"Damon!" Elena's voice quivered, she could hear, she knew Damon could hear it, and she knew Stefan could feel the fear pulsing through her veins. He had her by the throat, after all. Damon was by her side in the same second the thought crossed her mind.

"Get your hands off her." They'd both just woken up, Elena still in her pajamas. It had been a week since their date. Bonnie and Caroline had gotten worried, Jeremy had gotten sent away, and Matt had been weirdly absent. As had Stefan, until just this morning. Elena decided to just hang their and shut up, since only one of them had super strength, and coincidentally that was the vampire holding her up by her neck. Elena slowly pulled a dagger out from the waist band of her pajama pants as Stefan brought her face closer to his.

Damon inserted himself between Stefan and Elena, careful not to bump into the dagger Elena had pulled, and guided the stick into Stefan's ribs fast. He dropped her, and Damon quickly caught her before she hit the ground.

"Maybe you should go eat some breakfast, Elena." Elena narrowed her eyes at Damon, too nervous to leave him alone with her ex, who also happened to be his brother. Her eyes clearly said are you sure? Damon nodded. She rubbed his arm before she headed to the kitchen. When Damon heard her open the fridge he turned back to his brother.

"You kept her safe."

"What did you think I'd do?" Damon rolled his eyes.

"You had to save her from me."

"I did. You've gone off the rails, brother."

"She cares about you."

"I care about her."

"I love her Damon."

"So do I." Stefan nodded, turned around, and left.

Elena had been listening to the brothers' conversation. I'm breaking them apart, she thought.

"Elena, what did Stefan say to you? Before he had his hand around your throat?"

"He said Klaus was back in town, that he had a house, his mom and his whole family is back with him, and he's hosting a dance. He gave me this." Elena held up a sheet of paper with elegant script on it. "It's the invitation."

"When's it supposed to be?"

"Tomorrow night."

"He had to tell you that while he was trying to kill you?"

"He told me to go with him. I told him I wasn't going to go. He got… mad." Elena shook her head.

"We have to go."

"Why?"

"It's part of the plan." He smirked at her.

"Do I get to know what it is?"

"Not yet. You'll see soon enough." Elena sighed then looked down at her hands. Damon's came into her view as they lifted her off the ground and spun her around. Elena laughed loudly.

"There you go! Don't be sad Elena, things will be okay. Now go get dressed, we're going out."

"Oh, I was actually supposed to go meet Caroline, Bonnie, and Matt at The Grill."

"Do you mind if I come?"

"Of course not!"

"Great." He smiled.

Caroline still wasn't used to seeing Klaus daily, just like she wasn't used to seeing Elena and Damon holding hands. But, there both things were, at The Grill, in one space. Caroline started to panic but kept it contained and smiled as Elena and Damon took their seats.

"So, what's up you guys?" Caroline asked them all.

"Not much, things are pretty complicated." Bonnie said, shrugging.

"Tell me about it. I haven't spoken to Tyler since he bit me last week."

"Have you tried calling him?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, I left him dozens of voicemails and sent him loads of texts. No replies." They chatted a bit, Damon's sarcasm a welcome thing for once, before they started talking about the invitations they'd received.

"So, all of you have gotten one?"

"No, I haven't, which is a good thing I guess." Matt said.

"It is, Matt, seriously. I wonder what Klaus is up to." Caroline replied.

"Well, why don't you ask him, sweetheart?" Klaus stood at the table, smirking.

"Would you be honest with me if I did?" Caroline raised an eyebrow. As did everyone else seated at the table.

"Hmm, probably not. I do hope you'll be able to attend the dance. It'll be loads of fun." With that, he left. No one spoke about him after that.

"So, have you two been having the dreams still?" Damon and Elena looked at each other, surprised, since they'd forgotten completely about them.

"Last week was probably the last time we had them." Elena nodded. Yeah, that was about right. Was it?

"Hmm, well, I guess we can forget about those for now. Tomorrow night could go either really bad, or really well." Bonnie suggested. Caroline had her own worries about Klaus, Matt had his own broken feelings to worry about, Bonnie had her developing feelings for Matt to deal with, and Damon and Elena had Stefan, their dreams, the dance, Damon's plan, and Klaus's whole family to worry about.

Coincidentally, Stefan had been at the very back booth in The Grill, listening to the whole conversation. The dreams had finally come. He knew why. He knew why he'd shown up in one, he'd known how their subconscious have been bound together. Was he going to give up that information? Not if he had any say in the matter. Little did he know, he had absolutely no say in the matter of fate.