~Chapter 17

2 weeks later

Elena POV

I fluttered my eyelashes as a stray of sunlight hit me across the cheeks. I opened my eyes quickly, and with a grunt I closed them again. They hurt with the sudden contact with the sun. I opened them, slowly this time and yawned softly.

I rolled over my bed so that I was on my back and stay there, staring at the ceiling. I lay there, quietly. I haven't seen Damon in a week or so. Alex should see his father, I thought, and so should I, I thought again with a small smile as I brought to mind that little kiss we shared.

Although everything we've been through together I was glad that I was finally seeing the side of Damon that I've always dreamed of meeting. I quickly got up from my bed and marched lazily towards Alex's room, where I found Jenna watching his sleeping form as she hummed a soft lullaby.

"Hey," I whispered with a smile as I knocked softly on the door, not wanting to startle her.

"Hi," she whispered back with a little wave. I walked up to her and we both stood there watching our little angel breath.

"He's so beautiful," she said softly with a smile as she looked at me. I returned her smile with a happy sigh.

"He's his son isn't he?" she said again after a long pause.

"What?" I replied back, startled.

"He's that guy's son. The one I found you arguing with the other day," she continued with a knowing look that said – I know I'm right don't try to deny it Elena.

"Yep," I answered back with a sigh, not really wanting to talk about it.

"I'm just gonna go," she said after another long awkward pause. I sighed again, grateful that she chose not to ask anything else.

"But if you need anything you know I'm always here," she continued with her motherly smile.

"I promise," she repeated as she got hold of my hand and squeezed it lightly. I smiled at her. Then she turned her back on me and headed towards Alex's bedroom door to leave.

"Jenna," I whispered as she got hold of the door knob.

"Yes, Elena honey?" she asked as she turned around to face me. I marched up to her and gave her a huge hug that I haven't given her in months.

"I love you," I whispered to her, knowing that I was lucky to have someone like her.

"Me too sweetie," she whispered back.

I found my cell phone lying underneath my pillow. I smiled in victory. There you are, I thought. I grabbed the damned thing and dialed the number.

Damn you, pick up! I thought as I tapped my foot impatiently against the floor's tiles.

"Fuck," I cursed under my breath as I reached voicemail.

"Hey it's Elena. We're coming over," I simply said after the annoying beep. I hung up and marched towards Alex's room once again and found my almost 9 month old son smiling at me.

"Hey buddy," I whispered to him as I picked him up, brushed his hair away from his beautiful eyes and kissed his forehead. He was looking more and more like his father each and every day.

"Momma…" he slowly whispered back half sleepily as he buried his head in my neck.

"You need to stop growing so fast baby," I told him with a sad smile.

"Come on, let's get you dressed now," I told him again as I lifted him up in the air and gave him another peck on the nose.

"We're going to see Daddy," I added with a small smile.

I parked Jenna's car and looked up to see the damned Salvatore boarding house. That house held lots of memories for both me and Damon. With a sigh, I unbuckled my seat belt and opened my car door.

"Hey there pretty boy," I told Alex as I opened the back-seat's door. He flashed me one of his best smiles and held out his hands for me to lift him.

"Let's go," I told him with a smile of my own as I lifted him up and locked the car.

I walked briskly towards the front-door with Alex in my arms. I inhaled sharply as I saw the door slightly open. This was a bad idea, I thought. I stood there, contemplating whether I should turn back or not.

I decided to go in. So I moved slowly towards the door and instantly stumbled back a few paces as I heard the sound of glass shattering. Then I heard a gruff voice yelling and another voice which was slightly weaker trying with all of his might to shout too. I immediately knew that it was Damon's. I opened the door just a few inches and placed my hand in front of Alex's eyes, not wanting him to see anything inappropriate. I gasped at the sight of Damon down on his knees, covering his face while his father was insulting him and beating the shit out of him. I decided that I could not stand it any longer.

I fumbled with my pocket pants as I desperately tried to take out my cell phone. I moved away from the door, not wanting his father to know that I was there.

"H-h-hi," I managed to stutter as I dialed the police, "The Salvatore boarding house... father who's beating... his son," I managed to breath, still in shock and also not knowing what to say as I've never done a police report before. I gave them the address and my name, while they assured me that they were coming as soon as they could.

I dashed to my car and decided to wait there safely with my son.

A few minutes later which seemed like forever, I heard the cops pulling up. I rushed out of the car and saw that there were about half a dozen of police there. I shakily pointed my fore-finger towards the door, not being able to utter a single word. One of the cops nodded at me and asked me to go back inside my car.

I put Alex back in his car-seat as I waited in my seat once again. I heard the loud voices of the cops overpowering Damon's father one. Then I saw them all coming out. About three of the cops came out first and one of them was talking on his walky-talky. Another two came out holding Damon's father by handcuffs and a few more behind them.

Then I saw him coming out with two cops on either side. He had his back on me and I'm kind of glad he did as I did not wish to see his injuries at the moment, but I could not stand to be in the car any longer. So I rushed out towards him, leaving Alex in the locked car.

"Damon!" I called out with tears slowly dashing down my cheeks.

"El...en...a…" he managed to breathe as he finally stumbled back a few paces so he could see me. I gasped in shock and held the palm of my hand to my mouth as I saw his face. He had two black eyes and the right side of his face was so covered in blood that I could not manage to see half of his mouth. His shirt was almost ripped in two halves and it was also soaked in blood.

"Please miss stay away we need to get him to the hospital," one of the cops told me as he signaled me to stay back.

I heard the ambulance's siren as I turned around and saw it pulling up, while one of the cops' car was driving away with Damon's father. A couple of nurses came rushing out and they immediately put the helpless Damon in a stretcher.

"Is he going to be alright?" I whispered to one of the nurses, knowing that he had very severe injuries.

"We sure hope so," one of them responded sadly. I put my head in my hands and sobbed.

Then I walked up to his stretcher and squeezed his bloodied and bruised hand. I pulled it up to my lips and kissed it for a long second. Then one of the police dragged me away from the stretcher as they pulled him up in the ambulance.

"I love you Damon!" I yelled as I saw the nurses closing the ambulance door and finally driving away.

"Go home miss, get some rest. He'll be alright," the same cop that asked me to move away, then told me.

"Is that the truth or what you want me to believe?" I asked him weakly, not having any energy left. He simply looked down and walked away.

Fuckin cops full of bullshit, I cursed as I marched up to my car, turned on the engine and slowly drove, but to the hospital.

I parked in the first spot that I could find, unbuckled my seat belt and Alex's and marched towards the emergency ward with my son as fast as I could. As I got there I found them rushing with Damon into one of the theaters. Once again I put my hand in front of Alex's eyes, not wanting him to see the scene.

"What's going on?" I whispered to one of the nurses.

"We're taking him into surgery immediately," she responded.

"Please inform me how it goes," I whispered again.

"Of course," she replied instantly as she went back to her work.

So I slumped in one of the seats in the waiting room and sat there alone with a sleepy Alex in my arms, while waiting for the news.

It must have been an hour and maybe even more when Alex suddenly woke up and started crying his heart out.

"I know it's not the place you wanted to be baby, but please try to sleep. We're here for Daddy," I whispered in his ear as I paced around the waiting room, in attempt to get him to sleep.

After about another half an hour later I finally saw a nurse rushing towards me. I walked as fast as I could to meet her halfway.

"He's okay," she told me with a little smile.

"Can we go in and see him?" I asked her as I held a now calmed down Alex to me.

"Yes but who are you? Friends?" she asked as her confused eyes flickered from me to Alex and then back to me.

"We're the only family he has," I replied back as a tear slipped from my eyes.

"You must know that he still hasn't woken up from his surgery," the nurse replied.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not knowing what she meant.

"He suffered from head injury because of the repetitive beatings. The injury was so severe that during the surgery he fell into a coma," she replied softly.

"W-what? When is he going to wake up then?" I stated, still in shock.

"That's just it, we don't know. It could be minutes, hours or days. Even weeks or months," she replied back sadly. She reached out for my hand and squeezed it.

"What?" I managed to utter.

"Come now," she whispered before rushing into one of the rooms.

"It's time to see Daddy baby," I told Alex with a sniff as he was then looking around with his perfect blue eyes.

"God…" I whispered before a sob erupted from my throat. He looked so much like him. It hurt, it hurt and it hurt. Damn it! What if he never comes back to us? I thought as I continued to sob.

"D-d-d," I heard a little voice stutter. I sniffed again and looked up. What?

"What did you just say honey?" I slowly asked him as we walked into the room where Damon was.

"Say it again baby," I told him as I looked him in the eye and caressed his cheek with my thumb, but he just looked away. It didn't look like he was going to repeat what he had said, so I simply walked into the room and looked to my left. There was Damon.

His head was lying on two medium size pillows, his hands were on either sides of his body, he was wearing those usual ugly ass pajamas that you see in movies and his eyes were closed. His face was still very much filled with bruises, scratches and some stitches from the cuts he had, but at least the blood was cleaned off of his face.

I moved slowly towards one of the chairs which were placed beside his bed.

"Hi…" I whispered softly to him as I sat down and placed Alex on my lap. I reached out for his hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"It's Elena and Alex, Damon," I whispered again to the unconscious person.

"How are you doing?" I asked softly again. But he only just kept breathing. That's what I could hear; his steady breathing and the wall clock slowly ticking as the seconds and minutes went by while I just simply listened. The passage of time slowly continued as it didn't wait for Damon to wake up. Not even the world. No one cared that Damon was hurt. No one cared that he almost died. No one cared that maybe he would never be able to wake up.

"Please talk to me," I whispered before another sob erupted from my throat. I leaned over his bed and hugged his heaving chest.

"Damon..." I wept in his shirt, but he just lied there as firm as a statue. It broke my heart even more.

"I think it's time you left," I heard a low voice say from behind me. I looked up to see a doctor who I could see was in his early fifties.

"Yeah, I guess," I replied with a sniff as I glanced at the clock which showed half past six.

"Good evening," the doctor said as I rushed out of the door with Alex's hands holding on to my neck and legs hanging around my waist.

"D-d-d," Alex mumbled sleepily again. I smiled a small smile before heading out of the Emergency ward and into the dark parking lot.

A/N: This part of the story was totally not planned, but I just thought it would really make Elena realize more and more her feelings you know.. I hope you guys like it! Worked really hard on this chapter and the next, it's be totally amazing if you could take some seconds to review :)

Shannon x