A/N: This chapter we start as normal and then switch to Elena's point of view for the first time ever. Also there is a fairly long authors note at the end of this chapter but please take moment to read it, thank you! Enjoy!
"What… Wow" he sighs "Pregnant"
"Yup" I breathe "what am I going to do Stefan?"
"There's not much you can do, you're going to be a father" he shrugs "how are you feeling about all this?"
"I don't know, I mean on one hand this is the last thing I expected right now, but I'm kind of excited. I mean, I've always wanted to be a dad. On the other hand Elena is freaking out, she won't admit it but I can tell she's having a really hard time wrapping her head around it, is it bad that in the middle of her freak out I'm actually happy…"
"To be fair, you already had a chance to adapt to the idea of being a dad, she's twenty-four, and this is probably something she wasn't expecting for awhile"
I wince at his words, thinking of the nursery in my apartment still adorning the wooden name Sarah on the wall
"I'm sorry…" he shakes his head
"No, you're right. It's a shitty reality but it's true, I may have had my fears about being a good dad back then but I had pretty much transitioned into dad mode"
"You're just going to have to really step up and be there for her Damon, she's probably really scared. You can tell her how you're going to be there for her but at the end of the day words are just words, you need to show her that you mean it"
"I know, I haven't given her very many reasons to trust me in the past" I nod "I think I know what I need to do"
Elena's POV
"Oh my god" Caroline shouts, "How?!"
I glance around the tiny coffee shop we're sitting in and notice people starting to stare at us from her outburst so I lower my voice before answering her "I think you know how Care… we were in the same biology class in high school"
"Well obviously I know "how" " she forms air quotes "I meant, weren't you guys using protection?"I start to answer her question but she interrupts me "Oh! That's right you had that cold and the antibiotics!" she answers "Why didn't you use a back up method?!"
"You knew?!"
"Duh… everyone knows that antibiotics mess with birth control… I think we learned about it in that biology class you mentioned" she smirks
"I didn't know! Why didn't you say anything?!"
"Oh you mean like 'Hey Elena, I know you're on antibiotics so try and be extra careful tonight while you and Damon fuck like bunnies cause we wouldn't want any mini Damon's running around'" she says sarcastically "I'm not psychic"
"Nice Care… real nice" I snap
"Oh come on… I'm joking"
"Well it's not funny… this entire situation is completely humorless"
"It could be worse…" she offers
"Funny… that's exactly what Damon said. How comforting" I frown
"Well, I mean it is true… He's cute, funny, and he has a really good job. Plus he obviously wanted children…"
"Ugh" I groan "don't you think I know that… It's bad enough that I have to battle with the annoying voice in my head telling me that it's too soon, that I'm crazy for thinking I'm anything but the rebound girl, I've been doing a pretty good job telling that little voice to shut up but know I have to battle with the voice saying that this is just the replacement baby"
"Elena!" she scolds "what has Damon ever said or done that would lead you to believe that any of that is true…"
"Nothing!" I shout in frustration not caring about the eavesdroppers anymore "that's exactly it… Damon says and does all of the right things and I want to believe him Caroline, god do I want to believe him, but at the end of the day, it's still hard… what if Stefan had a this whole other life before he met you, one where he was happy and in love and about to become a father… tell me that it wouldn't be hard to get over those facts"
She seems to be pondering the idea before she finally speaks up "You're right, it would be really hard, but that doesn't change the fact that this is happening, you knew all of these things about Damon, and you still wanted to try and make it work with him and now you guys are expecting a baby, and I think you need to just have a little faith in him, and tell that voice in your head to go screw itself because this is happening, it may not be the way you had expected it would happen but it is and it's not the baby's fault so you guys need to figure this shit out cause in about seven months that adorable bundle of joy will be here and you will realize that you were freaking out for nothing…"
"I really hope that you're right" I smile sadly
"I'm always right, you should now that by now" she smiles
"Maybe, I'm just over reacting" I shrug as tears start to well up in my eye "Damn hormones"
"Everything is going to be ok" she smiles
"How do you know?"
"Because you're one of the strongest people I know Elena Gilbert, and you did not go through all the shit you went through to not be ok, this is a blessing, you may not see it now, but I do" she smiles and I start crying even harder "and like I said, I'm always right"
"You can't say stuff like that to me for the next seven months because I will just turn into a blubbering mess" I laugh through my tears
Just then my phone rings "Hello" I sniffle
"'Lena? Are you ok?" Damon's voice is laced with concern
"I'm fine" I answer
"You sound like you've been crying…"
"Yeah, a side effect of pregnancy I've found out" I laugh
He hesitates for a bit before speaking, he must decide to accept my answer "can you meet me in about 30 minutes"
"Uh, yeah; Where?"
"I'll text you the address"
"Ok" I answer
"See you in a bit" he disconnects our call
"Hey, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to cut this short, Damon wants me to meet him" I tell Caroline
"What's going on?"
"I don't know, he just said it's important and that he would meet me in thirty minutes and it's across town so I better get going"
"Ok, call me later and tell me what's going on"
"Will do, thank you for talking me off the ledge AGAIN, you're the one getting married, I should be the one calming you down"
"Nah, I'm good" she smiles and waves me off
"Seriously I don't know what I would do without you" I pull her in for a hug
"Back at ya" she hugs me back "Now hurry, you're going to be late" she waves to me as I head towards the subway
Damon's POV
I pace back and forth on the sidewalk until I see Elena approaching me "Hey" I step forward and greet her with a kiss on the lips "thanks for meeting me, and I'm sorry about the short notice"
"It's ok" she smiles "You've definitely sparked my curiosity though"
"Well then, shall we?"
She nods, I take her hand and lead her into the lobby of the building I was waiting outside of and into the elevator. Once inside I pull out a key from my pocket and put it into the key hole next to the number twelve and she looks at me curiously
"Just wait" I smirk
When the Elevator doors finally open we step out into a modest sized living room
"What…" she looks at me with a confused expression on her face, but I interrupt her before she can start asking questions
"So this is the living room, and over here we have the kitchen" I motion to the right "I really like how open it is"
"Ok…"
"And if you follow me this way…" I reach down for her hand and lead her down the hallway "there's a guest bathroom on the left" I point "and then right over here is the master bedroom, complete with the most gorgeous bathroom you've ever seen" I open the door so she can take a look around, she opens her mouth to say something but I don't give her the chance
"And over here…" I lead her out of the room and into a smaller one down the hall, I open the door and lead her inside of the room, I turn to her, take both of her hands into mine and take a deep breath, here goes nothing… "This is where I thought we could put the nursery"
Realization seems to dawn on her "Damon…"
"Wait, please" I stop her "please just let me get this out"
She nods so I continue
"What you said the other night about stepping into Andie's shoes really stuck with me and I know I said that I would never expect you to be Andie, and I meant it Elena, but… you shouldn't even have to feel that way, what happened, happened, my past is my past I can't change any of that, but it's time to let it go, and I've been trying to, god have I been trying, and you have been so patient and so understanding" I reach down and place my hand over her still flat stomach "you guys are my future, so I am going to keep doing my best and I think I've done a pretty good job so far, but the apartment… it holds way too many memories of my past life for both of us and I think it's finally time to close the final chapter on that part of my life. Which is why I've brought you here… I want this to be our place the place where we start our future together and where we raise our child together"
I look up at her and see her eyes shining with tears "I want us to move in here and start making memories of our own"
"I…" her voice cracks so she stops what she was about to say, she gently pulls her hands away from mine and slowly walks around the room as if she is just taking it all in.
"Lena please" I plead with her to say something
"I just don't want you to move out of your house just because I'm pregnant"
"We're pregnant" I correct her and she smiles sadly
"Still, you wouldn't feel the need to uproot your entire life if we weren't in this situation"
I ponder her words before answering "Maybe, but we are in this situation and it's forced me to look at things from a different perspective, would we have moved in together this soon in the relationship… probably not… but we also didn't expect to be having a baby, but we are, and that changes everything… right now we live on opposite sides of the city, how would that work? We can't raise this baby separately Elena"
"I know… I just…" she lets out a defeated sigh "I don't know what I thought" a tear slides down her cheek
"Hey… please don't cry" I reach out and wipe the tear away with my thumb
"It's all I seem to be able to do now days" she lets out a humorless laugh "I blame the hormones"
I smile at her sympathetically "can't you see it, a life here in this apartment, a life with me?" I ask
"I want to" she shrugs
"Then what's stopping you?" I ask
"I feel awful even thinking it because you've been so great…" she shakes her head
"You can tell me anything" I offer
"I just don't want me and this baby to be your replacement family" she winces as soon as the words are out of her mouth, and I'm not going to lie hearing her say them stings
"You really think that of me?" I ask
"No… maybe… I don't know, I don't know what I think, I can't understand how you're being so logical about all of this with everything that you have been through in the last year... and it doesn't help that all these god damn hormones are making everything so much worse!"
"I would never do that Elena, I wouldn't be here asking you to move in with me if I genuinely didn't want to, it has nothing to do with a replacement family as you put it, you are my family, my one and only. Like I said what is in the past is in the past, I can't do anything about that, but I am here asking you to do this with me, I can't make you believe me, all I can do is lay all the facts on the table and the fact is that you and I are having a baby together and I want to do this with you, you have to choose whether or not to believe me" I smile at her sadly "I don't want to push you into this; I already put a deposit down on the place so it's not going anywhere. Take your time and think it over"
"You did?" she asks and I nod "but what if I had walked in and immediately said no"
"I hoped like hell that wouldn't be your reaction and I'm still praying that you'll say yes, but regardless of your answer it's time for me to get out of my old place, plus this place is a little closer to you if you do decide to stay where you are"
She lets out a relieved sigh; and visibly relaxes, almost like the weight of the world has been lifted off of her shoulders
"Ok" she says
"Ok?"
"I believe you, and I want to move in with you" she smiles
"Really?" I ask in disbelief
She nods
"What changed? I couldn't be happier, I just… I thought you were going to take way more convincing"
"I just, I needed to know that you weren't just doing this all for me" she sighs "that this is really what you want"
"Gee conceded much" I nudge her playfully and she giggles "seriously though, even if I was doing this all for you, don't you see that you're worth it"
"It took two of us to get where we are and I don't want you to feel like you have to shoulder all of the responsibility" she offers
"And I wish you would stop shouldering it all Elena… I know you had to grow up at a young age and you've experienced more loss then some people do in a lifetime, but you don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders… I'm here now, we're a team, let me carry some of it for you" I offer
She nods as tears run down her cheeks, I do the only thing I know to do right now, I wrap my arms around her and she sinks into me finally allowing me to carry her "thank you" she says between sobs, finally letting go.
A/N: 1. Hey guys! Whoa, did I really take that long to update? I am so so sorry! I never meant to take that long, time just got away from me. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and that it was worth the wait. How cute was Damon by the way? It would be hard not to just melt from his charm, but you also can't blame Elena for being a little cautious, also we got our first and probably ONLY taste of Elena's point of view, I never planned on it but it felt necessary for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Please leave a review letting me know what you think, I love ready each and every one of them, good & bad they inspire me to keep writing. See you next time guys!
2. HUUUUUGE oversight on my part... in the last chapter I stated that Caroline already knew about the pregnancy... this is what happens when I take too long to update. So i went back and rewrote the end of chapter 19 and i actually like it waaaaay better so if you'd like please take a moment to read through the changes. Sorry about that guys!
p.s. I wanted to upload this yesterday but the server was down = (