AN: My new story! I know, I know, I actually should finish the other one first, but I was just too excited to wait any longer :D If you have any questions, please do ask.

Summary: Elena's living a stressful life in the city when she finds out she inherited a house in a small town in Virginia, she decides to take a long holiday to explore her new property. She's in for a surprise when she gets there and finds two brothers living in her house. And they are not planning on leaving soon.

Damon's 27, Stefan 25, Caroline 25, Elena 25 and Bonnie 25.

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own The Vampire Diaries, however I consider the plot line as mine.

Unexpected Visitor

Prologue

Damn, she was running late, again! Of course she had to be late when she had such an important meeting with her notary. She didn't have a clue why Mr. Howard had called her, but it sounded rather urgent.

It was Friday today and she just came home from work. It had been another stressful day and her entire body felt tired. She knew it was time for her to take a break, but somehow, work just helped to keep her focused, to keep her mind away from… well almost everything.

Her life in San Francisco wasn't perfect, far from it even, but it kept her going. Ever since her mother passed away after years of battling lung cancer, she kept herself busy doing charity work, studying, working… None of these activities took the pain away, they just made it a little bit easier to get through the day, to make things more bearable. She had little memories left of her father, who died in a car accident when she was only three, along with her one year old brother. Her mother had been devastated, but she kept fighting for Elena, to make sure she'd become a happy and strong woman.

Fortunately Elena still had Bonnie, her best and only friend. They've been friends since kindergarten and their parents knew each other very well. Bonnie had always been there for her and she'd even lived with her and her parents after the horrible disease took her mother away from her. She was very grateful that the Bennett's wanted to help her, though the day she turned eighteen she looked for an apartment so she won't have to depend on them anymore. She didn't want to be a burden to anyone. I didn't feel right to rely on them, not even if they wanted to help her.

Bonnie had been furious to say the least. She hadn't wanted Elena to leave, so she decided to come living with her and split the rent. Everyone had thought they were crazy, absolutely insane, sharing an apartment while they were only eighteen, but everything worked out pretty well.

Now here she was, sitting in a taxi, hoping she'd be on time to her meeting. The traffic was crowded and it surely would take another few minutes before she arrived at Mr. Howard's office. She decided to send Bonnie a text that she would be late for dinner. They usually held a girls night on Friday, it was something they did since high school. The only few times Elena missed their night was because she had to go on a date. She didn't have time for a real relationship, or that's what she told herself, but she did go on a date from time to time.

Bonnie always insisted it was good for her social life, though Elena didn't think it helped her in any way. She never met a guy that was interesting enough to go on a second date with, they were all nice and sweet, but that was it. No sparks flying across the room or butterflies dancing in her belly.

Ten minutes late, Elena arrived at Mr. Howard's office. She thanked the driver and gave him a tip, before walking towards the entrance. When she arrived the secretary was already impatiently waiting, clicking her ball pen from time to time and making that annoying sound. "Good evening, Ms. Gilbert, we've been waiting for you to appear," the blond woman stated, giving her a judging look for being late.

She fake smiled at the woman, not paying attention to her attitude. She didn't let them get to her, a strong façade made sure that no one but Bonnie knew the real Elena Gilbert, a lonely, innocent girl that had no family left. She took a deep breath, trying to ban the depressed thoughts from her mind. She rarely gave herself the chance to think about the fact that she lost her family at such an early age. The only time she ever allowed herself to cry was at their funeral.

"Mr. Howard is ready to see you," the secretary told her, bringing her back from her thoughts. She nodded at the woman politely, before walking towards the end of the hallway where the notary was waiting for her.

She softly knocked on the door and waited for the man to let her in, Mr. Howard was an old man with gray hair; he'd been great friend of her father. He had tried to help her out after her mom had passed away and she'd always been thankful that he had been there for her. She wouldn't have known what to do without his help.

"Ah Elena, I'm glad to see you again. How are you, darling? Still working at the newspaper?" he asked smiling when she opened the door. He was sitting on the other side of his desk, looking through a file that she expected had something to do with her.

"Hi Mr. Howard," she answered politely. He'd told her to just call him James, but she'd become used to calling him mister. Her father never wanted her to call someone by their first name if they were older than you. She never really understood why he paid so much attention to it, but she'd just taken over the habit. "I've been good. Yes, still working at the newspaper. I'm actually enjoying my job there."

"That's nice to hear," he spoke, putting aside the file so he could look at her. "Sit down, honey. You don't have to keep standing," he told her, waving at the seat in front of him.

She nodded her head smiling and did as he said, waiting for him to continue. She still had no idea as for why she had to pay him a visit, but she was getting anxious. She had the feeling something bad had happened. What other reason could there be for her to stop by?

"You're probably confused as for why you had to come here? It has something to do with your uncle John, your father's brother," the man told her, opening the file he'd put aside just seconds ago. He searched for the right letter before taking it out the file and putting it down in front of her so she could read the paper.

"Uncle John?" Elena asked surprised. "I have an uncle?" How was that even possible? Her father always told her he had no brothers or sisters. He was supposed to be an only child. She searched her memory to find any clues, but came out blank. Her mother had never told her anything about an uncle either. She'd always thought her father didn't have any family members left.

"You had an uncle," James told her, "He passed away three months ago, though they couldn't find his family members at first, that's why it took them so long before you finally got informed about his inheritance. I only got a phone call the day before."

"I had an uncle and he left me something?" she said shocked. This was all new to her. She never even heard the name John. Why would her mother keep something like that a secret from her? Or was her father the one to blame? She had no idea what the hell was going on and she didn't like it one bit. How embarrassing, she didn't even know her entire family.

"Well, he didn't exactly leave you something since he probably didn't even know about your existence, but he doesn't have any other family members left. You are the only one, which makes you inherit all his personal stuff, including a boarding house in Virginia and half a million dollar," the notary told her smiling.

"What?" Half million dollars and a house? Was her notary going insane? She couldn't just accept half a million and a house from a – to her – complete stranger. It didn't matter that he was family, she didn't know the man!

"I know it's probably a lot to take in, sweetie. Although I think you can use the money. It's not like your mother didn't leave you a nice amount of money, but together with all of this, you're going to have it a lot easier the next couple years," the man explained. He knew this must be hard for Elena.

"I can't just take so much money and a house from a stranger, Mr. Howard. I'm sure my uncle would've wanted to give it to someone else," she said eventually, letting out a deep breath.

"You should think about it, Elena. It's a huge opportunity to just let go by. But don't worry, you don't have to sign the file immediately, take your time to consider whether you want to accept this or not," Mr. Howard answered carefully. If Elena was a smart girl, she'd just accept the inheritance, she was still young and she could use the money.

"Good. I'll think about it," she told the man before standing up from her seat, "I'll call you tomorrow." After giving him one last glance, she left the room and immediately ran downstairs, not even looking at the secretary. She just had to get out of there; it was getting too much for her to bear.

After walking around in the city to think things through, she went home, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Before she went up to her apartment she first checked her mail, hoping to find a letter from her friend out of high school, Matt.

A disappointed look washed over her face when she found it empty. The last time she'd seen him they had a huge argument about how she was ruining her life by being such a workaholic. It was the day before he moved out the city with his girlfriend, she'd been sending him letters none stop over the past month, but he wouldn't reply to them. Which made her feel even worse, she never expected Matt to be so serious about their argument.

She knew that part of him was right, she had indeed spent the last few years doing nothing but work, though there was a solid reason why she did so. There was just no one that seemed to understand how it felt like to have no parents left. She couldn't really remember her brother and father, which helped, but that didn't mean she didn't miss them just as much as her mother.

When she stepped out of the elevator, she was overwhelmed by the smell of freshly made food. Damn, Bonnie was making something good. Walking inside she smiled at her friend who was just taking the lasagna out of the oven. "You're just in time," the girl said, waving at her friend before putting the bowl down on the table.

"I didn't know you were cooking tonight," Elena answered her, hanging her coat on the peg while she tried to get her shoes of, which of course didn't work cause she was trying to do two things at the time. She let out a curse before turning towards the dining table where Bonnie sat smiling.

"Had a bad day?" she questioned.

"Something like that," Elena told her, letting out a deep sigh. She really did need some rest.

The last months had been exhausting; she couldn't even find the time to do her job properly. Her Boss, Marc had even suggested a break – while he usually never aloud anyone to take a day off – which meant a lot. He was a good boss, he tried to help her out the best he could the past years. He truly wanted to help her to become a successful journalist.

"The notary?" Bonnie said carefully. "What did he say? Was it bad?" she asked concerned. She knew Elena had been through a lot over the past years. When her mother passed away, Elena had been a wreck…literally. She didn't say anything, didn't eat, she just stayed in her bedroom, watching horror movies. At the time, Bonnie really didn't know what to do or how to help her friend. She still had both her parents and she thought that Elena would want to talk to someone who really knew what she was going through. She had tried her best to help out her friend, but Elena wouldn't listen, she didn't want to talk about it or cry over it, she just wanted to end her studies and find a job. Well, that was exactly what happened.

"Depends on how you think about it... I had an uncle I didn't know, he passed away three months ago and left me a huge inheritance," Elena answered emotionless, taking a bite off her plate. "This is really good, you know," she complimented her friend. The pasta tasted divine.

"Thanks," her friend answered shortly. "But what do you mean, he left you 'a huge inheritance'?" she went on.

"A mansion in Virginia and a half million dollars," the brunette answered like it was the most normal thing in the world. She wasn't really listening to Bonnie, still trying to proceed what happened today. She had an uncle…and now he was gone while she hadn't even met him.

"What?" Bonnie choked, almost spitting out her food. She looked at her friend with wide open eyes, waiting for her to explain things further.

"Yeah, I was the only family member he had left, so now I get his inheritance. All I have to do is sign a paper and everything belongs to me," she explained, watching her friend's reaction.

"Oh my god, you'll own a house in Virginia!" Bonnie exclaimed smiling. "That's huge, Elena, awesome even!"

"I haven't signed the papers, you know," she replied coolly, clearly not getting why her friend sounded so happy. What did it matter that she got an inheritance when she never got a chance to meet the only family member she had left? Now the man was gone and she felt like she lost everything all over again.

"You should," her friend told her, "I know you probably wanted to meet your uncle, but he's gone. You can't change anything about that, though you could accept his inheritance and do something good with it. Maybe you could even go on a holiday to your new residence? We both know that you need a vacation before you'll go insane. Not to offend you, but you do look more like a zombie each passing day."

"Well thank you for the compliment," she said dryly. "And why on earth would I take it? Who knows, maybe he wanted to donate his money to charity?"

"He would've written a testament if he really wanted to give his money away. Come on, Lena, don't be ridiculous. You could use this money, whether you like to admit it or not. Your mother didn't exactly left you a huge fund because she didn't even have enough money for her own," Bonnie interfered, trying to talk some sense into her friend.

"I know that Bonn, though I don't know about this entire heritance thing. I'll think about it," she gave in eventually, knowing that her friend would keep talking about it otherwise.

I know, it was pretty short, though the chapters should get longer. I just needed everyone to understand why Elena leaves the city and goes on a holiday to Mystic Falls.

Next chapter Damon and she will meet...which should be quite interesting *winks*.

Now a little question, is there anyone who would like to be my beta for this story? I still have a beta, but she'd kinda busy and the only way that the updates will be faster is when I find someone else who does have enough time to help me out.

But even if I don't find anyone, Bibi, you're amazing girl! Thank you for helping me out as always! (Even if it takes some time, lol).

xoxo