I'm still watching that scene, over and over. You know the one. Technically, since it's split by a commercial break, I guess it's two scenes. I think I can stop watching -- long enough to write a recaplet, if you can stop, long enough to read one. Deal?

Since Klaus and Kol know Jeremy is in Colorado, someone has to bring him home. Stefan decides Elena and Damon should. He wants Elena to figure out her feelings for Damon. Meanwhile, Stefan will babysit Alaric and try to get his inner psycho killer to come out and play. They need to find where Evilaric stashed the last Son of White Oak stake before Klaus starts a bloody war.

This week's Event O' the Week is preparation for next week's Event O' the Week -- the annual decade dance. Caroline shows up in the MFHS gym, only to find Rebekah has usurped her, to the point of changing the theme decade from the 1970s to the 1920s. When Matt sides with Rebekah over her decade choice (admittedly, so do I), Caroline swans off, but it's all a ruse she worked out with Matty beforehand.

Tyler is back in town, and Caroline wants the day off from preparation so she can see him again. And see him she does. They quickly get nekkid in the old Lockwood dungeon, which would not be my first, second or tenth choice, no matter how much I missed my sweetie. Care Bear informs Tyler that when an Original dies, his whole vampyric bloodline dies, and that Damon so doesn't care about Tyler as long as the Fellowship of the Falls can off Klaus without offing the Salvatore/Forbes line. For a moment I wonder if Caroline stole the Son of White Oak stake, but nope.

The Caroline/Tyler plot ends with an off-screen Sheriff Liz inviting Tyler to crash at Fortress Forbes, provided he sleep on the couch. Tyler is disappointed but fine with that condition. What he's not fine with is realizing that Klaus has been drawing OMG CAROLINE + PONIES pictures. It feels a little contrived that just seeing one of Klaus's etchings would send Tyler off in a snit, but maybe it's a lupine pack hierarchy thing.

Since Tyler is only kinda pretty sure he's broken the sire bond, I'm just as glad he'll be out of Caroline's orbit. Seriously, while I wasn't (too) concerned about her getting snake and spider bites down in the Lockwood dungeon, I was deeply worried about her getting a hybrid love bite of death, because been there, done that, got the healing Original birthday blood with bonus grown up bracelet from Klaus.

Speaking of the Event O' the Week, after preparing for the dance, my Pudding Pop Matt drives Miss Rebekah back to Klaus Haus. Before she hops out of his truck, she questions his motives for being so nice to her. Pudding Pop plays it cool, and points out that she's a little too worked up over a ride home from school. When Rebekah gets home, she finds Esther, who claims to be dying. Rebekah is still bitter that mommy tried to kill her, like you are. Esther spouts some spiel about watching Rebekah for a thousand years through the good times and bad. She grabs hold of her daughter's hands, trembles and collapses to the floor. Seconds later, Klaus enters. Klaus believes Esther is dead, because he never watched Lost, and doesn't understand about Eloise Hawking like we do.

Klaus decides Stefan is taking too long getting Ric to unleash his inner psycho killer, so he arrives at Mossy Manse and breaks the ring-wearing Ric's neck just to speed things up a bit. So efficient, these Originals. Hours later, Alaric revives. He and Stefan have a heart to heart about their respective beasts within. The parallel is unforced and really quite lovely. It takes Stefan tapping into his own darkest place to awaken Evilaric. Once Evilaric is convinced Stefan is capable of killing him, he admits he hid the stake where no vampire can get it -- in that charmed cave chamber. Klaus and Rebekah arrive at Mossy Manse just in time to learn this. Really Salvatores, you've got to deed the house to another human, because this is just ridiculous. Rebekah grabs Evilaric and says she'll take him to the cave and force him to get the stake. Once Stefan is alone with Klaus, Klaus admits he hasn't yet killed Stefan because he still holds out hope that his old friend will emerge. Stefan's all, "Yeah, whatever. Stake me."

Out in Colorado, Damon and Elena find Jeremy at the batting cages. Damon cracks that next time he compels the Germ, he's going to have to throw in a little baseball mojo as gift with purchase. When Jeremy's new "friend" shows up, he turns out to be Kol. Kol takes a wooden baseball bat to Damon. It breaks, so he then grabs an aluminum bat. Damon grabs the broken wooden bat and stakes Kol. Yes, it's broad daylight, yet no one is around to notice this assault and (what would look to a mundane human like a) murder. I pray that the bat will turn out to be made of yet another Son of White Oak. That would be cool. The whole Fellowship of the Falls could sit around whittling down Louisville Sluggers, but no. Kol doesn't burst into flames and die. He does remain incapacitated long enough for Damon, Elena and Jeremy to hide out at a motel.

Damon and Elena want Jeremy to use his superpower to contact Rose and find out who turned her and is the originating Original of Salvatore/Forbes bloodline. There's some fun, light flirting attempts between both Damon and Ghost of Rose, which makes Jeremy uncomfortable, although not nearly as uncomfortable as Rose's admission that she's rooting for Damon and Elena. Suffice it to say, Germ glosses over some of what Ghost Rose says and sticks to the basics. Rose wasn't turned by an Original, but by one Mary Porter. Rose, who likes being dead, says she'll do some recon and report back.

After Jeremy is asleep, Elena is lying in bed half-awake when Damon comes back in the room. He's shirtless at first, but throws on a shirt and pours himself a drink. Elena watches him, and um... the way she watches him makes it quite plain she has plenty of feelings. I won't speculate as to where she's feeling those feelings, at least not in this recaplet. Damon realizes Elena is eying him, and lies down on top of her bed. During the confab with Rose, she learned about how Damon eased Rose's dying with his day-in-Paradise dreamscape. Elena wonders why he doesn't show his good side more often. Damon admits it's because if people (Elena) know he can be good, they (Elena) will expect him to be good. He then practically breaks into a rousing version of "I've Gotta Be Me." When he takes Elena's hand, it's all too much for our girl, who was already nearly hyperventilating. She hops out of bed and leaves the room. Damon finds her outside and tries to talk to her. Elena's not too forthcoming with words. What she is very forthcoming with are smoochies! Germ is visibly disturbed, when catches the two making out up against a wall, but manages to tell them that Rose has located Mary Porter in Kansas. Rose, for a Damon/Elena 'shipper -- your timing sucks.

When the trio gets to Kansas, they find Kol has already beaten them there, and has staked Scary Mary. He claims she was an Original groupie and says any of them could have turned her, but they'll never know which one. He then finishes his payback beat down of Damon (and throws Elena across the room, for good measure).

Once they're alone and Damon has hit the auto-reset button on his broken bones, he asks Elena what is up with the kissing and then the shying away, and well this trip and everything. Elena confesses that the trip was Stefan's idea -- to give Elena a chance to discover if she has feelings for Damon. Damon asks if she does. Elena stammers that she doesn't know. (Liar.) Every time they hit a bump, he lashes out and she can't take that. I have to watch again to be sure, but I think Damon's response means he's not going to lash out this time and make it easy for her. She's going to have to put on her big girl knickers and make the choice for herself. Fair enough.

On their ride home, Ghost of Rose pops into the backseat. She tells Germ not to tell the tense and silent Damon and Elena she's there. She then explains that while Stefan's love is pure and he will always be good for Elena, Damon can be good for Elena, too. There's more, but her point is that Damon is either going to turn out to be the best thing in the world for Elena, or the worst.

Meanwhile, back in the Falls, Rebekah and Evilaric arrive at the cave. She waits at the entrance to the No Vamps Allowed chamber until Evilaric retrieves the last Son of White Oak stake. Then she enters the chamber! Evilaric is so confused. I guess he never watched Lost, either. Just as Klaus possessed Alaric's body, Esther is possessing Rebekah's body. She introduces herself and points out that they have an awful lot in common. Dun dun dun.

I'll be back with the full weecap, ASAP. In the meantime, please grade the episode up top and join us in the forum, where we're pretty sure we've identified at least one of Elena's feelings for Damon.