CHAPTER 16

Caroline awoke feeling much better than she did before she fell asleep. She finally felt relaxed. She knew she was going to be in for a battle to get Tyler to agree to the divorce, but with Stefan and their friends by her side, she'd make it through.

She sat up and looked around the room, not seeing Stefan anywhere, and figured he'd gone downstairs.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she made her way into the living room and saw her friends, but no Stefan.

"Hey Care, how are you feeling?" Elena asked as she and Bonnie got up to give the blonde a hug.
"Much better actually, thanks guys. I'm sorry you had to see all of that earlier." She told them looking a little embarrassed.
"Are you kidding? Seeing Stefan defend you like that was a total turn on!" Bonnie said with a wink, trying to make light of the bad situation.
Caroline and Elena laughed and Caroline hugged her again and whispered a 'thank you' into her ear.

"Speaking of, where is Stefan?" Caroline asked.
"He figured his princess would be starving after her long nap so he went out to get some pizza." Damon told her with a smirk.
Caroline rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help but smile when Damon came over and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm glad you're okay Blondie."
She gave him a sincere smile, "thank you, Damon."

"So, Stefan may have told us about the little predicament that you're in." Elena said, trying to be sensitive to the situation.
Caroline let out a long sigh.
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it." She said as she sat down.
"How did that whole thing happen anyways?" Bonnie asked, sitting next to her.

Caroline spent the next 30 minutes explaining to everyone the same things she'd told Stefan. By the end, everyone was shocked and angry. They all hated Tyler with a burning passion for yet another reason.

"Don't worry Care, we'll figure something out. We always do." Elena told her friend as she pulled her in for a hug.
"Thank you guys, I don't know what I would do without any of you. But honestly, for tonight, I just want to eat some pizza, hang out with the people that I love and not even think about this mess again until at least tomorrow." She said with a small laugh.

"Seriously though, where the hell is my brother with the damn food?" Damon said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang, putting a confused look on everyone's face. They definitely weren't expecting anyone.

Caroline felt a knot in her stomach. She suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Elena was the first one to get up. "I got it."

Everyone could faintly hear the sound of a man asking if a Damon Salvatore lived at the residence. And then they heard Elena's panicked voice call out, "DAMON!"

But instead of just Damon, they all ran to front door and were met with two police officers with very somber looks on their faces.

Damon stepped in front of everyone, "I'm Damon Salvatore, what is this about officers?"
"I'm very sorry Mr. Salvatore, but I'm afraid we have some bad news regarding your brother, Stefan."

As soon as Caroline heard those words, she felt as though her entire world had just collapsed around her. She dropped to her knees and didn't even notice Bonnie beside her, trying to calm her down.

Caroline could see the officer's mouths moving, but she couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. It was as if all of her senses had begun to fail her. She could just make out bits and pieces of what was being said.

"Accident…hospital…surgery….critical…may not make it."

She knew the police were wrong. This was no accident. They all knew exactly what happened.

She felt like she'd been on the floor forever when she felt Jeremy gently lift her up by her shoulders and Elena was standing in front of her crying.

"Care, we need to get to the hospital, now!"

But she couldn't respond. She couldn't even move. Her feet had suddenly become cemented into the ground. She's in complete shock.

She doesn't remember how she got there, but the next thing she knows, they're walking into the front doors of the hospital and she can hear Damon demanding the nurse at the front desk to tell him where his brother is.

The nurse tells him that Stefan is still in surgery and that she would let them know when she had any more information.

They all take seats in the waiting room and for the next two hours the only sound that's heard are the occasional cries from Elena and Bonnie and the footsteps of Damon as he paced back and forth.

Caroline sat, staring straight at the wall, not moving, not making a sound.

After what felt like an eternity, a doctor walked out and asked for the family of Stefan Salvatore.
Everyone jumped up to start asking the doctor questions except for her. She stayed seated and just tried to listen to what the doctor was telling everyone.

"Mr. Salvatore sustained some extremely serious injuries. He has internal bleeding, a fractured vertebra in his back, a few broken ribs, and a serious head injury. The surgery was successful and he should be stable for now, but we've placed him in a medically induced coma to allow the swelling in his brain to go down and time for it to heal. I'll keep you all updated on anything else that occurs or comes up."

"Can we see him now?" Elena asked through sobs.
"Yes, of course, but only two in the room at a time for now. He's in room 10."

Everyone started walking to Stefan's hospital room and stood outside of the door.

"Who's going to go first?" Bonnie asked.

Everyone looked at Caroline and she just shook her head no. She couldn't, not right now.

"Damon and I will go" Elena said as she grabbed Damon's hand and entered the room.

After being in the room for 20 minutes, Damon and Elena exited the room, still hand in hand. Elena's face was even more red and puffy and tear-stained than before and Damon's face was pale white.

She could tell they were trying to pretend it wasn't as bad as she knew it really was.

"Caroline, you can go in now." Damon told her.

But still, she didn't move. After seeing the looks on their faces, she definitely couldn't right now.

Damon gave her nod, like he understood what she was feeling, and placed a gently hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Bon, why don't you and Jer go in now and give her a little more time?" Damon told them.

Bonnie just nodded as Jeremy took her hand and they went in.

They came out a short time later, both wiping tears away as they did.

Caroline saw them come out and instantly felt panic. It was her turn.

It's not that she didn't want to, she knew she needed to see him, no matter what condition he was in, but she was terrified.

Damon walked over to her, kneeled in front her of and took one of her hands.

"I know you're scared Caroline, but you need to see him. He needs to hear your voice. He needs to know you're there."

She slowly stood up and made her way to the door but froze just as she put a hand on the knob.

Damon stood behind her. "I can go in with you, if you want." He offered.
She shook her head, "It's okay. I need to do this by myself." She told him as she closed her eyes and finally turned the door handle and walked into the room.

She closed the door behind her, but still hadn't turned around yet. She had to prepare herself for what she knew she was going to see.

She counted to three and slowly turned around.
She let out a cry as soon as she opened her eyes.

There he was, the love of her life, laying in a hospital bed, a machine breathing for him, cords and wires everywhere. He had a large wrap on his head as well as covering basically his entire torso and stitches over one of his eyes, many covering his ribcage and across his stomach. He looked so fragile and broken and she hated that. Her Stefan was strong. Her Stefan was brave. Her Stefan would survive this. He had to, she couldn't live without him.

She walked over and sat down in the chair at his bedside and immediately took his hand in her.

She rubbed her other hand up and down his arm, hoping that he could feel her touch and knew that it was her.

"Hi baby." She whispered as the tears she'd been holding back finally began to fall.
"I just wanted to let you know that I was here and that I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be right here every single day. But I need you to get better. I need you to open those gorgeous green eyes that I find myself lost in on a daily basis. I need you to feel your lips on mine and taking my breath away the way that only you do. I need to hear your amazing laugh and see your amazing smile. I need to hear you teasing me about my obsessiveness about absolutely everything." She let out a small laugh at her last sentence.
"I need you to come back to me Stefan, because I can't live without you. There is no me, without you. Just come back to me, please. I promise that I'll wait for you."
She leaned over and gently brushed her lips against his as he tears began falling quicker.

Her breath caught in her throat when she swore she felt him squeeze her hand…right before the machines went off and she saw a flat line on his monitor.

"HELP!"

Hello again everyone! I'm hoping I can make up for my lack of updates the last 2 weeks with these 2 chapters in one day! Lol
I hope everyone enjoyed this one, it's a little shorter than the last couple of chapters but I think it was one of the hardest to write for me, personally, so I hope you guys liked it!
Already working on chapter 17, so let me know what you all thought of chapters 15 & 16. I hope everyone has a wonderful night and thank you again for reading and following along!