A/N: Hi all! Sorry for taking forever to update but the semester is officially over. My stories will now be updated weekly or even more so please just hang in there. WARNING: This chapter is graphic and with that being said, domestic abuse is never okay. If you know anyone who may be a victim to abuse, please let someone know.

The walk home from the restaurant was silent. Elijah had heard what Elena had said and no words had ever haunted him so much. Elena walked next to Elijah's side with quiet tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt sorry that Elijah had heard what she said but she wasn't sorry for saying it. Elijah faced forward, eyes focused on the path ahead, never once glancing at Elena. They looked out of place, everyone surrounding them was bubbling with joy and looking forward to life's next moment. They, however, were sullen and glum. When they finally reached the hotel, Elena tried grabbing Elijah's hand – Elijah turned away and took the stairs to their floor. Elena stood in the middle of the lobby rejected and slightly ashamed when Katherine caught up with her.

"Hey… are you okay?" Katherine asked with no emotion. Elena looked up to Katherine with tearstained cheeks and smiled.

"This is just one of those the times, in my life, that I wish I choose Stefan over Elijah." Elena inhaled and walked to the elevator doors. She felt a dull aching pain coming from her lower abdomen, Katherine noticed Elena's expression and ran over to her quickly.

"What is going on Elena?" Katherine murmured in hush tones. Elena was breathing heavy and fast now.

"Too much stress, I need to lay down." Elena panted. Katherine nodded with wide eyes and ushered Elena into the elevator. As they were in the elevator, Elena told Katherine her floor number and Katherine willingly pushed it.

"He looked for you, you know. After you left. He spent months trying to get a hold of you." Katherine admitted. Elena looked over to Katherine with a gaped mouth and was at a loss for words. The ride to the floor was seemingly endless.

Elena reached her floor and wished Katherine a good night and thanked her.

"Elena… don't sell yourself short, okay? You're only human. You make mistakes and you learn from them. You should go talk to your husband and make things right." Katherine pressed the button to her floor and Elena walked away.

Elena opened the door to her room and saw Elijah calmly packing his bags. Elena slowly walked over to him and Elijah stopped and glared at her.

"What?" Elijah asked with anger, Elena said nothing.

"What?" Elijah asked again with more anger and still Elena said nothing.

"WHAT?" Elijah finally yelled, hastily walking towards Elena, with intense furiousness. Elena backed away from Elijah afraid of his intentions.

"What's the matter, Elena? Hmm? Was I not good enough for you? Hmm? Was I just some fucking replacement for Stefan?" Elijah was still yelling and Elena eyes were filled with fear. He grabbed hold of her shoulders squeezing them a bit too tightly. Elena winced at his grip and Elijah chuckled.

"Oh, so she does feel pain! Nice to know you're not completely desensitized!" Elijah still had hold of Elena when she tried getting away from him. Elijah pulled Elena towards him and Elena fought against it.

"Don't you ever walk away from me." Elijah commanded as he pushed Elena to the ground, striking his hand across her face. Elena gasped with shock and fear. Elijah realized his abuse on Elena felt good and so he grabbed Elena up by her arm and closed his fist right across her left eye. Elena cried out and Elijah didn't stop.

"You think I'm not good enough, you ungrateful bitch?" Elijah hit her again this time on her lips. Elena pleaded for him to stop.

"Do you wish I was Stefan?" Elijah kicked her to the ground and Elena heaved. Elijah bent down on his knees and looked at Elena's face by pulling her hair back. Elena's eye was starting to swell and she had a gash on her cheek. Her lips were twice their size and Elena could barely breath. Elena looked Elijah right in his eyes and smiled through her bloody teeth.

"Every, damn, day." Elena choked out. Elijah looked at her with disbelief and released her.

"You fucking whore." Elijah grabbed his bags and left their room, leaving Elena helplessly on the floor.

Elena laid there for hours, she just looked up at the ceiling, trying to cope with what had happened to her. She was in pain and everything hurt. She wanted to move but couldn't without wincing in pain. Elena heard a voice and shuffling outside her door, in the hallway, she recognized it and called out for help.

"Help." She yelled with a cracking voice.

"Help me," she said again. The rustling stopped outside of her door and a voice called back to her.

"Hello? Hang on ma'am, I'm getting the General Manager now. Are you alright?" The voice asked. Elena's was going in and out of consciousness. The person knocked on the door and asked Elena if she was alright again. Elena breathed heavily and shook her head, as if the voice could see her.

"Just hang in there, okay? The manager is coming now with your room key." The voice soothed Elena, in a familiar way. She nodded her head and slowly opened and closed her eyes. The handle on the door jiggled and was opened. From the floor, Elena saw two pairs of feet rush to her. One pair of feet was adorned in shiny black oxfords, Elena realized that was the hotel manager. The other pair of feet wore a pair of black Italian leather motorcycle boots, which Elena immediately recognized.

"St…St…Stefan?" she croaked out.

"Oh my God." Stefan painfully whispered and knelt down to Elena's side. The manager said he would call an ambulance but Stefan intercepted.

"I'm a doctor, " Stefan said quietly, "Just get me a first aid kit and ibuprofen." Elena shook her head no and Stefan squinted his eyes with confusion. Stefan looked at Elena intently and then relaxed his face into disappointed when he realized why Elena was declining the ibuprofen.

"She's pregnant," Stefan said in a sedated manner. He shook his head and snapped back into reality.

"Just get me a first aid kit and ice. And don't mention this to anyone," Stefan ordered while handing the manager a few hundreds. The manager nodded and left Stefan and Elena together. Stefan sighed worriedly and looked at Elena.

"Where does it hurt?" Stefan asked sincerely. Elena gulped, trying to find her words. She was too stunned to say anything and Stefan picked up on that.

"Okay, I'm going to place my hand over your body and just nod if that's where it hurts, okay?" Elena nodded and Stefan continued to do so.

Stefan hovered his hand from Elena's feet and up, he did it slowly, asking Elena where it hurt. Elena nodded her head when Stefan reached her ribs, eye and cheek. The manager came back and Stefan asked him to leave and close the door. Stefan waited until the manager was gone and then he picked up Elena from the floor and placed her on the bed. Elena winced when Stefan picked her up and Stefan pressed his lips into a firm line.

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry." He chanted over and over again. His voice was soothing enough but physically, she needed more attending to. Stefan gently laid Elena onto the bed and looked at her with watery eyes.

"I'm going to cut off your dress, I want to see your ribs and make sure they're not broken, is that okay?" Stefan asked Elena and she nodded. Stefan grabbed a pair of scissors from the first aid kit and began cutting Elena's dress in half. His eyes focused on the scissors but he couldn't help but glance at Elena's stomach once it had been exposed. Elena noticed this and stopped his hand from cutting the rest of her dress by grabbing it.

"It should be yours, Stefan. Everything should have been yours." Elena whispered and Stefan looked at her with sad eyes. He just nodded and continued cutting her dress off. Stefan sighed with disgust when he saw Elena's ribs, which where purple and blue. He gently pressed his fingers on her ribs and Elena cried out in pain. Stefan looked at Elena with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I just need to make sure they're not broken. It feels like they're just bruised. But to make sure, you need to go to the hospital." Stefan was still gently touching Elena's ribs.

"No." Elena responded.

"For the baby." Stefan retaliated. Elena closed her eyes and then agreed to go.

Stefan dressed Elena in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and was careful enough not to accidently hurt her. Stefan wanted to ask Elena so many things, especially where Elijah was so he could beat the shit out of him but Stefan was patient and more than willing to be at Elena's side.

When they arrived to the Emergency Room, the doctors took Elena right away and asked if Stefan was her husband. Stefan shook his head no and Elena felt sorry about that. The doctors told Stefan he wasn't allowed to be with Elena but Elena protested and got her way. The first thing the doctor's did was perform an ultrasound.

Stefan sat next to Elena and the nurse squeezed the jelly on Elena's stomach and started up the ultrasound machine. Elena held her breath as the nurse ran the remote all over Elena's stomach. The nurse squinted her eyes at the machine and shook her head sadly. Elena's heart dropped. Stefan lowered his head and placed them between his hands.

"I can't find a heartbeat… I'm… I'm so sorry." The nurse replied with sadness. Elena bowed her head and started crying. The nurse asked the doctor to come in and ensure what she saw was right. The doctor looked at the monitor and became pensive.

"Elena, have you been feeling sharp pain recently?" The doctor asked as Elena composed herself. Elena nodded.

"It looks like you have an ectopic pregnancy. You were only about nine weeks along… I'm very sorry. We need to take care of this immediately. We're going to have the fetus removed, if we don't this could danger any future pregnancies as well as your life. Have you had any previous pregnancies?" The doctor looked to Stefan and Elena spoke up angrily.

"He's not my husband." Elena snapped, "And yes, about five years ago, but I miscarried…." Stefan looked to Elena and she avoided his eyes.

"Okay, well, we're going to prep the operating room and give you some time to process this. I'll be back in a half an hour to take you." The doctor left the room and silence consumed Elena and Stefan. Stefan looked around the room, wanting to ask Elena the obvious question but he couldn't bring himself to ask her. Elena stared off into nothing and spoke.

"You know, five years ago, I never imagined I would be in this position. I would like to think we would be married by now, with our first child." Elena said. Stefan remained quiet.

"I slept with him because I was mad at you." Elena admitted. Stefan scoffed and proceeded to get up.

"Let me finish" Elena started, "I was mad at you because you were selling yourself short. You were giving up your dream to go to medical school… You gave up on yourself and so I gave up on you for one night. Doing that was the worst decision I have ever made – there isn't a day that doesn't go by where I think about what I had done."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Stefan asked. Elena looked to him and smiled sadly.

"Because, I didn't get a chance to tell you then and you deserve to know. I'm not saying it out of guilt or whatever. I may never see you again after tonight so I might as well just let you know."

Stefan sat back down and ran his hand through his hair. He sighed and cleared his throat.

"Elena…. You really hurt me, you know that? You completely left me up to dry. I tried looking for you and calling you, to apologize for what I had said. You never called me back. You never acknowledged I existed. You married my best friend." Stefan was cold and honest. Elena sighed and bit her lip.

"What?" Stefan asked. He knew Elena better than anyone and knew she had something to confess.

"I married him, because I thought I was pregnant with his baby. My mother told me it was the right thing to do. I was young and I had no idea what I was getting myself into."

Stefan looked at Elena with a furrowed brow, "The baby was never his, was it?"

"No, Stefan…" Suddenly, Stefan realized what Elena was saying and he felt sick.

"I… I have to go. I'm sorry" Stefan said abruptly as he quickly walked out of the hospital room. Elena looked to him and opened her mouth to say something but she refrained from calling out his name.

Stefan went back to his hotel room and much to his surprise, to find Bonnie and Damon lounging on the couch, watching a late night TV show.

"Where have you been?" Damon asked Stefan. Stefan walked into the living room and stood in front of the TV.

"I'm not even going to ask what you're doing here. But in case you were wondering, I saw Elena, beat half to death, with an ectopic pregnancy, admitting her wrongs and I just left her there." Stefan yelled. Damon and Bonnie sat up right and looked awry at Stefan.

"Calm down, Stef. Just tell us what happened." Bonnie calmly said. Stefan sat down between them and explained what had happened. Damon looked over to Bonnie a few times and looked sorry. Stefan was furious at what happened to Elena but was even more furious about how he reacted.

"And so, I just left her there, by herself. I'm such a fucking asshole." Stefan let a tear slip from his eye and quickly wiped it away.

"No, Stefan, you're not. You need to process something like that, you know? That's not easy to accept so easily." Damon encouraged. Stefan shook his head.

"She's been in a toxic relationship all these years while I've done nothing to contact her. If I had gotten back here hours sooner, maybe Elena would be safe and not have been in this situation." Stefan said angrily. Damon argued and patted Stefan on his back.

"Look, you have two ways to go at this: you either completely forget about Elena Gilbert or you march back in that hospital room and be there for her, whether you love her or not but know this- " Damon didn't even finish his statement before Stefan stood up and grabbed his keys to go back to the hospital to be there for Elena.

Damon watched his brother leave the hotel room and looked over to Bonnie with a small smile.

"He still loves her. I know he does. Let's go with him." Damon recommended and Bonnie happily obliged.