Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 37

But the kiss was short-lived when the door opened and Lily came bounding in. She stopped immediately, holding tightly to the numerous things she had in her arms. Elena sat up and smiled at her. "What do you have there?" she asked.

Lily looked from Elena to her uncle, trying to decide on how best to answer that. Stefan had his finger up to his lips, telling Lily not to say anything. "Nothing" Lily answered.

"Nothing huh?" Elena asked, sliding off of the bed and walking towards her. Elena grabbed a bag of Skittles out of Lily's arms and held them up, turning to eye Stefan carefully. "I happen to know that Skittle's are your Uncle's favorite" Elena said. Elena also grabbed the brown paper bag from Lily and opened it. "Bacon Cheeseburger?" she questioned.

"I don't know why she has those" Stefan said, feigning innocence.

"You told me to bring them to you!" Lily accused. She glared at her uncle for trying to pin the blame on her.

"Snitch" he said, glaring right back at her. Lily retaliated by sticking her tongue out at him.

"You know you can't be eating this stuff in here" Elena reminded him. "You are on a restricted diet of what they give you."

"What they give me tastes like poop" he said, forcing himself to use a much tamer version of the word he really wanted to say.

Lily giggled. "That's gross Uncle Stefan" she smiled, making her way to the chair next to his bed and handing him a bag of gummy bears.

Elena shook her head disapprovingly and he figured he had better behave. "Thank you for getting these for me, Lily, but Elena's right. I should only eat what the nurse brings me" he explained.

"Okay" she sighed. "I can eat all this for you then" she volunteered. "Except the white gummy bears because it tastes like poop" she said, smiling proudly at her new phrase she had learned.

Stefan grinned as Elena rolled her eyes. The last thing anyone needed was Lily going around saying that things tasted like poop. "Why don't you go and share some of that with everyone else" he told her.

"Elena can have the peanut butter cups" she said, offering them up to Elena.

"Thank you" Elena said, taking them from her. "Go give this to Alaric" she added, handing the brown bag over to her. Lily hopped off of the chair and left the room as quickly as she came in. "How did she even get all of that stuff?" Elena asked.

"She likes to press the buttons on the vending machine" he answered. "I spent forty dollars one day just so she could press every button."

"You spoil her" Elena said, shaking her head but all the while smiling. There was nothing more precious than the two of them together.

"She's worth it" Stefan said.

Elena had to agree. She stared at him for a few moments, studying him. "You look a little better" she said, wondering if it was just wishful thinking or not.

"I feel a little better I guess" he shrugged. Still some pain and exhaustion, but nothing like the day before.

"I uh, I should go and make a few phone calls" she said, checking her phone and noticing she had a missed call or two. She almost felt guilty spending time away from him when he was up and awake.

"Take your time" he told her. "You really should run home and shower. You would feel so much better" he said.

Elena nodded. "I guess I could go real quick" she said.

"Real quick" he agreed. "I'm going to try and get a little more rest."

Elena moved to his bed and bent down to kiss him. He reached up and grabbed onto her elbow, holding her there until he was done with that kiss. Elena smiled. He definitely had to be feeling a little better. "See you soon."