The One Who Saved Me

Chapter 25: Grief

"How is she doing?" Stefan asked as Damon shut his bedroom door.

"She's very fragile right now. Klaus took all of her blood, so she's going to need a while before she is back to her normal self." Damon sighed.

"Don't forget that she just lost the only parental guardian she had left." Caroline reminded the brothers.

"Right." Alaric sighed.

"Has she woken up?" Caroline asked.

"Nope. Still out." Damon sighed, staying near the door.

"What about Jeremy? He lost Jenna too." Stefan spoke.

"He's shut himself away. Blinds closed, windows shut, door locked. He won't even eat." Alaric sighed, feeling bad for Jeremy and Elena.

"Let's just be glad that Klaus is gone." Damon was trying to be positive.

"Did anyone tell Jeremy about what happened?" Caroline asked, concerned.

"He did ask, but I avoided the topic. I want him to be better before I tell him." Alaric sat down.

"Hey, Damon...I think it's best if you stay away from Elena. You kind of forced Klaus to kill Jenna." Stefan suggested, Damon looking confused.

"Excuse me? Elena is my girlfriend. I don't care that I might have been the cause of Jenna's death and I don't care that Elena might hate me for a while. All I care about is the fact that Elena wakes up and goes back to her normal vampire self." Damon got upset.

"You're forgetting that she might try to kill you." Caroline smiled.

"Just because she's a vampire, doesn't mean she'll do much. I have over 100 years more experience." Damon sighed.

"Good. For a moment, I was worried that you were saying that based on the fact that she's a woman." Caroline hissed.

"Female or male, I don't care. It's the experience." Damon smiled.

Listening closely, Damon could hear Elena moving around in his bed.

"She's awake." Damon raced up to his room.

He walked in slowly, watching as Elena opened her eyes, drinking the entirety of the glass of blood that sat on the beside table.

"I need more." Elena opened her mouth, a bit of blood escaping her mouth. Wiping the blood away with his thumb, Damon smiled.

"Yes, you do. Here." Damon handed her 2 bags of blood, both of them devoured within a minute. Swallowing the last bit of blood from the second bag, Elena took a breath.

"Better?" Damon held her hand.

"Much better." Elena looked normal again, or as normal as a vampire could look. Damon admired his girlfriend.

"Please tell me it was all a dream." Elena asked, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Damon knew what he wanted to say, but what he wanted to say was different to what he had to say.

"I wish it was. But no." Damon rested his forehead on hers, joining in her pain.

"I want to turn it off." Elena cried.

"No. Don't turn it off. You'll regret everything you do when it's off." Damon asked, Elena nodding.

"How is Jeremy?" Elena asked.

"He's doing what he does best. He's shutting himself away." Damon sighed. He wished he was wrong. He wished that Jeremy was surrounding himself with his friends, family and other support. Instead, he was shutting himself away, pressuring himself into isolation.

"Take me to him?" Elena asked as Damon helped her out of bed, helping her to his car so he could drive her back home. Damon held Elena's hand as she walked into her house, racing up to Jeremy's room. Feeling that the door was locked, Elena used her strength to break the door knob, pushing Jeremy's door so she could get inside.

"Jeremy?" Elena asked, moving to Jeremy's side of the bed so she could see him. She looked at her younger brother, seeing his tear-stained eyes and puffy cheeks.

"Jeremy, it's Elena...and Damon." Elena smiled, Jeremy moving so he wasn't facing her.

"C'mon Jeremy. Let me comfort you..." Elena put her hand on Jeremy's shoulder.

"Get away!" Jeremy snapped. He sat up, putting his head in his hands.

"Jeremy..." Elena was shocked. He had never seen Jeremy so scared of her before.

"Touch me and I'll stake you." Even Damon was shocked.

"Jeremy, what's wrong?" Elena asked, moving away from Jeremy.

"Caroline told me how Jenna died. Did you seriously think that I wouldn't find out?" Jeremy was pissed, and rightfully so.

"Look, Jeremy-" Elena attempted to reason, but Jeremy stopped her.

"Don't Elena. You're a vampire. Jenna wasn't before she died. You could have compelled her to run or you could've at least fought Klaus enough so that Jenna could escape!" Jeremy was right. I could've done more, but I didn't.

"You don't understand Jeremy. Jenna and I were separated by rings of fire that we couldn't escape from due to magic. Besides, Stefan had actually asked Klaus to exchange his life for Jenna's. Stefan was willing to let Klaus kill him so that Jenna could live. We tried to save her, we did, but Klaus was smarter." Elena sighed, watching as Jeremy sat up.

Without warning, Jeremy slapped Elena, pissed off at her.

"Jeremy! Not cool dude. She's your sister!" Damon moved Elena away from Jeremy, who looked like he wanted to kill Elena.

"She's not my sister. She's a killer because she let Jenna die." Jeremy hissed.