Damon woke up in his room a few days later. His head started to hurt. "Ow. What happened?"

"You tried to take on that vampire, remember?" Stefan told him. He tried to get up. "Easy, you might have a concussion or something."

"How long has it been?"

"Three days." Stefan said. "You tried to save Caroline, but took a really bad hit. The doctor suggested that you stay here for a couple more days."

"I remember trying to help that girl and…that's I can remember."

"She's safe. Elena killed him and took her home." Stefan told him. "He won't hurt anyone else."

"Why would she help?"

"She's part of the Gilbert family. She knew what she was doing."

"How would she know about any of this?"

"I don't know. But I know she wouldn't hurt anyone." Stefan told him. "I should go. I still have class this morning."

At home, Elena went into the bathroom and ran into Vicki. "Hey, Elena. I'll be out in a second."

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked.

"I slept on the couch downstairs last night. I didn't feel like going home and seeing Matt." Vicki explained.

"She seemed really nervous last night." Jeremy added, appearing behind Elena. "I wanted to help and she asked me."

"Thank you." Vicki said.

"I'll meet you at school, okay?" Jeremy told her. Vicki nodded.

In the kitchen, Elena found Jenna. "Did you know she was here last night?"

"Yeah."

"And you're not surprised?"

"He could've made an effort to sneak her in through the front door." Jenna said. "I saw them come in. She seemed really shaken after the party."

"Well, she has nothing to worry about now, I'm sure." Elena said.

"Except her excess pills maybe." Jenna said. "So, how are things with Stefan?"

"He's been keeping an eye on Damon after that fight." Elena explained. "He was hurt pretty badly."

"You haven't called?"

"No. It's family stuff. I shouldn't get involved."

"You think he's okay?" Jenna asked.

"I hope so." Elena said. "He was trying to help Caroline. I'm worried about how it's effecting Stefan and how soon he'll fully recover from the attack. But I'm also not going to let it control my life."

"Okay."

"I've got to get to school." Elena said. "See you later, Aunt Jenna."

At Caroline's, Bonnie arrived to pick her up. "I remember arguing with Marcus and then I passed out or something. Maybe he knocked me out. I don't know." Caroline explained.

"You're lucky he's taken off." Bonnie said.

"I remember that Damon was trying to help me." Caroline continued. "He tried to keep him away. I just don't want to think about Marcus anymore."

"What's that?" Bonnie asked. The crystal from last night was on the nightstand.

"It's Damon's." Caroline said. "It must've fallin out of his pocket during the fight. I know I should return it to him."

"It's kinda ugly." Bonnie told her.

"All the more reason to return it."

At school, Caroline was helping promote the car wash. "It's almost like nothing happened." Elena said.

"She's just upset. She feels kinda responsible for him getting hurt." Bonnie explained.

"Hey, guys." Stefan came over to them.

"Hey." Bonnie said. "I have to get to class. It's been a rough day so far."

"Sorry I haven't called."

"It's okay. How's he doing?" Elena asked.

"It's been hard." Stefan told her.

"I'm sorry." Elena said. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not."

"Look, thanks for your help back there." Stefan told her. He could've been dead if you hadn't intervened."

"Want to meet later?" Elena asked. "So we can talk about this?"

"I'll meet you at the Grill." Stefan told her.

"Okay."

"Stefan, how's he doing?" Caroline asked. "I wanted to thank him in person."

"He's still recovering."

"When can I see him?" Caroline asked.

"Look, it's probably not a good idea." Stefan told her. "Maybe tomorrow."

"He needs some time, Care." Elena told her.

"I understand." Caroline said.

After school, Elena went to the Grill. She noticed Matt right away. "Hey, Matt, um, have you seen Stefan?"

"Nope. If you want to kill some time, um, you can rack." Matt offered. She hesitated. "Come on. We haven't played in forever. I'll let you break." Elena made sure to be gentle with it. She didn't want to accidentally break the pool table with her strength.

"He brought her to our house last night." Elena explained. She wondered why he was running so late. She figured that he was checking on Damon. "She said she didn't want to come home last night."

"Yeah, I'm worried about her." Matt admitted. "She's been overdoing it a bit lately."

"Those pills must be messing with her system, along with the stress of the attacks." Elena figured.

"So, how late is he, anyway?"

"Almost an hour. But he's probably just checking on his brother. He tried to intervene in a fight with Caroline and her date."

"Well, that's understandable. I was really worried about Vicki when she was in the hospital." Matt told her.

"Honestly, what do you think of him?" Elena asked.

"Why? Aren't you two friends?" Matt pointed out.

"Yeah, but we've been a little distant lately." Elena said. "And I'm kinda hiding something from him."

"Like what?" Matt asked. "Like that you're Superwoman or something?"

"Well, sort of like that." Elena admitted. "But seriously, what do you think?"

"I think you two are alike. You're both kind of loners, into sports, and when it matters, you're both good people." Matt told her.

"You really think that?" Elena blushed.

"You two should really talk this out." Matt said.

"Good idea." Elena jumped when she heard Stefan behind her. She turned around. "Sorry that I'm late."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah. He was sleeping when I got there."

"Why didn't you call?" Elena asked.

"I'm just gonna go." Matt left the Grill, leaving them alone.

"I'm sorry. It's not easy for either of us." Stefan told her.

"I know. Matt went through the same thing a few weeks ago." Elena told him.

"Look, he's convinced you're hiding something."

"Stefan, I can't do this right now." Elena told him. "I don't want to deal with his detective games anymore. You're probably no better than him."

"Hey, look." Stefan said. "I'm sorry. I'm still a little edgy about the Katherine thing and Damon's convinced you're dating someone."

"You know I'm single." Elena pointed out. "Even if I was, I would tell you first."

"I know."

"Look, you don't need to worry about anything. You're my friend, Stefan." Elena told him. "I have to go. Aunt Jenna's probably waiting." She just left him standing there alone.

As soon as Elena got home, she found Jeremy. "Are you okay?"

"No." Elena said. "Is she here?"

"I'm tutoring her in math." Jeremy told her. "You look awful. What happened?"

"Just trust issues."

"Really? That doesn't explain why you're crush is downstairs." Jeremy said.

"What?" Elena went downstairs to find Stefan waiting for her. "Stefan. What are you doing here?"

"You're brother called and asked me to help with the cooking." Stefan told her. "And I wanted to apologize for being such an idiot."

"Seriously, why are you here?" Elena asked.

"Look, you were right about the Katherine thing." Stefan told her. "But I want you to hear my side of the story."

"Let's hear it."

"She was our oldest childhood friend. She was very beautiful and knew how to have fun. But she was also impulsive and self-centered. I think Damon really fell for her, though. I'm not sure. Then we found out she was dating both of us and we turned against each other. And then she left. Or so we thought." Stefan said. "About a year after she left, I thought I saw her with a group of guys. I don't know if it was real or not. But I'm glad she's out of my life."

Elena looked at him, realizing she'd have to come clean sooner or later.

Upstairs, Vicki was with Jeremy. "What you did for your sister was really nice." Vicki said.

"Well, I figured if they had issues to work out, now would be the right time." Jeremy said.

"What's this?" Vicki asked, holding a bottle of pills.

"Those are from the car accident."

"So, she won't miss them." Vicki said.

"I don't think so." Jeremy said. "Look, you're unstable enough from that animal attack. Getting high isn't going to solve everything. I know that."

"I thought you didn't care what I did or not." Vicki said.

"I care about you as your friend." Jeremy told her. "Friends trust each other, so trust me when I say it's not worth it."

"Wow. You're sister's really rubbed off on you." Vicki said.

"So, anything else you want to talk about?" Elena asked as she helped Stefan out.

"Just thought you should know why I'm so…you know."

"Uptight?" Elena asked.

"Yeah."

"You know, I've noticed you have a lot of books." Elena said. "At your house."

"I do a lot of reading in my free time."

"Wow, we really do have a lot in common." Elena laughed. Suddenly, she winced. "Ow." She went over to the sink. Stefan noticed blood on the knife.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She noticed her cut healing already.

"Are you sure?" Stefan walked over to her. "Here, let me see." He looked at her hand. There wasn't a scratch on her.

"I told you, I'm fine." Elena said.

"I noticed blood on the knife though." Stefan pointed out.

"Are you sure it isn't your blood on it?" Elena asked, knowing how stupid she sounded.

"Yes."

"It's nothing, really." Elena told him. "Let's just talk about this later." Stefan just looked at her as she went back to the sink. He was sure of what he saw. Either way, he couldn't be sure at the moment.