There's really no excuse for what took me so long... but here it is:

This chapter is only from Elena's POV

Elena

It's been five days since I woke up and although I feel completely fine, the doctors won't let me out of the hospital, saying that they have to monitor me. Jeremy has been staying with me every single day, only leaving my side for sleep. I have tried a thousand times to tell him that he doesn't need to be by my side at all times, but he is very persistent and I suspect that he is trying to make up his behaviour towards me. I am very thankful to him, but I just wish that he would let me be alone just for a minute, so I could clear my thoughts.

My thoughts. They are a big mess right now. I don't remember pretty much anything about the accident and the coma, expect this one slight moment of beautiful green eyes looking at me and then there is his name. Stefan. His name was the first thing I said when I woke up. I have no idea why I said it and when Jeremy asked me about it, I didn't know what to answer him, so I made up a feeble excuse of being very confused and that it was probably just a coma induced delusion. But I know that it wasn't.

When I asked the doctors how I got to the hospital, they said that a man brought me here, and when I wanted to know where he is now, they didn't have an answer. He just had disappeared. The only thing they told me was that he had brownish hair and green eyes. That gave me all the answers I was looking for. Stefan brought me here. He had been there when I crashed my car, he saved my life. Again. I asked Jeremy if he had seen him, but he had no idea what I was talking about. I just wish I could see him, I have so many questions I'd really love to have an answer – Why was he on that road the night of the accident? How did he get here so fast, because I was told that those injuries I had should have killed me in a matter of minutes. Who is he?

The other thing is that I have been having these very strange and vivid dreams about him. They feel so real, like they have happened already and if I didn't know better, I'd swear they are real.

Every time I am in a round meadow, surrounded by a thick forest. Sometimes he is also there, I feel his presence, it's so tangible, but he doesn't say anything. Stefan only looks at me with his moss green eyes and doesn't say a word. Then there are dreams where I am still in the meadow, but he isn't there. Only a lone dark road leading away from the field is present and when I take the first step, I always end up waking up with a start. Last night's dream was especially weird. It was the first time he said something. I was in the meadow, again, but this time I was crying and he was standing behind me saying that he was an angel, a guardian angel, assigned to protect me, but when, in the dream, I turned to face him, I woke up again with real tears on my face. I couldn't sleep anymore, because those words he said to me felt so realistic, like I've already lived through that situation.

"Elena." Jeremy's voice snaps me out of my reverie as he walks in my room.

"Um, yeah, what is it?" I try to compose myself.

"I just talked to the doctors, they said that you can leave today," his face breaks into a smile.

"Really?" I straighten myself up, smiling back at my brother.

"Really, really."

When I enter my home, it feels cold and desolate, like nobody has lived here a long time.

"Jeremy," I ask him, "During the coma, were you by my side all the time?"

"Yes," he shrugs, like it's no big deal. "I only went home to get fresh clothes and make sure that our house is still intact.

I give him a stern look – "You shouldn't have done that. You basically gave your entire life up because of me."

"You're my sister, okay? I'd do anything for you. Please don't push this subject, Elena. The main thing is that you're alive now," he takes a step closer and pulls me into a hug. I melt into his arms, welcoming the warmness.

"I'll probably have to go the store, there's nothing in the fridge," Jeremy says as takes my bag from the floor and starts to take it upstairs.

"Okay," I respond, too tired to argue with him. Usually keeping the fridge stocked is my job.

I don't know what to do, it feel like my life was cut off so suddenly. I can't go back to work for another month, because I have to recover, Jeremy is hovering over me like I'm a newborn, everything feels out of my control. I walk to the fireplace, where we keep our family pictures. My mom and dad, smiling at the camera, me and Jeremy on a pair of swings, laughing – it all brings back so many memories and emotions. I pick up a photo of my mom, she looks away from the camera, looking at something in the distance. It was taken a few weeks before our car drove off that bridge.

"I miss you so much," I whisper, feeling the sting of tears in my eyes, "I wish you could be here, you'd know exactly what to say and do." I stare at the picture for a while, when Jeremy's voice echoes through the hallway – "I'm going to the store now, see you in a bit."

"Yeah, yeah, take your time," I put the photo back on the mantel and wipe the tears off with the sleeve of my sweater. I hear the door closing and then the sound of an engine revving. I feel a sudden wave of exhaustion wash over me, so I decide to go to my room to get some sleep and as soon as my head touches the pillow, I fall asleep almost instantly.

"I am going to die, aren't I?"

"Not if I can help it. You see that road over there?" he points to the path leading away from the meadow.

"Yes."

"You can't go there, no matter how tempting that road is. Under no circumstances, understand? I know that it is hard to resist, but if you listen to me, I might be able to get you out of here."

I look at the road, considering his words.

"If I go there, I won't come back?"

"Yes."

"What makes you so sure that you can bring me back?"

"Let's just say that I'm here to help you."

"Oh, that's very helpful. You were there that time in the street too, to help me. That's very convenient, isn't it? Tell me, Stefan, how the hell can you be here when this is place is apparently only my imagination." I snap.

"Elena, it doesn't matter who I am."

"How does it not matter? Don't play with me, Stefan, you suddenly appear here, tell me not to go down that road, then speak about this place being made by me and that I will probably die soon. What am I to make of all of this? Just take your word and trust you? I can't do that."

"Elena, I..." he takes a step closer.

"Don't come any closer!"

"Listen to me please!"

"Why should I?"

"Because I am here to protect you, how can you not understand that? I only want to help you. Tell me, Elena, how many times have you been close to some kind of an accident, which could've ended badly? Many times, huh?"

"I told you that the night you saved me."

"Oh, but what about the day of your car accident that brought you here? That day you tripped on the stairs and almost fell down."

"What? How can you know about that?"

"I was there, I stopped you from getting hurt."

"But...but that's not possible, you weren't there."

"You see, I was there. I've been there every time something bad has happened to you. That time you almost fell off a roof, when your parents' car drove off the bridge."

"This is not happening." I turn my back to him.

"Elena, I need you to listen carefully, because what I am about to tell you is going to sound crazy."

"You know these stories about people saying that they had a guardian angel watching over them after an accident that should have killed them? Well, they were right. You see, I am one of them, an angel. You are the one I am assigned to protect. That is why you are still alive against all odds."

I shoot up in a sitting position, gasping for air. I don't know what time it is, but I assume it's already night, because my room is completely dark. I turn on the lamp by my bed, hands slightly shaking. That dream, that was too clear, too familiar. I'm certain I've already lived through it, it's either that or I am going completely crazy. Shivers run down my spine as I look around the room, waiting for him to pop up suddenly, but nothing happens.

I check my phone and discover it's 3 in the morning; I was asleep for almost ten hours. My senses are still on the edge and every little noise makes me jump a little. I can hear Jeremy's light snoring and the ticking of a clock on the wall. That is twice in a row, when I've had the dream where he is saying that he's an angel. Only this time, it felt even more real.

I don't know what do to as my mind won't stop replaying the scene I just saw. It goes on and on and on until I just want to hit something. In one last desperate attempt to calm myself I speak out into thin air – "Stefan, if you're here right now..." I pause, feeling like a fool, "Ugh, I'm probably going insane, but here it goes – Stefan, if you're here, please give me a sign, anything..." Nothing happens, only the ticking of a clock interrupts the dead silence. I cover my face with my hands, feeling like an utter idiot. "I really am going crazy, this coma messed up my head," I mutter under my breath.

Unexpectedly a gush of warmth washes over me, and I feel so at ease, it's like all my previous thoughts have been erased. I look around to see the source of this, but my room looks exactly the same, nothing has changed in the past minute. So where is this sensation coming from?

I take a deep breath and stand up, uncertain of my next move. The warmth doesn't leave me even when I take a step out of my room, it's constant, never ending. I go to the kitchen, still looking at every corner, expecting him to jump out behind the couch or walk through the front door. But still, nothing happens. I feel my breath getting more laboured and my hands are starting to shake. I don't understand what is happening, I feel like suffocating, I take a glass from the cupboard, but the trembling of my hands don't make it easy for me to fill it with water. My breathing is getting harder and harder by the minute and when I lean against the sink, everything goes black.

When I open my eyes, I am greeted by white walls of an unfamiliar room. I look around and see a needle sticking out of my arm and I finally recognize that I am back in the hospital.

"Elena?" Jeremy's voice rings through the room. "You awake?"

"Um... what happened?"

"You passed out in the kitchen..." he pauses for a second, "It was the weirdest thing, I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night with this strong urge to go downstairs and when I heard the sound of glass breaking, I knew something was wrong. I found you on the kitchen floor, unconscious." His face contorts in pain, "Elena, we shouldn't have left the hospital."

"It's okay, Jer," I try to console him, "I just fainted, it's no big deal."

"No big deal?" He raises his voice, "Elena you haven't been responsive for two days!"

"What?" I croak, "How's that even possible?"

"I don't know," he pinches the bridge of his nose, "The doctors don't know either."

"But I'm awake now..."my voice is still raw, "So that means we can go home."

Jeremy laughs nervously – "No way, 'Lena. Look what happened the last time. No, you're staying here for a while."

"Jeremy, please, this is ridiculous," I feel a wave of irritation wash over me, "I feel completely fine right now."

"You felt fine the last time too. Look, Elena, I'm not going to budge, I've already talked to the doctors and they agreed that you should stay here for a while. And that reminds me, I should go and tell someone that you're awake." He stands up from the chair he had been sitting on, "Please behave, and oh..." he hesitates, "There's someone here who wants to see you, he has been pretty persistent in the last two days, being here all the time..."

"Who?" I wonder out loud.

"I don't know him, but you should, figuring his name was the first thing that came out of your mouth when you came back from the coma."

"Stefan." My breath hitches a notch.

"Yeah, so I'll tell him you're awake and I'll get someone to check up on you," Jeremy says and leaves the room.

I look at the ceiling, like it's the most interesting thing I've ever seen, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Stefan's here. He's really here.

There's a small knock on the door and the door moves a little and then I see the familiar green eyes peeking in.

"Hi, Elena." He says, smiling a little.

A big fat thank you to all the people that still are reading this after the long wait, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! :) Love you all!