After grabbing some dinner with her Dad later that night, Payton was making her way back to her apartment for the first time in a couple of days. She was nervous about going back there, wondering if Stefan would still be there or if he had found somewhere else to stay, she really wasn't in the mood to argue with him anymore that night, so if he was going to be there, she would just walk straight back to her Dad's.

When she arrived, Payton put her key into the door and unlocked it, stepping into the quiet and lonely apartment, she was about to close the door and lock it up, when she heard a noise come from the bedroom and feeling slightly on edge, Payton snapped her head round to see Stefan now walking through from the bedroom with a duffle bag.

"Stefan." She breathed, looking back at him, not having seen him since yesterday when he walked away from her.

"Uh, sorry. I thought you were out with your Dad. Elena said you were. I thought I'd come to pick up somethings." Stefan explained to her in an awkward tone.

"Yeah, I was. But it's fine," Payton said as she closed up the door and went to lay her bags down on the kitchen table before she found herself getting curious and maybe a little paranoid, "where are you staying?"

"Uh, just a motel." He answered as Stefan picked up something from the table beside the couch.

"You shouldn't have to do that." She found herself saying, despite everything, Payton didn't want him to have to spend his nights in a motel.

"Yeah well, I don't really have a choice," Stefan responded back, surprised she was being so kind to him.

"Stay here tonight or for however long you need," Payton suggested to him, as he glanced over to her, "I'll go stay with my Dad. I'm sure he won't mind."

"No, you shouldn't have to do that." Stefan then said repeating what she said moments before.

"Yeah, well, despite everything, I wouldn't want to see you struggle, ok?" She said being reasonable.

"You know I don't deserve that." He looked back at her painfully.

"Maybe, maybe not," Payton shrugged, as she tucked her hair behind her ear, "but just because you walked away doesn't mean I just stop caring, Stefan."

"No, I get that." He agreed with her, knowing to see her again was making this harder, but in somewhat he found comfort in it.

"Let me just take a quick shower and grab something for tonight." She said to him, going to walk past him and head to the bathroom.

"Hey, Payton." Stefan found himself calling her back and taking hold of her wrist.

Payton glanced down at his hand on her skin, feeling her stomach start to churn, the once awkward atmosphere was replaced with one of the thick feelings, feelings of sexual desire and love. Slowly looking up at him through her lashes, Stefan caught her eye and didn't let go of her hand as he said in a low tone, "I am so sorry, so so so sorry."

"I know," She breathed, feeling the pain and shame he felt radiating off him, "I know."

"I wish things could have been different. That we had a better ending." Stefan said to her, causing her own pain to hit her hard.

She had been suppressing it all day long, the distraction of being with her Dad and Jeremy, then the stalker situation getting out of hand, Elena swinging by her Dad's office and dinner with him, had been enough for her to forget about what had just happened to her, Stefan walking away from her and their possible romance never ever get the chance it might have deserved.

"Maybe it's just bad timing," Payton tried to tell him, but more so herself, as she said in a matching quiet tone, "maybe it just isn't going to work yet."

"I should have done better for you though. I should have been the person you needed." He began to put himself down.

"No," She shook her head, disagreeing with that, "you were everything I needed, Stefan. You were there for me through so much and no matter what happens I'll always be thankful for that."

"I've been an awful person lately." Stefan then remarked.

"Yeah, you have," Payton agreed with him this time, holding back an amused smile, as she went on to say, "but you're grieving. As much as you don't want to accept it, you've changed because you've lost Damon. When Damon went, you lost part of yourself."

"And that's why I can't be with you." He said to her, his thumb slowly rubbing over her skin where he still held her.

Payton shut her eyes trying to push out how gutting that sounded, but she knew he was somewhat right, he wasn't himself and he couldn't give her what he wanted when he was like this. She wanted to and had been there for him so much, but there was only so much you could do when someone was refusing to help themselves, Payton never wanted to give up on him, but he was doing all he could to push her out.

"I felt so angry when I saw you with that guy yesterday," Stefan then began when it went silent between them, as he explained further, "I thought why can't I just stop this and put us first? Why can't I love her like she needs to be loved?"

"Stefan..." She breathed, thinking they didn't have to do this right now when it was still too raw.

"I'm so selfish. I don't want anyone else to have you." He then told her.

Payton slowly opened her eyes again to look at him, as he stared down at her, the room feeling heavy and thick with tension, she felt herself run her fingers down his skin this time, "I think you need to go." She encouraged, not wanting to go over this because it was making her feel too much.

"I don't want to." Stefan then admitted.

"Stefan," Payton sighed, but not out of frustration or tiredness, but how much she realised she didn't want him to go either, "we can't."

"Tell me you don't want me and I'll go." He said to her then.

"You know that I can't answer that." She responded back.

Stefan looked back at her, as he slowly trailed his fingers up her arm to her neck, where she looked away from him, trying to fight what he was doing to her, but god it felt good, she had missed the feeling of him and the two of them together, it had only been a couple of days, but Payton hadn't forgotten how good he felt.

His fingers came to rest under her chin, where Payton nestled into him and sighed, "Stefan."

"I never said it before," Stefan said to her in a gentle tone, before he confessed to her, "but I love you, Payton."

She turned her head to look back at him with surprise, but slightly pissed that it had to be in these circumstances that he actually told her how he had been feeling, it was almost the wake up call she needed to stop messing around like this, forgetting what had happened between them and do the right thing for both of their sakes.

"I changed my mind," Payton told him, before pushing him away slightly and going to stand on the other side of the room, "you need to go."

Stefan looked back at her, about to object, but when he saw the look on her face and just how serious she was, Stefan realised just how much he had probably overstepped it that night and without saying any more, he picked up his duffle bag and walked straight out the door.

When the door closed up and the apartment fell silent, Payton found herself bursting into tears, the pain of losing him hitting her hard for the first time in a few days and wanting nothing more than to climb into bed until it had all blown over.

Payton grumbled and through the comforter over her head when she heard a loud knock at the door that following afternoon, before she heard the sound of her Dad calling, "C' mon, P. Open up!"

"Go away." She said lightly to herself, as much as she loved him, Payton wasn't in the mood for visitors right now.

"I'm coming in, P." Alaric then told her, before she heard him put his key that she had given him into the lock and turn it.

A few moments later, Payton peeled the comforter off her head and sat back up on the bed to come face to face with her Dad, who looked concerned to see her still in bed at 2:30 in the afternoon, "What's going on?"

"I'm in bed that's what's going on." She responded sharply.

Alaric came to sit down on the bed beside her and said, "Why aren't you in class?"

"I'm skipping classes today," Payton answered.

"Because of the stalker situation?" He presumed.

"Because of everything, Dad! Because of the weird ass stalker who keeps following my every move and because of my stupid ex who isn't even really an ex as we weren't even official." She rambled in an angered tone.

"You can't let this person win, P. And as for Stefan, well, I don't think he's going away anytime soon, I've seen him around campus today."

"Brilliant. Even more of a reason to stay in and never leave." Payton exclaimed, throwing the comforter back over her.

Alaric quickly caught it before she could and said, "No you're not. You're getting up and going to meet Elena to get ready for the party."

"I'm not going to that." She told him sternly, knowing he was referring to the corn maze party that was happening that night.

"Yes, you are. Because I'm not letting you live the rest of your immortal life running from people. Elena has already picked you up an outfit and she's managed to get Matt to come to cheer you up. We're not letting you do this so come on, get up, get showered. You've got a party to get ready for." Alaric instructed, throwing the comforter on the floor so she couldn't get back in it.

Payton looked back at him with an annoyed look, before she huffed loudly and said, "Fine!"

A couple of hours later, Payton had just finished getting ready with Elena in the girl's dorm room, Caroline was nowhere to be seen because apparently, she was helping Stefan with a little vampire problem they had. Thankfully Payton wanted to keep herself out of it and try to be as normal as she could be amongst her messed up life, as she poured her and Elena a glass of wine each.

"You know we hardly ever hang out like this," Elena remarked as she took the glass from her.

"Yeah well, you can thank my Dad for it." She answered.

"It's nice though. I mean you're the perfect person to help me set up Alaric and Jo." The brunette girl grinned with mischief.

"Wait," Payton said with a slight surprise, as she went on to ask, "you mean Jo as in the Doctor?"

"Yes!" Elena beamed back, taking a large sip from her glass.

"Thank god I'm not the only one rooting for them! Did you know he doesn't want to go there because he thinks he can't handle it?" She said back to Elena.

"He just won't let anyone in again after what happened last time. But between you and I, I think he's going to struggle to say no."

"You and I both. He deserves happiness. He's been through so much, not just recently, but the past twenty years. He deserves to be happy." Payton took a sip from her wine glass.

"As do you, which is why I said we'd meet Matt in 10 minutes," Elena said, downing the rest of her wine and going to pick up her purse.

"Right. Of course." Payton nodded, quickly doing the same and going to swap her wine for her cell phone, as the two headed for the door and going off to meet Matt.

When they arrived at the party a little while later, they had just started to light the bonfire which caused a loud cheer to erupt around the partygoers, before the music began and everyone began to let loose. Payton smiled lightly at her two friends, somewhat grateful that Alaric had dragged her out to meet Elena and Matt because it was exactly what she needed.

Payton was happy to have her closest ones around her right now because it was what she needed to help her through this rough patch she was going through. It would have been better if her Dad actually showed up though especially after he had persuaded her to go, she hoped he wasn't going to bail and would actually show to make Jo happy.

All she hoped was that if she was to get any weird stalker messages or Stefan making his grand appearance, she would be too far drunk to even care or take it in.

Elena felt someone tap her on the shoulder and she turned round to greet Liam, the guy Elena had brought to the swimming lake party the other day, who was on her course and also who she had shared a kiss with recently. The two were both screaming out chemistry, so whilst they began to engage in conversation and flirting, Payton and Matt went to head off to find some drinks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, Alaric was sat in his lecture room with a bottle of bourbon, going over one of his lecture plans, when he heard footsteps and lifted his head up to see who had now made an appearance in his classroom.

"Grading on the curve, huh?" Stefan remarked from the doorway.

"You know this barely makes a dent," Alaric responded, referring to how hard it was to get drunk these days now he was a vampire, "can't fault me for trying though," before he found himself offering Stefan the bottle, "want some?"

"No, I just came here..." The guy began, but Alaric quickly interjected.

"...to apologise for being a dick to Payton?"

Stefan looked back at him with a guilty look, knowing it probably wasn't the best move coming here to speak to Alaric when he had walked away from his daughter barely days before, but it wasn't like he didn't deserve to take a bit of a beating from the man, he loved Payton and she was his daughter, Stefan wouldn't have expected anything less.

"Yeah, I guess," He nodded slowly, not really wanting to go through this with him, as he brought a ring out from his pocket, "I need one of these from Luke."

"Let me guess. You played the Damon is dead and this is your fault card." Alaric responded, not liking how he dodged the whole Payton thing, but he asked, "what do you want?"

"Enzo turned a vampire, an innocent girl who had been just going about her time on campus," Stefan explained to him.

"Oh, so you've been using this newly turned vampire as a distraction from what's been going on with Payton?" Alaric gathered as he continued to make a dig at him, "you know, since coming back from the dead, I've noticed how different Payton is and how she doesn't take shit from anyone anymore, which includes you. She told me about last night."

Stefan lowered his head in shame, thinking last night had been a little over the line, but he couldn't find the words to say, because he knew whatever he tried to say to either Ric or Payton would never make the situation better. He had screwed up. There was no going back now.

"I was hoping you could compel her to get a handle on things," He went on to say going back to the newly turned vampire he had been looking after all day long, "get somewhere far away from this campus, live a good life."

"Shouldn't you be asking me to help you with Payton?" Alaric ignored him this time, wanting Stefan to actually step up and fight for his daughter as she deserved him to.

"I'm just asking you to give her a fresh start," Stefan answered before he found himself then saying, "Payton too."

"You mean give you a fresh start," Alaric snapped back, his anger had been rising the moment Stefan had shown his face, "sorry, Stefan, it's not that easy."

"It was when you compelled Elena..." Stefan then went on to say, feeling his own burnt up frustration building, "to forget about Damon or when you pushed Payton to confront of me about things."

"Well, you forgot about him first, pal," Alaric was quick to throw that one back, as he went on, "and you were treating her like crap. I wasn't going to let it slide."

"He was my brother," Stefan then remarked, before he went back to Payton again, "and she was my best friend who I love."

"Yeah, and he was my best friend," Alaric shot back again, getting more pissed off by the second, "and she is my daughter and I love her more than anything! So why don't you get out of my face? Before I compel you to be the guy I used to know instead."

Stefan stared back at Alaric with a hard look, before he took off and walked out of the room, knowing that if he didn't, he would just make matters worse.

After downing some more booze and putting away his lecture notes, Alaric freshened himself up and headed down to the maze to try cool off after what had just gone on with Stefan. When he had arrived, he managed to track down Matt and Payton, who was getting some more drinks whilst Payton talked to her new friends a while away, clearly looking a little merry than usual.

"Hey, everything good?" Matt asked when he saw Alaric approaching him.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Alaric nodded, but clearly Matt had picked up on his tension, "I just had a run in with Stefan. Don't tell Payton though."

"What happened?" He questioned with concerned, handing him a red cup to drink.

"Ah, he's just been his typical douchebag self. I put him in his place. He won't be bothering her again if he knows what's good for him." Alaric grumbled out, as he took a cup from the youngster.

"Well, good job Payton's getting too drunk to even care right now," Matt told him, as they both looked over at Payton who now caught them.

"Dad!" Payton beamed, excited to see him there, after doubting if he was ever going to show, as she jogged over to him, "you're here!"

"Yeah I'm here." Alaric forced a smile onto his face, as he threw an arm around her.

"Thank god! I thought you weren't going to show." She looked up at him with drunken eyes.

"It looks like you're having fun." He commented.

"Of course. I've got Matt." Payton smiled, snuggling into Matt's side.

Matt then threw his arm around her, as Alaric released her and their attention was quickly turned to the woman now shrieking after one of Payton's friends made Jo of all people jump out of her skin.

Alaric began to chuckle lightly at her reaction, as Payton tried to fight off a grin and Matt watched on in amusement, "Not cool!" Jo yelled back at the kids.

He slowly began to approach Jo, as Payton and Matt waited behind, "Oh Professor Bourbon. Perfect timing." Jo greeted him.

"Imagine you see a lot worse in the ER," Alaric said back to her.

"Everything I see there is natural. Gross, but natural." Jo answered back.

Payton turned to Matt and found herself resting her head on his chest, "Thank you for being here."

"Anytime." He told her.

"I've missed you so much, you know that?" She said looking up at him.

"I've missed you too, P. I'm glad I could be here tonight." Matt smiled back at her.

"Yeah, you're too good for me."

"No. Trust me. I'm not." Matt answered.

"You stuck by me despite everything..." She trailed off.

"Because I wanted to, P. You mean a lot to me. You're one of my best friends." He pointed out to her.

"And you're one of mine. You've never let me down." Payton snuggled further into him, as he brought her closer and held her, allowing himself to comfort her for the first time in a long time, knowing she would need it and it felt good to hold her.

Back between Alaric and Jo, Jo caught sight of Payton and Matt's closeness and found herself asking, "Those two seem happy."

"Uh yeah, they're the best of friends, although it hasn't always been that way." He informed her.

"Oh, you mean like friends with benefits?" Jo presumed with a smirk.

Alaric winced at the reminder of his daughter's previous relationship with Matt, as he went to say, "I'd rather not discuss my daughters love life. Should we get out of here instead?"

"Yes!" Jo nodded excitedly before the two of them took off and went to get away from the student party they had been dragged to.

"How are you getting on with your Dad being back?" Matt asked her as they began to walk away from the party to somewhere quieter.

"Honestly it's so weird! I knew I missed having him around, but god, I didn't realise how much. Despite his protectiveness and how grouchy he gets when I don't do something he wants me to do, I wouldn't want to have it how it was." She explained to him, taking a large sip from her beer cup.

"Well, I can tell how happy having him back has made you." He smiled back at her.

"Yeah, I just wish things could have been different with someone else." Payton sighed slightly.

Matt shone her a sympathetic smile and said, "I know. But you never what might happen."

Payton and Matt went back to her friends, where she introduced him to them, in which Nicole who had been eager to meet him before took a shining to him, engaging in a deep conversation with the guy, as the group of them continued to drink on. She was finally letting loose and trying to forget about everything that had happened lately. Payton was beginning to laugh and feel herself ease up, the drink clearly getting to her in her lightweight manner, causing her to have to latch onto her friend Ellie for support.

Suddenly the sound of screaming and shouting could be heard in the distance, before groups and groups of people began to run past them towards the exit, causing Payton to frown and find herself getting closer to Matt out of protection, "Oh my god, what's going on?" Nicole remarked in a panicked tone.

"Something's happened!" Shelby exclaimed, sensing that the stampede was due to something horrific happening further into the maze.

"Let's just run!" Ellie announced as she grabbed hold of Nicole and Shelby.

Payton quickly took Matt's hand in her own and dragged him out of there, knowing that if he got hurt, he would be the first one to suffer out of the two of them, so with her vampire advances, she would make sure he would survive, but due to being very much drunk, Payton was finding it hard to even run away from the scene in her state.

When they finally managed to get to safety, it wasn't until they were amongst a crowd of people who had been running, that they caught on that a car had driven straight through the maze injuring people left right and centre. Payton began to panic, wondering where Elena and Liam were, but also where her Dad and Jo where.

"Oh my god," She breathed in a shocked state, but her drunken one was making it hard for her to still stand without swaying, as she stupidly went running back into the maze to find them, "My Dad...Elena..."

"We'll find them," Matt assured her, keeping her close in this state, but just grateful they had got out when they did, he couldn't let her run off when she was far from sober.

After a few moments of seeing more and more people pass by injured or in a complete traumatic state from what they had just witnessed, Payton felt her phone ring in her jeans pocket and she quickly pulled it out to see her Dad's name on it, "Dad, oh my god," She breathed in relief, after she had answered, "where are you? Are you hurt?"

"We're fine. Are you alright?" He assured her down the line, still in the maze with Jo, around the injured.

"Matt and I are fine," Payton explained to him, before she asked, "W-w-what the hell happened? Where's Elena?"

"She's helping people. Don't worry. Put Matt on the phone." Alaric instructed to her, causing her to sight and pass him the phone over.

Matt took it and spoke back to Alaric, "What's up?"

"Do me a favour and get Payton out of here. I can tell she's drunk and I don't want her to get any worse after everything." Alaric told him, although Payton could hear him loud and clear.

"Of course. Sure." Matt answered, causing Payton to shake her head in disapproval.

After hanging up the call, Payton raised her brows up at him and said, "Why to agree to that?"

"He's right, you know? A horrific accident just happened here. You're drunk. The safest place..."

"Matt, I can handle myself!" She snapped back.

"I just think your Dad has your best interests at heart right now. He wants you safe and away from this."

"I could be in there helping people!" Payton pointed out, knowing she was more than capable to save a few lives.

"Yeah but you're drunk. What if you save someone and forget to do something properly because you're out of it?" He raised his brows up.

She sighed, knowing he was somewhat right, Payton was pretty drunk right now and the last thing either of them wanted was to out her as a vampire, especially when there was a vampire hunter on the lose anyway.

"Fine," Payton said giving into him, about to turn away and head back to her apartment with him, when her cell phone began to ring again.

Frowning, she looked down and saw Tyler's name flash across the top, she answered it, "Tyler, hey..."

Before she could question him what was going on, the guy quickly interjected in a distressed tone, "I was driving the truck!"

"What?" Payton gasped in shock, as Matt frowned with concern.

"This guy ran right in front of me. And he's hurt. Bad," Tyler explained to her, as he then went on to say, "if he dies, I'm a werewolf all over again, ok?"

"Tyler..." She went to try to calm him, but he was too panicked to let her speak.

"I need you to get here. I don't know where but we're in a ditch. I need you here now, so please hurry."

"T-t-tyler, you don't understand," Payton began, as she nervously eyed Matt, "you d-d-rove through the maze, there's injured p-p-people everywhere. My Dad and Elena are still there helping people."

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Tyler questioned, thinking this was only getting worse.

"I will get Matt to go find Elena and she will be able to help you. In the meantime, go call her and she will help you through it," Payton suggested, knowing that Elena was training to be a Doctor so would at least be able to help somehow, "I wish I could be with you, Tyler, I wish I could."

After getting off the phone with Tyler, who was then going to call Elena, Payton managed to persuade Matt to go find Elena so that she could help Tyler through this, whether it meant healing him with her blood or performing some sort of recovery on him until they could get the guy to the hospital. Matt didn't want to leave Payton to walk home alone when she was drunk, but she promised he'd she'd be fine and if by the time she walked it off, she felt better, then she would try to come to help.

As she began her walk back to the apartment, passing by all the injured and shocked people who had been caught up in the maze crash, Payton had worry flooding through her veins, all she kept thinking about was Tyler and how much he didn't want to be a wolf again, how much he didn't want to kill someone to be a werewolf all over again.

She hoped and prayed that somehow, someway, he would be saved and Tyler would be ok.

Feeling guilty and shameful that she wasn't doing anything to help due to her drunken ways, Payton backed up against a brick wall as she arrived at the apartment area of the campus. She huffed loudly and put her fingers through her hair, her body still feeling very much drunk and out of it right now, Payton was pissed at herself for getting in such a state.

"You look lost."

Turning her head to the side, Payton felt her stomach drop when she saw Stefan now walking along the same path she had moments before, a duffle bag in his hand and car keys in the other, she hadn't expected to see him tonight, but now he was here, Payton was almost relieved to see a familiar face after what had happened tonight.

"W-w-what are you doing around here?" She choked out.

"I just came to pick up some more of my things," He answered before he felt a frown come on his face at her manner and commented, "you're drunk."

"Yep." Payton rubbed her lips together nervously and looked down at the floor.

"What are you doing out here?" Stefan asked.

"There was an accident back at the maze party. Everyone's gone to help apart from me because I got too drunk." She explained in an annoyed tone.

"What happened?" He questioned further with slight concern.

"Some guy jumped in front of Tyler's truck and he crashed through the maze. Now he's terrified he'll become a wolf again," Payton rambled onto him, feeling bad she was stuck having this conversation whilst Tyler and everyone else was in distress, she needed a distraction so she found herself asking, "where are you going?"

"Uh back to the motel and then to look at a new house out of town," Stefan answered awkwardly.

"You were leaving?" Payton frowned slightly.

"Yeah. I had a vampire problem..."

"My dad might have mentioned it." She interrupted before he could say anymore.

"I just want to start over," Stefan admitted to her, looking back at her uneasily.

"Of course you do," Payton remarked bitterly, shaking her head as she did, "because that's just you all over!"

"I have no other choice!" He snapped back.

"You always have a choice, Stefan!" She shot back at him, thinking they shouldn't be having this conversation right now, especially when she drunk and everything around them was in a meltdown, "you had a choice!"

He lowered his head at this, knowing what she was referring to, but instead of fighting her back, Stefan kept quiet out of shame and guilt or because he knew that every time he met her like this, Stefan couldn't pull himself away from her nor had he stopped thinking about her. It was driving him insane and it had been the one thing to push him over the edge to even get far out of here in the first place.

"And the fact you can barely form a sentence together right now says everything!" Payton grumbled back at him, going to walk away but she stumbled instead, causing Stefan to quickly reach forward and catch her.

"Get off of me!" She shrugged him off with a force, looking back at him in anger.

Stefan wasn't surprised at her reaction, because he knew a drunk Payton was always over emotional and this was it, "You need to calm down."

"Calm down?" Payton scoffed as she repeated him, before going on to yell back, "you just need to stop being so damn selfish!"

"Well, how is this for selfish, huh? Every time I try to leave, every time I try to turn a corner and get the hell out of here, there you are!" Stefan snapped back at her, as she stared back at her with unease, "or if you're not there, you're stuck in my head! I have hunters on my trail, a brand new vampire who wants to kill me and everyone else! And that is not how someone starts over, Payton!"

"I don't even get why you want to start over!" She expressed back to him her confusion and rage, "you had everything, yes you lost Damon, but you still had us! You still had your friends, you still had the support and you had me! You had a girl who loves you so much and would never give up on you!"

"Don't you think I realise that?" He looked back at her with an angered expression.

"Then why is it not enough?" Payton shouted back at him before she breathed and said with an uneasy tone, "you know, I actually began to wish that Damon would come back...because I knew if that happened then I'd get you back too."

Stefan sighed and turned his head to the side, trying to hold back his own emotions as Payton shook her head at him and went to walk away, so she could go back to her apartment and sober herself up, but when she went to walk away again, she stumbled and Stefan caught her once more, his hands resting on her waist, as Payton gripped his shoulders.

Although this time, Payton didn't fight, she just let him hold her, because she was so damn tired of fighting.

"Let me walk you home and make sure you get home safe. It's the least I can do." He offered in a soft tone.

Payton found herself slowly nodding, thinking it was crazy how moments before they had been arguing and now she was letting him be kind to her, as Stefan wrapped his arm around her back and helped her walk back to the apartment, Payton allowing herself to lean on him for support.

When they arrived back at the apartment, Stefan put his own key into the lock and opened up the door, helping her inside and walking her over to sit on the bed Payton went to reach down to take her shoes off, but Stefan was already there for her, bending down to slip her feet out of her boots and she just watched him in confusion, thinking if this had been any other time, it would have been normal, but now it just felt different.

Once he had finished taking off her shoes, Stefan slowly glanced up at her and his tired eyes met with her pained ones, as they stared back at each other, both of them feeling heavy hearted that this was what it had become. They had been in love. They had been so close. And now they were barely hanging by a thread.

"Did you mean what you said?" Payton asked him in a quiet tone, as he raised a brow, "the other day, what you said, did you mean it?"

Stefan quickly caught onto what she was saying and slowly nodded, "I did."

"God," She shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip to stop her crying, "I had been wanting to hear you say it for so long."

"I know." He breathed.

"And now it just doesn't even seem worth it. Nothing seems worth it anymore."

"You have an amazing life, Payton. You have friends, your Dad is back, you're doing so well and you're going to be successful.."

"But it's not you, Stefan. It's not us." She interrupted in a pained tone.

"I can't hold you back, Payton," Stefan responded back.

"You wouldn't. God, you could never," Payton said back to him, as her hand came up to cup one side of his face, "despite how much I hate you for what you've done by pushing us all out, I hate seeing you put so much blame and hate on yourself."

"I do deserve it though."

"Yeah maybe, but not from yourself and not for the reason as to why you're doing it. You shouldn't be alone." She explained.

"I'm not going to ripper if that's..."

"No, I don't think that. But you're still grieving and you're vulnerable. The last thing you need is to be alone." Payton tried to tell him.

"Would you come with me?" He found himself asking.

"Where?" She frowned.

"I need to feel close to Damon."

"Ok."

After grabbing a blood bag and some water to try sober herself up, Payton grabbed a sweater and headed out of the apartment with Stefan to his car, once they were inside, Stefan began the short journey towards Mystic Falls, but not over the border, instead he was heading to the Salvatore crypt, where his family had been buried for years, the one place he felt closest to Damon other than at the house he couldn't even go to.

When they got to the crypt, Payton halted at the door as Stefan stepped inside, she wanted him to have his own time and space to be with his own feelings, but when Stefan sat down on the concrete bench inside and beckoned her to join him, Payton stepped inside and took the seat beside him, seeing him pull out a bottle of bourbon from under the seat.

He popped open the bottle and took a large swig of it, as the two sat in silence, Payton keeping her gaze focused ahead just like Stefan's, although she occasionally turned her head to check on him to make sure he was ok.

"How are you feeling?" She asked in a soft tone after some time and noticing the tears had fallen into his eyes.

"Urgh," He grumbled, a nervous laugh falling after as he tried to hold back the tears, "yep."

"Do you want me to step out?" Payton offered, thinking if he needed to get it out but was too afraid to in front of her then.

"No," Stefan shook his head, as he stood up onto his feet, "but this is really happening. But I'm gonna talk out loud to a crypt filled with my dead family," he continued on, "everyone but you, Damon. Because wherever you are, it's not here,"

Payton lowered her head at this, somewhat relieved to hear him talking like this rather than bottling everything up and brooding like he had been the past few months, as Stefan went on and rejoined her on the bench, "I gotta say, I'm not doing so great without you."

She felt her chest tighten at him admitting this, hearing him admit these things was what she had been wanting to hear for months, all the pain she felt was almost soothed to hear him be so honest and raw with himself properly. Payton couldn't hate him even if she tried to. He hadn't exactly broken her heart other than pushing her out, but she knew it wasn't because he didn't love her, it was because he was hurt and couldn't love anyone when he hated himself so much.

"I keep trying to start over," Stefan began again, Payton carried on listening to him, "but I can't get anywhere. Because I'm lost, brother. I'm lost."

Payton went to comfort him, when Stefan quickly got up from his seat and went to launch the bottle of bourbon at the wall at the back of the crypt through rage and upset that it had come to this, both of them bracing themselves to hear the bottle smashing into the wall and the glass shattering everywhere, but when it failed to hit the surface, they both snapped their heads up.

Stefan stared wide eye at what he saw standing at the end of the crypt, looking completely and utterly confused as to what he was seeing, Payton also shared the same surprise and confusion, as she sat on the bench with her eyes wide and her lips parted, her stomach churning away as she took in a heavy breath.

"So, what, gone a couple of months, you think it's okay to waste a perfectly good bottle of bourbon?" Damon remarked, looking back at his brother in amusement as he took a swig from the bottle.

"Damon?" Stefan stammered out, completely in shock.

"Yep," Damon answered straight before he opened up his arms and said, "in the flesh."

"How are we seeing you right now?" Payton asked, slowly rising to her feet in disbelief that this was actually happening.

"Because I'm not dead," Damon responded back to her, as he stepped towards his brother to prove it, "I mean, this stuffs good, but it's not 'I see dead people' good."

"Oh my god," Payton mumbled under her breathe with a slight chuckle, thinking this was actually mad right now.

"It's a hell of a long story, brother," Damon said to Stefan, now he was stood right in front of him, who had been speechless, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, "but I'm back. I'm back."

Stefan looked around Damon, almost like he was checking he was really real like he wasn't just some figure of his or Payton's imagination before he clasped his hand round his brother's upper arm and Damon nodded back at him, "Yeah."

Within a flash, Stefan pulled his brother into him and embraced the guy, holding onto him tightly, the tears threatening to spill again, as Damon embraced him back and Payton put her hands over her mouth in shock, but also relief that Damon was back, something she never thought she'd ever think or feel, but at least it meant things might go back to normal for Stefan now and her Dad would also be happy.

But it was just now up to Elena to figure out whether she would be too.

"I'm back, Stefan." Damon told him once more.


Author note: I can't believe I haven't updated at all this year! This year hasn't been a great year so far. I've struggled a lot in my personal life and haven't found the time to write in a long time. it sucks as I used to love doing it so much but hopefully soon I will find the inspiration to get back to doing this.

I thought it would be a good idea to upload a new part since I had some spare time and parts sat ready to go live :)

Special thanks to WickedlyMinx and Adela for reviewing the last part. I love reading your comments. It means the world to me. So thank you so much for that.

I would love to know your thoughts on this part!

Thanks so much.

Best wishes always,

guiltypleasurexo