This is going to me my first multi chaptered FF (the chapters are not going to be long, it's usually between 1500 and 2000 words)
Please be nice and patient with me. I'll try to upload it at least once or twice a week.
Oh, and just for the record, English is not my native language so If you see an error here or there please bear with me.

He's halfway through Atlanta when he gets a call from Damon "Where the hell are you, baby bro?"
He sighs because he knows this is the hard part. He told them multiple times that he was leaving but they never took him seriously.
So, a couple days ago he just packed a bag and started driving. Away from Damon, Away from Elena, away from Mystic falls. He has only told Caroline that he was leaving and he made her swear to secrecy.

"Not at home" He casually replies and he hears a diabolical laugh on the other side of the line" No shit, like we haven't figured that one out already. Seriously Stef, where are you?" He isn't in the mood for a game right now so he decides to be blatantly honest and be done with it "I'm crossing Huntsville Tennessee"
He hears a cry on the other end of the line and he assumes that Damon has him on speakerphone and it just now resonates with Elena that he really did leave. "Stefan Salvatore, what the hell are you doing? Get your but back here!" He has to stifle a laugh because this is just so typical Damon behavior. Thinking that because he says so that he is going to turn his car around and just come back

"No can do Damon, for weeks I've been telling you that I was going to leave. Not my problem you didn't take me seriously. I hope you have a good life Damon, stay safe" He is about to hang up the phone when he hears a yell and some rustling with the phone and then he hears it, her voice.

"Please tell me your joking Stefan and you're not actually gone" Her voice cuts through him like a million tiny little knives and he knows that this is actually the hardest part "I'm sorry Elena, if you go upstairs into your room there's a letter for you there to explain everything.
I really am truly sorry but I can't do this anymore" She swallows back her tears and he knows that he's about the get an earful "You can't do this anymore? What the hell can't you do anymore Stefan? You just pulled me back from the darkest place imaginable and now that I'm back you just up and run? I seriously can't believe you would do this to me"

He knows it's the hurt talking right now and she clearly doesn't understand his motives but he's just to tired of all of this to start a fight. "Elena, I'm sorry. I can't do this. Read the letter and be happy. I will always love you, don't forget that.
Goodbye" He hangs up the phone before she gets a change to get a word in and he turns it of completely.
There isn't anybody he wants to talk to for the next couple hours until he finds a hotel for the night where he can just let this entire situation sink in.
He really did it, he left. He didn't really think he would have it in him to leave all of his friends and loved ones but he did. And now he has to contemplate on what to do next.
Where does he go from here?

XXXXXXX
She can't believe he's really gone. She knows he talked about it multiple times but she never really thought he would just up and leave her alone, with Damon of all people.
Doesn't he know how much she doesn't want to be around Damon right now? What the hell was he thinking leaving her like that?
She knows they haven't talked that much for the last couple weeks and she knows that maybe she should have told him how she felt but she was just so completely overwhelmed with all the suppressed feelings that came running back.
She runs upstairs to his room and locks it behind her; she doesn't want anyone disturbing her while she silently cries in his room.
When she looks around she notices that everything is still as he left it other than the fact that all of his clothes are gone and there's nothing on the walls anymore. Those walls used to be covered with pictures of them. She asks herself if he took them down months ago when she betrayed him or if he had taken some of them with him. She hopes it's the latter.
Then she remembers that he told her that there was a letter for her in her room and so she runs to her room and fair enough, on her pillow there's a white envelope with Elena neatly written on it.
She makes herself comfortable on her bed and with shaky fingers she opens it.

My dearest Elena,

I know you're probably hurt right now that I left without saying goodbye and I'm sorry for that. I just couldn't. This is the best thing for all of us and I know if I told you guys that I was really going you were going to try and stop me and I have to do this. Please know that me leaving has nothing to do with not loving you anymore because if there's one thing I've learned from all of this it's that I'll forever be deeply and madly in love with you, Elena Gilbert. And that is one of the reasons why I have to go.
When we first started dating I told myself that I wasn't going to let history repeat itself when you where concerned and somewhere along the line it did happen. I can't blame Damon for falling in love with you and I can't blame you for loving him in return because I practically drove you in his arms. That is something I will never forgive myself for. Just know that I truly hope that you are happy and in time you can forgive me for leaving. I can't promise that we will meet again soon but we'll meet again someday. When all of this is said and done and I have established a life of my own maybe I can come back to you guys. But, not right now. It hurts too much to see you with my brother. It's a walking reminder of how badly I screwed up things with you. Please don't contact me, I'll contact you when I'm ready.
All my love,

Stefan

The tears just kept pouring, she couldn't stop shaking. It was official, Stefan was gone, she drove him over the edge one too many times and he just couldn't take it anymore.
The hardest part was that he left thinking that she was in love with Damon and she never got to set the record straight about that.
Sure, she had feelings for Damon but those feelings where nothing more than compassion and an understanding between the two of them.
She could never ever love Damon the way she loved Stefan and now she would never be able to tell him that. It felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest and stomped on, she felt emotionally drained and it took all of her power not to flip her humanity again.
At least without her humanity she wouldn't have to feel anything if she didn't want to.
But, she knew that wasn't the way to go.
Stefan wouldn't want that for her, they had spent the better half of last year trying to get her to flip her humanity back on and now that she had it and worked through most of her issues she wasn't going to flip it again.
It did hurt like hell though knowing that Stefan left for good this time and that there was nothing she could do about it.
She just knew she needed someone to confide in right now and thank god for Caroline.
Caroline had been wonderful to her after the whole non humanity debacle and they were back to being very good friends. She was also Stefan's best friend and if anyone knew what his thoughts where and how she could contact him it would be her.

XXXXXX

"Caroline, please. You don't understand. He thinks I'm in love with Damon" Elena had tried for the better part of an hour to get Caroline to fess up where Stefan was going but she wasn't cracking

"I understand perfectly, Elena. Trust me. I was there. I'm just saying that you need to give Stefan the space he needs right now" Caroline wasn't about to tell Elena that she also had no idea where Stefan was going. He just told her he was leaving, gave him his new cell phone number and left

"Car, please. I need to talk to him. I don't want to convince him to come back. I get that he needs time alone, I get that, I really do. I just need to talk to him. Please" Elena was getting desperate; she knew that Caroline had to have some kind of way of contacting Stefan. He would never leave without leaving some sort of way to contact him in case of emergency.

"Elena, sweety. Didn't he tell you not to contact him in his letter to you?" To say that Elena was surprised that Caroline knew about the letter was an understatement. It made her wonder how much she actually knew

"Caroline! Just give me his damn phone number so I can at least sent him a text telling him that I read the letter and that I'm truly sorry"
She was getting really impatient now and as a relative new vampire she still didn't really know how to channel all of her emotions

"I tell you what. Just write down on a piece of paper what you want to say to him and I'll make sure he gets it"
There was no way that Caroline was going to betray Stefan by giving Elena his number. She knew that his number would somehow end up in Damon's hands and that was something neither of them needed.
Feeling that she wasn't going to get any further with Caroline on this, Elena relented.

"Fine. Just tell him that I read the letter, that I'm sorry and I really need to talk to him and that I love him, okay?"
Caroline typed a quick message to Stefan with what Elena just told her

"There, all done. Anything else Madam Gilbert?"
Elena had to laugh at the new nickname Caroline gave her a couple months ago. She shook her head and gave her a quick hug goodbye but not before making her promise that when she hears from Stefan that Elena would be the first to know.

"Jeah, jeah. Now go!"

Caroline had to really admire the way Elena was handling this having her humanity back thing and now Stefan leaving.
She knows it's not going to be easy and maybe it hasn't fully sunk in yet because he hasn't been gone for that long but she knows that Elena needs all of the friends she can get right now so she decides to call Bonnie and Matt to tell her what happened.
She knows Stefan wouldn't mind her telling them because he's halfway across the country right about now and considering the fact that Damon and Elena already know it will only be a matter of time before everyone else finds out.
They might as well hear it from her first.

Staring up at the sealing of his cheep hotel room the thoughts creep up on him.
He still can't believe he actually left Mystic Falls.
He thinks about how long it would take for Elena and Damon to have a search party looking for him. His phone beeps and he sees the incoming text message from Caroline.

Hi boo, Elena just left. She wanted you to know she got the letter; she's sorry and really wants to talk to you. Oh, and she loves you. How ya holding up? Love Car

He doesn't understand why Elena would say that she loves him when she's with Damon but he's grateful that Elena didn't pester Caroline to much about his number.
Before replying to Caroline he writes a quick anonymous text to Elena.

Thanks 'Lena. I know we need to talk but I can't. Not right now. Give me some time please. Xo Stefan

Not a minute later he gets a text back

I'll give you all the time in the world, Stef. Just know I love you. Don't ever forget that

Okay, another I love you, he doesn't understand what that is all about so he replies with a quick thank you and puts his phone away.
That night he dreams of her, of them, together and happy.
It's one of the best dreams he's had in a while and it's been a long time since he has slept through the night.
Maybe it's because he's away from home and doesn't have to worry about her 24/7 that he has slept like a baby but the next morning he feels as rested and refreshed as ever.

The next couple days go by in a blur, he gets through Tennessee pretty quickly and he still doesn't have a plan as to where it is that he's going and where it is that he wants to start his new life.
He realizes that he can practically do it anywhere he pleases because nobody has probably ever heard of Stefan Salvatore outside of Mystic Falls.
He smiles at that thought and pulls off at the nearest exit and looks for the nicest foreclosure in town. When he sees a nice elderly woman walking down the street he decides to stop her and ask her what day it is.

"It's Thursday August 27th dear" She says with the sweetest voice.
Stefan smiles and thanks her. When she sees that he only has a single backpack in his hand and starts walking towards a big old empty house she turns around.

"Nobody lives there anymore, sweety. It's been empty for about two years now" Stefan turns around and smiles at the lady "I know, miss. It belonged to my great grandfather. He passed away a couple of years ago and left this property to me. It has been in my possession for a while and I thought I would check it out"
The lady smiled again and started walking towards him "Oh, I didn't know that. I'm Miss Daisy. I live across the street. If you ever need anything just knock my dear" Stefan instantly felt like he was going to like it here so he extended his hand to Miss Daisy, said a quick goodbye and see you soon and entered the house.

It sure was a nice house and by the looks of it way too big for just one person.
His thoughts automatically flickered back to Elena and he sighed, it was going to take a little time to get her out of his day to day thoughts.

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