Stefan sucks in a sharp breath, the weight and intensity of her emotions squeezing at his heart and for a moment, he can't breathe at all. She wants him to be her brother and he's not. He empathizes with this - in more way than one - more than she'll know, or perhaps she already does. If Damon were to be absent from Taxon, Stefan would miss him terribly; he'd function and be realitively fine, but there'd be a missing piece of him that couldn't be replaced.

He's not Simon, and he can't replace him, but he can do his best to be there for her and make life in Taxon less lonely.

"Oh, River," he says gently, emotion thick in his voice and tears in his eyes. What he's feeling is only half his own, the rest is hers. "I know, I know," he says again and again like some sort of mantra, pulling her into a hug.