Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 32

He tried to remember the last time that he was this happy. When he knew that he had it all figured out on his end and that things were going to be exactly how he wanted them to be. It wasn't with Katherine. The whole relationship had been stressful, even though he had made plans to marry her and there were great times too.

No. The last time he was truly this happy was when Lily had just turned 11 months old. He had her for the whole weekend and Damon had mentioned in an e-mail that Lily was going to start walking any day now. So Stefan had spent the entire day before she arrived at his apartment baby proofing the entire place. He had then spent all weekend trying to get her to walk. It was selfish, he knew, but he wanted to be the first to see her reach this milestone. It seemed like he had missed all the others. Her first word, which was "dadda". This had made him cringe inwardly.

So Stefan had been pretty bummed as he picked up all of her toys. His Uncle Zach would be there any minute to take Lily back to Damon's. He had turned his back for just a moment to put a toy back in her bag. When he turned back around, he nearly fell to the floor at the sight of her standing in the middle of the living room with the silliest grin on her face. It was like she knew the affect she had on him. That's when she took her first step, holding her small arms out towards him as she continued taking uneven, off-balance steps towards him. It was all he could do to just stand there and let her come to him. He could barely contain his excitement as she reached him, grabbing onto his leg to steady herself. He picked her up, showering her with praise and kisses.

He never told anyone about it. Three days later, Damon had e-mailed him a video of Lily's first steps. Stefan couldn't help but grin at how wrong his brother was, but he didn't say anything.

So yes, the one other time he had been as happy as he was right now, lying in bed with Elena, was when Lily took her first steps in front of him.

Stefan and Elena were both awake by this point. It was almost noon. Their many little escapades had lasted well into mid-morning and they had slept soundly for a few hours. Neither one of them was talking, though they both knew what was on each other's mind. Elena's head was resting on one of his arms and his other was wrapped around her, keeping her close. She was staring at the clock on his wall and he was staring at her. Sometimes he would stroke her stomach to get her attention back and she would look at him, accepting the light kiss he would place on her lips.

It had been this way for over an hour now and he was getting anxious. So was she. "We should probably get up" Elena said, not really meaning it but figuring that she ought to say something.

"Stay with me" he blurted out. His honest eyes met her surprised ones. "Stay here, married to me" he said, clarifying just a little more what he meant.

It took her a moment to collect her thoughts because they seemed to have become frozen. It was the last thing she had expected him to stay. "Stefan ..." she began, unsure of what she needed to tell him.

So he continued. "I love you" he told her, moving that much closer to her so he could look deep in her eyes and show her that he meant it. "I don't want this divorce. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She felt her heart begin to race. This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to want to be with her. Stefan studied her closely and felt himself begin to panic because he couldn't tell what she was thinking. Yes. Yes he had imagined her eyes filled with happiness and her kissing him passionately after he confessed this. But no. Elena's eyes were blank and he swore that she moved away from him just a little. "I got a job offer" she told him. "And I took it."

Stefan was not quite sure where she was going with this. She got a job. He was happy for her. "That's great" he said, smiling some. "Where is it?"

When her eyes avoided his, he knew. She didn't even have to say it. "Los Angeles" she whispered.