A/N: Anyone out there that isn't mad at me? I am absolutely sorry for the ridiculously long wait. Dealing with my nephew and Hurricane Sandy to top it all off has been really hectic.

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Oh and Damon might be a bit dark for this chapter, and probably the next one or two, so just keep that in mind. Be warned as well: I will put a character as an 'interest' for Elena, just to see how jealous Damon can get.

Read&Review please!

The door opened, revealing a sober Alaric, dark bags set beneath his eyes, lips drawn down into a deep frown, eyes no longer shining with brilliance. He sat on the opposite side of Caroline, head hung low, "I'm sorry."

Elena was taken aback before spilling out, "Don't apologize. None of this is your fault."

He shook his head, biting back the self-anger, "I was too busy drinking away my sorrows to even comfort you."

Caroline scoffed, "Guess you were busy talking to that cheater, huh?"

Alaric snapped his head up, glowering at her, "I was helping him."

"Helping him? ! He hurt your step-daughter!" Caroline growled, becoming defensive.

Before everything got out of hand, a voice bellowed into the room, "Keep it down, you two. Jeez, can't get along even in a hospital."

All eyes were on the raven-haired man leaning against the doorway.

Caroline's mouth hung open in incredulity, eyes burning between anger and murderous feelings. Breaking her glare away from the cocky blue eyes, she set her gaze on the timid brunette sitting in the bed, slowly sinking down until the blanket nearly covered her face. Elena's breath became labored, quickly reaching down to grip her friend's shaking hand. The feeling of warmth against ice had her shivering.

Caroline growled protectively, canines slowly extending, "You…you-" Her voice came out in a harsh whisper, her hands aching to rip the elder vampire to shreds.

Elena gripped her friend's hand tighter to gain the blonde's attention as she looked towards Alaric, who seemed to be hanging his head lower, before glancing back to Caroline. She breathed out the breath she hadn't realized she had held, wanting so badly tear each individual raven hair from his head. Her hand instinctively rested upon her stomach underneath the mountain of blankets, her other hand gripping tightly to Caroline's pale hand. "Can you two give us a minute?"

Caroline inhaled sharply, whipping around to stare quizzically into her friend's eyes. "You sure?" She muttered as to only Elena could hear her, even if Damon could use his heightened abilities. The brunette nodded, pieces of dark locks falling into her gaze. Alaric had immediately brushed past Damon as soon as she had asked, mumbling a few words to him on the way out. Standing to her feet, she reluctantly released Elena's hand after squeezing it in reassurance; a silent way to saying that she would be right outside in the case of anything happening.

The room felt empty. Two lost souls purposefully directing their gazes away from each other. There was a growing feeling in the pit of her stomach burning through her emotional shield, one she could not place a finger on, let alone label as a certain feeling. Biting her bottom lip in agitation, she mustered up the anger boiling beneath the marbled surface to angrily bark, "What are you doing here?"

He shifted, now leaning against the closed door. Shrugging his shoulders, he gazed coldly into her eyes for the first time since he arrived, "Ric called me."

Elena rolled her eyes, "So you decided to come after clearly stating I should 'get an abortion'?" Her arms crossed over her chest in a defiant manner, lips slightly rolling outwards. Within a split second he was at her bedside, leaning dangerously close to her face.

"I still hope you will," He said, his voice eerily calm. The bitterness to his tone cut through her like a knife. Instinctively, her hand swung to strike him across the cheek, only to be stopped by his vise grip clutching her hand rather roughly. A growl broke through the silence, and Elena dearly hoped with all her might that it came from Caroline, here to save the day. But she quickly came to realize it had a masculine tone to it. She shut her eyes, the tears once threatening to fall quickly making way down her cheeks in a hot frenzy. The door burst open, scaring her half out of her skeleton. In came the blonde in all her might, a snarl etched into her features. It was then that Elena realized the throbbing pain that had settled in her wrist had vanished, only a red mark in its place.

Where did he go?

Returning home from the hospital was no joy as so many countless others had boasted about. 'I felt alive again.' 'Happiness radiated from me.' Bullshit. The only thing I felt radiating from me was the need to sleep off the pulsating pain shooting up my back. The tender nurses in the hospital had prepped me on what I should expect while at home; back pains, occasional spotting (as long as it wasn't too much), and exhaustion. The meds administered into me were beginning to get on my last nerves. Raging hormones mixed with carefully selected medication never mixed well. I was beginning to feel bad for Caroline, due to her having to stay home to look after me.

She was going to have a lot to deal with.

The first day home had been slow paced. Walking up the stairs provided a challenge, having to have someone walk up with me. Going to the bathroom nonstop constantly annoyed me, especially when either Jeremy or Caroline would stand guard outside the door, making sure I didn't fall or something of the nature. "I'm pregnant, not handicapped," I had muttered one day.
It seemed Caroline didn't give a crap whether I was having a baby or insane. In the weeks she stayed in the boarding house, much to her dislike of location, she had not slept a wink, even if I insisted that I was fine. She had pointed out the growing amount of vampires in the Mystic Falls community, and I already had the knowledge of many of them already knowing of the doppelgangers in this small town.

I hadn't argued with her anymore on the subject.

Day twenty-seven marked the fifth month of my pregnancy, as well as the nine month anniversary of my strained marriage to Damon. Breathing out a sigh of relief as I rested her feet on the footrest, I placed my hand on the every-expanding stomach. I felt as if I was larger than most pregnancies would be in this stage.

Strange.

The wheels in my head turned, wondering as to the whereabouts of the vivacious blonde. As if on cue, the door swung open and in wobbled the said woman, bags gripped in each hand.

"You will never guess what I just did."

I rolled my eyes before sluggishly standing to my feet, rubbing my back as I did so. "You went shopping?" I answered sarcastically. She bit back a smile, making her way towards the island in the kitchen to place the shopping bags before strutting into the parlor.

"No, silly," She bit her bottom lip in excitement, "I bought us two tickets for California!" She bounced up and down in exhilaration. I frowned, not wanting to be the kill joy.

"Aw, Caroline, that is so sweet of you, but," immediately I could see her face dropping, "I really shouldn't be flying anywhere. Not in this condition." My face twisted into a scowl as I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. You would have thought I killed her puppy. Her lips twisted into a frown, flopping down on the couch she pouted.

"I'll just have to give the tickets to Bonnie and Jer, then."

My heart sunk. I had just been officially labeled as the kill joy, I swear I could see it in her eyes. Before I could reach out to comfort her, she breezed upstairs, the guestroom door clicking shut behind her. My arms ached to wrap around her, to comfort her as she had done so very well for me in my times of need.

Taking a seat on the couch, I wrapped my arms around myself, ridiculing the fact that my hands barely wrapped anywhere near fully around myself.

I awoke to a thudding against the parlor window, jolting me from the deep, peaceful slumber. For the first time in five months, I was able to gain three extra hours of sleep. It may have been the fact that my best friend, who happens to be a vampire, is directly upstairs in case anything were to take place. I rushed towards the window as fast as my slow body would go only to jump back when a white mush collided with the window. The bottom half of the glass was utterly smothered in snow, making it near impossible to catch sight of the culprit.

Going on my tippy toes, I could barely make out the outline of a blonde laughing next to a towering figure. Figuring the blonde to be Caroline, I slipped into my snow boots and walked outside to find Caroline and a familiar face, smiling over towards me.

"Well hello, sleepyhead," He called.

It was the first time in two years, and he looked like he always had. The wispy brown hair brushed pristinely, wild brown eyes sparkling even with the dark, ominous clouds above, perfectly chiseled features glowing. My lips twisted into a genuine smile before running, in my condition it's more like waddling, towards him, arms extended. He wrapped me into a hug that seemed to warm my heart, even when his body remained utterly freezing. Pulling back I quickly asked, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

"What, I get no 'good morning' hug?" Caroline muttered, walking off to begin building a snowman.

He shook his head towards the blonde's direction before gazing down towards me affectionately, "Longtime no see, Miss Gilbert." He grinned cheekily, small dimples appearing. Obviously he had a reason for coming here.

"What are you doing here?" I tried again, hoping he wouldn't avoid the question.

Stepping a bit further away, he glanced towards his shoes before locking gazes once again. "I received a phone call late last night, asking," He leaned in to whisper dramatically, "more like begging," Straightening his back he continued, "to come and give you some company so Miss Nark over there can attend the well-deserved vacation." The mental trip to yesterday flashed before me, remembering her excitement over the California trip. Obviously she was not going to give the tickets to Bonnie and Jeremy. My eyebrows knit together in confusion. Seeing my bewilderment he inserted, "She said something about the witch agreeing to go." And there was the answer.

My heart sunk to rest beside my stomach. It would be the first trip my friends would be going on without me there to stand beside them. Not wanting to alarm Elijah I quickly flipped my frown upside down, "Thank you for informing me." He nodded briskly before holding out his angled arm. Looping my arm through his we walked towards Caroline to attempt to help with her piece of art.

Little did I know that Elijah had heard the distinct possessive growl from the woods as we walked off together.

The metal bird took off into the cloud-filled sky, off to a new state where my best friends would have the time of their lives. Without me. If my heart couldn't sink any lower, it would have just then. Elijah slid his hand into mine, squeezing it reassuringly. I grinned up at him before leaning softly against him as we continued strolling through the airport.

"So I see a lot of things have changed," He commented, eyes directed towards the road before glancing down at my expanded stomach and then back to the black pavement. His hands visibly tightened on the steering wheel. My mouth fell open, not knowing how to respond.

There was silence before, "He's the father, isn't he?" There was a bitterness to his tone, immediately sending shivers dancing up my spine.

I tilted my head in confusion, "To whom are you referring?" The speed of the car jolted up, resulting in me to grip the closest object.

"Damon." The venom dripping from his voice had my skin crawling. His name on Elijah's tongue sounded as if it was a sin to even mutter the name. My breath hitched, my lungs burning with agony.

"Yes." I whispered hoarsely, oxygen barely making its way through my lungs efficiently. The speed of the car dropped significantly, and before I could react, his hand snaked across the center console and gripped mine.

"Breathe, Elena, breathe," He instructed softly. Gripping my hand tighter he tried his best to distract me, "Have you decided on a name for the little one?"

I smiled softly, gazing down at our entwined hands, "Haden," The smile placed upon my lips grew, "Haden James."

"It's perfect, Elena," He glanced over before looking back to the road, "Will he be taking your last name?" I was taken aback by how I hadn't thought of this in the long run.

Before I could fully mull it over I blurted out, "No, it wouldn't seem right. He deserves to at least have something of his father." Something in my stomach churned, making me regret blurting out an answer before fully thinking the consequences. Would this little guy get to know his father? Most likely not. Being from two people like us the little guy will possibly be curious as to who his biological father is. And I'll tell him everything. Well maybe not everything, I wouldn't want my baby boy to be crushed by how much of a dead beat his father is.

As we pulled up to the boarding house, my heart seemed to dread walking in the door. My head couldn't wrap around the idea as I walked up to the door, ready to put my key in the lock. I was stopped suddenly when a hand rested on my shoulder, causing me to gaze over my shoulder to Elijah. "What's the matter?"

He growled slightly, "He's here."