Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 37

Elena barely felt Caroline shaking her arm as she stood there, eyes glued to the white wall in front of her. It wasn't possible that she was pregnant. Well, of course it was a possibility, but it still couldn't be. She had done everything she needed to do to prevent it. She wasn't ready to be a mother. Stefan didn't want to be a father. And right now, she was in the middle of her worst nightmare and the only glimpse into the future she had was the possibility of losing Stefan.

"Elena" Caroline said, a little louder. Elena finally turned her attention to her, still in a daze of shock and denial. "Do you think you are?" she asked again.

Elena shook her head. "No" she answered. "I mean, I don't know" she corrected, walking over to a set of chairs sitting against the wall and sitting down. Caroline followed her. She let Elena sit for a few moments with her thoughts, all the while rubbing her back in slow circles because Elena looked like she was going to faint. "We were careful" Elena finally said.

"You and ..." Caroline said, approaching the topic of who the father was, very carefully.

"Stefan" Elena said quickly. "Of course, Stefan" she said, feeling a little frustrated that Caroline would think she had been with someone else. Though, she couldn't really blame Caroline. No one knew what Elena had been doing the past month in LA. She let out a long, painful sigh before continuing. "He doesn't want kids" she said, resting her hand on her forehead.

"He'll want yours" Caroline countered. She was well aware of Stefan's view on marriage and kids thanks to Katherine. But what he had built with Elena was special and Caroline knew he would be happy about this. Well, after the initial shock, of course.

"He's dying!" Elena snapped, jumping up out of her seat.

"Elena!" Caroline gasped. That was the last thing she had expected to come out of Elena's mouth. Since when had she lost hope? But Elena was crying and clearly scared and overwhelmed. "Don't talk like that" Caroline said, a bit more calmly.

"A baby is the last thing we need right now" she said sadly. Elena wiped at her tears but realized it was no use because they kept coming.

Caroline wrapped her arms around Elena in a comforting manner. "Why don't you schedule a doctor's appointment and find out for sure. Then we can go from there, okay?" she asked. She made sure to say "we" to let Elena know that she had a whole family behind her. One that would support her until the end. Well, minus Katherine and sometimes Damon. But for the most part, it was a great family to be a part of.

Elena pulled away from Caroline and shook her head. "I can't deal with this right now" she said.

"Elena, if you are pregnant, you need to start taking care of yourself" Caroline said, digging out a granola bar from her purse. "That means eating and sleeping."

Elena took the granola bar and smiled weakly, brushing away a few more tears. She wanted sleep more than anything right now. She hadn't slept in two days. "I know" Elena told her. "I'll set up an appointment tomorrow" she assured her.

"Okay" Caroline smiled. She watched as Elena stepped around her and headed back towards the waiting room. She sat back down on the chair and sighed deeply. This should have been an exciting time for her best friend and Elena. Babies were supposed to be happy news and Caroline should have been jumping up and down at the thought of planning a baby shower and buying little baby designer clothes. But with Stefan so sick, it made the situation heartbreaking. In all honestly, Caroline hoped that Elena wasn't pregnant. Not right now, anyways.

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Stefan was watching TV when Elena came back to see him. He looked a little more awake, but still tired and worn down. "101 Dalmatians" Stefan said, looking from her to the TV. "Lily wanted to watch it and then five minutes into it, she took off. Something about green Jell-O downstairs" he said, clicking the TV off. He looked at her when she didn't say anything. "What's wrong?" he asked, concern washing over him. Elena felt like screaming that everything was wrong. But she didn't. She burst into tears instead. "Hey, come here" he said, holding his hand out as she walked over to him and sat down by his bed. He kissed her hand and smiled. "What's wrong?" he asked again, choosing to ignore the fact that his impending survival might have been the answer.