This missing scene begins when Katherine and Damon end their call near the end of Season 3, Episode 9 – "Homecoming"…
"Katherine is gone," Damon said as he turned back to Elena. "She's gone back to running from Klaus."
Elena only nodded.
"She did her part, Elena," Damon added. "She came through for us."
"I know," she said softly, sitting on the couch. "I really am sorry she still has to keep running, but we didn't get rid of Klaus."
Damon remained standing. She could tell he was still tense, was still unhappy about the failure of his plan.
"I've let you down," the vampire told Elena. "I'm sorry."
"No," she quickly countered. "It wasn't your fault."
"That doesn't matter, Elena." Damon grimaced as he recalled the incident. "I had the stake in Klaus, he was dying." He closed his eyes and turned back to the fire. "But Klaus is still alive, and you're still the key to his hybrid hi-jinks."
Elena nodded as she recalled what she had been told. Michael was outside with Katherine, having stabbed her, intending to kill Elena. "Michael would have killed me."
"We were right not to trust him. Katherine did her job." Damon repeated.
"Yeah, and it's not the first time she's done that for me. I owe her just as much as I owe…" She didn't finish the sentence, but looked back into his eyes.
Damon smirked a little. "You were insulted when I said you were like Katherine a little earlier today," he told Elena.
"Yeah," Elena said, though she was obviously distracted. "but don't think that's changed just because I owe her."
Elena suddenly switched topics. "You staked Klaus, Damon. You."
Damon just stared at the fire.
Elena stood and moved to stand next to him. "That was your 'secret contingency plan'? You were to stake Klaus?"
Damon shrugged. "It didn't work."
"But what if it had Damon? What if you had staked Klaus? If a vampire uses a dagger on an Original, it kills the vampire. Could you have used the stake on Klaus and lived?"
Damon kept his eyes on the fire as he shrugged again.
Elena pulled him to face her, knowing he could have stayed in place if he wanted, but he let her turn him.
"Damon, would it have killed you if Klaus had died?"
"I don't know," he said. "I don't know if the same rules apply to the stake as to the dagger."
"How did you get it? Michael was going to use it on Klaus."
"I was the one who could get into the house." Damon said.
"So did Michael just give it to you?" Elena asked.
Damon turned back to the fire without responding.
"Either way, Michael couldn't be trusted. It might be like the daggers, it might have killed you."
When Damon didn't respond, she said "Damon, please. You can't take chances like that. The plan was for Michael to…"
"It wasn't about Michael," Damon interrupted, turning on her so suddenly it made her gasp and take a step back. "It wasn't about me. It was about Klaus; and you."
Damon turned back to the fire. "Everyone's still alive – except Michael. At least we're down one untrustworthy vampire-vampire hunter."
"Who would have let me die," Elena said softly, taking a deep breath.
"I didn't feel anything like it was going to kill me, but it's gone now. We're down to a dagger that only you can use, and it's busy anyway."
"Please, Damon," Elena said, going to him and touching his arm. She continued to speak, even though he just continued to look into the fire. "Please, no more chances like that. I've lost too much already. I couldn't bear to lose…"
She paused, then turned away without finishing her statement and went to sit on the couch.
"It was worth a shot," Damon said, still facing the fire. "Maybe Katherine will draw Klaus away for awhile, give us a little time to figure this out."
"Maybe," Elena sighed. "So we're back to square one. Klaus to kill and nothing to do it with." She leaned back and closed her eyes.
"A royally pissed Klaus to kill." Damon said as he turned and, seeing that Elena was sitting now, moved to sit next to her. "But we still have a teacher enthralled with his new picture friends, and we still have a ticked off witch looking for someone to hurt."
"These are the people I trust," Elena said softly, chuckling to herself.
"Them and a heartless vampire. You said earlier that you trust me."
"I do," Elena said as she let herself lean into him. "You've never let me down. I do trust you, I trust you more than anyone right now."
Well, I finally get to where I'm OK with the Delena in the show (I didn't even feel the need to add to last week's episode) and now we have a break. Bleah. And I'm fairly sure the Delena in the show won't last…
Still, we have a break, and I have a few verbal (so to speak) commitments that make me think I can finally continue – and finish – Elena and the Pledge (aka the Vampires and Witches and Elena group of stories). So while you will be sitting around watching reruns (actually, I might as well), my mind will be working on and writing about that Elena and her posse (or gang, or whatever). Look for that to start very soon, and probably be done by January 5th …