This missing scene begins after Katherine leaves Damon and Elena near the end of "As I lay Dying"

"I've never been so humiliated."

Elena was speaking softly, sitting next to a recovering Damon. He was still weak, barely moving, but he was watching her. She could barely look at him. She had managed to embarrass herself in front of Katherine.

The newly-freed vampire could have heard anything as Damon bared his soul to her, as she did the same to him. Katherine obviously heard something, based on the comments she made.

Elena stole a couple of glances at Damon. He was looking better, improving, though he still did not move. She was really thinking out loud when she said "Why does everything that happens between us become public domain? It might as well be posted on YouTube."

"Couldn't help bragging about it?" Damon asked weakly. She moved her eyes to him again and saw the smirk. She quickly looked away.

"This is serious, Damon. She might tell Stefan." She couldn't believe Stefan had not told her about the bite before Damon was near death. About the bite Damon had incurred while trying to save Tyler – while saving Tyler and Caroline, while trying to stop the ritual. She had been so upset with the younger bother that when Damon had mentioned him, she could barely speak. She just snuggled closer to the older brother.

She glanced at Damon again. He looked like he didn't care if Stefan was told. "He went ballistic when he found out you tried to kiss me." She shook her head and looked away again. "There's no telling what he'll do if he finds out I kissed you."

She looked at him again, his face was totally blank now. He spoke as she met his eyes. "Do you want to take it back, Elena? Was it all a lie to try to comfort the dying monster?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She hadn't said anything that wasn't true, hadn't done anything she didn't feel was right. "No, but that's not the point."

What had she done? Stefan knew his brother loved her, he had told her so. But he didn't suspect she had any feelings for Damon. She wasn't really that sure herself, it was not something she had spent any time thinking about. Stefan was the nice one, the stable one. Damon protected her, helped her when she asked, and sometimes pulled stunts that caused her to hate him.

She had always managed to repress anything approaching feelings for Damon, managed to conjure up anger or hurt. She had done it just that morning when he had entered her home uninvited, asking for forgiveness. It hadn't taken much for her to deny it, though she always knew that somewhere, deep within her, she felt more for him than the hate she so often expressed to him.

She knew he had helped her, saved her, and she had done the same for him. She could tell herself that she was helping him because of Stefan and maybe it was true at first. She could tell herself that after Damon began to help her, she was doing what she did for him to repay him.

She could tell herself a lot of things, she could rationalize - and she did.

Everyone was saying Damon loved her. Isobel had said it, Stefan had said it. She knew it was true. She had always been able to push such thoughts out of her mind by telling Stefan that she loved him. It had always worked, because it was true.

But what she had told Stefan on the day that she died, the day she walked and talked with him, was also true. She was too young to make certain choices, she had a lifetime to live, to experience. It was easy to do it with Stefan, he was always so considerate towards her, always so helpful, so nice. The one time that he wasn't, she had managed to fix him, though she had needed Damon's help.

Stefan was safe, easy to be with. She loved him, he loved her. She didn't have to even think about Damon, what he had done for her. Just conjure up the hate or annoyance when needed. So simple.

But as Damon lay dying next to her, as he spoke of the things he had done, she was forced to face what she felt. She had come mostly to tell him there was hope, as Stefan had asked her to. She ended up telling him more. This time as she spoke to him, she couldn't find the hate. She faced him, listened to him as he told her of his past mistakes and his current love for her. Her attempts at comfort turned into her saying and doing the things she actually felt, what she needed him to know before he died.

She wasn't confused as it happened, it was intimate, personal and real. Then Katherine had interrupted, had brought other things back into focus. She realized what was happening, that he was going to live. What had she done?

When she came to her senses enough to ask about Stefan, Katherine taunted her. She couldn't really read the vampire, identical though they were. Katherine had embarrassed her and, she thought, had displayed much more feeling for Damon while she gave him the first sip of the blood - of the cure - than her words indicated. It was as if Katherine was trying to erase the intimate moment she and Damon had just shared.

Even worse was the comment about loving them both. It infuriated her and embarrassed her. And it was in front of Damon, after she had finally opened up to him.

It was really, really hard to face him, to even look at him. When she did, he was still lying there, blank look on his face, though he did speak to her. "Ignore her."

She was startled and nervous. Was she that easy to read?

"I don't care where he is, Elena. I don't care what Klaus has done. I'll find him, we'll get him back."

She nodded. His words comforted her, though not entirely for the reason he thought. Or at least that's what she thought, until Damon spoke again.

"She never loved me, Elena. I loved her, she said what she had to get me to, but she never loved me. She used me."

Finally she let her eyes hold his for more than a few seconds. He appeared much better, his voice was strong now.

"She came back Damon. She saved you."

Damon closed his eyes, he appeared very tired. "She owed me."

'She's not the only one,' Elena thought, but kept that to herself. When she spoke aloud, she said "that doesn't mean she doesn't love you."

Damon didn't respond. She bit her lip and texted Stefan, telling him Damon was OK, asking him where he was.

She moved away from Damon, not wanting to disturb him. She found herself leaning against a wall, her eyes moving back and forth between the screen of her phone and the vampire lying on the bed. Not that she saw either unless she forced herself to focus. She was lost in thought, wondering how much Stefan would know before she talked to him, wondering what he would do when she told him what he didn't already know. Wondering what she would do, how she would figure all of this out.

She didn't have to wonder what Damon would do. She knew he would do what he always had done – help, protect and love her.

Thanks for reading this far. I've have fun and hope you have as well. I don't imagine that this will continue – I haven't given up on the story line that came out of the first season finale (shameless plug for the "Vampires and Witches and Elena" group of stories) which for some reason or other, continues.

But who knows, maybe there's more. Sometimes it comes whether I like it or not. If it does, I'll post. If not, maybe it'll pick up again as Season 3 starts…

As much as I complain about the show, I'll be there for Season 3. They're not playing this game without me. May the Delena scenes increase in number, duration and intensity…