Chapter 12 - It's Just Us Right Now

•••••

"When's your flight?" She asked him one night.

"Next week." He said.

"I needed to tell you something." She paused. It's been almost 2 weeks since Stefan had been offered a new job. 2 weeks since she found out she was pregnant. And he still didn't know... She still didn't tell him.

"Wait.. Me first." He said, cutting her off. "I want you to come with me!"

"What?" She asked. She'd been waiting for him to ask her that... She'd been waiting for two weeks. So why did she suddenly feel like she just got pushed off a cliff?

"I've been thinking of this for the past two weeks and there's nothing more that I want." He said. "I don't want to be away from you."

"Stefan...I." She stuttered. "I need to tell you some thing.."

She smiled as he grabbed her hand and convinced her with his eyes that it'd be okay... No matter what she said. "I'm pregnant." She whispered.

"What?" He asked, the news taking him by surprise. "I.. you sure?"

"Yeah." She whispered a tear falling. "I took a test and went to a doctor and I..."

He continued to stare at her as if she were crazy. "Look if you don't want in, I can do this on my own. If you're not ready to be a parent it's okay,Stefan. God knows I'm not ready, but if you don't want this... I'm not forcing you to stay with me."

"Are you insane?" He finally said. "Why would you assume that I wouldn't want this?"

"I don't know... We've been together for a month." She said.

"So what?" He said, his tone serene. "I love you, you love me, of course I want this, Caroline."

"Are you sure? Its a baby, Stefan. Are you sure you're ready." She whispered.

"I'll never be ready." He whispered. "But there's no way I'm walking away. I love you and I'm going to love this baby."

"Okay." She smiled, before an alarmed look took over her features. "Oh my god, we're having a baby!"

"We' . ." He smiled, placing a gentle kiss on her lips after each word.

"There's going to be a tiny human being living inside of me for 9 months." She realized. "We're going to have to raise a child, Stefan. The entire fate and well being of a person is going to be in our hands."

"We'll be okay, Caroline." He reassured her, and for a second she really did think it would. But then he continued. "We'll all go to New York, and our baby can grow up and go to all those fancy schools in Manhattan because their dad will be a big time lawyer and their mom will be the best actress in the business."

"Stefan... I, I can't go to New York." She whispered.

•••••

[1 month later]

"I can't do this." He said softly as he played with locks of her golden hair. They were on the roof of their once shared apartment. Things had been complicated, to say the least, since he'd left.

"I know." She said, resting her on his shoulders. Her tear stained face was buried in his neck and she was replaying the past 24 hours on a loop in her head.

"I can't keep pretending that being away from you isn't killing me. I can't keep pretending like we're both not completely falling apart. I can't keep pretending like seeing each other once a month is going to be enough,not when we're going to have a baby. I can't do this anymore. I want to be with you more than anything in the world, but not like this." He cried.

"I know." She whimpered. "I don't want to do this if it means we're always hurting."

"I love you, Caroline." He whispered one last time.

"I love you too." She said, a fresh batch of tears lost. "I know you have to leave, but can you just stay with me...Like this, until the sun rises?Can we just pretend for a little longer?"

"Okay."

That was the last thing either of them said all night.

••••••

[3 months later]

"Guess what?!" She squealed into the phone.

"What?" He laughed. He hated what hearing her voice still did to him. She still had so much control over him even though they were broken up. It didn't matter whether or not they were together... He still loved her. So instead he stayed in New York and came back to Mystic Falls whenever Caroline had a checkup.

"It's a girl." She said, smiling ear to ear.

"Oh my god!" He smiled. "That's great."

"Yeah I know, you should've been here for this appointment. It was amazing. The baby's always kicking and moving around." She laughed.

"I'm sorry i couldn't be there... Klaus had me working all weekend." He sighed. "When's the next one?"

"The doctor will confirm whether it's a girl or a boy at 20 weeks." She said. "So that's in about a month, I'll send you the actual date as soon as I get a chance."

"Sounds like a plan." He said. "Bye."

"Bye." She sighed but he'd already hung up. "I miss you."

•••••

[4 months later]

"What are you doing here?" She asked, as he pull her in for a hug. "The baby isn't due for another month."

"I have news." He whispered, coming into her apartment and shutting the door.

"Good news or bad news?" She asked. "Because I can't tell anything by looking at your face. You've got on your 'hey it's Tuesday' look again."

"That's not a thing." He laughed before taking an extra long pause. "Klaus fired me."

"So it's bad news." She sighed, giving him another hug. "God, Stefan I'm so sorry. How could he do this after everything you've done for him. I can't believe h-"

"Shhh." He interrupted, grabbing her hand. "He fired me. My whole life all I've worked towards is a successful career. I wanted it so badly. I let it get in the way of everything. I let it get in the way of me and you. But I don't want to do that anymore."

"I don't understand what you're saying." She said. Suddenly, he pulled a little black velvet box out of his pocket.

"I wanted to take you out to dinner." He said sheepishly. "I wanted them to play your favorite song as the waiter brought us your favorite dessert. And then I wanted you to find it in your cake, and I wanted to get down on one knee. And I wanted you to say yes."

"Stefan." She gasped, tears were rolling down her face. Her hand was pressed into her chest, trying to stop herself from having a heart attack.

"I wanted to do all of that." He said, getting down on his knee. "But the second I saw you I knew I couldn't wait that long. Caroline, I love you so much that being away you hurts me so much that I feel like I'm going to die. I want to be with you forever. I want to raise our beautiful baby girl together and I want us to have the perfect life. I want it all. I want to marry you."

"Stefan." She repeated slowly and softly.

"Will you marry me?" He asked.

"I love you too." She whispered through tears.

"Is that a yes?" He asked, he probably shouldn't have allowed himself to have so much hope.

"Yes." She cried while he stood up and twisted the ring onto her finger. "I love you."

"I love you too." He whispered, bringing his lips to hers.

But the moment was short lived as she soon let out a loud moan,it sounded more like a cry.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I think my water just broke." She said, looking down.

"Shit." He said. "Okay come on, we've got to get you to the hospital."

AUTHORS NOTE:

so I wanted to thank you all for sticking with me on this wild and crazy ride and I hope this chapter satisfied you. And if it didn't there's still an epilogue that I need to write so just let me know what you'd like that to have.