"Damon!" Elena screams aloud as she wrenches open her eyelids. Panic begins to burst from every cell in her body. She doesn't know where she is, everything is dark and hazy. She pushes past the fire in her brain to latch onto the questions pervading her fuzzy perception and then she hears a familiar voice.

"Elena, it's Dad. Can you hear me?"

"Daddy? I can't see you?" An alarming look washes over Elena's face as she thrashes her arms out blindly for him.

"Calm down, please? I'm going to get the nurse...I'll be right back." John kisses her forehead and rushes out of the room.

An unsettling feeling begins welling inside of Elena.

Something's very wrong.

"Hello, Elena. I'm Dr. Joshua Parker. I specialize in neurosurgery."

"I can't see anything! What's the matter with me?" she cries out fearfully.

"You had a skating accident and hit your head. You have a blood clot in your brain."

"I can't see!" Elena's petrified as she frantically struggles to sit up.

"Listen, I know things are rather confusing for you right now but you need to calm down," Dr. Parker instructs her.

Elena grunts and lets her eyes fall closed as tears begin to slide down her cheeks.

John shuffles closer and holds a straw to her lips allowing her to take a swill from it. "I know it's hard but try to relax."

Elena shakes her head, hoping that this is some terrible nightmare that she'll wake up from.

"Here we have the first slice of the examination," Dr. Fell, the radiologist, points to the images of Elena's brain scan on the computer monitor.

On the other side of the glass, Elena lying in the MRI machine. She closes her eyes as fear and uncertainty make her chest ache.

"Through the base of the brain, we see some of the bony structures here. And the brain itself looks fine at this point. We're beginning to see a bit of abnormality with just a little swelling in this area around the optic nerve."

"What abnormality is that?" John asks as Liz looks on in silence.

"Here's the real problem. This white area represents a blood clot in the brain around the optic nerves. And this darker area around it represents some swelling of the brain tissue."

John swallows past the lump in his throat. "And...,"

"Here," he points to the spot on the screen. "We seem to be right in the middle of the blood clot here. It looks like it's a little smaller than it was in the prior study, a few days ago. So, there has been some lysis."

John shares a glance with Liz. "What is that?"

"That just means that it's dissolving. The body is taking care of it. I don't see any new clot." John explains and clicks on a previous scan.

"This was the one done the day that she came in and was injured. It's a bit bigger here on this first day," he states as he pulls up yet another scan. "And this, I believe, was three days later. And it's a little smaller then and it appears to be even smaller now. I don't see any new bleeding in the area," he pauses when the radiology tech helps Elena out of the MRI suite, and into a wheelchair.

"Hi, babe."

Elena feels a hand on her shoulder. "Daddy?"

"Is she blind or isn't she?" John asks in frustration as his grip on Elena tightens.

"When she first woke up from the coma she said all she saw was darkness. At least now she reports seeing some light and shadows. Usually this sort of thing either gets better or worse in a few days after the injury. After that, what you have is what you have."

John drops his eyes as he struggles to maintain his composure.

He sucks in a breath and locks eyes with Dr. Fell. "There's nothing to be done?"

"I'm sorry we couldn't do more. I understand she had a very promising career."

"Yes, she was very promising," Liz comments as she walks out.

"Elena? Honey, Kol's on the phone again," John calls through her bedroom door. "Come on, Elena, he just wants to know how you are."

"Tell him!" Elena calls out staring unseeingly at the sound of his voice.

John can't stand it any longer. He can't sit and watch her wallow in self-pity and throw her life away. She has challenges ahead, big ones but she has to learn to accept her new reality. Elena has barely left her room since he brought her home from Colorado.

"Goddamn it, I'm not talking through closed doors in my own house!" John bursts into the room. He sees her sitting in the corner, hunched up and staring at nothing.

"Tell him what?" John counters angrily.

"I said, tell him how I am. Tell him I can't see."

"Is that what you want? Tell him that you just sit here feeling sorry for yourself and you don't see?"

Elena looks up blindly but her eyes are burning with fury as she hisses, "Yes!"

The sun is high in the sky and there isn't a hint of clouds on the horizon. The trees are bare and snow-covered. John guides the snowmobile across his property with Elena's arms around him holding tight.

He pulls up to the pond, the one she loves so much. The frozen landscape is the perfect page awaiting new dancing feet. The pond is glimmering under the afternoon sunlight.

"Do you remember when you were a little girl and I'd tell you stories about this place?" John asks as he removes Elena's helmet.

"Kind of."

"Local legend has it that a giant hand had scooped out a gash of rock eons ago. Then a great heap of argent-silver was molded and poured into it...your mom believed it..."

"Don't, Daddy."

John stares at her and his heart is breaking. He needs to find a way to make Elena believe that her life can still be meaningful and rewarding.

"It's still a pretty place, Elena. If you shut your eyes you can put together a pretty good picture of this place."

"I want to go home."

An axe thwacks down on a wood log, splitting it neatly in two. The halves are left on the ground.

In a growing woodpile, John is sweating from the exertion and looks exhausted. His hair is uncombed and his beard is matted.

Sheila approaches him with two bags of groceries wedged under her arms. John glances over at her but makes no move to help.

One of the bags gives way. Cans of vegetables, boxes of pasta, and fresh apples roll in every direction. Sheila plops the remaining bag on the ground and moves quietly to John who is so preoccupied with his chopping that he doesn't hear her approach.

She steps in behind him and gives him a shove while he's bent over.

John jumps in surprise. "Never do that to a man holding an axe in his hand," he grits out angrily.

"I thought maybe I could get a little help. A week's worth of food is lying all over the place," Sheila growls right back at him.

John says nothing. He raises the axe above his head and slams it down powerfully sending wood chips flying.

"John, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Sheila asks angrily as she steps back to brush the wood off of her. "What's the matter with you? Are you drunk?"

Ignoring her, he continues to split log after log.

"Stop it now and help me pick up these groceries so we can take them in the house."

"Let me just finish this." John makes a show of his irritation.

"Oh, sure-I'll just wait for you to chop enough wood to heat the city."

Finally, he lowers the axe and turns to face. "You go up to her room. What do you talk about?" he asks, desperate for something, anything.

"We watch TV."

"But she can't see it," John counters as he sets another log on the block.

"She listens, and I watch."

"I don't know what to do with her or how to help her." John shakes his head. "Elena says, 'What's the point of graduating from high school?' The least she can do is graduate. Right?"

"John."

"You're a great, goddamn help, Sheila. If you hadn't filled her with all that crap about letting her go. Well, I did and look what happened."

"Don't you dare go there, John!" Sheila's fuse is lit this time. "You sitting out here on the farm hanging on to her like some damn porcelain doll!"

John stares at Sheila for a moment, letting her words sink in. "I just want her to be okay," he says defeatedly.

Sheila sighs and moves to give him a hug.

"Maybe it is my fault, I don't know, I don't care. I just don't want it to be like this." He stares blankly for a few moments before stooping over to help pick up the groceries.

"John, her whole world has been upended. I think it's only natural for her to feel this way and lash out."

"She's all there is," he says over his shoulder as he opens the door and waits for Sheila to enter the house.

"What the hell do you want from me, Bonnie?" Damon demands shortly, guiltily, "I'm only human. I can't be everywhere and everything. I'm doing the best I can."

"I'm not saying that," Bonnie tells him. "Don't put words in my mouth."

"Then what are you saying?"

"I miss my friend, that's all." Bonnie looks away for a moment. "I miss our lives together before Elena went away. I just want things to go back to how they were. She talks to Grams but she won't talk to me."

Damon's throat closes at her response and he aches at his very core, wanting so much to give her what she's asking for but knowing at the same time it is impossible.

"Bonnie, I can't make this situation better," he begins tentatively, "Elena made her choice. But I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, at least for now. I need to decide what to do with my life."

"Elena is grief-stricken and angry about what's happened to her. We need to get her back."

"Damn it, Bonnie, what do you want me to do?" Damon cries, "Elena changed and forgot to tell me."

"I know you're mad at her. You have every right to be but I know you still care."

"I have to leave?" Damon states as he slides out of the booth. "Do you need a ride?"

"No," Bonnie shakes her head. "I'm not ready to leave yet."

His eyes linger for a millisecond before he pushes the door open, steps out into the cold night air, and walks away.

Sheila raises her hand and raps on the door. "Elena?" she asks as she twists the knob and opens it, surprised that she's not in there.

Backing out of the room, she notices that the attic door is open. Quietly she mounts the stairs where she finds Elena sitting on the floor in front of an open box of her mother's things.

"Let's go downstairs. Elena, you've got to get out of here."

"Leave me alone!" Elena hisses.

"Poor Elena Gilbert, she was so promising. Now she just sits in the attic and rocks in a corner."

"Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?" Elena screams with her back to Sheila. Sucking her lip between her teeth, she rocks almost imperceptibly. She hates feeling inept and she knows finding a new way of interacting with the world will be rough.

Elena's broken several glasses and plates already. She's tripped and crashed into furniture. Feeling like a failure, Elena berates herself for slipping on her ice skates that evening. She's tired of crying...If only she had stayed at the party, none of this would be happening.

"I'll tell you who the hell I am. I'm a woman who runs a goddamn bowling alley and a pathetic excuse for an ice rink. And I come up here and I look at you. And I see...God, I see so much promise yet, Elena. You have so much life waiting to be lived. You don't have to be a helpless invalid, you're choosing to be one."

"Shut up!"

"No, I won't shut up. Nobody's going to blame a helpless invalid for giving up. Was the pressure too much for you? Is that why you made that jump? Did you want to find a way out?" Sheila taunts her.

"Son of a bitch!" Elena growls. Her hair is disheveled and her eyes are wild. She strikes out at Sheila with her fists.

Sheila wraps her arms around her and pulls her to the floor. They struggle for a few minutes before the fight goes out of Elena.

"Pretty tough for someone who is blind and five foot tall."

"I'm almost 5-foot-6," Elena looks up with tear-filled eyes. "I got tired of listening to those people touching me and talking about me like I was nothing more than the newest shiny object. I wanted to get away so I went outside to skate. It was an accident, Sheila. I didn't mean to hurt myself."

Wrapping Elena in her arms, Sheila presses a kiss to her hair. "It's all right, Elena. It doesn't matter. We just want you back. We love you."

She rocks Elena in her arms as she strokes her back.

"Please, Elena, come back to us."

"Same old pond. I cleaned it out for you with a snow shovel. And it's plenty thick so you don't have to worry about that," John explains to Elena as he walks with her through the snow.

"All I'm worried about is standing up, not falling through the ice," Elena replies as she clings to his arm.

"Well, you go, I go. Isn't that how it works?" John chuckles.

"Ha, ha, Daddy." Elena rolls her eyes.

"Just let me try to pull you along a little bit, okay?" He takes her hands in his and walks backward as he guides her toward the ice.

For as long as she can remember, Elena's wanted to be a skater. She remembers the frisson of joy she felt every time the metal of her blades hit the ice.

"Yeah, that's it," John assures her. "Now come on, you're making more of this than is necessary."

"I'm scared," Elena admits, gripping his hands tightly as they step onto the ice.

"There's no point to be scared. Old Daddy has you."

"This is fun," Elena tells him. "Being with you."

"Well, yeah, I'm more liable to fall than you. Okay, let's turn around and try to I'm going to pull you a little bit. Okay?" John explains and starts to tug gently on her hands.

"Now, hold onto me so I don't fall," Elena retorts anxiously.

"Okay. Nothing to it," he smiles as they glide around the pond. She's a natural. "You skate like you've done this before. Have you?" John teases.

"Not recently," Elena laughs as she moves with her dad's guidance.

"Careful there," John pauses slightly at a dip in the ice.

"I should tie my laces, so you won't trip over them." Elena lets go with one hand and stoops down. Once she has her balance she releases her dad's hand and ties up her skates.

Taking John's hands again, they start to move again.

"See, nothing to it."

"Dad, it's scary."

"Am I going too fast?" His voice trails off when he catches the approach of a young man.

"Dad?"

"Do you want to try it again?"

Elena nods.

"Come on, pick up some speed now," John encourages her. "You're doing good, heading towards the edge..." John steps back when Damon nods at him.

"Dad?" Elena asks anxiously.

"Here. There's a hand in front of you. Grab it."

"What are you doing here?" Elena blurts out.

"I came to see you break your ass," Damon responds as she grabs onto his hand.

Elena pauses for several moments before reaching out and taking it.

"You know this pond by heart. You could skate it in the dark with your eyes closed."

"It's hard...I keep... The pond is tilted. I keep trying to see the edge," Elena states in frustration as she skates with Damon.

"Well...try shutting your eyes. Just get the feel of the ice. Find your balance."

"Damon?"

"Keep coming. Don't act helpless with me. Come on, keep working... That's right. Follow me," Damon stays close so he can catch her if she stumbles. "Don't make me control you. Feel where I'm going. Just skate, don't be so stiff. Feel the ice. Right. Left. Right. Left. Do you feel the turn?"

"Damon."

"I'm going to go around you. Give me your hand."

"I'm all right where I am," Elena contends, staring in the direction of his voice.

"Don't lean so much. Stand up straight. We're going to turn around. Come on, turn, I've got you. I've got you," Damon assures her. "That's it," he tells her as she complies.

"Now, we're going to glide... That's it. Ready? Glide. Just glide."

Elena smiles gingerly as she slowly moves on the ice, her instincts taking over.

"You got this. Now do an axel."

"No!"

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Damon, I can't," Elena protests.

"Don't give me that. You're going to set up."

"No! What are you doing?"

"We'll go around again so you can pick up some speed and do an axel."

"Shut up!"

"You're gutless."

"You bastard," Elena hisses, her face contorted in anger.

"Can't you do it without the TV cameras?" Damon taunts as she takes off from the outside edge of one skate and rotates in the air before crashing into a heap onto the frozen pond.

"You shouldn't have opened your eyes," Damon surmises.

"I hate you. I really hate you," Elena seethes.

"I guess that makes us even."

Elena's head is down, her hair forming a curtain around her face.

"Well, are you going to sit there and get your ass all wet?" Damon asks as he skates to her and lowers his hand.

Elena strikes out, knocking it away.

"I don't need your hand to help me up," she snaps at him and stands unassisted.

"Do you want to quit?"

Despite everything, Damon thinks about her day, and at night, she stays in his dreams.

Silence lingers as he watches her and finally, she speaks.

"Why are you doing this?"

Thank you all for reading and reviewing. You're all the best!

Thanks to Eva, Kate, O, Sarah and Jarka. Love you all.

Have a wonderful day and take care. TQR next.