I had this idea in my head, and I just had to write it. There's not too much action in this chapter, but expect a lot more soon. I'm going to be cranking this one out along with my other stories, but I'll try to give you a chapter every two weeks, probably sooner than that since summer session doesn't start until June 9. Hope you enjoy it so far, please review if you have any constructive criticism.

"I'm not quite sure what to do."

A blonde girl was leaning negligently across the balcony railing looking down on the canals of Venice. She was dressed in a man's dress shirt and very little else. A lean dark-haired man dressed in nothing but jeans came over and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her silky hair.

"What do you mean?" he asked, the tone in his voice showing a slight impatience.

She turned around and pecked him on the lips. "Oh, Stefan, I know I keep saying this, and I can never explain it very well. But I love you for putting up with me."

Stefan gave her a half-smile and ran his hand through his hair, rumpling it even more. "As if there were any real choice."

Elena tilted her head to the side, her dark blue eyes meeting his green ones and then she sighed, "I don't exist anymore. Officially I'm dead and buried in a graveyard in Virginia. I can't even finish school or get a job. I'm lucky you can at least take care of me, but I want to do something!"

He studied her for a moment before answering, "And you miss your home."

"And I miss my home," she said, bowing her head.

Stefan brushed back the silken curtain of hair and tilted her head up. "We can go home. I can make everyone forget, it's been a year, and you know Damon has some rather unsavory connections in the ID business."

"Damon has some rather unsavory connections in every business," Elena said wryly with a smile to match.

"And you've started to lose your accent and pick up a more European sound."

"Grazie."

He rolled his eyes at her mangled Italian and said, "We could pass you off as a foreign exchange student. You could live with Bonnie and finish your senior year off. It wouldn't be that bad."

She thought for a moment, chewing on her lower lip before nodding. "Then with my new ID and my new diploma then I could do something useful with my life." She kissed him quickly then said, "Not that I don't lounging around in your arms all day." She gave him a gentle shove on his bare shoulder. "Now go get dressed! You're giving all the American tourists a thrill."

"You're in my shirt," he said, with a laugh and scooping her up in his arms.

"Then I guess you're just going to have to get me out of it, won't you," she said, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.

He didn't answer he just kissed her as he carried her inside and then dumped her on the bed as she squealed.

/

That had been a week ago; Elena was now nervously standing outside her old high school. She'd had a joyful reunion with Bonnie and Meredith, but now it was time to get on with her life.

Stefan had already used his Powers to get her registered for classes, and thanks to Damon's underworld friends, she now had the identification of an Italian foreign exchange student. Stefan was again passing as a new student, and he could take care of anyone who recognized him before, but she had to be different enough that she could convince everyone she just happened to look like a dead girl.

She sighed as she walked to the doors, glancing over her shoulder at where a group of seniors – guys and girls – were staring at her and she was reminded of her old group. Her and Caroline always fighting for the throne of the school.

Elena ignored the curious looks and headed inside and went straight to the office where she showed her ID and received her schedule in return. Her first class was Latin, and she wasn't anymore thrilled about it now.

She was only a few minutes late and she opened the door to the classroom hoping to be able to sneak in quietly beside Stefan who was already seated, but the teacher looked up and did a double take when he saw her, but his face went blank after a moment. The recognition that had been in his eyes before disappeared – Stefan must have already taken care of it.

She slid into an empty seat beside him and smiled gratefully at him, just as the girl next to her tossed a folded piece of paper on her desk. Raising an eyebrow she unfolded it.

Who are you?

Elena glanced around to see if anyone would claim credit for the note, but no one did. So she crumbled it up and gave her attention to the teacher.

/

Stefan loved Elena. A lot. That was the only reason that he would put himself back through the hell of high school and all of the humans and their thoughts crowding into his mind. But he could, as always, sense her burning brighter than the rest – and she seemed happy.

It was lunchtime, and he found himself heading outside and sitting under a tree and surveying the students as they milled around. He was lost in thought which allowed someone to come up on him unnoticed.

"Hey," a female figure said, dropping down next to him.

He glanced over at the girl, she had straight dark hair and clear green eyes, and she was smiling at him, as if trying to entice him. He didn't say anything, just nodded. But that didn't put her off.

"You're new, and so I figured you wouldn't know too many people, so I wanted to come over and introduce myself," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm Melissa."

Stefan's ingrained manners wouldn't let him completely ignore her when she was talking directly to him so he answered her briefly, "Stefan."

Melissa took his introduction as an invitation to make herself comfortable, so she started rattling away talking to him, and he tuned her out somewhat, trying to sense Elena.

"So listen, a bunch of us are getting together after school at this diner down the road, you want to come?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

He absentmindedly agreed, just as Elena walked up, and smiled at him.

"This is cozy," she said, flashing the smile on the new girl who stood up quickly and gave her a haughty look.

"It was, so why don't you go someplace else, while we finish talking?" Melissa had apparently staked her claim on Stefan, who in his obliviousness hadn't done anything to dissuade her of the idea.

Elena laughed and dropped down next to Stefan, who gave her a grateful smile as she grabbed his hand and squeezed. "Oh but then I can't hear you hitting on Stefan from over there."

"I see," Melissa said coolly. "I guess I'll be leaving."

"Guess so," Elena said, turning her attention to Stefan, laying her head on his shoulder and watching the girl walk off in a huff.

"Well that wasn't very nice," Stefan commented mildly, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"When have you known me to be very nice?" was her dry reply.

Elena and Stefan watched as two girls walk up to them. The shorter of the two reminded her of Meredith, she seemed very calm and composed and very cool. The taller girl was bubbly and full of energy. Without asking they sat down in front of them.

"I saw Melissa walk off from here and she seemed upset," the shorter girl said, tossing blonde hair over her shoulder.

"She found out something she didn't want to know," was Elena's cool reply.

Both of the girls laughed at that, and the taller girl said, "Thank God someone finally gave her what she had coming to her. I'm Liz by the way. And this is Brandy. We just came over here out of curiousity really, because of the Melissa thing, but also because you're new."

Elena smiled, she liked the girls already, they reminded her of Bonnie and Meredith and she introduced herself and Stefan. "We're from Venice," she said. "Student exchange."

"Then it looks like you're going to need tour guides. Come on school's almost out, let's blow off the rest of classes and hit the town," Liz said, standing up and grabbing at Elena's hands.

"Why not?" Elena asked with a laugh. "What could go wrong?"