The smell filing the kitchen was utterly magical, it was beautiful and filling her scenes, along with the low music running, and the candles lighting the place. Christmas spirit was on its best.
She looked around to see Stefan finishing some plate, swaying his shoulders slightly as he focused on his mission. She turned around to focus on her own, or at least try to.
"Stefan." She said without turning around. "Can you get me that plate next to you?"
In a second she heard the sound of the plate being placed next to her, before placing a kiss on her cheek from behind. She titled her head and her smile grew bigger. Her hands moving to cover his own, which were laying on her belly.
"Did I tell you that you look beautiful tonight?" She could hear the smile in his words while resting his chin on her shoulder.
"Three times." She said with a smile.
"Mhm." He hummed while forcing her body to sway with the music as he did. "Well, I'm sure I didn't tell you that you look adorable."
"No, you didn't." She chuckled.
His lips moved down her jaw, and just when he got near her neck she shifted in her place.
"No, no we still have a lot to finish, Stefan."
"We just have to put the food in the plates." He whined.
"Nice one." She rolled her eyes.
"Where's Damon?" He asked while looking around, surprised that he hadn't interrupted them yet.
"He went to get Bonnie." She said as she knelt down to open the oven, which was kind of hard with her big stomach.
"Mhm."
She turned around then, holding the spoon and narrowing her eyes as she stared at him.
"What?" He asked after noticing how she went silent for no reason.
"You just said 'mhm'."
"… And?"
"You always mhm when you know something."
"Who put that rule?" He asked with furrowed eyebrows.
She only narrowed her eyes even more and pointed the spoon at him to talk. It was enough for him to do talk.
"I was just thinking that they… spend lots of time together lately, that's all." He shrugged, trying and failing to make it seem causal.
"Oh my god, Stefan." She jumped slightly with wide eyes in excitement. "It feels good to know I'm not alone, why didn't you tell me? No wait… you can notice these things too?"
He was about to answer her question but then it hit him how insulting it was. He paused with his mouth open.
"You didn't know I notice these things?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Well you know, you kinda have a thing for not realizing things." She smirked before turning back to the oven.
"I'm sorry, you're the one who said without realizing it, your spell not mine." He shrugged and leant back on the table. And she hid her smile but she knew he knew she was smiling.
"You're in a good mood today." She mumbled.
"Well, it's Christmas, I got my house back, I have my girlfriend next to me, my brother and my friend are coming to have dinner with us. It would be a crime to be in a bad mood today."
She raised her eyebrows without looking at him, trying to get used to Stefan Salvatore being optimist and dropping his broody eyebrows.
He walked to her and she turned around immediately, taking a defense position before the attack.
"No, Stefan, no." She said, trying to sound firm. But his hands were already cupping her checks and his lips- after pulling into a grin, were softly on hers. Their grins were ruining the kiss but it still felt amazing.
"Not everything is about you, Damon."
They heard Bonnie's voice coming closer to the kitchen and they pulled away, hands still on each other before Stefan ignored it and pressed his lips into hers again.
"Stefan." She mumbles against his lips, trying to protest but failing to.
"I've no idea what you're talking about."
They heard Damon, this time really close to the kitchen, which finally made Stefan pull away with a groan.
Once Bonnie stepped into the kitchen, her vision went blank. And for a second she felt like panicking but then she realized that the reason she couldn't see were two hands covering her eyes. Damon's hands to specific.
"Damon?" She asked, her hands reaching for his in instant.
"Aha?"
"What are you doing?"
"Just in case things aren't PG-13." He mumbled, while Stefan and Caroline rolled their eyes in sync.
"I'm sure they are by now?" Bonnie said slowly, amazed by how childish he can go.
"I guess."
"So? Can I see again please?"
"Uh, yeah sure, yeah." He mumbled awkwardly while pulling his hands away.
"I got your back." He winked at both Stefan and Caroline and they just stared at him.
"Grow up." Matt said while walking past him to his seat. He wouldn't acknowledge it, but he looked quite hot in that uniform and with that cologne. He should've been out looking for some pretty girl to hang out with but here he was.
"Merry Christmas." Bonnie said, throwing her hands over Caroline's shoulders and pulling her into a warm hug.
"Merry Christmas." Caroline said as he hugged her back with closed eyes.
"Where's Ric?" Damon said, looking back at the door.
"Leaving the presents under the tree." Matt said.
"Merry Christmas, Matt." Caroline said while standing next to Bonnie.
"Merry Christmas, Care." He smiled. "How are you?" He asked, looking at her stomach.
"Great, perfect, everything is going normal." She said, her hand coming up to her back to stand more comfortable.
"Come on let's put the food." Bonnie smiled, her hand brushing her back before looking at Stefan to help her. The two of them moved to get the plates into the table before Caroline helped them.
Minutes later, Alaric has already taken a seat near the table. Bonnie put the last plate before swinging her legs into the seat and sitting between Matt and Damon.
"Okay, let's start." Stefan said after helping Caroline to sit down.
"Hold on, someone is still missing." Caroline said, sharing a look with Bonnie.
"Who?" Stefan interrupted their looks.
"Me." Enzo said with a smirk as he entered the kitchen.
"What's he doing here?" Stefan looked at Caroline in confusion.
"We invited him." Caroline said with a smile, trying to make it better.
"They guy who kidnapped you?"
"Also, the guy who's on our side now." She titled her head.
"Come on, Stefan. It's Christmas." Bonnie said with a smile, before looking at Enzo and smiling even more.
Stefan glanced at both of them, sharing a sweet –yet annoying look. He then looked at Damon, who was chewing his cheeks from the inside without looking up.
"Sit down." Bonnie offered with a smile, then Enzo moved behind Alaric and sat next to Damon, offering him a smirk which Damon returned with a fake smile.
"Okay, let's start." Stefan said again.
"No, no no wait." Caroline interrupted, kneeling down to grab some bag from underneath the table. "Not before everyone wears their hats."
"Oh boy." Alaric muttered before leaning back in his chair.
"You've got to be kidding me." Damon said, not bothering to lower his voice. Caroline put the first one on Stefan's head, trying not to ruin his perfect hair. He closed his eyes, scared of how he would look like, but he let her do it.
"You look awesome." She giggled.
"Yeah, Steffy. You look awesome." Damon wiggled his eyebrows. By then Bonnie had already put hers on, looking completely adorable with it. And then she was busy helping Matt to put his own.
"Come on, Bon." He chuckled, shaking his head.
"Don't move, it'll look great. Trust me." She smiled.
"Merry Christmas, officer Santa." Damon raised his empty glass in a toast.
Stefan passed one of them to Alaric, but he shook his head slightly without taking it. Then he received a glare from Caroline, which seemed more like a killing threat, so he put the damn thing on and sighed.
"Enzo, Damon." Caroline said, passing them the hats across the table.
"In your dreams, blondie." Damon said.
"Come on, Damon, don't be grumpy old man." Bonnie said, holding the two hats in her hands.
"Even Stefan is wearing it." Matt commented with a smirk.
"Funny." Stefan said when Caroline chuckled.
Damon looked at the hand grabbing the hat from Bonnie and watched as Enzo put it on, having the same smirk all the while, his eyes holding her gaze bravely.
Damon wanted to throw up, right there and right then.
Bonnie cleared her throat as she broke the eye contact, looking down at the remaining hat in her hand before looking up at Damon with narrowed eyes.
"Okay." She said as she put it on his head. For her surprise he didn't protest, just sat there with his elbows on the table and watched her as she tried to put it right.
She ignored his stare, and the forks noise around them as their friends started to eat. She was using both her hands, one to hold the hat and the other to fix his hair under it. She could feel his stare, looking at her eyes while she focused on her mission. She did want to steal a look and see how his eyes were, but something was stopping her.
She did steal a look after all, which made her swallow and smile before looking down at her plate and taking her fork.
Caroline held the big spoon and started putting food into Stefan's plate. They both were smiling, but then he noticed that her stare was on something else. He followed her gaze to see it landing on Alaric's feet which were on the table.
He pressed his lips and widened his eyes at Alaric, which made him put it down immediately and sits straighter.
Bonnie was holding another plate, putting some of it on Matt's plate then turned around to do the same thing to Damon.
"I'll have some of that, love." Enzo said, holding his plate. But then someone snatched it from him and that someone happened to be Stefan.
"Let me do it." He said with a cold smile as he started filling his plate, never breaking the eye contact. Caroline was putting some meat into Matt's plate while she looked at the intense stares exchanged between them. She pressed her lips and looked away.
After few more minutes of Bonnie and Caroline filling Matt's plate with all the kinds of food, and Alaric trying to take sips from his bourbon without Caroline catching him, and Damon staring at Bonnie with no one noticing –but her, and few intense stares between Stefan and Enzo, everyone was finally ready to eat.
"You did all of this. Caroline?" Matt looked at her with a smile.
"Well, Stefan helped." She titled her head. "But I did most of the work." She flipped her hair in a dramatic way, which made Stefan lean closer and kiss her cheek. Damon hands were going up to Bonnie's eyes again but she stopped him with her hands and shot them away.
"NOT AGAIN." She said through gritted teeth.
"What?" He seemed offended. "I just know that lovers can get a bit cozy, sorry for trying to skip it for you." He shrugged. While everyone chuckled.
"I miss Elena." Bonnie muttered, mostly to herself. Then everyone went silent.
"I miss mom." Caroline said after few moments. She felt Stefan's hand on her, intertwining their fingers and brushing the back of her hand. She looked up at him and returned his smile.
"I miss Jo."
Everyone turned around to look at Alaric after he breathed out those three words. His eyes were on the plate while he played with his food mindlessly.
After seconds of awkward silence Enzo finally spoke. "That was bleak." He said.
Stefan looked at him with annoyance.
"No, Enzo is right." Caroline said, sitting straighter. "It's Christmas, and… we might be missing lots of things this year, but… we still have something to care about. We still have each other, we still have this." She looked around them before looking back at Stefan and smiling. He pressed his lips and smiled back.
"There're things that deserve fighting for." She said while staring at him. And he nodded after a moment.
"Not every year you get to see Damon wearing Santa hat." Matt said.
Bonnie chuckled and looked at Damon, taking a breath and smiling at him. He was looking at Stefan and Caroline –their hands to be specific, before he looked back at her, and smiled till wrinkles appeared around his eyes. His eyes looked down to their hands close to each other on the table before looking back at her. She licked her lips and looked away quickly, grabbing her glass.
"To this." She said as she lifted her glass.
"To this." Everyone said as they clicked their glasses together. Before Stefan pulled Caroline and kissed her with no care in the world, ignoring everyone around them and drowning in the feeling of having her.
Everyone laughed, while Damon and Bonnie stole a look at each other before looking away.
Because Caroline was right.
There are things that worth fighting for.
… …
شؤنore the attck.
she turned around emmidiatly, taking a defnce position g stomach.
.bigger.