I Will Never Leave You

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three

He jerked his head up and began blinking his eyes rapidly before he finally gave up and began rubbing them vigorously. Even that didn’t completely rid them of the heaviness that made him just want to give in and close them but it certainly made it more bearable. That was the third time he had almost fallen asleep that night and he was pretty sure that he had actually dozed off for at least ten minutes the second time.

It was stupid to be sitting here and not letting himself sleep, he knew how stupid it was and yet here he was doing it. He was sitting in the chair Bonnie had been occupying basically ever since they had brought Elena up to Damon’s room which was about three days ago. It had taken ages to convince her to go to her own bed even when she could barely keep her eyes open and that was only after promising that he would sit with her best friend. So here he was sitting by the bedside of his history student and the girlfriend of the vampire who killed his wife, waiting for her to wake up from whatever was keeping her unconscious. While Bonnie never exactly said he couldn’t sleep he didn’t want to be passed out if Elena did happen to wake up.

Initially he had agreed with Bonnie when she said Elena’s state was just brought on by extreme grief. He was no stranger to losing someone you loved and while nothing like this had happened to him when he didn’t see any problem with it. However as more time passed and she still didn’t wake up he began to feel more uncertain about the whole thing. He would never admit it to Bonnie who was already a wreck but worry about whether Elena was truly okay or even if she would wake up again was beginning to eat away at him.

It was hard to tell whether Elijah was worried or not. Though even if he was worried Alaric suspected it was just because Elena was the only way to get to his brother. However Elijah seemed content to just wait until she woke up even as the night of the full moon began to get closer.

“I don’t think not allowing yourself to sleep will make her wake up any faster,” a voice said suddenly making him jump.

Alaric turned and saw Elijah leaning on the doorframe. Like always he was wearing a crisp suit and didn’t have a single hair out of place. Although he spoke to Alaric his eyes were fixed on Elena’s completely still body. It was something Alaric had been starting to notice even before everything happened, whenever the original vampire was in the same room.                                                                                                                                   

“There’s really nothing any of us can do that would make her wake up sooner,” Alaric replied with a shrug, “I guess I just don’t want her to be alone when she finally does wake up.”

“Considering this is a girl you barely know and is the great love of the man who killed your wife and that you profess to hate you seem to care an awful lot about her,” Elijah commented.

With a raised eyebrow Alaric replied, “I wouldn’t read into it if I were you.”

“Is that what you say about how you are feeling now as well? Do you really think that if you just avoid thinking about it the way you have felt ever since you have found out about Damon’s death will just disappear?” Elijah asked finally tearing his eyes away from Elena and actually looking at Alaric. His dark eyes were probing and his expression was guarded just like it always was.

With a sigh Alaric rubbed his eyes as he tried to search for the right thing to say. It was eerie how Elijah seemed to know more about everyone else than even themselves and despite that you couldn’t dislike him for that. That was probably because he was usually right, and this time was no different. It was easier to ignore what he was feeling and do other things to distract himself so he didn’t have to think about it.