Author's note: Stefan and Scarlett's eyes are not Hazel they are green. I am sorry for the typo, his eyes confused me xD Also, Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year to you all!

Damon carried Katherine to the boarding house and Elena carried Scarlett. Damon laid her in Stefan's bed and Elena handed her her baby. Then she and Damon sat on the edge of the bed, contemplating what they should do.

"Katherine you have to blood share with Stefan. It's the only thing I can think of…you were obviously compelled to believe you and Elijah were soul mates, this is the only way to prove that the vision you saw was fake. I mean come on, look at her. That is Stefan's daughter beyond a shadow of a doubt." Elena urged gently. Katherine sighed in frustration.

"But I'm compelled, I'm not allowed to be near Stefan, remember?" Damon thought for a moment but his thoughts were interrupted by Scarlett's shrill crying.

"She's probably hungry." He was back in ten seconds flat with a bottle of heated blood, which he tested on his hand to check the temperature before gently nudging her lips with the nipple. She looked at the bottle for a few seconds, as if hesitating, and Damon gently rubbed her face.

"Go on, Sweetheart. You'll like it, I promise." She latched on and drank the blood hungrily as Damon handed the end of the bottle to Katherine and sat back on the edge of the bed. Elena beamed at him.

"That was so fatherly." Damon smirked and winked at her.

"Just looking out for my niece." He then sighed, resuming his thoughts about Katherine's compulsion.

"Well, how about I just dagger the bastard? Nothing I haven't done before. Once he's down the compulsion should wear off and we can find my baby bro and show him his daughter…hopefully that will bring him back to us." Katherine grimaced.

"Sounds great except for the part where you dagger him. You can't, Damon, none of us can. It would kills us. Now that Elena's a vampire too we really don't have anyone that could—" Damon smirked and shook his head.

"We have a teacher with an eternity ring…what more could we ask for?" Elena beamed.

"Alaric!"

"Exactly." Damon said with a satisfied smirk, petting Elena's hair.

"I don't think it's a good idea." Katherine said cautiously, cradling Scarlett closer to her as she wriggled in her arms. Damon glared at her.

"Alaric has to do this, Katherine. I need my brother back and I won't stop until that happens. We need to find Scarlett a baby sitter, we're going to need your help."

"I bet Bonnie will do it." Damon nodded and handed Elena her phone. Elena discussed when Bonnie needed to come over while Katherine looked over Scarlett's unfilled-out birth certificate.

"I can't name her Scarlett Nina…can I? Not knowing that Stefan wants to name her Mary…" Damon shrugged.

"Marriage is about compromise. I know you two aren't married but the same rules apply…Elena and I had to do it. I wanted to name our son Sebastian and she wanted to name him Ian, so his name will be Sebastian Ian. Call her Mary Nina or Scarlett Mary, problem solved." Katherine cocked her head to the side.

"Elena really has changed you…hasn't she?" Damon shrugged again.

"I never changed Katherine; you just didn't know a good thing when you had it." He said quietly. Katherine flinched but decided not to respond. She handed Scarlett to Damon and he gently held her to his chest, watching as Katherine grabbed a pen from Stefan's bedside table. In beautiful cursive script she wrote Scarlett Mary Salvatore on the certificate. Damon nodded in approval at the name choice and then fawned over his niece, who was making little mewing noises after finishing her bottle.

"Should I sign as Katherine Pierce or Katherine Salvatore?" Damon's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"That depends…do you plan on marrying my brother?" Katherine bit her lip.

"I don't know." Damon shook his head.

"You should."

"I'm not one to be tied down, Damon. You of all people should know that." She reminded him with a sigh.

"And yet you agreed to marry Elijah? Was it compulsion or did you really mean it, Kat? I think you seriously need to get your priorities in check." He spat.

"She is my only priority." She said, gesturing to Scarlett. Damon sighed and rocked Scarlett gently.

"Then prove it." Katherine got tears in her eyes.

"I can't, Damon. Not this way…I can't commit to Stefan until I'm sure I won't hurt him." Damon nodded and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I understand, do what you have to Katherine." She grudgingly spelled out Katherine Pierce where it asked for mother's name and then her hand lingered over the father's name space.

"I won't sign for him. This is something he has to do himself." She grumbled, throwing the birth certificate into a pile of baby paper work from the hospital on the floor.

Bonnie arrived around an hour later with somebody they hadn't seen in a while; Jeremy. He'd moved back from Denver after Damon secretly released him from his compulsion. He had thought it would be a nice surprise for Elena since she was closer to delivery.

"JERE!" She squealed, running into his outstretched arms. He chuckled and embraced her tightly.

"My lord Elena…I'm gone for just a little while and you get yourself knocked up." He teased.

"What are you doing here?" She wondered out loud.

"Damon told me about my little nephew here and I wanted to be here for you. That and…I've really missed Bonnie." He said with a flirtatious glance in her direction. Bonnie grinned and took Scarlett from a very reluctant Katherine. Damon threw five blood bags at Jeremy.

"Pour one in her bottle about every two to three hours…she likes it warmed." Jeremy's mouth hung open, shocked that Damon was the one telling him this. He was even more surprised when Damon walked over to Bonnie, bent down, and kissed Scarlett's forehead.

"I'll be back…maybe I'll run into your daddy while I'm out." He said with a wink, grabbing Elena's hand and motioning for Katherine to join them at the door. Katherine just stood and stared at her baby.

"Do I have to leave her?" Damon nodded.

"You know this is too dangerous, Kat. Bonnie and Jeremy will take good care of her." Katherine nodded and gently caressed Scarlett's cheek before briskly striding out the door. Once in the Camero, Damon called Alaric.

"Ric, I need your help man. I need to have Elijah daggered…and you're the only human I trust to do it. I'm going to distract him while Katherine and Elena distract Klaus and Stefan. Can you do that for me?" The car was quiet while Alaric spoke on the other end.

"I didn't want to, I want her to be safe, but Elena insisted. That's why Katherine is here, to protect Elena and make sure we don't have a repeat of Christmas." He said glaring at Elena, having not wanted her to tag along.

Alaric pulled in the drive way at Mikaelson Manor at the same time as Damon. He had the dagger up his sleeve and Damon smiled gratefully at him. Alaric, Elena, and Katherine hid in the bushes while Damon knocked on the door. Elijah answered the door and gave Damon a sickly sweet smile.

"What a pleasant surprise, where is the Mrs.? Did she have an unfortunate trigger into early labor as well?" Damon growled at Elijah but walked in when he stepped aside in the doorway. Alaric watched through the window and ushered the three of them inside when Elijah and Damon were out of sight.

"Was Katherine's labor so unfortunate that you couldn't bear to check on your beloved soul mate?"

"It's not polite to question people in their own home, Mr. Salvatore." Damon snorted.

"Cut the crap, Elijah. I know you slipped Katherine pitocin and I know you've been compelling her. The question is why." Elijah's eyebrow rose.

"And you've come here for the answer? Yes, I compelled Katerina to believe that her bastard child was mine…but my reasons for doing what I did are for me and my brother to know. It's none of your concern. Now it's my turn to ask a question. Where is my fiancée?" Damon's lips curled behind his fangs.

"I think it's safe to say the wedding's off. She belongs to my brother, not you. You compelled her to believe she was your soul mate and she isn't, you have no right to her." Elijah shrugged.

"Maybe I compelled her to believe that and maybe I didn't. You won't know until it wears off and that won't happen until I'm dead. You can't kill me Damon, you know that. So I guess the only thing to do is hand her over." He said taking a challenging step forward. Damon rose to the challenge, also taking a step forward.

"The only thing I will be doing here is demanding to see my brother, I have a niece at home that would like to see him. You're going to show him to me, Elijah." Elijah grabbed Damon by the throat and grabbed a picture from the wall, breaking it and jabbing a piece of the frame into his chest, just missing his heart.

"Or what?" Damon cried out in pain and Elijah began to dig the stake in further. Alaric showed up behind Elijah and pulled the dagger from his sleeve, causing Damon to break out in a relieved smile.

"Goodbye Elijah." He strained to say through the pain as Alaric stabbed Elijah in the back with the dagger, piercing his heart. Elijah turned a familiar gray color and fell to the floor. Alaric pulled the frame fragment out of Damon's chest and Elena came running in at the sound of his scream.

"Damon! Please tell me you're okay!" She said worriedly, helping him stand and gently rubbing his face. He leaned in and captured her lips and cupped her belly with his hand.

"I'm prefect now that you're here…is Katherine still with Klaus and Stefan?" Right as he asked that she walked through the doorway.

"They weren't here. Elijah was the only one home." Katherine looked like she had been crying and Elena gave Damon a slight nod as if to confirm his unspoken thought. Damon shot her his best sympathetic smile.

"They have to come back sometime, Katherine. We'll find Stefan. I promise you." Katherine smiled at Damon and then strutted over to Elijah's body. She picked him up and threw him over her shoulder.

"I could carry him…" Damon offered, but it was clear that Katherine was on a mission. She banged his head against the doorframe as she walked out.

"Oops." She muttered sarcastically and broke into vampire speed, not bothering to get in the car. By the time Damon drove back to the boarding house Katherine already had Elijah's body locked in the cellar.

"He can't stay down here…" Elena gasped in horror.

"He has too until we find a nice secluded place to dump him." Damon said matter-of-factly, dead-bolting the door. He took Elena's hand and led her back up to their bedroom.

STEFAN'S POINT OF VIEW

I got home from a long walk to find Elijah missing. I quickly dialed Klaus's number.

"We have a problem…Elijah's bailed on us." Klaus chuckled on the other line.

"To be honest I figured he would, he's always had a soft spot for Katerina. Oh well mate, I guess it's just you and me then. Elijah served his purpose, we don't need him anymore anyway. I'll be back soon I'm getting dinner. Do you prefer blondes or brunettes?" I was caught off guard and a tad disturbed by the question but I answered back with an "I date brunettes, blondes are dinner." Klaus chuckled again.

"Nice choice, mate." He hung up with another throaty laugh. I shook my head and walked to my bedroom, flopping down and pulling a picture from my nightstand, along with my cell phone. If I wanted anyone to know that I never really turned my emotions off, that I'd been pretending this whole time…it'd be her. Elena. Turning them off would have been too easy, after what I had done to Elena I deserved to feel the pain of losing Katherine to Elijah. The numbness had been an emotion itself, not a flip of the switch like I'd have liked to pretend. I dialed her number and it rang for a while. I almost thought she wouldn't pick up, until I heard that melodic voice ask "Hello?"

I knew I couldn't say anything; it would jeopardize everything if she knew it was me calling her. However, Elena had always been bright.

"Stefan?" She asked very quietly, almost as if she was afraid. I once again said nothing, but basked in the sound of her voice.

"Stefan if this is you, you'll be okay. We love you, Stefan. Hold on to that. Never let that go." That was too much for me, I hung up and clung to the picture…the only item I'd taken from home, holding it tightly to my chest as I cried. When I pulled back I gently caressed the glass on the frame. It was a picture of me and Elena before we'd broken up.

"Why…Elena? I loved you, just like I loved Katherine. What is it about Doppelgangers that just..." I trailed off, lost in a sea of my own emotions. My love for Katherine, my love for Elena, my loss of both of them…it was all too much. I tenderly kissed the picture and put it back on my nightstand, hearing Klaus come in. Elena's words were ringing in my ears.

We love you, Stefan. Hold on to that. Never let that go.

Did that mean she and Damon loved me, or that after everything Katherine still did? I wasn't sure, but I was desperate to find out. With sudden hope that one of the Petrova's could somehow love me again, I knew I couldn't help Klaus with his plan…not anymore. I headed towards the door with my picture in my hand.

"And just where do you think you're going, mate? I brought you the blond…" He said flinging a scared teenage girl at me.

"I can't do this anymore, Klaus. I'm sorry…but I think I'm still in love with them both." Klaus gave Stefan an almost sorry look and then took him by the shoulders.

"Turn it off. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, Stefan." I could tell he was trying to compel me so I pushed him and yelled "No!" Hoping to break his concentration. Klaus cocked his head to the side in amusement.

"Amazing…the only thing stronger than my compulsion may actually be your love for these two girls…" He trailed off and stalked toward me, holding me against the wall.

"TURN IT OFF." He screamed. He was no longer compelling me but the picture of me and Elena fell from my hand and shattered on the floor. That was it, I couldn't hold on anymore. That was all the hope I'd been holding on to and now it was in literal pieces. I flipped the switch…and just like that Stefan was gone.