Hey everybody! I got some really awesome reviews for the last chapter, and I want to say thank you sooo much! I appreciate it so much that you guys took the time to give me some feedback! Also, for those of you reading my other story, Revenge of the Kat, I'm super sorry that I haven't updated soon, but I've had a major case of writer's block on that story :P Anyways, back to this story-this chapter kind of explains a few things, and do you guys know the "emotional breakdown" I've been promising? Yeah, it starts in this chapter. So here it is, chapter 22!

"Hello Elena." She froze the minute she heard him. He was dead. She had killed him. How was he talking to her right now? Stefan gave her a weird look, but she was so caught up in the voice of her stalker that she didn't even notice.

"How…? You're dead… how?" When Elena said this, Stefan finally understood and pulled off the road, breaking so hard that they lurched forward.

"You thought you could get rid of me that easily, Elena? Well, I hate to inform you, but I'm still alive and extremely angry with you and your little boyfriends."

"But I staked you—you were dead. I saw it!" Elena whimpered as her eyes began to fill with water, making it difficult to see clearly.

"It takes a lot more than a little piece of wood to get rid of me, Elena", Peter countered.

"Wh-what do you want?" she whispered, the tears that she had been holding back coming down her face in rivers.

"What do I want?" Peter asked, "I want you. And if I don't get what I want, you and your loved ones are as good as dead."

"You stay the hell away from my family!" Elena screamed into the phone, terror ringing through her voice.

"I figured you'd say that, so I have some…incentive for you." Elena was petrified again. One week. One week of calmness was all she asked for—and hadn't even given her five days! She was sobbing in Stefan's arms when suddenly, a different voice came onto the phone—a voice as scared as she was.

"Aria? Is that you?" Elena gasped into the phone, realizing that Peter knew that she would never let an innocent girl be hurt.

"Elena? Elena help me! He's going to kill me! Please, please—NO!" Aria cried onto the phone, and Elena gasped. Why was he doing this to them?

"If you don't meet me in the clearing at midnight tonight, your friend is dead—and then I'll come after you, too", Peter threatened.

"What clearing?" Elena muttered, but she already knew the answer to her question.

"You know the one. Be there tonight, or else." The phone went dead, and Elena collapsed into Stefan's arms crying. It was all her fault. If she had just stayed with him, Aria would be safe and so would everyone else. But she'd pissed him off, and now he was going to kill everyone she cared about.

They sat there for a few minutes before Elena sat up and looked out the front window. "Stefan, I don't think I can go to school today", she whispered, her voice sounded utterly broken.

"It's okay, Elena", he assured her. Stefan turned the car around and started to head back towards her house, when she stopped him.

"I can't go home. Jenna would ask why I'm skipping school again, and then I'd lie like always and…and…" Elena started, stuttering as tears started to run down her face again. Stefan put one arm around her, and started to drive towards his house. He knew Elena was strong, but how much could she take before it was just too much?

"HE'S ALIVE?" Damon yelled as he threw his glass at the fireplace. It shattered into millions of tiny crystals and expected either Elena or Stefan to scold him. But when he looked back, Elena was on the couch looking—well, frankly she looked dead. The spark that was normally in her eyes was gone—like Peter had thrown a bucket of water onto the flame. Stefan looked worried and pissed off, and Damon was feeling the exact same way.

"Yeah, Damon. That's what we've been telling you for the past 30 minutes", Stefan muttered.

"But Elena killed him! What the hell is wrong with that guy?"

"I don't know. I just—" Stefan began, when Elena cut in.

"He's an original", she said. There was absolutely no emotion in her voice. It was like she had shut off her emotions—except she wasn't a vampire. She sounded like Damon when he had gotten upset over Katherine, except she wasn't drunk or homicidal.

The brothers looked at her. She hadn't said a single thing since they'd gotten there—just sat down on the couch and stared at the floor.

"Okay, well that clears a few things up. But what about the clearing? It's not like we live in the middle of a forest where there are clearings all over the place or anything", Damon replied sarcastically, "And what did he mean by 'you know the one'? How the hell would Elena know where this psycho is talking about?"

"I saw it in a dream before I first woke up here—right after I killed him", Elena explained.

"But how are you supposed to know how to get to it?" Stefan pondered her comment.

"I don't know how, but I know exactly how to get there. I guess he planted it in my mind when he gave me the dream."

"He gave you the dream? How?" Stefan asked, then looked over at Damon who had begun pacing the room. He wasn't showing it, but Stefan knew that he was just as worried about Elena as Stefan was. She had always been like a rock for them—keeping them in line and helping them through it all. But it looked like she was the one who needed help this time. They'd seen her physically hurt, but the closest Stefan had ever seen her to this was when she thought it was her fault that everyone she loved could die.

"That's not possible, Elena. He was buried in the forest when we brought you here. So how could he have given you a dream?" Damon asked as his pacing sped up.

"I DON'T KNOW, OK?" Elena screamed at them. Damon suddenly stopped pacing, and Stefan 's eyes were full of pity and concern.

"I just…I can't do this…" she whispered as silent tears began to fall down her face, "I can't take it. Klaus, originals, Peter, and now Aria's been kidnapped. And it's all my fault. If I had just…If I could only…" Her silent tears became heart-wrenching sobs, and Stefan wrapped his arms around her and looked up at his brother.

Damon's eyes met Stefan's, and they knew that Elena had reached her breaking point. All they could hope was that she didn't do something drastic because of it.

So? how was it! This one was a bit harder to write-I was trying to show Elena's lack of emotion, but at the same time she had to be in a lot of pain, too. How did I do? I think that it is completely unrealistic that Elena in the show hasn't freaked out completely yet, so I wanted to show it myself. But she's due for one in the show anytime now, because nobody can go through this much without having a major freak-out eventually! Don't worry, though-Elena will pull through in the end :) and as always, feedback is love, people! so read and review!

-kiki :)

Oh, and who thought that last week's episode was frigging amazing? I mean, the first half was kinda slow, but by the end I was absolutely sobbing w/ Nina! She was so dang good, and I really liked Alaric as Klaus, he was hilarious! When Elena apologized to Damon for slapping him, I was like "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU APOLOGIZING? HE TOTALLY DESERVED THAT!" but as always, they don't listen to me. And Stefan and Elena's scenes I thought were cute, but there weren't enough of them :{ but overall, on a scale of epicness, I would give The Last Dance a 9 out of 10 :)