A/N: Hello readers, here is the next instalment.

Thank you for all the interest in the story, the reviews and follows are always appreciated.

Give a big thanks to my Beta - Rebekah Mikaelson.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of The Vampire Diaries, they all belong to the writers and directors of the show.


Love at Second Sight

Chapter 4 - Acceptance

A couple of weeks had gone by since meeting Elena and every night Elijah woke up the same way, sweating and gasping for breath. In the few times he had awaken to Hayley, shaking him out if his nightmare, he hadn't been sure of his surroundings. His focus at work had declined and he kept seeing the same images over and over again.

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The pattering of rain hitting the windscreen could be heard, and flashes of lightning lit the roads every few minutes, the clapping of thunder rumbled as Elijah drove carefully to get back home.

He was a corner away from getting home when the tune of 'Thrift Shop' sounded from his pocket. Elijah pulled over and put the car in neutral to answer the call.

"Hello" Elijah greeted

"Elijah, I need you to pick me up" The voice on the other end said.

"You were grounded, why are you out?"

"Just pick me up Elijah! There was a party I couldn't miss" the voice replied

"Fine, where are you?" Elijah asked impatiently

"Chatham street!" The voice said hurriedly and then Elijah heard some rustling and what sounded like panting, the phone disconnected, but he had a bad feeling about it.

Elijah drove back on the wet road and headed in the direction he came, he put his foot down a little because the phone call was disturbing, urging him to drive faster even if the weather was preventing him from seeing anything.

As he went to turn down a main road, Elijah spotted a black figure running in front of him. He slammed on his break to avoid a collision, and directed the car away. Only the car began to aquaplane off the road and Elijah's door hit straight into a tree.

After the impact Elijah felt dazed and disoriented, looking around he saw smoke, the window wipers were still going and the airbags had gone off, though Elijah noticed blood on the window to his left.

His hand immediately went to touch his head, but Elijah yelled in pain at the normal movement. He looked down to find his arm at a slightly odd angle with a big gash on his forearm. Being cautious with his injured arm, he used his other hand to find that blood was dripping from the top of his head. It wasn't long before Elijah felt nauseous and everything turned black.

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.

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It was always the same road and the same phone call, and his nightmares began the day he met Elena Gilbert. He lay in bed awake wanting to sleep but knowing if he did, he would be subjected to the same images that woke him.

Deciding he couldn't sleep anymore he got up to get a drink. With a drink in hand he sat at his laptop and typed in something that he felt he shouldn't know. He brought up a search page and typed in 'August 4 2013 Car Accident'. When he clicked search, several pages came up. As he scanned through the articles, his mouth fell open. He sat staring at the screen in shock, as his name came up, several times throughout the articles.

'22 year-old Elijah Mikaelson found unconscious'

'The vehicle had the most impact on the drivers side'

'Caught driving in a storm and failed to make it home'

His mind was reeling from the information, his family didn't talk about the accident since he couldn't remember what happened. He found out the date a while ago but didn't think to look it up. Seeing the pictures and the subtext of the article, Elijah was lost for words, his nightmare wasn't a nightmare at all. It was a memory, a piece of his old life. A tear formed and ran down his right cheek.

It seemed insignificant to remember such small things, but for Elijah this was huge. Finally something was making sense. And for some reason it all had to do with the brunette he had met a few weeks ago.


Word had gotten round to the family about Kol and Elena, it seemed that someone thought they were in a relationship. Now that meant the assumption that the twins were his. Elena had picked up the twins from daycare and returned home, upon entering she found an envelope with her name written in calligraphy.

She threw it on the side table for now, she had to start dinner. The dreaded envelope could wait, she already knew who it was from. She had recieved such letters before. The first when she and Elijah first got together. The dinner having been a ruse to decide whether she was good enough for their son. The second has been a celebratory dinner, in honor of Elijah's acceptance to college.

She picked up her phone and sent a text message to both Rebekah and Kol.

Elena: Did you both receive the fancy invitation too?

It hadn't been five minutes until she got a reply from them.

Rebekah: Yes, I think mother wants a reunion.

Kol: You don't have to go Elena.

Elena had not decided anything just yet, but she didn't really want to sit at a big dinner table putting on a smile. She had wanted to wipe the smug grin off Mikael faces before the accident. Now, that feeling had only gotten worse. People she thought of as family were going to be there, she had just decided to let go of Elijah and now it felt like they were pulling her back in.

It wasn't fair, none of it was. She'd have to sit and smile while Mikael silently torments her about the accident. With a shudder, she recalled the way her cheek had stung when he'd struck her. She had kept away from him ever since and now out of the blue they invite her into their residence.

She was brought out of her deep thoughts when a tug on her arm got her attention, Kahlan had called her several times. Elena looked at her daughter and saw the paper she was holding. It had big letters spelling 'Family'. You could tell an adult had outlined the word and her daughter had traced it. Underneath were many standing figures, some with blonde hair, others with dark hair. They were all holding hands and it made Elena smile.

"Mommy, that's Uncle Jermy, Matt and Ty and that's you. That's me and Riley with uncle Kol and aunt Rekkah, and that's Caro and Bonnie." Kahlan pointed to each figure as she said the names, it was a picture that would be put on the fridge.

Riley was standing next to Kahlan, a piece of paper in his hand as well. Noticing her sons sad expression she picked him up and put him on her lap, taking the picture to get a good look. Again it had the words family, but unlike Kahlan's, Riley only had three people on there. Himself, Kahlan and her. He had received help on writing their names but there was another word 'Daddy' with no figure there.

Riley couldn't draw his dad because they had never met. It clearly showed that her son wanted to know why he didn't have a dad. "What's up Ry?" Elena asked although she had a good idea.

"All our friends have their daddies, why not us? He not love us any more..." Elena grabbed her son tighter, pulling him close and grabbing Kahlan closer too. It was time to tell them. They deserved to know part of the truth, but she wouldn't reveal who it was.

"Your daddy had an accident before you were born. He hit his head really hard, and it made him forget a lot of things. You know how you forget to wash your hands or you forget where you put spongebob. Well he gets that all the time, and we have to wait until he gets better."

Elena tried her best to explain while holding in the tears that were threatening to spill. Her voice broke while revealing the truth, they were still young but they would always ask more questions if she didn't explain.

She cuddled the twins until the timer of the cooker sounded throughout the room. The two children got down and followed Elena's request of washing their hands. She took one last glance at the envelope and sighed, Elena would read it when the twins were in bed. She stalked off to the kitchen to dish up dinner.


"Come on love, I only want to show you off to my family." Klaus whined to his bubbly blonde girlfriend.

"I know, but we agreed that this would be a secret. And whole Elijah turning up with a girlfriend does help to break the news about us, I just don't want to rub it in Elena's face. She has had so many problems with your family." The blonde sat on her boyfriends lap, arms around his neck aa she placed kisses on his cheek.

"Caroline you can't protect her from everything, she's going to find out sooner or later and it will be worse if you keep lying to her." Klaus looked sincerely at Caroline as he spoke gentle words. She was his truly saviour. Thanks to her, he no longer felt like the monster his father perceived him to be.

"Fine, I'll go to the family dinner." Caroline held her hands up in surrender as she watched a smile form on Klaus's face.

They had been dating for five months. She was actually being taken on a date to an art gallery, only to find the one and only Klaus Mikaelson as the artist in question. Her date at the time was boring, explaining all the textures and colours, it seemed the date was more for his enjoyment than hers. He didn't even notice that Caroline walked off as he drawled on about an 18th century painting.

She had been about to leave when her full name was called, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion she turned around. Her date only knew her first name, so clearly this person knew her better. When she turned around to the British voice, she saw the deep blue eyes and blonde messy hair of Klaus Mikaelson.

Caroline smiled as she finally knew who called her name, also relieved that it wasn't her date. A simple "Would you like a drink, love?" broke the silence. They walked to his office, avoiding the dirty blonde man in a black suit bobbing and weaving through the room in search of her.

They stole a bottle of champagne on their exit and hid in the office for hours. It was comfortable. Caroline hadn't seen Klaus since living in Mystic Falls. She always had a crush on him, but he always had a girl on his arm. And at the time she had Tyler, although they didn't work out, they were better as friends.

The conversation continued, sharing stories and problems with dating and their jobs. It wasn't until it was closing time that Klaus grabbed her arm as she walking out the door, to turn her around and press his lips to hers. They exchanged numbers, and started meeting each other as often as possible. Now, five months later, here they were.