A few weeks passed and Stefan had secretly been staying at Elena and Damon's house while Damon and Katherine were still on their business trip. Stefan couldn't help himself…he was falling in love with her. And those kids, there was nothing on this planet he loved more. It was a cool summer night, the kids were playing in the yard, and Elena was in the bath. Stefan knocked gently.
"May I come in?" Elena sighed and giggled as if she were still in high school.
"Oh Stefan, it's wrong enough that you're staying here, you shouldn't see me naked." She heard him chuckle through the door.
"I know, it's okay. I just wanted to know what you wanted me to cook you for dinner. I know you and the kids like Italian food, I can make Spaghetti." She grinned at his offer.
"I said you shouldn't come in, not that you couldn't." He accepted her invitation and timidly opened the door. He frowned and took a seat beside her on the toilet.
"Elena…" She new exactly what he was staring at. He very delicately reached over and traced the scars on her arms and along her shoulders.
"Run away with me." He whispered suddenly. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Stefan I…w-what are you asking me?" He sighed and laced his fingers with hers.
"Do you love my brother?" Elena couldn't answer, only gaze at his gentle forest colored eyes and look back down at her scars.
"That's what I thought. He treats you and the kids like shit, and I'm sick of it. Katherine openly admits to not loving me, so it's not like I'm living the great life either I mean…our lives suck, Elena." Elena almost let out a cold laugh but stopped herself. Yeah, life does suck. She thought to herself. But it sucked before Damon and it would suck after, she was sure of it.
"Do you really believe that life with me would be any different? I'm broken…I never got my ovaries removed, Stefan. Because even though I have to be hospitalized sometimes, and even though it hurts me so much, I still want to try to have more babies. But even if we tried Stefan, it's no guarantee that I'm not already infertile and you deserve someone that can give you a family. Damon used up the time I had left, he said he'd rather the disease win than for him to be weighed down with more children he doesn't want. I'm broken." She cried as he knelt down and pulled her into him, not caring that she was naked and wet.
"You're not broken, Elena. I would try to have more children with you, if that's what you wanted. But even if it didn't work it wouldn't matter. We already have two perfectly healthy, wonderful children. You've given me so much already, how could I ever ask for more?" Elena clung to Stefan's sweater, but it all felt so wrong to her. She knew that she was starting to feel things that were only going to end up making her miserable when Damon came home.
"Spaghetti would be nice, thank you." She murmured, causing Stefan to flinch a little.
"Don't shut me out, Elena. Please, I know that you want this as much as I do." Elena pushed him away from her and pulled the curtain back.
"Please, just go." Stefan sighed and headed for the door.
"As you wish, love." The tears fell almost silently as she wrapped her arms protectively around herself, but Stefan could still hear them. It absolutely broke his heart and he wanted nothing more than to divorce Katherine immediately and devote himself to Elena. He knew it would do no good though, because he'd be kicked out of his home and he still didn't have a way to get Elena to leave Damon.
Think, Stefan. He brainstormed while he put the noodles in the pot to boil and went outside to call to the children.
"It's getting dark, angels, come inside please." Julia and Thomas ran and each attached themselves to one of his legs.
"Daddy, what are we having for dinner tonight? You're such a good cook!" Julia asked happily while her brother squealed and hugged his leg tighter, agreeing loudly. Stefan chuckled, his heart nearly exploding from the intensity that he loved these little ones. This was the first time one of them had called him "Daddy". He was about to respond when all three of their heads snapped up at the sound of someone obnoxiously clearing their throat. Stefan's eyes widened and he stood up very tall, attempting to look like the type of man Katherine wanted him to be.
"Good evening, Miss Mikaelson." Stefan said with a slight bow as the blonde before him put her long finger nailed hands on her hips. She narrowed her bright blue eyes as they fell on the kids still wrapped around him, now in a shyer stance.
"Why if it isn't Mr. Salvatore…the wrong Mr. Salvatore to be at home with these children, may I add. And as Ms. Gilbert does not work, that means you're alone with her too." Stefan had to fight the urge to roll his eyes hard.
"Please, Ma'am, when will people stop calling her Ms. Gilbert? She married my brother two years ago." The blonde woman shot him a tight-lipped smile.
"That would be because she doesn't belong here. A washed up high school drop out that had to marry a rich man just to support her children is not the sort of woman that deserves the title Damon has graciously given her. Mrs. Salvatore is your wife Katherine, not her. Now please, call me Rebekah." She added in a sickly sweet tone. Stefan clinched his fists so hard he thought he might actually break his own fingers.
"Miss Mikaelson, I highly suggest you leave here before I am forced to lose my temper. I don't appreciate my sister-in-law being spoken of in that way, especially not in front of our—h-her children." The spat started out as icy as a snowstorm, but sputtered out as he remembered that the twins being his children was supposed to be a family secret.
"Exactly, it would do you good to remember that she is your sister-in-law and only your sister-in-law, do you understand me? Because I heard the little brat call you daddy, and don't you think for one second that I am above telling your brother about this little affair." Stefan gritted his teeth and spat out sarcastically, "You really think I'm the one having an affair? Why don't you check in on my wife? I think you'll see only one cheater in this relationship." Rebekah turned red but no longer had anything to say, and stalked away with a look on her face that told Stefan that he really ought to have kept his mouth shut. But what was he going to do? Let her talk about Elena that way? He bent down and put a kid on each hip, carrying them inside and dead bolting the door.
REBEKAH'S POV
I made long irritated strides toward my car. Who did Stefan Salvatore think he was? I got inside and revved the engine, fixing my long blonde locks in the rearview mirror before speeding off. I pulled out my phone and dialed Damon's number, praying he wouldn't be displeased with me.
"Helloooo?" Damon's lazy drawl was all I needed to hear to know that he was in a relatively good mood, which meant he was getting laid.
"I um…I hope I'm not interrupting something, Mr. Salvatore, but I checked up on Ms. Gilbert like you asked." Damon groaned.
"Bekah, sweetheart, as your boss it is my job to politely tell you that you suck at being an intern. If I tell you to go above and beyond the call of duty as an intern for the CEO of a company and do dirty personal work for me, then you can expect me not to be angry with you about bringing me the results. A good CEO never questions if they are in the wrong, but assume they are always right. Keeps you from looking weak." I focused on not stammering this time and shook my head as if to clear my mind.
"Yes, well, I'm afraid I have bad news. Your wife is not doing anything that might expose your secret, it doesn't appear like you had to worry about her telling anyone, she seems to keep to herself socially. Except…when it comes to your brother, which is the bad news." There was silence on the other end for a few moments and I was growing quite nervous.
"I see…so she's fucking him?" I about choked on the latte I had begun sipping.
"Oh my! M-Mr. Salvatore no, I-I didn't see anything like that. I mean, I certainly hope she's not doing that. But he was staying over and acting a little too friendly with her and those kids. The little girl called him Daddy once." There was yet another agonizing silence and I bit my lip. I hated it when Damon asked me to do non work related things, because no matter how much Damon cheated he was such a jealous and controlling man when it came to Elena. It was almost as if that piece of trailer-trash was his trophy, which I had never understood. My best friend Caroline had gone to high school with Elena, I knew just how sleazy she was. Caroline told me about how Elena had gotten pregnant at the end of their Junior year and dropped out to get a Nursing GED. No one really knew the story behind Elena's pregnancy except for Elena herself, and I guessed Damon, but Caroline had always told me she thought the sleaze-bag had slept with Matt Donovan. It made me cringe to think about how Damon had gotten involved with such non-sense when I would have been far more suited to be his wife. Damon and I had grown up around each other, he knew my brother Klaus, and that's how I ended up his intern, though I would have liked to think it was because he had a thing for me.
"Um…Mr. Salvatore?" I asked cautiously, as he was not speaking at all anymore.
"Please send word to my dearest friend Mr. Saltzman, would you? I trust you know what I need you to say?" I sighed. Oh I knew alright.
"Yes sir." And without so much as a goodbye, he hung up on me. The only thing I hated more than keeping tabs on Elena was asking Damon's best friend Alaric to intervene. Alaric worked for DSS, and as much as I thought Elena was a slut, something about calling him in to threaten her had always felt wrong. Oh well, as long as I kept my job, right? I dialed Alaric's phone with a pit of dread in my stomach.
I hate my life, I hate my life, I hate my life. I thought bitterly to myself as it continued to ring.
"Ah, Rebekah Mikaelson, to what do I owe the pleasure? Please tell me Damon doesn't want me to talk to his wife again…" I giggled.
"Sorry Ric, looks like you're in for yet another drive from North Carolina to Virginia." He snorted.
"Eh, what the hell, gives me an excuse to go drinking with Damon when he comes back from wherever the hell he's run off too this time." I absentmindedly began to play with a strand of my hair as I pulled my car into my driveway.
"Listen I have to go, I'm home and Klaus won't like it if he thinks I'm on the phone with Marcellus, which is exactly what he'll think." Alaric scoffed.
"Well maybe he wouldn't be so paranoid if you weren't dating his best friend." I rolled my eyes and turned the car off.
"Whatever, but listen, take it easy on Elena this time okay? I hate her, but things got out of hand last time and I'm not as heartless as people may think I am." There was a pause, but unlike with Damon, it was a short playful one as he pretended to ponder the question.
"Let me think….okay, I guess I could do that." I giggled and rolled my eyes.
"Oh don't be an ass-hat, Ric. Talk to you later." We hung up and I descended the stairs to the home I shared with my five brothers. When I opened the door, I was dismayed at what I found. There was an annoying brunette standing beside Klaus, and he was grinning like a love-sick fool.
"Ello, sister."
