Stefan ran into the woods, fueled on by blood and pain. His arm was still in agonizing pain, but it was starting a slow, burning heal. He followed the sounds of Katherine and the wolves, pushing past all he felt to keep his promise to Chloe that he would keep her safe.

He got there in time to see Katherine about to strike out at one of the growling wolves. "Katherine, stop," Stefan yelled. "Tyler, Chloe. Go home. You can't win this one."

Tyler still looked ready to pounce, but Chloe, eyes still on Katherine let out one large howl before she rushed to Tyler and nudged him along to run away. Stefan took that time to jump in front of Katherine and halt her interest in them.

"First you're all lovey-dovey for that human, Elena, and now you're protecting wolves? What, am I disturbing your food supply?" she asked with a hiss while she watched the wolves behind her retreat. "You're no fun."

Hearing the wolves now far away, Stefan relaxed a bit, still breathing hard from his injury. He had to hunt soon, he knew, but the human blood in his system was making it hard to concentrate. He closed his eyes and tried to pull it together, not caring that Katherine was in front of him.

"I'm surprised you defended them considering one of them was literally ripping you limb from limb," she continued. "You're not strong enough for them and clearly not strong enough for me…"

Seconds later, she was in his face commanding his attention. He opened his eyes to see her peering at him with something close to amusement mixed with concern. "Why do you not indulge in what vampires are born to drink, Stefan? Animals are nothing when it comes to sustenance and strength…why do you abstain?"

Stefan didn't feel the need to explain himself to her. Instead he shook his head, and narrowed his eyes at her. "If you're going to kill me, then go on with it already. If not, move out of my way…I have to hunt."

"Why hunt when you have blood here," Katherine said with a smile. In seconds, she brought her lips to her wrist and bit down, letting the blood trickle out. "Here….I know you want it…"

Stefan couldn't help but to stare at the glistening blood that called to him, tempting him to drink. He was finding his control waning. He had worked hard lately to keep his head clear and hunt only animals. He swore never to get off the wagon again; not after what happened last time.

"No," Stefan whispered, stepping back. He couldn't go down the path knowing that she was in town. He had to be in control and couldn't take the time to be locked up and start over again.

"That wasn't a request…"Katherine grinned, leaping on him till he was pinned on the ground. Taking the opportunity, Katherine shoved her bleeding wrist against his lips.

He tried to ignore the trickling of blood that was heading down his throat and shove her off, but the blood lust was too much. He felt extreme déjà vu as he grabbed onto her wrist and began drinking deeply.

"That has to taste better than animal blood," she purred at him as she stroked his hair with her other hand. "Besides, it's been ages since you've had my blood…"

After a while, she withdrew her hand, licking the wound closed.

"Why did you save me…why did you…why are you doing this?" Stefan asked, staring at her with wide eyes. He could feel his wounds healing and felt a deep calm—a feeling of ecstasy— that could only be brought on by blood.

"I couldn't let some wolf tear you apart," she said, cocking her head to the side and staring at him. "I couldn't let you die," she said seriously.

"I doubt very much that you care if I live or die Katherine," Stefan said, sitting up.

"Oh, I care very much Stefan…because I've always loved only you," she said with a slight grin. Stefan scrunched his eyes together in confusion and mistrust.

"And I know that deep down…you feel the same," she said seductively, leaning in and pressing her lips to his in a deep kiss and pressing him down onto the floor. He began to resist for a moment, but soon he gave in fueled on by the blood he shared and the repressed emotions he had boiling to the surface.

Elena paced the hospital room floor, eager to go check on Jeremy. The attendant at the desk insisted she changed into dry clothes and that her swollen hand be looked at. She tried to wave it off, but Damon obnoxiously forced her into it. Now she was left to pace the room in a set of borrowed scrubs and hand bandaged up to be given the ok to leave by the doctor.

Thankfully, her wait wasn't long and she signed the papers and nearly raced out of into the hall and into the waiting room. She looked around for Damon and was surprised to see that he wasn't there. Shrugging her shoulders, she made her way to one of the seats and sat down. She could only hope that Jeremy's wounds weren't too deep.

As she waited, she replayed the past hour in her head in disbelief. She skirted over the blood and gore of Stefan's arm and Rio's dismemberment and went back to the question that was nagging at her ever since Katherine popped up. 'What did Katherine know about her accident? '

That question, coupled with the ones she had about if Stefan was ok and if he was, would he be able to control himself again, had her head pounding and her heart racing. She didn't even notice Damon's presence until he started talking.

"I know. My good looks often set girls hearts beating a bit faster, it's true," he said cockily as he took a seat next to her. "Jeremy's almost out of surgery. I guess a muscle was torn, but other than that he's fine. Stitches and a home release."

Elena took it in feeling relieved that his injuries weren't life threatening. She turned to Damon, probing his deep eyes and let out a deep breath before asking him the question. "Damon…was Katherine involved with my parent's accident?"

His eyes shot up a bit at her question, but they never left hers. "Yes."

"What did she do?" she whispered.

"This is so a Stefan moment, Elena…."Damon began, but she glared at him and urged him to go on. He sighed and continued.

"When we came face to face with Katherine for the first time a week or so back, she told us how she had come to town randomly to keep tabs on me and Stefan," he said seriously. "And according to her she came in hungry and was out by the bridge…She smelled your family in the car and threw a deer in front of it, intending for your car to stop and she could feed. But your car went into the river and Stefan saved you….she didn't know who you even were until she saw Stefan take you out."

Elena stared at him in disbelief. "She threw the deer across our path….we went into the river….my parents died because she wanted to feed..." she whispered, taking it in.

"I know it's hard to take in and it's really weird how things play out, because I believe that she honestly had no clue it was you. It's a typical vampire thing to cause a car to crash and munch on the victims and…I'm not helping here," Damon said, stopping his rant as he took in Elena's shaken state.

"If Katherine never showed up, our car never would have crashed…my parents would still be alive…Jeremy would have never gotten hurt…Jenna would have her life….Bonnie's grandmother would be alive…." Elena said with tears in her eyes as she rambled on in shock.

"This is why I said to leave this to Stefan," Damon said awkwardly as he reached over to grasp her in a sideways hugs.

She didn't react to it, but instead just let everything race through her mind. It all came down to Katherine ruining everyone's lives. Her action caused the chain of events that led her to this point.

"Well look at it this way, Elena. If everything hadn't gone down that way, you wouldn't have this handsome face to admire and yell at," Damon said, trying to break the tension.

She let out a hysterical laugh before she felt tears fighting to come out, and buried herself against his chest.

Damon looked up for help and for the first time ever felt relieved to see Bonnie walking into the room.

He pointed to Elena silently and raised his brows at Bonnie. She didn't need hurrying before she was in front of Elena, shooing Damon away and grabbing Elena in for a fierce hug.

"I'm going to check on your brother," Damon said backing away, glad to have someone there for Elena who could handle it if she burst out crying.

Bonnie waited till Damon left to begin talking to Elena. "Hey…what happened?"

"I just found out that Katherine's the reason for my parent's accident," Elena uttered.

"What!" Bonnie said, caught by surprise. She was expecting her to talk about the gruesome night's events or being worried about Jeremy. But this piece of information had her floored.

"I can't go over it, not right now, but she was responsible…"Elena said trying hard to keep it together. "If she never showed up, nothing bad would have happened."

"You mean if Stefan never came to town she would have never showed up," Bonnie said stiffly. When it came down to it, the troubles all were caused by vampires.

Elena ignored the comment and continued. "And on top of it all I saw Rio get his head torn off and Stefan get his arm ripped near off the bone and Jeremy…" Elena rambled, shaking hard as she finally relived the horrors of the night. "I just wish all these bad would go away."

"I promise you it will, Elena. With everything in my power, I will make sure this town is safe again," Bonnie said seriously, looking her deep in the eyes.

"I don't need to worry about you, too," Elena said, trying to calm herself down. "And I'm not saying that all vampires are bad, either. It's just…I don't want to be worried all the time and be around all this blood and violence."

"You don't need to worry about me, Elena. I can handle myself. But all vampires are evil, Elena. You just choose not to accept that side of them," Bonnie said honestly.

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now, Bonnie," Elena said, drying her eyes with her sleeve.

"Ok, ok. I understand…Can you tell what happened then?" Bonnie asked, changing the subject. Elena sighed but shook her head in determination.

Minutes later Bonnie closed her eyes and took in what Elena had told her. "Wow...I wonder why Katherine even showed up…And Stefan? Where is he?"

"I don't know," Elena said in response to both the questions. "I can only hope that Stefan's alright…"

"Well the plus side is that you're ok and hey, no one tried to eat you, right?" Bonnie said with a grim smile.

Elena smiled in response and rolled her eyes. "I guess not, unless you count the wolf leaping at me. He could have eaten me…"

"That's another thing. Why did Tyler attack? Could he just not control himself? Either way, I don't like the idea of the wolves being around town," Bonnie said getting serious again.

"And to point out another bad thing, Bonnie, I don't think our little set the wolves against Katherine plan will work. Obviously she had no trouble with them…so I guess the whole full moon thing is a no go," Elena said shaking her head.

Bonnie was half tempted to tell her about the spell she was going to do for Katherine, but thought better of it. She didn't want to be talked out of it or have Stefan or Damon interfere.

"Well, that was assuming that Isobel would be able to meet with Katherine then, too. But the positive to this night's events is that at least the wolves might be on our side," Bonnie said with a smirk.

"They are people Bonnie. Tyler and Chloe Lockwood…"Elena said sternly. "And they just lost their brother by a vampire. I doubt they will want to jump on their side."

"They would if they know it means teaming up against the woman who killed their brother. I mean, think of it. There would be Stefan, Damon, Isobel, John, and 2 wolves…not to mention a witch," she said proudly. "She's going down, Elena. The question now is when?"

Elena was about to respond when she saw the sheriff enter the waiting room. The sight of her brought back fresh memories of Caroline and how her life had been lost tonight as well.

Elena stood up to go give her a hug, but Damon walked back in then, grabbing her attention.

"What's going on there?" Bonnie asked suspiciously.

"We'll find out soon enough," Elena muttered. "I'll be right back. I need a moment to myself."

Elena rushed to the nearest empty room, a utility closet, and locked the door. Once inside, she slid to the ground, leaning her head against the door and bringing her knees up to put her head down on. There she let the tears she had been holding in spill as she felt herself shatter into a million pieces.

Ooh, hope I didn't piss any Stefan fans off with that Katherine scene. But I know I made at least one person happy because they've been dying for them to meet up again, lol. Anyways, hope you liked it! Enjoy and review. Title song is by Jason Walker, also on VD soundtrack. Cheers.