A/N: So, just another light chapter with a bit of cute fluffiness. Though, it is still important! Thank you all soooo much for the reviews! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! How many more days before the return of The Vampire Diaries? Not many. I'm so nervous!

Anyhoo, please leave me a review and let me know what you thought : ) Thanks!

Yes. Stefan was going to find Derrick and have him followed to see what he was up to. Because he was worried about Elena because he cared about her? No. He sat there for a moment, reminding himself that if anything happened to Elena, he would be out 12 million dollars and would have to start this whole scam over again.

Elena's movement brought him out of his thoughts. "I have to be to work in a little bit" she said, pulling on Stefan's arms to try and get herself free.

Stefan's arms locked and held her in place. His lips found the back of her neck once again. "Call in sick" he groaned, not seeing why either of them should have to get out of bed.

"Can't" she said, struggling hard to not let him know that her newfound weakness was him kissing that spot on her neck. "There's no one to cover for me" she added, attempting to sit up once again. Stefan let her this time.

But he didn't like it. Her working was becoming an inconvenience for him. "So what am I supposed to do all day while you're at work?" he asked.

Elena had to laugh at how pathetic he sounded. "What did you used to do before you married me?" she asked. Stefan smiled as he thought about all the women that kept him plenty busy during the day. Elena just rolled her eyes, getting the idea. "Never mind" she said, grabbing her underwear and his shirt from off of the floor and slipping them on.

Stefan propped himself up on his elbow and watched her as she bent down and picked up the rest of her clothes. "I could at least join you in the shower" he offered, a small grin appearing.

Elena shook her head no. "I'm just going to take a quick shower" she said. If she let him into the shower with her, she would never get to work.

Stefan frowned. "Well you could at least come and kiss me goodbye since I won't see you all day" he said, laying on the guilt.

Elena smiled. "You really are needy aren't you?" she asked, dropping her clothes in a pile and walking back over to the bed. She leaned over and went to give him a quick peck on the lips when his arms engulfed her, bringing her back down on the bed with him. She laughed, but he quickly covered her mouth with his.

When he finally broke their kiss, he made sure to kiss his way up towards her ear. "I'm extremely needy" he whispered as his hands trailed up underneath the shirt she had just put on.

Elena knew that she was in trouble when her eyes closed and she heard herself sigh. "You're going to get me fired" she told him.

"I'll take the blame" he told her, kissing his way back to her lips. Elena smiled as he kissed her cheek and then her nose. She had to admit, she would probably be late for the first time in her life.

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Elena made it behind the counter with 30 seconds to spare as her fingers quickly tied the apron around herself. Her manager gave her a questioning look because Elena had always been at least 20 minutes early every time she was scheduled to work. Elena simply couldn't help but smile as she grabbed her pad of paper and pen and went to wait on a table.

The morning rush had finally cleared out after half an hour and Elena was thankful that she could stop and breathe for a minute. She looked up though when the bell over the door rang, indicating that someone was coming in. "Morning" he said brightly, taking a seat at the counter in front of Elena. "So are you going to read me the specials?" he asked, a smile beaming across his face.

Elena crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?" she asked, studying him closely.

"I missed you" he answered with a pretend sad look.

"It's been 30 minutes Stefan" Elena told him, giving up on trying to suppress the smile that had wanted to escape since the moment she saw him walk in.

"Is that all?" he asked her. "Feels like a lot longer than that" he said. Then he shrugged. "I guess sex does that to you though. Messes with your sense of time" he said casually.

Elena's cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "Stefan!" she scolded, looking around to see if anyone heard him.

"What?" he asked innocently. "You shouldn't be embarrassed to talk about our escapades in the bedroom" he continued. "We are amazing together. You can't deny it" he said freely. Elena wanted to duck behind the counter. He decided to have pity on her. "Okay, I am really here to have breakfast though" he said, flipping open the menu. Elena waited patiently for him to decide. "Alrighty. I will have the eggs and hash browns with a side of you naked" he said. Elena snapped the menu from his hands and turned to go and place his order. "Oh come on!" he called after her, smiling at the thought of her being so embarrassed.

Elena ignored him the entire fifteen minutes that it took to prepare his meal. The diner had practically cleared out with just the occasional person stopping in to grab coffee to go. Stefan watched Elena come up with tasks to keep herself busy so she wouldn't have to talk to him. He found it amusing.

When she placed his food in front of him, he frowned at the fact that she had simply reached over the counter instead of coming all the way around. So he took his fork and dropped it on the ground next to him. "Whoops" he said. Elena handed him a new one and glared at him as she walked around the counter to pick up the dirty one. And that was when Stefan grabbed her arms, pulling her close so he could kiss her.

Elena made herself pull away from him, almost angry at him for making her body react to him that way when clearly, they couldn't do anything more in that moment. "You dropped your fork on purpose" she said breathlessly, still wrapped in his arms.

Stefan smiled. "You caught me" he said, smacking her hip lightly. Elena pulled herself out of his arms and went back to the kitchen to wash her hands and the fork

. As she looked in the tiny mirror on the wall, she realized that she was smiling. And not the fake smile that she had perfected for so long. An actual real, genuine smile.

Stefan hurried and finished his breakfast, knowing he had business to take care of. He left her a normal tip, not too big, but not too small either with his bill. He left without saying goodbye since Elena hadn't returned from the kitchen.

When Elena came out to retrieve the bill, she found a folded up napkin included. She opened it up and read it quietly to herself. "I'll thank you more properly for breakfast when you get home this afternoon. Have a good rest of your day and see you soon." Elena folded up the napkin and placed it in her pocket. She shook her head and smiled as she cleared his dishes. Three o'clock couldn't come fast enough.

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Stefan quietly let himself into Damon and Katherine's house, taking in the exquisite décor that was surely a demand of Katherine's for moving there. "Miss me already?" he heard coming from the other end of the room as Katherine slipped out of the dark hallway and made her presence known. She was wearing a very thin black and red silk robe that really left nothing to the imagination. She sauntered up to him, poking his chest as she looked up at him through her long eyelashes.

Stefan smiled, grabbing her hand and moving her a step back from him. "I'm looking for my brother. He here?" Stefan asked.

Katherine smirked at his attempt to deny her. "Don't worry, Stefan. We can go somewhere else so Damon won't hear us" she said, cocking her head to the side as if inviting him to disagree with her.

Stefan smiled again. "You know Katherine, I might take you up on that offer" he told her, watching a glimmering spark light up her brown eyes. "But Elena kind of wore me out last night." Katherine's eyes turned dangerously dark, indicating that she no longer wished to play in this game with him. The thought of Stefan touching Elena made her insides lurch. Stefan smirked triumphantly as he walked passed her, briefly stopping to tell her one more thing. "And Elena sure isn't selfish when it comes to my needs in the bedroom" he added.

He could practically feel the steam seeping out of Katherine at his last comment. Stefan continued walking away from her on his original mission to find his brother. "She won't stay with you, Stefan" Katherine called out to him in her last ditch effort to get the last word in. "They never do" she reminded him.

Stefan forced himself to keep walking, to not let Katherine know how much her comment affected him. She was right though. They never did stick around long. He shook it off though. He had more important things to think about.

As Stefan approached his brother's study, he tapped on the door before letting himself in. Damon was at his desk, looking out his window as if he was reflecting on something. "What a pleasant surprise" Damon said, setting his pen down and turning to face Stefan.

"You know me, always full of surprises" Stefan said, taking a seat across the desk from Damon. "I'm here strictly on business though, so don't be fooled into thinking I actually want to have a brotherly bonding moment" he added.

Damon smiled, standing as he grabbed two glasses and a bottle of bourbon. He poured them both glasses before sitting back down. "And what can I help you with?" he asked.

Stefan grabbed his glass and swooshed the liquid around, but not taking a drink. "I need to get in touch with your friend, the private investigator" he said.

Damon raised his eyebrow. "She cheating on you already?" Damon asked with a smug look. "Though, is it really considered cheating if the marriage is fake?" he pondered.

Stefan felt his frustration building, but he reminded himself to keep calm. "I don't need Elena followed" Stefan assured him.

"Then who?" Damon questioned, taking a drink of his bourbon, finding this quite amusing that Stefan needed his help.

Stefan debated on what he should tell Damon. What could he trust him with? Stefan got a serious look on his face as he leaned over the desk. "What I tell you doesn't leave this room" Stefan said. He watched Damon's eyes narrow in understanding as he nodded. "I'm asking you for help as my brother. You owe me" Stefan told him. Again, Damon nodded his understanding. "I need Elena's ex followed" Stefan said. "The asshole beat her up while they were together and he promised to find her and kill her if she ever left him" he explained. Recognition of the seriousness of the situation ran over Damon's face. "I just want to know where he is and what he's up to" Stefan finished.

Damon thought about what Stefan said for a moment. "You don't want the PI" Damon told Stefan. "You want Brink."

"Brink?" Stefan asked, not familiar with the name.

"He makes unfortunate situations look like accidents" Damon explained. "He'll take care of him" Damon assured. Stefan shook his head. "Don't argue with me, Stefan. You know how I feel about hitting women. This guy is scum and he needs to be taken care of." This was probably the only thing that Stefan and Damon could agree on.

Again, Stefan shook his head no. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me" he stated, standing up from his chair and setting his untouched drink down. "Just get me in touch with the PI, Damon" Stefan told him, turning to leave.

Stefan let out a sigh of relief as he descended down the stairs. Luckily, Katherine was nowhere in sight. He quickly exited the house. Now all he could do was wait until Damon got him in touch with the investigator.

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Elena kicked her boots off when she got in the house, throwing her bag on the nearby chair. "Stefan?" she asked, not seeing him or hearing him downstairs. Elena climbed the stairs in search of him. She didn't need to look far.

"Hi" he smiled, his hands behind his head as he leaned up against the headboard of his bed. He was shirtless with the sheets covering his lower half. She pretty much figured that he was naked.

"Hi" Elena replied, remaining where she was at the doorway. "How was your day?" she asked, continuing to eye the sheets he was under.

"It would be a lot better if you would leave the doorway and come over here" he told her, a suggestive smile tugging at his lips.

Elena looked around the room briefly before slowly making her way towards him. He grabbed her hand once she was close enough to him and intertwined their fingers. He looked her over, undressing her with his eyes. Elena felt herself blush, but she went on to get her jeans and top off before climbing into bed with him. She had definitely been right about him already being naked. His lips were on hers instantly as he rolled on top of her, pinning her down playfully. "Now I can thank you properly" he half whispered, half growled lowly in her ear, making her shiver slightly.

"You should probably let me shower" she responded, finding herself to be less than desirable after having waited tables for eight hours. Her hair was falling out of its ponytail and she was sure that she had sweated some too.

Stefan trailed his way down to her stomach, placing light kisses there. "You're just going to have to shower again when we're done. Might as well wait and we can take one together" he said against her skin.

He had a point she supposed. So she closed her eyes and let him take over for a little bit. "Stefan" she finally murmured, slowly giving in to sleep.

"Hmmm?" he asked, resting his chin on her stomach as he looked at her. But she was already asleep. He smiled, crawling his way back up to her and kissing her lips gently. "Goodnight, Elena" he whispered, kissing her forehead before laying down beside her and pulling her close. He too settled down into sleep.

A/N: Alaric and Caroline will be visiting next chapter. If you remember, Caroline is clueless about the fake marriage, but Alaric is fully aware. So, Alaric is going to have some fun when he realizes that Stefan's feelings might be a little more real than Stefan had intended ; )

How many of you think that Damon can be trusted with this new information about Elena's past?