"I don't understand. What's wrong with me? Why is this hunting me? It's been one week and a half and those five words keep echoing in my head. "I will always choose you"- why had he said that to me? He knows I love Stefan, he knows he's the only one that I –"

'Hey. What are you doing?' – Stefan said, putting a shirt over his wet body.

'Hey. You know, just writing on my diary.'

'I haven't written in mine since forever. You know, with all these…things that have been going on lately. I've been feeling tired all the time.'

'Yeah, me too', Elena said, thinking about how hard those last few days had been.

They hadn't heard of Klaus since that encounter at the school dance and that was driving them crazy. The uncertainty, the fear, the doubts. The Salvatore brothers had spent all their days searching for Alaric, but they couldn't find him and that was even worse than knowing exactly what had happened to him. Rick had been just a history teacher once, but soon he became so much more than that for the people living in that town. He wasn't just their teacher anymore, he was their friend, he was Jenna's boyfriend, the only manly figure Elena and Jeremy could look up to. He was that person they all knew would keep the Salvatore's secret until the day he died. And that's one of the reasons why it had been so hard to figure out that he wasn't there anymore, that it was Klaus in his body instead of him. Sure, Elena and Stefan had noticed that he had been acting quite weirdly the days before, specially on their history classes, but they just figured he was tired from all the pain he had gone through. They didn't even consider the possibility of Klaus possessing another person's body, let alone someone who was so close to them. And the fact that she made Elijah come back to life without their knowledge was killing her, she hated to hide things from Stefan.

'Are you searching for Rick today?'

'I am, Damon's not. Since Bonnie's out of town with Jeremy, we figured someone had to stay here with you and I'm sorry Elena but I can't just stay here while Alaric is out there somewhere.'

'So do you think he's still alive?' Elena asked, not sure whether she wanted to hear what he was about to say.

'I don't know. But we can't give up; we have to keep looking, at least for another couple of weeks. Come here' - he said, hugging her- 'you know I love you right?'

'Yes, I do.' She tried to say it back, but the words didn't want to come out, even though she wasn't sure why…

'Is everything okay?'

'Oh, hi. Yes, I was just telling Elena you'd stay here with her while I go…well, you know'

'Wait, I'm not going with you?'

'No, you're week right now. The animal blood is affecting all your senses. Your body needs to get use to it first- and yes, I know that you're only doing it for a while but still, you should stay here.

'Fine. Call me if you need anything. Good luck little brother.'

'Thanks.' He turned to Elena, whispering to her 'Are you going to be okay?'

'Yeah, I'm gonna be fine, just be careful okay?' 'Okay'

As soon as Stefan left, Elena went for a shower. It was the first time she was alone with Damon since that night and the thought of having to deal with him was unbearable. How could she look at him, talk to him, deal with him after what he had said to her? He didn't compel her this time, and she wasn't sure why. He had done it before and, even though she still deals with what he said that night, at least things between them hadn't changed, simply because that, for Damon, they hadn't. She thought she wouldn't be able to hide what she knew but, to her surprise, it had been quite easy. But now is different. They both had to deal with the fact that the other knew what had happened and this was even worse because now she had to deal with what he had said. And even though she hated the fact that Damon had tried to mess with her mind, oblivious to the fact she had drunken vervain, she was relieved that she could pretend that nothing had happened. Now she sitting in her bath tub, with the water coming from the shower hitting her back, whishing she could never get out of there, where she could be alone with her thoughts. But she was brave. She would get out of that shower and she would deal with all this because, after all, it has to be done sooner or later.

'Damon? Damon, where are you?' Elena was confused. He couldn't have gotten out of the house without telling her so where was he? As she entered the living room her heart dropped. 'Elijah.'