Elena woke up from a very pleasant dream about laying on a beach in Hawaii and wants to stay in her warm soft bed for the rest of the day, but instead she gets up and walks in to the bathroom with her eyes still mostly closed.

"I'm sorry." Elena looked up when she heard a voice to see Vicki standing there. "I'm almost done."

"It's fine. Take your time." Elena smiled kindly. "I can go and pick out my clothes for the day while you finish."

Elena walked back into her room with a half smirk on her lips. 'Go Jeremy.' She thought with a chuckle.

Today she felt like wearing pants so she picked out a pair of skinny jeans, grey flats and a grey t-shirt. She matched that with a simple flower necklace and the earrings that went with it and, of course, her usual makeup of mascara and eyeliner.

When she was done, she walked over to Jeremys room and knocked.

"Elena." Jeremy said as he opened the door with a smile.

"Hoddie?" Elena smiled hopefully, trying not to laugh at Vicki who was doing everything she could to hide under Jeremys covers.

"Of course." Jeremy laughed and went to his dresser, when he came back over, he handed her a maroon colored hoddie.

"Thanks Jere, you are the best little brother in the world." Elena kissed his cheek and bounced off but not before she heard Vicki say "Your sister is kinda cool."

As she came into the kitchen and said good morning to Jenna, she asked. "Are you aware that we have a guest?"

"Uh-huh." Jenna nodded into her coffee cup.

"Kay then." Elena shrugged and grabbed an apple.

"He could be a little craftier about it tho." Jenna smiled wickedly. "At least make an effort to sneak her in and out."

"I think he's not actually trying to sneak; he knows that we don't care if he has a girl over." Elena said then she smirked. "Now if he had a boy over, I would squeal like a three-year-old on Christmas."

"Really, Elena?" Jenna raised an amused eyebrow.

"What?!" Elena laughed. "I've always wanted a gay best friend. A gay little brother is just ten times more awesome."

"Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner." Jenna said as if she just remembered it herself.

"You're not actually going out with Logan?" Elena judged her with a look. "He's not even that good looking and you can definitely do better."

"Aww that's so sweet of you to say." Jenna smiled at Elena. "And I'm just going out with him to torture him, showing him what he can't have, you know?"

"Good on you, aunt Jenna." Elena smirked.

"By the way, have you heard from Stefan?" Jenna asked slowly. "I heard you and Caroline talking on the phone yesterday and his name was mentioned."

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago: 'Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days.'" Elena made a hilarious attempt at impersonating Stefan.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna wondered.

"Nope and I'm not going to." Elena declared as she threw away what little was left of her apple.

"And you're okay with everything?" Jenna looked at her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Elena asked with a shrug.

"Well if my boyfriend did that, I would be a bit ticked off." Jenna admitted.

"Stefan is not my boyfriend." Elena informed her. "We're just friends."

"Oh, I thought..." Jenna trailed off uncertainly.

"Why did you think that?" Elena asked. "If I do get a boyfriend, you will be one off the first to know."

"It's just in the way he looks at you." Jenna remarked. "Like you are the most important being in the room."

"He wanted to go out, but I told him I just wanted to be friends and he accepted that." Elena smiled and hugged Jenna. "But thanks for caring, aunt Jenna."

XOXOXOX

Elena, Caroline and Bonnie met up by the school and walked in together while Caroline was being a bit neurotic.

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed." Caroline explained as they walked. "Well, not all the band, just those who could pull of swim clothes. I want, in your face, sexy! I mean it's a fund raiser for god's sake."

"She's going to take over the world one day." Elena said quietly to Bonnie.

"And we shall be her most trusted allies and supporters." Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"Hey." Stefan greeted awkwardly as he came up to them.

"Hey." Bonnie mumbled back and turned to Elena. "You know, I gotta go, be somewhere right now."

"But..." But Bonnie was gone before Elena could say any more.

"I'm so sorry I haven't called." Stefan apologized.

"No worries." Elena reassured.

"We're your friends, not your keepers." Caroline added.

"I was dealing with Damon." Stefan told them softly.

"And did you...deal with Damon?" Caroline asked.

"Yes." Stefan nodded. "Yeah."

Elena burst out laughing and it only got worse when she saw the looks Stefan and Caroline was sending her.

"Sorry, sorry." Elena chuckled when she had calmed down. "It just sounded like you had spent the last four days burying your brothers' body."

At that Caroline thought back at what had been said and started to laugh too and Stefan cracked a smile.

"You two have every right to be upset with me, even if you aren't, but can I explain it all to you two later? Please." Stefan begged them.

"Sure, when did you want to talk?" Elena asked as Caroline nodded.

"I gotta be home after school, but The Grill, around four o'clock?" Stefan asked while looking between them.

"Works for me." Caroline smiled.

"Me too." Elena nodded.

"Thanks." Stefan smiled, relived.

"Stefan, where is Damon?" Amanda stormed up to them. "He has some serious apologizing to do!"

"He's gone Amanda." Stefan informed her.

"When is he coming back?" Amanda demanded to know.

"He's not coming back." Stefan shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"Ugh!" Amanda threw her hands up and stomped away.

XOXOXOX

The rest of the school day had passed with a bit of a monotonous blur, the only difference from any other day is that history was canceled because they didn't have a new history teacher yet.

As Caroline and Elena walked in to the grill around four o'clock the noticed Matt and went up to him.

"Hey Matt, um, have you seen Stefan?" Caroline asked as her and Elena stopped besides him.

"Nope, sorry." Matt shrugged. "But if you two want to kill some time, um, you can rack?"

"Only if I can break." Elena agreed, smiling slightly. It was an old joke between her and Matt and he chuckled.

"And this morning I ran into Vicki in our bathroom, looking all awkward." Elena laughingly told Caroline and Matt after they had played for a while.

"Yeah, I'm not going to lie, you brother and my sister, that's weird." Matt chuckled a bit in discomfort.

"How late is he?" Elena asked Caroline who just looked at her phone.

"Hitting the hour mark." Caroline frowned.

"What's going on?" Matt asked and when Elena hesitated to answer he continued. "You can talk to me, you know? It not like we were best friend or anything.

"It's just that Stefan is our friend but he's also so secretive all the time." Caroline started to explain.

"And we know that everyone deserves their privacy, but at the same time..." Elena trailed of.

"You what? Think he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in the trunk of his car?" Matt asked as his eyes danced with laughter.

"We're being a bit paranoid, aren't we?" Caroline chuckled.

"I think you should just talk to him." Matt smiled.

"Talk to who?" Stefan said as he came up behind them, then he smiled apologetically at Elenas flinch. "Sorry I'm late."

"You okay?" Elena asked at the same time Caroline asked. "What happened?"

"I got held up." Stefan explained. "There was this thing with my uncle."

"You three have fun." Matt mumbled awkwardly as he walked away.

"Sorry it was unavoidable." Stefan defended himself quietly.

"You couldn't have called, at least, to let us know nothing bad had happened to you?" Caroline huffed in annoyance.

"Stefan you are our friend and we care about you." Elena said as she looked at him seriously. "And you don't have to tell us all your secrets but I, and I think Caroline agrees with me, would prefer that you tell me to my face that you don't want to tell me something instead of coming with non-answers."

As they were talking an old man came up to them, all the while staring at Stefan in awe. "I know you. My God!"

"I'm sorry?" Stefan looked just as confused as Elena and Caroline.

"I know you." The old man repeated. "How can it be?"

"I think you think might have the wrong person, sir." Stefan said politely.

"You haven't aged a day." The old man insisted.

"Stefan, could you take me home, please, I don't feel so good." Elena pretended to feel woozy. She knew exactly what was going on but if Stefan wasn't ready to tell her or Caroline about the supernatural world, she wasn't going to force him.

"Yes, of course." Stefan seemed very relived as he helped a 'woozy' Elena out to her car with Carolines help.

Stefan drove Caroline home first and promised, at her insistence, that if he was going to be late to their meetings in the future to at least text to let them know.

When Stefan and Elena arrived at the Gilbert house, Stefan parked the car and helped Elena out of the car up the porch. He had to ring the doorbell because the door was locked and he didn't know where Elenas key was.

"Elena?!" Jeremy exclaimed as he opened the door. "What happened?"

"She started to feel dizzy at the grill and asked me to take her home." Stefan explained as best he could with Elena leaning quite heavily on him.

"Jere." Elena mumbled and smiled. She was playing it up a bit but felt bad for making Jeremy worry.

"Come in and help me get her to her room." Jeremy ordered Stefan as he opened the door completely.

As Jeremy and Stefan helped her into bed, she decided that a nap wasn't such a bad idea and fell asleep while Jeremy and Stefan quietly walked out of her room.

XOXOXOX

Elena woke up and looked at the clock. She noticed that she had been asleep for around two hours and decided to get up and see if Jenna was home yet.

"Jenna, you home?" She called as she heard sounds coming from the kitchen and was slightly shocked at what she saw. "Stefan?"

"Hey Lena, you feeling better?" Jeremy asked as he came back into the kitchen and hugged her.

"Yeah, I just think I hadn't had enough to drink today." Elena explained as she hugged him back, still confused. "What's going on?"

"I was worried about you so I offered to make dinner and Jeremy told me that one of your favorites are Chicken Parmesan." Stefan explained while he cooked. "And I happen to be a good cook, the Italian roots demands it. I can even make my own homemade mozzarella but tonight it, unfortunately, have to be store brought."

"I offered to help as I had nothing better to do." Jeremy smiled.

"You're not going to hang out with Vicki?" Elena teased her brother.

"You are more important." Jeremy nudged her shoulder, then he smiled sadly. "It feels like the only thing Vicki wants is to get high."

"I love you, Jere." Elena murmured quietly to Jeremy, knowing full well that Stefan heard her but the illusion of privacy was nice.

"Getting your heart broken is never easy." Stefan said to Jeremy pretending to not have heard Elenas whisper to her brother.

"You've had your heart broken?" Jeremy asked, curious.

"Oh, yeah." Stefan nodded. "Her name was Kathrine and she was...the most beautiful girl I had ever met." Stefan got a faraway look in his eyes. "She had this perfect olive skin and she had this laugh; it was ridiculous. I mean, her laugh made you laugh and she was fun, knew how to have a good time."

"So, what happened?" Jeremy asked as Stefan trailed off.

"Kathrine was also very impatient, entitled and selfish and, um, impulsive. Enter Damon." Stefan hummed. "He claims he was with her first, but I don't think either of us know for sure. What I do know is that I did some things that...I'm not proud of. And my biggest regret is not being able to make it right before she died. I miss her, but...I'm no longer crippled by her loss."

"So even if I get my heart broken by Vicki, I'm not going to be sad forever?" Jeremy asked uncertainly.

"Exactly." Stefan smiled at him.

"Thank you for telling us." Elena smiled.

"So, can you tell us something more about yourself?" Jeremy smirked, knowing that at school Stefan was the mysterious new kid that no one knew anything about.

"Hmm, let's see." Stefan looked thoughtful then he shrugged. "I like music."

"What sort of music?" Elena asked while she stepped up to wash her hands so she could help with dinner.

"Um, Dylan, Hendrix, Pasty, Willie, a little Kanye." Stefan listed of and smirked. "You know what? I even like that one Miley song. No hate!" He pointed the spoon he was using to stir at Elena.

"I didn't say anything." Elena laughed and Jeremy chuckled.

"Elena doesn't really have room to talk, she listens to everything." Jeremy informed Stefan with a laugh.

"I don't listen to everything!" Elena denied and at Jeremys look she continued. "I don't! I refuse to listen to sort of music that has like no context just a lot of annoying sounds that you can't make sense of."

They could all agree to that and then Elena went over to the cutting board. "Is this for the garlic bread?" She asked and indicated to the garlic on the board.

"Yeah, freshly baked garlic bread is a must for pasta dishes." Stefan nodded decisively, he smiled sheepishly and added. "I might have a slight obsession with garlic, please don't tell anyone."

"Your secret is safe with us." Jeremy laughed.

"Ow!" Elena exclaimed loudly as she accidentally cut herself.

"You okay?" Stefan asked as Jeremy hurried over to her.

"Yeah, it's just a small cut." Elena grabbed the paper towel that Jeremy was holding out to her and looked up at Stefans reflection in the window. She barely held in a shocked gasp, she knew he was a vampire and that his face changed but knowing and seeing are two different things.

"You okay there, Stefan?" Jeremy raised a questioning eyebrow.

"He has this thing against blood." Elena said with a teasing lilt to her voice, saving Stefan from having to come up with a lie.

The rest of the evening was a success and the food were amazing. After they eaten and Stefan had gone home Jeremy and Elena decided to watch movies curled up together on the couch.

That was were Jenna found her niece and nephew sleeping when she got home from her date. She smiled at the display, discreetly took a photo with her phone and then put a blanket over the sleeping forms.

XOXOXOX

The next day Elena was listening as Caroline, who was in a light pink frilly bikini top and jean shorts, laid down the law on the whole sexy suds' car wash thing.

"No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters." Caroline looked like a dictator ordering her minions around. "We are NOT running a charity here!"

"No, we are not." Elena nodded seriously. She was wearing dark red bikini and a tiny black skirt which had gotten Carolines nod of approval.

"Stefan!" Caroline called out disappointed as she saw him approach them.

"Caroline!" Stefan called back with a chuckle.

"The event is called 'sexy' suds, you know." Caroline scolded him. "Drop the clothes."

"Did I just get judged?" Stefan asked Elena with a laugh.

"Oh yes, you did!" Elena giggled.

"I guess I better do what the general want." Stefan started to take of his clothes, when he was down to just his pants and shoes, he was getting a lot of looks from the girls and even some from the boys.

"Did you get roped into this by Caroline or Elena?" A half-naked Jeremy asked as he walked up to them.

"Caroline." Stefan admitted. "You?"

"You should be warned that my sister is evil." Jeremy answered with a smirk, managing to duck the hit aimed at the back of his head by Elena.

"Looking good Jeremy." Tiki gave Jeremy a slow up and down look.

"You don't." Jeremy dismissed her entirely as he started to help Elena and Stefan wash a car.

"Harsh." Stefan commented as Tiki huffed and walked away.

"She's a self-centered bully." Jeremy told him, then he frowned and nodded towards Stefans ring. "Aren't you worried about getting soap on that?"

"No, it's fine." Stefan reassured.

"Doesn't Damon have one to?" Elena asked. "Is there a story behind it?"

"Yeah, it's the family crest from the Italian renaissance." Stefan fingered the ring absentmindedly.

"What sort of stone is that?" Jeremy asked as he looked at the ring.

"It's called lapis lazuli." Stefan smiled slightly, like he knew something they didn't, which he undoubtedly did.

"Shit, we're out of towels." Elena groaned as she noticed. "I'll go ask Caroline for more."

"Hey Caroline." Elena greeted as she made her way to the money table where Caroline and Amanda where sitting. "We're out of towels and those shimmy things."

"I'll go get some." Amanda walked off, she had refused to talk or even be near Elena since the founder's party.

"Mind the money for me, I need to go to the bathroom?" Caroline asked and got up.

"Don't fall in." Elena chuckled.

"You're the girl from the grill." A male vice spoke from above her.

"Huh?" Elena looked up and saw the old man from last night, the one who knew Stefan.

"You were with the young man that I thought I knew." The old man explained.

"You mean Stefan Salvatore?" The question slipped out before Elena could stop it.

"It can't be." The old man murmured.

"Why not?" Elena inquired.

"Because the last time I saw him was when I first oved here and I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house." The old man told her. "Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle."

"You mean Zach?" Elena asked.

"No, Joseph." The old man hummed. "But it can't be the same man, that was in June 1953."

After Tiki had come to lead her grandfather away and Caroline finally came back from the bathroom, Elena made her way back to Stefan and Jeremy.

"Caroline finally released you, huh?" Stefan asked with a laugh.

"Yeah." Elena chuckled, then when she saw Jenna, she made her way over to her with Jeremy following.

"Your car was done an hour ago." Elena smirked at her aunt.

"You are saying that out loud, why?" Jenna mocked glared at her nice.

"Hi, Elena, right?" Logan looked at her. "I think I met you once when you were 9."

"Did you?" Elena hummed uninterested then she looked him I the eyes seriously and hissed. "If you hurt my aunt; I will fuck you up."

"And I'll help." Jeremy declared. "And before you ask, no we are not threatening you; we are just making a promise."

Then Jeremy and Elena walked off arm in arm leaving their aunt with Logan. As they walked away Elena wondered if Logan still managed to get invited to dinner at their place by Jenna.

"Hey Jeremy," Elena hummed in thought, not wanting to be home if Logan was going to be there. "How about a brother/sister dinner at the grill, just you and me?"

"I'd like that." Jeremy smiled brightly.