Moving On

Chapter 26

Elena was staring blankly at Stefan, unsure of what to say. It wouldn't be fair to Stefan to have to move three hours away from home. It wouldn't be fair to Arianna, either. Her aunts and uncles are here in Mystic Falls, plus she has school and her friends from school. What kind of person would she be to agree to have them moving out there and uprooting their entire lives?

It's not like she doesn't want them around. She wants that more than anything. She'd be able to see them whenever and not have limited time with them. But then again it wouldn't be fair to Stefan and Arianna to leave everything behind because she was in a long distance relationship with Stefan.

"Elena?" He said her name to break her out of the trance that she was in. He was afraid that he had scared her. Moving in together was a big step. "Say something." He said touching her cheek. She leaned into his palm a little more before replying.

"Stefan," She replied with a half smile. "I would love that more than anything." He smiled before she continued. "But I can't let you do that." His smile faltered. "Arianna needs her family, Stefan. I can't be that person. I can't be the person that makes someone uproot his entire life to make things easier. You need to think about Arianna too, Stefan. She will be leaving her entire life behind."

He decided that she was right. It wouldn't be right to move Arianna away from the only place that she's ever known and away from her family and friends. Plus, she will have to transfer schools and she tells him all the time how much she loves her school.

"You're right." He said, taking his hand off her cheek and grabbing her hands and brought them up to his lips to kiss the top of them. After lowering them, but still holding onto them, he decided to speak. "I have to think about my daughter, too." He watched her smile. "I just wish that there was an easier way." He said lowering his head.

"I wish there was too, Stefan." She said looking away from him before continuing. "Long distance relationships are tough. But we love each other so we can make it work. We have been making it work." She looked back at him and looked directly into his green eyes that she loved so much. "Baby, don't worry about the distance." She grabbed on to both sides of his face. "We're making it work. And we will continue to make it work." She pulled his face a closer to hers so she can kiss him.

"I love you, Elena." He said after he pulled away from her. He rested her forehead against hers and put her hair behind her ears. "So much." She smiled as he kissed the tip of her nose.

"I love you too, Stefan." She smiled before kissing him again.

XXXX

"Daddy, wake up!" He heard early the next morning. Arianna was standing next to his bed, giving him a big toothy grin. Sighing, he pulled the pillow out from under his head and put it over him to block out the sun coming through the curtains. "Daddy!" She whined. "Get up!" She started pulling on his arm. Realizing that he wasn't going to get out of bed, she took the pillow off his head.

He squinted his eyes at her before finally rolling over and sitting up, leaning against the headboard. He looked to his right and saw that Elena was up, smiling and laughing at the whole exchange. Stefan smiled, rubbed his eyes and then picked Arianna up and placed her on the bed.

"It's about time you wake up." She said smiling at him. "I want to go outside and play." She said giving him another toothy smile. He looked at his phone on the bedside table and rubbed his hands over his face before speaking.

"It's only 7am." He looked over and saw Elena sit up in bed, leaning her back against the head board. He watched as she slumped her shoulders in defeat. "You can go out and play after." He said finishing his sentence.