[Elena doesn't want to just let that be that. It's over-simplifying everything that he's ever meant to her. Just because he's different doesn't mean that all goes away or that she wants it to. After all, he never knew her and yet he had been one of the ones who fought the hardest to make her see that the girl she had been was still in there somewhere. She has to believe the same is true for him.]
[But is he even ready to believe that? Looking at him right now, she doesn't think so. It's possibly that it's just selfish of her to want to believe that instead of trying to accept who he is now and not who he was. But it's also possible that giving into what he wants, telling him that everything is different and it can never be what it was would be taking ten steps backwards. Which is the right way to go with this? Which is best for him and what's best for her?]
[She can't even work this out for herself. She can feel her stomach twisting itself into knots and blinks back a sting in her eyes. How can she work this out in front of him right now while all of this is still sinking in. Elena looks down the hall over his shoulder, purses her lips, and swallows the lump in her throat before she can nod. She has to force her voice to be even. Soft, but even.]
Fine. Yeah. Straight.
[She gets about six steps past him, willing to just let the conversation lie and try to process this, before she stops and turns around.]
Dean, I'm not going to just go away. You know that, right? I can...I can try not to think of you the way I did before, but I can't just walk away. And I'm not going to.
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[But is he even ready to believe that? Looking at him right now, she doesn't think so. It's possibly that it's just selfish of her to want to believe that instead of trying to accept who he is now and not who he was. But it's also possible that giving into what he wants, telling him that everything is different and it can never be what it was would be taking ten steps backwards. Which is the right way to go with this? Which is best for him and what's best for her?]
[She can't even work this out for herself. She can feel her stomach twisting itself into knots and blinks back a sting in her eyes. How can she work this out in front of him right now while all of this is still sinking in. Elena looks down the hall over his shoulder, purses her lips, and swallows the lump in her throat before she can nod. She has to force her voice to be even. Soft, but even.]
Fine. Yeah. Straight.
[She gets about six steps past him, willing to just let the conversation lie and try to process this, before she stops and turns around.]
Dean, I'm not going to just go away. You know that, right? I can...I can try not to think of you the way I did before, but I can't just walk away. And I'm not going to.