Break On Through
Elena is at the kitchen table, enjoying the one cup of coffee Dr. Davis has allowed for her and scrolling through her phone for nursery ideas. It's one of the few moments she feels like a normal mom, planning the decorations in her head and thinking about baby names instead of worrying about Silas and how exactly Klaus is managing his time while he ignores her.
"Are you certain that is wise? The coffee?"
"Oh come on! You heard him. He said one was fine!" While Elena appreciates how knowledgeable Elijah has become on pregnancy and the thoughtful gifts, this is one argument that is grating on her nerves.
"I think tea might be better."
"In what ways? I'm fine with what I have, Elijah." Her voice takes on a sharp edge that he chooses to ignore.
"Elena."
"Drop it." The words slice out and she stares at him, challenging. Elijah sees his brother's fire in her eyes or maybe it was hers re-awakened. Either way, her phone goes off and distracts both from this tense moment. "Tyler?"
"Elena. Silas. He's in town. He knows everything. Everything I know, he took."
"Slower. What happened?"
"I saw him, yesterday. I'm sorry. I was out for so long. No one could find me until I woke up."
"It's okay as long as you're fine." It isn't often that Tyler gets nervous like this and the pitch in his voice is concerning her.
"He knows about Amara. He knows Liv cloaked her, Elena. I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything to keep him out of my head. I tried, but he's too much."
"Wait, are you with Liv?"
"I'm on my way home now."
"Hurry. Tyler, she didn't just cloak Amara. She cloaked the entire mansion. If he comes by and finds out, he'll go straight for you two." She hangs up with an apology, silently thanking Liv for not letting Tyler in on all the details of their plans.
"Elijah, he's here. In Mystic Falls."
"Then our need for a plan has become all the more urgent."
"We need to wake her up. We need to talk to her."
"Can you be certain that she would even be on your side, Elena? Love is tricky. Amara could run straight into his arms, betray your unfounded trust in her."
"I know she wouldn't. I know her. A part of me is her. I hated what I am for so long, Elijah, but the only comparison I had was Katherine. I want to wake Amara up. I think it's our best option and I trust that she will help us. Do you trust me?"
"Our only other option is to force the cure down his throat and kill him."
"If we can get that close. We can't beat him by force, Elijah. We have to think about this. Plan and strategize. We aren't strong enough, but maybe we can be smarter?"
Elijah's warning about Amara does little to persuade her out of her belief that the original Petrova would be on her side. She's spent countless nights drawn to her side like the creaky porch swing in her family home. Amara is a part of her that she's always felt but never known. Between the dreams and the emotions she has in proximity to Amara, Elena feels like she knows her predecessor better than any other doppelgänger before her. She'd harbored such deep hatred for her vampire twin, but being this close to Amara made her wonder if it could have been different if her involvement with Stefan hadn't instantly pitted her and Katherine against each other.
She is her own person, but in other ways she isn't. She used to hate that her face belonged to so many others, but now maybe it was time to embrace that? Elena has a flicker of a plan, but she needs time to steady the flame.
She asks Elijah to take her to the boarding house and Finn refuses to let them leave the house without him. Rebekah won't be left out of the scheming or left alone in the mansion, though she does stay outside while the rest go inside.
"I'd rather not have another run-in with Stefan. Thank you very much." She leans against Elijah's car, engrossed in navigating the virtual world her phone offers.
Stefan and Caroline share space in an oversized chair and Elena is relieved that Rebekah chose to stay outside. It seems unfair to ask Caroline to change her behavior in her own home, but Elena has a protective streak and Rebekah has managed her way into the category of people Elena is willing to do anything for.
"It's time, Bonnie. We have to wake up Amara. Find out what she knows. The only way to kill Silas is to give him the cure, but Tyler couldn't do anything to protect himself from Silas. He was bleeding on the street for hours before he came around and no one saw him the entire time. Liv couldn't even track him. No way we just walk up to Silas and force the cure down his throat."
"But there is the chance that Amara wouldn't help us, Elena." Everyone looks to Elijah and for a moment it seems like they are siding with him.
"It is a risk, Elena." Stefan is the first to object. "Katherine despised you from the moment she saw you. What if that's how doppelgängers are? One will always want to destroy the other?"
"Or she was jealous because of you."
Caroline wiggles uncomfortably in her seat looking between the two. "Do we need to wake her up though? I mean, can't we just do some research and try to figure it out? Ric has all those books and Bonnie has been collecting abandoned grimoires from all kinds of witches."
"Getting Ric involved is out of the question, Care. He has Grace and I can't let anything happen to him. She deserves to grow up with at least one family member."
"Okay, so why not just do research with Bonnie and have one of the indestructible Originals execute a plan?"
"He was barely revived and had enough power to hold off three of us." Finn chimes in. "We might be indestructible, but we would be useless trying to take him by force. Particularly now that he has more strength than he did on the island. I believe Elena is correct in wanting to wake up Amara."
She smiles weakly at Finn, feeling still that the odds are stacked against her as she stares down Elijah, Caroline, and Stefan.
"I agree with Elena too." The room shifts, everyone turning to Bonnie who had been quiet until now even with the mention of her grimoires. "Silas is strong. We knew that. Legends told us that. But now we know for sure. He's stronger than any of us. We need to know more about him and history only gets us so far. We need someone who knew him. Someone who knows his weaknesses and can help us."
"Okay, but what if she doesn't? What if she goes back to him?" Caroline's questions hang in the air and everyone looks to Elena for answers.
"She won't. She wouldn't," she says it firmly, like if she has enough confidence in her suspicions then they will believe her too. It seems to settle their concerns and they begin making plans to research the grimoires for answers. Caroline runs to the kitchen to retrieve blood bags for Elena to revive Amara. Finn seems elated with the idea and it buoys Elena's spirits, but Elijah stays in his chair, concerned and silent.
Outside, Rebekah is growing bored and even considering joining the group though it means confronting Stefan. She's mulling over her conundrum, boredom or discomfort, when she sees him walking up to her from the road. She's propped up her elbows on her knees but sits up straight in the passenger seat when it becomes clear that he's headed for her.
"Stefan?"
"Hey Rebekah." He smiles at her like he used to, so wide that his eyes wrinkle at the edges. It's almost enough to get her to annoy the nagging feeling in her gut.
"I thought you were inside with the others."
"I had to get out of there. I had to see you, Rebekah." He walks up to her with the same swagger he had in Chicago, crowding her in the car before she has a chance to stand up. "Don't you want to see me?"
She swallows hard and nods. She'd been so close to getting him out of her system, giving up on a love that was still so real to her less than a month ago. He tilts her chin up, his fingers gliding along her jaw until he's holding her neck. She leans into the feeling. "What about Caroline?"
"Do you care about her or are you pretending because you think it's what I want?" She shakes her head, just barely. "That's what I'd thought."
He leans in to kiss her and she lets him, eager to welcome him back into her life. His hands find the back of her thighs and he pulls her closer to him until she's leaned back, chest to chest with him. At first she tries to ignore her inner voice, but this kiss is different from the ones she remembers. She recalls Stefan's cockiness and arrogance, but with her he had always been tender. These kisses were aggressive and punishing in a way that Stefan had never been with her. When she pushes him off to look at him, his laugh chills her even in the summer heat.
"I'm hurt, Rebekah. Don't you want me anymore?"
"You've changed."
"Actually, I haven't. I've stayed exactly the same, just like you have." He leans back into her, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "A lonely little girl looking for love anywhere she can. You didn't even question if Stefan would have kissed you while dating another woman. Just a sad woman willing to accept any crumb of affection."
Her lip trembles and she tries biting down on her cheek to keep herself from crying out. "Who are you?"
"I think you know who I am. I can see the answer in your head." Her chin wobbles, pursing her lips together. "I want Amara back." She tries to hit him, but her arms hand uselessly in her lap "Barring that, I wouldn't mind seeing you suffer."
His hands shoot up to either side of her of face and terrible memories fill her head and her heart. Klaus killing countless men in the name of her virtue. Henrik dying. Her mother dying. The lives they've built and fled because of their father's hatred. Her throat is on fire and she tries to lash out, but Silas hushes her into silence. Rebekah struggles to get away, but can barely manage moving her shoulders.
"Rebekah!" Elena yells for her, standing on the gravel driveway. Silas looks up at her and for just a moment he is lost in the vision of her. All Rebekah needs is a second. "Run!"
She swings her knee up and into his groin, pushing him off when he doubles over on top of her. Too frightened to go over him, she scrambles over the car seat and opens the driver's side door, falling out on the other end. Elena gestures for her to run into the house and she takes off. Silas only has the illusion of speed, but Rebekah is the real deal.
When she makes it to them, Elijah brings her into his arms while Finn holds on to her hands, wrapped around Elijah's back. Elena is standing next to them, watching Silas closely as he approaches the house, stopped suddenly by the barrier Bonnie erected years ago to protect the Salvatore Boarding House from general harm. He reaches out, fascinated and running his hand up and down the magic wall as if he could actually see it.
"Which one of you did this?" He sounds impressed, but his look is quickly dissolved when Bonnie steps forward.
"I did."
"Your magic reeks of Qetisyah, witch. I can practically taste her desperation on the back of my tongue."
"Look, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but you won't be able to get through." Bonnie's calm demeanor unravels Silas. She is the sturdy seawall against his raging waves breaking against the surface.
"Is this the part where you threaten me? Tell me that through the power of love or friendship, you'll defeat me? You are a joke!"
"No, this is the part where you figure out that you can't get to us and walk away. This is the part where you realize that, for today, you lost."
"Perhaps you are right, for now. Know though that you present a unique complication. One that I won't tolerate." Caroline moves to hold Bonnie's hand and Silas's gaze returns to Elena. "Speaking of complications, you've certainly gotten yourself into trouble." He closes his eyes like he needs to concentrate harder. "What a unique new species your baby will be. If it lives long enough to be born. I'm not fond of the idea of leaving Amara's shadows alive to walk this earth. Less fond than I am of leaving my own alive, Stefan. Especially when they've wasted their life away consumed with guilt and self-hate. Not a good look for us."
"I've heard enough of this bullshit." Bonnie drops Caroline's hand and walks slowly, but steadily into the house. Everyone watches her leave, impressed. None more so than Finn. The rest of them follow. Stefan and Caroline first, then Elijah and his siblings. Elena is the last to walk away.
"Are you curious about your baby, doppelgänger? Do you care to know the danger it presents to you? To the world?" He calls after her, but she ignores him. He may be more powerful than Markos, but at the end of the day he was still the same flavor of man. Arrogant, but needy for attention. Powerful, but lacking the confidence of the truly powerful. Intelligent, but failing to recognize it anyone outside of himself.
Once inside, Elena stuffs her backpack with the blood bags Caroline had brought from the fridge. They don't have to wait long for Silas to leave. It's a risk, but she gets back in the car with Rebekah, Finn and Elijah to speed back home. If she was uncertain before, the way Silas dropped everything when he saw her confirmed her belief that Amara would be the key to his destruction.
Hours later, Elena sees him standing in the front yard and even though she is prepared, she is still unnerved by how he looks exactly like Stefan. She wonders how it must have felt for Stefan seeing her after loving Katherine, but at least she wasn't hell bent on destroying the world like Silas seems to be. And even though the house is still cloaked and she trusts Liv's power, she swears he is staring right back at her.
When she moves to open the front door, Elijah stops her. "Elena, please. Stop tempting fate."
"If he breaks through the barriers Liv set up, then it won't matter if I'm outside or inside. Staying in the house will not protect me, Elijah. Either the cloaking works or it doesn't." She moves past him to stand on the steps, watching Silas as he watches her. His eyes stare straight into her and she thinks he can feel her presence more than he can actually see her. Standing there with Elijah is like standing outside to watch a tornado, only the air is calm right now. She's in the eye of the storm and her bones ache with the danger ahead.
She calls Tyler while sitting on the steps, keeping an eye on Silas who hasn't moved much in the last hour. "Hey Ty. He's here. No, he hasn't done anything yet. He's just…staring at the house. At least that's how it feels." Elena brings her hand up to her mouth, picking at her bottom lip. "Tyler? I think you and Liv should get out of here. Silas already knows that she helped me and now he knows that she's cloaked the entire house. Something tells me that he won't like her standing in his way and I would feel better with you two out of town for a bit. Safer. Yeah…good luck to you too."
Elena only takes her eyes of Silas for a moment to end her call to Tyler, but he's gone by the time she looks up. "Did you see him go?"
"No," Elijah responds slowly. "That wasn't vampire speed, but a different sort of trick. He deceived our minds."
"Through Liv's barrier?"
"It seems that way. Cloaking only works against the eyes, not the mind. Those two are so intrinsically tied, but apparently not for Silas." She types out a message to Tyler, hitting send as she goes back inside.
Hurry! He's on the way. Get out now!
Elena picks up one of the blood bags Caroline had tossed her before they left and stabs into it with Elijah's letter opener. She has her phone cradled between her ear and her shoulder, waiting impatiently for Klaus's voicemail to end.
"I can't imagine what you could be doing that is so important you can't even manage to call me back. Shit is getting serious, Klaus. Silas is here and honestly? We are all scared. I have no idea what's going to happen or if this will work, but I'm waking Amara up to find out what she knows." She grits her teeth, knowing he will hate being ordered but knowing she's hit her limit on being gentle with him.
"You can either come home to help or keep putting your doubts ahead of me and our child and hope that by the time you're ready to talk I'm still alive to have that conversation. What the fuck is even going on in your head right now?" She hits the little red button, but it isn't nearly as satisfying as slamming the phone down. The blood is beginning to drip down her hands as she stares into Amara's stone face.
Klaus listens to her latest voicemail, her tone much angrier than any previous ones, while taking shots at a bar with Kol. He winces, but not from the taste of the liquor.
"From the sounds of it, you've managed to finally bring forth her fury. I was honestly wondering how long that might take. Shocking really that you've found someone so even keeled to love you."
"Shut up, Kol."
"How does it feel being absent from your child's life? Are you already filled with regret or will that come later?"
"Be quiet!"
"Do you think the child will call Elijah Dad? I mean, eventually I imagine Elena would give up on you and look for other prospects. Women can only wait so long and a woman like that doesn't need to look very far, even with a child. You remember! Tatia had you and Elijah chasing after her like fools. Elena will have her pick of men once she gives up on you. Shouldn't be long now."
"Silence your tongue before I cut it off!" Klaus's voice reverberated through the bar and heads rolled like meerkats to look at him. Kol's mouth twists into a menacing smile and his voice is low, but calm when he responds.
"Dear brother. You have more than enough on your plate at the moment, but I promise you I can make your life worse starting with slaughtering all these dull people in this dismally boring bar. Then I'll continue to annoy you by killing any werewolf on sight to prevent your stupid little hybrid plan." Klaus's fangs protrude from his mouth as his lips curl into a snarl.
"I'm not finished, Niklaus. You've managed to create new life with a woman who is trying her best to fix a mistake you made when you left. A woman who has brought our family back together again in a way I hadn't thought possible. A woman who is willing to face an ancient evil head on without any hesitation. On top of her kindness and bravery, she is also gorgeous as if that is fair at all." Kol kicks back his drink in one go and stands to look down on his older brother, a man he once admired.
"Her one flaw is loving you and you can't seem to get out of your own way long enough to realize that. Elijah sent me down here to fetch you for her, but what's even the point? Trying to convince you otherwise is inane and you've become a burden."
"So leave! I never asked you to stay with me."
"You didn't have to." Klaus watches Kol walk out on him, his jaw set so tight that it's in danger of breaking.
A/N: Thanks as always for reading and a big thanks for your reviews. I'm getting excited because we are only two chapters away from the Silas confrontation and then Klaus comes back. Which, I've been having fun imagining Kol harassing Klaus, but it's time for him to see Elena again.