Epilogue

Dear Diary, June 15th

After that incident happened all I could think was 'They can't be dead!' Not Damon Salvatore, and not Bonnie McCullough. They were both so brave and talented and ... alive.

It wasn't right that they be dead. Life just couldn't go on if they were dead. Fells Church wouldn't be what it is, it wouldn't have the same mystique if Bonnie was dead. There wouldn't be a stunning vampire to make things interesting if Damon had sacrificed himself. That's what I said after what happened at the cemetery that day. And I still can't get Bonnie's expression before she died or Damon's painful cries out of my head. No one knew he cared so much about her. Not even his own brother.

I know Stefan's taken this whole thing hard. And it is hard; waking up in the morning with Aunt Judith telling me there's another Police Officer downstairs waiting or another reporter-

I'm sure Stefan's getting it just as bad. I keep asking myself: 'When is it going to end?' But I guess it won't until they find out who did that to two denizens of Fells Church ...

.

Elena jerked up and dropped her pen- there was a knock on her door. Elena steadily stood, closing her diary and snapping the little brass lock into place before turning to open the door. She stared at the white door for a moment, then called out, "Who's there?"

There was a long pause before she heard; "It's me."

Elena twisted the knob and opened the door. Stefan stood behind it, clad in a black leather jacket, dark blue jeans and a dark green sweater. Elena let out a large breath. "You scared me."

Stefan's mouth pinched up. "I'm sorry." Then he pulled her close and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

She pulled away, slightly dizzy. "Would you like to come in?"

He chuckled. "I would love to but we don't want to be late for school."

"Right." Elena said, looking in her vanity mirror and smoothing out her hair nervously.

Stefan caught her hands. "You look gorgeous, Elena. You always do- you shouldn't feel anxious.

"I know-it's just ..." Elena couldn't finish her sentence. "I'm glad your with me right now, Stefan."

He smiled genuinely.

"I love you," She whispered, putting a hand on his pale cheek.

"I love you, too. Now, come on." He grabbed her hand, showing her they were in it together, and led her down the stairs of her house and out the front door.

"Hello, Elena. Looking bright today." Robert said from the kitchen stool, sipping on his coffee and reading the news paper.

"Thank you, Robert, your too kind. Where is Aunt Judith?" Elena asked politely.

"She already took Margaret to school." He glanced at Stefan. "Sorry to hear about your brother, son."

Elena glanced quickly at Stefan- she wondered if Robert knew what a social faux-pas he just made. Stefan dropped his eyes to the floor. "It's alright-uhm-thanks for your concern."

"C'mon, Stefan. Don't want to be late." Elena grabbed Stefan's hand and led him out of the house. "I'm so sorry about Robert ..." She muttered when they were in the car that Stefan had bought her and driving safely down the road.

He grabbed her hand. "I said it was alright, Elena. And it honestly is; I know how things are going to be. I'm not afraid."

Elena looked down, feeling oddly insecure. "Neither am I."

"Of course, your not." Stefan said, his thumb running in circles on her hand. "Your Elena Gilbert. You were before this all happened and you are now. Your still the golden girl, the queen of Robert E. Lee. And your still mine." He squeezed her hand. "And you can do anything; you don't need to be afraid of them."

"Your right," Elena said, her own revelation dawning. "They're just people." She looked at Stefan, feeling appreciative for him, again. "And thank you for the pep talk."

He chuckled.

Everyone was waiting in the school parking lot- waiting for the reigning queen of the school to arrive. There was something misty and sinister about this day that Elena couldn't put her finger on. She grabbed Stefan's hand a clutched it tightly before unbuckling and stepping out of the fire engine red car and looked around the parking lot. Everyone was watching her, waiting for her next move. She caught Caroline Forbes' eye and beckoned her forward. The other girl ran towards her and gave her an Oscar worthy hug.

"I read it in the papers, you were so brave!" Caroline said, pulling apart from Elena.

"Thank you, Caroline. I couldn't have done it without Stefan though," She said, grabbing his hand as he came to stand next to her. "Or Meredith."

"Where is Merry?" Caroline asked, batting her eyelashes at Stefan nauseatingly.

"At the hospital with Mrs Flowers. We're going there after school." Elena answered.

"Hey, Elena!" Someone called from the group of people gathering around. "Was it really as bad as the newspapers were fudging it?"

Elena held her chin high and looked straight into the crowd of people, meeting eyes. "No."

Whispers started circulating and building up. Suddenly it was like everyone was talking at once and exploding. Elena tried to breathe properly; she wasn't finished. "It was worse." She said, her voice ringing loud and full of authority. People stopped talking with their mouth's hanging open, some even stopped mid sentence. "And none of you will ever really know what happened." She said, grabbing Stefan's hand and pushing past Caroline. The people made a path for her and Stefan. She walked into the school with her head high and her heart beating so rapidly it hurt.

.

Stefan and Elena marched down the hall then turned. "117." Stefan whispered. Elena took a deep breath and knocked quietly on the hospital door. She had been waiting for this moment ever since writing in her diary this morning. Her palms felt cold and clammy and she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. But there was also a part of her that was itching to get inside that room; she almost burst through the door. "Is this a bad time?" Elena called.

Then the door opened and Bonnie stood behind it, looking beautiful, strong and taller than usual. "No, it's absolutely fine." She said in the same bubbly, slightly high-pitched tone Elena remembered to well.

"Bonnie!" Elena breathed, smiling brightly. She pulled the other girl in for a hug, crushing her slightly.

"Watch it," Bonnie warned. "I'm recovering; I'm not well enough just yet."

Elena pulled back, holding her lovingly by the shoulder's. "But you will be! And that's good enough for me!"

Then someone else stepped in from the room behind Bonnie. "Finally." Damon's cool ironic voice said.

Elena felt something else burst out of her. "Damon!" She cried, just as happy as when she seen Bonnie. "Oh, good to see you!"

Damon smirked and stepped around Bonnie to give Elena a hug. He felt strong and Elena could just feel his pulse through his light hospital gown. When Elena and Damon pulled apart she could just see the pulse behind his neck and the blood running through his veins.

"How does it feel, brother?" Stefan asked, sounding almost giddy.

"Almost too human." Damon said in a disgusted voice.

Elena quickly glanced at him, but was relieved to see a smile on his lips. Bonnie laughed and wrapped an arm around Damon's waist. "I still can't believe you gave up your Powers for me, Damon. It's ... unbelievable." She smiled affectionately at him.

"I was sort of passed out at the time; but I would have anyways." He answered, looking down at her with the same affectionate expression.

Elena felt a twinge of something deep inside her chest. After Bonnie and Damon had both efficiently given themselves to Shinichi Stefan went wild with rage and grief. He had picked up the stake Damon had dropped and stabbed Shinichi right through the chest. It didn't pierce his heart but it injured him enough that he made a deal with them; he would leave Fells Church and give them a solution to save both Bonnie and Damon- but there was a price; they couldn't kill him before he left. So when Shinichi actually did leave- taking the supirittsu with him- Elena and Stefan successfully transferred Damon's Powers to Bonnie (using a spell Shinichi had told them) and now Bonnie was alive and, well, a witch and Damon was ... human.

"I'm sorry your seeing me like this for the first time in 2 weeks; in a hospital gown." Her face twisted.

"No, no, it's fine!" Elena rushed to say, flushing slightly.

"I mean- the least I could do was throw on a robe after what you guys did for me." She looked around at all of them, tears gathering in her eyes and spilling over. She wiped away the tears quickly. "I can't believe after all of this I have the nerve to cry for something so-"

"It was amazing what you guys did." Meredith said suddenly, stepping around to Bonnie's other side. "And you went through a lot, Bonnie. You can cry for appreciation."

They all chuckled at the double meaning in that sentence.

Elena looked around at all the loving faces in her circle and at once knew she did the right thing. Now she would live happily with her friends and nothing would come between them again.

.

N/A Tada! Hope you guys enjoyed that ending!

:) Thanks for being such great fans throughout this whole process and I'm happy you guys loved my story so much! :D I really enjoyed writing this story and you have no idea how much your reviews meant to me.

I know I ended things with the characters the way I wanted to: Elena and Bonnie somehow resolving their differences, Bonnie and Damon ending up together, and Stefan and Elena being in love still. Maybe you guys have some thoughts on what should have happened? But I enjoyed how I ended it very much :).

Please leave thoughts, reviews, questions or notes in the review section by clicking that link below! Thanks so much for being amazing fans and readers and I've enjoyed your company throughout this experience! XOXO- Simmy