Previously…

Stefan pulled Elena in closer for an embrace with his cheek against Elena's head, "And I love you too, Kather-." As soon as those last two syllables slipped off his tongue, he froze with his eyes widening in surprise then panic.


"What…what did you…K-Katherine?" Elena stuttered, her breath quickening as the seconds passed. She roughly pulled away from Stefan, got off the bed and glared at him. Tears were forming in her eyes threatening to spill over like a river. "Stefan, what…what did you just call me?"

Stefan still awe struck with his words maintained eye contact with Elena and tried to form sentences to explain what he just did. Heck, even words would be useful at the moment. Countless thoughts ricocheted back and forth in his mind. It was so hard. So hard to think cohesively, 'What did I say? Did I say Katherine? Why am I thinking about Katherine? What the hell am I thinking?' Anything to comfort Elena and stop those tears from falling. "I…Katherine? I… Elena…I." With Stefan's unsuccessful scramble to find the right words, he automatically stepped forward towards Elena. His face twisted and panic was all there was in his expression. Elena immediately stepped backwards.

"No, Stefan stay away from me. H-how could you? In the tomb, did you two— you know what, don't even answer." Elena replied fiercely. Anger radiated off her body like gamma radiation threatening to break Stefan's undead soul apart. Stefan finally broke off eye contact with Elena and silently admitted defeat. He wasn't sure what just happened and why it happened but he was definitely confused. He didn't even respond when Elena walked out on him.

He sunk to the floor and thought to himself, 'Am I… am I really not over Katherine? What the hell is wrong with me? I love Elena, not Katherine.' There he sat, with his face buried into the palm of his hands. He got up and threw the nearest object, his cell phone, into the wall smashing it into dozens of pieces.

Elena sprinted down the stairs. Her tears clouded her vision but that didn't prevent her from running. Running away from her house where Stefan stood was the number one objective in her mind at the moment. She hastily grabbed her car keys and cellphone from the small wooden desk in the living room and bolted out the door. When she reached her car, her hands shook so violently, it was tremendously hard getting the key into the ignition. Finally, the key slipped in and the car roared to life. She pulled out the drive way quickly and carelessly, smashing into the neighbor's garbage can. She shifted gear and accelerated forward, away from what just happened, away from Stefan, away from all the frustration.

After speeding through several blocks of Mystic Falls, Virginia, she finally noticed her cell phone ringing. With a tear strained face, she reached over to the passenger seat to retrieve her blaring and vibrating cell phone. She glanced down at the caller display but couldn't read it properly from her cloudly vision. She tried to wipe away her tears and got frustrated when new tears formed almost instantly. Instead of trying some more, she decided to just answer her cell phone.

"Hey, is Stefan with you? Cause I can't seem to patch through to him. I can't seem to find my Vintage Scotch anywhere." Damon casually spilled out in a care free manner. Silence lingered for a few seconds, "Hey Elena, you there?" Then audible sniffling and hitched breathing was heard coming from Elena.

"D-Damon, I can't. Talk. Right now." Elena forced out through her uneven breathes and uncontrolled crying.

"Elena, what happened? Are you alright? Is Stefan with you? Where are you?" Damon demanded, worry bouncing off every word. All he could hear was soft crying and heavy breathing. He was getting anxious and impatient with each passing second, "Elena! Where are you?"

"Stefan, he called me Katherine and I…I ran out of the house. I r-ran o-ou-out of my house and g-got in my car." Elena explained with much difficultly. She was a wreck. An absolute wreck with her mascara running down her cheeks.

Damon sternly replied, "Elena, you need to calm down and breathe. I'm coming to get you. Where are you?" With so many distractions, Elena failed to realize that the traffic light up ahead turned red. Elena continued to accelerate towards the red light, almost reaching the upcoming intersection.

"I'm near city hall. I – " Suddenly a bellowing horn from a large pick-up truck sounded persistantly from the right. The truck screeched as the driver tried to stop his multi-tonned vehicle. Elena froze and the last words that left her mouth in an alarmed and panicked scream was, "Damon!"

The pick-up truck swerved slightly but was still quickly heading towards Elena's vehicle at 90km/hr. The piercing screech of the breaks and the impending doom that lingered in the air left Elena immobile. Petrified. "Elena, ELENA!" Damon screamed through the phone. Elena dropped the phone and desperately tried to swerve her car to the left, away from the oncoming truck. In a split second, the head of the truck collided with the right side of Elena's minivan smashing the windows and causing a dent so large it deformed half of the car. Luckily, the damaged half wasn't the half that Elena occupied, however, upon impact, Elena's body flew to the left even when her seat belt was properly secured. The smaller vehicle rolled and spun on its side right through the window of a medium sized antique store. Her cell phone flew out the window and was smashed in an instant as it crashed into the ground at a high terminal velocity. As all the debris began to settle, there was little movement coming from Elena. Her breathing was heavily staggered and there was blood everywhere. Blood freely trickled down her face. Her whole anterior frame seemed to be drenched in blood.