(Elena)

It was hard watching out for roots and rocks and other stuff that would make her trip, in the dark woods but she did her best. She knew he was coming after her although she couldn't hear him practically fly through the trees behind her. She just had to get home. She had to get away from it, all of it. So she ran, and she knew she'd get home a lot faster if she would just let Damon drive her but she didn't feel like sitting in the same car as him for even five minutes. She longed for her bed, for lying under the covers and pretending she didn't exist. But the thought of Stefan not being there to hold her as she drifted off to sleep made her want to turn on her heels and run straight back into his arms. Unfortunately, that was not an option. The panic came creeping up on her when she started thinking about how she was going to get Stefan out of the tomb. Both luckily and unfortunately, she didn't have much time to brood about that because something then caught her foot and she fell towards the ground. She stretched out her arms to stop herself from falling facedown but she never reached the ground – arms caught her midair. How very convenient of him. She had just started wondering how long he had been running behind her, waiting for her to trip or stumble, when she realized it was he who had made her trip and his foot that had caught hers.

"Clumsy, much?"

"Damon! Let go of me!" she screamed, trying to get out of his arms while he steadied her.

The arms disappeared then and he stopped, maybe waiting for her to calm down. She didn't. She could barely make out the lines of his body in the darkness, the only light coming from the stars and the moon.

"So. Because of your obvious lack of brains today, I guess I will have to explain the situation to you. Since Stefan is stuck in the tomb with the psychopathic bitch, I am the one who has to take on the assignment of protecting your stupid ass until we get him out", he said mockingly but somehow still stern and serious.

She knew he was angry with her. But she didn't answer and he continued:

"Do not for a second think that there'll be a rerun of the crap you've pulled today. Either I'm sleeping at your place or you're sleeping at mine. Choose."

"No…"

She started to protest but he stopped her:

"You know there are only two ways of doing this. You can yell at me some more while I throw you over my shoulder and carry you home or you can grow the fuck up and pick a place."

Yes, he was definitely angry. But Elena didn't feel like doing either. And she knew that the childish screaming tactic wouldn't work, although it was the one she most felt like using, so she tried a little more mature one.

"I know, Damon, but I really need to be with Jeremy a little, I have no idea how he's handling all this. Can't I just see you in the morning? It was true that she should talk about all this stuff with Jeremy but that wasn't the main reason she wanted to get away from Damon. She realized that she really didn't want to be alone that night and if she hadn't been so extremely angry with Damon, she'd probably been more than willing to sleep at his place, in Stefan's bed. But as it happened to be, she was extremely angry with him plus she felt she had to freak out a little, give in to the hopelessness that'd been hanging over her since she'd gone to see Katherine, and just… cry a little. Be a little human. And that was not something she wanted to do in front of Damon, angry with him or not. Then she got an idea.

"But, why don't you just get Jeremy to look after me? You know he'll do it."

"Well, yeah!" he exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why didn't I think of that? Of course! The sixteen year old human child can look after you! Because he'll notice if you sneak out in the middle of the night to, I don't know, go on a stupid suicide mission!"

Elena just glared at him.

"You're place then?" he said and she could practically hear him smirking although she couldn't see his face.

He took hold of her upper arm and started dragging her after him towards the car. She knew that she'd lost and that it was useless to protest any more. He'd just get annoyed, maybe even angrier and last time she'd seen him angry, she suddenly remembered, he'd killed her little brother. Well yeah, turned him into a vampire, really, since Damon had known that Jeremy had blood in her system. What Damon hadn't known was that Elena's brother had been wearing a ring that protected him from dying in any supernatural way. But no, she corrected herself, Damon had been hurt that time, not angry. The memory of it still made her angrier though. And now she'd be stuck with this jackass for how long?

They got into Damon's car in silence and he started it up and began driving.

"Who's going to babysit me when I'm in school?" she asked sourly and hoped to god that it wouldn't be him.

"The witch girl is."

Thank god, she thought. At least that would be endurable.

"So," she began. "How're we getting Stefan out of that tomb?"

"First things first, we're dispelling that moonstone. Your witchy little friend isn't strong enough to take down the seal by herself anyway so we're gonna need someone to help with that."

"But… No! We need to get Stefan out of there!"

"No, Elena, we don't. What we need is to dispel that moonstone and save your life. Stefan isn't going anywhere; we can get him out whenever we feel like it." He smirked. "Or have time for it", he added unwillingly when he saw Elena's look.

"Okay", Elena said when they were standing on her porch. Jenna is not going to know about you staying over so…"

"Of course she's not", Damon said with faked hurt and disappeared.

Elena opened the door and entered her house. Jenna and Alaric were sitting in the kitchen, talking.

"Hi Elena!" Jenna called casually.

"Hi", said Alaric.

Elena managed a weak smile. "Hi guys." She started walking towards the stairs but Jenna wasn't done with her.

"What've you been up to today?"

"Just… Hanging out at Stefan's. Nothing special." The lie sounded absurd and for a moment Elena doubted Jenna would even believe it. Then she remembered that hanging out at the boyfriend's place was the kind of stuff Jenna expected Elena to do. Jenna asked a few things, like when Elena and Stefan had gotten back together and how Stefan was and Elena answered as normally as she could. She finally managed to throw in an "I'm really tired so I'm just going to go to bed" and stop the conversation. She hurried up the stairs and into Jeremy's room. She was careful to close the door behind her before she started the yelling.

"How could you be so stupid, Jer? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking saving your life, Elena! And Bonnie's and Tyler's and Caroline's and maybe even my own! And don't you come here and talk to me about being stupid", he finished with a knowing glare.

He knew. Elena turned around to find Damon looking very comfortable in Jeremy's chair. How could she not have seen him there?

"It wasn't a stupid plan", Elena said, her voice suddenly nothing but a whisper. All the power seemed to have gone from it. "And you would both see that if you were in my position. The moonstone-plan was idiotic and I told you so from the start. Someone was bound to get hurt and it's because of me. This is none of yours battle to fight. I know that this isn't about me anymore but it's supposed to be. And if I have a chance of sparing the others you should let me take it. I know you want to save me, Jer, and I love you, but you can't. This has always been my faith and no matter which road I choose to walk Klaus will be at the end of it."

There were tears in Jeremy's eyes when she stopped talking and she hated herself for telling him these things but it had to be done. And she wished with all of her heart that Jeremy wouldn't have to lose another family member, it just wasn't fair. But life was not fair, the world had made that clear a long time ago.

"No", he started as she sat down beside him. "No, there has to be a way…"

And she wanted to tell him that there was one. She wanted to tell him that everything would be okay but she couldn't. It would though. Someday Jeremy would have a wife and some children and a house and a job somewhere. Or maybe he wouldn't, maybe he would choose another way to live his life but anyway he did it he would e happy again. Though he didn't believe that now, he would be okay. He would hurt a whole lot for a while but he would heal eventually. She knew from experience that the holes after the one's you've lost always would be there, but the edges would not always bleed.

She sat down on the bed beside her little brother and put her arms around him. "I'm so sorry", she whispered. Jeremy didn't return the hug.

"No", he repeated and pulled away.

Elena didn't know what to say. She sat there beside him for a little while before she said good night and got up. Then she spotted Damon. She couldn't put her finger on what had changed in his body but he certainly did not look comfortable anymore. But what surprised Elena was his face. He was frowning slightly and there was something with his eyes. It looked as if something had broken in them. She didn't like that.

When she'd opened the door Damon was right behind her. He followed her into her room where he stood, motionless, staring into nowhere with that little crease between his eyebrows and that strange expression in his eyes. Elena's stomach made a strange sound, reminding her that she should eat something. She told Damon so and left him in her room to go downstairs and get a sandwich. She stayed in the kitchen to eat it, reading about things normal humans would see as abnormal and outstanding, in the newspaper.

When she returned to her room Damon looked more like his old self. He was stretched out on her bed, his hands behind his head.

"Too bad I didn't bring any PJ's", he smirked, but Elena noticed there was still something weird with his eyes.

She shrugged. "Yeah. You may freeze."

"On top of the covers? That's not very hospitable of you, Elena."

She grabbed her pajamas and bathroom stuff and turned to him with a stern face. "The chair or your own bed, Damon. Your choice." With those words she walked out of the room, into the bathroom.

When she returned, makeup gone and PJ's on, Damon hadn't moved an inch. The window he'd supposedly gotten in through earlier was wide open. She could feel his gaze sliding up and down her body while she got over to shut it. She ignored his intrusive eyes and stopped in front of him, hands on her hips.

"Damon", she said in a hard voice. "Off. Now."

And in an instant he was on the chair, looking comfortable again. Elena crept under the covers and let out a deep sigh. She felt as if she'd never needed sleep more in her whole life. And although she knew Damon would not be able to protect her if Elijah or even Klaus showed up, she felt safer having him there, as safe as she could feel at the moment.

"Elena", Stefan said. "Elena, you're hurting me."

"Stefan", Elena said, not really listening. "Why is there a hand in your chest?"

"Elena", he said and his voice was toneless and his face as blank as a sheet of paper. "Please stop, Elena."

Then the hand came out of Stefan's chest and there was something red and round in it.

"Elena. You're hurting me."

"Stefan", she began but then noticed the hand was hers. There was a very big hole in Stefan's chest now. "I'm sorry", she said. "I didn't mean to."

Then Stefan smiled and it was beautiful but it wasn't Stefan anymore, it was Damon. Damon fell to the ground and Elena noticed that there already were a lot of people down there. Although it didn't look like them at all she knew that it was all of her friends and her family, including her parents.

She awoke with a start, gasping for breath, her heart racing and something wet all over her face. She sat up, trying to calm down but it wasn't very easy.

"Elena?" Damon's voice came from a place a lot closer than it should be and she jumped. "It was a bad dream. You're safe."

She nodded, still breathless, knowing he would see it in the darkness. Bad dream. Nothing more.

But that really wasn't true, was it?