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.

Things had to get worse before getting better. But how could they possibly get any worse?

He just had to ask didn't he? The very next morning things got worse. It all started when he picked up Elena from home to go to school. She was quiet for a while and he could see her hands shaking. He asked what was wrong but she didn't answer. He was worried but didn't push. Finally she spoke.

"Stefan, I have a questions about vampires."

"Of course, anything."

"How can you tell if someone is a vampire, I mean is there something in there eyes or the way they speak, anything?"

"Well Lexi, Kevin, Damon, and I are the only ones walking around in the day time so you won't see too many during the day. We are also the only vampires known around here. Why?"

"Just tell me."

"You tell me first, did something happen to Bonnie?"

"No, no, Bonnie is fine. She'll meet us at school."

"Then why are you asking."

"I'm just curious." Elena answered quickly looking out her window.

Stefan pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. He looked to Elena. "Elena look at me."

She shook her head. She wanted to know the answer but at the same time she didn't. If her suspicions were correct Jenna was going to be in danger and that scared her.

"Elena if you're suspicious of someone being a vampire you need to tell me. If it's Bonnie it's ok. Lexi and I can help her, look at what we did for Vicky, she's living her life freely and happily again."

"Bonnie is fine." Elena answered again.

"Then who is it? Elena, please tell me."

"Answer my question, please, just answer my questions."

Stefan sighed. "What is the situation, where did you meet him or her?"

"Home, he rang the doorbell Jenna answered it. He was pushy and kept trying to convince Jenna to allow him inside. When she said no he tried to convince me but I said no to."

"Wait, Logan, Logan Fell?"

Elena nodded. "That's him."

"He was at your house last night begging to come inside?"

Elena nodded once more.

"Elena look at me right now." Stefan said sternly.

She looked to him shocked.

"Did he get inside?"

"No, Jenna slammed the door in his face but still the thought…she doesn't know and if she had agreed…and he is a vampire…Stefan please tell me the truth."

"Yes, Elena, someone begging to be invited in is most likely a vampire. How Logan became one I'm not sure, but there is a good chance he is one now."

"He almost got to Jenna, Stefan. What if he tries again?" Elena was shaking now.

"Take a deep breath, Jenna hates Logan she isn't going to invite him inside. I'll talk to Lexi and Damon about it. We will find a way to deal with this."

Elena sighed but nodded. She was scared of something happening to Jenna.

Stefan took her hand and kissed it. "We won't let anything happen to your Aunt. I promise."

Elena just nodded once more. Stefan gave her one last kiss before he pulled out his phone and called Lexi and Damon.

"Hey, what's going on? Thought you'd be at school." Lexi said as she answered.

"Is Damon home?"

"Yeah, outside right now talking to Sheriff Forbes. She's just telling him there has been another vampire attack."

Elena gasped. He first thought being Jenna.

"Who was it?" Stefan asked.

"Don't know, she didn't say, but you don't sound surprised. What's going on?"

"There is another vampire in town. He was at Elena's house last night. It's Logan Fell."

"Lexi, is Jenna…" Elena choked out.

"No, it's not Jenna. I don't know who it was but I know it wasn't Jenna. Look I'll talk to Damon after he's done and we will come up with a plan. You two go about your day and try to act as normally as possible."

"But…but Jenna?"

"Is working, and the sun is shining so Logan can't hurt anyone." Lexi told her. "Just trust us, Elena. We won't let Jenna get hurt."

Elena nodded.

Stefan squeezed her hand. "Call me when you know more."

"I will."

They both hung up and Stefan looked to Elena and sighed. He could see she was still scared. "Baby, I promise, we won't let Jenna get hurt. Just trust us."

"I do, it's Logan I don't trust. He hurt her twice already, what if the third time is physical?" she choked out her voice breaking.

"We won't let that happen. Look, like Lexi said he doesn't have a ring, he can't walk in the daylight so we're safe. It gives Damon and Lexi time to come up with a plan."

Elena sighed and nodded. As long as the sun was high in the sky she had nothing to worry about.

The only problem was that daylight only lasted so long. The sun set early that day so Elena was on high alert. She even begged her Aunt to come to the school career day thing after school. Thankfully she agreed which gave her some comfort but not much. Lexi and Damon were out searching for Logan while Stefan stayed at the school with Elena.

Elena saw Matt and went over to him. "Still going to be an Astronaut?"

"You remember that?" he asked blushing.

She chuckled and laughed. "I can even remember the tinfoil you wore on your head."

He laughed. "I was eight."

They both just laughed.

"So…Mr. Donovan I heard things about you and a certain blond we both know…you and Caroline?" Elena teased.

"Oh man, not you too. We're just friends." Matt groaned causing Elena to laugh.

"Ok, Matt, whatever you say."

She left with a teasing smile and headed to another table where she ran into Stefan.

"I thought you were watching Jenna, is she ok? Have they found Logan?"

"She went to use the bathroom, I wasn't going to follow her there. Yes, she is ok. No they haven't found Logan yet."

Elena sighed. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I know this is hard on you. But let's take a break from worrying. I wanted to be a doctor before my change. Afterwards I couldn't for reasons you know."

Elena nodded. "What did you do?"

"I tried different things but nothing really brought me as much joy as helping heal people."

Elena nodded understanding.

"What about you? What did you want to be?"

Stefan saw something change in Elena's face. She looked away from him and back to the table in front of them picking at some papers.

"You should get back to watching Jenna, I'm just browsing."

"Hey…" Stefan said gently and took her face in his hands and turned her to look at him. "It's ok, don't be embarrassed. You can tell me anything."

"It's not embarrassing. Just don't want to talk about it."

Stefan knew it had something to do with her parents and decided not to push the subject further but before he change it, Jenna came over.

"Hide me." She said.

"What why?"

"The Scum Fell has landed."

"Logan is here?" Elena asked trying to keep her voice from shaking.

Just then Logan walked over to them. "Jenna, you're dodging me."

"It's a form of self-preservation." Jenna answered.

"Elena why don't you and Jenna go get something to eat?" Stefan said casually.

"Let's go." Elena said leading Jenna away.

She led Jenna into the cafeteria of the school. She waited there with him until Mr. Saltzman showed up. Elena knew she'd be safe with him so she left to go find Caroline and Matt and the others to make sure they were ok.

She saw Matt talking with a guy on the football team laughing together. But she was having the hardest time finding Caroline.

She went outside and saw Stefan on the phone. She went over to him. "What's going on?"

He hung up and turned to look at her. "That was Lexi, she and Damon are on their way over here now."

Elena nodded and looked around.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't find Caroline. I have this horrible feeling."

"Hey, just take a deep a breath. Let's go back inside and look. I'm sure she is around here somewhere."

Elena nodded and took his hand as they went back inside. They passed Matt again and Elena asked him if he had seen her.

"Oh yeah, the Logan Fell guy is just gave her a lift home."

Elena's heart started to race, every bone in her body went tense. All the color drained from her body. She felt sick to her stomach. She didn't even realize she had stopped breathing until she heard Stefan.

"Breathe, Elena, breathe!"

She let out a breath and inhaled a shaky one. "Stef-Stefan…Lo-Logan…"

"Stay here I'll be back I promise."

With that he ran off. Elena stood there frozen un able to move. What was going to happen to Caroline?

Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours, Elena was going crazy. She was worried about Caroline and Stefan What is someone was hurt? What if someone was dead? She lost her parents she couldn't lose her best friend or boyfriend too. She'd never survive that. She'd lose her mind, she'd…

"Elena…"

She jumped and turned around to see Lexi. She ran over to her.

"What happen, where's Stefan, where's Caroline? Are they hurt? Are they dead? Can I see them?"

"Elena calm down and take a breath. Stefan and Caroline are both alive."

Elena let out a sigh of relief. "What happen?"

"Damon is taking care of Logan and Stefan is taking Caroline home. She only knows that Logan attacked her. She's shaken up but that's all."

Elena let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. "Thank you."

"Anytime. Are you ready to go home? Stefan wanted to meet you back at the house."

"Yeah, but what about?"

"Jenna and Jeremy left with that hot history teacher of yours."

"Ewww Lexi, he's old enough to be your father." Elena giggled.

"Technically I'm old enough to be his great, great, great, grandmother." Lexi teased.

Elena blushed not thinking about that part. Lexi laughed. "Relax I know what you meant. Come on, let's head home."

Elena followed Lexi out of the school and back to the Boarding House.

"I've got a date with Kevin, so I'm just dropping you off. "Go on in Stefan's expecting you."

Elena smiled and nodded. She hopped out of the car and went inside.

She went into the living room. Stefan was sitting on the chair by the burning fire.

"Hey, Beautiful."

"Hey yourself."

She went over and sat down on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and they shared a kiss on the lips. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. Did Lexi tell you everything?"

Elena nodded. "Thanks for saving Caroline."

"Don't thank me. I'm just glad I was able to."

Elena smiled and snuggled into his chest. There was a comfortable silence between them for a bit, just enjoying being together. Suddenly Elena spoke.

"You asked me before what I wanted my future to be…I wanted to be a writer. My mom pushed me in that direction from the time I could read. She's supported me, encouraged me, bought me my first journal, and then she died and now… I can't see myself being a writer anymore. That was something that we shared. That's why I didn't answer you before. I don't know what I want my future to be, Stefan."

Stefan hugged her tighter as a few tears leaked from her eyes. "Shhhh, it's ok Baby." He whispered in a sweet loving tone. "You can still be a writer if you really want to be. You won't upset your Mom or anything."

Elena shook her head, she sniffed softly. "It's not that. I just…the passion is gone. I only want to write for me when I need to vent and that to my journal which is hidden from everyone."

"That's ok too. Baby listen, don't worry about not knowing, tons, millions of people all over the world have no idea what they want their future to be like. You'll figure it out in time."

Elena nodded and was about to wipe a lone tear from her eye but Stefan beat her to it. He used his thumb and gently wiped it away. "No more tears, let's be happy."

"Sorry, I was just getting emotional."

"It's ok to be sad sometimes. But now the being sad time is over. Now it's time to be happy. Smile."

Elena smiled softly.

"Nope, not good enough I said SMILE!" he quickly tickled her stomach making her laugh. "Much better."

She smiled a real smile and kissed him on the lips. "The one thing I am sure about in my future." She said to him. "I want you to be in it."

"Sounds like a good future to me."

He kissed her back and things got heated. Stefan could feel his face change and he pulled away and turned away from Elena.

"Don't…" she panted softly. "Don't hide from me."

"Elena, I can't." he whispered softly.

"Yes, you can."

Stefan slowly and carefully turned around to face her. Her eyes were wide with shock but then quickly faded her eyes showed so much true love it made Stefan comfortable again and he pressed his lips to hers and they continued to make out passionately. They moved to bedroom and made magic.

After their loving they cuddled together on the bed. Elena was wearing Stefan's shirt. She laid in between his legs One hand gently stroked her hair and chin. The other laid down and rested on her leg.

"I don't think I've ever been in your room before." Elena said.

"It hasn't changed much over the years." Stefan told her.

"Do you leave all this stuff here when you come and go?"

Stefan kissed her head. "This is the one place that remained constant. This room holds every memory I thought was important enough to hold onto."

"Lots of memories to add."

"Yep. Hey, you thirsty or anything?"

"A little bit. You?" Then she realized what she said and blushed. "Uh.."

He chuckled softly and rested his chin on her head. "I'm fine. I'll go get you some water."

She let out a small groan as he got up. He headed downstairs and out of the room. She got out of bed and decided to explore his room a little bit. She checked out a few books, smelled a few candles, but then something caught her eye. It was a picture of her one she hadn't seen or remember taken. But the weird thing was the picture was golden brown color showing it's old age. She picked it up and looked at the year. 1864, but what really scared her was the name next to the year…Katherine.

They could be twins. Is that why Stefan was in love with her? Was she just this girl who he liked because of her looks? Was he only with her because she looked like Katherine? He had to be, why else would he be with her?

She ripped the vervain necklace off her and took off running out of the before he could come back.

Stefan came back upstairs and found Elena gone. He went to run after her but the second he opened the door Lexi was there with Kevin.

"Lexi…Elena…picture…Katherine…ran…find her!" he choked out in panic.

"Elena saw a picture of Katherine and ran away and you need my help to find her?" Lexi repeated.

"Wow." Kevin said. "How did you do that?"

"I've known Stefan a long time." Lexi chuckled then looked to Stefan and saw his heart broken face. She touched her shoulder. "We will find her, Stefan. We will bring her back here and explain everything to her. Just hang in there. Come on let's go."

The three of them quickly left the house in search of Elena. They split up so they could cover more ground.

Lexi heard the sound of a woman scream and a car crashing. So she ran to scene and gasped when she saw Elena trapped in her car which was upside down. Her head was bleeding slightly. But was scared her the most was the man she had just hit was getting right back up and walking toward her, he clearly wasn't human.

Lexi scared him off and then appeared at Elena's window making her scream.

"Shhh, it's me. Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you all right?"

"My seat belt is stuck I'm trapped." Elena cried.

"All right, shh, shh, listen to me. I'm going to help you." Lexi said gently.

Elena calmed down and nodded.

"Put your hands on the roof."

Elena did as she said.

"Good, just like that. Now I'm going to pull you out, ready 1…2…3!" She grabbed Elena and yanked her out so she fell to the ground. Lexi grabbed her and pulled her out, helping her stand. "Can you stand? Anything broken?"

Elena muttered something and shook her head.

"You're fading fast. We need to get you home."

"I look like her." Elena whimpered and then passed out.

Lexi sighed and lifted her up and carried her back to the house.

She laid her down on the bed and let her rest. Then she called the other boys and told them she was ok. Stefan rushed back to see her.

Elena woke up with a gasp a few hours later.

"It's ok, you're ok. You're ok." Stefan told her.

Elena looked around and shook her head trying to get up. "No, I'm out of here."

Lexi gently pushed her back down. "Just listen to what Stefan has to say. He's going to tell you everything."

"I'll tell you the whole truth, but you've got to stay here." Stefan said.

Elena sighed but nodded. Honestly she wanted to leave, but physically she was weak and tired and not ready to go anywhere.

"I'll start at the beginning." Stefan said gently. "The first day of school when we met. It wasn't for the first time, Elena."

"Then when was it?" Elena asked a hint of anger in her voice.

"May 23, 2009."

Elena tensed hearing that date. "But that was…" Elena started but was cut off.

"That was the day your parents' car went off the bridge."

"You were there?" Elena asked even angrier.

"Not in the way you think, Elena. He wasn't the cause." Lexi said hoping to calm her down.

"Every couple of years I come back here to see Zach and see my home. Last spring, I was out in the woods, by old Wickery Bridge and I heard the accident, all of it. I was fast getting there, but not fast enough. The car was already submerged. Your dad was still- he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but he wouldn't let me help him, until I helped you."

Tears filled her eyes as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my gosh. When I woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how I got out of the car. They said it was a miracle"

"I went back for them. But it was too late. I couldn't- I couldn't save them. When I pulled you out, I looked at your face. You looked like Katherine. I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you. I saw that you were nothing like Katherine and I wanted to leave town, but, Elena, I couldn't. I couldn't leave without knowing you. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to. But you were so sad."

"Why do I look like her?" Elena asked bluntly.

"Elena, you've been through so much…" Stefan tried. He had hurt her enough. This last bomb shell was going to kill her.

"Why do I look like her, Stefan? What are you not telling me?" she asked once more.

"It didn't make any sense to me. You were a Gilbert. She was a Pierce. But the resemblance was too similar and then I learned the truth…you were adopted, Elena…"

Elena gasped. "What? No! You're lying!" Elena said quickly. He had to be. Miranda and Grayson were her mom and dad they had to be.

"I wish I was."

"How do you know?" She whimpered.

"Your birth certificate at City Records says your mother is Miranda Gilbert but there is no record of her being admitted to the hospital or even that she was pregnant."

"What else do you know?"

Stefan sighed. "To know more I'd have to look into the Pierce family and that was too dangerous."

"He's telling the truth, Elena that's all." Lexi said.

"Hey," Stefan said making her look at him. "It doesn't matter, you are the woman I love! I love you."

They shared a kiss on the lips and Stefan just held her as she let the news sink in. The truth was out. They had no more secrets between them. Elena knew everything...so why did Stefan still feel so horrible?

They stayed in each other's arms as long as possible. But soon Jenna started calling and telling Elena to get home. So Elena left. Plus, even though she was dreading it, she had to talk to Jenna about the adoption.

Elena arrived home really late, way passed curfew and Jenna was angry.

"I don't set a lot of rules, Elena. Not with you, but I expect you to be home on time or at least call me and tell me you're going to be late and the reason why. I thought we were closer than this."

"Lexi told me she called you." Elena said trying to hold back her own anger.

"Yes, she did. But I expect you to call me. Not your friends." Jenna sighed. "I'm sorry, I just got worried. You're home safe that's what matters."

"Well I expect you to always tell me the truth. I guess we both can't always get what we want."

"Don't turn this around on me. I didn't do anything."

"Ok question, am I adopted?"

Jenna froze unable to answer.

"Like I said, we can't always get what we want. I thought we were closer than this."

"Elena they asked me not too." Jenna said honestly.

Elena shook her head. "I don't want to hear it. You lied to me my entire life!"

Elena stormed upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom. She grabbed her phone as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Hello?"

"I can't do this without you. Please come over!"

"On my way."

Elena hung up and threw herself onto her bed and cried into her pillow. She loved Miranda and Grayson they would always be her parents no matter what DNA said, but she couldn't help but wonder who her birth-parents were? She hated to think that way. It made her feel horrible, like she was trying to replace Miranda and Grayson and she wasn't.

She felt a hand on her back and jumped out of her skin.

"Shhh, Angel. Shhhh, it's just me." Stefan's gentle voice said as his hand moved up and down her back.

She moved from her pillow to his lap and just continued to cry.

Stefan used his other head to stroke her hair. He didn't want her to cry, but he knew sometimes in order to feel better you just had to let yourself cry. "Let it out, Baby Girl, just let it all out."

Elena cried herself to sleep that night. Stefan stayed all night just holding her close and comforting her. He had told her the truth and he felt worse than ever. Would Elena survive this new bomb shell?

A/N What do you think? Leave me your thoughts in a review.

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