Hello lovelies! Thanks for all your support! I wouldn't bore you with a super long rant. I'll just jump right back into the story! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: A changed man

When the sun began to set over the town and the snow once again began to whirl outside the windows of the large boarding house the world once again seemed blissfully quite. All there worries seemed suddenly forgotten, at least for the moment. They climbed into bed the room colder than normal do to the fact that they had no real window, on the opposite sides that they usually did. Elena wouldn't admit out loud why she had asked Damon to switch sides with her for the night, but she didn't have to , he already knew. Though he hadn't passed either their minds for hours being in there bedroom and seeing that there window was missing, evidence that he had come so close made Elena more than a little uncomterable. They crawled under the covers the harsh wind seeping through the cracks in the board only gave the reason to hold each other tighter. The moment seemed perfect as they whispered there "I love you's "into each other's each before falling into a peaceful sleep in the others arms. While just outside their window someone sat, listening to their every move, plotting his next step.

There Stefan sat. His creation in hand, listening. He heard it all. There evening conversation, the hushed whispers, the light laughter all up to the silence. The silence was what wounded him the most. That couldn't be right. In the 15 years he had been absent from this dreadful town he had never once felt the pain he had been accustom to while living there. The pain that came along with love. Above all loving someone who loved someone else. That was a pain he had never experienced before. They had always picked him. Katharine had picked him over Damon; He thought that Elena had done the same. Apparently he thought wrong. For behind this wooden board, a Meer few feet away she laid in the arms of his brother. Her husband. He would change that. He had made it his mission to change that. Make him see that he was a " changed man" not the monster that Klaus created, but a true man. The man that Stefan had become was not to different than who he was before. His humanity no longer a factor. He had insured that. It was gone. The only shred that seemed to remain was his tie to Elena. To him what was most important was getting Elena back. Not because he loved her per say but because she was the only living thing in his life, besides his brother that wasn't completely under his control. She was the one thing that didn't fit into the new Stefan. He hadn't thought that it would have been a problem. He had had a plan all along. He hadn't known at the time how long destroying all of Klaus's hybrids would take. In his mind Elena wasn't something that had to be dealt with right away. Not a pressing matter but something that could be taken care of once more immediate issues had been resolved. He had planned on strolling back into town a hero. Having destroyed all the evil Klaus created. He had expected her to fall right back into his arms. If she began to worry for his humanity, that wasn't anything compelling couldn't fix. Than life would be easy. What he hadn't counted on was her moving on. Settling down, getting married, married to the one other person in his life had no control over, Damon. If his plan worked than he and Elena would be able to leave town, no questions asked, no one had to get hurt. If Damon decided to be difficult, well we can just say that Stefan would have to take care of that. The only challenge he saw before him was finding a way into the boarding house. This shouldn't be a problem, right. If the he himself wasn't aloud to enter the house, than it couldn't be under the Salvatore name. Which meant the deed could only be in the name of one other.

It hadn't been a easy nights sleep for the older Salvatore brother. Every time Damon closed his eyes he saw Stefan's face in his mind. His dark eyes haunted him. The question that his wife had asked him only 7 hours earlier suddenly started to stir in his own mind. Why now? There was no doubt in Damon's mind that Stefan had come back for Elena, but the true question would be why he chose now. His immediate reaction was that since Stefan had "taken care of business" with the hybrids, that he had decided to reclaim what he saw as rightfully his. Something about that just didn't sit right with him. The "new" Stefan didn't do anything without a motive. So what was his motive for taking Elena back? Stefan had become one to work alone. Hating to depend on others, work with others, and even have others need him. So why? So what made him suddenly want the love of another? Elena wasn't one to love half heartedly. Both he and Stefan had experienced that first hand, he so no longer one to have the heart to handle a relationship of that capacitive so why would he want it? Damon tried to put it out of his mind. It shouldn't matter. Its not like Stefan could have her back, even if he really did want her. Damon had complete faith in his wife. He knew that she had never wavered from her decision to stay with him for the rest of eternity. That she had never doubted that she chose the wrong brother. When the news of the two's engagement first spread through the tiny town the rumours flew. Many thought her to be settling for the "other" brother. Thinking that if she couldn't have Stefan than Damon wasn't a bad replacement. It had taken Elena herself to stop him from tearing out the jugular of those whispering in the corner of the grill, at the gas station, in the grocery store. She had cupped his face in her hands and leaned to rest her forehead against his. Her sweet breath blew into his face. He breathed in her scent as she assured him that she loved him. Not Stefan, Him. He was the one who stuck around when she felt entirely alone in her life. Placed her back together after being shatter countless times. He made her whole. She loved waking up in his arms every morning.

So they woke up that morning and carried on as if nothing had happened the day before. Fooling around in the kitchen making breakfast. That day something was different. There hadn't been a council meeting, a real council meeting in over a decade. Sure there was the monthly get together, to discuss fundraisers and event. But the secret council had all but disappeared. Today was different. With the possible return of the town Hero turned villain they needed a plan of attack. So they kissed each other goodbye before he headed out the door, promising to back as he could.

So Elena waited. Usually the rare times she found herself alone she filled the void with her writing. Today was different, it just didn't feel right. She knew that someone was coming around to fix the window later today and decided to simply read in the mean time. So when the door bell rang, she felt slight relief, she was dying for the harsh wind that was blowing through her house to finally sealed off, and the comfort of the warm fire could once again envelop the house. She made her way over to the foyer, and pulled open the door, seeing the one man that had once haunted her. He hand on of his hand around the neck of a short round man, the words Mystic Falls Glass printed on the side of his shirt. His other hand wrapped around the mans middle. His teeth bared, his eyes even darker than she remembered. An evil grin spread across the his lips

" Mind inviting me in?"