"Mommy! Daddy!" Sophia's high-pitched voice came closer and closer and so did the sound of her little feet running against the hardwood floor in the hallway. "Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!"

She jumped up on our bed, disrupting Stefan's and mine sleep. Stefan groaned, waking up and rolling onto his side, hoping to gain an extra minute or two of sleep. But that wasn't possible with Sophia. Once she was up, you were up too. I sat up, rubbing the sleep away from my eyes and Sophia climbed up on my lap.

"Good morning, princess." I smiled sleepily at her and she gave me a small smile in return, showing off her little teeth. She's such a morning person. I wonder where we she got that from. Stefan and I definitely aren't morning people.

"Morning, Mommy." She chirped cheerfully. I brushed a piece of her dark brown hair like mine out of her eyes. Finally, Stefan sat up, his back leaning against the headboard. Sophia crawled over to him and sat on his lap. She was always a Daddy's Girl, from the day she was born. And that was perfectly fine with me. I liked watching those precious father/daughter moments. "Do you know what today is, Daddy?" She questioned him.

"Today? Hmm..." Stefan rubbed his chin, as if he was in deep thought. Of course he knew that today was his little girl's birthday. What kind of father would be if he forget his daughter's birthday? He was just teasing with her, something he did often. "Do you know what today is, Elena?" Stefan looked at me. I shrugged, playing along with him. Sophia frowned at me. "Oh!" Suddenly his eyes went wide. "I know what today is! It's trash day!"

Sophia giggled. "No, Daddy! It's my birthday." She pointed to herself. "I'm three years old today." She held up four of her chubby fingers, winning a laugh from Stefan and me.

"Of course I knew it was your birthday, sweetheart. I was just teasing you." He kissed her forehead then laid back down on the bed, his hands behind his head. "Three years? How could that be? It feels like you were born just yesterday and you weighed as much as a half a gallon of milk."

I nodded, remembering those terrifying first weeks of Sophia's life. She was only three pounds, born about 9 weeks early at 31 weeks. Our poor baby girl spent three weeks in NICU. Every single hour she spend in that NICU felt like walking on eggshells. Luckily, she slowly became healthy and grew up like a normal baby. Always keeping Stefan and I on our toes, never knowing that she'll do next. And I couldn't be happier with my life.

"Come on, Soph, I'll go make you your special birthday pancakes." Stefan grinned and Sophia's eyes went wide. Quickly, she scrambled off of our bed and ran out of our room and downstairs to the kitchen. Stefan sat there and we both laughed at her. I never knew someone, especially someone so little, could give me so much joy. "Morning." Stefan kissed me gently.

I kissed him back. "Morning." I smiled at him. "You better go and make those pancakes for her, otherwise she'll be a very upset birthday girl." I laughed.

He laughed too. "I am, I am." Then he climbed out of our bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. A few seconds later, I heard him shouting. "No! Sophia! Don't touch that!" I laughed, wondering what Sophia has gotten into now.

I lifted the white sheets off of me and stood up, stretching and looking out the window. The view from our bedroom was of the town square of Mystic Falls. Off in the distant you could see the mountains and woods, where I spent most of my teenage years partying and drinking along with all my other friends.

I went into the bathroom that was just off the master bedroom. After I finished college, Jenna moved in with Alaric. They married after Jeremy finished high school. Jeremy went to Mystic Falls Community College and was living in his apartment in downtown Mystic Falls with her girlfriend, Anna. Stefan and I live in the house I grew up in, in the house my parents raised us in. And I loved that Sophia was growing up in the bedroom that I grew up in.

I undressed and got into the shower, letting the hot water rinse off my sleep. Smiling, I remember about three years and eight months ago, right around the time when Stefan and I finally agreed to have a baby.


"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Caroline said, admiring the ring on her left hand. I rolled my eyes. She got engaged two weeks ago, but she acted like she just got engaged two seconds ago. I wondered if I was this annoying when Stefan and I got engaged.

"Yes, Caroline. It's gorgeous." I sighed, putting a grape in my mouth. She recently announced that I would be her Maid of Honor. If Caroline goes crazy if something little goes wrong at a little party, imagine how crazy she'll go if something little goes wrong at her wedding.

"It is, isn't it?" Her eyes gleamed at the diamond. It was huge. It looked like the rock was weighing Caroline's finger down, that's how huge it is. I nodded, telling myself that I should keep my mouth shut and let Caroline enjoy it. I remember when Stefan first proposed to me, I don't think I ever stopped smiling for weeks.

"Tyler sure is a lucky man." I smiled. Of course I was happy for my best friend to be getting married, just as she was happy for me when I got married to Stefan. In fact, she was the second person I called after he proposed. The first was Jenna and Jeremy. Caroline was even more thrilled when I asked her to be my Maid of Honor. Now, as a good friend, I'm returning the favor.

It was a rainy Friday night in Mystic Falls. We were in desperate need of a girls' night. Bonnie was down in Richmond with her dad, so she couldn't make it tonight. Tyler, as Mayor of Mystic Falls, was attending some council meeting. And Stefan was working late at his law office. So Caroline and I had the night to ourselves. We just did what we would normally do at a girls' night - eat pizza and watch "The Notebook", Caroline's favorite movie.

"So, Elena...how's that book deal coming along?" She asked, putting away the dishes we used in the cabinet. Wow. For the first time in two weeks, she was talking about something other than herself.

"Good. Really good, actually. The publishing company said that the book should be out by early June." The book I spent a year and half writing finally was liked by someone other than friends and family. It was a romance story, with a dark twist. I couldn't be more proud of myself. This was all of dreamed about since my Mom gave me my first journal when I was 10.

"That's good." Caroline smiled and I nodded. "Work is good for me too. Although my boss is a pig." She rolled her eyes. "He was flirting with me as I was telling him that Tyler propose."

I raised my eyebrows. "Does Tyler know about him?"

She nodded. "Of course. He threaten to beat him up for me, but that wouldn't look so good for him considering he's the Mayor."

Talk of Caroline's boss soon became different, random subjects. Then we hit the unavoidable subject: baby talk.

"So...why don't you want a baby?" Caroline said, taking a sip of her tea. The fire crackled. I was sitting, curled up on the couch in the living room. Caroline was sitting on the chair next to me. I sighed, desperately not wanting to talk about it. But I've been avoiding this subject all night and Caroline was bound to bring it up sooner or later.

"Caroline, can we please not talk about this?" I bit my lip. "Look, it's not that I don't want a baby. It's just now isn't not the right time. Not with my book coming out and Stefan is crazy busy with work."

"Oh, cry me a river." She rolled her eyes, gulping down another swig of her tea. "Elena Salvatore, you are just scared. I know you better than you think. You think that you aren't going to be a good mom, so you come up with stupid excuses. We both know how badly Stefan wants to be a father. Elena, he gave you everything. Why can't you give him one thing? A baby."

I looked down at my nearly full cup of tea that was getting cold. Then I looked up at Caroline, who was silent and was watching me. "You're right. I'm scared to be a mom. So can you please stop forcing me into becoming a mom if I'm too scared to be one?" Fed up with her, I stood up and went into the kitchen. I dumped my wasted tea into the sink and Caroline followed me.

"Elena..." she started and I turned around, leaning against the counter and looked at her. She placed her cup down on the counter and came closer to me. "Remember freshmen year when I broke my foot and my Mom had to go away for the weekend because of some case she had to go to in Richmond?" I nodded. "You stayed at my house the whole weekend. You did my wash, you cooked for me, you even put up with my complaining." I laughed softly, remembering how many times she yelled at me because I put too many ice cubes in her drink. "If you can deal with me, you can deal with a crying, smelly baby. You'll be a great mom."

"You think?" I asked her, still unsure. Just the fact that another human being was fully dependent on me scared the crap out of me.

She nodded. "I know, Elena. Besides, you'll have Stefan. And babies worship him." We both laughed.

"Maybe you're right, Caroline. Look, I'll talk to Stefan when he comes home, alright?" She nodded. The idea of being a mom started growing on me.


After showering, straightening my hair, getting dressed, and applying my makeup, I went downstairs. Sophia was sitting at the kitchen table, eating the sticky, maple syrup covered pancakes with her hands. Since it was her birthday, I let it go. Normally, I would scold her about using a fork.

"Hey," I said, coming over to Stefan who was standing in front of the sink, washing the pans he used for making the pancakes. He turned off the water, dried off his hands with a kitchen rag and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me quickly.

"Hey," He smiled at me. "There's some left over pancakes over there," He pointed to a plate with three or four extra pancakes on it.

I shook my head. "I'll just have some coffee." I went over to the coffee maker and grabbed a cup out the cabinet. After filling my cup up with coffee, I added some sugar and cream and took a sip. Then I went over and sat next to Sophia. "Those pancakes good, Soph?" I asked her.

She nodded, smiling wide. "Oh, yes! Daddy makes the best pancakes!" I laughed.

"That's good, princess." I took another sip of my coffee. "Are you excited for your party today?"

"Yes, Mommy!" She ripped off another piece of her pancake, covered in the sticky, amber-colored syrup that oozed between her fingers and stuffed it in her mouth. I smiled at her, wondering why I waited so long to have her.


Caroline left just a few minutes ago. She said that she had to get to Tyler and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why. I was wiping off the granite counter top when I heard the front door open. I glanced at the clock above the stove, which read 11:37. Stefan should've been home by 7, but he has so many cases he's been working on. Salvatore Law Office is the only law office in Mystic Falls.

"Elena?" He called out, then he came into the kitchen. He looked exhausted. I rushed over to him, hugging him tightly and he hugged me in return. Then he kissed me softly. "How was Caroline?" He asked, rubbing my cheek.

"Boasting about her ring, as usual." I smiled and kissed him again, just because I missed him so much. I wish he didn't work so much. I just wanted him to be home more with me. We've been married for a few years now. We've been together since Junior year of high school, married during college, and now, right after college, here we are. "Look, can I talk to you about something?"

"Is everything okay?" His tiredness disappeared and he became concerned. Stefan would drop anything for me. He is the type of husband who, if he hasn't slept for days, would still do whatever I wanted him to do. He was protective. Sometimes too protective.

"Everything is fine." I nodded and the concern expression went away.

"Then what do you want to talk about?" He asked.

"Caroline and I were talking...about babies." I blurted out. Stefan raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to go on. "And I've been thinking about it. And maybe it is the right time to bring a baby in this world, to become parents." Finally I looked at him and said clearly, "I want to have a baby with you."

Stefan's lips were instantly crashing against mine, and I could feel him smile. "Finally," He whispered against my lips.