In the morning Elena woke up next to Damon with his arm draped haphazardly oven her waist. Elena's breath hitched in her throat. What had happened last night? How had she let it get this far with Damon, when she was still with Stephan? Elena definitely didn't wasn't Damon to wake up with her still here. That would be awkward, and lead to many questions she couldn't bring herself to answer. Elena carefully slid out of Damon's hold and tiptoed out of the room, still wearing Damon's shirt and boxers. She thought about how to return them to him without it being weird. Elena found she keys on the hook by the door where she had put them before the party. Her car was still here since she hadn't driven it home after the party when John had kidnapped her. She was thankful she didn't need Damon to give her a ride, which would be way to long a silent drive for her to handle.

As Elena drove away from the boarding house, she looked through the dashboard and cup holders for her phone. She was sure she had left it at the boarding house before everything had happened, maybe someone had taken it. She sighed and kept driving, looking forward to seeing her brother.

Elena was so glad to finally be home, she walked up the path and unlocked her door, and then stopped in the entry way. There were books smashed onto the floor. Boxes lined the hallways with their contents strewn along into a path that connected the living room and kitchen. Someone was looking for something. What was it? What if it was Jeremy!

"Jeremy?" Elena called loudly through the house, "Jeremy!"

"Elena?" Jeremy said, appearing at the landing.

"Jeremy," Elena sighed running up the stairs to hug her brother.

"Bonnie called and said they had found you, but you were pretty beat up and Damon said he wanted to take care of you." Jeremy explained.

"I missed you so much Jer," Elena whispered, "Now what happened here?" she said, raising her voice.

So Jeremy explained how they thought if they could find something of Johns they could find her, and how they needed Alaric's ring.

"And so, Jenna and Alaric are cutting their trip short, and they should be arriving later today, by the way." Jeremy said, "Oh, and Bonnie has your cell phone."

Damon was still half asleep, but he knew Elena was beside him, so he rolled to the side trying to cuddle her, and was met with cold empty sheets.

Damon sat up. "Elena?" He called, "Elena!"

Where was she? After just getting her back, he was not going to let anyone take her from him again.

He sped downstairs and found his phone and speed dialed Elena.

With each ring he grew more and more nervous. Elena always answered her phone. And she was just here, so how far could she have gotten.

Hello, you've reached Elena Gilbert…

Damon threw his phone to the floor, grabbed his keys and slammed the door.

When he looked outside, he saw that Elena's car was gone. She might have just left by herself, but Damon wanted to be sure she was okay.

Damon got in his car and thought the first place he should look was Elena's house.

Elena and Jeremy were picking up books and sorting them in boxes when the doorbell rang fiercely. While Elena was getting the keys, the doorbell started to ring more franticly.

Elena opened the door and there was Damon looking worried and standing in his black shirt and wrinkled pair of jeans.

Damon sighed, "I didn't know where you were. Elena you can't leave like that!"

"I'm sorry," she said. She didn't realize that he would wake up not knowing that she was okay. "I just wanted to go back home."

"Promise me that you'll never let yourself out of my sight again Elena," Damon said fiercely.

Elena rolled her eyes and said, "I promise. Just remember that you asked for it Damon," thinking about fun ways to make him regret saying that.

"Okay," Damon said confused.

"Now help us clean this up, you made this mess in the first place," Elena snapped.

"Yeah, trying to save your life," Damon said grinning, looking into her smiling eyes.

Jeremy looked at the two of them sharing a moment and decided to start cleaning in another room, so that Elena and Damon could banter amongst themselves.

And true to her word, Elena never left Damon's sight. She followed him everywhere he went, to founder's council meetings, to the bar, and around the boarding house. She followed him from room to room like a little duckling, and Damon was enjoying what she thought was a way to get back at him. Once, Elena even suggested coming into the bathroom with him because, "I promised that I would never be out of your sight, you asked for it." To which Damon had laughed out loud and called a truce, then said,

"Ahh I change my mind, how about a hot shower?" He said as he did his eye thing, and she mock punched him in the arm. And all while Elena was following Damon around, Stephan faded to the back of her memory, because she was having so much fun with Damon.

Damon woke up and heard the shower water drumming against the tile as Elena's pulse beat along with it. The last months had been hard on Elena, and on him. Even after knowing that Elena was safe back in Mystic Falls, Jenna still wanted to cut her trip short and return home, but Elena convinced her to stay. She told Jenna she had to learn to get along with the in-laws, and so Jenna calmed down. Since Jenna and Alaric were still out of town, Jeremy and Elena had been staying in the boarding house with Damon. He liked that he could keep an eye out for them, and he enjoyed the company.

Only a couple of days after moving in with Damon, they got a call from Stephan.

Stephan did not want to talk to Elena, so she unwillingly passed the phone to Damon, and Stephan told him that Elijah had compelled him to act as his minion as they toured America looking for supporters to join their powerful family. Stephan told Damon that he had lost his feelings for Elena as he was compelled, and that they were breaking up. Damon then left Elena to speak in a different room. Damon yelled at Stephan and tried to convince him to come home. Stephan said that he was compelled to not want to go home; Elijah needed Stephan since he was a powerful influence to other vampires. Stephan told Damon not to go looking for him, because he wouldn't be able to find him. Then he asked Damon to explain all of this to Elena, and hung up. Damon was so furious with Stephan, even more so for leaving him to tell Elena everything.

Elena was heartbroken, Stephan was gone and never coming back, he was compelled to not love her anymore. Damon was heartbroken too, he had lost a brother, but he didn't have the heart to go looking for him either. And this shared grief brought them together, and strengthened their friendship, so Damon was secretly thankful that Stephan was out of the picture.

And so, just as these events started with a party, they ended with a party. Elena wanted to forget everything that had happened in her past, and the last it's all over party streak had been ruined with John, so this next party would be the start of a good life for the people of Mystic Falls, or would it start some new drama?

"Why do you like having so many parties," Damon asked, "it is just the excuse you use to get drunk, so you can then use that as an excuse to kiss and do the no pants dance with me?"

Elena rolled her eyes and then disappeared to the dance floor with Bonnie and Caroline.