Stefan stood in the doorway, looking exhausted.  

I knew my bottom jaw was halfway to the floor but I didn't care. We hadn't seen Stefan for almost two years and now of all times, well it was a surprise.  

"Well hello, brother," Damon said, in his usual laconic tone towards Stefan.  

"To what do we owe this- well I would say pleasure but we both know that would be a lie and I know how Elena hates for me to lie." He glanced back, half adoringly, half possessive.  

"What do you want, Stefan?" I asked.

He looked at me, with his ancient sad eyes. I knew, in that instant, he still loved me.  

I would have thought in the manner of which I left Fells Church, that would make him hate me and help him move on. Obviously, he couldn't hate me or he was hanging, hopelessly, to the memory of the person I used to be. Not that I had changed incredibly, I just didn't care very much about drinking human blood or stealing any more. You get over that when it becomes necessity.

"I need your help" Was his answer.  

I'm sure Damon noticed his gaze fixed on me, which would explain him slightly shifting his body to block me from view. He was still unsure of his hold on me. I was his forever, like he was mine. But the human inside him was stirring and jealousy was not beneath him.  

"What do you need, little brother?" Damon asked.  

"Not me, Bonnie and Meredith need your help."  

This made me pay close attention. Over the past two years I had deeply missed my two best friends, the two thirds to our velociraptor sisterhood. They had always been there for me, when I had died twice and when Stefan was kidnapped by two kitsune and we traveled to the Dark Dimension to save him.

I ducked past Damon and grabbed Stefan by the shoulders and shook him.  

"WHAT?!? What has happened to them? If they are hurt, Stefan Salvatore, may God have mercy on your soul!!" Damon pried me off of him before I accidentally broke his neck. I was still getting the hang of my strength.  

"They are not hurt...yet"  

"Love, maybe you should take a seat." Damon said.  

Stefan explained the whole situation quickly, occasionally glancing at me.  

"...Shinichi and Miaso, apparently told someone bigger than them about Fells Church. About the raw power there just waiting to be released-"  

"But I thought if I had left than Fells Church would be safe. I thought I was the beacon drawing the supernatural towards it."  

"There is still Bonnie, Elena. She has been harnessing her powers and since you...made your choice, she has been using the hurt to increase them even further."  

Every part of me then was filled with guilt, from the ends of my hair, to the tips of my toes.

Whatever it is, it's my fault. I sent noiselessly to Damon, with tears slipping down my cheeks.  

"Congratulations, brother," He made the word sound as if he wished Stefan wasn't his brother.  

"Elena is blaming herself. Why are you trying to make her feel guilty? So that she'll run back into your arms? It won't happen. She's made her decision and you know her well enough to know she won't change her mind."  

I stood up and moved to the door.

Don't you want to stay to hear the rest of what he has to say?

I need fresh air and a walk to clear my head. I feel as though there is a million people in a school marching band playing loudly in my brain. I need to get out of here. Tell me the rest in the morning.

The night was dark, the midsummer air thick. The moon wasn't out tonight which was better. I need complete darkness to be able concentrate. I walked along the streets, my heels clacking on the concrete, when I heard a voice.

Elena, we need to talk. Come back. Stefan's mental voice whispered to my brain.

No, meet me here. I can't go back yet. Bring Damon with you. I, more or less, shouted back.

Don't you trust me? I'm the better brother, remember, lovely love?

His reply made me freeze. Lovely love? I should have known he wouldn't get over me. It took him centuries to get over Katherine, the girl who I was basically the reflection of.  

I shut down my mind, refusing to talk anymore. I put up several layers of white noise allowing them to find me, but not hear my thoughts.

"What's there to talk about, Stefan?" I'd heard him approach me from behind.  

"We need to go back to Fells Church, sweetheart," Damon's voice replied.  

"Your friends and family depend on it."  

I whipped around. Only a couple of times had I heard Damon use that tone of voice.  

I closed in on him and searched his bottomless eyes. I found what I needed. He was 100% serious. I nodded.  

"Explain, what do you need me to do, and I'll do it" I said, my voice void of emotion.  

I learned from Damon, how to hide emotions from others. Except both of these men knew my face and my eyes too well, so they could tell I was dying inside from my involvement in the danger threatening my friends.

Damon pulled me close to him and I was surrounded by darkness. I started to sob.  

Damon did his best to console me, but it isn't really his forte, so Stefan intervened.  

"It's alright, lovely love. Everything's gonna be okay."  

I glanced up at him, he was rubbing my arm, which was wrapped around Damon's waist.  

Damon was giving Stefan daggers for the lovely love comment. I get why, so I didn't contest it.  

"How can you...spout that crap? After...everything we've all...been through, how can you lie like that...to my face? How is it all...gonna be okay, when it is all my fault?" My whole body was heaving in Damon's arms.  

"It's not your fault, little lovely love." Stefan's voice was soothing but I still took no heed of it.  

"Stop calling me that, and you said so yourself. I left, Bonnie got hurt, now her psychic abilities are like a lighthouse, showing all the supernatural the way to Fells Church."  

He was silent then. Damon's aura seemed to lighten at my rejection of Stefan.

"Let's just go, if Bonnie needs me. I will do everything in my power to help her, and you know that, don't you Stefan? That is after all, why you came. You needed someone to help and immediately thought of me, knowing how determined I'd be to protect my friend. That way I'd be back in Fells Church and you could try win me back, right?"  

He was still silent. I had gotten to him and I knew it.