Imagination is the key (stefan, Damon love triangle)

Chapter Eighty-Five

"Are you sure you're alright, Jer? You don't feel strange? Sick, maybe." I pressed the back of my hand against his forehead. It was warm. "I think you should go back to the hospital. Have some tests done."

"Chill, Lils. I'm fine." He stressed, swatting me away and waved the X-box controller in my face. "Totally alive."

I smacked him up-side the head. "Stop brushing this off, Jeremy – You died! You were dead."

- Flashback: 12 hours ago -

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" I cried. Damon's arms circled me close to his chest, and just held me. "No . . ."

"I'm so sorry, Lillie. We tried everything we could." Meredith's voice grated against something inside me. It yanked on one of the tender nerves, exposed with the news. "He's gone."

I squeezed my eyes shut. "No. He's not. Keep trying."

Elena squeezed my arm. I looked at her, tears glittered in her eyes, a reflection of my own. "There's nothing more they can do, Lillie."

I turned my gaze up to Damon. "Our blood. That can save him, right?"

His face crumpled and he slowly shook his head. "It doesn't work that way"

"We could try, though, right. I could give him my blood and then Meredith could try to bring him back again. As long as the blood is in his system."

The room fell quiet and I could sense them all staring at me, even Elena. "Lillie. . . " Caroline's voice trailed off.

"You're giving up," I stated in realisation. Pulling away from Damon I looked to Elena. "On our brother?"

She shook her head. "It's not like that."

"He drowned, he can be resuscitated. They just have to try"

"He's gone, Lillie," her lips trembled. "Jeremy's dead. I'm sorry."

"This is your fault! Everything has always been your fault, Elena."

Everyone quickly jumped to Elena's defence, telling me to 'wait a minute,' and 'hang one.' But I kept my bloodshot eyes trained on her. My brother was dead because of her. "It was your blood that allowed Ester to turn Ric into a killer. It's because it was you that Ester wanted to hurt you – us, when she linked Vampire Ric's life with Jeremy's. You were in that car with him. You went off that bridge too – why did he die? Why couldn't it have been you?"

I could hear the beeping of machinery in other rooms, chatter of patients and doctors, but not a word was uttered in this room. My words hung heavily in the air, and I could see them stabbing Elena, burying themselves deep in her defence.

I could taste the salt form the endless trail of tears and I swiped at my cheeks with the sleeves of my jumper. "He would have never been on that bridge, had everyone not gone to save you from Klaus and then tried to kill him. I'm sorry but have none of you learnt anything in the last year? Klaus can't be killed. The longer you hold on to this, the more people are going to die. This time it was my baby brother and none of you seem to want to do anything about it.

Stefan stepped forward from his place beside Caroline. "Lillie," he said, sadly. "it's my fault and I'm so sorry. I went back for him as fast as I could-"