A/N: Here's a little continuation from the finale. Still don't really know how I feel about it, but the muse struck me. Love to hear your thoughts. Hope you enjoy!

Update: A bit of a title change. I kinda hated the last one and every time I sit down to write this, the song "Light" by Analogue Revolution keeps playing over and over in my head. Sorry for the confusion!

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Vampire Diaries.

Damon stood staring at Meredith in stunned silence, trying to wrap his mind around what she had just said as she continued to stare up at him with eyes full of pity and a hint of fear. He blinked rapidly, falling back a step, as if space would help him process.

"You fucking helped her?" he finally snarled, roughly blowing by her, knocking her out of the way in his haste.

She was right next to him an instant later, hounding his footsteps again. "Damon, just calm down—"

He grabbed her and slammed her into the wall, fighting every instinct in his body not to rip her apart. After a long moment he loosened his grip. "Where is she?" he demanded, a thousand different emotions flitting across his face.

Meredith let out a long sigh, easing away from him. "This way." She led him down to the elevators and once inside, hit the bottom floor.

He turned and glared at her with barely suppressed fury. "She's in the morgue?"

"Someone called the cops. The paramedics showed up and brought Matt and her here. They pronounced her dead on the scene. Stefan's with her."

"Stefan," he growled, staring straight ahead again at the steel doors.

A ding sounded and the elevator finally opened to a cement hallway lined with equipment and empty stretchers. Damon didn't wait for the doctor, but blew by her towards the sound of frantic voices, slamming the double doors open and instantly freezing at the sight before him.

Elena sat on the metal table, still dressed in her dripping closes, her hair hanging in damp tendrils around her face, her eyes wide with shock as she sucked in frantic breath after breath. One hand was on Stefan's shoulder as he bent next to her, an arm around her shoulders, a stream of low words pouring from him.

Damon's heart clenched for a brief moment with relief and joy at seeing her moving, breathing before him. And then reality sank back in, and the emptiness he had felt for days seeped back into his bones. That and anger.

Elena glanced up suddenly, her eyes fixing on him and she let out a small sound. "Damon?" she breathed.

Damon felt the familiar flutter before it was drowned out by other things. He turned to his brother, and before he could really comprehend what he was doing, he had him pinned to the wall, his arm across his throat.

"You fucking idiot!" he screamed, emphasizing his words with a punch. "How the hell could you have done this?" He shook Stefan's unresisting body, willing him to fight back, to say something. "Damn it, Stefan, why?" he yelled gain, loosing his hold on the carefully constructed walls around his emotions.

A hand on his arm caused him to freeze, and he quickly fell back from both of them as he realized it was Elena.

"Hey, it's okay," she said softly, moving towards him. He stumbled back so she couldn't touch him, and she stopped trying, a deep frown forming on her face. "This isn't his fault, Damon."

"Yes, it is, Elena," Stefan said, his eyes fixed on anything but her or his brother. "I should have been there sooner. I should have known—"

"It's not you're fault," she said again, more firmly.

"Yes it is," Damon snarled, causing her eyes to snap to him. "You just let her die, Stef. You get to live with that." He turned away, running both his hands through his hair, seeing Meredith standing hesitantly in the doorway.

"You need to get her out of here," she said, glancing back down the hallway. "The Council's back on high alert. No one can see her."

Damon let out an exasperated sound, turning back to the two of them staring at him, one with confusion and pain, the other with heart wrenching grief. All three stood unmoving, completely overwhelmed, before Elena broke the spell.

"I want to go home," she said, her voice small. She looked away from the two of them, her arms wrapping around herself. "Can you take me home?"

Damon didn't know who she was talking to, but hearing her like that, so lost and broken, the rampant fury pouring through him dissipated instantly. "My car's outside. I can give you a ride," he said, his voice barely louder than hers. He glanced at his brother. "Stefan?"

The other vampire shook his head. "I came in the ambulance."

Damon watched Stefan come forward and lay a hand on Elena's arm and he turned away. He didn't want to see this. Not now.

Meredith ushered them into the hallway, pointing down the dim hall. "There's an exit to the parking lot at the end of the hallway," she said grimly. "My shift's over in an hour. I—I'll let you know how Matt is doing," she added hesitantly before turning and hurrying away.

The drive to the Gilbert house was tense and silent. No one brought up the ultimate question that was on all of their minds. Damon's knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. He was surprised he hadn't snapped it off yet.

"Does… does Jeremy know?" Elena asked from the seat next to him.

Damon cast a quick glance at her before forcing himself to concentrate on the road. "No," he says curtly.

"How do you know?"

His grip tightened a fraction more. "Because I went straight to your house when I got back and Jeremy told me what happened. He didn't mention you'd be coming back."

Elena let her head fall into her hands, and he had to physically restrain himself from reaching out and comforting her. He glanced in the rear view mirror at his brother who just continued to stare at her with mournful eyes. Damon shook his head and looked away in disgust.

"Just take me to the boarding house," Elena said abruptly. "I can't—I don't want to do this to Jeremy. I don't want him to have to say good bye to me twice."

Damon felt like someone had just drop kicked the air out of him. He knew she didn't want to be a vampire, but ever since Meredith had spoken those words, there had been that small flicker of hope that just maybe she would reconsider. He heard the metal in the steering wheel creek and he forced himself to loosen his grip. He didn't say a word, just kept driving instead of taking the turn to the Gilbert's.

When he finally pulled up outside the house, he practically sprinted from the car. He didn't even need to breath and he felt like he was suffocating. It was one thing to know she was gone, to be unable to do anything, but to have to go inside his house and watch her whither away… He didn't know if he could do it.

He turned around in the driveway, watching the two of them get out of his car and walk away from him and he wished that Ric had just finished him off. It wasn't worth this.

Elena stopped, spoke a few words to Stefan, and then turned around towards him. When she started walking his way, he almost bolted. They'd said their goodbye on the phone. He couldn't do it again.

She stopped in front of him, closer that he would have liked, and looked up at him, her brown eyes wide and watery and he felt his insides twist. Why did she to this to him? Why couldn't he just cut her out when he knew she would never be his.

"I'm glad you're all right," she said, her voice shaky. When he didn't respond she shifted, her eyes dropping. "I'm so sorry, Damon." She hesitated, looking into the woods, back at the house, anywhere, before they came back to him. "I—I know I said I'd let you go, but… but that was before and… " She gasped and he almost lost it. "Can you just stay, until…"

Something in him snapped. He reached out and pulled her to him, crushing her against him, his face burying in her hair. "Of course I'll stay," he said in a muffled voice. They both knew it wasn't possible for him to leave.

So, I have more planned if anyone wants to read it. Don't know how much, but I have some ideas. Let me know what you think. As usual, I love hearing from all of you!