This missing scene begins after Stefan leaves Damon and Elena, near the end of Season 3, Episode 5, "The Reckoning"…

Damon looked at Elena when Stefan left. She was looking at him as well, with an expression he couldn't read. He suspected the same sort of expression was on his own face.

She had finally given up on Stefan, she had said she knew he was gone. She had even ignored the necklace when Damon offered it to her, the necklace that was tied to Stefan.

She had also rejected his offer to help her forget some things, saying she had to remember. She would remember what Stefan had done to her.

Still, she would also remember that Damon was not with her when she needed him most. She had asked him where he was while she was being assaulted by Stefan and Klaus. It was like a stake in his heart. She had trusted him and he had betrayed her. He had never seen her so broken, so vulnerable, and he never wanted to see her that way again. He never wanted to hear those words from her again.

He meant it when he told her he would never leave her again, and her reaction, her smile, her acceptance, meant everything to him. It made him believe that she really had forgiven him for all of the things he had done to her or around her in the past. He could see the trust in her eyes, and he never wanted to lose it.

Of course, Stefan had picked then to show up, to claim that he was her protector, to remind them that Klaus would come back for her.

Damon had risen to face his brother. Now that Stefan was gone he turned back to Elena. saw her expression, wondered about it. She must have seen something as she briefly turned away from him, turned to look at where Stefan had been. When her face returned to his, her expression almost looked hard.

"I know he's really gone this time, Damon."

As she looked at Damon, she wondered if his expression was unsure, so she added "He did things right in front of me." Elena let out a breath and closed her eyes. "I knew he was doing things, I saw the names." She tried to look at him to say the rest, "But he killed…right… in front of me."

Damon quickly moved to sit next to her and pulled her into a hug. She leaned her head against his shoulder, kept her eyes closed and took a few breaths before she continued.

Her eyes were still closed, as she spoke into his shoulder. "He killed them when he was still fighting the compulsion, when he still wanted to protect me."

Elena pulled back and looked into Damon's eyes. "I can't let myself forget, Damon. What he did to me, what he did right in front of me. I won't forget."

She let him pull her back into a hug, "You wouldn't do that to me, would you Damon?"

Damon held her as tightly as he dared and said "I would be fighting Klaus, not his compulsion."

Elena believed him. Damon had never been afraid to face Klaus, or any other Original, for her. It did make her wonder, though, so she asked "How did you get to me? How did you get through Klaus?"

"I told him a vampire hunter knows he's here."

Elena pulled back again, looking confused. "He's afraid of a vampire hunter?"

Damon nodded, and couldn't stop a slight smirk from appearing on his face. "He's afraid of this one."

"Well, whe…" Elena began before Damon put a single finger to her lips and shook his head.

She took the hint and cut herself off. If Damon didn't want her to say anymore in case Stefan was listening, she would trust him.

Still, she couldn't help asking one more question. She asked it in a soft whisper, "If he's a vampire hunter, won't he hunt you, too?"

He moved to sit beside her and put his arm around her as she leaned into his shoulder.

"Probably," Damon agreed, "but he won't come after you."

Elena closed her eyes and wondered, again, why so many would risk so much for her. She hadn't been the only one to face Klaus today. Bonnie had stood in front of the Original and told him that she was the reason Elena hadn't died. Though she had no idea what had really happened, she knew Damon had taken on Klaus, again, to get to her, to rescue her.

She let herself relax, finally feeling safe as she leaned into Damon, his arm around her. "He just might come after me," she said, closing her eyes, "because if he tries to get to you, I'm getting in his way."