Elena managed on her own for about five minutes. She was so blinded by rage and confusion when she walked away from Damon that she almost thought it was back to normal. Her instinct told her to go and find Caroline. Caroline would know what to do, Caroline would help. That was Elena's first thought. But then she remembered Caroline was in California. Through her anger, she blinked for a moment, and thought of Bonnie. But Bonnie was gone too. Elena didn't even know where Bonnie was. Elena stopped on the spot, thinking about what she was doing, where she was going. Then it hit her. She was alone. There was no one for her to run to anymore. There was no one left in Mystic Falls apart from her brother and her aunt. If she asked Jenna about this, she would flip. She couldn't ask Jeremy - besides, she wasn't stupid enough to interrupt him and Kate. And there was literally no one else for her to talk to. Elena had never felt more alone.

When Elena realised this, she stopped in the crowd, just at the edge of the dance floor, watching couples spin round the floor. All her old fears came back. That the masks were hiding more would be assassins and kidnappers. That someone in this crowd was out to hurt her, and that she was going to die if she didn't get home, now. But Elena couldn't even leave. She didn't know where Jenna was. She didn't know where Jeremy was. And she couldn't take their car home, either. So she was left relying on Damon. Elena wasn't sure she wanted to be reliant on Damon, but she was left with no choice. She couldn't take being alone for much longer. Elena began to wander around the edge of the dance floor, set out neatly in the Lockwood's garden. She was loathed to go running back to Damon. She was still mad at him. The emotion was so strong in her body that she couldn't even remember why she was mad at him.

As Elena walked, she picked up another drink, trying to sooth her frazzled nerves, and she thought about it, trying to distract herself from her situation. Damon. He'd left her. That was why she was mad. He'd packed up and walked out without so much as 'goodbye'. When Elena thought about it, the anger had probably been building for months. She remembered the day she'd discovered Damon was gone. Stefan had already left. So had Bonnie. Caroline, however, was still in town. By their standards, Caroline and Damon were on pretty good terms at that point. Caroline had told Elena he'd left. She said she'd gone by the boarding house, and Damon just wasn't there. Damon had left her a note. 'See you later, barbie.' That was it. He'd never even said a word to Elena about going. He'd just left. She hadn't seen him at all in July or August or most of September. Then Elena had left for Duke, so it wasn't like she'd been able to keep track. She'd only seen him a couple of times this month. And when she had seen him, he'd been drinking. How apt.

Maybe that was why she was so mad. Because he'd walked out on her, and now he thought he could just walk straight back in without any repercussions. If that was what he thought, Elena had news for him. Elena had been to hell and back, and now she was left on her own trying to sweep up the mess. If Damon thought he got to just turn up and act like nothing at all had happened, he was wrong. Elena couldn't let that happen. She might need him more than she wanted to admit right now, and she might like the fact he was back a little too much, but she couldn't let him back in easy. She wasn't that stupid. He hadn't even said goodbye. He'd run off and left her. She couldn't bear that.

Elena looked up across the dance floor with the swirling, spinning couples. Relief seeped through her body when she saw Damon standing on the other side of the floor. Elena walked around the edge, abandoning her empty glass on a nearby table, forcing herself not speed up or even run. She would be calm. She would be collected. Nothing would be wrong. She would be as normal as possible. Damon would gain nothing from her tonight. If he wanted something from her, he was going to have to work for it. After the way he left, she wasn't going to just forgive him. Not unless there was a psychopathic werewolf or vampire who had driven him out of town. She doubted this was true. She would have heard about it if it was.

Damon didn't acknowledge her when she reached his side. He just stood there, watching the people dancing on the makeshift floor. Elena bit her lip for a moment, waiting for Damon to say something. But no words came. Elena knew he was forcing her to break the silence. Pushing her like he always did. "I didn't mean it," Elena spoke, resigned to breaking the silence.

"Sorry, Elena?" Damon said, with a sweetness that stank of poison. She wasn't sure she could blame him.

"I am glad you came back," Elena said quietly. She spoke so softly that she was sure no one even heard her. If Damon had been human, Elena was sure he wouldn't have heard her. But Damon wasn't human. He never had been around her - not really. So Elena was sure Damon had heard her. Especially by the way Damon looked down at her, with a look that could burn holes in Elena's soul. Elena refused to look away, refusing to give in to Damon. He smirked in something like a laugh, but not quite there.

"Yeah, well, nice to know someone missed me," Damon said flippantly. Elena sighed slightly at the way he had to make every sincere moment into a joke. She hated it. Why couldn't he just take things seriously? Just for once?

The song that was played drifted to an end, and a new melody started up. Elena listened to it wistfully, recognising the song. Her mother used to play it around the house when she was young. It was one of the few pieces of orchestral music her mother could stand. She and Elena had used to dance around to it. The music struck a chord in Elena, one she'd forgotten had even existed. Then Elena was surprised by the next words that fell from Damon's lips.

"Would you like to dance, Elena?"

She looked up at Damon in shock. He was serious, however. His crystal blue eyes were burning again, the intense blue flame burning its way to her core. Damon smirked at Elena's surprise. "Can't come to a nice party like this and not even dance," Damon admonished her. He held out his hand for her. Elena hesitated for a moment before taking his hand. He spun her under his arm like an expert before taking her in hold. Elena found herself so close to him that it was hard to breathe, hard to escape his eyes. Damon could feel the tension in her body.

"Relax, Elena. You're safe." Damon reassured her. "I'm not about to let anyone damage you." Elena nodded her head gently.

"I know," Elena said quietly. Damon's brow furrowed, as he looked down at Elena in puzzlement.

"Then why are you so nervous?" Damon asked, guiding Elena around the floor with a strong force. Elena couldn't have broken Damon's hold even if she'd wanted to.

"Because - oh never mind. When did you learn to dance?" Elena made an attempt to change the subject completely. The truth was, Elena didn't know why was she was so tense. She'd been fine with Damon - jumpy on her own, but with Damon by her side, she had felt okay. As okay as she got these days. But the moment Damon had taken her in hold, Elena had felt her heart start to race, and her muscles tighten. And she had no idea why. She'd never felt so thrilled and so helpless at the same time.

Damon seemed to consider pressing the point for a moment, before he thought better of it. "Oh, every good Southern gentleman had to be able to dance," Damon told her, trying to make nothing of the subject, but Elena was instantly fascinated.

"What, you had to dance to get the girl?" Elena said, amused by the thought. If a woman was to pick a man by his dancing skills now, there would be many, many single men in the world. She was also amused by the image she had in her mind - a young girl in period dress, picking her husband on the skill of his waltz. Elena had to repress a smile. The expression felt too foreign on her face.

"Not quite. It was the 1860s. They had weird traditions." Damon told her. Elena would have shrugged, but Damon's iron frame was restricting her movement.

"We have weird traditions," Elena said simply.

"Oh really? Like?" Damon sounded genuinely curious. Elena went into a half panic in her mind. She didn't know what to say. She had nothing to say. Whatever she'd been thinking of, the humour in Damon's face had dragged it away. She was caught up in the way he was looking her - and how she'd missed it. Why did she miss it?

The silence obviously tipped Damon off to the fact something was wrong. "Okay then, I'll let you get back to me on that." Damon told her. Elena didn't respond. She was focussing on the dance, the way it was gathering her up and dragging her away to a place she'd all but forgotten. Dancing with Damon...it was striking out to her core, swelling something deep within her chest. Elena couldn't deny she felt something. She didn't know what, but something was there. But that wasn't what concerned her. It was the fact that Elena was coming to the conclusion she hadn't felt like this for months. She couldn't even say she'd felt anything in months. Her mind was racing over the time since everyone had started to leave her. In fact, Elena felt like she could almost date the last time she'd felt anything. The day she'd told Stefan no; no, she couldn't be with him anymore.

Elena remembered the intense pain of that night, the way she'd curled up in her room and hoped that the world would just collapse in on itself and take her away. At least that would stop the pain. Anything that would stop the pain would be a relief. It had been days before she'd gotten back to a level of functioning. Only that day was quickly followed by Bonnie announcing her departure, and then Stefan himself had shipped out only a few weeks later. It had been over that time Elena had been slipping into decline. And after that...Elena couldn't remember much at all. She couldn't remember feeling particularly happy or sad or nervous or excited about anything. Not even her first day at Duke. It was all just a haze of moments. Elena blinked, the surprise growing in her. She looked up at Damon. He looked only mildly curious.

Then Elena thought she understood. Damon had seen her shutting down, every time they were in town together. He had seen what she was turning into. But Elena wasn't sure if she wanted to be saved. She really wasn't sure it was that simple, either. She couldn't just walk back into old Elena. Old Elena was gone. Elena still wasn't sure what part of her was left.

Elena held Damon's curious gaze for a moment, listening to the music sweep them into another world, swishing into an elaborate crescendo before fading away. They had stopped before Elena was really aware that the song had ended. Damon and Elena stood facing each other. Elena didn't know what to say after her little epiphany. Even Damon was speechless from the mood of the dance. The silence held for only another moment.

"I'll go get us more drinks, shall I?" Damon said, letting go of Elena and leading her off of the dance floor.

"Please," Elena said enthusiastically. The night had only just begun and Elena had already had too much to handle. If the whole party was going to be like this, she was going to need more alcohol. As Damon walked a few feet away to the drinks table someone had thought to put outside, Elena smiled. Whereas old Elena would have rejected alcohol, it was clear to her that new Elena liked a drink.

Maybe new Elena was just less confident at the moment. Time would tell.