A/N: I lie down at the mercy of you all and am soo sorry that it has taken me this long to upload! Small cheer though to the end of my exams! And I promise I will be uploading now at least once a week, and we're nearing the end peeps :') I aim to be finished by my birthday which is the third so fingers crossed that happens! Anywho, here it is... we'll call it the reunion... enjoy!

Elena rubbed her eyes, wincing slightly as she did so.

Hours of none stop crying had made her face raw, her throat burn and made her feel increasingly sick, but none of these came close to the agonising heartbreak she was experiencing.

'This is it,' she thought bitterly, tears still dripping down her face and dropping like bullets onto her drenched pillow, making it more wet and uncomfortable than it already was. 'You're alone, Elena, he's gone, and he's not coming back and it's your fault,'

She curled up into a ball, tucking her knees to her chest, grasping the pillow tightly with one hand and Stefan's t-shirt that she'd kept in her bed since last May when he'd left in the other, and slowly she allowed the excruciating heartbreak engulf her more than it already was doing. Closing her eyes, she embraced the feeling, which caused her to cry out in genuine pain.

He let out an almighty groan, resting his face in his hands, coughing, as Damon, Tyler and Caroline stared open mouthed, physically incapable of speaking.

"Stefan?" Caroline murmured after a while, speaking as though any loud noise could make him disappear and staring at him as though he'd well, come back from the dead.

Slowly, he raised his head from where he'd been cupping it in his hands as he'd got used to his surroundings and it took him a second to focus on her.

The first thing that caught her gaze was shining green orbs standing out against the bright and alert white backgrounds of his eyes that were set in his strong, tanned face.

He was back.

She suddenly launched herself at him, hugging him tightly, tears suddenly rolling down her face and the realisation he was alive.

"What...?" He murmured, swallowing dryly. "Where...?"

"You're home," She uttered, answering his unspoken question, "It's OK, you're home!"

He just gazed at her for a moment, before opening his mouth.

"I'm gonna throw up," He responded, throwing back the duvet as Damon and Tyler were still staring at him like he'd just... well come back from the dead.

He tried to stand, but overestimated the power of his legs and stumbled, but Tyler suddenly came back to life, catching him before he fell.

"I've got you," He assured him, helping him back up, but Stefan was quickly gaining his strength and after a few seconds he hurried towards his balcony, wrenching open the door and out into the daylight retching, just as Caroline exclaimed.

"STEFAN, YOUR RING!"

He gulped down lungful after lungful of the afternoon air, still acclimatising to his surroundings, he felt strange, different, inhibited, but in a good way, in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on.

As the feeling of sickness slowly subsided, he turned back towards his room and its inhabitants, as he did so, there was something about the way that the sunlight illuminated him that brought a lump to Caroline's throat as everything became so blatantly clear.

"Your... ring," She murmured, staring open mouthed as Damon and Tyler finally joined her at the door.

He glanced down at his finger, noticed its absence and recoiled back into his bedroom.

"Back out!" Damon ordered, speaking for the first time, before grabbing his brother and heading out into the daylight.

Stefan flinched, covering his face as basic instinct kicked in.

He needn't have done.

He didn't feel a thing.

He couldn't have done.

His beating heart saw to that.

Elena felt as the mattress dipped behind her, causing her to open her eyes.

"Please eat something," She heard Bonnie murmur as she rested a hand on her back.

She shook her head. "I can't," She replied.

"Come here," She directed, pulling her best friend up from her lying position and wrapping her arms around her.

Elena sought comfort in the contact of Bonnie and rested her head on her shoulder, tears continuing to wrack her body.

"Shh, shh, shh," She comforted, rubbing her back. "Shh, shh, shh,"

There was a movement in the doorway and Bonnie looked up to see Caroline stood there.

"Hey, Elena, look who's here," She murmured and she turned to see her other best friend stood in the doorway.

Slowly, Caroline walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.

She and Elena embraced and as they pulled away, she swallowed, dryly.

Opening her palm, she displayed Stefan's daylight ring for Bonnie and Elena to see, a sight which caused Bonnie to close her eyes in defeat to stop herself from crying, from Elena it withdrew a sound of sheer aguish and distress.

"Here," Caroline stated, handing it to her. "He wanted you to have it,"

"Thank you," Elena murmured, closing her palm around the ring until it began to hurt.

"Now, I need to tell you something but this is gonna be hard, OK?" She asked, receiving a strange look from Bonnie.

"The guys went to take his body and bury it, so no questions would be asked, no suspicion, just a clean operation," She began and saw the sheer look of utter heartbreak in Elena's eyes at the realisation of what she said.

"He's not getting a funeral is he?" She murmured and Caroline shook her head.

"He's not,"

"Is that what you had to tell her right now?" Bonnie asked, rubbing Elena's back with one hand whilst giving her a pointed look of: 'She's even worse now!'

"No what I came to say was that I could really have used you when my cat got run over in fourth grade," Caroline replied, a smile suddenly taking over her face.

"What do you me...?" Bonnie began but was silenced as Stefan appeared in the door

Elena looked towards her doorway where she was looking and let out a shaky gasp.

"Hey," He smiled and Elena just stared at him, frozen.

"We'll leave you both alone," Caroline stated, ushering a still open mouthed Bonnie to her feet as the two of them left the room, making sure to close the door behind them.

The snap of the door closing seemed to rouse Elena to her senses and she exploded, tears falling thicker and faster than they had ever done in her life, she needed to touch him, the kiss him, to have him hold her more than she needed air and collapsed into his embrace as he closed the gap between them and lifted her into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist, her arms wrapping around his neck, both grasps threatening to give way as she was too weak to hold on, but he held onto her.

"I've got you," He murmured into her ear, turning so he sat down onto the mattress, bringing her with him. "It's OK, baby, it's OK," He insisted, rubbing her back as she wept, gripping him tightly.

"Look at me," He directed gently, ushering her head with one hand tenderly and she did so.

"Hi," He greeted, tears suddenly welling in his own eyes.

She opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't find the words, instead, Stefan slowly moved his lips to hers and gently kissed her, her tear drenched face dampening his own.

After a few moments, she broke the kiss.

"Never leave me again," She begged as he softly wiped the tears away from her eyes with the pad of his thumb.

"I'm not going anywhere," He affirmed, tucking her dark hair behind her ear, away from her face. "I am never leaving you again," His words, brought tears to her eyes and slowly, their lips met again, their tears mingling.

"I want..." She stammered, breaking away. "I want you to turn me,"

He looked at her in confusion for a moment, his mouth slightly open. "You... don't know," He murmured more to himself than to her.

Slowly, he lifted her back into his arms, as though she were weightless.

With her, he walked towards the window and sat them both down in the window seat, before he reached over and pulled back her closed curtain, the late afternoon sunlight seeping in through the window.

"What?" She asked, looking out warily, fear pounding in her chest.

"Look at me," He directed softly.

Her eyes met his as she sought for some insight, his left arm wrapped closely around her waist he held out his right hand to her, sunlight surrounding it.

It was there, in her bedroom window, that she clued on there was no daylight ring on Stefan's finger, it was on her bed where she had dropped it at the sight of him, yet he was sat in the daylight with no protection.

He was human.

Badum!

N'aww, gotta love them :')

Anyway, let me know what you think! Love it? Hate it? Want to stick it in a room with a lion? Let me know!

Preston101 xxxxxxxxxx