Hey everyone! So writer's block is beyond gone and I want to apologize for the last chapter. I reread it after posting and realized how crappy of a job I did on it. There wasn't enough detail and I should have spent more time on it. I was trying to update so I rushed and it didn't work out all that well. I didn't really want to delete the chapter and rewrite it, so I'm just going to let that be the one crappy chapter in the story. So hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Thank you all so much for the reviews! At the risk of sounding corny, your feedback really does mean the world to me. LOL. So I read the chapter when Elena and Damon first went to the doctor's house and I realized a huge mistake on my part:/ I spent like all this time describing all the flowers and plants and then I realized its winter in the story:/ So if you can just ignore that, that'd be awesome.
So Damon's kind of mushy and not very Damon like in this chapter, but it leads up to something in the next couple chapters so I had to do it XP. Read, review(:
The ride back to Mystic Falls is not one of comfort.
The entire drive Elena struggles with internal feelings; the same feeling she had been struggling with for the last 24 hours: confusion, shock, more confusion, worry and even a touch of anger. The latter is less than the other emotions, so Elena decides to overlook it for the time being. She needs to focus on the now, not on the past or the "what could have been." She needs to focus on figuring out how she plans on handling this. She has no idea where to go from here, which is why it needs to be the focal point of all her energy.
She struggles to come up with a plan. Two years ago, where everything was normal and vampires were just fiction, Elena, Bonnie and Caroline had always made plans. Whether it was to go to a party, extend a curfew or get a boy, a plan was thought out, drawn out and played out. The three of their devious minds put together never failed them. Their plans always ended the way they wanted them to. Of course, then her parents died and months later they were all thrown into the supernatural world and plans about parties, boys and curfews were no longer important.
Elena knows she needs to get back in that mind set. She needs to make a plan.
The rest of the ride home she begins drawing up plans in her mind. The most obvious one is how she is going to tell Jeremy and Jenna. That is a big one. She can only hide it for so long.
She supposes she could just flat out tell them; just sit them down and say, "I'm pregnant." She doesn't think that would work out so well though. Maybe she should tell Jeremy before she told Jenna. After all, their reactions would probably be different. Jeremy would know exactly how shocking and next to impossible is was. He would know how dangerous the entire situation was, what with her being in Elijah's debt and Klaus wanting her for a spell breaking sacrifice. Jeremy would understand more than Jenna because as far as Jenna knew, Stefan had gotten her pregnant and not ready to be a father, bailed without looking back, which of course, isn't the case.
The anger that Elena had chosen to ignore comes to the surface, tinting her vision in red. Somewhere in her more rational mind she knows that that's not what happened. That isn't why Stefan left. Though she didn't and still doesn't agree with his motive, rational Elena knows that Stefan left because he thought it was best for her. But rational Elena isn't here at the moment; very irrational Elena is and she is angry; angry that Stefan is MIA and she's left to deal with everything. Did he honestly think that if he left all her problems would too? Because it didn't work out that way. In reality, now she not only has to worry about Elijah and Klaus to worry about, but a baby. His baby.
The anger retreats as quickly as it came and she sighs. She did exactly what she said she wasn't going to do: focus on the past.
She glances down at the ultrasound photo and promises herself that that is the last time she will waste a single moment of her time being angry at Stefan. He made his choice and now she's making hers. She will no longer think or do anything that won't be good for her; for both of them.
That thought squeezes something in her chest. She knows in that instant that she'll do anything to protect her little blob, her baby. That's all that matters now. And with that thought…
"Damon, what were you and Dr. Robin talking about after I got in the car?" Elena asks, breaking the silence for the first time since they had gotten in the car.
She studies his perfectly composed face, staring at the road. "She was just telling me to make sure you eat properly, take the vitamins and to set up another appointment."
She almost believes him. Damon, after all, is a very good liar, but Elena knows he is lying. Its not that he has a tell; she just knows.
"Liar," Elena says, emphatically.
He glances at her from the side, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips parted slightly.
"Why would I lie?" Damon asks, watching her from the corner of his eyes.
Elena shrugs. "I don't know," she says. "To protect me?"
He looks back at the road, his lips pressed tightly together.
"Damon, you need to tell me," Elena says, influentially. "If this has anything to do with me or the baby, I need to know."
Damon frowns and pursues his lips.
The action confuses Elena and makes her want to know even more.
"Damon," Elena says, a warning in her tone.
He doesn't budge.
She decides to try a different approach.
"Please" she says, tone soft. "Please, please tell me."
She sees Damon's face soften just the slightest and he glances at her, a confusing look on his face. Its too close to sympathy for her comfort.
"Elena, I don't think you should become too… attached to the idea of having a baby quite yet," he says, glancing at her with the same sympathetic look.
Fear settles in her stomach and closes her throat, making it hard to breath. "Why?" Elena chokes out. "Damon, tell me."
"After you got into the car, Robin pulled me to the side and wanted to talk to me about some things," he explains.
"What things?" Elena asks, her voice rising an octave in panic.
"She thinks that your body may reject the pregnancy and you'll have a miscarriage," Damon says, quietly, his blue eyes full of worry and softness; something she never saw in Damon's eyes, not until recently. "Because it is half vampire and you're not, she isn't sure you'll body will be strong enough to handle it."
An unseen force squeezes Elena's heart and throat, making it hard to breath or even think.
She had just had an epiphany, making her realize she did want this baby and now she finds out she may not be able to? She may not be able to carry him or her? Burning tears well up in her eyes and she stares at Damon, wordlessly begging him to tell her that it's impossible. Of course your baby will be okay, Elena.
He doesn't though and tears begin rolling down her cheek.
Damon's eyes feel with pain at the sight of seeing her crying and he pulls off to the side of the road and stops the car.
He turns to her and, a new sense of determination in his eyes and body.
"Listen to me Elena," he says, intently. "I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. I'll make sure you rest and eat healthy, I'll make you go bed rest."
"What if its not enough?" Elena whispers.
He stares into her eyes. "Then I'll give you my own blood," he says. "It will make you stronger. If that will help, I'll do it."
Worry and grief still has an iron grip on her, but thankfulness washes over her too. She's so thankful that Damon is here and doesn't seem like he'll go anywhere. She remembers a time when all she wanted was Damon to be out of her life, gone forever, never returning. She remembers when Damon scared her more than anything else in the world. She sees no trace of that Damon, the cold, ruthless Damon with the quick temper in his blue eyes now. It comforts her in a way she can't begin to describe.
"Why?" she asks, suddenly needing to know why he would do that for her.
"Because I protect the people I care about," Damon says. "And I protect my family."
"But I'm not your family," she says.
"No, but I care about you," he says. He points to her ultrasound photo. "And he or she is my family."
His words send a rush of warmth through her, momentarily squashing the worry, though that still lingers beneath the surface
Ten minutes later, they arrive at the boarding house.
Damon uses his supernatural speed to open her door before she even undoes her seatbelt. She grabs her things and they go inside, welcoming the warmth after being out in the cold weather.
"So what now?" Elena asks as Damon takes off his jacket and lays it over the back of the couch.
He walks to the table with different kinds of alcohol. He takes a cup and fills it with water from a glass pitcher. He hands it to her. "Now, you take that pill," he says, eyeing the box in her hand.
She opens the box and pulls out a bottle full of pills and take's one out. Damon takes the empty box and Elena takes the water. She swallows one of the horse like pills.
"I want to talk to Robin before I start giving you my blood," he says. "And I think you should stop ingesting any kind of vervain. We can't be sure if the baby is more vampire or more human and having vervain in your system could hurt it."
She nods in agreement and reaches for the clasp on her vervain necklace, preparing to unhook it.
Cool hands grabs her's gently and pulls them back.
"Don't," he says, holding her hands.
"But you said-"
"I said don't ingest it," he says. He pulls her hands down to her side before letting them go. "You still need to be protected."
"Okay," she says, trusting him.
He looks down at the floor and his eyebrows furrow. "I think that we should call some kind of meeting here today," he says. "To let everyone who needs to know know."
"I'll call them now," she says.
He nods and disappears into the kitchen.
Elena pulls out her phone and sends a text to Caroline saying to come to the boarding house.
Jeremy's and Alaric's says the same thing, but it says not to say anything to Jenna about it and Bonnie's says to come, but to not tell Luca about where she's going. Elena still doesn't trust her friend's boyfriend and still thinks he's somehow working with Elijah.
Ten minutes later, they arrive. Jeremy and Alaric together, Bonnie by herself and Caroline with Tyler. It doesn't surprise Elena seeing him there. Tyler became just as much a part of this as the rest of him. He's needed for the sacrifice too.
Caroline and Bonnie both know exactly why Elena called them all there. They give her a subtle, comforting look. Everyone else just looks confused so Elena knows they both kept good on their word. Tyler, Alaric and Jeremy have no idea why they're here.
They all head into the living room, Damon reappearing as they all sit down, curious looks on their faces.
"What's going on Elena?" Jeremy asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I found out something yesterday," she says, getting straight down to business. "And confirmed it today. I know it'll sound crazy, but its true."
They wait patiently for her to explain.
"I'm pregnant," she says, pausing to watch their reactions.
Tyler looks at Caroline, eyes wide. She nods silently. Bonnie watches her, waiting for her to go on and Alaric and Jeremy stare at her, mouths hanging open.
"Stefan…?" Jeremy asks, trailing off.
Elena nods.
"But Damon said vampires can't have children," Jeremy argues.
"She's human," Damon says. "Vampire women can't have children."
Elena feels a moment of sympathy for Caroline, who has a tight, unhappy look on her face. Caroline hates that she'll never have real children.
"What does that mean?" Alaric asks, looking at Damon rather than Elena.
"It means that a couple months from now there's going to be a little Salvatore running around here," Damon says, deciding to not tell them about what the doctor had told him. He didn't accept it; neither of them did.
"You're one hundred percent positive?" Alaric asks, looking back at Elena.
She reaches for the ultrasound photo she had laid on one of the end tables behind a plant. She holds it out and he takes it, examining it.
"One hundred percent," Elena says.
They pass around the photo, looks of surprise on their face as they examine it.
"I know a doctor who happens to be a witch," Damon says. "We went to see her today. She's going to be the one monitoring Elena and the baby."
"You can trust her?" Bonnie asks.
Damon nods. "I saved her and her daughter's life a few years ago. She'll help."
"But do you trust her?" Bonnie asks.
"Yes."
She nods, taking his word.
Bonnie and Damon's relationship hadn't improved over the last year; they still dislike each other but they know the other would always protect Elena. It's the one thing they agree on.
Elena takes comfort at all the people in the room, supporting her. Maybe this won't be so impossible after all.