Hello beautiful people! Firstly, I would like to sincerely apologize for how ridiculously long this update has taken. I recently went through a really bad breakup and I couldn't get my head straight for a while and it made it really hard to get any writing done. Now, I'm sure you all don't care about my love life, so let's get into this chapter and see where our beautiful Steroline is at!

"HELP!"
"Oh god, somebody please help him!"

Suddenly the room was filled with noise. Machines were blaring and six different doctors and nurses came bursting in the room.

"Ma'am, we need you to clear the room, now!"
"No! I won't leave him!" Caroline shouted back through her tears.

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her and begin to pull her out of the room.
Caroline was kicking and screaming while be dragged out of the room and the last thing she saw before the door closed was a doctor shocking Stefan's heart.

She was inconsolable. She couldn't breathe and she couldn't see anything through her tears.

"Shhh, Caroline, it's going to be okay." She heard Damon whispering over and over to her while he rubbed her back and tried to calm her down.

Caroline wanted to believe him, she wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay. She knew Damon wanted to believe it too, that was his little brother in there. But the only thing that Caroline could think was that Stefan was going to die, and this was all her fault.

Eventually the doctors were able to get Stefan's heart to restart but they had to rush him back into surgery right away.
That was three hours ago and they still hadn't gotten an update.

Caroline was curled up on one of the couched in the waiting room, her head resting in Elena's lap as Elena gently ran her hands through Caroline's hair. She knew Caroline's mom used to do this for her when she was sad or scared.

Elena could tell she was exhausted.
"Care, maybe you should head home and get some rest."
Caroline sat up and shook her head. "I won't leave until I know he's okay Elena, I can't."
Elena nodded her head and gave her friend a sad smile. Her heart was breaking for Caroline and Damon. She wished there was something, anything, she could do to take away any of their pain.

Another hour went by before the doctor finally came out to talk to them.

"Family of Stefan Salvatore."

They all stood up and made their way over to the doctor.

"Well, as you all know, Stefan's heart did stop, and it did take a while to get it re-started, but we were able to. He had a brain bleed, but we were able to correct that problem. We're very optimistic that he'll be just fine. However, there is always the small chance that he might have some cognitive disabilities after an injury as serious as this. We're going to monitor him very closely over the next few days to make sure nothing happens again."

"When will he wake up?" Damon asked what everyone was thinking.

"There is no exact time table on when that will happen. When he's ready to come back, he'll wake up. You can go see him as soon as he's out of recovery. Let me know if you all have any more questions."

They all let out a shaky breath. It was going to be a long road back, but Stefan was going to be okay.

"Okay, well, I think after today we could all use some rest." Elena said. "So, why don't we all head back to the house, get some food in us, maybe grab a shower and get some rest."
"I still don't want to leave." Caroline said. She was terrified to leave him.
"I know Care, but you need to sleep, just for a little while, please." Bonnie said.
Caroline reluctantly nodded her head and agreed. She knew they were right, she really did need to sleep.

Back at the house, Caroline stood in the shower and let the hot water run over her as silent tears fell. She was relieved that Stefan was going to be okay, but she was also still scared out of her mind. Scared because she knew this wasn't going to be the last thing that Tyler tried. He was ruthless and evil. He wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted from her. And thinking about him hurting anyone else that she loved made her stomach turn.

She got out of the shower and put on one of Stefan's shirts before she laid down in their bed. It smelled just like him and that gave her some comfort, feeling like she was wrapped up in him. Before she knew it, she was drifting off to sleep and dreaming of being back in his arms.

When Caroline awoke, she felt better, she really needed that nap. That was, until she realized that it was 7am and that she had actually slept all night. She jumped out of bed and in record time had brushed her hair and teeth, gotten dressed and rushed downstairs to see that all of her friends were already awake.

"Morning Blondie." Damon greeted her with a plate full of food.
"Why didn't you guys wake me up last night?" she asked as she sat down next to Bonnie.
"We all passed out Care. All of us needed a good night's rest." Bonnie told her.
She nodded her head at them. She must of needed it for her to sleep that long.
"Let's get some good food in us and then we'll head to the hospital, okay?" Elena said.

Everyone ate quickly, finished getting ready and then were out the door and back at the hospital before 8:30am.

They all took their turns spending some time with Stefan before Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy decided to let Damon and Caroline stay in the room with Stefan.

The two of them had been in the room for over an hour now, Damon reading a magazine while Caroline sat next to Stefan, holding his hand and rubbing her thumb over the back of it.

"Well I could definitely use some coffee. You want anything?" Damon asked as he got up and made his way to the door.
"No, I'm okay, thank you." She responded back, her eyes never leaving Stefan's face.
Damon nodded and made his way out of the room.

Caroline stood up and pressed a kiss to Stefan's forehead.
She sat back down, her hand never leaving his, and leaned her head back in her chair. Even after all the sleep she'd gotten, it had been full of dreams and she was still restless all night. She still felt exhausted.
She finally felt herself start nodding off.

"You're so beautiful."

She could feel herself blushing in her sleep. He always made her blush.

She slowly opened her eyes and was met with the piercing green eyes that made her heart skip a beat.
She sat up with lightning speed and instantly had her hand on his cheek.

"Oh my god, Stefan, you're awake!"
She kissed his forehead all the way to his lips as the tears flowed down her face. She'd never been so happy.

"Oh thank god!" she placed both hands on the sides of his face. "You had me so worried. I was so scared I had lost you! Don't ever leave me like that again, please." She begged as the tears still fell.
He cupped one cheek with his hand.
"Hey, look at me."
She slowly lifted her gaze to meet his.
"I promise you, I will always find my way back to you Caroline." He whispered to her before he pulled her to him to kiss her.

Caroline pulled out of the kiss, breathless.

"I need to get your doctor!"

He let out a small laugh as she ran from the room.

She opened the door and ran into the waiting room where all their friends were sitting.

"HE'S AKWAKE!"

And there is the new chapter! I know it's shorter than some of the others. The next one will be longer, I promise. I also promise that the next update will NOT take as long as this one did! To all of my readers, thank you all for sticking with me and with this story, it means so much!
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated. Thank you guys!