A/N: For Big and Nona and Beth. You girls are great detectives. =-))

In honor of Paul joining Twitter. Gah. Fangirling moment. =-))

This is the second to the last chapter. Ok? Enjoy

CHAPTER 6

"Hello." He answered.

"Where are you?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Why do you ask?" he wondered.

"She's worried about you." The voice answered.

"Tell her not to worry. I'm not about to commit mayhem here." He reassured the other man dryly.

"I'm so sorry."

He laughed. "It's not your fault."

"But she knew."

"I don't blame her. Go reassure your girlfriend, Tyler." He wanted to end the conversation quickly.

Tyler sighed loudly. "Take care Stefan, okay?"

"I will." He answered and hung up.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked as she felt her little fingers tugging her sleeves.

"That man," she pointed across the street at the cafe. "He keeps looking at us."

"What man?" Elena asked again as she followed her little fingers. There wasn't anyone there.

"He was just there," she scratched her head, wondering where the man had gone.

Elena laughed just before she kissed her chubby cheek. "It was just your imagination sweetie."

She gave Elena a look of hurt. "It was not! There was really someone," she pouted.

She sighed. "Never mind. It's getting late. We need to go now."

Stefan sat in his car, breathing a sigh of relief as he realized she'd nearly spotted him. He wasn't ready to face her yet. He didn't want anyone else to be present when he confronted her.

She was tired. All she wanted to do was go to bed and fall asleep. She looked at her watch and saw that it was already 10PM. She had just finished taking a shower and was wearing her favorite sleepwear. It was a man's checkered shirt. His shirt. She'd packed it accidentally the last time they'd been together and had decided to keep it. It was one of two keepsakes she had of him. The other one was in the other bedroom.

She was checking if she'd locked the front door properly when the bell rang. Who could be visiting her at this late hour? Maybe it was her friend, Stacy. She often dropped by late at night to wind down after coming from a party.

"Stacy, aren't you a little early?" she automatically asked as she opened the door.

"Hello, Elena."

"Stefan!"

"Surprised?" he asked dryly.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered in shock.

"I'm here to give you this." He offered a hand out.

"What?" she trailed off when she saw a white box resting on his palm. "Is that supposed to be a joke?" she asked pointedly.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" he ignored her question.

"I…" she looked nervous all of a sudden.

"At least take this," he offered her the item on his palm again.

She looked at him silently before she reached out to take the box off his hand. Before she could withdraw, he was holding her wrist in his other hand. She gasped and looked at him nervously. "You're hurting me."

Stefan almost smiled. He's hurting her? What about him? She hurt him a lot more than he had her. He sighed loudly. It wasn't the right time to go into that just yet. "Invite me in." his voice brooked no objection. Despite his casual attire, he was in his ruthless mode.

She had no choice but to move aside to let him in. "Come in."

He didn't let go until he was safely inside her apartment. "So that's where my shirt went." he meant to tease her but his voice came out harshly.

"You want me to take it off then?" She challenged him.

Stefan didn't answer. He was seriously considering asking her to do so. He missed seeing her body. Of course, he missed not only that. He missed her smile too. Her touch. Her voice. He sighed. He just missed her. Period.

"Why did you really come here?" she sounded like she really didn't care one way or another.

He walked towards her sofa and sat down, adopting an equally careless demeanor. "You have a nice place." He observed idly.

"Thank you." Manners dictated that she answer.

"Where is she?" he finally asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she answered nonchalantly.

"The one you were with this afternoon. Is she in your bedroom?" He added, daring her to deny it.

"No." She answered waspishly, still not taking a seat.

Stefan clenched his fists in frustration. "Don't lie to me." He fought to keep his voice even.

"I'm not lying!"

He couldn't stand it anymore. He had to know. He stood up and walked quickly towards her room.

She scrambled to follow him. "Where do you think you're going?"

He opened the door and looked in. "She's not here."

"I told you she wasn't." she answered impatiently. "What's it to you anyway?"

"What's it to me?" his control finally snapped. "Where is your daughter? "

Realization dawned on her; she laughed bitterly, "She is not my daughter. Emily is my sister and John's daughter." She sighed. "Stefan, what are you doing here?"

Stefan didn't say anything for a while. Finally, "Tell me." he said.

"Tell you what?" she pretended ignorance.

"Why did you really come back?" he asked, willing her to tell the truth.

She looked at him for the longest time before she spoke, averting her gaze so she didn't have to meet his stare.

"I'm getting married." She answered, as if that explained everything.

Stefan ignored the pain her words evoked in him. "Who is he?"

"Does it matter?" she shrugged.

Stefan wanted to shake her but he controlled himself. "So what is this then?"

"My last fling?" she made her statement sound like a question.

"I hope he's not the kind who minds not being the first." He retorted, unable to help the note of bitterness from creeping in his voice.

She looked at him sharply. "He loves me."

"Congratulations." He muttered sarcastically. "I guess, it's just a matter of time then before you start having kids. How many kids are you planning to have? Two? Three?"

"I can't."

"What are you talking about?" confusion is evident in his voice.

Elena slumped in defeat. "I can't have kids". She turned away from him and started walking towards the sofa instead.

He followed her slowly and sat down across from her.

She swallowed hard and started clenching and unclenching her fists unconsciously. Stefan looked on in alarm as he saw her start to rock, her lower lip whitening as she bit into it in an effort to gain some semblance of control. "Elena?" He was beside her in an instant. Reaching out to take her in his arms. Unable to help himself.

"Two years ago, I got pregnant. I did not care that I was not married. I did not care that I did not love the father. All I cared was that there is a life growing inside of me. For the first time in a long time, I was happy. And I did everything right. I followed my doctor's every order and took every precautions." She looked like she wasn't completely aware of her surroundings. "I wanted him so bad. I was thinking, it's only fair. I mean, I can't have you, then I deserved to have him. A baby, my baby," she struggled to convince him.

Stefan could only stare at her helplessly. He was confused. She talked like, "What?" he couldn't complete the thought.

She finally seemed to realize his confusion and looked at him, tears welling in her eyes. "I lost him. There were complications and then they have to operate on me. They did what they could to save me and save him but they couldn't…" she whispered brokenly as she fought to hold herself together. "I didn't tell anyone. No one even knew I was pregnant. Not the father, not John. Not even Bonnie or Caroline. I didn't know what to do, all I know is that I am in pain and all I wanted was to forget everything. I just…I wanted you." She started to shake as the tears she'd been holding at bay suddenly fell. "I'm so sorry, Stefan."

Realization dawned on him on why she came back all those years ago. He didn't say anything. He couldn't. He just continued to hold and rock her in his arms as she cried.

Her tears fell. Not silently. But with heaving sobs. Unable to stop. Unable to do anything else but hold on to her. She cried for the son she never knew. The son she never got to hold. The son she never got to see.

He cried too. For her. For her baby.

And they stayed like that. Their arms wrapped around each other.

Finally, after seemingly like hours, their crying subsided. Not because they'd stopped mourning. But rather because their eyes refused to shed any more tears. At least, for the time being. Still, they stayed entwined.

Each loathe to release the other.

Both unaware of the other's fear, that somehow, the other would vanish and leave each to their own loneliness.

"Please let me stay," he begged as he tightened his arms around her.

She didn't say anything. She just kept her arms around him.

He woke up with stiff back and arms. It seemed that he'd fallen asleep on the couch. With her. Their arms were still around each other with her head resting on his chest. He was afraid to move, lest he wake her up.

He breathed in deeply to take in her unique scent and unconsciously tightened his arms around her.

He would have liked to stay that way for a longer time, but he found himself suddenly being pushed off her without ceremony.

"What the," he was unable to prevent the words from escaping his lips, forgetting that he was supposed to still be asleep.

She didn't pay him any heed. She just moved hurriedly, almost at a run, towards her bedroom.

He got up and followed her curiously. What was wrong with her? His steps faltered when he saw her bedroom in the clear light of day. It was so feminine. So like her. He realized that she'd gone to the bathroom and he took the time to look around the room. He should have felt uneasy standing in the middle of such a feminine room, but somehow, felt right at home. He didn't stop to question why that was so.

He was about to sit down on her bed when he saw a picture of her on her night table. With her fiancé.

He started to reach out for it but then the bathroom door suddenly opened.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her hand still holding the knob.

He snatched back his hand guiltily. "I…"

She quickly marched over and snatched the picture that he was reaching for. "Who told you to come in here?" she asked coldly, their moment of amity from the night before, all but forgotten.

"Does your fiancé knew about us?" he asked tentatively.

"Why are you really here?" she ignored his question.

"I came because I realized that I couldn't let another five years to go by without telling you how I feel. I came because every night has been a torture for me since you've left. I came because I know that I can't function without you by my side. I came because I love you." he replied, his voice earnest wanting her to believe him.

She didn't react. Instead began picking up her clothes off the floor that she had forgotten the night before.

"Say something." He whispered.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked.

"Don't marry him." He told her flatly.

"He loves me." She reasoned.

"You love me." He countered.

"You need to leave, Stefan."

"Elena…"

"Stefan, what we had was in the past. I don't love you anymore." She said the words without inflection.

"Liar!" he whispered, although his knees weakened upon hearing her answer. "And our week together? What was that supposed to be then?"

"That was goodbye."

"No! I don't believe you." He knew he was sounding desperate. He didn't care. He'd beg if he had to.

"Just let me go Stefan. Please." It was her who begged instead.

He pulled her into his arms, not caring in the least that she resisted. "I can't." he whispered as he tightened his arms around hers.

She just stood in his embrace. Not reacting. Not even pushing him away.

"Don't make me." He couldn't help but choke on the words. "Please Elena, give me another chance." He pleaded brokenly. "Tell me what you want me to do. I'll do it. Just…please," his words ran over each other, his shoulders shaking as he tried to stop himself from crying.

"Let me go."

The finality of her words broke Stefan's fragile hold on his control.

With those words, he realized at last that it was over.

So he did what she asked of him.

He let her go.