I'll Always Choose You

Chapter 2

The younger of the two brothers ascended the stairs to Damon's room, where he was sure he had heard a commotion as he approached the house. Sure enough, as he opened the door, he saw the young Petrova doppelgänger lying limply on the floor, in nothing but her underwear, her skin pale. At first, he feared his brother had killed her, but he was assured he had not by the faint sound of her heart beating in her chest. He walked over to her and lifted her gently, so as not to harm her any further, and placed her on the bed. Upon doing so, he noticed the rather sizable gash on her forehead, presumably from hitting it as she fell, he thought. As a vampire, his first instinct was to drink the blood from her wound, but he knew he shouldn't, so he restrained himself.

He did not want to leave her alone, so quickly headed over to Damon's drawer and took out a couple of t-shirts. Then, he returned to the girl and examined the wound more closely. It was large, but not deep enough to require immediate medical attention. He placed the material over it and applied gentle pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding - he felt immediate relief knowing that as soon as she awoke, he would be able to heal her with his blood.

For the next ten minutes, he remained by her side and controlled the waves of bloodlust that tried to take over him.

Just as he was about to go and get another shirt, he noticed she began to stir. It was not until then, when she opened her eyes, that he recognised her. She was the girl he had saved from the car accident a few months ago - Elena Gilbert.

"Are you okay?" He asked as she looked around the room confused.

He examined her face to see how she reacted, she looked confused and then, all of a sudden, she looked terrified.

"What's wrong?" He asked, worried that his older brother had done something careless.

"The man, he tried to bite me. His face changed - he looked like - I can't explain it."

As Elena tried to remember what happened, Stefan looked around the room. The wooden table in the corner was broken so he assumed she must have tried to fight him when she saw what he was - even if she didn't know what that was.

He could hear her breaths getting heavier and she could feel it too. It was as though the fear was taking over her body and she couldn't stop it. As Stefan looked back over to her, he noticed pools of tears collecting in her eyes and almost immediately recognised it as a panic attack - something that was completely understandable considering the consequences.

"Elena, listen to me - do you know what is happening?"

She looked at him with wide eyes and shook her head.

"I just can't breathe!" She exclaimed.

Stefan walked over to the girl and sat beside her on the bed.

"What do you want me to do to help you?"

She tried to think but nothing in her mind was clear, nothing made sense.

She could only think of one other time she had felt like this - when her car went over the bridge. She had been terrified, but her parents assured her it would all be okay, she realised that was what she needed. Her father had looked at her, and although she knew they were going to die, she wasn't afraid - that was what she needed from this man, reassurance.

As her chest rose and fell, he looked at her, wanting to do anything he possibly could to help Elena.

"Tell me - what can I do?"

He looked directly into her eyes and took her hand, and, without realising it, gave her the same look her father had given her - that everything would be okay.