Stefan thought about her every day. He knew he shouldn't he knew she was better off without him. But, he simply couldn't stop himself. He would think about her laugh, her smile, the way she had looked the morning after, the way it felt to be next to her. And not the he was next to her now, talking about revenge, and hateful things, but when all either of them saw was the other.

Whenever she spoke to him he would only half hear her, listening to the sound of her voice, but never her words. Just that sound he knew so well.

He thought about the curve of her legs, and what he wouldn't give to feel them, to own them once again. The way she would yell when they made love.

Little did he know she thought about him too.

She missed him. She needed him, now more than ever. She needed to feel connected, to have someone would always be on her side, who she knew she could always count on, someone who would never question her, but never leave her alone. She had never had that before (or after) Stefan.

She often caught him looking at her. Not just looking but staring, gazing, his eyes filled with passion and lust, and maybe, just maybe, the love that had lingered in her for the past 5 months, he had been holding onto as well.

She thought about that now as Damon finished up pitching his plan to everyone. For some reason, she just didn't care as much anymore. She wanted Klaus dead as much as the next person, but she just didn't need it to happen as much as she had before. She used to feel like everything was in danger as long as Klaus was alive, but now, she really didn't know why she cared any more. Except for Stefan. Maybe that was why. Maybe she needed this to be over just so she would be able to help him find himself again.

Everything seemed a little blurred and hurried as she found herself the last in the living room of the Salvatore house. It took her a minute to swallow everything Damon had said. She sat on the couch to think about it. But all she found herself thinking about was Stefan.

"dammit" she muttered, and decided that for now she should try and get some rest at her house, so she left.

When Stefan heard the car pull up, he ran out of the gilbert house to meet Elena.

"Stefan?" she said, confused and trying to hide her excitement

"Hey" he returned, looking concerned.

"Stefan, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" suddenly all of her hope that maybe he'd finally come around, morphed into concern.

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine, but I just… I need to talk to you."

"sure" Elena said walking past him up the porch and into the house. He fallowed.

"what's going on?" she asked, closing the door behind them.

"it's about Damon" he said

"why? Is he okay? Did something happen in the past five minutes since I saw him last?" she said almost sarcastically, but he could tell it was a real question too. he forced out a laugh.

"well, actually it's about you and Damon." She looked uncomfortable, all of a sudden, her shoulders went up and her hand found their way into her coat pocket and her face got defensive, as if she was preparing for an argument.

"Look," he said," he's just… he's not good for you, 'Lena" she looked at him, shocked. He waited for her to say something, but when she didn't respond he continued.

"I'm not saying, that I am or anything, I just want you to be careful." she looked at the floor. "He loves you, that's not what I'm concerned about… but you need to understand, that while all this is happening with Klaus, if something were to… happen, between you two… it could cause conflict, and we can't have any, distractions until Klaus is dead."

"wow" she breathed, still looking at the ground.

"what?"

"it's just… you almost had me thinking you cared" she huffed.

"Elena-"

"No! You know what? I am tired of this, Stefan!" he was looking her straight in the eye and she hated that. "You can't keep avoiding the way you feel, Stefan! Just when you think you might care you look the other way, and bring up Klaus again! It is so infuriating! Just feel something! Just yell at me, or hit me, or kiss me, or just hold me and tell me you love me!" she was yelling so loud, she had to pause to catch her breath " you're just isolating yourself within your hatred for Klaus, so nobody can reach you, just so you don't have to feel! And I don't believe that all you would be able to feel is pain! Remember love, Stefan? Can you remember feeling at all?" she stopped. She clearly wanted an answer now. He just kept looking at her, his green eyes sparkling with the tears he was holding back. They stayed in silence for some while never breaking eye-contact.

"Stefan" she whispered in a near tone of apology, as she reached her hand to his face. He flinched at her touch, causing her hands to retreat only for a moment. Upon their return to his neck he closed his eyes finally letting a tear fall. She whipped it away with her thumb, it made her all the more sad seeing him cry. Even though that might have been what she was hoping for. Just any sign that he still cared, but none the less she couldn't stand to see him hurt. She kissed his cheek softly her lips enclosing on his face. She withdrew quickly, and with out warning ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Stefan left the house in a flash. There was no trace of the encounter aside from the tears he had left streaming on Elena's face.