This missing scene begins after Damon and Elena climb into the car to return to Mystic Falls near the end of Season 3, Episode 3 – "The End of the Affair"…

Elena barely noticed Damon as he drove her back to Mystic Falls. She wasn't paying attention at all – not to him, not to the time, not to their location. She just stared ahead, not seeing anything, thinking.

When Damon woke her up at 6am, lying on her bed next to her, she wasn't able to muster much anger, fear or even indignation. She ordered him to go away more out of habit than anything, then, when he didn't respond, all she had done was complain about the time. Things really were changing between her and Damon.

Damon had kept his promise to her – he had found Stefan and taken her to him. Of course, he seemed to keep all of his promises to her – whether she wanted him to or not. He even tried to prepare her for what she would find in Chicago. She thought she already knew, but she wasn't prepared for a list of names of Stefan's victims from all those years ago. Seeing the list somehow made her realize that Stefan was hurting real people. She had tried to shake it off by asking Damon where he was during that time, but it hadn't worked, not on her, not on him.

The list was bad enough, then Klaus and Stefan came. She felt a mixture of emotions as Stefan saw her, looked at her, then lured Klaus away. Any emotion she felt while he was there was gone immediately after he left. She began to shake as she realized how close Klaus had come to finding her. Even Damon noticed when he returned. When he her told his plan to distract Klaus while she spoke to Stefan, he could tell she was still shaken. He was completely serious when he asked her if she could 'handle it'. Despite his constant concern for her safety, despite the fact that she had to usually force him to help her, he had never voiced concern that she could not deal with whatever came. Not until now.

Of course, part of her problem was her concern that it was Damon who would be distracting Klaus. It made her realize, again, that he would anything for her – even face someone as dangerous to them both as Klaus.

She finally moved her eyes from the road and turned to look at him. She hadn't said a word since she told him to just drive when asked if she was OK. He was giving her what he thought she wanted – in this case, space. As well as the time and the quiet she needed to think.

"I'm fine," Elena said, still looking at him.

He briefly looked like he did not understand her. It was only then that she wondered how long they had been driving. "You asked how I am. I'm fine."

The Vampire nodded and turned his attention back to the road.

"And you?" Elena continued. "What happened with Klaus?" Saying the name of the Original out loud brought the fear back, but she just had to know what had happened.

"What I expected," Damon said, still looking ahead. "He taunted me, he tortured me, and he made an attempt on my life."

Elena cringed. She turned away from him and let out a breath. "He tried to kill you?"

"He would have succeeded, too, if not for the witch."

She looked back at him almost hopefully. "Witch? There was a friendly witch there?"

"No," Damon said sharply, shaking his head as he glanced to Elena before turning his attention back to the road. "Not friendly, and you should stay away from her."

"But you said…" Elena began, before his expression registered in her mind and she cut herself off. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with her palm. Klaus had nearly killed Damon. There was literally nothing Damon wouldn't do for her. She would have to be more careful about what she let him do for her in the future.

"Talking to Stefan was a disaster," she said, looking straight ahead. She assumed Damon hadn't asked because he was giving her space, because he knew she was upset, but he needed to know. She wanted to talk to him about it.

"What did he say?"

"I asked him to come home with us. He said he…he said a lot of things. He said he didn't want to be with me. He said he …" She exhaled and decided she didn't want to repeat any of it.

Damon waited for her to finish, wondering if he should tell her what Stefan told him, when she added "What he didn't say was that he doesn't love me."

Damon looked at her, but quickly turned away when his eyes met hers.

"He didn't mention love at all," Elena added softly.

"Even when you told him of your undying love for him?" Damon asked.

Elena found herself cringing a little again. Damon's tone hadn't been harsh or sarcastic, but she couldn't help thinking that bringing up love had hurt him a little. Hurting Damon was something she did not want to do now.

"I didn't exactly say that," she said weakly.

"Exactly?"

Elena sighed and kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead. "At all. I didn't say it at all."

Damon didn't speak again, so she added "He said things would be different if he came back. I told him that I knew they would, but it didn't matter. He said a lot of things trying to be mean to me, but he didn't say he doesn't love me."

"And you didn't say that you love him."

"We've covered that," Elena said curtly.

Damon looked at her with a smirk. "We haven't covered what it means."

Elena closed her eyes and sighed again. She didn't know what it meant herself. "He's like you were, Damon, at least the way I thought you were. You would hurt so many people, but when you were near me, you had perfect control. He was like that, he protected me when Klaus was in his apartment, he had perfect control of himself while we talked. He's sill trying to protect me."

Damon waited for more, but it did not come. Finally he said, "Are you going to let him? Are you going to listen to him and stay away from him?"

"Are you?" she retorted. She immediately felt bad about it, she was the one forcing Damon to take her to Stefan.

"He's done so much." Elena finally said. "I never realized…I thought I understood, but the names…." When Damon didn't respond, she added, "I thought I knew what he was like at his worst. But the names…"

Damon waited for more, then said, "Well I learned something. I learned you really are afraid of Klaus. I was beginning to wonder about that."

"He killed me, Damon. He'd do it again in a second. Yes, I'm afraid of him." She turned to face him again. "Don't ever let me put you in that position again. I should have known better than to let you distract him. If something had happened to you…" She cut herself off. She had said enough about worrying about him already.

"He'll kill me and he'll kill you," she added. "But thank you. You've done everything I asked."

"Does this mean we're done?" He knew it wasn't true. If Stefan was right, the witch would figure out that Elena was alive and Klaus would be paying Mystic Falls another visit. He knew he had to tell her that eventually, but he would at least get her home to rest for awhile.

"I don't know," the doppelganger responded. "I feel like we have to at least stop Stefan, Stefan and Klaus, but I just don't know what I…" She cut herself off again.

Elena turned to rest her head against the door window and sighed, finallylooking through the windows to the dark landscape they were passing. "How much longer?"

Damon smirked again, but when he glanced at her, he knew she wouldn't see it. She was looking outside. "You really don't know, do you?"

"No," the human replied, shaking her head slightly, but keeping her eyes fixed outside.

"You don't know where we are or what time it is." Damon was a little surprised that she had been so lost in thought. He was even more surprised by her reply.

"I know I'm with you. Right now, that's all I need to know," though a few seconds later she added "except for how much longer 'till we get home."