There’s a lot that happened in that moment, and season 3 is gonna be about exploring what it means to her, what it means to Damon, and certainly what it means to the Damon-Elena-Stefan relationship.
It felt very much that it was earned for Damon to finally get some kind of acceptance and compassion and reciprocation to the feelings he’s made very clear. He needed it, and Elena (Nina Dobrev) needed to give it to him.