This missing scene starts after the last scene of Season 4, Episode 16 – Bring it On…
Damon's mind raced as he drove. He had trouble believing that Elena was with him. The girl he had been in love with for so long, the girl he had wanted almost since he met her, was with him. Apparently, there was no sire bond, and though she was manipulating and fighting with everyone else, she was still with him, still talking to him.
Damon had trouble believing that he had Elena all to himself, and he had trouble believing that he wasn't sure he wanted her this way.
"You never admitted it," Elena said, bringing him out of his thoughts. They had been driving in comfortable silence for awhile, and he was not sure what she meant.
"Hmm?" he asked as he turned to look at her briefly.
"You never admitted that you like me better like this," she clarified.
Damon turned his face back to the road as he thought. Did he prefer her like this? He really wasn't sure.
"Damon?" Elena said. She was demanding an answer.
"There's no 'better' with you, Elena," he said. "I like you no matter what you're like."
He was able to see her well enough that he saw her tilt her head as if she didn't understand. He spoke before she could object.
"I'm just worried about you, what you want to be like."
"I want to be like this, Damon," she said.
"Not feeling anything," he noted, with a bit of a sigh.
Elena shook her head. "I told you, Damon. I feel amazing."
"But you feel nothing for me."
Elena looked confused again, but only for a second. "That's not right, Damon. I do feel something for you." She hesitated as if trying to think before continuing. "It's just…it's different now."
He looked at her again as he asked, "So what is it? What do you 'feel' for me?"
"I want to be with you," she said.
When she said no more, he turned back to the road and asked, "Why?"
Elena shrugged. "Does it matter? You understand me, you don't judge me. You don't want to change me. You're like me."
Damon just faced the road, though he nodded slightly.
"The bond wasn't that big a deal, Damon," she continued. "Yeah, I had strong feelings for you, but I always had feelings for you. Stefan and Caroline don't understand that the bond wasn't the only reason I wanted to be with you. I still want to be with you."
"For how long?" Damon asked softly as he stared ahead.
She was confused again, and answered slowly. "Always, Damon. We'll live forever. You'll always be like me, I'll always want to be with you."
"I'm not like you, Elena." He couldn't believe he was saying it, but it was true.
She shook her head again. "Of course you are, Damon. I understand now – what you said to me about what a vampire is. I understand the things you did. You're exactly like me."
He shook his head. "My humanity's not off."
She stared at him for a few seconds before she turned to look out her side window. "I don't want it back. I don't need it."
He waited a few minutes, letting her think, before he said, "Do you know why my humanity's on?"
She shook her head, though she knew he might not see it. "No," she said softly, still facing away from him. "I don't know why you would give this…this freedom, up."
"Because of you," he replied. "Because I wanted to feel something for you."
She didn't respond immediately, but he said no more. Finally she said, "Mostly I imagine you felt pain."
"Mostly," he said. "but not lately. Lately, I was mostly happy. You were happy too, until you turned it off."
She sighed and turned to face him again. "You told me to turn it off. You were right, the pain would have killed me. Without it, I feel amazing."
"Pain goes away, Elena. Yours will, too. You may want to turn your humanity back on again sometime."
She shook her head. "I won't. This feels good. I understand what you said about being human and being miserable."
"'This' gets boring," Damon replied. "Someday, you'll want to feel again. You need to be careful."
Elena released an exasperated breath. "Now you're just like Stefan." She made a mocking imitation of his voice as she said, 'Oh, I've killed hundreds of people. Now I have to live with it. You don't want to be like me'.
"You don't want to be like him," Damon said.
"No, I don't. So I'm going to leave it off. I'm going to be like you."
"My humanity's not off, Elena," Damon repeated.
He could feel her staring at him as he continued, "You can have humanity, you can feel, without being like Stefan."
"Still trying to turn me into a 'super-vampire'?" she asked.
That made him smile a little. "I've showed you how to do it," Damon said, "how to feed and leave the person alive. How to live as a vampire without feeling guilt for who you are."
"I don't want to feel," she said softly, still looking at him. "I can't…" She sounded like she would continue, but didn't.
"Someday you will," he said. "But for now, you're starving. For now, we go to where there's no vervain."
She almost looked like she was smiling as she said, "New York. Just to feed?"
Damon laughed as he shook his head. "Not just to feed. To see what's there."
"What's there." she repeated. "What is there, Damon?"
"Everything. You can truly see what it is to be a vampire."
"Everything," she repeated. Damon thought she looked as close to happy as she had since she flipped the switch.
"Maybe you'll even find a reason to feel again."
He said it softly, but she heard. He could see her roll her eyes, though she still looked happy.