Katherine

Katherine answered before the first ring had finished.

"Elena, what do you need?"

"Hi, sorry to bother you, but somebody has been killed here. I thought you should know, in case it was one of your people."

Elena heard only silence.

"Katherine?"

"Elena, do you recall why I gave you the phone?"

"For emergencies."

"No, Elena. I gave it to you so you could reach me when you are in danger."

"But if someone is killing people in Mystic Falls, I'm not safe."

"You know what I think about Mystic Falls, Elena. I am only concerned with you."

"But what if it's someone you sent? Are you sure they wouldn't hunt here?

"There are other vampires in Mystic Falls. And I told you there are rules."

"Yeah, vampire rules. I don't know what that means."

Elena could tell that Katherine was getting terser. She would not be able to keep this up for much longer.

"In this case, it means there will be no hunting of humans by anyone I send there within a 50 mile radius of Mystic Falls."

"Do you trust them to do that?"

"These are the ones I am trusting with your life. Yes, I trust them to follow the other rules I have set. Whatever is doing this will not get close to you Elena, but if there is a problem in your town, you will need to find another way to attend to it. And please limit the phone use as you promised. You are at a line you cannot cross in the future."

"I understand. Sorry," Elena said. 'Well,' she thought. 'It didn't take me long to mess the phone thing up…'

Damon

Elena was leaving when he came. She had wanted to talk to him so much it was almost anti-climatic.

"Going somewhere?" Damon asked her.

"I was. It can wait. Do you want to …" she pointed at the seats on the porch.

Damon nodded and sat. She sat next to him.

There was a tense silence between them.

"This is starting off well," Elena said.

"Is it starting? What you promised me?"

Elena nodded her head. "If you want. If you're ready for it to."

"I am. So what do we do?"

"We start off with understanding each other. I saw you here last night with Katherine, holding her hand."

Damon nodded. "Harsh beginning, but fair question. Elena, she and I have known each other for a very long time. And we were very close. You saw us when we had just had a very long discussion after a very long time apart."

"And?"

"And nothing. We were catching up. She's ready to move forward. But I think you knew that."

"No," Elena said. "She said some things around me that didn't make sense then, but do now. She's why you're pushing the timing of this."

"Put yourself in my position, Elena. Two things you've always wanted. One says she wants you. The other says maybe, someday, after I give everyone a shot first."

"Not everyone," Elena interrupted before he could continue. "You've put me in a tough position, Damon."

"All I did was tell you what I wanted and essentially that I did not know how long I had before I would take Katherine up on what she is offering. I told you the truth and you said you would give me my shot. Changing your mind?"

"No. Absolutely not. I really do want to know what this is between us."

"You mean besides love and hate?"

Elena had to laugh. "I have hated you – more than I thought I could hate anything. And despite that, you've helped me. You've kept me safe. But I don't know if it's love."

"You need both, Elena. How can you know someone if you have not seen them at their worst and at their best. You've seen me both ways. You've hated, now can you love me?"

"That's what we're here to find out. Are there rules?"

"Like what?"

"Like with Stefan – or Katherine. They are a pretty big part of both our lives."

"Your choice, your rules. Katherine will do what she does, but other than one long walk together, she's giving me time and space. She says she needed it to decide about me, and she'll give me as much as I want."

She was nervous about asking again, but she had to be sure. "Stefan?"

"All I want from you is what I asked for – a real chance. If you give it to me, if you can let me know that you really are giving it to me, you can deal with Stefan as you see fit."

"He'll figure it out."

"Figure what out? He's been accusing me of getting too close to you for some time. His paranoia is reasonable – I mean..." Damon pointed his hands at himself and moved them up and down in front of his body. Elena smiled.

"This is what I don't want, Elena, what you promised would not happen. You promised you would not worry about what he thinks. Just me. Just give me a fair shot. If you do that, whatever you think you need from him or need to give him is fine with me."

"OK," Elena said. "Anyone else need to know or not know? Are we going public?"

"I don't need a spectacle. We've been seen in public together before. Let's just take whatever comes."

Elena nodded her head. Then another thought occurred to her.

"The news said something about a man being killed. Supposedly an animal attack. Did you…" She trailed off without finishing.

"You mean did I kill him? Elena…"

"It wasn't an accusation, Damon." Elena interrupted. "It was a question. I know who you are."

"You don't trust me?"

"It's not a matter of trust Damon. I have never asked you to not be a vampire, to not drink human blood. I'm alive now because of who you are, because you had the strength and power to save me and protect me. I would never ask you to be anything else. I just need to know if you know anything about the man who was killed."

"No."

"Will you help me find out more about it?"

"Yes."

One word answers. Had she blown it already? "I'm sorry Damon. I didn't know how else to ask. You know I trust you completely. All I need is for you to tell me that you didn't do it. And I need to know that I can ask you hard questions. Its part of this whatever this is that we're doing."

"You're right. You need to be able to ask me. I don't want to make it hard for you."

"So what's next?" Elena said, thinking out loud.

"We could go dancing."

Elena laughed. "You're so jealous of Stefan and that 50's dance. I really feel bad now about what I did to you."

"Don't. I got the good dance later. You were gorgeous, and he left. It's what I said before – the early pain made the pleasure so much more..."

"OK. Dancing. Let me know the details." Elena said.

"I will."

"And now," Elena started, feeling much more comfortable about all this than when their discussion had begun, "will you ride with me to Bonnie's house?"

His expression, shock, maybe discomfort, was not unexpected.

"I don't think she would want to see me."

"I know, Damon. I'm not asking you to go in with me, just go with me there. She's a big part of my life. Part of this is seeing how it would affect her and me. And I just…I want you to be with me while I go there. Will you?"

Damon nodded and joined her in the car.

Bonnie

Elena kind of wanted him to go at least part of the way from the car to the house. He didn't. Instead he excused himself to go wherever he was going to go when they were done. She didn't know and didn't ask.

"Elena?" Bonnie asked. It seemed a little odd.

"Yes," Elena said slowly.

"OK. Come on in." When Elena looked at her a little funny, Bonnie added "Katherine came once. She didn't pretend to be you or anything – at least not at my door. But it scared me a little."

"It's OK Bonnie. You can be careful around me. Have you heard news about someone being killed – animal attack?"

"Yeah. Of course, you think its more."

"I don't know. I know Katherine was supposed to send some vampires to protect me, but she says they aren't allowed to hunt here."

"And you believe her?"

"Yeah. And I asked Damon. He didn't do it either. I'm afraid something else is out there."

Bonnie only nodded her head.

"Would you try to find whatever's doing this? You saw a vision about John Gilbert."

"I can try, but I think it'll be hard. It helps if there is some kind of a connection. Maybe we can go where it happened tomorrow and see if we can find something?"

"OK. I would really appreciate it. And Bonnie, would it be OK if I bring Damon?"