The Beginning Of Our Forever [1]

13. Worst. Morning. Ever.

It was 7:30am and Damon was already awake.

After countless hours of tossing and turning, he had finally given up on the notion of a good nights sleep. His mind was full of worries and concerns over how the day ahead would unfold; 'How is everyone going to cope at Bonnie's funeral? How am I going to look after everyone?' were the two main questions that bounced around in his head. He hadn't even considered the impact that Bonnie's funeral would have on himself. In his mind, his feelings were irrelevant. His main focus was Elena.

He looked over at Elena and saw that she was still fast asleep. He was jealous that she was able to sleep so well despite what was happening today, but smiled because he knew that the alcohol she consumed last night had played a big part in her ability to sleep for such a long time. He rolled over on to his side and snuggled up to her from behind, wrapping his arm around her waist and nestling his head in her hair. Elena moaned and began to move after realising that Damon was awake.

"I'm sorry baby, did I wake you?" he whispered, brushing Elena's hair away from her face with his fingers. Elena moaned in response, clearly still half asleep.
"Just go back to sleep, you don't need to be awake yet. We have plenty of time," he continued.

Elena jolted awake, as if Damon's last comment had reminded her what was happening today. She sat upright in bed and her head fell into her hands, her fingers tangled up in her hair. Damon lead in bed, looking up at her.

"Hey, it's okay. We have loads of time," he repeated, placing his hand on her leg. Elena untangled one hand from her hair and placed it on-top of Damon's.

"I know we do. But there is so much that needs to be done before we go. What time is the funeral?" Elena asked, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her.

"It's not until 1 this afternoon," he reassured her. Despite Damon thinking that this meant they had plenty of time, this in fact sent Elena into an even greater state of panic.

"1pm!" she cried.
"That doesn't give us much time at all! We've all got to make sure we're all ready by then! Do we have to bring any food to the wake? Who's in charge of that? Do we need to be there early? I don't want to be there late and then not have anywhere to sit," Elena was on the verge of becoming hysterical. She had started to whip her head around frantically and started to make her way out of bed. Damon reached forward before she stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her back into bed.

"Stop panicking! We've got everything covered. Sheila has organised the wake and has already let us know what we need to bring. Caroline has already taken charge and I'm sure she'll set Stefan on cooking duty as soon as he wakes up," Damon soothed, trying to make the whole situation sound as positive as he could.
"Now listen here, we are going to get back into bed and you are going to get some more sleep. Then I'm going to run you a nice hot bath and let you get ready at your own pace. Stefan and Caroline are going to leave at 12:30 and take the twins, but we are going to leave a bit earlier because we're going to pick Jeremy up from the hospital." Damon wasn't going to let Elena try and argue with him on this, and deep down, she was relieved that he was taking charge of her. Without him, she was sure that she'd fall apart.

Elena wriggled closer into Damon's arms and took a deep breath of the warm, comforting scent she associated with him. It always seemed to put her mind at rest.

"Thank you," she muttered, before letting her eyelids get heavier and heavier and then allowing herself to fall back to sleep.

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The rest of the morning had gone by in a blur. Sure enough, Caroline had set Stefan on sandwich prep as soon as he woke up, whilst she supervised the entire operation, occasionally checking the sausage rolls in the oven. Damon woke Elena up after another hour in bed, and ran her the hot bath he'd promised. He had tried to keep himself busy, fearing the emotional mess he would turn into if he stopped and thought for too long about the fact they were burying Bonnie today.

By midday, everyone was ready. Elena had picked out a mid length, black dress that she had bought the day before with Caroline. Damon and Stefan looked as dashing as ever in matching black suits. Caroline had a similar dress on to Elena's, except her's had a lace piece on the top and bottom. All of the sandwich's and sausage rolls were made and set out on silver platters. Caroline had looked over and checked each one, making sure that they were absolutely perfect. Whilst Stefan and Caroline waited for the twins to get ready, Damon and Elena made their way to the hospital to collect Jeremy.

The journey to the hospital was dreadfully silent. Damon's mind was otherwise preoccupied and Elena's stomach was churning with worry. On one hand, she was excited to see Jeremy again. She had missed him more than words could describe. But on the other hand, she was petrified that today was going to be one of the 'bad days' that his illness would get the better of him.

As they arrived at the hospital and parked in the car park, Damon decided that it would probably be best if he stayed in the car and let Elena go in to get Jeremy herself. If Jeremy wasn't himself today, the last thing Damon wanted was to make things worse by confusing him even more. Damon kissed Elena before she stepped out of the car,

"Try not to be too long, we don't want to be late," he reminded her, checking the clock in the dashboard of the car. Elena laughed,

"Now look who's worrying about the time," she joked. Damon knew that she made a good point, so he just smiled back and watched as she walked towards the hospitals main doors.

Elena had memorised the way to Jeremy's room from the first time she visited him with Stefan. The corridors looked all too familiar and Elena was glad that they weren't spending much time there today. Hospitals were one of the saddest places she could think of, and that was mainly because they held some of her worst memories.

After passing through multiple corridors and bumping into nurses that recognised her from the first visit, she finally arrived outside room 354. Just before she knocked, she paused for a second to gather her thoughts and take a deep breath,

"Jeremy it's me, Elena. Can I come in?" she shouted through the door after knocking twice.

No answer.

"Jeremy??!" Elena called again, her voice intensifying. She pushed open the door and slowly peered around it quickly scanning the room.

The room was a mess. The wardrobe and chest of draws were all wide open, with their contents sprawled across the floor. Elena paced around, becoming more and more frantic by the second. She picked up random items of clothing off the floor and bundled them into a pile on the bed. She looked in every possible place she could think of; under the bed, in the wardrobe and even looked out of the window at the surrounding area for any sign.

But Jeremy was nowhere to be seen.