Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 23

Thanksgiving was in one day. And Stefan had been stressing about it since the beginning of the month. There was still no answer from Jeremy about whether or not he and Bonnie would be coming to visit. Elena never called again to ask, and she was even more unwilling to talk to Stefan about it. So, Stefan was preparing as if Jeremy and Bonnie would show up. Because if they did, he was going to make sure they had a great time. For Elena's sake. Although she really had no interest in hearing him talk about the plans, he had told her that he would make dinner for her, Jeremy, Bonnie, and himself on Thanksgiving Day. His Uncle Zach, Alaric, and Caroline were flying in the day after and Damon had taken it upon himself to invite everyone to dinner at his house. Stefan was going to play it by ear on whether or not he would drag Elena and her brother and friend over to Damon's.

But the thought was also in the back of his mind that Jeremy and Bonnie wouldn't show up. It crossed his mind how hurt Elena would be, even though she said she didn't care one way or another if they showed. If they didn't show up, Stefan had planned on still enjoying dinner with Elena.

His thoughts were brought back to the present when he heard a bag hit the bottom of the cart he was pushing. Sour gummy worms. Stefan sighed. "That's not on the list, Lily" Stefan told her, stopping the cart.

Lily looked up at him adoringly. "But I want them" she said.

"We don't need them" Stefan said, grabbing the bag of candy from out of the cart. How he had gotten roped in to taking Lily shopping with him, he had no idea. He just wanted to get the items on his list for Thanksgiving dinner and get home.

"But I love you Uncle Stefan" she said in her most innocent, adoring voice she had.

Stefan hated that. Absolutely hated that. How in the hell could he say no to that? He couldn't. And damnit, she knew it. "Fine" he said, tossing the bag back in. Lily smiled triumphantly as she held onto the side of the cart and walked along. Stefan grabbed a can of pumpkin mix and added it in. Lily decided to add a bag of Oreos to the cart. "Lily" Stefan warned. Yes, he was the fun uncle. But that didn't mean he wanted her eating all that junk.

"But I'm gonna share with Elena" she said, smiling up at him. "They're her favorite. She told me" she added.

Stefan sighed. "Okay, but only because they are her favorite" Stefan said, figuring this was not Lily winning. This was Elena winning.

"You like making Elena happy, don't you Uncle Stefan?" she asked, adding a package of chocolate chip cookies along her way. Stefan didn't even bother saying anything. She would win in the end.

"I do like making Elena happy" Stefan told her, rounding the corner towards the frozen turkeys.

Lily remained silent for a moment. "I don't think Mommy makes Daddy happy anymore" she said, causing Stefan to stop.

"Why do you say that?" he asked her, bending down to her level.

Lily frowned as she looked at the floor. "They are always fighting and then Mommy leaves" she told him sadly. "I wanna come live with you and Elena" she added.

Stefan took her hands in his and squeezed them, getting her to look at him. "I'm sorry that your parents aren't being very nice to each other" he told her softly. "But it has nothing to do with you, okay?" he asked. Lily nodded. "You can call me any time you need to. And I'll come and get you. You know that" he told her. Again, Lily nodded. "How about we get pizza for lunch?" he asked. That got her to smile. Stefan pulled her into a hug and held her tight.

It made his heart hurt to think that Damon and Katherine were doing this to Lily. Stefan knew that Damon and Katherine were a disaster. He had just hoped that Damon would work a little harder to hide it from Lily.