CHAPTER 16 – THE REAPING

-Damon-

She's half way up the stairs when I hear her call my name just as I'm just finishing up with my mental pep-talk, finally convinced that this cheap polyester uniform doesn't look that bad – I mean, if anyone can wear a Mystic Falls, VA PD uniform and really pull it off, it's me, right? Katherine is going to get a kick out of it! I'm fully prepared for a couple of 'night stick' jokes, maybe even a male-stripper reference, but honestly, I'm still pretty damn happy that Liz offered me the job.

Ok, maybe I was over-excited when I texted Stefan about the 'Big news', but I keep thinking – if Dad could see me now. I'm working on a degree with aspirations to be an attorney. I have a beautiful, incredibly sexy –slash- borderline psycho girlfriend. And, I am officially serving the public that he loved.

"Deputy Damon Salvatore," Katherine coos as my eyes leave the badge on my chest and I find her looking at me in the reflection of the full length mirror I've been standing in front of for some time now – working on my pep-talk and remembering my father. "Here to arrest me?" She smiles, looking me over as I turn to face her and do the same.

She is, as always, stunning. "There have been some allegations about you Ms. Katherine."

I see her eyes sparkle and can't help but smile. Ms. Katherine – she likes when I call her that, reminds her of when she found me in 1864 and taught me pretty much everything I know about sex… Katherine Pierce was to me what the internet must be for young men now days.

Coming to me with that sway in her hips, I feel little corny when I play along and put my hand on the 9mm on my belt, but I see it on her face that she's enjoying this foolish role play.

Slipping her arms around my neck, she whispers into my ear, "I have been naughty." And I immediately want her. I always want Katherine… but I have to go and can't be late for my first shift.

Pulling her against my body, I kiss below ear a few times then release her with a tease, "I'll bring the handcuffs home and you can confess your sins."

"You're leaving?" Katherine asks in a huff as I head towards the door.

"You thought I was wearing this for fun?"

"Wait, Damon…" Frowning, she sits on our bed, "I wanted to talk to you before…"

Before? Surely she's not going to give me some 'be careful, don't get killed' spill. "Katherine. Come on. It's Mystic Falls – nothing happens here anymore, not since I quit killing people." She rolls her eyes but I swear I see her almost smile – Katherine likes the bad boy idea she has about me, always has. She's the only person who appreciates my deviant side… and vice versa. I know she wants me to sit, but the best I'll do is come back and stand by her – I have to go and this is dumb. "Look, I promise I won't get a coffee burn or a paper cut."

Katherine gives a sweet grin, reaching out and taking my hand, looking up at me like… fuck I don't know, but I swear she's looks like Elena. I mean, I've seen Katherine in Elena a thousand times, but never in reverse – it's oddly unnerving. I feel a strange weight on my chest, a sickness in my gut when Katherine inhales to speak… I have no idea what she's about to say.

"I know. You can handle yourself, Damon, but… you've got a family to take care of now."

A family? I watch her bright eyes and her beautiful ruby-colored lips smiling up at me and for a long moment I think she's talking about Allie and lil'G, but then she rubs her flat stomach with her free hand.

"What?" I ask, my eyes stuck on her hand on her stomach. "What?!"

"We're having a baby, Damon." Katherine's voice is a so sweet that I can almost taste her words in the air that I'm hardly breathing. I'm stunned and shaking. "You're going to be a daddy, Damon."

Before I know it, Katherine is wrapped around me and I her, vined together and holding one another tightly – finally. Finally. Finally… I am the man who can give her what she wants. I'm going to be a father. Katherine is going to be a mother. We're having a baby. We're going to be a family.

Finally.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

-Stefan-

"…believe her! You did the right thing, Stefan!" Caroline has been talking for some time now, I catch Elena's name, my name. Katherine's name even, but I'm both numb and over-sensitive to all of my senses that I'm having difficulty listening to her and driving. I don't know how fast I'm driving, but I miss two stop signs, dropping a gear in the Infinity QX I've just purchased – testing it's 500 horsepower engine as I try to figure out where in the hell I'm going.

Where am I going?

The Salvatore House – no way, Katherine is probably there by now.

Back to Bonnie's – back to Elena? God, how I wish I could. But things are different now...

The apartment I had just finished leasing before I was bum-rushed by my wife and my darkest regrets? Maybe.

My thoughts are coming through in slow motion, oozing through my brain as the sunlight hurts my aching head and Caroline's ranting continues in a much too quick pace, "…raped her, I couldn't believe she'd say…" I just left Elena. I took off my ring and I left her. "…dropped Allie with him and we..." Katherine's pregnant! I'm both terrified of the baby growing inside of Katherine and, in equal measure, in love with it in the same way I've loved Allie and Grayson since their conception. I have to tell Damon.. "…she has no right to do that, Stefan! I'm so glad you stood up to…" Fucking Jeremy I swear to God, it took all I had not to sell him out.

Wait… she dropped Allie off with who? Damon? "What did you say?" I trust Damon, he'd never hurt Allie – but with Damon comes Katherine and she's already told me once that she's considered kidnapping them.

"I said it was about time you told Elena off! She's taken you for granted way too long if you ask me!" Caroline's voice is loud, piercing my eardrums and I have to force myself not to grimace – my head is pounding! "She's so used to you-"

"No, Caroline." I shake my head, I'm nearly yelling when I add, "About Allie. What did you say about Allie?"

"Oh, we took her to the library - Klaus has her."

"WHAT!?" If Katherine is the last person in the world I would want Allie to be alone with, Klaus is a very close second.

I'm dropping the engine into second and laying hard on the brakes, turning the SUV into a full 180* as Caroline gasps my name and holds onto the console and door handle, her voice barely audible over the squealing tires and revving of the motor as I hit the gas.

"You left her with Klaus?!"

"You're going to get us both killed, Stefan!" Caroline hollers back at me. Ignoring her, I grab my phone from the cup holder and start looking for Klaus' phone number. "Would you watch the road!? She's fine! She's with Klaus."

I don't know if I want to laugh or break the steering wheel from the drive shaft – she's with Klaus! "That's the problem!" I say, pulling over to the side of the road in a quick, jerky stop.

Caroline gives a heavy, dramatic sigh and grabs my phone from my hand. "Oh you have got to be kidding me, Stefan! You of all people!"

"Give me the phone, Caroline." I growl through gritted teeth, but Caroline knows I would never hurt her and continues to scroll through my phone.

"Ok Bonnie I get, sort of, I mean she's never been the greatest at judging people, obviously, and Elena even… but you afraid of Klaus?" She hands me the phone, with Klaus' number ready to dial I should add, then says in an aggravated tone, "Everyone gets a second chance but Klaus – I get it."

I laugh sarcastically, "He killed his own family!" He had a second chance and that's what he did with it. I get that he wanted to hurt them for hurting Caroline, but she was a vampire, she healed! Klaus killed his human brother, Elijah, and his human sister, Rebekah! It's all different now that we are humans with human lives and with real wounds and real time-spans.

"He told you why, Stefan!" Caroline gasps, looking at me with huge, round eyes. "He thought you'd understand!"

"I do, I did! I've wanted to kill Damon a hundred times for hurting Elena, but I never could… he's my brother no matter how many times he temporarily hurt her, so as much as I understand where Klaus was coming from – wanting to hurt them for hurting you – it's not th-"

She cuts me off, "Hurting me? Is that what he said?" We're both silent for a moment as I look at her confused and she looks at me like I'm transparent. "Stefan," Caroline takes my hand, "When Elijah and Rebekah had Allie, they noticed that Allie is special." I feel myself tense – that automatic protectiveness that steels my skin and flows into my muscles whenever Allie's 'abilities' are mentioned. "Klaus could hear them – the entire four years, he could hear. Before you and Elena showed up at the mansion and told them about Elena taking the fig powder, Rebekah and Elijah had planned to let her go with Elena and kill you, then go after Allie."

Instinctually I say, "There's nothing special about Allie, she's just a girl."

Caroline frowns at me, releasing a heavy sigh, "It's okay, Stefan… we know. And Klaus knows what she is."

-Allie-

…Edward thought about everything that had happened to him in his short life. What kind of adventures would you have if you were in the world for a century? The old doll said, "I wonder who will come for me this time. Someone will come. Someone always comes. Who will it be?" "I don't care if anyone comes for me," said Edward. "But that's dreadful," said the old doll. "There's no point in going on if you feel that way. No point at all. You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next." "I am done with being loved," Edward told her. "I'm done with loving. It's too painful." "Pish," said the old doll. "Where is your courage?" "Somewhere else, I guess," said Edward…

I don't know how Mr. Klaus knows that I can hear him, but I like that I don't have to pretend like I can't.

He does a good job at the character voices without talking and I like listening to his thoughts as he reads The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Mommy doesn't like Mr. Klaus very much and Daddy doesn't like that he likes him, but I don't understand why. He's very nice.

He asked me, without speaking, if I was upset about something, and I told him, outloud, that yes I was. Grayson is upset and wants to go home. Uncle Jeremy is scared Daddy is going to tell on him. Aunt Bonnie thinks my daddy hurt Aunt Kathy and Aunt Caroline is very mad at both of them for that. Mommy and Daddy have been angry for a long time now, and even though I can't tell them that I know, I wish they'd figure out that I can hear them and stop being so mean to each other.

Mr. Klaus told me that Daddy and Mommy are going to be okay.

I hope he's right. I don't know how I would explain to Grayson why Mommy and Daddy don't live together if they get a divorce like some of my friends parents at home have.

I guess it's kind of cool that they have lots of toys and two bedrooms – one at their mommy's house and one at their daddy's – but I'd rather just have one bedroom and one house where both of my parents live.

Should I read some more, love? Mr. Klaus asks, smiling at me. You look a bit tired out.

I yawn and shake my head no, "I'm fine. Please read more. I like to hear you."

I feel his feelings change to a warm happiness when he understands what I'm saying. When Mr. Klaus starts reading again, this time in French, I close my eyes and listen to his words and feel sad for him. Mr. Klaus must feel like the rabbit from the story, Edward – alive for centuries and never loved.

That's okay. Aunt Caroline and I love him, and his little baby boy will love him too.

I listen for a while, until Daddy is near and I know he's upset – so I get up from Mr. Klaus' side and go sit at one of the small chairs next to the bean bag he's on and wait for Daddy to come up the elevator and find us. The closer he gets, the more I can feel his sadness.

I guess two bedrooms will be okay.

-Elena-

I'm moving silently in the dark, stepping backwards out of the room Grayson is sleeping in, as I shut the door and plead with the doorknob to not make a sound loud enough to wake him – he's been upset ever since he woke up from his nap. I've tried everything! Nursing, a bottle, pureed sweet potatoes, a bath, singing, swinging, burping, rocking, TV, a walk in the stroller… literally everything. After hours of failed attempts at calming him in between my own breakdowns and arguing with Bonnie and Jeremy, I think he's finally worn himself out with the temper tantrums and fit throwing!

I'm exhausted.

I don't know why I don't go to my room or to the couch, instead I slip down the wall next to Grayson's room and sit in the dark hallway.

From the clinking and scraping coming from the dining room, I'm guessing Bonnie and Jeremy are eating the chicken and rice casserole she's made… going on about the day as if nothing is out of the ordinary. As if she didn't believe Stefan had raped Katherine. As if Stefan's wedding ring is not weighing down the pocket of my jean shorts like a lead brick. As if Katherine is not pregnant with my husband's child.

Before I can even attempt stopping them, tears are slipping down my face and into my hands for the umpteenth time today.

What have I done?

I was wrong – I can live with Katherine having Stefan's child. I can figure out a way… I just want Stefan to come home to me. My whole life has fallen apart. My insecurities have finally done it – ruined me in his eyes. Stefan has always been too good for me… I guess I always knew that he'd figure it out some day.

Lost in my thoughts and drowning in tears, I barely notice that the sounds from the dining room fall quiet, but I'm engulfed with our frequency! It steals my already short breath and quenches the incredible longing for it that I've been dealing with since he walked out of the door.

I'm barely to my feet when Stefan, carrying a sleeping Allie, turns into the hallway and our eyes catch in the darkness – crushing me with a million emotions.

Like a deer in the headlights – beautiful evergreen, perfectly shaped and honest headlights – I cannot move. I watch him go into the room I'd just left Grayson in, stare in amazement at how his body moves so fluidly, silent in the dark room, then quickly back to the hallway – ignoring me as he shuts the door, then goes to the room we share… shared? I don't know, yet.

"Stefan?" My voice gives away my very stressful and upsetting day away if nothing else does, though I'm sure I must have red eyes and messy hair, that swollen face look one gets from sobbing all day. "I'm sorry."

He doesn't stop, picking up his bag and slipping it over his shoulder. "I know, I'm sorry too." Those telling green eyes of his find mine again and I just want to fold into him and hold him. "But I can't be here. In this house." He adds, slipping past me and into the hallway, heading towards the door.

Stefan is tall, with long legs and a long stride, so keeping up with his quick pace takes effort and I nearly run into him when he comes to an abrupt stop on the porch, his feet seemingly reluctant to step off.

"You don't have to go." I try, putting my hands lightly on his very warm body – one on his arm, the other on his back. "Let me come with you."

I kiss the back of his arm, nuzzle my face against his shoulder – the steal like tension of his body seems to increase from my touch, breaking my heart.

"I need to go…" He sighs, hanging his head. "I just don't want to leave them."

Them. Not me. He's not worried about leaving me, it's the kids. Of course, of course I understand that! But it still stings, badly.

"Then stay." I know I'm begging him, my hands fisting in the cotton of his tee shirt. "Stay, let's talk."

I think he's considering it, his eyes closed and brow furrowed low, but that tension never ceases, even as he turns to face me and takes my face in his hands.

"Why did you do that, Elena?" Stefan's voice is soft, a sad look in his eyes as he asks a question that almost sounds like an admission of my wrong doing, of his anger. "I would have answered any question you would have asked, but why like that, Elena? Why would you do that to me?"

In this light, near dusk with a warm amber sky, Stefan's green eyes are deep and dark, accusing and truthful. I did this to us. It wasn't Katherine. It wasn't his mistake in identity. It was me.

My eyes pool with tears yet again and I take his wrists in my hands, praying that he won't let me go, that his hands will not leave my face. "I'm so sorry, Stefan. I'll fix it. I swear I'll fix this. I love you."

I think, for the slightest of moments when he looks down at my mouth and leans towards me, that he's going to kiss me – right here on the porch at sunset, Stefan Salvatore is going to kiss me and all of this will be over with – we'll start fresh tomorrow. I even close my eyes and lift my face a bit! It's a crushing disappointment when I feel his soft, warm kiss on my forehead and his thumbs move up and down my cheeks just before he lets me go and takes that hesitant step off of the porch… leaving me.

"Stefan…" I don't know if I say his name loud enough for him to hear, either way he doesn't stop. "Where are you going? Will you be back?" I cry, crossing my empty arms tightly around my very empty chest.

With each step Stefan takes away from me I feel more empty than the last.

He tosses his bag across the console and into the passenger seat, his eyes on the driver's seat in front of him as he says, "I'm going to stay in the apartment I leased for us in town, you should stay here. We'll figure out the living arrangements tomorrow."

I don't know why, but I kind of laugh with joy knowing that he's not catching some last-minute flight to Italy. "You aren't leaving?"

I guess he knows my thoughts, as he gives me a sad smile just as he slips into the truck, shutting the door and saying through the open window, "How could we work through this with me in Naples?"

It's not much – this tiny sliver of hope he's given me, but I grasp onto it like it's my only saving grace as the love of my life leaves me standing in the dark with his ring in my pocket and my soul alone and cold without our gravity.

-Caroline-

Klaus is sitting on the couch, reading some children's book that he picked up with Allie while at the library, while I make a quick stir-fry. I'm probably paranoid, but being in this furnished apartment feels like I'm intruding in someone else's place… someone other than Stefan. It just feels odd. Even the cookware seems to belong to someone else, someone who may be home at any minute and find my husband in his PJ bottoms and tee shirt drinking a glass of sherry from their stemware, while I bobble around barefoot in their kitchen.

When the door opens, I nearly jump out of my skin – releasing a huge sigh when it's Stefan and his luggage and not the owner of this apartment.

"Everything go ok, mate?" Klaus asks without looking. Stefan stops just inside the door and looks at me in a way that tells me he's regretting his decision, considering giving up on it all together.

"Yea. Fine."

No way am I letting him go back to her without some serious groveling on her part – and I mean, some real-true fighting for him!

"Come on, Stef," I smile, holding out one of the plates that I'd washed for our dinner seeing as how I have no idea how long they'd been sitting in the cabinet. "I made dinner." I see him step back – just slightly, just enough to tell me he's having a very difficult time sticking to his guns… he wants to go back to her. "Come on, eat. Take a minute." I smile, hoping he understands what I'm suggesting.

I see his chest heave with a large exhale and know he does – of course he does. Stefan and I started off on a very strange foot back when I was playing mean girl and he was playing regular guy… it didn't take long for us to figure out that he and I were the most true allies that each other had.

I'm looking up at him, hoping he knows that this is right thing for him to do – and he's looking down at me with a worried look in his eyes, when Klaus stands and says, "Yes, let's eat. Then, if you like, we can discuss your little demigod."

"My… demigod?" Stefan turns to him, then back to me.

"She's truly something, Stefan." Klaus smiles, lifting a couple spoonfuls of the stir-fry onto his plate. "I'd never actually seen a demigod before – half God, half human – but it all fits, don't you think?"

Stefan doesn't say anything, turning slightly to the side – defensive like – his fingers wiggling a bit at his sides.

Klaus isn't trying to sound threatening, it's just how he speaks! I decide I'd better step in.

"Klaus can tell you a lot about demigod's… the mind reading, the future telling abilities, and more!" I smile, hoping that Stefan can see that we – Klaus and I – are only wanting to help, nothing more. "Did you know she can probably do the same spells that Bonnie and Gia can… she's very powerful."

Stefan is still skeptical, I see it on his face as he watches Klaus take a seat at the round kitchen table.

"How did you know?" He asks, almost accusatory. "How did you know about her abilities?"

I couldn't have picked a better question for Stefan to ask! I lean back against the kitchen counter and smile to myself as I try and picture the scene of the story I've heard Klaus tell many times – he's quite taken with Allie.

"I spent four years in a box, Stefan." Klaus sips his wine, "Thanks to you two, I had four years in a dirty clothing and in the dark, able to feel and smell and hear and taste – I just could not move, I could not speak aloud. Can you imagine that? Four years without being able to scratch your nose, or adjust your body weight. It was excruciating, truly. When I overheard Elijah telling Rebekah about Kol – about what you'd done to him, I was proud of their plans. Very happy that he'd come around and made a move! In the midst of my joy I'd come out of my haze a bit and was very uncomfortable – everything hurt, everything itched. I can't explain, but trust me it was horrid. I tried for hours to calm myself back to the point of numbness, hours of trying that led to only more pain when suddenly the coffin opened - my face was filled with light. Bright, warm, yellow light! Then a little, high pitched voice says to me, 'I'm going to rub your nose, but please don't bite me, sir." Klaus laughs – like he always does at this point – a big, deep stomach laugh as he remembers his first interaction with Allie when she rubbed his itching nose with a tissue. Cutting my eyes to Stefan, I can literally see his body relaxing as he watches Klaus the big bad – ugh – speak so lovingly about his daughter. "They'd closed her up in a room with me and she would listen to my thoughts and respond – she even told me stories! Your little four year old child told me stories and gave me a sip of water and brushed my hair out of my face! And it was in that room that I decided that no harm would come to her at my hands, or the hands of my family. I didn't know what I was going to do… warn her if nothing else, but I had to do something."

Half smiling, Stefan says, "Then you woke as human… and you did something."

It's almost visible – the bond forming between Allie's father and Allie's greatest supporter, my husband and my best friend.

With a nod, Klaus says, "And I did whatever I had to do."

***MORE TO COME***

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