Awake- Chapter Six

As the lightest rays of the piercing sun made their way to the edge of Mystic Fall a gang of misfit made their way downstairs of the Gilbert residence. This house seemed very normal on the outside, but on the inside, it had witness things which the normal person could hardly believe. Hybrids, vampires, ghosts, seem to walk these halls and not all of them have always been friendly. Only hours earlier, the house had been threatened by flying pieces of a neighbor's fence and the possibility of a homemade bomb when a hybrid vampire by the name of Klaus wanted one of the inhabitants by the name of Elena Gilbert. In a normal person's life, this type of event would never be forgotten. It would stick out like the sun on a cloudless day. But today was not like any day. This was no ordinary house and Elena Gilbert was no ordinary girl. The events of the day had by far surpassed a normal day of treats by Klaus. This night which was now coming at an end was one that would change her faith forever. She was now in transition. Whether she would choose to complete that transition, this was still unsure, but she knew there was one person who she needed to talk to. The one person who knew wanted what was best for her, always. As the rest of the gang went down the stairs he stayed behind and closes the door behind them as he joined Elena on the bed.

"I just don't… You know I never wanted… I… don't want to but…" said a clearly still confused and deeply hurt Elena.

"It is ok. I know you never wanted this but now things have changed, it's not a thought to ponder. It is a choice of some kind of life or none at all. I am so sorry you are in this situation. This is the last thing I wanted. I feel responsible. If I hadn't brought you to the hospital, then you would not have had any vampire blood in your system and..."

"No Jeremy! You are the last person to blame for this. You always do what is right. You have been the most incredible brother, the only family I have left and you cannot know how much pain I am to put you in this situation." said Elena with a sense of desperation. "You have been the most supportive brother and I won't consider any option until I hear from you. I know how you feel about, about well you know. I know what you said last night but you have been through so much and the last thing I want you is to have to deal with a sister who would be … one of them."

"What? No Elena, how can you even think like that? You are my sister. It doesn't matter to me if you are a vampire. It not what I wanted for you, that isn't a secret but things have changed. All that matters now is if you are ok with being a vampire. I will adjust. I just don't want you to worry about me or feel guilty."

"You have to know, the last thing I want is to leave you. You have lost so much. We have lost so much. What kind of sister would I be if I just left you here? Mom, Dad, Aunt Jenna and now Alaric, how can I put you through something like that again?" said Elena who say now completely unable to control her tears.

Jeremy knew what he had to say. He had to say it, but he didn't want to. He knew he couldn't even look at his sister as he said the words. He slowly got up from the bed and peaked outside the window as he took a deep breath.

"Because… because Elena people die. People like Mom and Dad, they die. It is the burden of the living to go on while others leave us. It is the balance the world needs. People need to die. But if I have learned anything in the past few years is that the lines between life and death are not as clear as I once thought. I see people who have past. I can talk to them and see them as if there are right here with me. I have been dead a few times myself. Hell, Klaus who we thought was impossible to kill is gone. No the lines between life and death are not as clear as they once were, or at least as we perceived them to be. Elena, if you decide not to go through the transition, you are not doing it to me. You will die, but you are not dying to me. You will die because that is what people do, it is what humans do. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to lose you. You have been the best sister one could ask, well most of the time." said Jeremy cracking a faint smile in the corner of his mouth as he turned to Elena once again.

"But I could never ask you to become a vampire for me. You can't do it for me because your humanity is yours to keep for your last few moments or to let go and continue being here. Normally you wouldn't have to make a choice at all, it would just be life or death but now you do and I wouldn't want to be in your shoes but you have to know all I want is for you to do what was best for you. Can I just ask you one thing?" said Jeremy as tears started to roll down his cheek. "You know I have talked to a lot of people who are gone but there are two people… hum… two people I have never seen. If you do, can you please tell them how much I love them?"

"Mom and Dad" said Elena who eyes were as red as her little brother's.

"Yup" said Jeremy with a huge ball that didn't seem to want to leave his throat.

"When did you get so smart?" said Elena as Jeremy sat back on the bed with her.

"So Elena, I am afraid to ask but do you know what you are going to do?"

"I don't… I don't know… I am really scared."

Jeremy had never seen his sister in such a state. He had seen her go through incredible lost and heartbreak but she never had seen her so scared.

"The worst part is that I am not scared of dying. I am afraid of living. I don't know what will happen if I turn. What if I turn into a ripper and hurt people? What if I hurt people that I love? What is hurt you and I just can't stop?"

"But what if you don't? Elena you won't be able to know what will happen to you unless you choose to see it."

"But I have seen it. I am the doppelgänger, what if I turn and I just become exactly like Katherine? I don't want to be like Katherine. She just hurt people. She does it for fun."

"But you are nothing like Katherine; you have never been like Katherine."

"Really? I have never been like Katherine. I would love for you to ask Damon tonight if I am not like Katherine. I broke his heart. I care about him so much and I broke his heart in pieces. May be it is better that I end here before I just hurt him and Stefan anymore."

"Elena you are not being fair. You are nothing like Katherine. Just like you said, Katherine hurt people for fun. I don't know what exactly happened between you and Damon tonight but clearly this wasn't fun for you. It seems that it is torturing you. If you don't want to live because you don't want to be a vampire, that I can understand, but you cannot believe any of us would be better off without you. I am sure if I asked Damon right now he would say exactly the same. I can go get him if you need to hear it from him." Said Jeremy who was not visibly agitated.

"I am not sure he would agree!"

"Elena, I know this is hard for you but don't believe for a second there is anyone in this house who wants you gone. We will respect your choice but I don't want you gone. Stefan doesn't want you gone, hell Caroline couldn't even consider that option and Damon does not want you gone."

Elena suddenly found herself overwhelmed with tears and simply reached for her brother's harms. She just shook trying to catch her breath.

"I am… I am just scared."

"I know Elena but I am here, we are all here. Whatever you decide, you won't be alone."

"Actually I think I need to be, I need a moment. I am sorry Jeremy but…"

"No, no I understand. I will be downstairs if you need anything, alright." said Jeremy as he opened the bedroom door. "And Elena… I love you."

Jeremy slowly closed the door behind him. He only took a few steps only he was overwhelmed by sadness. He grabbed the railing so he knew if his feet failed him he wouldn't fall to the ground. He couldn't let Elena know how distraught he was. Everything was so hard and confusing for her right now and she had to make this decision for herself. But as he looked back at the door, he felt all these memories rushing through his head. The day Elena had found him and a couple of his friends reading her diary and she had screamed him out the room swearing she would never speak to him again. The day Elena and Caroline had come to him from behind and tied him up to a chair so they could test drive their new make-up on him. He remembered once during a thunderstorm he had sneaked in his sister's room with the excuse that he wanted to make sure she wasn't scared and she had asked him to stay in the room with him. It was years because he figured out she hadn't been scared at all but seeing him clearly upset, she pretended to be so he could play the protective brother. At that moment, Jeremy wanted nothing else but to storm back into his sister's room and beg her not to leave him. But he decided to go downstairs before his emotions got the better of him.

As he walked back downstairs he found himself in the middle of a silent group of worried faces.

"And?" said a worried Caroline "What did she say? Did she decide what she wanted to do?"

"I don't know." said Jeremy and a monotonic voice.

"What do you mean you don't know?" said a visibly upset Caroline

"He means he doesn't know Barbie? Said an annoyed and hurt Damon

"Hey I know you are upset Damon, we all are but there is no need to take it out on Caroline!" said Tyler in a remarkably aggressive and threatening tone.

"You don't need to bark out puppy."

"What did you call me?" said Tyler in escalading tone.

"Calm down Tyler, I know Damon is an ass, but we are all on edge right now, but we know Elena won't want to leave us and we don't need to fight. We need to figure out how to help her with her transition." said Stefan as he put himself between the two.

"Oh, you don't get into this Stefan; we wouldn't even be in this situation if you had just gotten her out of the water in time. If she dies, this is your fault!" Screamed Damon who was not visibly raddled.

"What did you want me to do? She told me to get Matt. I thought she would be fine. She looked fine." Screamed back Stefan

"Is she fine? Does she look fine now!" responded Damon who was now more hurt than angry.

" Guys! Guys!"

"What!" shouted Stefan and Damon simultaneously.

"Elena." Pointed out Caroline. Elena was standing in the door way.

"I have something to say" said a tired Elena.