Previously in "I'll Still Be Here", Damon and Elena get into an argument after she finds out that he'd lied to her about trying to find Stefan while Stefan and Katherine make love.
Chapter Seven
Meredith sighed as she walked into the apartment building she had begun living in shortly after giving birth to her son Christopher, who was now nearly 3. It didn't seem possible that he was getting bigger each day, but he was the blessing she'd always wanted, especially after having quiet, reserved Savannah. Upon entry, Meredith sighed, putting her keys in the counter. She had helped both her sister and her stepdaughter and that was definitely something to be proud of. The physician headed into her bedroom, and then the adjoined bathroom, where she stripped until she had left her clothes in a pile on the floor. Then she turned on the water, turning the knob until it came out via the shower.
As soon as she was in the tub, Meredith shut off the water and sat down, closing her eyes as she laid her head against the tile of the wall behind her, letting her thoughts carry her away. Soon, she was asleep, her first thought of her beloved and deceased husband. "Merry."
Meredith opened her eyes at the sound of her name being called. The voice seemed familiar to her. "John?"
"Hello, my love," he said, appearing in front of her.
Meredith shook her head. "What are you doing here? You're…"
"I'm dead? Yes, but this is a dream, so I'm as alive as you want."
"I miss you, John. And I'm terrified. Not just because our children are growing up without you, but because I don't want to fall in love with anyone else. Not in the way that I loved you," she said softly.
John nodded. "Merry, I know you're afraid. I've been watching you and I even feel your fears. But, even if you fall in love again, I won't be offended. You can't forbid yourself from finding love again. Sooner or later, you're going to have to move on. Granted, it won't be the same, but you'll be happy."
"You did make me happy, even if we did have our ups and downs along the way," Meredith said.
John nodded. "I know, and I'm sorry if I did anything to hurt you."
"Never, John; you never did anything like that," she said softly. "You were absolutely perfect, except for the way you nearly destroyed our marriage the night you tried to burn your daughter's boyfriend alive."
"I know that wasn't my best moment," said John. "I even feel guilty for the death of Richard Lockwood." He sighed. "If I could do it all again, I wouldn't have tried to kill Stefan."
"What about Damon?" Meredith asked.
"Yes, I'd spare killing Damon as well. I know that he loves my daughter now like she'd loved Stefan back then," John replied.
Meredith nodded. "Yes, Damon has loved Elena from the moment he met her, and I couldn't imagine her life without him." She smiled sadly. "Just like I can't imagine my life without you…"
"Oh, my beautiful Merry," John said, gathering her into his arms and holding her close.
Meredith wrapped her arms around him. "I love you so much, John. I miss you."
She gasped as she came out of her dream but also because of the temperature of the water. Sighing, Meredith drained the tub and stepped out, drying herself off and heading into her room to get dressed.
Once dressed, the brunette got into bed then picked up the romance novel she'd been reading for the last few nights. As she read, Meredith thought about what she and John talked about in her dream/fantasy. God, if only he was really here. Why did he have to leave her alone like this? Well, she wasn't entirely alone, because she still had Savannah, Christopher, and Elena, but it wasn't enough.
Her sad thoughts were soon left behind when she heard Savannah's soft, eager chatter and Christopher's babbling coming from downstairs. Meredith came downstairs to find her children with their aunt. "What's going on down here, you two?"
"Auntie Meghan was just telling us about seeing Tyler again," Savannah replied with a grin.
Meredith smiled. "I know; I'm happy for her too."
"Mommy," Christopher said excitedly.
"Hi buddy, did you have a good day with your sister?" Meredith asked as Meghan carried him up the stairs with Savannah following her aunt.
Christopher nodded. "Yes, Mommy, I did."
Meredith smiled. "That's good to hear."
"But I missed you," he said once he was within reach of her. She laughed then took him out of her younger sister's arms and held him close.
"I missed you too, sweetie," Meredith said. "You and your sister are very special to me."
"Love you, Mom," Savannah piped up, hugging her mom from behind. Meredith smiled then let one hand stroke through her daughter's dark blonde hair.
"I love you too, darling," she replied. "I don't know what I would do without you in my life. Though, I don't know want to think about it."
"Don't try to think about it then, Merry," Meghan told her.
"I'm trying not to," Meredith said. "It's not easy, but I'm trying."
Later…
After putting Savannah and Christopher to bed, Meghan joined her older sister in her bedroom. "What's on your mind, Merry?" she asked quietly.
"I had a dream about John."
"Whoa, you…?" Meghan asked.
Meredith nodded. "He told me that I shouldn't keep dwelling, holding onto my love for him and that I should find love again," she told her sister.
Meghan placed a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder. "He does have a point, Merry. Savannah and Christopher need a father."
"I know. But, it's hard. I've not loved anyone else, not even when I was with Alaric for a brief time, since he was eventually killed," Meredith said.
Meghan nodded. "I remember that. I haven't loved anyone else either. Tyler is the only one I ever loved and I'm glad that we patched things up and are together again."
"Yes, but you're young, Meghan. You and Tyler haven't known each other but your whole lives," Meredith told her.
Meghan nodded. "I know, but we're going to make it work. T.J. needs to know his father, and Tyler needs to know his son. It's going to take effort on our parts, but we're going to take it one step at a time."
"How do I do the 'one step at a time' thing though, Meghan?" Meredith asked softly.
Meghan smiled. "That's easy; you just have to do it. I know it may be hard, but it really isn't."
"It's not easy for me, though. You know as well as I do, Meghan," Meredith said.
Meghan nodded. "I'll help you. There's no way I would ever abandon my sister in her time of need."
"Thank you, Meghan," her older sister said, kissing the top of Meghan's head.
The Next Day…
Meredith had a day off from the hospital, so she decided to take Savannah and Christopher, and her nephew, to the zoo for the day. T.J. saw that his aunt was deep in thought. "Aunt Merry, are you okay? You look so serious."
The physician turned to look at him. "I'm fine, sweetie. I just have a lot on my mind these days, I suppose," she said with a soft smile.
T.J. nodded. "Is it because you miss Uncle John?"
Meredith looked at her nephew in surprise. "Tyler James Lockwood Jr., where did you hear about that?" she said in a light but still firm, stern tone.
"I didn't," T.J. said. "My daddy is a werewolf. I can smell it on you."
"Sweetie, your daddy is only half-werewolf. And, let's not worry about Auntie Merry, okay? Let's go have some fun!" Meredith said.
T.J. nodded, with a smile on his face. "Okay, Auntie Merry."
She held out her hand and he slipped his into it, and then they headed into the first house that came after she got herself and Savannah into the zoo and park. As they walked around and looked at the animals, Meredith started to feel better. Then again, wasn't what being around children supposed to do?
They were in the house of the reptiles and amphibians when Meredith nearly collided with a hard body. Embarrassed out of her mind, Meredith said, "Oh, I am so sorry. I didn't know that anyone else was coming this way."
"No, it was completely my fault. You know what they say…don't text and walk at the same time," the man said with a chuckle.
Meredith smiled. "I'm pretty sure that applies to driving, but I suppose it could apply to walking as well. I'm Meredith, by the way. Meredith Fell. Who might you be, sir?"
The man held out a broad hand to Meredith, who took it then told the brunette physician, "I'm Paul Vaughn."
Meredith raised an eyebrow. "Are you of any relation to Galen Vaughn?"
"I'm his brother. Why?"
"Well, to make a long story short, he's dead. Killed by a vampire I know," Meredith told him.
Paul nodded. "I tried to tell him what he was doing would get him killed one day. But, Galen being Galen, he wouldn't listen."
"Are you um…are you one of them too?" Meredith asked.
"You mean, am I one of the Five?" Paul said. "No, lass, I'm not. I'm actually fond of all things supernatural, which includes vampires."
"Momma," Savannah called out, bringing herself to an abrupt stop when she saw that her mother was otherwise preoccupied. "T.J. needs to go to the bathroom."
"Okay, sweetie, I'm coming." Meredith turned to Paul. "I'm sorry, but my nephew needs me. I'll be back soon, I hope."
Paul nodded. "It's okay, don't rush. I'll be here when you get back."
Meredith also nodded then hurried off with Savannah to go check on her nephew, who she took to the nearest restroom. Paul watched as Meredith went off to the restroom with the children, smiling at her as he did so. She was definitely a beautiful woman and something told him that coming here was no accident. He was a firm believer in fate and he had a feeling that fate definitely played a hand in this.
When she finally returned, she had another little boy with her and she smiled at Paul. "Paul, I'd like you to meet my children, Savannah," she said, patting her daughter's head. "And this is Christopher, my son, and my nephew, T.J." She patted fair-haired Christopher and then dark-headed T.J.
Paul smiled at them. "Hello there. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Savannah, Christopher, T.J., this is Mr. Paul," Meredith said, introducing the trio to Paul.
The children said in unison, "Hello, Mr. Paul."
"It's nice to see such lovely children with wonderful manners," Paul said later to Meredith, after lunch, when he helped with getting Christopher and T.J. to the bathroom.
"Yeah, they're good children," Meredith said. "Though, I think it's an act. I would know, because although Savannah and Christopher are well-behaved, they're obviously plotting something. What makes it worse is that they get T.J. in on most of it."
"Maybe they're just worried about you," Paul told her.
"Yeah, and they have a good reason to be," Meredith said. "Savannah and Christopher's father died a while back and I've been raising them on my own ever since. I've had help from my sister, Meghan, but it's still difficult."
"Did you love your husband?" Paul asked.
Meredith nodded solemnly. "I did. John was my first love and I was so devastated when I found out that he died. You see, he was a hunter, like your brother, and I hated the fact that he was involved in that sort of thing. I hated it so much that I nearly left him. I would've succeeded too if he hadn't tracked me down and begged me for another chance."
"Wow, he must've really loved you then if he did that," Paul said.
Meredith nodded. "He did, and I loved him just as much. His loss cut me deep."
"Meredith, this is going to sound forward of me, but would you mind terribly if I kissed you?" Paul asked.
Meredith shook her head. "No, it's okay. I know you want to."
Angling his head, Paul scooted until he'd moved the food they'd finished off before reaching to bring his hand up to her chin, tilting it upward until he could look into her eyes then lowered his own head and pressed his lips to hers in a soft caress that could hardly be called a kiss.
Paul was about to pull away a few minutes later, but Meredith pulled him back to her, returning his kiss with a burning desire she thought she lost after John died. Immediately, Paul drew Meredith close, the kiss turning passionate and demanding but then he pulled back. "We should probably wait until later. We don't want to scare the children, do we?" he asked hoarsely.
Meredith nodded and licked her lips. "You're right. Children are very impressionable and we don't want to give them the wrong idea."
Paul smiled at her genuinely then asked, "Do you think they'll mind if I take them out for a lovely dinner, along with their mother and aunt?"
"Oh, they won't mind," Meredith said. "I won't mind it, either. Though, I'll have to ask Meghan if she'd like to join us. She'd want to meet you."
"That sounds lovely then. Is seven o'clock fair enough for you?" Paul asked.
"Seven o'clock sounds perfect," Meredith replied with a smile.
Paul smiled. "Good." He gently placed his hand on hers. "I promise you, Meredith, I'll make it so you're never sad again. You need a good man in your life, and your children need a father."
"I'd love nothing more," she said with a smile, leaning toward him and pressing her forehead against his.
Paul smiled as they sat there, enjoying each others' company. To be honest, he never expected to meet a woman like Meredith, but he definitely chalked it up to fate.
Author's Note: Okay, so now, I owe y'all an update. I'm just sorry that it took me so long. Make sure that you check out two of my newest collaborations, "Live and Learn" and "All about Us", the first which can be found on my profile, and the second can be found on my twin Court's profile. Happy reading!