Remember Me

Chapter 11

Remember Me- Chapter Eleven

"Your bags are packed." Aubrey noticed as Stefan closed the door behind him, not making eye contact while he looked past her and towards his son who also had a backpack on his back.

"What's going on, Stefan?" Aubrey asked him, crossing her arms and giving him a worry filled look. He sighed deeply, telling Ben to go wait in the car as he gave him the keys and closed the door behind his son. "Ben and I are going on a little adventure together for a few days. I'm taking him to meet with his mother."

Her eyebrows raised up at the admission of his words. There was no reason to lie to her about it because she would have found out eventually. Although, she really hadn't expected that Stefan or Elena would be seeing each other again at all.

"I thought you to-." She began to say as Stefan cut her off and turned back towards the door, making sure that Ben was inside of the car.

"It's not what you think. Elena has a brother that lives in Seattle and we've been in touch about Ben over the last few months. So, I told her that it would be nice to meet up there and for Ben to visit his uncle." He commented, hearing Aubrey scoff as she pushed a few strands of her hair back and shook her head. "You've got so much work to do and you're just going to drop it all because she's back in town for a few days?"

Stefan shrugged his shoulders, licking his bottom lip nervously as he nodded. "I know that I have a lot of work to do and that it's just as important as anything else. But, Aubrey. I need this. I need to get out of Florida and away from-." She cut him off, anger sweeping across her features as she tilted her head to the side and finished his sentence for him. "Away from me. You need to get away from me." She commented, placing her hand onto his suitcase as she looked him over and noticed how pale he was. Over the last two weeks since he had found out about his diagnosis, Stefan had been feeling and looking fairly ill. However, he had ignored it and threw himself into his work instead. Telling everyone that he was fine as he struggled to keep up with Ben at the local park while they chased Duke around a playground.

"My son can't see me as being sick, Aubrey. You need to understand that I'm not just doing this for him. I'm doing this for me too. I promise you that Elena and I are just meeting up as friends to talk about what's going to happen to Ben once things get progressively worse for me." He told her, trying to make her understand that even though things haven't been easy on their marriage lately. That he wasn't going to do anything stupid with Elena.

"How long will you both be gone?" She asked him, nervousness in her voice as she tapped her fingers against the handle of his suitcase before handing it to him while he opened the front door to their house.

"Just for a few days." Stefan replied back, telling her that they'd be seeing her soon and to call him if she needed anything. He didn't kiss her as he left the house. He could hear her tell him that she loved him and he did say it back. But, something within these last few days had been growing between them. This distance and unpleasant tension that seemed to be getting worse and Stefan figured that maybe a few days away from it all could solve their problems.

"Uncle Stefan!" Izzie smiled, opening the door a bit wider for him as Stefan grabbed Ben's hand.

"Hey, Isobel." He smirked, getting a smack on the shoulder from his niece as she rolled her eyes at him and turned her attention to her cousin, Ben. "No one calls me Isobel, uncle Stefan. No one except for my dad when he gets mad at me."

"Hey kid. So, I guess your dad is dropping you off to stay with us for a few days. How's that sound?" She asked him as Ben shrugged his shoulders, both Stefan and Ben stopped when they heard another voice from inside of the living room that was coming around the corner. "He doesn't sound as excited as I thought he would be." Katherine commented, smiling at them both as she gave Stefan a hug and whispered into his ear. "Does your wife know about how much you're lying to her?"