Must Love Dogs

Chapter Thirty- Three

A/N: I swear that I am blown away by how many of you like this story, makes me curious as to why that is. ;)

Follow me for updates or to chat about my stories on twitter at: BePassionate_24

Enjoy and thanks so much for reading!

Must Love Dogs- Chapter Thirty- Three

Being away for so long had changed them both. Stefan could see it in her darkened brown eyes as he sat across from her on the unfamiliar sofa in her mother's living room. She could see that he was nervous, fidgeting in his seat as Elena sat still, her arm resting over the back of the couch when she glanced up at him.

"We need to talk about this, about all of it and what's going to happen now." She prompted in the quiet room, not really sure of what else she had wanted to say. Should she have started out the conversation with telling him how hard it was to come to the realization that he had been right all along? She couldn't do this alone.

Or should she have started out with the other looming question, that was making her mind spin which also happened to now be her biggest fear. What if he decided to stay with her and he continued his bachelor like lifestyle? Truth be told, the result of that would be disastrous and Elena couldn't have that type of man around her son. Nor, did she want that type of man around herself either, no matter how much she loved him.

"Yeah, we do." Stefan said with a bit of hesitation, clearing his throat before placing his hand over hers on the back of the couch and opening his mouth to speak.

"I'm not leaving. And, you can try to push me away, you can try to do that, Elena. But, I am not leaving you anymore. I love you and with loving you is going to come a lot challenges. I get that. But, I want to be here and I don't want to go anywhere else." He stated firmly, tightening his grasp around her fingers.

Elena swallowed the lump in her throat, tears welling up into her eyes. "Damn hormones." She mumbled under her breath, noticing the distance between her and Stefan close a little more as he leaned over and wiped the tears falling from her now heated cheeks.

"Come here." He whispered, gently pulling her into him as he watched her cautiously rest her hands onto her stomach, Stefan placed his hands over hers and exhaled deeply.

"Talk to me." He urged, hoping that she'd get all of what she wanted to say out. Because, he surely knew that there were a lot of things that they needed to discuss.

"I'm scared, of having the baby, of you not being there...-" Elena's voice cracked, her eyes searching for a small understanding. Stefan nodded. He knew what she meant, she had thought that it would be best to push him away because of the way he had been acting recently. "I know that you wouldn't have wanted me the way I was a few months ago. But, Elena, I am trying. I'm trying really hard to be a better person for not just you and the baby. But, for myself too." He admitted, feeling her lean her head on to his chest and place her ear against his heart, closing her eyes while listening to the light thumping of his calmed heart beat.

"I don't want to be that guy anymore, the irresponsible one who sleeps around. I've been trying to not be him for the last few months and it's been working out pretty good. I've dived into my work instead. We got Jenna a nice little salon, like you had asked. I made a few new business deals with Lexi Branson and she's going to be partnering up with us on a project soon. And, I sold the house that Rebekah and I lived in." Stefan rambled on, seeing Elena's eyes open up briefly as he said his ex-wife's name.

"Rebekah left town, just like that?" Elena questioned, staring up at Stefan through heavy and watery eyelashes.

"Yeah, she's gone." He confirmed, wrapping her tighter into his embrace as he relished in the fact at how close she was to him. It had been months since he had held her and being this close to Elena sent waves of emotions through his whole body. "Enough about her.." He trailed off, brushing his thumb over Elena's as she slowly pushed up from him and then she choked out her very emotional question. "What about us?"