"Mom" he managed to get out after a few moments.
She stood there, her dirty blond hair loose around her shoulders and her fingers shaking slightly. "Hey sweetheart."
Suddenly, he was six again, frozen and helpless before the woman who was supposed to be his mother. The woman who was supposed to love him and take care of him, protect him and nurture him.
The woman who was supposed to choose him, but who chose drugs and men every time.
The woman he was supposed to hate, and yet, he didn't feel anything. Not at the moment, anyway.
"I know ... I know you're probably surprised to see me" she said quietly, looking up at him momentarily and then back down at her hands.
Stefan shook his head slightly, still trying to grasp the fact that she was standing in front of him. He hadn't seen her in over 15 years. He gripped the door a little tighter to keep himself upright. "How did you find me?" he asked.
She looked up at him again nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt. "You weren't in the phonebook. Your brother is, and I thought ... I didn't know you would be here. I was going to ask Damon where I could find you" she explained.
Stefan wanted to ask her why she thought Damon would tell her anything, but he thought better of it. Instead, he thought he would ask her why she had shown up, but Elena's presence behind him startled him.
"Stefan, who's at the ..." Elena said, forgoing her question as she walked up behind Stefan and saw the woman he was talking to on the other side of the door. The woman that had the same dirty blonde hair and green eyes as Stefan.
Before Elena could say anything else, the woman was digging in her pocket and pulling out a piece of paper.
"I'm in town for a couple more days" she said, handing Stefan the paper with a phone number and the name of the hotel she was staying at. "I'd really like for us to grab coffee or ... I'd like for us to sit down and talk" she told him.
Stefan did not know how to respond, and she didn't give him time to think of a response before she turned and walked back to her car, getting in and leaving.
Stefan looked down at the paper in his hand and studied the phone number. A cell phone, he thought. He was so focused on the paper that he jumped a little when he felt Elena's hand on his arm.
"Hey" Elena said quietly. Sympathetically, like she knew what was happening and wanted to know if he needed to talk about it. Talk about the fact that his mother had shown up on the doorstep after 16 years.
He couldn't talk about it though, at least not right then. "We should hurry and get ready, if we're going to meet the realtor" Stefan said, shoving the piece of paper in his pocket. "I'll go get the kitchen cleaned up" he stated, walking away and leaving her in the doorway.
Elena shut the door and leaned against it as she watched him disappear into the kitchen. The last thing she wanted to do was push him to talk, but she knew he would keep his thoughts and feelings to himself otherwise.
XXXX
They were touring house number three, Elena thought. She was not completely sure, having lost track. She could hear the realtor's voice, but she was not processing the words.
She knew Stefan was not hearing any of the information either. She had caught him numerous times staring off into space, furrowing his brow as if his thoughts were torturing him. Maybe they were.
"Thoughts?" their realtor asked, turning to face them once they arrived back in the living area.
Elena touched Stefan's arm, causing him to startle slightly. He lifted his eyes and looked up at her. "The house?" Elena asked, doing her best to try and answer the realtor's question.
Stefan just shrugged. "What do you think?" he asked.
Elena shrugged too, because she didn't know either.
The realtor looked between the two, afraid she would lose out on making a sale if she did not find something that caught their attention. "I have two more houses to show you" she offered.
Elena knew she needed to decline the house search for the day. Their hearts, and heads, were not in it. Not with their earlier visitor still weighing on their minds. "I think we should reschedule a time to see the other homes" Elena said. She watched Stefan lift his eyes to meet hers again, and she swore he was silently thanking her. "Thank you, though, for showing us the homes today" Elena said, hoping their realtor was not disappointed.
Stefan and Elena left the house and walked down the sidewalk, back towards Damon's place. Neither said a word, and he did not even try to grab her hand to hold like he usually would. "Can we sit for a minute?" she asked, motioning to a bench off to her right.
Reluctantly, Stefan did join her. Elena sighed before asking the question she had wanted to ask since the woman left the front steps earlier that morning. "Are you going to call her?" Elena asked, peeking up at Stefan.
He continued to stare straight ahead. "I don't know" he answered flatly. He really didn't.
"Are you going to tell your brother?" Elena asked. She felt bad for the interrogating questions, but she didn't know what else to do.
He let out a long sigh. "I think I have to" Stefan answered. And he was dreading it. Damon, and Katherine, would have a lot to say about his mother's surprising return.
"What can I do?" Elena asked, hoping she could do something to help him. She didn't want him to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself, like she knew he was doing. It had not worked out so well for either of them last time.
"I love you" he said, ignoring her question. He didn't know how to answer it. "You know that, right?" he asked, feeling anxiety he hadn't felt in a while.
Elena frowned. "Stefan" she said sadly, like she couldn't believe he had asked her that. "Of course I know" she said, turning her body to face him. She reached up and held his face in her hands. "I love you too" she told him.
Stefan nodded, then leaned into her and wrapped his arms around her tight. "I'm sorry" he said, hating the fact that he felt like he was falling apart.
Elena hugged him just as tight, if not tighter. "We'll figure this out. Together" she promised.
XXXX
When they finally made it back to Damon's house, everyone was already home. Jeremy must have been watching for them from the window because as soon as they turned into the driveway, he was running out the front door to greet them.
"Stefan, look at what I won from the arcade!" he said, holding up his new football.
Stefan unwrapped his arm from around Elena and took the football from Jeremy. He was even able to smile, despite how he was feeling since he mother had shown up out of the blue. "This is pretty cool. How many tickets did it cost you?" he asked.
Jeremy thought about the answer. "A lot" he decided. "Will you play with me?" he asked, giving Stefan a hopeful smile as he waited for an answer.
"Jer..." Elena began to say, not wanting Stefan to feel like he had to play right then. He had some things to think about.
"I'd love to" Stefan said. "Why don't you see if Damon wants to play too" he added, tossing the ball back to Jeremy and watching him run back to the house.
Elena placed her hand on Stefan's arm. "You don't have to hang out right now" she told him.
Stefan tried to smile, but it never reached his eyes. "He's 5, Elena. He's excited about his new football. I'm not going to let my problem with my mom disappoint him" he explained.
Her heart swelled just a little at his response. "I love you" she said. Elena leaned in and kissed his cheek. "We'll talk tonight?" she asked, hoping he would agree.
Stefan nodded and wrapped his arm around her again to lead her towards the house.
XXXX
"She was here?" Damon asked, having just listened to his brother explain how their mother showed up at the front door looking for Stefan. He was slightly confused as to why she would show up all of a sudden.
Stefan nodded just slightly as he fidgeted with a pen on the counter. He had been right. He knew his brother and Katherine would not be happy about their mother showing up. Though, Katherine was much more upset than his brother.
"She's lucky I didn't answer the door" Katherine said, her tone laced with venom. "The nerve of that woman to just show up ..."
Stefan cut her off though. "She's in town for a few more days ... and ... she wants to meet with me" Stefan said quietly, refusing to look at his brother or Katherine. He felt Elena's hand on top of his, working his fingers apart until she could thread her own fingers through his. He looked towards her for a moment and saw a worried, yet supportive smile.
Katherine scoffed. "Little too late for reconciliation" she stated.
"Look, Stefan. You don't owe her anything ..." Damon began, trying to ease his brother's worries about what to do with their mother.
"I think I should call her" Stefan blurted out. He winced slightly when he saw the disbelief in his brother's eyes and the betrayal in Katherine's.
"You have got to be kidding me" Katherine said harshly. When she realized Stefan was serious, she stood from her chair and placed her hands flat on the counter to lean forward towards Stefan. "Have you lost your mind?" Katherine all but shouted.
"Katherine, Jeremy's sleeping" Damon reminded gently, placing his hand on her back to encourage her to sit back down. She didn't though.
"That woman is playing games, Stefan. You'd be a fool to contact her" Katherine stated.
Stefan sighed, feeling defeated. He would never have their support. He didn't need their support, but he wanted it. "She's my mother, Katherine" he all but whispered.
Katherine slammed her hand down on the countertop. "Don't call her that!" Katherine said angrily. "That woman is nothing more than a selfish drug addict who allowed her son to live in fear" she reminded.
Stefan winced at her words. Katherine spoke the truth, but it did not mean it was any easier to hear. "I uh ... I'm going to get some air" he said, reluctantly peeling his hand away from Elena's as he stood and left the kitchen.
Elena opened her mouth to say his name, but found herself remaining silent instead.
Katherine sat back down and closed her eyes, trying to compose herself. Then she sighed deeply, looking across the counter at Elena. "You have to talk some sense into him" Katherine told her. If Stefan would not listen to her, surely he would listen to Elena.
Elena shook her head no. "I'm going to support him, no matter what he decides to do" she admitted. Elena sat up a little straighter, refusing to cower under Katherine's disapproving glare.
"How dare you" Katherine said, feeling herself start to get fired up all over again.
"Katherine" Damon warned, but she didn't seem to hear him. Or, she didn't want to hear him.
"Stefan isn't 8 anymore" Elena reminded quietly. "He's almost 25, and if he wants to see his mother, then I'm going to support him, whatever he needs."
"What he needs, is to stay away from that woman" Katherine said angrily.
"That's his call, not ours" Elena replied.
Katherine stood again, and Damon had ahold of her, trying to calm her back down. "You weren't there!" she said, raising her voice to try and make up for the tears that were falling. She wiped at them angrily and jerked her arms out of Damon's grasp. "You didn't see how scared he was, Elena. How he didn't want to be touched. How he hoarded food because he didn't know when he would eat again. You didn't have to listen to him cry in his sleep, or attend parent meetings because in the 3rd grade, he couldn't read" Katherine said, forgoing wiping her tears. It was no use. More tears just showed up. "He's good. He's kind, and he loves with everything he has. She doesn't deserve him" Katherine said, choking on her words. "She never did" she said sadly as she turned and left the kitchen too.
Elena didn't even realize that she had started crying until Damon said her name.
"Katherine ... she's protective of him" Damon tried to explain.
"He needs our support, Damon" Elena said, standing so she could leave too. "He needs his brother" she added before walking in the same direction Stefan had gone.
It did not take her long to find him sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. The moonlight reflected off of the water and she thought, had the circumstances been different, it would have been romantic.
"Can I sit?" Elena asked. If he truly did need some space, she wanted to respect what he needed.
Stefan did not hesitate to reach his hand up to help her sit next to him. He watched her kick her shoes off and join him. They were quiet for a few minutes, listening to the water lap against the side of the pool. "I want to see her" Stefan said quietly.
Elena leaned against him and pressed her lips gently against his shoulder. "I'll go with you, if you want" Elena offered. "Or I'll sit in the car, or ..." she said, stumbling over her words.
He looped his arm around her and pulled her closer, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I'd like for you to come with me to meet her" Stefan said. "I just ... I want answers" he admitted.
"I hope you get some answers, because you deserve them" Elena told him. "But what if you don't? Get the answers, I mean" Elena mentioned.
Stefan sighed as he hugged Elena closer. "I still have you" he said softly.
Elena turned her head slightly and pressed her lips against his neck. "You have me" she whispered back.