The dynamics of their relationship had changed so rapidly in a handful of years that it was miraculous they were here together at all. She had never wanted to be like Katherine, but she saw things a bit differently now. It was okay to love them both, provided the way she loved them stood apart, which it did. They had flipped slots, in a way, though her trust in Stefan would never be as strong as the way she trusted Damon. She wanted it to, but that would take time.
Even lies for her own good were still lies. Hadn't that, too, separated Damon and Stefan for her? When all else failed, Elena could count on him to come clean about everything, even if it was just to tell her he would at some point later down the line. No one understood why she relied on him when things got touch, but they never saw him the way she did. Damon must have had some slight exception to his no expectations rule when it came to her.
He could be so good, and then he could be so bad. Every spectrum of up and down existed within this monstrosity of a man and she couldn't help but to love him more for it. Elena would have died for him on more than one occasion, and she knew the same could be said of him, reckless as the act was. Both martyrs for tremendously selfish reasons, she could find no more fault in him than she could view within herself. Not anymore.
No doubt they would fight and rage with each other outside of strong embraces and proclamations of love, but that would keep them connected in a way that she had never been accustomed to before. That was growing up, that was the road she needed to be walking on the path of discovering more about who she was.
In the meanwhile, she couldn't help but brighten more at his smirk and implication. Wounded as her heart felt, she wanted to feel more than just the mixture of sadness and relief that he was not dead. He had been driven to such great lengths just to get her back. Apologies and words of gratitude didn't really suit the circumstances.
Shifting to sit on his lap, arms suspended loosely around his neck, Elena's smile turned coy. "Why don't you take me back to what's going to be our bedroom and find out?"