Stefan had only heard that specific scream come from Lily one other time when Lily was four and had fallen off of a chair. She hadn't been too badly hurt, but the fall had scared her.
Stefan rushed out of the fort, knocking it down in the process and scattering the chairs. He nearly tripped as he flew down the stairs towards the kitchen. When Stefan arrived in the kitchen, he saw Elena and Lily frozen stiff, both staring down at a pile of glass on the floor. Stefan noticed right away the rock lying nearby. He looked up and saw the kitchen window broken where the rock had gone through. Stefan glanced back at Lily and saw the tears falling down her cheeks and her breathing beginning to catch up with her. Then he looked at Elena who was clearly panicking, but trying to stay calm for Lily's sake.
Stefan let a slow, calming breath out as he forced his mind to work again. "Lily, Babe" he said slowly, walking towards her and holding his arms out as he did. "Come here" he said, finally reaching her. He picked her up and held her with one arm as he moved around the mess of glass to Elena. "Elena" he said, touching her arm. Nothing. It was as if she wasn't even there. "Elena" he tried again, squeezing her arm until she looked up at him. She knew that he saw the panic in her eyes and felt her shaking as he touched her.
Stefan kept one arm around Elena as well as he led them all back up the stairs. Lily was full on sobbing by this point as Stefan got them into his room. "Okay, Lily, I need you to stay with Elena, okay?" he asked, passing Lily off to her. Elena took Lily numbly into her arms, barely taking in her crying. "Elena, stay here" he told her. "Lock the door" he added, heading back out. Elena fumbled with the lock on the bedroom door, but she finally got it.
"Uncle Stefan!" Lily yelled, pulling away from Elena. Elena snapped back to reality, bringing Lily over to the bed. She sat down with her and held her close.
"It's okay, shhh" she told her, rocking her in her arms. "Your Uncle Stefan is just going to go and clean up the glass. Everything is going to be okay" she said soothingly. Lily seemed to respond to Elena finally and after a while, she was quiet. Elena looked down and saw that she had cried herself to sleep. Carefully, Elena set Lily on the bed and pulled a blanket over her. She brushed a few strands of brown curls out of her face. Then, Elena moved off of the bed and began pacing nervously, wringing her hands as she did.
She replayed the incident over in her head. She and Lily had been laughing about Stefan and then a loud shattering noise, followed by glass flying, had happened. Elena had watched Lily jump and scream out her name in panic. And Elena had just froze. She hadn't tried to go to Lily and protect her. This realization brought on a quiet sob as Elena placed her hand over her mouth.
Elena jumped at the sound of a quiet knock. "It's me" Stefan said. She quickly went to the door and unlocked it for him. Stefan poked his head in. "She okay?" he asked, looking towards Lily.
"She's asleep" Elena answered, not really sure if that is what he wanted to hear. Stefan motioned for Elena to follow him just outside of the room so they would not disturb Lily. Elena noticed that Stefan had something in his hand. "What's that?" she asked cautiously.
Stefan avoided her eyes when he spoke. "It is the note that was attached to the rock" Stefan told her. Elena reached for the piece of paper, but Stefan pulled it away from her. He didn't want her to read it. "Go and get ready for bed. I'm going to look around one more time" he told her.
"What does it say?" Elena asked sadly. She knew that whatever that note said, it was not good. Stefan shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Stefan?" she asked. "What does it say?" she repeated. Stefan still remained quiet, so she grabbed it out of his hands before he could pull it away again. She opened it and scanned the words. Consequences. Death. Stefan. Those three words caught her attention the most.
Stefan watched Elena's face closely as she stared at the paper. He wasn't even sure that she was reading it anymore so he took it out of her hands and crumpled it up. "I'm not afraid of him" Stefan told her, referring to the threat of Stefan being killed if Elena did not go back to Derrick. It didn't really faze Stefan. He had been threatened before by guys far more powerful than Derrick.
Stefan watched as the fearful expression on Elena's face turned to one of anger. "Well you should be!" she snapped at him. "He threw a rock through your window with a note saying he would kill you if I didn't leave you and go back with him!" she continued. When that didn't seem to have an impact on Stefan, she added one more thing. "Lily was standing right there, Stefan" she added. She watched it have some effect on Stefan. "She was terrified and I just stood there!" she yelled.
Stefan remained calm. "You were scared too" he said, trying to justify her reaction.
Elena was set to argue some more when they heard Lily calling out for them. Stefan stepped around Elena and opened the door. Lily was standing up on the bed looking a bit sleepy and a lot concerned. "Uncle Stefan" Lily said, holding her arms out to him. Stefan didn't hesitate to grab her.
"It's okay" he said, kissing her hair. "It was just a rock that hit the window" he said calmly, though he was eyeing Elena carefully. "I'm going to go and cover up the window. Can you go with Elena and get your pajamas on and get ready for bed?" he asked.
"Yeah" Lily said, nodding weakly. Stefan passed her off to Elena before heading back downstairs. "That was scary" Lily said, laying her head on Elena's shoulder.
Elena sighed. "It was scary" Elena agreed. "But everything is okay. I'm going to make sure of it" she said. "Let's go and get you changed for bed" Elena said, taking her back down the hall to her room with her bags. Lily had decided on wearing the pony pajamas. She began chatting away about the ponies as Elena braided her hair. Lily continued to chat as Elena set her on the bathroom sink and helped her brush her teeth.
Elena didn't think twice about putting Lily to bed with her and Stefan. Lily had burrowed herself under the covers next to Elena. She smiled brightly when Stefan came in, locking the door behind them and turning the light off. "Uncle Stefan I have my pony pajamas!" she exclaimed, standing up on the bed to show him.
Stefan smiled as he grabbed her, lifting her up in the air and causing her to laugh. "I bought you those" Stefan reminded her, laying her back down in the bed as he got in too. "Go to sleep" he smiled, kissing her forehead.
"Okay" she sighed. "Goodnight Uncle Stefan" she said, wrapping her little arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. Then she turned around. "Goodnight Elena" she said, wrapping her arms around her and kissing her cheek too.
"Goodnight" Elena said, hugging her back. Lily let go of her and settled in between both of them. She closed her eyes and yawned.
Stefan reached his hand over and grabbed Elena's hand. He couldn't see her, but he felt Elena pull her hand away from his.
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Naps. Thank God she took them. Elena quietly shut the bedroom door, careful not to wake Lily. Since the moment Lily had woken up, she had been talking nonstop. Elena had hardly seen Stefan all day. If she did, he was on his phone talking with people about security.
She walked down the stairs in search of him, finding him in the kitchen, staring out the broken window. Broken windows held a sad and painful memory for him and she knew that. Elena watched him for a moment, remembering how she had pulled away from him the night before. She hadn't meant to. It was just hard for her to let people be there for her sometimes. "Where's Lily?" he asked, sensing that she was behind him.
"Taking a nap" Elena said, stepping closer to him. She took a slow, deep breath before speaking again. "Is that what you're doing?" she asked. "Trying to save me because you couldn't save her?"
Stefan felt a hitch in his breathing, but he took his time in working through it so he could answer her. "I don't know what you're talking about" he told her. "I have more calls to make" he said, turning to leave.
But Elena grabbed ahold of his arm and he stopped. "Damon told me. About your parents" she said, searching his eyes for something. Anything.
Stefan laughed slightly. "And what exactly did Damon tell you?" he asked.
"That your dad pushed your mom through a window" she said, watching his eyes flash with some sort of recognition. "How did they die?" she asked, feeling her voice cracking. She almost felt like it was none of her business. But then she remembered how painful it is to keep things like this to yourself for so long.
Stefan held her eyes with his, trying to decide on whether or not to tell her. She looked so sincere though with her sad brown eyes penetrating into his and her gentle hand on his arm. "My mother overdosed on her anti-depressants and my father then shot himself" Stefan answered flatly. He turned away from her, not trusting himself to keep his tears at bay. He hated thinking about it.
Elena processed what he had just said. It was tragic. She had hated him in the beginning for a life she thought he had when all along, his life had been terrible. "I'm sorry" she said, not knowing what else to say. Then she remembered. "I thought about killing myself too" she said, trying to let him understand that it wasn't his fault. None of it was. It was the situation she and his mother had been in.
Stefan quickly wiped at a tear threatening to escape. "I'm glad you didn't" he told her, continuing to stare out the window.
Elena moved herself in front of him and placed her hands on his sides. "I'm glad too" she said, giving him a small smile as he looked down at her. She reached up on her toes and kissed him softly. "You're better than him. You're better than most" she said, giving him one last small smile of encouragement before leaving.
Stefan turned around and watched her leave, though her words stayed with him. He wasn't like his father. And he sure as hell wasn't like Derrick. He never wanted to be.
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Elena checked on Lily before heading to her old room. She sat down on the bed and stared at her phone, trying to talk herself into making the call.
Then she did it, pressing the send button and biting her fingernail as she anxiously waits. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. "Hello?" a voice asks.
She paused momentarily to register that it was actually him on the other line. Hey Jer" she said nervously.
"Elena?" Jeremy asked. She heard a door shut and thought he must have gone into the other room. "Is everything alright?" he asked as though that was the only reason for her to call.
It hurts though, knowing that he probably spends so much time worrying about her. "Yeah, I'm good" she said, trying to sound cheerful. "How are you guys?" she asked. She got a one-worded response and knew he doesn't want to talk. "Look, Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks and I was thinking that maybe you and Bonnie might like to fly back here and spend it with me" she said.
There was a long pause. "Bonnie and I made plans to spend Thanksgiving together, here" he replied.
Elena didn't know how else she was going to go about convincing him without mentioning Stefan. "There's someone I would like you guys to meet though" she said, hearing complete silence on his end. "I ... I got married."
More silence. Then, a critical laugh erupted. "You're joking. Tell me you're joking" he said, not believing her.
"No. His name is Stefan" she said, attempting to not let his criticism bring her down. But it was. She always cared about how Jeremy thought about her. And he hadn't thought very well of her since she met Derrick. "And I would really like for you to meet him."
"Are you really that stupid, Elena?" Jeremy asked, suddenly angry with her. "You get out of one bad relationship and then jump into another one legally?" he questioned.
"It isn't like that. Stefan is a good guy" she explained, feeling the tears begin to well up in her eyes.
"Yeah, I bet. Just like Derrick loved you and cared about you, right Elena?" he asked.
Elena closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks. "It would mean a lot to me if you would come spend Thanksgiving with us. I'll send you tickets. I'll either see you or I won't" she said quickly, hanging up her phone. She took a long deep breath to calm herself. She hadn't expected the conversation to go very well. Yet, she had hoped that it would have ended with him agreeing to come and see her.