Author's Note: Sorry for the delay... I've been doing some renovating in my apartment, and then I changed the next song four times, most recently after I wrote the chapters to another song! But the one I've finally decided on works out a lot better, so it'll be another day or two.

Just a heads up, things are about to get a little weird, and that's saying a lot because quite a few weird things have happened already, but there it is. And also, this chapter completely took me by surprise. So please review and let me know what you think!

The lyrics and story title are from the song by Linkin Park.

Rate M for language, sexual content, sensitive matter, and dark themes.

In spite of the way you were mocking me; acting like I was part of your property;
Remembering all the times you fought with me; I'm surprised it got so far.

Elena walked into The Grill with Stefan in tow, and headed straight for the table where the blonde man was sitting. She slid into the seat opposite him, Stefan pulling out the chair next to her. She stared at John Gilbert, who looked from her to Stefan and back again. He at least had the decency to look uncomfortable when he finally focused on her.

"Hello John."

He shuddered involuntarily and blinked at her. "Elena? What happened to you?" Then the penny dropped. "You're a vampire."

Elena heard his heartbeat speed up, and she could practically see his mind racing, adding this new variation into his equations.

"You told Jenna that you wanted to talk to me. Here I am. What kind of damage are you here to inflict this time."

"Nothing," he was shaking his head, "I'm on a personal trip."

Elena laughed coldly. "You've set a precedent now you know. So it's a valid assumption."

"What's he doing here?" John was pointing at Stefan in a transparent attempt to change the subject.

"I'm playing bodyguard today," Stefan answered.

"I'm not going to hurt her."

He was taken aback when both Elena and Stefan laughed.

"He isn't here to protect me; he's here to protect you." There was silence. "So what do you want?"

John leaned forward. "I… I want to have a conversation with you, if that's okay. I understand if you don't want to hear me out, or talk to me." He paused to gauge Elena's reaction, and when she didn't move or say anything, he continued. "I found out the other day… Well… I'm sick Elena. I have cancer. They caught it early, so everything's still up in the air, but…"

Stefan and Elena looked at each other before looking back at John.

"You'd better not be lying. You might be toeing a dangerous line if you are," Elena told him.

Instead of answering her unasked question, John frowned at her. "What happened to you? You're so different. And I thought you were with Damon. Why did you bring Stefan?"

"In this circumstance, Stefan's a little more reliable than Damon." She paused to glance at Stefan, who nodded for her to continue. "I've done some things recently, and Stefan was there. He's better at… obeying (she glanced at Stefan again) me than Damon is."

John was still eyeing her suspiciously, as though he wasn't sure whether to humour her or not. She sighed loudly, tired of people underestimating and undercutting her.

"Listen," she continued, "You've never had a healthy enough fear of vampires, so I'm gonna step it up a notch. I've killed creatures who would snap your neck before you could blink, simply for looking at them the wrong way. Creatures who would slaughter your entire family without a second thought. Creatures who would pillage this town just to watch it burn. And I've destroyed, not just killed, destroyed them all. I need you to understand that before you start messing with me."

Stefan put a hand on her arm, and she realized that she was leaning across the table in an overtly threatening way. She fell back into her chair.

"I'm not lying," John insisted, "When someone's dying, they have certain regrets, and I'm no exception. I honestly regret how I've handled you, and surprisingly enough, you being a vampire hasn't changed that. I should have been kinder to you, been more involved in your life, told you the truth as soon as you were old enough to understand. But I didn't, and I'm truly sorry for that."

Elena turned to Stefan, but was still glaring at John. "He isn't lying, is he?" Stefan shook his head. "I think I'm good here. Thanks." She smiled at the other vampire.

"I'll go talk to Matt for a bit," he said to her, before addressing John. "I'll be right over there."

Both Elena and John were silent for a bit after Stefan left. Finally, the older man spoke.

"Is there any part of the old Elena still in there?" he asked gently.

At his tone more than his words, Elena softened, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Are you actually really sick?" He nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm still really young for a vampire, and the mood swings are still a little… I think I'm handling them better than Jeremy did, but I wasn't allowed to go near him when he first turned, so I really couldn't say."

"Jeremy's a vampire too?"

Elena smiled. "Jenna knows about all of this. You probably should have gotten caught up with her before trying to talk to me."

The waitress came to take their orders. After she shuffled off, Elena spoke again.

"So why did you want to talk to me? Besides telling me about your great regrets?"

"I want to hear about your life, what's going on. Although I guess it's a lot more involved than I expected."

Elena surprised him by laughing. "Do you have a week to spend listening? Because there aren't a whole lot of people that I can just flood this stuff out to."

He smiled at her, which was odd to see, and nodded. "Why don't you start from the last time I lived in Mystic Falls?"

And that's what she did. She told him about Katherine's search for the moonstone, and Stefan's attempt to control his bloodlust. She talked about the breakup, and he smiled wide when she described how she learned to defend herself. He practically glowed when she told him about incapacitating Katherine long enough to save Damon, but he looked sick when she briefly described her suffering at the vampiress' hands. She told about how Caroline found her and took care of her, about how Damon and Stefan tore Katherine to pieces.

"Um…," she paused and took a sip of her Coke, "There's stuff that happens here that might get a little awkward."

"I've seen a lot of things Elena."

"I know, but… I say that because it's still a little awkward for me to say, much less for you to hear."

"I think I can handle it."

Elena nodded. "Have you ever heard of succubae?"

His face showed his scepticism, and so she launched into a description of what Katherine had unwittingly become, and that it had transferred on to Elena as well. She talked about what Jenna described as her 'rough patch', which was really her adjusting poorly to becoming something else. She gushed about how Damon had been there for her, trying to protect her from herself, and how she had somehow fallen in love with him through it all. She talked about Nicolai and Mina, and Francis too.

"It's weird to talk about him like that. He's become such a good friend; it's weird to think that he spent almost a year trying to kill me."

She talked about the wedding, but he interrupted her when she started talking about her tantrum with Mina.

"That's amazing! You went out into the middle of nowhere and threatened a vampire, and got your way. That's… Can I tell you I'm proud of you?"

Elena smiled, and continued grinning as she described Damon's reaction. The grin faded when she talked about Lindsay's suicide.

"Then, everything changed. It was a few days before we were coming back for Thanksgiving, and Damon and I got into a fight. He's really insecure, but no one ever sees that. And when I started spending a lot of time with Cole again, Damon's jealousy flared up. But, I just liked to pretend to be normal with Cole. I knew then that I would never be normal again. Do you ever feel like that? You know so much and you've been so involved, that you know that you can't ever go back?" John nodded.

She told him about the ride back to Mystic Falls, the black SUV, and working things out with Damon right before they were hit.

"They pulled Damon and me out," she had tears in her eyes. She had never described this to anyone in detail. "We were facing each other. Francis wasn't there. Mina had me and Nicolai had Damon. Then he stabbed Damon over and over again with vervain. I was screaming and trying to get to him, but it was too late. Damon was knocked out, and Nicolai got me. He told me that Damon would be in pain for the rest of his existence, and then he snapped my neck. And that's how I died."

She stopped talking as John soaked that in.

"So Damon didn't turn you?"

"Not deliberately. I had his blood in my system, so when Stefan, Matt and Cole found me, they brought me back to the boarding house in case I came back. And I did."

She was quiet again, so John prodded.

"Then? That was almost four months ago now. What happened? Where's Damon?"

Elena laughed at the expectant expression on John's face. She told him about waking up a vampire, and Francis explaining what she was and what she had to do. John looked shocked when she talked about almost dying again out of stubbornness, and sleeping with Stefan. She told him about them and Jeremy and their mission. She described in great detail every adventure they'd had. He seemed genuinely pleased to hear about how she dominated the underworld.

She talked about their rescue of Damon, and the fallout that occurred as a result.

"And that leaves us here. We're okay, I guess. Not back to where we were, but I don't really know if we ever will be. Everything's different. I'm so much stronger, and I think he's still hiding how much the stuff with Stefan hurt him. Like I said, he's really insecure."

She smiled at John, but frowned when she glanced over his shoulder. "Speak of the devil…"

Damon had walked into the restaurant, and, spying Elena and John, he stalked over and sat down next to her.

"You snuck out to meet John?" he asked sceptically.

"If I'd told you, you would have insisted on coming," she answered, teasing him.

"You brought Stefan."

She looked pointedly at John. "Stefan can help keep me in line if things got too intense. You would have goaded me on."

Damon kissed her. "Good point."

Elena tangled their fingers together under the table. "Anyways, everything's fine. I'll tell you all about it later if you want."

Damon was watching John watch them. "That would be helpful."

"Well, I'm going to head back to the hotel." John got up. "Elena, I'm very glad we had this chance to talk. And, I hope it's okay for me to say this, but, from everything you just told me, I think you've grown up to be an amazing young woman."

And with that, he turned and walked out.

"That was weird," Damon muttered.

"Oh," Elena leaned over and put her head on his shoulder, "You have no idea."