Damon and Elena looked at Jeremy in surprise. Damon had no idea why he hadn't heard Jeremy come in before he reached the kitchen.

"Well, what do you need to tell me?"

Damon looked at Elena, raising his eyebrows. He signaled to Elena with a tilt of his head for her to fill Jeremy in. She looked back at Damon with a pleading, worried look.

Jeremy watched the exchange between the two of them. He asked, "What the hell is going on? From the looks you two are giving each other, I'm guessing it's something I'm not going to be happy about. So, just spill it already."

Elena tried to stall a little longer. "Why don't we eat first, and then we can talk. Damon made some lasagna."

Jeremy pointed towards Damon. He said to Elena, "He cooked dinner? Please tell me he isn't moving in now."

Damon shrugged his shoulders in response. "Sort of."

Jeremy rolled his eyes with annoyance. "Seriously Elena? It's not bad enough that you're dating him, now you're letting him move in?"

Damon gave him a sarcastic smirk. "It's all so I can enjoy pleasant moments like this with you."

Elena lightly smacked Damon on the arm to stop teasing her brother. "He's not moving in Jer. He's going to be staying here a little more, but he isn't moving in." She hesitated. "But I will be moving there."

Jeremy was livid. "Why because you just can't stand not seeing him 24/7? He's controlling you. Can't you see that?"

She snapped back, "He's not controlling me!"

"Are you kidding me Elena?"

"Jer…"

Mid-sentence Jeremy asked, "How can you move in with him? I need you here."

Damon leaned forward on the counter and calmly chimed in. "Calm down Jeremy. Let your sister explain."

Jeremy breathed heavily in anger at the thought of his sister moving in with a vampire. Vampires had already taken from him his entire family. And now Damon was trying to take his sister away too. He'd come so close to losing her so many times, he wasn't willing to risk her getting in deeper with their kind.

Elena tossed her hands up in the air in frustration She blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

Jeremy looked at her in disbelief. "What?! You actually expect me to believe that?"

Damon jumped in. "It's true. And before you get all excited that she dumped me for a human, she didn't. It's mine."

He was flabbergasted. "He's a vampire Elena! How the hell did this happen?"

Damon snidely replied, "Why don't you ask your witchy girlfriend?"

Jeremy looked like someone gave him a slap across the face. "Bonnie? What does Bonnie have to do with this?"

"Bonnie put a spell on Damon so I could get pregnant."

Accusingly, Jeremy glared at Damon. "You set her up to this."

Damon replied defensively, "It was her idea. I had nothing to do with it. Well, technically, I guess I did but not intentionally."

Elena rolled her eyes at him. "Not helping."

Jeremy's head was spinning. He felt like he was losing his mind. He couldn't believe that his girlfriend would do something like this to his sister. A baby, with a vampire? "What the hell Elena? This is really messed up." Jeremy stumbled back to sit at the table, trying to stop his head from reeling.

Elena walked over to the table and sat down in the chair next to him. She placed her hand on his arm to comfort him. "Look Jer, Damon and I were just as shocked as you are. We had no idea about Bonnie's spell until it was too late. We're not exactly happy she put us in this situation without telling us first. But I understand why she did it."

"What possible reason could justify Bonnie using you as some vampire test tube experiment? She knows how much you've been through."

Elena sighed. "Bonnie found a way to end the Petrova curse, putting an end to this Original mess. The dead witches lead her to the spell. In order for it to work, I need to have a male child to ensure no more dopplegangers can be born. Damon's family carries only the male gene, so she needed to use his bloodline to ensure the sex of the baby."

Jeremy looked at Damon. "You? Someone's father? Un-fucking-believable."

Damon walked over to where they were sitting and leaned against the table next to Elena. He didn't deny the ridiculousness of him being a father. "Yeah, not exactly how I see myself either."

Elena glared at Damon. "The witches chose you for this remember?" She looked back at Jeremey. "They wanted Damon to be the father because they knew he'd keep us safe."

Jeremy argued, "You're safe right here with me. None of them have been invited in. I can protect you."

Damon was getting annoyed at his delusions of grandeur. "Really Jeremy? How are you going to protect her from Klaus when you can't even protect yourself? Do you need me to give you another demonstration of how incapable you really are?"

Jeremy gave Damon a dirty look, knowing full well what that 'demonstration' would consist of. He'd had his neck broken by him once before. He didn't need a repeat performance.

Elena looked sharply at Damon then back to Jeremy. "Jeremy, Damon's right on this. I don't want you getting hurt. As much as you hate to admit it, you know he's right too. That's why I'm moving to the boarding house, so he can protect me...us. The witches chose a vampire for a reason."

Jeremy gave Damon a hard stare. He was met with an equally hard stare back. Yes, Damon was a dick most of the time, but he knew he would never let anything happen to his sister. He knew, somewhere in that dead heart of his, he loved Elena more than anything. And she loved him too, even if no one else could figure out why.

Elena continued. "Jeremy, I need to do this. You know I would do whatever I had to to keep those I love safe."

Jeremy shook his head in defeat. "I know Elena, but I just wish you didn't have to be the martyr all the time."

Elena gave him a tight smile and patted his arm. "Me too Jer. But this mess is my fault because I'm the doppleganger. I'd rather do this than sit back and watch the people I love die because of me."

Jeremy put his head in his hands in defeat. He breathed out a heavy sigh, as he ran his hands through his hair. Finally, he said, "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

Elena nodded in understanding, "I know. Look Jeremy, it's very important that you don't tell anyone about this, that includes Matt, Tyler and Caroline. I don't want anyone else getting hurt over this. The less people that know the truth, the better it is for everyone. If Klaus finds out I'm having a boy, he'll try to kill him. He has to think I'm having a girl."

Jeremy studdered. "Uh...yeah...sure...but isn't Klaus going to find it strange that Damon fathered a child?"

Damon answered, "That's why we came up with a plan that you need to make sure you sell to him, even if he threatens you."

Annoyed at his insinuation, Jeremy said, "I'm not going to rat out my sister no matter what anyone does to me. I want to keep her safe as much as you do. She's the only family I've got left. I've got my ring to protect me. So what's the plan?"

Bonnie was at home looking through her grimmoires for a protection spell she could use to help keep Elena's condition hidden from Klaus as long as possible. So far, she hadn't found anything useful. Her cell phone rang, but she was too pre-occupied with the grimmoires to check the caller ID before she answered. She realized her mistake as soon as she heard Jeremy yelling at her, before she could even finish saying 'hello.'

"Bonnie, what the hell were you thinking!?"

"Jeremy?" She cringed. "I take it Elena told you."

"Yeah, she told me. Hasn't Elena been through enough? Now you have to put her through this?"

Bonnie tried to explain. "I'm sorry Jeremy, but there was no other way to stop this mess."

"There's always another way."

Bonnie had a sudden flash of memory. Those were the same words she said to Damon not long ago, when he told her he had no choice but to turn her mother in order to save Elena.

Jeremy continued his rant. "And Damon of all people to be the father. I was hoping this vampire fascination of hers was just a phase. Now Elena will never have a normal relationship. She'll always be attached to a vampire."

"Look, I know you're upset, and I don't blame you for being furious with me. I just couldn't stand to see the people I love at Klaus' mercy any longer. Elena isn't the only one who has suffered here. We've all suffered Jeremy."

"So, you sacrificed my sister, your best friend, is that it?"

"I had a tough choice to make, and I made it. I know it's harsh, but Elena understands. Unless this ends, we'll never be safe. We'll never live a normal life."

"We're never going to live a normal life if we stay in this town anyway. You know that. We're surrounded by hybrids, and, werewolves, and vampires, and God knows what else."

Bonnie paused for a moment. "Jeremy, what exactly did Elena tell you?"

"She told me that you put a spell on Damon, so she could have a son that would end the doppleganger thing."

"She didn't tell you the whole story then."

Confused, Jeremy asked, "What are you talking about? There's more?"

Bonnie explained, "The baby Elena is carrying will end vampirism forever. When he grows up, he can kill the Originals. In the process all other vampires will become human again. Our friends will be free." There was dead silence on the phone. Jeremy returned from his revere, when Bonnie asked him, "Jeremy, are you still there?"

"Uh...yeah…I'm still here."

Bonnie pressed on. "This child will not just make Mystic Falls safe but the entire world. Do you have any idea what this means? We could literally go anywhere and not have to worry anymore."

"We'll still have to worry about werewolves. I mean Tyler will still be a werewolf right?"

Bonnie laughed slightly. "Hey, one curse at a time." She could hear this got a chuckle out of Jeremy. "I know you don't like Damon being the father. Not many people like Damon at all, but Elena loves him. And at least when this is all over, he'll be human. Elena said he was different when he was human. Maybe he won't be so bad."

Jeremy scoffed, "Yeah, good luck with that."

After they'd broken the news to Jeremy, he'd isolated himself in his room. Damon cleaned up the dinner dishes while Elena attempted to finish some homework. She was having a hard time focusing on the chapter she was attempting to read, between being worried about leaving Jeremy all alone, and her growing tiredness. Damon noticed her eyes fluttering shut. "Why don't you go to bed. I'm sure you can do that tomorrow."

Elena yawned as she closed her book. "Do you think Jeremy will be ok here alone? I'm worried about how he took the news."

Damon gave her a look, implying she was being ridiculous. "He's a big boy Elena. He'll be fine. He actually took it better than I thought. You worry too much."

She got up and walked over to where Damon was putting the dishes in the dishwasher. Leaning against the counter. Sleepily, she said, "This coming from the man who insists on protecting me in my own house. You're a bigger worrier than I am."

He smiled at her teasingly, as he ran a finger down her cheek. He lifted her chin to look at him. "Yeah, well, what I have to protect is more fragile." He leaned down and gave her a soft kiss.

She smiled at him sleepily. "I'm going to go take a shower before bed. I'll see you upstairs."

"Ok." He snapped a dish towel at her rear end, teasing her as she walked past. Elena managed to dodge it. "Hey, what happened to me being fragile?" He chuckled as she left the kitchen.

A few minutes after Elena left, Damon heard Jeremy enter the kitchen. Without looking at him, he said, "She just went upstairs."

"I know. I came down to talk to you." Damon turned around, looking at him in surprise. "Bonnie told me the rest, about how all the vampires are going to be human again. You guys left that part out. Why?"

Damon sighed. "Because we don't know for sure if it's true, or if the witches are just using that so we'll follow through with the spell."

"Bonnie seems pretty certain of it."

"Yeah, well, I've been promised things before by the Bennett witches. They like to manipulate. I don't want Elena getting her hopes up."

Jeremy could see, by the look on Damon's face, that it wasn't just Elena's hopes he didn't want to get up. "Aren't you the least bit anxious about the possibility?"

Coldly, Damon replied, "Nope."

"Why not? I mean you'd have your humanity back. You'd get to start over again."

Damon narrowed his eyes at Jeremy, giving off an air of indifference. "What makes you think I care about being human again?"

Jeremy countered, "Come on Damon. No one wanted to be a vampire, not even you. You have to be a little excited about it."

Damon frowned. "Jeremy, I've been dead for 146 years. No vampire has ever come back to life. It's just not possible."

Jeremy laughed sarcastically. "Neither was reproducing, but that happened didn't it?" Damon looked at him, taken aback by the reality of his words. He scowled but didn't say anything. Jeremy turned to walk away then stopped to look back at Damon. "Elena said you were different when you were human, decent. Is that true?"

Damon pursed his lips as he contemplated his answer. "Yeah, I was more boring than Stefan."

Jeremy looked down smirking at his answer. He looked back at Damon and said, "Don't you think after all of this Elena deserves someone boring?" Before Damon could answer, he turned and walked out.

Damon was already lying in bed, thumbing through the latest issue of the Enquirer Elena had sitting on the nightstand, when she exited the bathroom. "Did you know they found Big Foot in a wooded area of Oregon? What's next aliens?"

Elena smirked at him as she climbed into bed. "Well, stranger things have happened. Hey, thanks for dinner tonight and helping me tell Jeremy. I'm not sure I would've had the guts to do it by myself."

Damon smiled up at her. "No problem."

Elena hesitated. "I've got something to tell you that you're not going to be happy about."

Damon looked up at her with those piercing blue eyes, those eyes that melted her very soul. "What is it?"

She took a deep breath. "Today when Bonnie and I were leaving the lecture hall, one of Klaus' hybrids followed us."

"What!? Are you sure it was hybrid?"

"Yeah, Bonnie brushed against him in the student center. I don't get why Klaus would have someone following me. He can't possibly know already. I mean, we just found out ourselves."

Damon thought for a moment. "No, I doubt he knows. If he did, he wouldn't be so subtle about it. He must have his minions following you for another reason. Listen to me, you need to be extra careful. We have no idea what he's up to."

She nodded solemnly. "I will. Bonnie is looking for a spell to help hide the pregancy for a while."

"Good. I'll nose around and see what I can find out. We need to be one step ahead of him at all times."

Elena scooted down in the bed and nuzzled herself against Damon. Her leg brushed his bare skin underneath the covers. She was surprised to feel he was ready for action. Amused, she asked, "You're naked already?"

He smiled at her devilishly. "Of course. I mean you did say your hormones were raging. I'm just doing my job to help you out with that."

With a wicked smile on her face, she bit her lip. Seductively, she leaned close to his lips. She ran her hand under the covers over his very hard erection. She whispered, "So, where should we start?"