(Elena)

Her foot was asleep. She pulled it out from where it had been placed under her other thigh in lotus position, pulled of the black sock and started massaging her foot. Around her it was completely dark, except for the thin line of light coming from the almost closed cellar door, but it was enough for her eyes to be able to eventually adjust to the darkness. Completely quiet too, except for their breaths. She could feel him on the other side of the cold wall and she knew he could feel her too. But not in the same way. Not only, anyway. Not mostly. He could feel every single drop of blood going through her veins in this very moment, he could feel it and smell it. He could hear her every heartbeat. And it hurt; it physically hurt him to smell her blood, so close. He probably could have kicked down the door and drain her dry with inhuman speed – it had been a while since Damon gave him his last dose of vervain – Elena had told him not to, since she knew that physically hurt him too. She was now debating with herself whether she should leave the boarding house and set Stefan free from the smell of her blood or stay as mental support. What weighed heavier, his physical pain or the mental one? If she knew him (and she did know him) it was the mental. He had a special talent for beating himself up. But then again, maybe she didn't help him at all by sitting there. She also kept asking herself why she didn't just ask him and the only wholly true answer seemed to be that she was a bit afraid. She wasn't afraid that he would hurt her, because she knew he wouldn't ever, but this unfamiliar Stefan was so… unfamiliar. She was a little scared of what he would say. She felt so uncertain. What if he told her to go away? She didn't want to hear that. She already had guilt suffocating her from inside and hearing something like 'You only make it worse by being near me, Elena' would probably not make it any better.

She wished Damon would get back. He'd left a couple of minutes ago to get a drink and should've been there by now – she wondered what took him so long? She hadn't realized it would be this hard to be alone with her thoughts. Damon made her feel safer. Partly because then she knew there was something there that was just the way it had always been (as long as she knew, anyway), partly because he just made her feel safe, period. He had that affect on her.

"Why are you here?" a hoarse voice sad, interrupting her thoughts.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" She sounded certain. She was certain at this very simple thing; she wanted to be there for him. Support him and just be near him.

"Because it's dangerous and stupid, Elena. Because you haven't given me vervain for a while – which by the way also I stupid. I could get out there and snap your neck in one second, tops."

"Yes, but you haven't. You don't."

"That doesn't mean I won't."

"I think it does."

"Well, it doesn't. I fight the urge to drink your blood every single minute and you can't be sure it won't win me over sometime", he growled.

"Yes, I can, Stefan."

Elena jumped when his face suddenly was in the iron bared window in the door, the movement to quick for her human eyes to catch.

"You're not helping anyone by sitting here." His low, furious voice scared her. Still not because she thought he would hurt her. Physically. She tried to hold the subject of this statement away, at least a little while.

"I want to be here for you, Stefan. But if it just makes it harder for you, I'll leave. Just tell me to go and I'll go." She knew their eyes were boring into each other although she could barely make out the features of his face. She missed him so much. She just wanted it all to be over so they could be together. But then again, it was never really over in this town anymore, was it? It was always something between them.

"I want you to leave, Elena. You are not helping me. I want you to get the hell out of here and leave me alone." She didn't know about his eyes since she couldn't see properly, but there wasn't the slightest trace of doubt in his voice. Elena imagined hearing something shatter inside her as she got up from where she'd been sitting, her back against the wall opposite the door to Stefan's prison, went up the stairs and left the cellar and Stefan with it.

(Damon)

He was standing at the cocktail cabinet, refilling his whiskey glass and putting of returning to Moping Land and trying to get a little drunk before doing it, when he heard her steps behind him. He turned around, leaning gracefully at the cabinet.

"Getting tired of hanging out with the dark and depressed?" But Elena hadn't come to join him; in fact, she didn't even stop when she passed him. She just kept walking towards the front door in a rushed pace.

"Elena?" he asked, surprised. "What's wrong?"

She jumped when he suddenly stood in her way, just in front of the door she was about to escape through. Why she was escaping was what he was planning to find out. There were tears in her eyes. That bothered him more than he was willing to admit. What had Stefan done this time?

"Let me by." Her voice was thick.

"We both know that's not happening any time soon. What did he do?"

"Nothing, Damon! I'm just tired and I want to go home. So can you please step aside?" A tear escaped her eye.

He could see that she knew he didn't believe a thing she'd said. He creased his forehead.

"Please?" she whispered.

Without a word he stepped aside and she disappeared out the door. Damon stood there a short moment, deliberating. Then he was at the cellar door, flinging it open and flying down the stairs in less than a second.

"What did you do to her?"

Stefan sat on the floor in his cell, his back against the wall. He had his hands on opposite knee and rested his head on his forearms. "I didn't do anything to her", he grunted.

"No, of course you didn't. And that's why she came rushing out of here crying. Do I look retarded to you, little brother?"

To this Stefan did not respond. In an instant Damon had gotten a key out of his pocket, unlocked the door and was now crouched in front of his brother.

"What did you say to her, Stefan?" he said, emphasizing each word as if Stefan wouldn't know what he was saying otherwise.

Stefan slowly turned his head up and looked Damon in the eye. "I told her to get out of here before I ripped her throat out."

Stefan appeared to be less himself than Damon had thought.

"You threatened her?" Damon growled.

Stefan got up then, towering over Damon a short second before he also got up and made them equals in height (well, almost, Damon had always been a few inches taller).

"I did not", Stefan said. "I simply stated the fact that there was a risk that I would rip her throat if she didn't go."

Damon knew better than to think Elena would storm out crying because of that. She wouldn't have left at all if that was what he'd said. Or all he'd said.

"Elena already knew that. Exactly what did you tell her?"

Stefan looked away, focusing on a spot somewhere on the wall to Damon's right. "I said I wanted her to leave me alone. I said she didn't do any good by sitting here." His voice cracked a little at the end.

Damon took a step back, watching his brother closely. Light no longer escaped the now closed cellar door and it was hard to see in the blackness, even for a vampire, but Stefan's eyes looked moister than usually.

"Did you?" Damon answered calmly.

"Did I want her to leave me alone?" Stefan replied, his eyes suddenly boring into Damon's again. "Of course I didn't want her to leave!" His voice had increased volume. "Of course she was helping by sitting here! But I was getting closer to losing control every second and she wouldn't give me the vervain!" He was screaming the last sentence. Touchy.

"I would never forgive myself I touched her", Stefan whispered then and Damon knew he'd been right about the moist eyes before.

Stefan slid down the wall into his original position, only his head was in his hand now. Damon slid down the wall to his right and sat on the cold floor. They sat there in silence for a while. Damon wondered how Elena actually could've believed Stefan when he told her she wasn't helping. How he, himself, could've believed him for a moment. Stefan, even if he was so twisted of the need for human blood you couldn't even recognize him, he would never stop wanting and needing Elena in a way that didn't have anything to do with her blood. Damon stopped himself. When did I get so… Stefan? he thought in disgust. But he couldn't stop himself from thinking of Elena, hurt and lonely, and disliking it. Shit, why did she believe him anyway? Stupid human. It was probably a lot of guilt too. Damon knew she hadn't forgiven herself for giving Stefan her blood and thereby ruining everything he'd fought for. But still, there hadn't been a choice. Well, yeah, it had, but it was either letting him die or saving him by feeding him her blood.

Damon had gotten tired of moping around Stefan-style. He stood up and stretched out his body, arms in the air.

"Hungry?"

Stefan shook his head, still resting it in his hands. Damon knew he was lying.

"Thirsty?" Damon knew Stefan would know he was talking about alcohol.

He didn't look to see if Stefan shook his head again, he simply left Moping Land, not bothering to lock Stefan up – he'd be right upstairs (getting trashed), besides, Stefan was too depressed to go kill anyone anyway. And since he wouldn't eat anything – another lovely thing to deal with later – he'd slowly be getting weaker too.

(Elena)

The wind was screaming outside her car and her own headlights was the only thing lighting up the road in front of her since all the street lamps on the way to her place seemed to be out – a fuse must have blown or something, she didn't really know how the street lamp system worked. The cold and stormy weather was strange considering it was May and she soon heard rain drops start crashing down violently on the roof of her car. It was storming so wildly by now, she considered pulling aside or turning around – no, definitely not. It'll be fine, she tried to convince herself but she had a very strange feeling in her gut telling her the opposite. She'd felt it at times before, it was easily mixed up with nervousness but she was really not nervous right now. It was the something-will-go-very-wrong-soon feeling and it sure scared her. That was when her headlights turned off with two crashes, barely hearable in the loud weather, sounding like glass being broken. She jumped (third time that today), screamed and instantly started fumbling with the little button that locked the doors. Now she was scared. The only lights would be from the cars passing by. Except there weren't any cars in sight, which meant the only lights would be the stars and the moon that wasn't very available either on the other side of the raging storm. She turned on the lamp in the ceiling, which only made the darkness outside look even darker. She pressed the eject button and her seatbelt let go of her so that she could pull up her legs and curl up to a ball in her seat. So, she thought, trying to convince herself that she wasn't terrified and that some wire in the car had broken somehow because of the storm, what do I do now? She guessed she would call Damon. But she didn't want to. She somehow felt a bit embarrassed calling him for help after standing there, obviously lying, crying and begging him to step aside. It wasn't that far, maybe she would walk home. But still, she couldn't see a thing. And she was way too scared to unlock the doors and way, way too scared to even think of going outside. That turned out to be a good thought considering the hard thump one the right side of the car that made the whole thing rock violently. Elena's scream was piercing.

(Damon)

He poured himself another drink. God, life was annoyingly depressing sometimes. He slowly (well, slow for a vampire) went down to lock up Stefan, not that he thought he would actually do anything, but safety first (ha ha), before he went out to have a 'snack'. He had entered the cellar and was on his way down the stairs when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the small screen which told him it was Elena (luckily he'd never have to admit he was relieved), before he flipped it open.

"Elen –", he started but was interrupted by a blood icing scream coming from the phone.

"ELENA?" he roared back (and luckily again, he'd never have to admit how scared he was that moment). Stefan was beside him in a flash, staring at him with a pair of very intense and terrified eyes. The screaming continued until it suddenly got even louder and ever more blood icing before it stopped and the call was disconnected. Damon and Stefan stood frozen, staring into each other eyes for an eternal but very short moment.