Silent Prayers

Chapter 46

Damon looked over and saw that both Katherine and Elena were asleep in the chairs in the waiting room. He wasn't sure when they had fallen asleep, but he was glad they were getting some rest.

He couldn't sleep though. It had been an hour since the last update on his brother. A painfully, drawn out hour.

Damon stood and slowly walked down the hallway. A nurse had informed them on which room Bonnie was in, so he glanced at the numbers on the doors as he passed.

Her room was the last one at the end of the hallway. The door was open, so Damon entered the room quietly and found Bonnie asleep in her hospital bed. There was a gash just above her eyebrow that was now stitched up. She also had an IV hooked to a bag of fluids.

Damon turned when he heard footsteps behind him. A nurse came in with a clipboard and walked around him, going straight to Bonnie's IV bag and changing it out. "She's been asleep for a little over an hour now" the nurse said quietly as she went about checking Bonnie's vitals.

"She'll be okay?" Damon asked softly.

The nurse nodded. "She got a nasty bump on her head, but she's pretty lucky considering" she answered.

Damon nodded. "Do you know when she will be released?" he asked.

The nurse checked Bonnie's chart. "Most likely tomorrow morning" she answered. "I hate to rush you, but visiting hours are ending soon" she added, giving him a sympathetic smile before leaving the room to check on the next patient.

Damon stared at Bonnie for a long moment, trying to decide what he would say to her when she woke up. He really had no idea.

XXXX

It was getting more difficult to keep her eyes open as the night wore on, but Elena refused to take her eyes off of him. She had been sitting by his hospital bed for almost two hours now, holding his hand not hooked to an IV. Elena studied his face intently, waiting for his eyes to open, even though she knew he would stay in his medically induced coma until the swelling went down. She still couldn't help but wish that he would open those beautiful green eyes, smile at her and tell her he loved her. Tell her everything would be alright. Hold her in his arms and never let her go.

The only indication that he was still alive was the faint rise and fall of his chest paired with the slow and steady beeping of the machine monitoring his vitals.

There was a light tap on the door, but Elena did not bother to turn around. Damon and Katherine entered and came to stand on the opposite side of the bed as Elena. "I booked rooms at the hotel across the street" Damon said softly. "It's late. We should get some rest" he added.

"I'm staying here" Elena said. Her voice was tired and lacked emotion. She refused to leave Stefan's side.

Damon opened his mouth, set to argue when Katherine placed her hand on his arm to stop him. "Here's your key, if you change your mind" she said, placing the keycard on the table next to Stefan. "Our phones will be on if you need us" Katherine added. She leaned forward and ran her fingers through Stefan's messy hair before kissing his forehead. Then she took Damon's hand and led him out of the room, giving Elena the privacy she desperately wanted.

Elena closed her eyes for a moment, tempted to give in to the sleep she needed. But she opened her eyes quickly when she heard someone else enter the room and fought the need to sigh. She just wanted to be alone with him.

"Good evening, Elena" Stefan's doctor said, coming in to check on Stefan. He was holding what Elena assumed were the test results from Stefan's last scan an hour ago.

"Any change?" she asked weakly. She would give anything for some kind of good news.

The doctor shook his head no. "I'm afraid not" he told her, watching tears well up in her eyes. "It has only been a few hours since the surgery. We're still hopeful" he said, trying to offer up some encouragement. "You should get some rest. Your brother-in-law and his wife said they were staying at a hotel across the street?" he questioned.