Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries or its Characters.

For an inanimate object, it looked pretty terrifying just lying there. The two young men stared at it in nervousness, the blond one having to pour and down another shot of whisky just looking at the damn thing. The brunette had his fingers in his mouth, nails chewed almost down to the skin, and his legs bounced up and down in jittery motions.

"The longer we wait, the more riled they're going to get" Enzo spoke suddenly, his fingers leaving his lips

"Oh, we are well past that, mate. They are going to blow up anyway" Klaus concurred, moving to pour another drink

Enzo snatched the glass away. "Would you stop bloody drinking, and take some responsibility? This is partly your fault"

Klaus eyes narrowed as he glared at him over the bottle he had opted to now drink straight from. "My fault? If you wankers had just looked properly before crossing the damn road, none of this would have happened"

"You think the road is where this nonsense started? Have you forgotten whose idea it was to antagonize that old woman?"

"How was I supposed to know she was a witch? And it was your doing we were at the bar in the first place, we could have just drunk however much we wanted right here"

"You knew she was a witch; you were testing her because 'I never met a witch who didn't want to hurt me'" Enzo ended, mimicking Klaus' posh accent. "She just wanted to talk!"

"Shrewd old women, or witches, don't talk to young men in bars. They don't go to bars period! They sit at home, and plot evil schemes while knitting scarves and baking pies"

"She was not in the bar; she was outside it - in the street. And she was very polite, but you went and annoyed her, and now Damon is paying for it!"

"Fine, it is my fault. Is that what you want to hear me say? It doesn't solve our problem, mate!" Klaus all but yelled. Enzo glared at him, before hurriedly picking up the phone and pressing a key before he lost his nerve. Klaus deflated immediately; eyes wide as he regarded Enzo. "What the bloody hell do you think you are doing? We weren't ready…"

"Niklaus this had better be very important"

Uh oh

The silence on the other end seemed to stretch for an eternity before it became too much for both of them. "E-Elijah?" Klaus managed to stutter, almost wishing there won't be a reply

"I'm sorry, I must have heard you wrongly. Did you say something along the lines of there has been an accident and Damon is in the hospital?" Elijah asked calmly. Too calmly

"Y-Yes" Enzo swallowed. "Where is Alaric?"

"Apologizing to our very esteemed guests for why we may have to cut our trip short. Would you like me to put him on?" he asked in that same faux calm voice, though it sounded quite threatening to Enzo

"N-No, that won't be necessary" he said quickly

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get these group of people in a room together without any bloodshed?"

"We're sorry Elijah. It's just…"

"When did this happen?"

They jumped at the sound Alaric's voice. "Uh, a few hours ago?"

"Hmm. Why are we hearing of it just now" Alaric asked. Klaus and Enzo looked at each other but stayed silent. "Okay, walk us through what happened again" he demanded

"Uhm, so Damon was a bit distracted while crossing the road and got hit by a truck. There were too many people around for him to just vamp-speed out of there so…" Enzo hastened to explain. "Well, the humans bundled him to the hospital in an ambulance, and we followed. You know, so that when he healed, we could bring him home…"

"Why would Damon need your help to get home? Compelling a few nurses and orderlies to forget doesn't seem like a lot of work for someone like Damon" Elijah cut in

"Uhm…well, you see…that…it was not exactly…"

"What. Happened?"

"There was a bit of an incident earlier…" Klaus begun

"Earlier? When was earlier?"

"Two…days…ago?"

"Two days. What happened two days ago?"

"Well, we were at a bar…in town…we were in town, and there was this woman. The short of it is she did something, something that affected Damon more…"

"Affected Damon? Old woman? Niklaus, what happened to him?" Elijah asked, calm façade dropped in lieu of franticness

"She made him sick, of sorts" Enzo took up the narrative again. "He's been vomiting, like a lot, these past couple of days…"

"And you didn't think to call? Some witch - I'm assuming it was indeed a witch because nothing else I know of can cause a vampire to be sick - hexes or curses or does whatever to your partner in crime and you didn't think it was an important detail to know? That is why he's still in the hospital isn't he? Because whatever she did is causing him not to heal. Would you like to add something more, boys, or do I have the gist of it?" Alaric asked coldly

Klaus and Enzo wisely kept their mouths shut. This had gone south rather quickly, though it seemed it had never been north to begin with.

"We'll be there in three hours. Don't leave the house" was the last thing they heard before the line went dead.

In what seemed like a reversal of roles, Enzo paced the waiting room animatedly while Klaus sat this time, wringing his hands. Elijah and Alaric had asked them to meet them at the hospital since it was on the way to where they lived and it didn't seem like good sense to go and come back, though they had a sneaky suspicion it had nothing to do with time at all. They were vampires, time itself was inconsequential to them. But here they were, Alaric and Elijah's bags at their feet - they had arrived in a taxi - waiting while they sorted out their mess. Meredith Fell was about an hour and half away - Elijah had called her as soon he hung up on them - and they were almost done with compelling Damon out of the hospital. Well, Elijah was almost done anyway; Alaric was sitting with Damon.

Klaus jumped to his feet when Elijah appeared, the abrupt action shocking Enzo into stopping his dizzying pacing.

"Which car did you come in?" he asked

"The Audi" Enzo answered

"Good. Keys" he said, hand stretched out toward whoever had them, which happened to be Klaus. He grabbed their luggage without another word, jerking his head in a 'come-on' gesture towards them just as a gurney rolled into view, Alaric closely behind.

Klaus and Enzo both watched in awe as the person on the gurney was revealed to be Damon. They didn't have much experience with injured people; Enzo did a bit since he had died of tuberculosis as a human; but that was so long ago he had forgotten the outlook, and Klaus had been at the top of the food chain for, well, forever. Suffice to say, they were not accustomed to this view of weakness. With an oxygen mask strapped to his face, an IV in each arm, a bandage wrapped around his head, a cast on his right leg and several small wires disappearing into places they didn't know, he didn't look anything like the suave young man they knew. Instead he looked quite pallid, and still; Damon Salvatore was never still.

"They're bringing him home in an ambulance" Alaric said suddenly from somewhere behind them, making them jump. "I'll ride with them. You go with Elijah" he reiterated

They nodded numbly, then folded themselves into the back seat of the car Elijah had brought around to the front while they were gawking at Damon's transportation. None of them even thought about calling shotgun, hastily pulling their seatbelts on as Elijah flew after the ambulance.

A pattern was fast developing as the day wore on, with Alaric picking up the pacing. He paused long enough to accept a third glass of bourbon from Elijah. Meredith had arrived half an hour ago, and was now upstairs checking Damon over. Alaric and Elijah had yet to speak to Klaus and Enzo, and it was evident in the way they huddled at the dining table and glancing over occasionally that they dreaded when that time came. Elijah threw them a glance as he removed his suit and tie and folded up his shirt sleeve, content in leaving them to stew a little. They had barely scratched the surface of what had really happened, he knew, but there would be time to discuss that later. He turned his attention back to the enhanced original.

"You should sit down"

Alaric huffed, before settling into an armchair. "Sorry. Just, what is taking so damn long?" he asked, only to jerk back towards the stairs as Meredith came down.

Klaus and Enzo jumped to their feet, and Elijah put down his whisky to address the doctor. "Miss Fell, how is he?"

Meredith sighed. "You never keep it boring, do you? Should I even ask how a vampire ended up being involved in a car accident and falling into a coma to top it off?"

Elijah glanced at Enzo and Klaus, who both found the carpet rather interesting. "We would very much like to find out too"

She nodded. "Well, he'll be fine. He's healing - slower than a vampire but way faster than a human - and it's probably a good idea you got him out of the hospital before anyone noticed. All his bruises are gone, that gash on his head is halfway healed and should be completely gone by tomorrow morning. He should wake up in a couple of hours. I recommend getting some blood into him to speed up the process…"

"No! No blood" Enzo shrieked suddenly. "Those just come back up, painfully"

Meredith frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He can't keep anything down. Everything he tries to ingest, he just throws up" Klaus explained further, eyeing Elijah and Alaric from beneath his eyelashes

"He's sick? How is that even possible?" she asked, confused

"Apparently, it involves a witch, a bar and a lot of vomiting" Alaric said icily, glaring at the young men on the couch

"I'm sure it's a very fascinating story, and we are just dying to hear the full version" Elijah added

"Magical vampire flu, why not" Meredith muttered. "If he can't keep down blood, it'll slow down his healing more. Give it to him intravenously if you will; I trust at least one of you knows how to do that?" she paused for an answer, continuing when they all nodded. "Good. I'm going to write you a prescription for him; I don't know if it will help him like a human but it sure won't make him worse". She scribbled out a prescription and handed it over to Alaric. "If you would be so kind as to call me a cab, I'll take my leave"

"I can drive you to the airport. There's no need for a cab" Alaric said

Meredith just chuckled. "I know, but it's no big deal. Besides, I think you're needed more here" she said, nodding towards Klaus and Enzo. "I don't think they can wait any longer. And I have to stop over at Yale to see my daughter anyway"

"I almost forgot, how is Ashley?" Elijah asked. "She's starting Yale?"

"She's fine, and she's starting her junior year" she laughed at the look on his face. It was always funny to see when they realize how much time has passed after an event. "I think my ride is here. Alright, see you soon and I hope it's under better circumstances"

"See you soon. And thank you, Miss Fell" Elijah said

Klaus and Enzo watched with trepidation as Meredith Fell's uber disappeared into the horizon, knowing that their reprieve from Elijah and Alaric's glares and questionings was over. The dreaded time had come and there was nothing to do but face their problems. The loud click of the front door closing sounded like a gunshot in the eerie silence as Alaric and Elijah finally turned their undivided attention to their charges.

"Now, let's hear that story again. And from the beginning this time if you don't mind boys"