THE BENNET SISTER || The Vampire Diaries

Growing Pains

Gilbert Residence...

There is a bright white light and the sounds of church bells ringing, sirens, and yard work going on can be heard. Suddenly, Elena gasps for air and wakes up. It's morning. Stefan is sitting on the end of her bed, watching her. She seems confused about what is going on around her, "Stefan?" Elena calls out.

Stefan walks over to her, "Hey. I'm right here. You've been in and out for hours," Stefan says.

"Wh-what happened?"

"You were in an accident."

"Oh my God. Matt is he...?"

Damon interrupts; he is sitting on the window seat next to Elena's bed, "Alive?" Damon says. Elena and Stefan both look at him "Ask Stefan. The hero," Elena looks back at Stefan.

"He's fine," Stefan says.

"Thank you. I thought that I – how did you...?" Elena says.

"Save you? He didn't," Damon says.

"When Jeremy brought you to the hospital before all this happened, your injuries were worse than anyone knew. Meredith Fell made a choice, she used Damon's blood to heal you," Stefan says.

"And when Rebekah ran Matt's truck off the road, you had vampire blood in your system, Elena."

Elena starts to panic, "Oh my God. Does - does that mean that I – am I dead?" Elena says. Stefan and Damon say nothing. "No, no, no, no! That wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Maybe it doesn't have to. I talked to Bonnie, she says she's stronger than ever, there might be something that she can do to help you," Stefan says. "But for now she's trying to bring Blair back to her feet. Her last pass out was extremely hard on her. Also losing Klaus took a bit of a toll on her."

"No, the only thing that's going to help is for you to feed and complete the transition," Damon says not agreeing.

"We have all day before she has to feed, Damon. That's a day to exhaust every possible way out of this."

"There is no way out of it. We all know the drill. You feed or you die. There is no door number three."

Elena starts crying, "I was ready to die. I was supposed to die. I don't – I don't want to be – I can't be a vampire! If there's something that Bonnie can do we have to try," Elena cries out.

"We will. We'll try everything," Stefan says to calm her down.

Damon scoffs and rolls his eyes, "Your choice, Elena. As always," Damon gets up and leaves. Stefan looks at Elena who is still in tears. In the kitchen, Damon grabs a bottle of alcohol from a cupboard and pours himself a drink. Stefan enters the kitchen. "Way to get her hopes up for something that's never happened in the history of vampirism."

"You know what, you weren't there the day Elena looked me in the eye and told me she absolutely never wanted this."

Damon drinks the whole drink in a single gulp, "Then you shouldn't have let her die."

"I never meant for her to die. She asked me to help Matt first and I did."

"And now the world has one more quarterback. Bravo, brother," Damon pours himself another drink.

"I made a choice that I will regret for the rest of my life. Now let me try to fix it," Stefan leaves. Damon finishes his second drink. Back in the bedroom, Elena is looking at herself in the mirror. She is breathing heavily and rubs her face. She touches her teeth to check if they have sprouted fangs yet. Her hearing has intensified and she hears the electricity running through a lightbulb and looks down at it. Suddenly, she sees Jeremy in the doorway and walks over to him.