A/N: This chapter is a combination of AU, present day and flashbacks.


Stefan (AU)

"Mommy! Daddy! Come on, wake up! Wake up! Santa's been! Santa's been!"

I reluctantly pull away from sleep, only to feel a large weight pounce on top of me that causes my eyes to shoot open.

"Come on, Dad! Come on!" he yells excitably jumping up and down up the bed.

I groan and hear Elena groan next to me.

"Okay, okay, we're awake," she says, with a light laugh.

He flops down onto the bed and wriggles into the middle of us. I wrap my arm around him and kiss his mop of sandy hair.

"So Santa's been has he?" I ask.

He nods his head and yells, "Yes! Yes! Yes! The milk and cookies are gone and there's lots of presents under the tree!"

"What about the carrots for the reindeer's?" Elena asks.

"They're gone, too. Let's go downstairs!"

"You go on down, we'll be down in a minute and daddy will make his special pancakes and waffles with extra syrup. How does that sound?" Elena says, beaming down at him.

He gets back on his feet and whoops before climbing off the bed and dashing out of the door. A giggle of glee escapes her and I look at the door he's just disappeared out of, smiling from ear to ear. I reach for her hand and she turns to face me. Her hair is wild and frizzy, her eyes still sleepy and there's a patch of dry dribble at the side of her mouth, but she still looks beautiful.

"Merry Christmas," I say, pressing her hand to my mouth and kissing it lightly.

"Merry Christmas."

She leans into me, kisses me tenderly and I can feel that she's still smiling. I move from her mouth and go on to plant kisses from her ear all the way down to her neck. I feel her squirm underneath me because she's ticklish on her neck and so I pin her down and do it more, making silly noises as I do so. She wriggles underneath me and calls out to me to stop in between laughs. I tickle her harder and her laughs turn into chuckles and then her voice starts to crack, as her voice grows high pitched due to the swelling of uncontrollable laughter fighting to escape her body.

"Stefan, the baby! The baby!" she attempts to say, but she's laughing too hard.

I stop tickling her and slide back up to her, taking her face in my hands and gazing upon her dark eyes that are shimmering with joy and adoration. I kiss her softly then bend down and kiss her swollen stomach. I begin to feel movement and I look up to her with wide eyes. She places her hand on her stomach and no matter how many times we feel it, it still brings us immense amounts of joy and pride.

"Baby's awake," I say.

She reaches out for my face and says, "I love you, Stefan."

I shift back up to her and place my hand on the side of her face. "I love you," I reply, tracing my finger over her cheek and putting my head to hers.

She sighs a sweet, soft sigh and I wonder how I have been lucky enough to find her.

"Mom, dad! Come on!" a little voice yells from down the stairs, interrupting our tender moment.

We both let out a little giggle and then roll out of bed to head downstairs.


Damon (present day)

"Elena, you're here, Stefan, you're there; Jeremy, there; Bonnie and Damon, no, not there, here..." Caroline says pointing at seats around the table and giving out her orders.

I take my seat next to Bonnie and oddly, of everyone at this table today I'd rather sit by her. Sharing a drink with Stefan last night after we came to blows provided us with some level of closure, but our relationship is hardly at it's strongest. He's sat opposite me, next to Caroline and I can tell from the look on his face that he's less than enthusiastic about today. He's spent hours slaving over the stove, with Caroline over his shoulder bellowing out orders and now that the time has come to sit and eat he seems burnt out. Elena is at the opposite end of the table, next to Jeremy and she seems surprisingly upbeat giving the events of last night. I can't tell if she's really in a good mood or if it's merely a facade, and part of me hopes that it's the latter, since she announced less than 24 hours ago that she was going to walk away from Stefan and I. The thought of it tears me up inside and I want her to feel the same way. My feelings for her have always been one sided, but I still can't help but want her to care about me as much as I care for her and that means being in as much pain as I am, too.

"Matt, help me serve," Caroline calls to Donovan.

He sighs before getting up and following her into the kitchen. Once we all have a plate of food sitting in front of us, everyone immediately tucks in, and aside from the odd bit of chatter from Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy, the rest of us remain silent and concentrate on eating our food. I scan the room and look at everyone's faces and I sense that like me, everyone is only here out of obligation. Or most likely because Caroline threatened to rip their heads off if they didn't.

Stefan barely makes eye contact with anyone and I can sense he's jittery as a result of feeding last night. No doubt he would rather be tucking into some young sophomore rather than turkey and trimmings. Caroline and Tyler are in the middle of a fight, which is evident from the way Caroline keeps snapping at him and the way his head is practically in his dinner, as though he wants to disappear into it. Matt is perched at the end of the table next to Tyler and is quiet and unassuming. He's the only remaining human amongst us and if it weren't for the fact that most of the people sitting at this table were his childhood friends, he would definitely not be here. Elena outwardly appears happy, but I assume that she's just better than the rest of us at pretending. Bonnie and Jeremy are the only ones that seem truly content, which is most likely due to their blossoming romance and the glint in their eye that gives away what they were doing before they arrived. Surprisingly, the stony silences, dreary atmosphere and thunderous faces don't bother me, in fact I quite like it because it's familiar and reminds me of the way Stefan and I spent Christmas every year as kids.


Damon (flashback)

When I was a young boy I always held the spirit of Christmas in my heart. Lily, my sweet, doting mother did everything she could to ensure that I was happy and had a magical Christmas each December, but her efforts were always thwarted by my abusive, alcoholic father.

I lived in a world where I was used to my mother trembling in fear when my father was in the same room as her, of hearing her yelp in terror and beg for him to stop. I knew even from a young age that there was something wrong with my family, with my father, but I never truly understood what it was. Unlike the father's of my neighbors or friends, Giuseppe did not pay me a shred of attention, preferring to keep company with a bottle of whisky than his own son, but still I carried the innocence and naivety of a child and believed that he had to love me, after all he was my father and that's what father's did; they loved their sons. I would often go to him, grass stained knees, snotty nosed and muddy faced to ask him to play with me. No matter how many times he swiped me away with a quick back hand, I would keep going back to him, desperate for the love of my father.

Lily more than made up for Giuseppe's neglect by showering me with affection and love, and especially at Christmas time. In those early years I have only a handful of fond memories from the Christmas days that Giuseppe would be out hunting or at the pub and mother and I were free of him for a few short hours. Without him around, the frail, reserved and somber woman she usually was transformed into a bright, white light of joy. She would sit with me in front of the fireplace and encourage me to rip open the few presents she could afford to buy and then the two of us would sit down to eat, dreading the moment that Giuseppe would return home, because it always ended the same way; with crockery and food over the floor, Lily sobbing and me looking on, tears of my own streaming down my face, waiting for his hand to strike me in a fit of unprovoked rage.

Christmas was a happier time once Stefan was born. His birth provided Lily and I with a sense of joy, and for Giuseppe, pride. Stefan was the son he had always hoped for and quickly became the apple of his eye, which further reminded me of the harsh rejection he showed me in place of the devotion he showed my younger brother. But regardless of how much he doted on Stefan, he remained the same, with a bottle in his hand, a vicious tongue and fiery temper. However, having my little brother around to play with and share in adventures with, in some way eased the pain of his rejection and Christmas was a time for Stefan and I to play in the snow and be transported by our imaginations to magical lands where a big, fat man in a red suit traveled the world by flying reindeer and delivered presents under our tree.

Christmas of 1853 started exactly like that; Stefan and I playing in the snow, Lily standing by bundled up from head to toe, her nose red from the bitter cold, a smile on her face, whilst Giuseppe was out on his seasonal hunt, from which he would always return with nothing but another empty bottle of whisky. We built a snowman, indulged in snow ball fights, made snow angels and after an hour of play we returned inside, our bodies frozen. We huddled in front of the fire, Lily draped a blanket about us and I wrapped my arm around a shuddering 8 year old Stefan, holding him close.

"Now, boys, I wanted to save this until later, but I have something for you both," mother said, leaving the room to go out into the hall.

Stefan immediately discarded the blanket and jumped up squealing with excitement. A few moments later she appeared, rolling a bike along with her. It was rusty, the seat solid metal, the wheels flimsy, but Stefan's eyes still lit up with excitement.

"Is that for me?" he squeaked.

"Yes, darling. Santa bought it for you."

"It's just like the one Damon used to have!" Stefan exclaimed, turning to look at me, a beaming smile on his face. "Isn't it, Damon?"

"Sure is, buddy," I replied stepping up behind him and ruffling his sandy hair. "I'll teach you how to ride it the second the snow is cleared."

"Well, I thought this might make that a little easier..." mother said disappearing out of the room again and pulling out a second bike. "You didn't think I'd forget you, now, did you?"

I looked at her, my eyes wide in surprise.

"But...we can't afford this," I said.

"Now, I don't want you worrying about that. It's Christmas and I want you and your brother to have the best of everything. So here you go," she said pushing the bike towards me.

I took it from her and she came over and embraced me. "Merry Christmas, my darling boy."

"Thanks, mom," I whispered.

"Now we can ride together, Damon, can't we?" Stefan asked. "That's why Santa got you one, too. He's clever."

"Yeah. Yeah, he is," I said looking at mother a smile still on my face.

Then the door burst open, causing all three of us to jump out of our skin. A look of terror came across Lily's face and she desperately scrambled to grab the bikes, but just seconds later Giuseppe appeared in the doorway.

"Darling, you're back early."

"Huh," he replied. "It's my house and I can come back when I damn well please."

"Of course you can. I didn't mean...I just wasn't expecting you. The children and I haven't sat down to eat yet, we were waiting for you. Shall we...?"

"What's this?" he asked, stepping through the threshold on wobbly legs, gesturing at the bikes and spilling whisky on the floor from the open bottle that was in his hand.

"These? Oh, they're the boys Christmas presents. After what happened to Damon's bike in the summer, I thought it would be nice to get him a new one and Stefan has been wanting to learn to ride for a long time now, haven't you, darling?"

Stefan nodded enthusiastically.

"Look, dad, isn't it great?" he said stepping forward and reaching out for Giuseppe's hand.

I instantly felt my back stiffen, ready to dive in and protect Stefan, should the need arise. Even being the perfect son wasn't enough to save Stefan from the harsh punishment of meeting Giuseppe's fists and it was something I could not bear to be witness to. He was my little brother, an innocent and sweet child and he did not deserve it and as long as I was in the room it wouldn't happen. I'd lost count of the amount of slaps I'd intercepted that were intended for Stefan. I would very often deliberately disobey Giuseppe's orders or behave out of turn, just to distract his attention from Stefan's wrong doings.

But this time, he simply let Stefan take his hand and replied with a sarcastic, "Yeah."

"Damon said as soon as the snow clears he's going to teach me how to ride. Oh, dad, please come with us. You can teach me, too."

Giuseppe was no longer listening to Stefan and was glaring at me from where he stood.

"We'll have to see. Your father is busy with work and perhaps it would be best if Damon showed you," Lily replied, quickly, trying to defuse the situation before it progressed any further, just as she always did.

"Damon, huh," Giuseppe said stepping forward.

"Come on, now, darling. Let's sit and eat dinner, shall we? I'm sure you must be starving," Lily said reaching out and stroking his chest.

He shoved her hard and she stumbled backwards. I looked to her sitting on the floor looking up at me through the wide, fear filled eyes I was so used to seeing and I looked Giuseppe straight in the eye as he approached me.

"Dad?" Stefan's voice called from beside me, quiet and uncertain.

Despite these encounters being a regular occurrence in our home, after 8 years Stefan still seemed to react in surprise, most likely because the tenderness Giuseppe showed him, confused him and deceived him into believing that his father was a kind, loving father and husband.

"Do you remember what happened to your last bike?"

"I do."

"Giuseppe, Damon has more than proved himself to be-"

"Be quiet, Lily!" he yelled, cutting her off.

"You, my boy, are nothing more than a delinquent. I hear folks around here, the way they speak about you. Always out playin' in the mud, makin' a fool of yourself, speakin' of things that don't concern you, gettin' in trouble. You're an embarrassment and I'm ashamed to call you my son."

The smell of whisky was so strong on his breath that I felt certain I would pass out from the fumes and flecks of spit flew out from his mouth onto my face as he spoke, but still I remained standing tall, looking him straight in the eye. I could feel Stefan beside me, moving in closer to me and I pushed him aside.

"No more than I am ashamed to call you my father, sir," I said, clear and concise.

His eyes went wide with rage and he yelled out in fury, striking me down where I stood.

"No!" Stefan yelled diving in front of me and holding up his hand to protect himself.

Giuseppe was too drunk to notice that Stefan was the one that was about to receive the hit and so his fist fell upon him, sending him down to the ground. Lily got up from the floor at the other side of the room and scrambled over to us. She took a weeping Stefan into her arms and dragged me by the hand away from him. He remained standing on the spot, swaying from side to side and his reactions were so numbed by the immense levels of alcohol in his system that it seemed to take him a minute to realise we were at the other side of the room in Lily's arms. He let out a roar and proceeded to pick my new bike up and smash it repeatedly off the brick floors and walls, until the floor was filled with pieces of it and it was completely bent out of shape. Stefan had his head buried in my shirt the entire time it was happening, crying so loud that it almost drowned out the sounds of the bangs, but I watched him continue to destroy the bike along with our Christmas, filled with a burning resentment and hatred for him.

Once he was satisfied that he had adequately ruined my second bike, he charged over towards us and I grabbed onto Stefan tighter, wrapping my arms about him to protect him from harm. Giuseppe's sweaty, sticky hands reached out for me around the throat, but Lily ran from behind us and pushed him forcefully away from me, screaming at him to leave me alone. I lifted Stefan up into my arms and shifted back against the wall, desperate to become as one with it to escape from what was happening. Screams and yells escaped both of them as they struggled with each other, but when I opened my eyes Lily had stopped fighting and relented, just as she always did and was on the floor on her back, staring up at him through terror filled eyes. He straddled her and began slapping her across her face repeatedly, and all that escaped her were small grunts, as she attempted to remain brave for Stefan and I.

I stood by and watched, cradling Stefan in my arms and resting my face on top of his hair, taking as much comfort from him as he was from me and the need for my father's love and approval completely disappeared in that moment, as I watched him beat my mother within an inch of her life for the hundredth time. That is the first time I truly saw him for what he was; a violent drunk. A monster.


Elena (present day)

"Stefan this is great!" Caroline exclaims, putting a mouthful of turkey in her mouth.

Everyone nods in agreement and mutters words of gratification and appreciation to Stefan, who nods and smiles modestly. I peer over at Jeremy sitting to my right. There's only a few bites of his dinner left on his plate, in comparison to the rest of us that still have half a plate full. I look at his strong, muscular arms and notice that even sitting, his head is at least 5 inches higher than mine and I wonder when my little brother stopped being so little.

This our first Christmas without mom, dad and Jenna and I know that like me, Jeremy is attempting to bury the pain of missing them by being overly chatty and displaying a toothy smile. I love everybody that is sat at this table and that makes it somewhat easier to deal with them not being here, but I can't help but peer over at Matt who is sitting next to me, in the same place that dad sat less than 12 months ago. The memories of the holidays are fuzzy, because we spent Christmas the same way every year and it never occurred to me that last Christmas might be the last we'd have together as a family. I peer over Jeremy's shoulder to look at the photograph of mom and dad on their wedding day that still hangs on the wall. He catches my eye line and swivels to look at the photo, before looking back to me a sighing softly.

"I miss them, too," he says quietly, reaching out and placing his hand on my thigh.

I meet his eyes and nod. Everywhere I look and everything I do, I'm constantly reminded of the absence of my family, but today, I'm more nostalgic than anything else. I reflect on the memories I have with my family with joy, and although I would give anything to have another Christmas with them, having Jeremy sat beside me is more than enough. I've only just got him back and I want to enjoy the day and appreciate this time with him whilst I can, because tomorrow we kill Kol and after that we won't have time for this for a very long time.

Aside from the odd bits of tinsel or banners that Caroline hung this morning especially for the dinner, the house is devoid of Christmas festivity, because most of our Christmases were spent at the lake house. Every year mom, Jeremy and I headed up to the lake house on the 23rd without dad, and he would join us late on Christmas Eve, after his shift at the surgery ended. He would bring a tree with him and we would decorate it together, whilst sipping on hot chocolate. On Christmas morning, we would wake up, eat pancakes and waffles for breakfast, then each of us would open one present each, before Jenna arrived at around 1pm for dinner. We would then sit to eat, pull crackers, read the awful jokes and wear the paper hats and sit together and open presents. We would then play games, before later on sitting down to eat cheese and crackers, whilst watching 'It's a Wonderful Life', during which Jeremy and I would always fall asleep on the couch.

Each year at Christmas our family would push aside everything and focus on spending quality time together and being happy, and for that reason all 17 of the Christmases I have celebrated are special to me and filled with joyous memories that I will cherish forever. Part of me feels saddened that I will never be sat around the table surrounded by my rosy cheeked children with big grins, and gleeful giggles, passing the family traditions down to them in order to create a joyous, magical filled day that they will remember and carry with them for the rest of their lives, just as our parents did for Jeremy and me. At only 18 years old I've never particularly thought too much of my future, but the one and only thing that somewhere deep down inside I always believed I would have was a family of my own and that I would one day be know by a very special little boy or girl as 'mom'.


Stefan (AU)

The morning whizzes by in a whirlwind of pancakes, waffles and syrup, laughter and chatter. Sammy has always enjoyed Christmas but this year he is more excited than he's ever been and it provides me with such joy to see it. He's spent the hours since he woke up bounding around the house, singing Christmas songs at the top of his lungs and peering out the window in anticipation of Damon, Bonnie and Jeremy's arrival.

He kneels under the tree and selects three presents, one for each of us and puts them at our feet, where we then proceed to open them together. Elena's is a vanilla scented candle from Caroline, mine aftershave from Jeremy and Sammy's, a set of wolf figurines from Caroline and Tyler. Elena lights the candle and places it in the center of the coffee table, providing the house with a sweet scent, whilst I tend to the dinner and Sammy plays with his wolves beside the tree.

At preciously 1pm on the dot, Bonnie and Damon arrive and I open the door to find them hand in hand, wearing matching knitted jumpers and goofy grins on their faces. Samson immediately jumps up and throws himself into their arms, excited to see them. Damon ruffles his hair and wishes him a merry Christmas and the two of them walk through into the kitchen to join Elena and I. As always, Jeremy arrives half an hour late but Samson is ecstatic to see his Uncle and insists that he join in with his play.

When dinner is ready Jeremy and Sammy race to the table, both of them chuckling and gasping for breath by the time they reach us. We all take our places and I serve up the food that I have spent hours slaving away at. I make sure to give Elena and Jeremy bigger portions than the rest of us, because Elena is eating for two and because Jeremy is...well, a greedy pig. Everyone says thanks and compliments my cooking, and the room is filled with groans and moans of pleasure, as they all savor every bite of their food. Even Sammy sits still in his seat beside Jeremy and eats his dinner in a polite manner, as though he were one of the adults. Half an hour later everyone's plates are empty, and we're all leaning back in our chairs, rubbing our bloated bellies, dreamy smiles on our faces. Elena lets out a huge belch and we all laugh.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening, goes down in the same way it always does - with the pulling of crackers, bad jokes, lots of chocolate, the room scattered with discarded wrapping paper, smiles of joy as each of us opens that one present that we've desperately been wanting and games, that bring out the sibling rivalry between Damon and I. Samson opens all of his presents, but still waits patiently until 6pm to open the big mystery box that is under the window beside the tree. He practically falls over his feet as he sprints to the box, but when he tries to lift it he comes to find that it's too heavy and Damon rushes over to help him. Elena sits beside Bonnie on the couch, camcorder in hand ready to capture the wondrous moment that's about to occur. Sammy rips the wrapping paper off in less than a second, as the patience he has managed all day completely dissipates, to reveal a cardboard box underneath.

"What is it? What is it? What is it?" he asks excitedly, jumping up and down on the spot.

Jeremy grabs a knife and hands it to me so that I can cut into the box faster. I reach inside the box and pull out a brand new, shining, red bike and place it on the carpet. Samson's eyes practically pop out of the sockets when he sees it and then he turns his head to look over to Elena, a look of surprise and disbelief mixed with joy on his face.

"Go on then, sweetheart. It's yours," Elena says. He then looks from her, back to me and I give him a nod of encouragement.

He climbs on, and the bike collapses over on it's side in a matter of seconds, luckily I manage to catch him in my arms which protects him from injuring himself.

Tears glisten in his eyes as he says, "I'm rubbish," his voice wobbly.

"No, no you're not," I say bending down to him. "You just need to learn how to do it. That's why Santa brought it for you, so you can learn. Uncle Damon and me will teach you, won't we?"

"You bet we will," Damon replies with a nod. "Come here, buddy."

Sammy goes over and perches himself on Damon's knee.

"Look, I taught your dad how to ride a bike, and just between us, he was rubbish too."

A small chuckle escapes Sammy.

"He was so bad that I thought I'd never be able to teach him, but then guess what happened?"

"He did it?" Sammy, asks with hope in his eyes.

Damon nods. "That's right."

"That's why it's important not to give up," I say. "No matter how hard something gets."

Sammy nods and then gets up and goes over to the bike. "Yeah," he says determinedly tracing his hand over it. "I'm going to learn how to ride a bike and then I'm going to be the bestest bike rider in the entire world!"

Laughter escapes all of us and Elena encourages him more with her own words of reassurance. I beam at him with pride and then get up from my knees and walk over to Elena, when I notice that she has emotional tears in her eyes. I sit on the arm beside her and pull her into me, kissing her head. She smiles up at me, and a tear rolls down her cheek. Bonnie hands her a tissue and Elena takes it and thanks her.

"This is what Christmas is all about," Bonnie says taking a tissue a wiping tears from her own eyes. "It's worth it just to see that smile on his little face and next year we'll have a new baby at the table."

Elena runs her hand over her stomach and her smile grows wider. I place my hand over hers and look over at Sammy is kneeling down beside the bike, asking Damon and Jeremy question after question, completely in awe of it. I feel a wave of contentment and completeness wash over me, and the happiness I feel takes me over until I can feel my body tremble with the intensity of it.

"Now that we've opened all of our presents, I think it's time to watch the movie," Elena announces.

Damon meets my eyes across the room and gives me a wink, signalling that it's time.

"Actually, I thought we could take away a step from tradition this year," I say bending down and whispering in her ear.

She looks up at me, a frown on her face. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Come on," I say taking her hand in mine and helping her up from the couch.

"Stefan, what-what's going on?"

I reach for her coat from the bottom of the banister, hand it to her and say, "You'll need this."

She wraps it about herself, but continues to look on at me in confusion, as I lead her through the back door and outside.

"Stefan, it's pitch black. I can't...I can't see anything."

As though on cue, the fairy lights that I spent last night hanging from the house switch on. She looks up at them, her eyes wide and her mouth open in confusion. "When-when did they get there? Where did they come from?" she questions.

"Elena, just shut up," I say stepping in front of her.

My heart is pounding in my chest, sweat dripping down the back of my neck as I prepare myself to say the most important thing I will ever say to anybody.

"Elena, you...you know how I feel about you..."

"Of course, I do..."

"You've made me happier than I ever thought possible. You've given me everything I ever wanted, love, family, a home. You are...you're everything to me. You know that, don't you?"

"Stefan, you're scaring me."

I reach out and take her hands.

"You and me...we're connected, since the day we met...it's been that way and I never want to live my life without you in it, because I love you and I know that for as long as I live that will never change. So...Elena Gilbert..."

I step aside so that she can see onto the grass and the words 'will you marry me' light up. A gasp escapes her and I reach my hand down into my jean pocket, slowly get down onto my knee and when she faces back towards me, she has her hand over her mouth her eyes wide with surprise.

"...will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"