Caroline's assumptions were wrong though. Elena, even after knowing Damon was coming after her, kept running. Still knowing that there was a chance that he would keep coming for her. But she couldn't bring herself to say this was all for nothing. She needed to let them go on with their lives. Caroline wouldn't follow her forever, and she would talk Damon into going back to Mystic Falls with her.

Elena kept running. Further South to Savannah at first, then after a month there, she grew tired of it so she continued on to Miami. She tried to settle in Miami, but realized that if she ever wanted anything more to come of her life, this isn't where she needed to be. In her moments of honesty to herself, she admitted to herself that she needed to be back in Mystic Falls with Damon, or if Damon had left Mystic Falls for good, she would settle for being anywhere with him. But she knew, given that she had been gone for three months, running from him, he would have no other choice but to move on, or at least use girls for other activities to keep his mind off of her. It was the moments that she thought about her life with Damon she remembered the conversation she had heard between him and Caroline. Damon wanted her to date normal guys, to have her dream wedding, and to one day have the children she always wanted, but she had only realized one thing in thinking about it. She wanted those things with a man that couldn't give her one of them….. Or at least… She didn't think that he could give her those things….

But as Elena's thoughts became more clear, she came up with a way to be with Damon and keep him safe in this time. Elena was prepared to give up everything for him. Even if it wasn't in this time. Not only would this let her be with Damon, but it would keep the people she loved safe. If she wasn't here to hurt them, they would be better off.

"Bonnie."

Elena's voice rang clearly in the phone. A voice Bonnie never thought she would hear again. "Elena….?" To say that she was shocked would be an understatement. "What are you… Are you okay?"

"I need your help. If you would be willing. And I don't want anyone else to know."

Bonnie contemplated, but she had been gone for months, if this was the one thing she could do to help Elena, she would. "Where do you want to meet?"

Bonnie got off the plane in the Miami international airport. She searched the crowd of people at the waiting terminals for Elena, and spotted her not too far off, leaning against a wall looking down. Elena didn't look happy.

As she walked over to her, she took in Elena's appearance. She was skinnier, and her hair was longer… And her attitude was beat. She wasn't the same Elena she had ever know to play around and have fun with people. She was an Elena who had finally been broken, and this time she couldn't hide it.

"Elena," Bonnie's voice rang out through the noise of the terminal and Elena looked up. It was then that Bonnie could see how truly broken she was. If her appearance didn't show how beat she was, her eyes told everything. They didn't shine. They didn't smile.

"Bonnie." Elena straightened and walked closer to her friend… Or whatever she was. She wasn't sure of what they were. "How was your flight?"

"It was… boring." The girls nodded and Elena faked a smile as they walked out of the airport to Elena's car.

"So does anyone know you are here?" Elena had been wanting to ask the question since she had seen her in the airport terminal, but now, after being in the car for thirty minutes to her hotel, she couldn't help but ask.

Bonnie turned her head towards Elena. Thinking of how to say what she had to say. Elena noticed her face fall, and it worried her. "Elena… there wasn't anyone to tell."

Elena's face hardened. "What do you mean?"

"Caroline went to college with Tyler. After graduation, she said she wanted to learn things on her own. Figure things out. So she left with him. And then Stefan decided to go back to Chicago. Figure out what he was doing with his life. He sobered up about a month ago. Reality set back in for him. He's taking things pretty hard right now." She paused, knowing Elena was waiting for the next person, but not sure of how to start. "Damon left. After he and Caroline left to find you, he didn't come back, only Caroline did. He calls every so often, but that's it. No one really knows where he is."

"He's okay?" Elena pushed herself to ask, knowing that it was breaking her.

"He's…. It's like he is just here. He's not living. He's not doing anything. It's sad. Even I have felt bad for him." Bonnie's words made Elena cringe. She knew Damon would just be drinking everything away if he wasn't happy. "He's trying."

Elena had tried to push the conversation between her and Bonnie in the car to the back of her head. She tried to form the words in her heads to ask her friend to help get her into the past. To live it. But instead of being able to be formed, they just came out of her mouth. "I want to go back to the past."

Bonnie's head shot up and her eyes caught Elena's. "What are you talking about?"

"I know you can do it. Send me back to the past. To live when Damon was really alive."

"Elena! That is crazy! Live with him now! If you really want to be with him, be with him now! In the present!"

"Bonnie! Think about it! I would be putting him in danger anyways. I wouldn't be changing the future. I wouldn't do that. I just want to be with Damon while I can be. I want to be with him in every way possible. And if you send me back, to before he went to the war, I can do that. Before Katherine ever came. Before everything bad happened to him. I can be there."

Bonnie waited before she spoke. And then slowly let her eyes meet Elena's. She spoke slowly. "You do know that this could be dangerous, right? I mean, one thing could go wrong… And you might not come back. Time will reset itself, and everyone here will be fine, Damon and Stefan won't even remember that you were there, but if you die there, you actually will die here, too."

"Bonnie, I'm already dead here."