After Stefan left, Elena decides to tell the group what would happen at the party.

"Hey guys, come over here." Elena called the boys away from the pool table.

"What's up, El?" Jeremy asks as he sits down.

"In the OG timeline tomorrow night Damon attacks Vic at the party, she survives though. But I still don't want any of you to go into the woods, let's all stay where we can see each other and nobody get too drunk. Okay?" Elena ask seriously.

"Are you certain nothing will happen If we stay in sight?" Matt asks worried for his sister.

"Yes. I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to any of you." Elena tells them.

"Wow, El being serious for more than two minutes. This is new." Tyler try's to lighten the mood.

"Ellie, I trust you. I know you just want to protect us." Vicki says while holding Elena's hand and smiling at her.

Elena returns the smile.

"The battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in the battle? Ms. Bennet?"

"Um... a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." Bonnie responds with a cute smile.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms Bennet. Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Tanner asks Matt.

Elena looks to Bonnie and they laugh.

"It's cool Mr. Tanner. I'm cool with it." The class laughs as Elena rolls her eyes and smiles.

"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" Tanner asks her.

"Hmm. Let me think... hard pass." The class snickers at Tanners angry face before he replies.

"I would expect nothing less from you. I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break." Even though Elena knew it was coming it didn't hurt any less. But she just gave him a sarcastic smile.

"There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians." Stefan came to Elena's rescue.

"That's correct. Mister...?"

"Salvatore." Stefan supplied.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here in Mystic Falls?"

Stefan hesitates "Distant." Elena, Bonnie, and Matt all smile a little.

"Well, very good. Except, of course there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Tanner says in a condescending tone.

"Actually, there were 27, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on a church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall of you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner." The whole class smiles at Stefan decimating Tanners ego.

At the party Elena reminded them to stay close and not drink too much.

As they were all standing around cracking jokes and laughing. Elena couldn't help but feel completely happy for the first time since her parents died.

Happy to be loved by and love so many amazing people.

And looking over at Jeremy she can see it in his eyes he was feeling the same way.

"Can we please talk about the way Stefan keeps gazing at Elena?" Bonnie jokingly asks the group.

"Yes! Oh my God, it's crazy. I mean Ellie's great. But he doesn't know her." Caroline exclaims loudly.

"I mean, Elena is really pretty." Matt quietly defends Stefan.

The group laughs at Matt's crush and Elena gasps dramatically and put a hand in her heart.

"How dare you? I am not "pretty." I am GORGEOUS. I am SEXY. I am TRANSCENDENT. A GODDESS amongst mortals is what I am." Elena states dramatically as the group laugh at her theatrics.

"Now that that's settled, it's not Stefans fault. Not only am I ridiculously attractive, but it's the doppelganger thing. The only reason he felt drawn to Katherine is because of the traveler spell. And when he sees me he sees Kitty Kat even if he won't admit to himself." The group nods their heads.

"One of these days you're gonna need to explain the whole doppelganger thing." Vicki says while the group agrees.

"Totally, it's kinda a long story and it bums me out but just remind me and I will tell you guys." Elena agrees and starts looking around.

"Hey guys, look." Elena points to Stefan who just got there.

"Yo, Stefan!" Tyler calls Stefan over to the group.

Stefan looks up and smiles when he sees them only for his expression to change into the lovestruck look when he sees Elena.

"Okay, I see what you mean." Matt mutters and the group starts laughing.

The group stop laughing when Stefan gets to them.

"Hey guys, this is great. Thanks for inviting me." Stefan says why looking around the party.

"Of course, it's my duty as future Miss Mystic Falls to make all newcomers feel welcome." Caroline says in her most cordial tone.

"The rest of us aren't going to be Miss Mystic Falls, but we like you." Jeremy says as the group laughs.

"Hey, wanna take a walk?" Stefan asks Elena.

"Sure. Hey guys, I'll be back." Elena tells the group and sends a pointed look to Bonnie who's smiling teasingly at her.

"So, why'd you wanna take a walk?" Elena asks Stefan.

"Uh, it was little crowded. I want to get to know you. You've got the mysterious thing going on."

"I really don't, there's not really much to say. I'm 17, I have 1 brother, I'm a cheerleader, and my parents died last spring. Me and my brother were in the car with them but we survived." Elena tells him even though she knows he knows.

"I'm sorry, Ellie. You and Jeremy seem to be doing okay considering." Stefan says in a curious tone.

"Remy has been my rock. I think without him I would have already lost my mind 10 times over." Elena says with a laugh.

"It was bad at first though. I didn't know what to do. I was just his sister, then suddenly I have to be his mom and dad? It scared me. But everytime I would be on the verge of freaking out, Rem would pop his head in my room or climb in my bed saying he didn't want to be alone and it would remind me why I couldn't freak, because he needs me." Elena finishes then gets embarrassed for vomiting emotions all over him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to unload on you. Send me your bill." Stefan laughs.

"No, it's okay. I'm glad you're letting it out. I like listening to you." Stefan says embarrassed at his last sentence.

"And you couldn't afford me." Stefan jokes

Elena stops and looks at him confused. Isn't he supposed to be super serious and broody all the time? She decides she likes this Stefan.

"You're a really good listener. Thank you. But what about you? Got any baggage you'd like to unpack? I'm here for it all. Family issues? Mental illness? Shameful kinks?" Elena says with a raised eyebrow while looking him up and down.

Stefan shakes his head and laughs.

"No mental illnesses or kinks I'll ever cop to." Elena laughs.

"But, my brother, the one I said I'm on the outs with." Elena nods "Well he's my only family left, besides my uncle. And we haven't seen or talked to each other in fif- forever." Stefan catches himself. "Whenever we do see each other, we make up and things are great, but then something happens and it's right back to the way it was before." Stefan says sadly.

Stefan has no idea why he's telling El all of this. She's just so easy to talk to and hearing her talk about her brother got him thinking about Damon.

"I'm really sorry, Stef. I don't know what i would do if I fought with Rem." Elena says genuinely sympathetic.

Stefan clears his throat "Anyway, I really like your friends. You all seem really close. That's rare."

"They're the best friends in world. I could not ask for a better group of people to love and be loved by. They are the next thing after Remy that got me through my grief. They really like you, you know." Elena says smiling at him.

"That's great, I'm glad you have them. And they are really welcoming." Stefan says while staring into Elena's eyes.

For a moment Elena considers kissing him, giving into the pull, consequences be damned. But when she looks into his eyes she doesn't see the lust that's definitely shining in hers, she sees love, pure, true, unmistakable love. And she's reminded, not only does he not see her, he's sees Kat, but he's so sweet and genuine he doesn't even know it. Right when she decides to never take advantage of his good heart his eyes start changing.

"Hey, are you okay? Your eye." Elena fake stutters out.

"Oh, um... Yeah, no. It's, um, it's nothing. Are you thirsty? I'm gonna get us a drink." Stefan real stutters out and walks away.

Elena breaths out a sigh of relief and walks back over to the Mystic Falls Gang.

When Elena walks back over to her friends they ask about stefan and make fun of her when she groans loudly and mutters about how green his eyes are.

"It's not my fault! There is a literal love spell put on us. Honestly it's a miracle I haven't left the party with him already." Elena says while Jeremy covers his ears.

"Ew, ew, we. Don't say stuff like that in front of me." Everyone laughs at the group baby.

"And it doesn't help that when he looks at me he sees the love of his life." Elena defends.

Bonnie's about to say something when a cry for help is heard from the woods.

"Oh my God! Someone help he's bleeding! Oh my God!"

"Call 911!"

"Oh my god, it happened anyway." Elena whispers wide eyed as they watch people run over to the bleeding kid.

"This is not your fault El, if it wasn't him it would have been Vicki." Matt tries to reassure Elena.

"I know. I don't regret it. I mean, I feel bad for that kid, but I'll always choose you guys over anyone else. I just realized that I can't just mess around with them and subtlety change things. I need to talk to them and tell the truth." Elena states.

"Are you sure Ellie? That might backfire." Tyler says.

"I don't care. What if next time I change something to save one of you, and another one of you gets hurt instead. This is gonna have to work. I refuse to sit by and let Damon be the idiot that he is and get the people I love hurt. Besides, could be fun." Elena tries to convince herself.

"Okay El, do what you think is best." Matt says.

"Yeah, we trust you." Vicki says.

"Just please be careful." Jeremy tells his sister.

"I got this guys. I'll tell them tomorrow. Let's go Rem. Bye guys. Text me when you get home. Love you. Oh and Care go straight home. That goes for all of you, don't go to the grill." Elena warns her friends.

"Ok El, we love you too!" Caroline shouts after her as the others say goodbye.

Stefan runs home and barges in the house.

"What's going on?" Zach asks when he sees Stefans freaked expression.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't me." Stefan stomps up the stairs.

Stefan walks in his room, then a crow flies in cawing.

Stefan turns around with a shocked expression.

"Damon."

"Hello, brother." Damon says with his usual cocky smirk.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan asks trying to cover his shock.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog."

"When'd you get here?"

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day of school. Your hair's different. I like it." Damon deflects the question.

"It's been 15 years, Damon." Stefan stresses.

"Thank God. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did not suit you. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads."

"Why are you here?" Stefan asks louder.

"I miss my little brother." Damon responds mockingly.

"You hate small towns. It's boring. There's nothing for you to do."

"I've managed to keep myself busy." Damon replies with a smirk.

"You know, you left that guy alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you."

"Ah, that could be a problem... for you."

"Why are you here now?" Stefan asks in a final tone.

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all in one little word... Ellie." Damon says with a knowing smile.

"She took my breath away. Ellie. Or is it El? She's a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?" Damon asks walking close to Stefan.

"She's not Katherine." Stefan says in a definitive tone.

"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended. Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?" Damon ask while leaning closer to Stefans face.

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work."

"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?" Damon shoves Stefan.

"Stop it."

"Let's do it. Together. I saw a couple girls out there. Or let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Ellie." Damon says still slapping Stefan Around when Stefsn shoves him and shouts.

"Stop it!"

"Imagine what her blood tastes like!" Damon yells as Stefans face starts changing.

"I can."

"I said stop!" Stefans face transforms and he tackles Damon out the window.

When Stefan lands, Damon's not under him, he looks around.

"I was impressed. I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face...thing." damon fake snarles. "It was good." He mocks.

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die." Stefan tries to reason.

"That's a given." Damon responds with a duh face.

"Not here. I won't allow it." Stefan says sternly.

"I take that as an invitation."

"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?" Stefan begs.

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word."

"Just stay away from El."

"Where's your ring? Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes. Relax. It's right here." Damon says then grabs Stefan by the throat and throws him.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again." Damon says finally getting angry. "I think we woke Zach up. Sorry, Zach." Damon says covering his emotions again.

Elena is surprised to see Stefan outside her house but runs to the door anyway.

"I know it's late. But, uh... I needed to know that you were ok." Stefan says emotionally.

"Yeah, Stef, I'm fine. Are you okay?" Elena asks knowing Damon just showed himself.

"You know, I don't know." Stefan says looking drained.

"Do you want to come in and talk?" Elena asks tilting her head and lean on the door.

"Yes. I would like that." Stefan walks through the door.

For the next few hours Elena and Stefan talk about all sort of things, like books, movie, and music. But most importantly Elena gets him to open up about Damon and Katherine.

All night Stefan cracks jokes and is more outgoing than Elena remembers from the show. She love it. It reminds her of how he is with Lexi. It makes her feel like he trusts her more than he's trying to impress her.

She keeps trying to find ways to bring up the vampire thing but doesn't want to ruin his rare mood, so she decides to tell him tomorrow.

Elena really likes Stefan. She's glad she's getting to know this side of him and hopes he still wants to be her friend when she tells him the truth.