Thank you all for reading the first part and following.

Be prepared for a ROLLERCOASTER.!

Elena woke up, a bright smile on her face. She had the sweetest dream. But if the man whose chest her head was resting on was real, then it wasn't a dream. She lightly pulled away and gazed at him, her smile enlarging as her brown eyes roamed his face. Could he get any more handsome? She asked herself. No, definitely not.

She hadn't slept so well in such a long time! And she knew she had Stefan to thank for that.

"Are you done pretending you're asleep?" she asked him casually.

He glanced at her from one eye raising an eyebrow at her; she grinned. She was getting used to this whole vampire thing and she had quite some reflexes.

"You know me too well." He stated closing his eyes again. "You're used to me."

"I could never get used to you." She countered moving closer to him. His lips pulled into a small tight-lipped smile at her assertion.

He had missed this. He had missed waking up next to her, he had missed the way her lavender scent invaded his nose and aroused his senses, he had missed seeing her face first thing in the morning and he had missed having her beautiful, breathtaking smile light his world… he had missed it all.

Stefan felt so blessed to have Elena in his life; she literally gave meaning to his existence. His love for her filled up to the lesser and deepest corner of his being.

"Never?" he asked.

"Ever." She promised a smile catchable in her voice, an honest reflect to the happy one she bore on her face.

Once again, he gave her a tight-lipped smile. Elena's eyes didn't leave his face, roaming it, contemplating Stefan's beauty.

"You're staring." He said.

"I'm gazing." She corrected.

"It's creepy." He stated.

Elena giggled inwardly at the air of déjà-vu and smiled. "It's romantic." She corrected once more.

Stefan put his pillow over his face in faked embarrassment.

"Hey!" protested the raven-haired woman removing the cotton accessory from his face.

He attacked her lips getting on top of her and ravaged her mouth. She cupped his face and deepened the kiss her tongue finding its way inside his mouth and mingling with his. Her hands got lost on Stefan's hips and caressed the heated skin. They moaned simultaneously in the kiss.

She pushed him back and flipped him over. Her lips left his mouth for his neck where she kissed him tenderly before she lowered her strokes and reached his collarbone causing shivers to run down his spine. She had one hand wandering over his broad and sinewy chest while the other rested on the hollow of one of his ribs. She kissed the lobe of his right ear and took it between her teeth nipping it. Stefan let escape a moan and Elena felt the familiar throbbing emptiness inside her that Stefan's touch used to provoke increase. She moved her head to stare at him. "I love you so much." She said her voice raw, looking dead into his blue orbits.

She resumed with her sensuous kisses all over him. She kissed him down his throat to his bare chest. Her hands descended across the hard and soft skin drawing patterns; she outlined the contour of his nipples and traced his fine chiseled abs. Soon, the loving strokes of her tongue followed the path laid out by her gentle hands causing thrills of pleasure to go through Stefan.

He slid his hands underneath her slipover and caressed the sensitive skin of her hips and Elena who was moving lower over his body felt shivers travel her from all her being. She kissed his abdomen then, pulled away to reach for his boxers. She slowly brought down his boxers and started kissing the top of his cock eliciting a sharp intake of breath from Stefan.

She grasped him and stoked him energetically. She removed her hands from his sensitive skin and he whimpered in response. She replaced her caresses by her mouth and left a trail of sensual kisses on his rod. Then, she took him in his mouth ripping a gasp from his throat and sucked his hard manhood. He let out a deep groan and brought his hands down to Elena's raven hair giving her the rhythm that pleased him.

Around eleven a.m., Elena eventually made up her mind to go downstairs –even if it was only to go back up into Stefan's room five minutes later. She was advancing in the corridor when a good smell of coffee lured her into the kitchen. She entered the room and Damon's voice hailed.

"Morning." He said and she turned to him.

"Good morning." She greeted him back ill-at-ease, not really knowing how to act around him from then on. The fact that she was dressed solely with Stefan's blue shirt wasn't really helping.

He stared at her, a tiny, imperceptible smile on his face. She held his gaze for a while but ended up dropping it, crestfallen. She cleared her throat dully and brought a strand of her raven hair back behind her ear; she bore a loose chignon.

"Sleep well?" he inquired.

She glanced at him, and then moved away from him towards the refrigerator. She hummed in response at his question. She felt terrible. What a lack of tactlessness had she shown! She had completely forgotten about his presence in the Boarding House the day before; all she was thinking about in those moments was Stefan and their love. One had to say nevertheless that Damon was out when she arrived last night.

"You?" she asked back opening the refrigerator, not even knowing what she was looking for.

He studied Elena from behind. "Very well." He answered after a small moment.

She slightly shifted so she would see him in her peripheral vision before directing her gaze back on the icy aliments.

"I made some coffee if you want some." He told her.

She turned her head to him, and then looked at the coffeemaker. "Thank you." She said in a rather small voice.

Damon knew he was making Elena uncomfortable. Her demeanor, her body language, her voice… everything let him know he was having his effect.

Weirdly, he wasn't enjoying this as much as he used to. Obviously, he had really gotten burned in this whole mess. He had gotten caught at his own game. He really thought he was in control.

He was wrong.

She took a brick of fruit juice before she closed the fridge and turned around. She went over to where the coffee-pot was.

Damon put down the mug he was holding on the counter. Then, he aimed to leave the kitchen.

"Damon." Elena called while he was still within sight.

He stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

She opened her mouth and clearly tried to say something if her facial expression was any indication, but the words just wouldn't come out so she snapped it shut. She shook her head. "Never mind" she said. He looked at her a little longer and then he turned around to leave again.

"Where are you going?" she asked him casually as he was about to cross the kitchen's door.

"To save the world." He turned around briefly walking backwards to answer. He gave her his trademark wink and exited the room.

Elena leaned on the kitchen's counter and waited till she heard the entry's door slam. She sighed.

JANUARY 2013

Stefan and Elena were at a basketball game in Houston in Texas. With them were Matt and Jeremy. It was the latter's birthday so the couple had decided to please him by surprising him with tickets for a basketball final –and Matt being his best friend, they had taken him –the whole trip at Stefan's expenses.

They were holding hands while watching the game.

They had been back together for about three month now and they barely ever left each other side. After their 'afterglow' following their first lovemaking in months, they had automatically become an item again; they had spontaneously gotten back together, the most naturally in the world. There were no discussion, no analyze, none needed. Why talk to state the obvious? Their reunion was long overdue.

Their close and relatives all took them getting back together greatly. Well, almost all of them: Damon's reaction, who had witnessed everything firsthand, was a bit more… moderate. Caroline threw confetti over them so much she was happy. She seemed almost happier than the couple. However, in reality, no one's happiness could have compared to neither Elena's nor Stefan's. "Woo-hoo! Stelena are back!" she had screamed roasting all their eardrums on the occasion of a surprise party in their honor to celebrate their reunion.

They spent most of their waking and sleeping moments together at hers. Truth be told, half of Stefan's wardrobe now stayed at Elena's.

In the beginning, during the first two weeks, they alternated between the Gilbert family house and the Salvatore boarding house, but pretty fast, Stefan decided to limit their time at the boarding house out of care and respect for his brother's feelings. Indeed, their relationship –both his and Elena's –with Damon had never been that awkward and tensed and full with unspoken feelings and words than since he and Elena had gotten back together. Besides, he knew all too well what it felt like to witness Elena in love with somebody else and the pain of feeling like you lost her caused... It was excruciating, it was… the most heartbreaking, overbearing feeling one could experience; he didn't wish that on his worst enemy. And though he couldn't do anything to put an end to his brother's suffering, he could not rub it in his face every morning and every night.

Stefan couldn't be happier about being back with Elena, he really couldn't… But knowing his brother was unhappy and even miserable, though he was good at deceiving, was a very dark in the Salvatore's rosy sky.

Elena too couldn't imagine being any happier. Or maybe she could: if that whore bitchy Rebekah Mikaelson would just stop hovering around Stefan like he was the only piece of meat on earth and she was starving! It was just unbelievable, it got Elena perplexed: whenever she left Stefan's side for a second, she came back to find the blonde standing right where she stood! And Stefan would just give her an apologetic look. Couldn't she just take no for an answer? She wondered what amount of rejection the girl could take.

Ha… too much negative thoughts. He loved her, she loved him, they were happy and that's all that mattered.

"Whoa!" half the stadium including our friends cheered when the Lakers scored another basket.

"They're good!" Elena noted.

"It's only now that you realize that?" Matt commented half-disbelievingly half-mockingly.

Stefan turned to his girlfriend, an amused grin on his face. "You know nothing about it."

"Nothing at all." She admitted smiling shaking her head and closing the distance between them.

He kissed her back and laughed into the kiss.

She broke away. "Hey, thank you for today! Thank you for this trip." She acknowledged. "It means a lot to Jeremy…" She said looking at her sibling who bore an ecstatic smile on his face. She turned back to her boyfriend. "… and it means a lot to me."

He brought strands of her hair behind her ear. "Elena, you never have to thank me." He told her. "As long as you're happy, that's all that matters." He declared.

She smiled at him genuinely. She was undoubtedly the luckiest woman on earth.

She got on her tiptoes to nuzzle her pretty nose with his.

APRIL 2013

It was graduation soon and all the senior students of Mystic High were at the same time anticipating and looking forward to colleges' response.

Caroline had ordered them all a cap and a gown.

Time passed and days succeeded one another. The conclusive moment was dangerously approaching. Stefan and his charming girlfriend hadn't discussed their future yet. It was kind of a delicate subject: their future together… since you know… he was a vampire and her, a human they were deeply and utterly in with each other but, it was hard to consider a future in those conditions.

Stefan had tried to get them to talk about it; he had brought up the subject once or twice but she had dodged the subject like a bullet every time so, he hadn't insisted.

She probably had no idea how hard this was on him. It was terrible to love someone death could take away so easily. There were actually times when he woke up in sweat after having a bad dream about Elena dying… more than frequently as a matter of fact.

Truth was Stefan being a vampire and her being a human who, consequently, aged was a growing issue for Elena. She was madly in love with the man and she knew she would love him forever and she wanted to spend an eternity in his arms and she knew he felt the same way because he had told her so –back when Klaus was a threat to her life and Damon fed her his blood –but… being a vampire, craving for blood, killing more importantly… she did NOT want THAT. She had seen Stefan in his darkest moments; she had seen him at the bottom of the abyss, she had witnessed him feeling so bad about himself as the guilty literally consumed his soul and she just never wanted to find herself in such a predicament. The mere thought gave her chills, and not of excitement.

It had seemed to be a foreign issue for such a long time: when the love of your life is immortal, you wrongly tell yourself you're going to spend that eternity with them, when in reality you have a choice to make before. Nevertheless, today it was an issue that scarcely left her mind: she was well aware that there would come a moment when she would have to choose, and she dreaded that moment. Oh yes, she did…

This must be as hard for her as it was for him: living in uncertainty, not knowing if there love would be enough to overcome it all, not knowing if they would have a future, as a 'we'… and more importantly, fearing to lose the other every single day.

However, they had applied to the same colleges –among which Princeton, Yale, George Mason and NYU. They could have compelled their way to either of these colleges but their grades were good enough to get in formally and Elena never would have allowed it anyway. So they were waiting like any normal person with their fingers crossed.

Elena and Damon had grown close again. They were back to teasing and challenging each other. So time really did heal the brokenhearted and bound up their wounds.

Damon had resumed his 'innocent' flirting with his brother's girl under the latter's cautious look who had quite some trouble understanding his brother's behavior. Why chase something you know you're never going to catch? It didn't really make any sense, did it? Then again, Damon was Damon so… He would never change Stefan guessed.

His own relationship with his brother had improved: they were done with the alternation between the silence treatment and the superficial subjects and were back to cordially hating each other. Stefan wondered if he and Damon would ever have a true fraternal relationship, a trustful one without mistrust, suspicion-free, deprived of ulterior motives… There were times when he seriously doubted it, and thought the fact was a shame. They had held a grudge against each other for over a century because of Katherine and that, despite the fact that they thought she was dead –at least Stefan thought so. He could only imagine what their love for Elena would do to their brotherhood… The chances were it would never recover.

JUNE 2013

"I can't believe it: we are actually all here…" Caroline said astonished looking at all of her friends. "We are ALL here together." Her eyes going round the small circle they were forming.

Bonnie let out a half-smile half-laugh with happy and nostalgic however sad tears in her green eyes while looking at her blonde friend.

"Bonnie Bennett, are you crying?" Caroline noticed in an incredulous tone of voice.

Elena turned to look at Bonnie and saw what Caroline was talking about; she took her in her arms.

"It's our last hurrah before we head off to college." The witch said melancholy.

Elena released her harshly. "That's right: YOU'RE heading off to college." She made it explicit.

Indeed, Bonnie and Caroline, her two girly best friends were leaving town in only a few weeks, a month barely; they were headed for Massachusetts to study at Boston's University and though she was thrilled for them, she would miss them like crazy! Hell, they hadn't even left yet and she missed them already!

She couldn't remember a time when these girls weren't a major part of her life. She didn't know how she'd manage the distance and all. Who would she confide to from then on? Sure, she had Stefan and Matt… and Damon if you want. But it wasn't the same. She couldn't tell them everything; she couldn't talk to them like she talked to Bonnie or Caroline: they weren't of a feminine gender after all… She hoped not anyways: the contrary might very likely kill her.

And what about Jeremy? Who would help her with her brother from then on? It was true: only Bonnie knew how to keep him on track whenever he was on the edge of going off the rails; she knew how to talk to him better than any of them and that, in spite of their history, or thanks to their history –Elena wasn't sure.

"Aw… Elena…" Caroline started.

"…leaving me alone and abandoned." The doppelgänger completed crossing her arms on her chest before she summoned a baby pout on her face.

Stefan cleared his throat to remind his girlfriend of his presence. She looked at him from the corner of the eye; he raised his brows at her and conspicuously shook his head.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I love but you don't replace my best friends." She declared turning back to said best friends.

Stefan opened his mouth and let out a shocked huff. "Okay. Alright. I am not getting my diploma today. What's one more anyway?" he said and turned pretending to leave.

"Wait, wait." Elena grabbed his right arm and retained him. "I was just kidding." She pressed herself against him and he gently clasped her even more by his hold on her shoulders. She got on her tiptoes to whisper into her boyfriend's ear. "You'll always be enough." She pressed a quick kiss on his the side of his neck and extricated herself from his embrace.

Caroline rolled her eyes –though internally, she couldn't be happier. "Oh please, get a room."

"Oh, we intend to." Elena replied.

Bonnie's and Caroline's eyes widened in shock at her words and Matt frowned. Two seconds later, they had all burst out laughing, the couple included.

"Let's go get our diploma." Caroline intimated.

They nodded and joined their respective seats set out.

OCTOBER 2013

Today was Stefan and Elena's two-year anniversary: two years ago, this day about two hours and fourteen minutes from now, the couple made love for the very first time, just after Elena confessed her love to Stefan for the first time as well. So yeah, that date was a special one for Stefan and Elena, which is why Elena Gilbert –that's right, I did say Elena Gilbert –decided to enter her kitchen to actually COOK for once or at least, try to. She cooked them spaghettis with Bolognese, his favorite meal, and managed not to set fire to the kitchen and burn down her house.

She had prepared them a very nice table. There were petals of red roses sprinkling the whole floor. The light was subdued to give a romantic atmosphere and Elena had disposed one candlestick at each side of the table.

All she was waiting for now was for Stefan to arrive. She went back to the dining room to make sure everything was perfect: it was; she arranged the cutlery again.

Tonight was to be perfect, just like their first night together had been –well until she found out just how much resemblance there was between Katherine and herself.

Who she assumed was Stefan finally knocked at the door and she skipped to open.

"Hey!" she greeted him with the biggest smile Stefan had ever seen and he couldn't help but smile right back at her.

He entered the house and laid a sweet kiss on her lips. As he was about to pull back, Elena cupped his face and deepened it lightly.

"Happy anniversary." She wished him after they separated, her lips still grazing against his.

He pulled away so he could gaze into her beautiful loving brown eyes. "Happy two-year anniversary." He merely said back.

She smiled at him lovingly then, closed back the door.

He advanced further into the house, Elena right behind him, but stopped near the living-room's entrance. His brows knit together: he could smell food.

"Yep, that's right." She answered his thoughts. "I cooked." She announced. "And no, as you can see, I did not set my kitchen on fire." She added with a laugh gesturing with her hands.

Stefan chuckled. "Well, the night's still young." He declared.

She frowned and hit him playfully on the chest passing by him to take a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator to celebrate.

"Wait" he asked her keeping her next to him by grasping her forearm. She turned back to him at his gesture and met his worrying green eyes. She wrinkled her brows as he lowered his head. He seemed nervous and acted weird all of a sudden.

He took a look around the living room and noticed the table she had prepared for him. He smiled softly yet sadly. She was too sweet. "You shouldn't have gone through so much trouble." Stefan said.

"Oh, it was no trouble, I wanted to." She reassured him tapping the wind with her hand.

"I know." He paused and turned to her. He found her eyes. "But you shouldn't have." He told her.

Elena stared back into his forest green eyes and swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She searched his face but it was of no use… she had already seen it, she had read in those beautiful eyes of his that hardly kept any secrets from her: whatever it was he wanted to say to her, was no good. "You don't mind if I take a seat, do you?" she rhetorically asked and moved past him towards the couch and settled there.

Elena quietly waited for Stefan to join her, not quite eager about it.

He came and sat next to her but however left a disconcerting space between the two of them. She waited for him to talk but as he still hadn't spoken after several seconds, the raven-haired woman lost her patience. "This evening isn't going to turn out the way I expected it too, will it?" she asked not really waiting for an actual answer.

Stefan glanced at her but that second was enough for her to catch the wrestling emotions in his green eyes. She nodded. 'I guess I have my answer' she thought to herself.

She stared at him, kept her burning gaze focused on his face pressuring him in the best way that she knew, praying that the emotions on her face would suffice to dissuade him.

Stefan heaved a sigh and then completely turned to Elena and faced her. "When I left town with Klaus and reunited with my Ripper self, the only thing that kept me going and… stopped me from killing myself to put an end to my misery… was you." He started confiding and she listened to him intently reliving those painful moments with him, the heartache she felt when he left as keen as in that time. "And when Klaus finally released me from his compulsion, the reason I decided to my keep my humanity dull was because… was because…" his hoarse, strangled voice caught in his throat and Elena swore she was going to end up crying if he carried on.

It was too much for her to see him in such pain, and she knew how difficult this was for him.

So why, why on earth was he doing this?! Why was he putting them both through that again? Hadn't they been through enough? Why were they never entitled to a peaceful happiness?

"It was because I could not stand the pain that hurting you… of biting you… caused. I hated myself for what I had done to you." He paused. "And I reckoned you ought to hate me." That was Elena's undoing: the tears merely fell off her brown eyes. "And as you didn't, as you kept trying to bring me back, I did the only thing I could think of would help appease my guilt…" he paused again and stared down at the carpet. "I drove you into my brother's arms." He completed.

"Stefan." She cut him off.

"No, let me finish." Stefan told her. "I am telling you this so that you perfectly understand that this is not a matter of love." He explained. "Because I do love you; I am so terribly, desperately in love with you, you know I am." He said and she sniffed.

Stefan tore his gaze away from her tear-strayed face and looked down. There was a small, heart wrenching silence as he closed his eyes and shook his face trying to summon the inner strength to go through with this. "I don't how to say this, Elena…" he began.

"Then don't." she cut him off and pleaded. He turned to look at her. "Don't!" Elena repeated. "Please, Stefan…" she insisted. "I love you." She told him genuinely in a broken voice.

"I love you too." He reciprocated in an almost inaudible voice, and shed an unwilling tear. "But I can't do this anymore, Elena." He told her shaking his head and she sobbed. "I can't do with your feelings for Damon anymore; I've reached my limit."

"Stefan!" she cut him off. "Stefan!" she exclaimed again as he kept talking. "What feelings for Damon?!" she asked him, incredulous, shaking her head questioningly. "I don't have any feelings for Damon, I love you, you." She repeated. "Why don't you hear me?!" she inquired.

"Elena… I didn't come here to debate." He said simply. "I am not asking you, I am telling you: you have feelings for Damon. It's a fact, face it!" Stefan asked her starting to lose it. She really wasn't making this any easier for him, not that he expected her to, but still… This was killing him as much as her! Maybe even more. "Stop trying to deny it, embrace it!"

Elena winced at Stefan's harshness.

"It is time you experience those feelings."

Elena's face misted as her heart tightened in her chest.

She tore her gaze away from him, obviously mad at him.

"I am doing this for you." He paused. "I am doing this for us." He tried to make her see.

She refused to look at him.

"If there is a chance, whatever it is, that you and I will find our way back to each other, you will have to be with Damon first." He declared. "Otherwise, we will never work out… You will always have this giant 'What if?' in the back of your head… and I will always be aware of it." He explained.

He said all that while looking at her though she continued to deny him her gaze.

Stefan understood Elena; he wished she would understand him too.

"Honey, please look at me." He asked her.

"Don't." She said finally turning to him and shot him a fierce look. "Do not call me honey." She forbade. Her tone was low but it was no reflection of the anger Elena had in her in that moment. "You are breaking up with me." She reminded Stefan and stood up.

Stefan watched her as she moved away from him across the couch.

He closed his eyes cursing the earth.

"Elena, I cannot have you being with me if you're not fully aware of all your options."

She didn't deny it. It wasn't true, but she didn't deny it. What would have been the point? She knew him: he had already made up his mind… and his decision was irrevocable.

"I cannot wake up every morning and wonder if today is the day that you're going to realize that you want to be with my brother. I can't do this anymore, Elena. I don't want to do this anymore."

Elena turned to the man she was certain she would love forever. "You don't want to be with me?" she asked him.

He looked up at her and met her face scored with tears and struggled even hard to retain his own tears. He wouldn't in addition inflict her the pain of seeing him crying. "Not right now, not like this, I don't."

Elena stared at him a moment more tears streaming down her face, his words cutting her like a knife, her heart being torn apart.

And then, she turned her back on him, literally.

Stefan faced her back a few seconds and then looked as a single tear drop helplessly fell off his left eye.

Okay, so this part literally broke my heart. It took a lot out of me.

Please leave a review. Till next time.