A Heart Worth Loving

The next few days were tense and Layla found herself spending a lot of time at the Salvatore house, working on her plans for the fate with Stefan. Sitting on a log at some party that her friends had dragged her too, Layla watched the school football team making fools of themselves and absent-mindedly played with the half-empty beer bottle that she was holding. Spotting Stefan standing with Matt, she pushed herself to her feet and made her way towards them.

"Having fun?" Stefan asked as she came to a stop beside him.

"I guess," Layla replied, frowning as a high-pitched scream reached her ears, "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Matt inquired.

"Someone screaming," Layla explained, grimacing as the sound grew louder and her head started pounding.

Feeling something wet under her nose, she swiped at it with her hand and held it up in front of her to find that it was covered with blood. Looking over at Stefan terrified, she sank to her knees as the pain in her head intensified and covered her ears to block out the sound.

"Layla," she heard Stefan shout, but his voice was distant and muffled.

Within minutes of her hitting the floor, the screaming stopped and Layla slowly removed her trembling hands from her ears. Feeling someone's hand on her back, she lifted her head to find Stefan watching her with concern and allowed the darkness to take her, knowing that she would be safe.

Waking up to the sound of beeping, Layla allowed her eyes time to adjust to the brightness in the room and looked around to find that she was in the hospital. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she collapsed back against the pillows and closed her eyes as her head began to pound again. Hearing the door open, Layla cracked open one eye and offered Damon a small smile in greeting.

"It's good to see you awake," Damon said as he sat on the edge of the bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Scared... how are Matt and Stefan?"

"They're freaked out," Damon told her, "Do you remember what happened?"

"I was at that party with the others and thinking about leaving early, when I heard someone screaming," Layla recounted, "I asked Stefan and Matt if they heard it too, but they obviously had no idea what I was talking about."

"That's because only specific people could hear it," Damon stated, "Bonnie heard it as well and she thinks that it could possibly be another Gilbert device, but this one is to be used against witches."

"I'm not a witch though."

"Bonnie has a theory about that too, but this isn't the place to have that conversation..."

"Maybe I'm just crazy," Layla mumbled, sighing and running a hand over her face, "Any idea when I can get out of here?"

"I'll go find out."

Watching as Damon left, Layla fought back the tears that were threatening to fall and took a deep breath. Her magic was the only part of her that she had kept from her friends and there was a good reason for it, but she couldn't do it anymore.

It wasn't long before the doctor entered the room with Damon close behind him, asking her several questions and checking her chart over. Unable to find anything wrong, the doctor went off to sign her discharge papers and she was finally allowed to go home.

Knowing that her gran was out picking up her brother, Layla decided to head over to the Salvatore house with Damon and hummed along to the song playing on the stereo. Following Damon inside, she wasn't surprised to find herself wrapped in a tight hug as soon as she entered and automatically hugged Stefan back.

"You scared the hell out of me," Stefan whispered, relaxing as Layla tightened her hold, "How are you feeling?"

"Sore and my head is pounding, but nowhere near as bad as it was earlier."

"That's good to hear," Stefan replied, letting her go and stepping aside to let the others see her.

Feeling suddenly exhausted, Layla left her friends talking and curled up on the sofa to sleep. She knew that there was a conversation to be had, but right now she was too tired to think and all she wanted to do was sleep.