April 2011

It's early spring and the Colorado Rockies are one of the finest sights on earth: the lush greenery of the valleys gives rise to cliffs of sheer rock and towering peaks crowned by snow. Elena's wearing her headset as she flies the chopper. It soars to circle the tallest mountain, The Tower. It rises thousands of feet from the ground below, so high that its summit is bathed in clouds.

"Do you see them yet?" Damon asks her through his headset.

"Patience my love."

"That is a virtue isn't it?" Damon laughs, continuing his climb.

"Wait, I think I have them sighted. What's the word Elijah?"

Spotter Elijah Mikaelson scans the mountain wall while Elena expertly pilots the helicopter. Both are wearing jackets identifying themselves as members of the Rocky Mountain Park rescue team.

"Yep, we got 'em over there," Elijah confirms. Ric and Jenna are on a ledge that's part of a lower but equally formidable peak separated from The Tower by a chasm two hundred feet wide. Ric's a veteran climber, part of their team while Jenna's worried look confirms she's a novice. Ric's waving a slow burning flare in one hand.

"Damon? Damon where are you?" Elena asks.

"Just hanging out," his voice comes through her ear piece.

Elena drops the chopper lower and then she sees him, literally clinging against the underside of a fifty foot rock ledge. It's a death-defying maneuver that goes completely against the laws of gravity.

"Oh my God! I can't see your face but the butt looks vaguely familiar," she whistles.

"Don't say that, you'll embarrass Elijah," Damon laughs, continuing his descent towards Ric and Jenna.

"It'll take a heap more than that rock jock," Elijah chimes in, shaking his head at Elena.

Ric fires another flare and Damon finally reaches the edge, grabbing on, he swings out into space where he hangs precariously with one arm as he digs his free hand into the chalk bag that's attached to his waist.

"He's signaling, Damon."

"They're about two hundred yards from the top of the tower, right where the ledge comes out," Elijah lowers his glasses while Elena struggles with the wind.

Seeing the look on his face, Elena says quietly, "He knows it well."

"The ledge, I know it well or we all know it well?"

"Don't go there."

"What? We spent a night there once..."

"Enough," Elena shushes him.

"We got caught in a storm. I went up there an innocent climber..." Damon chuckles, chalking his hands.

"Oh please, you were never innocent." Elena rolls her eyes.

"And when I came down, my morals were corrupted forever," he teases.

Elena glances at Elijah, "Don't believe him. You know the trouble with you is, you have no filter, everything just pours right out."

Arriving at the overhang, Damon turns around and prepares to kick over, pulling himself up on the ledge. Winded he slumps down and turns his head. "Hi Jenna."

"Damon," her voice trembles.

"Glad you could drop by," Ric chuckles.

Sitting up, Damon says into the radio, "Rescue One, I've located them, prepare the line for transport, over."

"Just wait till you get into trouble some time."

Elena dips the helicopter down towards the ledge, no way she can land there. Elijah lowers a rescue wire to Damon who swings precariously out to grab it. He sees that Jenna is growing more nervous by the minute. Because of the chopper's rotor wash, he has to speak loudly. He eyes Ric and then Jenna.

"How ya feeling?"

"I've had better days..."

Damon grabs at the wire. "We could take off and leave this bum behind..."

Jenna smiles, pretending to consider it while Ric grabs the radio. "Rescue One, please be advised that Ranger Salvatore's making advances toward my girlfriend that are liable to get his ass kicked right into space, over."

"Copy. Ric, tell Damon he only makes advances to me or else he'll be walking down four thousand feet and sleeping outside, over," Elena adds, trying to keep the helicopter steady.

"She's tough," Damon winks at Jenna.

"Is the elevation really that high?"

Damon secures the line to a heavy piton. "It is up there," he raises his eyes, "but I can handle it."

Elijah gets out to secure the wire, now the lifeline spans the chasm.

On the ledge, Damon anchors the line in the rock while Ric clips his harness onto the rescue line. Looking at Jenna, he takes her hand. "I know you're nervous but we've done this a hundred times. Okay?"

Jenna nods and Ric kisses her then pulls himself hand over hand across the sloping line, quickly whizzing the last thirty feet and Elijah grabs him.

Damon steals a glance at Jenna, realizing how frightened she is. "Tonight you and Ric will be laughing about this."

"Oh, I don't know about that," she looks down over the edge.

Damon attaches her harness and Elena mentions to hurry that the winds are picking up.

"On my way. Alright Jenna, are you ready?" He starts to push her out on the line but at the last second she grabs his arm, and drops her head to look down. Damon takes hold of her chin, stopping her, making her look into his eyes.

"I can't."

"Just keep looking at me and only think about the distance across. Count as you go... one... two... by ten you'll be in Ric's arms.

She takes a deep breath and gives him a timid kiss on the cheek. I'm sorry for all the trouble."

Damon pushes her out, nodding across the abyss to Ric who nods back, concerned. Everything that matters to him is suspended by a thread over a 4000 foot drop. She's inching away in the harness, looking a little more confident.

"See?" Damon smiles at her.

"One..."

"You're doing great Jenna."

"Two..."

"That's it, you've got it."

"Three..."

Thirty feet out, going fine, Ric watches, his tension beginning to ease.

"Four... Five..."

"Nice and easy..."

"Six..."

Suddenly the strap under Jenna's leg breaks. "Oh God!" she screams, horror exploding with every panicked beat of her heart.

"Jenna!" Ric screams, his breath quickening as he watches the nightmare in front of him.

"I'm going to fall! Dear God, help me!" she cries frantically when the harness completely unravels all at once, its strands fly through the clips. What was a seat has become a trap door in a millisecond. As it shoots out from under her, Jenna falls but grabs the harness strand, holding on with a white knuckle grip.

"Help me! Ric!" Her eyes are wide with panic and her whole body is trembling.

"Hold! Jenna, hold on! Get her Damon!" he screams, his face contorted in worry. He's terrified, Jenna, too scared to breathe, is swaying in from the wind and the jerk of her own weight. Her grip begins to loosen. A single knot in the clip is the only thing supporting her weight. It won't hold her for long.

Elena stares down at her aunt in horror. Adrenaline surges so fast she feels like she has to vomit.

"Damon, get her!"

"I'm coming out," Damon yells, moving back from the ledge as beads of sweat trickle down his brow.

"No, stay off the line, you'll break her loose."

"The clip's not gonna hold!"

"Go after her Damon." Elena watches helplessly while trying to maintain the chopper.

"Hold on, baby, he'll get you," Ric pleads with both of them.

"I'm slipping, please... please..." her eyes are begging him.

Damon gently pulls himself up on the line, crosses his ankles on it and clips himself on with a three foot safely line. He starts smoothly, quickly pulling himself out.

Barely able to watch, his voice cloaked in anguish begs Damon, "Don't you lose her!"

Jenna's in trouble, the bobbing of the line from Damon's weight and the wind are making her lose her grip even more. Damon pulls himself along the line as fast as he can, trying not to shake it. He glances at Ric who has dug in to brace the line. It's not meant to hold this much weight. Jenna lowers her eyes into the abyss below.

"No! Don't look down, look at me. Keep your eyes on me... You can do it, you're stronger that you think... Hold on Jenna."

Her eyes slide up to him, he's only ten feet away now.

"Damon, hurry, you can do it! Just a little more and you've got her," Elena speaks into his ear.

"I'm trying Elena," he drops his focus back to the knot that's now worked itself halfway through. It doesn't matter how tight she holds on, the harness itself is letting go.

"Jenna's losing it," he says into the mic.

"Baby, hold on, he'll have you in a second. Jesus, Damon, grab her!"

Damon pulls himself the rest of the way faster, almost bridging the gap. His eyes lock with Jenna's who is staring at him desperately.

"Please... oh, no - please!" she shrieks, pleading with him to save her.

"I'm here! Jenna, I'm here, I've got you."

Suddenly the clip that's keeping her alive surrenders the knot, it passes through and Jenna begins to fall. Damon lets go of the main line and launches himself at her, miraculously getting a tenuous grip on her upper arm. Damon's three foot safety line pulls taut, testing the limits of it as it yanks him and Jenna back. They start swinging like a pendulum over the abyss. With each swing, her hand slips further down his arm. He frantically tries to tighten his grip but it's slipping. Damon reaches up with his free hand to grab the main line in a desperate attempt to stabilize them but their swinging keeps it out of reach.

"Use your other hand, grab it."

"Help me! I don't want to die!" She can't breathe. Her heart is racing and all she wants to do was curl up into a ball. Another choked cry for help forces itself up and out of her throat.

"You're not gonna die. Grab on with your other hand."

Jenna's too scared to move, her other arm flails helplessly in the air. Their grip slides to wrist level and keeps slipping. Damon's hand digs into her climbing glove and holds.

"Damon hold her! Hold her!" Elena voice cracks in his ear.

His face is a mask of strained concentration as he tries to grab the main line while maintaining his grip on Jenna. Finally he snags it but he can't stabilize them with the next full swing. Exhausted himself, he tries to keep the panic out of his voice. "Do it! Reach up, grab the line, Jenna."

For what feels like an eternity, Jenna's eyes lock onto his with an expression of unabashed terror as her hand slides out of her glove. She falls - her eyes still locked on Damon who looks down, swaying helplessly on the wire as she screams.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling - looking very small against the vast mountain range. The safety harness spirals down after her like a carefree bird.

Her scream echoes through the canyons - fainter, fainter - until it's almost a memory...

Elena and Elijah look down in horror but Ric is absolutely broken. Hearing Jenna's screams in her headset, Elena struggles to maintain her own composure.

Still clutching Jenna's glove, Damon twists precipitously from his safety line. Grief surges with every expelled breath, always reaching higher peaks, never sufficiently soothed by his long intakes of the damp spring air. He wants to but he can't close his eyes. Looking over, they lock with Ric's whose horror and grief are unimaginable.

To be continued...

Chapter one was inspired by the opening scene in the Stallone movie "Cliffhanger". This story is not that story though. Some of the dialogue in this chapter is from the movie. All rights belong to them.

I will caution you that we still have a little work to do on this so you may not get a chapter next week. We really just wanted to give you a taste.

Thank you Eva for everything you do. You're invaluable...

Let us know what you think.

Have a great evening. You're all the best.