A/N: Dearest readers, we're back with another chapter that picks up right where we left off. Sooooo much happens in this one (even if it is a little shorter than the last one.)

In slow motion, the blast is beautiful

Not bothering to properly excuse herself, Elena handed her beer to Kai. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd and threw the door of the bar bathroom open. She slammed the stall door behind her and stood there trying to recover her breath. If she could focus on her breathing, maybe she wouldn't need to throw up.

Why was seeing Damon kissing someone else affecting her like this? They'd slept together once and he'd been a complete ass to her afterwards. He never even apologized for it. She couldn't have these kinds of feelings about him because he'd made it very clear that he couldn't have them about her. In fact, he couldn't have them about anyone anymore.

"Elena?" a calm voice spoke.

She looked down and she could see his sneakers through the crack at the bottom of the door. Elena leaned the back of her head against the closed stall door. "Kai, this is the women's bathroom. You can't be in here."

"I just wanted to check on you. Are you sick?" He was being unusually nice to her, uncharacteristically caring.

"I'm okay," she answered. She reached to unlock the door and opened it slightly, peaking her head out to look at him. "Not sick, just tired."

"Do you want me to take you home?" he asked and he sounded genuinely concerned.

"You'd do that?" she skeptically asked him.

Kai smiled at her. "Elena, I'm not a monster. If you're not up for being here right now, I can take you home. Come on out." He held out his hand to her.

She hesitantly took his hand and he laced their fingers together again, placing a light kiss on the back of her hand. It was the kind of thing he would have done three years ago when she first met him, but the entire exchange felt foreign to her now.

As he led her through the mass of crowded people, she spotted Damon and Rose again nuzzled up in a corner. Damon hadn't noticed she was there and she wasn't about to point it out to him. Despite this, Kai did notice her staring at them.

"Is that Salvatore?" he spoke into her ear, loud enough that she could hear him over the bar chatter.

Elena nodded her head and he stopped walking a few feet away from them. She was so busy paying attention to Rose whispering into Damon's ear that she didn't notice Kai stop until she ran into his shoulder.

"We should say hello. You'd probably want to say hello, right?" Just like that, his tone had reverted to the malicious and spiteful one she'd become more recently accustomed to.

"Oh no. That's okay. Let's just go home." Elena tried to feign apathy towards the whole situation, but she knew Kai could see right through her.

"Aw, c'mon. If I can be mature about this whole thing, can't you?" He hauled her by the hand toward the corner where Damon and Rose were sitting. It was in this moment that Elena vehemently regretted ever taking his hand in the first place.

"Kai, please. I just want to go home," she pleaded as they got closer.

Her protest made no difference. Soon they were standing in front of Damon and Rose. Damon looked up from kissing on Rose's neck for a moment to see Kai standing there. Elena crouched to hide behind him, trying to refrain from having to deal with this interaction. Kai wasn't having it and he tugged Elena to his side.

Damon withdrew his hands from Rose the moment he saw Elena. He snarled, stood up, and took a step towards Kai.

Kai finally let go of Elena's hand, putting his hands up protectively in front of him. "Relax, dude. We just wanted to say hello, didn't we Elena?"

Elena said nothing, giving Damon a despondent look instead. She felt an elbow nudge her in her ribs and she knew Kai wanted her to say something. She remained silent.

"Hi Elena. Didn't expect to see you here," Rose spoke, clearly ignorant to the melodrama that was taking place in front of her.

"Didn't know that you two were dating each other," Elena replied, trying her best to hide any tone of disapproval in her voice. She knew Kai was testing her to see how she would react.

"Oh, we aren't," Damon answered. "We were just grabbing some drinks before heading back to Rose's place. It's not a date." He looked directly at Elena when he spoke the next part. "I don't go on dates."

"Right. You just fuck girls who clearly don't belong to you," Kai mumbled.

"Elena belongs to no one," Damon spoke up. "She just hasn't realized it yet."

"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" Rose asked, looking between Damon and Elena. "You fucked her?"

"Can you not spread that around class? Please?" Elena pleaded with Rose, her cheeks turning red. She didn't want anyone to think that she wasn't earning her grades fair and square.

Before Rose could respond, Kai grabbed Elena's hand again. It wasn't tender like he'd done earlier in the night. This was purely a show of dominance. "Elena, we're leaving now."

Damon's nostrils flared, but he remained unmoving from where he was standing. "You don't need to go with him. I can take you home," he offered to Elena.

"But we're on a date," Rose tried to interrupt.

Damon turned to Rose. "I don't go on dates."

Kai pulled Elena away from Damon before she could even consider his offer. Once they were outside the bar and walking to his car, he scoffed. "Can you believe that asshole thought you'd go with him?"

Elena didn't answer. She didn't want to tell Kai that she'd actually considered it. Kai was being so cruel. He deliberately put her in a tense situation just because he knew it would make her uncomfortable. All the nice guy routine from earlier had gone out the window immediately when he saw her looking at Damon.

"You wanted to embarrass me," Elena said as she buckled her seatbelt in the car.

Kai put the car into drive and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he raised his voice. "Well if you really wanted to be with me and this thing with him really was nothing, that wouldn't have been embarrassing!"

"One of my classmates found out! She could tell everyone!" Elena screamed back at him.

"Maybe if you didn't sleep around behind my back, you wouldn't have to be worried about that!" His voice filled the car as he took a couple turns to get to Elena's house from The Half Pint.

"We weren't together," she whispered, fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

"We were together." Kai argued sternly. "We never stopped sleeping together. We never stopped loving each other. We were together, whether you want to admit it or not."

Elena said nothing in response, merely focusing her attention out the window as Kai navigated his way to her house. He knew the route by heart, though sometimes she wished she could just hide out from him at home without worrying that he would show up uninvited.

The car pulled into the driveway and he turned to look at her. "Do you have feelings for Salvatore?"

"No. Stop being a jealous asshole." Elena pushed the car door open and stepped out, slamming it shut behind her.

"Hey! Do not slam my car door!" Kai chased after her as she ran up the front stairs of her porch. "We weren't done talking!"

Elena spun around to face him. "We are done talking about this. I won't talk about it any further so stop asking, stop bringing it up, stop trying to test me to see if I'm lying. This conversation is permanently over."

He clearly did not like her boldness, as his eyebrows furrowed at her and a deep coldness appeared in his eyes. "I decide when conversations are over. You don't get to do that."

Elena rolled her eyes and turned around to let herself inside the house. She was praying that he wouldn't follow her in there. As she was preparing to slam the door in his face, Kai forced it back open and took heavy steps inside.

"Kai, get out! Get out now!" Elena yelled at him.

Bonnie came rushing down the stairs and into the living room, where Elena was trying to push Kai out of the front doorway. Kai stood his ground, even grabbing onto the doorframe to push back against her. He pushed back at her so hard that he knocked Elena onto the floor. She hit her head on the corner of an end table.

"Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie screamed. She took a couple hurried steps towards Elena.

"Please, Bonnie. Stay back. I don't want you to get hurt!" Elena begged, pressing her hand against the spot on her head that hit.

"I'm calling the police. I'll call the police!" Bonnie pulled her phone from the pocket of her pajama pants and dialed 911.

Kai stood over Elena, who was too afraid to move from the floor. This was the first time he'd ever been this physically forceful at her and he'd finally crossed a line that he could not come back from. In that moment, she was terrified.

"You're seriously going to let her call the cops on me? I'm just trying to have a conversation with you," Kai softly spoke, but the deceit of his soft tone was more disturbing than any yelling he'd done earlier. It was clear that he was now in self-preservation mode.

"They're on their way, asshole," Bonnie bit out, keeping her distance from him as Elena had requested.

"Malakai, please leave." Elena tried to reason with him in the way that only she could. "This doesn't have to end with you in handcuffs."

"Are you saying you'll let them arrest me?" He sounded almost hurt at the thought, his voice cracking slightly at the end.

"I'm saying that I'm scared of you and I don't want you in my house right now."

Kai began to pace around the living room, racking his fingers through his hair and mumbling to himself. There wasn't anything audible enough that Elena could make it out. After a few minutes of this, a police officer appeared in the still open doorway.

"Sir, can I ask you step outside with me?" the officer calmly asked Kai.

"I have a right to be here," Kai quietly muttered, still pacing frantically. "This is my girlfriend's house."

The officer looked down to Elena, who was still on the ground. "Ma'am, are you injured?"

Elena swallowed and shook her head no.

"Do you still need us to remove this man from your home?"

Shakily, Elena nodded her head yes.

The officer took a couple steps inside of the doorway. "Sir, I need you to come with me." He stepped towards Kai and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Elena watched as the officer roughly removed him through the front doorway. She could hear Kai screaming outside, most of it nonsense except for when he would repeat "I have a right to be here! This is my girlfriend's house!"

A younger officer entered the living once Kai was safely detained. He held his hand out to Elena, who timidly accepted it. Once she was to her feet, she noticed his name badge said Donovan.

"Ma'am, it's okay. What's your name?" Officer Donovan calmly asked her.

"Elena Gilbert."

Bonnie appeared at her side, taking Elena into a huge hug. "Are you sure you aren't hurt?"

"I'm okay," Elena reassured her.

"You fell pretty hard." Bonnie sympathetically stated.

"My partner called a paramedic to come and check you out just in case, Miss Gilbert. We need to take a statement from you. Would that be alright?" Officer Donovan shut the front door, finally drowning out Kai's yelling.

Elena nodded her head. Bonnie put her arm around her and ushered her to the couch. They both sat side by side.

"Can you call me Elena please? I prefer Elena," she nervously said to the officer.

He kneeled next to her. "Sure, Elena. If it makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me Matt."

She nodded.

"Elena, can you tell what happened tonight?" he kindly asked her, taking out a small notepad from his back pocket so he could jot down notes as she spoke.

"We were having a disagreement in the car on the way home from a bar. I tried to get away from him but he followed me into the house," she began.

"How much have you two had to drink?" Matt asked her.

"Oh, just a couple of beers. We aren't drunk. We left early."

"I see," Matt nodded as he scribbled some notes on his pad. "Is your boyfriend often violent like this when you two are having disagreements?"

Elena hesitated to answer. "He sometimes gets a little angry, but he's never been so physically aggressive before."

"He's been grabbing you a lot harder recently," Bonnie added.

"He doesn't mean to hurt me," Elena turned to Bonnie and shot her a look.

"Let's just think back to what happened tonight." Matt redirected the conversation. Clearly Bonnie and Elena had differing opinions on how violent Kai really was. "He followed you inside and then what happened?"

"I asked him to leave and he wouldn't so I tried to push him out. He pushed back against me and I fell onto the floor. I hit my head, but barely. I'm okay." Elena finished.

"And that's when you called 911?" Matt asked, turning to Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded her head. "The way he was looking at her, I was afraid for her life."

"Well you did the right thing, Miss-" he paused since he didn't know her name yet.

"Bonnie Bennett."

"You did the right thing, Miss Bennett." Matt nodded, standing up from where he was kneeling. "I'll need to get some contact information from both of you, but I don't think we'll need anything else. You've been very helpful."

They both nodded their heads.

"Elena, there's an ambulance outside. We just need to make sure you're not injured. Can you come outside with me?" Matt asked her.

She chewed nervously on her bottom lip as she stared at the front door.

"He's detained. My partner has him in the back of the car. He can't get to you." Matt's tone was reassuring.

Nodding her head, Elena followed him outside and to the awaiting ambulance. A very nice and very young paramedic was awaiting her. As he examined her, she noticed his name badge said Salvatore. It couldn't be a coincidence. He had to be related to Damon. How many other Salvatores could there be in this city? It wasn't like it was a common name.

"Do you know someone named Damon Salvatore?" she asked him as he was shining a light into her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. He's my brother," the paramedic answered uncomfortably.

"Oh."

"Tell me at any time if any of this hurts," he said as he lightly squeezed different places on her wrists and arms. "I'm checking for fractures or broken bones."

"I didn't fall that hard," Elena rolled her eyes.

"Better safe than sorry, right?" he smiled at her.

"I guess so."

Matt came over to her as the paramedic was finishing up examining her. "We'll hold him for 24 hours, Elena. If you want to press charges, you'll have that long to think about it. Here's my card. You call me if you decide you want to press charges, okay?"

Elena took the card from his hand and nodded her head.

"You're in good hands here with Stefan. He's great at his job." Matt looked over to a smiling Stefan. "He's saved a lot of lives."

"Thank you, Matt." She watched him nod his head and get into the passenger seat of the police car. No doubt they were taking Kai to the station.

"No headaches or dizziness? I know they said you hit your head," Stefan double checked.

"Honestly, I'm fine." Elena went to stand up from where she was sitting on the edge of the ambulance and wobbled a bit. She started to feel a ringing in her ears. As a wave of dizziness came on, Elena fell into Stefan a little. "You have kind eyes," she slurred to him. "Kind eyes like your brother."

"Whoa, whoa. Let's sit you back down." Stefan assisted her as she sat down where she was before. "Elena, can you hear me? Can you tell what you had for breakfast yesterday?"

"Pancakes, the most delicious pancakes." She smiled at the memory of such a happy moment.

"Good, good," Stefan said calmly.

Elena could hear Bonnie's voice, but she couldn't see her. "Is she going to be okay?"

"She has a mild concussion. It isn't life-threatening, but she needs to rest. She needs someone to stay with her for the next day or so as she recovers," Stefan spoke.

"I do not need a babysitter," Elena groaned. It was then that she realized she had her eyes closed. "Why am I so tired all of a sudden?"

"She didn't notice it before because her adrenaline was still pumping. Now that she's calmed down, her brain is starting to feel the effects of the trauma. There shouldn't be any long-term effects with a concussion this mild, but she will be confused for a few hours."

Elena felt herself drift off to sleep, her head rested against a shoulder she assumed was Bonnie's.

She woke up in the darkness of her own room, in her own bed, dressed in her comfortable pajamas, and covered with a blanket. As she sat up, she noticed a sleeping figure curled up in the chair across from her. "Bonnie?" she whispered.

Bonnie sat up. "You're awake? How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" she asked.

"You passed out. I had some help getting you upstairs," Bonnie answered.

Elena furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You had a mild concussion and you passed out. The paramedic said to let you sleep for a little bit. Damon was very insistent on helping me get you safely upstairs."

"Damon was here?" Elena tried not to sound too excited. If he came by, that had to mean something good for their friendship.

"Still is. He's asleep on the couch downstairs. He didn't want to leave until you woke up. Should I go tell him you're okay?" Bonnie responded.

"Can I see him?" Elena threw the covers off of herself and swung her feet to touch the floor. She started to stand, but her ears began to ring again.

"Slow down. You have to take things easy for the next couple of days. I'll send him up here, okay?"

Elena nodded her head and laid back down. She stared through the darkness and tried to make out the details of the ceiling above her.

"Elena?"

The minute she heard Damon's voice, her smile lit up. He was actually here. "You're here?"

"Yeah. After you left The Half Pint, something wasn't sitting right with me. I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened." The bed dipped down as he sat next to her.

"I met your brother," she blurted out.

"Yes, you did."

There was a small moment of silence between them before she felt Damon's hand rest on hers.

"Can you lay with me?" Elena asked, unsure of how he'd respond.

"Happily," he breathed and it sounded like he was relieved that she'd offered.

She heard him shift and felt the warmth of his body next to hers. They weren't even touching, but she could feel the waves of heat coming from him.

"He's nice," she said.

"Hm?"

"Your brother is nice," she clarified.

"Most people seem to think so," Damon responded.

"You don't?"

Damon sucked in a deep breath. "Stefan is kind of," he paused, trying to regain his thoughts. "Life happens to Stefan. He isn't a very assertive person so when bad things happen in his life, he blames everyone but himself."

"Like when he slept with your fiancé?" Elena questioned.

"Yeah. If you ask him, it was all her fault. She came onto him and while I don't doubt that that's true, he could have stopped her."

"Maybe he tried," she reasoned.

"He didn't."

"You want to talk about something else, don't you?" she smirked, sensing the tinge of frustration in his voice.

"Please. Anything," he pleaded.

"This is my first head trauma," she said nonchalantly. "Does that make me a badass now that I've survived a head injury?"

"No," he answered succinctly.

"Not even a little?"

"What it makes you Elena, is naïve for thinking that he wouldn't eventually put your life in danger," Damon bit out to her. "I don't think you realize how badly this could have ended."

"But I'm going to be okay," she added.

"Thankfully, yes."

"Are you still mad at me for trying to protect you?" Elena asked him, scooting herself a couple inches closer to him while still laying on her back.

"No," his tone relaxed.

"So we're friends again?"

"Yes."

She felt his hand brush against hers and at first she thought it was on accident, but then he very intently intertwined their fingers together. She didn't want to say anything about it, for fear that he would pull away. She desperately did not want him to pull away.

"Will you sleep in here with me?" Elena asked, as she felt her eyelids get heavy again.

"Sure," he answered.

"Thank you." Her eyes fluttered closed and she dreamt of a time where she could sit across from Damon eating pancakes again.

A/N: A lot to take in! Kai's in jail! Stefan has appeared! DE are speaking again!

I feel like if I had continued this chapter any further, it would have been information overload so stay tuned for more soon. :)

Like what was actually said when Damon showed up and Stefan was there. And if Elena plans to press charges. And how Caroline & Enzo's date ended. And. so. much. more.