BABY-DADDY
[2×09]
|One Year Ago|
I WAS GRABBING MY THINGS TO GET READY TO GO TO MY NEW SCHOOL. I hadn't even made any friends, and my bump was starting to show already. I doubted I would make one. I tossed all my things in my bag, wishing I could just stay home. I finally just dropped my bag and all the school junk on my bed, sighing.
I ran a hand over the small bump. I was just over four months. I walked over to my mirror, pulling my shirt up to see it better. "Well, there you are," I said. "I'm sorry I got us both into this mess."
There was a knock at my door and I quickly fixed my shirt. "Come in," I said.
My dad opened the door. "Hey, I set you up a doctor's appointment at three thirty," he said.
"You set it up?" I asked.
He sighed. "Your mom told me to set it up for you since she isn't here," he said.
"So, she really doesn't want anything to do with this," I said, grabbing my things.
"Rory," he began.
"I know. I'm the one who messed up, not her. You both realize it is still a person, right?" I asked, walking into the living room.
"Well, I was under the impression it was a person I wouldn't know," he said.
"I don't think either of you really want to know it," I said, and went out the door.
|Present|
Elena was going to go talk to Katherine, who had been locked in a tomb under a church that had burnt down a century ago. Me and Caroline were supposed to keep Stefan distracted while she was gone. Well, she only asked Caroline, not me. The thing was, I liked Stefan and Caroline wanted some back up.
I hoped it would give me an out on part of school, because my babysitter was sick. I was a senior, meaning I had a few free periods. I had two classes in the morning I had to go to today. My mom had agreed to take the first one, but wasn't sure if she could do the second one. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to my other class.
Me and Caroline were now running across the school parking lot, trying to catch the younger Salvatore. "Hey! Stefan! Umm, I need to talk to you. Where are you going?" Caroline asked him.
"Well, Elena went home sick. I just want to check on her," he told us.
"Ditcher," Caroline teased.
"I'm kinda worried about her," he said.
Caroline stopped, so I did too in hopes of not running into her. "You know what? Of course you are. Go ahead. I- you know what? We can talk later," Caroline told him.
We both turned to walk away, knowing Stefan was too good to ignore us. "Uh, talk about what?" he asked.
"I might have done something," she said.
"What did you do?" he asked, giving us both a look.
"Told Tyler I'm a vampire," she admitted.
Stefan sighed. "And while you're taking us somewhere you can yell at us about this, is there anyway you can give me a ride home to get Lilly from my mom who needs to get back to work?" I asked.
|One Year Ago|
I laid on the table, the weird, cold gel on my stomach. I already knew the doctor. She was my dad's boyfriend's sister. She seemed nice enough, I didn't know her well.
I had gone by myself. My dad offered to come with me, but I had told him no. I knew he would be mad at me as soon as he got the call from the school informing him that I was already in trouble. I'm pretty sure I've never been in trouble at school. I had always been the good student who teachers liked, but not anymore.
I had detention for a week, because me and one of the cheerleaders had gotten into a fight. The sad part was that the girl was pretty much me only four months ago. And she was a brat, just like me. The only big difference between us was that I was pregnant.
"Well, the baby looks perfect," the doctor said.
I nodded, not looking at the screen. "Good," I mumbled.
"You're really not going to look?" she asked.
I turned to face her. "I don't want to get attached. My parents don't want me to keep it," I explained.
"And what exactly do you want?" she asked.
I shrugged again, frowning. I knew my parents were probably right about the fact that I should go with adoption. I had absolutely no clue how to be a parent. Of course, the other part of me already hated the idea of giving it up however. "I don't know. I just- I just want it to have a good life," I said.
"Well, I think you're allowed to look at your own baby," she said.
"I don't think I want to," I said.
"Okay, well, your baby girl seems to be right on schedule," she said.
It took a minute for her words to hit me. Baby girl. "Aren't you supposed to ask if I want to know that?" I wondered.
"Yes, but I knew you'd say you didn't when you did," she said. I gave her a small smile. "Give me just a minute to grab something." She handed me a napkin and I started wiping the gel off my stomach.
She came back in in a minute and handed me a paper. I looked at it, realizing it was my sonogram. I bit my lip, looking at my baby.
|Present|
I smiled as I played with Lilly. We were at the Grill. Stefan and Care were talking, or more accurately, Caroline was stuffing her face with salad to avoid talking.
"Sorry to drag you here, but if I don't eat, I get these killing-some-people urges. Tyler totally has those to, by the way," she told Stefan.
"Yeah, what else did you say to him?" Stefan wondered.
"Not much. I was trying to keep the questions to a minimum." Stefan sighed. "Are you mad?" she asked.
"Yes, Caroline, as a matter of fact, I am a little mad. I mean, you put yourself at risk. If Damon finds out-"
"But you're not gonna tell him, are you?" she asked, interrupting him.
"No, of course not. He would kill you," Stefan said. Me and Caroline neither one were sure whether that was an expression or literal.
"Always looking out for me," Caroline said, smiling.
"Yeah. Well, you don't exactly make it very easy on me," he told her.
"Then why do you do it? Why are you such a good friend to me?" she asked.
"I don't know. I guess you- uh, you remind me of someone, my, uh- my best friend, Lexi," he explained.
"I- you have a friend?" Caroline asked, laughing.
"You say that with such a- a discouraging amount of surprise, Caroline," he said, laughing a little too.
"No, I just- sorry. I just- tell me about her," she said.
"I will some other time. I gotta go," he said, starting to get up.
"Wait, no. Umm, what do I do about Tyler? I- I don't want Damon to kill him, 'cause there's a full moon coming up, and Tyler's totally freaking out about it," Care asked. Stefan sat back down.
|Five Months Ago|
The clatter in the living room woke me up. I groaned as I slowly crawled out of bed. My dad was in the living room, getting ready for work. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," he said.
"It's fine. I probably would've gotten woken up by her soon," I said, rubbing my bump.
"Oh, crap. I'm late. I promise I will take off next week to stay here with you," he said.
"Dad, I'm okay," I said.
"I know. I just don't want you to be by yourself," he said.
"Look, I know the drill. If I have any problems just call Aubrey because your phone will be off at work. She isn't due for about two more weeks. I'll be okay by myself for a few hours," I said. My doctor had gone from Dr. Marks, to Aubrey over the past few months.
He nodded. "Okay, I'm leaving," he said.
"Bye," I muttered, while he ran out the door.
I went back into my room and laid back down. She was moving too much for me to be able to get comfortable. I sighed, getting a little annoyed. I just wanted to go back to sleep.
Then I felt it. The pain, then the one thing I wasn't ready for. My water broke. I swore. "Are you serious?" I asked.
I grabbed my phone, texting Aubrey to tell her. I changed clothes and grabbed my bag before heading out the door. So much for not being alone when this happened.
|Present|
Caroline now had a new plate in front of her, and so did I. "Ok, now I'm leaving," Stefan said, starting to stand.
"Wait, um..."
"No, no, no, Caroline. You have two seconds to come clean. You too, Rory," he told us.
"What do you mean?" Caroline asked.
"I'm not a part of this. I just didn't have a babysitter," I said.
"I'd believe the whole innocent act a little bit better if I didn't know how good you were at providing a distraction on demand. Where's Elena?" Stefan asked.
Caroline sighed. "I can't tell you," she said.
Stefan sat back, looking a little hurt. "You can't tell me? Are you kidding me?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, but I- I can't tell you," she said.
"Caroline, Elena was kidnapped, she could have been killed, and you're seriously not gonna tell me where she is?" he wondered.
Caroline sat her fork down, getting annoyed. "She's not in danger. I would not have let her put herself in danger," she snapped.
"Put herself in danger where? What do you-" He stopped, looking at the table. "She's with Damon, isn't she?" he asked.
"Ew, no," Caroline said, making me laugh.
"Then where- where is she? Listen, if you're my friend like you've been pretending to be all day, then you'll tell me where she is," he said.
"Stefan, I am your friend, but I'm also Elena's friend, and I'm sorry, but I'm not going to tell you where she is," she said.
Stefan scoffed, shaking his head, before getting up and walking out. Caroline sighed, clearly still feeling a little guilty. I put a hand on her shoulder. "You did what your friend asked. He is smart enough to figure out where she is without your help," I told her.
She nodded. "I know," she said.
Lilly started crying next to me. "Uh, oh," I said, grabbing a bottle out of her bag. "I know. I know, Mama ate and she didn't give you any."
I started fixing her a bottle. "Uh, watch her," I told my sister.
"Of course," Caroline said, taking Lilly from me.
I walked up to the bar counter where Matt was. "I'm not serving you," he said.
"I know, I was just wondering if you can warm this up for me? Lilly's hungry," I said, holding up the bottle.
He sighed. "You know I'm not supposed to do this, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, but we've been friends for years and you love me so you're going to do it anyway," I said, smiling.
He rolled his eyes, taking the bottle. He went to the back and warmed it up for me. "Here you go," he said, when he came back.
"Have I mentioned I love you?" I asked.
He handed me the bottle, and I started walking towards the table. Then I froze. Tyler was talking to Caroline at our table. She had Lilly in her arms, looking nervous.
"Are you actually babysitting?" he asked my sister.
"Umm, not exactly," Caroline said, looking back at me.
Tyler looked at me, his face changing. "She's mine," I said.
Tyler looked at me for a minute before looking at the baby in my sister's arms. He started to say something, then shut his mouth again. He walked out.
"Tyler?" I called after him, he didn't stop. I looked at my sister. "Stay here." I ran out to the parking lot, chasing after him.
"Tyler! Tyler, stop!" I yelled.
"Whose is she, Rory?" he asked, spinning to face me.
I stopped. "She's, uh- she's," I trailed off.
"How old is she?" he asked.
"Five months," I said. He put his face in his hands, clearly trying to keep himself calm.
"Is- is she-"
"Yes. Yeah, she is, Ty," I said.
He swore. "You've been back for weeks. Why didn't you ever tell me?" he asked.
"I- I don't know," I said.
"Did you know before you left?" he asked.
I nodded, not looking at him. "It's why I left," I said.
He swore once again. "Why wouldn't you tell me? Why would you just leave?" he wondered.
"I don't know! I was sixteen and I was pregnant. My parents were trying to pretend we were still a family, my mom was about to run for sheriff, your dad was going to run for mayor. It was going to mess everything up, and all of a sudden my parents were talking about me leaving with my dad and I had no idea how to even think," I told him.
"How does that matter? She is ours, Rory, not theirs," he yelled.
"I know! But I was scared, Ty! We had just broken up and then all of a sudden I'm getting sick and I realize I'm pregnant," I explained.
"But you still hid it from me for over a year!"
"I know, and I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you," I said.
"Just- just don't," he said, walking off.
"Ty! Tyler," I called after him. I sighed when he didn't turn around.
|Five Months Ago|
I was totally exhausted when she finally got here. I wasn't sure if my dad even knew. Aubrey said that his boyfriend was going to go tell him, but I still got stuck by myself through all the pain.
"There she is," Aubrey said, now that my baby was born.
I was so tired. I barely even realized that Aubrey was moving closer to me. Then all of a sudden my daughter was in my arms.
She was crying. I carefully tried to rock her just barely, scared to hurt her. "Shh, shh," I said. Her tiny hand was moving a little. I tried to wrap the blanket around her a little better, and when I did her tiny hand wrapped around my finger. Tears formed in my eyes.
I'm not even sure when they took her out of my arms, but they did. They got her cleaned up, and Aubrey came over to me with her. "I'll ask this time. You want to hold her?"
I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't stop myself. I nodded. "Yeah," I said.
She handed me the baby, that was now wrapped up in a blanket. I sat there just watching her for a while, until Aubrey came over once again. "You want me to let him in?" she asked.
I nodded. My father walked into the room a few moments later. He looked a little worried, until his eyes landed on me and the bundle in my arms. Then he looked surprised, but I couldn't tell whether it was good or bad.
"I'm sorry. I just- I can't. I can't give her away to a random stranger, Dad," I said, tears forming in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.
He came towards me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I know, honey," he said. "I already knew you weren't going to be able to do that."
"What about, Mom? I don't want to disappoint you two anymore than I already have, but I can't do this," I said.
"Oh, Rory," he said, pulling me to him. I laid my head on his shoulder, crying.
"I can't let her go."
|Present|
I sat on the couch with Caroline at home. She had fed Lilly and we had went home. She had tried to get me to talk to her, but I didn't want to talk about Tyler. Not yet.
Instead, we called Damon, getting caught up on everything that had happened. I found out that Elena's kidnapper I had learned of earlier was an old vampire named Rose. She had been trying to trade Elena for her and her best friend's freedom. They had been running from these two even older vampires for years after Katherine betrayed them.
One of the older vampires, Elijah, had killed her friend, then Damon and Stefan put a stake through his heart. They had gotten precious Elena back unharmed.
Elena had learned a few things from Katherine. She had learned that the blood of the doppelganger was used in a ritual. The doppelganger had to die in it. Refusing to go out without a fight, Katherine had killed herself with vampire blood in her system. She turned, making her blood useless. Klaus, the other very old vampire, had been so mad he had hunted her for six centuries, along with murdering her whole family. So far, he was yet to catch her and kill her, sadly.
Unlike Katherine, Elena was a human doppelganger. Her blood would work in the ritual, meaning that they could use her instead. So, unfortunately, we were back to being the save Elena rescue squad.
She had also learned that her and Katherine were, in fact, related. That was how Elena could be her doppelganger. Katherine had had a daughter when she was seventeen. Her parents had been so ashamed they sent the baby away, before sending her somewhere else and never telling her where her daughter was.
Despite how much I hated the doppelganger, I couldn't help but feel bad for her when they told me that.
"Well, I kinda understand why Katherine is so horrible now," I told my sister.
"How?" Caroline asked, clearly skeptical.
"She lost her daughter then her whole family," I said.
"We've all lost people the last few years. Tyler lost his dad, Elena lost her parents," Caroline said.
"Yeah, but she lost everyone, then her freedom," I said.
"It was her choice," Caroline argued.
I scoffed. "Whatever," I muttered.
"Don't whatever me, we both know I'm right," she said.
"No, actually we don't, Care," I told her.
"Why does this matter?" she asked.
"Because, I had Lilly when I was seventeen too. Our parents sent me away," I said.
"But this is different," Caroline said.
"No, Care, I was never supposed to keep Lilly," I said.
She looked a little shocked. "What?" she asked.
I sighed. "I was supposed to give her up for adoption. We had it all planned out," I explained.
"You're joking," she said.
"No, I'm not. Why do you think we didn't tell anyone?"
She stared at me. "What happened?" she asked.
I shrugged, looking at my hands. "She's my baby. I couldn't do it. I wasn't even going to hold her, but then all of a sudden she was in my arms. The minute I held her I knew I couldn't do it," I explained.
"Oh," Caroline mumbled.
"Yeah. Oh."
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