As the sixth season of "The Vampire Diaries" draws near to a close, so does our time with Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert (and Katherine Pierce and Amara). *Insert sob face emoji here.*

The show's going to be down one doppelganger after this season is over, which means... well, we actually don't really know yet.

For years, Elena's Salvatore-surfing, Cure-chasing, self-sacrificing, and envy-inducing mug has been our Mystic Falls mainstay. And though we might love the other peeps around town -- both alive and undead -- it's going to be super sad, not to mention weird, to see her go.

So until that happens, we're just going to have to soak up all the Elena sunshine "TVD" has to offer. Luckily, in Thursday's (April 16) new episode -- titled "Could Never Love Like That" because bloodsuckery is such sappy business -- there was plenty Elena to fawn over.

Huzzah towel time!

First of all, it's clear Team Delena will be getting some extra on-screen affection to make up for the impending lack of lusty time after Nina's exit.

As an early teaser for the eve, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and his/our main squeeze treated everyone to a little steamy post-shower tease, which ... yum. Seriously, what will we do without this stuff, guys?!

Then the mom came in and stirred s--t up for real.

Damon's mom Lily is straight up T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Which is saying a lot, given the caliber of baddies that have made their way through town over the past six years.

Lily might've missed out on the past, oh, century or so of her kid's life, but she still knows him well enough to punch all the right buttons. She just so happened to overhear that Damon's got a vial of the Cure hidden away, which is actually kind of effed up when you think about it. She then uses that fun factoid to be eggs-tra mother-in-lawish to Elena over breakfast, getting her to admit that, yes, she does still think about a life less fangy from time to time. This, of course, gives Lily tons of ammo with which to torture the elder Son Salvatore later on.

On a side note: Elena's little head bob? EVERYTHING.

Oh, and Elena was once again the Good Samaritan. Because of course.

Oh, Elena. How we will miss thee so.

Unlike some people, Elena is still firmly planted in the "With Humanity" square of vampirism, so of course she's at ground zero when the washes of Stefaline the Terrible victims start pouring in at the hospital. Our heroine is, as (almost) always, right there in the thick of all the people-saving, her own bloodlust be damned. Sigh.

And she totally kept a brave face. Again.

Yes, that would be the same Alaric who recently rejoined the realm of mortality himself. If Elena wasn't already thinking about turning her efforts back to the Cure, Jo's news surely did the trick, right?

Like any mannered gal, though, Elena offered her heartfelt congratulations and saved her confessions of jealousy to herself until she talked to her boyf. As one does.

But then that turned into a whole other thing, too.

Because now Damon has to decide whether to spill the beans about his little present. When Elena went on about how she always wanted a family but now she can't have one, he almost lost it. But then she capped it with a note about how life with him will be just as dreamy, and bam -- we're back to immortal indecision. Dun dun dun!

Meanwhile, how about Enzo?

Did you notice how freaked out Enzo was when he came face to face with Miss Lily? Yeah, so it turns out she's his maker because 1903 was a cruel year with nasty diseases like consumption wiping out the masses. After finding out there would be no hope with traditional remedies, Enzo was offered a new life -- or rather, undeath.

It's a small netherworld after all.

Lily is straight up MEAN.

Speaking of Mommy Dearest, Damon and Lily got a little alone time to hash things out. Though there were some cutesy moments like Damon explaining how he is "in the love" with Elena, the business of the eve was mostly serious stuff like her explaining to him that she essentially cut him out of her heart and can't make herself have mom-ish feelings for him anymore. WTF?! Ouch.

There was also all that front and back stabbery courtesy of Caroline.

Speaking of painful, Stefan and Caroline basically spent the whole show picking on poor townspeople over at Whitmore. Now that they're a pair of humanity-deprived bloodhounds, the world is their delicious, Type O oyster. Even if Caroline does like to take breaks from all the student slaughtering to blare Pat Benatar, she's still one sinister sister. Enter Tyler and Matt, her ex-beaus, to raise the stakes -- literally. Tyler gets legit tricked into stabbing Matt right in the gut, which delights the terror twins to no end.

And instead of being reintroduced to her humanity switch by way of Stefan's reacquaintance with Ripper Mom, Caroline cuts (by way of a stake to Stefan's back) and runs.

Guess that's three for three, right?

In conclusion: Mom's no angel.

Far from, as a matter of fact.

Coached word for word by Damon, Ripper Lily is actually able to convince Stefan she was his savior angel (cue the sappy music) and coaxes him out of his fury funk. At least for now. But she's up to no good, you guys. The ascendant device is going to bring a new evil to the realms of Mystic Falls -- just what we needed, right? They're called heretics this time, and they're Lily's half-vampire, half-witch concoction. And there are a half dozen of them, by the way. Grrrrrreat.

Next up: It looks like Elena's going to find out about Stefan and Caroline getting busy, which probably means the Nina Dobrev-ness will be on full cute tilt next week. Yes!