Klaus doubts her intentions.

As Elena pulls away from him, an indescribable look swiftly crossing her cursed features, they both stare at each other for a moment, expressions mirroring the other's. Then he pushes her away from him, leaving her to slither down the wall and wrap her arms around her body. As she watches his retreating figure she realizes she can't do this again. Elena's let so many people leave her life like this, by walking away from her. She's never been able to stop them.

Maybe this time she can.

After a spur-of-the-moment decision she leaps to her feet and blurs over to Klaus.

"Don't walk away from me," she snarls, and from the way his eyes change she knows that he's surprised. He keeps his stance strong though, towering over her. "Don't you dare walk away from me."

"And why shouldn't I?" His lips twist into a cruel smile.

But Elena finds that she can't summon the words to her mouth, the words her kiss was supposed to convey to him. He must not understand then.

"Because you don't understand-"

"Understand that after each lover you go through you discard them and move on to the next? It's all a game to you Petrovas, is it not? ...I would have thought you were Katerina, if I had not known better," he says with contempt clear in his voice, putting distance between them.

"No it's not like that!"

"What is it like then?"

She takes a breath.

"...You're not alone. You may think it, and feel it, that in this world, nobody will ever love you, that you're completely alone without being able to redeem yourself, but I've felt that way too. Everybody has. The reason why you're so destructive is because your father destroyed your life. One day you will find someone to love. I just wanted to show you," she says, and she cautiously and deliberately raises her arms to thread them around his neck. "That you're not alone."

This time she presses close to him, wrapping her arms more securely around him as if to protect him. She's hugging Klaus.

He doesn't move.

"And don't try to tell me that my words mean nothing, that you don't feel anything." She whispers into his ear, her cheek pressed against his neck, her eyes closed, trying to reach out to him.

As Elena speaks, she gradually tilts her head so that she can see the entwined hands as she lifts them into the air. Klaus watches her. "Do you feel that?" She squeezes his hand, ignoring how unresponsive he is. "It's warmth. You were once human, so don't pretend you're not capable of emotions. A heartbeat," she adds, and she lets her hand rest lightly over his dead heart. "You still have a heart."

She tries to look into his eyes, to find any sort of emotion. But he's locked himself away from her, like he has to everyone else for a very long time. She understands. "Let's go find your brother." She lets go of him, and retreats to the car, this time leaving him while she is the one who walks away.

But as Elena walks back to the car her mind is a torpedo of emotions. First there's heartbreak (she misses her friends and family) then there's guilt (she can slowly feel the vampire part of her awakening) then there's anxiety (she doesn't know if she told Klaus the right thing). Nevertheless she gets into his car, slams the door for the world to hear, and waits until he returns.

Elena doesn't even have her phone so she can't check what time it is. But she knows she's been waiting for hours? What the hell is he doing? She thinks, and she slumps back into the chair, closing her eyes, fatigued from the day's events. Knowing him he's probably off slaughtering an innocent victim, she concludes mildly. An image of Klaus ripping open his victim's neck, the rich blood spilling everywhere, floods into her mind, and she can almost see his golden eyes. Disturbed by how naturally the image comes to her and by how not-disturbed she seems by the image, Elena forces her mind to shut down.

She chooses to think of something else.

She thinks of Stefan, and Damon, and Matt, and Caroline and Tyler and Jeremy. She thinks of Jenna and Alaric, and her parents. She thinks of everybody she still has and everybody who she has lost. But right now she has nobody; what would everyone think of her, comforting yet another serial killer who has destroyed all their lives? She can almost see the disappointment in their eyes.

Elena sobs to herself quietly, sobs for pain, grief, betrayal, and everything she feels.

When the golden rays of sunlight stream into the car, Elena stirs, the tears long gone, having dried on her face and faded away. She sits up sleepily and first glances over to the seat beside her, expecting Klaus to be leering over her or throwing his manipulative smirk at her. But the seat is empty. Confused, Elena looks over to the horizon, still not yet visible over the tall trees. She thought he would be back by now. Did her words really affect him that much?

An ache in her fangs makes her realize she is very, very hungry. She hasn't fed in days. Pushing herself off of her seat and emerging from the car, she tries to track his scent. Minutes later she finds herself emerged in a forest, the light of dawn slowly but surely stretching over the trees, providing a faint golden light. Elena walks carefully through the quiet forest, her senses alert and heightened.

She hears the quiet murmur of a stream running and she found Klaus there, uncharacteristically, sitting with his legs stretched out before him, staring at the water. As Elena approaches him she can already see the faint rays beginning to touch the water.

Her movements hesitant, she deliberately sits down on the soft ground beside him, careful to maintain distance between them. Looking ahead, she tries to see what he sees.

After a few moments she sneaks a glance at his face: his emotions remain tucked away but his features look calm, even serene. Yet as he stares in front of him Elena realizes he's thinking. But about what?

She sits with him for a long time, Klaus silent and unmoving, Elena resting her head against her knees as they both stare at the water. When the golden rays reach out to touch them, Elena whispers, "Klaus?"

He looks at her for the first time, almost looking surprised that she is sitting beside him. Wouldn't he have noticed her before? Elena wonders. Or had he been to wrapped up in his thoughts to notice?

Klaus's face returns to normal as he snaps out of his reverie. Elena realizes she's shivering from the cold, although she shouldn't be. Vampires' skin are immune to the cold, but the remnants of her human senses are telling her otherwise, making her believe that she's cold.

Klaus stands up without a sound and Elena closes her eyes again, wanting to rest before the world resets back to normal.

Klaus moves so silently so that even her vampiric senses can't tell what he's doing. He stands behind her, then drops his leather jacket onto her shoulders.

Elena's brown eyes flutter open in surprise, and when she turns to meet his gaze; his expression is hard but his eyes looker gentler somehow.

"Let's go, Elena." Not sweetheart or love this time.

He stretches his hand out to her and she takes it.

The forest is brighter now and as she studies Klaus, his back turned to her as he walks slightly ahead of her, she pulls the jacket closer to herself.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter ;) Kol will be entering the story very soon. Tell me what you thought?