Chapter 29
"First night in our new home…" Caroline sighed contentedly as she and Stefan snuggled on the oversized chair by the fireplace, a present from his Mom.
Pretty much everything they'd brought with them had been unpacked, Stefan and Caroline both agreeing that they wanted everything sorted as soon as they possibly could in time for everything new that had been ordered to be delivered the next morning. That afternoon when they'd arrived, had been the first time Caroline had seen the apartment and when Lily had told her the apartment was being refurbished she hadn't been lying – it was on the ground floor of traditional looking building on a cobbled street just down the street from bakery, but the inside was modern, the apartment having being decorated as simply as possible for Caroline to add her own décor and stamp to the place if she wished, but she was more than happy with the way it was for now. It was home...
She'd spent the majority of the afternoon in the room that was going to be the nursery, organizing things into piles and lists, all the hard work being left to Stefan and Damon as they carried things from the car into the apartment; she hadn't smiled as much in a long time. When she finally left the nursery and made her way into the lounge, she found Stefan sat in the chair by a roaring fire, the room now complete with all the furniture in place and the pictures she'd asked to have put on the walls in place, her body suddenly relaxing as she moved to join him…
Stefan smiled and held her tighter, her back to his front, his arms wrapped around her waist, his nose nuzzling the back of her neck that was left bare by the fact that her hair was tied in a ponytail, his lips trailing kisses over her smooth skin…
"Our new home…" he mirrored, his lips sending vibrations across her neck
"I'm so afraid this isn't real," Caroline admitted, entwining her own hand with Stefan's that rested on her waist "that tomorrow morning I'll wake up and it'll all have been a dream."
"It's a not dream." he replied, pressing his lips against her cheek "It's real. We're here and this is the place that we're going to come home to every night and in winter we'll curl up in front of the fireplace and watch our baby grow up and then when the time comes for us to possibly have another, we'll hopefully have somewhere bigger and better with a backyard where our children can play together, but we're going to grow old together, I know it."
Caroline smiled as he spoke and turned in his embrace, pressing her lips against his, smiling as she did so… "I love you, and I want nothing more than to grow old with you."
"I love you too." he mirrored "We should really start thinking of names for this one. I know we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we should at least have some options ready, right?"
"But what if they don't look like whatever we decide though?" Caroline asked "We can't choose something like Jack if they're going to look like a Luke, can we? I feel like once we see them, then maybe a name will spring to mind for us, but I don't want to pick anything out, not until the time comes. Is that okay?"
"Of course it's okay," he replied "but tomorrow we need to start on the nursery…"
"We?" she questioned "You're actually going to let me help?"
"I think there'd be hell to pay if I didn't." he admitted
She smiled at him warmly and nodded her head… "How about we get the paint after school and invite Bonnie over so she can see the place and she can give us a hand? She's great at art, and I was thinking we could have a mural or some stencilling of some sort on one of the walls. Maybe she'd have some ideas?"
"Whatever you want to do is fine by me" he informed her "but right now I think it might be your bedtime."
"I'm not tired!" she proclaimed
"Really?" he asked as she yawned "Well if you're not tired, how about we take a nice, relaxing bath instead?"
"Relaxing? No chance," she sighed "not with this monster kicking at my insides 24/7."
Stefan smiled at her warmly and guided her into the bathroom, sitting her on the edge of the bath as he began to run the hot water, filling it with Caroline's favourite bubble bath as he did so, Caroline not being able to take her eyes off of him as she watched him move around the room, lighting some candles and setting their towels onto the towel heater, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as he removed his top…
"Earth to Caroline…" he chuckled as he pulled her teeth from the skin of her lip, his lips pressing against hers "Hey – eyes up here."
"Hey." she mirrored "Sorry."
"I'm not complaining," he replied "not at all."
"Are you not?" she questioned, smiling at him warmly as she allowed her hands to run down his now bare chest, smirking as she heard a groan leave his lips "Bath time."
"Now who's the tease?" he inquired
Caroline rose to her feet and began to remove her clothing, watching as Stefan did the same and climbed into the tub, submerging himself in the bubbles…
"They've settled," Caroline informed him as she stood before him, naked "do you think they know it's bath time?"
"Maybe." he replied "Are you going to get in or are you just going to stand there, teasing?"
"That depends…" she admitted
"On?" he questioned
"On if you're going to make it up to me for more than a month of teasing while we lived at mine together tonight or not." she informed him "What's it to be?"
"I think that can be arranged." he replied, his lips pressing against her bare bump
Caroline sank into the water and rested her back against the bathing cushion she'd bought to help make baths more comfortable, sighing contentedly as she felt Stefan pull her to him a few minutes later…
"Baby's asleep, I think." she informed me
"3 months more and we'll have he or she in our arms," he sighed "I can't wait. We'll have our own little family."
"Can I tell you something?" she asked "You're my everything, Stefan. You're the one. Here in your arms, I know I'm home."
"You are home." he informed her "Home sweet home."
