A Unexpected Miracle

our baby

My last class was history with Alaric, or I guess I should say Mr. Saltzman. It seemed to drag on and on. I felt bad for not paying attention, but I couldn't focus. Jenna was picking me up from school and together we were going to my first doctor's appointment.

"Am I taking Stefan with us?" Jenna had asked me this morning when she dropped me off.

I said no and quickly made my exit from the car.

I looked over at Stefan as he pretended to take notes. He didn't know I was going to the doctor's since I hadn't told him. I didn't want to hurt his feelings by saying I didn't want him to come with me and knowing him, he would have definitely offered. I didn't want to take Stefan to avoid hurting Damon and I didn't want to take Damon to avoid hurting Stefan. Instead, I asked Jenna. She was the better option anyway since she was an adult.

The minutes ticked by slowly. I put my head on the desk and hoped time would go faster if my eyes were shut.

A few minutes went by before I heard Alaric say my name.

"Elena," he said.

I lifted my head off of the desk.

"Head up, alright?" he asked.

"Sorry, Mr. Saltzman," I apologized.

He went back to his lesson and I rubbed my eyes. Now I felt tired. I pulled my hands away when I heard something hit my desk. It was a folded up piece of paper, most likely a note. I unfolded the note and read the words, instantly recognizing Stefan's handwriting.

Are you alright?

I picked up my pen and wrote my response:

Yeah. I'm just beyond tired and I want to get out of this class.

I tossed the note back to him quickly and watched as he read it. He chuckled a little bit at the end of the note and looked over at me with a small smile. I smiled back at him just as the bell rang.

As the students stood up, eager to rush out of school, Alaric looked over at me silently telling me to stay. I took my time putting my books into my bag. Once everyone was out, including Stefan, I stood up and walked over to Alaric's desk.

"How are you feeling?" Alaric asked me as he leaned against his desk.

"Tired," I laughed a little.

"You know if I could I'd let you sleep for the period but I don't want the other students trying to get away with it," he admitted.

"Don't worry about it. I totally understand. I wasn't trying to sleep or anything. I was just putting my head down," I explained to him.

He gave me an understanding smile. "You have the doctor's appointment today right?"

I nodded my head.

"Is Stefan going with you?" he asked.

We both looked over to the door where we could see Stefan standing across the hall. I frowned as I realized he heard about the doctor's appointment. I looked over at Alaric and gave him a half smile.

He nodded his head. "I'll talk to you about it later. Jenna invited me over for dinner."

"Oh you mean Jenna invited you over to cook dinner?" I grinned.

"Yeah. That's pretty much it. I'll see you later, Elena."

"Bye, Mr. Saltzman," I chuckled.

I walked out of the classroom and over to Stefan.

"I didn't know you had a doctor's appointment today," he said as we walked down the hall to my locker.

"I was going to tell you after class. You eavesdropped, though," I told him.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked apologetic. "I don't mean to do it."

"Relax, Stefan. I'm not mad. I'm just teasing you," I smiled a little. We stopped at my locker and I unlocked it, then opened it. I took out some of books from my bag, only keeping the ones I needed for homework.

Stefan leaned against the locker next to mine and smiled at me. "Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.

I stopped what I was doing and frowned. I grabbed my jacket and closed the locker, making sure I locked it properly. I looked over at him and took his hand in mine. "I'm just going to go with Jenna today. It's nothing personal. Plus you probably would be really bored."

He moved closer to my hand and laced our fingers together. "I wouldn't be bored, but you want to go with Jenna. That's fine."

I smiled up at him a little bit before kissing him softly. He returned the kiss, but we were interrupted as my phone went off.

"That's probably Jenna," I said.

He nodded his head and kissed me one last time. "I'll call you later to see how it went."

We smiled at each other before I turned and walked out of the school. I saw Jenna sitting in her car and quickly walked over there.

When I got in the car we said hello to each other before she began to drive.

"How was school?" she asked.

"It was fine. I'm not throwing up anymore but I think that's because everyone is careful of what they choose for lunch around me."

"Did you tell Stefan where you were going?"

I nodded my head and said I did.

She looked over at me with worried eyes. "How did he take it?"

"He took it well. He understood that I wanted to go with you for the first visit."

She turned the corner and continued to drive. "You're very lucky that you have Stefan," she said. "Any other guy would have left."

I looked down at my lap, thinking of what she said. I was very lucky and I knew I was. "I know, Aunt Jenna," I said in a whisper.

The rest of the car ride was quiet. She asked no more questions and said nothing else. Neither did I.

We arrived at the doctor's office and walked in. As Jenna checked us in, I looked around the office. There were some women who looked like they were about to have their babies that very second. There were some women who looked tired. There were some women who looked aggravated. There were some women who looked sad. There were very few men in the room and that made me wonder where they were.

I took a seat and continued to look around. My eyes fell on a young couple. The girl looked to be around my age, maybe a little older. She was one of the people in the room who looked like she was ready to have the baby. Her eyes were red, telling me she had been crying. There was a guy sitting next to her who looked annoyed as he looked down at his phone. I looked back at the girl, but almost looked away when she looked back at me. She gave me an understanding smile as if she knew why I was there. I smiled back at her in an attempt to make her feel better.

Their names were called and I watched as the guy stood up, slipping his phone into his pocket. "Let's get this over with," he mumbled.

The girl had trouble standing up and I watched in disgust as the guy just left her. I stood up and walked over to her, holding her hand to help her stand.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

I smiled back at her and said, "You're welcome. Good luck in there."

I watched as the girl waddled her way down the hall and looked away when she disappeared into a room. I moved back over to my seat, thinking back to Stefan once more.

I really was lucky. Stefan could have left me, but he didn't. He also could have been beyond mad at me, but he wasn't. I was lucky that I wasn't in that girl's position, but that didn't stop me from feeling bad for her.

My name was called and Jenna and I stood up. The nurse led us to a room down the hall. When we stepped into the room, she held up a blue garment and asked me to change into it. I took it in my hands and slipped it on once Jenna turned around, then laid on the chair. I was starting to feel nervous and I looked over at Jenna.

She came over to me and sat down in the chair next to me. Jenna took my hand in hers and squeezed it, leaning up to kiss my forehead. "It'll be okay, Elena," she said.

I was about to say something but the door opened. A middle-aged woman stepped in. She had ginger hair that was pulled back into a messy bun. She looked friendly and that eased my nerves, but only a little bit.

"Elena Gilbert?" she asked.

"That's me," I said.

She smiled at me and held her hand out. "Hi Elena. I'm Doctor McCarthy."

I shook her hand and pulled it away as she looked down at my medical charts.

"From what I see here, everything looks good. We're just going to do a quick check up to see if everything is okay," she said. She took a seat and pulled on a set of gloves. "You've taken a home pregnancy test, right?"

"Yes. The result came out positive," I answered.

"Congratulations," she smiled.

I realized that was the first time someone had said that to me since I found out I was pregnant. Everyone else had automatically begun to yell. I shook away those thoughts and smiled at her a little bit before she began to check on everything. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, trying to relax. I squeezed Jenna's hand and she squeezed it back.

"Everything seems good," she said. She pulled off the gloves and wrote a few things down before looking back at me. "Have you been sick lately besides the morning sickness? Any severe diseases?"

"She's had none. Her Father was a doctor so she was always vaccinated when she had to be," Jenna answered for me.

"Oh your Father was a doctor?" she asked.

I nodded my head and cleared my throat, "Grayson Gilbert."

"Grayson!" Doctor McCarthy exclaimed. "You're his daughter Elena. Now it's all clicking together. Your Father was a great man."

"You knew him?" I asked curiously.

"I met him a couple of times. He helped with a couple of things when I first started out. He was such a nice man. I felt horrible when I heard he passed away," she explained. She changed the subject as she pulled the ultrasound monitor over to me. "Alright, Elena. Now we're going to check up on the baby. You've had the normal symptoms, right?"

"Yes," I said as she moved up the blue garment. She squeezed a little gel on my stomach and I laughed a little. It felt cold and it tickled my stomach. Jenna and Doctor McCarthy laughed a little.

We all looked at the screen and I waited patiently. Soon, there was a sound echoing through the room.

"What is that?" I asked quietly.

"That is your baby's heartbeat," she answered.

I gasped as I listened to it. It sounded normal.

"So she's definitely pregnant," Jenna whispered.

"Yes she is." She pulled the monitor away and cleared the gel off of my stomach. "Everything is perfect right now, Elena. The baby's heartbeat sounds great and you are perfectly healthy. This should be an easy pregnancy."

I wanted to laugh. She wasn't the one pregnant with a vampire's baby.

I looked over at my Aunt and saw that she was smiling as she looked at the sonogram. I looked back over at it. We couldn't see anything by what looked like a small peanut. I knew that it was my baby and for the first time since I found out I was pregnant, I felt excited.

"Your due date will be sometime in September, but we'll discuss that farther along in the pregnancy. Would you like a copy of the sonogram?" The doctor asked.

I nodded my head with a smile when Damon popped up into my mind. "Can I have two? One for the Father? He'll want to see it," I asked.

"Of course," she smiled back and said she would be right back. Once she left, I got dressed and sat on the chair waiting for her to come back.

"Do you want me take you to Stefan's after this?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah. I want to tell Damon and him that everything is fine."

"Alright. I'll drop you off but I want you back home tonight for dinner. Alaric is coming over," she said.

I nodded and promised her that I would be home. We both looked over to the door as Doctor McCarthy came back in. She handed me a folder and said, "The sonograms are in there there. I also printed out a list of prenatal vitamins that I want you to start taking. When you go outside you can schedule your next appointment, alright?"

I took the folder and thanked her. We said our goodbyes and together Jenna and I left the office after scheduling my next appointment. We were back in her car quickly and she drove me to the Boarding House.

"I'll see you later. Thank you for taking me to the doctor's," I looked over at her with a smile as she stopped the car in front of the house.

She gave me a small smile. "You know I'm here for you, Elena. You don't have to thank me."

I gave her a small hug before getting out of the car. I walked into the house excited to talk about how well the appointment went. The excitement faded away quickly. I heard shouting and things being broken from upstairs. I rushed up the stairs and towards Damon's room where the noise was coming from. I stopped in the doorway and gasped at what I had seen. Stefan had Damon pinned against the wall while Damon's hand was wrapped around Stefan's throat.

"What the hell is going on in here?" I shouted.