Chapter 97: How to Save a Life
September 21, 2011
Sleep had not come easily for Ellie after the bomb was dropped by Jeremy. In fact, sleep fought her tooth and nail to stay as far away from her as possible. It was only when she'd crawled into the bed with her younger brother and cried herself sick that she won the battle and succumbed to a mercifully dreamless sleep. When the sun snuck through the crack in Jeremy's curtain, Ellie woke up still feeling sick from the night before. She wanted Elijah, or Katherine, or even Hayley. She couldn't bear to seek comfort from Caroline, who she knew didn't know the truth. There was no way that Caroline knew. If she had known, she would have never kept it from Ellie.
She made her way out of Jeremy's bed without waking him. Despite the pain she felt clawing in her chest at the loss of Bonnie, it had been Jeremy sobbing into her shoulder in regret from lying to everyone that had nearly been too much for her. As she made way into the kitchen, she found Jenna already there. "Hey, Ellie." She said gently as she passed a cup of coffee toward Ellie. "How are you feeling?"
Could she even have coffee while pregnant? "I'm not feeling the coffee today, Jen." Ellie said as she pushed the coffee back toward Jenna and instead opted for a glass of water. She rubbed her stomach absentmindedly as she drank. It felt weird to be home when she'd spent as much time as she had at home in New Orleans. This house felt like a piece of her past rather than a safe haven. As she scanned the kitchen, it felt like her mind short circuited as the past and present blended together. Kol's screams bounced around her brain as the heat of the flames licked at her skin. What would he have said had about all of this? She felt an odd longing for him and his wittiness. It would have been a comfort to have him with her.
As Ellie stood leaning against the counter, drowning in her own thoughts, she failed to notice Jenna. The older girl's gaze was locked onto her niece with a curious expression as she noted the way Ellie was holding onto her stomach. She watched for a long moment before she broke the silence. "Ellie?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
It was enough to bring the witch back into the present as she tore her gaze away from the place where Kol died to look at her aunt. "What are you talking about?"
The now cold coffee that remained untouched set off warning bells in Jenna's mind as she glanced down. She took a moment to piece things together in her mind. She was never one for speaking thoughtlessly over potentially important topics. But she was a psychologist. It was her job to notice all of the small things and put together what it meant. "I'm gonna need you to be really honest with me, Ellie, ok?"
Frowning, Ellie replied, "Yeah, of course."
"Are you pregnant?" Had their lives been any other way, had it not been for the absolute insanity of vampires and werewolves and witches and doppelgängers and ghosts, she would have never even thought to ask. Ellie was with Elijah, who was a vampire… who was the vampire, and vampires couldn't have babies. But she knew. She knew the way Ellie was standing. Miranda had done the exact same thing for nearly her entire pregnancy with Jeremy.
If it wasn't for her quick recovery, Ellie's glass would have slipped straight out of her hands in shock. "What are you talking about Jenna?" She didn't want to lie to her aunt, but she wasn't ready. But when would she ever be ready? Would it be before or after the baby arrived?
Jenna placed down her cup and stared intently at her niece. "That thing that you're doing with your hand on your stomach, that is exactly what your mom used to do while she was pregnant with Jeremy." Jenna explained. "You refused your cup of coffee, which you never do because I swear you and Jeremy live on more caffeine than I do, and you've been gone for weeks with no real explanation other than the reassurance that you're alive and well. But there's something off, something different about you. I know it."
When did Jenna become so observant? "Sabrina's pregnant?" Damon and Jeremy were standing in the doorway looking completely confused. "How?" Ellie watched as Damon's eyes dropped down to her stomach as his brows furrowed. Something shifted in his expression, a hint of softness, and she knew he heard the heartbeat. "Well I'll be damned, Sabrina. How the fuck did that happen? Who's the baby daddy?"
"Elijah." She replied with a heavy sigh.
"Uh… that's not how that works." Damon sassed. "Dead dudes don't make babies."
"You don't think I know that dumbass?" Ellie retorted. "I don't know, ok? I'm trying to figure that bit out but Elijah's the only man I've ever been with, and it's not like I'm some reincarnated Virgin Mary."
Jeremy looked baffled, but also a little amused. "I mean, you might be." He replied. "Why do you have that expression on your face?" He asked after he noticed it.
"You guys don't think I'm lying?" Ellie asked softly.
"Think you're lying about what?" Jenna asked in an equally soft tone. "About being pregnant or about Elijah being the father?" When Ellie's eyes watered, Jenna swooped in hugging Ellie tightly. In truth, Ellie hadn't even been aware that she was afraid that they thought she was a liar, but now that fear felt like a black hole inside of her, threatening to consume her. "Ellie, we know you'd never lie about something like that." She assured her. "I'm sure whatever caused the pregnancy, you're going to get to the bottom of it."
"Fucking pregnancy hormones." She swore. The knot in Ellie's stomach didn't ease in the slightest at Jenna's comfort. "God, Caroline is going to kill me when she finds out that she isn't the first to know." Ellie groaned.
Jenna's phone went off from somewhere upstairs, breaking the tension. "Shit, I'll be right back." She pressed a kiss to Ellie's cheek and said, "It's going to be ok, Ellie." With that, she rushed to get her phone before it went to voicemail.
It was then that Jeremy moved toward his sister, hugging her firmly. "Congratulations, Ellie." He told her kindly. "I've got to get changed, but I'll be right back." She tried to not let his quick exit bother her. She felt on edge still, but she said nothing as he also left. She didn't know what she would say even if she tried.
As Jeremy also moved to go back upstairs, Ellie found herself alone with Damon. "You alright there, Sabrina?" Damon questioned. "You look like you're gonna pass out."
For a moment, she didn't respond. But then she looked over to him and he looked so startlingly sincere that the words just started to spill out of her. "I don't have time to pass out and I don't have time to keep complaining about the fact that I have no idea how the hell I got pregnant or where to even begin to find out what happened to me. Just like I don't have time to think about the fact that my family in New Orleans is on the brink of a war but I had to come home to save Elena, again, only to find out that one of my best friends is… one of my best friends is dead and I don't know what to do or how to bring her back, Damon, and I can't… I can't keep losing people that I love Damon-"
Damon moved forward, pulling the teary eyed witch into his arms. "Hey, hey, hey, listen, you need to breathe ok?" He told her. "We're gonna bring back Bonnie. We're gonna protect Elena. We're gonna kill Silas and then you're gonna get to go back to your lover boy and have your happy family. Ok?" He was rubbing soothing patterns onto her back, waiting for her pulse to slow.
"I thought you hated me." Ellie mumbled, though she did not pull away from him.
He snorted slightly. "I could say the same about you, Sabrina."
He let her pull away on her own time, and she couldn't help the swell of affection she felt for him. "Maybe there is something in you that explains Stefan's insistence on your redemption." Ellie joked as she looked up at him. "I like you better like this." It was easier to joke with him than express her gratitude over the unexpected kindness.
"Like what?"
"Not so up Elena's ass." Ellie shrugged.
Damon made no move to respond to her comment. Instead he asked, "So what do you think happened to end up with your magical miracle baby?"
"I don't know, Damon. I really don't. Where do I even start to find out what happened to me?"
He took a long moment to think it through. "Surely there's some sort of spell to check and see if someone cast a bunch of hocus pocus on you, right? What else could be the cause if not magic?"
With so much constantly happening in New Orleans, she hadn't even thought about it. "That's not a bad idea. I'm sure Esther would have something of the sort. But do you have any idea how much magic I would need to trace something that far back? I don't even know how far along I am." Ellie replied. "But that's not the priority. Bringing Bonnie back is. She died to bring back Jeremy. If anyone should have pulled that stunt it should have been me."
Damon waved her off. "Nope. We're not going down the self-sacrificing route, Sabrina. Especially not when you're pregnant." He reminded her. "But, I've decided we're not telling Elena. Not until Bonnie is back at least."
Ellie nodded in agreement. She didn't really have it in her to pick a fight on it. But she also didn't particularly want to talk to Elena if she didn't have to. "How did Bon even bring Jeremy back in the first place? What exactly did she do?"
"She used her Expression magic." Jeremy explained as he walked back into the kitchen now fully dressed. "She did it before she closed the Veil, so when she died and I came back, she didn't know she'd died at first. But because the Veil was down, she was still able to use her magic to close it." He looked uncomfortable talking about it as he kept glancing somewhere past Ellie, closer toward the back door.
"We're going to need a lot of magic to bring Bonnie back. Resurrection is not an easy feat. It would be easiest to have a magical power source to channel." Ellie explained.
"Like a two thousand year old immortal dying?" Damon suggested.
"You wanna use Silas' death to bring back Bonnie?" Ellie questioned curiously. "But Silas is immortal and Elena is the cure. We have no idea how much of her blood he would need to cure himself." Ellie reminded. "She is somewhere safe, correct?"
Damon paused to give her a look before saying, "Of course she's safe. I'm the only one who knows where she is anyways." Ellie rolled her shoulder back slightly as some sort of magic moved within her range. She glanced over her shoulder, half expecting something to be behind her, but nothing was there. "You alright, Sabrina?"
"I'm fine. It must have been the air kicking on or something." Ellie replied dismissively. It was either that or her being paranoid. Because just as quickly as the presence was there, it was gone, leaving her to wonder if it had ever been there at all. "But, aside from not telling Elena, I will not keep this from Caroline." Damon opened his mouth to respond, but she gave him a firm look. "I will not lie to Caroline. I already have to tell her I'm pregnant anyways."
"Fine. But she can't tell Elena."
"Fine." Ellie agreed easily. Caroline could keep it a secret, for now at least. The tasks at hand were forming a quick list in her brain. Find Caroline and tell her about the magical miracle baby and Bonnie, find a way to bring Bonnie back to life, find Katherine and figure out why the hell she hasn't responded in days, and stop Silas. Going back to New Orleans was already starting to sound like a luxury. At least if it came down to war with Marcel or the witches, they didn't have the kind of power Silas did. "I'm gonna get changed and head to Caroline's." No one stopped her as she headed up to her room.
It felt… strange to be back. She'd only been gone a little while, but even before her departure from Mystic Falls, she'd spent so much time with Elijah that her bedroom felt like a relic. It felt as if the room had been perfectly preserved, a reminder of the cheerleader that had only ever wanted to be special. The cheerleader that wanted to go to college with Caroline and be roommates and get drunk and party and fall in love with someone that would make life in small town Virginia not so boring. At least part of that fantasy had come true. She had Elijah.
Ellie sat down on the edge of her bed as she picked up an old photo. It was of her and Caroline from a summer camp in middle school that they had downright begged their parents to let them go to. Both of them were beaming in their matching swimsuits and Ellie grinned in fondness. They'd still had their braces back then. Nothing bad had ever happened to them, not yet. The odd longing in her chest was uncomfortable. Would her child have time to know peace like she had? Or would it always be a war?
It was a thought for another day and she pushed it aside to get dressed. She was pulling on her tennis shoes when someone knocked on her door. "Sabrina, you covered?"
"Yeah." Damon let himself into the room and Ellie watched him with interest. He seemed to suck less than he had before she'd left, but that didn't explain what he wanted with her. "What is it, Damon?"
"Look, you've been gone, so you don't know what it's been like back here, ok? Silas has the entire town on the lookout for Elena so that he can get to her, to get to the cure. You need to head straight to Caroline's. Don't stop for anything, ok?"
She snorted softly. "Careful Damon, you almost sound like you care."
He rolled his eyes before replying, "Stefan would kill me if something happened to you and your little bun in the oven. I'm just saving my own ass."
"How is he?"
"Physically, fine. But he doesn't remember any of us. He probably likes Tessa better than us anyways." Damon scoffed. It clearly bugged him, but he was trying to act like it didn't. "Just be careful, ok?"
"Want me to make a pinky promise?" She asked curiously, holding out her pinky to him.
He linked his pinky with hers before offering his hand to pull her up. "Just get going will you? The sooner you're done chit chatting with blondie the sooner we can figure out how to save Bonnie." Damon replied.
"Sounds like a plan." Ellie shot back. Ellie headed back down stairs and grabbed her bag before pressing a firm kiss to Jeremy's head. "I'll be back." She was out of the house before anyone could say anything else. She was trying not to think about anything. But her thoughts kept creeping in. Ellie pushed them away violently, but her heart nearly stopped as her phone went off. "Hello?"
"You sound tense, my love." Hearing Elijah's voice felt like sinking into a warm bath after the world's worst day.
"God I miss you." Ellie replied immediately.
"I miss you too." He told her gently. "How are you?"
"Tense." She said casually. He laughed at her tone before she added, "I'm going to see Caroline. I have to tell her about… well about the magical miracle baby of ours."
"And your sister?"
"Safe, for now. Silas wants her though, but Damon seems to have successfully hidden her for now." Ellie replied.
"What is it?"
She made an amused noise, completely unsurprised that he knew far too much. "Jenna, Jer, and Damon know I'm pregnant now."
"Damon?"
"He was at the house and apparently I act like my mom when she was pregnant. Jenna is surprisingly observant sometimes."
Elijah hummed slightly. "I've learned not to doubt anyone you hold in high esteem."
"How's everything back home?"
"It is the same as it was when you left it. Rebekah had taken it upon herself to get Hayley out of the house. They went quite a few hours outside of New Orleans since you and Hayley are no longer bound to Sophie Deveraux. She seemed to be in a significantly improved mood when they returned." Elijah made no mention of Ellie calling New Orleans 'home' nor did he mention the rush of pleasure it gave him.
"That's good. Hayley needed it." It helped her guilt of getting to leave when Hayley hadn't been able to do anything other than be stuck in that ridiculously large mansion. "How did Klaus react to that?"
"It's Klaus." Elijah said simply. "He reacted as expected, but that was after she'd already returned home so there wasn't much he could do." They talked until Ellie pulled into Caroline's driveway and her anxiety skyrocketed. "You're going to be fine." Elijah's voice broke the silence and she looked down at her phone in surprise.
"What?"
"You got quiet, darling. It's going to be fine." Elijah soothed. "Caroline loves you. It will be fine."
"Thanks. I really needed that." Ellie said softly. "I should go, shouldn't I?"
"You should."
"I love you."
"I love you too." Elijah replied. She hung up reluctantly before doing a sweep with her magic. She'd gotten better at using it to sense regular people as well as those that had magic inside of them. Finding no one around, she got out of her car and knocked on Caroline's door. The blonde was there in an instant and Ellie watched as her face lit up.
"Ellie!" Caroline squealed. "Oh my god!" She practically hauled Ellie inside with glee. "When did you get back? Where have you been? What's going on? Why do you look like that?" The last question was asked with a concern that overwhelmed her expression as she looked over Ellie. "What's wrong?"
The witch cursed how observant Caroline was. She was prepared for small talk and working her way up to explaining everything, but it seemed that everyone was reading her like an open book today. "Care…"
All excitement drained from Caroline's face. "Ellie what's going on?"
Delicately, she reached for the blonde. "You're going to need to sit down, Care."
"I don't want to sit down. What's going on?"
"Caroline-"
"What's going on?"
"I don't know how to say it." Ellie confessed softly. Her heart was in her throat and she wasn't sure if the urge to vomit came from the pregnancy and morning sickness, or from what she had to tell Caroline.
"Just tell me." Caroline assured her. "I'm sure that whatever it is we can-"
"Bonnie's dead." Ellie immediately regretted saying it the way that she did, but there was no real way to soften the blow. She watched as Caroline stumbled back slightly. "Caroline…"
Ellie's heart twisted at the grief in Caroline's expression. "No… how? She emailed me the other day. How did it happen? When? When did you find out?" She reached for Ellie then as she slid down the wall. Ellie fell with her as she tried not to cry. "Ellie?"
"Since Jeremy came back."
She might as well have hit Caroline. "That was months ago, Ellie."
"I know."
"She was at graduation. We hugged her. We saw her."
"The Veil was still down." Ellie said gently. "The Expression magic needed to bring Jeremy back was too much for her. Jeremy only told me last night. He's been lying for her this whole time." Caroline was on her feet and pacing faster than Ellie's brain could process it. "We're going to bring her back. Caroline, breathe, we are going to bring her back."
"How?"
Ellie reached out, pushing Caroline's hair away from her face. "We're going to bring her back. I am going to bring her back. We're going to kill Silas and use his death to bring her back."
"What?"
"It's Damon's plan. But I think it could work. It has to work." Ellie replied.
Caroline looked sick. "Silas is immortal. How the hell are we supposed to kill him?"
"We give him the cure."
"He'll kill Elena."
"We don't know that."
"We don't not know it, Ellie!" Caroline insisted. "We can't lose Elena too." Ellie fought violently against the urge to panic. Elena would survive. She had to.
Ellie grabbed Caroline's face, forcing her to look at her. The other girl was hyperventilating and all the color had drained from her face. "Caroline…" Ellie's plea didn't register as Caroline's hands began to shake. She needed something to snap Caroline out of the spiral. It felt like a physical pain to see Caroline so distressed. "Caroline, I'm pregnant."
The response was instantaneous. Caroline stopped breathing entirely as her eyes went wide. "What?" Her response was so quiet that Ellie almost couldn't hear her. She looked up at Ellie with a look of shock and disbelief. "What?" Her gaze dropped down to Ellie's stomach and the witch could have sworn that she could hear her own blood rushing in her ears. Her eyes softened as she reached out gently for Ellie's stomach. "What? How?"
Ellie let Caroline push her hand against her stomach, searching for a baby bump that wasn't there yet. "That is something I've yet to figure out. But I couldn't keep this from you." Caroline looked like she was in awe.
"This is why you disappeared off the face of the earth? Because you're pregnant?" Caroline whispered.
That was the understatement of the century. "Among other things." Ellie replied. She couldn't bear to get into the details of everything happening in New Orleans just then.
"Elijah's gonna be a dad." Caroline said suddenly as her expression contorted into something between amusement and confusion. Ellie silently wondered if having that sharp of a mood change that quickly was normal, or healthy, but she made no comment on it. It did the job she needed it to do. "God, that man in his expensive suits changing dirty diapers. Can you even imagine?" The image blossomed in Ellie's mind as she said it. Of course, it wasn't exactly as Caroline phrased it. She saw Elijah in their room, his jacket long discarded and his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbow with the first few buttons undone. She could see him with their baby on a changing table as he spoke to the baby softly in his native tongue. She could see their baby cooing up at him as he held them close. She could see it almost perfectly, all of it and it was a very attractive image. It would definitely be something she tucked away for later.
Caroline must have seen the way she lost herself in thought with the way she was grinning at Ellie. "It's a pretty picture. It's not like he can't afford to get a new suit if he messes one up." She shrugged as she tried to maintain a neutral expression. "Would you shut up?"
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face did and you know it." Ellie shot back. "But, I know everything is kind of going to hell right now, but I was wondering…" Ellie paused. It was probably not the best time to even be thinking about asking, but at the same time Caroline needed something to break through the grief. They both did.
"Wondering what?"
"I was wondering if you'd be the baby's godmother." Ellie confessed. "I know it's really early and godmother is kind of an outdated thing because I don't even think I've met anybody with a god parent or whatever but at the same time-"
The blonde had thrown her arms around Ellie, effectively cutting the other girl off. "Are you serious?" Caroline asked. "What kind of question is that? Of course!" Ellie could almost see the determination sinking into Caroline. "We're gonna kill Silas, bring back Bonnie, and then throw a baby shower damn it." Ellie knew that Caroline was forcing her happier emotions to the forefront so that she didn't have to drown in the grief of finding out about what happened to Bonnie. But she's told Caroline for that exact reason. They needed something to hold onto until they could get Bonnie back.
Ellie wasn't sure how long she and Caroline had sat going over everything when it felt like her throat was closing in on her. She wasn't sure what alerted Caroline to her distress. Was it the spike in her heart rate as she began to panic? Or was it the hand clasped over her throat as she tried, and failed, to get air into her lungs. "Ellie? Ellie what's happening?" Caroline asked frantically as she rushed to Ellie's aid. "Ellie, breathe!"
Her pleas did nothing to help. The words fell on deaf ears as Ellie's vision swam. At first, it was a whiteness that danced at the edge of her vision and she watched, helplessly, as the color drained from her surroundings. She blinked once, twice, hoping for her vision to return. It was on the third blink, slower than the rest, that she could see. But it was no longer Caroline's familiar and comforting home that she saw. Where was she? Panic was pooled low in her gut, like a snake coiling around her insides. She looked around quickly, trying to take in her surroundings.
The pounding of her heart was violent but she didn't have time to dwell on the matter as she took off running. Why was she running? There was a bang from somewhere behind her as she took off up a set of stairs. Stairs? Caroline didn't have stairs in her house. Where was she? "Come out, come out wherever you are." A familiar voice drawled.
She was going to puke. How did he find her? She shakily took out her phone, dialing the number one on speed dial. As it rang, she tried to keep quiet, but her scream echoed as the door ripped open to reveal Stefan. "No! No!" She ducked out of the way as he tried to grab her and she took off back down the steps, two at a time.
"You can run but you can hide!" He was practically singing the words. This didn't feel like Stefan. Why would she be so afraid of him? "Why don't you just let me get this over with already? It's not like I want to be anywhere near you. With your freaky clone face of the love of my life. You're a sad wannabe version."
The kitchen. There were weapons in the kitchen. She grabbed the largest knife in the block as soon as she could reach it. "Stay away from me!" She growled, but she couldn't hide the way her voice shook ever so slightly.
Stefan… not Stefan, grinned at her. "You think that's gonna stop me? I'm immortal." He retorted easily. It was the tone one would use with a child that was doing something stupid. "Let's not make this harder than it has to be." To his surprise, she lunged toward him, sinking the knife into the hilt in his shoulder. She took off, trying to get to the rest of the weapons as his surprise stunned him. She didn't have a car, no real means of escape, and she'd dropped her phone upstairs. "You little bitch." His words dripped with venom as she ran.
She was so close to the closet when a firm hand caught her in a bruising grip. "No, no, please…" Her voice cracked as she tried to pull away from him. "You don't have to do this, please."
He gave her an almost gentle look. "Yes, I do." He told her simply. "I also told you to not make this harder than it had to be, Elena." Her scream echoed in the empty space as his teeth sunk into her throat painfully.
"Ellie!" Caroline's scream broke Ellie out of… whatever it was that she'd just witnessed. As the air rushed back into Ellie's lungs, the panic followed.
"We have to go."
"Ellie what just happened?"
"We have to go right now, Caroline. Right now! Call Damon!" Ellie didn't waste time to explain what was going on. They had to get to Elena. She practically shoved Caroline into the car as she dialed Damon frantically.
On the second ring, Damon's familiar voice came through the line. "Mystic Falls' sexiest vampire speaking. How may I be of assistance to you on this fine day?"
She was speaking over him before he'd even finished his sentence. "He knows where she is, Damon." She told him frantically. "He's going to kill her."
"Wait, what? What are you talking about, Sabrina?"
"Silas! He knows where she is!"
"What?" Damon's voice rose an octave.
"He's going to kill Elena. We need to get to the lake house right now! I saw it! I saw him!"
She could hear him rustling around from the other end. "Where? When?"
"I don't know! It was like a vision or something. I was with Caroline and then I was Elena. She was trying to call someone for help. She tried to fight but it wasn't enough." Ellie was trying to keep her voice from shaking, but she wasn't sure she'd been able to do it well. "How else would I know where she was Damon?"
"Son of a bitch." He hissed. "Jeremy! We've got to go! Right now!" She could faintly hear both Jeremy and Jenna shouting in the background, but she paid no mind to it. She also tried to not overthink the way she was driving much too fast on one of the backroads that barely got any traffic anymore. Had she not been pregnant, she would have driven faster. "How far out are you? When did it happen?"
"The vision thing was less than five minutes ago, but I don't know if he's found her yet. I don't know how far out I am." She replied. "Get there Damon." She hung up without another word. She couldn't stand to listen to Damon's panic when she could barely force herself to think rationally. She wanted Elijah. Caroline, god bless her, didn't say a word as Ellie drove.
Things with Elena had, obviously, been absolute garbage when Ellie had left for New Orleans. She'd been angry with Elena, she still was truth be told and she didn't think that her anger was unjustified. But there was a very large difference between being angry with Elena and allowing her sister to get murdered. Especially not by Silas. When they arrived at the lake house, Ellie knew immediately that something was very wrong. "Ellie?"
"Elena!" Ellie's shout was muffled as Damon's car screeched to a stop behind her.
The duo raced inside and Ellie didn't allow herself time to process the destroyed house. "No!" Damon's yell echoed through the house. "Elena!" Ellie rushed into the hall and dropped to her knees beside Damon as he looked at Elena in horror. "She has no pulse. No, no, no, damn it!" Ellie watched as he bit viciously into his wrist, shoving the blood into Elena's unresponsive mouth.
Do something. Do something. Do something.
The thought bounced around in her brain the longer Elena didn't respond to Damon's blood. "Lay her down."
"What?"
"I said lay her down!" Ellie snapped and practically shoved Damon out of the way to get to Elena. Her magic felt like fire in her veins, coiled tightly and ready to snap. She had no idea what she was doing. She had no spells on hand. No idea of what she was doing. It was raw desperation. She could feel as her magic crept into Elena and she willed Elena's heart to start again. Ellie visualized the blood pumping through Elena's body, steady and strong. She pictured her heart pumping and the air filling her lungs. In and out. In and out. Consistent. Alive.
She could feel Damon's presence, almost overwhelming next to her. Jeremy, Jenna, and Caroline were inches away waiting silently. All of them standing there where no hope or prayer could do anything to make a difference. All of them waiting with baited breath for Ellie to pull off the impossible. All of them waiting for one more miracle. Ellie pushed the thought of them out of her mind. Nothing else mattered. She just needed Elena alive. She hated her sometimes, she really did. But god she had lost too many people. She had watched her sister die once and even at their worst, the thought of losing her again felt like Ellie might die herself. For one more painful moment, there was nothing. And then something snapped, like a wire had been cut inside of Ellie and her ragged breath was matched by Elena's as the other girl shot up like a puppet being pulled by its strings. "Oh my god!" She wasn't sure if it was Caroline or Jenna that said it as the others dropped down to Elena.
"Damon!" Elena threw herself into Damon's arms as she shook. "Silas… Silas he was-"
"I know. It's ok. You're safe. He's gone." He whispered soothingly into her hair as he held her.
Ellie scooted away from the scene as her heart raced uncomfortably. She didn't know how to react to any of it, how close they'd all come to losing Elena permanently or the odd, unfamiliar magic she'd just used to bring her back to life. No one seemed to realize her distress, all too focused on the revived Elena and, for once, that was what she preferred. Elena's neck was coated in blood and the flower vase had been shattered, leaving broken shards scattered about. Their voices were mixing with one another, leaving her unable to distinguish anything.
How had Silas known where to find Elena? Was he still nearby? How had she known that Elena was in trouble? What would have happened had they gotten there any later? Would Damon's blood have even worked on Elena since she had the cure?
She hadn't even realized that anyone had moved toward her as hands hauled her up, pulling her away from the scene before her. For an even longer moment, she didn't process who exactly had a hold of her, not until she heard his voice. "Sabrina, you're breathing funny. You need to calm down." Damon's voice was gentle. So gentle it almost made her uncomfortable. It had been over two years since they'd met and he'd never sounded so soft with her.
"Ok." Her voice was just loud enough for him to hear it. She didn't push him away as he pulled her to him. Instead, she listened to the steady beat of his heart. She felt the rise and fall of his chest as he took slow, deliberate breaths and matched his pace. Despite not being particularly close with him, the contact helped her regain control.
It seemed like the moment she had gotten her composure, the shouting started. It was from Elena who was panicked and nearly hysterical and Ellie wasn't surprised as Damon rushed to her aide. "No! No you're lying!" Elena was shouting as she shoved at Jeremy.
"What the hell is going on?"
"He told her about Bonnie." Caroline said softly.
"Damn it, Jeremy!" Damon swore as he held Elena tightly. "We're gonna bring her back, Elena. I promise." He was brushing her hair out of her face as he said, "Let's get you home, ok? We need to get you home and then I'll fill you in on our plan to bring Bonnie back."
Ellie kept quiet, suddenly uncomfortable with being around Elena, and made her way outside. It was easier to breathe in the open air, away from the smell of blood and the overwhelming noise. She sank down onto her knees before sitting fully on the grass. Glancing up at the moon, she found it to be crescent and her thoughts immediately went back to Hayley and the mark on her shoulder. The fact that they'd gone to New Orleans in hopes of finding her family and that it had led them to a whole new wave of insanity was something that lingered in her mind often.
She needed to check in on her, but it would be something that would have to wait. She wasn't sure she was in the best mindset to do so. At any rate, she had a feeling that if she called Hayley right now, either Elijah or Rebekah would be on the next flight to Mystic Falls to bring her back and she couldn't leave. Not until Bonnie was back and not before she found Katherine. Not to mention making sure that Stefan was alright. "You look like you have the world on your shoulders Sabrina. That kind of stress can't be good for the little bun in your oven."
"You're awfully concerned about me all of a sudden, Damon. What's that about?" Ellie asked curiously.
Damon looked at her like he was seriously considering just getting up and walking away, before he finally said, "You're pregnant. You weren't before. Isn't that enough reason to watch out for you a little more? Besides, Elena would kill me if I let anything happen to her niece or nephew." The statement felt uncomfortable and felt, somehow, oddly untruthful. She didn't know what the real reason was, but it felt like that wasn't it. At the same time, she couldn't bring herself to break their newfound peace.
"I just wanna go home, I guess." Ellie shrugged. "Being back here has… been a lot." She pulled herself back together and said, "Let's just get Elena and get the hell out of here."
"Fair enough." Damon agreed.
Ellie said nothing more as she stood up and quietly went to her car. After a moment, the others came out, huddled close to Elena who still looked shaken up. Quite frankly, Ellie wasn't even sure that her sister had noticed her. "You ok?" Caroline questioned as she got into the car.
"The smell of the blood was making my stomach act all funny." Ellie replied. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the full truth either. "I just want to sleep. Sleep tonight, save Bonnie in the morning." She was on autopilot as she started the car, pulled out of the driveway, and started the route back to Caroline's place.
The blonde, who knew Ellie way too well, didn't push. Instead, she looped her arm through Ellie's on the arm rest and asked, "Wanna sleep over tonight? We can watch Heathers."
"That would be great actually." Ellie agreed easily. A night of peace and quiet and her best friend and maybe some chocolate covered pretzels sounded wonderful.
Author's Note:
Hello! I'm alive! Quick life update: I've graduated college with my bachelors. I graduated Summa Cum Laude. This story isn't abandoned but with life stuff and my big girl job I haven't had either the time or the energy to write. I'm trying to get back in the swing of it, but currently can't promise regular updates, but I promise I am trying. Thank you to everyone that has been waiting and continued commenting, it always perks me up to read the comments. I love and appreciate you very much. Happy New Years!
To Superwholockedin221b: I also feel bad for them, they definitely need Ellie. My very, very long break has been nice lol even tho I've mostly just been working.
To Serena Salvatore: I love Ellie's relationship with Davina too!
To NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Thank you!
To heavenlyambrose80: Valid honestly.
To Moonlilystarlight: The Silas plotline is wild. I haven't decided how much I'm going to play with Amara yet so we'll see. I'm glad you're liking my Davina, I know a lot of people don't like her, but I really do and I kind of want people to see her the way I do. I've definitely got romances planned, so I hope you like the routes that I end up taking lol.
To Kash509: I'm glad you agree. The kids just deserve a healthy family lol.
To smilinsteph: Need tissues? Lol
To Poruchik: Lol cause I was a kid when I started writing so it improved as I went along, I hope you find something you like.
To heralderofspringtime: What nastiness exactly? It's been a minute so I don't fully remember. Jenna and Klaus might be interesting in another setting, but it's a little too in the family for me for them to be together with Ellie and Elijah being together.
To iwanttobeanelf: I'm glad I wrote something you can reread so much! I love all the things you're praying for lol.
To Guest: Here's the update
To vampireslayer2000: Elena ending up alone would be very satisfying.
To bboops22: Next chapter here we go!
To Ninushka: They're identical. It's a unique experience to have a sister, and the relationship is complicated so it is what it is.
To Marispan: It happens.
To .9: If it wasn't for the fact that I reply to all comments I wouldn't have bothered with this. I was a kid when I started this, of course the beginning won't be a master piece. But if you have nothing nice to say, you really shouldn't say it at all, because it's a waste of your energy not mine. If you don't like it keep it movin thanks.
To Luthien Oropherion: I'm so glad you've enjoyed it so much! I love writing back and engaging with the readers! I'm updating, we're just on a struggle bus rn lol. I hope you liked this chapter!
To Nat Sarah Rodger: Yes I am!
To sumaiyahh: I'm glad you found your way back!
To Adela: I hope you enjoyed!
To 1188: For fun
To alecksanduhruh: The update is here!
To I love Kol Mikaelson: I'm glad you're enjoying the writing and Davina!
To scifigrl10: I'm back! I didn't realize how selfish Elena was when I watched originally, so this was part of my frustration showing as I rewatched lol.
-Madame Magic
Posted: 1/1/2024