A/N: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! :) We're half-way through the story! Yay! ;)

Disclaimer: TVD belongs to L.J. Smith & CW.

Chapter 11

"Tyler?" Elena wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "I thought he... Never mind." She brushed her tangled memories aside. "What is he doing here? How did he find us?" She couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that everything was suddenly falling apart – or falling into place. Or both. Somewhere on the back of her mind she was beginning to see that she was trying to replace one constant with another, cheat the change, but that wasn't going to work. A change meant things happening. All the time.

"I don't know," Damon said, eyebrows furrowed. She looked at his profile, like she had when he had peered outside in a similar way in that motel room in Denver when she had realized she might have kept winning thousands of battles but the war against what she was feeling was already lost. Only then he had been far. Now when she reached out, her hand touched his forearm. He looked at her, and they shared a smile that lightened up all the dark thoughts swirling around in her mind. "I'll go see what he wants." Damon said, stepping away from the window. "Wait here," he added, heading toward the door.

"I'm going with you," Elena said, somewhat offended, following right behind.

Damon turned around. "Elena."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm going with you."

"Wearing this," he said, squinting briefly and looking her up and down with meaningful intensity.

She thought it was decidedly ridiculous that the scrutiny made her feel even more beautiful than she had already felt. She narrowed her eyes at him, snorting inwardly at herself. "I can take it off," she said with a shrug.

He moved in a flash to where she was standing, and stopped so close she almost lost her balance. "I am going to take it off," he said in a voice that sent shivers up her spine. "Later," he smiled. "Now put on something else. Please," he added with a small pout.

Elena rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why I'm listening to you," she muttered, marching into the bedroom, grabbing her leather jacket, and walking out.

"You're stubborn," Damon said in a such a way she couldn't tell if it was critique or a compliment, although he clearly wasn't thrilled that the jacket was going to be the only change she was willing to introduce to her attire.

"You're jealous," she retorted, making to walk past him, but he wrapped his arms around her from behind, and whispered into her hair.

"Can I be jealous of you?"

There was such quiet, desperate intensity in the question that it made Elena's breath catch in her throat. They stood motionlessly and in silence for a while. She couldn't wrap her mind around the contrast between the overwhelming, uncontrollable whirlwind of his feelings and the astronomical precision of taking her step by step through this madness.

"Yes," she whispered at last, nodding, and turning in his arms. "Yes," she added in a firmer tone, letting go of a breath, letting go of so much more than that. She swallowed. "Can I?"

He wanted to laugh at the question, and he saw it in her eyes that a part of her expected him to laugh, but the other part was waiting for an answer, and understandably so.

"Yes," he said, and suddenly realized that only a part of him had wanted to laugh. The other part remained suspended in wordless amazement that she had asked that, that she wanted that.

They kissed, but the knocking interrupted again and they went to open the door.

Because of the sunlight Elena stopped a few steps further than Damon, straightening her fingers and surreptitiously glancing at her ring that could also be a daylight ring. She stifled a smile.

"Hi, Elena."

Elena's eyes met Tyler's intent gaze. "Hi," she said, wondering if she only imagined a slightly ironic look that appeared on his face at the sight of her dress and her jacket.

"You're not going to pretend it's normal you're here, right?" Damon narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over her chest, and leaning against the door frame.

"Bonnie did the locator spell. If that's what you're asking," Tyler said, squinting. "Could I talk to you for a minute?" he asked, shifting his eyes to Elena.

"No," Damon said with a smile.

Tyler's eyes darted to him. "I'm not sired to Klaus anymore!" he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I hope that's not your new pick-up line. Kind of lame, if you care to hear my opinion."

Tyler exhaled heavily. "Elena, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"You could've called," Damon said, before Elena had a chance to answer. "Preferably someone else."

"I wouldn't be here if I could," Tyler retorted in irritation. "Would I?"

Damon tilted his head to the side. "Sorry, but we can't invite you in anyway. We couldn't invite you in even if we wanted to, which we don't, but, well, let's keep this civil."

"If I can't get in maybe both of you can come outside?" Tyler asked, looking at Elena.

"No," Damon answered with artificial patience.

"We have only one daylight ring," Elena explained, feeling bad for treating Tyler like that and ignoring Damon giving her a rather scolding look for being so detailed about their situation.

"So could you come outside and talk to me for a moment?" Tyler insisted, his eyes fixed on Elena while Damon's eyes remained fixed on him. "It's really important," he added, glancing at Damon and withholding his gaze unblinkingly for a moment.

Elena opened her mouth to speak, but Damon cut her off once again. "What's so very important?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"It's about Caroline," Tyler said, looking at Elena again.

Elena's expression changed immediately. "What about her?" she asked concernedly, taking one step forward. Damon gently shoved her back to where she had been standing, glancing at her pointedly. "I just talked to her-"

"You did?" Tyler widened his eyes at her. "And how did she sound?"

Elena felt cold shivers ran down her spine. "She sounded... OK. She sounded... Caroline. Why?"

Tyler sighed, looking as if he wondered if he should say what he was going to say. "I'm worried about her, Elena."

Damon didn't need to look over his shoulder to imagine the expression on Elena's face.

"Three and a half minutes and stay right here in the front yard," he said with a frown, pulling the daylight ring off his finger and taking a step backwards to hand it to Elena who slid it onto her finger with a small smile.

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing?"

Bonnie jumped to her feet, blinking at the sight of Jeremy standing in the doorway. "How did you find me here?"

"What are you doing, Bonnie?" Jeremy asked, ignoring her question.

Bonnie put the grimoire away, brushing the dust and ashes off her hands. She quickly walked up to Jeremy and looked him straight in the eye. "Stay away from me."

He blinked, looking hurt and it took all of Bonnie's resolve, complete with digging her fingernails into her palms, not to explain.

"Why are you being like this?" Jeremy asked with a grimace of disbelief on his face.

"If I ever stop being like this, run."

Jeremy stared at her. "I don't understand," he said uncertainly, his eyes roaming all over her face.

"You don't need to understand," Bonnie said quietly, and turned around.

"Yes, I do," Jeremy said firmly, going after her despite her gesticulating for him to stop. "Tell me what you're doing, Bonnie. Whatever you're doing, you won't be able to do this alone," he said in a tone that couldn't sound more like a bluff if he tried.

"I'm not alone," Bonnie said, thrusting up her chin. "Abby is helping me," she said, pronouncing the name with some difficulty.

Jeremy's huffed in concern. She didn't call him on his first attempt to solicit more information so he risked another one. "Complicated spells never make for a good plan. You know that."

Bonnie gave him a faint smile. "Don't try to guess what I'm doing. And it's not a complicated spell, Jeremy," she said, suddenly defensive, letting her guard down for a moment. "It's a very simple plan. It depends on everyone being who they are. It depends on Klaus being Klaus, Elena being Elena-"

"You being you," Jeremy cut in, his jaw clenched. "You're going to get yourself killed," he whispered through his teeth, walking up to her, but she stopped him at arm's length.

"I'm not as much of a hero as you think I am," she said with a shadow of a smile ghosting across her face. "But I have a better advantage over Klaus. I know us. I trust us. He thinks he can break everyone but that's not true."

Jeremy looked at her with mixture of admiration and dismay. "Do you think it won't break Elena if you make her kill someone so she can be Klaus' blood bag again?"

Bonnie looked away with an unreadable expression on her face, and then looked back at him. "You didn't quite hear what I've just said." Jeremy's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "But I can't tell you anything more." Her eyes lingered on him for a moment before she turned away and went back to where she had been sitting on the floor.

The door behind Jeremy burst open and he looked between it and Bonnie who was watching him out of the corner of her eye. He opened his mouth to speak again but then grimaced, and turned away, slamming the door shut behind him.

"...And you being you, Jeremy," Bonnie thought, moving her hand over the small pile of ashes on the floor that burst into flames when she narrowed her eyes at it.

It felt strange, walking in the sun, and Elena was becoming repeatedly distracted by the brightness of her surroundings. The light wasn't as pleasant as she once thought it was. It was a strange thing to realize. She suddenly missed the dim lights, the scent of the dusk, the fog...

"So..." she shook herself out of her reverie, trying to make sense of Tyler's words, but then stopped in mid-sentence when she heard him chuckle oddly under his breath.

When he looked up at her, she froze, her eyes widening at the familiarity of his smile that didn't seem to belong to Tyler at all.

"I really thought you wouldn't buy it this time," 'Tyler' said, struggling to speak while still chuckling.

"Klaus," Elena whispered, and turned around catching Damon's eye as he was still standing slightly behind the doorway watching them.

"Now, I wouldn't act irrationally if I were you," Klaus said, casually hooking his arm around her neck, making it hard for her to breathe. "For now I only need a few drops of blood to get out of this blasted body. The real fun is still a couple of days ahead of us, sweetheart."

Elena couldn't even scream in protest when she saw Damon freeze for just a second before he threw himself over the threshold straight into the searing rays of the sun that immediately began burning his skin with hissing noise she could hear despite the fair distance between them.

Klaus pursed his lips in mock sympathy. "Touching, isn't it?" he sneered into Elena's ear. She shuddered trying to snatch herself free, but despite her increased strength, his grip was still stronger. "I wonder if we should play our little game again?" Klaus thought out loud, while Elena's eyes filled with tears looking at Damon move toward them as fast as he could with the sun abrading his skin wherever it was unclad. Elena was writhing furiously trying to scream but suffocating because of Klaus' steely embrace and her own tears. "Do you remember, love?" Klaus continued in a morbidly lighthearted tone. "When I told Stefan to turn off what he felt for you and feed on you. It was very entertaining, wasn't it? In the gym with the clock and all," he chuckled while Elena's blood froze in her veins at the memory. Klaus widened his eyes at her in mock cheerfulness, as if he suddenly got the best idea ever. "We could try that with Damon too. What do you think?"

Not really concerned whether Tyler would mind, and only a little bit concerned that Caroline would, Elena kicked Klaus as hard as she could. He grimaced and briefly let go of her but before she managed to fast-move anywhere, he grabbed her hand and wrenched Damon's daylight ring off her finger.

She screamed, losing her balance, overwhelmed by the excruciating pain that flooded over her like a wave of fire, the sizzling, nauseating sound of burning flesh filling her ears, and she was only half-consciously able to realize it was the sound of her own skin burning in the sun.

She fell down but didn't hit the ground because Damon caught her in his arms trying to cover as much of her skin as he could with his arms. Thanks to the jacket, it was only her face and legs that were exposed, but the pain was unbearable nonetheless. It made her so weak she couldn't even protest out loud when from under her blistering eyelids she could see Damon pulling off his shirt, and covering her broiling face with it. She choked on the tears that were streaming down her face because of the pain, because of the sight of his chest burning red in the sun like one, enormous, open wound. She couldn't see it anymore when he hid her face from the sun within the folds of his shirt but the image stuck in her mind and hurt as much as her own searing injuries.

She didn't know if it was the pain or something else, but she lost the ability to move, breathe, think… Everything disappeared into the darkness that hurt and hurt and hurt until she lost consciousness.

She was drowning again. Three times a charm. It was dark and cold and she could not breathe. Scrapes of memories billowed in her head like tattered flags. She tried to hold on to them but they were all just out of her reach, and when she finally managed to grasp one of them a wind swept all of her thoughts away, and she sat upright, drawing in a hasty breath.

"You're awake!"

A pleasant voice welcomed her and Elena's eyes focused on the owner of the voice who turned out to be an elderly lady with bright eyes. She blinked in surprise, bringing her hand to her head. It crossed her mind that her entire life was a dream, that none of it had happened, none of it had been real, and for a second she wanted to die so much she couldn't feel anything but fear and panic.

"Do you remember what happened?" The lady asked gently sitting down next to her on the couch.

"No," Elena muttered absently, and then quickly turned around. "Yes! Yes." She ran her hands over her face, and looked at them, half-expecting to find them covered with burnt skin peeling off her face.

"He's alright too, I think," the elderly lady continued, guessing her thoughts when Elena's eyes scanned the room, and then with mixture of fear and relief settled on Damon who was laying nearby. "I'm not sure how this works, but if you woke up already I'd think he should wake up soon too," the lady said with a smile, squinting into the distance as if she was trying to remember a long-forgotten lesson. "It's been several hours anyway." She handed baffled Elena a small cup of steaming liquid.

Elena automatically took the cup from her hands, but then put it away without even sparing it a glance. She slid off the couch and went to Damon. "I'm sorry about the mess," she said, out of the corner of her eye noticing that the furniture was still mostly disarranged, and only the couches were moved a little bit toward the middle of the room. Rose petals, CDs, and shopping bags lay scattered over the imaginary dance floor. Recalling what Damon had told her, Elena recognized Mrs. Flowers, and wasn't really surprised that Mrs. Flowers turned out to know her name as well.

"Oh, that's alright," Mrs. Flowers said good-humoredly, although Elena suspected she wasn't thrilled about the roses.

Squatting down next to the other couch, Elena brushed strands of hair off Damon's forehead. She ran her fingers down his chest to make sure the blisters were gone. It was incredible that wounds that were real and that caused so much pain could disappear just like that, leaving only invisible scars, she thought, shuddering at the memory. At the same time she couldn't help finding it also a little fascinating. Immortality... invincibility... What could've killed her had she still been human was now a transient nightmare that she could survive, that they could survive – and move on.

"But... what happened?" Elena asked, sliding her hand into Damon's, and looking at Mrs. Flowers over her shoulder, suddenly remembering that she didn't actually remember what had happened after she had lost consciousness. "I mean... thank you for helping us-" she said, struck by the idea even if it didn't make much sense.

"Oh, I didn't really do much. You were both unconscious, I think, when I got here," Mrs. Flowers said with a small frown. "I managed to block him long enough to get you inside. I'm rather losing my strength, lately," she added with a sigh.

"You're a witch?" Elena's eyes widened in surprise. Damon had failed to mention that.

Mrs. Flowers laughed briefly under her breath. "I'll never get used to hearing that. My husband used to call me that just to tick me off." She smiled but then her expression acquired a glimpse of grimness. "I rarely ever hear the word anymore since he died," she added softly.

"I'm sorry," Elena said gently, and Mrs. Flowers smiled at her warmly.

"I have something for you. Well, it's actually yours, but I spelled it for you. I hope you don't mind," she said handing Elena the ring she had gotten earlier from Damon. "Now it can also be your daylight ring. I hope," the elderly lady added tentatively. "To be quite honest," she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I've never done this kind of spell before, so you'll have to check if it actually works," she said with a smile.

"Thank you," Elena said, taking her ring from Mrs. Flowers' hands.

"And I found this in the grass," Mrs. Flowers added, gratified by a happy smile on Elena's face when she saw Damon's ring.

Elena slid the diamond ring on her finger, and Damon's ring on his. Damon stirred.

"I think I heard something outside." Mrs. Flowers glanced toward the window, and excused herself, but Elena was quite certain her exit wasn't primarily caused by any actual noise.

Pulling herself upwards to sit on the edge of the couch, Elena propped herself on her hands and leaned over Damon. When he opened his eyes she smiled down at him.

His eyes remained fixed on her for a second, and then wandered around her face frantically only to widen in concern when in one quick movement he sat upright grasping her shoulders.

"I'm OK," she reassured him quickly. "But I should… I should… slap you," she pressed a quick kiss to his lips at loss for a more appropriate illustration of her words, "for getting out of the house without your ring," she said without moving her lips too far from his. "If it wasn't for Mrs. Flowers, he would've fried us both. Promise me you won't do something like that again," she demanded in all sincerity, even though she already knew what he'd say.

"Sure, Elena" Damon said and for a split second she thought he was serious. "Next time I'll just grab a deck chair and watch."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he smiled, but then frowned again, and she almost lost her balance when he lifted her foot from the floor. In a gesture that bordered between rough and gentle he slid his hand over her ankle, along her calf, across her knee and stopped on her thigh. She thought it was a miracle she didn't lose consciousness again.

"Is everything healed? Nothing hurts?" he asked matter of factly, but she only stared at him, unable to answer. He looked at her searchingly, but then something in her expression reminded him of when she had first woken up after the transition, and it seemed to her that he understood.

"Elena."

A kiss was a token of understanding good enough, even though she thought that had he really understood (that Mrs. Flowers could came back any minute), he would've removed his hand from her thigh instead of pretending to forget that it was there as he continued kissing her.

"I'm sorry but..." Predictably, Mrs. Flowers came back into the room, and they abruptly broke apart. "There is a nice young man and a beautiful young lady out there and they inquire about you. The young lady asked me to tell you," Mrs. Flowers smiled, apparently amused by the words, "that she'll rather eat her Miss Mystic Falls tiara than leaves without you," she said looking at Elena.

"Oh my God," Elena gasped, jumping to her feet.

Without thinking further than the prospect of angry Caroline, Elena ran to the door, her legs nearly giving in as she ran. She stopped near the door, rested her forehead against the cool frame and took a deep breath. If shortly after being almost roasted to death by Klaus all she could think about was Damon's hand on her thigh there must have been something seriously wrong with her. She snorted to herself, straightened up her dress, adjusted her leather jacket, and walked out ready to face Caroline and Jeremy.

As soon as Caroline saw her, she rushed toward her, immediately locking Elena in a hug. Only then, out of the corner of her eye Elena noticed that Caroline's companion wasn't Jeremy. She froze in Caroline's embrace.

"How are you even here?" Caroline asked, drawing back, shifting her eyes between the sun and Elena. With a small smile, Elena showed off her hand, the ring sparkling in the sun so beautifully, that she found herself transfixed by it just as much as Caroline was.

"But I brought you a ring!" Caroline said, pursing her lips and searching her purse. "From Bonnie with love," she said having found the ring and presenting it to Elena. Elena returned her smile, but then Caroline frowned. "How come my ring is not that pretty?" she asked, comparing all the three rings.

"Because you let Bonnie pick yours?" Damon offered, appearing on the porch, and slowly walking down the small steps.

Caroline shot him a mildly annoyed look. "And maybe you picked this one?" she asked sardonically, but then noticed Elena's hand stiffen in hers. Their eyes locked.

Stefan, who was up to then standing wordlessly next to the car, shifted his eyes from Elena to Damon. Since Caroline seemed intent on continuing her opening speech to Elena for a longer while, Stefan walked around the car and toward where Damon was standing.

"I hope my calls didn't bother you too much," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Damon pulled out his phone and looked at it with artificial interest. "Stefan. 80 missed calls." Stefan looked away, a flicker of a smile passing through his face. "Sorry. Must have turned off the sound," Damon said with a mirthless smile, putting the phone away.

Stefan looked up at him again, waiting for Damon's eyes to focus on him too, but to no avail. "How is Elena?" Stefan asked after a pause, his voice utterly serious. Damon's eyebrows furrowed in thought, and he blinked, his gaze fixed on some unidentifiable point in space. Or rather, as Stefan realized after a second, on where Elena and Caroline were standing.

"You can ask her yourself."

"I will. But for now I'm asking you."

Damon shrugged, still not looking at him. "She's OK."

"That's all you have to say?" Stefan asked in a low voice. "She died and became a vampire, and three days later she's OK."

"What would you rather hear? That she isn't OK?" Damon grimaced, finally shifting his eyes to his brother.

"What would I rather hear?" Stefan repeated, raising his eyebrows.

Damon snorted humorlessly under his breath. "A hundred years in high school, Stefan, and you still don't get the idea of a summary."

Stefan smiled, entirely unamused. "Well, Damon, thank you for the summary but maybe you could elaborate?" Damon was about to roll his eyes when Stefan added in a slightly different tone. "Or perhaps you think it's none of my business?"

For the first time during the conversation they looked straight into each other's eyes, but then Caroline broke into the discussion in a happily commanding voice.

"You didn't even say hi to each other yet!"

Elena's eyes darted to Caroline, but Caroline wasn't as fond of subtle hints as Bonnie was, and she ignored the look.

Stefan looked at Elena who continued looking at Caroline even though she was no longer saying anything.

"Would you care for a walk?" Stefan asked with good-humored mock-formality, finally catching Elena's gaze, and giving her a tranquil, warm, tender smile that once upon a time had made her smile and give life another chance.

But now the princess was dead, and Elena couldn't even recall that fairy tale.

Caroline soundlessly clapped her hands. "That's a great idea!" she said with a smile.