Author's note: Yes, it's short, but I've been hit by an unexpected round of edits in my "real" world. I'd originally intended to combine this chapter with the next, but I didn't want to leave the cliffhanger any longer. Sorry. I'll try to have the next chapter up later this week. (For those interested, I've recently updated my TVD S6 fanfic - Promises Kept.)

I still don't own TVD.

Damon sat alone in the ICU waiting room. After much cajoling, bribery, and a promise of one of Ginger's puppies from Matt, Claire finally agreed to leave with Jenna. Despite a moment of clarity when Damon had first arrived, as time wore on, Claire's description of the evening had become more and more sketchy.

Maybe there was something out there.

Maybe it was just an animal. A deer had run in front of the car. Of course it had been a deer. Elena was just driving too fast…and she hit a deer.

Claire needed to believe it was a deer.

And suddenly all of Mystic Falls' animal attacks fell into place. He finally understood the excuses and the half-truths. The residents weren't just trying to protect the town's reputation – they were trying to protect their own sanity.

Because what person in their right mind would really admit to monsters in the dark.

Damon knew that he was in the midst of a room of them.

Matt.

Ric.

Jenna.

Jeremy.

Bonnie.

They'd all been there. They'd all been watching as Claire had tried to describe what happened to Sheriff Forbes. The only thing she'd been clear about was that she

was desperately afraid of something in the fog. When Damon asked her to tell him about the fog, she'd just said Elena was driving fast to get away from something that seemed to be following the car.

At the time, he hadn't shown his fear. He couldn't. They'd never let Claire in on the secret. She wasn't old enough. She wasn't ready.

But try as hard as he might, he simply couldn't pass it off as some random chance. Not since they'd found the bodies in the woods. And not since he'd seen the blood soaked bandage on Elena's neck. The vampires were back.

Everyone in the room knew it too. Even without looking at each other, the knowledge of what they were facing electrified the air around them.

Funny. For decades…over a century, really…he was the reason people were afraid. He was and monsters like him.

Now the fear lay like an iron weight in the pit of his stomach – a vise trying to squeeze every last bit of oxygen from his lungs.

The vampires were back.

And they'd come after Elena…and Claire.

But was it random? Could she have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was the whole mystery illness somehow planted to draw her away from the rest of the family?

Damon needed it to be a random occurrence. Because, if not, and they were coming for his family, Damon didn't know what to do. For the first time since he'd held the bottle to his lips years ago, he regretted his choice to regain his humanity.

He still didn't understand why they'd be here for Elena.

Their battle years ago should have convinced the vampires that Mystic Falls was far from a place of refuge for them. Why would they risk coming to an area where the residents both knew about the vampires and were prepared to fight them? He had an even more pressing question...why now?

He knew he'd have to re-convene the Council, but he couldn't focus on that at the moment. Damon didn't have the mental strength to deal with the vampire problem right now. He was physically and emotionally drained. He absently looked at the clock. 7 am. Just twelve hours ago, he'd been standing next to Santa Claus as he listened to Emma rattle off her Christmas wish list.

A nurse came to stand in the doorway. She smiled in Damon's direction. "Mr. Salvatore, she's waking up. Would you like to come see her?"

Damon didn't have to be asked twice. He'd seen her briefly after she'd come out of surgery. They'd inserted a chest tube to release the pressure from the punctured lung, and they'd taken the breathing tube out. She'd still been so very pale, despite the blood bag hanging at the side of the bed.

He stood, feeling the weight of four pairs of eyes staring at him. It was incredible how much things had stayed the same through the years. Minus a few gray hairs, they could have been assembled trying to fight the vampire threat that gripped the town during Elena's high school years.

None of them could have predicted they'd be back here like this again.

And Damon never dreamed Elena would be a target again. They'd fixed that years ago. She was of no more use to a vampire than any other human. So why was she lying in a bed at the end of the hall?

He turned and walked into the room the nurse indicated. The rhythmic beeping of the monitors was reassuring - despite how frail Elena appeared as he looked in the hospital bed.

"Talk to her. Hold her hand." The nurse brushed her hand along Damon's shoulder as she walked from the room. "Let her know you're here."

Damon entwined his the fingers of his right hand with her limp ones and squeezed his eyes tightly shut to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. Dr. Herrington assured him that she would be fine, but it would be quite a while before she was back to normal. And, he hadn't wanted to ask, but the doctor seemed to read his mind...she was still pregnant. It would be touch and go for a while to see if she stayed that way.

Cautiously, he reached out and ran his left hand over her still smooth abdomen. She'd barely been eating over the past few weeks. He'd assumed it was stress over the coming deadline for her latest book. Chalk that one up to being an overworked mayor. Holiday season had meant one civic event after another.

But he should have noticed. Noticed something. Could Elena have suspected? She hadn't said a word.

He'd meant what he said weeks ago. He couldn't believe he was going to be lucky enough to have another baby with Elena. Now he just had to wait for her to wake up so he could tell her.

"That tickles." Elena coughed.

Damon stood up so quickly, he knocked the chair over. He hadn't done something like that in ages. "Hey."

He squeezed her hand as she blinked in confusion.

"What? What's going on? What happened? Ohmygod! Damon, it was…" Her eyes darted around the room. "Where's Claire?" The sound of the beeps from the monitor became closer together as her pulse sped. Dr. Herrington had stressed the necessity of keeping her calm over the next 48 hours.

"She's fine." He let go of her hand and stroked her cheek. "Jenna took her home. Barely a scratch on her." This was not the time to tell Elena about Claire's apparent bite to the neck.

"But the car."

"I know. You flipped it when you drove off the road and almost into Drowning Creek." He reached for her hand. "Everything's going to be alright. Do you remember anything?"

"I hit something. I hit someone." Elena tried to sit up and winced in pain. Damon gently guided her back down on the bed.

"The wreck wasn't your fault."

She was panting now. What little color she'd had in her face drained away. For a minute, Damon thought she was going to be sick. "It was a vampire."

"Shhh." He held a finger to her lips. "I know that too. Lay back down. Try to relax."

"Relax? Damon, a vampire attacked my car tonight. They could have killed Claire."

"But they didn't. Claire's fine. She thinks you hit a deer. You're fine." He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. He tried to use the same tone in his voice as when one of the twins woke up with a nightmare.

Elena looked at him as if he'd been the one who'd hit his head during the wreck. "Then why are you so calm?"

"Because you've been through a lot today. You just got out of surgery. I'd like to make sure the nurses don't kick me out." He gave a weak attempt at doing his eye thing. "And the doctor asked me to try to keep you from getting upset."

"I'm fine." Elena tried to sit up again.

"You have a ruptured spleen. Well, no you don't, they took that out. You punctured your lung, and you have a concussion. You seriously need to relax before someone comes in and knocks you back out."

"But Damon... You shouldn't be here. You need to get the council together." She was fighting to sit up with every ounce of strength she possessed…and some she didn't have. He'd forgotten how strong she could be. "You need to be with the kids. What if one comes to the house? What if one gets in?"

"The kids are fine. They're with Jenna. Kennedy's there too. No one's getting in the house." Nothing he was doing was working. He watched in dismay as her pulse rate continued to climb. Any second now, a nurse was going to come in and tell him to leave.

He really needed Elena to understand why he was so worried about getting her to relax and realized he was going to need to use his strongest weapon. This was probably going to be the only time he'd have a chance to deliver this kind of news, but this isn't how he wanted to do it. Still…desperate times…

"Elena, please. I know you're scared, but I need you to listen to me. Please try to calm down." He leaned over the bed until his face was mere inches from hers. "Have you looked at the calendar lately?"

"What kind of question is that?"

His lips turned up in a hesitant grin. He gently laid his hand atop her belly. "There's a very important reason you need to stay calm."

Elena blinked at him in confusion. He waited. The pain-killers might be making her a little foggy, but he knew she could make the connection.

"Think about it."

After several minutes, she hesitantly shook her head. "No. I can't be."

"But you are. And right now, the baby's fine." He couldn't bring himself to discuss the uncertainty with her. The big if things go well that the doctor mentioned.

This baby was going to stay put.

He tenderly brought his lips to hers. The tears he'd fought back all night finally proved to be too much for him and they mingled with Elena's. "You're going to lose your office." He stood up and wiped Elena's cheek with his thumb.

"That's okay." Elena struggled to keep her eyes open. "You're happy about this?" He'd never seen her look so uncertain.

"It's a surprise, but yes. Like you seem to enjoy reminding me, my best friend came from a family of twelve kids. What's one more? Once the doctor says it's okay, I'll show you how happy I am." Damon leaned down for a more passionate kiss. "But for now, I just want you to go back to sleep." He took her hand in his once again and sat down at her bedside. "I'm not going anywhere."