"Okay, Bonnie - Caroline's going to figure out a way of getting me and Sophie to you."

Following Enzo upstairs, Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Jo - I am way out of my league."

"Right, first things first - vital signs, how are they?"

"Normal for a vampire," Bonnie said, putting the phone on speaker and setting it on the nightstand of the spare room Elena had been moved to. "She's breathing, and her heartbeat is as it should be."

"She was complaining of discomfort and nausea beforehand," Enzo added in the direction of the phone. "But then she's been complaining of that since I got here."

Jo chuckled a little humourlessly. "Yes, that is a rather common problem. I assume you're Damon's friend? Enzo?"

"Yes ma'am."

"In which case," Jo said, "you should be able to hear the babies' heartbeats. They will be a little faster than a regular human heartbeat, but other than that, they should clear and concise."

Enzo was silent for a few minutes, while Bonnie fidgeted with concern, holding Elena's hand. She had half-expected her skin to feel feverish and clammy, but it was quite the opposite - dry and almost ice-cold.

"One of them sounds fine," Enzo said, a note of concern in his voice. "The other one doesn't - it's quieter and a lot slower than the other one."

"Okay, I have a theory," Jo said, apparently slipping back into to doctor-mode that Bonnie wished she could emulate at times like these. "I need to examine her to be sure. Try and get some blood into her - if Katherine's nearby, hers would actually be a really good idea; it's practically a blood transfusion in their case. Freya's going to use an old spell to transport me and Sophie to you, but the energy it requires will cause her to pass out."

"Got it," Bonnie said, as Enzo returned with a blood bag. "Katherine's out baby-shopping but she could be back soon."

"Texted her," Enzo said shortly, coaxing the blood down Elena's throat.

As if she had heard him, the front door slammed.

"Elena?!"

"Up here," Bonnie called. "She's still out. Jo, Sophie and Freya are on their way," she added as Katherine joined them. "Jo said your blood might help."

Katherine was moving before Bonnie had finished speaking, biting into her wrist and pressing it into Elena's mouth. "You don't get to drop on us, Elena."

There was a crackle of magic in the air, and three witches appeared in front of them, Freya immediately crumpling. Enzo caught her before she could hit the ground and moved her out of the way to a chair, so Jo and Sophie had room to work.

"You're right," Sophie said to Jo, pressing her hands against Elena's stomach. "Unfortunately."

"Right about what?" Katherine asked.

"One of the babies has turned around," Sophie answered. "It's meant to happen - they really should be head down for delivery. Unfortunately, the cord has wrapped around her neck, which means she can't breathe. Although I don't know why that's caused Elena to pass out. Generally, the mother wouldn't notice, aside from a possible decrease in movement."

Jo was holding Elena's hand, murmuring something under her breath. "I might know," she said after a few moments. "There is a spell that can increase the amount of energy the baby is receiving through the umbilical cord. I wouldn't use it in this case, not just because there are two babies, but because Elena's a vampire, her energy is not necessarily renewable in the way a human's is, because she doesn't create her own blood cells."

"So it would cause Elena to pass out," Bonnie said. "But I haven't done anything."

"No," Jo agreed. "No, this magic is something more inherent - I think it's the baby."

"Hang on," Katherine protested. "There's no magic in the Petrova line aside from the doppelganger curse."

"No time to debate it," Jo said. "We need to deliver the babies or Elena's energy will keep being drained until she desiccates, and if that happens, we'll lose both babies."

"How long do we have?" Katherine asked.

Jo lifted Elena's hand, so they could see the grey dead skin around her fingertips. "We're already out of time."

"Do you need anything?" Enzo asked.

"Hot water and towels please," Sophie answered, setting herself up at the foot of the bed. "And can you please move Freya downstairs?"

"Ready?" Jo asked, once Enzo had provided the requested material and then removed both Freya and himself out of the room.

Sophie nodded, and the two witches began chanting.

Whatever the spell was, it brought Elena round with a scream of agony.

"I don't remember that much pain," Katherine said hastily, gripping Elena's hand. "What happened?"

"We just induced her to the point of birth in the space of thirty seconds," Jo said. "Usually you get at least a few hours to deal with it."

The Camaro roared outside and Bonnie groaned. "That's all we need. Katherine, you need to go."

"Absolutely not," Katherine said sharply.

"We do not need the two of them in the room," Bonnie pointed out gently. "And you can deal with them better than I can. Enzo is going to need help."

Katherine sighed. "I hate it when you make sense. She's going to break your hand."

"I can deal with it," Bonnie said, swapping places with her. "Good luck."

Katherine nodded, blurring out of the room to catch the brothers at the front door.

"No time to burn sage, I guess," Bonnie said, taking Elena's hand.

"They'll have to deal with it," Sophie said. "Elena, honey, I need you to start pushing."

"Bonnie …"

Elena's eyes were glazed with confusion, and Bonnie's heart went out to her. "The babies are in trouble, sweetie; we need the babies to be born now."

"Oh, okay." Elena blinked a few times, flexing her fingers. "I can't feel my hands."

"I know," Bonnie said, trying to keep her voice calm. "Let's get these babies out, and then everything should go back to normal."

"Elena," Jo said gently. "Elena, look at me."

Elena's eyes snapped to hers and Jo smiled. "It's alright, Elena. Time to start pushing, okay?"

Downstairs, Katherine grimaced at the scream that echoed down. "Okay, that one sounds familiar."

"Something's wrong," Damon said, white-faced. "There must be something wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Katherine said. "She's giving birth. It hurts. I really shouldn't need to tell you that."

"Yeah, but is it meant to hurt that much?" Damon asked.

Katherine smiled sweetly. "Tell you what - when you pass a whole cantaloupe, you can comment on the possible pain of childbirth."

"And both babies are okay?" Stefan asked.

"They both had heartbeats when I left," Katherine said, her eyes fixed on the top of the stairs. "So they should be."

At the tail end of the next scream, a baby's cries floated down towards them and Katherine jolted to her feet without thinking.

"You go," Enzo said. "Stefan, Damon and I are going to have a drink."

"But …" Damon began.

"Do you want to see that?" Enzo asked.

Damon faltered. "No. No, I don't."

"Right," Enzo agreed. "So sit down, have a drink and let Katherine go and help."

Katherine spared him a smile and hurried upstairs.

There were two babies crying now, much to her relief, and she tapped on the door before letting herself in. "Is everything okay?"

"Everyone is absolutely perfect," Jo said with a smile. "Elena was amazing."

"Bonnie said I had another six weeks," Elena said tiredly. "I'm not happy about that."

"Well, in my defence, this little one had other ideas," Bonnie said, gently rocking the baby in her arms. "Can you tell the difference between them?"

Elena adjusted the blankets of the baby in her arms. "Um … I'm not sure. This one doesn't feel like mine. But what if that's because I'm just not a good mom?"

"Oh, for goodness sake," Katherine said, coming to sit on Elena's other side. "They are literally only a few minutes old, Elena; you can't expect …"

Her words trailed off as she finally saw the baby Elena was holding, still red and wrinkly and looking more like an alien than a human.

But …

"Oh my God …" Katherine reached out to touch her face and the baby girl turned her head a little, her eyes blinking open to reveal …

"Well, that clinches it," Elena said. "She's got Damon's eyes. I think this one's yours."

"I think she might be," Katherine agreed, a little unevenly, taking the baby into her arms. "Hi baby girl. I hope it wasn't you causing Auntie Elena all that trouble."

"No, we got her out first," Sophie said. "Your little one was born second."

"So it's your fault," Elena said with a weak smile to the baby Bonnie was holding. "Alright, let's have a look at you."

Bonnie placed the second baby in Elena's arms and Elena sucked in a breath. "Holy …"

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"I wasn't expecting it to feel any different," Elena whispered, gazing at her daughter's face. "But … This is my baby."

"I'll go and get some bottles," Sophie offered, "and let the boys know."

"Enzo got them to sit down and have a drink," Katherine said, with a smirk in Bonnie's direction. "I tell you - any man that can keep calm faced with the chaos of childbirth is a keeper."

"Very funny," Bonnie grumbled.

Damon and Stefan arrived a second later, coming to a halt just inside the room.

"It's okay," Elena said, smiling. "None of us are going to break."

"So what happened?" Stefan asked, rounding the bed to kiss her. "Katherine kind of explained it, but I can't work out how you ended up losing energy."

"Well that's the interesting part," Bonnie said with a smile. "I can tell you right now that you are the proud parents of two healthy witches."

"She gets it from you," Katherine told Damon. "We don't have any witches in the Petrova line."

"Well, there aren't any in the Salvatore line," Damon said. "Father did have descendants other than us - not a witch among them."

"Well, your mother didn't," Katherine said. "And if I was a witch and was married to your father, I wouldn't have said a word about it either."

"You may have a point," Damon said, peering into the bundle in her arms. "She's a lot more wrinkly than I thought she would be."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Once she dries out, she'll look like a proper baby, I promise."

"Do they have names?" Bonnie asked. "Also, Caroline's been texting me every two minutes for news."

"I think you can tell her," Katherine said with a smile. "This is Ariana Maria."

Elena and Stefan exchanged a glance and he nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I think we should."

"We still hadn't quite decided," Elena admitted. "But I think you're right. This is Jenna. Jenna Alexia May."

AN: I know some people were hoping for boys. But I may have mentioned that this part of the story came about due to one scene in the next story, and for that scene I needed Elena's child to be a girl. And if Elena's child is a girl, then Katherine's had to be as well.