One fine day

Introduction

First of all, yes I will finish Letters from the past. The next update will be coming soon. It's just that this one has been sitting on my computer for a while. I thought long and hard about what to do with it. I wrote it as a coping mechanism..a way to help me deal with the fact that I lost my mom 5 months ago, after a long battle with cancer. So it might be a little dark sometimes. I am very nervous about putting it out there; it is very emotional for me. But here it is. All I ask is that you be honest with me about it. Thank you so much if you want to read it. If people like it, I will post more. Just let me know in a review.

"That's it. I'm done!" doctor Salvatore said excitedly. He took off his doctor's coat. It felt good to be Damon again, instead of Doctor Salvatore. He had a three week break coming up. Something he had been saving long and hard for. He had just finished with his last patient. He was out of here!

"Any interesting plans, doc?"nurse Andie asked. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Damon frowned. When was she going to learn that he wasn't going to go to bed with her again? He didn't do relationships. He didn't have the time. Maybe he should learn to stay away from the nurses here. They were getting clingy! A nice romp in the sack didn't automatically mean that he would buy them flowers the next day. It didn't mean that they could stay for the next night.

He and Andie had had a nice night a couple of weeks ago. They had dinner, they danced and then they had sex. He had thought that Andie understood that that was all he ever did. He didn't do follow ups.

Being Doctor Salvatore was all he had time for. He practically lived at the hospital. Maybe that's why he was running out of nurses to bed. Nurses were all the women he saw these days. Save for his patients. But that definitely wasn't an option! Well, maybe with his vacation coming up, he could look for a woman that never even went to the hospital. Yep, that sounded like a plan!

"No interesting plans yet, Andie. I'm just going to relax for a bit," he answered Andie's question. Andie smiled. "Maybe we could get together in a couple of days. I'm free on Friday night. You up for it?" she tried.

Damon sighed. Nope, she definitely didn't get it! "I'm sorry, Andie. But I think, with the night we had a couple of weeks ago, that that's all there ever is going to be between us," he explained. Andie's face fell.

"If you change your mind..,"she trailed off hopefully. Damon smiled. "I'll let you know." He practically rushed out of there. That woman didn't know when to stop! Thank god for his vacation.

He rounded the cafeteria on his way to the exit. And that's where he saw her.

She was sitting by her lonesome at a table, staring at the ground. Something about her reeled him in. He didn't know what it was. But he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

She looked so lonely. Lost and sad.

Walk away, Damon! She obviously goes to the hospital all the time. She probably has some sick aunt here that she visits daily. It will be her opening to pop up at work, after you're done with her. She'll sink her claws into you and never let go.

Damon nodded solemnly to himself. With resolve he walked over towards the exit. But just before he made it through the sliding doors, he stopped. Something made him turn around again. He felt a pull towards her that he could not explain.

She looked so crestfallen that it made his heart clench together. She looked as if all hope was lost. She was giving up.

Don't do it, Damon! Go to your car, drive away and enjoy your vacation. The last thing you need is to have to care for another person, living in a hospital.

But his feet didn't move. He couldn't walk away from her.

Finally, he walked back into the hospital. He ordered two coffees and sauntered over her way. He placed a steaming cup in front of her. Then he sat down.

She seemed to stare at the cup, confused. After what seemed like ages, she looked up at him with her beautiful doe brown eyes. Her beauty caught him off guard. When her eyes locked with his, his breath caught in his throat.

How could someone so beautiful be so sad?

She bit her bottom lip and looked at him questionably. Damon shrugged. "You looked like you might need it," he explained his delivery.

She nodded and looked back down, not touching the cup. Damon frowned. What could have possibly hurt her so much? She looked like a little bird with broken wings.

And most importantly, why did he feel the need the fix her? Why not walk away? But he simply couldn't. Not before she told him what was wrong.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he tried.

Her head shot up at his question, her eyebrows raised. So, Damon immediately tried to slow it down a bit. "I mean, I know you don't know me. I'm a doctor. I work at this hospital." He showed her his ID. She only glanced at it, clearly not impressed with the fact that he was a neurosurgeon.

"I've seen all worst case scenarios. So it might help if you wanted to talk about it. Also, sometimes it helps, talking to strangers," he explained. She looked back down at her shoes. He had lost her again.

"Well, at least let me call someone for you. You look like you need a shoulder to cry on and you're alone in a hospital. You need someone right now," he said persistently.

Her bottom lip started to tremble and her eyes watered up.

"I don't have anyone," she whispered brokenly.

She spoke so softly, he needed to lean forward to understand what she was saying. But her words tugged at his heartstrings. She didn't have anyone? How could someone so endearing not have anyone?

"There must be someone," he tried. "What about your parents?"

This only made her eyes water even more.

"My parents are deceased," she choked.

Damon was fighting himself, not to grab onto her hand. Is that what happened here? Did she just lose her parents?

"I'm so sorry. Did they just..?"he didn't finish his sentence. She knew what he meant and shook her head. "My parents died years ago."

Okay, so that wasn't why she was in the hospital. He had to restrain himself from prying. She was obviously upset. The last thing she needed was someone looking for a good gossip. She just needed someone to listen to what she wanted to tell them. If she wanted to tell at all.

So, he went with a new approach.

"I'm sorry. We got off to a strange start here. I'm Damon. Damon Salvatore."

He waited for her to answer. Would she tell him her name? For some reason he was desperate to know it. The seconds seemed to tick by. It almost felt like centuries, until she finally opened her pretty mouth.

"I'm Elena."

Damon released a breath, he didn't even know he had been holding. Elena.. Such a pretty name. It definitely suited her.

"It is very nice to meet you, Elena," he smiled. "Now, why don't you take a few sips of that coffee? Try to make it help you relax. Take a deep breath. And then maybe you want to tell me what happened that has you so broken."

Elena pondered this for a second. She smiled weakly at him. And then she took the cup with trembling fingers and lifted it to her mouth.

She looked so fragile. He felt the strange need to protect her. He was desperate to know what caused her so much pain.

After a few sips, she set the cup down and sighed.

"I could use some fresh air. I've been inside this hospital long enough," she told him. Damon nodded.

"We have a nice courtyard back here. You should go there," he said. He was a little careful with what he said next. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Elena looked at him for a second. It seemed like she was trying to figure him out. As if she wanted to know if he was for real. He just hoped that she saw he was.

Finally, she nodded. "Okay," she said in a meek voice.

Surprised by her answer, Damon stood up and followed her.

The courtyard wasn't crowded. Only a few people were milling about. It had some benches to sit down on, a couple of planted trees, some shrubs, and a few flowers. It wasn't fancy, but for patients it meant everything.

Elena walked around for a few moments. She didn't say anything. And Damon didn't press. He just walked beside her, letting her take her time.

She breathed deeply, inhaling the fresh air as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world just to breathe.

And then she dropped her bombshell.

"I have cancer."

She didn't even look up at him, when she said it. She just laid it out there, out in the open. And kept on walking, not really caring if he followed. But he did.

When he heard the words, a whoosh of breath left him. His heart clenched together and his chest felt very constricted and painful.

Walk away, Damon! You can't do this! You won't survive if you do!

Yes, he wanted to run at her words. But he couldn't. He simply couldn't leave her like this.

"What eh.. What are the plans for treatment?" he asked her in a hoarse voice.

Elena kicked a rock that lay at her feet.

"There is no treatment."

Damon's head whipped to the side and he turned to look at her. Did she mean..? No, she couldn't!

Elena stopped walking and looked up at him.

"I have breast cancer, in an advanced stage. There is no stopping it. I was told just hours ago. The doctor did offer me a chemo treatment. He said it might prolong the inevitable. I could live for another 10 years. But I turned him down. I don't want to go bald and sick in my last days here. I want to live life to the fullest. And not be bedridden. So, basically he told me to hurry if there was something I still wanted to do."

Damon was stumped. For once in his life he didn't know what to say to a woman. Here was this beautiful girl that pulled him in like no one else ever had, and she was dying. Just like… No, he could not even think about that!

It was the reason he became a doctor. To heal. But to hear that he could not heal or help was always the worst. It tore at him.

Elena sat down on one of the benches and slowly let the tears fall. Like it was just starting to sink in. Damon sat down next to her and remained quiet. For now, he would let his presence be enough.

They sat that way for a long time. It became eerily quiet around them. The only sound coming from the birds up in the trees, whistling down at them.

Damon handed her a tissue, which she gratefully accepted. She smiled through her tears. "Thank you. For listening. I know we don't know each other, so you don't have to stay here if you don't want to," she said, giving him an out.

But he wasn't sure if he wanted out. Yes, his mind was screaming at him to run for the hills. But another part of him was keeping him here. He wanted to get to know her, whatever time she had left. He wanted to live that life to the fullest with her.

He cleared his throat and looked deeply into her eyes. "What do you want to do?" he asked. Elena frowned at him, clearly not understanding what he was getting at.

"You said that you wanted to live life to the fullest. That you still wanted to do things. You must have a list. What do you want to do?" he clarified. Elena thought about this for a second. She looked at him with watering eyes.

"I'm not sure if I'll have the time," she whispered.

Damon was having none of that.

"You just found out that you're dying. Drop everything you usually do and go after what you want. What do you want to do?" he asked again.

Elena looked at the ground, breathing deeply. Her beautiful brown hair fell over her face. She had been right. There was no way she could lose that gorgeous hair of hers. After a few seconds, Elena looked up at him with a resolved face.

"I want to finish my list today," she finally said.

Damon nodded. "Then let's go and do that."

So here is the first draft. Let me know if you want me to finish. I'll write a beautiful day for Damon and Elena, with romance and all :)

Again, thank you for reading.

Follow me for info about the story: /#!/Sandy1983b