In five hours Kol woke to Brenna feverish and shaking on his chest while coughing and she began to try to cry but it was just making everything worse.
"Shhh princess," Kol nearly pleaded. "Don't cry." He managed to scoop her up into his arms and began to rub her back as he tried lulling her back to sleep though it didn't work.
He was panicking and as he looked at Bonnie, who was awake, he whispered, "do we need to take her to the doctor?"
"Can we do that?" Bonnie worried, "I've been too afraid of exposure. Neither of our children have ever seen a doctor but I am worried about her."
The second Kol and Bonnie got dressed and managed to get Brenna dressed, they headed for the car where Elijah already was buckling Daniel into his car seat. He looked and pointed to the second one. Kol got the message and placed Brenna in hers, before sitting in the back with Bonnie while Elena was in the passenger seat.
"Elena's been worried and decided to take him to see a doctor." Elijah explained as he drove off to the emergency room.
"Brenna's still not feeling any better." Bonnie admitted as she saw how miserable the two kids were. "Kol asked about taking them to the doctor and usually we have Rebekah helping us but as she's not here..." Elena was nibbling on her fingernail in nervousness.
Elijah managed to grab and hold her hand, squeezing it lightly. "They'll be fine." He soothed but he was as worried as she was.
They arrived at the emergency room and had to wait another hour before Elijah finally compelled a physician to let them be seen together. They were shown back to the exam room. Finally, a young man appeared and he took in the occupants of his room.
"I do not want any trouble here tonight," he looked to Elijah and Kol.
"Do you know what kind of danger you have put your children in?" the doctor looked to Bonnie and Elena.
"You seem to have a firm grasp of the situation so let me fill you in," Bonnie said, "these children are vampires and whether you believe it or not they are the offspring of the men before you. We very willingly had these children and love them very dearly. Now if any of this is going to be a problem for you can we please have another physician."
"Vampires can't procreate"
"That's not completely accurate," Elena said.
"Okay I'll just wing it and take everything you say as truth..." the doctor said and he took Daniel's temperature while Elena held him. Then he did the same for Brenna. "Okay I need to see inside their throats. Are they capable of biting me?"
"Not in the way that you mean," Bonnie gave the doctor a reassuring smile. He carefully opened Brenna's mouth and looked down her throat before doing the same with Daniel.
"Well it looks like they have strep throat," the doctor said. "I'm hypothesizing that their vampire immune system is suppressed since they don't have all of their attributes yet. I can give you some antibiotics but I don't know whether they will be effective or not. I'm sorry. I can also give them some shots which will bring their fever down." He looked around and lowered his voice.
"Have you tried blood?"
Bonnie and Elena shook their heads. "No, we haven't tried it at all." Bonnie said. Elena was about to say something to the doctor when Elijah glared at him.
"It would seem that your hypothesis is indeed correct." His voice was low. "Now would you kindly give us the antibiotics and leave."
The doctor wanted to say something but the look in the noble Original's eye was scary. Being known as a nobleman and a gentleman as well, Elijah was very hard to anger until that precise moment.
As the doctor left, Elijah bit into his hand and had Daniel take a few sips as Kol did the same with Brenna.
The blood brought down their children's fevers but the coughing remained.
"Okay I had strep throat. Do you see any white fuzzy in their throats?" Bonnie said. Kol and Elijah checked inside their children's mouths.
"Yes," both agreed.
"Okay...maybe this is like when your blood can't cure cancer and such," Elena said. There was a knock at the door. Kol looked to Elijah making sure they were both done.
"You can come in"
The doctor returned with two pill bottles and handed them to each of the girls.
"It appears the infection is still there," Elena admitted.
"Then I would recommend the shots and also if you have not done so you should have them immunized," the doctor urged. The doctor prepared two needles and the girls passed their children to Elijah and Kol. The doctor tried to size up which one was least likely to kill him. Finally, he moved to Elijah first and then carefully darted Daniel. The child scrunched his face a moment but didn't cry. Then the doctor moved to Brenna. Again he administered the shot and the small child gripped Kol's shirt a little but otherwise didn't fuss.
"Okay I'm going to go out on a limb here because I don't think you have anyone to trust in this field. Here is a card with my personal cell number. If they don't show improvement or if you need anything else please give me a call, the name is Grayson by the way," the doctor announced.
Elena nodded as she and Bonnie took the cards that he offered and slipped them into their purses.
"Thank you for your help." Elena said before taking Daniel in her arms and smiling at him. Bonnie also thanked him as she took Brenna from Kol.
"If you want, you both can make another appointment for them to get some more shots once they feel better." Grayson said as he looked at the men.
"We'll let you know mate." Kol added before he and Elijah steered the women to go make appointments for the kids.
The car ride home was quiet but by the time they got there Bonnie smiled as Brenna was sacked out. Daniel's head lulled against his chest. Finally, the kids had some relief and they gave into their exhaustion.
"Thank you," Elena looked to Elijah.
"I've never been afraid to go to the doctor before but this is different," Bonnie said. She was dragging as she hauled Brenna upstairs and settled her daughter in bed. She was practically dead on her feet.
Kol ended up sweeping her into his arms and carried her to his room before he placed her on the bed beside him.
"Don't ever be afraid of that again." He whispered. "I thought that there was something horribly wrong with them." He added. She curled into his arms.
"Now we know what it is. We can make sure that they take their medications." She whispered before falling asleep.
Elijah had Daniel sleeping on top of him, afraid of having him in his own room after the night's excitement. Elena ran a hand through his dark locks.
"He looks like you." She whispered softly. He smiled at her.
"I see more of you in him." He whispered back, just as softly.
Everyone slept heavily through the night. When Kol woke Bonnie was still sound asleep. He walked over to Brenna's room but she wasn't alone. At some point Daniel had crawled into bed with Brenna and they were curled together asleep. Brenna had her little pink bunny clutched tightly against her and Daniel was holding her fluffy sheep.
"It's a shame to wake them when they're like this." He turned to see Elena was there with a smile on her face. "I had nearly forgotten that he does this." She looked at him and smiled. "Bonnie and I had them sharing a crib but once it turned out that Daniel liked kicking in his sleep, we had to give him his own."
"When did you wake?" He was hoping that he didn't wake her.
"I'm a bit of a light sleeper." She gave him a smile. "Ever since Katherine came into town, I've been a bit of a light sleeper."
"You know nothing can get to you through an entire house of originals," Kol said gently.
"Family is everything to us so we will kill anyone who tries to mess with ours. You can go back to bed if you want. I'll watch both of them. Why don't you spend some time with Elijah?"
Her smile faded a bit. "I was wondering if you all really see me as family. I know that Rebekah and Elijah do-she was there for me when I was pregnant and feeling like my family had abandoned me only for her to comfort me-even after I had daggered her." She was twirling the rings on her finger. "I wanted Elijah to be there, to know but every time I tried calling it never worked and when Rebekah told us how she was behaving towards all of you, I wanted to find all of you and tell you all that there are Mikaelsons running around."
Kol hugged her. "Why didn't you?" He asked her.
"I didn't think any of you would be welcoming to me after I helped Matt kill Finn." She always regretted it. That was one of the biggest mistakes in her life that she regretted. "I shouldn't have let Damon talk me into doing it."
"No, you shouldn't have," Kol agreed, "but we all make mistakes. You are family Elena; you, Caroline, Bonnie, Daniel, Brenna. You're all Mikaelsons and you're my family. I would fight to protect all of you so you can put your trust in me. I am sorry that we didn't answer the calls. I will regret that forever, Elijah and I deserved to be there but we have only ourselves to blame."
She sighed. "I am sorry about Finn." She whispered. Turning around, she smiled. "I haven't said this much but you are a good man like Elijah." Tip toeing out of the room, she snuck back into the bed with Elijah and rested her head into the crook of his arm.
"I love you my vampire prince charming." She whispered softly and before she fell asleep, she heard him whisper, "I love you more my princess."
Kol smiled at such praise from Elena; to be compared to Elijah. He settled in the rocking chair in Brenna's room and watched over the children as they continued to sleep. Daniel woke first but his movements soon woke Brenna. Kol quickly administered their antibiotics and then carried them downstairs where he catered to their thirst and had just settled them to eat their oatmeal when Klaus arrived.
"Morning brother," Klaus greeted Kol. "How are my little niece and nephew this morning?"
"I think they may be doing a little better. They feel normal to the touch so I think we're keeping the temperature down," Kol smiled. Klaus had two mugs of coffee and he winked at Kol before he turned back towards his bedroom.
"You should have woken me. I would have gotten up and helped," Bonnie croaked out from her sore throat.
"You looked so peaceful and I didn't want to wake you up." Kol told her lovingly. "Besides, I think they might be getting better."
Bonnie smiled at him. "That's good."
Elijah came down, half panicking and half worried until he saw Daniel with Brenna, Kol and Bonnie.
"I told you that he was okay." Elena told him as she sleepily laid her head on his shoulder.
"I fed him," Kol said, "I hope you don't mind. I would expect you to do the same for Brenna. They're not warm and they seem to be in better spirits. I gave them each a pill; by the way Daniel bites when you try that."
"Yeah, he hates pills of any kind. He used to get a few ear infections and ever since then he hates any kind of medicine," Elena said. "Sorry Kol."
"No worries, we reached an understanding," Kol smiled easily.
"Daddy!" Daniel smiled when he saw his father and reached to be picked up but Elena stopped Elijah from retrieving him.
"No sir mister, you're going to eat that bowl of oatmeal," Elena said firmly and Daniel gave her the full pouty face.
Brenna was more than halfway through her bowl and now she offered a spoonful to Kol.
Bonnie began laughing.
"I swear-he's just like you!" Elena stuck her tongue out at her.
"I see a little more of Elijah in him." Kol mused. "He would refuse to eat something that he didn't like and he would bite."
Elijah would be blushing if he could.
"So we know that Elena and Elijah added a lot of themselves into Daniel, what about my little princess?" Bonnie shook her head and Elena smiled widely.
"You mean, besides bring a flirt?" Elena now let out giggles. "She acts like you a lot."
"She has a determination streak a mile wide," Caroline said, "that's both of you. When she gets it in her mind that she wants to do something she does it. She is very protective and she has this unexpected sweet, cuddly side that I never knew was Kol until now."
"She has a lot of both of you in her because the two of you are surprisingly alike and I never knew that before because you're only like that with Bonnie," Elena told Kol. "I see where Brenna comes from now and BonBon I'm sorry for all the pain I know I caused you when you came to me. I was just terrified for you but I should have remembered you Bennett's aren't easily swayed - especially not in matters of the heart."
"It's all long ago forgiven," Bonnie smiled.
About that time Daniel landed a blob of oatmeal directly in Bonnie's eye. "My contacts!" She stumbled startled by the action.
"Daniel!" Elena scolded. Bonnie was in shock but then it turned into surprise as Brenna threw a spoon at Elena but missed and it hit Caroline.
"Brenna!" Kol scolded her.
"New rule-no throwing food and utensils at people." Elijah said as he looked at Daniel.
Elena had left with Bonnie to help her out.
Bonnie got her eyes washed out and her contact cleaned. When they returned to the kitchen she made a cup of tea and the adults all had yellow grits which was Bonnie's new favorite breakfast. She drank a lot of tea as she made her way through breakfast but she was beginning to feel bad. With a sigh she swiped her hand over her head and realized how bad she felt.
"How are you feeling?" Kol asked as he placed his hand over her forehead and felt how warm she was. "You're a little bit warmer than the average human is." He added.
Elena didn't eat at all because she had said that she felt nauseous.
"I'll...be...fine..." She got out weakly before she ran to the toilet and retched up whatever was in her stomach.
"Mommy doesn't feel good," Caroline explained to Daniel as she took over for Elijah who hurried to tend to Elena.
"What is wrong with them?" Klaus frowned.
"They're sick," she replied, "we're human and we tend to catch illness from other humans."
Kol helped Bonnie back upstairs and into her bedroom.
"Kol I don't get to lay down sick," Bonnie protested, "I have a baby who needs me..."
Elena laid her head weakly on the toilet after the second go and groaned as she admitted that she was officially sick.
"I have work tonight and a sick child. I cannot be sick. Can't you just give me some blood and I can get over this..." she groaned weakly to Elijah as he gathered her against him.
"As much as I want to, no," he said to her. "Sick humans need to rest and lovely, I will take care of Daniel."
Elena wanted to groan and beg him but when she was settled in the bed, Elijah kissed her forehead.
"Rest my love." He whispered and she fell asleep when her head hit the pillow.
"And now gentlemen you are going to see just what we women have been managing for three years now," Caroline smiled. "First of all let's see where we are on the sick front..." she felt each child's forehead. "Okay they've got a little bit of a fever and that's likely what's making them the most irritable. How about we try a luke warm bathtub? That is going to take at least two people...oh and make sure you have the bath water drawn before you undress the children..." she smirked. This should be an interesting couple of days.
Elijah nodded as he went off to prepare the bathtub for the kids, Kol on his heels with the children in his arms.
"What should I do?" Klaus asked as he stared at her.
"Help me make some homemade chicken soup for everyone." She said.
The water was at the right temperature for the children to take baths. As Elijah got Daniel in the bath with him in his room, Kol was having a trickier time with Brenna.
Finally, Kol gave up on that idea and decided to go for a shower. He slipped some swim trunks on and then bundled Brenna into his arms in her little pink swimsuit and stepped into his luxury shower with her. The jets spayed from every direction and water rained down. Brenna was a little wary for a moment but soon she loved it. She laid her head on his shoulder and before he knew it she was asleep again.
He emerged from the shower and laid her down on a towel on his bed still asleep. He got redressed and then settled on his bed to read Bonnie's prospectus for the club. Brenna was up a few minutes later and she crawled across the bed to settle with Kol. She wanted him to read to her so he started reading the prospectus aloud and she was soon sound asleep again. She just wanted to be near him. With a smile he felt her forehead and was thankful that she felt normal right now.
Meanwhile the chicken soup was cooking downstairs and with everyone else incapacitated or busy Klaus and Caroline were making out hot and heavy. She was on the island countertop in the kitchen and he was between her legs. Ever since the other night they had barely been able to keep their hands off each other.
The smell of the soup nearly burning caused him to pull away and he growled, "we will finish this later."
She could only nod and suddenly, an idea hit. Hopping off the counter, she went over to the cabinets and pulled out saltine crackers.
"It helps." She told him. "Soup, crackers, dry toast and ginger ale or 7UP." She went straight into the fridge and groaned. "Which we have none."
"If you watch the food, I'll buy drinks." He promised her.
"Thank you," Caroline grinned and she kissed him before he hurried off to the store. When he arrived back it was lunchtime. Caroline had brought Bonnie and Elena some Tylenol and trays of soup and crackers with the ginger ale. Everyone else arrived at the table.
"Okay now you need to blow on each bite before you give it to them and make sure it isn't too hot. I wouldn't let them feed themselves or the soup will never make it to their mouths," Caroline cautioned.
"Noooo..." Brenna whined as she got a good look at the soup.
"Oh yeah," Caroline sighed, "Brenna hates celery. I'm sorry sweetie auntie Caroline forgot. I know you prefer your mama's stew...maybe we'll have that for dinner."
Elijah gave Daniel a spoonful and he loved it. "More! More!"
Elijah obliged and kept feeding him more spoonfuls. Klaus had never seen a kid who loved soup more than this one.
Caroline smiled. "He knows that when he's sick, he needs soup and all the celery and carrots and onions in it though he hates carrots."
Kol looked at Brenna and tried to get her to eat some of it. She was as stubborn as him and Bonnie.
"Caroline is there something else we can try?" Kol worried. Caroline frowned and thought about it.
About a half-hour later Caroline poured hot and sour soup into a bowl. She blew on it to cool it and then offered it to Brenna. She took a hesitant sip and then smacked her lips. She eagerly took the next bite from Kol and he was on his way to getting lunch down her.
"Bonnie's so weird," Caroline teased.
Elijah was just glad his son was eating his soup. "Is there anything else we need to do?"
"Let them rest." Caroline told him. "As they're sick, they need rest more often." He nodded and when Daniel was done with his food, Elijah made sure that he was comfortable as Elijah laid on the bed beside an awake Elena and had Daniel laying him on his chest where he told him stories about princes and princesses.
All three fell asleep.
Kol took Brenna into Bonnie's room and settled next to her.
"How's she doing?" Bonnie asked and she punctuated it with a bunch of coughing.
"She seems to be doing just fine. She's taken her medicine and had a shower plus a little rest," Kol said.
"Get up Mommy," Brenna urged.
"Mommy doesn't feel good so Daddy is going to take care of both of his girls until Mommy feels better," Kol said. The alarm on Bonnie's phone bleeped then and she looked at it and groaned. She struggled trying to get out of bed and Kol halted her progress.
"What do you think you're doing?" he frowned.
"I have an inspection with the fire marshall in a half hour and then the liquor license board after that," Bonnie groaned. "I have to get up..."
"I'll have Caroline and Klaus take care of it." He promised.
She smiled and as he laid Brenna down with Bonnie, he went downstairs and told Caroline about the meetings Bonnie has.
"I'll have Klaus with me." She told him and as she dragged him over to the car, he smiled.
"Meetings sweetheart?" he asked and she nodded. "Let's go then."
They peeled out of there fast.
"I'm so glad you can't get this or I would be ordering you out of here. No one deserves to be this miserable," Bonnie groaned. "I hate to be bothering you but could I possibly have some tea? My favorite is Earl Grey with plenty of lemon if you have it..." She rubbed Brenna's back as she slept on.
Kol smiled. "I'll make it." He said as he went downstairs where Elijah had an awake Daniel in his arms and was making tea.
"It's mint tea for Elena." He said as he bounced Daniel in his arms a bit. "She says that she wanted some and was about to come down here to make it when I stopped her."
"We have Earl Grey tea right?" Kol asked and Elijah nodded.
"At the top." He added while he moved to get mugs for Elena and Bonnie.
"How's Bonnie doing?" Elijah asked.
"She seems so weak. I wish I could just take it away. No one should have to suffer like that," Kol worried. "Do you have any idea how to make her feel better?"
He sighed. "I don't think our blood would work that well."
Kol groaned. "Is there anything?"
"Letting them rest and allow the sickness to leave their bodies." He gave him a look. "That's what I'm doing."
"How bad is Elena?" Elijah grimaced.
"Very bad. She was hovering over the toilet just sounding horrible."
"Why would anyone want to be human when they know there's an alternative to that?" Kol frowned. The kettle whistled and he poured water into each of the mugs and then Elijah set the saucers on the top to encourage the leaves to steep.
"They're used to living like this. I'm sure they've been sick plenty of times," Elijah said. The timer on his watch went off. "It's time for their medicine again."
When the tea finished steeping the men each filled a tray and headed back to their rooms.
Bonnie was sitting up when he arrived and Brenna was telling her a story that seemed to be a cross between Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty. Bonnie was smiling as she listened with rapt attention to her daughter's tale.
"Okay, I brought my girls something to drink," Kol said. He gave Brenna her medicine and then a cup of juice with a straw. He passed Bonnie her cup of tea and her smile of appreciation melted his heart.
Meanwhile Elena smiled at Elijah as he returned with her tea and their medicine.
"So how does it feel to be parenting on your own?" she croaked out.
He smiled. "It has been interesting to say the least."
She smiled back and made a motion for him to join her on the bed. Lying in bed with her and Daniel on his chest, he gave them their medicine. Daniel nearly bit Elijah but Elijah murmured, "don't try it."
The little boy ended up taking the pills without much fuss and he fell asleep peacefully.
"Are you feeling any better?" He asked her.
"Actually I think I am feeling a little bit better - especially after that tea. Thank you so much Elijah," Elena said. "You're the perfect husband and father."
"Okay we're legal for another year," Caroline called from downstairs. "Plus the dance team is going to hold it together on their own until we're back."
"Care..." Bonnie called weakly. When Caroline appeared at the door Bonnie added, "you need to go. I don't know what would happen with none of us there..."
"Which is why Klaus and I are changing as we speak," Caroline said. "You two just concentrate on getting better and let all of the rest of us show you how good we are at taking care of other people. We can do it too you know." A few minutes later Klaus and Caroline were gone to work and Elijah looked to Elena.
"She's right you know," Elijah smiled. "You and Bonnie can relax. Give Kol and I a chance to prove that we have what it takes."