It took a moment for Elena to remember the previous day upon waking up. Her head was so muddled she wasn't entirely sure she was even remembering it correctly. Her thoughts seemed to race through her mind as she took stock of the day's events, cataloguing and contemplating what had happened. As soon as her thoughts settled, she flew upright in bed, the wet cloth Rebekah had placed on her hand falling into her lap.

"Elena?" Rebekah asked, quickly removing the offending cloth from the bed and touching the back of her hand to the brunette's forehead. "Elena, you're burning up, you should lie back down." She insisted, trying to gently move the doppelganger back into a lying position.

Elena shook her head, refusing to let Rebekah move her. "How long was I asleep?" She asked, panic tinging her voice. "Rebekah? How long was I asleep?"

"About a day." Rebekah replied, her brow furrowing as she took in Elena's anxiety. "What-"

"Where is he?" Elena cut over her, throwing the comforter off her body and standing from the bed despite Rebekah's hovering. "Where's Elijah, Rebekah?" She repeated, staring at the blonde Original intently.

"In the garden, with Kol and Theo." Rebekah barely got her words out before Elena was disappearing past her in the direction of the garden.

Elena slipped past Klaus quickly, ignoring his confused look as Rebekah followed behind her. She ignored the pair of them, too set on her path to bother with what they were saying.

The only thing that gave her pause was the back door to the garden, she froze for a moment, taking in the sight of Kol gently swinging Theo around in a parody of an aeroplane. Elijah sat a few feet away from them, smiling as Theo let out soft, garbled laughs.

Elena wrenched the door open, unfamiliar with her new bout of strength, but not particularly caring. Elijah turned to look, confused by the sudden noise, a soft, more hesitant smile gracing his face at the sight of Elena.

He'd barely made it to his feet before Elena threw herself in his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist, not caring when they nearly fell over.

"Elena?" He asked in confusion, looking to Rebekah and Klaus for some sort of clarification, but they both just shrugged. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay, we're both okay." Elena muttered, more to herself than to Elijah, her arms wrapped tightly around Elijah's neck. "I've missed you so much." She whispered, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Elena, I don't understand." Elijah admitted quietly, one hand on her waist and the other buried in the hair on the back of her head.

She pulled her head away from his neck so she could look him in the eye, smiling at him with a lifetime worth of happiness and relief written on her face.

"I know who you are." She smiled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I know you. I love you, Elijah, I love you so much." She choked out, bringing her hands to cup either side of his face as she stared at him, admiring the features that had meant so much and so little to her for the last few weeks.

"Elena?" Elijah whispered, his voice becoming thick with emotion as he realised what was happening.

She nodded, smiling at him. "It's me, Elijah, I'm so sorry I left you; I love you so much." She said softly, her words coming out all in a rush. "This is too much, isn't it? I'm sorry, I just-"

Elijah cut off her rambling, pressing his lips to hers desperately, Elena let out a soft noise, kissing him back just as intensely. She found her fingers tangling in his hair as she clutched at him, never wanting to let go again.

Elijah pulled away from her after a few long moments, placing a few quick kisses on her lips as he did and leaning his forehead against hers. "It's not too much," he said eventually, eyes closed as he spoke, "I love you so much, Elena. You're exactly what I need."

"I think there's someone you need to meet properly." Kol said softly, breaking into Elena and Elijah's moment with the gurgling baby in his arms.

Elijah loosened his grip on Elena, allowing her to slip down from his arms; her hands coming up to cover her mouth as she turned to look at Theodore properly.

"Oh my god." She breathed, the words coming out in a soft rush as she stared at her baby, feeling as though she was meeting him for the first time, which she was in a way. "Oh my god." She said again as Kol held him out to her, a smile gracing his face.

Elena took Theo from Kol's arms with more care than she thought was possible, afraid of hurting the tiny child that she now truly recognised as hers. She gently brought a hand up to straighten out the small clothes that he wore, smiling when he sought out her hand with his little hands, gripping her index finger in his tiny fist, giggling as he started mouthing at her skin.

"Hi." Elena breathed, a stupidly large smile on her face as she looked down at him. "Hi, baby." Theo stopped sucking on the side of her hand, smiling back up at her instead.

Elena turned to face Elijah at the feel of his hand on her waist, still grinning giddily. "He's so perfect. How do you ever let him out your sight? I don't think I'm ever gonna let him go."

Elijah laughed softly, shaking his head, and leaning forward to press a kiss to Elena's forehead. He chose not to comment, instead watching as Elena turned her attention back to the baby in her arms, talking to him softly and pulling faces.

"I'm glad you're back." Kol said, sitting beside Elena and wrapping his arm around her shoulders; giving her an awkward side-hug while she still cradled her now-sleeping baby. "I know you've been here, but it's just…"

"Different." Elena said for him, smiling softly. "I know, I feel the same way." She sighed, looking over at Elijah's back as he attempted to co-ordinate her friends and family over the phone.

"Do you remember everything that happened?" Kol asked curiously, taking his arm from Elena and shifting slightly in his seat to look at her.

She nodded, taking her gaze from Elijah's figure to look at him. "Yeah, all the memories are there, but its kind of like it happened to somebody else in a way, I know that doesn't really make sense." She added at Kol's inquisitive look.

"No, it does." He assured her quickly, sensing her doubt. "It's just bizarre."

Elena laughed. "That's kind of putting it lightly."

Kol tipped his head slightly in agreement, frowning when the smile dropped from Elena's face. "What is it?"

"Who did this to me?" She asked softly, noting the way Kol's eyes darkened at the question.

"Pamela betrayed us." He bit out, eventually, his teeth gritted, and fists balled. "Katherine helped her fake your body."

"Kol." Elena said softly as his eyes flashed, the veins under them beginning to come to life. "Take the baby."

"I don't-"

"Take my baby." Elena repeated, her voice harder than before. She raised an eyebrow at Kol when he tried to argue again, and he snapped his mouth shut, pouting at her as he accepted the baby, the tension melting from his body as he looked at Theo's sleeping face. "Better?" Elena asked softly, satisfied that the anger had drained from his form.

Kol nodded slightly, letting out a breath. "I advocated for her, Elena. I brought her into our lives, if I hadn't."

"Don't do that." Elena said softly, placing her hand on one of Kol's. "We all trusted her, Kol, this wasn't your fault."

Kol shook his head. "If I hadn't brought her here Theo would've never had to be without you; Elijah-"

"Is fine," Elena interrupted, "so is Theo. It's no use to anyone reminiscing what could have been, this is the hand we've been dealt, and we need to deal with it."

Kol laughed slightly, finally meeting Elena's eyes. "When did you grow up so much?"

Elena smiled, shoving his shoulder lightly. "It's easy to seem grown-up when you're surrounded by children." She teased, laughing when Kol feigned hurt.

"I have managed to persuade Caroline and your family to wait until tomorrow to see you." Elijah sighed, joining them in the living room, rubbing his brow slightly.

"That bad?" Elena asked, rubbing Elijah's thigh when he sat next to her.

"We all know how stubborn Caroline can be." Kol laughed, giving Elijah a sympathetic look. "I'm surprised you managed to call her off until tomorrow."

Elijah let out a soft scoff. "I told her the return of memories had rendered Elena bed-ridden."

"Elijah!" Elena scolded, slapping Kol lightly when he let out a burst of laughter at Elijah's admission.

Elijah had the grace to look ashamed at Elena's admonishment for a moment, before wrapping his arms around her with a smile. "I believe you need at least a day to recuperate before being subject to everyone's inquisition, mon amor." He said softly, kissing her on the forehead as he pulled away from her.

Elena let out a soft hum as she narrowed her eyes at Elijah, critiquing his innocent expression for a second before rolling her eyes and smiling at him. She turned to lean backwards into his embrace, smiling at Theo and Kol in front of her; she finally had her family back.

This has actually been soooo hard to write, I felt a lot of pressure from myself to make the Elejah reunion as perfect as possible, so I've really struggled with what I wanted it to be and making it right. This is probably a bit shorter than I wanted it to be, but I felt like this was a good place to stop to hopefully help me write the next chapter a bit more smoothly.

Please, please, please, review and let me know what you're thinking, I haven't heard from any of you for so long!

~ I x