How perfect we were meant to be, our warm and silent symmetry
It's times like these when all, all we needed is to be reminded
And I have flown a thousand miles to empty rooms and crowded aisles
And we went from cathedral bells to show and tell and wish you wells
And I, I still look at you and I am blinded
I am blinded.
-Josh Groban, Higher Window

Elena never thought she would be so happy to see Stefan, but as he stood there, she was proven wrong. His eyes were dark, telling her and Kevin that he was furious.

"Listen buddy, just keep walking," Kevin told him.

All hell broke loose. Stefan flashed over to the both of them and threw Kevin up against the brick wall. Elena flinched and turned away, afraid of what Stefan might do. Kevin let out a gasp of fright as the veins emerged around Stefan's eyes and as his fangs descended.

"What the hell are you?" Kevin yelled at him. He struggled to break free of Stefan's grasp, but failed.

"Someone who you just pissed off," Stefan growled. He wrapped his hand around Kevin's neck and stared into his eyes. "You're going to go home and forget about this. When your friends ask how it went, you'll tell them that you and Elena will not work out," he compelled him.

Kevin's gaze went blank as he stared back at Stefan. "I will go home and forget about everything. When my friends ask how it went, I'll tell them Elena and I won't work," he repeated.

Stefan dropped him and watched as he stumbled down the street. He turned his attention back to Elena, his eyes going back to green and his fangs disappearing. She was all shook up, and he wanted to hold her so badly, but knew that he shouldn't. "Are you alright?" he asked her awkwardly.

Elena nodded her head and turned back to looked at him. Once again, he had saved her from something that would have been awful.

"You saved me," Elena said.

"I couldn't let you get hurt, Elena."

"Why couldn't you?"

"You know why," Stefan whispered as he took one step closer to her. He smiled slightly when she didn't step back in fear. Instead, she continued to examine him.

As Elena examined him, she focused on his eyes. They were soft as the always had been when looking at her. For a brief moment, Elena saw her Stefan. She saw the man that she had fallen in love with. Tears pooled in her eyes as she realized that things really were different, that he wasn't trying to trick her so he could kill her. She closed the space between them and threw her arms around his shoulders, tears flowing down her face.

Stefan wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. It had been so long since he was able to hold her. He could feel his shirt dampen as she continued to cry but he didn't care.

They stood there for a couple of minutes, Elena crying and Stefan comforting her. It was getting later and Stefan didn't want them out in the street much longer. He rubbed her arms and pushed her away from his chest gently. She looked up at him in confusion as he brushed away a few strand tears with his thumbs. "Elena listen to me," he said in a hushed tone, "I'm going to bring you to my apartment so you can relax, and then I'm going to bring you back to your dorm. Is that okay?"

Elena knew she should have told him to take her back to her dorm immediately, but she didn't. She knew her roommates would still be out and she didn't want to be alone after what happened. Soon she found herself being picked up bridal style, hair flying everywhere. Stefan was running through the city at top speed, causing her to cling onto his neck.

Stefan had stopped running when he had reached the third floor of his apartment building. He put Elena down gently, apologizing to her for running without giving her a warning. He pushed his apartment door open and led her inside.

"Take a seat on the couch," he directed her. "I'll make you some vervain tea. Do you need anything else?"

"No. The tea will be fine," Elena replied. She watched him leaving the room, feeling a little more comfortable knowing that she would have vervain in her system.

A few minutes passed before Stefan came back into the room carrying a mug. Elena took the mug from him and gave him a small smile to thank him. As she took a sip, she could smell and taste the vervain.

"I figured you would feel better with the vervain," Stefan explained. He sat down on the opposite end of the couch to give her space.

Elena nodded her head and continued to drink the tea.

It seemed to the two of them that hours had passed before another word was spoken when in reality it was only a couple of minutes. Stefan was worried about saying the wrong thing and scaring her off, while Elena didn't know what to say.

Elena placed her mug on the coffee table and cleared her throat. "Thank you," she said to him. She looked at him, "Thank you for the tea and for helping me out."

He shrugged his shoulders, telling her not to thank him. "You know I'll always be around to help you out when you need it."

She didn't know how to respond to that, but deep down inside, she knew what he had said was true.

Stefan frowned and looked down at the floor, "Elena I don't know where to begin in telling you how sorry I am for hurting you these past few years."

She remained quiet, waiting to see if he had anything else to say. He picked up on that and continued to speak, "I can't turn back time and change everything but believe me, Elena. If I could, I would. I hurt you. That is something I never wanted to do. That day on campus, you said things aren't the same between us and I know they aren't, but there are some things that will never change. I will always love you and I will always be here to protect you."

His words hit her hard. Elena didn't want to cry, and even though she felt the tears well up again, she held them back. When Stefan reached over to hold her hand, she didn't pull away. Instead, she held onto his hand as if her life depended on it. "I never wanted to give up on you, Stefan," Elena confessed. "It got up to a point where I felt like I had no choice. You were gone and everyone was convinced you were never going to come back, so I had to move on."

"I understand and I'm sorry that I gave you no other choice," Stefan apologized. He squeezed her hand and said, "I'm here now. I'm not going anywhere."

The truth was said. Stefan wasn't going to go anywhere. He knew that and so did Elena. She closed her eyes to stop herself from crying, but a face flashed into her mind and she sobbed loudly. It was Damon's face. Stefan, thinking it was something he had said, wrapped his arms around her cautiously. Elena found herself wishing she was with the other Salvatore brother, the one she needed, but she wasn't. She cried for a while into Stefan's shirt while he held onto her, trying to comfort her. He held onto her until she fell asleep and when she did, he carried her into his bedroom. He wrapped Elena up in the blankets and placed a gentle kiss onto her forehead. She stirred and rolled over, her mouth moving slightly. Stefan stood by the bed, waiting to see if she was going to say something.

When Elena spoke, she left him shocked. It was one word, one tiny word, but threw a wrench into everything for him. That one word was a name of a man, a man he didn't think Elena would ever speak of in her sleep. That man was Damon, his very own brother.

Please do not hate me! I know you all hoped that Damon would be the one rescuing her. I would love it if you kept reviewing and I'll work on the next chapter very soon.