Hello boys and girls. So, this is my version of what happens after the season finale. You don't necessarily have to have watched it, but I assume you have since mainly total VD-lovers hang out at this particular part of . Anyways, my fiction starts about a month after the finale and Stefan is, as you've probably expected, away with Klaus some place.

As the ones of you that's followed my earlier fictions may have noticed, I have big trouble finishing my stories, but I'm pretty sure I'll keep writing on this 'til season 3 finally starts. Telling me what you think will certainly not slow down the process, if you know what I mean. ;) And please don't hesitate to tell me what your ideas and stuff!

And of course, the disclaiming: I do not own everything related to the show (or the books for that matter) but my own ideas and thoughts. I have and will never wish to take any credit for the great job that the writers and all have been doing. But if you do sue me, I will probably stop watching...

So...! Enough talking. Enjoy the story.

She went to sit in the big, red armchair. She got up again. She paced back and forth across the floor. She sat down on the large and comfortable-looking bed. She noticed the big, red satins on the carpet and was up again. She paced around the room panicky until she realized she had to calm down and once again went to sit in the chair, knees pulled up to her chest and embraced by her arms, while taking deep breaths. She forced herself to stay there, just rocking slightly back and forth. Then, still completely unprepared, she heard his voice.

"Hello Elena."

He was standing there, right across the room in front of her and she flew out of the chair, overwhelmed to see he him, see that he was still him – what had she expected? Tentacles? She kept flying, across the room towards him and his beautiful arms and their safe embrace. But when she noticed, after just a few steps, that he hadn't made a single move towards her or towards embracing her back, she stopped dead. She just stared at him, bewildered. It was first now she took time to actually look at him. And he wasn't the same. His face were dark, hostile. Defensive. It was something very wrong with his eyes. They were not the one's of her Stefan. They were hard and cold and under them were few veins just now expanding and becoming very visible to the human eye. He was thirsty. His body was rigid, tensed.

She also just now took time to take in the tone of his voice as he'd greeted her. It hadn't been as it should've. It hadn't been happy or relieved or anything like that. It had been... Hard. As the rest of him.

"You're not happy to see me." It wasn't at all what she had planned to say, but the words escaped her lips before she could stop them.

She searched in his eyes for anything, a change as her sad words hit him, but nothing. He didn't ever respond to her statement, just said:

"Did Bonnie help you find me?" He sounded as if he was rather bored, as if he was just airily interested and didn't really care about her answer.

"No."

"Damon?"

She shook her head. "No."

"So nobody knows you're here?"

She shook her head again.

The shadow of a smile played on his lips. It wasn't a real smile though. It was a horrible smile, a mean smile. It wasn't happy. And it wasn't Stefan's.

"Oh, you really are stupid."

"I'm not afraid of you", she said calmly. She wasn't. She knew this wasn't him and she knew he was in there somewhere.

"You should be. Especially since I was just going out to grab some dinner."

She stared at him while the real meaning of his words sunk in.

"No", she whispered, unwilling to accept that he had turned on everything he'd believed in.

"Yes, Elena. Stop thinking the better of me. It's tiresome. This is who I am. This is my nature. So please stop mistaking me for the weak Stefan you use to know. You don't know me anymore. I don't care, Elena."

"That's Klaus words", she said stubbornly. She wanted so badly to be strong and certain when saying what she was about to, but there was nothing she could do to stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. "I know who you are, Stefan, who you really are. I know you care. You're always the Stefan I love, you just get separated from him sometimes. And I really need you back right now. Because everybody's disappearing." The tears now escaped her eyes and started running down her cheeks, a lot of them. She tried to ignore them tough they truly had a big impact on her words, that were now starting to flow out, becoming impossible to hold back. "My parents, John, Jenna... I miss her so much, Stefan. And it's all my fault. And I don't know how to get through it without you holding my hand. But you're gone too. And I can't handle that. Not you." She looked at him through the fog of her tears, trying not to sob, and failing. "And I thought that if I could just find you and you could just see me, you'd remember. And we could finally start planning how to take Klaus down."

She closed the distance between them with a few, quick steps. She was right in front of him now, so close. She raised her hand to touch his cheek.

"I love you, Stefan", she whispered. "I always will. And I'll never be afraid of you. Ever."

She gasped as her back suddenly slammed into the wall that recently had been about fifteen feet behind her and Stefan was still in front of her, pinning her to it.

"Let me make this very clear for you", he hissed. "If either one of you will want to try taking Klaus down, you'll have to take me first. I'm not coming back, Elena, and your family issues is honestly not my problem. I would recommend you leaving instantly since I still haven't eaten and have gotten really hungry by now. ...And since you really do smell nice." He released her, making her free to go.

She stared up at him, refusing to show any sign of fear. Her cheeks were wet but she wasn't crying anymore.

"Why?" she said fiercely.

He sighed, tired, as if she was a stupid kid who didn't make any sense at all.

"Why what?"

"Why do you recommend me to leave? Why don't you just kill me right here on the spot? Nobody knows I'm here. If you really don't care... do it. I'm tired anyway. I really am." Did she just imagine the small change in his eyes at the end of her challenge? It was gone so fast she doubted it had ever been there.

He just sighed again. "Believe me, Elena, I would. But if I do Bonnie will find out it was me and I'm really not in the mood for having a powerful witch, a vampire hunter and a Damon after me right now. I doubt it's worth it."

"Oh, I think it is", she said, letting out a deep breath and showering his face with her warm scent. "And who cares, really? You're with Klaus. You could easily kill them off."

He leaned really close then, a completely terrifying expression on his face. "I swear to god, Elena", he growled, "if you don't leave here right this second, I will kill you."

She just stared at him with disbelief. "What are you doing, Stefan? Why won't you let me in? If you really want to kill me, just do it. Prove to me that you truly don't care anymore. Do it, Stefan. Kill me."

"Yeah, Stefan", a voice said from the doorway. It was the voice, the european accented voice that Elena hated above all other voices.

"Just do it", Klaus said and Elena could almost see as her plan fell to the ground, shattering into a million pieces.