PLS DONT READ THIS IT ONLY FOR ME THANK YOU

LOVE STORY.

"Okay, darling, it's time for bed," Elena said, walking into her daughter's room. "Daddy and I are going out, but your favorite uncle is here to watch you."

The young girl looked at her mother's appearance. "You look like a princess, mommy," she giggled.

Elena held out a hand to help her daughter from the floor. "Let's hope daddy thinks so too," she replied with a smile.

"Because you're going out, does that mean you won't have time to tell me a story?" The young girl asked after her mother settled her down for bed.

"Not tonight, sweetling," she denied softly, hating that she was breaking a ritual. Unless her daughter ended up falling asleep before her designated bedtime, she told her a story; whether it was one she made up or one that she read out of one of Annalise's books.

"Just a short one?" The young girl asked. When her mother's face softened, she added to it. "Please?"

Knowing that her daughter was playing her, she sighed at her inability to deny her. "Fine, but just a short one." Claiming a seat on the edge of the bed she began her tale. "Once upon a time there was a young woman that grew to fall in love with her best friend…"

She stared at her companion, completely stumped. His presence was always a welcome addition to her house. However, the words he'd spoken, things she'd wished to hear for years, were a total surprise.

Paying no mind to the expression on her face, he continued on; afraid that if he didn't get it all out then, he never would. "I haven't always loved you." He wished he could have claimed that he had though. "But I do…now…so very much." His heart was pounding out of his chest. So many times he'd envisioned the conversation, but every single time he'd thought of it, she'd be bursting with joy. But as he stared at the woman that owned his heart, he realized that she was nowhere near that.

For so long, she'd dreamt of hearing those words…or something close to them. But not then…not after the events of that evening… Elena Gilbert pursed her lips before she shook her head sadly. "You can't say that to me. Not now," she confessed sadly, though the words that she most desired to say, were on the tip of her tongue.

His brows furrowed together. "What's changed?" He knew that she'd had a boyfriend, it was the main reason that pushed him into action.

"He proposed," she breathed.

His gaze immediately traveled to the bare fingers of her hands. "You aren't wearing a ring…" Who proposed without a ring?

"We're going shopping tomorrow," she explained with a pointed tone in her voice, as if anticipating his thoughts.

"Wow…I…I didn't realize that it was so serious," he tried to smile for her, but it fell flat.

"Well, it was," she shrugged. From the moment that she'd met Stefan Salvatore, she'd known that he was the sort of guy that one married. And honestly, after the way her love life looked up until then, it was the one reason why she'd agreed to go out with him in the first place. "He sort of just blurted it out during dinner…"

"Oh…"

She replied with a thin smile. "I couldn't wait for you to notice me, Elijah," Elena confessed. "Years…you had years to open your eyes and notice me." First and foremost, she'd been his friend, but she'd never hidden her true feelings for him. It had been a delicate subject between them. Where she didn't mention it, he never had either. She'd always been polite to the women that he'd introduced to her, but she'd hardly gone out of her way to invite any of them out for a girl's night.