The Salvatore crypt was located just outside the Mystic Falls border. I had visited the crypt several times throughout the past four and a half months, mostly because I wanted some space quiet or because I wanted to drink. It always had a strange scent, which now I realised was the herbs Elena burned to see the eldest Salvatore. But, at night, the whole cemetery surrounding the crypt was eerie. The cloudless sky caused the moon to shine down on the gravestones, those that were broken and those that still held themselves high. The ground was soft underneath my shoes, still slightly wet from the rain that happened a few days ago.

   The Salvatore crypt got closer with each step I took. There were candles inside of the crypt, an obvious sign that there was someone there. As I moved closer to the entrance, I saw Stefan standing in front of the stained glass window, his back towards me. I stopped and stared for a moment, my breath getting caught in my throat. That image reminded me of a time when we were human, when the eldest Salvatore was at war and I was spending my time with Stefan. We used to sneak out whenever we could, mostly because I didn't want to spend my time knitting and Stefan didn't want to spend his time with his father speaking ill of everyone. 

   I walked in and smacked my hands on my side. "I'm here," I said with a sigh escaping afterwords. "What do you want, Stefan?"

   He turned and stared at me again, just like he did before. His hands were in his pockets, eyes sparkling a bit. "I, uh, sorry for calling you so late. I know you have an early class in the morning, but I needed you to come."

   A scoff escaped my lips. "Did you somehow learn my schedule?" I asked as I stared out the broken side of the stained window. "Look at that, the humanity that left you in the past four months has surfaced."

   "Clara," he sighed. I could imagine him shaking his head, a look of defeat, regret, and amusement on his face. 

   "No, don't you Clara me!" I yelled, my voice getting louder. I couldn't turn, because I knew that if I turned my anger would subside. "Stefan, for the past four months I have been miserable without you! I have been plain miserable because you are gone, and Damon's dead, and everything keeps falling apart. You could have at least picked up your phone and answered me like a decent person would do, but you didn't. You ignored me, but I still come back to you whenever you call, and I..." I turned and glared at him. No, I tried to glare, but my heart was speeding fast and my breath got caught in my throat. 

   In front of Stefan stood a man I thought was dead. The familiar Arctic blue eyes, the unruly black hair, and the stare that could make even the most strongest fall to their knees. I stared at him, my arms slowly unfolding and falling to my side in shock. In front of Stefan, his older brother stood.

   Another scoff escaped my lips. "And I'm so drunk that now I'm seeing things," I mumbled, a laugh mixed with a cry escaping my mouth. I wanted it to be true, I wanted Damon to be standing in front of me. "Wow, I shouldn't have drank that whole bottle of whiskey."

   "Whiskey?" the fake Damon asked. He raised his brows and made a face. "I thought you preferred bourbon."

   "And now I'm hearing it talk, too," I mumbled as I pressed my fingers to my temple. "Okay, wow. I'm sorry, Stefan, I need to leave. I'm too drunk to be here." I began to leave, but the vision of Damon grabbed my arm. I stopped and stood there, a strange feeling surging through me as I stared at his hand on my arm.

   "Clara, you're not seeing things." He pulled his hand back and gave me a small smile. "I'm really here. I'm back, honey."

   Without realising what I was doing, I closed the space between us and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly. He let out a groan, then a chuckle, and hugged me back. A laugh escaped my lips, but also a cry. I cried, and laughed, and hugged Damon tightly.

   I pulled away and stared at him, still wondering if he was in fact alive and standing before me. "You're here..." I mumbled, shaking my head. "You're actually here..."

   "I missed you, too, Clara," he said with a soft smile. He pulled me towards him and laid a kiss on my forehead, just like he did before the Other Side collapsed.

   "Oh my god!" I hugged him again, this time keeping myself close to him. "I can't... You're here..."

   Damon let out a chuckle. "Yeah, we already established that. I'm here."

   I pulled away and looked up at him. "H-how are you here? Where's Bonnie?"

   At that moment, Damon's smile faded. The small bit of happiness decreased as he looked away from me. "She sacrificed herself so I could comeback," he softly said. "But, I don't want anyone else to know. No sense making this harder than it already is."

   "What are we gonna tell people?" Stefan asked from behind him. 

   It took me a second to remember that Stefan was standing there, that he was the one that called me and told me to come. But, the happiness inside of me to see Damon back made me forget about all of the pain he had caused me for the past four months. 

   "She wasn't over there," Damon said with a shrug of his shoulders.

   "Over there?" I asked. "Where is 'there'?"

   "Mystic Falls, 1994." He brought a bottle of bourbon to his lips and took a long drink. 

   "Mystic Falls?" Stefan repeated in an incredulous tone. "Nineteen ninety four?"

   "I know," Damon nodded. "If a bunch of witches were going to get together and create some space-time purgatory, you'd think they'd pick a better year than the one Kurt Cobain killed himself in. The hole thing was just very depressing." He took another drink from the bottle of bourbon.

   "So, how did you get back?"

   Damon sighed. "Long story, big flash of light, two decades worth of jet lag. I will explain all of my adventures in that flannel hellscape, but first, there's someone I got to see." He began to walk towards the entrance, grasping Stefan's shoulder affectionately as he did so.

   "I don't..." I scratched my head and smacked my lips together, thinking of the specific words to say. "Damon, I don't think that's a good idea..."

   He stopped by the entrance, shoulders tensing. "What?"

   "Well..." I sucked in a breath between my teeth. "You were gone for a long time, and we were all miserable without you, especially Elena. So, she may have compelled her love for you away..." I said it slowly, slightly afraid of his reaction.

   He slowly turned to face us, shocked and appalled. "She did what?"

   "She had Alaric do it," Stefan said. "I don't think it's a good idea to see her now, Damon."

   "I just need to see her, Stefan!" He said it in a way that sounded as if he were pleading. "Our eyes will meet, fireworks will go off, and the balance of nature will be restored. She loves me!"

   "Damon, she doesn't want to see you," Stefan said with a sigh, crossing his arms. "She doesn't love you anymore."

   "She was miserable these past four months!" I loudly exclaimed, staring at him with disbelief. "You would know that, but you were too busy with that Ivy girl in Savannah to know that Elena was absolutely miserable these past four months." I looked at Damon and spoke, my voice breaking with each word that left my mouth: "Damon, there was a part in all of us that thought you were never coming back. We were all miserable, but Elena couldn't handle you being gone. She looked as if her whole world had collided, so I don't blame her for wanting to erase the good memories of you." I sucked in a breath and wiped away the tears. "At least she had the courage to ask Ric to compel the pain away."

   "I just need to see her, Clara," Damon said in a softer tone. 

   Stefan shook his head. "Damon, I don't..."

   "You have no say in this, Stefan!" I stabbed my finger at him, the anger inside of me rising. "You gave up, so you keep your mouth shut or I will shut it for you." The anger in me had risen to the point where I could feel my neck and shoulders get hot. I turned to Damon and breathed. "Give her some time to adjust to the news, okay? Call Caroline and tell her you're back, she'll tell Elena, and then you can see her. Just give her some time."

    "Okay..." Damon nodded, starring at me strangely. He glanced from me to his brother. "What's happening between the two of you?"

   "He left and never picked up any of my calls," I said with a sarcastic smile. "Oh, and then Enzo—where the hell is he, by the way—killed his girlfriend that he happened to have while he was ignoring me for the past four months, and then he decided to drop off his newly-turned vamp girlfriend in my apartment. Oh, and the best part is that he was half-way out of town when I called him about his psychotic girlfriend snapping Caroline's neck and leaving."

   "She wasn't my girlfriend, Clara," Stefan sighed, shaking his head.

   "Is that all you have to say about this?" I let out a scoff and rolled my eyes in disbelief.

   Damon quickly stepped between us. "Okay, that's enough." He pointed at the two of us, eyes hard and amused at the same time. "You two obviously need some time apart to settle whatever is happening." He walked closer to me and laid a hand on my shoulder. "Clara, you need to go home and sleep because you're half drunk, and half-drunk Clara likes to snap at people."

   I let out a sigh and brushed my hair back. "I'm going to go home," I nodded, "and sleep because I can't deal with any of this, not because I'm drunk." I looked at Damon, a genuine smile forming on my lips. "I'm really glad you're back, though."

   He rubbed my shoulder and smiled. "Me too, honey. Me too."

   I walked out of the crypt and straight to my car, thoughts reeling. Instead of driving straight to my apartment, I drove around for a couple of hours, until I reached a quiet road and sat there until morning. I would have sat there until night, but Caroline called to tell me that I needed to come to Ric's office at Whitmore. With a bit of reluctance and with music playing loudly, I drove back. I ignored every hello and went straight to Ric's office, where Caroline, Matt, and Ric were. 

   "Clara, what took you so long?!" Caroline asked as soon as I stepped in. She stood next to Matt, arms crossed with anger in her eyes.

   "I was nowhere near here," I slowly said with furrowed brows. "nor in my apartment. But, I'm here now, so what's the problem?"

   Caroline looked down at Matt with her arms crossed tightly. "Enzo hasn't been missing for the last couple of days, he was in some cabin. Matt, why didn't you tell us that Enzo has been locked up this whole time?"

   Matt shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I didn't know anybody was missing him."

   "Matt!" Caroline groaned incredulously, throwing her head back.

   "I'm sorry!" He glanced around the room with his shoulders slightly slumped. "I was confused about which vampires we like and which ones we don't!"

   "Okay, well, what about Ivy?" I leaned against Alaric's desk and looked at Matt. "From what Caroline told me, this vampire hunter took her last night. Was she there, too?"

   Matt glanced around the room again, and grimly said, "Tripp drove her and two others across the border last night."

   Ric sighed and pushed his hands in his pockets. "Well, do you know where Tripp is now?"

   "He's running down another lead," Matt responded, "but he didn't tell me where it was."

   "Can you find out?" I asked. "We need to know who his next target is, because if Enzo talks..." I looked from Caroline to Ric, then back to Matt. "If Enzo talks, it could be any of us."

   "Well, that's not going to happen, because we're busting him out, right?" Caroline sat tall and annoyed. "And for no other reason than so I can kick his ass for getting caught in the first place."

   Ric leaned closer on his desk and kept his eyes on Matt. "You have any idea how he managed to get his hands on him?"

   "He didn't. I turned him in." Stefan walked in to the room, a guilty look in his face.

   I stared at him in disbelief, shaking my head. "You have to be kidding me..." Instead of snapping at him like I wanted to do, I took a deep breath so that I wouldn't snap at someone that didn't deserve my anger. I looked at Matt. "So, where's this Tripp guy keeping Enzo?"

   "In a cabin in the woods," he nodded. "I can give you the directions."

   "That doesn't sound like a horror movie at all," I mumbled. I sucked in a breath between my teeth and nodded. "Okay, well, let's go save Enzo. Matt, I'll call you in the car so you can give me the directions."

   "I'm coming with you." Stefan held his head high, the look of guilt still there.

   I shook my head. "Oh, no. You're not coming with me. I don't want you anywhere near me, Stefan. Caroline's coming with me."

   "I, uh, can't," Caroline slowly said. "Elena asked me to help her with something and I kind of promised to do so..."

   I frowned in her direction, but then glared at Stefan. "You're still not coming with me."

   Not only did I listen to music while driving to Tripp's cabin, but Matt's voice also filled the car. He was giving me the directions as I drove, his words sometimes laced together because of how soft he spoke. There were several times when I had to tell him to speak louder, and then he did, and then his words would be laced together once again as he tried to recall the way to the cabin. After an hour of driving, I managed to get there.  

   What surprised me was that Stefan was waiting for me there, arms crossed as he leaned against his car. An audible scoff escaped my lips, but I decided to ignore him and make my way to the cabin. I didn't need to become more angry than I already was with him, because then my anger would become fury, and I would start crying.

   "Look," Stefan began, "Enzo wasn't being careful. Tripp would've caught him eventually, and that meant danger for all of us."

   "Thanks for thinking of us, Stefan," I sarcastically said, a sarcastic smile painting itself on my lips. "Not only did you hand over Enzo, but now you're rescuing him so we won't be targeted. Way to go!"

   "Well, I thought Tripp was going to kill him. I didn't think he was going to keep him alive for information."

   "Oh, that makes things so much better," I laughed. "So, did you rat out Ivy, too?"

    "What?"

   "Well, you didn't want to deal with her anymore. You wanted her gone, and now she is. You know what, you really should write Tripp a thank-you note."

   Stefan looked offended at my words. "Hold on a second! Enzo turns Ivy, right? A hunter kills her, and yet I'm the bad guy? I'm not the one threatening to turn in other vampires to save his own skin."

   I stopped and turned to him, disbelief running through me. "The only one who's turned in other vampires is you, Stefan. Enzo didn't. The only reason you're helping is because you feel guilty that you turned him—Damon's friend—in." I turned around and began to walk again. "But, now that, Damon's back, you feel guilty of turning his friend in, right?"

   "Yeah, Damon is my brother, and I gave up on him first," Stefan said from behind me. "Enzo didn't. So, if rescuing his idiot friend is gonna somehow make it up to him, that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

   "So generous of you!" I threw my hands in the air and rolled my eyes. "Let me know when you figure out how you're going to make everything up to me."

   Stefan suddenly grabbed me by the arm and pulled me behind a large crate. I was ready to protest, but he quickly covered my mouth with my hand and pushed a finger to his lips. The door to the cabin creaked open, revealing two people who suspiciously looked around the area. One of them locked the door, then they left. From the cabin, I looked at Stefan, and I wondered how could I have fallen for him. I wondered how could I love the people who broke my heart the most.

   I pulled his hand away from my mouth and made my way to the front door. My heart was hammering against my chest as I walked away, and that made me feel strange. I opened and closed my hands on my side, then twiddled with the end of my shirt. When I stood in front of the door, I took a deep breath and broke the lock. The inside of the cabin was empty.

   "Where the hell is he?" I wondered out loud as I took a step inside and glanced around. There was dry blood on the floor, a few shot glasses standing perfectly with dried blood in them, and chains. I walked out of the cabin and let out a groan, annoyed.

   "Clara, wait!" Stefan called. He stood in front of me, arms crossed and eyes filled with curiosity. "Is there something going on between you and Enzo?"

   "What?"

   "You're set on looking for him."

   "Because someone decided to hand him over to the vampire hunter," I slowly said as I crossed my arms. "Why are you curious if something's happening between Enzo and I? From what I recall, you and I aren't together."

   "Clara, we never really broke up." His words sounded more like a question than a statement.

   "Yeah, well, we never really said that we were still together, either," I said, my voice breaking. "Stefan, you never picked up any of my calls in the past four months, or sent a text message, and you probably never heard any of the messages I left you. I was miserable without you here, but you were too busy starting over to realise that." I took a deep breath to control the pain that surged through me, the one that began from my chest and made its way up my throat. "You know, I could have gone with you. We could have started over, and I would have been fine with that because we would have been together." I turned away from him and bit my lip as a tear rolled onto my cheek. "I didn't know that being in love with you would feel so cold, Stefan."

   When I looked back at him, he was looking at me with his mouth slightly open and his eyes soft. It was a look he sported whenever he felt guilty. It was a look that should have made me feel good, but it made me feel terrible. I swallowed hard and shook my head, pushing away the pain and replacing it with a forced smile. 

   "I'm going to go home," I said, taking a step back. "I can't deal with this anymore, Stefan."

   "At least let me walk you to your car," he said as he walked besides me. "I'll stay quiet."

   We walked to the car in silence, arms sometimes brushing together with each movement. I wanted to pull my arm away from him, but I also wanted to keep his touch close to me. That simple brush of skin made me feel the opposite of what I wanted to feel, which was angry. I wanted to be furious with him, but I couldn't, because if I was furious, I would be reminded of how much I loved him.

   As we walked to the car in silence, the sun had fallen over the horizon. The crickets chirped around us, a few mosquitoes flew around us, and his arm kept brushing against mine. I was tempted to forgive him, but then I reminded myself of what he made me go through for the past four months.

   My phone began to buzz at that moment, making me stop and pull it out of my pocket. "Hello?"

   "Clara, we have another problem," Matt said. "Tripp has Ivy's phone."

   I furrowed my brows in confusion. "The guy has murdered people, I don't think petty theft is terrible."

   "Yeah, your name is on the recently dialled list. Caroline's is right after."

   I stopped walking and turned towards Stefan, eyes wide. "He knows what we are," I muttered. "Oh my god!"

   "I'm guessing he knows where to find you."

   I ended the call and let out a loud groan, rubbing my temples in annoyance. "Tripp knows that Caroline and I are vampires," I breathed, shaking my head. "Earlier today, Matt said he was following a lead. He was following after Caroline and I."

   "If Caroline were in trouble, we would know," Stefan said, taking a step forward and laying his hands on my shoulders. "Clara, Caroline is fine."

   "I'm still going to call her." I took a step back and immediately searched for her name on my phone. It rang several times, with me pacing back and forth, biting my nail. When it went to voicemail, I groaned again.

   "Clara, get in the car!" Stefan called. I turned to see him marching towards the car, a look of anxiousness in his features. He looked up at me when he got to the driver's side. "Tripp has Damon."

   As soon as the words escaped his mouth, I got in his car and stared at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean Tripp has Damon? How?"

   "He was waiting in the dorm room for Elena," he began. "My guess is that Tripp was looking for either you or Caroline, but found him instead. The guy doesn't care about who he has, as long as he gets a vampire to kill."

   I nodded. "There are several different routes towards Mystic Falls, which one are we taking?"

   "Elena said that she and Caroline are going to Old Miller's Road," Stefan said, staring intently at the road. "Sheriff Forbes is shutting down Route 13. We're going to Route 9, where Alaric's going to meet us."

   Route 9 was one of the three ways to and from Mystic Falls, making it less travelled by. Stefan parked by the sign that read You Are Now Leaving Mystic Falls, Come Again Soon. Alaric was already waiting for us there, arms crossed and eyes focused on the road. He told us to hide the car by the woods, because we would be pretending to have car trouble while waiting for Tripp.

   I got out of the car and watched as Stefan drove away, and took a deep breath before turning to Ric. "Damon's back and he's already in trouble," I smiled. "It's like he never left."

   Ric let out a chuckle and shook his head. "He's angry at me for compelling Elena's memories of him."

   "It's not your fault," I calmly said. "If the roles were reversed, I think he would also want to forget Elena." I took a deep breath and clapped my hands together, turning to look at Ric's jeep. "Okay, so, car trouble. What's the idea, bachelor party or a grave family emergency?"

   Ric let out snort-like laugh and shook his head. At that moment, Stefan arrived. He wasted no time in popping the hood of the car open and anxiously pulling out pieces of the engine.

   I moved closer to him and watched as he continued to take out pieces. "You don't have to take the whole engine apart," I softly said. "We just need to lure Tripp in."

   Alaric stood to his other side. "You know," he sighed, "it's not your fault."

   "Pretty much is," Stefan said, his tone unhappy.

   "You're not the only one who gave up," Ric softly said. "You know, every second for the past four months, all I could think about was when I'm gonna get my next sip of blood, when am I gonna screw up and hurt somebody, why did I come back to life just to be this thing. That I used to hunt vampires, and suddenly I was one. Searching for Damon was the only thing that could take my mind off of it, but I was basically going through the motions as a distraction because, honestly, Stefan? I'd given up, too." He took a deep breath and looked up at us, his eyes shifting to mine. "We'd all given up, too. Some of us just don't want to admit it." He straightened his posture and pointed behind me with his chin. "There." A car was coming closer, headlights bright.

   "That's him," Stefan said.

   Alaric looked at him. "You should stay in the car. He knows what you look like."

   "He thinks I'm on his side," Stefan explained, but his eyes stayed focused on the car. 

   "Unless Enzo told him differently," I mumbled.

   Stefan's eyes landed on mine. My breath caught in my throat. "What about you?" he asked. "He knows what you are."

   "He knows my name," I smiled, "not what I look like—I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, stay in the car."

    "Call Elena," Alaric said. "Tell her he's here."

   Stefan got in the car as Alaric and I approached the slowing car. Alaric waved his arms over his head and let out a long whistle to get the man's attention. The car stopped and the driver, who looked like Matt's description of Tripp, rolled the window down partially to listen better.

   "Evening," Alaric nodded with a generous smile on his lips. "I'm trying to get myself and my kids back home, and our car just stopped. You think you can, uh, help us?"

   "Oh, I don't know anything about cars." Tripp looked at us carefully, eyes slightly squinted.

   I took a step forward and gave him an innocent smile. "Oh, than maybe you could give us a ride?"

   Tripp shook his head. "Sorry. In a bit of a hurry."

   Ric's generous smile faded from his lips. "Yeah, so are we." He punched through the glass window, shards of glass flying all around us. He grabbed Tripp by the collar and punched him in the face.

   Tripp let out a groan and grabbed something, shooting it towards Alaric. One of the bullets landed on my shoulder, causing me to let out a groan as I realised that it was vervain. At that moment, the car began to move, Ric holding on to the side.

   I pulled out the dart from my shoulder as I realised that the car was headed straight towards Ric's car, Stefan inside of it. "Stefan!" I yelled. The next thing I saw was Tripp's car smashing against Ric's. The van flipped over, flying through the air and crashing over the Mystic Falls sign. It eventually landed upside down.

   I ran closer to the Mystic Falls border and stared at the wreckage, shaking my head. A figure stood by my side, Stefan, the phone to his ear and Elena's voice clearly sounding panicked. 

   "They're going to die," I breathed, shaking my head. "Stefan, we need to cross that border and save them."

   "Stay here," Stefan said as he took a step forwards. "I'll go."

   I grabbed his hand and shook my head. "You're not doing this alone," I surmised. "I'm helping you." When I let go of his hand, I took a step forward and crossed the border. As soon as my feet touched the other side, a terrible pain in my neck began. Teeth digging into my skin, the pricking of a thousand needles moving through my system, ragged breaths escaping my mouth. All I could think about was Katherine feeding from me and leaving me for dead in the woods.

   I tried to move towards the truck as fast as I could, but my breath came in uneven and I was furiously bleeding from my neck. When I reached the car, I tried to open the back of the van, but my strength was failing me. 

   "Move." Stefan stood besides me, a crowbar in hand. He broke the door open, revealing Damon and Enzo bleeding and chained up to the ceiling.

   "I'll get Enzo," I breathed, holding on to the car as I moved inside. Enzo was passed out, blood decorating his nose and mouth. It was a sickness I was familiar with, since a lot of people had died from it when I was human. He opened his eyes when I got closer, brows furrowing. I used what was left of my strength to break the piece of metal that didn't let him move, then helped him get out of the van. Stefan had Damon in his arm, both with gunshot wounds in their chest. 

   Once across the border, it was as if nothing was wrong. There were no teeth ripping into my neck, no pricking needles moving through my system, no forcing myself to breath. Although the image of Katherine feeding from me was fresh in my mind, it was slowly fading with the pain.

   I fell to my knees and looked across the border, seeing Alaric laying next to the van. A woman sat besides him, applying pressure to the bleeding wound on his chest. She worked quickly, her voice panicked. When she began to do chest compressions, I pushed myself up.

   "He's dying," I uttered. "I'm gonna go—"

   "You'll die if you cross the border," Stefan said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Clara, you'll die."

   "He's dying!" I repeated, louder this time. "I can't let him die, Stefan! I can't let him—" At the sound of a gasp for air, I turned my head. Alaric was breathing heavily, alive. I let out a sigh of relief and fell back to my knees.

   It was Stefan who drove me back home, but we said nothing to each other throughout the whole ride, not even when I got out of the car and headed straight to my apartment. If I were to be honest, I didn't want to speak. All I could think about was how I died, how Katherine managed to sink her teeth into my neck and feed from me, leaving me for dead in the woods. Even after she had died, she still could make someone feel miserable. 

   When I looked into the mirror of my bathroom, my whole neck and the left side of my body were covered in blood. I looked as if I belonged in a horror movie as the first one that got killed. With gentle fingers, I reached for my neck and touched the familiar spot where I remembered Katherine's teeth. I let out a sigh, glanced down at my hands, and decided to take a shower. 

   The blood fell around me, and I recalled all those moments I ad fed on people and killed them, then took a shower to get rid of the blood. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and washed away everything, from the blood to the feeling of Stefan's touch.

   It felt refreshing once out of the shower. I ran my fingers through my hair and walked to the kitchen to grab a blood bag from the fridge, which Caroline had been generous enough to give me. When I turned, a figure stood in front of me.

   "Jesus, Stefan!" I gasped.

   "Sorry," he softly said, a small smile on his lips. "I didn't mean to scare you."

   "Why can't you just knock?" I asked, shaking my head.

   He pushed his hands to his pocket, the same small smile still on his lips. "You wouldn't have opened the door."

   "You're right," I nodded. "I wouldn't have opened the door, Stefan, but can you blame me?" I took a deep breath and bit the corner of my lip, glancing away from him. 

   "Clara, I'm sorry," he said, softly. His hand grabbed mine, a shiver moving up my spine. "I want us to get past this because my feelings for you haven't changed. Clara, I still love you. I never stopped loving you."

   I let out a sigh and looked down at our hands. "I shouldn't be so angry with you," I muttered. "You weren't the only one that gave up on searching for Damon, because we all did. I did." I let out a small smile and looked up at Stefan. "I began studying because I was tired of feeling, of knowing, that he wasn't coming back. I was tired of knowing that as long as he didn't come back, you wouldn't."

   He rubbed his thumb up and down my hand. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

   "Yeah, but would you be here if Damon weren't back?" I asked. "Would you be here if Enzo didn't turn Ivy?"

   Stefan let out a sigh and took a step back, laying his hands on his waist. "Clara, I would have come back." His bit his lips between his teeth and looked straight into my eyes. "I thought of coming back every day because I missed you, because I just wanted to see you, because I just wanted to be with you. I listened to every message you left me, over and over again, and there were times where I thought of calling you back, but I stopped myself. I wanted to move on from Mystic Falls, move on from my brother and Elena and Caroline and you—I wanted to forget all of it, but I couldn't." He took a step forward and laid a hand on my cheek, his eyes staring straight into mine. "Clara, I would have come back for you, because I can't be without you."

   "You said my name," I softly said.

   "I did," he nodded, taking a step closer to me, "because I want to kiss you."

   The anger inside of me faded as his lips brushed against mine. Not innocently like a tease, but hot, fiery, passionate, and demanding. I wanted to pull away before I lost control of myself, but I couldn't seem to. In that moment, my senses had been deduced into nothing. He pulled me to him and pushed his lips against mine. 

   The kiss obliterated every thought. His lips were moving in perfect sync, my hands gripping tightly to his shirt; I pulled him closer to me, the kiss deeper, more passionate.