Damon paced and prowled the corridors of the hospital. Bonnie had not been allowed to ride along so he was forced to take her with him. She was the complete opposite of him, she sat in one place staring at the swinging doors in the waiting room, tensing whenever a staff member came through, them relaxing as they moved on past her.
Jeremy entered the room, "What happened, what is it? You were not specific on the phone."
Bonnie shook her head, " I am not sure… I I don't know what happened really. It was all so fast, she was yelling at Damon and then she tried to tackle him, and then she started shaking… and then I don't know. It's all a blur."
Her eyes became shiny as she struggled to contain her emotions.
"Hey, Hey, you did the best you could, I am sure she will be fine, Bon, okay?" He slid a comforting arm about her shoulder; she leaned into it and rested her head on his shoulder. A lone tear escaped and made its way down her cheek.
That was the way Jenna found them when she arrived breathless and panicking a few minutes later. She immediately went to the nurses' station to ask for news but was told to go back and wait in the waiting area. When she came back Bonnie was sitting up but clutched Jeremy's hand.
There was a swishing of the swinging doors as a man in scrubs came out.
He approached Jenna, "You are the guardian on Elena Gilbert?"
She huffed impatiently, of course he knew she was , it was a small town after all.
"Stan, what happened?"
He frowned as he gazed at his clipboard.
"Ms. Gilbert, does your niece have a history of drug use?" his gaze flickered to where Jeremy was sitting then back to Jenna."
It took her a second to comprehend what she was saying.
"What? What do you mean? Of course not! Why are you asking?"
The doctor paused a moment then forged ahead.
"Are you sure? Sometimes the family are the last to know something like this."
Jeremy stood up.
"No, no she is not, I would know if she was. Elena would never do anything like that! You know that!"
The man pursed his lips, "Tell me, has she ever had a history of seizure disorder? Is she taking any new medicines?"
"No, no she has never had anything like this happen to her before. No new medicine, nothing that could cause this." Jenna's voice rose from the stress,
"You have still not told me how she is doing. What happened, what is wrong with Elena?"
The doctor hesitated, "She is resting now, she seems to be fine, we will need to keep her to run tests and see what caused this episode, I have made arrangement for her to be examined by our neurologist in the morning, I do not see any reason you can't go in and see her."
"So you have no idea what is wrong." Jenna said flatly.
He looked down at the chart becoming absorbed in it; Jenna cleared her throat impatiently causing him to look up.
"Oh yes, you can go to the nurses' station they will direct you to her room." With that he backed through the doors and disappeared.
Jeremy was on his feet in a instant following Jenna .
Elena was laying in the bed, her face turned towards the window, her hair fanning out on the pillow.
"Hey there." Jenna approached the bed. Elena smiled and struggled to sit up the plasticized pillow slipping from behind her. Jeremy caught it and handed it back to her.
"How are you?" He asked awkwardly.
She shrugged, 'Muscles are a bit sore, other than that great. But they won't believe me." She turned to Jenna,
"When can I go home?"
Jenna smiled, "Not sure yet, they want to run a few more tests in the morning."
"Tests? I don't need tests, I want to go home."
Jenna took a breath, "Let's just wait and see what happens tomorrow, okay?"
Discontentedly she nodded, then turned as she saw her friend enter.
"Bonnie."
"Hey there!" She rushed over to give her friend a hug.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, they say I had a seizure or something, but I don't really remember it."
Bonnie smiled down at her friend, "Don't worry about it for now, just rest."
The rest of the day there was always someone by her bed, Caroline came and filled her in all the days news, she was to all outward appearance her bubbly self, but Elena could see a nagging worry in her eyes. When she tried to press her Caroline evaded, this was most unusual, Caroline could not keep a secret, everyone knew that, but she was keeping something from her. Elena frowned, she was determined to get to the bottom of this… tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to rest.
She slipped into a slumber, gradually her visitors left, Jenna being the last to leave when visiting hours were over.
When he knew she was alone Damon entered her room, managing to evade detection from nurses and staff. He swallowed, fighting the hunger that hospitals always gave him
The quiet hush of night surrounded him as he stood over her looking at the girl on the bed, lost in the moment, treasuring it. His hand stretched toward her face, then stopped short, a few inches from her face the hand caressed the outlines of her face close enough to feel the slight whisper of her breath on his hand. He could hear the beating of her heart, no it was more than that, it was deeper and more intimate, he could feel her heart beating almost as if it was his own. His breath hitched at the long forgotten sensation. There was a slight quiver of his sculpted face, "Ye Gods, what have I done?" He looked down at the sleeping girl, trying to fight off that which had been dawning on him, reality washing over him, he realized he would never be able to hold her close to him, the dreams he had entertained of being with her, they were forever out of his reach now. Even the simple pleasure of holding her hand was to be forever denied him, he would have to live with this endless yearning need for her.
His hands clenched spasmodically and he sank down in the chair beside her bed despair flooding him and engulfing him in its black depths.
On the bed Elena began to stir and moan, troubled. He could feel her agitation in response to his sorrow even though she was lost in the depths of sleep. He took a deep breath fighting to control his emotions as he backed away from her. He stopped at the entrance, watching as she quieted down. Then with a sigh he turned away from the girl on the bed and left the hospital. He fought the urge to turn back, to take one more look at the girl he had given his heart to. He knew he could not. For her to survive this he had to stay away from her. Ignore the part of him that would always yearn to return to her and find the piece of his heart he had left with her. To be near his saving grace.
He remembered how she had torn his walls down, tumbling them down as he fought to keep them up.
She filled his life like a ray of sun. She had redeemed him when all had thought it was a lost cause.
There was only one thing he could do for her beside putting as much distance as he could between them as he could. He was going to get his brother out of the tomb.
The road seemed long and endless as he turned onto it, oddly enough it was also blurry, quivering. A human might have thought they were looking out from eyes filled with unshed tears.