Your words are the blanket that keeps me warm,

When the night is cold enough to break me

-Sleeping at Last

#

Bonnie watched him sleep, saw the rise and fall of his chest, the gentle flutter of his long eyelashes. Her eyes drifted to the IV's strapped to his arms, the beeping monitors and her heart pounded faster.

'Kol," she whimpered, her fingers flying to her quivering lips.

Her fingertips traced the bandaged scar running down the left side of his injured face, trailed along every swell and mark on his face, his nose, his marred lips.

"What happened to him?" she asked Caroline as the other woman circled the bed, hand clutching her handbag.

"Drunk driver, the other guy wasn't so lucky" Caroline said glancing at Damon, her eyebrows furrowed" Elijah and Hayley were here earlier" she added, her eyes rushing back to Bonnie.

"He looks so peaceful, "Bonnie whispered, leaning down to kiss Kol's clammy forehead and she could almost feel Damon wince from across the room, his breath hastening.

"Thank you, "she told Caroline.

"I know he would've wanted you here" she nodded, her lips curling into a wry smile "I have to get back to Benaroya hall for rehearsals."

"Ok" Bonnie nodded glimpsing up at the blonde "I'll take care of him"

As soon as Caroline lumbered out of the room, Damon was by Bonnie's side, his eyes dancing on her weary face.

"Can I get you anything? "He asked, his fingers brushing through her hair, lifting a tangerine leaf from her tangled curls.

"You don't have to be here Damon" she said, moving to a beige chair closer to the cot.

"And let you creepy sleep-watch piano man alone?" he said, his feet shuffling on the granite floor, eyes trying to hold hers steady and failing miserably He was stirring continuously, his eyes rushing from the door to her, to Kol and then back to her.

"Besides, I'm a sucker for threesomes" his smirk was shy and hesitant.

They were both quiet, listening to the steady peep of the monitor, the announcements through the hospital intercom, rushing winds outside the window and clatter of shoes along the corridor. Damon kept leaving the room to get them coffee, bitter ink black coffee and crackers and whenever he came back, she found herself smiling patiently.

Bonnie didn't leave Kol's side, she didn't want to and so Damon didn't leave her side even though she protested against his awkward presence. She objected to their clumsy silence, his erratic pacing as he circled the room, hands dug deep into his pockets but a part of her found a strange comfort in his company.

##

Later, she was in Damon's bed, his fingers threading into her dark hair and her hand flat against his hard chest. It had felt odd leaving Kol there, alone in that hospital bed. If she could, she would've taken a cot next to his, been there when he woke up whenever that may be but she wasn't sure if he would have wanted her there beside him. She pressed her cheek against Damon chest and listening to his hammering heartbeat. His heaving chest mimicked his breathing apartment, old groaning pipes and creaking floorboards. His breathing was the lullaby that swayed her to sleep, wrapped up in his rocking arms. She shut her eyes and tried very hard not to think about Kol again.

#

Damon hated hospitals, loathed the cloying acrid smell of sick people and their medicine. It reminded him of his mother, trapped inside that stuffy bedroom at the farm, sick from her own sour smell.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the far wall, silver balloons dancing in front of his face. He watched her; she was a flicker of jittering lights, a blur of green neon with her John Lennon tee-shirt in the stark white hospital room.

It was day four and he was back in the infirmary observing her as she watched Kol. Damon didn't like the way her body angled towards piano man, the way her fingers tangled in his muddy blonde hair or the way her other hand was grasping the man's hand. He hated the insistent thud of his heart whenever she picked up Kol's hand to squeeze it.

Quit it Damon, he scolded himself. He was starting to behave like a rabid dog around a fire hydrant, marking his territory. Bonnie is not yours, he told himself, she doesn't belong to anyone and she's no damn fire hydrant.

Bonnie toyed with his Kol's hair, fingers coiled around different strands, her eyes fixed on him, waiting for any flicker of movement. Damon flinched every time she did that to Kol, lips pressed as he tried to steal her hand away from Kol's. Damon laced her fingers through her fingers and she turned to smile back at him.

He had gone to acquire more of that bitter cold coffee the hospital served, preparing to punish himself by watching her with Kol again when he stopped short at the door.

"He's awake" Bonnie called, lurching to her feet and leaning over Kol 'Damon-"she laughed glancing up at him. This time Damon didn't laugh with her because he knew her giddy smile and heady laughter were not meant for him. They were meant for the bruised man that had suddenly awoken from his too brief coma.

"Yeah, I'll get a doctor" he said soberly as she cradled Kol's face, kissing the top of his head. Damon's knees almost buckled when he finally moved, when he finally exhaled.

##

They waited outside the hospital room while the doctors examined Kol; the rest of the family had been summoned and was scattered around the waiting area. Elijah paced up and down the hallway, talking on his mobile phone while his wife thumbed through a tattered copy of Persuasion.

"Hey," Damon said squeezing her stiff shoulder.

"Hey" Bonnie replied, smiling vacantly and watching as Hayley stabbed out her cigarette, oblivious to the big no smoking sign hanging above them. Damon's hand quested down to her hand, his fingers laced with hers, palm against palm, beating pulse against beating pulse.

They were all on full alert as the doctor marched down toward them, white coat beating from his urgent steps. Damon could feel Bonnie's nerves as she clenched his hand tighter.

"You can see him now" the doctor announced and Damon stood up when Bonnie stood, his hand still locked in hers" and keep it brief. He's still tired"

Everybody moved gradually toward Kol's room and Bonnie trailed behind, her hand still clasped around Damon's, her breath heavy and anxious. Damon knew what she wanted, what she needed, he didn't need to look at her to know what she was thinking.

"Bonnie" Elijah held out his hand as he beckoned her to walk with them.

Just like that, she tore free from him, bolting down the corridor and Damon waited, waited for her to glance back, waited for her to toss her hair over her shoulder and smile at him, wave at him.

He waited.

Nothing.