A/N: Totally forgot this before but I own nothing. If I did Stefan and Elena would probably be human with adorable children and the word Delena would not exist.

"Care, have you seen my white dress with the blue flowers?" Elena called out as she stood inside her closet wrapped in a towel.

"I wore it last week. Do you need it?" Elena groaned. Leave it to Caroline to wear the one thing she was looking for.

"Did you wash it yet? Because Stefan is coming to pick me up in an hour and I have no idea what to wear." Elena's voice rose at the end as the panic began to set in.

"Relax. I can help you pick an outfit. Don't you trust me?" Elena turned to see Caroline standing in the door of her room. She nodded. "Alright, let's get to work." Caroline stepped forward towards Elena's closet as Elena sat down on her bed. Her participation was not needed. Caroline would treat Elena as if she was a doll and Elena found herself glad of that fact. It took all the thought out of it on her end.

Stefan fidgeted as he stood in front on Elena's door. He hadn't been this nervous for a date since he was in high school. Granted, he hadn't been on a true date in a while. Stefan figured that fact must have been contributing to his nervousness. Being a professional athlete was not very conducive to dating and relationships.

He was jolted out of his thoughts as the door opened. Instead of Elena, as he had expected, a blonde girl stood in the doorway. "Um, I'm looking for Elena Gilbert. Does she live here?" He glanced behind the blonde, searching for any sign of Elena.

"You must be Stefan. I'm Caroline, Elena's roommate." She held out her hand to Stefan. He shook her hand; relieved he was in the right place. "Elena will be just be a minute, would you like to come in?"

Stefan nodded and Caroline moved aside to allow Stefan to enter. Once inside, Stefan looked around. Now that he could see more of the apartment, it was obvious Elena lived here. Her mesh equipment bag was lying on the floor next to the door and multiple suits were hung up to dry on hooks by the kitchen. Her swim bag sat on a chair at their table with a towel slung haphazardly over the back of the chair.

"Sorry about the mess, Elena has a lot going on with school and I wasn't home for a week." Caroline apologized, slightly embarrassed at the state of her usually clean home.

Stefan smiled. "No worries. I get it. So, how long have you and Elena been friends?" He was curious to learn more about Elena.

"Elena and I have been close since we were in diapers. We grew up together. We were the three musketeers along with our friend Bonnie – she doesn't go to school here but we see her a lot." Stefan nodded, processing these few insights of Elena's life. "Care, was that the door?" Stefan turned to see Elena walking out of a room, presumably her own. His breath caught in his throat. Elena as Stefan had seen her had been beautiful. The Elena before him, hair fixed, make up done, and dressed in real clothes was breath taking. Her long brown hair hung down in pin straight layers. Elena wore dark skinny jeans paired with a light royal blue sweater and ballet flats. A hint of make up on her eyes and cheeks highlighted her features. A small chain hung from her neck, a medallion dangling against her sternum.

"You look, um, you look beautiful, Elena." Elena blushed at Stefan's comment. It was nice to hear, Matt had always told her she looked hot and for some reason Elena had not always found it to be a compliment. She tucked a strand of hair behind her head.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself." Stefan smiled at her. Elena picked up her phone and keys from the kitchen counter. "Care, we are headed to Onyx. Call me if you need anything, but, Care… try not to need me, okay?"

Caroline sighed dramatically. "I am capable of functioning without you, Elena." A wicked grin came over her face. "Besides, I wouldn't want to interrupt. Now, Stefan, I must assure you that if anything should happen to Elena I will personally hunt you down and make sure you never breath again. Got it?" Stefan nodded, slightly amused, but also slightly terrified. "Great. Don't stay out too late and, Elena, keep it down."

"Caroline!" Elena buried her face in embarrassment. "Stefan we are leaving, now." She grabbed his hand and led him from the apartment, closing the door as the entered the hallway.

"I apologize for Caroline, she has absolutely no filter."

"Don't worry about it. She really seems to care about you and that is all I care about." Stefan flashed a smile at Elena.

"Yeah, she's the best friend I could ever ask for it's just that sometimes she's…" Elena struggled to find the right words.

"Much?" Stefan supplied.

Elena nodded. "Yeah, she's just a little over the top sometimes." They had reached the elevator and it was at that moment that Elena realized she was still holding Stefan's hand. When she glanced up at him then down to their intertwined hands she felt Stefan give her hand a light squeeze. Elena smiled, feeling joy well up in her chest. Something about holding Stefan's hand just felt right.

Elena stated up into Stefan's yes, finally giving herself permission to gaze unabashed into his eyes. To her delight, Stefan was gazing right back. Had the elevator not dinged they most likely would have stayed that way for quite a while.

"Wait, so you had no idea who I was that first night we met?" Stefan was incredulous at Elena's confession.

She shook her head. "I didn't make the connection until Klaus introduced you. In my defense, all the times I ever saw you were a) on TV or in pictures, b) you had a cap and goggles on, and c) way less clothing. So, WITHOUT your cap and goggles and WITH clothes I did not immediately make the connection in a dark hallway at 9:45 at night. My apologies." She gave Stefan a facetious smile, silently teasing him with her eyes.

"Alright, I will give you that." He took a drink from his water glass. "So, you would recognize me without clothes on?"

Elena lightly kicked him under the table. "That is what you go from that conversation? Really! I was just making a point." She blushed slightly.

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Stefan smiled at Elena, a hint of mischief dancing in his eyes.

"Okay, new topic." Elena said, trying to draw the conversation away from Stefan and a lack of clothing.

"Alright, umm. 20 questions?"

"Sounds good, you go first."

"Worst nickname?" Stefan grinned at her.

"Toes, when I was little I always played with me feet and my Aunt Jenna thought it would be cute." Elena grimaced. "It was. Until I got older. How about you?"

"Hmm, Nik calls me Ripper. Actually, it's more like 'Rippa'." Elena laughed.

"Who is Nik? And why does he call you that?" She sipped her water, looking at Stefan expectantly.

"Oh, I guess you guys call him Klaus. His real name is Niklaus. So I call him Nik." Elena nodded, comprehension flooding her features. "As for Ripper, I'm not sure where he got it from but it started when we were about 18 or 19. I think he said it had something to do with one of my mile races. I won by a ton and since then he has called me Ripper."

"That's way better than toes." She thought for a minute. "Siblings?"

Stefan nodded. "One older brother. His name is Damon and he lives with his wife Katherine and their daughter Nadia in New York City. Damon is a bond trader and Katherine is a buyer for some fashion house. You?"

Elena smiled. "I have a younger brother, Jeremy. He goes to school in Arizona with my friend Bonnie. They have been dating about 6 months."

Stefan smiled. "Is that weird?" It would be strange to him for sure. Especially since Damon was 6 years older than him.

Elena shook her head. "It was a first but not anymore. They are so happy and they are good together. I wish them all the best."

"It's sounds like you really love them."

"I do."

"I had a really nice time tong hit, Stefan." Elena tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as the ambled along the hall towards her door."

"I did too. I haven't had such a nice dinner in a very long time. So, thank you for being my date." Stefan stopped walking as he spoke, turning to face Elena.

"Good, we should do this again, soon." Elena smiled up at Stefan, leaving the door open for an invitation.

"Most definitely." Stefan agreed.

Elena glance behind them, nothing that they were standing in front of her door. "Well, this is me." She slid her keys out of the pocket and unlocked the door. She was about to enter but Stefan's hand on her arm stopped her. She turned to face him.

"I would never forgive myself if I didn't do this."

Elena looked at Stefan, puzzled. "Do what?" The words had barely left her mount before she felt Stefan's lips on hers.

A/N: you thought I would leave you guys hanging without a kiss didn't you? I'm not that mean. Haha. Next chapter will probably skip ahead a bit. Haven't decided how much yet.

Once again thanks for reading and please review!