Chapter 24:

Boy means blue and Elena was sick of the color blue. Rebekah, Matt, Kol, Jeremy, Alaric, and Meredith were smothering her with the color blue. It was week 26 and she was officially fat and back on board with the pregnancy in general even if she was still sad and scared. All it took was a few phone calls with Kieran to change her mind- his words turned around in her head every day. "You have been blessed with time. Don't let doubt control your time."

She was unable to nap due to insomnia- which was actually a symptom of pregnancy. Her navel was poked out which pissed her off and the tattoo on her skin looked ridiculous (only to her). Still, she looked cute pregnant- at least, that's what everyone told her when they saw her. No one ever asked who the father was but she could hear them whispering. Sometimes, Alaric was accused of being the father (thanks to Carol Lockwood's rumors before she died) and other times Kol was the father. Elena found that she didn't care about the rumors at all.

"I'm two thirds through my pregnancy and I still can't believe it." She told Alaric at The Grill over a steaming plate of French fries. "I'm so fat! My belly button's in a different zip code than the rest of my body!"

Alaric just laughed at her while he dumped ketchup on the plate- then he stopped. His gaze was cold, "Look who decided to rejoin the town…"

Elena turned around, her knuckles turning white while she clinched her fist. "I'm going to kill him." She said, "Right now in front of all these people." Alaric knew she was being serious by the look in her eyes. "I've been waiting for this."

"Elena, if you kill Stefan, you'll only hurt Damon. Stefan is all Damon has."

"No, no Damon has me and he has Caroline- he doesn't need Stefan. Stefan released Mikael." She was breathing heavily.

"Alright, you can't kill him in your condition. You have a pretty obvious weakness right now." Alaric told her, "Do you want to leave?"

"I want to look him in the eye and show him what he's done to my family." Elena said, "I want him to know that he's hurt my family because he was jealous." She stood up, crossing the room to look at Stefan. He looked at her. Their eyes locking for a few seconds before his shifted to her belly. When she was inches from him, he looked down at his feet. "Look at me!" She demanded, "You will look at me when I tell you this-" She hissed, "I hate you."

"Elena…"

"I hate you because you have broken everything good. You have destroyed my family and I will never forgive you."

"It's what's best for you."

"At this point, my baby won't ever know his father because of you! When he is born, tell him it's for the best!" She slapped him in the face, "You think you've won but this child is proof that you've failed. I haven't stopped loving him and I never will and one son of bitch hunter won't change that."

XXX

"Alright! Baby names!" Elena yelled over the sounds of speeding cars hitting brick walls on the television. "I think I've decided on a first name." They all gathered around the kitchen table, reaching for all the junk food in the room at once. Jeremy brought the ice cream over to Elena with a smile on his face. Jeremy liked the fact Elena was pregnant and he was going to be an uncle.

"What?" Rebekah said, "Without us?" She looked genuinely insulted by the statement. Rebekah probably had a list of names that ranged from popular names of the year to ancient names she liked when she was a child.

"Wendell." Elena said, "I like the name Wendell. It's cute but then again, I wanted to name the baby after dad too...So, I don't know what to do."

"Wendell Grayson sounds ridiculous." Jeremy pointed out, "Grayson Wendell's worse."

"You could shorten Grayson. Wendell Gray sounds awesome."

"Yeah but then it sounds like Wendell Bray and I'm not trying to name my baby based on television shows like Bones."

"Wendell Gray Mikaelson sounds forced. It doesn't flow." Matt said, "The name has to flow like Elena Gilbert, Jeremy Gilbert, Rebekah Mikaelson, and of course, Alaric Saltzman."

Rebekah raised her hand, "I have an app!"

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "Probably a bogus one that suggests names like Anita Bath or something."

Rebekah brought the app up and selected a few categories for origin, "Alright, we want an English name that is possibly creative, right?"

"Right." Elena agreed, "And because I know you want to- we can explore ancient categories as well."

"Thank god!" Rebekah said, "I couldn't deal if you named my nephew Bobby or something."

She rolled her eyes, "Bobby's not that bad."

"But it is." Rebekah pressed 'generate' on the app and the first name that popped up was, "Cade."

"Cade- hmm, Wendell Cade."

"Let me try!" Matt took the phone out of her hands, "Alright-" He laughed, "Oh, yes you have to name him Zachariah."

"Try inputting Wendell so we can compare Wendell with the name that appears on the screen…" Jeremy suggested, "Because Elena loves that name so much."

"Oh my god, Wendell Satan."

"I think that's an omen, Elena." Kol said jokingly, "My turn." He pressed the button, "Wendell Dean- I like that."

"It's sweet, Wendell Dean Mikaelson." Elena agreed, "Okay, my turn. Let's see… Wendell Cassias." She looked around the room and started laughing, "No. I'm going to try again. Wendell Brook, that sounds better."

They all took turns trying to generate names even though they were sure they wouldn't pick one out that night. Between Rebekah and Elena, the whole thing was indecisive and forever changing.