AN: This is the off screen convo about Stefan and Valerie's baby. Of the all the heinous crimes Caroline Dries committed on this fandom, this is one of the worst. I decided it took place in 7x05.

The couch in the Lockwood living room was never going to be the most comfortable place to sleep, but that wasn't the reason Stefan couldn't drop off. Valerie's earlier news had knocked him for six and he felt completely off kilter. He rose and rooted out a bottle of Tyler's expensive Scotch. After five generous measures, it became clear that sublimation wasn't going to work; all he had achieved was to add a roiling stomach to his roiling mind. He needed to talk to someone.

Caroline.

She was the only person he needed to speak to, wanted to speak to.

He regretted promising Valerie that he wouldn't tell, but this was Caroline; they shouldn't have secrets between them. His days of hiding the darkest parts of himself were over. He made a decision there and then. He grabbed his phone, his leather jacket and car keys and vamped out of the door.

The little red Porsche speed through the darkness. Ignoring the speed limit, he could always compel his way out of a ticket, Stefan gripped the wheel, his knuckles white, a grim expression on his face. Committing yet another traffic violation, he picked up his phone and dialled.

"Hello?" Caroline answered, voice husky with sleep.

"Hey. Is Bonnie there tonight?" He cut straight to the chase.

"Err, no. She made herself scarce for our date today."

"Good. Can I come over?"

"Stefan, it's 1AM, I'm tired and I'm…. I'm honestly not feeling that friendly towards you at the moment."

"Caroline, please, I need you."

It wasn't so much his words that made her sit up, but the tone of his voice. It had an edge, an edge that spoke of tension, of spiralling out of control, of Stefan teetering on a precipice. As his best friend, she picked up these subtle cues. She was officially worried "Okay. Stefan are you okay?"

"Fine," He lied. "I'll be with you in about an hour. Are you hungry?"

"A bit. Drive safe." Realising she wouldn't be getting any sleep, she went and put some coffee on.

Pulling into the Whitmore car park, Stefan started to doubt himself. The burger and fries he had picked up for them suddenly felt pathetic. Liz Forbes would be looking down on him shaking her head at his poor first date behaviour, no flowers, no fancy tablecloths, 7 hours late; he sucked as a future son in law. He pulled himself together and let himself into Caroline's dorm.

He had expected her to be asleep in bed, but she surprised him with a mug of fresh coffee and a hug. The feeling of her arms around him relaxed him and he sighed into her hair.

"I brought burgers, yours has extra pickles. Sorry, this isn't what you were expecting for tonight." His voice was croaky with emotion.

"It doesn't matter, Stefan." She replied and at that moment, it really didn't. There were clearly more important things on his mind. They sat down to their food; Caroline, surprised at how ravenous she felt, ate all her food and half of his. Stefan ate sparingly, his mind elsewhere. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Caroline hoped he would cut to what was bothering him, but he didn't. She started to worry, maybe something had happened with Valerie? Nothing he had ever told her in the past had hinted at her existence. She had read Stefan's diary and dismissed Valerie as a one night stand gone wrong, nothing more; 1860s Stefan had a flair for Victorian melodrama. Besides Damon had gone along with them and had been on her side, a freaky miracle of nature, she could barely process.

Stefan felt the mounting tension in Caroline. That, in turn, made him panicky. His veins itched, a sure sign he was in a bad way. This shouldn't affect him, it happened 150 years ago, but the trajectory of his life could have been so different and that unsettled him. He took several deep calming breaths before speaking, he had been able to fake calm with Valerie earlier, but with Caroline, the words tumbled out, a disjointed mess. "I have to kill Julian. Valerie tried to burn his body, he's alive and he'll come for her."

"Why is that your problem?" Caroline's eyes narrowed to slits.

"You aren't supposed to know this, I promised I wouldn't tell." Stefan scrubbed his hand through his hair. Breaking an oath was not something a gentleman should contemplate doing, but given his previous murderous behaviour, "gentleman" probably wasn't a moniker he was entitled to. "I got Valerie pregnant in 1863." He continued. "Julian found out and beat her until…. well you can imagine the rest. Lily doesn't know, she sent Valerie to check I was okay, not to get involved. Although honestly, I think it might be better if she knew. And I need to kill Julian because Valerie's in danger and he took away my one chance to be a father."

Caroline was agog. The situation was heart breaking for him. "I'm sorry, Stefan. I don't know what to say. I know how much you want to be human, to have a family." Memories of his and Elena's traveller induced dream visions came flooding in; she pushed them back, contemplating her situation. Children had not been on her agenda. Getting married, sure; kids, the idea had freaked her out, she was young and had had her whole future ahead of her to worry about that, until she died and then it wasn't an option.

"So how are we going to kill Julian?" She quickly changed the subject.

"This isn't your fight, Caroline. I can't have you put yourself in harm's way, not for this. I'll rope in Damon; he needs an outlet for his murderous rage. Our mother's boyfriend would seem like the ideal target." He looked away, pained at the complete mess his family was and been for the best part of two centuries.

"I want to help you, Stefan, please let me." She squeezed his hand, her eyes pleading with him to let her in.

"I know, but you're still trying to process your own grief, Caroline. I don't want to add to that, but I could really do with the moral support, more than anything. You're an expert sober sponsor and I'm a selfish ripper bastard after all."

"You're not!" She exclaimed, hating how down on himself he could be. "Stefan, this is a massive deal. I mean in another life Katherine wouldn't have come to town and well…." The implication of what she was saying dawned hard on her.

"You're right. I would have married Valerie, had a child, lived a human life and be dead and forgotten by now, a corpse in the Salvatore tomb. I would have been okay with that."

"Do you regret not having that life and becoming a vampire?" Caroline asked.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no." He answered honestly. "I mean during my dark times, I spent years regretting my existence. I would have loved to have a family of my own, that's something I do grieve over. But I have also been lucky enough to do things I never dreamt possible and to have people in my life who have made my life worthwhile. I mean how can I regret becoming a vampire when it brought me here, to you." He pulled her into his arms, feeling a lot calmer for having told her. He gently brushed his lips against hers.

His confession, sweet, innocent and unassuming, brightened Caroline's soul. She had been worried about Valerie, more than she cared to admit. Becoming a vampire hadn't stopped her feeling second best, but it had helped her hide it better. She relaxed into his embrace, savoring the feeling of him against her.

"Look, Caroline." He whispered between kisses. "I would be grateful if you could play dumb about this. I really shouldn't have said anything. Valerie is at the Lockwood Mansion right now." She pulled away from him, giving him a sharp look. "In one of the guest bedrooms! I didn't have the heart to send her away tonight, but she needs to run. Maybe you could help her with a plan?"

"Oh, I have no problem with that, no problem at all. We'll get started first thing tomorrow, but first…" She ran her fingers up through his hair and kissed him deeply, losing herself in him.