Paul Wesley: Stefan Salvatore

Pilot

Stefan Salvatore

Damon Salvatore: Your hair's different, I like it.
Stefan Salvatore: It's been 15 years, Damon.
Damon Salvatore: Thank God! Couldn't take another day of the 90's. That horrible grunge look did not suit you. Remember Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads.
Stefan Salvatore: What are you doing here?
Damon Salvatore: I missed my little brother.
Stefan Salvatore: You hate small towns, they're boring, there's nothing for you to do.
Damon Salvatore: I've been keeping myself busy.
Stefan Salvatore: You left that girl alive tonight. That was very careless of you.
Damon Salvatore: Yeah, that could be a problem... for you.

Stefan Salvatore: I know it's late. But uh... I needed to know that you were okay.
Elena Gilbert: You know, for months, that's all anyone's wondered about me. If I'll be okay.
Stefan Salvatore: What do you tell them?
Elena Gilbert: That I'll be fine.
Stefan Salvatore: Do you ever mean it?
Elena Gilbert: Ask me tomorrow.
Elena Gilbert: It's warmer in the house. We can talk. Would you like to come in?
Stefan Salvatore: Yes.

Stefan Salvatore: I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier, I know it was... strange.
Elena Gilbert: No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish.
Stefan Salvatore: Um, something like that.

[first lines]
Stefan Salvatore: For over a century I have lived in secret, hiding in the shadows, alone in the world, until now. I am a vampire. And this is my story.
Stefan Salvatore: I shouldn't have come home, I know the risk, but I had no choice, I have to know her.

Mr. Tanner: The battle of Willow Creek happened right here in our very Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Miss Bennett?
Bonnie Bennett: A lot? I'm not sure, but like a whole lot.
Mr. Tanner: Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett. Mr. Donovan, maybe you can take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype.
Matt Donovan: That's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it.
Mr. Tanner: Elena? Surely you can enlighten us on one of the town's most historic events.
Elena Gilbert: I'm sorry, I don't know.
Mr. Tanner: I was willing to be lenient last year, for obvious reasons, but the personal reasons ended with summer break.
Stefan Salvatore: There was 346 causalities, unless you're counting civilians.
Mr. Tanner: That's correct, Mr...?
Stefan Salvatore: Salvatore.
Mr. Tanner: Salvatore? Any relation to the original settlers here in Mystic Falls?
Stefan Salvatore: Distant.
Mr. Tanner: Very good, except that there were no civilian casualties in this battle.
Stefan Salvatore: Actually there were 27 civilian casualties. Confederate soldiers fired on the church believing it to be hiding weapons, but they were wrong. It's a night of great loss. The founders' records are stored in civil hall if you want to brush up on your facts... Mr. Tanner.

Elena Gilbert: You know, you're kinda the talk of the town.
Stefan Salvatore: Am I?
Elena Gilbert: Mysterious new guy, oh yeah.
Stefan Salvatore: Well, you have the mysterious thing going on too, with a twinge of sadness.
Elena Gilbert: What makes you think I'm sad?
Stefan Salvatore: Well, we did meet in a graveyard.
Elena Gilbert: Right. No, technically we met in the men's room.

Damon Salvatore: I was impressed. I'll give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face thing, it was good.
Stefan Salvatore: It's all fun and games, huh, Damon? But wherever you go, people die.
Damon Salvatore: That's a given.
Stefan Salvatore: Not here, I won't allow it.
Damon Salvatore: I take that as an invitation.
Stefan Salvatore: Damon, please, after all these years, can't we just give it a rest?
Damon Salvatore: I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word.

[in voiceover narration]
Elena Gilbert: Dear diary, I couldn't have been more wrong. I thought that I could smile, nod my way through it; pretend like it would all be okay.
Stefan Salvatore: I had a plan. I wanted to change who I was; create a life as someone new, someone without the past.
Elena Gilbert: Without the pain.
Stefan Salvatore, Elena Gilbert: Someone alive.
Elena Gilbert: But it's not that easy. The bad things stay with you.
Stefan Salvatore: They follow you. You can't escape them, as much as you want to.
Elena Gilbert: All you can do is be ready for the good. So when it comes, you invite it in, because you need it. I need it.

Stefan Salvatore: How's your leg?
Elena Gilbert: Oh, it's fine. Just a scratch, barely. How did you know where I lived?
Stefan Salvatore: It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back.
Elena Gilbert: [he returns her journal] Oh, I must have dropped it. I... thank you.
Stefan Salvatore: Don't worry, I didn't... read it.
Elena Gilbert: No? Why not? Most people would have.
Stefan Salvatore: Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine.
Elena Gilbert: You keep a journal?
Stefan Salvatore: Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important.

Stefan Salvatore: You okay?
Elena Gilbert: [gasping for breath] Were you following me?
Stefan Salvatore: No, I just... I saw you fall.
Elena Gilbert: Oh, and you just happened to be... hanging out in a cemetery.
Stefan Salvatore: I'm visiting, I have, uh, family here.
Elena Gilbert: [regretfully] Oh. Wow, tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog. It's making me foggy. And then, back there,
[points]
Elena Gilbert: there was this... this bird. And it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right? The Hitchcock...?
[giggles self-consciously as he looks at her]
Elena Gilbert: I'm Elena.
Stefan Salvatore: I'm Stefan.
Elena Gilbert: I know. We have History together.
Stefan Salvatore: And English and French.
Elena Gilbert: Right.
[as he wipes away at a twig still clinging to her clothes:]
Elena Gilbert: Thanks.

Stefan Salvatore: I like Bonnie. She seems like a good friend.
Elena Gilbert: Best friend in the world.
Stefan Salvatore: And Matt, he can't seem to, uh, take his eyes off of us.
Elena Gilbert: Matt's that friend since childhood that you start dating because you owe it to yourselves to see if you can be more.
Stefan Salvatore: And?
Elena Gilbert: And then my parents died, and everything changes. Anyway, Matt and I, together we just, I don't know, it wasn't, um...
[looking for the right words]
Elena Gilbert: It wasn't...
Stefan Salvatore: Passionate.
Elena Gilbert: No. No, it wasn't passionate.

Zach Salvatore: You promised.
Stefan Salvatore: [taking and glancing at a newspaper article] This was an animal attack.
Zach Salvatore: Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough, they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control.
Stefan Salvatore: And I do.
Zach Salvatore: Please, Uncle Stefan. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet here for years, but there are people who still remember. And you being here, it's just gonna stir things up.
Stefan Salvatore: It's not my intention.
Zach Salvatore: Then what is? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?
Stefan Salvatore: I don't have to explain myself.
Zach Salvatore: I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore.
Stefan Salvatore: Where do I belong?
Zach Salvatore: I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake.