For one selfish moment, Elena Gilbert felt good. It had been so long since she'd felt anything like it, she just wanted to grab onto the feeling and never let go. She knew Stefan had something to do with that and part of her hated herself for being that girl... but after so long, she was desperate to feel happy again. 

The feeling didn't last long. 

Elena caught Jenna dragging her fingers through her hair and it felt like the entire world collapsed on her. She blinked hard as tears pooled in her eyes and her chest felt as if someone had dropped a weight on it. 

Lois had been attacked last night. They found her in the woods with Vicki Donovan, covered in blood. She'd been making this horrible gurgling sound as blood pooled in her mouth, her throat nearly torn out. The memory along was enough to make bile rise in Elena's throat. 

She remembered seeing Lois' eyes darting around, she looked so small, so scared, but when she saw Elena and Jeremy she relaxed. Elena hoped that they made her feel safe in that moment, protected. 

They'd got her to the hospital just in time, but Jeremy had to donate some blood for a transfusion. Jenna had given her consent to allow the hospital to sedate her, but Elena wasn't sure whether it was for the pain or for Lois' own good. She knew Lois hated hospitals, hell, the whole Gilbert family did. It's where their whole lives changed forever. 

Elena hated herself in that moment. How could she be so selfish? Her baby sister was in hospital and here she was allowing herself to be happy? To feel grateful that someone like Stefan was in her life? 

As if noticing Elena's self hatred, Jenna cut in gently, "She's okay, Elena."

Elena blinked hard again, quickly swiping her slender fingers under her eyes to remove any stray tears.

"Sorry," Elena apologised. "I don't know what's gotten into me."

Jenna's eyes softened, "You've had a shock, okay? We all have... But I was with her all night and they're hoping she's going to make a good recovery."

Elena nodded slowly, her eyes drifting over her aunt's face. Jenna looked tired, that much was obvious. Guilt rolled around in Elena's stomach, she was the oldest, she was meant to look after her siblings. 

"Do they-" Elena's voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. "Sorry. Do they know why she was in the woods? She was meant to be home, right?"

"I- no," Jenna sighed, looking so very young in that moment. "They don't know, she's not talking right now... I don't even know if she can talk, I mean the injury was--"

Jenna shuddered, cutting herself off, "I really screwed up, Elena. Sheriff Forbes is going to want to talk to me about all this and I just, I don't know what to say."

"You're not screwing up, Aunt Jenna," Elena soothed. "This isn't your fault, okay?"

"It's not yours either, Elena." Jenna replied knowingly. Elena looked away from her aunt's knowing gaze. 

"How's Jer?" Elena asked, wanting Jenna's heated gaze to move off of her. 

"He was up early today, said he was going to woodshop to finish a birdhouse," Jenna sighed. "But I'm not stupid, I'm pretty sure he was waiting until I was back from the hospital to go see her instead of going to school."

"I'll go see her before class, try and get Jeremy to school." Elena sighed. 

"It's because they are twins, you know? They feel each other's pain, even if not physically affected. They've always been odd like that." Jenna mused. 

Elena hummed, before noticing Jenna's outfit.

"Where are you off to, Aunt Jenna?" Elena asked curiously. 

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference," Jenna replied, her face screwing up, "Like I need any more people telling me I'm screwing up."

"Don't listen to them, Jenna," Elena soothed, "They have no idea what it's been like for us."

A silence fell over them as they watched each other. Elena broke the silence with a small smile, "You should wear your hair up, it's cute like that."

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

The hospital was quiet this early in the morning, and Elena was grateful for that. The rush and buzz of the emergency room yesterday had thrown her right back to four months ago when everything went so wrong. 

"Hi," Elena greeted, her voice quiet. "I was hoping to see Lois Gilbert?"

The female receptionist smiled sadly, the name Gilbert clearly registering in her mind, "I'm sorry, but visiting hours don't start till 9am."

Elena nodded slowly, "I think, I think my brother's here. Her twin? Do you mind if I just check?"

The receptionist hesitated for a moment, before nodding, "Just... be quick."

Elena smiled gratefully, quickly turning and walking to room pointed out by the nurse.

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

"You can't be in here, Jer. Visiting hours don't start till 9am." Elena said softly as she entered.

Her brother was tired, his eyes red and puffy. Lois was short, barely reaching 5 foot, so there was room for Jeremy to lean on the end of the bed. He had crossed his arms and was resting his head on them in the space at the foot of Lois' bed. 

"I just..." Jeremy cleared his throat, his voice quiet. "I just wanted to see if she was okay." 

"Jenna was here all night," Elena said quietly, approaching the twins. Lois was still asleep. "She's coming back right after your parent-teacher conference."

Jeremy scoffed, "Like I care what the school has to say about me."

Elena pressed her lips together. She wasn't looking for a fight. She didn't want Jeremy to resent her anymore than he already did. She just wanted them all to be happy, safe. 

"We've got to get to school," She murmured. "I'll bring you straight back after, I promise."

Jeremy nodded slowly, standing up. He stretched briefly, stiff from his awkward position at the end of the bed. 

"Do you mind if I just check on Vicki?"

Elena wanted to raise her eyebrows, she wanted to ask why, but she wasn't stupid. She knew Jeremy had some strange crush on the older girl, but what could she do? He didn't want her opinion and he wouldn't listen to her anyway. 

⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱ⋅.˳˳.⋅ॱ˙˙ॱᐧ.˳˳.⋅

There was a nurse in the room with Vicki, and Jeremy didn't hesitate to ask her how Vicki was doing. 

"She's lost a lot of blood." The nurse smiled sadly, pulling the file from the foot of Vicki's bed and scanning them quickly. 

"Yeah, but they're gonna be okay, right?" Jeremy asked, and Elena wasn't sure she'd heard him sound so young in a while.

The nurse turned to Elena, a knowing look on her face. 

"She needs to rest Jeremy, they both do. We'll come back later." Elena wrapped her arm around his shoulder and guided him out of the hospital. 

AURA COLOUR CHART

red: energy, strength, anger, lust, passion, ego

orange: self control, ambition, thoughtfulness, courage

yellow: optimistic, happy, intellectual, naive

light green: peaceful, healing, compassion

dark green: deceitful, jealousy, moody

light blue: fear, indecisive, sensitive, skepticism

dark blue: spiritual, loyal, creative, kind

violet: wisdom, intuition, highly spiritual

indigo: benevolence, highly intuitive, seeker

pink: love, sincerity, friendship

grey: depression, sadness, exhaustion, low energy, skepticism

brown: greed, self-involvement, opinionated

black: lacking energy, illness, imminent death

white: perfect balance