Silent Prayers

Chapter 41

"You don't have to do that" Stefan said quietly as he walked into the kitchen. He found Elena at the sink, scraping the food off of his plate and Katherine's plate from earlier that evening.

"I don't mind" Elena said, looking over her shoulder and giving him a small smile. She liked being helpful during stressful times. Elena turned back to her task at hand, washing the plates.

He didn't say anything. He just watched her for a moment before retreating back upstairs. Exhaustion was taking over, but he was pretty sure he would not be able to sleep. Stefan found himself standing in front of his closet, moving things out of his way so he could reach up and grab a box down from the top. Inside was a photo album that he picked up and carried back to his bed. He sat down and moved himself to sit against the headboard, and opened the photo album to the first page.

There were no photos of Stefan before the age of eight that he knew about, so the entire photo album essentially started when he went to live with Damon. He found it all very symbolic, because going to live with Damon, and then meeting Katherine soon after, was when he considered his life – a happier one – to have started.

He always thought he was kind of dorky looking when he looked at photos of his younger self. Dirty blonde hair that was too long because Katherine thought it was in style. He was pretty skinny too up until high school. But he was always dressed to impress, thanks to Katherine. It was always her mission to make sure he looked presentable.

Stefan flipped the page and studied a photo of his first Christmas with his brother and Katherine. Katherine was sitting in front of the immaculately lit tree with Stefan, her arms around him smiling. He was smiling too, probably because of all the presents waiting for him under the tree. But also because he was happier in a loving home.

"What are you looking at?" Elena asked quietly as she stood in the doorway. She had been watching him for a minute or two as he smiled at an open book in his lap.

Stefan looked up and saw her standing there. He was so grateful that she was there with him, because he wasn't sure he could be alone right then. "A photo album" he answered.

"Can I see?" she asked, already walking towards him. She climbed up onto the bed and positioned herself to sit next to him.

Stefan passed the book over to her, setting it on her lap so she could see. "Katherine put this together for me, as a high school graduation present" he explained. "I don't have the baby pictures or anything like that" he added.

Elena detected the disappointment in his voice. "These are great" she said, smiling as she looked at the photos on the open page. She focused on the photo of Katherine and Stefan in front of the Christmas tree. "Gosh, Katherine doesn't age, does she?" Elena asked. Elena had to admit that Katherine was absolutely beautiful.

Stefan felt himself smile a little too as he looked at the same picture she was looking at. "She doesn't" he agreed. He tapped his finger against the photo. "That year was the first year I got a Christmas present" he said thoughtfully. "My mom and I never celebrated Christmas, and the only reason I knew about the holiday was because on the off chance that I did go to school, the other kids were talking about it. Or the teacher would read stories about it" he told her.

Elena reached her hand over and grabbed his. "What did you get for Christmas that year?" she asked, a feeling of sadness threatening to overcome her. Her heart hurt, thinking about Stefan never having a Christmas as a young child.

Stefan smiled. "I got a few things" he answered. "But my favorite was this massive train set" Stefan told her. "It took up almost the entire living room, and took about four hours to set up completely" he explained. "And we had this big dinner later that day, and Katherine convinced my brother to let us eat on the floor in the living room so we could still play with the train set" Stefan remembered, smiling again. "We must've played with that train set until midnight, when I finally crashed for the night."