So here's chapter 2! Sorry it took longer than I said. I'm extremely busy with studying for finals. Fun right? With that said, I'm not sure exactly when I'll update. It'll probably be a few days. So this chapter is a little shorter than I wanted it to be, but I really wanted to upload again so I promise to make the next one longer(:
-Sarah
Caroline composes herself before Elena does. She puts her hand on Elena's shoulders and gives her a sympathetic look that confuses her.
"Elena," Caroline says, her voice as soft as a feather. "Honey, I know you miss Stefan and-"
Elena shakes her head, unsure of what Caroline is taking about. "What does this have to do with missing Stefan?"
Caroline gives her the same sympathetic look. "I know the last month has been rough on you whether you deny it or not. I've seen how hard its been."
"Yeah, its been hard but I don't understand what that has to do with it."
"Maybe you just think you are, you know, to feel closer to Stefan," Caroline says, looking almost guilty for suggesting it.
Elena wants to be mad at her for even suggesting it, but she knows how crazy it sounds. She doesn't believe its even possible, but she can't think of any other explanation.
"Caroline I know how crazy this sounds," Elena says, truthfully. "But listen to me. A few days before Stefan left, we had sex. I'm a week late. The dates match up."
"I understand what you're saying," Caroline says, sitting down on the bed beside Elena. "But why now? Why wouldn't you have gotten pregnant 6 months ago or a year ago?"
"I was on birth control while I was dating Matt," Elena says. "And I didn't stop taking it when I was with Stefan. I knew I didn't need to, but I still took it. When my prescription ran out two months ago, I never refilled it."
Caroline's eyes widen. "Maybe you're just late," Caroline says, even-headedly. "Its not impossible."
"I haven't been late a day in my life," Elena says.
"But you've been really stressed lately and-"
"I wasn't even late when my parents died."
Caroline scratches her forehead and blows out a breath. Elena watches as Caroline tries to think of an explanation, tries to keep a grip on reality. Elena doesn't want to believe it either, but why should it be impossible? Two years ago if someone had told Elena vampires, werewolves and witches existed, she would have laughed and labeled them insane. But maybe it isn't insane. Maybe it is possible.
Vampires can't procreate, though we love to try, a voice in her head echoes.
She had believed Damon one hundred percent when he had said that over a year ago in a bar in Georgia, after rescuing/kidnapping her the night she found out that she looked exactly like Katherine. Why shouldn't she? Damon is a vampire. He would know. But maybe he meant that two vampires cant procreate. That would make sense. Vampires don't change, therefore the women wouldn't be able to carry a child. Elena is human. Her body changes. She can carry a child.
"Caroline, think about it," Elena says, wanting to explain to her what she had just concluded in her head. "Damon told me that vampires can't procreate. Vampires. And that makes sense because a woman has to change to carry a child. So if a woman is a vampire, she can't get pregnant. I'm not a vampire. I'm human, I can change. I do change."
She watches as her words sink in and Caroline's expression turns from uncertainty to believing. "You're right. But there's only one way to know."
"I need to go to the doctors," Elena says, fear settling in the pit of her stomach imaging her scheduling an appointment with her family doctor.
"No!" Caroline says, startling Elena. "Sorry, but you can't just go to the doctors."
"Why not?" Elena asks, eyebrows furrowed.
"If you are pregnant, that means that baby is half-vampire," Caroline says. "I don't think it's a good idea to go to a doctor."
"So I'll get a home pregnancy test," Elena says.
"Bonnie is suppose to come over in a little bit," Caroline says. "I can call her and ask her to buy one."
Elena nods. "I'll do it."
She flips out her cell phone and dials Bonnie's number, which she knows by heart. She waits impatiently as the phone rings. It rings three times before Bonnie picks it up, sounding breathless.
"Bonnie?" Elena questions.
"Oh, hey Elena!" Bonnie says, cheerfully. Elena knows instantly Luka's over. Bonnie only has that tone in her voice when he's around. They had started dating a few weeks after he had helped her destroy the moonstone and have been inseparable ever since. Elena is very happy for her friend, but she has no patience right now.
"Bonnie, how much longer until you come to Caroline's?"
"Well, Luka is about to leave at then I was going to come over," she explains.
"Can you make Luka leave now?" Elena asks, trying not to sound rude.
"Um, yeah I guess," Bonnie says, sounding surprised. "Everything okay?"
Elena ignores her question. "I need you to pick something up on the way over here."
"Okay, sure," Bonnie says. "What do you need?"
"A pregnancy test," Elena says and cringes.
She waits for a gasp, or shocked silence but Bonnie's reaction surprises her. She laughs. "What the heck do you need that for?"
"What its used for," Elena says, flatly.
"Elena, come on," Bonnie says, giggling. "Not possible. You know that."
"Bonnie, I'm serious," Elena says, acutely.
"You have to know this is insane, Elena," Bonnie says.
"Maybe," Elena says, "but I need you to do this for me."
Elena wait's a few seconds for Bonnie to reply. Hesitantly she says, "Okay, I will."
"And Bonnie, don't say anything about it to Luka."
"I won't. I'll be there in a little bit."
"Okay, thanks."
Elena awaits Bonnie's arrival on the couch, sipping a tall glass of icy water, with Caroline. They've been waiting there since Elena hung up the phone with Bonnie about thirty minutes ago. Elena knows she should have more patience. Bonnie is after all doing her a favor. Its just that waiting is killing her. When she first discovered the possibility, she was scared to death of the true. Now she wants nothing more than to know. The uncertainty is painful.
She has no idea what's she going to do if she is pregnant. She has no experience with babies. She has not the slightest clue of how to take care of a normal human baby. If she is pregnant, she could be dealing with a whole new species.
"Bonnie is coming down the road," Caroline says, pulling Elena out of her silent panic attack.
"How do you know?" Elena asks, momentarily forgetting her friend is a vampire with super hearing. Elena and Caroline have been friends for so long, its easy to forget she isn't human anymore.
Caroline gives her a quizzical look.
"Oh, right," Elena says, feeling foolish. "Vampire hearing."
Caroline nods and stands up, just as Elena hears a car door slam outside of the house. Elena sets her glass of water on the end table and they meet Bonnie at the door, opening it before she has a chance to knock.
"I didn't know which one to buy so I bought four different kinds," Bonnie says before anyone gets a word out.
Caroline pulls Bonnie into the house, looking around before she closes the door, as if to make sure Bonnie wasn't followed.
Bonnie hands Elena the bag. "I think this is insane," Bonnie says. "There's no way you can get pregnant by a vampire. There just isn't."
"Two years ago there was no way vampires, witches and werewolves existed," Elena shoots back.
Bonnie bites her lip. "I know, its just this is crazy. A vampire told you himself that vampires can't procreate."
Elena sighs, not wanting to repeat her theory again.
Thank God for Caroline. She must see the look on Elena's face for what it is because she starts explaining it herself.
"Vampires can't have children because the woman would have to change to bare the child," Caroline says, using Elena's words. "Male vampires still have the same… stuff. Elena is human so therefore, that stuff could get her pregnant."
"Semen?" Bonnie asks, looking somewhat amused at Caroline's polite alteration of the word.
"Yes," Caroline says, stiffly.
Elena feels her patience running even thinner than it already way. "And that's why I think I'm pregnant."
Bonnie chewing it over is visible on her face. "Well," she says after a few seconds. "There's only one way to find out."
They all look at the plastic bag. Its scary to think the one little thing inside the bag could change Elena's life forever.
"Here I go," Elena says, nervously. She walks down the hall and into the bathroom. Bonnie and Caroline go into the living room, giving her some space.
She pulls all four tests out and reads the directions for each. They all work pretty much the same. Elena, unhappily, does what each says. She lies all four of them on its box in a row afterwards.
She glances at her clock to start timing.
As she waits, a flood of emotion comes over her. The three most powerful are nervousness, fear and anger. Nervousness and fear tie into each other. What is she suppose to do with a baby? She has no idea whatsoever on how to raise a child, let alone a half human, half vampire child. Will the baby need blood or milk? Will it have a heartbeat? Will the baby grow? Will it be a baby at all?
She is angry because she has to do this alone. Well technically not alone, but who she needs isn't here. He's nowhere to be found. Stefan should be here, panicking with her. Stefan should be here to tell no matter what happens, they'll do it together. Stefan, not Bonnie or Caroline. Stefan. But Stefan is God knows where doing God knows what.
All of this floats around inside her head, stinging with each thought.
She glances down at the clock. Its been three minutes. The directions said two.
With a deep breath, she picks up the first test.
Pregnant.
She feels the world suddenly start spinning and she grabs onto the countertop. She tries to breath normally again before she picks up the next one.
The next…
Yes
And the final one has two lines, meaning the same the previous three do.
She puts each test back into it's correct box and puts each box into the bag. She'll put it all in the large trashcan when she leaves, so Caroline's mom doesn't find it and assume its her who is pregnant.
When Bonnie and Caroline see Elena emerge, they jump up. "So?" Bonnie asks at the same time Caroline asks, "Are you?"
"All four positive," Elena says, not quite feeling as scared as she should be. Maybe it's the shock.
Both of their eyes widen.
"What next?" Bonnie asks.
Elena thinks about that. What should she do next?
She doesn't know what she should do. But she knows what she's going to do.
"I'm going to go talk to Damon."