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so wonderful to be home. I can't stop missing Damon and wishing we could have done something differently and saved him - and I wouldn't want to stop thinking of him -

but I can't help being happy, too.

Wait. She felt like someone had slammed on the brakes and she'd been thrown against a seat belt.

Though Elena was sending the words, and a huge wave of affection and love with them, toward Stefan, there was no response, no return of emotions. It was as if there were an invisible wal between her and Stefan, blocking her thoughts from reaching him.

"Elena?" Stefan said aloud, his smile faltering. Oh. She hadn't realized. She hadn't even thought about this.

When the Guardians took her powers, they must have taken everything. Including her telepathic connection to Stefan. It had lingered... She was sure she had stil heard him, and reached his mind, after she had lost her connection to Bonnie. But now it was gone completely. Leaning forward, she grasped his shirt, pul ed him to her, and kissed him fiercely.

Oh, thank God, she thought, as she felt the familiar, comforting sense of their minds entwining. Stefan's lips curled into a smile beneath hers.

I thought I'd lost you, she thought, that I wouldn't be able to reach you like this anymore, either. Unlike with the telepathic connection they'd shared, she knew the thoughts weren't reaching Stefan as words but as images and emotions. From him, she felt a wordless, steady stream of unfailing love.

A throat was cleared pointedly behind them. Elena reluctantly released Stefan and turned to see Aunt Judith watching them.

Stefan straightened with an embarrassed blush, the slightest look of apprehension in his eyes. Elena grinned. She loved that he'd been through hel - literal y - but was stil scared to upset Elena's aunt. She put her hand on his arm, trying to send a message that Aunt Judith now accepted their relationship, but Aunt Judith's warm smile and greeting said it for her.

"Hel o, Stefan. You'l be back by six, won't you, Elena?"

Aunt Judith asked. "Robert's got a late meeting, so I thought you, Margaret, and I could go out for a girls' night together." She looked hopeful yet hesitant, like someone knocking on a door that might be slammed in her face. Elena's stomach knotted with guilt. Have I been avoiding Aunt Judith this summer?

She could imagine that, if she hadn't died, she might have been eager to move on with her life and chafed at the family that wanted to keep her home and safe. But this Elena knew better - knew how lucky she was to have Aunt Judith and Robert. And it seemed that this Elena had a lot of making up to do.

"Sounds like fun!" she said cheerful y, pasting a bright smile on her face. "Can I invite Bonnie and Meredith?

They'd love a girls' night." And it would be nice, she thought, to have friends around who were as clueless about what had been going on in this version of Fel 's Church as she was.

"Wonderful," Aunt Judith said, looking happier and more relaxed. "Have a good time, kids."

As Elena headed out the door, Margaret ran out of the kitchen. "Elena!" she said, wrapping her arms tightly around Elena's waist. Elena bent and kissed the top of her head.

"I'l catch you later, bunny rabbit," she said. Margaret motioned for Elena and Stefan to kneel down, then put her lips right next to their ears. "Don't forget to come back this time," she whispered before retreating inside.

For a moment, Elena just knelt there, frozen. Stefan squeezed her hand, pul ing her up, and even without their telepathic connection, she knew they were having the same thought.

As they headed away from the house, Stefan took her by the shoulders. His green eyes gazed into hers, and he bent forward to brush a light kiss upon her lips.

"Margaret's a little girl," he said firmly. "It could just be that she doesn't want her big sister to leave. Maybe she's worried about you going off to col ege."

"Maybe," Elena murmured as Stefan wrapped his arms around her. She inhaled his green, woodsy scent and felt her breathing slow and the knot in her stomach loosen.

"And if not," she said slowly, "we'l work it out. We always do. But right now I want to see what the Guardians gave us."

Chapter 4

It was the little changes that surprised Elena the most. She had expected the Guardians to bring Fel 's