A/N: Alright so… this is me trying to write an AH/AU fic. Just giving it a shot. My dear Delenas, you must bear with me here, this will kinda follow the TV series in the beginning, so it will start out with Stelena stuff (believe me, writing this hurts me more than it does you, ask my friends whom I've been bitching to on Twitter). So please stay with me and power through this, Delena will happen and I'll try to make it worth it.

Also, obviously, I don't own the Vampire Diaries or any of the characters. There would be an acute male-upper-body-wear-shortage hitting Mystic Falls if I had anything to say about it.

1. MEETING HIM

Elena opened her eyes. The sun was shining brightly; a warm breeze was coming in through the open window, smelling of summer flowers and freshly mowed grass. She heard birds and bees chirping and buzzing in the bushes outside her window and kids playing and giggling down the street. The day seemed determined to put everyone in Mystic Falls in a good mood. Too bad, she thought, knowing that the sun and birds and flowers were only wasting their time with her. With a heavy heart she got out of her bed and wandered over to her vanity. She looked at her face, looked at those sad eyes staring back at her, looked at her lips that hadn't smiled in so long, looked at the photo of her in cheerleading uniform, grinning from ear to ear. She felt so far away from that girl, like she was looking at the picture of someone else. She didn't even feel like she knew that person wielding pompoms and pressing one fist gleefully into her side, one leg propped out. Her gaze wandered over to the picture of her with her parents and her brother. She hadn't meant to look at it, but then she hadn't been able to keep her eyes from glancing in that direction. Already she felt the tears spring into her eyes. She inwardly scolded herself. Even now, three months after the accident, she was still wallowing in self-pity; she was still not able to think about her dad without feeling her heart break. She shook her head, trying to shake off the feeling of sad desperation. She had to get a grip. She had to go to school, she had to smile, she had to study and move on. She just had no idea how she would do that. She went into the bathroom to get ready.

When Elena walked into the kitchen, she saw her aunt buzzing about frantically, while her brother was slouching on the counter. "Morning," she said quietly, pulling up a chair.

Jenna looked up from under the sink where she'd been searching for God knows what. "Gosh Elena, I'm so late, I'm sorry. What do you want for breakfast?" She looked at her with wide eyes.

"Don't ask for anything that requires cooking," Jeremy advised and Jenna threw him a glare. At that moment Elena heard a car honk outside.

"That's Bonnie," she explained. "I'll just get something on the way. Don't worry about it." She smiled at Jenna encouragingly. "You coming, Jer?" She grabbed her backpack and started heading out the door. Jeremy shrugged at Jenna, threw a "See ya" her way and followed his sister. Jenna stayed in the kitchen, staring defeated at the unused pan on the stove. She had been doing this for three months and she still sucked at it. She couldn't believe how inapt she still felt to take care of the two teenagers. She couldn't even make them breakfast for God's sake. She wished her brother was around. He was always the one who gave her advice, who helped her when she didn't know what to do, who taught her how life worked. And now she was the one supposed to take over his role in his kids' lives. She shook her head at the irony of it all, as much as in an effort to shake off the sadness that still made her heart clench every time she thought of Miranda and Grayson, and started cleaning up.

Elena and Jeremy climbed into Bonnie's car. The girls hugged tightly and Bonnie started the engine, taking them to school. Elena looked out the window, watched kids run through sprinklers, screeching and laughing; watched a dog lie lazily in the sun; watched couples walking down the street hand in hand, mothers lifting up their kids, big smiles on their faces, elderly people sitting on benches, watching the birds. She felt like everyone around her was happy, was enjoying life, while she couldn't find the strength to even talk to her friends. She was sure everyone had hardship in their lives and she felt inadequate because she couldn't put hers behind her. She drew in a heavy breath when they rounded the corner and the school building appeared down the road.

"It'll be fine," Bonnie said reassuringly, turning towards her with an encouraging smile. "I will not leave your side for even a minute." Elena smiled at her gratefully. She really had no idea how she would walk the corridors, how she would talk to people, smile at people, how she would answer questions, how she would sit in class and concentrate. She had no idea how to hold it together and not break.

They walked through the hallways, through the mass of students, hugging, waving, smiling widely after long months of not seeing each other. Elena was grateful for Bonnie who stayed close to her the whole time. She was happy to see her friends again, especially Caroline (the blonde was hard to take in some situations, especially now, when Elena found it hard to deal with her bubbliness, but her heart was in the right place and Elena knew that it was always a good thing to have friends like her in your life) but the quiet support Bonnie provided was what helped her through the day.

By the time they stepped into history class after lunch, she had surprisingly gotten mostly acclimated to being around people again and breathing and smiling had become a little easier. And when the door opened and HE entered, she could feel her heart stutter for a moment, a good stutter, and it seemed like the first good thing that happened in months. His eyes connected with hers instantly. It was as if he had opened the door with the sole purpose of looking at her. He strolled over to a chair a row ahead of her but didn't leave her eyes for a second before sitting down. When he did and turned to face the blackboard, Elena snapped out of her fixation. She turned around slightly to look at Bonnie who was staring at her. 'What was that?' her friend mouthed and Elena could only shrug in wonder. She turned back to look at the guy who had just sat down diagonally in front of her. He was wearing a grey t-shirt, superbly showing off his broad shoulders. He was tapping a pen, making the muscles in his right arm switch slightly. She couldn't believe she was having these kinds of thoughts, but at the same time she couldn't stop herself from indulging in them. He looked extremely fit and had a spectacular physique. What had impressed her most though had been the look he had fixed her with. It was a look that seemed to go right through her, as if he had known her his entire life. It was also a look that conveyed a much deeper emotional range than that of a normal high school kid. He looked mature beyond his age and Elena had recognized something that she had only ever seen when looking into a mirror. A deep-rooted pain that stays with you and changes the way you look at the world. Jeremy had had that look after their parents' death, but now he had chemically numbed himself to the point where it had disappeared and was replaced by seeming nothingness. But Elena had seen it when she looked at herself this morning and she had seen it again in the eyes of the young man that had just walked in. And it had given her a sense of instant connection.

Her musings were interrupted by the entrance of their history teacher, Mr. Saltzman. He was every student's favorite teacher. He was relatively new and young and apparently determined to be the buddy-buddy type of educator. He took an interest in his students' lives and tried to find a way to personally engage everyone in the normally boring subject of history. Some girls had teen-crushes on him. Elena's friend Dana for example could not stop talking about the 'totally hot' teacher-stud. Elena was never able to look at him that way and it made her cringe a little to listen to Dana go on and on, especially in the past months (didn't that girl understand that "Not now, Dana" was the signal for her to stop talking?) but he was cutting Jeremy some slack and she was thankful to him for that.

"I'm glad to see you all here today," he said, throwing a sympathetic look in Elena's direction. He had come over after the accident to check on her and Jeremy, even though Elena suspected that her aunt Jenna might have been the reason he had kept coming back all through summer break. "And I see we have a new face with us. Good to have you here. Please, introduce yourself."

The guy with the soulful look and the hot back spoke up: "Hi, I'm Stefan Salvatore, I just moved here from Chicago and history is my favorite subject." He turned around, seemingly throwing glances at his new classmates as a way of introducing himself, but his eyes lingered on Elena and he threw her a quick smile before turning back to his teacher.

"Well, I am very glad to have you in my class, Stefan," Mr. Saltzman said, getting excited over a student actually showing an interest in his subject. "Everyone, turn to page 10 of your textbooks." Elena opened her book but couldn't help herself, stealing a quick glance at the new member of her class, blushing slightly when she found him staring back at her, throwing her a quick smile before they both concentrated on their books again.

After school, Elena, Bonnie and Caroline were waiting for Jeremy in front of the school.

"Why do we have to wait for your stoner brother?" Caroline whined. "It's gonna ruin our reputation." Elena just shot her a glare, while Bonnie tried to reason with Caroline who just shrugged her off indignantly. Suddenly Elena caught sight of Stefan leaving school. She tried not to stare, but couldn't bring herself to look away. Bonnie and Caroline followed her line of sight and their eyes equally landed on Stefan.

"Ugh, he's so hot!" Caroline said quietly, then raised her voice to get his attention: "Hey, new guy!" She called out, making Bonnie and Elena snap around to stare at her with bewilderment in their eyes. Stefan smiled at them and came over.

"Stefan," he corrected her, smiling at Elena.

"I know." Caroline replied with a teasing smirk on her lips. "I'm Caroline. Bonnie, Elena, meet Stefan. He's new." Her eyes didn't leave him one second.

"We've met," he said, smiling at Elena again.

"We have history together," Elena explained.

"And English and French," he added, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Right," she said, mesmerized by his intense stare but also a little uncomfortable.

"So," Caroline interjected, "there's this bonfire tonight. You should come," she directed at Stefan.

"Will you be there?" He asked, still looking at Elena.

"Sure," she said.

"We'll all be there," Caroline added, getting increasingly annoyed with the lack of attention she was receiving.

"I'll see you there, then," he said, turning around and lifting his hand in a short goodbye-gesture. When he was out of sight, Caroline whipped around, glaring at Elena.

"What was THAT?" She fumed.

"It's been like that all day," Bonnie explained.

"It's like we weren't even there!" Caroline exclaimed in exasperation.

"We just have a connection," Elena shrugged.

"A connection?" Bonnie looked at her incredulously. "You don't even know him. And he's kinda creepy. The way he keeps staring at you."

"Oh stop it," Elena said. Relieved to see her brother come strolling out of the school building, she walked towards him and then dragged him behind her to Bonnie's car, making him stumble over his own feet and curse at her to slow down.

When the girls arrived at the bonfire that night, Elena scanned the groups of people circling the fire for a certain face but couldn't spot him anywhere. She was acutely aware of the disappointment. But then she shook her head, reprimanding herself. This morning she had gotten up feeling like she would never be able to smile again and now she was thinking about a boy and upset because he wasn't at a bonfire. A guy she'd just met. She decided to not think about him and just try to have fun with her friends for once.

She was standing by the fire with Bonnie and Caroline, when Jeremy sauntered up to them nonchalantly. Caroline looked at him in disbelief, clearly not wanting to be associated with him, but Elena thought that hanging out with her and her friends was an infinitely better option than him getting high somewhere with people she didn't even know, so she smiled at him at took a sidestep to include him in the circle. They were chatting for a while and Elena felt more and more relaxed. The fire was heating her face, the casual conversation flowed smoothly and she felt safe in her little circle of friends. No sympathetic looks, no one feeling weird around her, not knowing what to say, no awkward avoidance of certain topics. She was thankful for her friends and for Jeremy. After the accident he had capsuled himself off, drifting away into his own little world, only interrupted from time to time to seek some drug-induced escape with new friends that Elena had never met. But in the last couple of weeks, he had opened up again, had started talking to her and even to Jenna, and Elena was thankful for it. Jenna and Jeremy were the only family she had left and Jeremy had been her best friend when they were little. She needed him. She needed him to feel close to their parents and as a constant in her life that had changed so drastically in the past months. After a while she noticed that her cup had been empty for a while and frowned, looking into the void plastic container. Bonnie noticed and glanced into her own cup. "I'm all out as well," she said, taking Elena's cup with her to get refills.

"I'll come with; help you carry," Jeremy said, ripping Caroline's only half empty cup out of her hand and scrambling after Bonnie. Elena and Caroline looked at each other with raised eyebrows, surprised by Jeremy's eagerness to get drinks and not really knowing what to make of the situation. But then Caroline's glance fell behind Elena and her expression changed to one of friendly mischief.

"I'm gonna… go and help carry as well," she said and turned away before Elena could react. She was about to call after Caroline and follow her, when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hi," he said and she spun around on her heel instantly, looking into smiling but tortured eyes.

"Hi," she replied. "You made it."

"Of course," Stefan said, throwing a look around the clearing. "Small town social events. I live for this stuff." He threw her a dazzling smile.

"Right, of course," she said, smiling at him. "Chicago's got nothing on us."

He let out a light laugh and nodded his head. "Indeed," he answered, looking around again.

"So," she started, trying to break the ice. "You just moved here? With your family?"

"No, just me," he said. "I'm nineteen. I can go wherever I want." She looked at him in confusion. If he was nineteen, why was he still a senior in high school? He seemed to catch onto what she was thinking. "I took a year off school for personal reasons," he said by way of explanation. "And now I'm just finishing up in a new place." She nodded at him understandingly.

"You wanna go for a little walk?" he proposed.

"She turned around in search of her friends, but they were nowhere to be found and so with a shrug she acquiesced and followed him down the little sand path towards the bridge. They passed a few other teens, getting drunk, making out, laughing, and Elena actually felt a little relieved to leave the big group and the other people. She was still emotionally unstable and big groups and gatherings drained her. So when they got to the bridge and she felt the cooler night air blow through her hair and the noise from the party only waved over occasionally, she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Not really into this party, huh?" Stefan said, turning around and smiling at her.

"It's fine. It's just big groups." She tried to explain. He looked at her intently. "I sound like I'm antisocial or something. That's not it… I'm just… I haven't been in a good place these past months and I'm just getting back to going out and hanging with my friends. So parties like this are exhausting." He looked at her with an understanding look in his eyes. "It'll get better with time," she smiled, hoping he didn't think she was lame now.

"What happened?" He asked. She was surprised. She hated that question, she hated talking to people about the accident, but he asked so genuinely and she felt like he understood pain on a different level than her other friends and it made her want to open up about it to him. She still hesitated. Talking about her parents' death was a bit heavy for a get-to-know-you conversation.

"It's kind of a sap story. You don't wanna hear it," she shrugged it off. "Doesn't really make for good party small talk," she tried to make light of the situation.

"I was never really a big fan of party small talk," he said, smiling at her encouragingly.

She took a deep breath and then turned to look out on the dark water beneath the bridge. "My parents passed away a few months back. They got in a car accident. The police don't really know how it happened. They assume there was a deer on the road and my mom tried to avoid it and lost control over the car. They hit a tree." She was still staring at the water that ran eternally underneath them.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you to talk about it." He said.

"No it's fine. Normally everyone knows and acts weird around me. It's actually nice to meet someone without the baggage," she explained, finally looking up to meet his eyes for the first time. There was so much compassion and understanding in them. And also something else entirely, something like desire, that made her swallow hard.

"When you lose someone, it stays with you. Always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt," he said, making her feel like he took the words right out of her mouth.

Then realization hit her. "You lost someone, too," she said, understanding suddenly why he had the same pain in his eyes she knew so well from her mirror image. He turned away, staring out onto the river. "I'm sorry," she said, realizing that her assumption had been quite forward. "I didn't mean to pry." She turned away as well.

"No, don't worry." He turned back to her, trying to reassure her. "I did. My girlfriend, Katherine. She was shot. A year ago."

Elena gasped. "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok," he said, a sad smile on his face. It's why I came here. I wanted to get away from the memories. Move on with my life."

Elena nodded understandingly. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" She asked.

"We were at a party and went home late at night. She was going to spend the night at my place. When we got there, she said she wanted to get cigarettes. I was tired and didn't want to walk to the machine. It was cold and I was drunk. So I let her go by herself. I fell asleep on the couch. I didn't even notice she didn't come back until the sirens woke me. She was mugged and shot." He stared at his feet.

"I blame myself, too," Elena stated, a fact she had never admitted to anyone. It was clear to her that Stefan thought Katherine would still be alive if he hadn't let her go by herself. "My parents were out and I had snuck off to a party. But my friends got drunk and couldn't take me home so I called my parents to come pick me up when they were on their way back. They took forever and I didn't know why. I just wanted to go home. I got so mad at them. And then I finally called a cab, all the way home thinking that would teach my parents a lesson. If they kept me waiting, I might disappear. When I got home the police was there, talking to my brother. I have never seen him so devastated. Had I not called them, they wouldn't have taken that back road, they'd still be alive." She hung her head.

"Hey," Stefan said, pulling her head up by her chin, "it's not your fault. We can't feel guilty about this. We don't know what would have happened otherwise. We only got to see one version of the story. We can never be sure the same thing would not have happened anyways." She nodded slowly. It had felt good to finally talk about the guilt she felt. And to someone who understood it. And she was grateful to him for trying to take some of the guilt away. And because he was in the same situation, and understood where she was coming from, she let him. She looked into his eyes and saw him staring back at her, searching her face, and then slowly he bent down, until their mouths were only inches apart. He lingered there for a second as if to give her the chance to pull away, and when she didn't, he closed the distance completely and kissed her lips softly. Elena was uncertain for a second, worried they might be moving too fast, but the kiss felt like two sad souls were trying desperately to heal each other and she leaned into it, hoping that it might work.

When Stefan got home that night, he could still feel Elena's kiss on his lips. He remembered the feel of her hands on his arms, how her warm, plump lips had felt against his, like coming home. He turned the key in the lock to his apartment and stepped inside. When he turned the light on, he froze. A man was sitting on his couch, looking at him expectantly. His black hair tousled, his crystal blue eyes icy, his boots irreverently propped up on Stefan's glass coffee table.

"Hello brother," the smooth voice belonging to the man drawled lazily.

"Damon," was all Stefan could get out. He needed a few moments to collect his thoughts before he could get to what he really wanted to know: "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? I told you I would make your life a living hell. I'm just keeping my promise." He threw his brother an evil smirk. "Now I would ask you why you're here, in this rat-hole of a town… but I saw her. So I actually have three other questions: Who is she? How did you find her? And what the hell do you think you're doing?"

The next day Elena was sitting on the lawn in front of her school after classes let out. Bonnie and Caroline were at cheer practice. Elena had been a cheerleader as well, but after her parents' accident she had felt distinctly non-cheerful and had dropped it. She did however have a book to read for American Lit class and had decided to sit under a tree and enjoy the weather while doing so, instead of being cooped up in her room. Bonnie would take her and Caroline home after practice was over. Elena was deeply immersed in her reading, when a dark shadow fell over her.

"Interesting choice of reading material," a velvety voice greeted her.

She looked up, but couldn't make out his features because he was standing in front of the sun. She shielded her eyes against the glare. "Excuse me?" she asked the stranger.

"Gone with the wind," he answered, pointing to the book in her lap. "Tell me, are you an Ashley or a Rhett kind'a gal?"

Elena was confused as to why this man was asking her about her reading assignment and getting increasingly uncomfortable. "Can I help you?" She asked, getting up. She was startled when she was finally at eye level with him. He had the most sparkling blue eyes she had ever seen, set off even more by his jet black hair. He must have noticed her reaction to him, because a teasing smirk appeared on his lips.

"I sure hope so," he said, fixating her with his eyes, making her want to squirm under his gaze. "I'm looking for Stefan Salvatore. Do you know where I can find him?"

"Stefan?" Her head was reeling. Who was this guy and why would he ask about the boy she'd kissed last night. Memories of the kiss came flooding back, making her feel increasingly uncomfortable with her first reaction to this stranger. He kept looking at her expectantly. "He went home I guess. School let out a half an hour ago." She explained.

"Oh drat," the man in front of her said, still smirking, seemingly unsurprised by the news. "I was just on my way home and thought I could give him a ride. I'm Damon, Stefan's brother."

Elena looked at him in surprise. "He didn't tell me he had a brother." And they didn't really look like brothers either. They were of similar height and built, but Damon had black hair and blue eyes while Stefan's hair was much lighter and his eyes were green. They were both handsome but in very different ways and Elena couldn't make out any family resemblance, even knowing she was looking for one.

"Yes well, he likes to keep me all to himself; especially around beautiful women like yourself." He threw her a dazzling smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," he prodded, extending his hand to her.

"Elena," she answered, moving to shake his hand, gasping in surprise when he moved it up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. He let it go and looked up at her in mock surprise.

"Oh you're Elena! My brother will not shut up about you." She threw him a wary look. "So tell me, Elena," he pronounced her name purposefully, drawing out each syllable, "why are you sitting here under this tree, all by your lonesome self?"

"I'm actually waiting for my friends to finish practice so they can take me home."

His eyes glittered. "I can take you home if you want to. No trouble at all."

Elena mulled it over a second, but decided she preferred to wait for Bonnie and Caroline. Something about this guy rubbed her the wrong way. He excited and frightened her in all the wrong ways and she figured it was probably a good idea to not get too close to him. "Thank you, that's very nice. But I'll just wait."

"Did your mom tell you not to get in the car with strangers?" He said teasingly, including a short wink.

"Something like that," she conceded.

"Oh come on. I'm not a Stranger. I'm Damon. I'm sure my brother would appreciate it if I got you home safely. I'm surprised he's not here with you right now. He has an issue with leaving girls all by themselves." Elena swallowed hard. He must be talking about Katherine. She couldn't believe how callous he was about it. This situation was getting a bit much for her to handle but it didn't look like he would ease up on her.

"Fine," she agreed. "That's very nice of you." She added out of politeness. He threw her a wide grin and she followed him to a gorgeous old-timer, almost as blue as his eyes.

"Nice car," she admitted.

"Isn't it?" He passed his hand over the door lovingly, before opening it for her. "She's the love of my life."

"You men and your cars," she quipped, trying to set a light mood so as to feel less uncomfortable.

"They're less fickle," he simply said, before turning on the engine.

"Less fickle than what?" She asked, despite having a pretty good idea of what he probably meant.

"You're a smart girl, Elena, you'll figure it out," he simply answered as he drove off the school parking lot.

"I was giving you the benefit of the doubt," she scoffed. To her surprise he started laughing, a short but wholehearted laugh, as if he had been surprised by her answer.

"I like you," he said, turning towards her. "You have spunk. Who'd have thought?"

She threw him an incredulous look. "Aren't you charming?" She exclaimed drily.

"Oh, you have no idea," he said, boring his blue eyes into hers, before turning back to watch the road. "So, you and my brother, huh?" She looked out of the window awkwardly. "I don't want to sound mean or anything but… I wouldn't get my hopes up. He's still pretty hung up on his ex."

"Katherine?" She couldn't keep herself from asking. She couldn't believe the nerve of this guy who just met her and already badmouthed his brother to her, getting way too involved in her personal life. On the other hand her heart was vulnerable right now and she didn't want to get lost in something that would only hurt her more.

"He told you about her," Damon said with seemingly honest surprise. "I didn't think he would."

"Yes, he told me she passed away," she said in a quiet voice. She felt Damon go rigid next to her, his hand tightening around the steering wheel.

"Is that what he told you?" He asked, staring straight ahead. Elena's head snapped to the side, looking at the man driving the car. Was he insinuating that Stefan had lied about his girlfriend's death? She couldn't even form the words to ask the question. She just stared at him. "She didn't," he finally managed to say; "she's in a coma." He shifted gears as he rounded a corner. He was still staring straight ahead, his jaw tense as if he was biting his teeth together, his shoulders pushed back into his seat, his foot heavy on the gas pedal.

"I'm sorry," she said, still looking at him.

"For what?" He asked, furrowing his brows in irritation.

"You obviously care about her, too," she ventured, watching him carefully. His jaw muscles relaxed slightly and she thought she felt the car slow down, indicating that he would have lifted his foot a little off the gas. After a while he turned around to look at her.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" He said, looking into her eyes. She thought he probably meant it as a snarky comment, but his expression was sincere, for seemingly the first time since she had met him. "And smart," he added, with a newfound smirk. "I was right about you," he said, wagging a finger at her and turning his attention back to the road.

"You never did answer my question," he reprimanded. She looked at him quizzically.

"What question?"

"Whether you prefer Ashley or Rhett," he said, tapping a finger on the book she was holding in her lap.

"Well, Ashley's with another woman, so… But Rhett's an arrogant ass. And she seems to really love Ashley so I guess I hope they find a way to be together."

Damon chuckled lightly. "Rhett might be an arrogant ass, but at least he's honest and courageous…" he seemed to want to keep going, but Elena interrupted him.

"Courageous? He's leading a dandy life while everyone else is going to war."

"So you're not very far into the story then," he said, throwing her a quick smirk.

"No," she said, indicating for him to turn at the light, "but that doesn't matter, she's clearly in love with Ashley. Why would that change? Not all women are fickle, you know. I will root for them till the very end. Even if only to spite you." She said with conviction and a little extra pathos just to irk the guy sitting next to her.

"Alright then," he said to her, a small smile on his lips. "We'll talk again once you can actually make an educated decision. This is you, I assume?" He was slowing down in front of her house.

"Yes," she said, opening the door once he had come to a complete stop. "Thanks for the ride."

"My pleasure." He threw her a last quick smile before taking off in the direction they had come from.

A/N: alright so this is my second attempt at writing fanfiction. I was literally BLOWN AWAY by the response my first story got and I had this kinda swirling around in my head and decided to give it a shot. So the situation now is this: I do have a whole story kind of envisioned for this and know where it would go and how it would end (Spoiler Alert: DELENEA, haha). But I've had quite a few people request that I continue my other story "The New Deal" (which I had originally written as a one-shot). So now I was thinking I would let you decide. Tell me which story you would rather read and I will continue the one with more votes. Also, please drop me a review to tell me what you think, even if you don't care to vote. I'm just getting started on this whole fanfic business and it really helps me to know what people like or don't like in my stories and my writing. And also to see if what I try to do actually comes across in my writing. So please please please leave me a review or send me a PM to tell me what you think. I answer all of them and appreciate it so so much! Thanks :)