Summer has set in with its usual severity.

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign unnerved Elena enough, but when she finally reached the hospital, with Damon trailing behind her in his car, she was completely nervous. Then, the anger overtook her when she opened the doors to the hospital waiting room.

"What the fuck happened?" she asked furiously, taking into account the many familiar faces seated around a small coffee table. Caroline, who had a large gash on her left temple that was only bleeding a little, stood immediately.

"Elena, w-we were driving and the car spun out of control… and, and…" Caroline stumbled over her words cautiously and it was clear that she had been crying because her eyes were red and puffy.

"So it was your fault? God, that's fucking low Caroline!" Elena growled, her hand cracking across the blonde girl's face, which no one was expecting. Not even Caroline who burst into another crying fit and it was Damon who intervened, pulling Elena back from the other girl against Elena's struggles. Only a faint, 'I'm sorry' could be heard over Elena's angry threats and the buzz of nurses and doctors around them. She thrashed in Damon's grasp until Jenna stood as well.

"Elena, calm your ass down." She said sternly, over tears that she was choking back. Damon managed to push Elena down roughly so that she was seated in one of the waiting room chairs. He was crouching in front of her, between her legs, his hands placed firmly on her knees.

"Baby, it's not her fault, it was an accident." He assured her, pulling her chin in his direction so that her gaze was focused on him and him only. "It wasn't Caroline." He whispered, noticing that only one single tear had fallen down Elena's cheek. Jenna moved to sit in the seat beside Elena, talking in a hushed manner, and Damon moved to stand beside his younger brother who had just appeared in the room. Or maybe he was always there and Damon just didn't notice him. He looked around at the other people in the room. Jenna, who sat with Elena was trying to calm her niece. Bonnie, sitting a few empty seats away from Caroline with a nose of dried blood looking down at her feet nervously. Then there was Caroline who was clutching her cheek with one hand and crying into the other. Last was Alaric, who was sitting beside Caroline, awkwardly patting her shoulder. He gave his brother a sideways glance.

"What happened, Stefan?" He asked calmly, but Stefan could sense the bitterness and anger in his brother's voice. This was hurting Elena so it was hurting him as well.

"I don't exactly know. I was at the founder's pageant and next thing I know I'm getting a call saying my date's been in a car accident. They were on their way to you, Damon. On their way to the lake house." Stefan informed his brother cautiously, knowing this last part would anger him.

"How's Jeremy?" Damon asked tensely.

"Not good. He's in surgery now. Sheriff Forbes in on the way though, whoever was in the SUV they crashed into was gone when the ambulance got there."

This surprised Damon. He looked back around the room again, noticing the uncomfortably jealous vibes Damon was getting from Caroline. She'd been watching them interact, him and Elena, and he figured that bothered her very much. They were on their way to the lake house; meaning Caroline was on her way to sabotage Elena's relationship with him. This was no good. He and Caroline would talk later.

Damon sat back down beside Elena, holding her hand and allowing her to lean on his shoulder tiredly. He was whispering things to her which no one could decipher except Elena, who was shaking her head against him mostly in disapproval. The only one slightly relieved to see Elena here was Jenna, and even she was being a tad bit distant, always cowering around Alaric.

When the doctor finally came out, he first approached Elena and Jenna.

"Um, there's been some internal bleeding." He started. "Jeremy was affected more than the other passengers due to the angle in which he hit the car. More impact causing more damage. There are some fried brain cells which will most likely not heal, but right now he's in a coma. He will come to, that's a positive, but when is unknown." He finished. Elena sighed, relieved that Jeremy was going to wake up; she leaned slightly against the body behind her, which she felt as soon as the doctor left.

"He's gonna wake up." Damon whispered in her ear, and she never thought something so simple could sound so rough, yet comforting at the same time. She breathed heavily, and by then, the information had passed along the row of people, and she let Jenna and Alaric go into Jeremy's hospital room first due to the two people limit in the busy hospital. Elena told everyone that she'd rather see him last, when everyone leaves, so she watched as Bonnie filed in by herself, and Stefan with Caroline who was apprehensive about the entire thing. After talking to Damon, Alaric left with Jenna, who only put an arm on Elena's shoulder and told her not to stay out too long. The Sherriff arrived while Stefan and Caroline where inside, so Elena mingled with the upset parent. As soon as the blonde girl did come out she ran into her mother's arms and said she'd get statements and everything later, after Caroline was home and safe. Bonnie looked almost as upset as Elena, and she knew that Bonnie and Jeremy were very close to each other, so when the dark skinned girl neared Elena, she wrapped her arms around her small figure.

"I'm so sorry, we shouldn't have gone with Caroline." Bonnie whispered, tears running down her cheek, but Elena shook her head.

"Go home." She whispered back to her. Bonnie left unwillingly, and then it was just Stefan, Damon and Elena. Stefan looked down at his ex-girlfriend warily.

She nodded before he could speak, and the brothers exchanged some silent understanding and Stefan left for home.

"I can wait out here if you want to go in alone." He offered, expecting Elena to take it, but she didn't. She held his hand and they walked down the long hallway to room 308. She pushed open the door and it creaked open. She wasn't expecting the feeling she got when she looked at her still brother, his breaths unnaturally slow. She breathed heavily, and Damon went to sit on the bedside chair, pulling her into his lap so she could sit with her brother. Damon was quiet the entire time. She could feel his even breathing on her shoulder and she thanked God he wasn't apologizing continuously like any average person would. He sometimes kissed her shoulder in a very sweet, not sexual way. Just a comforting kiss.

"Jeremy," Her voice cracked slightly and she laced one hand through her brother's and one hand through Damon's. She began talking in unsteady, uneasy tones which made Damon's heart break. He listened though, not to her words but to her voice. "I am so sorry I left you. They say people in a coma can still hear voices," She stopped to remove her hand from Jeremy's and brushed his hair back from his extremely pale face. She noticed all the scars now which made her stomach flip.

After she'd finished talking to him, she stood off of Damon's lap, and she kissed her brother's cheek. It was colder than usual. Damon kissed her hair, and she slowly receded from the room.

"Can I drop you off at home? I can come back and get your car but I don't want you driving." Damon said softly as they stepped out of the hospital. The sky showed signs of evening, telling them that they'd been there for an obscene amount of time.

"Can you come home with me?" She asked, and Damon pursed his lips, but nodded.

When they got home, Jenna was already asleep, making Damon and Elena tip toe quietly upstairs. Her bedroom was just the way she left it a month ago. She had told everyone she wouldn't be back until summer's end, but there was no way she could not come back for Jeremy. Elena kicked off her jeans and removed her bra through her shirt when they finally reached her room. Damon just removed his belt buckle and shirt and he climbed into bed beside her. Damon didn't want sex, and he knew neither did Elena.

She curled her back into him and he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair and relaxing against the touch. She found peace she wouldn't normally find after something like this happened and she couldn't help but kiss the side of Damon's wrist as if it was a thank you. He was her rock, and she was just realizing how helpful Damon really is when he cares about something enough.

As if the day wasn't bad enough, Mother Nature decided to throw in a thunder storm which woke Elena up immediately. She could hear the even breathing in Damon's sleep but as soon as she whimpered from the loud blasts of sound, he awoke. She stirred in his arms, and he placed his lips next to her ear.

"Don't listen to it." He whispered, noticing how the thunder frightened her. "Listen to me." He told her, kissing behind her ear, and she could tell he was sleepy and would have otherwise fallen back to sleep and not cared about the thunder. But she did, so he did as well. "Just fall back asleep and we can go visit Jeremy in the morning." She could tell his eyes were close, and her lids were heavy too. "Don't listen to it, listen to my heart beating."

She pressed her ear against his chest to hear the steady rhythm of his heart and noticed how comforting it actually was. It was slow, due to his tiredness, and somehow, she could feel her heartbeat slowing to match his.

"I love you." He whispered, before listening to her fall back asleep, and joining her.

The next morning was quieter than usual. Elena figured it was because Jeremy wasn't here to call every wrong move Jenna made. Damon had offered to leave out the window, but Jenna probably wouldn't mind him being here at a time like this. The two got dressed and took their time to walk downstairs into the kitchen. Damon began to fend for himself, because that's what he always does in her house anyway, grabbing two bowls of cereal. Jenna was already there, sitting at the kitchen table, picking slowly at the toast on her plate.

"I'm gonna go back to the hospital," Elena declared, finishing off her cereal "bring Jer some music." She looked to Damon, who was fiddling with his spoon. "You should go home, I'll call you."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go check on Stefan." Damon said, finishing off his cereal along with Elena. He nodded towards Jenna, who liked like she'd been hit by a car, and Elena walked him to the door.

"I'm sorry we couldn't… last night." Elena began quietly incase Jenna heard.

Damon looked slightly offended. "Elena I wouldn't have wanted to. You know that. I have a few things to do, but how about I meet you at the hospital later." He suggested, and she nodded hastily. He pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, but she had already wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him closer. She deepened the kiss more, leaning against his hard body. He was the one who pulled away and pressed his lips to her forehead before disappearing out the door.

Damon knocked on the door of the Forbes house and the answer was quick. Liz was wearing all her police gear and it seemed as though she was just about to leave the house.

"Hey, Damon."

"Sherriff. Um, I just wanted to see if there were any developments in the case. The Jeremy Gilbert case." Damon knew Caroline's mother trusted him since he'd joined the council Carol Lockwood was always bugging him about. He'd helped in previous cases and the Sherriff had grown to have respect for the elder Salvatore.

Liz shook her head lightly. "The car was registered to a Klaus Ore, but he's not in the system. We don't have much more. Sorry Damon. If you want you can come with me, I was just on my way to Bonnie's house to get her statement."

"Uh, she doesn't like me much. I actually wanted to talk to Caroline, if that's okay."

Liz nodded reluctantly, opening the door wider for him to pass. "She's in her room, go on up."

Caroline sat on her bed, filing through photographs she'd developed a while back. They were mostly of her, Elena and Bonnie, but in some were Stefan and Tyler and Matt. And Damon. The door creaked open and the moment she saw his blue eyes she shuddered.

"Can we talk?" He asked, opening the door wider. Caroline nodded setting the photos down and crossing her legs for Damon to join her on the bed. She couldn't help but shiver. He had that look in his eyes that told her there was something he needed to get out. She shifted nervously when he closed the door and joined her by sitting at the edge of her bed. Damon looked down at the photos she was looking at. The top picture was of Caroline and Damon hugging, with Elena in the background waving. He looked back up at Caroline.

"Digging through the past?" He asked, and Caroline nodded.

"What's up, Damon? Get it out." She said, raising her eyebrows at him. He sighed and started up.

"Look Care, I'm sorry, about what we did to you. How we made you feel. Elena hates herself for what happened, and I hate what happened too. But…"

"But you're in love with her." Caroline stated. "There's always been something that caught your eye with Elena Gilbert. Even when she was with Stefan. I saw the envy in your eyes."

"I'm with Elena now. I don't know exactly what that means, relationship wise, but yeah, I love her."

Caroline sucked in a breath and avoided eye contact. "That hurt more than I thought it would." She whispered.

"I'm sorry, Care. And I know that's not what you ever wanted to hear, but it's the truth. I just… wanted to know why you were on your way to the lake house when you got into the accident."

"I wanted you back Damon. She took you from me and I wanted to get you back. But now, watching you two, I know you're never coming back to me." She shrugged, flipping the picture of them embracing white side up. Damon watched her movements.

"What we had Caroline, was good. I liked you, a lot."

"And I loved you." She admitted. "But I know what you're saying Damon. You don't want me anymore. And I guess that's closure. As much as it sucks, trying to hurt Elena would hurt you, and that's not what I intended." She paused to think. "What happened with Jeremy, it was an accident, but it was my accident. I shouldn't have dragged them into my scheming, it only hurt them. I'm sorry about everything, can you tell her that? Elena?" Caroline asked, but Damon shook his head.

"I think you should tell her that yourself." He said, before standing up and exiting the house.

When Damon got to the hospital, he found Elena sitting in sweatpants and a hoodie in the corner of the room and in the chair beside Jeremy's pale body was Jenna, who was clad in jeans and a t-shirt. Music was playing, and Elena looked as if she wanted to kill herself because of it. It was hard rock, he assumed Jeremy's favorite type of music.

Damon noticed the way Elena and Jenna's eyes lit up when they realized he had coffee in his hand. It wasn't bad hospital coffee that the two had been drinking since the morning, but good Starbucks coffee. Jenna stood as he gave her one, and Damon made his way to Elena's seat to hand her one. Taking one for himself, he sat on the arm of her chair and looked over to Jeremy.

"Thank you." Elena whispered, followed by Jenna, and Damon rubbed her leg sympathetically.

"Always." He whispered back. The nurse came in a second later, and she checked the computer screen sitting by Jeremy's bed.

"So, nothing's abnormal with him, everything is stable. We are still doing some testing, to see if we can get anymore info on when he'll wake up. So far nothing's conclusive. But I think if you keep talking to him, or playing him music, eventually he'll get sick of it and wake up." The nurse joked, but no one exactly laughed. "That was supposed to be funny." She said, taking in a large breath. Elena gave her a sincere smile and the nurse exited the room.

The door creaked open again and Alaric slipped in, closing it behind him. Jenna looked up, receiving a kiss on the cheek from him and turned back to her nephew. Alaric looked over to Damon giving his good friend a nod before offering Elena a smile. Damon stood, placing his hand gently on Elena's shoulder.

"Ric, want to walk to the cafeteria with me?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrows. Alaric nodded and he looked down at the two girls. "Anyone hungry?" Elena turned her entire face up to look at him.

"Can you get me a cookie?" she asked innocently, and Damon smiled slightly, pressing his lips to hers.

"Sure." Damon said, kissing her once more before touching her hair and retreating.

"Thanks, babe." They watched the boys go and Elena turned to Jenna, who was smirking with her eyebrows raised.

"Thanks, babe." Her aunt mocked, and Elena rolled her eyes and changed the song on the CD player.

"You know, I always knew there was something up with you and Elena." Alaric smirked as they made their way to the elevator. Alaric reached over his friend to press the Ground button.

"Dude, you're banging Elena's aunt?" Damon asked looking at the history teacher.

"Well, you're banging her, why can't I bang her aunt?"

freaaaaking hell; i'm so proud of that chapter. it was the longest i've ever written and i think it was the most emotional, but flightly fluffy thing i've ever written. tell me what you think about the DE relationship. they're very cute and cuddly but things are about to get very serious and heated between the two and it's gonna frustrate the hell out of them both and everyone around them. i also liked Caroline's character development in this chapter. it provided Damon and Caroline some closure and i think at the end of the day, they both feel really good about what they had, but it's over now. okay okay okay, there will be more Stefan and more Alaric in the next chapter; more team badass, along with some case developments from sherriff forbes. pleeeeease review, i'd appreciate a whoooole lot because i'm really getting back into this story after some filler chapters. my updates will probably be more frequent until around the end of may beginning of june due to a really busy school schedule. i plan for this to be quite a few more chapters, and when it's done, i dont plan on making a companion series, but i think i'm going to try a different writing style because i've read a few stories and i really love the author's style. stay tuned and review pretty please!

love, cee.