Chapter 48

Meanwhile Rebekah peered into the crib at Lilly sound asleep.

"She's so beautiful. I'm glad she's not very big. How much of her life have I missed?"

"Weeks mostly." Stefan whispered. "She's been told stories about you and the biggest thing that she had was the colic I called you about."

"I missed you both so much," Rebekah said and a moment later she had pulled Stefan away from the crib and was kissing him passionately.

A while later she was laid on his chest in their bed tracing idle circles on his chest.

"I'm starting to get hungry. I wonder if anyone has thought about dinner yet?" About that time Lilly started crying. Stefan got up and then returned to the bed with the infant in his arms. He passed her to Rebekah and she held her like the precious gift she was. "Oh my darling little Lilly. I missed you terribly but Mommy's going to try not to miss another day of your life." She leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Stefan just smiled at them with love in his eyes. This was his family and he was going to fight for them, not matter what.

The next morning Katherine and Elena were first up and starving. They made their way down to the kitchen and threw together a breakfast casserole for everyone. Rebekah found them waiting in the courtyard while the casserole was cooking. None of her brothers were there so Elena reasoned that if Rebekah was playing them she would drop the act now. Rebekah didn't drop the act at all. No, she went up to them and hugged them.

"Good morning." She smiled at them brightly. "How did you both sleep?"

"Good." Katherine said and Elena nodded.

"Good once I found a position I could actually sleep in." Elena smiled at her bump and rubbed it lovingly.

"I remember that," Rebekah groaned. "A couple of times I fell asleep leaned against Stefan while he was propped up in bed and do you know he stayed that way all night? It looks fabulous on you and I'm so happy that my brothers have found this kind of happiness." Soft stirring noises could be heard. "Ooops, excuse me, I'd better go get her and let Stefan sleep in. He needs a break."

Katherine looked at Elena once Rebekah had scurried off.

"That's one amazing witch you're friends with."

"Tell me about it." She whispered back. "It's really great to be able to talk to her like this and not have to worry about what I say."

Rebekah appeared a moment later with Lilly and a bottle plus a look of consternation.

"I've...I never got the chance to do this and I don't want to hurt her. Could either of you help me?" the blonde original asked.

Elena nodded and as she held Lilly, she showed Rebekah the proper way of feeding the baby and Rebekah watched this with a look of wonder on her face.

Then Elena passed the baby girl back to Rebekah and watched satisfaction bloom on her face as she fed her.

"It looks as though it genuinely worked," Klaus whispered to Elijah where he joined him on the second floor walkway.

"Indeed it does." Elijah was smiling as he watched this. He was glad that his sister and his wife were getting along better than before.

"Good morning everyone," Caroline greeted as she pranced into the courtyard to see the other girls.

"Morning." They called back to her.

"You three look like you slept well and how is the little princess this morning?"

"Well now that Elena taught me the right way to feed her she's about halfway through this bottle and I think that's going to be it for her right now because she seems to have lost interest."

"Well that's good." Caroline smiled at Klaus when he appeared with Elijah who had something for Elena to drink.

"What is that?" Rebekah asked as she saw the glass half filled with a red liquid.

"Strawberry, cherry and blood smoothie." Elijah told her. "Some of her food requests are a bit odd but most of the time they're normal."

"Well she's entitled she's carrying my nephew," Rebekah smiled. Bonnie rejoined them with a large heaping plate of grits.

"Don't say anything," she growled. "I'm starving to death."

"Not a word," Caroline, Elena and Katherine said. Bonnie dove into her breakfast and a moment later Kol arrived with a smoothie of blood, plums and honey.

Elena took a sniff of the grits and let out a moan at the smell.

"That smells so amazingly good at the moment." Elena moaned.

"I made enough for everyone," Bonnie said. "There's a huge pot on the stove." Soon the outdoor table was completely occupied as everyone enjoyed the delicious yellow grits with cheese. Bonnie cleaned her entire plate though it was in spurts as she would eat, quit and then eat some more. At the moment both Kol's children were quiet and Bonnie was enjoying the respite.

"This is so good!" Katherine was nearly purring with how good the food is. The three brothers looked amused at them.

"You four really liked it." Klaus said as their three wives and Katherine were digging into their second plate of food.

"I love grits, they're the perfect texture and flavor," Bonnie grinned.

"I love them with cheese and bacon or sausage drippings blended in," Caroline said. "You know they're even good with shrimp if you like shrimp."

"They're just plain good." Elijah was just watching his wife dig into the food. Sitting beside her, he took a bite of it and smiled at her.

"Henrik must be really hungry." She nodded.

"Really hungry."

"Have I told you how beautiful you look like this," Elijah whispered against her ear, "what it does to me to see you growing large with our child?"

Elena smiled at him and kissed him before returning to her breakfast.

"So don't we have a birthday to be celebrating today?" Bonnie grinned at Elena who blushed. "Happy Birthday 'Lena!"

"Yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELENA!" Damon and Jeremy shouted as they arrived.

"Big cake with lots of presents and no alcohol..." Damon groaned.

Elena just laughed and kissed Elijah.

"Nope, too many mothers-to-be for alcohol," Kol smiled as he wrapped his arms around Bonnie and kissed her cheek.

"I can't wait until you look like that," Klaus whispered against Caroline's ear as he caught her staring at Bonnie and Elena.

"I can't wait either." She whispered back to him.

Davina came down with a box in her hands and gave it to Elena.

"It's a gift for you that I hope you like." She said blushing.

Elena opened it and tears welled up in her eyes.

It was a picture frame and a photo of her and Elijah from last night.

"Here, this is from Kol and I," Bonnie said. Inside the box was a necklace with a large yellow topaz teardrop pendant. "It will be your son's birthstone." Elena couldn't stop crying all the happy tears and Elijah smiled at not only his brother and sister in law but also at his wife.

"Okay dry your eyes," Caroline commanded. "This is from Klaus and I...well mostly Klaus but it was my idea..." She unwrapped it to reveal a painting of herself and Elijah. She was largely pregnant and their hands were on her baby bump lovingly. "Something to remember it by."

"All of these are beautiful gifts!" Elena cried.

"That's because we all love you so much," Bonnie smiled. Lilly picked that moment to spit up all over Rebekah. Elijah, Klaus and Kol tried very hard to hold in their laughter but the look on their sister's face was too much.

"Let's get us cleaned up my little flower and then you can wish Auntie Elena a very happy birthday." Rebekah cooed to the baby.

"That was priceless!" Klaus gasped.

"Yeah we'll wait until it's your turn mister. It's a fact of life; babies spit up on people and most people make the surprise face," Caroline said.

"She's doing really well," Katherine said, "I only hope I'm that good."

"You will be," Bonnie told her. "I have a feeling that we're all going to be just fine."

Three weeks later it was pouring rain before the sun even came up. It was expected to rain for days. Elena woke to a panicked knock on the door. It took her a minute to struggle out of bed at thirty-one weeks along but when she reached the door Damon looked torn on the other side.

"Elena, I'm sorry I woke you. I was hoping to get Elijah. Katherine has been in pain all night and she thinks it's labor but it's too early. The baby shouldn't be due for another week!" Elijah was up the second Elena left the bed and followed Damon to where Katherine was. He had on a pair of sweatpants and a cotton shirt as well as tennis shoes.

"Holy crap Elijah you could get dressed," Katherine teased.

"Alright Katherine I need you to get bare from the waist down and under the sheet," Elijah instructed.

"Oh no!" Katherine gasped suddenly realizing what that meant. "I'll not have you looking at me like that!"

"Would you rather Kol because he's the only other one trained." Elijah replied evenly.

"Katherine it's fine," Damon tried to reassure her. She glared at him for a moment before everyone was ordered out of the room except Damon. When they came back in Elijah lifted the business end of the sheets.

"Elena get Kol, now! For that matter wake Klaus! Get Caroline to boil water and sterilize scissors and needle immediately. Bring me the hospital grade silk but don't open it yet. Hurry! Katerina whatever you do don't push!" Elijah growled.

"This can't be happening, this can't be happening..." She chanted. "I'm not due for another week!"

"Kol! Kol Elijah said get to Katherine's room now; something about the baby!" She pounded on Kol's door and then she walked all the way to the other side of the courtyard to bang on Klaus' door and give instructions to him and Caroline.

Soon everyone was in Katherine's room and the moment they walked in the could smell the blood, lots of it. Katherine was in trouble.

Kol went to Elijah's side to help him while Klaus was giving Katherine his blood to help with this.

"Tell me she's going to be okay." Damon demanded. You could see just how much he loved her and how crushed he'd be if she died.

"We're doing our best Damon but her first delivery wasn't tended to properly and she's badly torn. She's hemorrhaging blood down here and it's not good for the fetal heart rate or her pressure. We need to get this baby delivered," Elijah worried.

"Katerina I am sorry but I imagine even for a vampire this is going to hurt like hell," Elijah said. Caroline returned with the scissors and Elijah cut her further while Kol reached to support the head.

"Alright Damon she needs to push with each contraction. Human strength pushes. I know it's going to hurt but you can't stop." Katherine's screams echoed through the house. Bonnie put up a spell to keep the noise from leaving the room but she was obviously in anguish. Bonnie and Caroline had to leave the room, tears stinging their eyes. They couldn't be in there while she was screaming in agony but Elena wanted to be in with her.

"Just breathe in and out." Elena soothed.

"I've got the head," Kol said, "but the coloring isn't good Elijah." About that time Elijah looked up.

"Katerina? Katerina? Katherine! Klaus you're losing her! She's going into shock up there!" It took them a couple minutes to get her conscious and focused again. Damon was almost beside himself and Kol began to worry about Bonnie. Katherine gave another valiant push and Kol announced, "I've got the shoulders. We just need one more good push." Damon helped her as Katherine gave it her all and pushed. Kol got the baby but immediately left the room collecting Bonnie on his way. Elijah began stitching Katherine up while Klaus and Stefan were infusing her with blood.

Meanwhile Kol was carefully holding the baby and massaging the chest as he had been shown while Bonnie suctioned the nose and then gave a couple of good breaths in the little mouth.

"Come on little one," Kol worried. Finally there was a little stirring a squeaky first breath and the baby boy opened his eyes to the world. Kol quickly tucked the infant inside his shirt against his chest as Bonnie carefully cleaned him and gave him a hat.

"Take him to his parents for a brief moment Kol but he can't stay," Bonnie instructed. "He needs a neonatal warmer. I can try to spell something similar but it might be easier just to buy one if you can."

"I already did." Stefan said as he appeared. "You go get it and I'll take him to my brother Katherine."