Decisions

Elena had decided that she was bored of looking after the baby, and that her hair had stopped looking as great as it normally did, so she had declared that she was going to get a hair cut.

"Ok... Why are you telling me this?" asked Stefan.

"Because I thought that the father of my child-"

"One of the fathers." interrupted Damon.

"Whatever. I wanted someone to drive me."

"Oh. Well, I'm really sorry, Elena, but I have to look after Girl."

"I have to look after Girl too!"

Elena sighed. "Where the fuck is Caroline? I bet she'll drive me."

"Caroline would tell you to walk."

"Ew..."

"It's good for you."

"Ugh."

"You might meet a really hot guy who's also out walking, and he might fall desperately in love with you because you're being so indie and walking, and-"

"BYE!" shouted Elena, running to the front door at top speed.

****

"Hello?"

"Stefan? It's Caroline."

"Hello, Caroline."

"Hello. Elena is in hospital. She's been hit by a car, and the doctors aren't sure that she'll survive."

"Oh no, that's awful. What happened?"

"She was texting and she stepped out into the road without looking, and the driver couldn't stop in time."

"Don't worry. We'll be right there."

****

 Damon could tell that Stefan was blaming himself from the way he was holding the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. He reached out from the back of the car, where he was sitting with Girl, and put a hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"It's not your fault." Damon told him, looking at his eyes in the rear-view mirror.

"But I told her to walk there. If I had just driven her, this would never have happened!"

"No, Stefan, if she had paid attention to the road instead of her phone, this would never have happened."

"I suppose you're right." sighed Stefan.

****

When they arrived, the doctors were trying to shock Elena's heart into beating properly, but Damon could tell from their faces that they knew it wasn't going to work.

He pulled Stefan and Caroline aside.

"Are we going to change her?" he asked them.

"She wouldn't want us to. She's been injured so much, and she's been through so much pain already, it would just be cruel." Caroline said, gazing at her friend with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing more we can do..." one of the doctors told them, with a sympathetic smile. "We'll leave to give you time to say your goodbyes."

Damon stepped closer to Elena, holding Girl in his arms. Stefan stood next to him and put a comforting arm around his waist.

"Goodbye." Caroline was holding one of Elena's cold hands and sobbing, her face pressed against the white sheets of the hospital bed.

"We won't forget you. We'll raise our daughter well in your memory." Damon said, looking down at Girl, who was snuggled up against her blanket in his arms. A look passed between the brothers.

"We'll call her Elena after you."