Almost three years later and you would have never known that Stefan and Elena had been through hell and back thanks to Derrick.
Stefan and Elena were still your typical young married couple. They fought about the small things and waited for the other to cave first and come crawling back, begging for forgiveness. They still chased each other around the house, laughed, and held hands like any young couple might do. They also continued to travel, adding many places in Europe and Asia to their list. Of course, much of their time was spent with Lily too.
Elena walked into the kitchen, passing Katherine who was perched at the breakfast bar, reading through the latest issue of Vogue. Katherine, Damon, Lily, and Mimi had been living with them for the past week since Damon's house had been invaded by ants. The large house was being exterminated and Stefan had insisted they stay with him so Lily wouldn't have to stay at a hotel. Elena hadn't really cared one way or another. It was a large house and if she didn't want to see Katherine, she didn't have to really. "Morning" Elena said.
"Uh huh" Katherine replied, picking up her glass of orange juice as she turned the page in her magazine. Elena accepted her reply and went to work, getting a bowl of ice cream. She added a few things on top and took a large bite as she walked past Katherine.
Katherine looked at Elena with utmost disgust. "What?" Elena asked, seeing Katherine's distinct look of disapproval.
"You're eating ice cream with pickles and bananas" Katherine said, raising her eyebrow. Elena wiped at her mouth as she looked down at her bowl of ice cream. She in fact was eating vanilla ice cream with pickles and bananas. It was disgusting, yet so good. A quizzical glare spread across Katherine's face. "Are you pregnant?" she asked.
Elena swallowed what she had in her mouth as she stared at Katherine. "No" she said, though the panic was evident. "I don't know" she said, setting her ice cream down. "Oh God" she said, running out of the room.
Elena had driven to the drug store and bought one of those home pregnancy tests, praying that Katherine hadn't mentioned this to anyone yet. She wracked her brain for any other signs of pregnancy as she waited nervously to check the test that was sitting on her bathroom counter. She counted on her fingers to see if she was late. Maybe a week or two. She hadn't really felt sick though. Maybe a little tired. Had she missed taking her pill? Not that she could think of. So no, she couldn't be pregnant. She pushed the idea out of her head as she walked to the counter and grabbed the pregnancy test. She checked the box to see how to read the results. Two pink lines indicated pregnancy.
She had two pink lines.
Elena sunk down to the floor against the cabinet under the sink. She looked at the pregnancy stick she was holding once again. "Oh God" she said, slowly letting herself believe it. Of course she knew that the doctor's results would be the only way to know for sure, but the more she looked at the test in her hands, the more she was really starting to believe that she was pregnant.
She and Stefan hadn't talked about having a baby in a long time. She had begun to think that he wasn't interested in kids anymore. She had always just pictured this moment a little differently. One where she and Stefan were actually trying to get pregnant and he was in the bathroom with her, waiting and excited to see if they had accomplished their goal yet.
She wanted to tell him about this so he could go with her to the doctor. The only time she would have with him alone was that night. Damon, Katherine, and Lily were going out to dinner. She could tell Stefan then.
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"You didn't eat much tonight. Everything okay?" he asked her as he put their dishes away.
She thought about telling him yes, but that little voice in the back of her head told her she needed to come clean and tell him. So, she sighed. "I need to talk to you" she said.
He looked at her with a bit of concern. "Okay" he said, sitting her down at the table. He sat next to her. "What is it?" he asked.
She took in a small breath before letting it out. "I ... I think I might be ... pregnant" she said, avoiding his eyes, too afraid to see his reaction. "I have to go to the doctor still, to make sure, but I think I really am this time" she added quietly. Elena waited for him to get up, walk off or get mad at her. Anything would have been better than the silence. "I'm sorry" she added, still avoiding his eyes.
Stefan moved towards her, kneeling on the ground in front of her and wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close. "For what?" he asked. "For getting pregnant?" he asked and his heart broke when he felt her nod against him. "Honey, that takes two people, remember?" he asked. The lightness to his joke helped. A lot. He pulled away from her and cupped her face, glad that she was looking at him now. "I told you in the beginning that I wanted a few years with you before we had kids. I think I've made you wait long enough" he told her, smiling as he brushed his thumb across her cheek. "So, if you are pregnant, then we had better go out and celebrate" he smiled, leaning in and kissing her. "And if not, then we had better go back upstairs and make it happen" he whispered against her lips.
Elena wrapped her arms around him tightly, relief passing through her. It was silly to think he would be upset about it. "I love you" she whispered.
"I love you too, Elena" he told her, kissing her cheek. "The last thing I would ever want is for you to be nervous to tell me something" he said, rubbing her back gently.
"Maybe it's the hormones" Elena laughed slightly.
"I hope so" he said and she could tell he was smiling. "You'll call and schedule an appointment?" he asked. Elena nodded. "Good" he said, kissing the side of her head. "So what do you want to do for the rest of the evening?" he asked, his hands hinting at what he wanted to do.
Elena laughed slightly because it tickled more than anything. "I'm kind of tired" she said, grabbing onto his hands with hers. "Maybe we can just go to bed early?" she asked.
He smiled at her. "Sure" he said, standing up with her. He held her hand as she followed him around, turning off almost all of the lights, but leaving enough on for Lily, Damon, and Katherine.
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"You are indeed pregnant" the doctor stated, walking in with the results.
Elena felt Stefan squeeze her hand before he stood up and plucked her off of the examining table, spinning her around. "Hell yes!" he said, hugging her against him as he finally stopped spinning. Elena hugged him back, more excited than anxious like she had been.
"Congratulations you two. I've written Elena a prescription for her vitamins and I'll schedule you both for an ultrasound in about a month. You're not that far along. About a month or so, but we'll have a better idea at your next appointment" the doctor said, scribbling out the prescription and handing it to Elena.
"Thank you" Elena said, reaching for it.
Stefan waited until the doctor left the room before he embraced Elena and gave her a passionate kiss. "You ready for this?" he asked.
"Definitely" she smiled, pulling him back into a kiss.
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They waited until she was four months along before they told anyone. Katherine had told Damon, but that was it. They really wanted to make sure the pregnancy was going well before telling Lily so as not to upset her if something happened. But Elena could only hide her growing stomach for so much longer before Lily realized something was up. Though, at ten, she wasn't nearly as excited about the baby as she would have been a few years ago.
"That's cool" Lily shrugged. Stefan and Elena looked at one another and grinned. "So, what are you going to name it?" she asked.
"Well, we thought about Brooke for a girl and Aiden for a boy" Elena told her.
"Cool" she said again.
"You were a lot more excited about Elena having a baby when you were seven" Stefan pointed out.
Lily shrugged again. "That's because I was a little kid Uncle Stefan" she said, rolling her eyes. "Can I go back upstairs now and finish putting the music onto my iPod?" she asked. Yes, Stefan had given her a new iPod to help ease in the fact that Lily would no longer be the only child in the family. Clearly, it had worked.
"Yeah" Stefan smiled, holding his arms out for his hug. Lily hugged Elena too, careful to avoid her stomach. She ran along and then back up to her room.
"Think she'll be more interested when they baby gets here?" Elena smiled.
"Probably" Stefan said, helping Elena up. They went outside, deciding to take a short walk before the rain set in the next day.
"Boy or girl?" Elena asked, knowing at their next appointment, they would hopefully find out what they were having.
Stefan pondered her question for a moment before shrugging. "I have no preference as long as he or she is just like you" he said.
Elena smiled up at him as they walked. "I want a girl" she said.
"Okay. A girl first and a boy later" Stefan said, figuring that would be fair. Because secretly, he wanted a boy. He had already helped raise a girl. And the girls were outnumbering the boys.
"You want two kids?" Elena asked.
"Well yeah" he answered. "Kids need siblings to blame things on" he said.
Elena laughed. "Good point" she said, tugging on his arm and indicating that she wanted to sit down on the garden bench and rest. She rested her head against his shoulder and rested her eyes for a moment.
"I love you" he whispered, leaning in closer to her.
"I love you too" she said, smiling as she snuggled closer to him.
He put one arm around her and rested his other hand on her stomach, pulling her as close as possible. Four years ago, he couldn't have ever imagined having kids, let alone, being excited about it. Now, he could barely wait five more months for the baby to be born. It was pretty amazing how one person could change your whole perspective on life.
But she had done it. Never would he have thought that he would find a forever with someone. Thankfully though, he did.