"Why won't she puke on me? Doesn't she like me?" - Jenna whined while holding a confused Lara up in the air. Lara had a confused expression on her face, her little light brows furrowing, not quite sure what Jenna wants from her.

Jenna and Jeremy were able to stay in the town for a week. They probably spent every waking moment of every day with Elena, because Stefan had barely seen her during these seven days. Or his daughters, for that matter. He would usually be in charge of them when they woke up in the middle of the night, screaming, because they're unable to put themselves back to sleep.

And the only time he would see Elena is when she would crawl in the bed next to him, her body bending next to his. This is how they fell asleep every night since she moved into his bedroom. After only few days of sleeping in the same bed as her, he could not imagine ever sleeping without her in the same bed again.

Elena would never agree to make out sessions on the bed, she was afraid they would go too far, so she insisted on keeping them on the couch.

Few days ago, he was lying in bed, checking out his mail. Few pictures of Rose from Damon, Caroline's detailed description of how she spent her day, and few mails from work he was more than happy to skip when he saw Elena coming out from the bathroom. She was dressed into.. well, she wasn't dressed. All she had on her body was a pink transparent bra covered in black lace at certain places with matching panties. Only when she walked over to the other side and opened the closet was when he noticed she's wearing a thong. He turned off his laptop as he stared at her smooth skin as she bent down to get something from the closet. He wanted to melt into her. He had a need of pulling the tips of his fingers all over her skin. He wanted to kiss her, to fondle her curves, to squeeze her thighs. He wanted to have her. He closed his laptop and it's thump on the bedside table on which Stefan had laid it down was a little bit too loud. It made Elena straighten her body and turn around with a black oversized shirt in her hands. A playful smirk appeared on her face as she cocked her eyebrow at him. "See something you like, Mr. Salvatore?" - she asked teasingly. He was too overwhelmed to even try to act like he's not taken back by her current appearance. He cleared his throat through a cough, and she giggled. Somehow he managed to gain his posture and smiled - "Oh yes." She had put the shirt on and it slid over her body, reaching her thighs. She jumped on the bed, got herself under the covers, and crawled next to Stefan. She had put her head on his chest, and he had put his hand around her, pulling his fingers through her hair. Her breathing lowered and her body relaxed on his. He could have felt her slow heartbeat, and that's when he realized she fell asleep. He kissed the top of her head and turned the lights off. And they melted into each other.

Elena smiles at her aunt while taking a confused baby in her arms. "Of course she likes you" - Elena pokes Lara's nose with her index finger - "Don't you, sweetie?" - she says with a silly, baby voice and Lara laughs. It's the sweetest sound anyone in the room has ever heard. As everyone smile at the fact she's laughing, Lara laughs louder. She loves being in the center of attention, there's no question about it.

But her sister is calm in Lexi's arms, satisfied by being held. Emily was never as loud as Lara. She often smiled, but she rarely laughed. She was always so quiet, so patient. Sometimes that would worry Elena, especially when she was only few days old. She would go by to her crib just to check is she breathing. Caroline was sitting next to Elena, trying to play with Lara, but she continued eyeing Tyler, who was talking to Jeremy, from a safe distance.

Stefan was in the kitchen, preparing coffee. He felt like he doesn't fit in the crowd, like he's an odd man there, a black sheep. He was much comfortable with watching everyone from the distance.

He wanted to be there, by Elena's side. He wanted to be there every time she smiles and laughs and every time her eyes glisten in that certain kind of way only her eyes can. He wanted to capture her smile and make it his prisoner, forcing it to be present every second of every day. But his selfishness and hunger for her presence is overshadowed by his understanding she needs to be with her family at the moment. Family she hadn't seen since her parents died. Family she was estranged from for such a long time. Once they're gone, she's going to be all his.

"Hey" - there's a voice coming from behind him, and when he turns around, he sees Jeremy standing there. Stefan smiles at him after a silent 'hey' and goes back to carefully preparing coffee. He was surprised Jeremy came to him, he didn't think he likes him so much. He got an overly protective brother attitude from him since the moment he had met him. Jeremy leans against a counter, and Stefan can feel his eyes locked on him. "I just wanted to thank you, for everything you did for my sister" - he speaks, and he sounds truly grateful.

Stefan stops for a moment, not certain why is Jeremy thanking him. He had done exactly what any other man in his situation would have done. Or at least, what every man in his situation should do. But after pondering a little, he realizes a lot of men would not do what he has done. Some of them would never acknowledge the babies. Some of them would kick her on the street. Some of them would call her names. Some of them would make her have an abortion.

And what has he done? He fell in love with her.

You would think Jeremy is going to accuse him of ruining his sister's life, of getting her pregnant and taking away any chance of her having a real family. But instead, he thanked him for doing the right thing. Says a lot about the world we're living in, when a man is thankful, and somewhat surprised, when others do something right, something that is expected from them.

"It was my pleasure" - a watery smile appears on Stefan's face. It was his pleasure indeed. There's nothing he would give up Elena, and his daughters, for.

Jeremy smiles back before his face hardens. "Elena told me about that Nik guy" - his voice is full of hate, it's cracking like ice under pressure - "How you scared him of" - Jeremy hisses through his teeth, silently.

Stefan only nods in return. Thoughts about Nik drive him to dark places, places he never wants to revisit. That sad excuse of a man makes his stomach twist and turn.

"I want to kill him" - Jeremy says with so much hate in his voice that Stefan instantly believes him. If Nik was standing in front of them, Jeremy would take a knife in his hands and plunge it through his heart without giving it a second thought. Stefan understood that, because thoughts about killing Nik actually crossed his mind one time too many. Stefan looks at Jeremy who is deep into thought. Then his eyes brighten and he looks up at Stefan. "How much do you really love her?" - he asks.

'So much it physically hurts me being in the same room with her and not holding her in my arms', is the first thing that crosses Stefan's mind, but he knows Jeremy is not interested in hearing that. He knows exactly what Jeremy is hinting at.

"I love her enough to not leave her or my children because I killed a man who doesn't even deserve dying" - Stefan locks his eyes on Jeremy's, and the lines of Jeremy's face soften. He's a father now. He has Elena. He has a family. He can't go off doing whatever he wants anymore, because now, he has to look at a bigger picture. His actions affect the lives of people who rely on him.

Jeremy takes a dip sigh. "He could do this again, to someone else. He could really hurt someone one day" - his eyes widen.

Stefan had thought about this too. About how abusers never stop, but only get more daring with time. One day, he could stop with emotional violence and start using physical violence. Or both. He might actually kill someone. He wanted to go to police, but Elena was right, there's no use. There's no record of her being abused, there are no witnesses and no proof. It's her word against his, and with that kind of a case, they would drag in courts for years.

With time, Stefan realized he can't save everyone. And he tried. He had no matter in saying will his mother live or die - it was her choice to carry him to the world even though she knew there might be complications while giving birth. That she might lose her life. If he had any say in the matter, maybe now she would be alive, Damon would grow up with a mother, his father would still be alive, and he would not have to take that look on his fathers face every time on his birthday, that look that is saying - you killed her. She is dead because of you. Look full of hate and regret and accusation followed by his watery eyes as he finished his last glass of whiskey. He never said anything, he simply looked at him with that look, and Stefan very well knew what he would say. And sometimes he wished he did, because words would hurt much less than that look. As Stefan grew, as he was becoming a man who could take much more than a little boy could, the look only became worse - more hateful, more accusatory. Maybe that is why his father took his own life, out of fear one day he will say something out loud. That one day, look won't be enough. But Stefan dismissed those thoughts quickly, he did not need more guilt on his plate, he had enough of it as it is.

You can't save everyone. But he managed to save Elena, and somewhere along the line, that became enough for him.

"I only know Elena needs me more than that man needs dying" - Stefan replies truthfully, but with his eyes indicates to Jeremy he does care about other peoples lives. But there's still fire in Jeremy's eyes, fire ignited by his need to protect, a feeling Stefan understood too well. He dropped everything he was doing, turned around to face Jeremy and crossed his arms on his chest. "Look, I'm not going to lie, killing him actually crossed my mind more times than I would like to admit" - Stefan said truthfully, a little ashamed of it. He looked over his shoulder, one of his eyes still locked on Jeremy - "But I'm not ready to throw everything I have for someone like him" - he looked at Elena who was holding one of his daughters in her arms, smiling at her - "Look man" - he transferred his look back to Jeremy - "There's a lot of evil in the world, and you can't stop it all. But doing what you can, not ignoring it when you face it, that's what counts. That's all we can do, really" - he went back to preparing coffee. He took out 7 cups and poured some milk and sugar, waiting for the espresso machine to be done with making coffee.

"You're good for her" - Jeremy says, and when Stefan turns his head around to look at him, he has a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Yeah?" - he asks confused, because if anything, it's the other way around. She's been good for him more than he's been for her.

Jeremy nods his head. "Elena has always been scared. Scared of everything. Of life itself. And them she met that man" - he spits 'that man' out of his mouth like it's a poison - "And he had trapped her even more. She got free of him, but she was wounded, unable to fly. You helped her survive."

A smile appears on Stefan's face. "She did that all by herself" - he says proudly.

But Jeremy is persistent. "You fixed her."

Stefan furrows his brows. "She fixed me."

Jeremy laughs lightly and as he's about to leave Stefan's side, he slaps him on the back with his open hand. "Maybe you fixed each other" - he smiles once again before going back to his conversation with Tyler.

xxxx

"So, how are things going with Elena?" - Caroline asked as she took a bite of a bear claw she ordered - "And please, do not tell me the same thing you told me the last time" - she furrows her brows while chewing hungrily.

Stefan looks at his friend with a confused face expression. Caroline on carbs? What is going on? "No, everything is fine" - a smile appears on his face as he tries to hide his true emotions from his face.

"But?" - Caroline asks, shocking him.

"There's no but" - he tries to keep his cool. How does she know? She always knows. Caroline has this unique way of knowing things.

Caroline frowns as she swallows. "There's but written all over your face" - she says a little bit too loud.

Okay, maybe he's simply just too damn transparent.

He takes a deep sigh as he nervously scratches the top of his hand with the fingers of his other hand. "The thing is" - he says silently - "We haven't had sex yet" - he lowers his voice as he pronounces the word sex, as if it's a taboo.

Caroline's eyes widen. "But it's been more than 3 months since the babies were born" - she says before taking another bite of her bear claw.

'Oh God, she's not pregnant, is she?', is the first thing that goes through Stefan's mind, but he dismisses the thought. "3 months, 14 days, 7 hours and 45 minutes, to be precise" - he says after looking at his wrist watch.

Caroline cocks her eyebrow at him. "Very romantic, Romeo" - she giggles - "Have you tried.. anything?" - she has some problems with forming the sentence.

Stefan rolls his eyes. "Of course I've tried. But every time we get close to it, she would pull away" - the feeling of being unwanted saddens him, and Caroline can see it in his eye as they sparkle.

Caroline cocks her eyebrow at him. "Maybe she's worried you will get her pregnant again with you super powerful Salvatore sperm" - she giggles.

She stops the waitress who was passing by their table and orders another bear claw. "Make that two" - she yells after her and the waitress politely nods.

"Caroline, what the hell is going on?" - he says a little louder than he intended - "Bear claws? You?" - he explains when he catches a confused expression on her face.

She inhales deeply before her eyes land on a coffee table. "It's Tyler."

"Did you sleep with him and he forgot to call?" - he makes an assumption he regrets as soon as he sees the look on her face.

She shakes her head. "That's the thing" - she stops as the waitress puts a plate with her bear claws on the table and smiles into her direction before looking at Stefan hungrily. Can she be anymore obvious? Stefan smiles politely, and she flutters away from their table like a schoolgirl. When Caroline decides she's far enough, she continues - "I don't want to sleep with him."

"Meaning?" - Stefan asks confused.

Caroline sighs. "We went out. I took him for a tour of the city. I was like, totally ready to sleep with him. But he was so sweet. And so open. And funny. And we spent the whole time talking. Time just flew by" - Caroline took a bite of her second bear claw - "Do you think he's gay?" - she asks worriedly.

Stefan laughs lightly at his friends worries. Her lack of want to slap with Tyler has obviously been bugging her. "Have you ever thought you maybe like him too much to waste him on a one night stand?"

Caroline swallows and she ponders over the idea. "Actually, no" - she furrows her brows.

Stefan laughs again, and this time, Caroline laughs after him.

"I want to take Elena on a date" - Stefan says after they spend few moments in silence, each in their own world.

"Nice idea" - Caroline agrees. They have never been on a date.

"So, could you take the twins for the night?" - he asks hopefully.

Caroline's eyes widen. "Stefan" - she says his name with such a warm voice, surprised and honored at the same time he would leave his daughters with her - "Of course I could" - she smiled at him happily, and he smiled back at her.

xxxx

A/N: So, how will their date go?

Thank you so much for your reviews, keep them coming ;) I hope everyone who wanted to see Stefan/Jeremy interaction are satisfied :D