Chapter 56/Epilogue

"I know you miss her."

"Yeah. I do," I said as I continued to stare at the gravestone in front of me. "She would have loved you, you know."

"I would have loved to meet her. You want me to give you some alone time?"

"No," I answered, finally turning around. I wrapped one arm around Jess's waist and leaned into her. I rested my head against her shoulder gently as I felt her squeeze me slightly in her hold. "This is all the closure I need."

"I love you, Elena."

"I love you too, Jess."

Pain. That was all I could register when I was suddenly blinded by bright lights. The sudden sensory overload did nothing but send a jolt of pain through my skull as I suddenly gained awareness. It was like everything was happening all at once. I could feel. I could hear. I could even see, blurry as my vision was at that moment. It was honestly a bit too much as I felt my chest rise and fall at an increased rate. Was I going into shock? The horrible, searing pain I felt in my shoulder and chest was enough to warrant that.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a few moments and slowly opened them again, hoping that it would help. It did to a degree, and when I finally opened my eyes again I found that I was staring at a bright white ceiling. I turned my head, feeling the stiffness in my neck for the first time. There were machines everywhere making various noises and flashing lights. Obviously I was in a hospital, but for what I couldn't recall. I was surprised I could even remember my own name.

When I looked in the other direction, I saw a sight that made my heart nearly skip a beat.

Jess.

She was seated in a chair next to me. She wasn't looking in my direction. All her attention seemed to be focused on the television across the room where a movie was playing. She was turned slightly away from me with her elbow resting on my bed, head propped on her closed fist.

I attempted to move my left arm and I realized immediately that I shouldn't have. I didn't know it was possible for me to hurt anymore but the additional pain that shot up my arm all the way to my chest nearly made me scream.

It turned out that I had a lot more luck with my right arm as I slowly inched my hand closer to Jess, finally touching her arm. She jumped violently as I did, obviously not expecting it, and when her eyes darted over to me I heard her cry out.

"Oh my god," she nearly sobbed, standing up quickly and standing over me. Her hands moved over me, nearly touching me but not as if she was afraid she'd break me. Honestly, with the way I was feeling I think it was completely possible for her to break me. "Elena, I- Oh god, don't move. Let me call the doctor," she said frantically as she pushed the call button.

"Jess?" I croaked, my voice struggled to even leave my throat.

"Shhh, don't talk. Just please focus on staying with me, okay?" she said frantically. "I just need you to stay awake."

I listened and just laid there, staring up at her. She was slightly pale and the dark circles under her eyes were extremely prominent. She looked beat down and exhausted. I scowled a bit in confusion. What the hell happened?

When the doctor came in, he looked genuinely surprised to see me awake. I mean, really surprised. He looked over whatever data the machines were giving him and shook his head seemingly in wonder.

"Miss Elena, do you remember anything prior to waking up today?" he asked curiously.

"No," I answered weakly. I could already feel sleep tugging at the back of my mind but I focused on staying alert. I wasn't going to let go of this shred of consciousness any time soon if I could help it. That's when something seemed to click. "Wait," I corrected myself. "I was...with Jess. Something happened...."

I was trying hard. I needed to remember. None of this was making any sense. I glanced over at Jess for help but all I saw was her standing slightly behind the doctor with both arms wrapped tightly around herself. She looked so worried it hurt me to even look at her.

"You don't have to try to remember everything right now," the doctor reassured me. "You've been through a lot and your brain is most likely still trying to recover. I can tell you that you were shot. The bullet went through a major artery in your left shoulder. You nearly bled out before you got here. It's actually a miracle you're awake right now. We didn't think you would pull through," he said solemnly.

"How long?" I asked.

"It happened about six weeks ago," he answered. "You've been in a coma since you arrived here."

Six weeks. Holy hell.

"I know this is a lot to take in," he said apologetically. "But you being awake is huge and now you're just on the road to recovery. Jessica here has been by your side every day, even when we thought there wasn't any hope. You're a lucky gal."

I looked back over to Jess who was obviously trying to hold back tears. I was lucky. I had already known that before. But for her to stay here and not give up on me for a month in a half. That was insane.

The doctor left us alone again sometime later after I'd refused the morphine he offered me several times. I was in a lot of pain but I knew that the stuff would knock me unconscious and I didn't want that.

"I can't believe you're awake," Jess said. "They told me you probably wouldn't wake up but I couldn't just let you go like that. I just couldn't."

She was full on crying now and I really just wanted to cry with her. I couldn't imagine what she had to go through while I was unconscious. It was like something you only see in the movies.

"It's okay," I murmured soothingly, taking her hand with my one good one.

"No. It isn't," she said firmly despite her tears. "This never should have happened. I thought I was going to lose you, for god's sake."

"But you didn't." I kept my voice calm for her sake. "I'm going to be okay and when this is all over we can go back to our home and we can have those kids you kept pestering me about," I said half-jokingly.

That finally got her smiling at least. Even if the tears were no where near stopping.

Jess leaned over me and began running her fingers through my hair. Her fingers would linger a bit on my face as she did and I sighed in contentment. "We can finally live in peace, you know?" She said as she continued her ministrations. "Tamra was caught in front of hundreds of witnesses. She'll be going straight to prison and I doubt she'll be getting out. It's all over."

"Yeah," I sighed. "It kind of feels like I've woken up from one big nightmare."

"Your family will want to hear from you," Jessie said after a few moments. "I've spoken to your parents every day. They even flew over to see you when things weren't....looking so good."

"How bad was it?" I asked quietly, not really sure if I wanted to know.

"Elena....I- You lost so much blood. They did so many blood transfusions on the way here. They didn't think it was possible for a person to bleed out that much and still be living. You were rushed into the ICU and all I could do was wait. They told me afterward that you probably wouldn't wake up and they asked if I wanted you taken off the machines.

"I just couldn't do it. I called your mum and told her what happened. I don't think I stopped crying for days... Both your parents and Caleb flew out here and your parents told me to do what I thought was best. I don't think they wanted to make that decision again."

"And you stayed here every day? You've been in this hospital with me for six weeks?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "Holly, Claire, and my parents come by a lot so they bring me anything I need. They tried a few times to get me to go home but I think they knew I wouldn't. I had to know if anything changed."

"I love you," I said suddenly and the way Jessie's face crumpled as she broke down again broke my heart. "What's wrong now?"

"I just didn't think I'd ever hear you say that again," she cried. "I love you too. So much."

Epilogue

I was in the hospital for another week after that. Since I was now alert, the biggest challenge was simply getting me mobile again. Six weeks of being in bed had cause a lot of muscular dystrophy and just doing simple things was hard. I was at least able to sit up but I still needed help to stand and walk.

Jess had said it was simply her turn to cart me around everywhere.

The wound in my left shoulder was only slightly bothersome now. The damage inside my shoulder was still a work in progress but it would be manageable with time. That's what I was told anyway.

Our first night home was honestly amazing. Jess cooked for us both and we spent the evening together on the couch. The TV was in mostly as background noise as we held onto each other as if we were afraid the other might disappear.

"So," Jess began as she ran her fingers through my hair for what was probably the thousandth time. "I had a lot of free time while I was with you in the hospital and I may have made an important decision."

"Oh?" My interest was piqued and I turned the best I could to see her. "What kind of important decision?"

"Well. It's something we normally would have decided together. But I decided to make an executive decision." Okay now my interest was really piqued.

"Oh no. What have you done?" I said only half-jokingly.

"So I may have started some paperwork. Your mum was actually helping me with it," she explained. "I wanted to get Flash imported so that we could have him here."

"Wait, what?" I said in disbelief.

"It's just in the paperwork stage," Jess said hastily. "I mean. We don't have to if you don't want to. It probably wouldn't happen for a while and I'd have to get someone out here to fix up the barn that's out back for him and-"

I shushed her with a kiss suddenly which I would have loved nothing more than to deepen but my shoulder had other plans due to the sudden movement.

"Ow, shit," I moved back and settled against Jess's side again as she looked at me worriedly. She did look a bit flushed though, which I was secretly pleased about. "I would love to have Flash here and I love that you want him here with us."

"Really?" She grinned. "You think it was a good idea?"

"I think it's an amazing idea." I kissed Jess again, moving much slower this time, much to her delight.

When we'd finally gone to bed for the night, I was kept awake by nagging thoughts. I laid on my back, staring up at the ceiling while Jess laid curled up under the blankets. I wanted to go to sleep. I really did. But one thing would not stop bugging me as I laid there.

An hour or more later, I finally shook Jess awake.

"Hey, Jess?" I called as gently as I could. She jumped awake immediately and turned toward me, panic evident in her eyes as she turned in the light.

"What's wrong? Does something hurt?" She asked worriedly.

"No, no, I'm fine," I reassured her. "I just had something nagging me and I didn't want to wait till morning to ask you about it."

"What is it?"

"You said you started the paperwork for Flash while I was still in the hospital. That would have been when things weren't looking to good for me, right?"

"I mean, it sounds a little morbid when you put it that way but yes. We weren't sure if you were going to make it."

Oh, how casually we could talk about my almost-death now.

"What were you planning on doing if I didn't make it?" She was right. I guess the question was super morbid but dammit I was curious!

She stared at me for a moment before answering. Her eyes softened and I heard her sigh heavily. "Honestly, Elena, I knew that letting you go was going to be the hardest thing I would ever have to do." She turned so that she laid facing me by now and she draped an arm over my waist, careful not to jostle my bad shoulder as she moved closer to me. "I offered to buy Flash from your mum when she was here. You know what she told me?"

"What did she tell you?" I asked in almost a whisper.

"She said I had just as much right to him as you do and that if I wanted him here then he was mine. So I started the paperwork because I knew that he would be a part of you that I could keep with me. I knew that he was something you put your heart and soul into and I wanted to do the same when you were gone."

Tears pricked my eyes as I listened to her explanation. I didn't know what to say. I was honestly speechless.

"And I know that he would have been a lot for me at first but I did some reading too while I was staying with you and I was going to hire a professional to help me," she went on. "It just felt like I could continue sharing something with you even after you were gone."

"Okay stop, you're making me cry," I laughed despite my already blurred vision.

"I'm sorry," she chuckled. "But you asked!"

"I love you so much," I said for what was probably the millionth time that day.

When I finally fell asleep that night it was with the knowledge that I would be right beside the love of my life from that point on. I knew that our lives would no doubt throw another challenge our way but we would always come out the other side even stronger than we were before.

We just had to hold on tight and never let go.

A/N Okay I'm just gonna be real honest here. Sometimes I reread the things I write and I'm like wow why did I do this. So needless to say, I recently reread DLG in its entirety and I decided that Jessie and Elena did not deserve to end like this. So here you go. I amended it. Might end up doing some One shots later. I dunno. Maybe if there's demand.

That being said I hope you guys liked this unplanned added ending. Let me know! And Stay will be getting its next update soon-ish. Thank you guys, as always, for your continued support even if I suck at updating.

If there are typos blame Apple.