A/n- Thank you so much for your reviews and alerts! XD I was so happy!

I mostly replied back to your reviews except one so here it is:

To Sam- you're right! I can't wait for when Elena realizes this but we still have a long way to go to get there -.-'
Also thanks for your complement and you won't have to wait too long for Elijah to come in! For Elena to meet Elijah however :P

This chapter was getting too long so I cut it off. I'm sorry if it seems rushed and if it has grammer errors. It's mostly just a transition (that word that means to connect one paragraph to a beginning paragraph?) chapter before we get to the flow of the story. That will be in the next chapter after the next as I want to lay down the foundation right.

Enough, read on and enjoy please.

Ch. 1 – As Time Passes

You will forget everything concerning the supernatural…

Elena didn't know why Stefan had suddenly left town but one thing she knew for sure was that there was something her friends weren't telling her about and she wanted to find out. Just because she was still emotionally reeling from Jenna's death did not mean they could keep things from her. She noticed how her friends meet up without her and she feels left out. Had she really alienate them badly when she was still emotionally broken from Jenna's death?

She notices that Bonnie and Caroline seems more closer than ever, Alaric hanging out more with Damon as well as Jeremy, and she can't help but feel like she went to sleep for months and barely woke up. Confused about everything, Elena goes to the grocery store to pick up some ice cream. The trip always clears her head and gets her some comfort food.

Matt accidently runs into her when Elena was grocery shopping. As a legal adult, she automatically got custody of Jeremy and that meant the responsibilities of a parent as well. He pushes the cart for her as they catch up on what's happening in their lives. Matt glances at her suspiciously when she remarks on how left out she feels from her best friends but says nothing.

Meanwhile, the others were furious at Damon. Bonnie made him suffer in agony before her anger subsided enough to let him explain what exactly had he done.

Out of all of them, Jeremy was the most vocal.

He knew personally the effects of being compelled to forget were. With a promise to hurt him if Elena suffers more, he left with Bonnie to research a counter spell for compulsion. Caroline was furious as well but knew that Damon must have had his reasons. She also had enough drama to deal with on her own, what with Matt and Tyler. Alaric wished Damon had been more tactful about it but he couldn't argue about it since he had seen evidence of Stefan's evil side.

However, as days passed by, they all noticed a certain change in Elena, one that makes them hesitant about the wrongness of Damon's if he was right in doing something so wrong this time?

Finally, Damon tells them why he did it-the trail of bodies Alaric and him had been following were actually Stefan's. By erasing Elena's memories, Damon made sure she was safe from finding Stefan and from showing up on Klaus's radar.

Also, Andy was dead as Stefan's warning to Damon to stop tracking him.

The group let this sink in and eventually their outrage diminished as they saw a much happier and healthier Elena.

Whenever you see or hear something that sounds remotely supernatural, think of some logical reason why it is.

Sometimes Elena would marvel at the speed Caroline gets things done or how lithe and graceful she was. Caroline used to be clumsy and such a airhead, now she was more serious. She notices how Bonnie grew a backbone and is no longer the quiet person she used to be. How Jeremy was more confident with his life.

But she challked it up as part of growing up.

Whenever she saw Damon, she notices him studying her when he thinks she was distracted and wonders why. The she'll blush, thinking about that drunk make-out session they had during her birthday party. Does he think she's a slut for making out with the older brother while her boyfriend had randomly left?

Strangely though, he never commented about that night and instead, they slowly grew apart. She saw him less and less until one time she catches him loading things in his car.

"I might go on a trip." was all he said and she knew why, Andy was dead and no one knew if she fell or killed herself on purpose. He goes into the house and the conversation is terminated.

A few more run-ins had Matt asking Elena out on a It-could-be-but-I'll-say-it-wasn't-if-you-reject-me date. By this time, Elena is angry at Stefan for skipping out on her without even an "it's not you, it's me" postcard and says yes.

In the end, they break up before graduation on a mutual agreement. They had grown too much from each other to be compatible as they were when they first went out. Somehow, Elena manages to be able to graduate with good grades along with everyone else and it seems as if everything is right in the world.

Caroline babbles on about what she should wear on graduation day as she and Bonnie merely looked at her amusedly. Matt and Tyler shoot pool as if nothing happened between them at all.

On the day they graduated, Damon throws everyone a huge party at the boarding house that had everyone talking about it for days. It was at that party that Damon stopped avoiding Elena.

"About that night…"she started to say when Damon winked roguishly at her.

"What night?"

She gave him a look.

He rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Congratulations on graduating Elena." He simply said as he handed her a manila envelope and left to flirt with some girls.

Elena was confused at the bulk of the envelope. What was inside- money? And for what? She opened it and pulled out its contents. Inside was the deed of the boarding house with everything already dealt with. All she had to do was sign it and the house would be hers.

She turned to glare in Damon's direction but he was gone. Elena searched for him all over the party but couldn't find him. That was the last time she saw Damon and as time went on, whenever she tried to conjure up Damon, she couldn't exactly remember the way he looked.

Let your memories of Stefan and I fade with time, you'll eventually forget how we looked but remember -I was the hottest.

The day before the freshman semester started, Elena had a radical idea. Since this was the clean slate for her- why shouldn't she change her appearance? Elena was getting tired of just seeing her dark hair limp and she left to find the nearest hair salon.

Instead of the dark hair she had, Elena now had very light brown hair with different shades of blond highlights. She was pleased with how she looked. If anyone from Mystic Falls saw her, they wouldn't recognized her.

At the University of Boston, Elena decided to pursue her dream of writing and major in it. As the semesters blurred together, Elena found herself dating many men but she could never find that one who was the most compatiable.

Change your appearance. The more drastic, the better.

Somehow she had the crazy idea to study outside in the midst of a windy day. Elena mentally cursed herself for her idiocy when a gush of wind blew her papers right into the path of a male student.

"I am so sorry!" she said, blushing furiously in embarrassment as he helped her pick up her scattered papers.

"It's no problem. I was on my way back to the dorm." he said, smiling at her.

For the second time in her life, Elena fell hard in love.

0o0o0

His name was Joshua Evans and he majored in Business which was why they never bumped into one another although both recalled each other vaguely from a common core class back in freshman year.

Being in their last year, they hardly had time to finish their class load, let alone date each other, but somehow Elena and Joshua made it work.

When they graduated, Joshua asked her if she was willing to go to Chicago, a place neither had been to, with him. He had gotten a job offer there and though he knew Elena had planned to go back to her hometown where she was guaranteed a job, he asked anyway.

Miraculously, she said yes.

At age 21, Elena Gilbert never felt so happy than being with Joshua. Somehow he balanced her world.

If you get the chance, leave Mystic Falls and never come back unless necessary.

At age 24, Elena Gilbert said yes to Joshua Evans' marriage proposal and rushed to call her friends to tell them the good news.

They come early for the wedding so they could catch up on the lives of each other. Though they had been texting and emailing each other, it was still a shock for everyone when they all meet up after three years. Elena got a bigger shock when she laid eyes on Caroline.

Time was Caroline's lover.

Though Bonnie seemed to have aged most out of all of them, nonetheless Bonnie and Elena looked slightly less than their age but Caroline seemed not to have aged at all.

It seemed as if Caroline's beauty was stuck at eighteen years old and when she commented at it, Caroline and Bonnie stiffen slightly. Before she can think about the strange reaction, Caroline laughed and told her it was probably because of her party life that made her seemed young. They all unknowingly relaxed and talked about the wedding plans.

When she introduces Joshua to them, they automatically give them their approval and if Joshua was shocked at the youngness of Caroline, he masked it well. Jeremy came as Bonnie's date and Elena wondered if things were getting very serious. She manages to discover that Jeremy planned on proposing to her soon.

It is at the wedding reception that she meets up with everyone from her old town. As one of the descendants from a founding family, naturally you had to invite everyone or else suffer the cold shoulder. She sees Alaric, who gave her away during the wedding as she adopted him as her father figure after Jenna died.

Strangely though, Caroline drifted away from Elena after the wedding. The group had decided it was too risky since everyone was starting to comment on Caroline's youthfulness. Agreeing with them, Caroline leaves to track Tyler down (he had left, frustrated at Caroline's games of yes and no). Caught up in her marriage bliss, Elena did not noticed Caroline's aloofness and by the time she did, it was too late.

Caroline wrote once a year and stopped visiting.

But that is how life is.

But most importantly…

Three years passed. Joshua is CEO of the company he started with. At first, the prestigious and rich families of Chicago had given them a hard time but once they realized that technically, Elena oozed prestige (being descendant of a founding familiy of a town) and Joshua was wealthy even before he became CEO, they welcomed them

She did her shopping on Michigan Avenue along with the other wives of Joshua's business partners. Her name was on the top five of charity causes that listed their wealthy benefactors/contributors. She lived in a penthouse lavishly decorated with tasteful furniture. There would be no interior decorator for Elena.

She is also an accomplished writer of many things. She wrote for magazines, newspapers, before getting her big break by getting her romance novel published under a pseudo name. She wrote a book or two on every genre possible before settling down with paranormal/supernatural for young adults.

Her fans were absolutely devoted to her as she wrote a continuing series about angels and demons.

If Joshua ever left her for some jailbait (as was the fashion among the wealthy currently), Elena felt sure she could hold her own financially.

In her 27th year, she sat heavily on the toilet seat in shock. Joshua was in the other room, gathering the files he needed that day. Elena knew she had to hurry herself if she wanted to catch quality time with her husband but she can only stare at the stick in her hand.

It was positive.

Go on with your life and be happy, Elena.

A/n - So what did you guys think? Does anybody know some good Ripper!Stefan fics with a good dose of Klaus in them? Please review as more reviews gives me motivation to update :D

But I understand reviewers need motivation so here's the preview for the next chapter: Elijah figures he received what he deserved. After all, the irony of it would have amused himself too- had he been the one to have done it. While he is being moved to where his family resided, he couldn't help but think of Elena Gilbert.

We get Elijah's thoughts inside the box!

I'll update next week hopefully.