Author's Note: Hi everyone! Welcome back for chapter 10! Wow! Chapter 10. That's a small milestone. Anyway, my 16th birthday is on the 23rd of December and I'm so excited! My parents ordered a replica of Elena's vervain necklace and the bracelet that Klaus gave Caroline for me. It has yet to arrive and I'm praying that it will get here before my birthday.

Enjoy and please review. I want to know what you think. Recently a reader sent in a review saying that they wanted to see Caroline go postal on Stefan and I listened. I do read and listen to constructive criticism and ideas. So please continue to give them. I really appreciate every single one of you.

Chapter 10

Elena's Point Of View

Caroline, Bonnie and I were in the car together. We were blasting music and heading to Stefan and Damon's house. Damon had said that Stefan would be out so we were going to hang out there for a while and then order pizza in. Today was supposed to be an all-girls thing but we had all felt sorry for Damon. He had just found out that his best friend was dead and he had no one to spend time with but me. So we brought the party to him instead. I decided to think of it as killing two birds with one stone. I got to hang out with my girlfriends and Damon was not left alone.

We arrived and parked in the driveway. We walked up to the door laughing together like we were drunk. We rang the bell and immediately lost our high as Stefan answered the door.

"Stefan? I'm...I'm sorry. Damon said you were not going to be home." I did my best to not say it like an accusation. This was his house too after all.

"Yeah, I'm heading out in a bit. Come in. Damon's upstairs. He should be down soon." Stefan said without looking at me. He stepped back to let us in.

As we walked past him into the house, Caroline spoke, "Are you sure he's upstairs? Or have you sent him away again?" She jeered.

"Caroline!" I admonished.

"No Elena. He should hear this. Because he's an absolute jerk. Stefan, you've been playing us all for fools this whole time. I don't know what Elena said to you but whatever it was, she was being nice. You should know that really, we all just want you to leave town and to never come back."

"Caroline! Stop it!" Bonnie said urgently as she touched her arm.

"Calm down Caroline." I said as I tried to pull her further into the house and away from Stefan.

However, Caroline wasn't done with him. She pulled her arm out of my grasp and stood her ground. "If you were really sorry about what you did, you would get the hell out of town. Get out of here so we don't have to look at you and be reminded of how you tricked us. So we don't have to remember how much Elena cried, how she was never herself again, how we held a memorial for Damon and how you showed up pretending that he was dead when you knew better."

"What the hell is going on?" Damon was suddenly at the top of the stairs.

"Nothing." I said quickly before I firmly took Caroline's arm and pulled her away from Stefan.

"Could you give me a minute?" I asked Bonnie and Damon.

Bonnie smiled reassuringly and went to calm Caroline down. Damon was more persistent and it took some convincing to get him out of the room. When I was alone with Stefan, I began to talk.

"Stefan, I'm sorry about Caroline. I didn't put her up to it if that's what you were thinking..."

Stefan cut me off, "Don't apologize. I deserved it. What she said was true." He then walked up to me and took both my hands in his. "Elena, I've been seriously considering leaving town. If you want me to go, I'll go. Just say the word. I'll do it. Without hesitation."

I pulled my hands out of his slowly. "Stefan, Mystic Falls is your home. I'm not going to tell you to leave your home. I'm angry at you and disappointed. But not enough to send you away like that. I'm not you." I finished softly as I walked away from him and towards my friends.

"Elena." He called out. "I didn't do this to hurt you. I did this for us. I know that's hard to believe but I did it for the right reasons. That night, when I came to give you the news and you broke down, I realized that I was wrong and that I had made an irreversible mistake. I wanted to take it back. I wanted to find Damon and bring him home. But it was too late. The damage had been done."

"Well maybe you should have thought about what you were doing instead of being so impulsive. Damon was never a threat to us. At least not in the past." I said without turning around.

This time, when I walked away from Stefan, he did not try to stop me.

Damon's Point Of View

From the living room, I could hear every word of what Elena and Stefan were saying.

"Damon was never a threat to us. At least not in the past." I heard her say.

What did that mean? I knew that ever since I had returned, she had been spending more time with me, calling me when she needed help and basically treating me like I was her best male friend from kindergarten. She had not mentioned going forward in our relationship but her body language was way ahead of her. I wondered if she was aware of that.

I was interrupted from my inner monologue by Elena walking into the living room. She looked emotionally beaten.

"Um...where's Caroline and Bonnie?" She asked hesitantly without looking up at me.

"Downstairs. Getting alcohol from the cellar." I replied. I was just as hesitant.

I heard the door slam and I knew that Stefan had left. I had no doubt that Elena had heard the door too.

"I'll go help them." She said as she walked toward the stairs. Just then, Caroline and Bonnie walked up with their arms full of bottles of wine and tequila. They took one look at Elena and quickly dropped the bottles on the couch and went to her.

"Don't let anything that ass says affect you. He's just a douche okay?" Caroline said as she hugged Elena tightly. I stood off at the corner watching the scene unfold before me.

"If you're not up to partying, we can do this another day." Bonnie offered.

Elena wiped a tear from her eye before responding, "No. I'm fine. It's okay. C'mon. Lets party. I need a distraction" She said as she forced a smile.

She still refused to look at me as she went over to the couch and picked up a bottle of champagne and popped the cork.

Bonnie, Caroline and I cautiously approached Elena and slowly we began to get into the mood as I put on some loud dance music and we began to lose our sobriety. I couldn't help but silently observe Elena though. She was drinking in sips only and laughing but every now and then, I'd catch her staring into the fire or just sitting on the couch playing with an empty wine bottle absently.

We eventually ran out of alcohol though and Elena volunteered to go down to the cellar to get more.

"I'll go with you." I said as I handed Bonnie the remains of my bottle of tequila and followed Elena.

We went down together but the only thing she said to me was to ask if I wanted more wine or bourbon. I sighed. "Elena. Stop ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you. I'm partying with you."

"You know what I mean."

"Okay, so my conversation with Stefan threw me off. I'm not that in the mood for socializing anymore. Forgive me." She said nonchalantly.

"You and I know that's not the reason why you won't even look at me." I called her out.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pivoting to face me. "I'm just finding it hard to adjust to all this. It's a lot to take in. And suddenly Stefan is talking about leaving and I'm just so confused because ever since you came back, everything's so different!"

"And does this difference include different feelings for me?"

"I...I don't know."
"Elena, I don't want to be strung along. Right now you're sending me mixed signals. It's like, one day you say you love me and that I'm you're knight in shining armor, and the next day, you won't even look at me. You're treating me like a male best friend. Like Matt. Calling me when you need help, saying you love me but not in the romantic way, allowing to comfort you but pulling back when things go past the friendship boundary. Don't get me wrong, I love that I'm the first person you call when you need help. I'm happy that you love me. I'm relieved that you still let me comfort you and dance with you. I do. But I need to know if we will ever have a future so I can know not to get my expectations up."

"Damon...I..."

We were interrupted by a shout from upstairs

"ARE YOU WAITING FOR THE WINE TO AGE OR SOMETHING?! IM GETTING LESS SOBER UP HERE!" Caroline yelled.

"Um...Damon, can we talk about this later today. Come to my house this evening?" She was practically begging.

I nodded and walked past her to get some of the alcohol bottles. "Sure."

We partied for a few more hours and finally, Caroline passed out on the couch. Bonnie was very close to passing out too but she needed to get home. She still didn't trust me enough to fall asleep here even if she was that drunk.

Since Elena's car was still being fixed up and I was not going to let her get behind the wheel anyway, I drove Bonnie and Elena home. Bonnie was so out of it that I had to walk her into the house and make sure she was laying safely on the couch before I left.

Elena on the other hand was not as drunk. When we got to her house, she managed to get in by herself and she made coffee for us both. Very strong coffee. We sat together on the couch, silently sipping our drinks and slowly regaining some sort of sobriety.

Out of the blue, Elena stated"Damon, you should know that...that ever since you came back, my feelings for you have changed. I feel happier than I've ever been when I'm with you but I'm also scared. I'm scared because suddenly I think I'm in love with you but then I look at Stefan and no matter what he did, I can't do this to him and..."

I cut her off by taking her face in my hands and planting a kiss on her lips. She was startled at first but then slowly relaxed and got into the kiss. When we pulled back, Elena's face was flushed and we were both breathing harder than usual.

"How did that feel?" I asked her softly.

"Good. Amazing." She choked out.

"Then it's right. Before I left, it was never the right time. You were in love with both of us even if you refused to admit it. But you were Stefan's girl. Now, if I can kiss you and say that it was good and amazing, then you know it's time to move on. It's never been right before but it's right now."

"Damon...I just broke up with Stefan. If we start...going out, it would be like a slap in his face." She murmured.

"Since when did you care about that?"

"I just don't want to pick one of you. Because I know that if I do, I'll lose the other one. I've already lost so much. I'm angry at Stefan but I'm a vampire now. I know that one day I will find it in me to forgive him. Even if it takes centuries. And I don't know what I would do if he left or if you left again. I love you both."

"I promise you that I will not leave you. I will always be here protecting you. Even if you don't pick me."

"Listen, I need some time. Please. I'm begging you. I can't do this right now."

"I get it. It's okay. I'll wait for you. I'll wait till you're ready to give me an answer." I stood up, bent forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodbye Elena."