Chapter 23 – 10 Months Later
Elena sat on the sofa watching Stefan make dinner, she was playing with Archer, while also cleaning up, and he was lying on a play mat, surrounded by all the toys that people had brought for him.
"You ok out there?" Stefan asked from the kitchen,
"Yeah were good, for such a little man you wouldn't believe how many toys he has" Stefan chuckled and continued making dinner.
"So I was thinking...don't worry" Stefan started to talk but then gave up on his idea and it made Elena want to know even more,
"Don't do that to me! I want to know what it is!" she stood up and walked over the kitchen counter, "okay, I was thinking that it might be nice to go on holiday, all three of us. Somewhere nice, somewhere for a family." Elena smiled and liked the idea, she headed round the other side of the counter and took Stefan's chin in her hands and kissed him,
"I like the sound of that. Why don't you leave dinner and come and spend some time with Archer, you've been working so much I think he misses you." Stefan had got a promotion at work, he was now chief of surgery, and working a lot more hours than he used to.
"Sure" he leaned in and kissed her, he put down the knife and then headed into the other room.
"Can you say dada?" Stefan had Archer on his lap and was trying to get him to speak, he had been for a few weeks and all he had managed to get out of him where a few noises and a couple of giggles.
"How about mama?" Elena started to laugh and then kissed Stefan on the cheek, and went back to cleaning the room.
"Can you say anything for your dada?" Stefan smiled and kissed Archer on the nose, and then looked into his eyes, he had amazing eyes bright green, not inherited from Elena's side of the family but from Stefan's mother, she had the same eyes.
"Vampire" Elena's head snapped up and Stefan burst out in fits laughter,
"Did here that Elena?" she climbed up onto the sofa and then kissed Archers little nose, "can you say it again for dada?" he smiled and then said it again. "Elena he said his first word! His first word was vampire." at that moment both of them stopped their celebrating,
"Our son's first word was vampire." Elena said in a bland voice, "he said his first word but could it have been something else?" Elena slumped into Stefan's shoulder,
"But Elena, one day we can tell him what he is, and then we can also tell him what his first word was. But until then let's just be happy that he can talk. I will take him for a haircut tomorrow he needs one." Elena started to run her hand through Archers sandy blonde hair, the exact shade as Stefan's,
"I like it long, it suits him" Stefan laughed,
"Elena he is never going to walk unless he can see!" she eventually agreed with Stefan, and she volunteered to continue with dinner while Stefan's spent some time with Archer. He put him in the little holder next to the table while they ate their dinner.
"Where were you thinking for a holiday?" Elena managed to squeeze in while clearing the table, Stefan was still sitting at the table feeding Archer.
"I was looking at England, a town called Brighton. There is a beach, parks and lots of little shops, apparently the pier is nice and so are the people." Elena was shocked to see how much research he had put into this,
"Sounds nice, why don't me and you look at it a bit more lately when he is asleep?" Stefan gave a quick nod and carried on to feed Archer. He kept trying to stuff his fist into his mouth while there was food it in,
"I dint know how this boy I never hungry, most of his food ends up on his lap." eke a came back into the room and giggled at Stefan's little comment,
"You just have to persevere, and somehow he eats it. I'm going to get changed." Stefan looked up and saw Elena leaving to room
"Come back here" he managed to get her attention before she left the room, "I love you" she smiled,
"I love you too Stefan." she headed upstairs to get changed.
"Well we better get you to bed it's getting late, and I have to work tomorrow." Stefan wiped Archers face clean and then picked him up and headed to his room.
"Elena he is asleep" Stefan opened the door to find Elena lying on the bed in some very skimpy lingerie, he stood there and let his mouth drop and how amazing Elena looked.
"I remembered how you said if we ever have a child you never wanted it to stop us from having sex." she got up from the bed and walked over to Stefan. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer,
"I love you Stefan Salvatore and I want you to always remember that." she went up in the tip toes to kiss him. He wrapped his arms under her bum and pulled her up, she wrapped her legs round his torso and kissed him with every ounce of passion in her body, the connection was still there, and it always would be.
Stefan sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Elena on top of him, he took off his t-shirt and then Elena stroked her hands over his abs, over every muscle. He returned the favor by undoing the top part of her outfit and then kissing every inch of her, circling her nipples with his tongue and then moving on to her neck.
"Stefan" she groaned, he smiled and kept on kissing her. His un-buttoned his jeans and slipped them off, he took off the bottom of Elena's outfit and spent some time making her groan his name even more.
"Elena, do you need a ride to work?" Stefan shouted out of the kitchen. She walked in holding Archer and then headed to the fridge to get his food.
"I'm good, I'm just going to wait for Ric to come and look after him, and then I will head off. You should get going." He was packing some stuff into his bag,
"Are you sure?" Elena nodded, "ok, see you later, bye bye Archer. Love you both." He kissed them both and then headed out.
"Your daddy is going to help some people today and we are going to surprise him at work later." Archer laughed and she set him on the floor in the living room and he crawled over to his toys.
"You are a little monkey aren't you?" she grabbed him and tickled him. One thing was for sure he was very advanced he stood up in his crib at 5 months old and then he started laughing when he was only a few weeks old.
"Mama!"
"Archer, you said you first word, I'm really proud of you." There was a knock on the door, "come in Ric" he opened the door, and walked in to find Elena.
"Hey, little man!" Elena gave him a look "hey Elena, how are you and my man?" She smiled and Archer to Ric.
"He said his first word. Do you think you could say it again?" Archer took his hand out of his mouth and him doing so he hit his face,
"Mama." Alaric lifted him in the air and spun him round, they both started to giggle,
"That's my man! Elena go to work. I've got him, have a nice day." She kissed them on the cheek and then left for work.
"Hey Ric I am leaving work in about half an hour do you want to meet me at the hospital?"
"Sure I'll meet you there, see you in a bit." Elena finished up some things and then sent them to the editor. She said goodbye to everyone and then headed over to the hospital to meet Ric.
"Ric!" she found him in the waiting room playing with Archer and the little wolf, "Archer, come here." She walked over to them and he stretched out his arms, "has he behaved?" she looked at Alaric, and then kissed Archer.
"He has been fine, a little fussy when it came to nap time but other than that, he was fine."
"Thanks for looking after him Ric." Elena really meant it, without Ric they would have no form of child care what so ever.
"Oh my god, is that little Archer Salvatore?" Elena turned round to see Meredith standing behind her. Elena hadn't seen her since Archer was born. "Elena he's has grown up so much, I can't believe it is him."
Meredith started to wiggle his hand, "god, he is a double of Stefan. It was nice to see him, but I have to go, do you think we could meet up?" Elena nodded and then Meredith left.
"Let's go surprise daddy. Ric, did you bring the cake?" Alaric held up a bag and Elena smiled, "what would I do without you Ric?" he laughed and then they headed off to Stefan's office.
They had asked Logan to tell them when he got to his office, they were planning to surprise him as it was his first time at work without one person in his family in the hospital. They went into his office, to find him sitting at his desk, with a lady in the chair opposite him,
"Oh, Stefan, I'm sorry I didn't know you were busy. I'll come back in a bit" she started to leave the room before Stefan stopped her,
"Don't be silly Elena." He took Archer from her and headed back to his side of the desk, "how are you my man?" he looked up, "were are my manners, Danni this is my wife Elena and my son Archer. Elena this is Danni the new head of cardio." They both smiled at each other and Danni held out her hand,
"Nice to meet you, you are really lucky to have a man like Dr Salvatore, I wish I did." Elena let out a little giggle, and so did Stefan, Danni not getting it just sat back down and then so did Elena.
"Have you got any children, Danni?" Stefan asked her and she smiled,
"I have a 4 year old Daughter, Julie. And I promise it will not let it distract me from my work." Stefan smiled,
"If you don't mind me asking who do you use for child care? We are both back at work and we are using my step dad at the moment." Elena was now starting to ask the questions
"I use a daycare center called, all around smiles, I know it is an odd name, but the people are really nice and so are the children. They take any age and Julie always comes back saying she has had a good day. If you want I can give you the number." Elena smiled,
"That would be great, thank you."
They carried on talking for a while, until Danni had to leave they talked mostly about outside of work things but she had a few questions on how the hospital worked. Alaric had come to get Archer and to take him home. Stefan joined Elena on the sofa in his office
"How was your day?" he wrapped his arm around her and she sunk into him.
"It was good, how was yours? Danni seams nice."
"Been a busy day, a lot of paper work and other things"
"Did you get to go in the OR today?" Stefan shook his head, it was the thing he loved about being a doctor that he could help someone and since he became chief he has not been in an OR even once.
"Well we will have to make your day better." She got up from the sofa and went to lock the door,
"Elena! This is my office, we can't." She put her finger up to her mouth and then climbed onto Stefan's lap, she started to kiss him, over and over again, "or maybe we could." He leant forward and then was lying on top of her on the sofa. He kissed every inch of her body just like he had done the night before, but this time with even more love, passion, and affection.