This missing scene begins the morning after Damon leaves Elena's home near the end of season 3, episode 2 – "The Hybrid"…

Elena was on her way to the Boarding House to see Damon. Her mind was racing.

She wasn't sure how much, if any, sleep she had gotten the night before. She would have been fine if Damon hadn't come by after they arrived home, hadn't forced her to say what she said. But he had come, she had said it, and she had spent the night worrying about it.

She had been fine the previous day as she talked to Damon, Tyler and Alaric. She had perfect control of herself. When she thought it would be just her and Alaric hiking to the werewolves, Damon was the furthest thing from her mind. She was able to concentrate on finding Stefan.

When Damon did show up and sent Elena flying into the water, the old anger was there making things simple. But as he drew close her while she stood in the water, as he mentioned her being safe because Klaus thought she was dead, she felt the feelings again. She wasn't sure she was able to hide them from Damon, let alone Alaric; in fact she was almost sure they showed as she made her final plea of "Please" to Damon. Maybe that was why he finally relented.

She even thought she had the feelings under control during the hike – until Damon's back was to her as they realized the man in front of them was turning into a werewolf long before they expected it. She knew that the feelings showed when she realized the danger she had put Damon in and found herself pushing him from behind to get him to pay attention to her as she told him they needed to leave. His back was to her, and she thought her fear might hide the feelings anyway, so she thought he wouldn't notice. She knew, based on what he said to her later, that she had been wrong about that.

She almost slipped when he came back to the car after separating from her and Alaric. She might have just hugged him there, but he didn't even give her the chance, he just ordered her back into the car. She told him he was acting like a caveman and he was – though he was always that way when her safety was at issue. She may have pretended it bothered her, but she had come to appreciate it, to trust him on this. When he told her stay still, to not move when she had stumbled while running in the woods, it didn't even occur to her to argue with him. Her safety really was his first concern.

Through all of it, she thought she was fine. Even if the feelings had surfaced enough to be recognized by Damon or Alaric, they wouldn't have shown for long.

Then Damon had come to her bedroom.

She was able to keep her shields up at first – especially when he mentioned Stefan. She had no problem talking with him about Stefan, hearing that Damon would help her find and fix him - it was what she really wanted. One thing she really wanted, anyway.

But when he had challenged her reason for leaving the woods, when he had forced her to say she was worried about him, she lost control. She could tell that the feelings had surfaced and weren't going to be forced back inside. Really, she decided, it was lucky that he left when he did – there's no telling what else she might have said.

Then Alaric's appearance at that point, his question of if she knew what she was doing, erased any hope that she might have kept the feelings in check. If Alaric had missed it earlier, he knew now - there was something going on between Elena and Damon.

She wasn't sure if Alaric knew what it was. Really, she didn't know herself, but something had to be said to Damon. She just couldn't leave it like it had been left the night before.

She never knocked as she entered Damon's home anymore, she didn't knock today. She automatically headed for the stairs before stopping herself when she realized what she was doing. She had given off enough unintended messages yesterday, she wanted to avoid another.

She sat at the couch and spoke loudly as she said "Damon, will you come down?"

He didn't respond immediately. In the past, she would have thought he was playing with her, but as far as she could tell he would never do that to her now.

She added "Damon, please" before seeing him appear on the stairs.

She stayed put and waited for him to stand near her. She immediately wondered if this was such a good idea, the feelings were there again. She pushed that thought aside, she was doing this to get past the hidden feelings, to move on.

"Something new come up already, Elena?"

She shook her head. "No. I just thought we should talk about …" She couldn't quite finish. It was harder than she expected. She hadn't been able to say anything at all the night before, but thought she would be able to this morning. She had to say something – it just wasn't coming out yet.

"About last night?" Damon asked. His face did not look tentative or unsure as she looked up to him and nodded her head. Of course, he never looked unsure to her. He knew what he wanted. She knew what he wanted.

"Did you have something to say? A question?" Damon asked.

She had to close her eyes to do it, but she finally managed to say "Nothing's changed, Damon."

When she said no more, he asked "Nothing's changed since when?"

"Since Stefan left," Elena said, forcing herself to meet his eyes again.

Damon smirked, just a little. "So you were 'worrying' about me then?"

She nodded and held his eyes. "I don't know what it means."

"Does it mean you haven't always thought of me as the monster you pretend I am?"

Elena sighed and shook her head. "I haven't pretended that for some time."

"Then give me some help here, Elena."

She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath. Before she spoke, Damon spoke again.

"You feel guilty!" He wasn't speaking like he meant it to harsh or mean, she could tell that when she looked at him again. He was surprised.

"Guilty about Stefan?" he asked.

"Yes, about Stefan!" It came out much harsher than she intended. She took another breath and controlled herself again. "I don't really know everything, but I know you were trying to help Tyler escape Klaus when he bit you, you wanted to keep Klaus from using him in the sacrifice . You were doing it for me. Then Stefan had to give himself to Klaus to save you. Everything he is now, everything he's doing. comes back to me."

Damon sat next to her and put his arm around her, lowering his head to her ear. "You keep saying that. You keep ignoring Klaus."

She let herself lean into him, just a little. "Klaus is here because of who I am."

"So am I," Damon said softly. "I am here because of who you are, so is Rick. Stefan started all of this because of who you are."

"He's doing so much, hurting so many."

"We'll find him," Damon assured her. "We'll stop him."

"And we'll fix him," Elena said, pulling away from Damon enough to look into his eyes again.

Damon nodded.

"Nothing's changed, Damon," Elena said again. "You've accused me of lying to myself, maybe I have been lately – maybe a little. But I don't know what the feelings mean, I don't know what I want."

"One thing has changed, Elena," Damon said, "You've stopped hiding your feelings for me – or maybe you're just getting really sucky at hiding them"

Elena no idea how to respond, but she let out a bit of a gasp.

"And I know what you want," Damon said. She expected a smirk to come with that statement, but there was none there.

"What?" She asked.

"You want what you've wanted all summer. You want time to sort out your feelings, and you want help finding and fixing Stefan."

She let a sigh of relief out and nodded again. This hadn't turned out so bad.

"I'll give you both, "Damon said. "And you know what I want, Elena."

She raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant.

"I want you to remember what you're feeling."

She nodded as she rose to leave – there were things to be done and the day had just started. "I will Damon. I'll remember."

She turned back to him just before she went through to door and added, "You're not making things any simpler for me, though you never have."

Really, is that what girls wear on hikes through the woods nowadays? Short shorts and tank tops? It seems Elena really isn't afraid of anything – not vampires or werewolves, not scrapes, cuts, ticks or poison ivy…

Although, it was rather eye-candyish…I approve…