The Question

It was a couple of days before Elena realized she was obsessing over it – the dream or vision or memory. She was still not sure what to call it, but she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Carly," she said into her phone, before she heard the alarm. She was too close to the set, and filming was about to start.

"What?" came the reply from her sister. When Elena didn't immediately respond, she heard "El?" from her phone.

"Shhh," Elena risked hissing into the phone as she walked. It was a minute or so before the actress decided she was far enough away from set to continue the discussion.

"OK, now we can talk," she said.

"About Charlie Montrose?" Carly asked dismissively.

"Charles," Elena corrected. "And no. I just needed to tell someone. I thought it could be you."

"Tell me about him, and then not let me talk about him?"

Elena sighed. "I don't know. It…it kind of bothers me."

"You had a bad dream…" Carly began.

"No," the actress interrupted. "I don't think it was a dream."

"So what do you think?" Carly asked. When Elena didn't immediately respond, she continued, "Message from your soul mate?"

Elena released a breath. "I don't know…"

"El, what are you doing? You already have what every girl wants."

"What do you mean?" the actress asked, genuinely confused.

"Stefan Salvatore! Do you know what I would give to have Stefan Salvatore?"

"You have Rick," Elena countered, still not quite sure of her sister's point.

"Yeah. I have Rick, and you have Stefan Salvatore. Surely you see the difference."

Elena finally understood. "I know, Carls. Stefan is handsome and…"

"And famous, probably rich. I'd give anything to have him."

"Even give up Rick?" Elena asked.

"Get Stefan to pop 'the question' to me. You'll see."

Elena sighed into her phone. "No one's getting married, Carls. Especially not me, not for awhile, anyway. And Stefan and I are fine, thank you very much."

"Marriage, kids. Trips to wherever he goes. I'm game, any time you want to dump him."

"Carls, please."

"Fine," Carly said. "So you two are good – marriage, kids, and what-not are all in your future."

"I still don't know about kids." Elena answered. She wasn't sure she wanted children, but it wasn't really something that she wanted to discuss with her sister. "And I'm not even thinking about marr…"

"I know." Carly interrupted. "I get it – you're fine with where you two are. And yet, you call me about some guy named Charlie."

"I didn't call about…"

"And, even though I listen carefully to everything you say, I'm not allowed to talk about him. Fine. Do you know what you need? You need a diary."

"Diary?"

"Diary," Carly confirmed emphatically. "You can tell it your every thought, and it won't try to give you valuable feedback."

"Diary," Elena repeated. "That's not a bad ide…" She cut herself off as she felt her phone vibrate. "Gotta go, Carls. Thanks."

"Sure. And if you want Stefan to pop the question to me…" Elena only heard it in the back of her mind as she was disconnecting and heading back to set.

First Entry

"My name is Elena Gilbert," Elena wrote. "I am 24 years old."

She had no idea how to start the diary she had purchased on her way home. She hadn't kept anything like a diary for years – nothing like this, anyway. She had a journal she kept, mostly it related to her acting. This was different.

'If nothing else,' she thought, 'maybe this will help the shrinks when I'm committed.'

"Something happened a couple of days ago," she wrote. "I don't know what it was, but maybe writing it down will get it off my mind."

Elena wasn't sure she believed that, but the memory (or whatever) was bothering her. Calling Carly hadn't helped, so she was willing to give this a shot.

St Louis

"I wish I could have seen more of what he wrote on the paper." She wrote this line, the last line in her diary entry, without much thought. As she closed the journal, turned out the light, and went to bed, she realized it was true. If she had more than a name, she could…

'I could what?' she thought as she moved to get herself comfortable. 'Find him? Confirm that he's real? What?'

She lay in bed wondering if writing just before trying to sleep had been such a good idea. Her eyes were closed, she was controlling her breathing, but she wasn't relaxing. Her mind was still obsessing over Charles Montrose.

It was then that the scene entered her mind. She wondered if she was dreaming, then realized that she would not be wondering that if she really was dreaming. She let the scene flow before her and tried to pay attention.

She was in a room she didn't recognize, but it had a bed and a dresser. Those were the things she noticed. Then she realized she was undressing – removing the dress she had been wearing in her earlier vision.

She found the folded slip of paper just under the too high neckline when it became loose enough for her to feel it. She wondered how she had managed to put it there, everything on the dress had seemed so tight before. Before doing anything else to remove the dress, she pulled the paper out and opened it.

She was, at first, fascinated by the beautiful script used to write the note. Then she forced herself to pay attention to the words.

"Charles Montrose

298 N. 2d

St. Louis

Remember the woods. You found me."

She watched herself as she moved to the dresser and slipped the small piece of paper into a drawer.

As she watched herself resume the removal of the dress, she realized that this was what she wanted – the rest of the words. She opened her eyes and looked into the dark of her bedroom – her modern bedroom. Though the memory was still clearly in her mind, she found it difficult to force herself to rise and open the diary again.

As she turned on the lamp over her small desk, she glanced at her alarm clock. It was nearly 3 AM. Hours had passed since she closed the diary.

Elena shook herself and opened the diary. "Charles Montrose," she wrote. Then she was able to write the rest without thinking. "298 N 2nd, St. Louis"

Starbucks

She was in makeup when she heard about it. One of the ladies was talking to another, and the subject of genealogy came up.

"I went to a website - yourlostanscetors, and found a ton of information."

That was all Elena heard, but it gave her an idea. She decided to try it as soon as she had a chance.

She had the chance when she and Stefan were in a Starbucks. Stefan was getting their drinks, she was saving a table for them, so she pulled out her laptop and logged in. She glanced at the line he was in after she had signed up for a free 30-day membership. He had just ordered.

She had no idea what to do, so she typed in the name "Charles Montrose" into a website general search engine, when she found something about the census. She was able to choose Missouri, but unsure of which census to check. Remembering the dress Martha had been wearing, she decided to try 1880.

She was stunned when an entry came up.

"Charles Montrose, Self, Married, Male White, 42, MO, Painter, MO, IL

Martha Montrose, Wife, Married, Female, White, 40, MO, Keeping House, MO, MO

James Montrose, Son, S, Male, White, 20. MO, Law Student, MO, MO

Eliza Montrose, Dau, S, Female, White, 18, House Keeping, MO, MO"

"Charles Montrose," Stefan said from behind her.

Elena jumped as she slammed her laptop closed.

"Sorry," Stefan began, setting her drink down next to her laptop.

"It's OK," she said quickly. "You just startled me."

"Who's Charles Montrose?" he asked as he set across from her.

"Ancestor," she quickly lied, or maybe it was the truth. "On my mother's side."

Stefan looked at her quizzically. "Since when do you look for your ancestors?"

Elena shrugged dismissively. "Just trying something new, seeing if it's interesting."

"Well, okay." Stefan said, not seeming to give it another thought. "Now about tomorrow…"

Elena turned her full attention to him, glad he didn't press her further.

The Other First Glimpse

"What's this?" David asked his oldest daughter. He was just passing through the living room where both of his daughters were curled up on the couch watching TV. David knew he had married young, he was 18. But he was in love, and it seemed to be the right thing to do. He was still in love, and having children right away had seemed to be the right thing to do as well. So now he had two daughters – ages 14 and 12.

"New show," the younger daughter answered.

"Oh," he answered. He continued staring at the TV. Something about the girl on the screen looked familiar. "Who's she?"

"Elena something," his older daughter answered. "But she's not why we watch."

David's eyes were still fixed on the screen. "Why do you watch?"

"Him!" one of the girls said as a guy appeared on the screen. "Stefan Salvatore!" both girls exclaimed together. Then one, David wasn't sure which, added dreamily, "I'm in love."

David's eyes remained on the screen as he said softly to himself, "Elena," trying to remember where he had seen her.

"Uh, yeah…" one of the girls said. The tone of her voice shocked him out of the trance. As he realized that both of his daughters were staring at him, he quickly muttered, "Okay, enjoy," as he left the room.

Still, he couldn't get the dark-haired Elena out of his mind. She was even in his thoughts as he lay in bed, trying to sleep. He was sure he had seen her before.

As he lay there, it hit him. Not the realization of who she was, but the dream, or vision. He was fully aware, sure he was not asleep, and though his eyes were closed, he could see clearly.

He had just dismounted from a horse and tied it loosely to a tree. David watched himself as he pulled out a small, folded piece of paper from an inside pocket of the jacket he wore. He looked at it and read, "Charles Montrose, 298 N. 2d, St. Louis, Remember the woods. You found me."

He kept the paper in his hand as he walked towards a nearby church. He soon realized that he wasn't walking towards the church, but towards a girl who was sitting on the grass. He didn't see her clearly at first, but as she noticed him, and seemed to rise to meet him, David recognized her.

Her beautiful, dark hair was arranged differently, and the dress she wore was really old-fashioned, but it was her. It was the actress his daughter had called "Elena".