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"But he’s got to have a doctor He looks like he’s dying!" said Bonnie
"He can’t I can’t explain right now Let’s just get hi out here Then we can discuss it"
The job of getting Stefan through the woods was enough to occupy everyone’s mind for a while He remained unconscious, and when they finally laid him out in the back seat of Matt’s car they were all bruised and exhausted, in addition to being wet fro clothes Elena held his head in her lap as they drove to the boarding house Meredith and Bonnie followed
Elena gently eased Stefan’s head down and slipped out of the car, and saw one of the s in the house brighten as a curtain was pushed aside Then she saw a head and shoulders appear at the , looking down
"Mrs Flowers!" she called, waving "It’s Elena Gilbert, Mrs Flowers We’ve found Stefan, and we need to get in!"
The figure at thedid not e her words Yet fro down on theain, gesturing to the lighted interior of the car "Please!"
"Elena! It’s unlocked already!" Bonnie’s voice floated to her froure at theWhen she looked back up, she saw the curtains falling into place, and then the light in that upstairs rooe, but she had no time to puzzle over it She and Meredith helped Matt lift Stefan and carry him up the front steps
Inside, the house was dark and still Elena directed the others up the staircase that stood opposite the door, and onto the second-floor landing From there they went into a bedroom, and Elena had Bonnie open the door of what looked like a closet It revealed another stairway, very dim and narrow
"Who would leave their - front door unlocked - after all that’s happened recently?" Matt grunted as they hauled their lifeless burden "She must be crazy"
"Sheis crazy," Bonnie said fro the door at the top of the staircase open "Last time ere here she talked about the weirdest - " Her voice broke off in a gasp
"What is it?" said Elena But as they reached the threshold of Stefan’s roootten the condition the room had been in the last ti were upended or lying on their sides, as if they’d been thrown by soiant hand from wall to wall Their contents were strewn about the floor, along with articles from the dresser and tables Furniture was overturned, and a as broken, allowing a cold wind to blow in There was only one laainst the ceiling "What happened?" said Matt
Elena didn’t answer until they had stretched Stefan out on the bed "I don’t know for certain," she said, and this was true, if just barely "But it was already this way last night Matt, will you help et dry"
"I’ll find another lamp," said Meredith, but Elena spoke quickly
"No, we can see all right Why don’t you try to get a fire going?"
Spilling fro trunks was a terry cloth robe of soan to strip off Stefan’s wet and clinging clothes She worked on getting his sweater off, but
"Matt, could you - could you hand ed the sweater over Stefan’s head and quickly wrapped the robe around him When Matt turned back and handed her the towel, she wound it around Stefan’s throat like a scarf Her pulse was racing, herfuriously
No wonder he was so weak, so lifeless Oh, God She had to examine him, to see how bad it was But how could she, with Matt and the others here?
"I’ht voice, his eyes on Stefan’s face "He needs help, Elena"
Elena panicked "Matt, no please He - he’s afraid of doctors I don’t knoould happen if you brought one here" Again, it was the truth, if not the whole truth She had an idea of what ht help Stefan, but she couldn’t do it with the others there She bent over Stefan, rubbing his hands between her own, trying to think
What could she do? Protect Stefan’s secret at the cost of his life? Or betray him in order to save him? Would it save him to tell Matt and Bonnie and Meredith? She looked at her friends, trying to picture their response if they were to learn the truth about Stefan Salvatore
It was no good She couldn’t risk it The shock and horror of the discovery had nearly sent Elena herself reeling into madness If she, who loved Stefan, had been ready to run fro, ould these three do? And then there was Mr Tanner’s murder If they knehat Stefan ould they ever be able to believe him innocent? Or, in their heart of hearts, would they always suspect hierous Meredith and Bonnie and Matt were her friends, but this was one thing she couldn’t share with them In all the world, there was no one she could trust with this secret She would have to keep it alone
She straightened up and looked at Matt "He’s afraid of doctors, but a nurse ht" She turned to where Bonnie and Meredith were kneeling before the fireplace "Bonnie, what about your sister?"
"Mary?" Bonnie glanced at her watch "She has the late shift at the clinic this week, but she’s probably home by now Only - "
"Then that’s it Matt, you go with Bonnie and ask Mary to come here and look at Stefan If she thinks he needs a doctor, I won’t argue any more"
Matt hesitated, then exhaled sharply "All right I still think you’re wrong, but - let’s go, Bonnie We’re going to break some traffic laws"
As they went to the door, Meredith re Elena with steady dark eyes
Elena o"
"Do you?" Those dark eyes reh and read her mind But Meredith did not ask any other questions After a moment she nodded, and followed Matt and
When Elena heard the door at the bottohted a laed it in Now, at last, she could take stock of Stefan’s injuries
His color seemed worse than before; he was literally almost as white as the sheets below hiht of Thomas Fell, the founder of Fell’s Church Or, rather, of Tho beside his wife’s on the stone lid of their tomb Stefan was the color of that ashes on his hands showed livid purple, but they were no longer bleeding She gently turned his head to look at his neck
And there it was She touched the side of her own neck automatically, as if to verify the resemblance But Stefan’s e tears in the flesh He looked as if he had been mauled by some animal that had tried to rip out his throat
White-hot anger blazed through Elena again And with it, hatred She realized that despite her disgust and fury, she had not really hated Damon before Not really But now now, shehated She loathed him with an intensity of emotion that she had never felt for anyone else in her life She wanted to hurt him, to make him pay If she’d had a wooden stake at that h Daret
But just now she had to think of Stefan He was so terrifyingly still That was the hardest thing to bear, the lack of purpose or resistance in his body, the emptiness That was it It was as if he had vacated this form and left her with an e With one hand on the center of his cold chest, she tried to detect a heartbeat If there was one, it was too faint to feel
Keep cal back the part of her , "What if he’s dead? What if he’s really dead, and nothing you can do will save hi about the roolass lay on the floor beneath it She went over and picked one up, noting how it sparkled in the firelight A pretty thing, with an edge like a razor, she thought Then, deliberately, setting her teeth, she cut her finger with it
The painout of the cut, dripping down her finger like wax down a candlestick Quickly, she knelt by Stefan and put her finger to his lips
With her other hand, she clasped his unresponsive one, feeling the hardness of the silver ring he wore Motionless as a statue herself, she knelt there and waited
She almost missed the first tiny flicker of response Her eyes were fixed on his face, and she caught theof his chest only in her peripheral vision But then the lips beneath her finger quivered and parted slightly, and he sed reflexively
"That’s it," Elena whispered "Come on, Stefan"
His eyelashes fluttered, and with dawning joy she felt his fingers return the pressure of hers He sed again
Those green eyes were dazed and heavy, but as stubborn as she had ever seen them "No," Stefan said, his voice a cracked whisper
"You have to, Stefan The others are coree to that And if you’re not well enough to convince her you don’t need a hospital" She left the sentence unfinished She herself didn’t knohat a doctor or lab technician would find exa Stefan But she knew he knew, and that it made him afraid
But Stefan only lookedhis face away froerous Already took too ht"
Could it have been only last night? It seeo "Will it kill me?" she asked "Stefan, answer me! Will it kill me?"
"No" His voice was sullen "But - "