“We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but then the sun came up and reality set in.”

When Elena Gilbert first said those words to Stefan Salvatore in the second episode of The Vampire Diaries, she was finding a reason why they couldn’t be together. Their lives were just too complicated. But by the end of the hour, Stefan would remind her of just how epic their connection was, repeating those words before kissing her for the first time … even after reality set in.

However, what was happening onscreen wasn’t the only thing that was “epic” about that moment. Co-creator Kevin Williamson will never forget reading that interaction and what it meant for the show. “[Co-creator] Julie [Plec] wrote that beautiful monologue, and I remember reading it for the first time and just crying,” Williamson tells EW. “And then Stefan came back and said it to her again, and I remember tearing up. I thought we were onto something special. When you shoot a pilot, you never know if anything is going to work. But it’s those second and third episodes where it starts to come together. And that’s when you know if the show has legs.” Continue Reading @ EW.com