Stefan sat down next to Damon. This was how the Salvatore family always sat in church, his mother, father, brother and then him. Stefan would have wanted to sit next to his mother, she would have let him get the sadness and guilt of his chest. He blamed himself for that night, he should have picked up Elena and carried her home. Even though her parents told him to go and she would get dropped home by Caroline, he should have stayed. He apologized to her and her family so many times but they kept telling him that it wasn't his fault and he shouldn't blame himself for what happened. He wished that he could have gotten Elena back, in the days they were practically dating, Stefan used to look forward to coming to school and his days seemed that much brighter. If he was near his mum, he would be tears, right about now but he was next to Damon, so he wasn't showing any emotion at all.

'Amazing Grace' started to play and everyone stood up. Stefan watched Pastor Young, followed by Elena, Grayson, Jeremy, Mayor Lockwood, the school principal and few others, walk up the aisle and sit in the first row. Stefan was in the 3rd row with all the other founding families, the 2nd row consisted of many people who were close to Miranda's heart. When the hymn was over, they sat down and listened to Pastor Young begin the memorial.

Looking at Elena was one of the saddest sights. He could see her remembering everything about her mother, she was there but at the same time she was miles away. Her eyes were glossy as if she had no more tears to spill but still felt that sadness. She looked to her father and rubbed his shoulder. Stefan couldn't even begin to imagine what he was feeling, he has lost his wife and the love of his life. His gaze went back to Elena, she was now looking around and then she looked at him.

That look took his breath away. He felt a connection come between them and he could almost picture Elena's sadness slamming into him like a ton of bricks. He gave her a small but comforting smile, she smiled an almost identical smile back, but then her started taking deep breaths and began to cry. When she cried, Stefan's expression began worried and sympathic, he wanted to walk over to her and hold her, until she stopped crying. Her brother put an arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder, not dropping Stefan's gaze. Stefan felt so bad, she was doing so well at keeping her emotions in and she looked at him and they all came out. He mouthed 'I'm so sorry' to her and lowered his head, when he raised his look again she shook her head and then finally they had to pay attention to what Pastor Young was saying.

'Miranda's daughter, Elena Gilbert would like to say something about Miranda's life.' said Pastor Young.

Elena sighed. She walked up to the microphone and opened her mouth to begin. Stefan's heart hurt when nothing came out. Elena shut her eyes, took a deep breath and tried again but she still couldn't speak. Stefan knew that she had to say this, she wanted to say this and if she didn't, she would hate herself and feel she let her mum down.

Everyone was waiting for her to say something and she kept looking down to try and control her emotions. Stefan stood up and made his way up to the altar, ignoring his parent's confused looks. He had to help her.

XXXXXXX

'Just say it!' Elena thought to herself.

The entire town was watching her and she couldn't will her vocal chords to move. Memories of her mum kept flooding her mind and tears were spilling down her cheeks. She jumped when she felt a person rub her back. She looked up and saw Stefan give her a small encouraging smile.

'You can do this, Elena.' Was all he said.

Elena was filled with a sense of encouragement, she knew her mum would want her to do this and could almost feel her presence beside her. Elena took a deep breath and stopped crying, she looked at the town and finally, began to speak.

'Miranda Gilbert was not only my mother, but she was my best friend, my teacher, conseluor, role model, the one who taught me right from wrong and the one who would love me no matter what. Throughout her entire life, she never hated anyone and helped everyone as much as she could. She loved this town and did everything she could for it, she always helped judge Miss Mystic Falls, organise fundraisers, contribute to all the founder's events and she even came up with the idea of throwing a masquerade ball when she was a senior in high school. She may not have been born into a founding family but everyone knew she was destined to find her way into one. She is in everyone's hearts and her achievements will forever be imprinted onto this town's history. Everyone has many memories with her, some of which will be shared with you now, by her friends and family. Thank you.' Elena said.

As soon as she finished the tears came back again and Stefan pulled into his arms. He managed to pull them off to the side, so they didn't distract the other people reading. Elena stopped crying and looked down.

'I have to go sit down again but thank you for helping me.' She said, then hurried off back to her seat.

When she sat down, her brother and father looked at her to see if she was ok, she simply nodded and looked up at the speaker. Elena couldn't listen, she had cried so many times and listening would make her cry more. She still wasn't sure about what just happened. Why would he help her?

Elena couldn't stop thinking about that. Even the memorial was over, the thoughts were still in her mind. She walked outside and was immediately swamped by people paying their respects. She wanted to find Stefan but her attention was constantly turned to the people. Eventually Elena had to go up on stage, followed by the rest of her family and candles were handed out to the town as everyone gathered in front of them. Elena was the only one who lit a match, she then passed the flame onto her father's candles who did the same to Jeremy. Soon, the entire town was holding a lite candle and Pastor Young, again, stepped up to the microphone on stage.

'This is a sign of unity. We are a family and no matter what happens we will stick together. We have made our best friends when we were sometimes 2 years old, met the love of our lives in high school and grown up here. We are recovering from a very bad accident but we will make it through. May tonight be a night that you reflect on your life and can enjoy the celebrations planned for the rest of the week.' He said.

Elena took a deep breath and looked down at the candle. When I blow this out, not only will the flame disappear but so will my suffering and sadness, my mother would want me to move on, so this is a sign of me promising to do that. Elena vowed to herself and then blew out the candle.

A/N: Hey everyone! I am so sorry about not updating for a while and then giving you such a small chapter. The story will get better, I am planning on writing the ball and there will be a slight chance that someone may find out their partner before they are meant too… Ooooo! The suspense! Thank you to everyone who reviewed!