Elena's alarm clock went off for the fourth time. Ugh! Do I really have to get up already? Over the last few weeks, she felt more and more run down than usual. She brushed it off as part of the daily stress of living in a town with supernatural threats, compounded by all the recent changes in her life.

As she crawled out of bed, she thought to herself wistfully, Now why would I possibly be drained? Let's see, I lost both my parents in a tragic car accident, where I almost died. I found out I'm a doppleganger of a 500 year old vampire, who was in love with my now ex-boyfriend. My aunt was sacrificed in a ritual, to break a curse, that wasn't even real. It turns out that my uncle was really my father, and my real mother was a vampire, both of whom ended up dying as well. My last parental figure recently turned into a vampire-vampire hunter, and then died, leaving me and Jeremy all alone. I've technically died and came back twice. I've been used as a human blood bag. And my blood has been required for more spells and rituals than I care to recall. Klaus and his Original family have tormented me relentlessly. Everyone is always sacrificing themselves to save my life. My friends consist of a witch, a vampire, a hybrid, and one human, plus my brother, who died and now sees dead people. My vampire boyfriend left me to save his brother's life, losing his humanity in the process. His vampire brother and I spent all summer trying to get him back, only for me to realize I'd fallen in love with said brother too. Deciding between them was heart wrenching. In the end, my ex-boyfriend left so I can be with his brother. Oh and somewhere in there, I managed to graduate high school and start college. Wow, my life is messed up.

When she thought about it that way, it's no wonder she felt run down. There is only so much emotional drama a person can take before it affects them physically. It wasn't until she lost her appetite that she started to get concerned. Food just didn't appeal to her anymore. In fact, the mere thought of it turned her stomach. She hadn't mentioned it to Damon because he was so overly protective. And she didn't want him to worry. It's just stress, she told herself. Elena continued getting ready to meet Meredith at the Grille for lunch. Perhaps she could offer her some medical advice, while they got caught up. It was nice to have a doctor friend, who knew the truth about her life.

When Elena walked into the Grille, she saw Damon sitting at the bar, having a drink. She took a seat on the bar stool next to him. "Hey, I thought you said you had a council meeting today?"

Damon turned to answer her. "I do, but Liz wanted to meet first to go over how we're going to handle our little problem with the council. Ever since Ric outed us, it's been hard to regain control. It's not exactly easy to compel them all, so we're going to have to get creative." He took a swig of his drink. Curious, he said, "What are you doing here? I thought you had class."

"I skipped it."

Damon playfully teased her. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You baaad girl."

With mock defensiveness, she justified her actions. "It's not bad. I just decided to have lunch with Meredith instead."

It amused him how much his stare affected her. He loved getting her riled up. Raising his hands in surrender he said, "Hey, I'm not judging. I like it when you're bad. In fact, I like it when you're very bad."

Suddenly, she noticed her stool was much closer to him than before. He brushed her hair behind her ear, giving her Goosebumps. With that seductive smile, he whispered in her ear, "You know, we could just ditch our plans here and go be bad together."

A lustful smile came across her face. She placed her hand high on his thigh, dangerously close to his package. Leaning in mere inches from his lips, she said, "Too late. Our dates are here." As she got up, she slid her hand off of his thigh and whispered in his ear. "Guess you'll have to wait until later."

The warmth of her breath, as she place a small kiss near his ear, guaranteed he wasn't getting off of that bar stool anytime soon. At least not without embarrassing himself. As she walked away, he groaned, "Now that's just mean." That made her giggle, as she walked over to meet Meredith.

Elena made sure she chose a table far away from the bar. She knew Damon could hear their conversation even from this distance, so she kept things light. Meredith was happy to see her. "So Elena, this was a nice surprise. We haven't had much contact since Ric died."

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just been so hard getting adjusted to all the changes in my life. I mean losing Ric was really hard on Jeremy and I. We're still trying to adjust to him being gone. I'm sure you probably heard Stefan left town. Things didn't exactly work out between us. Then there was graduation. Oh, on a positive note I started college. It's been so crazy. I've been going non-stop."

Meredith looked at her, waiting for some mention of her new relationship with Damon. "So how are things going with Damon?"

Elena gave her a sheepish smirk and said, "Things are going surprisingly well. I don't know, I just feel like everything fits. I didn't mention it because he isn't exactly on people's list of favorites. Jeremy was like whatever. Caroline was of course pissed because she was always pro-Stefan. Bonnie, well she never liked Damon because of the things he's done. It doesn't help that he turned her mom to save my life. The truth is though, they just don't really know him. He doesn't let people see the good in him because he doesn't want to worry about being a disappointment later. But his feelings and loyalty really do run deep."

Meredith nodded her agreement, as she took a sip from her drink. "Elena, I'm a doctor and I've seen all sorts of people, who repress their feelings. Damon is just one of those complex people. If there wasn't more to him than what he shows on the surface then Ric wouldn't have been his friend. And you wouldn't have fallen in love with him."

"Thanks Meredith. I needed that. I mean I know it's crazy, but I love him. And whether my friends approve or not, we're right for each other. We've grown so close through all that's happened that I don't know what I would do without him."

Meredith was glad to see Elena look so happy. She reassured her. "I think you're good for each other. Someone has to keep him in check." Elena smiled at her.

The waiter came over and Meredith ordered her food. When the waiter turned to take Elena's order, she said, "I'll just have some tea. Thanks."

Meredith looked at her, puzzled. "I thought we were having lunch. You aren't going to order anything to eat?"

Elena looked over at the bar and noticed Damon had left. "I'm not very hungry. Actually, that's one of the reasons I asked you to lunch. I haven't been feeling very well. I think I might have a virus or something."

"What's going on? What are your symptoms?"

Elena paused, "I don't know. I've just been feeling really run down. All I want to do is sleep, but when I try, I'm restless. I've been irritable too. I guess because I haven't been sleeping. I seemed to be flushed all the time too."

"How long has this been going on?"

Elena thought for a moment and sighed, "A few weeks, maybe 3 or 4?"

"Three or four weeks? You probably should've come to see me sooner."

"I wasn't really too concerned until now. I mean I thought it was just stress or something. But then I started feeling sick whenever I ate, and now just the smell of food makes me queesey. I feel like I'm getting worse instead of better."

Meredith teased, "Maybe you have Mono. You know Damon has 'kissed' a lot of women, either that, or you're pregnant." They both laughed at how ridiculous that was.

Elena leaned in to whisper, "Well, we both know that's not possible."

"I'll tell you what. After we finish here, we'll go to the clinic, and I'll run some tests."

Relieved, Elena said, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No problem."