AN: Weee! I am barely keeping my eyes open while I write this and I am trying to finish an essay, but I thought it was time to take a few minutes to update, because it's been a while. Like every other time, I'd like to thank each and all of you for every review and alerts in my inbox. It makes my days and honestly, since school has started, I don't have the best time of my life. So yeah, it means a lot to me. Enjoy this chapter and please write me a few words in a review to let me know what you think of it.

P.S: "Undone" by Haley Reinhart is an amazing song and you should listen to it while reading.

Tell me where love goes when it's gone

Tell me where hearts go when they go wrong

Suddenly someone is no one I've come

Undone, undone, undone

Elena slowly climbed the stairs to her little apartment in Seattle, her feet aching from the walking she's done for the last few hours. She finally stopped in front of her door and searched through her purse to find the key, when she was interrupted by the cheerful voice of her neighbor, and new friend, Anna.

"Elena! Wait for me." The tall, skinny, brunette ran towards her from the end of the hallway and tried to catch her breath as she stopped in front of her. Elena smiled and unlocked the door.

"Hey, Anna. Come inside." She said as she motioned for the girl to follow her inside and close the door behind her.

"I've been calling you all day." Anna said as she plopped herself on the little couch and Elena sat next to her, taking off her thick cardigan.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was out, doing grocery shopping at Joe's and I needed some more sweaters. It's so cold here and honestly, the other ones don't fit me anymore."

"That's because your belly is huge!" The girl exclaimed and Elena giggled, running a hand over her perfectly round belly.

"Could it be because I'm eight months pregnant?" Elena asked amused and then her eyes widened as she looked down at her belly. "Aw, he kicked again! I swear, I'm still not used to it, not even after all these months. It's making me giddy and nervous, like he's going to come out any second." She said enthusiastically, as she patted her stomach.

It had been eight months since she left Damon and New York to live in Seattle, a town that was far enough from her former city, so no one knew where she was. And honestly, if it wasn't for Anna and her baby, she could flat out admit that she was as lonely as a hawk. And she couldn't complain about it, because, at the end of the day, she was the only one responsible for her misery. She knew she made her bed.

But even like that, she was happy, because she had her baby, who was going to be born in less than a month. She was going to hold in her arms half of her and half of Damon, and that was going to wipe away all of her misery and replace it with love, with much more love for her baby.

"Hey, we're throwing a party for Ellen tonight. She's turning 25. Do you want to come by?" Anna asked and she frowned, thinking about it for a moment. Yes, she could go and wish her other neighbor a happy birthday. Besides, she really needed to get out more. Since she moved to Seattle, she has only been out to the grocery store and to the hospital. Which reminded her, she was going to her last appointment with her obstetrician tomorrow and this was an event that needed to be marked.

"Sure, I will." Elena smiled as she rubbed her swollen belly, proof of the love she once shared with a special man.

"Elena, I never asked you and I'm sorry if I'm intruding in your personal life, but, where is the father of your baby?" Anna asked and Elena could read the shame on her face after asking the question and she smiled sadly, realizing that she's never flat out admitted to someone that she was going to be a single mother. No one from home knew that she was still expecting, that she didn't have the abortion, like she's made them think.

"We had some problems in our relationship and I decided that it's best if I have my baby on my own." She let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding until that moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry, 'Lena. I guess I shouldn't have asked you about it." Anna said and looked away from Elena, ashamed that she it brought up.

"No, it's fine. It's the first time I've actually talked about it, and it feels good." She smiled and oddly enough, she felt like a little piece from the huge stone she had on her heart lifted, making some more air for her to breathe easier.

"Why don't you talk about it? I mean, don't you have to inform him everything about the baby and how's your pregnancy going?" This time, Elena burst into laugh. Stupid hormones! She shouldn't be laughing at that question, yet there she was, wiping away tears resulted from her laughter. Anna looked at her like she was possessed, and Elena could only take a big breath to stop herself from laughing anymore.

"No-I-excuse me, I don't usually laugh when I talk about him. He, um, he doesn't know that I'm pregnant. He thinks I had an abortion." Wow, and did she blurt it out! When did she decide that it was okay to share this information with a girl who she just met a few months ago and not with Caroline, or her aunt, who were the closest people to her, ever? She guessed that it was actually because of that, because she had been lying to everyone and she needed someone who she could be honest with, while she had nothing to lose.

Elena looked at Anna's reaction and she wasn't surprised when the girl looked at her with a shocked expression, like she just confessed she killed the president. Well, for family matters, this was more important than killing the president. And yet again, Elena asked herself how she ended up here, away from everyone she knew, ready to have her baby and trying to be a mother who could raise her baby alone.

"I'm sorry, you must think that I'm insane."

"No, it's fine, I'm not one to judge. Everyone makes the best choices for themselves and the ones around them." Did they really, Elena wondered suddenly. Did she make the right decision by running away? Did she make the right choice by hiding her pregnancy from everyone?

"I guess so." She shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"Then I'll see you tonight, at Ellen's?" Anna asked, as she stood up and walked to the door.

"Sure thing. I'll be the one with the huge belly." She smiled awkwardly, trying to change the atmosphere and got back a smile from the girl. With that, Anna waved goodbye and was soon out the door, leaving Elena alone, with her thoughts and her kicking baby.

After a few more minutes sitting there, on the couch, rubbing her belly as her baby was kicking like there was no tomorrow, Elena stood up when she finally felt that her baby was asleep, because he stopped kicking. She walked around the apartment, which was much like to Caroline's in New York, just a little bit smaller, and opened the door to the room she loved so much and worked so much for.

She stepped inside and grinned as she glanced around the room, her eyes stopping on every item inside, and especially on the walls, painted in light blue with some clouds on them. The nursery looked exactly like she wanted it to look. It wasn't for nothing that she had paid a painter to come and paint the walls exactly the way she wanted him to. In the last five months, since the beginning of her second trimester, Elena started to do shoppings for the baby. And so she didn't hold back from spending as much money as she needed for her baby to have everything he deserved. Now, the nursery was ready to host the tiny human who was so anticipated.

Elena sighed as she recalled the last conversation with her friends and leaned against the black wooden crib as she tried to stop the tears from flowing freely on her face. Of course Caroline told her that she'd be miserable, alone, so far away from everybody she loved and from the second she heard her friend tell her that, Elena knew, for sure, that she was right. She was utterly miserable, in a lonely world that she created for herself, without Caroline, without Bonnie, without Jenna, without Jeremy, but most of all, without him.

Why couldn't she just stayed in New York, told Damon the truth and fought for her baby, for what was going to be her family? There were nights when she couldn't even close her eyes, her head full of these questions; what if he wanted the baby? What if they could've been happy together? What if she was stupid? What if...?

Lately, thinking about Damon more and more often as her due date was right around the corner and her head blurry with hormones, Elena didn't even talk to her friends as often as she did before; now, she barely called them once a week, and even if they called her, she would be short and hang up as soon as possible. It was so hard to lie to her dear ones. A few weeks after she has left, they all came to see her in Seattle, but she didn't bring them back to her apartment, afraid that they might show up anytime after. So she just told them that she wanted to grab lunch and convinced them to go to a restaurant, but of course, not before Caroline's interrogation.

Then, a few months later, Caroline called her, desperately trying to convince her to give her her address so she could come and visit her. It was getting harder to lie to her, because the blonde had a sixth sense when it came to people, and especially Elena, so she just had to lie again and tell her she was on a trip with some people she met at the campus, while taking some writing classes. That must've been the dumbest thing she's ever said to her blonde friend, because, after graduating as valedictorian, there was no way workshops could beat that.

Now, there she was, only with her baby, who would have to grow up knowing there was no one who cared about them, when in fact, Elena had her little family waiting for her at home. She wondered if she would ever see them again, if she would have the courage to tell them that she, in fact, had her baby and if she could actually go back someday. Then, she shook her head, knowing it was all a dream. She didn't belong there, to them, anymore. Now, she belonged in Seattle, with her baby.

The only things that she had right now, was her baby, who was the most precious thing she's ever had in her life, and a book, which was like her second baby. And even if she had finished it and sent it to Mr. Fitz, her former Dean, to read it and tell her his opinion, along with the changes he found fit that she should make, she didn't feel like any of this was right. Nothing seemed right. Everything was turned upside down and she knew that it was all her own fault, and yet, she couldn't bring herself to change something about the way she has dealt with things in the last eight months.

Elena was startled by the sound of her phone ringing in her pocket and so she withdrew it and looked at the number; it was Caroline. With a sigh, she answered, trying to get ready for what might come, but she could've never been ready and she definitely didn't expected what Caroline said to her.

"Elena, you have to come back!" Caroline almost cried into the phone and Elena's face turned from normal to white in an instant.

"Caroline? Is something wrong?" Elena asked, suddenly afraid of what the answer may be. Drawing soothing circles on her tummy with one hand, she gripped the edge of the crib with the other, holding her phone with the help of her shoulder.

"Is there, Elena? Is there something wrong?" Caroline repeated after her, like she has gone insane. Elena had never heard Caroline talk like that, especially not over the phone, and if something's gotten her like this, then it might be something serious.

"Everything's wrong since you left. I thought that Damon would get over it eventually, after a month or so." Caroline cried out and Elena knew that her friend was trying to stiffle some of her tears. "But no. He's a walking wreck. He's always drunk, he doesn't even go to the office anymore, he wears only sweatpants. He's dead inside. He's actually too sweet to me, and it's not like I mind it, really, but he's not himself. Stefan is afraid that he might do something crazy, like the stunt he pulled on us last time."

"Wh-what did he do?" It was the only thing that she could ask. It was the first time in eight months that she was hearing about him and although it broke her heart over and over again to hear those things, she was happy because she heard his name.

"He almost killed himself with alcohol poisoning. We had him in the hospital and I swear, Elena, that was a sight I'll never forget in my whole life. And as much as I may not like Damon sometimes, I never want to see him like this again. He doesn't deserve what you've done to him." These last words were Elena's trigger and she immediately broke into sobs, pouring all her heartbreak and her misery into that heart-wrenching sobbing session. Her sobs were muffled only by her, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her blouse.

"I-I'm so sorry, Caroline, I am." Elena said, her voice breaking several times as she tried to reason with herself. Crying wasn't good for the baby, and she knew it, but she just couldn't help but do it as she heard what her friends and the love of her life were going through. She was responsible for all of this and she just couldn't do anything about it, not even if she wanted to.

"Then come home. If you're really sorry and want to make things better, come home. Get on the next flight and come back. You don't have anything keeping you in Seattle, Elena. But here, you have your family here, you have Damon here." Caroline almost begged her and if she struggled a little, Elena could almost see her pained face as she pleaded with her friend to come back to the place where she'd been the happiest in her life.

"He's not mine anymore, Caroline." And as soon as the words were out, Elena realized that she meant them. She was right, Damon wasn't hers anymore. He stopped being the moment she left him, but it was just now that she'd truly realized it and it hurt like a bitch.

"You think so, 'Lena? All he does is mope around and cry after you whenever he's drunk, which is all the time. He's never stopped loving you." Her heart skipped a beat at hearing Caroline's last sentence, but she shouldn't get her hopes up. Even if he still loved her, at least half as much as she loved him, this meant nothing else but pain when they couldn't be together.

"I'm sorry, Care, I can't do it. I can't come home." And those were Elena's last words to Caroline, before she hung up the phone, scared that if she heard more, she would actually hop on the next flight and go home, where her heart was.

Hours later, when she finished pouring all the remaining tears out of her system, Elena glanced at her watch and saw it was late, about 8 PM. Without bothering too much, she walked into her bedroom and opened her closet, trying to get ready to go and wish Ellen her best and then return to her apartment. There was really no need for her to go around, infecting everybody else with her misery. So, she dug through her clothes, 90% of them not fitting and she chose a pair of jeans that she had bought last week and a checkered shirt. She looked casual, but still hot, even with her swollen belly and hips.

Half an hour later, she was climbing down the stairs to go to Ellen's apartment, when she was approached by Zack, a guy whom she met a few weeks ago when she went to the movies with Anna. For a while, Elena had been avoiding him, as she noticed he was interested in her. She really wondered what guy in all of his minds would be interested in a woman expecting a child that wasn't his own.

"Hey, Elena!" She turned around and smiled lightly at the sight of him and he, on the other hand, put on a boyish smile, showing off his pearly whites.

"Hey, Zack."

"What a coincidence. Are you here for Ellen's birthday?" Elena inwardly rolled her eyes at his question. The guy was cute and good looking, but did he really think she was an idiot to think that their meeting was actually a coincidence?

"Yes, I guess you are too." She said, not wanting to prolong talking too much. A simple greeting was enough, if not too much.

"How are you? How's the baby? When are you due?" He started to ask as they made their way inside Ellen's apartment. If he didn't stop asking so many personal questions, she would have to turn him off, and it wasn't going to be a nice sight.

"Uhm, in two weeks or so." She shrugged him off and when she saw Ellen, she practically ran towards her, leaving Zack alone at the entrance.

"Happy birthday!" She squeaked and hugged the slim, tall, brown haired girl and gave her the little bag with her present.

"Thank you, Elena. I'm glad you came."

"Of course I came, why wouldn't I?" Elena smiled as she started to walk towards the couch, where Anna and a few more of her friends were. In the last weeks, Elena noticed that after a few minutes of standing up, her legs would start to ache and she had to sit, otherwise she wouldn't feel her body anymore.

"Well, you know, the pregnancy." Ellen pointed to her stomach and Elena nodded. Of course that was it.

"Two more weeks left and I'm going to make the best of them. Got to enjoy my freedom while I still have it." She winked at the girl and sat on the couch, next to the girls, drinking an orange fresh.

And so, when she went up to her apartment, it was already midnight. She crawled to her bedroom and changed her clothes, then she jumped into bed and pulled the sheets on top of her belly, to keep herself warm. Her fingers looked around for the switcher of the light and when she switched it, the room was full of white light. Grabbing her pregnancy book from the nightstand, she opened it, only to reveal a picture of her and Damon.

Elena's eyes wandered over the picture and tears glistened in her beautiful brown eyes as she stared at the photo of the two of them, like it was photoshopped and not real, like it was. She'd brought nothing but pain to Damon's life and she really couldn't believe how she managed to do it. How, when she loved him so much that it hurt when she breathed? How, when she was ready to give everything up for him? How, when she thought of killing her baby for him?

"I'm going to take big care of you. I'll be your mother and your father. You will have everything you want and you're going to be the most loved kid in the world, I promise you." Elena whispered to her swollen belly as she drew soothing circles on it. Even if Damon wouldn't be around to be a father for their baby, she would make sure that her baby wouldn't suffer. She was going to come up with a plan.

She still had a large sum of money deposited in her bank account and if she was at least a little bit good at math, she thought that the money would get her and the baby through at least one year. In the meantime, she would work her ass off, get her first book published and then write another one. She had to work day and night if she wanted to grant her baby the life he deserved.

Tired as she was, Elena didn't know when she fell asleep, with the lights still on and with the picture of her and Damon in her hand. She stirred in her sleep, still finding it quite hard to sleep alone after so many nights when she had Damon's strong arms around her tiny body as a protection and a sign of love. The signs were always there, and she never noticed, she never thought that he was really in love with her.

In the morning, she woke up wearing the biggest smile on her face. This was the day she'd have the last ultrasound. Today it would be the last day when she would see her baby through a monitor and this only meant that it would be just a few days remaining until she could hold him in her arms.

So, she jumped out of bed and into the shower, getting ready to go to the doctor, so she wouldn't be late, like she was last time. Then, after the shower, Elena dug through her closet and pulled out some nice clothes.

"Elena Gilbert?"

"That's me." Elena stood up from her chair in the waiting room and walked towards the desk, where the blonde assistant was.

"I need you to sign this form and that would be it. It's the last time you're going to have to come." The blonde girl informed her and Elena smiled at the news, although she knew it already.

"Dr. Mikaelson can see you now." With these words, Elena walked to the doctor's office, entering it without knocking, as she knew he was waiting for her.

"Elena, nice seeing you again." The young doctor stood up from his chair and went to give her a hug, which she returned.

"I guess I can say the same, Elijah. But you did decline my invitation to lunch the last time I was here." She frowned and pointed her finger at him. In the last few months, Elena and her obstetrician have grown to be really good friends, probably because he was really young and so understanding. That was why they were hanging out whenever he had time.

"Well, I can't abandon the other pregnant women just because my favorite one wants to have a smoothie, can I now?" He shook his head amused and she jumped on the consult table, glancing around and frowning when she saw all the boxes.

"What's with all the boxes?" She asked and he raised his eyebrows, like he was ashamed of what he was going to tell her.

"My sister is back from Germany and I promised her that once she graduates and comes back to America, I'll move in to New York to be close to her. I haven't seen her in three years."

"So, you're leaving Seattle for New York?" She asked, faking disgust, because she knew how much Elijah liked living in Seattle.

"Don't mock me. I know you love New York." Elijah muttered while he was slipping on his gloves and turning on the ultrasound monitor. "Up with the shirt." He motioned to her shirt and Elena did what he asked, but not before rolling her eyes.

"I do, but I'm not going back there." She sighed as she told him so. She was going to learn to love Seattle, because this was where she would spend the rest of her life.

"You sure about that?" Elijah asked as he squirted some cold gel on her big belly and she shivered because of it.

"Yes." Elena nodded her head slightly and then her glistening eyes wandered to the monitor, where she could see her baby.

"Did I tell you already that he has a pee-pee?" Elijah asked and she glared at him, with a smirk on her face.

"I painted his nursery blue because you told me so, don't make me change it to pink."

"God, awful. Who would paint a nursery pink?" Elijah asked with disgust in his voice.

"My best friend, Caroline." Elena giggled at the memory of Caroline and once again, she had to stiffle her tears and hold them back.

At first, Elena didn't want to know the sex of the baby, but then, at one consultation, Elijah had been tantalizing her with the fact that he was the first one to know if she was going to have a baby boy or a baby girl so she gave up on the surprise and insisted he tell her. Every night since she found out that she was having a boy, Elena dreamt of a tiny guy running around. He had brown hair, like hers and mesmerizing blue eyes, just like his father's. Her heart skipped a beat every time she wondered if her baby would look like this, if he would look like his father at all.

"Congratulations, Elena, you are going to be a mother in a few days. Take care of your little baby and of course, take care of yourself." Elijah said as he helped her get up from the chair. She stopped cleaning her tummy and she lifted her eyes to look at him, because he knew what he was doing and she wanted to cry. Another person was telling goodbye.

"You're telling me goodbye." She remarked.

"Well, not really, but I'm moving next week and you're probably going to be at the hospital, delivering your baby. I don't want to risk the chance of not being able to hug you before I leave." Elijah said as he pulled Elena into a hug, drawing soothing circles on her back.

"I hate you right now. But I really hope you're going to be happy in New York, Elijah. As happy as I was." Elena smiled.

"Thank you, Elena. Promise to call me?"

"I promise."

Once she got back home, Elena got her phone out of her bag and called for a take-out, since she was starving. While waiting for the food to be delivered, she sat on the couch and turned on her laptop, checking her e-mails. There was one from Rose, Damon's assistant and Elena frowned. She probably forgot to delete her from the company's address book. The subject of the e-mail was Article from the New York Times. Curious about it, Elena opened the e-mail and her eyes scanned through it, until lingering on a specific picture. Her head started to spin as she read the title; Romance in the air- Mr. Damon Salvatore and Ms. Katherine Pierce, the new couple of the year? Underneath it, there was a picture of the two of them, Katherine having her arms around his waist possessively, as she smiled at the camera.