5

Arms wrap around Elena's waist, a chin settling on her shoulder. She smiles, listening to the words he whispers in her ear, "I love you". A giggle escapes and at that moment, she couldn't care to be embarrassed. He pulls her even closer, nibbling on her neck, only stopping to say, "You have a lot of trust in me."

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?" She asks, almost challenging him to give her a pathetic reason. He won't hurt her.

He slowly spins her around, and her mind recognizes this person as Tom, "I'm a ripper, Elena. Anyone else would be terrified that I could--"

She shakes her head, lifting her hands to touch either side of his face, "Stefan, I love you." She emphasizes the word 'love', trying to make him understand that she is not 'anyone else'. She trusts him to never hurt her. Physical or otherwise. Her eyes bore into his, not allowing him to look away from her.

A small smile is on his lips although he is trying to hide it. The image is fading in and out as he leans in and kisses her.

Elena wakes up in a light sweat. She checks her alarm and realizes that she doesn't have to get ready for another two hours, but she is wide awake as her heart is still racing from her dream. She trudges out of bed, heading to the kitchen to make coffee.

The door opens slowly and she hears the sound of keys being set in the bowl. She peeks around, seeing Caroline try to tip-toe in the apartment. "Elena! What are you doing awake?"

"Um...I had a really weird dream. Where were you?"

"Couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. What dream?" Elena knows she is lying from the way she directed the conversation away from herself...again. But she also knows that she needs answers. It felt so real.

The coffee starts to brew as she shakes her head, "It was about Tom. I mean...I think."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in the dream," she pauses for a second, "I called him Stefan." Caroline's eyes go wide, but when she realizes that Elena is about to question further, she starts to walk away. "Caroline, what's going on?" Elena grabs her arm and she groans.

"Are you sure that you want to know? You have been so happy." Elena nods, so she turns to walk away again.

"Care!"

"I'll be right back." She grumbles.

Caroline comes back with a box filled with things from Stefan and Damon. Anything that reminded Elena of them. Including pages from her high school diary that she lost five years ago. Caroline hands her a letter.

"You had Bonnie and I write this to you five years ago. Everything in here will help you piece things together. Let me know what you decide." Caroline walks to her room, giving her privacy, not even wanting to question how her weird doppelganger mind started breaking through the compulsion.

Elena slowly opens the letter.

Elena,

All of this is probably confusing, but we are going to do our best to explain it. You were in love with two brothers. Damon and Stefan Salvatore. They were vampires who risked their lives to get the cure for you. You were trying to grieve in a normal, healthy way. But it was affecting your education, and we were getting worried. Caroline tried her best to convince your professors on extensions, but eventually, she was then convincing them to extend those too. They wanted you to be happy. You knew that and wanted to follow through on their dying wish. Caroline compelled you to forget about them, but she can reverse it whenever you want.

We were worried about you. You could barely sleep because you convinced yourself that it was your fault. It wasn't your fault, Elena. They want you to have the life you always wanted. This is the best way for you to start living it. But of course, it is your decision.

Bonnie and Caroline

She starts to dig through the rest of the box, seeing happy pictures of herself with these two boys that are complete strangers to her now. Sifting through clothes, at the bottom of her box is the pages from her diary. She notices a page about her meeting Stefan for the first time. And another about finding out he is a vampire. She flips through more, to the last page. About her dreams that consist of both Damon and Stefan and how they always end the same way.

Elena lets out a breath and throws everything back in the box. There are all of these memories that are just cut out of her life now. And have been for the last five years. How could she be missing such a big chunk of her life?

She grabs the pictures again, almost trying to force herself to remember the moment they were taken. Elena can see that she was happy with them. But she can't feel it. She doesn't understand how she was able to be so quick to cut them out of her memory.

As Elena sifts through them, she pauses, hearing something rattle. She shakes each picture frame until she finally takes apart one of them, revealing a letter.

Dear future me,

I'm guessing Caroline spilled the beans about who Damon and Stefan Salvatore are. I'm also betting that you couldn't possibly understand why I would willingly remove such a big chunk of my life.

Loving the Salvatores was thrilling, passionate, and adventurous. But it was also heart-wrenching and reckless. The guilt was consuming my life. I felt that I owed it to them, and myself, to find a way to start living it again.

The only way I could think of was to take it away. Now, it is up to you what to do with this information. I'm sorry I couldn't offer more insight.

Elena Gilbert

"What are you doing with that?" Bonnie walks in the room asking, shocked that Elena would have found where they hid it.

"Caroline gave it to me," She answered half-heartedly, still spinning with all of the new information.

Caroline headed into the room at the sound of her name. "She found out, Bonnie. Her weird doppelganger brain started making her have dreams about Stefan,"

"Oh good, it worked," Bonnie lets out a breath of relief, smiling brightly at her two friends.

"What? Why would you do that when you were the one who said--" Caroline started, but Bonnie stopped her.

"I know, but I really started to think about it..." Bonnie trailed off, turning to Elena, "We can give you more time to decide,"

"No, it's okay. I know what I want," Elena spoke and for the first time, she sounded determined.