These…uh…whatever (I don't know what to call them anymore) occur during the last scene of Season 4, Episode 15 – Stand By Me…

Elena

It's not that Elena had forgotten – she remembered everything. She remembered the completion of Jeremy's hunter's mark. She remembered the tense time on the island. She remembered finding Jeremy's body, and taking it back to Mystic Falls. She remembered the hope she had put into what Bonnie could do, and the maddening delay before her best friend returned. She remembered her reaction to Bonnie's plan, when the witch finally arrived. And she remembered her final breakdown before Damon talked to her, told her to shut her humanity off.

She had forgotten nothing, she just didn't know why she had cared.

Oh, she knew that Jeremy's death was something to be unhappy with, but it was not worthy of a breakdown. It required revenge, and she would find a way to take it - on Silas, Shane – whoever she could find and blame.

Or maybe she wouldn't. She wondered why Bonnie's plan had upset her so much before. She understood now, it could bring back Jeremy, Bonnie's grams, and so many others. She had always trusted Bonnie to do the right thing, and she wasn't sure why she had doubted her best friend this time.

But that was for tomorrow, tonight they had to have a cover story. She understood that, and she knew she had most reasonable one. The only one, really. Even Damon agreed with her. Oh, he said something like "we can come up with another cover story", but he didn't argue when she said hers was best. He didn't offer any others anyway.

She knew he could have stopped her, invoked the bond again, but he didn't. He let her choose. He nearly always let her choose, and she knew he always would. It didn't matter what Stefan or Caroline thought, they would never believe or understand the connection she and Damon had. He didn't want her as his slave – he could have had that while she was human, if it was what he wanted. He wanted her to be free of his influence, he would always let her choose.

She understood what he was doing and why every time he invoked the sire bond, even this last time. She remembered her breakdown, even if she could not understand why it happened now. She knew Damon was helping her, and even if she understood nothing else about what she felt before, she knew that she and Damon still had a bond. She still had the feelings for him. That hadn't changed and never would.

As she walked out of her home one last time, Damon walked beside her. She knew it would always be this way. Whatever cover-ups, revenge, or witch's spells were ahead, Damon would be with her.

Damon

Damon couldn't help feeling that he had let Elena down, again.

She was alive, at least, but she had lost the last family she had left. It tormented him some - before he found Bonnie. It was completely out of his mind by the time he had taken the witch back to Mystic Falls. Even he could see that her plan was crazy.

Elena had reacted as he expected. Bonnie was sent away, and Elena broke down. He hoped it wouldn't happen, but she lost hope. All her hope was in the witch, and he had nothing else to offer her.

Still, though things may have changed for Elena, for Stefan, for Matt and maybe even for Bonnie, they didn't change for Damon. This was a different Elena, but she was still Elena. It didn't matter that she had no humanity now, any more than it matted that she had become a vampire. Damon would still do everything he could for her.

She had always been protected, by Damon, by Stefan, by Bonnie, even Caroline. They would still protect her, there was just another level to be added now. Sooner or later, Damon would have Elena switch her humanity back on. Her humanity was a big part of who she was, and he loved everything about Elena. So he had to make sure that when her humanity was restored, she wouldn't hate herself. He had to make sure she wouldn't do something she would later regret so much she would need to flip the switch again.

Stefan and Caroline would help, of course. If they agreed with nothing else he thought about Elena, they would want to help keep her in check. He wouldn't be alone, not with this.

As Damon left the Gilbert house with Elena, he noticed that Stefan had stopped and turned back. Typical Stefan, looking back to see what was lost, what was past. Maybe the past was all his brother had now – especially in regards to Elena, but it still annoyed Damon. It was Elena who was important. It was Elena who was walking right beside him. He had to remember who she was, though she may have forgotten for now.

Damon let Stefan worry about the past. Stefan could lag behind, fret over what was lost. Damon was going to stay with Elena.