Story: Miles to Go

Author: Dreamerfrvrp3

Summary: Set after Founders Day. Elena wakes up from a coma thinking that a confrontation with Katherine put her in the hospital only to find that the date is August 19, 2009 and she's been in a coma ever since the car accident that killed her parents.

Author's Note: My first Vampire Diaries story so be gentle. I don't have a beta yet so anyone who is willing send me a PM. This first part is kinda short but its basically just setting up the story, the real action will start soon, I promise! I love Damon/Elena but I have yet to decide how everything will play out.

Rating: Mature

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith created these characters and the CW created the series.

Cold is the water
It freezes your already cold mind
Already cold, cold mind
And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance

Beep…Beep…Beep. Elena attempted to lift her hand to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock until she realized that the scratchy bed sheets were not hers. And the beeping was coming from the machine next to her bed. She furrowed her brows, searching her memory for a reason why she was in a hospital bed. Then she remembered.

"Jeremy? You up?" Elena yelled from the bottom of the stairs. She jumped slightly when she heard noises coming from the kitchen. She stepped cautiously towards the kitchen, her heart beating frantically in her chest. "Jenna? Jeremy?"

"Guess again," Katherine grinned from the opposite end of the kitchen. She grabbed a towel and wiped the blood off her mouth. She kicked John's body out of the way and stood in front of Elena. "The resemblance is uncanny."

Elena covered her mouth, trying hard to swallow the bile in her throat. "Is he-?"

"Dead and drained…Surprisingly delicious," she ran her tongue over her protruding fangs. "Oh how tactful of me. Sorry about Daddy Dearest but honestly nobody betrays me and gets away with it. But tsk tsk trying to use the device on Damon and Stefan…"

Elena flinched as Katherine ran a manicured finger down her face, "What do you want with me?"

Katherine smirked, "Don't worry I won't kill you…yet. I need you."

"Need me for what?" Elena whispered, backing away from Katherine's grasp.

Katherine pushed Elena up against the wall behind her and murmured in her ear, "All in good time, sweetheart. Now this might hurt a bit."

Elena shut her eyes and tried to scream but it was useless, the room started spinning and turned black before she could even open her mouth.

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

"Katherine," Elena rasped. She made a small choking noise when she tried to speak again and that got her visitor to jump out of the chair.

The red-headed woman grabbed her hand, "Oh my god. Elena your awake! How are you feeling?"

Tears stung Elena's eyes while she tried to speak again. The woman almost slapped her forehead and ran around the bed, pouring a glass of water from the pitcher next to her bed. She pressed the red button near the bed. Elena swallowed the water and spoke, "Aunt Jenna what happened?"

"Oh Elena," she grabbed Elena's hand and sat back down. "I don't know how to tell you this but there was an accident."

Before she could continue the door to the hospital room opened and a tall man wearing scrubs entered the room. He stood next to her bed and smiled, "Miss Gilbert, I'm Doctor Warren, it's nice to see you awake. You had us worried but your family was quite determined that you were going to come out of your coma."

"Coma?" she asked the doctor. He checked her pupils with his pen light and wrote down her vitals on her chart.

He nodded, "I'll explain in just a minute but first can you tell me what the date is?"

"It's May 14, 2010," she replied defiantly. Jenna and Doctor Warren exchanged worried looks. "At least that's the last day I remember before…the accident."

Jenna bit her lip and squeezed her hand, "Elena, today is August 19, 2009."

Elena's eyes widened, "No. No, that can't be right. How can that be? I blacked out on May 14, 2010 I swear."

"Miss Gilbert, you may be suffering from a certain type of amnesia. Sometimes when the body goes into a deep coma-," the doctor tried to explain.

"How long have I been in a coma?" Elena demanded. Her brain tried to process all the information given to her. Could Katherine be behind this? Had she compelled her somehow? Or maybe she had a witch cast a spell. She clasped her chest and pulled out the necklace. It was the same necklace Stefan gave her that contained vervain. "My necklace…"

"You were mumbling about how the necklace would protect you before you fell into the coma. We thought you were just out of it or something but Jer found it laying on your dresser and brought it in," Jenna told her. Before Elena could ask her next question, Jenna beat her to it. "He's fine, he wasn't in the accident. He usually comes in and sits with you every afternoon, I texted him he should be here any minute."

"How long was I out?" she asked again.

The doctor responded, "Since May 23, do you remember the accident at all?"

Elena's heart raced, her parents died that day. She stared at them, "I've been in a coma since the car accident? Mom and Dad are dead aren't they?"

Jenna hugged her, "They died on impact. Somehow you made it to the shore and someone called for help. I'm so sorry."

Stefan. He pulled her out of the river. Stefan and Damon would know what was going on. This could all just be some twisted, messed up dream that she would laugh about with Bonnie after she woke up. It has to be a dream. She couldn't do this over again. The doctor was talking to her again. "Excuse me, what did you say?"

"You seem to be handling all this information pretty well, are you sure you're okay? Your safe here Miss Gilbert, we just want to help you," he said in a soothing voice. She nodded again, she wanted to yell and tell him that this wasn't right. Explain to them that it couldn't be true. Vampire, witches, and vampire mothers really existed. That none of this information was new to her. "The nurse is going to come in and check you over. I'm going to have her take you to get an MRI; we want to make sure everything in your brain is working properly. Comas are very tricky; it's possible that your mind was making up for all the time that had passed."

And you are the mother
The mother of your baby child
The one to whom you gave life
And you have your choices
And these are what make man great
His ladder to the stars

Right after the doctor left the door burst open again and Jeremy rushed to his sister's bedside. "Elena! I'm so glad you're awake."

"Me too, Jer," she swallowed the lump in throat and hugged Jeremy back. Maybe this wasn't too bad after all before Jeremy wouldn't even say three words to her that didn't cause her heart to hurt. "I'm sorry."

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

He frowned, "For what?"

The guilt came rushing back to her like the flood of water that almost killed her. She looked down at her hands, "Mom and Dad. Had I never called them up that night, they would still be here."

"Don't you do dare blame yourself," Jenna uttered sternly next to her. Elena's eyes filled up with tears. She began to cry for all the times she lied to them in the past and for the times when she hid things from them to protect them. She cried because no matter what she wanted the life she had vampires and all.

Jeremy looked uncomfortable with the sudden flow of tears, "Aunt Jenna's right, it wasn't your fault…Everything will be okay just please stop crying."

Elena laughed and accepted the tissue from Jenna even though silent tears were still falling, "I'm so lost."

Neither Jeremy nor Jenna could ask what she meant when Matt walked through the door. His face flushed, he awkwardly held onto the flowers in his hand. He took the empty seat next to Elena and kissed her on the lips.

And I will tell the night
Whisper, "Lose your sight"
But I can't move the mountains for you

She needed to find her way home.

Let me know what you think.

Timshel by Mumford & Sons