconscious.

Oh wait. I've done that already, he smirked to himself.

Shrugging off his own amusement he realised that he needed to get to the bottom of what had happened. So far there had been no clue to hint at foul play, no trace had been left behind by someone who may have been in the house. Taking a deep breathe he realised that he would need to see the events for himself. Thankfully Elena had stopped wearing the necklace Stefan had given her and so once he had centred himself, he focused intently to entire Elena's mind. And found absolutely nothing there.

Panicking he pulled himself back out threw himself across the room, grabbed her wrist again searching for a pulse. He could see her steady rise and fall of her chest that told him she was breathing, if slightly shallower than a human at rest. She was alive yet there was no emotion or thoughts or even dreams to be found in her. Swearing emphatically at the situation that was current beyond him he progressed to full blown panic and resorted to grasping her shoulders and shaking her slightly.

'Elena, you wake up! Do you hear me? Your brother is worried sick he bulldozed the bathroom door to get to you. Are you going to let him wallow in his worry for you? Wake up!'

No response.

Ok guilt's not working how about pleading he thought

Taking a deep breathe he tried to calm down 'you really do need to wake up. I know that there is something going on that you don't want to discuss but cutting us out won't make it go away. I should know.' Leaning closer he again moved the stubborn strand of hair that had yet again fallen across her forehead. Looking at her, he couldn't help but stroke her cheek. Breaking all barriers he leaned over to place his cheek next to hers as he placed his lips close enough to whisper,

'Come back to us. Come back to me.'

For a moment there was silence as she again didn't respond to his call. Then he heard a grudging grumble of,

'Five more minutes'

Ok that's it for this chapter. Not sure what you guys think of its progression so far so review – they make my day .