"You can't just use your hybrids as slaves, Klaus." Elena says as she sits atop an examination table, swinging her legs back and forth.

"Of course I can, love. Did you grow a conscience overnight?" He asks with amusement.

"Obviously not, gross. But these people aren't just humans for you to use. They're gonna be your pack. You're a natural born alpha, it's your birthright. It was taken from you a thousand years ago, but you have a chance now, to lead like you were meant to." She tells him passionately as he leans back in his seat, crossing his arms with a thoughtful expression, "And the alpha protects the pack. But you have to understand that you can't force loyalty, Klaus." She says as he raises a brow.

"What would you suggest then?" He asks, leaning forward as she smiles proudly.

"I thought you'd never ask. When we find the pack, offer them a way to control the shift. Appear sympathetic, but don't try to hide that you're building an army. When the alpha says no, which they will, challenge them. They still live by the code. If you best them in a fight, they'll have no choice but to submit, causing the pack to follow." She instructs as he sends her a proud and impressed grin.

"Do you know what a sire bond is, Klaus?" She asked rhetorically with a smirk as he sends her a look.

"I'm a thousand years old, Love. What do you think?" He asks with an eye roll.

"Right. Then you know what it means when I say, the hybrids will all be sired to you." She says, making him chuckle.

"So when you said I can't force loyalty-" She interrupts.

"Yeah, I was speaking more ethically. But you really shouldn't use it. At least not yet. If you become the alpha, offer to turn those who agree, let some of them live to carry on the bloodlines, they may resent you, but they'll also respect you. And if the time comes when you need their absolute loyalty, invoke the bond without their knowledge. This way, they won't feel the need to break the bond and run from you." She tells him.

"Is that what happened last time?" He asks, making her nod, "But that doesn't matter, it's not gonna happen this time. In the meantime, you should try to find lone wolves. I have a guy, he can get the word out and you should compel some vampires to do the same." she says before the doctor enters the room with a knock.

"Hello Elena, it's time to prep for the operation. I'm sorry, but your husband needs to wait in the waiting room, we'll call him when you're done." She says looking to Klaus as Elena smirks widely and takes Klaus's hand.

"That's fine, Doctor. My husband and I, just can't thank you enough for squeezing us in on such short notice." She says in a fake emotional tone as Klaus barely keeps himself from rolling his eyes.

"Of course." The Doctor says with a smile as Klaus stands.

"I'll be here when you wake up." He says to Elena before turning to the doctor.

"Remember what I told you?" He asks as the doctor's pupils dilate.

"She's to receive the very best care possible and if anyone harms her, you'll kill everyone here." The Doctor says with fear lacing her tone before blinking rapidly, then smiling with slight confusion.

"A nurse will show you to the waiting room." The Doctor tells Klaus as Elena brings a hand to her heart.

"I shall see you soon, my love." She calls out to him dramatically, this time he doesn't suppress the eye roll.

"So sweet. How long have you been together?" The doctor asks.

"Thirty years." Elena says with a wistful smile, "How long am I gonna be out for?" Elena asks as the doctor looks to her confused before shaking her head and answering.

"Not long. You will most likely feel very tired, we recommend bed rest for the rest of the day."

"Cool. Well, let's suck these eggs out of me." Elena says, leaning back with her hands behind her head.


"This again?" Elena groans as she wakes up on the same road from her previous dream.

Walking down the road, in search of the warehouse, Elena feels eyes on her and quickly spins around, coming face to face with nothing.

She shrugs and continues forward.

Coming across the same warehouse. Elena skips happily up to the veil before walking through.

"Amara! Come out, come out, wherever you are." Elena yells as she walks through the building.

On her way to the back of the warehouse, hoping to find the storage room she found the immortal in last time, Elena is thrown to the ground with a hand around her throat.

"Shiiiit." Elena whines catching sight of her attacker.

"Doppelgänger." Mikael growls loudly, making her flinch slightly.

"Can't we talk this out?" She asks as he chuckles darkly, "I'm gonna take that as a no." She mutters, trying to force herself to relax.

"What have you done to me?" He asks threateningly as she stares blankly.

"What? Me? Nothing." Elena says as his hand tightens.

"Lies!" He yells, "three times I've been transported from my afterlife, each time I find myself next to you. And that mutt you call a friend." He adds with disgust.

"I knew I saw you" Elena whispers with realization.

"What have you done? Where are we?" He asks as she sends him a confused look.

"This isn't the otherside?" She questions, taking his silence as an answer, "Can you move now? You obviously can't kill me seeing as this is my dream." Elena says pushing him away from her and stands, pacing with furrowed brows.

"If you don't return me to this 'otherside' I will find a way to make every moment of your existence a living hell, I will-" Elena interrupts with an annoyed groan.

"Oh, my god. I get it. You're big and scary. Who cares? Shut the hell up, I'm trying to work something out." She snaps as he glares with hatred and steps forward, threateningly.

"Alright, when I died, the entity told me I would be haunted by the otherside, driving me insane, but then they said they had a solution. A few nights later, I had a dream of this place where I saw crazy pants. Cut to the cemetery, Klaus ends your pathetic excuse of a life and a few hours later I see you hanging around." Elena lists out as Mikael's glare intensifies.

'Rem season three?' Elena thinks to herself.

"You will show some respect." He demands with eye contact as she leans forward.

"Get fucked." She says before he slams her hard against a wall.

"I can see why you care for that bastard." He says as she glares, before a smug grin spreads across her lips.

"If this place isn't the otherside and is really just a part of my subconscious, that means this is basically a lucid dream." She says, placing her hands around his wrists, "Which means, we're not playing by Krueger rules. I'm in control here." Elena says as he pulls his hands away with a groan of pain.

"Hurts doesn't it?" She asks with a smile as she observes the burn marks on his arms.

"You think you can beat me?" He asks with a chuckle as she sends him a fake smile.

He charges, making Elena curl into herself with a yelp as she throws her hand out.

Elena peaks at him through her hand before giggling wildly as she sees his feet stuck in what looks to be a concrete box made of the same material as the warehouse's ground.

He bends down, punching the concrete around his feet, breaking it apart, making her panic and look around frantically.

Noticing metal pipes running along the wall, Elena envisions them bending and moving towards Mikael, curling around his arms and pulling him away.

As he stalks forward, Elena tries to will the idea into reality, just as he's about to grab her, his wrists are caught by the metal as he's dragged away.

"Holy shit." She mutters with fascination, "I can't believe that worked. Fuck! Why couldn't I have been a witch?" She says glaring up at the ceiling as Mikael pulls on the pipes, unable to move them.

"You said three times. When exactly were you taken from the otherside?" Elena questions as he only glares, causing her to roll her eyes with a groan.

"Dude. Seriously? We don't have a lot of time. Chop chop." She says with a snap.

"First after I died, you were gathering my ashes in a jar." He answers with annoyance as she smiles innocently, "Then while you were drinking at a bar with the beast." She rolls her eyes, "And lastly, I was transported here."

"At the cemetery, I wished for a moment that you weren't dead, because vacuuming your ashes felt too much like cleaning." Elena says more to herself with a thoughtful expression, "And at the bar, I was telling Damon that I wished you were still alive so I could insult you some more. That reminds me, uh, you're a cuckold." She insults weakly as he blinks in surprise, before clenching his jaw, "Damn. Not as good without Elijah's judgmental sigh." She says sadly before shaking her head, "What if I willed it?" Elena asks herself out loud.

"It's your choice to see me?" Mikael asks incredulously as a sinister smirk spreads across her face.

"I just realized something, you're not haunting me, Mikey. I'm haunting you."


Elena wakes slowing, flinching as the bright lights shine in her eyes. She blinks away the drowsiness with a yawn as someone clears their throat, causing her to look up with tired eyes.

"Ms. Gilbert." Elijah greets with a smile and a nod as he places a vase of her flowers down on the side table.

"You got me flowers?" She asks through a scratchy voice, "God, that's classy." She comments with head shake as he sends her an amused look.

"How do you feel?" He asks as he takes a seat next to her bed.

"Like I'm about to become the bio mom to a bunch of fetuses." She answers, taking the cup of water he hands her.

"Is this what you want, Elena? If Niklaus is forc-" She cuts him off with a grateful smile.

"This was my idea, 'lijah. Believe it or not, Klaus really isn't the villain of this story." She mock whispers the last part as he sends her a skeptical look, "Honest. He's my friend." She tells him matter of factly, before looking around, "Where is he? He said he would be here when I woke up." She says with pout.

"You're aunt Jenna called. She wished to give him specific instructions on how to care for you." He answers with a smile at her laugh.

"That's hilarious." She says with a tired smile as she closes her eyes and leans back into her pillow.

"If you don't want to give the eggs away, I'm sure I could find something to offer Klaus in exchange for waiting until you're older." He proposes with concern making her smile sadly at him.

"You're a good guy, Eli." She says, before sighing, "You don't deserve this." She says with slight anger as he raises a brow.

"Deserve what?"

"This. All this shit. And all the pain that comes with being the noble original." She says with distress, "You don't deserve any of it. Not after everything you've done to protect them." She says sadly, as he sends her a tight smile.

"My family?" He questions, she nods, "My family lay in boxes, Elena." He says with regret lacing his tone, "Some put there by my own hand, and others by my cowardice. I believe it's suffice to say, I failed." He explains with guilt." Failed to protect them. Failed to restore my brother's humanity. I broke my vow." He admits.

"Always and forever?" She asks as he nods and leans back, "Doesn't they name kinda suggest, that there's no way to break it? It lasts forever, right? So you have forever to make it up to them." She says with a bright smile.

"I suppose." He says with a small grin.

"And as for Klaus's humanity, you're kinda setting yourself up for failure." He raises a brow, "I feel like you keep comparing him to the brother you grew up with, rather than the man he's been for the last thousand years." She says with a shrug.

"He was good, Elena." Elijah tells her with a sad gleam in his eye, "An artist's soul. He was sweet, gentle, loving… good."

"I know. I saw it. But, people change, 'lijah. And if you keep holding on the image of the younger brother who painted with berries and couldn't stand up to his father, the one whose only heartbreak was from a woman who loved his brother, and not his own mother's betrayal, he'll never live up to your exceptions." Elena tells him softly as a thoughtful look crosses his features, "You gotta accept him for who he is now. The man that centuries of paranoia and running from your father turned him into. The Great Evil." Elena finishes teasingly as he cracks a smile.

"I prefer vampire boogeyman." Elijah says, making her giggle and nod.

"Me too." She agrees, "You wouldn't be betraying the man he used to be. You'd just be learning to love the one he is now." She says with shrugs as he furrows his brows.

"Shockingly poetic for someone who often says the most inappropriate things I've ever heard a woman say." Elijah remarks, making her smile teasingly.

"I've got layers." He smiles at her softly as Klaus walks into the room with a knowing expression.

"How are you feeling?" He asks as she gives him a thumbs up.

"Fine. Tired. What'd Jen say?" Elena asks with amusement as he breathes out a deep breath.

"She demanded I feed you fries and milkshakes while you recover. She always said that if you don't call her within the next 24 hours, she will rain psychological hell down upon me." He quotes, making her snicker.

"Sounds like her." Elena comments with a yawn. "Hey, have you thought about what I told you the other night?" She asks, referring to his new found ability to procreate as he takes a seat next to her bed.

"I have." He answers vaguely.

"And? Are you planning to have any puppies?" She asked as she sinks into her pillow.

"You should go to sleep." He says, avoiding the question as her eyes flutter shut.

"You'd be a great dad." She says as Elijah smiles at Klaus's soft expression. "I wish you were my dad." She mumbles as Klaus raises a brow in confusion and amusement. "-dy." She adds with a giggle as Elijah sighs. "Get it?" She asks before falling asleep.

"Yes." Klaus says as he smiles at her sleeping face.