Chapter 9

"Here you go Elena, just lay down and I will get you a drink." Jeremy had barely said a word on the way back from the hospital other than, 'you look better' and 'I can't wait to meet the baby' he seemed out of character, and she didn't know why.

"Jer, are you ok, you just seem a bit quiet? You know you can tell me anything." Elena sat down on the sofa, for 6 months pregnant she was huge, or at least in her mind, Stefan was always telling her that Archer was the normal size for a Salvatore boy, and that just made Elena worry even more. "Jer you have to start talking to me again, I feel as if we stopped being close as soon as I moved in with Stefan." Jeremy took a deep intake of breathe, and then sat down on the end of the sofa handing Elena her tea.

"Bonnie is pregnant again, and it just seems every woman in my life is, the only one who isn't is Caroline. And I can't help but worry as we already have the twins and they are a hassle, and I don't want anymore and I am sure bonnie doesn't. Do you want to take him/her off our hands? I know how much you want kids, and I also know you have this little one." He was now smiling pointing at Archer. "But I can't handle another one, I don't want another one. I feel horrible for saying this, but I wish that bonnie wasn't pregnant." He started to crumble now, hunched over with his hands on the knees and he swung his head.

"Jer give me your hand" he looked up and saw his sister looking radiant, he did as he was told, and held out his hand. Elena grabbed it and as soon as Jeremy's hand went on her belly, Archer kicked. Jeremy didn't look sad anymore, he started smiling and hugging his sister. "Feel that Jer? You get to feel that as much as you want any day, all over again, whereas this is probably the only time I will, so take advantage to being able to have as many children as you like. And have fun with choosing the name, potty training, singing songs at night and teaching them how to walk, as I will only get that once, and I might hijack one of your kids so I can do it again." They were now both smiling and you could see Jeremy was now happy about Bonnie being pregnant again.

"Have you and Stefan chosen a name yet?" Elena slowly nodded and she could tell Jeremy was eager to see what his nephew was going to be called.

"We chose Archer, it's from when Stefan was human and he liked it and it stands out now days so it special just like him." She started to rest her hand on her belly.

"Are you all set, Elena? I want to go home and talk to bonnie now, and if you do need anything when Stefan is not around remember don't hesitate to call me, I am your brother and I can be here anytime, day or night." Jeremy got up and headed to the door.

"Thanks Jer, I means a lot, after Damon found out it was a boy he disappeared of the face of the earth again, and we can't get in touch so at least Archer will have one uncle around."

Elena spent the rest of the day watching sappy movies with Caroline, just as Stefan said she should. In fact the only times she did get off the sofa was to go and pee because Archer liked to play with her bladder a lot. Stefan came home at around 6 halfway through, 'What's your number?' he walked strait past them and into the kitchen. He grabbed a packet of crisps and went upstairs, Elena was worried as he hadn't said anything to her since he got in. she listened out for what he was going, the It all made sense. He had thrown a table against a wall, his bedside table to be priciest, and then sat on the bed eating the crisps and then it went silent for about 2 minutes, he then ran downstairs, causing Elena to turn and look at him. His eyes, his eyes and his T-Shirt it was covered in blood, "Stefan, you know you have to be discrete about you feeding. What happened?" Elena stood up and walked over to him and it made him crumble to the ground. Caroline had paused the film and was now watching them incase anything went wrong.

"I'm sorry Elena, I lost it, this man came in he had been in the car explosion on the bridge and there was so much blood." He looked up and Elena saw all the blood round his mouth and all over his clothes. "I lost it Elena, I lost it, Logan saw my eyes and then I ran." Elena took another step toward him "don't come near me I don't want to hurt you or Archer, I am a monster" he Hung his head, Elena backed away knowing that when he was like this it was best to do what he said. "I left the room for a while and let the other doctors take over, and then I came back in, when I did there was blood all over the floor. There was blood everywhere, and the man was dead. All the doctors left leaving me in the room on my own, and I lost it. For the first time in a long time, I lost it and I feed." He stated to cry and Caroline moved over and sat down next to him.

"It's ok Stefan, you won't hurt Elena or Archer, and I know you won't but I'm more worried about if anyone saw you. Did they?" Caroline started to stroke his back and then gave Elena a nod towards the kitchen.

"Logan saw me." This made Elena come back round the corner in the quickest time possible for a pregnant woman and then walked over to Stefan with the bowl of hot water and a cloth to wipe his face. She set it down on the floor and went over to the laundry room to grab his sweats so he could change.

"Stefan what did he see?" Elena said who had now sat down next to him and was washing his face. "It's ok you can tell me, I know you will never hurt me no matter what." Stefan looked at her and started to talk.

"Well I started to feed, and I couldn't stop, I didn't even hear him come in until, he came and stood in front of me and even then I didn't see him. I had my teeth sunk into this poor man's throat and I was practically licking the blood off of the wounds, I only stopped when he said my name." he had to stop talking as Elena had finished wiping his face and was trying to take his dirty t-shirt off to put a new one back on. "I looked up and he obviously say my eyes and the mess that was all over my scrubs and my lab coat, he muttered something that I couldn't make out as I was too immersed in the blood, and then he just ran." He started to pull of his trousers, but while doing this he accidently pulled his boxers down by mistake, and Caroline quickly spun away while he fixed his pants and put on clean trousers. "Care its ok to look now. I stopped and looked down and all I saw was blood. I thought of you and archer, and I just ran, I ran home Elena and that was all I could do. I don't even feel the temptation to feed now, all I can think of is what I did to that poor man. I'm so sorry."

He leant over and hunched into Elena's arms who slowly started to stroke his back and his hair. "Shhh, Stefan it is ok. We will talk to Logan, and it is going to be ok. I love you no matter what. Now can you go and brush your teeth?" she kissed him on the head and then got up, feeling more like a machine than a 'human'