This chapter changed the point of view from Damon to Elena so we can get a better feel for how she is really feeling throughout all of this. It's important to this part of the story to see how Elena is developing and starting to change as she meets the people in Damon's life, who are more willing to do anything to protect her than she is really prepared for.

Elena changed quickly but made sure to put the outfit she had snagged from Damon's room in her room. It smelled wonderful and she would definitely want to wear it to bed again. She looked at herself in the mirror. The clothes would have fit her, had she not been so unusually thin. They hung loose in some areas because of it, but they were still better than Damon's clothes. The shoes were a perfect fit. Elena then examined her face. She looked like a skeleton. Her cheek bones stuck out too far and her eyes looked sunken in. Still she could see a little bit of her old self in there. She had snagged a brush out of Caroline's room and brushed her long hair out for the first time in what felt like a century. When she realized it wasn't going to straighten by itself she threw it up into a messy pony tail. There was still wounds on her neck from where Damon and Kol had bitten into her the day they ran. She hadn't gotten her usual dose of vampire blood so they didn't heal. They stuck out red, and bruised. She grimaced at her reflection before turning and heading back down stairs where she found Stefan sitting on the couch.

"Where'd Damon go?" She asked nervously. Damon had been by her side literally every minute since they escaped, she felt a little uncomfortable without him.

"He went to talk to a friend, Bonnie. She's a witch." He said, not looking up from the book he was reading.

"He didn't tell me he was going anywhere today." She said a little miffed. She was not comfortable enough to be here alone with Stefan. He looked up at the distress in her voice. "She called just a while ago, he had to leave in a hurry but he told me to tell you he'd be right back." She looked around nervously.

"I'm sorry you're uncomfortable." Stefan said, looking genuinely concerned. Elena then felt bad for being so obvious about her nerves. "I'm just not used to vampires being so friendly is all." She explained. Stefan nodded and smiled politely.

"You owe me no explanation Elena. I get it. You have every right to be nervous." His green eyes looked into her like he was seeing inside of her and for some reason Elena suddenly felt comfortable. She gave him a small smile back. "Mind if I join you?" She asked. His smile grew. She walked timidly over to the couch he was lounging in and perched on the farthest seat away from him.

"So does your brother spend a lot of time saving damsels in distress?" Elena asked jokingly. Stefan's face turned serious and he regarded Elena thoughtfully. "Actually my brother spends most of his time keeping everyone at arm's length. He never gets close enough to anyone to know they even need to be saved." He said earnestly. Elena furrowed her brow.

"But he's been so good to me, since the day we met, he took care of me, even when I didn't see it." Stefan nodded.

"So I've noticed. It's weird for me to watch him with you. He becomes more like.."

"You?" Elena interjected. Stefan shook his head.

"More like who he used to be, before he turned." Elena regarded Stefan solemnly.

"Was it hard for him? The transition?" Elena wondered. She had never thought about vampires before they were vampires. The fact that they were humans once, and that maybe their choice was taken from them and they were forced to be what they were. 'What makes you ignorant is that you see me for what I am despite who I am' Damon had hollered at her when she was being particularly mean. Could that be why he was so upset then?

"Damon never wanted this life. I made the transition without a second thought, but Damon, he wanted to die. I begged him to stay with me, so he did. He's never been the same though, not till now anyway." Elena looked away from Stefan. Suddenly she was having to face a whole new reality when it came to vampires. Damon lost his choice, he was no more a monster than she was.

"Stefan why do you think he is so different with me?" She asked worriedly.

He shrugged. "I dont know. Maybe he sees something in you that he doesn't see in himself anymore."

Just then the door opened and Damon came in, a slender, dark skinned girl trailing behind him. Her brown hair was short and her wide eyes were green. When the girl saw Stefan she smiled a huge smile. It was literally like watching her face open up and pour happiness into the room. She was beautiful. "Hi stefan." She said in a pleasant voice. He stood to embrace the girl. While Stefan hugged her Damon flashed to Elena's side. "I'm sorry I left like that. Are you okay?" Elena jumped a little at his sudden proximity but nodded anyway. She nonchalantly took a step away from him. "The clothes look nice on you by the way." He said as he pretended not to notice the deliberate maneuver to separate them. She gave him a tight smile "Thanks." She said.

"Bonnie, this is Elena, Elena this is my best friend Bonnie. She's a witch." Damon said. Bonnie gave Elena a wide smile and held out her hand. Elena took it instinctively. Her grip was firm but her hands were soft and warm. Elena hadn't had physical contact with another human since before she was taken. Her heart sped up at the touch. "So nice to meet you Elena. Damon here won't shut up about you." She said jokingly. Damon's eyes got huge. Elena found herself laughing at the very human like exchange between Damon and Bonnie. She could almost see them as regular people, regular friends who had known each other for ages.

"Hold on, I thought you said witches swore off helping vampires?" Elena asked remembering the story of their rings. Bonnie laughed but Damon replied. " Yeah and I also said they dont all hold to that now a days. Besides Bonnie is my friend and just so happens to be a witch, she only lends a helping, magical hand when she wants to." Bonnie rolled her eyes at Damon.

Elena knew they were close by the way they stood, and talked around each other. There was lightness to Damon she hadn't seen before with Bonnie around. Bonnie's eyes always found Damon and Damon always seemed to be orbiting around her. Elena immediately grew suspicious, and admittedly a little jealous. Hadn't Stefan just said he wasn't close to anyone? She threw Stefan a quick accusative glance. He wasn't paying attention though.

"Elena?" Damon said touching her shoulder.

"Huh? Sorry. What?"

"I said Bonnie is going to put a protection spell around the house, so when Elijah does show up, he can't get in."

"Oh. Good. What's the plan for when he does show up?" Elena asked.

"hopefully Caroline gets here first, then she, Stefan and I will take care of him. The three of us should make easy work of him," Damon said confidently. Elena was glad he felt confident because she was beginning to feel sick to her stomach. Suddenly all Elena wanted was to go home to her brother. "Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie asked. Damon assessed her then. She dismissed them both. "Im fine. Thank you for helping. I just need some air." With that Elena walked right out of the front door and into the afternoon daylight. Virginia was peaceful and quiet. There was no city noise where they were, and she could hear birds chirping. The outside world felt so immune to the turmoil in her life. Like the universe still didn't know vampires and magic existed.

She missed when she didn't know. When the hardest thing about her life was losing her parents. Now everything was so much more complicated. Death made sense in her world. People were supposed to live and then die and the people they leave behind are supposed to mourn and move on. Everything about her world defied those truths though and it was all too much for her. Elena cared about Damon and she didn't want to. She didn't want to put roots down in a life like this, with people like this. She wanted to get back to college, and Jeremy and just trying to survive being an orphan. Now those things all felt like another person's life. Sometimes she felt like even if she made it home, she'd never go back. She was beginning to fell like this life was all she had left.