"You find Vickie, I'll go see Matt," Elena said to Bonnie as they walked into the church.
"We'll make sure she's okay," Bonnie promised.
Grabbing Caroline's arm, Bonnie led them away and Elena hurried towards Matt.
He stood, bracing himself on his mother's coffin, tears streaming down his face.
"Matt?" Elena choked through her tears as she approached him.
Matt paused for a long moment before turning around.
"I'm so sorry, Matt." Elena hugged her friend. "I'm so sorry."
"She was my mom and yeah, she sucked as a mom, but she loved us and I love her for that."
"She did her best, in the only way she could with the issues she had, and she knew you and Vickie both loved her, even when she failed, because she tried. Even at her worst, she still tried to make sure you and Vickie were okay."
Elena hugged Matt hard, rubbing his back.
"She's my mom."
"Never doubt her love for you. Because even at her worst, she loved her children."
"But the last thing she heard was me yelling at her!"
Matt broke down then, crying hard into Elena's shoulder.
"She knew you loved her. You wouldn't have fought her if you loved her and she knew it. I promise." Elena rubbed his back.
"She's my mom and I wish I didn't feel like I had to wish she'd been better."
"Wishing she'd been there more, instead of with her boyfriends isn't unreasonable, Matt."
"She's my mom and it's too late to fix things."
"You did your best, Matt. And that's all you can ask yourself to do. You can't punish yourself for something that's beyond your control." This hadn't happened last time around. Did saving Vickie cost Matt someone else he loved? "I'm so sorry, Matt. I'm so sorry."
"Mattie?" Vickie's tearful voice broke through their moment and Elena stepped back. "I'm not okay."
"Vick. I'm here." Matt released Elena and pulled his sister closed.
"I'm so sorry," Elena said once more.
"You saved me, so I know you would have tried if you had a chance," Vickie assured her.
Elena nodded once and melted back into the crowd, searching for one of her other friends. She caught sight of Caroline and headed towards her, but before she could reach her friend, someone grabbed her arm and spun her around.
"Hello, Elena." Damon smirked, his eyes intense, that expression she used to adore.
Elena shrank inwardly. She knew that look. Knew it far too well. And she wanted to throw up at seeing it again. He didn't know her at all and he was still looking at her like he owned her.
"What do you want, Damon?" Elena snapped, jerking her arm out of his grasp.
"Is that how you're going to act after that moment we shared?"
"What moment?" she asked, confused.
"Are you gonna pretend that we didn't kiss?"
Elena exhaled, "It was Katherine you kissed, Damon. Not me."
Of course she'd play that same game again. Of course she would. It was Katherine. And of course she'd try to screw with her life like that, but Elena wasn't the child she'd been last time around.
Just when she thought she had Damon where he needed to be, ready to move on from the doppelgangers, Katherine had to do this. Damn her.
"No. No. It wasn't." Damon denied, shaking his head. "I know it was you!"
"She looks just like me, so she knows she can pull an affectation of me off, especially with someone who doesn't know me."
"I'd know the difference between you and Katherine!"
"You don't know me at all so how could you possibly know that?" Elena challenged. "I'm just someone who has the same exact face as the woman you've been obsessed with for one hundred and fifty years."
"But you're not Katherine! You're so much better than she is!"
"How could you possibly know that? You've only known I've existed since May and I was in a coma for almost the entire summer, and then Elijah came into town so there was literally no time for you to get to know me."
"You won't even give anyone a chance because he's just taken over your life."
"Damon," Elena sighed. "There are people out there who would like to be with you, who would love you wholely, but you can't see passed my face. Let go and be free of what Katherine did to you and don't try to recreate what you thought you had with her with me. It won't work."
"You won't even try."
"I'm happy with Elijah and I can't imagine a life without him."
"You're so wrapped up in him that you can't see anyone else!"
"No, Damon. Let go of me! This is what I want. I want you to leave me alone. You and I can't be happy together and I want to be free of you. Find someone who won't remind you of Katherine, in any way. But know this, I don't want to be in a romantic relationship with you, at all."
Damon stared at Elena for a long moment, his expression tormented.
"I can't be the person you want me to be, Damon. What I feel for Elijah, it's like coming home, and leaving him, it would utterly destroy me. I can't imagine anyone else taking care of me or caring for me the way he does."
"Is there a problem?" Caroline smiled at Damon, her blue eyes sparking dangerously.
"Don't mess with me, Caroline. I'm older."
"Don't mess with me, Damon. Elena's my best friend and hurting her makes me angrier." Caroline smiled sweetly as she braced one hand on her hip. "Not to mention that if you hurt either of us, Elijah is old, like crazy old. So messing with us means pissing him off."
Elena allowed herself to absorb Caroline's strength and stood up a little straighter.
"Not to mention that a funeral is no place for us to discuss your obsession with Katerina Petrova," Elena added.
"Elena!"
"No. Elijah is my life and I want my future to be him." In a way, she felt like she was setting someone free from a sire bond, something she wished he'd done in her first life.
"Don't do this."
Seeing him like this, it reminded her of how he'd been able to convince her that he wanted her when she was just a teenager.
"Stop, Damon." Elena held up her hand. "You're forgetting that you attacked me. It doesn't matter that you thought I was Caroline at first. You still tried to rape me and you did rape her and the only reason you're still alive is because you're Stefan's brother and he saved my life, so I pleaded your case with Elijah."
Damon's shoulders slumped.
"I do think there's a part of you that wants to be good, but I can't forgive you for what you did to Caroline, at least not until she's ready to forgive you. So, stay away from us."
"Elena."
"We are at the funeral for Matt's mother. Out of respect for him, and his pain, and what his mother meant to mine, I wish I hadn't allowed this conversation to go on when you first brought it up." Grabbing Caroline's arm, Elena led them away.
"Why didn't you brain bomb the guy?" Caroline whispered.
"Not at a place where Matt is openly grieving," Elena replied.
"Right. Right. Sorry. He just pisses me off."
"If he tries again though, I will hurt him, I swear."
Damon had no right to try to even attempting to guilting her into letting him get closer to her. Damn Katherine for sparking those feelings in him and for ripping open the wound that had just started to heal in him.
Galvanized against his charm, Elena lifted her chin and linked their arms and set off in search of Bonnie. How dare he try to force himself into her life?
As soon as Elena and Elijah walked through the door of her bedroom that afternoon, she started kissing him desperately. Gripping his tie, she nipped at his lower lip with her teeth and pushed him against the nearest wall.
Pulling away from her mouth, Elijah asked, "What's going on?"
"Don't wanna talk about it," Elena murmured, biting at his throat.
Elijah sighed and his head fell back, giving her better access to him. Taking this as an acceptance of where she wanted this to go, Elena reached up and undid the first two buttons of his shirt. She wanted to feel his skin beneath her palms, to feel him bare against her, erasing anything except for him.
"Elena, Elena." He moaned as he pushed her back just a little and studied her face. "What's wrong?"
"I don't wanna talk about it, please." Elena moved to try to kiss him again, but he tightened his grip on her, preventing her from reaching his lips.
"Elena, I'd like nothing more than to kiss you, but something's bothering you. I can feel it." He cupped her jaw, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
"Damon, at the funeral, he kept trying to push me to allow myself to become open to dating other people, because Katherine kissed him and he thought it was me. Now, thanks to her, he's right back to being obsessed with me, and I just want you."
Elijah kissed her lightly on the lips and said, "You don't need to prove yourself to me."
"I'm sorry." Elena sagged in his arms, shame seeping into her veins.
"Don't apologize. But you don't need to prove that you want to be with me." Elijah stroked her hair softly.
"It's just embarrassing, letting him get to me like that," Elena mumbled.
Catching her around the waist, Elijah brushed her hair out of her face and said, "Wanting to be with me, there's nothing embarrassing about that. It's flattering. And you don't need to prove to me that you don't want him."
"I thought I was over being affected by him. I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Elijah cradled her head and pulled her closer, cradling her against his chest.
"I wouldn't have kissed you that first time if I thought he still had an influence over me. I want this, with you, and I don't want to be influenced by people who only want to control me."
"I wouldn't have kissed you back if I thought it was an issue still."
"So you think it's not an issue?"
"Katherine knows you and I are together, so she's trying to stir the pot, and the easiest one to get to is Damon." Elijah trailed his finger down Elena's lower lip. "How about we take this to the bed?"
"Let's."
After they removed their shoes and jackets, Elijah guided Elena back towards her bed and lay down beside her. Taking Elena into his arms, he lay on his back, then cradled her neck in one hand and kissed her slowly. Like this, her aching need to make love to him was soothed, for the time being.
"I like this," Elena murmured against his lips.
Elijah ran his hand down the length of her body to her thigh and smiled up at her.
"Yes, I want more, but-"
"But we made a promise to Jenna and she's a human, desperately needing to know that her opinion still matters in the face of the supernatural," Elijah said.
"Exactly."
"You two'd better at least be mostly clothed!" Jenna called, then knocked on the door.
"We are," Elena confirmed as she tucked her head under Elijah's chin.
Opening the door, Jenna said, "I invited Matt and Vickie over for dinner. It's going to be Chinese takeout, since I can't cook, and I asked if Anna would provide blood for those who need it."
"I don't know if Matt's aware of the supernatural, so we'll have to be careful," Elena warned. "Let Vickie take the lead on that, since it's her brother."
"Right."
"I can cook, if you'd rather have something other than takeout," Elijah offered, sitting up and shifting Elena so that she was beside him.
"That would be nice, and thanks."
"I'll see what you've got and then make a list of what I need from the store."
"Something simple," Elena said.
"Chicken Parmesan or Margherita pizza." Elijah raised his brow at her.
"Chicken Parmesan."
"Chicken Parm it is." Elijah smiled at her and trailed his knuckle along her nose.
Elena's phone buzzed and she checked it.
"Matt wants to know if he can bring Tyler too. Mason's in town and he and Carol got into it over something, so Tyler's trying to escape."
"Getting him out of the house would be a good idea, considering his dad's funeral is two days from now and you and Jeremy know what it's like to lose parents, so you know what they're both going through," Jenna commented.
Elena glanced at Elijah. "And we'll need to talk to Tyler about what's coming."
"What's coming?" Jenna asked, concerned.
"Tyler triggered the werewolf curse and needs to know what to expect. If Mason is in town and Katherine showed her face at the same time, then Tyler's not going to get the help he needs for facing his first transformation. Mason's too wrapped up in Katherine to give Tyler a good support system," Elena explained.
"Katherine's in town?" Jenna's horrified expression reminded Elena that not everyone was prepared to meet her manipulative, psychotic ancestor.
"She kissed Damon the other night, and he was certain she was me, even though he knows I'm obviously with Elijah."
"Okay," Jenna's face twisted with the thought that Katherine was messing with Elena's very personal life, "thanks for the info."
"Never invite me inside or tell me anything unless I'm in the house," Elena reminded
"I'll keep that in mind and of course, Tyler can come along," Jenna said.
"I'll tell Matt." Elena sent a text to her friend and climbed off the bed. "Now, let's see what we need to make enough Chicken Parmesan for a small army."