A/N: First I would like to thank cold kagome for reviewing and JackWillisLover13 for putting this on their story alert. It means a lot to know I have people reading. Look! Another chapter! Usually I plan on one chapter a week-but I already had this one written and didn't want to wait any longer. XP Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please review! Review's make my week. :)

(Now)

Stefan's POV

"Come on, please say you'll go to the game!"

Stefan looked down into the dark brown eyes, of his pleading girlfriend. She held his hand and swung their intertwined fingers back and forth. He couldn't help but smile and pull her closer to him.

"Since when do you want to go to a football game if you're not cheering?" He questioned as he tucked her shoulder under his arm, being careful of her wrist that she had sprained earlier in the week, and started walking.

She rolled her eyes as she spoke, "Just because I can't cheer tonight doesn't mean I wouldn't want to go...besides... Tyler is on the team and Caroline is making me. You will not make me go by myself will you?"

He laughed and shook his head. "I guess not."

They continued to walk down the halls of Mystic Falls High School as if they were attached to one another. Stefan smiled again, this time to himself. Since coming to this school in September as a new student, and having met the most perfect girl in the world, his life seemed to be soaring. He was the happiest he could ever remember being, and he owed it all to the girl at his side.

They stopped walking when they reached the class room and he looked down at her.

"Love you." He said, giving her a peck on the cheek. She smiled with her eyes and motioned with her head toward the classroom.

Stefan looked up to see the teacher, Mr. Saltzman, watching them rather amused. Stefan cleared his throat and straightened up. "Sorry about that, Mr. Saltzman." Beside him, he could tell his girlfriend was trying not to laugh at him.

"No worries, Mr. Salvatore, just please refrain from PDA outside my classroom. Ms. Gilbert."

"Coming, Mr. Saltzman." She pulled away from Stefan and winked at him as she made her way to her desk. "Don't forget, I have cheer-"

"Leading after school. I'll pick you up after for the game. I won't forget. Later, Elena."

She smiled and he smiled in reply.

As the rest of the students began to filter in, he made his way to his own class. He had just sat down when he heard his name being called. He looked up to see his friend, Matt.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked as his friend slid into his seat directly behind him. He turned in his chair to face him. Matt leaned across his desk and spoke.

"So I heard you're going to the game tonight."

"Word travels fast."

"I heard it through the grape vine. Elena told Caroline, who told Bonnie who told this guy." Matt waggled his thumbs at himself. "But that's not the point. The point is, are you on for a little pre-game party at your place."

Stefan had been ready to agree until he heard the words, "your place", then he hesitated. "Uh... I'm not sure if that's such a good idea..."

Matt groaned and rolled his eyes. "Really? Again? Come on, dude! No offense, but you're just getting annoying now. You have your own place, and you don't even put it to good use? You're just wasting space my friend."

Stefan shook his head at his friend's theatrics and sighed. "Well... maybe... if it's small. Just us."

"Of course! As long as you know that just us includes, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy."

Stefan smiled as he thought about Jeremy, Elena's younger brother. "Do you think he realizes it that every time we get together we set him up with Bonnie?"

The two of them, with some help from Elena and Caroline had been trying to match Bonnie with Jeremy since they all had met. It was obvious to everyone that they had a thing for each other-except maybe Jeremy.

"Dude, I don't think he'd realize it even if she went up to him and asked him out herself."

They shared a laugh, then quieted down as class had just begun. However, he had a hard time concentrating on whatever his teacher was saying.

A party, at his house? House wasn't even the right word for what he lived in. It was nothing short of a mansion. He was pretty sure he hadn't even been in all the rooms yet, nor did he plan on it. He still considered it a temporary living space as he had with all of the rest of the places he had been this past year. Even though this was it. This was where he was going to stay now-and probably the rest of his life-unless his relatives finally found a loop hole in his fathers will. But he seriously doubted it.

So, it wasn't that he didn't have space to hold a party, no, it was quite the opposite. It might have been the fact that he still felt like a stranger in the house, even if he was the only one there. That might have been the reason, he just wasn't sure.

Stefan looked up to see that the teacher had written something on the board and others around him were scrambling to copy it into a notebook so he quickly followed suit. No matter what it was that bothered him about having guests, he would just have to deal with it. He had been putting off the inevitable long enough. They were coming over and that was that.

(~~~~)

"I still can't believe you said yes." Elena said, leaning over the counter of the island that had its place in the middle of the kitchen.

Stefan shrugged as he began to slice pieces of cheese for the get together that was to take place at his house in less than five minutes. "Well... it was time, I guess. Could you grab the crackers from the cupboard, please?"

She nodded and turned, her silky brown hair swinging back and forth in its pony tail. He paused and watched her as she moved. Elena was a cheerleader-one of the best at their school even if she wasn't cheering tonight due to a sprained wrist-and she always seemed to walk on tip toe, as if she were forever ready to run forward and jump into a handspring.

She grabbed the box of crackers and came back, blushing when she caught him staring at her. "What?" She asked self-consciously, looking down at her clothing, trying to see if there was a problem.

He shook his head at her. "Nothing, you're fine."

Elena made an amused noise and lay the snacks out on a tray. "It just seems... random."

"What does?" He asked, slightly confused.

"You suddenly letting everyone come over."

"Oh. Well... Matt's been bugging me for a while... and it won't be long-20 minutes at most..." He trailed off. "Do you think it was a bad idea?"

"Oh, no!" She leaned forward again and placed her hand on top of his, halting the knife. He looked up at her and they locked eyes. "I just want to make sure you're comfortable. I know you're still not used to being here and... I'm mothering you again, aren't I." She sighed, as if annoyed with herself, and pulled back.

Stefan laughed, trying to make her feel more at ease, and put the knife down. "No, you're just being a good friend. I-" He was cut off when there was a loud pounding noise emitting from the front door.

Elena jumped and placed her hand on her chest. "Just about gave me a heart attack. If that's Matt-"

The two of them raced to the door;Elena got there first and opened it. Matt, Bonnie, Caroline, and Jeremy all stood at the door. Stefan breathed in; the party had started.

(~~~)

Fifteen minutes later everyone had settled down in the library-which was also the main sitting room-the gossip of the day had been heard, and the jokes about Jeremy's long hair had all but ceased.

"I still can't believe that this is all yours." Matt was stretched out on a leather sofa in front of an unlit fireplace that was taller than Stefan himself.

He looked around and shrugged as he set down another tray of snacks-Matt had basically devoured the first one on his own. "Honestly, me neither."

The three girls were all sitting together on another couch. Elena reached for a snack as Caroline spoke up.

"So, how is this yours anyway?"

"Caroline..." Elena put a warning tone into her voice and apologetically looked up at Stefan, who now sat on the arm of the couch beside her.

"What?" The blonde protested looking around helplessly.

Stefan gave her a small smile and supplied an answer for her. "My father died a couple of years ago and left everything he had to me."

"Yeah, and his dad was like a trillionaire or something!" Matt chimed in.

Stefan winced slightly, but no one seemed to notice. "Yes, well, I sold a lot of his things that I had no use for, and put the money in the bank. Basically all that I kept was this house."

He didn't say why he kept it. He didn't say it was because it was the only place that wasn't tainted with bad memories, that it was the only place that he had felt even remotely safe. He said nothing.

"Wow." was all Caroline could say as she ate her cheese and cracker. She looked over at Jeremy across the room who was looking through a book shelf.
"Hey, watcha find over there?"

He looked up and squinted at her, throwing a look at Bonnie beside her. "Some classics. Books and music. Your dad must have been a collector, Stefan."

Stefan nodded. "Yeah, whatever he could get his hands on."

"I wanna check it out!" Caroline practically jumped off the couch and was at the boy's side in seconds.

Bonnie checked her watch and then spoke to the group, "We should probably head over soon, so Caroline and I aren't late. Besides you guys wouldn't want to miss the kick off, would you?"

Matt chuckled and tossed a pillow in her direction. "How do you know what a kick off is?"

Bonnie made a face and whipped the pillow back at him. "Give me a break, are we still going to go with the 'Girl's shouldn't know anything about football' routine? I'm a cheerleader. You have to know what's what about the stupid game if you want football player, isn't that right... Caroline."

The room laughed at that one. All except for Caroline who had pulled a book from the shelf and gotten distracted by something that had fallen out. She leaned over and picked it up.

She examined it, whistled lowly and looked at it even more closely. "Who is this hunk?"

"A hunk? I wanna see!" Bonnie got up and went to her friend's side, as Jeremy slowly backed away.

Stefan got up as well, a worry crease settling to his forehead.

"Wowie. Stefan, you never told us you knew such a stud."

Stefan was at the girls' side in seconds and Caroline handed him the picture, both girls eagerly awaiting to find out who it was in the picture. Stefan looked down and his immediate thought was to throw the picture into the fireplace and a match a long with it.

"Well?" Caroline badgered.

"I don't know."

"Whaat?" The girls cried disappointingly.

Stefan pulled his gaze away from the picture and shrugged his shoulders trying to appear nonchalant.

"But isn't that you? I mean you look much younger, but I'm guessing it has to be you." Bonnie asked.

"Yes, it's me," He answered without even looked at it. "But I honestly can't remember who that is. Judging by my hair cut there, I have to be at least eight." He had been exactly eight. The picture had been taken at his birthday party.

"Darn!" Caroline cried and took the picture from a distracted Stefan's hands and skipped over to Elena to show her the picture. Elena looked it over and smiled.

"You look adorable there."

He forced a smile on his face and swore to himself that the person in the picture was not going to ruin his day. Not now, not ever again. "Come on, guys, let's go to that game."

(~~~~)

Despite what he had said about not letting the person in the picture ruin his day, Stefan couldn't stop thinking about the incident. Why had the picture been in a book? One of his fathers book! It didn't make any sense to him. He thought that his mother had destroyed all the pictures before she had left. Apparently not.

Maybe it had been a book from one of the old houses. He had transferred all of the books to this house, deciding to fill the huge library rather than leave it bare and lonely. Maybe the picture had been in the book for years, being used as a bookmark. Maybe...

"Popcorn?"

Stefan jumped in his seat and cried out in alarm. He heard laughter all around him. He looked up and saw Elena holding a small bag of popcorn. She swept her gaze over him, slightly concerned, as she sat beside him.

Behind him Matt was still laughing and he placed his hand on Stefan's shoulder to keep himself steady. "Dude, your reaction was priceless! Distracted much?"

Stefan forced a chuckle and shrugged, "Yeah.. I guess..."

Matt didn't reply because his attention was back at the game where someone had obviously scored a touch down. Cheers arose all around him, but Stefan was barely aware. Matt was dead on with the distracted comment.

Stefan felt a hand on his elbow, but was mindful enough to realize it was just Elena. He turned to her. "Yes?"

Puzzled, she looked at him and shook her head. She opened her mouth as if she were about to shout to be heard over all the noise, but then changed her mind and leaned in closer to him so that she was talking into his ear.

"Are you okay?" She pulled back, worry in her eyes.

This was one of the reasons he loved her so much. Any other girl would have laughed right along with the group when he had jumped, but she knew him well enough to know better. She always seemed to be able to tell when he was upset. However, this time he couldn't tell her that he was bothered. It was silly anyway, and there was nothing she could do about it.
So he leaned into her this time and replied. "I'm fine. Maybe just a bit tired."

Elena looked him over one more time, smiled softly and hooked her arm through his. She leaned against him and reverted her attention to the game.
Taking a deep breath trying to calm himself, willing himself to forget about the picture, Stefan also looked out at the field, and cheered like everyone else.

(~~~)

"Woooh!" Matt cheered.

Stefan and Elena gave a whoop back and then laughed as they got into Stefan's car. The night air was chilly, so he turned up the heat and remarked on how he would have to put a fire on when he got home.

Elena settled into the front seat and wrapped the blanket that he had given her earlier in the night tighter around her. She was quite for a moment, still breathing rather hard from cheering and the race they had to the car. Finally she spoke. "Do you think I could come over for a while? I could get a ride home..."

Stefan didn't answer for a moment as he drove. Elena had only been to his house a couple of times after dark since they had started dating two months ago. He always felt like it was wrong because there were no adults present, though she never seemed to mind.

She had told him that she knew what an empty house felt like. Her parents where also dead, and she lived with her aunt Jenna and Jeremy. But Jenna took classes at the local college and worked so she was barely home. She had said she understood what it was like to feel lonely. She had made herself available when ever he felt he needed her. However, he had rarely taken her up on the offer-it felt strange.

Tonight though? Tonight he was just worried that he would take her to his house and never want her to leave. His mind had been in so may different places at once earlier. Trying to be respondent to his friends while every once in a while getting swept up in a thought of the past. He didn't want to go home by himself with the danger of those thoughts coming back and haunting him all night.

"Sure, but I'll take you home too."

Elena smiled and just pulled the blanket even tighter.

When he pulled into his drive way the first thing that grabbed his attention was that there was another car in his driveway. The second thing was the light coming from the library where he and his friends had been earlier that night.

He got out of the car slowly and Elena followed him, puzzled.

"Were you expecting someone?"

He wasn't sure how to answer her without freaking her out. He never expected anyone. "No, but maybe it's one of my aunts or uncles dropping by..."

"Do you recognize the car?"

"Well..."

"Maybe they got a new one?"

He could hear panic rising in her voice, and she grabbed his hand. He didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want to frighten her. "Yeah, possibly. Maybe they called and I missed the message." He took her hand and tried to act casual as he headed up to his house. "I mean... who else could it be?" Her only reply was to squeeze his fingers tighter.

That thought, however, raced through his mind. Who else could it be? A burglar wouldn't park his car in the driveway and make himself at home. Any one of his friends would have called him, right?

Stefan opened his front door and cautiously entered the house, pulling Elena along behind him. "Hello? Anyone here? Uncle Zack?" He moved toward the library. The light itself were flames from the fireplace. He stopped abruptly, Elena bumping into his arm, when he saw the back of a head on the leather couch in front of him.

His heart almost stopped. It definitely wasn't Uncle Zack, he was bald, this person had dark hair, that appeared thick. Stefan's mind slowly began to put his thoughts together and his mouth became dry. He almost wished it was a burglar.

The figure rose out of the chair and turned. He was holding the picture that Caroline had found earlier that night. The picture that had been haunting him all evening. A smirk was on his face and the light from the fire was casting shadows on his face giving him an even more ghoulish feature.

"Hello, baby brother."

Standing in front of him was the young man from the picture, who was, without a doubt, exactly the same as he had always had been. His brother-Damon.