"Love is giving someone the ability to destroy you, and trusting them not to."
Caroline has known that Damon loved Elena since the first time he looked at her. Really looked at her. Once she found out about Katherine she was sure that that's why Damon took to Elena, but then Caroline saw he looked at her like there was no one else, that not even Katherine existed. There was just Elena. She saw how Damon protected Elena, how he fought for her. He loved her and even when he couldn't have her, he was still willing to die for her. That was the most admirable thing about Damon Salvatore.
Caroline also knows that Elena is attracted to Damon, despite her denials. What she failed to see until recently was that Elena loved him too. She just wasn't sure that Elena herself knew. Caroline saw the way Elena looked at Damon. Damon was the first person Elena saw when she entered a room, the first person she looked for, the first person she asked about. Caroline didn't notice the depth of it all until Damon slept with Rebekah. Elena was more than jealous. Elena was hurt and she felt betrayed, more than just a friend should. She thinks that one day if they don't talk about everything, and Elena doesn't admit how she feels that each of them will inevitably crash and burn.
Stefan hates whats happening, and there is nothing he can do. He left her, he knew how Damon felt, he knew there was a chance this would happen, and he always knew Elena felt something for Damon. He notices the way Elena reacts to Damon. At the mention of his name she becomes more alert. When Damon is around her, her heart rate picks up. When she's mad at him, or fighting with him she looks so vibrant and alive. When she can't find him, or she's worried about him her tough exterior evaporates, leaving her to look hopeless. And that speaks volumes to Stefan because Elena is so strong. Even more so now than before he left, and he knows Damon helped make her into this strong person.
Ric thinks that Damon made the smart choice by backing off Elena. She needed room to breathe, she didn't need to feel anymore torn that she was. What Ric didn't count on was Elena being so...sad that Damon wasn't around. He thinks back to the times that Elena was happy and laughing, and just okay despite what was going on around her and everyone of those memories have Damon by her side. Now Ric thinks that maybe Elena needs Damon as much as Damon needs Elena.
Bonnie hates, loathes, despises Damon, but more than that she hates how sad and defeated Elena looks now that Damon has decided to stay away from her. She knows that no one should forgive someone that had done so much evil over the years, yet Elena has this need to forgive him, to fight for him. Not even Bonnie can deny the effect Elena has on making Damon try to be better. Bonnie knows that Elena deserves better than Damon, but she knows for sure that Elena wants no one other than Damon.
When did Damon become such an integral part of her life?
Elena asks herself that question over and over these days. Was it when he pulled her out of the vechicle she crashed? When he helped her rescue Stefan? When he rescued her from Elijah? When he helped Bonnie at the dance, or when he saved Caroline from the werewolf bite? When he helped her search for Stefan? There were too many things to remember, there was so much good he had done.
She knows two things for sure. One, she went from wanting him as far away from her and Mystic Falls as possible to not knowing how she would surive if that happened now. Two, she didn't know the extent of their connection until he kissed her.
She had said it wasn't right. She lied.
Kissing Damon, being touched by Damon, being loved by Damon was like nothing she ever felt before. It was consuming, addictive, and she knows it's more than friendship. She thinks she has sucky timing to figuring out how she really felt.
Elena stands next to her friends, Ric, and Stefan. Even Jeremy came back to visit. She should feel more than just happy, but he's the missing piece to this skrewed up family. Without him it's incomplete. Damon came to every decade dance, he steped in for Stefan at Miss Mystic Falls to dance with her, and for no other reason than he wanted to he danced with her at Klaus' ball. She had shared a dance with Damon at every dancing event since she met him.
Now here she was at another decade dance...without him. She knew it was her fault. She had pushed him too far. Saying his love was a problem had ruined everything. Everything he had done for her probably seemed all in vain to him now because she threw the reason in his face.
He won't give her a chance to make it up to him. He just stays away all together, ignores her calls, and as much as she doesn't want to admit it, it's breaking her spirit. She hates the feeling and wants it to go away, but she stoped thinking it will by now.
That is until she looks up and sees him at the enterance of the gym. He looks unbelieveably handsome in his 1920's atire. A smile instantly appears on her face, and he gives her one of his real smiles. The ones only she is lucky enough to get.
She steps away from the group.
Everyone knows why. They couldn't miss how her eyes lit up when she saw him walk in. No one was blind to Damon and Elena anymore.
He makes his way towards her.
They finally meet halfway.
When they come face to face they don't even need words.
He raises his hand and brushes his fingers down her cheek, she leans into his touch.
Their eyes bore into each other.
His walls are gone, and so are hers.
He looks as broken, as she does.
They know they need to talk, and they will.
There is only one thing radiating off of each of them.
This is the moment they both realize she's in love with him.
He'll ask her about it later, and she will finally admit it.
But right now they just need to feel each other.
He simply offers her his hand, and they dance.