"Welcome, we would like to thank you all for joining our family this evening in celebration of our homecoming." Elijah says to the room as his siblings stand by his side, making Elena smile.

"So finish your drinks and find a dance partner." Kol speaks up while draining his drink and patting Elijah's shoulder as the scoobies and Elena laugh.

"Hey." Elena says to Klaus as he smiles and holds out a hand, asking her to join him, furrowing his brows when Elena pulls Caroline towards him and all but pushes her into his arms. "Have fun." She says before walking away leaving the two to look to each other in confusion.

"Ms. Gilbert." Damon says with a smirk, holding his hand out. "May I have this dance?" He asks formally as she laughs.

"And ruin your freshly polished shoes? You know I can't dance." She says, making him shrug and pull her to him.

"I'll lead." He winks as she rolls her eyes playfully.

As the dancers line up, Elena throws a small salute to the DJ, making him nod before starting the music. Elena smiles widely as the chords to 'Give Me Love' begin and the dance starts.

"Ouch." Damon hisses as Elena steps on his foot.

"I warned you, this one's on you." She says as he mock glares at her.

"Why didn't you ever learn to dance? With as many functions as this town has, it was mandatory in my day." Damon says, making her laugh at the memory of her parents many attempts at bribing her into joining her friends for lessons.

"Not really my thing." She answers, looking around the room for Klaroline, spotting Finn and Sage instead.

"You know, when you asked for Sage's info, I didn't think it was for the tall one." Damon says, following her eye line as she rolls her eyes.

"His name is Finn and their story is kinda epic. She's loved him for 900 years. How insane is that?" Elena shakes her head as Damon sighs heavily.

"As someone who loved a girl for 145 years, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the whole 'the heart grows fonder' thing is complete bullshit. Makes you wonder what's wrong with her to hold on so long." Damon whispers in her ear as Elena scoffs.

"Only you could turn a beautiful love story spanning nine centuries into a critique on her psyche." Elena trails off, catching sight of Caroline laughing at something Klaus said.

"What are you looking at?" Damon asks.

"Shh, I'm watching something." She whispers. "Hey, what are they saying?" she nods towards Klaus and Caroline when she laughs again.

"They're talking about you." Damon says, laughing at whatever Klaus said as she shakes her head.

"No, no, no. This is all wrong. They're supposed to be falling in love." She mutters with confusion as Damon raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"We're about to switch, don't trip." Damon presses a kiss to her hair before spinning her into Stefan's arms.

"Well, don't you look handsome." Elena says, making the vampire look down with a smile.

"Thank you, you look beautiful." Stefan says as his eyes drift to Rebekah, causing him to let out a small sigh.

"How are you doing with that?" Elena asks.

"I don't know. I don't want to hurt her, El. I care about her. But, I'm-"

"Different?" She asks, making him nod.

"So different. Especially from the man she knew in the twenties. I hate that guy, he's a totally douche." Elena laughs.

"But so hot." His eyes widen.

"What?" He asks as she shrugs.

"Ripper Stefan is daddy." She says with nonchalance as he pulls a face.

"Don't say daddy. And why? I was such an-"

"Asshole? Yeah, I fuck Klaus, dude. Assholes are kinda my type." He chuckles, shaking his head.

"Thank you, El." She raises a brow in question. "For distracting me. Making me feel better about Rebekah." She smiles.

"Look, Bekah is awesome. And she deserves someone amazing. If that's you, great. If not, I have complete and total faith that the two of you will find happiness with or without each other." He smiles gratefully down at her.

"I think I am happy." Stefan says with realization. "Earlier, me and Damon were getting ready together and having a drink. It felt so normal, like we didn't spend the last century and a half making each other miserable. It felt like when we were human. Before Katherine and the war. I'm happier than I ever thought I could be." Stefan trails off with slight embarrassment as Elena smiles gently, leaning in and kissing his cheek.

"You deserve it." She whispers before they switch partners and she ends up in Klaus's arms.

"What is your problem?" Elena asks, making Klaus scoff.

"I could ask you the same. You have been acting strange, all day. What's wrong?" He asks, causing her to stop dancing and pull him away from the floor in search of an empty room.

"Why aren't you into Caroline?" She asks straightforwardly as Klaus stares at her with a puzzled expression.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Klaus says as Elena groans.

"I know. That's the problem!" She exclaims, throwing her hands up. "What do you think about her?" Elena questions. "Just go with it." She says, noticing his hesitance.

"Uh, she's intelligent. Detail oriented. Very nice. Ellie, what am I supposed to say?" He asks as she pouts.

"That she's beautiful and strong. That she's full of light and that you enjoy her, or some other swoon worthy crap!" She throws her hands up as he scoffs.

"Why would I ever say those things? What aren't you telling me?" He narrows his eyes as she rubs the back of her neck sheepishly.

"It is possible… you were in love with her." She whispers the last part as he laughs with disbelief.

"Really?" He asks with skepticism as she nods.

"Yes! You had this will they/won't they, love triangle, spontaneous woods sex thing and it was amazing! You guys are like meant to be or something. Which is why, you should be out there, making her question all her morals and slowly fall for you." She takes a deep breath as Klaus stares at her before sitting down on the nearest surface with a contemplative expression.

After a few moments, Klaus stands and shrugs. "Doesn't matter." He says, causing her mouth to gape in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asks as he sighs.

"I don't feel that way now, so it doesn't matter. We should get back to the ball." He grabs her hand.

"No." She pulls her hand away. "Maybe you just haven't been around her enough. Yes. You should give that a try." She gives an encouraging nod.

"In the future you saw, was I ever actively searching for love?" He asks as she stares in confusion.

"No."

"Exactly. When you find love, it's random and not necessarily something I'm very fond of. If I ever fall in love again, it won't be because I tried to force it." He explains as she frowns.

"Damn. That was good. But, you don't understand, she was important to you. She called you on your shit and made you show kindness and compassion. You need her." She furrows her brows as he smiles down at her.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asks.

"You do realize everything you just said could be used to describe the impact you've had on me." He quirks a brow with a smirk as she shakes her head.

"No, that's different. You need someone to-" she cuts herself off with a sigh." Dammit! Ugh, I ruined my favorite ship with my stupid meddling. I am the worst. No, that's too far, I'm incredible. Whatever, we'll just have to find someone else." She shrugs as he rolls his eyes.

"Why do I need someone? I have my family, my hybrids, and you." He tries to make her understand.

"I hear you, I do. But, honestly I'm already planning a speed dating night at the grill where everyone is compelled to be honest."

"Stop." Klaus grabs her shoulders, practically seeing her mind race as fast as her heart. "Why are you doing this?" He asks, staring into her eyes with concern.

"You need someone to take care of you, Nik." She whispers as he tilts his head.

"I have you for that, don't I?" He asks in a playful tone.

"I won't be around forever. You know what the witch who attacked me said. And when I'm gone, you'll need someone to be there for you." Elena says with determination.

"Are you serious? This is why you've been acting so odd? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, Ellie." Klaus promises sincerely.

"You can't control everything, Klaus. But, I can, so when I die-" He cuts her off with a pained look and a head shake. "Just listen. You need to take Kol to New Orleans and find a girl named Davina Claire. But, maybe hold off for a few years, because she's a little younger than Remy. And you need to go through all my info about the Gemini prison worlds. They contain some things I need for Finn and Bekah. But before that, you need to find Freya, she's most likely at the Dowager Fauline Cottage, you know that prison for witches. Also, you're gonna need to occasionally cause some trouble so Elijah feels like he has a purpose. Maybe every few decades go on a killing spree or something, I don't know, dealer's' choice."

"Elena, stop." Klaus says firmly, ending Elena's panic driven rambling.

"You need to look after Remy, Nik." She adds through heavy breathing.

"You need to calm down, Ellie." Klaus says, leading her to a nearby couch and sitting her down.

"I don't have time. I thought I had years to take care of all this stuff, but-" she suddenly goes quiet as Klaus raises a suspicious brow.

"What?"

"I've been feeling terrible lately. It wasn't too bad at first, but the pain had been growing." Elena admits.

"Is it your… stomach?" Klaus asks cautiously, making her laugh.

"I'm not pregnant, dumbass." She rolls her eyes as he smiles at her in apology. "Whatever's happening, I just know it's happening soon. So I'm trying to make sure you're all happy before I, uh you know." She trails off awkwardly.

Klaus sighs heavily before leaning in and kissing her, causing her eyes to widen in surprise before reciprocating, Klaus pulls away with an unreadable expression.

"Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see." Klaus smirks as her brows furrow in confusion.

"What-"

"I was feeling a little off today, but you've turned me on again." He continues with humor in his eyes, making her snort.

"Klaus, seriously." She smiles.

"Kiss me if I'm wrong, but dinosaurs still exist, right?" Elena busts out laugh at the cheesy line as Klaus gestures for her to speak, making her roll her eyes with a wide smile.

"This tux looks great on you, but it's gonna look even better on my bedroom floor." Klaus chuckles as Elena sends him a grateful smile for his attempt to cheer her up.

"Come on." He stands, holding out his hand. "We should get back, I'm sure Kol is looking for you." Klaus says, leading her out of the room.

"Or we can stay here for a little while." She wiggles her eyebrows as he shakes his head. "Oh, come on. You have to finish what you started." She whines, making him laugh. "Wow, who knew you were such a tease. I've got blue balls." She pouts as he rolls her eyes and pulls her out of the room.

"My apologies, that must be very uncomfortable." He plays along as she nods.

"Extremely." She mumbles, catching sight of Caroline and Rebekah as they walk through the crowded room.

Caroline laughs loudly with a laugh Elena's never heard from her, before giggling with a blush covering her cheeks and pushing her hair behind her ears, realization spreads across Elena's face along with a wide grin.

"Operation Rebekoline is a go." Elena whispers to herself bringing a finger to her ear.

"What was that?" Klaus asks as his eyes move between her lips and her hand.

"That was- like an earpiece from criminal minds…" she trails off with a dejected sigh. "No one gets me." She mutters sadly before walking away.


Kol approaches Elena with a satisfied smile. "We should probably do this thing." Kol says with a grin as Elena notices blood smeared across his neck, she shakes her head with a fond smile while licking her finger and and cleaning the blood off him, as she pulls away Kol catches her wrist and licks the blood off her finger as her breath catches.

"Okay, woah. That was hot. Wanna get outta here?" She asks in a distracted tone before being brought back to reality by his laugh. "Right. Come on." She grabs his hand, dragging him along as she searches for his siblings.

"Hey, 'lijah It's time." She says, receiving a nod in return before Elijah makes his way to the stairs, drawing the attention of the room.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience but it seems there is an emergency, if everyone could make their way to the nearest exit." Elena snorts at his vague announcement as the guests look between each other in confusion before heading to the exit.

As the guests make their way out of the house, the Salvatores, Elena, Caroline, and Tyler stop the council members from leaving and force the confused group to follow them to the living room.

"Tyler, what are you doing?" Mayor Lockwood asks his son in a quiet and angry tone.

"What's happening, Caroline?" Liz asks Caroline as John looks to Elena, making her shrug innocently.

"The founder's council of Mystic Falls." Klaus drawls dramatically, feigning an impressed tone as he pours himself a drink.

"Yes. Is there a reason you've gathered us?" Mayor Lockwood steps to Klaus in an attempt to intimidate him as the hybrid smirks in amusement.

"Yes, actually." Klaus looks past the Mayor's head to the rest of the council with a grin before speeding towards Richard, biting into his neck aggressively, causing the rest of the council to gasp in fear as Liz and Carol try to pull their children away.

"What the hell!" Logan Fell shouts in terror as he backs away, making Jenna roll her eyes and send Elena a look.

"Calm down." John says to the council, glaring at Klaus as the hybrid pushes Richard away and wipes his mouth.

"What are you doing?" Liz whispers as Tyler and Caroline back away from their mothers with matching apologetic smiles and stand on either side of Elena in the middle of the room.

"Surprise!" Elena cheers, throwing her arms up flamboyantly as her friends look to her with amusement and John sighs.

"What is happening?" Richard brings a hand to his bloody neck as he scoots away from Klaus.

"Really? You don't have at least one clue as to what's happening? Even with all that going on?" Elena points his neck.

"Alright, enough fun, Niklaus." Elijah steps forward, adjusting his cuffs as the council members step back in fear. "As I'm sure you've figured out, my siblings and I are vampires." Klaus opens his mouth to correct him, Elijah puts his hand up. "Except Niklaus. He is something else entirely." Klaus smirks with pride as the council looks to him in confusion.

"It's true." Johnathan steps forward with a glare still aimed at Klaus. "He's a hybrid, between a wolf and vampire. An original vampire." John clarifies as the council practically shakes with fear.

"How long did you know, John? Why wouldn't you tell us?" Liz asks with betrayal lacing her tone.

"Sorry. That would be my fault." Elena raises her hand slightly with an apologetic expression.

"Elena? How are you connected to this? And how are our children connected?" Carol Lockwood speaks up as Elena grimaces.

"That would also be my fault." She admits sheepishly. "Alright, short version, I'm something called a doppelgänger, my sacrificial death was needed for this guy to become the original hybrid. He brought me back to life for reasons. Your children have known about the supernatural for months. These are the Mikaelsons, aka The original family. The first vampires to ever exist. Which also means, you can't kill them, nothing can. So don't even try. They've decided to make a home here. I thought it was pertinent we lay some ground rules. Klaus." Elena steps back, leaving the council stunned at the words of the girl they've known her entire life.

"Thank you, Ellie." Klaus sends her a smile as he steps towards the council, reveling in their fear. "From this moment on, none of you will ever ingest vervain again, without my permission." The council members' eyes widen in disbelief. "No need to worry, I have no plans to tamper with your memory, it's simply the only way I can ensure you'll follow my rules, you'll remember everything. Now, I know what you're thinking, I'm sure you're worried about the town population, but I can assure you, we have no plans to permanently harm any of this town's residents." Kol cuts in with a large smirk.

"Except the DJ." He says as Elena gasps and looks towards the DJ booth, groaning when she sees the body.

"You killed the DJ? That's like the biggest party killer ever!" She exclaims as Kol shrugs.

"Fine, not harming the residents starting now." Klaus rolls his eyes at Kol.

"If it helps, I hired him from out of town." Caroline offers as Liz gasps.

"Caroline." She reprimands, making her daughter frown.

"It's true." Caroline defends as Elena grabs her hand and sends her a smile.

"You aren't to kill any vampires in this town, that includes the Salvatores, Mr. St. John, and any of their future guests." Klaus gestures to the vampires as the council member's eyes widen in realization. "If I find out you killed any vampires, I'll-"

"Kill us?" The Mayor interrupts bravely as Klaus huffs at the man's gall.

"No actually, I'll do the one thing you'd consider worse than death." As Klaus finishes as one of his hybrids walk into the room carrying a tray of shot glasses, Klaus grins at the Mayor before biting into his wrist, letting his blood drop into the glasses.

Elena looks between Tyler and Caroline with a smile as they each grab a shot. "Bottoms up." Elena raises her shot to the Mayor with a grin before they each throw the blood back as their parents stare in horror.

As they set their glasses back down, Klaus stands behind Tyler, Rebekah stands behind Caroline, and Kol behind Elena as Klaus makes eye contact with each council member.

"A single snap and your beloved offspring becomes the thing you hate most. What an absolute shame that would be." He grins as Kol speaks up.

"I don't know if they understand, Nik. Perhaps a demonstration is in order." Kol smirks, placing a hand on Elena's neck while maintaining eye contact with the Mayor.

"It's not necessary." John spits with a dark glare aimed at Kol.

"So, we're in agreement?" Klaus's tone changes as he steps away from Tyler and smiles brightly.


"To the council and our ability to effortlessly manipulate them." Elena drunkenly toast to the room filled with her friends as they clink their cups.

"Hear, hear!" They cheer together with a laugh.

"Come on, let's dance. I'll pick the music, because someone killed the DJ." Elena glares at Kol, who rolls his eyes.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Kol asks as she connects her ipod to the speakers.

As the music begins, Elena takes Caroline and Rebekah's hands while not-so-subtly trying to make them dance together.

"So one, two, three, take my hand and come with me

Because you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine" Caroline and Elena sing to each other before laughing as Elena twirls the bubbly blonde.

"I say you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine

Oh, four, five, six, c'mon and get your kicks

Now you don't need the money when you look like that do you honey."

Tyler spins Elena as she looks around the room, frowning slightly feeling like someone is missing before she gets an idea and pulls her friends to the living room and turns off the music.

"Guys, come here." Elena says, forcing everyone to sit around the living room, purposely sitting Caroline and Rebekah down together.

"Okay, okay. Shh. It's ringing." She says with a giggle as the room stares in confusion.

"Ellie, who are you calling?" Klaus asks with suspicion as she sends him a wink.

"Ellie?" A confused and tired voice asks on speaker phone, making the room go silent.

"Heyy, biatch! What it do, Kitty Kat?" Elena slurs slightly as the scoobies cover their mouths to smother their laughter.

"Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" Katherine asks, trying to sound annoyed at her doppelgänger.

"I have a question, but beware, I am currently at Casa de Mikaelson with the whole clan and my scooby gang." Elena warns.

"Do I even want to know why?" Katherine asks weakly as Elena shakes her head.

"No. Who's a better kisser, Ocean eyes, Elmer Fudd, or the suit?" Elena asks, making everyone but the aforementioned laugh.

"Seriously, Ellie?" Katherine asks.

"Pleeaase, I'll send you a pick of Stefan without a shirt." She whispers into the phone.

"Goodbye, Elena." Katherine says firmly.

"Wait, wait. Never mind… I wuv you." Elena says sweetly as Katherine sighs through the phone.

"Someone get her some coffee please." Katherine hangs up, making Elena pout at the phone.

"Was that Katherine?" Kol asks as Elena nods frantically.

"Yep, she's the best." Elena answers with a smile as Damon snorts.

"Oh yeah, a real saint she is." He says bitterly, making the room laugh.

"Oh come on, Dames. You can't hold a grudge forever." Elena teases as he rolls his eyes.

"I can and I will." He states as Koll looks on in confusion.

"Why does he have a grudge?" Kol asks, making Elena laugh as Damon groans.

"That is a wonderful story, do tell Damon." Elena smirks as Damon sends her a glare.

Damon sighs dramatically sending a playful wink to Elena. "Once upon a time-"

"Boo!" Caroline says as Elena shouts,

"Lame!"

"Hey, who's telling the story? Yeah, exactly. Shut the fuck up." Elena laughs and she and Caroline hold their hands up in surrender.

"Once upon a time, an evil vampire slut disguised as an innocent orphan girl…" Elena zones out as Damon continues his very narrator biased tale, looking around at the smiling face of all the people she considers family with a feeling of pride and gratitude.

Just as she's thinking how perfect her life is, she feels a dull pain in her chest that begins slowly moving down her legs and up her neck, the pain getting more intense with each passing second, not wanting to worry her friends, Elena stands and mumbles something about 'seeing a man about a horse' before quickly walking to the restroom, trying and failing to not think about the growing pain in each step.

As soon as Elena enters the small restroom, she immediately runs to the toilet, throwing open the lid and proceeds to empty her guts, Elena wipes the tears from her eyes before they widen in concern, seeing the amount of blood she expelled, she looks down at her hands and notices smeared blood on her palms, causing her to stand and look at herself in the mirror.

"Shit." She mutters as she stares at the blood heavily streaming from her eyes and nose while her friends bang on the bathroom door.