51Bonnie ran down the hall, skidding to a stop behind Stefan and Caroline. Caroline was in Stefan's arms, sobbing into his chest. Looking around them, she could see Damon holding Elena. She had never seen him look so broken, not even when they opened the tomb and found Katherine hadn't been there all along. He gently rocked Elena, whispering in her ear, stoking her hair all while tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Caroline?" Bonnie tried to get her friend's attention. She put her hand on Caroline's shoulder, trying to get her to turn toward her. "Caroline, what's going on?"
"E-Elena, she's dead! Her heart stopped. Bonnie, she's gone!" Caroline burrowed into Stefan's neck, unable to say any more.
At that moment, Bonnie realized what had happened. It was a misunderstanding that she needed to fix immediately. She pushed her way past the couple in the doorway and slowly made her way to the bed to stand behind Damon. She didn't want to startle him. If he truly believed that Elena was dead, she could easily guess how quickly he would release his inner demon against the person whom he felt was responsible – her.
"Damon. Damon, you need to listen to me."
He tuned her out, focusing on Elena, waiting to a sign that he was wrong, that she hadn't just died in his arms.
"Damon, you really need to hear this."
Still he showed no sign of listening to her, as continued to whisper to his love.
"Damon! She's not dead!"
Damon's head popped up as he turned his ice blue eyes on Bonnie, the intensity causing her to stumble backwards.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Sabrina." His tone changed from challenging to hopeless. "I heard her heart stop. It happened so fast. I couldn't do anything. I tried giving her my blood, but she was already gone."
Bonnie shook her head. She should have known.
"Haven't you heard anything I've told you since you got here? Damon, Elena isn't dead!"
Behind her, she heard Caroline gasp. The blonde vampire ran over to the bed, so excited that she couldn't stand still.
"Damon, Bonnie is right! Elena isn't dead! Well, she's not dead-dead. She'll be back."
"Damon, did you pay attention to anything I told you about the spell?" When he shook his head, Bonnie continued. "The spell sent Elena back in time about fifteen years. She said she wanted to fix her biggest mistake. She wanted you to turn her."
Damon's mouth gaped open. He had long accepted that Elena didn't want to be a vampire. His thoughts went in a thousand different directions until finally he could focus on one.
"I would have turned her now, ten years ago or ten years from now. It was always her choice. She didn't have to do this."
"Damon, this," Bonnie held her hands out, trying to encompass everything around them, "this was her choice. You need to respect that. All we can do now is wait for her to come back to us."
Bonnie gave raven haired vampire a pat on the back before leaving the room. She needed to speak to William or one of the other witches. She hoped that she hadn't just lied to Damon. She hoped that she was right about Elena returning to them.
The instant he saw Elena's eyes start to flutter, Damon was sitting on their bed, next to her, blood bag nearby. All at once, she gasped and sat straight up in the bed, a frantic look on her face.
"Elena, look at me." Gently turning her face toward him, Damon tried to calm her before she launched into a complete panic. "Hey, look at me. You're fine."
Her breathing slowed and the frantic look seeped away. She nodded, letting Damon know she was okay.
"It worked? It worked!" Elena threw her arms around Damon's neck, relieved to be 'alive' again.
"Yeah, baby, it worked." He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Strange. Everything is so loud, my head hearts. I'm hungry." She looked around, taking in the darkness of the room. "What time is it? I can't tell if it's light or dark out with the curtains drawn."
"Trust me, you do not want them open. It's almost noon, very bright out. You were gone for a long time." His eyes took on a haunted look. "Too long. I wasn't sure you were coming back."
"Hey," she laid her hand lovingly on his cheek, "I'm here. I was just taking my time, right?" She smiled, hoping that he would return it. "How about we get that" she pointed at the blood bag "over with."
"Yeah, here you go."
Damon handed her the open blood bag, watching her closely as she took her first sip of human blood. His eyes lit up as her new nature, her vampire nature, made itself evident on her face. Black veins laced themselves under her eyes, across her cheekbones. To Damon, she had never looked more beautiful. He held her hand as he saw pain take over when her fangs broke through for the first time. His smile was huge as he let his own vampire nature take over, candlelight reflecting off his fangs.
"You did it, baby. Welcome to the club."
Elena stared straight ahead, trying to absorb everything that had happened. Before she could form a thought, before she could say a word, before she could look in his gorgeous blue eyes, Elena's world went black and she collapsed on the bed.
Bonnie returned to the bedroom feeling no more confident that she had when she left. William agreed that Elena's apparent 'death' could be a result of her turning in the past, but the spell had never been used under these circumstances. All they could do was wait to see if Elena returned by the end of the three days.
As the hours passed, Elena's four friends maintained their vigil. Positions would change as an unspoken rotation seemed to evolve with one exception. Damon never left his place at Elena's side, holding her while, in his mind, she slept. Given the slightest flicker of hope, he refused to believe she was dead.
Across the room, Damon could hear Stefan and Caroline whispering. If he had wanted to, he could have picked up more than snatches of the conversation. If he had been paying attention, he would have questioned each do you remember and how about when we… He didn't, though, because that would have pulled his focus away from Elena. He would have missed the twitch that he was sure he had imagined. The twitch that slowly became the flexing of a finger. The flex that morphed into clinching of a fist. The clinch that grew into an arm stretch. The stretch that ended with Elena bolting up and out of Damon's arms as she gasped for air.
A/N - And there you have it, Damon and Elena in the same time and space. This story isn't over yet. I haven't finished writing them yet, but I think there are probably two or three chapters left. Thanks so much for all of the favorites, follows and reviews! Each and every one truly make my day. Follow me on twitter - fangirlingblog. Thanks again! ~ craftyjhawk