Her Little Moon [tvd]

Chapter 26

Some mornings when the sun streams in through the curtains, her blanket warming her up just right, and Natalie's slight snores filling the calm morning silence, Elena thinks everything must've been a nightmare.

But the unmistakable memories of every single moment deny her peace.

Jenna and John are dead.

She, herself, died and came back to life.

Damon nearly died.

Stefan. Gone.

And Natalie? Cursed. Brought forth too early because of Elena's doppelgänger blood.

Yeah, those calm mornings were a mocking comparison.

That morning, Elena opened her eyes and once again, in a repeated cycle, everything clicked back into place. She didn't spare herself any more time in bed. If she did, she'd end up lying there for a much more depressing amount of time.

She sat up with a sigh, pushing her blanket off her legs.

Inhale. Exhale.

Elena stood up and walked over to her windowsill.

Inhale. Exhale.

She opened her curtains with a shutter and the sun shined brightly through.

A groan of complaint came from the little body in the crib.

"Time to wake up, moon. Come on." Elena encouraged, shaking her shoulder slightly as she pried the blanket off.

"No," Natalie groaned. She continued to groan as Elena proceeded to lift her and carry her away to Jeremy's room.

She plopped Natalie on the bed and walked over to Jeremy's window to open the curtains.

The sunlight that streamed in was bright enough to wake up Jeremy instantly.

"Ugh, early. Bad." Jeremy said. Natalie had crawled her way over to Jeremy and had cozied up next to him.

Elena sighed. "It's not early," She pulled the blanket off of him, urging him to get up. "You're late for work. Matt just called."

Jeremy snatched his phone off of his nightstand and checked the time. Realizing that it was late, he sighed. "Well, maybe he'll fire me."

She shook her head with a roll of her eyes and picked up a sleepy Natalie. "Aim high." She scoffed.

On her way out, Elena frowned at the unruly mess of hair on Natalie's head and tried to think of a way to fix it, but her phone rang, with Caroline's name showing up as the caller ID.

"Hello?" Elena answered, shifting Natalie as they headed downstairs.

"𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨!" Caroline said. "𝘖𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦."

"Why? What are you doing?"

"𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘯."

"I never said yes in the first place," Elena said, kindly reminding her that this was not in any way an idea she participated in making.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺." Caroline said. "𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳."