Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 32

She let out a breath she had been holding as she watched until his car disappeared. Then she headed on up to the house to wait for Lily. Elena let herself in quietly, hoping to avoid Katherine. But of course she wasn't that lucky.

"Aww, came to say goodbye to me?" Katherine pouted, slinking her way into the room.

Elena fought the urge to smack her. It wouldn't do anything productive, but it would make her feel better. "Why did you do it?" Elena asked, catching Katherine off guard.

But Katherine recovered. "Do what?" she asked, checking her newly manicured nails.

"You know what" Elena said through gritted teeth.

Katherine smirked. "You know why" she told Elena. "I did it to win Stefan over" she told her.

Elena laughed. "I don't think that's true" she said and Katherine raised her eyebrows. "But you had to have known that once you told Stefan I was planning on leaving with Derrick, that he would stop me. And then you wouldn't have been rid of me. I would still be here" she said. "So how would you have won Stefan over then?" she asked.

Katherine's smirk remained, but her eyes showed something. Elena wasn't sure what. "Are you accusing me of caring?" she asked Elena. "Because that is a very bold accusation."

"I just want to understand why you did it, Katherine. So for once, can you not skirt around the issue?" Elena asked.

Katherine sighed, clearly annoyed. "I didn't do it for you" Katherine said, somewhat hostile. "I did it for Lily" she admitted. Katherine tore her eyes away from Elena because Elena's eyes had softened and the last thing Katherine wanted was for Elena to think that she cared this much all the time. "She never shuts up about you" Katherine said, crossing her arms. "Clearly you've been really great for her while I've been a pretty shitty mother to her" she said. "So, I thought I could make it up to her by stopping you from leaving."

"Did you know about what Derrick had done to me?" Elena asked quietly.

Katherine shook her head. "Stefan told me after I told him about you leaving. So, I truly did do all this for Lily" she said, somewhat defensively. "I guess it was all for nothing though. You're leaving anyway."

That hurt. But Elena knew it was the truth and she should probably be happy that Katherine was being truthful for once. "I'm just doing what I have to do" Elena answered.

"Self-preservation" Katherine said. "I get it" she told her. She turned to leave, done with the conversation. But she stopped before she left the room. "For what it's worth, I think he deserved to die for what he did to you" she told Elena.

Elena watched Katherine closely. "You're lucky, you know. To have been with two guys who would never hurt you like that" she told Katherine. "I think you take them for granted."

Katherine nodded. "I do" she agreed. Then she left the room, leaving Elena feeling even more frustrated, but also, with a new perspective on Katherine.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Lily arrived home a few minutes later, completely excited to see Elena. She practically was the one dragging Elena up the stairs to her bedroom. "I gots to show you something" she said, digging through her backpack to find what she was looking for. Elena sat down, taking small breaths to keep herself in check. "Here it is!" Lily said, jumping up on her bed with Elena. "I had to make a drawing of someone I love" she said, handing Elena the picture.

Elena's hand went to cover her mouth as she saw the picture of herself that the little girl had drawn. "You drew a picture of me?" Elena asked.

Lily nodded enthusiastically. "I love you" she smiled. "And I've already drawn a picture for Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Stefan. But I haven't drawn one for you" she explained. "I also got to talk about you when I shared my picture with my class" she added.

Elena blinked back her tears. Maybe she could steal this kid and live happily ever after with her in Los Angeles. "Yeah?" she asked, trying to hide the fact that she was crying.

"Yeah" she nodded. "I told them that you married my Uncle Stefan because you love him and he loves you. And that you are lots of fun to spend time with and pretty and smart" she rattled off. "Oh, I also told them how you want to be a writer and that you're really good."

"You think I'm a good writer?" Elena asked, a bit surprised.

Lily nodded. "Uncle Stefan read me a paper you wrote about kids and elephants" she explained. Elena laughed somewhat through her tears. She had asked Stefan to proofread one of her pieces for her creative writing class. He must have proofread it with Lily. "Why are you crying?" Lily asked.

Elena blew out a small breath. "I uh, I have to talk to you about something kiddo" she said, setting her picture down and turning more to face Lily.

"Do you have a baby in your tummy?" Lily asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

Elena shook her head. "No, sweetie, I don't" she said. "You know how I just graduated?" she asked. Lily nodded. "Well, I got a job in California, so I'm going to move out there for a little while so I can work" she explained. "You remember my brother and Bonnie live there?" she asked.

Lily nodded slowly. "Daddy showed me where it was on the map" she said, her big brown eyes, usually filled with excitement and passion, were threatening to spill with their own tears. "But that's really far away" she said, her bottom lip beginning to quiver.

Elena grabbed her little hand and nodded sadly. "Yeah, it is" Elena agreed.

"What about Uncle Stefan?" Lily asked, her eyes trained on Elena.

"Well, he's going to stay here" Elena assured her, though Lily did not seem any less relieved. "But I'm still going to go" she explained.

Lily stood up suddenly. "You can't leave Uncle Stefan. He loves you!" Lily said loudly.

"Lily, I love him too, okay. And I want everything to work out between us" she said, not quite sure that Lily would understand, but also not wanting to underestimate her. But Lily looked so upset.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, her bottom lip quivering even more. "Are you leaving because of me?" she asked.

Elena saw her first tear fall down her face and it literally crushed her. "No, sweetie. You didn't do anything wrong. I just need to do this for me. I know you might not understand now, but I hope one day you will" she explained quietly.

But Lily shook her head. "You can't leave!" Lily said, suddenly angry as she began to cry even more.

"I have to Lily" she said sadly, her own tears falling freely now. "But I will call you every day if that's okay with you" she tried.

Lily crossed her arms and glared at Elena. "If you leave I will never talk to you again" she threatened.

Elena sighed. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning Lily" Elena told her. "And I want us to be okay. Because I love you, so much. And I understand that you are upset right now. But I hope you can forgive me someday" Elena said, standing up. "Can I have a hug goodbye?" she asked.

Lily's eyes flashed with hatred. "I HATE you!" she screamed at Elena before turning around and running out of her room.

Elena wouldn't deny it. That had hurt. A lot. She told herself that Lily didn't mean it. But there was a part of her that believed that Lily did truly hate her. Because Elena hated herself, too.