"I'm sorry." Elena blurted, pulling away from Elijah nearly as soon as she kissed him. "I don't know why I-I shouldn't have done that-I…" She dropped her arms from around his neck and brushed past him.

At least, she tried to, Elijah grabbed her wrist, and lightly pulled her around to face him. His warm, brown eyes were open and expressive, and Elena quickly looked away, staring at his chest.

"Elena…" He breathed, his voice heavy with emotion, imploring her to look at him.

She swallowed thickly, steadfastly avoiding his gaze and shaking her head slightly. "I-I can't, Elijah, I…I don't know why I did that." Feeling tears prick at her eyes, she lightly pulled her arm, desperate for him to let her go. "Please."

Elijah looked down at her, needing her to stay; desperate to take her in his arms to try and find the woman he loved, but he could hear the upset in her voice, and, with a heavy heart, released her arm, closing his eyes as she ghosted from the room; trying to ignore the tear that fell.

•••

Elena woke up with a gasp, trying her hardest to grasp at the threads of her dream before they fled her mind completely, irritated when she already couldn't remember anything.

She threw the suddenly smothering duvet off of her, standing from her bed and moving to the window quickly with her advanced speed. She flung the window open, closing her eyes in relief as the cool breeze washed over her face. Sitting on the bench in front of the window, she let out a soft sigh, opening her eyes to look at the room around her.

It was sparsely furnished, little adorned the room to make it personalised toward Elena at all. It made sense though, she sighed, she must've been sleeping in Elijah's room before everything happened. They'd been trying to keep from overwhelming her with knowledge of who she had been with her memories, yet here she was.

She looked at the clock on the wall, deflating when she realised she'd slept for all of two hours; what was she supposed to do now?

Last time she'd had a nightmare, she'd sought out Elijah for comfort, but after what had happened in the library, what she'd done, she couldn't seek him out again. He wanted so desperately to have his version of Elena back, and her kissing him must've been like driving a dagger in his heart, she couldn't imagine how much she must have hurt him.

A soft noise caught her attention, thankfully giving her nervous energy a direction as she stood from where she sat, and crept out of her bedroom.

In a heartbeat, she found herself outside the nursery door. She hesitated for a moment, hand hovering over the door knob, before the sound of Theodore starting to fuss roused her from her pause and she entered the room.

"Hey, kiddo." She murmured softly, picking up the upset baby from his crib and bouncing him softly to soothe him.

He quieted quickly, thankfully she'd gotten there before he'd gotten himself worked up, and stared up at Elena curiously.

"Not used to seeing me in the middle of the night, are you?" She smiled down at him. "Your dad probably needs a night of sleep without you screaming your little head off, eh?"

Theo smiled up at her, letting out a soft noise that sounded almost like a laugh.

Grinning, Elena sat in a rocking chair by the window, looking out into the darkness absently as she began slowly rocking the chair. She wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do with the knowledge that Theodore was hers; she'd suspected, but that was nothing like having it confirmed for her.

He was a sweet baby, and she had some sort of connection to him that she couldn't quite understand, but she was supposed to actually be his mom? How could she do that when she didn't even know who she was?

"When will you learn, Elena? You can't run from me."

Elena jumped at the voice that came from behind her, flying from her chair and assessing the room; knocking over the rocking chair in her haste, but barely jostling the baby in her arms. A million different scenarios ran through her head for how she could protect Theo against whoever was there, but when she turned around, there was no one.

Her brow furrowed as her gaze darted around the room anxiously, why would someone break in then run away? How did someone get in unnoticed?

She was broken from her reverie by the Originals appearing in the doorway, all of them were barely more than half awake; their hair was messy from their sleep and Klaus and Kol were only wearing boxer shorts. Despite their unruly appearance, their eyes were sharp as they took in the room in front of them, a similar frown marring their faces when they couldn't find the threat that had woken them.

"Elena? Are you okay?" Kol was the first one to speak, edging slightly towards the dishevelled doppelganger. "What happened?"

Elena swallowed, shaking her head slightly. "I thought I…it…I just haven't slept much yet, I just knocked over the chair." She smiled thinly, trying to assuage the confused family in front of her.

"Haven't slept much yet?" Rebekah asked in disbelief, looking at the clock next to Elena. "It's five in the morning."

"What?" Elena breathed before she could help herself, she was sure she'd come into the nursery at around midnight. "I-I must've zoned out more than I thought." She muttered at another round of confused faces.

She glanced at the clock, confirming what Rebekah had said and let out a sigh. "I'm going to take a shower." She muttered, passing the, somehow still sleeping, baby off to a concerned Elijah, avoiding his gaze and disappearing from the room, leaving the Originals exchanging confused glances amongst themselves.

•••

By the time Elena felt collected enough to leave the safety of her room, it was about half six. With a sigh, she pulled her long hair into a ponytail and dragged a cardigan on over her leggings and t-shirt.

She bounded down the stairs almost silently, her heart set on a mug of hot coffee.

The coffee pot was hot when she got there and she frowned slightly, maybe the others had decided to stay up too, she felt bad for waking them. She fixed her coffee absently, barely even focussing on what she was doing. When her drink was ready she opened the back door quietly, slipping out onto the back porch.

With a soft sigh, she leant against the railing, watching the colours of the sky as the sun continued to rise slowly.

Before she knew it, she'd finished her mug of coffee, and the sun had nearly risen completely, beginning to bath their back yard in warm sunlight. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of the rays on her skin.

"You've been out here a while." Klaus murmured, standing next to Elena. "Don't tell me you've zoned out again?"

Elena chuckled, opening her eyes and shaking her head slightly. "I'm all here. No freaking out this time."

"Just crying?" Klaus asked softly, making Elena frown and bring a hand up to her cheek, realising that there indeed was a tear on her cheek.

"I miss Aunt Jenna." She murmured softly, wiping the tear away.

The admission had her and Klaus straightening up in surprise, and Elena turned to face him, her eyes wide as she realised what she'd said.

"Elena…" Klaus whispered, his eyes as wide as hers.

"Don't tell the others." She implored him desperately, dropping her mug to grasp his hands. "I don't know why I said that, please don't tell them."

Klaus nodded slowly, surprised by her sudden intensity. "It's okay, Elena, I won't tell them."

She searched his face for any sign of deceit, nodding slowly when she didn't find any. "Thank you, Nik. I'm going to go for a run." She muttered, more alarm marring her features as the nickname slipped from her lips.

Before Klaus could say anything else, she'd disappeared, leaving him behind, thoroughly confused with a cracked mug at his feet.