So final projects and exams are kicking my butt, so this took a little longer to get out, but I'm reeeaally picky about details and I hate posting things that I haven't had time to properly look over. I have my last exam on Monday and needed a break so I finished off this chapter and hopefully sometime this week I'll have another one for everyone. It was probably that absolutely a-m-a-z-i-n-g Delena kiss that gave me the inspiration to start writing TVD stuff again. I wrote an outline for the rest of the story and I estimate another 1, probably 2 more chapters to go before this is finished off. Thanks to everyone still reading despite the long waits. Please review because it makes me so happy to read them!

I don't own Vampire Diaries or it's characters, but I own this story so please don't take it.

Elena dropped to the grass beneath her, her shoulders sagging, hair falling to cover her face. She let the tears fall as her head bowed down. How dare he say those things to her! How could be so mean? He blatantly called her a lying, cheating whore and walked away. Just add another tick under the 'My Life Sucks' category for this past week, Elena. When her legs finally felt somewhat stabilized, she pushed herself up to stand. Just as she did, the darkened clouds above her opened up, the rain coming down harsh and cold upon her. Before she knew it, she was soaked, her feet sinking in the mud beneath the grass so she started to head home.

She made it home and snuck by Jenna easily who was busying herself in the kitchen. She was in no mood to talk, and desperately hoped that she was sneaking back in without a sound. All she wanted to do was lay down on her bed and attempt to forget that this day, and those previous to it, had ever existed.

She didn't even try to kick off her flip-flops upon entering her house; she just let herself leave the dirty, mucky footprints on the hardwood that would surely signal to Jenna that she was in fact home. Maybe she'd clean them up after her head started functioning properly again. She almost stepped into her own room before thinking better of it and kicking off her flip-flops before the entrance. She stopped. All she could see was herself and Damon tangled, naked in the sheets. How could she ever step back in here without having that image of her first time with Damon in her head?

She must have been standing still for a while because when she finally attempted to enter her room, she slipped in the puddle of rainwater that had accumulated on the hardwood during her thoughts. She walked to stand in front of her bed and looked down at her heavy, dripping clothes. Fuck it, she thought. She was too tired to change and too upset to bother. Really, that was the least of her problems right now. She face planted, her head landing nowhere near the pillow, her feet hanging off the edge of the bed. She used her had to push some of her hair away from her face, her fingers getting caught in the now twisting strands. She folded her arms and rested her head on them, closing her eyes and praying for sleep to come. She was desperately trying to prevent herself from starting up with the tears again. They'd somehow stopped during her walk home and she did not want them to make a reappearance. The last thing she needed was for Jenna to come upstairs and start to pelt her with questions.

She thought she'd fallen asleep, but maybe she didn't because she sensed his presence in her room before even saying anything. She felt the mattress dip beneath his body weight as he sat down close to her. She sniffled and popped one eye open to look up at him.

"Go away, Jer," she muttered, her voice barely making it through the wall her arms had made around her face.

"What the hell happened to you?" he questioned, a smile playing on his lips, but concern lacing his features.

She looked up at him, both eyes this time. Maybe it would be good to talk to someone who wasn't directly involved in everything. It's not like with Bonnie or Caroline; Jeremy wouldn't pry...much. She quickly made up her mind and the tears returned.

"I've made so many mistakes, Jeremy. I don't even know where I stand anymore. I don't know how this happened! I don't know how I became this person. It's not me. I don't want this to be me." She felt the words leaving her mouth with such ease that it surprised her.

"Does this have anything to do with two brothers and the fact that you can't seem to choose one?" The words came out with a smirk.

Elena's head lifted right off the bed and she looked him straight in the eye.

"You don't live alone, Elena," he almost laughed as a cringe appeared on his features while he shifted uneasily on the bed. "In fact, from my room I can basically hear everything that goes on in here, whether I want to or not."

Elena blushed darkly.

"I haven't seen Stefan in weeks and if that," his hand lifted, fingers pointing to her neck, "is any indication of what you've been doing in his absence..." he trailed off, the both of them knowing where he was going with this.

Elena's hand rose to her neck, her fingers lightly tracing the puncture wounds marring her flesh. The marks that Damon had left. She cringed at the dull ache that she now realized existed there when she ran her fingers across them. Her eyes fell down to her comforter, drifting across its patterns at an attempt to ignore the subject. Great, she thought, even my brother knows how much of a cheater I am.

"Elena, I'm not judging...but obviously," he gestured his hand along her form, "this is having a pretty shitty effect on you. You might want to re-evaluate things."

She paused for a few seconds. "Jer, I did make a choice. I just...I don't think it's going to work out."

"Well...did you maybe consider that you don't actually need to choose either one of them? There's plenty of other...more normal...guys out there for you to choose..." he suggested, adding a shrug of his shoulders to the idea.

She looked at Jeremy in awe; as if he'd just thought of the most genius idea she'd ever heard. How did he get so smart?

"That is so true, Jer. Who says that I need either one of the Salvatore brothers to live my life? All they've done is screw me over and lie and cheat and—"

"Actually save your life a bunch of times?" he quickly interrupted with a smile.

"Do you want me to move on or not?" she questioned back quickly.

"I'm just saying..."

"That's so not the point right now Jeremy...Yes, they're good guys, but maybe relationship-wise...being with either of them might just be a stupid idea."

"I don't know, Elena. Just a suggestion."

"Thanks, Jer. It helped...a lot. Now, go and keep Jenna busy so she won't ask me any questions. She doesn't need to find out about this..." she paused, looking him straight in the eye.

He nodded, "Lips sealed, Elena." He stood, patted her shoulder for a second before exiting her room. Just after he did, his head popped back in, "Oh, by the way, Stefan's here."

As soon as his presence was announced, he appeared in her doorway.

"Well, don't you look a tad pathetic," he started off while leaning against the doorframe. That easily earned a glare from Elena. She sat up straighter, bare feet hitting the floor as she scrubbed the dried tear tracks from her cheeks with the backs of her hands.

"Why are you here, Stefan?" she questioned, tone hard.

"Jeremy called me after he'd gotten home, followed your muddy footprints to your door and found you attempting not to cry. He figured that either I had something to do with it or knew somebody who had. Either way, he thought I could help."

"Well, despite what you think Stefan, I don't need your help. I don't want your help, and I actually don't even care what you have to say," she made it clear as she crossed her arms over her chest and stood.

"Right, right. You no longer need me to help you 'live your life,'" he quoted her own words back to her.

Her eyes softened for a second.

"I know you're mad. I mean, you have every right to be. But, need I remind you that we were technically still together when you slept with my brother..."

She looked away, her eyes falling to the floor. He sat down next to her, their shoulders a breath apart.

"What I do know for sure is that we both screwed up. I know that sleeping with Katherine was wrong and that I shouldn't have done it and I know that you know what you did with Damon was wrong and that you shouldn't have done it. But, Elena, I think this is a sign." Her eyes met his. "A sign that as much as I love you, and as much as you may or may not still love me, it's not the right kind of love anymore." Her eyes dropped to her hands resting in her lap, but he continued. "Maybe the wrongs that we did were actually right for us." He took one of her hands from her lap. He held it between both of his. "What I absolutely know for sure is that my brother loves you."

Her eyes quickly rose to his again, her eyebrows furrowing in question, her lips moving to say something, but he stopped her.

"Elena, I know. I think I've always known. I mean, how could he not love you? You're amazing, and despite all the bad he's done, all the poor decisions he's made, he'd be so good to you," her eyes started to tear up at hearing the echo of Damon's words in the park, "and he would take care of you." He noticed her tears and squeezed her hand slightly. "He'd do anything for you, probably things I wouldn't be able to do."

"That's just the thing," she started. "He told me he loved me."

Stefan smiled. "See, I told you. I know what I'm talking about."

"No, Stefan, loved...as in past tense. I...I told him that he should have told me about you and Katherine. And we got in a fight over how it wasn't his decision to make in telling me, and about how I have no right to be mad at him for what we were doing or what you were doing and I screwed it up, Stefan, I screwed everything up," her voice became sobs, her breathing laboured as she fell into his arms.

He held her, his hands rubbing up and down her back comforting her, his chin resting at the crown of her head.

"Elena, if I know my brother at all, I know that one fight isn't going to change the feelings he has for you." He tugged her body so she faced him directly. "But I think you need to fix this. I also know that Damon isn't going to come running back to you. Now that you made your decision, you need to tell him where you stand. All he wants is for you to tell him that you chose him; that you want him. I think that's all he's ever really wanted to hear, but never got to." He smiled at her as she nodded and sat up on her own.

They both turned forward, staring off in the distance. Silence filled the room, but it was a comfortable silence. Now that everything was out in the open and they both knew where they stood, they could move on. They could find happiness again. Stefan broke the silence with a smile.

"If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one, because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second."

Elena laughed out loud, "Johnny Depp? Really, Stefan?"

He shrugged, his smile widening, teeth showing brightly. She nodded with a chuckle.

"Well, it's true isn't it?" he questioned, shoving her shoulder with his.

She nodded, "Wait...not for you. You fell in love with me second...now you've jumped back to Katherine..."

"Well, ignore that, we're talking about you now," he said sternly, a smile still gracing his features.

"Are you happy?" she asked suddenly.

He paused with a smile, "Yeah, I am."

"And how do you know that she's not just using you? Or she'll just leave again?"

"Doesn't everyone have to worry about stuff like that? But, it's different this time, Elena. And the only person I fear she'd run away with is Damon, but I'm pretty sure he's changed his mind about her and choosing to focus on someone else. So I'm pretty safe," he chuckled, as if everything between the three of them from the past didn't even matter anymore. "Don't worry about me, Elena," he hugged her, an arm across her shoulders before standing from the bed. "Go to Damon. Fix this."

She smiled and nodded. He turned to leave and just as he crossed the doorway he heard a small voice.

"Stefan?" He turned back to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

He smiled and she heard his footsteps down the hall and descending the stairs. She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes with her hands again.

That's fine. She could talk to Damon. She could apologize and then he'd tell her they were both idiots and kiss her and the world would be right again. Well, at this point all she could do was hope Stefan was right and that Damon hadn't changed his mind.

PS. I've been dying to use that Johnny Depp quote, like basically this entire story and I realized I still hadn't and it was getting close to the end so I hope it didn't seem to random or OOC. Hope you enjoyed it!