I don't own the vampire diaries and I don't own the characters.
This takes place after the events in my fanfic Soulmates always find a way.
The POV's will be from Damon and Elena.
Enjoy.
Feedback is appreciated.
This chapter will be from Jeremy's POV.
Thank you for all the positive feedback and I'm so happy you like the story. It's no where near the end yet and they still have a lot of choices to make and there are a few surprises in store for everyone.
Chapter 14- Family
Jeremy's POV
I sighed and put my head in my hands. Damon didn't deserve this, Elena didn't deserve this. They had been through so much together and I finally thought they'd get the happy ever after. I should have known that nothing is that easy. Nothing turns out like we want it and in the end life fucks us all. I got up and started pacing. I was cursing every fairytale my mother ever told Elena and I. Why tell your kids that happy ever after exists when it apparently doesn't. I hear the conversation coming from the room down the hall but I am hesitant to enter just yet, even though I know Damon would have no problem with it. I'm Elena's brother, I'm his brother...family.
"I'm sorry Damon. There was nothing we could have done. Before the time jump she had lost too much blood from the vampires feeding off her and when Bonnie did the spell to bring you all back the baby was depending on her having enough for them both...she didn't." Meredith. She's the supernatural expert and obstetrician, she has to know what she's talking about.
I shake my head. "Yeah, that makes sense but I wish I could have killed those vampires myself." I hear myself say the words and I hear Klaus say that he and Elijah took care of that deed. I keep listening in on what is being said in the room.
"I know Meredith. I understand and it's okay." Damon is a lot more calm than I had expected.
"How can you be so calm, cool and collected! That's your baby that she just lost! You should be..."
"I should be what Asher! Throwing things? Making threats? No, I shouldn't do that! I should stay by Elena and do the right thing by her. This is what she would want! She would want her to live. We can have more kids, the world isn't over."
I have to agree with Damon. He's right, Elena would want this. The Damon that I'd met years ago would have been doing everything Damon had said. He would have thrown things and made threats and gotten pissed off beyond control, but he's grown up. He's found himself and he's fallen in love. If he were to go back to the old Damon now...it wouldn't help Elena any. I'm taken out of my thoughts when I hear the door disconnect with the hinges. I look over and see the door laying on the ground.
"Fine. You stay here and make sure Elena is okay. That's all you fucking care about isn't it? Elena this, Elena that, what if you made the wrong choice? You don't know what she would have done in that situation. You aren't her!"
I stop walking towards the door and I listen to Damon reply to the now very angry and upset Asher.
"You're right. I'm not Elena. But...we have something, an understanding. You may not understand this but I know this is what she'd do. I know Elena better than anyone. And no Elena is not the only one I care about. I care about YOU, and Jeremy, Caroline no matter how annoying she may get, Bonnie even with all her witchy juju, Klaus even though he's tried to kill us all numerous times. I care about Grayson, Miranda, Meredith, Jenna and even my drinking buddy Ric. Know this though, I didn't always care about them. I used to not give a fuck about them...at one point I even stopped caring about Elena...but I never stopped loving her. It was her who made me realize that yeah I do care about them. I'm not the same person I was when I met her so if that's the Damon Salvatore you were looking for then go. Just go, because I'm not the cold heartless person I was before."
I've never heard Damon talk to anyone like that, except Elena. He had let down all his walls and was basically laying all his emotions out on the table. I hadn't expected Asher to walk out on him but he did. I saw him walk past me and out the front doors. I saw the tears threatening to fall and I knew he hated to walk out on Damon. I pick up the door and see the indecision on Damon's face. He's torn. He wants to go after Asher but he also can't leave Elena.
"I'll go talk to him Damon."
He looks up at me and nods once. "Thanks baby Gilbert."
"We're family. It's what we do." I pause and watch him go lay his head on Elena's hand. "She'll be okay you know. She'll keep her promise, you won't lose her...not forever."
He raises his head and smiles at me. I smile back and walk to follow Asher. I have no clue where he'd go or what I'd say when I found him but I had to try. I'm on my way to the boardinghouse but then I catch his scent headed the opposite way. I walk into the house and I hear him upstairs. I close the door behind me and walk up to Elena's room.
I see him sitting on her bed with his head in his hands. He's mumbling and I know if I were still human I'd have missed it all but my vampire hearing hears it all clear as day.
"Why? I never got to...You can't just die. You flat-lined once and it...Why mom?"
I lean against the door frame and take a deep breath. "She's a lot stronger than you think." He raises his head at vampire speed and just looks at me. "Elena. She's been through a lot." I walk in the room and I can feel his eyes following me. I walk to her window and raise the seat to reveal her hiding spot for all her important things. "Don't tell her I showed you this alright?" I pick up her diary and sit down in front of the window.
He nods. "She's strong but no one can fight that hard. She's lost so much and..."
"She still has a lot of things to fight for."
"Yeah but I've heard the stories. No one can survive that much and still have strength left to fight this."
I nod. "You know what...you're right. But you're also wrong. Elena is strong enough. Let me tell you a story. It's not always going to be a happy story but it's going to be real."
He makes himself comfortable. He's like a little kid. I chuckle at him as he grabs her teddy bear and looks at the picture she has on her bedside table of her and Damon. I look at the diary, I had intended to use it as a guide but I decide now not to. I'll tell him how I saw the last few years.
"I'm not going to start this once upon a time so I'll start by saying there was boy and a girl. They both had their problems and their faults. The boy had...anger issues. The girl...she was scared. They met each other at a time when the needed each other. They were both searching for something, someone, who would make them happy. They had their falling outs. They hurt each other, in ways that would have pushed any other two people straight apart from each other, but for some reason they couldn't stay far away from each other. They were connected. They both made choices, not all of them good, that led them to a point where they had to listen to their hearts and not just their minds. It was harder for the girl than the boy, she was scared to give her heart to him at first. He was the bad boy, the one who could have any girl he wanted, but he wanted only her. He pushed her, he made her strong emotionally as well as physically. She let him. She did admit over time that she loved him and they did get together. Do you know who they are Asher?" I look at him and he looks confused for a moment.
I can tell he's thinking about what Damon had said and the story I had just told. He looked at the picture and look back to me. "Damon and Elena?" I nod my head yes. "But I thought they always loved each other? They're my parents...they look so happy. They seem to have always been together. I thought..."
"That everything had been easy for them?" He nods and I shake my head. "No. It was never easy. It was a very...long and hard road...to get to where they are now. He did a lot of things that he regrets now. I heard what he told you at the hospital. It's all true. He used to not give a fuck about me. Hell he killed me."
"He what?!"
I laugh at the surprise in his voice. I get up and go to the closet. I reach up on top for the box and I find it. I pull it down and sit on the floor. I motion for him to join me and he does. I pull out a picture of Stefan and Elena at miss mystic falls. "This is who my sister dated for 2 years. Stefan. Their love was easy. It was safe. It was damn near perfect. Yet...it wasn't what Elena wanted." I dig a little and pull out a more recent picture of her and Damon and the next miss mystic falls when she was a vampire. "This is after she turned and she finally let herself admit her feelings. She couldn't hide them anymore. Her feelings for Damon magnified and even though she did love Stefan it couldn't compare to her love for Damon. She knew it would be hard but it was what she wanted."
He looks at the two pictures and puts them both on the floor next to each other. "He said that he didn't care about her at one point but he loved her...how could he do that?"
"I don't believe that he stopped caring about her. I think he told himself that but he always cared."
"How do you know that Jeremy?"
I shrug. "He always saved her. When her car crashed after she found out she looked like Katherine, he saved her from the vampire who made her crash. He took her to Georgia and helped her have fun and let go for a day. She needed that. She needed to remember she was just a 17 year old girl who needed to live life to the fullest. He saved her many time after that, more than I can name. She also saved him though. She made him flip the humanity switch back on."
The silence goes on for a little bit and then he asks another question. "Their understanding he called it...do you know about that?" I know he's interested in the stories of their past. I also take comfort in knowing they both won't kill me for telling him a little bit about it. I can't tell it from their point of view but I can tell him what I saw, and experienced.
"Someone once told me that Damon was either the best thing for Elena or the worst, I knew she was right. She also said that they changed each other. Elena makes Damon a better person...he wants to be good for her. He changes her too though. I've seen it. He pushes her and makes her think about her life and what she wants more than anyone else ever has and probably ever will. They also make each other strong. They have a song you know, have you heard it?" He shakes his head so I get up and go to the cd player. I press the play button and I hear the song play over the speakers.
If you were here beside me instead of in New York
If the curve of you was curved on me
I'd tell you that I loved you before I ever knew you
Cause I loved the simple thought of you.
If our hearts are never broken and there's no joy in the mending
There's so much this hurt could teach us both.
There's distance and there's silence, your words have never left me
They're the prayer that I say everyday.
I let him listen to the whole song. I listen along with him and I see the months she spent as a vampire with Damon flash through my eyes. There was so much hurt but also so much love. It was always push and pull with the two of them. It had worked out though, she proved that what she felt for him was what made the sire bond and he finally let someone love him unconditionally. It took more time for others to see it but I'd always seen it. I saw it even when she was human. The way she was with Damon was a lot different from when she was with Stefan, mainly because she didn't have to worry about doing the wrong thing to make the monster in Damon appear. He never hid his vampire side from her. Stefan hid it and she always was very careful around him so he wouldn't lose control. The song stops and I see Asher looking at the rest of the pictures.
"She loves all these people. Matt...Tyler...Elijah...Stefan...Klaus...various people I don't know. What's different with Damon? I mean I know she is in love with him but...what set him apart from Matt or Stefan?"
This is the question I'd have a hard time explaining. I knew the answer but I didn't know how to put it into words. I thought about it for a while. I grabbed the pictures and separated them. "Choices and Destiny." He looks at me confused so I go a little more in depth. "Matt and Stefan. She chose to love them, in a way. They made her happy and they made her feel safe but something was missing. Tyler, Elijah, Klaus...they're friends, she chose to love them too in a way. Damon...he's different. She didn't choose to love him...she was destined to love him. Matt was the childhood friend who she tried to date but it was too weird so they stayed friends. Stefan was her first love, he made her happy and she laughed and had fun, but it wasn't...it wasn't IT, Damon was...dangerous. He was everything Elena is. They both fight like hell for their family and friends. They are both stubborn as hell and they both will face whatever they come up against with no fear. They're strong by themselves, but they're stronger together. It's like they were literally made for each other. They are both very passionate people and that's what they need. Passion, danger, strength, basically each other."
"So you're saying that she didn't want to love Damon but she does anyway? That seems...depressing."
I shake my head. "No. No, I mean...destiny. Damon and Elena...it's like a puzzle. No one else could complete the puzzle of their lives but each other. Their other relationships...Elena with Matt and Stefan, Damon with Katherine, Andie, and Rose...they all went to hell basically. They all went up in flames and had no happy end. They all were nice relationships but they lacked passion. Together...Elena and Damon...they have everything they want and need. It's destiny."
I see the understanding come to him. "Like you and Bonnie."
That takes me by surprise. I've never really thought about Bonnie and I like that. Vicki and Anna...I loved them but they didn't have what Bonnie has. I've known Bonnie forever but it's different. With Vicki it was basically all sexual and I don't really know if it was more love or more lust. With Anna...I loved her. We were happy but it always felt like I wanted more than she did and I was tired of the hot and cold signals she was sending me. Bonnie...with Bonnie it was never hot and cold. It was passionate and it was consuming and it was...right. I nod my head. "Yeah I guess like Bonnie and I."
We sit for a few more minutes still listening to Elena's CD. The Damon mix. It's the song tightrope by Ron Pope now. I put the pictures back in the box and put it back in her closet. I put her diary back in its hiding spot. I notice that it's gotten dark outside, we must have been here longer than I'd thought.
"Jeremy. I think I need to go talk to Damon."
I turn around and look at him. He looks so grown up but I think inside he's still somewhat lost. He's like a teenager who needs his parents, his family. I smile and walk to stand next to him. "Alright. You know you can call me Jer right? Or if you're feeling sentimental or wanting family Uncle Jer will work too." I pat his shoulder and walk out the door. I get halfway down the stairs before I hear him behind me.
"Uncle Jer?" I stop. I hadn't expected him to accept me as family quite that quick. I turn around to see him standing at the top. "Thanks. For telling me about my parents, Elena and Damon."
I walk back up the few steps and place my hand on his shoulder. "No problem. Now...lets go. We'll pick up Chinese. I'm sure Damon is starving and he loves Chinese almost as much as he loves Italian." I walk back downstairs and he follows immediately.
"Then why not get Italian?"
"You've got a lot to learn kiddo." I look to my right as we walk down the sidewalk and smirk at him. "Damon doesn't eat Italian food unless he cooks it himself. He thinks no one does Italian like Damon Salvatore. He's got quite the ego."
He laughs and we keep the familiar family banter up until we reach the hospital. When we get close I see Caroline standing outside and she vamp speeds up to us.
"Where the hell have you two been?!"
Her tone immediately registers with me. Something happened. Not something good. I hand Asher the food. "Stay here with Caroline." I don't wait for his answer as I run at a fast but human pace into the hospital. I take the stairs three at a time and quickly reach the floor Elena is on. I stop immediately and the worst suddenly comes to my mind. She died. I refused to believe that. I saw my dad comforting my mom who was sobbing and I saw Ric doing the same with Jenna. I saw Klaus who was blaming himself for leaving her out of arms reach in the church. I went to the room and I saw the monitor telling me her heart was beating and I heard it but something was wrong. I saw Damon sitting against the wall near a breaking point and I saw Bonnie begging Elena to wake up.
"What..." Damon looks up and I see the tears on his face. He looks like he's aged 10 years in just a few hours. He runs to me and hugs me, it's a brother type hug but I know he wants me to help him be strong. He didn't need to say it, we had a brotherly connection and I could tell. "Damon. What's wrong?"
"She won't wake up. She's supposed to be awake. She's in a coma Jeremy."
His words halt all my thoughts. Coma...people came out of those everyday. There was more...for this reaction from these people there had to be something he wasn't telling me. "But she'll wake up right?"
He stands back and shakes his head no. "Your dad doesn't know. She's not responding to anything. She can't breathe on her own but her heart is still beating. He said it's all up to her, she has to want to come back."
I shake my head and I feel the tears fall from my eyes. I can't lose her. I can't lose my sister. I walk backwards until I hit a wall. I fall down and pull my knees up to my chest and start sobbing. "Elena. I need you Elena. I can't lose you."
Beep...
Beep...
Beep...
"Asher." I get up and vamp speed back downstairs and I find him outside in Caroline's arms. I run to him and I can hear Damon follow a few minutes later. I sit next to him on the sidewalk and put my arm around his shoulders. "She'll wake up Asher. She's got so much to fight for. I have to..."
"WE have to believe that." Damon's voice interrupts me and finishes my sentence. "As a family we have to have hope that she'll come back. She needs us to be strong for her." He sits next to Asher and I see the look Asher gives me. I nod my head and he hugs Damon. I stand up and I see Damon return his hug. I smile and look back to the window where I know Elena's room is.
"God. Please let her be okay. We'll be strong for her. I'll do anything just bring her back for Damon and Asher."
I say the prayer out loud and then I turn to walk inside.
"Where are you going little Gilbert? You're family too. Get your ass over here."
I see Damon smiling at me and I walk back to take my seat again. In this moment yeah, we're a family. "Let's go inside. We brought Chinese. Got Elena's favorite, sesame chicken. We can go be strong for her as a family inside."
Damon and Asher nod their heads and we go back to Elena's room. My mom and dad join us, along with Jenna and Ric. We're united and we're a family. We're all fighting for her. We won't give up, whether we're a Gilbert or a Salvatore we are all stubborn as hell and a hell of a lot stronger together.
