The beeping of her alarm was an unwelcome sound the next morning. She reached over blindly to shut it off, sighing when the room was silent once again. She hadn't slept well at all since asking Damon and Katherine to adopt Jeremy the night before. The tossing and turning had kept Stefan awake too, and when she had offered to go sleep somewhere else at 3:00 AM, he had told her to stay.
Even his steady heartbeat against her cheek as she rested her head on his chest had not been able to lull her to sleep like it normally did. Somehow though, she must have fallen asleep eventually. But she knew what little sleep she had gotten would not make for a very fun day at work.
Elena turned over and reached out for Stefan. She frowned when she didn't find him. After rubbing her eyes some and yawning, she threw the covers off of herself and headed for the bathroom to get ready for the day.
She was going to need a strong cup of coffee when she was finished.
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Elena yawned a few more times as she climbed down the stairs. She had settled for a casual pair of khaki shorts and a pink tank top to tackle the warm summer day at work.
Hoping to find Stefan in the kitchen, she found Katherine instead. "Hey" Elena said, pausing in the entrance. "Is Stefan here?" she asked.
Katherine shook her head. "He and Damon took Jeremy and went into work early. Said he didn't want to wake you" she explained. "Left you the Jeep" she added, eyeing the keys on the counter. "Coffee?" Katherine asked, holding up a mug and filling it before Elena had even answered.
"Thanks" Elena said, taking a seat at the counter. Katherine passed her the cup and they both sat in silence for a few moments. Elena tried to focus on drinking her coffee, but she could feel Katherine staring at her, like she wanted to ask Elena something. "I should get going" Elena said, setting her coffee aside and grabbing for Stefan's keys. She was getting uncomfortable with the silence and Katherine's impending question. "Thanks for the coffee" Elena said, standing and turning to leave.
"Elena" Katherine said.
Slowly, Elena stopped and turned around. She didn't have to ask what Katherine wanted. She already knew. "I'll tell him this afternoon" Elena said quietly. It had been less than 24 hours since Elena had asked Katherine and Damon to adopt Jeremy. And while Elena knew it was the best possible outcome for her little brother, it still did not hurt any less.
Katherine simply nodded. It was difficult to contain her excitement over adopting Jeremy. But she also knew that Elena was having a difficult time too. She did not have a reply, and so she watched Elena leave.
XXXX
"Elena!" Jeremy greeted the moment she walked into Damon's office. He slipped out of the chair he was in and ran to give her a hug.
"Hey Jer" Elena smiled. She bent down and hugged him back. "So you decided to come to work today, huh?" she asked. Elena looked up at Damon and smiled.
"Yeah, and Damon and Stefan let me drive the tractor" he said, giving Elena the biggest smile.
"I'm glad you had fun" she said, running her hand through his hair. "So listen, I was thinking maybe after I get off of work, you and I could go and get frozen yogurt" she mentioned.
Jeremy's smile returned. "This is the best day ever!" he said, raising his hands up in the air. "Is Stefan gonna come with us?" he asked.
Elena shook her head no. "Just you and me" she answered.
"Okay" he said, leaving her arms and going back to the table he had been coloring at.
Elena stood back up and adjusted the bag on her shoulder. She looked up to see Damon watching her. "Do you want me to take him to my office?" she asked.
Damon smiled. "No, he's okay here. I will put him to work" he answered, winking at Jeremy who looked at Damon like he idolized him.
"Okay" Elena said. "I'll be in my office if you need me." She shut the door behind her and walked the short distance to her office.
Stefan stood the moment she opened the door. He watched her fake a smile for him, but he knew she was having a rough morning. He wanted so badly to help her, but he knew it was going to take time. The guilt over not caring for her brother herself was eating away at her.
Elena was turning on her computer when he came up behind her and put his arms around her. "Sorry I wasn't there when you woke up this morning" he whispered. "You were finally asleep and I didn't want to wake you."
Elena felt herself lean into him, thankful for the opportunity to relax for a moment. "That's okay" she whispered. "You had an early start" Elena mentioned.
Stefan hugged her tighter to him. "Damon wanted me to crunch some numbers because he's looking at buying some new equipment in a few hours" he explained. "Trust me, getting up early was not on my list of things I wanted to do today" Stefan promised.
His admission made her smile. "You're a good brother" she said, trying to make him feel better. She slipped out of his arms and turned to face him. "I'm going to take Jeremy out for frozen yogurt after work and tell him" she announced.
Stefan gave her a reassuring smile. "I think he'll be really happy when you tell him" Stefan said. "You should have seen him this morning, following Damon around and helping out wherever he could" he told her, recapping his morning with his brother and Jeremy.
"I needed to hear that" she said, almost in a whisper. She placed her hands against his chest and reached up to kiss his cheek. "I should get some work done" Elena told him.
"Yeah, me too" he said, offering her another small smile as he backed away from her slowly and walked back to his desk. He would spend the next eight hours looking over at her, worried about how she was feeling.
XXXX
Finally, it was 4:30. Elena shut her computer down and grabbed her purse. "We shouldn't be out long" Elena said, glancing over at Stefan.
Stefan stood and walked to her, taking her hand in his own. "You spend as much time as you need with him" Stefan told her. "Damon already put Jeremy's booster seat in the Jeep. You're all good to go."
She smiled, feeling a little better already about telling Jeremy. She accepted Stefan's kiss just as Jeremy came bounding through the door, ready to go. Damon was right behind him, causing Elena and Stefan to move away from each other just a little more.
"Are we going to get frozen yogurt now?" Jeremy asked.
Elena nodded. "We sure are" she told him. Elena held out her hand for Jeremy to hold and they moved towards the door. "We'll see you guys soon" she said, seeing them both wave goodbye before she shut the door.
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Elena stood patiently behind Jeremy as he meticulously added toppings to his cup of frozen yogurt. No topping option went untouched, except for the peanuts. She had to smile a little, because she wasn't a fan of those either.
By the time Jeremy was finished, his cup of frozen yogurt was practically gummy bears and sprinkles. Elena paid for their yogurt and helped Jeremy find a seat at a table in the back. He took a bite of his frozen yogurt and his facial expression showed his approval. "Can we have frozen yogurt all the time?" Jeremy asked.
Elena laughed. "Maybe not all of the time, but we will definitely come here more often" she promised.
Jeremy took another bite of his yogurt. "Aunt Jenna took me out for ice cream sometimes" he said, focusing on a red gummy bear in his cup.
Elena paused, unsure of how to respond to his comment. She couldn't very well ignore the fact that Jeremy had spent the last five years with Jenna. "She used to take me out for ice cream too" Elena said, smiling some. Growing up, Elena thought the world of her aunt.
Jeremy was quiet for a moment. "Aunt Jenna's not comin' back, is she" he said sadly.
It broke Elena's heart. Even though he was only five, he was perceptive. "That's something we need to talk about Jer" Elena said, pushing her yogurt aside. "Jenna brought you to North Carolina so you could live here" Elena explained.
"How come?" he asked.
Elena did not know the true reason behind Jenna's decision. "So you could live with me" she answered.
Jeremy smiled. "I like living with you" he told her.
"You've been living with Katherine and Damon too" Elena reminded. "You know, Stefan and I don't live there all the time. We have our own house" she added.
"Am I going to go to your new house soon?" Jeremy asked.
Elena smiled. "I was actually thinking that you might stay with Damon and Katherine. What do you think about that?" she asked.
Jeremy smiled. "I like them a lot. Katherine reads me stories and Damon lets me drive tractors" he explained.
It warmed her heart to hear Jeremy talk so highly of them. "Jer" Elena said softly. "Katherine and Damon want to adopt you" she told him. "Do you know what that means?" Elena asked. Jeremy shook his head and went for another bite of his yogurt. "It means, they want you to live with them" Elena explained.
"Forever?" Jeremy asked.
It made Elena smile. "No, not forever. Just until you grow up and you're ready to live on your own" Elena said.
Jeremy paused, thinking about his reply. "I'll probably want to live with them forever" he told Elena. "They're really nice and Katherine makes me pancakes" Jeremy added.
Elena thought his answer was adorable and pretty accurate for a five year old. "Well, you've got lots of time before you would have to think about moving out" she assured him.
"Is Katherine and Damon gonna be my new mommy and daddy?" Jeremy asked.
So far, Elena had been able to keep her emotions in check. But his innocent question about their parents – parents he never really got to know – about did her in. "Well" Elena began, feeling her throat tighten just a little. She reached into her purse for her wallet and took out a photo of her parents that she kept with her. "These two" she said, turning the photo so Jeremy could see. "Will always be your mom and dad" Elena explained. "And I know they wish they could be here with you" she added. Elena prayed like hell she would not start to cry.
"They're in Heaven" Jeremy announced as he stared intently at the photo.
Elena nodded, figuring that is what Jenna had told him. "But Katherine and Damon, they're going to love you so much. And you can decide what you want to call them, when you're ready" she said, running her hand over his head to try and smooth his messy hair.
He looked up at her and smiled. "Okay" Jeremy said, taking another bite.
"You wanna hear some stories about our mom and dad?" Elena asked. She wasn't sure how much Jenna talked about them.
Jeremy nodded. "Yeah" he said, offering her a smile outlined by his chocolate frozen yogurt.
XXXX
It was finally Friday. Stefan unpacked all of the food he had picked up from the store on his way home. Elena was at an evening appointment with the social worker, finalizing the paperwork for Damon and Katherine to take over full guardianship of Jeremy.
Elena had been meeting with the social worker a lot lately and Stefan could see how emotionally draining it was on her every time. So with it being Friday, he had wanted to come home a little early and cook her dinner. Just the two of them.
Which meant he had asked Damon and Katherine to take Jeremy and get out of the house for the evening so Stefan could make dinner extra special for Elena. He only half paid attention to Damon's plans. Something about taking Jeremy and Katherine to a hotel with a waterpark and they would be back sometime Saturday afternoon.
Stefan could cook. But lately, Katherine had been doing all of the cooking for them and he was feeling a little rusty. He looked at the clock and saw that Elena would be back in a little over an hour. That gave him time to prep, but not much. He wanted everything ready for when she walked through the door.
So when he had the ovens preheated and the power went out, his disappointment set in pretty quickly. Stefan looked out the window and could see the entire neighborhood was out of power.
At least his brother had a generator. Stefan went into the garage to find the gas for it, only to find that Damon had none. He tried calling a few restaurants nearby, but they were out of power too and had decided to close early.
Stefan placed the food back in the refrigerator and hoped it would stay cold until the power came back on. Then he sat at the counter and tried to think about what he could do. He really, really wanted to have a romantic dinner planned for Elena that evening. Glancing at his watch as best as he could in the dark, he realized he now had less than an hour.
XXXX
"Stefan?" Elena called as soon as she walked into the dark house. She could tell the power was out as she drove home from her appointment with the social worker. She was however surprised that no one had the generator up and running at the house.
"I'm in here" Stefan said, appearing at the entrance of the dining room.
She could barely make out his figure as she took her boots off and set her purse aside. "Do you know why the power is out all over town?" Elena asked as she moved towards him. It was not windy outside.
Stefan shook his head no. "A transformer might have blown" he said, offering her his best guess. "Damon has no gas for the generator, so we're going to be in the dark tonight" he added.
"Where is everyone?" Elena asked, noticing that it was pretty quiet in a house that was typically occupied by Katherine's quirky remarks and Jeremy's endless questions.
"They left earlier to go and stay the night at a hotel" he answered.
Elena smiled. "Did they somehow know that the power was going to go out?" she joked.
Stefan smiled as well. "I asked if you and I could have the house to ourselves tonight" he said, grabbing her hand and leading her into the dining room. "I tried to cook you dinner, but the power went out and so peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were what I came up with" Stefan told her. He suddenly was feeling self-conscious about his decision on the sandwiches. The girl deserved a four-course meal, not some peanut butter and jelly on bread. "You know what?" Stefan asked. "If we drive far enough, I'm sure we'll find an open restaurant" he said, tugging on her hand to head back towards the front door to find her a decent meal.
"No" she said, stopping him. She smiled as she dropped his hand and walked over to the table he had set up for them. Two candles were lit in the middle of the table, sitting atop a red tablecloth. There were also flowers in a vase.
Stefan snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "You sure?" he asked, resting is chin on her shoulder.
"Absolutely" Elena answered. "And you even cut my sandwich diagonally" she said with another smile.
"I remember when you first moved in with me – day three actually" Stefan began. "You told me that the only weird thing about you was that your sandwiches always had to be cut diagonally."
"Was that true? Is that the only weird thing about me?" Elena asked. She felt Stefan's lips press lightly against her neck.
"You also open your bananas from the bottom" he answered.
Elena laughed softly. "That's how monkeys open them" she said, half-heartedly defending herself. She could feel his lips on her neck again, but this time, she felt him smile.
"If you say so" Stefan said.
"This was really nice of you" Elena murmured softly. She felt relaxed in his arms. More relaxed than she had felt in weeks.
"I know you've been under a lot of stress lately. I just wanted to do something special for you. Remind you of how much I love you" Stefan told her.
Elena turned in his arms and reached up on her toes to kiss him gently. "I love you too" she whispered against his lips. "Let me go and wash up real quick" she added.
Stefan watched as she stepped out of his arms and turned to leave the room. "Elena" he said, stopping her. He reached for a flashlight and handed it to her.
"Thanks" she smiled as she disappeared out of the room.
He wanted so desperately to follow her, but he knew they wouldn't make it down for dinner if he did.
XXXX
Elena chose a casual light blue dress to join Stefan for dinner. He had made the effort to make a special dinner for her, even if the power had other ideas, so she wanted to dress up a little for him instead of throwing on the cotton shorts and t-shirt she normally would wear. Plus, the material was light enough for when the house warmed up due to the air being off.
She found him sitting at the table waiting for her patiently.
The moment he saw her though, he stood, being a gentleman. "Wow" was all that escaped his lips as he stared at her. He paused, knowing that he needed to continue. "You look ... you look beautiful Elena" he told her, walking around to her chair.
Elena joined him, taking the seat that he pulled out for her. Elena grabbed her napkin and placed it in her lap.
Elena picked up a slice of her sandwich and took a bite, smiling at him as she did. "Are you busy tomorrow?" Elena asked.
Stefan shook his head. "Not that I know of" he replied. "What's up?" he asked.
"I was going to go to campus and pick up my books for the semester" Elena answered. With less than a month until classes started, she wanted to purchase them. "Thought maybe you would want to go. And maybe we could have lunch at that little café across the street" she added.
"Sounds like I have plans for tomorrow" he smiled. Any excuse to spend time with Elena was a good enough one.
They were quiet for a while and Elena was thankful for the relaxing dinner.
As they finished and put their plates away, Stefan brought a candle with them as he led them to the couch. Once she was in his arms, Elena rested her head against his shoulder. "You haven't mentioned wanting to marry me again lately" Elena said quietly. She was starting to worry that he didn't want to be married to her after all. Like maybe the first time around was giving him second thoughts.
Stefan tightened his arms around her. "I guess I just wanted us to focus on us for a little while" he whispered, like he suddenly felt guilty for not talking about marriage more often. "School, work, finding a new house" he added quietly.
Elena adjusted her head on his shoulder just a little. "We can just go to the courthouse" Elena suggested. "We don't have to do anything special."
"Absolutely not" Stefan said. He kissed the side of her head. "I want a real wedding, with you in a dress and holding flowers" he whispered. "I want to spend time planning this one, and agreeing to every detail you tell me about" he added with a small grin she couldn't see.
"Every detail?" Elena asked. "I'm not even sure where to begin when it comes to planning a wedding." The last one was simple and perfect.
"Isn't that what Bonnie is for?" he asked with a small smile. "And I'm sure Katherine will have plenty of ideas too."
Elena laughed softly. "She always does" Elena agreed.
Stefan grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "And this time" he whispered against her ear. "We can have the honeymoon we never got the first time."
"I would go anywhere with you. We can stay local, as long as I get an entire week of you to myself" Elena told him.
"I was thinking someplace warm" Stefan mentioned as he ran his thumb across the soft skin of her hand.
Elena cracked a knowing smile. "So you can see me in a string bikini?" she asked.
"Or nothing at all" he answered, then ducking his head a little because of his direct comment about seeing her naked.
Elena turned as she sat up so she could look at him. She was smiling, like she was ready to tease him, but she didn't. She reached her hand up instead and ran her fingers gently along his jawline. Truth be told, she felt closest to him when they both were naked. It made them vulnerable both physically and emotionally. And in those moments, she realized how much she trusted him. How he had worked to regain her trust and how she had worked to trust him again. "I love you, and I cannot wait to be your wife ... again" she whispered as a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"You are my wife" Stefan said gently. "And this time around, I know, I don't have to be who I thought I needed to be the first time. You never wanted the husband who worked long hours to make the money he did. And you never wanted that big house I thought you needed" he said, taking a small breath. "You just wanted me, and I know that now" Stefan told her as he kissed her fingers still touching his jaw. "I'll be home for dinner every night, and I'll help you study for midterms and cook you breakfast on weekends when you sleep in" Stefan smiled. "Because I love you, and that won't ever change."
She failed to stop the tear that fell. But hearing him tell her that gave her hope for their future. He finally understood that all she ever wanted was him. Not his money, or the house. Just him. The smile she gave him caused him to smile too. "I just want you" Elena promised as she leaned in and kissed him.