Fall to Pieces

The news still came as a shock to me. I had to resist the urge to clutch my stomach at every passing moment. Klaus went straight to his house, going to pack. What could I tell them? Everything was going right for me here. I had no reason to pick up and take off.

There were two people who deserved to know; Elena and Stefan. I'd tell Elena when she got her humanity back, right now she'd just ridicule me. Stefan... I just felt as if I owed it to him to tell him. I didn't want too many people knowing. More than a thousand people wanted to get one up on Klaus, what better way than to harm the one thing he seemed to care about?

"You're back." I smiled and spun around to see Stefan. "Where have you been?"

"New Orleans," I replied. He shot me a questioning glance. "Held hostage by a coven of crazy witches... you know, the usual. But I'm fine now."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Uh... I know you probably don't care much for Elena right now, but if you have any ideas..."

"I might have one," I said.

"Oh?"

I nodded. "Just go with it and don't you dare try to intervene."

He held his hands up in defense. "I won't, I won't." Stefan grinned. "It's good to have you back. And she's in the cellar."

Smiling, I walked past him and down to the Salvatore cellar. Elena sat in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest.

Elena's gaze shot up to meet mine. "Lucy? Is that you?" she asked hopefully. "I'm so hungry... please... just a little blood. I'll be good. I think I'm getting my humanity back."

She was lying, I could tell. Her eyes were cold and empty, where as real Elena's eyes were warm and caring, not that Elena was a saint. She certainly wasn't.

"You're not." I opened up the cell door. Elena immediately tried to attack me, using the remainder of her vampire speed. I sent her flying back to the wall. "Point proven."

"Come to get my humanity back?" she scoffed. "You're just like Stefan and Damon, they think I can be saved. They're wrong... and so are you."

"Oh? Am I? The night our parents died - you cried yourself to sleep and then, when you finally got to sleep, you had nightmares about them blaming you for their death."

Something flashed in her eyes, but she quickly covered it. "Nothing. How's Klaus? Has he finally ruffled those perfect feathers?"

I glared at her. Time to delve a little deeper. "You know, I wanted to get the cure for you so Dad wouldn't have to watch you become the one thing he hated the most - a vampire. You think he would be proud of you? Or that Mom would be? They'd be disgusted with you." A look of sadness crossed her face, but she straightened it quickly. "Jeremy would be too, if he didn't die so you could get that stupid cure."

"Stop," Elena begged, her voice barely a whisper.

But I couldn't stop, I was getting somewhere. Stefan was glancing between me and Elena, worried. "And so am I. Everyone I love dies because of you and your selfish needs that always seem to come first." I approached her. It felt good to let it all out while disguising it as wanting to help her. Everything I was saying... it was true, and that made me sad. "You just had to miss family night. You just had to fall in love with vampire-brothers and string them along. You just had to have the cure." I stretched my arm out towards Elena, tightening the muscles in my hand. She cried out in pain as I muttered a spell. "And now, I'm going to get revenge for everything you've done to ruin this family."

"Lucy-" Stefan started.

"Shut up, Stefan," I growled, annoyed that he kept on trying to save her.

Damon was now standing beside him, his eyes widened. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. "She's your sister!"

"She's a monster," I snapped. "She ruins things. She's the reason they're all dead, and she's gonna pay for it."

Blood trickled down her nose and then her chin before dripping onto the floor. She began to cry tears of blood. There was even blood coming out her ears. She choked and coughed before spurting out more blood. It felt... good. I wanted Elena to hurt like I had. She didn't get to be free of the pain when I suffered through it. She didn't deserve two brothers pining over her.

It sickened me that there was a part of me that wanted to go through with it, to kill my own sister. This was a nightmare! I wanted to stop, but the darkness swallowed me in, whispering for me to kill my own sister.

"Lucy, you're going to kill her," Stefan warned, his voice was soft. "Can you live with that guilt? It will tear you up inside. Let go."

I clenched my fist and Elena screamed out in anguish. Let go. This wasn't me. I never contemplated sororicide before.

Loosening my fist, I stepped away from Elena and practically teared out of the cellar, ignoring Stefan as he called after me.

Summer exams were coming up and unfortunately, being pregnant with a supernatural miracle baby and having an immortal psychopath after your friends wasn't sufficient enough for a postponement. Go figure.

I had to deal with a supernatural freak pregnancy (not that the baby was a freak... that'd be unmotherly of me to say) while studying for exams. Not exactly your average cliché.

Morning sickness was a bitch. Every ten minutes, I had to rush to the bathroom to empty the last few things I ate. I felt dizzy and tired constantly. The baby didn't like porridge.

Sophie gave me my magic back on the condition that I'd go back to New Orleans. It wasn't like she was giving me much choice, because if I didn't, she and her coven of psycho witches would come after me.

I really didn't have time to be studying math and French, but if I wanted to be a doctor, I needed to do extremely well in my tests. Especially science.

There was a knock on the bedroom door. "Come in!"

Caroline walked through the door. I didn't take my eyes off the history book I was studying from.

"Wow, you get down to it," she observed, grinning.

There were open books scattered all around the bed. My pencil case sat on the other pillow, ready to be used.

"Well, unlike the rest of you people, I don't have an eternity to get my degree," I said.

"I could compel you into a college," she suggested. "Whitmore? Or are you a Harvard girl?"

I laughed and shot her a small glare. "Neither. I think I'm gonna move to New Orleans."

The playfulness fell from her face. "New Orleans?" she gaped. "Why do you want to go to New Orleans?"

Should I tell her? Caroline wouldn't tell a soul... except for Bonnie, Elena and, of course, Stefan. Maybe I should tell them all. I needed to talk to someone about this.

I bit my lip. "If I tell you something, you have to promise you won't tell a soul," I said.

She did the 'zip my mouth and throw away the key' gesture. "I won't."

"Not even Stefan." She didn't say anything. "Caroline."

"Fine. Not even Stefan."

I smiled. "I - um - I'm kind of pregnant."

Her eyes widened. "What?" She glanced to my stomach and listened to it, which a lot of people were doing lately. "Who's is it?" Caroline didn't take her eyes off my abdomen.

"Klaus'."

"But that's impossible. Klaus can't have children! He's a vampire!"

"I know, but apparently his werewolf side lets him father children, which would be great to know before I got knocked-up."

A smile slowly graced her features and she squeeled. "Oh my God! You're pregnant!" She gripped my hands and pulled me up from the bed, spinning me around. "I'm going to be an aunty!"

I laughed. "No... I think Elena's the aunt."

"We've been sisters our whole lives," she said. "I'm so taking the aunt-role with that child. Especially if Elena's still in bitch-mode."

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Fine, but Rebekah seems like aunt-material."

Caroline looked thoughtful and tilted her head. "Actually, she does." The mood sobered up once again. "You know you have to tell them. Stefan-"

"I'll tell him."

"Bonnie-" I was about to object. "She's been your best friend since forever! You have to tell her! She'd make a great godmother. And Matt-"

"Doesn't need to know," I finished.

"Elena?"

"Once she gets her humanity back."

"Tyler?" she asked softly.

I shook my head. "I couldn't. He hates Klaus."

She nodded slowly. "I get that one. Damon?"

"I might actually consider," I said. "If he didn't make a freaking joke out of everything."

"I think you should tell them all," she suggested. "We could call a team-meeting."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "Maybe, but don't you dare tell anyone any of this before I'm ready, Caroline Forbes!"

She laughed. "I won't. You must be excited."

I sat back down on the bed. "A little, but mostly scared. No one has ever been pregnant with a hybrid-witch baby before. And I really don't want to leave here."

"Then don't," she said, sitting down in front of me. "We'll protect you. Stefan would die for you, Lucy. Even Damon... he might even have a soft spot for babies!"

"Probably not," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Just stay," she begged.

I shook my head. "The witches in New Orleans said that I had to go back. I'm linked to one of the witches - Sophie Deveraux and anyway, I promised I'd go back. Elijah thinks that this is Klaus' one shot of redemption, who am I to take it away?"

"So your just going to drop everything and run off to New Orleans?" she asked, looking sad.

"Pretty much," I said, nodding.

She wrapped her arms around me. "Promise me you'll visit."

I patted her back. "I can't promise, but I'll try." It came out muffled. "Uh... Caroline? You're kind of strangling me."

She laughed as she released me. "Sorry. I'm just gonna miss you so much."

"And I'll call you everyday," I promised. "It's going to be like I never left."

Downstairs, I saw Rebekah holding a brown paper bag. As soon as she noticed me, her eyes went to my stomach and listened. I'd actually like to hear my baby's heartbeat, since all of those vampires were super-hearing it.

She gasped when she heard it. "This is impossible."

"Tell me about it." My hand went to my stomach.

"And you haven't slept with anyone else in the past six months other than my brother?" she asked accusingly.

I scoffed. "Does it look like I'd lie about being pregnant with a miracle child? We can do a paternity test once it's born if you want."

People seemed to forget that my eyes were on my face, as their eyes immediately went to my abdomen. There wasn't a bump yet, not even a small bulge. I wondered if this baby would be like Twilight's miracle baby. I hoped not, since I didn't want to drink blood to keep it happy, or for it to age faster than normal.

Rebekah shook her head, still in wonderment. "I trust you." She smiled slightly. "It's amazing."

I laughed. "Not so amazing when you're up all night, barfing up your dinner."

"I'd give anything to have what you have," she said. "A baby."

"I'd be more than happy to swap, but unfortunately - we can't."

Rebekah sighed, shook her head and took out a takeout box from the brown bag. Caroline and Matt came into the living room.

"Hi. I don't mean to interfere. It's just, I happen to know all they keep in this house is blood and booze, so I brought a peace offering. Burgers?"

Matt smiled as he took the box. "Thanks."

"Yeah, we can't really entertain right now, but thanks for stopping by," Caroline spat.

"I think I might stay. I've seen quite a few pregnancies in my day-"

"Rebekah!" I shrieked, looking from Matt to Caroline and back to Rebekah. "He didn't need to know that!"

"You're pregnant?" Matt asked. I nodded sheepishly. "Who's the dad?"

"Eh..." I tried thinking of humans. Any human... but none of them were believable. So I decided to answer honestly. He'd find out in a couple of years anyway, when I came home for Christmas with a baby in a stroller. "Klaus."

"K-Klaus?" he stammered. "But he can't-"

"Actually, he can," I answered. "Half-werewolf, werewolves can have children. I slept with him... and ta da!" I pointed to my stomach. "Miracle baby."

Caroline glared at Rebekah. "You don't need to worry. Lucy's perfectly fine. I've even brought a pregnancy book." She held up a book with a pregnant woman on the cover. I reddened and looked at my feet. "So you really can go now."

"That's actually not the only reason I'm here." She smiled shyly. "Matt mentioned that he was failing classes and needed a study buddy."

Matt was failing? He never said anything to me.

"You're failing? Wh- why didn't you ask me to help you study?" Caroline stammered. "Or Lucy, I mean, she's a walking encyclopedia!"

"Well, I didn't exactly ask her."

"Well, what classes are you failing?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not failing, I'm just... really, really behind in history... and Italian, and math..."

"Matt!" Caroline and I scolded.

"This year's been a little distracting," Matt said.

Oh yes, it really was. I felt sorry for Matt. He had to keep up a job, pay the bills, play sports and keep up his grades while being a human involved in supernatural business.

"We could all help," Rebekah suggested. "All hands on deck - that's the motto around here, right?"

Only to help Elena, I thought. Everyone else could go screw themselves basically.

"We don't have a motto." She turned to Matt. "Look, if you need to study, we're gonna study. I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna get my flash cards, and my study guides, and some energy bars. This is gonna be good."

Caroline gave us two thumbs up before placing the book and the table and leaving.

"You dated that?" Rebekah said to Matt.

"She likes projects."

Matt looked at my stomach. I took the book off the table and wrapped my arms around my abdomen.

"Hey. Eyes up here, buddy."

I placed a flower on Jeremy's grave. Brother and Friend, was inscribed on the stone. This was all that was left of him. I regretted burning down the house with Jeremy's body inside. Bonnie had gave out to me for not letting her say goodbye. It was selfish, but that house was full with memories that I didn't want.

"I can't even remember the last thing I said to you. Probably something like 'get that cure' or maybe even just 'goodbye'." I let out a small laugh. "I've been avoiding your grave. Because it hurts, Jeremy. The last time I felt like this was when Mom and Dad died. With Jenna and John and Alaric... I never accepted that they were gone until now. I used to think that the best way to deal with grief was ignoring it, pretending like it wasn't there, but I can't do that with you." I choked on my sobs as tears streamed down my face. "You're my-my baby brother. I n-need you, now more than e-ever. Is it bad that I... I want Bonnie to d-drop the veil so that I can have you and Ric back? Am I being selfish? Everyone I l-love is dead, Jer. Everyone. And I nearly killed Elena! Elena! My twin sister! She's all that I have left. Her and... and the baby. I'm sure you know by now. You're probably watching over us, w-watching as we make mistakes. If it's a boy, I'll be sure to call it Jeremy." Smiling through the tears, I wiped my eyes. "And I'll tell it all about it's crazy uncle Jeremy. I miss you so much, Jer. Out of everyone, your death has been the hardest. I want you back so bad."

More tears streamed down my cheeks from my eyes. I put my hand to my mouth in an attempt to muffle the sobs. My baby brother... he was gone. Unless we were willing to drop the veil to the other side, which - when I was being sensible - I didn't want to do.

"I love you, Jer."

I felt strong arms engulf me in a hug. I cried into his chest. Jenna, Alaric, John, Jeremy, Mom, Dad - all dead and I was alone.

But I wasn't. For the next nine months, I would never be alone. There was another family member growing inside of me. I wasn't alone.

"Hey, hey," Stefan soothed. "It's okay."

I laughed quietly. "You'll always be here to comfort me, won't you?"

But his face was stern. "Always," he whispered.

"There all dead," I whimpered, shaking. "Dead. And there not coming back."

He stroked my hair gently. "But you have me. You have Caroline, Bonnie, Matt, even Damon cares about you. And Klaus... I think he's in love with you."

I edged away from Stefan, not taking my eyes off him. "I didn't tell you the whole reason about why I was in New Orleans."

"Katherine said something about you being the thing we needed to get Klaus out of town," he told me.

"Not me, exactly. A baby."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why does Klaus care about a baby?"

"Because it's his." I shut my eyes, not wanting to see his reaction. "And mine."

"You're pregnant with Klaus' child?" he asked, slightly amused. "Vampires can't have children."

I sighed. It was getting tiring having to explain the same thing over and over again.

"But Klaus is a werewolf too," I said. "And they can have children, so he can as well. And we slept together-" I noticed Stefan wince slightly. "-and I got knocked up. A witch in New Orleans - Sophie Deveraux - had a vision about me and this baby. She kidnapped me and they did some really freaky tests. And then she linked us together, so if I don't come back, she'll either kill me by killing herself or drag me back there."

"This sounds like a bad soap opera," Stefan muttered.

I nodded. "It really does."

Slowly, he reached out his hand to touch my stomach. I looked at him oddly, but allowed him to anyway. His hand touched my abdomen and his eyes widened.

"You really are pregnant," he said. "Wow."

"With a hybrid baby, no less," I said. "I'm leaving for New Orleans after graduation." Stefan opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. "I'm going to go to college there. I know where I'm supposed to be. Klaus and Elijah will protect me and this baby."

"We can protect you," Stefan insisted.

I shook my head. "You can't. Witches will have visions about the baby, then word will get out and people will come after it. Who better to protect this child than two Originals?"

"I'll come with you," Stefan said. I opened my mouth to tell him no. "It's not like I have anything left for me here. After we get Elena's humanity back, I'll go to New Orleans. You'll need a friend there."

"Elena might have no humanity for centuries," I said. "There's no time-limit."

"We can get it back. And now, I have another motive. I'm coming with you, Lucy."

I smiled at him. "Fine."

"There's another way to get Elena's humanity back," Damon said, downing another glass of tequila.

Elena had just escaped and we were trying to figure out a way to save her.

"And what's that?" I asked, watching him warily.

"There's two things in this world that no humanity Elena cares about," he explained. "The busboy, Matt, and her sister. Take them away and bam! We have old Elena back."

I shook my head. "No. Not an option. I'm not gonna die so that Elena can get her humanity back."

And there was no way my unborn child was going to die with me.

Damon rolled his eyes. "I'll feed you some of my blood before I even touch a hair on your head."

Stefan's face brightened in realisation when I was about to yell at Damon. "You mightn't need to." His eyes drifted to my stomach.

The elder Salvatore looked between the both of us. "Am I missing something?"

I groaned. "No. You are not missing anything. Stefan," I warned.

"What the hell's going on with you two?" Damon pressed. Neither of us answered. "Did you two hook up in the woods, or something?"

My head snapped over towards him, my eyes narrowed. "No. We did not hook up in the woods." Stefan sniggered. "Shut up. All that you need to know, Damon, is that I'm not allowing you to kill me. I'll come with you, Matt'll wear the ring and I'll try and coax some humanity out of Elena. Deal?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine."

I rushed over to Elena, who was feeding off Matt. I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from him, which was odd, since Elena was a vampire and a hundred times stronger than me.

She was letting me pull her away from him. Elena didn't want to feed off him.

"What's up with you and saving me?" she growled. "We both know you prefer things like this. If I want Stefan when I turn my humanity back on, he'll come running back to me and he'll forget all about you. Do you really want that? Or has Klaus stole you away?" She laughed sardonically. "Your love triangle is almost as interesting as mine. Almost."

Elena gripped my shoulders and slammed me against a tree. Her finger traced the vein on my neck. "I'm so freakin' hungry."

I was trembling and shocked. I really shouldn't have expected any less from Elena.

"Are you gonna kill me?" I asked, keeping my voice steady. "Your sister - your last living relative."

"Yes." She groaned, looking at my neck. "But not before I ask you something. Why do you want to save my humanity?"

"We're sisters," I said.

Elena scoffed. "Hardly."

She bit down on my neck. I'd stop her soon, I decided. That's if Elena didn't stop herself.

I didn't anticipate how weak I'd get. It was like my life was slipping away from me - as was my ability to do magic.

I sunk to the ground as Elena let go of me.

"Hey, hey, you're cut off." I heard Stefan say.

"Come to rescue your new Petrova epic love, Stefan?" Elena spat.

"Enough! You are acting like a little spoiled brat, you know that? You think that we can't punish you. Maybe not. But I can sure punish him," Damon's growling voice said.

"Elena," Matt whispered weakly. .

"Seriously? You think this-"

"Shut up! I'm done playing nice. Turn your emotions back on right now, Elena, or so help me god, I will give you something to be sad about. I will kill him right here in front of you."

"Damon." Stefan was surprisingly good at pretending.

"Don't 'Damon' me. She doesn't love anyone? Fine. Prove it. And if I'm wrong, what difference does it make? One less busboy."

Matt had the Gilbert ring on him. "Elena," he begged.

There was a small silence. I recovered, but stayed sitting against the trunk.

"You're bluffing," Elena accused.

Damon snapped Matt's neck. Elena's gasped. "How about now? You feel anything now? You angry I just turned your buddy into roadkill? Or are you sad that the guy that everybody loves is just a bag of bones? Remember when he was a little kid, huh? Warm heart, big goofy smile, his whole life ahead of him. I guess it was a good idea that he was wearing this."

Damon kneeled down and lifted Matt's hand. He was wearing the ring. Elena fell to her knees and grasped Matt's hand. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Oh my god. Matt!"

"You feel that weight lifting off your chest? That's joy, because your friend isn't dead. That's emotion, Elena. That's humanity," Damon explained. "You're gonna be okay."

"No..."

I stood up and stood next to Stefan. He clasped my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. I looked up at him, shock etched on my face.

"Look at me," Damon said to Elena.

"No, no, no. It's not okay," she sobbed.

"Elena."

Elena stood up. "What have I done?"

"Hey, it's okay."

Elena was pacing and clutched her head. "No, no. What did I do? I-I almost killed him; Matt, I almost... Lucy! You're my sister... and I- And Bonnie, and Caroline, I just-" She pushed Damon away when he tried to put an arm around her. "No, no, I mean, that woman, the waitress, I actually killed that waitress-" Stefan moved towards her. I wasn't expecting this... I wasn't expecting it to get this bad. "No, I killed that waitress!"

She punched the window of Matt's truck, breaking the glass. Stefan held Elena's hands in front of her.

"Hey, hey, look at me, look at me. I know this stage, okay? The emotions are overwhelming you. You just have to focus on one thing, okay?" Stefan said.

"No, I can't, I can't-"

"You just find that one thing inside of you that makes you strong. It's in there, just latch onto it. Channel everything you're feeling into that one emotion. Find the thing inside of you that makes you wanna live. Elena, let it in. Let it in." She found a focus and stopped sobbing. "That's good. That's it. That's it, just breathe it in. Blow everything else out. That's good, that's good."

She yelled in pain, gripping the hair on her head. Damon reached towards her.

"You okay?"

"No. I'm not okay. But I'll get better."

We stared after her as she left. I felt a little resentment. I was getting through this all by myself, with a little help from Stefan and Caroline, and Klaus without even me or him knowing it. I killed twelve witches and I didn't need two brothers to chase after me and save me. But everything came down to Elena. Everything.

Stefan wrapped an arm around me and held me against his chest. His chin rested on my forehead. "Are you okay?"

I nodded as I snuggled into him. "I'm okay."

Damon eyed us curiously, before storming off to chase after Elena.

"We need to talk," he said.

I broke away from the hug. "About what?"

"This- us," he answered. "There's something... here."

"Stefan-" I started.

"I know this is not the time with the... the baby. But I need to know." He grabbed my hands in his, his eyes not leaving mine. "Is there something... something in you that feels for me."

This felt wrong. It felt like I was betraying Klaus and - in some strange sense - the baby that I wasn't even sure I loved. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of getting rid of it. The witches would lose their leverage.

Klaus wouldn't be too happy with Stefan in New Orleans. There 'friendship' was kind of strained now.

It was nice, being the centre of attention for once. All my life I had been pushed aside in favour of Elena, but now, two guys - quite good-looking, might I add - cared about me. And that... that felt nice. But I wasn't Katherine, or Elena, even if I felt something for both of them, which I did. Klaus was dangerous and alluring, while Stefan was kind and loving and had a great sense of humour that he only showed some people.

But right now, I didn't want any of it.

"There's something here," I said. "Definately. But I can't. Not now, Stefan. I'm confused... so damn confused. I think... I think the only reason I'm having this baby is because Elijah wants Klaus to have his redemption - his humanity - and I don't want to take that away from them." I sighed. "And us - you and me - we can't happen. Not because of Klaus or anything to do with him, but because it's toxic. I'm not sure if you're into me for me or because I look similar to Elena. And I don't want to find out."

"I don't-"

"You say that, but I'm not stupid. You're still in love with her... if love even exists. Maybe you should stay here." He opened his mouth to speak. "I can protect myself, Stefan, but Elena and Damon need you. Caroline needs you."

"Damon and Elena have each other."

I shook my head. "You're more important than you think, Stefan."

He stepped closer to me. "I'm coming with you."

I sighed. "Fine. If you insist on being so stubborn."

Stefan tucked a lose strand of hair behind my ear. "I learnt from the best." He pressed his lips onto mine. It was soft... delicate. He was gentle, as if he was afraid to break me. He pulled back, looking for my permission to continue.

I grinned and smashed my lips onto his and wrapped my arms around him. This was wrong... this was so wrong. But was there any right in my life? The only good thing was Stefan. I didn't want him to leave me.

I broke the kiss and smiled. "You are so coming with me to New Orleans."

A/N: Reviews are like cookies! Love you guys!