And it came back, of course, to each one wanting to protect the other. Stefan might be more than a hundred years old, but Elena wasn't certain he would be able to take on Klaus. For all that he'd dismissed the fear she'd voiced earlier, he wasn't invincible.
"I don't want you hurt either," she murmured, arms winding around him in a tight hug. She shook her head at his question, though. "I'm fine. I don't need anything else right now."