Wondering who it was, Stefan opened the door. His heart leapt when he saw Elena (making him feel slightly foolish.)
"Hi," she said. He gave her a smile which made her feel faint. Man, he was hot!
"Would you like to come in?" he asked, his voice sounding like music.
She pointed behind her. "The comet's actually this way." She backed off the doorstep towards the driveway. Stefan followed her...almost entranced.
"Sorry for barging in," she apologised, "especially after..."
"No, no," Stefan assured her. "I'm glad you're here. Where we left things...'didn't like it."
There was a small silence between them and finally, Elena spoke up. "The thing is, I got home tonight, planning on doing what I always do, write in my diary like I have when my mom gave me one when I was ten. Everything I'm feeling, all goes in this little book that I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid." She saw a smile on Stefan's face which reassured her that he wasn't thinking she was completely crazy. So she continued. "But then I realised that I'd just be writing things I should probably be telling." Stefan curiously looked into her brown eyes. "What would you write?" he asked.
Elena took a deep breath and turned to face the comet. "I would write...Dear Diary," she chuckled slightly and Stefan did too.
"Today I convinced myself that it's okay to give up. Don't take risks, stick with the status quo, no drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth and the truth is," Suddenly, she wasn't recounting a diary entry anymore. She was talking to him. "The truth is...I'm scared Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for one moment that the world's just gonna come crashing down and I don't know if I can survive that." She stopped, looking up at him. He didn't say anything for a moment and then he said "Do you want to know what I'd write?"
She nodded.
"I met a girl," he said. "We talked. It was epic. Then the sun came up and reality set in." He couldn't help but smile at her grinning face. "All this was reality. Right here." He found himself looking straight into her eyes...closer and closer until their lips met. After a moment, the two broke apart. They looked at each other for a moment before Stefan kissed her again. They broke apart again and inside, Stefan ticked off the third thing on his checklist.
Return to Mystic Falls.
Meet Elena.
Fall in love with her.
Stefan smiled, brushing a strand of hair away from Elena's face. She definitely was not Katherine.