Back in Time

26

"Damon said you needed to talk to me?" Klaus asked. I saw him sit down on one of the chairs out of the corner of my eye. I nodded, still watching the clock. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Seeing how far apart my contractions are." I said.

"How long has it been since your last?"
"Two minutes and seven seconds." I said.

"I'll count from here." Klaus said. I looked away from the clock.

"Thanks." I ran a hand through my hair. I got straight to the point. "Klaus, am I a human?"

"Yes." He answered simply. "I was going to tell you, but you went into labour sooner than I thought. Your body has reverted back to human for the period of time it will take to give birth to your children. Your vampirism will return once they are born." I waited, sensing there was more. "Your body will act as a vampire once it's over, except for when you breastfeed them. That will be as normal as a human would be."

I sat in silence for a minute, thinking this over. It didn't sound too bad. I just nodded.

"Thank you." I sighed. "It gave me a fright when I accidentally cut myself and it didn't heal." Klaus offered me his wrist and I laughed, but he was serious. "I'm fine. It's tiny."

"The others will be here soon." Klaus stood and made his way to the door. "You're at five minutes and forty three seconds."

I mumbled another thanks, focusing on the clock again. The door closed, but immediately opened as Damon came back. He must have been waiting for Klaus to leave. Damon sat down where Klaus had been, taking my hand.

"Elena, why are you staring at the clock?" He asked.

"Timing my contractions." I said for the second time. Damon laughed. "What?"
"You could just see when it finished and then check the time again when another one starts." He pointed out. I frowned.

"Oh, right." I counted back. "It finished at eleven thirty-three." Then I looked away. "I blame it on the babies. They're impairing my brain."

"Sure they are." Damon chuckled. Then he paused, tilting his head to one side. I knew what he was hearing. Not two heartbeats, but three.

"I'm human, just for the birth." I explained quickly. "Klaus explained it. It's all fine."

Damon just nodded. His other hand raised to touch my cheek. He sighed and closed his eyes. I frowned.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah." He opened his eyes. "Elena, if you're human, you can die." Damon took a deep breath. "I know it's rare, but people do die in childbirth. I couldn't save you because the babies might get hurt."
"I won't die then." I promised. "But in the point one percent chance that I do, take care of our babies like I'm still there."
"You're not dying." Damon sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than me.

I nodded, and he leaned forward to kiss me. Pulling him close as much as I could, I kissed him back passionately.

There was a kick from inside my stomach and a bubble of laughter burst from my lips. Damon pulled away and frowned at me. I shook my head.

"One of them kicked me." I rubbed my stomach. Damon leaned forward and spoke to my stomach.

"If you continue to ruin me kissing your mother, I will ground you." He said. I laughed again as Damon looked up. "Where were we?"

I pulled him close again with my hand on the back of his neck and kissed him again. I felt him smile against my lips as he kissed me deeply, his tongue exploring my mouth. We finally pulled away when the door opened.

Anna came in, with Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie, and Jeremy behind her. I gave them all a small wave as they crowded in. They all found a chair and sat down around my bed, leaving a space for Anna.

"Pain meds?" She asked, holding up the IV line and bag. I nodded. "Okay then. I held my left arm out for her as she took a needle. Looking away, I flinched slightly as the needle pierced my skin, and Damon squeezed my hand. Anna taped the needle down and hooked up the bag.

She did something to the line and then the meds flowed into my arm. I didn't feel it, but I would soon. Anna patted my shoulder.

"I'll come back every fifteen minutes or so to check up on you. All of you." She looked at my friends. "Behave. And Dad." She looked at Damon. "Try not to pass out." Damon chuckled. "It happens more than you would think." Anna said.

She left, leaving me with everyone. Caroline scooted her chair forward until she was sitting slightly closer.

"You better name one Caroline." She joked. "Even if they're both boys."
"Right." I rolled my eyes. I looked at Damon, and he nodded. "How about godmother?"

"What?" Caroline's eyes widened.

"Damon and I were thinking about this." I touched his cheek. "Caroline and Bonnie, we want to ask you to be godmothers. Stefan and Jeremy, will you be our godfathers?"

"Oh my god yes!" Caroline's face lit up. She hugged me lightly. "I love you so much Elena." I looked at the others.

"Of course." Jeremy looked incredibly happy.

"How about it brother?" Damon asked.

"You don't even need to ask." Stefan said. "I would be honoured."
I met Bonnie's eyes, and she nodded. Her hands folded over her stomach, and I gave her a pointed look. She flicked her eyes to the door. Right, she wanted to wait for Enzo. I smiled and nodded.

"There it is." I gasped as another contraction hit. Damon glanced at the clock.

"Twelve minutes exactly." He said, squeezing my hand. "I don't know much about babies, but I think we might be here a while."
"You guys can go home." I said. "I might be here for hours and hours." Everyone shook their heads.

"We might go out and get coffee and go for walks but we're not leaving until those babies are here." Caroline said.

I shrugged, leaning back fully. This was going to be tiring. Damon squeezed my hand and I turned my head to look at him. I could lose myself in his eyes for hours and I wouldn't even notice. Damon knew that.

"I wish everyone could have been at our wedding." I murmured. That was really random. I wanted to roll my eyes at myself.

"They can still see it." Damon said. I frowned. "When we got married, I hired someone to film it. They preserved it for me, and I managed to get it digitally. It's a bit grainy, but it's intact. I might have had a witch help me." He shrugged.

"You taped our wedding?" I cried. "When were you going to tell me?"
"I was going to give it to you after our babies were born." Damon said.

I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him as much as I could with a hospital bed rail in the way. Damon leaned into me, his hands pressing against my back. I didn't even notice I was crying until Bonnie leaned forward and handed me a tissue. Damon took it from my hands and pulled back to gently dab at the tears under my eyes.

Damon was about to say something when another contraction washed through me. I tried to keep my face calm and show no reaction but it hurt a lot more than I thought and I let out a gasp, folding forward slightly. Damon stood up and sat on the bed next to me, his arms around my shoulders. I gave him a tiny smile and then closed my eyes, concentrating on the pain.

I had been through enough physical pain in my lifetime that it wasn't too hard to get through it. This wasn't anything I had ever felt before though, and as the pain wore on and on, I began to realise that it was also stronger than anything else. People said that childbirth was one of the most painful things a person could experience, but I had never quite believed them until now.

"Elena..." Dammon sounded helpless. I opened my eyes and looked up at him.

"I'm fine." I said. "Trust me, it's going to get a lot worse." Damon gently rubbed my arm. "This is nothing."