Elena was nearly about to collapse, feeling as if she'd completely overdosed on hope. Stefan didn't remember her. In fact, he had no clue who she even was. They were right back in 2009, at the cemetery on that chilly September afternoon, but even then, Stefan had had his eyes on Elena for quite some time. He had known so much about her, whereas she knew nothing about him… and now, the tables were turned.

She knew everything about Stefan Salvatore. Everything. She knew what he loved, what he hated. She knew that he loved to sleep in but woke up early anyways. As much as he loved sleep, there was nothing he adored more than waking in time to see the sunrise… to see her wake up, and to be the very first thing she saw. Even simpler, Elena knew that Stefan didn't like the color 'periwinkle' because of its obnoxious name. She knew what made him happy, what haunted him, and –far too late—what was capable of destroying him.

Now, Stefan was the one who was completely clueless about Elena. He didn't even know the things that she knew about himself. He was haunted by nothing and broken by nothing. He was standing before her with no recollection of her love, of the pain she'd caused him.

"Elena," he repeated her name, –just like he had with Damon's—trying to get the syllables to naturally flow off of his tongue. She shuddered at how foreign it sounded. "E-le-na."

Her chest tightened. This was too much. Desperately, afraid that she was actually going to pass out this time, she reached for something to hold onto, and Damon hurried over and wrapped his arms around her to steady her. Elena released a quiet sigh. Had part of her hoped that some instinct would have kicked in and Stefan would have been the one to hold her?

Instead, the younger Salvatore watched this exchange and smiled a little bit. He actually smiled, and it was genuine. Elena felt sick. If only Stefan remembered just how the two of them had gotten into each other's arms in the first place…

"Are you two together?" Stefan asked, and Elena cringed. His words almost seemed to be an interested attempt at small talk. There was no accusation, no suspicion, not even loss in his voice. She wanted to fold up inside of herself and never escape until this nightmare was over. She felt Damon nod just slightly, and Stefan grinned again, like he'd just put together two puzzle pieces in his head. "You make a nice couple."

Now Elena really did feel sick. The floor spun. And when Damon, who had been strangely silent, led her upstairs, she dazedly followed. "Caroline, Stefan… give us a few minutes," she barely heard him say.

With those words, Caroline and Stefan were alone. The young vampire, who had been politely waiting for her turn, turned to Stefan with a wide smile. She seemed to be the only one in the group who wasn't completely in grief over the situation. "Don't get upset if they don't seem happy." She lifted her hand in a mock whisper, although she was speaking just as loud as she normally would have. "They're just surprised by the turn of events. But trust me, when it clicks in them that you're actually here they'll be—"

Stefan, who was not even trying to force a smile, cut Caroline off. "You look really familiar," he started, puzzled. "I know your face… but I don't."

"That's great!" Caroline smiled brightly and pulled the confused young man into a hug. "I was afraid I'd have to kick your ass if you completely forgot me!" she joked. Although he felt completely out of place, he decided to hug her back, because clearly, he remembered her… so she had to mean something, right? Plus, this bubbly blond girl seemed to be the only positive person he'd seen all night. When she pulled away, she let out a little content breath and stepped away. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, how glad we all are."

Stefan awkwardly looked at the ground, his lips pursed. "Are you, um… are we… like Damon and," he paused for a minute. What was her name? "E-le…na?"

She looked at him like he had two heads. "Like Damon and Elena?" She instantly jumped back. "Oh, god, no!" she practically shouted. "One: you and I are friends. We're not dating… no offense, but that'd be weird. Two: Even if we were a thing, I refuse to be compared to them." She continued to make some sort of disgusted noise that got a chuckle out of Stefan.

Then, his mood changed. His lips formed a straight line, and his eyes practically burned through hers. "What happened to me?" he pleaded.

Conflicted, Caroline looked down. Could she do this to him? Could she tell Stefan that the world he lived in sucked so much that he had nothing to live for except someone else, although she'd chosen another man over him? Could she tell him that the other man was his brother, and that that someone else still was with his brother in a no-longer-intimate relationship, but a relationship nonetheless? How would he cope with that? Couldn't he just have one night –just one—without feeling pain?

"You were missing," she lied. "You went missing for about two months. But don't worry, we're going to figure out who did this."

At least part of that was true. They did have to figure out how Stefan had been brought back…


About two hours later, Elena woke up on Damon's bed, groggy and somewhat miserable. She didn't remember falling asleep. "Did I actually pass out?" she muttered to herself.

Then, Damon emerged from the bathroom, running a towel through his hair. "I compelled you to take a nap," he said, attempting to smirk just a bit. It didn't work very well.

"You, what?" Elena yelled, outraged. Who told Damon that he could just compel her to sleep, while Stefan was finally alive and confused and vulnerable and… "How could you do that? I didn't ask you to compel me! You said you wouldn't do that!"

"You needed it!" he snapped. "You couldn't even breathe, Elena!"

"But I didn't ask you! How dare you?" She had never been angrier, or at least it felt that way. She wanted nothing more than to spend those two hours trying to figure everything out. "I'm going to see him now."

Damon glared at her. "Have fun rekindling your lost love with my brother. Wait, that's going to be a little difficult, considering he doesn't know who you are."

She whipped around, furious. "What the hell is this?" she growled. "Are you jealous?"

"What?"

"You're mad that he's back, aren't you?" When Damon didn't respond, she took it as a signal to keep going. "Now that he's back, you're upset that I want to spend time with him and get his forgiveness."

He gritted his teeth. If she did not know him so well, she would have been afraid of him. The wild look in his eyes was haunting, terrifying. "You want to do a lot more than spend time with him, Elena, and we both know it."

She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated by his tantrum. "Are you kidding me? You just got your brother back and you're mad because I missed him! You should have missed him too, or did you forget that you've known him longer than anyone?"

"I didn't forget!" He snarled. "Who do you think brought him back?" Elena knew from Damon's expression that he immediately regretted the words. She froze.

There was a long moment of silence.

"You're the one who figured out how to bring Stefan back?" Her voice was calm now, a little too calm, and now, Damon was scared. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He didn't respond.

"You saw me grieving, you saw me wishing that I could apologize to him… and you were here, planning how to get him back? Why would you not tell me, Damon?" Her fists were clenched; she was so tempted to slap him.

Finally, Damon responded. "I knew you'd waste all of your time figuring out what you were going to say. It'd only be a matter of time before I lost you to a dead man, Elena!"

She gave him a look, a deadly look that shook him to the core. "Yeah? Well now, you did." And with that, she slammed the door behind her and walked into the hallway, trying to calm herself as she thought of what to say to the Salvatore she hadn't seen –hadn't really seen—in over a year.


After looking through his drawers for what felt like an eternity, Stefan decided on wearing a white tank top and black sweatpants. They didn't feel particularly familiar, but they looked comfortable, so he decided to put them on anyways.

He was shuffling through a drawer full of shampoo and hair gel when he heard the door to his room open. "Good news!" he chuckled to himself. "Either I remember how to take a shower, or it's something that comes naturally to me."

When she laughed, he jumped a little and turned, his eyes wide. "Oh, I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I thought you were Caroline. But then again, she left about an hour ago. Wow, that sounded really rude. I'm sorry; it's not that I wish you were Caroline, I just—sorry. Elena, right?"

Elena nodded slowly, telling herself over and over to stay composed. "Yeah, that's me." She forced out a smile, awkwardly remaining at the door. "You seem frazzled," she observed.

"I have no clue who I am." He threw a container of hair gel on the floor and sat back on his bed, before surrendering to his slack muscles and flopping down on the comforter completely. "This doesn't even feel like it's my room. I feel like I'm invading the old Stefan's personal space."

She frowned at that, suddenly feeling selfish for the way she acted earlier. She was so upset over the fact that Stefan didn't remember her, but there he was, looking into everyone's unfamiliar eyes. Finally, she stepped inside. "It's your room. You'll remember eventually."

"I suppose," he sighed, closing his eyes. "What if I don't?"

"Then…" After a moment of hesitation, Elena sat on the edge of Stefan's bed, far away from him. "It'll be okay, right? You'll still be surrounded by people who love you. You've got a brother, and a friend…" And then there's me. There's me, who you used to love but really never should have. Here I am, privileged with loving you even though I'm the last person who deserves to. Elena didn't say these words, because she didn't know what she was supposed to be to Stefan now. "And in time, I'm sure you'll figure out how to love us, too." Or them, at least.

Stefan smiled, but Elena knew that look; that was the grin he gave when he was lonely, when he felt completely and utterly lost. She'd seen it plenty of times. "I should probably figure out who I am first."

"Me too," she agreed. Her words made Stefan turn and look at her, confusion flickering in his emerald eyes. "I have nineteen years of memories, Stefan, and I still don't know who I am. I've done things, bad things, and here I was so hopeful when I heard you were back. You won't appreciate this now, but I was going to try and make things right between us, because they'd gotten so screwed up."

Stefan sighed, looking at the ceiling. He wished this moment should have been meaningful, and she knew it, too. That was enough for Elena. She would take what she could get. "We were in an argument?" he questioned. "Was it like in-law animosity?" His attempt at a joke made Elena wince. He had no idea just how close that was.

"In a way," she replied curtly. "But we were close, if you were wondering. I don't know if it really matters anyway, but you mean a lot to me. I just kind of forgot that."

He gave her a reassuring smile, and Elena couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Stefan felt like he should have been comforting her, when in reality, she had been the one to completely ruin him. "If I could just take everything back, I would have. You were, um, a good… friend... to me, and I kind of threw that away. I needed to figure out who I was, not who I thought I was. I guess I still kind of do."

Then, with a little nudge, Stefan spoke, and he almost reminded her of the person he had once been. "We'll start over together, you and me."


A/N: A lot happened this chapter, LOL :P I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it and everything that happened. You all know just how inspiring every single comment is; you really have no idea! As long as you let me know that you want me to keep writing, I will. Let me know what you loved, what you hated, and what you want to see!

So, Stefan and Caroline are still friends! YAY! Damon and Elena are not on the best of terms, and Elena is trying to make things right with Stefan, although he thinks that they are only friends. How will things turn out for them? Will Stefan even fall for Elena again after knowing she once hurt him somehow? Will Elena let herself be happy with Stefan's company, or will the guilt get the better of her?

Thanks! Please comment!

Xoxo!