The months since Stefan left passed quickly. Before they knew it it was December, and Elena and Katherine were four months pregnant. Damon had met with the doctor Alaric had told him about, Meredith Fell, several times now and had finally deemed her worthy to see his fiancée. Elena's first appointment with her was coming up soon.
Katherine on the other hand wasn't worried about seeing a doctor, she was worried about Stefan. None of them had heard a word from him since he tried to exterminate the two Salvatore heirs. Elena had tried to get Sheriff Forbes to help Katherine out by tracking mysterious deaths around the area, knowing that if he was with Klaus, Klaus was probably feeding nearby. However, despite her friendship with Damon, Sheriff Forbes refused to help because Caroline compelled her not too. Caroline was pissed at Elena for excepting Damon's proposal and hurting Stefan's feelings. Elena also suspected that Caroline was withholding information on Stefan's whereabouts because she had a major thing for Klaus.
As for Damon, he didn't want to find Stefan, he didn't need him in his child's life. But Damon wanted Elena to be happy, who wanted to help Katherine. So he agreed to find out where he was and send her to him.
One very cold night he turned on the heat for Elena and tucked her into his bed. She'd fallen asleep on his shoulder watching Van Helsing and he'd carried her upstairs. He kissed her forehead and then kissed her small baby bump very gently.
"I'll be back." He whispered, pulling out a piece of paper and writing that he and Alaric were going out for drinks.
Truthfully, he and Alaric were going to Memphis where they'd heard rumors of strange disappearances and bodies drained completely of blood.
Damon was not liking the looks of things, not considering he'd seen on the news that Tennessee had a serial killer on its hands, one that liked to shred their victims bodies. That sounded like only one person he knew...and it wasn't Klaus. Damon pushed that thought away, refusing to believe his baby brother would resort to that just because he lost his girlfriend to him. He and Alaric had to hurry, not wanting Elena left alone in the house for so long.
Elena woke up to the letter, dissatisfied that her fiancé wasn't there to help her get ready for her doctors appointment. The appointment was hours away, but she wanted to look presentable, scared that Dr. Fell already resented the fact that Damon was too protective to let her see her before now. When she opened her closet she found yet another note taped to one of her shirts.
"Dearest Warrior Princess, Don't you dare think about dressing up for this appointment. You need to be comfortable. Wear the shirt I bought you last week...you still haven't worn it. Don't you like it? Much love,
Your Eternal Stud."
She rolled her eyes and pulled the shirt he was talking about out. She hated that he had given her the pet names "Warrior Princess" and "Princess of Darkness" almost as much as she hated that he'd bought her this shirt. It was bright white with long sleeves and said "Say no to mistletoe" in Christmas Green letters just above where her belly would be. She was sure Damon was trying to be cute, there was no way he actually though she'd like it.
"I'm marrying a dick..." She murmured to herself and she pulled the shirt on. She tugged on some dark wash jeans and groaned at how horrible she thought she looked.
"Katherine I'm getting fat..." She whimpered to the other Doppelgänger, who had just entered the room. She snorted.
"You and me both sister."
Meanwhile, Damon and Alaric had just finished speaking with the police department, who he'd compelled to believe he was a detective. They'd agreed to show them the latest crime scene. When they got there Alaric took a shocked step back and Damon just shook his head in disappointment. Two girls. Were sitting on a couch, covered head to toe in blood and sitting as if their bodies were lopsided. Well...Damon supposed they looked that way because whoever had put the pieces back together did a rush job. He nudged one of the girls legs with his foot and sure enough, her head rolled right off her shoulders and into the floor. Damon sighed.
"It's his signature...there's a reason they call him the Ripper." Damon whispered.
"Stefan?" Damon nodded.
"He feeds so hard he rips them apart and then feels remorse and puts them back together. It's the damnedest thing...definitely Stefan." Damon said in an almost amused tone. Detecting the whispering, the police chief turned to face them.
"You know anything about this?"
"You're going to forget we were ever here, I have a Princess holding down the fort at home and I mustn't keep her waiting." He said with a smirk as he compelled the man and led Alaric out of the house.
"You'll never make it back in time for that appointment..." Damon's lips curled into an even wider smirk.
"That's where you're wrong, Ric. See ya in about nine hours."
Alaric tried to stop Damon, not wanting to drive Damon's car all the way to the boarding house but he barely got out a "Damon wait!" Before his friend had sped off.
Back home, Katherine and Elena were quietly talking, having felt closer to each other since the Stefan incident. They were sitting on the edge of Damon's bed when something caught Katherine's eye.
"What is this?" She walked over to the closet and saw all these markings and notes on a map.
"It looks like Damon's been tracking Klaus behind our backs..." Elena said in a half offended tone. She didn't want to see Stefan...she was angry that for some reason Damon did, after all he'd done to them. Katherine was angry for a completely different reason. She DID want to see Stefan, and all these months of despair she'd gone through thinking she and Damon had been making no progress in finding him and here he had been tracking him this whole time! The only thing the two Doppelgängers knew was that when he got home, Damon Salvatore was a dead man. He got home with ten minutes to spear looking disheveled and drenched in sweat. He didn't know vampires could get tired running like that, but damn...he had almost overdone it. He figured he had time to take a shower and descended the stairs to his bedroom slowly. Katherine and Elena's ears pick up the sound and they move to the top of the stairs with their arms crossed. They gave each other an understanding glance and scowled down at Damon as he trudged toward them. Damon lifted his head to look at the two, and he gave Elena a gentle smile, happy to see her after such a long day. Elena's anger almost dissipated completely as she gazed into those intense blue eyes that held nothing in them put pure unadulterated love for her...until he smirked and said "Nice shirt."
Her eyes grew wild and her temper flared and she flung him back down the stairs with a flick of her hand. She became even more infuriated as he rang out with laughter from the bottom if the stairs.
"Don't pout, Princess, c'mon, it looks cute on you." Katherine rolled her eyes and turned to Elena.
"I'll handle this." She stormed down the staircase and put Damon in a chokehold.
"Why didn't you tell me you were tracking Klaus's victims?! All this tone you told me you had no luck and you knew exactly where he was! Why, Damon?!" She demanded, her hand clenching harder around his neck. Damon was in severe pain and couldn't get a gasp of breath. All Damon could manage to whisper out was "E-Elena..." Elena met the ex-lovers downstairs and sighed, hating to see him in pain.
"That's enough, Kat." She said softly, rubbing her back in a circular motion. Katherine let him go, but never broke eye contact.
"Why!" She shouted again.
"Because they aren't Klaus's victims, Katherine, they're Stefan's! He's left body parts up and down the eastern seaboard!" He spat venomously, angry that he was being accused of any wrong doing when Stefan was the one murdering innocent people.
"I've seen it happen before, he's flipped the switch, he's a full blown ripper!" He bellowed angrily, ranting and not really caring if he was scaring either of the girls in the process. They needed to hear it.
"Damon stop." Elena said sternly, upset that he'd just made Katherine begin to cry.
"No you stop, Elena. Stop helping Katherine look for him, stop waiting for him to come home, just stop!" This was the first time Damon had yelled at her since they started dating. Tears filled her eyes and she looked at him with a raw look of hurt and disgust.
"You think I'm waiting for that bastard to come home?! He tried to hurt our child, Damon! I don't want him anywhere near me! YOU have been the one looking for him behind my back. Guess that shows how much you really care, huh? Was this baby even something you really wanted or just something you did because you felt sorry me?" She sobbed, not waiting for his answer and running to their bedroom. He immediately felt guilty as he heard the door slam.
"That's what you do, Damon. You sabotage things..." Katherine whispered, shaking her head and walking in the opposite direction to Stefan's bedroom. Within ten seconds flat Damon was at his bedroom door knocking gently. He didn't want to provoke her more than he already had.
"Elena...you're going to be late for your appointment." He reasoned, trying to coax her into calming down.
"I don't care!" She cried. His heart was breaking, because of their blood bond from blood sharing he could feel the pain he'd inflicted on her...and he never wanted her to feel it ever again.
"Elena...angel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, but you have to understand. He's my brother...I needed to know that he was okay. Don't think for one moment that it means I'm not angry at him for almost hurting the one thing that truly symbolizes the bond we share." He paused for a moment, taking a risk by slowly opening the door. Elena was curled up on their bed, crying into his favorite shirt. The black button up with every button missing...the one she had ripped open the night they'd made love on the hood of his Camero. This only made him ache more, walking to her and crawling up on the bed, taking her face in his hands and forcing her to look at him.
"None of this was ever out of pity. I wanted this just as much as you did, maybe more. I've spent a century of my life wishing I had a family. Getting to start one with a girl like you...that was something I knew was out of reach, something I never deserved. You were the one to prove me wrong. Don't ever forget that." Elena shot into his arms, whimpering as their lips brushed against each others.
"I'm sorry, Damon...I didn't mean to overreact I just..." He chuckled very softly and kissed her forehead.
"It's just hormones, and besides, I'm kind of an ass." He said with a smirk. She giggled and nuzzled into his side.
"Let's get going, we're already five minutes late." Damon said with a tender rub of her belly. She nodded and took his hand as he led her down to the front door.
When they arrived at the doctors office, a doctor with medium length brown hair tied in a bun was pacing irritably.
"What took you so long, Damon?" She said with a grimace. He sighed.
"Don't start with me, Meredith. I just decided you were worthy of seeing my fiancée, don't make me change my mind." There was a strange tension in the room as the two eyed each other in a resentful way. Elena cleared her throat nervously and Meredith smiled, extending her hand.
"I'm Dr. Fell, you must be Mrs. Salvatore? I've heard a lot about you." Her smile was fake but Elena shook her hand anyway.
"Gilbert. I'm Elena Gilbert, Damon and I aren't married yet." She corrected. Meredith snorted bitterly.
"I know, but sometimes I forget considering how possessive he is of you." One look from Damon shut her up and she pulled out some sort of device.
"You're the first case of vampire pregnancy ever, so I'm not sure how this will all play out, but I'm going to try to get an ultrasound image okay?" Elena nodded and laid down on the examining table. Damon held her hand supportively as Meredith spread some cold blue goo over Elena's abdomen.
"I should be able to tell the gender..." She trailed off absentmindedly as she rubbed the device along her stomach and looked hard at the screen. Damon was beginning to get excited, eager to see the child that was a perfect blend of he and his soulmate.
"There's your baby." Meredith said mater-of-factly, pointing to a small little round head about the size of a fist and a tiny little body curled into the fetal position.
"Of course this is a close up, he's a little smaller than this right now." Damon's eyes were glued to the screen but he mumbled out a "He?" Meredith smiled.
"Yes. You're having a little boy."
Elena let out a happy gasp and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Ian..." She whispered. Damon kissed the top of her head happily and looked at Meredith almost timidly, as if he was afraid it would hurt his ego to ask.
"Can we...have a Sonogram?" She just grinned, pleased he wasn't be sarcastic for once.
"Of course, I'll print one right now." She left the room for a few moments and Damon lifted Elena off the table, cradling her in his arms, unable to get close enough to her.
"I love you."