A/N The Vampire Diaries Settings and Characters all belong to LJ Smith and the CW. Any original characters and this story are copyright © 2011-2018 to Hopelessromanticgurl, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

The next morning Stefan woke and just smiled. For the first time in a long time he felt happy. He was truly very happy.

"Stefan Salvatore what is that on your face?" Lexi smirked as she walked into his room that morning.

"What?" Stefan asked touching his face for any trace of mud or dirt or even blood.

Lexi laughed. "A smile, you are actually smiling again."

"Oh…yeah….I feel good."

"I'm guessing the talk last night with Elena went well?'

"How'd you know about that?"

Lexi laughed. "Stefan, I've know you for over 100 years. I know you well enough to know when writing in your dairy doesn't help clear your head and you go for a walk."

"How did you know I went to Elena's?"

"I didn't but you just told me." Lexi smirked.

Stefan groaned. "I can't believe I just fell for that…again!"

Lexi giggled "Works every time. Now give me the details…did you two do it?"

"No! Lexi, we just talked."

"Oh you just "talked" is that what they're calling it these days?"

Stefan chuckled. "No, Lexi, we really did just talk. I told her about my mom and she told me about her parents and Jeremy."

"Did you tell her about your Dad?"

"No, and I not going to."

Lexi noticed Stefan looking through the book shelf muttering to himself.

"What are you looking for?"

"Wuthering Heights, I told Elena I had one of the first copies ever made and she asked me to bring it to school to show her. I can't find it anywhere!"

"So just tell her that."

"I can't, then she'll think I lied to her and she'll hate me and she'll never speak to me again and…"

"Stefan…"

"What?"

Lexi walked over to him and pulled out the book right in front of him and handed it to him. "Maybe you should get your eyes checked or your brain." Lexi teased.

"Ha-ha, very funny! Now I'm late I need to go!"

Stefan grabbed his think and raced out the door. Lexi laughed and shook her head at him.

At school, during class Elena and Stefan shared smiles at each other from across the room. Neither of them was paying attention at all to what was being said.

After class was over Stefan took out the book to show her. "Brought it."

He handed it to her so she could see it.

"'Wuthering Heights' by Ellis Bell. You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name." Elena said looking over the book.

"All the Bronte sisters used pseudonyms. It was the time. Female writers weren't very accepted then."

"Where did you get it?"

"Uh…" Stefan froze for moment before he continued "It was passed down through the family." Before she could question more about his family he changed the subject. "I have lots of books. Go ahead. Keep it."

"Oh, no. I…" She smiled innocently "But I would like to read it again. I promise I'll give it back."

Stefan chuckled and nodded. Even if he never got that book back he didn't care. He had made her smile again and that was all worth it.

They went their separate ways for their separate classes. Elena met up with Matt shortly after that. Unknowing to either of them Stefan was listening to them chat about Vicky and the vampire.

Stefan quickly grabbed his cell phone and called Lexi. "Lex, I need you to do me a huge favor…"

Within the next ten minutes Lexi arrived at the school and picked him up. They raced over to the hospital together.

They waited for Matt to go in and visit first and then when he left Lexi and Stefan ran in and Lexi compelled Vicky to forget about the vampires and all she remembered was the animal attack.

They heard the nurse and Matt coming back so they both quickly rushed out. Then Matt started to follow them. So they tried to lose him before he saw them.

In an attempt to dodge them they rushed into a big room…big mistake the room they entered was the blood room. People were getting blood, giving blood, and getting it drawn and there were blood bags all over the place. Stefan froze in a panic.

Lexi grabbed him by the shoulder and led him through and behind a curtain toward a window and they both jumped out and in a flash were back in the woods allowing Stefan to hunt and feed before they got back home.

After the hunt they headed back home. They pulled into the driveway. "Uh-oh." Stefan said.

"What?" Lexi asked.

"That's Elena's car. She's here."

They both shared a look before saying "Damon!"

They quickly got up and rushed inside. They heard Damon talking about doomed relationships.

"Hello Stefan, Lexi."

"Elena, I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said nicely.

"I know, I'm sorry. I know I should have called first but I…"

Damon cut her off. "Nonsense you're welcome here anytime, isn't she Stefan."

Stefan was too busy glaring at Damon to answer.

"Of course she is." Lexi said with a smile. "But you should always call just to make sure we're home and we don't keep you waiting."

Elena noticed the harsh look between the two brothers and felt very uncomfortable. "I should go."

"It was nice to meet you too Elena." Damon took her hand and kissed it. Elena smiled politely and quickly left the house.

Lexi elbowed Stefan in the side. "Smooth you two just scared her off!"

Damon of course started to taunt Stefan about Elena.

"Great Girl, She's got spunk. You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you over-exert yourself today? Let me guess... hospital."

"Someone had to clean up your mess."

"Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right."

Lexi stepped in trying to stop them. "I compelled the girl, Damon. So yes, it will work. Leave her alone!"

Damon just smirked.

"How long was Elena here?" Stefan asked Damon.

"Why? Were you worried, Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game?"

"I'm not playing any game."

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it."

"What kind of game are you playing... Damon?"

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

Damon left with one last famous smirk making Stefan sigh.

"Look, Stefan, I think you need to tell Elena the truth. If you don't Damon might. Then you'll lose her for good."

Stefan shook his head. "Elena can never know what I am. It's dangerous for us both to know."

"I know, but what if Damon tells her?"

"He won't, he knows he'd be exposing himself too."

"Are you sure, Stefan?"

Stefan nodded. "I'm sure. Elena can't know a thing."

Lexi sighed as Stefan walked away. He was making a big mistake.

That night they met up with everyone at The Grill for the Comet. "I'll be around if you need me but try and make things right with her. Just remember, honesty is always the best excuse." Lexi told Stefan. He sighed and nodded as she walked away.

He saw Elena and used her lit candle to light his own. She just offered him a small Hi before walking away. He sighed knowing she was angry with him. He walked over to her

"You know, that comet... it's been traveling across space for thousands of years, all alone."

"Yeah, Bonnie says it's a harbinger of evil."

"I think it's just a ball of snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home..."

She didn't say anything to that so he figured it was time to just be honest.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself."

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing."

"Well, I have a lot to apologize for. Yesterday, that wasn't about you, ok?"

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother."

"We're not close. It's, uh... it's complicated."

"Always is. He told me about your ex, Katherine."

Stefan froze but found his voice long enough to ask "What did he say?"

"That she broke your heart."

"That was a long time ago." A really, really, really, long time ago, Stefan thought to himself.

"When you lose someone, it stays with you, always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt."

"Elena..." He started moving in front of her to see her face. She wouldn't look at him and only stared at the sky. She cut him off.

"It's ok, Stefan. I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. Complicated brother? Check. Complicated ex? Check. Too complicated to even contemplate dating, double check. It's ok. We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but...then the sun came up and reality set in so..." With that she blew out her candle and walked away. Stefan sighed.

He went looking for Lexi. She was a girl she'd know how to fix this. He found her talking to Matt.

"Hey Guys, what's going on?"

"Vicky is missing, have you seen her?" Matt asked.

"No, I haven't. But I'll keep an eye out for her."

"I saw you at the hospital, what were you doing there?"

"Visiting…"

"Visiting?" Matt asked not believing him.

"For me." Lexi said. She let out some tears. "My…my fa-father is really sick." She whimpered. "I've been scared to go see him and Stefan said he'd come with me. But I don't like talking about it so he promised not tell anyone. That's why we were there."

Matt sighed "I'm sorry, I guess I'm a bit over protective. I hope your dad gets better."

"We will let you know if we see her." Stefan said.

"Thanks."

He walked away. Stefan looked to Lexi. "You all right?"

She nodded. Stefan knew there was only one thing that could make Lexi cry on command like that and he hated that she remembered it just for him. "Thank you."

"It's fine. I'm all right. Let's go find…"

Suddenly they both heard Vicky screaming and crying for help. They looked to each other and took off quickly toward the sound.

They arrived at the roof top of a building. Damon was holding a crying Vicky close to the edge.

"Very nice, have you been eating bunnies?" Damon teased once again.

"Just let her go, Damon." Stefan said.

"Ok."

He tilted her backwards making them all scream.

"No, no, no, no!" Stefan cried out.

Damon laughed and threw her down, Stefan catching her to break her fall. "I don't need her dead, but you might."

"Damon, no. Don't do it." Lexi warned.

Damon started trying to get Vicky to believe it was Stefan who attacked her by compelling her to believe so.

"Damon, no, please don't do this." Stefan begged. But it was useless.

Damon compelled Vicky to believe Stefan was a murdering vampire who tried to kill her. Then if that wasn't bad enough He ripped the bandage off her neck where there was fresh blood and then threw her into Stefan's arms.

Stefan stared at her neck hungrily as she cried and squirmed trying to get away. He hardly heard Damon or Lexi speaking to him. He forced himself to push Vicky away and growled softly and panted almost as if he was in agonizing amounts of pain.

"Why are you doing this to him!" Lexi asked rubbing Stefan's back trying to help him calm him.

"I'm trying to help him! Unlike you!" Damon told Lexi.

"I've helped him more than you have. You're just destroying him, and trying to force him to become the Ripper all over again."

"No!" Stefan cried at the near thought of ever being that way again. It was his biggest fear.

Once Stefan was more in control Lexi went over to Vicky. As Damon and Stefan continued to argue.

"Hey, Come here." She said gently.

"No, no, No." Vicky cried trying to pull away.

"Shh, shh, you're ok. I won't hurt you." Lexi said gently. She felt bad for this girl and wanted to help her. She looked her into the eyes. "You will not remember anything that happen up here tonight. You got high off some pain pills and that's all you remember."

"I got high on some pain pills and that's all I remember."

Lexi released her from the compulsion and went back over to Stefan. Vicky stood up and looked around.

"What happened? Where am I? Oh, I ripped my stitches open. Ah...

"Are you ok?" Stefan asked.

"I took some pills, man. I'm good."

"It's good to be home. Think I might stay a while. This town could use a bit of a wake-up call, don't you think?"

"What are you up to, Damon?"

Damon gave one of his famous smirks and said "That's for me to know and for you to... dot dot dot. Give Elena my best."

Damon walked away. Stefan sighed and covered his face with his hands. Lexi rubbed his back. "Hey, you did it. You resisted. I'm proud of you."

Stefan just nodded. "I wish he'd just go away."

"I know, so do I. But right now we need to get Vicky back to Matt. Then you need to find Elena and make things right with her."

Stefan nodded. Lexi grabbed Vicky and they both got back down to the ground and sent Vicky back inside to The Grill to wait for Matt.

They both waited close by until they saw Matt and Vicky reunite and Matt help her patch up her neck again.

They both slowly went over to them.

"She told me you guys found her just wondering around, thank you."

"Not a problem."

"I'm sorry about jumping down your throats before too. I hope everything works out with your Dad." Matt said to Lexi.

Lexi smiled softly and nodded. "Thank you. I'm sorry if we made you think we were trying to hurt your sister."

"No worries."

They all shared friendly smiles and then Lexi and Stefan headed over to the nearby table where Bonnie and Caroline were talking.

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt." Stefan said nicely.

"Hey, Stefan, Hey, Lexi!" Bonnie said.

"Hey, we were just wondering if you had seen Elena?"

"I think she went home." Bonnie answered again.

Stefan sighed and nodded.

"But, I'm going to give you her e-mail and cell phone number. She's big on texting."

Bonnie wrote down the information on a small slip of paper. When their hands linked Bonnie suddenly tensed and zoned out. "What happen to you?" she muttered Then she seemed to snap back into "I'm sorry, that was so rude of me. Excuse me." She quickly got up and left.

Stefan and Lexi shared a look.

"She does that sometimes. It's like her thing."

Stefan and Lexi just smiled politely and headed out.

"What was that?" Stefan asked Lexi.

"I don't know. But there is something fishy about that girl. Just be careful around her. She can't figure out the truth."

Stefan nodded. "I will, but you do the same."

"Come on, let's get home. I'm sure Elena doesn't want to be bothered if she's gone home."

Stefan sighed and nodded. He'd have to wait till tomorrow.

They got home and Stefan wrote in his diary for a little bit while Lexi did her own thing.

Later on that evening there was a knock at the door. Stefan smiled at the smell and knew who it was. He raced downstairs and opened the door with a smile. "Hi." He said softly.

"Hey." She greeted with a small smile.

"Would you like to come in?"

"The comet's actually this way." She walked over to lean on his ledge.

He followed and went outside after her.

"Sorry for barging in. Especially after earlier…"

He cut her off. "No, no. I'm glad you're here. The way we left things... I didn't like it."

Elena inhaled and exhaled a deep breath and Stefan knew she was about to really open up to him about something important. "See, the thing is, I got home tonight planning on doing what I always do, write in my diary, like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was 10. It's where I get everything out, everything I'm feeling. It all goes in this little book that I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid. But then I realized that I'd just be writing things that I should probably be telling you."

"What would you write?" Now he was curious, this was either going to be really good and she forgave him and wants to be his friend again or…she's yell, scream, and curse and say she never wants to see him again. He was hoping for the first one.

"I would write... 'Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was ok to give up. Don't take risks. Stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that...I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that... the world's just going to come crashing down, and I... I don't know if I can survive that."

Stefan was happy. She had chosen the first choice. She did forgive him and want to be his friend again; in fact she wanted to be more than that. He'd help give her that extra push she needed to accept it and stop fearing it.

"Do you want to know what I would write?" After he saw her nod he continued. "I met a girl. We talked. It was epic. But then the sun came up and reality set in. Well, this is reality, Right here."

They both slowly started to lean in until their lips touched and they started to kiss passionately. Stefan had officially gained her trust and gotten her to trust him and now…she was his girlfriend. In that moment Stefan was the happiest he had been in...well many, many, many, years.

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