Love Is Not Time's Fool

A.N. Oh, I forgot to mention in the prologue where the title 'Love Is Not Time's Fool' came from. Hmmm...can anyone guess?

Chapter One: Choices

"Damon!" Stefan shouted, angry.

Damon continued to fight the vampire but looked over at his brother. "Hello little brother. Long time no see!"

"Damnit, Damon!" Stefan cursed.

"What?" Damon said.

Stefan raced back to Elena's side. She wasn't doing so good. Blood seemed to seep out of every part of her body. "Stefan . . . I l-love you . . ."

"No!" Stefan cried, biting the inside of his wrist. She wasn't going to die. No . . .

"T-take care of G-Gabby . . ." She whispered . . . and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she was still.

"NO!" He shook her. Her heart wasn't beating . . . she was gone. He didn't make it to her in time . . . not even his blood would save her . . .

Blood . . . then he remembered.

She already had his blood in her system . .. she would wake up a vampire.

Damon entered the room, shaking off his clothes. "Whew . . . that vampire's dead n―Oh." The older vampire looked up, seeing Stefan holding his dead wife. "I'm so sorry . . ."

Stefan's entire body was trembling as he held Elena. They'd never talked about what they would do if this happened to her. He heard Gabby cry and scream and he knew he had to get her out of there. He looked to Damon, his words stumbling. "I-I need you to call C-Caroline . . ."

"Vampire Barbie's still around?" Damon said.

"C-Call her," Stefan forced out. "I need . . . I need . . . I need to take care of her . . ."

Damon nodded, picked up a cell phone off the table behind him. Stefan's cell phone. He left the room.

With Damon gone, the floodgates broke loose. Stefan buried his face in her neck, sobbing uncontrollably. "Elena . . ."

He picked her up, cringing at the sick wet noise as he pulled her off the broken wooden shards she'd been impaled on. He trudged up the stairs, down the hall, to their bathroom. He flipped on the light, gently setting her body on the cold tile floor.

He started a bath . . . and began to undress her. He peeled layer after layer off, tossing the bloody clothes in the garbage. He took off her prized vervain necklace and put it on her bedside table in their room. He went back into the bathroom and picked her up, setting her in the bath . . . and began to clean her. He didn't want her to wake up how she'd . . . died . . .

TVDTVDTVDTVDTVD

An hour later just as Stefan was finished dressing her in a clean set of pajamas he heard the door open downstairs. He settled her on her side of the bed, kissed her on the cheek, and covered her up.

He heard Damon and Caroline downstairs. Damon was explain what was happening, Caroline was crying and yelling at Damon, Gabby was crying, then he heard Damon crash into something.

Seconds later his and Elena's bedroom door flew open revealing the blonde vampire holding Gabby in her arms.

"Stefan . . ." Her words faltered, her gaze on Elena. "Oh my god . . . Elena . . ."

"C-Caroline . . ." Stefan stood up.

"Oh my god . . ." Caroline said again. She tried to envelope him in a hug but he pushed away.

"Caroline, I need you to take Gabrielle," Stefan held on to her shoulders. "Caroline . . . I need you to get the baby out of here."

"D-Damon told me what happened . . . why is Damon here?" Caroline, despite being a vampire, was still her emotional self.

"It was an accident," Stefan said. "There was another vampire, I'm not even sure . . ." He took an unneeded breath. "The point is I need you to get Gabrielle away from the house. And keep the others away until I say so. Okay? Can you do that for me?"

Caroline nodded. Then it clicked... "Wait, is Elena a va―"

"Yes," Stefan sighed, nodding.

"Oh my god . . ." Caroline gasped.

"Take Gabby, her things are in the nursery," Stefan said again. "I will call you later. Okay?" She nodded, not moving. "Caroline!"

"Yes..." She snapped out of it, taking Gabby out of the room to set about her task.

Once Caroline was gone, Stefan breathed, running his hands through his hair. He looked over at Elena. She looked like she was just sleeping. If only . . .

He didn't want to leave her alone but he needed to know what was going on. He used his vampire speed to go downstairs and found...

Damon was cleaning.

Even when they were alive, Damon Salvatore never cleaned a day in his life.

The shards of wooden table and blood were gone. The living room was back the way it was . . .it looked like nothing happened.

When their eyes met Stefan saw something he'd never seen in his older brother's eyes . . . compassion.

"I'm so sorry, Stefan . . . I never meant for this to happen . . ."

Stefan sank down on the stairs, running his hands through his hair again. "Why are you here?"

"It's a long story . . ." Damon started, sighing.

Stefan shrugged, "I've got nothing but time."

But . . ."

"No," Stefan shook his head. "You disappear and leave us to fight Klaus . . . and you have the balls to show up five years later and get my wife killed!"

"Stefan . . ."

Stefan stood up, rage seething in his voice. "ELENA IS DEAD, DAMON!"

"I know!" Damon shouted back, sinking to the ground. "I'm so sorry . . . I never meant . . . no one was supposed to get hurt . . . especially her . . . not after . . . not after . . . Rose . . ."

"I hope killing you is the first thing she does," Stefan spat.

Damon looked up at his words, surprised. "She's a vampire . . ."

"Yes," Stefan's teeth were ground. He expected his brother to have some retort to that . . . but the other vampire said nothing, except―

"I'm sorry . . ." Damon whispered.

"It's not me you need to apologize to," Stefan shrugged. "Now . . . tell me what the fuck is going on."

Damon was about to speak when Stefan's ears picked up a noise upstairs. He sped upstairs to their room. The bed was empty. Where was she?

He heard crying and turned to the corner. She was huddled in the corner, bawling, her knees drawn to her chin.

"Honey . . ." He knelt down beside her, pulling her into a hug. He kissed the top of her forehead.

"I had this aweful nightmare, Stefan," She sobbed. "It felt so real . . ."

He sighed, pulling back to face her. He kissed her, looking in her eyes. She stopped crying, just staring at him.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?"

He kissed her again, sighing. "I'm sorry, Elena . . ."

"No . . ." She sobbed, pounding on his chest. "No . . ."

He hugged her tight, feeling her tears soak his shirt. "Ssh . . ." He tried to calm her down. "Elena, honey, we need to talk about this."

"Where's Gabby?" Elena said. "Where is my baby?"

"She's safe," Stefan assured her, trying to sooth her.

"Where is she, Stefan?" Elena said.

Their door opened. Damon stood in the doorway, holding the house phone. "Sorry . . .it's Caroline. She's worried."

Stefan sighed. He hadn't wanted to tell Elena where Gabby was . . .yet. He turned his head. "Tell her that I am handling it and I will call her later. Okay?"

"Got it," Damon nodded, shutting the door behind him.

Stefan turned his attention back to Elena, still holding her close. She was still crying. "Elena . . ." He whispered in her ear, kissing her neck.

"I wasn't ready, Stefan . . ." She whispered. "I'm not . . ."

"I wasn't either," He said. "But . . . it's happening and we need to talk about it."

"I know . . ." She sighed. She crawled onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. She buried her face in his chest.

He stood up, holding her up. He dropped her on the bed and lay down beside her, holding her. She stopped crying, nuzzling his neck, sucking on the skin. He smiled but sat up. "Elena, we need to talk."

She groaned in frustration, sitting up also. "Fine." She crossed her arms. "About what?"

"What you're going to do," Stefan said. He'd hoped they'd have had this conversation when she was still alive. "What we're going to do."

She picked up his arm, tracing invisible circles on his bicep. "How long do I have . . . to decide?" Her voice was quiet.

"Not long," He was honest with her. "Four or five hours at the most."

She turned over, picking up her pillow and hugging it. "I hate this." She whined. She threw the pillow across the room, breaking the lamp on her desk. "Stefan . . . I don't know what to do. Tell me what to do . . ."

He sighed, shaking his head. "No." She whined. "I'm sorry, Elena, but I'm not telling you what to decide. If you want this, the decision has to be yours."

"I want Gabby . . ." She sighed, holding her stomach as if her baby was still in her womb.

Again he shook his head, his heart broken. "Honey, you know I can't do that."

"Right . . ." She dropped her arms. "I understand. It's just . . . I haven't been away from her since she was born . . ."

"I'm sorry . . . I know that this is hard," Stefan kissed her.

"I just wanna see my baby . . ." Elena snuggled into him.

"Ssh . . . it's gonna be okay," He held her.

Her voice cracked, "I don't wanna die, Stefan . . . Please . . . I don't want to lose you or Gabby . . ."

"Are you saying you want this?" Stefan said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes . . ." Elena held his hand in hers. She sat up and he did too. She wiped her eyes and looked into his. "Stefan . . . I don't want to die. I want to live . . . forever . . . with you and Gabby . . ."

To Be Continued