This missing scene occurs after the end of Season 4, Episode 9 – O Come, All Ye Faithful

As Bonnie and Elena drive away…

"That sucked for you," Jeremy told Damon as he entered the Lake House.

"Smalltalk?" Damon asked, his face still showing the stress he felt from sending Elena away. "We're making smalltalk?"

"Hey, we're going to be roommates." The Hunter said. "We might as well make the best of it."

"Housemates," the vampire corrected. "Don't think this means I trust you."

"I don't trust you either," Jeremy shot back. "And I think still want to kill you. But you did help my sister. As long as you help her, as long as you protect her, I think I can make myself let you live."

"And I got you back in with your beloved witch."

Jeremy smiled briefly, "Maybe." The smile disappeared as he added, "It still sucked for you, sending Elena away like that."

Damon nodded. "It sucked, but not just for me."

Jeremy nodded. "Like when I lost Bonnie's trust because of a ghost."

Damon smirked briefly. "That was your fault. This was nobody's fault…certainly not Elena's. It's going to kill us both."

Jeremy nodded, then added. "Or make you inseparable."


When Stefan ran into Elena the next day (at school?)…

Elena could tell Stefan was upset when she saw him, though she wasn't sure why. He motioned for her to follow him into an empty classroom. She saw no reason to decline, so she went with him.

"Caroline told me everything." He began, speaking loudly.

"Caroline?" Elena asked, confused. Caroline knew some things that would upset Stefan, but she had promised she would let Elena tell him.

"He never unsired you!" Stefan accused. "He left the bond intact!"

"Stefan…" she began, intending to tell him what Damon had actually done; but he interrupted her.

"And you slept with him!"

This caught her off guard. She felt Caroline's betrayal, but tried to push that away, tried to stay calm as she asked, "Can we just talk about this?"

"What is there to talk about?" Stefan yelled. "How many more ways can you rip my heart out?"

Elena lost her composure. "Of course," she said, shaking her head. "Because you're the only one here with a broken heart. Do you know where Damon is? He's at the Lake House helping my brother, keeping him safe while he's going through this. He ripped his own heart out by telling me I couldn't stay there with them – that I had to leave him."

"What?" Stefan asked, surprised, but not really calming down. "Caroline said …"

"He ripped my heart out at the same time," Elena interrupted. "And he's doing this while you and Caroline are gossiping about something that is none of your business. You sat at my house and told me you couldn't do 'this' anymore. You couldn't stand to watch me get closer to Damon."

Elena was glaring at him now, and Stefan softened at the reminder of their breakup. "I didn't know it was a sire bond then."

Her irritation grew. "It's not the sire bond, Stefan. Do you really think the bond made me a liar? I told the truth when I said I'm getting darker, when I said things were changing between Damon and me."

She had to close her eyes and shake her head to regain control of herself. "The bond affects what I do, not what I feel. I had feelings for Damon before I turned, and I have them now. And right now, I know where Damon is but I literally can not go to him. It's killing me, Stefan, feeling what I feel, but not being able to do anything about it."

Stefan was taken aback. "So he really did it – told you to stay away from him?"

Elena could only nod, eyes closed.

"I know it's hard…" Stefan began

She glared at him. "You know nothing about this. My feelings for Damon are as strong as ever, but I can't…" She cut herself off.

"I didn't want this for you, neither did Caroline." Stefan was speaking softly now.

"Neither did Damon." Elena retorted. "Neither did I. Nobody wanted this, but do you know what the difference is between Damon and me and you and Caroline? The difference is that you and Caroline think of this as something to criticize us for, to gossip about. But I know that this is hurting Damon every bit as much as it's hurting me. Just another thing he and I have in common now."

Stefan hesitated to make sure she was finished, then tried to defend his actions. "I just don't him want to use your bond to get you to do what he wants you to do. I want you to have a choice."

Elena was obviously incredulous. "Use the bond to get me to do what he wants? Stefan, everything I've done, I wanted to do. Everything. He hasn't asked me to do anything. Everything was my choice – until he told me to leave him. If I had a choice, I would go to him right now, but he took that choice away from me, because he didn't want to .."

She shook her head before she could continue, but finally she said, "He said he did it to 'do right' by me and to 'do right' by you. You're the one taking advantage of the sire bond, not Damon."

Stefan tried one more time to defend himself. "This is not who you're supposed to be," he said softly.

Elena softened a little herself, but was tired of the argument. "I get it, Stefan. I'm sired to Damon. His blood saved me. He would have used his blood to save me, to keep me alive anytime and anywhere. And he did. Even though Klaus killed me, Damon's blood saved me. You wouldn't force your blood on me, and you would let me die if I asked. You would have let me go." She knew she looked a little desperate as she looked intently into his eyes. "So why can't you let me go?"

"Elena…"

"He won't touch me now, Stefan," she said quietly. "He barely looks at me now. And he sent me away from him. Haven't you and Caroline done enough?"

She broke eye contact and left the room, leaving him standing alone.


Sorry. The episode kind of went as expected, but the preview ticked me off. I'll be good now...

I'll be good and inattentive for the break. I'm having some surgery done. Maybe I'll finally have time to finish "Elena and the Pledge" – I did get someone to agree to provide Beta services…

Oh yeah … Happy holidays!