The Reaping Chapter 22, a vampire diaries fanfic

CHAPTER 22 – THE REAPING
(Happy Birthday, Notorrious! Thanks for reading!)

Meredith and Stefan talk -

Caroline baby, Stavros Matthew Mikaelson

Bonnie replays afternoon with Damon

Elena and Stefan argue a bit about his relationship with Caroline

-Stefan-

Times like these I wish Caroline was just a little bit less hard headed.

Five hours and four cups of coffee after Klaus and I finished trying to talk Caroline into getting an epidural and I can hear her screaming from more than thirty yards away. Screaming out hoarse pleas that bounce off of the white walls and tiled floors and rattle into my teeth as she asks for pain killers.

Waiting in the hallway as I try to give them some privacy, I know this headache is from hunger and nerves, but it's growing stronger with each cry as I can't do anything to help and I hate feeling helpless when it comes to those I love. It's funny – for most of my life that list consisted of only two people, one of which I would have denied… Lexi and Damon. Today, my life is filled to the brim with people I can't image losing… Elena, Allie, Grayson, Damon, Caroline, Lola, Liam, Bonnie… maybe even Klaus.

With the pending birth of Caroline's baby, and Katherine's, the list is ever-growing.

Thankfully, Elena had to have a c-section with Grayson so it was pretty easy going – But I can promise you, if it was Elena in there screaming, crying and pleading with the hospital staff as they tell her she's waited too long to get the drugs, I wouldn't be able to contain myself. They'd probably have to escort me out of this place.

Caroline is my best friend in the world – I have a hard time admitting it, but she may be an even closer friend to me than Lexi. Lexi was something different – out of this world, inexplicable. I used to think we were the best of friends, but looking back it was very one-sided. She didn't need me. I needed her. I needed her guidance, her controlling ways to lead me, I needed some of the never-failing confidence that she had in me to spill over and resonate inside of me. Lexi really didn't get anything from our relationship… she wanted to spend her time – years and years – with me, saving me from myself.

Lost in memories of Lexi, I snap out of an unfocused stare at the floor when the door to Caroline's room opens and Dr. Fell steps out – calmly tossing a few orders over her shoulder as she turns on a dime and starts down the hall towards me in a quick click-clacking gate– her attention on the clipboard in her hands.

"I'm sorry, excuse me," My voice sounds graveled, quite rough from lack of use… maybe from missing Lexi, but the look in Dr. Fell's eyes causes me a bit of concern – clearing my throat and stepping back as not to block her path just in case she is taking my rough voice as threatening.

With a quick look down me, back to my face, her unreadable expression breaks into a large smile when she recognizes me and says, "Stefan Salvatore…" in a tone of voice that makes me smile. "My very own hero... How are you?"

"I'm good." I laugh, thankful that Klaus and Caroline already had the 'we aren't going to kill you' conversation with her – shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans as I notice her dark brown eyes and thick lashes and register her flirty words. "Worried about Caroline…"

"She's in good hands." Dr. Fell smiles, rubbing my upper arm as a sign of support… I think. "The OB on call is a really great doctor – thousands of deliveries! Out of the entire staff, Dr. Harrison would be my choice if I were pregnant."

Her sentence is barely finished before Caroline's voice fills the hallway – a screeching 'Oh my God!' with elongated vowels.

I cringe. A shudder running through my body from the sound of pain in her voice. "Tell me it sounds worse than it really is…"

Laughing at my reaction – a sweet, carefree kind of laugh that crinkles up a few fine lines on the corners of her eyes and stretches her full, cranberry colored lips across perfect white teeth – Dr. Fell shakes her hair from her shoulders as an answer to my ignorant question.

"No…" Her hand moves to my shoulder blade, guiding me to turn with her and the thought crosses my mind that I should move away. "Sorry, Stefan, but it's only going to get worse. Come on, I'm on lunch." I step away as casually as I can but continue walking with her. "I'll tell you all the gory details over a plate of cafeteria food."

-Katherine-

"How much did you spend on this, Damon?" I'm trying. I really am. But lets face it, I'm a bitch when things aren't going the way I want them to so when I spend a useless twenty-four hours in that hick-ville of a town with nothing more than a sage blanket with a white S monogramed on it and a couple of god-awful nursing bras – walking into this ancient, dusty mausoleum of a house smelling like paint and saw dust and Damon still smelling like a wet dog from working on the nursery, I'm not exactly in the best of moods.

He's wearing that 'I'm just a little boy' smile and twinkle in his eyes – I've always hated this look on him. "Just under five-hundred' dollars." Damon grins, passing by me as he enters the nursery, his hand against my hip makes me want to smack him. "Stefan and I put the floor down ourselves, then Bonnie helped with painting." Pointing up like I should find a Jonathan Adler chandler – all big eyed and proud – I roll my eyes and exhale a heavy sigh at the cheap, opal glass-imitation light fixture hanging over us.

I can imagine The Fancy, Our-Shit-Doesn't-Stink Mikaelson's snarling at the few blotched spots of paint on the ceiling, pursing their lips at the knock off furniture and décor that I'll have to settle for since Damon doesn't have the funds to buy the things my baby deserves.

The entire drive back to this hell of a town I kept thinking about how much nicer life would have been if Stefan and I had ended up together… he's got the money, the drive to make more… and let's face it, I'll never find another man more suited to my body between the sheets. I am drowning in hormones and thinking of Stefan Salvatore is like tossing a lit match on turpentine – Maybe that's why I'm in such a bitchy mood. My quick stop by Jeremy's was useless as he finished before me and now I'm even more horny and I smell like that high school football coach stink that he has.

"What?" Damon asks, eyebrows raised. "It's exactly like in the magazine."

I can hear him trying to not get pissed off at me. It's a luxury of being pregnant… no one wants to be angry at an expecting mom. No one wants to be the asshole to make an expectant mother cry.

And you better believe I use that card often!

"And you think this is a good job?" I snarl, toeing a gap in the floor. Honestly, it probably not big enough to slip a penny in, but if he thinks that I'm going to raise my child – in a room put together by a couple of amateurs, he's never been more wrong. "If you didn't have the money to hire it out and have it done right, you should have just left it alone, Damon."

"Are you kidding me, Katherine?" He huffs, pulling up some of the paint cloth to give me a better look at the floor. "This looks fucking excellent! We worked our asses off all morning on this shit!"

"And the paint!" I laugh, changing the subject since really the floor does look pretty good. "This is much more sandy brown than I wanted!"

"It's the exact fucking color!" Damon groans, rolling his eyes and waggling his eyebrows, wrinkling up his sweaty forehead and making me want to vomit as he holds the magazine page in my face.

Shoving his hand away, I turn to leave.

"Katherine, what in the hell? I worked really hard to make this right for you – to surprise you…" Turning at the door, I find Damon standing slightly slumped over – tired from working and maybe tired of me. I don't know why I get like this… wanting to fight… but I can't help it and there is no use in acting like I'm going to change.

"I don't like surprises, Damon." I frown. "And I damn sure don't like Bonnie spending hours with you fixing up our child's room."

I threw that part in just for kicks. Bonnie is absolutely no threat to me… or so I thought. I've known Damon for close to two-hundred years and as bad ass and tough guy as he wants to pretend he is, Damon is a sucker for love – attention… As I leave him standing there and I head to our room to shower off Jeremy's sweat, the look in his eyes is flickering in my brain – he's guilty about something. About something to do with Bonnie…

-Bonnie-

Lola is sitting outside of the bathroom door crying and hitting her big lego against the floor. I can hear Allie singing with her Minnie Mouse headphones on while Grayson and Liam are screaming in unison as Elena and Jeremy try to put them to bed… and me. Oh well, I'm closed up in here and wishing to God that my conscience wasn't so loud inside of my migraine riddled brain.

We really didn't do anything wrong.

Not really.

It was just so… ugh! I hate to use this word when talking about anyone other than Jeremy… but it was so intense. Suggestive!

I keep telling myself that I was just being a friend who's a witch and helping, but I don't know… I enjoyed having my hands on his body way too much.

And what's worse, I'm delighted to think that he enjoyed it just the same!

What kind of a wife am I? Fantasizing about Damon! For a long time now, for days after the four of use – me and Jeremy and Damon and Katherine – would hang out, I'd replay my interactions with Damon. Imagine his cocky smile and his bright eyes. Read into the things he said or the way he laughed at something I may have said or done. But that's just… that's just nothing. Right? Jer and I have been together for a really long time and I don't expect him to be blind to attraction from other women.

The problem… the problem is what happened earlier – before Elena called us about Caroline and looking for a ride. It crossed my mind – more than once – that Elena's phone call my have stopped Damon and I from crossing that line that cannot be undone.

Did he really need to lay down? With his shirt off? With his sexy chest and that little patch of soft, dark hair below his belly button… Stop it, Bonnie! Just STOP IT!

I can't stop thinking about him!

"Bonnie!" Jeremy's aggravated with the kids and with me for skipping out. "Are you coming out of there at all tonight?"

Looking in the mirror, I plan to give myself a 'get it together, girl' pep talk, but one glance and my eyes find my shoulder and I feel his mouth on me and I'm imagining his mouth in so many different ways.

I've got to tell Jeremy. I've got to come clean about my shameful desire for Damon Salvatore…

"Bonnie!" He yells again.

But not tonight…

Not while he's so aggravated and I'm still so on edge from doing real magic for the first time in such a long while. Not while I can still feel his pelvis against my open palms and feel the way his hand moved down the back of my thigh as I finished up the spells verbiage.

Was that touch really just a 'thank you'? I guess it was innocent enough…

From his position on the desk, laying on his back, me at his side, touching the back of my leg was his only choice – all he could reach, right?

Trying to read into it is causing me to relive the fire that his fingers shot into my skin and I feel wanton and repulsed at the same time.

Bonnie Bennett is not this girl… Bonnie Bennett does not want another man… especially not Damon Salvatore… right?

"Bonnie! Elena is leaving for the hospital – Klaus says Caroline is almost through labor…"

UGH! "I'm coming, Jer!"

-Stefan-

"Thailand?" Meredith laughs, a look of disbelief on her friendly face. Somehow, I've eaten half of a pizza and spilled out the entire four years that she missed after Elena came back from Spain and I left for Italy to begin my plan to take down Klaus.

Meredith is just easy. Easy to talk to. Easy to be around. Easy to laugh with. It's been more than an hour of easy and honestly, I think 'easy' was exactly what I needed.

Threw a large bite of pizza, I say, "Like I said, it's the only place I could remember telling Elena I'd never been to…"

"And you guys actually lived there, in paradise, for two years?" More shock. More pretty smile.

I nod, chewing and swallowing – remembering how great those two years were… it was everything I could have imagined paradise to be and it had nothing to do with the ocean or the house.

"And now…?"

And now… and now my entire life is shattered. We come back to Mystic Falls and step all the way back to being at odds with one another.

Two steps forward, three steps back.

I can't answer – I shouldn't answer… "We're um,"

I feel my face returning to its most comfortable expression – a frown. My eyes clouding over with disparaging thoughts of losing my wife and losing my children and the disgusting night I spent with Katherine. I guess Meredith understands without me having to finish because as I look away from her and the light atmosphere is sucked away, I feel her take my left hand with a soft squeeze.

It crosses my mind that she's feeling for a wedding ring…

"I'm sorry, Stefan." Her other hand rests against my wrist now, leaning over the table a bit as she speaks more quietly. "I had no idea… I wouldn't have asked."

I feel bad for ruining the nice time we were having and for changing Meredith into this mournful woman with a sad undertone in her voice that tells me she thinks she's been in my shoes before – on the losing end of loving someone.

She hasn't. No one has ever loved the way I love Elena – the way we used to love each other.

Still, I try to shake it off so we can return to that 'easy' way of conversation and maybe she'll take her hand off of me before I rudely move away.

"We're working on it." That was my most hopeful voice that I have. I'm not so dense to believe myself to be a great actor and it doesn't take Meredith long to hear the false tone and now she's rubbing my hand with her thumb.

Funny how a beautiful woman like her, a woman that has never hurt me, a woman that I could have infinite possibilities with, smart and funny and kind, how she can run her thumb across my hand in the same way that Elena did just hours before and I feel nothing… when I tell Elena that she owns me, it's not a line.

My entire being belongs to Elena.

I'm just about pull my hand out from her hold when my phone chimes and it gives me a great escape – I'm not left handed, but I use my left hand to retrieve my phone.

"Klaus." Standing, I take my tray of dishes to let her know I'm done with the conversation. "I need to get back. Caroline's asking for me."

-Caroline-

I'm sobbing and sweating and I can't breathe and if it's medically possible to split in half then that's what is about to happen to me! These people keep telling me to push and breathe and relax and keep going and I'm doing great, but I'm not! I'm exhausted and with Klaus escorted out for fear he may faint, I've been alone with all of these strangers for what seems like days!

"Okay, Caroline… just a few more little pushes-"

"Little pushes!" I scream through tears and snot at the nurse that keeps forcing me to do this – the very same one that decided Klaus should leave! "I'm not playing a board game I'm having a baby you stupi-"

"Caroline!" Stefan says my name in that way that he does – authoritative and caring at the same time, the voice he uses when I'm about to say too much or say the wrong thing. "Caroline, I'm here."

I thought I was crying hard before… the instant Stefan's hand takes mine from digging into the bed sheets and he presses my head against his chest, I crumble "Stefan," Gasp, choke, gasp. "Stefan, I... I'm so scared and I can't do this! I can't do this! They keep making me and I can't…"

"It's okay, Ker." Stefan shushes me; keeping his hand in mine and the other brushing my sweaty hair off of my forehead.

"NO." I shake my head. "I can't, Stefan! It hurtsssss!" I can't even finish my sentence before another contraction shocks me into a hissing scream that goes right into his ear as I double over and my face presses against his neck.

I've never passed out before… but the voices in the room seem so far away and I feel like I'm floating for a moment that seems to last for a long time – that same feeling I remember from spending my summers in the pool at the Country Club… when you're floating on your back and the sun blinds your eyes and the water fills your ears and it seems like the depth below you is as infinite as the sky above…

"CAROLINE!" Stefan's eyes are fierce, focused, glaring into mine from inches away from face – his hands gripping both sides of my head.

"Stefff…"

"Just a couple more pushes. We can see the hips!"

Hips…?

"Caroline. Caroline, look at me." The way he's talking to me – stern, commanding – it makes me open my eyes again. "One more time… just one more time and we'll be done."

"No no no no no no no!" I just want to sleep. I can hardly keep my eyes open!

"Hey!" I try to squirm away but his hands are holding my head too tightly and like I said, I am so tired that I can barely move at all. "Look at me, Caroline!"

"We can do a cesarean… but it's dangerous at this point."

"Caroline…" I open my eyes to find my best friend looking at me again and I smile… I'm beginning to feel intoxicated! Ha! "Caroline, one more big push, okay?"

But that rips me out of my sweet state of intoxicated bliss and I'm bawling all over his hands on my face! "I can't, Stefan! I can't do this anymore!" Wiping at my tears, pushing my hair back off of my shoulders, a cool bit of air over my neck helps to calm me down after a crying spell that seems to last a long while. As I get control of my gasping breath, I know what he's about to say the moment I spot his mouth opening. "Stefan, please! I cannot do this anymore…"

"Yes you can. You can and you will, Caroline." And I cry again, feeling like such a failure and wishing my mom was here and not stuck in Bartow on a prisoner transport. "Caroline," Stefan pulls my face back to his, my red, wet, swollen face… "Caroline, have I ever lied to you?" Stefan lying to me – no, never. Even when I wish he would have lied, made it easier, Stefan has always been honest with me no matter what the consequence. With even more tears stuck in my throat, I shake my head no and bite my shaking lip as Stefan's smile and kind green eyes gives me a little bit of strength. "One more push… and I promise you, you'll be finished. You'll have your tiny baby wrapped up in a blanket and asleep on your chest and Klaus and I will stay here until you're ready for us to go… okay?"

…. Okay.

-Elena-

"It's been hours, Elena!" Klaus half yells, his hands in the air and his curly hair a mess. I've never seen him being so… so… so human before! Worried, scared, tired… not emotions I'm used to seeing on The Original. "She was screaming and crying…"

"It's okay." I guess this very normal version of him is playing as amnesia for me, because I don't even second guess pulling him into a hug – I'm a consoler… it's what I do. "No one will think badly of you… feeling light headed, nauseated. Totally normal."

The last time Klaus had his arms around me, hugging me, he was draining me of blood… today, I'm hugging him back and hoping that he knows that I really do care for him even if it is a surprise for us both.

"Mr. Mikaelson?" A voice calls from down the hall, turning us in unison to the woman in light pink scrubs leaning into the hallway from what I now know is Caroline's room.

"Yes?" Klaus' voice nearly breaks with worry and I leave one arm around his shoulders for support. "Is she okay?"

"She is!" The nurse smiles brightly and I swear, Klaus relaxes his body the same way Stefan does – like an actual weight has been removed from his shoulders – immediately taking wide steps to close the distance between us and Caroline's room. I follow behind him in quicker, shorter steps. "And we have a little guy that wants to meet his daddy!"

Letting the father in is expected, but I'm somewhat hidden behind Klaus' broad stance and as soon as he steps in, the crowd of labor professionals start to pour out – like I'm not even there, they continue to drag out equipment and rolling polls, metal trays and plastic bags full of God knows what.

After what seems like enough people to play both sides of a football game, I get an excuse me from the last person that exits and I finally step into the doorway – ready to give Caroline the flowers Bonnie and I bought for her and baby Mikaelson a soft, off-white blanket that I picked up on the way over.

Two things keep me quiet, silent as a mouse – totally out of place in this room.

First – Stefan is holding a bundle of blue blankets, with a tiny blue knit cap laying in the bed of his elbow, looking down at the tiny face of Caroline's baby in the same way I remember him looking at Grayson. There's something about his eyes – the way they literally glow with love. So perfectly green and set against his light, olive skin, surrounded by those long, dark lashes… Stefan is stunning. Simply put, he's the most beautiful man that's ever been and when he looks up at me – our gravity always present no matter how quiet I think I am – my lungs are frozen in place by his broad, white smile that crinkles up his eyes and shows off the chiseled cut of his cheek bones and perfect, shadowed jaw line.

Without words, I feel how he loves me… how he loves our children – I'm just, I'm in awe of him, of my Stefan.

Second – There's another woman's hand on the back of his head. With her fingers laced in his short hair, her arm resting on his shoulder, Meredith Fell is peering over at Caroline's baby with a big smile on her face and her eyes on me.

"Elena!" Caroline's voice is supposed to be perky, but it comes out a little slurred – exhausted, I'm sure. "Come meet our little Matt!"

"Mataeus…" Klaus corrects her, facing away from me, fawning over Caroline in a sweet and beautiful way. "Mataeus Stefan Mikaelson"

It's been a long time since I've seen a look like that – the fixed smile and the slightly raised eyebrows, hard, cold focused eyes… but it's women's intuition - I've now, officially, got competition.