Elena, Stefan, and Damon headed toward Elena's dorm together, and tension thrummed sharply between them.
Elena had taken Stefan's hand automatical y as they walked, and he had stiffened and then gradual y relaxed, so that now his hand felt natural in hers.
Things weren't back the way they had been between them, not yet. But Stefan's green eyes were ful of a shy affection when they looked at her, and Elena knew she could make things right. Something had shifted in Stefan when Damon came to rescue him, when Elena untied him and told him how sorry she was. Maybe Stefan just needed to know that whatever was between her and Damon, he was first for her. No one was shutting him out.
Elena unlocked her door, and they al went inside. It had been only a few hours since she was last there, but so much had happened that it seemed like somewhere from a long time ago, the posters and clothes and Bonnie's teddy bear al relics of a lost civilization.
"Oh, Stefan," Elena said, "I'm so glad that you're safe." She reached out and wrapped her arms around him and, just like when she took his hand, he tensed for a moment before hugging her back.
"I'm glad that both of you are safe," she amended, and looked at Damon. His black eyes met hers cool y, and she knew that, without their having to discuss it, he understood that things weren't going to go on the way they had been.
She loved Stefan. She had chosen.
When Stefan told them of Ethan's plan to take both of the brothers' blood and use it to resurrect Klaus, she was horrified. Not just because of the danger Stefan had been in, or because of the terrifying idea of Klaus alive again, and no doubt vengeful against them, but because of the trap Ethan had laid for Damon. He had planned to take the best of Damon - the reluctant, often marred, but stil strong love he had for his brother - and use it to destroy him.
"I'm eternal y glad you're both okay," she said again, and reached out to hug Damon, too.
Damon came into her arms wil ingly, but, as she squeezed him tightly, he winced.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked, puzzled, and Damon frowned.
"Ethan cut me," he said, the frown turning into a grimace of pain. "I'm just a little sore." He tugged at his shirt, fingering a torn edge, and pul ed it up, exposing a swath of pale taut skin. Against the white skin Elena saw the long cut was already healing.
"It's nothing," Damon said. He shot Elena a wicked smile. "A little drink from a wil ing donor and I'l be as good as new, I promise."
She shook her head at him reprovingly, but didn't answer.
"Good night, Elena," Stefan said, and brushed her cheek gently with the back of his hand. "Good morning, real y, I guess, but try to get some sleep."
"Are you going after the vampires?" she asked anxiously. "Be careful." Damon laughed.
"I'l make sure he takes care with the nasty vampires," he said. "Poor Elena. Normal life isn't going so Well, is it?" Elena sighed. That was the problem, wasn't it? Damon would never understand why she wanted to be an ordinary person. He thought of her as his dark princess, wanted her to be like him, to be better than ordinary people. Stefan didn't think she was a dark princess; he thought she was a human being.
But was she? She thought briefly of tel ing them about the Guardians and the secrets of her birth, but she just couldn't. Not right now. Not yet. Damon wouldn't know why it upset her. And Stefan was so pale and tired after his ordeal with the vervain-soaked ropes that she couldn't bring herself to burden him with her fears about the Guardians.
As she thought this, Stefan staggered, just a fraction, and Damon reached out automatical y to steady him.
"Thank you," Stefan said, "For coming to save me. Both of you."
"I'l always save you, little brother," Damon said, but he was looking at Elena, and she heard the echo of when he had said the same words to her. "Even though I might be better off without you," Damon added.
Stefan gave a tired smile. "Time to go," he said.
"I love you, Stefan." Elena brushed her lips against his softly.
Damon gave her a brief nod, his face neutral. "Sleep Well," he said.
Then the door was closed behind her, and Elena was alone. Her bed had never looked more comfortable or inviting, and she lay down with a sigh, looking up at the soft light that was beginning to break through the window.
The Vitale Society was gone. Ethan's plan had been stopped. The campus was safer, and a new day was dawning. Stefan had forgiven her, and Damon didn't leave, didn't turn against them.
It was, for now, the best she could hope for. Elena closed her eyes and fel wil ingly asleep at last. Tomorrow would be another day.