Elena was sitting in the kitchen, a large cup of coffee in front of her on the table. When she'd seen the text from Damon blinking on her phone, she'd spoken to Jenna and Bonnie, both of whom had agreed to go out for an hour or two so the pair of them could have some time to talk. Because they needed to talk, as Damon had pointed out. Not that Elena knew what on earth she was going to say. She was sick of saying the same things over and over, only to have them fall on deaf ears. How many times did she need to tell Damon she loved him before he'd actually believe that she wanted to be with him, no matter what?
Damon hadn't been completely wrong, though. He did hurt her - he had hurt her last night by walking away. He knew how broken she had been when he'd died, then, just a couple of weeks ago, when he'd taken his time coming back through the seal after their two weeks in hell. She knew it wasn't healthy, being so utterly dependent on another person, but she couldn't help it. Being separated from him was the thing Elena feared most and she was mad as hell at him for hurting her like that. Intentionally. That was the worst thing about it - it was his choice to walk away and leave her this time. He couldn't blame it on the seal and it wasn't some rescue mission gone wrong. He had chosen to leave her and that hurt more than anything, after everything they'd been through, all the insecurities he knew she worried about every day. He had promised never to leave her again and, once again, he had lied.
When Elena heard the soft click of the door opening then closing once again she stiffened, her small hands gripping tightly to her coffee cup. She heard him call her name, quietly but loud enough to carry through the empty house, and she could feel her stomach clench at the familiar sound. She didn't even know what he was here for: whether he wanted to make things better or if he'd just come back for his things, which were still hanging in cupboards in their room. His text had sounded ominous to say the least and she didn't have any idea what she could even say to him to make things seem right again. She was angry at him but she was also terrified that he still wanted to walk away. She didn't want to have this conversation. She just wanted to go back to the way things were. But she knew that couldn't happen. He was here now and they needed to talk so, quietly, Elena spoke, alerting Damon to her whereabouts in the house.