"I want you to know that I love you, and the greatest gift you've ever given me is Mila. And I'll teach her about witchcraft, and being one with the ancestors, but more importantly. I'll show her kindness, because that is all her mother has ever shown me. I will teach her about beauty because for a short time I got to touch my own slice of perfection. I will teach her about humility because the strongest voice in the room was never mine."

"Mommy." Came Mila's high pitched shriek as she ran to kneel by her mothers side. Cutting off anything else he wanted to say to her to allow his daughter to have her time. Tears streaking down her face.

"Caroline!" He barked looking back at the woman who was finding her own solace in Stefan's arms.

"She deserves to say goodbye. We all do." Her voice trembling until she could barely get out the words.

Stefan took her hand and addressed his brother. "We all do."

"Daddy, save mommy. She said you save everyone. Save mommy," Mila cried, hitting him on his chest with her tiny fist. "I just want us to be a family. No more fighting. And I want mommy to be okay. But even before she got hurt. She was always sad. So sad."

He looked back at Bonnie to find her gazing up at the sky, at something that she could only see. Her eyes growing distant by the second.

"So you fix things, and save mommy."

He bit back his own tears. "I can't, baby."

"Mila, say goodbye and come back over here with us where its safe," Caroline begged.

"No where's safe without mommy?" Mila cried, laying her head on Bonnie's chest. "I just want her to come back."

He ran his hands through his baby's curly brown hair, and laid his head on her back. There were a thousand things he wanted at that moment, but nothing more than to switch places with Bonnie. If it meant taking his daughter's pain away. He made a promise into the air that from that moment forward every decision he made would be about her and not himself. That he would finally put someone first, and he would start by admitting the truth.

"I'm sorry. Its all my fault."

"It is all you fault. Now would you get off me and stop joking around."

He jolted up and looked around. Suddenly, he was standing in the middle of a hospital room, bad yellow ducks decorating the perimeter of the room. While Bonnie bent over the bed, in her hospital gown, taking deep incremental breaths.

"Where am I?"

"I should be asking myself that. Why did I let the midwife talk me into a natural birth. I should have gone with the drugs? Should I have?"

He looked into her eyes, that were filled with pain, but at least she was feeling something. She was still alive. "How are you alive?" he mumbled.

She groaned, and rubbed her aching back. "It's not because of the breathing exercises. I tell you that." Turning around to sit on the gurney to reveal her very pregnant belly."

He gasped, and ran his hands through his hair. "Are we back from supernatural heaven?"

"What? Don't lose it on me now. You know we've been back two months now. I know this seems unreal after everything, but its true. Little Ava is coming."

"Who?"

She grit her teeth, and started counting before turning her eyes on me again. "I know you don't like the name, but we only have a few hours until she's born. Why can't we just name her Ava?"

He shook his head in disbelief, before going over to the window to look out. "I wasn't here for Mila's birth. Why am I here now?"

She sat back on the gurney and put her feet up. "Here you go with that name again, Mila," she said dragging out the L. "Caroline agrees with me the name sucks."

"That's because she agrees with you in everything," he said heading back to her side. Nothing out of the ordinary peered back at him except for the dull parking lot. Of course, nothing had been different about supernatural heaven either. But he put it out of his mind. Even if this was fake he was going to enjoy every minute of this. Unless this baby really was Ava and this was some weird alternate reality. He kissed Bonnie's forehead and looked down at her lovingly. "Mila, right?"

She pushed his hand away. "Ava."

He leaned on the railings of the gurney, the cold metal on his skin. "This may or may not make sense to you, but I need you to know that this is all my fault. The heartache I caused you when I was a human, the dead kids, Rachel and Mason, and no one has ever been more important to me than you. And I'm sorry for never treating you like the precious stone you are.

Her shoulders drooped, and she looked at him softly. "That's sweet, babe. But the last thing I want to hear about is dead kids when I'm having a baby. Who the heck is Vanessa? The girl who helped Stefan bring us back. So you're going to go splash some water on your face, and return ready to tackle this together."

"Together?"

"You still want to be together?"

"Of course, silly. I'm not raising Ava alone?"

There goes that name again. It was hard for him to know whether this was real or not. When he had just seen her lying in a field of blood. Most of it spilling from her stomach. To permanently stain the ground. His little girls tears mixing in with the chaos. Mila? He couldn't play house with this pretend Bonnie because he had Mila to think of, and he made a promise that he would never be selfish again. He'd never put his feelings first again. She mattered more.

"Bro, I'm sorry. I got here as soon as I could. Emma was watching Beauty and the Beast and she didn't want to turn it off and it was a whole thing. That you don't need to hear." He stopped upon seeing his face.

"Stefan, you're in this universe. You weren't in the last one. The one before last I mean. Good. I can tell you," he said holding his brother on the shoulder, so that he couldn't look anywhere else. Not even at the room that held faux Bonnie.

"You're rambling, which is really weird even for you."

He blinked back tears. "My daughter. Not whats in there, but my real daughter. Her name is Mila, and she lost her mother, Bonnie, and it was all my fault. Not that Bonnie, but the real Bonnie. And I made a promise to God or whatever you want to call it that I would put her first. So I can't be here. As much as I want too. But I owe Mila my life. She lost her mom, and the last thing I remember is her crying uncontrollably, and being powerless to help her. Now I've left her, and she doesn't have anyone else. Please! You've got to believe me. You're the only one who can help me get back to her."

"Since when do you believe in God?" he asked.

He released his brothers shoulders. Realizing how crazy he would sound even to himself if he had heard this. He slid down the wall and held his head in his hands. "I had one chance to do things right, and I've already messed it up. I'm not going to be there for her." He lifted the collar of his shirt and cried into it.

"This sounds like you had a nightmare."

He looked up at his brother exasperated. "Vampires don't dream."

Stefan knelt at his side. "I don't know about that. I mean you've got a new baby coming. The moment I brought Emma home. I dreamed of her finding a family that loved her. Then I dreamed that she would one day be comfortable with me and Caroline. Then I dared to dream that she might call me her father. Its okay to be nervous that something you might do could hurt Bonnie or the baby. That's great in fact, because that means that you'll do everything in your power to ensure that it wont happen."

He wiped his tears with the palm of his hand. "I didn't get to see Mila be born the first time."

Stefan furrowed his brow. "You're serious about this kid thing."

"Yes, I am."

He sighed. "I don't know whats going on, but can you keep it to yourself until after Bonnie has the baby. She needs you now. However, you want to look at it. Tomorrow, I promise to help you figure out whats going on."

That wasn't good enough. There was no way of knowing how fast time was moving in the other universe. His Mila could already be a teenager by tomorrow. He didn't want to break his promise. But there was nothing else for him to do. So he allowed the others to come, surprised every time on his friends showed up in this new universe. Somethings were the same. Jeremy still disliked him, and Elena and Enzo were happily attached in this universe.

Enzo pulled him to the side away from the group. "So how you feeling? I know these moments call for cigars, but all I have at the flat now thanks to Elana is cognac." He pulled open his jacket and flashed the inside of his pocket. A small glass of cognac stuffed inside. "There's enough for two."

He smiled, despite himself. Somethings never changed.

"On another note, you'll forgive me if I don't stay. Carolina's got Emma. Now there's baby Ava. I don't want Elena getting any ideas. So as soon as she says goo goo gaga, we're out."

He nodded. "Fatherhood is a big decision. Don't take that on, unless you're ready to be completely selfless, and if I can get there. So can you." He followed the others back into Bonnie's room. Glancing at the clock on the wall and imagining what his daughter was thinking of him now. Surely, Stefan would be taking care of her. But would Caroline being tell her all the awful things that he had done. The role he had played in her mother's death.

"Okay this is go time, people. Everyone accept the father has to leave." The doctor declared while pulling up a stool. The nurses ushering everyone out.

Stefan came out and whispered in his ear. "Do this for her, and I've got you tomorrow?"

He nodded and went over to hold Bonnie's hand. Under any other circumstances he wouldn't have needed to be told to do that. It would be as natural as breathing. Hesitant at first to accept the first pregnancy that was more like a miracle. He ended up looking forward to this moment. But Stefan had grabbed him and he never got to see it. To kiss her sweaty forehead and feel her crush his fingers with the strength of a hundred men because of the pain. To hear her heart beat and know that she was still human. The weirdest thing was hearing her heartbeat and filling it beat rapidly under his palm.

"I'm so glad you here." Pain ricocheting across her face.

"I'm glad I could be here," he said, and in that moment he meant it. There was nothing he could do. So he would celebrate this Ava's life as if she were Mila. And no matter how long he was in this world, he would never forget her.

Once everyone had left the room. Ava made her appearance quicker than even the doctors were ready for. But mommy was all to happy for the break. Looking both overwhelmed, exhausted, and happy. They placed the baby in a blanket in her mothers arms.

She smiled at me. "Look at her. She has all ten fingers and ten cutesy toes. No horns or fangs anywhere."

He grinned at the doctors who cast a puzzled look there way. But it didn't matter what they thought. "She's perfect." He turned back to look at the curled wet hair on the top of his little girls head, but for a minute he couldn't see her at all. It was like she was a bright light and a white feather fell on the tip of her head, before the light dimmed considerably, and he was staring down again at his little girl. Perhaps Ms. Patty was right, something other worldly was at play.

"You know what. You're right. She looks much more like a Mila than an Ava."

He laughed, relieved. "Mila, yes? Our baby."

XXXXX

Even after he had talked to Stefan, Caroline and Enzo that next morning. No one had any memory of Bonnie turning into a vampire. No knowledge of the angel Mason beyond what he had told them. Or any death and subsequent resurrection of any little kids. Everyone had practically made up there minds for him that the world sounded to horrible to return to. But he wasn't sure. That meant looking for away out without the others knowing. Sneaking around, telling half-truths, and blatant lies. Even in this life he found himself missing out on his kid, anyway. So he stopped looking. Only because he wanted to change diapers, and complain about throw up on his Gucci shirts. But he kept a diary addressed to his first daughter, Mila. Never went any place without it and tucked it into his back pocket. Just in case he was suddenly snatched in a grocery store parking lot. Filling it with notes, and images that he wanted to share with her. To remind her that she was always wanted and loved.

Occasionally he filled it with theories of what might have happened. The most plausible one being that Mila had done it herself. But he couldn't explain the blinding light he had saw when she was born. Or the white feather that appeared out of nowhere. None of which took him back to that bloody scene, on the field, but left him with Bonnie, and a new baby. Almost as if someone was setting things right.

Which is probably why it became evident in other ways that this world was real. Emma, and Caroline's mom, and the growing affection between Enzo and Elena. Change that sometimes hurt, and sometimes didn't. Growth that seemed as natural as the air and as warm as the fruit of the trees. Not manufactured. So on Mila's fifth birthday. The age he was taken from her once again, he burned the diary in a bonfire.

"Is it even safe to have a bonfire at a child's fifth birthday," Bonnie laughed, wrapping her arms around his waist. Her cheek on his back. He pulled her around to face her.

"The bonfire is for the adults. The tents covered in cartoon characters are for the girls backyard sleepover."

She looked towards the tents where the sounds of girls laughing could be heard. "This was a really good idea."

"I'll take my pat on the back in the bedroom, later."

She shook her head, but a smile played on her lips. "That depends. Do you still think this is fake?"

"Its the realest family I've ever known, and I'm certainly the luckiest."

Note: Thank you to everyone who wrote me messages and sweet comments. It pushed me to finish the series and I will miss writing it, and talking with all of you.