A Feast of Friends
The evening with Tyler leaves a weird taste in the back of Elena's throat. She can't shake the nagging feeling that he was off. The way he spoke or the way he looked at her just seemed more intense than their relationship had ever been.
She's glad that he seems ready to ignore the awkward moment when he calls her up and asks her to lunch the next day. She agrees and tacks on a list of errands she's been needing to run. When he picks her up at noon, it's as if the tension between them last night had never happened. He flashes her his easy, boyish grin and teases her for tricking him into a shopping day.
Her absence that afternoon gives Rebekah the opportunity to organize her brothers into setting up the patio for Elena's surprise birthday dinner. She enjoys being in charge and relishes in how readily they follow her instructions, even if Kol grumbles the entire time. Soon the patio is transformed with twinkling lights and a beautifully decorated table.
"No, Finn! The placement cards go at the top of the plates," she instructs, showing him with her own plate.
"Why the bloody hell do we even need cards? It's just us. I imagine if we need help figuring out where to sit that we've got more problems to discuss." Rebekah rolls her eyes at Kol's sneer and continues adjusting the table setting.
"It's for the presentation, Kol! I've collected inspiration from the internet for a week to put this together."
"An entire week? Impressive, Bekah. Coincidence then that you put yourself and Elijah on either side of the birthday girl?" he asks, picking up Rebekah's card.
"It just made sense that way." She snatches her name from him and sets it back down next to Elena's, turning for a moment to hide her slight blush.
"There are only five of us. Who is the sixth setting for?" Finn asks.
"The presentation! Have you finished wrapping your presents?" When both Finn and Kol hesitantly shake their heads, Rebekah huffs and drags them both back into the house by their forearms.
By the time Elena finishes checking off her list, she's filled Tyler's SUV with a variety of bags and boxes. It's been hours since their lunch and her stomach is twisting a reminder to her. So, she invites Tyler over and offers to make them dinner.
"What if we ordered pizza instead?" She shoots him a dirty look and he laughs. "I don't mean anything by it, 'Lena. I was just thinking of the easiest option."
"Easiest or safest?"
He laughs, ignoring her. "Are you sure this is what you wanted to do for your birthday? Shop and eat? Don't you want to celebrate with Bonnie or something?"
"I don't really feel up for a celebration right now. I want to keep it low key this year. Small celebrations, low stress. Lunch with you. Brunch with Bonnie this weekend. Besides, she's busy with contractors all week."
Tyler helps her bring her haul into the house, leaving it at the front door at her request. She's too exhausted and disinterested to bother putting them away. While she'd been excited to find evidence of her growing bump, entering her second trimester had dulled that enthusiasm. She lays on the couch rubbing her stomach while Tyler sits on the opposite end pulling up a delivery app on his phone.
"Thanks for hanging out today, Ty. And for last night too."
"Last night? You mean yesterday afternoon?" he clarifies.
"No, last night with the meteor shower at the lake house. I mean, it got weird. I hope you know that I'm not in any position to…reciprocate any sort of feelings, but I am flattered."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Tyler's eyes sharpen and he focuses on Elena intently. She retreats under the pressure of his scrutiny until he turns his head quickly to the side. "Do you hear that? Is something going on in the back?"
"No, not that I know of."
Tyler helps her off the couch and leads her to the back of the house, past the kitchen until they get to the sliding glass door. It's open to the warm air and cicada songs of the night. "I swore I heard something," he explains as he tentatively steps across the threshold, blocking Elena's view of the patio.
Suddenly, small white lights illuminate the normally bare patio and the siblings all exclaim their surprises in varying degrees. Rebekah is the most expressive with her hands in the air, her grin falling slightly when she sees Tyler. Finn stands behind his chair, a slight smile to his face though his hands grip tight the back of his seat. Kol raises an eyebrow at her and stifles a snort.
"We didn't realize you'd be bringing Tyler back to the house." Elijah moves from the light switch to stand in front of them.
"I didn't realize you all had been planning anything."
"It was Rebekah. She's been inspired to assimilate from all the movies you two have been watching together. Apparently surprise parties are the epitome of friendship obligations."
"Do you like it?" Rebekah asks and steps around the table.
"Oh of course I do! I'm shocked and impressed. I had no idea you've been putting all this together. You are incredible." They hug and Rebekah excitedly shows off all her work from the decorations to the table setting.
Elijah clears his throat and motions to Tyler, who stands uncomfortably by the open door. "Oh, is it okay if Tyler stays?" Elena asks, looking from Elijah to Rebekah.
"Sure," Rebekah says with a tense smile that doesn't reach her eyes as she moves Elijah's name card to the open setting. "He can sit here."
Throughout dinner, Elijah keeps looking down at his phone while Kol remarks on what could possibility be distracting him. Finn asks her about her day and Rebekah insists on looking through the baby clothes, wringing a promise out of Elena to bring her the next time she wants to go shopping.
Eventually, Elijah leaves go get the cake insisting to Rebekah that he should be the one to go with a knowing exchange. The candles glow through the dark of the house as Elijah walks closer to the patio. When he steps outside with the homemade cake, Elena is touched by their effort. Then, she sees Klaus step out from behind Elijah and her heart skips several beats. His hair is longer, unkempt and she has the urge to run her fingers through it.
"Klaus?" she says his name softly like she's afraid of making him disappear. The night is quiet with the exception of the cicadas and the sound of her metal chair scratching against the concrete as she pushes it aside to stand. "What are you doing here?"
"What is he doing here?" Klaus points an accusing finger to Tyler.
"Don't do that," she says softly.
"The only reason that ever matters; you, our child, our future." He rushes to meet her halfway and when he opens his arms for her it's as though everyone else fades into the background. He holds her close to his chest, whispering into her hair while her fingers cling to the back of shirt. "I never intended to hurt you, love."
"Then why did you leave?" she asks, pulling away to look him.
"I'll give you every answer you need, Elena, but not in front of an audience. Not in front of a stranger," he begs.
"You left me in front of an audience." She can feel his muscles tense under his shirt. "You stormed out and accused me-"
"Of terrible thing that I knew even at the time weren't possibly true."
"So, why?" she asks, her voice rising.
"I will explain everything, Elena, but please inside." His fingers glide down her arms until he's holding her hands in his and she thinks that she was right. He'd always be able to make her feel this way, burning with life and all the potential he could offer. She nods slowly and he begins to lead her back into the house.
"Elena," Tyler calls out. "Where are you going?"
"It's fine. I'll be right back. We can do the candles in a minute."
Being next to him makes the house feel new again like she's walking through it for the first time. His hand envelopes hers and although she's imagined this moment for weeks, she hadn't anticipated how normal it would feel. She thought she would yell and hit him. She had prepared a speech with Bonnie of her grievances, but she was having trouble remembering her talking points. His presence was like a whirlpool sucking her under warm, soothing water.
In the library, she sits in the same spot from a few hours ago only this time it's Klaus's light eyes looking back at her instead of Tyler's dark ones.
"You've grown close to the wolf," he remarks and her former expectations come crashing into place.
"Jealous?"
"How could I not be? I've been gone for a month and you've already replaced me. You've won the affections of my family better than I ever could and you have that wolf following you around town daily."
"I thought you might be watching me." He breaks into an infectious grin and moves to kneel in front of her.
"Did you catch me?" he asks her, delighting in the games they play with each other.
"No, I never saw you. I just had a feeling." She can sense the conversation jumping the tracks and clears her throat. "You said you'd explain why you left."
"When you told me your news, you were past excitement. You were getting everything you ever wanted. Everything you deserve. And I could only see in your eyes a thousand different ways I would fail you. A million ways I'd fail as a father. I couldn't face that."
"Is that really why?" her voice cracks and she buries her face in her hands, choking back tears. "I thought you left because you didn't want this with me. That you didn't want a family with me."
"Of course I want this, Elena. How could I not? I was scared, love. Scared that you would see that I wasn't good enough. That having a child would wake up the part of me I've always feared is Mikael."
"Your father?" she asks and nods along with him. "Have you ever thought that you leaving was the worst thing you could have done? That not trying and leaving me alone made you not good enough? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."
"Punish me," he implores, holding her hand in his and kissing lines up to her wrist. "Imagine the worst and put me through more, but please don't stop loving me."
"I never stopped," she admits and it's all the encouragement he needs before his lips find hers, kissing the salt tears away. His hands on either side of her hips pull her closer and that satisfied noise deep in his throat undoes her resolve.
"I have regretted every foolish moment of the last month more than I can explain and I'll do anything to make up for it," he promises between kisses that explore her mouth and neck. "Hurt me, but please never cast me out of your heart. The distance between our souls would be too much to bear."
He's leaning over her, kissing the jagged edges of her scar on her neck and an inconvenient voice tugs on her memories. The uncomfortable feeling she had and the way Tyler spoke. "What did you say?" She struggles to create space between their bodies before Klaus touches her again, distracting and intoxicating her mind.
His thumb, rough from his month running with the wolves, strokes the side of her neck. "Elena, love." His touch is electrifying and she fights to ignore the sensations he inspires in her. But his wording is too suspicious for her to let them go easily.
"You've been in town for several days now. Why did you wait until now?" She finds his hands and holds them in her lap, more to help her focus than anything else.
"I needed time." His voice has a note of finality and Elena knows she needs to persist.
"For what? You never do anything unless you are confident in the results. You followed me for days in Palermo until you worked it out so that I spotted you and invited you in. They had the table set for an extra person. Someone knew you were coming tonight. Did they all know?" Her voice feels shaky and sure at the same time and she's starting to feel like her brain exists outside of her body as she puts together the pieces over the last few days.
"Yes, I waited. I watched and waited. I wanted to know where your heart was and where that left my odds with you. Is that what you want to hear? Do you want to hear how pathetic I've been?" He's frantic now and she can tell she's pushing him into a corner that he's fighting to stay out of.
"Was it you last night?" she asks and her stomach drops at the question. Pursed lips and a tight jaw are her only answer. She wants to falter, but can't let this go. "Klaus! Just be honest with me, please." She takes his face in her hands and silently begs for the truth.
He looks away and she knows his answer, but needs to hear it anyway. "Don't ask me to ruin this," he whispers. She stays silent while he looks around the room; looking for a way out or looking for a way back in. "Was it me who took you to the lake and laid by your side under the stars? Was it me who listened to your confession about your anxiety over the baby? Yes, Elena. It was me, not Tyler, who held you close and kissed your temple."
"Why would you do that to Tyler? To me?" Klaus buries his face in her thighs and she leans over him. "God, to yourself?" she asks in a chiding hush, unable to imagine why he would put them all through the pain of that deception.
"Fuck that, Elena. What the hell did he do to me?" Klaus turns to see Tyler fuming at the doorway and as soon as their eyes connect, Elena can hear the rising growls in their chests. The room changes in ways she can only feel. The air suddenly feels too hot and breathing becomes a struggle under their rolling energies.
Between Tyler walking away and a loud crash from the front of the house, Klaus's siblings come running. Rebekah finds Elena crouched in the corner behind the couch, shoved out of place. Elijah and Kol work to tear Klaus off Tyler and they manage it with ample effort.
"Let. Me. Go!" he struggles under their grip. Tyler charges the group, but he's cut off when Kol launches himself at the wolf. The force topples them both over and they roll into the bookcase. The room pauses for a fraction while the heavy wood teeters and threatens to topple over.
Klaus breaks free from Elijah and stalks forward to Tyler. Rebekah has her arms around Elena and screams, "Stop it! You're scaring her!"
Her brother whips around to look at them, snarling, "Get her out of here then!" Klaus is sent spinning when Finn's fist connects to his jaw. He falls to the ground, surprised by Finn's sudden aggression and strength. His older brother stands over him with his nose wrinkled and his nostrils flared angrily.
"I will not permit you to come into our home and yell at her when you should be groveling for her forgiveness." His siblings begin to advance while Rebekah pushes the couch back and helps Elena to her feet. Klaus looks around the room wildly, knowing how it must look. That he lost control and shoved the couch without regard for her safety instead of the opposite, to protect her from the inevitable fight between the two wolves.
"It's not like that," he glances back from Elena to Elijah. The whites of his eyes are stark against his skin, his paranoia getting the best of him.
"Niklaus. Calm down and we will sort this all out," Elijah approaches him like a wild stallion, his hands raised and flat as if he could calm him down with the gesture.
"This isn't my fault! The young wolf wasn't meant to be here."
"Elena invited me you dick!" Tyler untangles himself from Kol and pushes back from the vampire. "She's considerate like that unlike you. Who the hell just takes over someone's body to spend time with their girlfriend? In what world does that make sense?"
"I don't have to explain myself to you."
"No, but you should explain yourself to me," Elena says, holding onto the back of the couch. "That was a shitty thing to do to Tyler and me."
"Why do you care so much for him? Is it because he follows you around town like some love-starved puppy?"
"He's my friend and we've both lost someone. You would know that if you had been here. Why are you doing this? Why are you focusing on Tyler? I needed you! When Jeremy died, I needed you. It isn't my fault you were gone and I had to turn to my friend. What were you doing for an entire month? I can understand why you panicked and left, but you had all the time in the world to come back." She pleads with him for an answer that won't break her heart.
"I was trying to make hybrids."
"Was it worth it?" she scoffs.
"No, Elena! It wasn't. I failed. I slaughtered three packs of wolves and I failed each time. Is that what you want to know? That I left and came back alone without the means to protect you? I left and have nothing to show for it!" He looks at her, angry and wishing it were just the two of them.
"That's not what I want."
"Then what do you want? Tell me and I'll do it!"
"Apologize! You haven't even said sorry this entire time. All you had to do was come back and apologize to me, but you can't do that!"
"And if I apologize then will you?" Her eyes squint in confusion and she looks back to Rebekah who shrugs. "You chose to drop this news to me on one of the most important nights of my life. My family, my entire family, was gathered together again and it was fresh start for me. How was I meant to react? I was stressed and shocked, Elena."
"I hadn't thought about that," she admits.
"And this? My home. Did you not think I'd notice all you've done to erase me from it? You've so conveniently replaced me in this house and in my own family."
"That's not true, Klaus," she says, a little too defensively.
"Oh really? Everyone you meet gets pulled into your orbit. You are some supernaturally seductive creature. From the moment they met you, you had them charmed. Your friends willing to trick and fight me for the mere notion of saving you. Even this one," he points back to Tyler, slowly circling the outside of the room. "When was the last time you spoke to him before this year? You may have been friends once, but history isn't enough to get him to act the way he does around you."
"What are you implying?"
"Perhaps it isn't just your blood that's powerful."
"Don't be stupid," she dismisses him and the small voice at the back of her head that wonders if he's right. "Why does any of that matter?"
"How could it not matter? Who you allow into your life? Of course it matters. You let Tyler hold and comfort you. You give him your time and it means everything to me. He gets to enjoy your attention and how is that different from what you allow me? I feared Elijah might replace me with all of Kol's nagging, but never in my wildest imagination could I have seen that I'd be replaced by a young pup like Tyler."
"I haven't replaced you. Why can't you let this go?"
"Because you could!"
"I don't want to replace you. Why are you so stubborn about the worst things? You had me. You have me if you can just stop getting in your way for a minute. Why are you acting like you don't?"
"I don't! My family. Your friends. I've had to compete for your attention ever since we came back to this bloody hovel. It was one thing to tolerate your closeness with Elijah. Your inside jokes and knowing glances drive me up the wall. Now I have to watch you with him? Holding him on my couch? Meeting him out in the country for a romantic night under the stars?"
"I just lost my girlfriend! None of it is like that." While Klaus and Elena were going back and forth, Tyler had managed to get closer to her than Klaus, who was still standing on the opposite side of the room with his brothers. "You should get your head checked."
"Tyler, you're not helping."
"None of this is helping, 'Lena. You need to get out of here," he reaches out a hand for her, but Klaus is on him before she can react. He has Tyler pined to the wall. For all of Tyler's muscles, Klaus is still able to lift him off the ground with ease. Before Rebekah can stop her, Elena sprints the few feet over to them, holding onto Klaus's outstretched arm trying to pull him off Tyler but he shrugs her off with ease.
Tyler's face starts to take on a sickly white hue and Elena looks to each of the siblings with none offering their help. She looks around helplessly until she spots a broken leg from the side table Tyler broken when he threw Klaus into it earlier.
She bends down, ignoring the warning look from Elijah. "Klaus, please. Let Tyler go." He's too focused to pay attention to her and Elena touches him on the shoulder, one last attempt to get him to listen.
The broken shank of wood plunges into Klaus's side, through his rib cage the way Alaric had trained her and with the same force she'd practiced dozens of times on lesser vampires. Klaus stumbles back from her, astonished at the blood coming away from his side and staining his fingertips. Tyler slumps to the floor and Elena rushes to him.
"You would hurt me to save him?" he asks, pulling the table leg out of his side and letting it drop to the floor. His blue eyes turn a green as yellow bleeds into them.
"You wouldn't listen to me."
"Not even your high school boyfriend meant so much to you when you found out I'd killed him," he spits out and his features contort uncontrollably. He fights against the change even as conflicting emotions overwhelm him. Elena refuses to look at him too ashamed to admit that he is right. Instead, she gives Tyler her full attention.
Unable to handle the escalation and her refusal to see him, Klaus grabs Tyler by his shirt to pull him away from Elena. "Perhaps with some motivation, you can figure out what I wasn't able." He bites into his wrist, forcing his blood on Tyler and keeping his eyes locked to Elena's the entire time. She cries out, but Rebekah is there to prevent her from trying to stop Klaus. She struggles against her hold, but Rebekah is far stronger than Elena will ever be.
"Please don't. Klaus, please." Her cries only convince further his jealous heart. Tyler's neck pops as Klaus twists his head sharply to the right. His body slumps roughly to the hard wood and Elena's desperate pleas for Tyler turn a stone in Klaus's stomach. He backs away from Tyler's body, second-guessing himself as Elena breaks free from Rebekah and rushes to her friend. "How could you do this?"
"Finn. Go get the Bennett witch. Perhaps she can help?" Elijah instructs his brother and Kol dangles a set of keys, gesturing for Finn to follow him to the driveway.
Elena holds Tyler's limp head in her lap, silent tears roll off her cheeks and onto his face. Klaus kneels down and tries to reach out to her. She turns and snaps at him. "Don't touch me."
Klaus looks back to his brother and sister, lost under their disapproving judgement. They stay like that until Tyler wakes up; Klaus desperately willing Elena to look at him and Elena blocking out everything but the feel of Tyler's dead weight in her lap.
When he returns to life, sucking in air violently, Elena helps Tyler sit up next to her. She holds him close, stroking the side of his face trying to get him to focus on her. Klaus moves protectively closer, worried about how Tyler's fresh hunger might override his senses next to Elena's rapid pulse.
"Go away," she warns him tersely and turns away without a second glance. "Elijah, where is Bonnie?"
"Kol said she isn't at the house. Her phone is going straight to voicemail. They believe she is without service in the tombs." She nods, hiding her fear, and looks back to her friend.
"Hey, Tyler. You're okay," she soothes.
"Am I going to die?"
"No, Ty. We will figure it out okay. You'll be fine," she assures him but she knows that no matter how confident she tries to sound, Tyler can smell the truth.
Elena comforts Tyler the best she can with Klaus still looming over them while they wait for Kol and Finn to return with Bonnie. Their hunch was right, she was in the tombs visiting Damon. But in the time it takes to find her and bring her back to the house, Tyler is already starting to shake with uncontrollable tremors. Elena wipes away the blood slowly pouring from his eyes and seeks reassurance from Elijah to Klaus.
"She won't make it in time to save him. He's going to die like the others," Klaus tells her almost ruefully. "I couldn't get any of them to survive."
She leans in close to Tyler, touching her head to his as it shivers against her warmth. "You've got to feed, Ty. You've got to try. I'm the only one here who can help, so please try?"
"What are you doing?" Klaus looks over at them, concerned. "Elena, what do you think you're doing?"
She cranes her head up at Klaus, exposing her neck to Tyler and tilting his head up to her pulse point. He's too hungry to resist and her fear makes her smell too good. Tyler's fangs descend and Elena leans further into him. She winces when he bites into her neck. He's new and unexperienced. His bite feels more like a true animal attack than the few times Klaus had bitten into her.
Klaus yells her name as he descends on the pair of them. He squeezes down on Tyler's trachea until he chooses air over blood. She stumbles back from them with the sudden movement. Klaus eyes her in angry disbelief and lingers on her neck. Tyler's bite slightly overlaps his own from the ritual and he can't stand the idea that anyone else's mark should obscure his own on her. Quickly, he bites into his wrist to erase Tyler from her body.
"No!" she scrambles back on her legs. "You don't get to pretend you didn't do this. You started this. I had no other option."
"I won't let him leave his mark on you, Elena."
"You love this so much," she gestures up to her neck, red and torn. "This is your work. You did this. You didn't have to kill him."
"This was supposed to be just you and me." Klaus backs away from her, lost in a world of what might have been if Tyler hadn't interrupted or if Elena had just kept kissing him.
Klaus's attention is split between Elena's refusal to take his blood and Tyler staggering to his feet, shaken but healthy. Elijah puts himself between his brother and new hybrid. "I think, perhaps, it is time for you to leave Niklaus. If just for tonight."
"No, not just tonight," she interjects fiercely. "Forever."
"Elena…"
"How am I ever supposed to look at you again? I waited. Patiently. I called and begged for you to come back to me and looked like a fool the entire time. I had to grieve my brother without you. Elijah stood where you should have been. The yoga classes and the doctor's visits, it should have been you, Klaus!" Tyler brings a comforting hand up to her shoulder and she shrugs him off, not wanting anyone to touch her.
"I know that!" His desperation calls out to her and she closes her eyes, shutting him out. "It can still be me, love. Please, look at me."
"And then you come home. Finally! And after all that I was ready to forgive you. It is embarrassing how ready I was to forget it all just to have you back. But you can't help yourself, can you? You just have to fuck everything up no matter how easy I make it for you."
She finally looks at him, eyes bright with tears that she's no longer hiding from him. "Fine! Elena, I'm sorry!" His voice cracks and his face twitches as he tries to hold himself together.
"You can't yell an apology, Klaus! I want you out."
"Elena, love."
"No! This isn't your house anymore. It stopped being yours the moment you left and abandoned me. This house? This stupidly huge house." Her laugh is quick and derisive.
"It's our home now. You don't get to claim things that you left behind when you get jealous that others have picked them up."
In the face of her resolute defiance, he only sees one way to win. "Not without my hybrid. Tyler, come."
"What? No!" Tyler's knees buckle and it's like his body is trying to disobey his brain, his limbs whirling around awkwardly. "Tyler?" she's perplexed when he takes a step away from her to Klaus.
He looks back to her with an anxious confusion on his face. "Elena?"
"Don't go," she calls out to him. Tyler seems to be caught between them on an invisible tether, unsure of which voice to listen to.
"Tyler!" Klaus's voice is demanding and easier to obey, but Elena's is soft and sweet, taking a more subtle root in his heart. Tyler turns to Elena, but Klaus has a hand on his jaw turning him to look him in the eye. "Change. Run with me."
Elena had never seen Tyler or Klaus or any werewolf change before and it terrifies her. The popping bones and the sick splitting ligaments echo through her ears. Elijah grabs her and spins her into his chest before she can see the way the thick fur pushes through the skin causing tiny rivulets of blood to run off their bodies, dripping to the ground.
Klaus does what she demands and before she can turn around, he bounds off through the open sliding door to the edge of the property, disappearing beyond the tree line with Tyler chasing at his heels.
A/N: This chapter went through a few re-writes to get it right and hopefully it does. Two very hurt people finally seeing each other after some time. Though I do have to laugh that Klaus was upset how she sprung the baby news on him and now he's showing up unannounced at a surprise dinner. Thanks for reading and reviewing!