This whole taking care of the community thing wouldn't last and Elena knew it. Damon was doing it for his own amusement while he hung around and alternated between playing mind games with her and Stefan and putting up with Katherine's mind games.

Or playing along with them. Elena was never sure.

But either way, when he showed up on her doorstep and announced that he wanted a vacation, so they were going to the beach, she knew he was lying, because messing around with the Council was his idea of fun. "No. I'm hanging out with Bonnie."

"I'd just take Stefan, but I feel like you'd get jealous." Damon looked her up and down slowly. "You're awfully dressed up to go see the witch."

"I felt like wearing a skirt," she snapped, suddenly nettled.

It was the wrong reaction. Damon lit up like a Christmas tree. "You sure? Because you look awfully tarted up. If you and the witch want to have athletic, nubile sex, I promise I won't tell Stefan. He couldn't take the truth the way I could."

"Get off my doorstep, please."

"Make me."

Elena couldn't and they both knew it, but she could stand there and glare. It only took a few moments for Damon to sigh and say, "You're absolutely no fun," and leave.

It was more than enough to unsettle Elena, though - which sucked, because this was the first time she and Bonnie were going to hang out together in forever, and she felt like she needed to be calm and grown up, not rattled because her vampire boyfriend's brother was taunting her again.

All in all, it was kind of a relief when she arrived at the Grill and Bonnie took one look at her and said, "Who did it?"

"No one you can hex, or whatever," Elena said, sitting down across from her. Matt wasn't working tonight, thank god.

Bonnie's lips thinned. "Damon."

"Yeah, but - can we just not? I don't want to - I just want to talk about school and boys, or even magic and vampires who aren't Damon."

"Fair enough."

But they both ended up fooling with their straws and not saying anything.

"This sucks," Elena said finally.

"Majorly."

"I mean, it would be worse if Katherine showed up or something, but..."

"Yeah." Bonnie sighed. "I've been seeing Emily again."

Oh, great. "She's not trying to possess you or something, is she?"

"For now, no. But that doesn't mean much, since I've been warding myself." Bonnie hugged herself. "I just think -"

Their food arrived. Elena grabbed a fry and chewed it with way more attention than she'd normally give the Grill's not-that-fantastic food. Bonnie did the same thing, eating three before she said, "I just think something's going to happen. Something with Katherine."

"You know, I had a dream that Matt dumped me and I got made fun of at Homecoming the other night."

Bonnie smiled a little. "Simpler times."

"You could say that again." Elena took a huge bite of her burger. When she looked back up again, Bonnie was looking at her. She looked completely torn up.

"We're never going to go back to that. We can't. I'm a witch, and you're dating Stefan and tangled up with Katherine. Those girls are gone."

The thing was, Elena wasn't actually good at this. Being mature, having talks; she insisted on it with Stefan, but she'd avoided telling Jeremy everything for so long for a reason. "I know."

"I hate it. I wish I didn't. If I could just go with it, like you -"

Elena was so surprised she actually laughed. "I don't just go with it."

"You do, though. I don't know why I'm surprised. You've always been like that, just with things that are a little less major than vampires and witches."

"And werewolves," Elena said.

Bonnie blinked. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"This town. Just - this town."

"I understand why Aunt Jenna left sometimes. I mean, even without the vampires."

"With them, it's just crazy." Bonnie bit her lip. "How's Caroline, by the way?"

"Better. She broke up with Matt."

"Oh, shit. That's...really bad. Isn't it?"

"She has too many feelings. There's too much going on." Elena thought about not saying it, for a second, then just went for broke. "I know you hate vampires, but she could really use her friends. And I can't be a friend to her the way you can."

"I know. I'm trying. God, that's such a crappy thing to say. I'm trying to accept that my friend is going through an insanely hard time and I'm too much of a bitch to help her."

"I don't blame you," Elena said. She was telling the truth, mostly.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did."

"Funny."

"I thought so." Bonnie reached over and snagged the pickles Elena had taken off her burger. "So. How are things with Stefan? Except for the killer ex, I mean."

Something in Elena unwound, something that had been so tense for so long that she'd stopped noticing it was even there.

Maybe they were going to be okay after all.

She let out a breath and leaned forward a little. "Really, really good. The other night he cooked for me. Like, he cooks for us a lot, but this was full-on spoiling your girlfriend mode. And that was after he took me out to the Ferris wheel."

They talked for hours, until the busboy started giving them looks that meant they were about to be kicked out. When they finally left, Bonnie sighed and said, "I have to go home. I have an exam tomorrow in Physics. Do you want a ride?"

"I think I'm going to walk. Chem is easier - I don't have an exam. I got lucky."

"Says the girl who likes the periodic table." Bonnie hugged her quickly. "See you at lunch tomorrow."

Stefan would be there and Bonnie knew it. Elena smiled. "Yeah. See you."

Bonnie didn't look back when she went to her car, but she did crank the radio up, which meant she was in a good mood. Elena felt ridiculously sappy, but she stood in the Grill's parking lot and watched her drive away, feeling warm and happy for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Well, that was ridiculously well-adjusted of you," Damon said from behind her.

This time, she did jump. "You were eavesdropping the whole time? You realize that's incredibly creepy, right?"

He moved into her line of sight just in time for her to see him shrug. "Fish gotta swim."

"You don't breathe by being creepy," Elena said, and brushed past him.

He followed her, of course. "Why can't we have a nice reconciling talk like that?"

"You know why."

"I've killed a lot of people. I've killed a lot of people you know. And he came back."

And, okay, harshing her mood was bad enough, but this just made her furious. "Don't try to rationalize this. Jeremy's my brother and you killed him. Are you seriously going to tell me you don't understand why I'm mad?"

"People try to kill Stefan all the time and I don't get mad."

She stopped and whirled around to face him. "Okay, one, that's a lie. Two, don't you dare. Don't you even dare." And because he looked surprised, she took another step forward, feeling anger swell in her until it was all she could process. She knew what she was doing was stupid; she just didn't care. "I'm going back to Stefan. Don't try to follow me or I swear to God, Damon, I will find a way to hurt you."

Damon just blinked at her. Good enough. She turned back and stalked off, walking as quickly as her sandals would let her.

He followed her, of course. But at least he did it quietly. "I'm sorry," he said when she finally hit the Salvatores’ driveway.

"Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"I might not be as sorry as Your Highness would like me to be, but that doesn't mean I don't feel it."

"You realize that doesn't actually help, right?"

"I - hang on. Wait." He blurred in front of her. She huffed out a breath and tried to walk past him - and he caught her arm. "Elena."

"Let go of me."

"We hung out. Remember? When Stefan was hurt, we spent time together."

"Because I had to, Damon. Because Stefan was locked in the basement detoxing and you were the only other person who knew. If you seriously think that's the basis for some kind of relationship, then I don't even know what to say to you."

"Everything is the basis for some kind of relationship," Damon said.

"That is everything that's wrong with you in one sentence," Elena said, and pushed past him, going inside.

Damon closed the door behind her and waited until she was sitting on the living room couch to say, "By the way, Stefan's not here."

She pulled out her phone and texted Stefan. Where are you? D driving me up the wall. "He said he'd be back soon."

Damon sat down on the chair across from her. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry before you get it?"

"More than you have." He was like a little kid, she thought - imitating and hoping that if he did it enough times he'd finally get humanity right.

"But you will forgive me. You said you wouldn't before."

"Stop. This isn't a game."

Damon steepled his fingers and looked at her. His expression had changed from open and relatively uncomplicated to creepy-murderer. "I didn't think it was."

She lifted her chin and held his gaze. "You did something unforgivable, so no, I'm not forgiving you."

"Pity," Damon said, and looked away.

The silence had become the kind of awkward that made Elena construct more and more elaborate schemes to escape when her phone rang.

"It's Jeremy," Stefan said.

She didn't scream or drop the phone, but only just. "Where are you?"

"Outside your house. How quickly can you get there?"

Elena met Damon's eyes. "However quickly Damon can drive." She hung up.

"What makes you think I'm going to do this?"

"You will."

"I don't owe you anything. Less than nothing, actually."

Elena just looked at him.

Damon sighed. "I don't know why I do this. Fine." He blurred out of the house. By the time Elena got to the driveway, the car was started and waiting.

They didn't talk on the way over. Elena felt like she was holding herself together by a thread, and Damon, for once, was tactful. He waited by the car when Elena ran over to Stefan.

She gave herself a single second to hug him and feel comforted before she pulled away. "Katherine?"

Stefan shook his head. "Worse. Isobel."

"I'm going to kill her."

"I'd like to, too, but first we have to find her. I can't pick up anything from Jeremy, and we know she's better at laying low than Katherine. She could be anywhere."

"But there's no reason for her to kidnap Jeremy unless she wants to get our attention." Elena took a deep breath. "We're going to look for him. And we'll find him, one way or another, because that's what she wants." One way or another. Dead or alive. Oh, god.

She didn't realize she'd been swaying until there was a hand under her other elbow and Stefan was saying, "Damon, back off."

"If your girlfriend faints and breaks her head open, it's all on you," Damon said, but he didn't let go of her.

"I wasn't going to faint." Freak out and run away screaming, maybe, but not faint.

"He's not dead," Damon said.

"You don't know that."

"Of course I do. Why would she steal your brother and then kill him? That doesn't make any sense, and Isobel - well, she's an egomaniac who thinks she's big time when really she's too small time for anyone who is big time to even care about her, but she's definitely sensible in her down time."

"Do you even preview sentences before you say them?" Elena said, and took a deep breath.

"Of course not. Now. I have the unfortunate advantage of knowing Isobel, which means you should follow me. She's new and predictable. We'll find her." He sauntered off to the car.

Elena looked at Stefan questioningly. He looked tired, but nodded: he trusted Damon, at least for tonight. They walked to the car together, Elena getting in the backseat and mentally cursing herself for wearing a skirt.

"Where are we going?" Stefan said when Damon pulled onto the road.

"Isobel likes cliches. The old paper factory on the outskirts of town was checked and cleared by the Council two weeks ago. It's nice and creepy and she'll be left alone." He peeled out onto the highway, reaching eighty before he even got off the ramp. Any other time, Elena would have been terrified; now, she clenched her fists together and willed the car to go faster.

Jeremy had to be okay. He had to be.

She sort of spaced after that. The next thing she was aware of was Damon opening her door and saying, "Look, I draw the line at unbuckling your seat belt. Pull it together, Elena."

Easy for him to say. She glared at him and got out of the car. "Do you have a stake or something?"

"For me? Yes. For you? No."

Stefan opened the trunk. "I can -"

But Elena's focus was coming back. Jeremy might be somewhere in there. Damon's ego could take a hike. She picked up the nearest branch and kicked it in half so she had a stake the length of her forearm and just a little thinner than her wrist. "Let's go."

"You're staying in between us," Damon said, expression unreadable. He changed then, started walking silently, hand holding the stake high. Elena followed, trusting that the total silence behind her meant that Stefan was doing the same thing.

The paper factory was huge and full of creepy corridors and rooms with too many hiding places. They checked every single one, Damon looking grim and completely un-Damon-like, Stefan looking...well, exactly like Stefan usually looked, only more worried. Elena clutched her stake and ignored how sweaty her palms were. Please, she prayed to anyone who was listening. Please, just let him be okay.

In the end she thought they should have expected it. The last room they checked was the largest, and the second Stefan crossed the threshold, the lights came on.

Elena clicked her teeth together to keep from screaming. Katherine and Isobel were standing on the observation balcony in front of them, and Katherine had a knife to Jeremy's throat.

"Well done, team," Isobel said. "How did you get them to work together, Elena? You must be very good at forcing...cooperation."

Elena didn't answer. She couldn't.

"Give us Jeremy," Damon said, and - he always sounded menacing and like he was two steps away from breaking out in maniacal laughter and killing someone. But right now he just sounded ugly.

"Now," Stefan added. He sounded almost identical to Damon.

"Ooh, scary," Isobel said.

"Honestly, boys, I'm a little disappointed. All these years and you haven't...talked...about your attachments." Katherine stroked a finger down Jeremy's cheek. "Talking can be helpful, don't you think, Jer?"

Jeremy winced but didn't answer.

And maybe, Elena thought, it was just the sheer pride in him that made her say, "You're going to give him back to me."

Isobel laughed. "Oh, really? You know, you take after your father. He wasn't that bright, either."

"Hah, hah, we're both related, very funny." Oh God, stop talking. Stop talking. Stop - "This is pathetic. If you wanted to deliver your message with him dead, you'd kill him. You wanted to see us work together. You want to feel powerful, so you're going to give him back to me. Otherwise you'll just look incompetent."

And for the first time, Elena was more scared of Katherine than Isobel: Isobel gaped at her, apparently at a loss for words. Katherine just rolled her eyes, sighed, and said, "I guess you're right," before pushing Jeremy off the balcony.

Stefan blurred over and caught him, setting him down so that they could both back away - and then Elena blinked and Katherine and Isobel were pointing crossbows at them.

She felt like the air had frozen in her lungs. "Don't -"

"We could," Katherine said breezily. "Believe me, it would be fun. Have you ever seen Damon cry? It's quite the aphrodisiac." She nodded at Isobel and they both sighted their crossbows.

Elena still didn't scream. She didn't do anything, actually, because in the space of a breath Damon had run forward and thrown himself in front of Jeremy, just in time to catch the arrow with his stomach, falling to the ground in perfect time with Stefan catching the bolt meant for him and snapping it in half.

"Elena!" Jeremy said, and he ran for her like he thought she was the one in danger, like he thought he could do anything to help. She grabbed him anyway, pulling him to her and then pushing him behind her. She wasn't going to let them have him. She wasn't.

"How cute. Well, it's been fun, but we have to be going," Katherine said. She threw her crossbow down on top of Damon; Isobel followed suit. "I'll see you soon, Elena."

They disappeared.

"Well," Damon said from the floor, "that was completely awful."

"Hold still," Stefan said. He had one hand braced on Damon's shoulder, the other on the arrow. "Do you need something to bite down on?"

"Just do it," Damon said through gritted teeth.

Stefan pulled it out. Damon's entire body jerked and then started shaking, but he didn't say anything.

"Does he need...you know?" Jeremy said quietly.

"Even if he did, you wouldn't be giving it to him," Elena said. Damon huffed a laugh and she turned bright red. "We need to get out of here."

"Give me a minute," Damon said, but he stood up, batting Stefan away when he tried to make Damon lean on him. "Let's get the kid home. Don't invite anyone else in, tiny Gilbert."

"Don't call me kid," Jeremy snapped. "I'd like to see you handle a hostage situation like that."

"Did I or did I not just save your life? Wait, stupid questions, Gilberts are always terminally ungrateful." Damon smiled at Elena. He looked drunk - which was funny, since she was pretty sure he was mostly sober for once.

"Thank you," she said - and then, because it was the only thing she could think of, "Stefan's driving."

"He wishes. Hold your girlfriend's hand, Stefan, she looks ready to cry." Damon pulled the keys out and walked over to the car. He didn't look even remotely like he'd just been stabbed with a wooden arrow.

"We shouldn't argue," Stefan said. He took her hand.

She looked down at it dubiously, then up to him. "Really?"

"Okay, you guys can have this talk later." Jeremy pulled the car door open. "I really want to be at home, in my bed. Like, now."

"You heard tiny Gilbert," Damon said, and cranked the radio up. "Let's roll, kiddies."

Elena rolled her eyes and slid in next to Jeremy. "Do me a favor and break all the speed limit laws again."

"You're very funny," Damon said, and peeled out of the parking lot.

When they got to Elena's house, Damon put the car in park and said, "Scram, tiny Gilbert."

"Stop calling me that," Jeremy said, and didn't move.

Elena unbuckled her seat belt. "Thanks. Seriously, thank you," she said, and moved to get out of the car.

"Where do you think you're going? Tiny Gilbert is going to bed. You're coming with us."

"Um, no, I'm not."

"We're going home, Damon," Stefan said.

"Sure we are." Damon met Elena's eyes in the rear-view mirror. "Stay."

"I'm still wearing vervain," she snapped. "Good night, Damon."

"That wasn't me compelling you," Damon said, twisting around right as she got a foot on the ground. "That was me begging."

She froze.

"Elena?" Jeremy said, in the tired, snotty tone only teenagers who were incredibly tired of their sisters' vampire drama could manage.

"It's okay," she said, shaking her head and trying to pull it together. "It's fine, Jer. Go inside; I'll see you in the morning."

Jeremy sighed, but went in without arguing.

"Thank you," Damon said. He sounded weirdly formal.

She got back into the car. "I don't like whatever it is you're up to."

"I get tired of having my motives doubted, you know." Damon reached out and patted Stefan's leg. "It'll be fine. I promise."

Stefan didn't answer. He also wasn't looking at Elena, and this was all incredibly shitty and Elena was exhausted, so when Damon started driving again she gave into temptation and curled up in a ball, tucking her legs under her chin.

Damon drove them to a Waffle House. If she'd asked, she was sure he'd have some kind of convoluted, insane story for why going to a Waffle House was the most therapeutic thing she could possibly be doing - so she didn't ask. She didn't say anything until they were all sitting down inside.

Then she just said, "Make sure you order a lot of coffee."

"That was an interesting development," Damon said when they'd gotten their coffee. "Why would Katherine and Isobel team up? That's too much ego for the planet, much less one measly little town."

"They want something from us."

"Aside from the usual, you mean?" Damon sighed. "And here I was hoping I'd finally have time to run for mayor."

Elena tried to think of something to say. She couldn't.

Damon and Stefan exchanged a few of the looks that reminded her exactly how long they'd been around. "Jeremy will be fine," Stefan said after a few minutes.

Elena waited for Damon to say something snide. When he didn't, she said, "I know. I'm mostly just tired."

Stefan stood and went over to her side of the booth, sliding in and taking her hand. She sagged into him, closing her eyes. "I really do want food, though. Just..."

"I know." He kissed her temple. "Believe me, I know."

"Hmm," Damon said, and -

Elena opened her eyes. He was gone.

"I shouldn't," she began, then took a sip of coffee. "He saved Jeremy. Why would he do that?"

"He knew I could take care of myself."

"But why save Jeremy? Why do any of this at all?"

She felt Stefan shrug. "He's Damon. Why does he do anything?"

He had a point. "I just...I don't want to forgive him."

"Neither do I." Stefan took a deep breath. Elena barely even noticed that his heart didn't beat, anymore. "I always do, though."

He didn't need to say the rest; Elena got it. She was close to Stefan, close to this whole complicated thing the Salvatores had going on. She had the sinking feeling that she wasn't going to be able to push Damon away anymore, not permanently. Maybe she'd never been able to.

"I'm too tired for this. Omelet, coffee, then home and bed. And then...I'll think about it tomorrow."

"Good plan," Stefan said.

It really was, which was why it was too bad that Elena spent the whole night thinking about everything she'd sworn off. She wasn't short-sighted enough to think things were over, this time. This was a beginning.