"Mother, do you think I have magic?" Ryan asked.
He sat down beside Elena on the bench beside the fountain and leaned his head against her shoulder. Ever since he'd started calling her his mother, he'd taken whatever opportunity he had to touch her, all of it completely innocent, of course, a child who'd been denied love and affection seeking it out now that he had the chance. Her poor, touch starved boy.
"Finn told me that while I was talking to him about your pregnancy, the whiskey decanters were shaking and the more upset I got, the more they shook.."
"Intense emotions can trigger magical outburst." Elena ran her fingers through her son's curls as she spoke.
"So, I'm like you?" He straightened and smiled. "I have magic?"
"It would appear that way, yeah."
"You knew, didn't you?" Ryan's brows furrowed and he looked at Elena sharply.
"Elijah and I thought it might be a possibility, because of my blood in your veins, but we didn't want to get your hopes up in case we were wrong. We've been looking for signs though and we would have told you the second we had confirmation."
"Just so you weren't trying to keep things from me."
"Not at all." Elena crossed her legs, smoothing her skirt over her thighs to keep it from riding up.
"So you can teach me?"
"I'm still learning myself, so maybe we can learn together."
"I'd like that."
He smiled widely and Elena's heart twisted. He was so beautiful, her son. How could anyone not want this boy who just wanted to be a good son? He was so easy to want to protect and love
"How much longer will we be staying in Mystic Falls?"
"Once we deal with Cade and the sirens, we should be about clear to head to New Orleans."
"I've never been." He bounced his knee a little, unable to contain his excitement.
"You've never been to the supernatural capitol of the United States?" Elena asked, shocked.
Of all the places he had been, how could he not have visited at least once?
"Only the protected species called it home, for the most part. So I never had a reason to go there." He hung his head. "No use outing myself as a freak. One small mistake and they'd know I was a defenseless immortal, the perfect thing to torture if they chose to."
"Don't, Ryan. Talking down about yourself only enforces the garbage Malivore told you your entire life." Elena rubbed his back and leaned forward to encourage him to look her in the eye, but he kept his head down.
"You know what they would have done though. I would have been an outsider and they would have tortured me for answers about my creator."
"You're not an outsider now. You have a family and you are loved. You're my son." Elena wrapped her arms around him as she spoke.
For all the growth he'd done, he still struggled sometimes and Elena's heart broke all over again for the pain he'd endured prior to her meeting him.
After taking a deep breath, Ryan sat back and raked his fingers through his hair.
"Do you think I'll be a good big brother?"
"Your capacity for love, when you know you won't be shut down, it's incredible, so I know you'll be the best big brother possible."
Ryan smiled, some of the tension leaving his body.
"I love you, Ryan."
"I love you, Mom." He rested his head on her shoulder.
Him going from the more formal 'Mother' to calling her 'Mom' made her so happy. Her beautiful boy was becoming even more comfortable with his place in her life. Watching him relax and grow as he became the man she knew he could be, it had her blinking back tears.
"And your younger siblings will be lucky to have you as a brother." Elena swallowed around the lump in her throat.
"Are you okay? Do you need something?" Concerned washed across his face.
"I'm pregnant. Waterworks start easy." She patted his knee and laughed softly. "I promise. I'm fine."
They sat in silence for a long moment, the soft wind stirring their hair.
"Why didn't you bind me to Elijah too?" Ryan asked suddenly.
"At the time, my focus was on saving you. I wasn't thinking about family or blood ties. I just wanted you to live a life free of Malivore. If you'd like, I can change that."
"That would mean making me a new body, wouldn't it?"
"Most likely."
"And that means a Nexus Vorti, which doesn't happen very often."
"The births of three miracle babies would work."
"But you need that power to take down whatever monster is waiting in New Orleans." At Elena's raised eyebrow, he continued, "I'm not stupid, Mother. You and Elijah are waiting to go down there because there are things we can't deal with while handling what's going on here."
"So, you're okay with being bound just to me?"
"I am. I just wanted to know why."
"He loves you too, you know."
"I know. Which is why I'm okay with what you did." Ryan smiled at her.
Elena kissed Ryan's cheek and stood up.
"How long until the Phoenix stone is destroyed?" Ryan asked, wrapping his arm around her.
"Because of the pregnancy, Sheila doesn't want me getting too mixed up in it. She's afraid one of the spirits might attach to one of the babies. But from what I've gathered, they found a way to undo the spells binding it, they're just waiting for the right phase of the moon."
She wished she could be there, fighting along side them being useful in the struggle to keep her other life from coming to pass, instead of being sidelined. But maybe sidelined was exactly where she needed to be. Instead of constantly on the front lines, fighting, she could be a mother to her son and prepare for the arrival of her other children. She was still technically human and pregnancy and stress didn't mix well, for any species, so she had to be extra careful.
Elena rubbed her belly softly. Soon, she'd be showing and anyone who saw her would know that she was carrying Elijah's children.
"Do you think we'll look enough alike that people will know we're related?" Ryan asked, glancing at Elena's hand.
"You already look like you're related to Elijah and me, so anyone would know that you're family if they saw you and the twins together."
"Good."
Ryan's smile made Elena smile and she wrapped her arm around his waist, leading him to the house.
When they walked through the door, she found Bonnie pacing the foyer.
"Bonnie, what's wrong?"
"I need something from you, to end Cade."
"Anything."
"I need some of your blood, to make the cure to deal with Cade and the sirens."
"Of course. Do you have anything to collect it with?" Elena rolled up a sleeve and walked towards her friend.
"I know everyone just wants some of your blood and I feel horrible, especially considering you're pregnant." Bonnie wrung her hands.
"If it's the only way we can stop Cade, take what you need."
Elena led the way to a chair in the front room and held out her arm.
Bonnie pulled out a small bottle from her bag and ran her finger along Elena's vein, cutting it open. She held the bottle beneath the stream of blood, catching every drop so she didn't have to bleed Elena more than necessary. Once it was full, she blew on Elena's skin, magic sealing the wound closed.
"Thank you." Bonnie slid the bottle into her bag.
"We need to hang out sometime. I miss you."
"I miss you too. You, me, and Caroline. Though no booze." Bonnie looked down at Elena's stomach and laughed.
"Definitely no booze." Elena rubbed her stomach and smiled softly.
"Once we deal with Cade, and before you move to New Orleans."
"Sounds like a plan." Elena hugged Bonnie tightly. "We weren't supposed to start growing apart until after high school."
"No matter how far apart we are, you'll always be my friend. I promise."
Wiping tears away, Elena stepped back. "Now go, stop the devil so we can have that dinner."
"I know she's been busy with vampire things, but tell Caroline to answer her phone more often, will you? Having to leave voicemails and her replying to a text hours after I send it gets old after a while."
"I will." Elena nodded.
It hurt, watching her friends slip apart much sooner than they had the first time around. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. They were supposed to remain friends because the stresses that ripped them apart before was no longer a thing. They were all supernatural and Elena had fallen in love with someone else, not the one who'd done so much harm to Caroline the first time around.
"I thought I heard my name," Caroline said as she walked through the door, followed closely by Hayley.
"Caroline." Bonnie wrapped an arm around Caroline smiled widely.
"Missed you, Bonnie."
"Prove it. Text me more often," Bonnie teased.
"I'll try to do better. I've just been busy with something." Caroline glanced at Hayley.
Klaus. Hayley was still dragging her feet on telling him he was going to be a father and Caroline was trying to help give her the courage to do so.
A twinge of guilt twisted at Elena. How had she missed how broken Hayley was last time. Hayley was a lonely, desperate woman and Elena had been so caught up in her own problems she'd missed it. But that was on Damon too. She'd been under the sire bond and unable to focus on anything else, other than what he wanted. Yes, she was responsible to a certain extent, but she'd been so young and under another's control. She could just do better this time around.
Elena caught Hayley's eye and the werewolf ducked her head, wrapping her arms around her middle.
"Am I missing something?" Bonnie asked.
"Hayley's dealing with something. We're trying to help her with it," Caroline replied, glancing around as if wondering just who all knew about Hayley's condition.
"I'm pregnant and there's about to be another Mikaelson," Hayley said suddenly.
"I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but we're all vampires," Klaus snickered as he poured himself a drink.
"You're not," Elena commented. "You're a hybrid, the Original Hybrid, created through magic, not turned, and you were born a werewolf, so that created a loophole, allowing you to father a child."
"You're lying!" Klaus shouted.
"Calm down, Niklaus." Elijah flashed into the room, stepping between Elena and his brother.
"She told you this load of garbage?" Klaus jabbed his fingers in Elena's direction.
"It's your child, Klaus. Magic says so. I wouldn't lie to you, especially not about something like this."
"Listen to her heartbeat, Niklaus. She's your child. I swear it, brother."
"It is possible, Niklaus," Finn said softly. He'd darted into the room when Klaus started screaming."It's why Mother bound your werewolf. She cursed you to keep this from happening."
Klaus threw his glass into the fireplace and shouted wordlessly before digging his fingers into his hair.
"You're a father, Klaus, and your daughter will need you. Hell, she needs you now."
"And she's not the only Mikaelson of the new generation, is she, Elena?" Hayley sat down on the couch and looked at her hands.
"She's not. She'll have twin cousins." Elena sat down beside her and placed her hand on the werewolf's shoulder.
She wasn't sure why Hayley had revealed their pregnancies the way she had, unless she'd made hers known because she was afraid she wouldn't have the courage to do it later and she'd told them about Elena's because she didn't want to be at the center of attention. Either way, she wasn't upset, just glad that was out in the open now.
"Sorry," Hayley whispered to Elena. "Just figured that if he knew Elijah was going to be a father too, he'd be more likely to accept that he was."
"It's okay. We were waiting for you to say something anyway." Elena smiled at her.
Hayley nodded once, then shrank back as Klaus advanced on them. Elena jumped to her feet, spell at the ready to protect her children's cousin's mother. She hadn't been ripped out of heaven to have the entire reason she had to relive her life die before Hope was even born!
"You were with someone else. Admit it!" Klaus attempted to reach around Elena, but she sent him flying backwards with a flick of her wrist.
"I know that child is yours, Klaus," Elena hissed, the air crackling with her rage.
She'd contained so much since seeing him again, all the pain he'd caused her in her other life, all he'd taken from her. And now, facing him down, scars only she remembered tore their way open and she wanted to hurt him. She needed to. The only thing that held her back before was her love for Elijah, but now, with him threatening Hope, she had no reason to restrain herself.
Raising her hand, Elena send a blast of pain into Klaus that had him howling, the sounds filling her with a savage satisfaction. She wasn't normally a violent person, but the wounds she'd made herself forget were there made her need to express that pain, to make Klaus hurt the way he'd hurt her, if only for a moment. She didn't want to cause him permanent damage, to do that would be to harm Elijah, but a moment of being stronger, of causing him pain, she needed it.
Then, the anger faded, and with it, came emptiness. Hurting Klaus didn't feel as good as she thought it would in her other life. The only upside was that she no longer felt the need to hide it when she was angry with Elijah's brother.
"Believe it or not, but that baby is yours and I will protect them both."
Elena released Klaus, but didn't move from her place in front of Hayley. He got to his feet slowly, his face twisted with rage, though he made no move towards the pregnant women.
"As will I." Elijah walked over to Elena, placing his hand on her elbow. With a press of his lips to her temple, he said, "You are my brother, Niklaus and I will do all I can to help you, even if it means saving you from yourself. Do not lay a hand on Hayley. Her child is of our blood, our family, and family is always and forever."
"Don't try to manipulate me, brother."
"It's a girl, Niklaus. Your Hope and she will love you, unconditionally," Elijah said gently.
"Elijah wouldn't believe this to be true without absolute proof, not after a thousand years of all vampires being sterile," Elena added. "And you heard Finn. He and your mother knew this was a possibility. Magic finds loopholes and sometimes, the impossible is actually very real."
Elena's hand went to her stomach, to where Elijah's children grew inside her and he covered her hand with his.
Klaus's jaw ticked when he caught Elijah's movement.
"I've seen the spells, Niklaus. Elena is pregnant with my children and Hayley is carrying your daughter. And Elena is going to look into trying to recreate the magic that led to her getting pregnant for Rebekah, so she can become a mother as well."
"Is it possible?" Rebekah appeared at her oldest brother's elbow.
"It will take some time. I'm just missing a few pieces, but I think I know what they are."
"I'd trust Elena in this, Sister," Finn assured her, wrapping his arm around his little sister.
"I'll be able to be a mother?"
"I may be only able to make it work once, but yeah, once I get the spell ingredients together."
"I don't care if it's only once. If you can help me become a mother, I'll be forever in your debt."
"You're Elijah's sister. You won't owe me anything."
Klaus started pacing, drawing their attention.
"She will always love you, Klaus. You're her father. Be the father you wished you had."
"She's right, Nik."
"This baby is the hope we've always had for you, Niklaus. Your Hope."
Klaus's mouth worked, but he remained silent, making Elena wonder what was going through his brain. He was so used to being attacked and feeling alone, even within his own family, that the thought of having a whole other person who would love him completely, that it had to be terrifying for him.
"It's okay to want something! It's okay to care!" Rebekah shouted finally, frustrated.
"Your father made you feel like you didn't belong in your own family. Don't make your daughter feel that way." Caroline caught Klaus's arm, forcing him to look at her. She cupped his cheek, her blue eyes searching his.
Klaus closed his eyes, his expression breaking, becoming vulnerable.
"My dad hates me, and that sucks and it hurts. Please, don't let this baby feel that way. The only thing that makes it bearable is that my mom loves me, even though I'm the very thing she was raised to hate. So please, please, be a dad to this baby."
Hearing Caroline confess this, hurt Elena. She'd been so busy with her own life, with her son and pregnancy that she had pushed her friends to the side, even though she knew they were struggling, especially Caroline. But if she'd taken any attention away from Ryan while he was still trying to adjust to being her son, it could have shattered his fragile sense of self and his trust in her. So what choice did she have?
Though now that Ryan was becoming comfortable in his position in her life and in the Mikaelson family, she would have more time for her friends, especially now that Caroline was throwing herself completely in with Klaus on his journey to fatherhood. Caroline would need all the support she could get if she was involved with the hybrid.
"What if I'm not good enough?" Klaus whispered.
"Loving her, and trying your best, that's all you have to do. We'll help you. I promise."
Klaus looked at Hayley, his expression bordering on wild.
"We can work together, for the baby," Hayley said," All I ask is that we have joint custody, that we don't talk bad about each other to her, and I promise I won't try to take her away from you. A kid needs both parents and I know what it's like to grow up without either of them, so I can't do that to my kid if I have a choice."
"You try to take my daughter from me and I will kill you."
"You try to turn my baby against me and I'll make your life hell." There was the Hayley Elena remembered. The fierce fighter, the woman willing to do anything to protect herself and get what she was after. But this time, she got a better look at the woman and realized that what she was after was family.
"This is all overly dramatic." Kol flopped across one of the chairs, his leg over the arm. "So I don't suppose anyone cares that Damon has left town with Rose-Marie?"
"Good and no, we don't really care, as long as he's not causing trouble," Elijah said.
Upon hearing that, a sense of relief washed over her. The man who felt he had no purpose if she wasn't in his life in the first life they shared had found someone who cared about him, maybe even loved him, leaving her completely free of him on every level.
"Kol, once again, you've proven unable to read the room and completely missed that your brothers are dealing with something profound," Finn remarked.
"Why? What's going on?"
"Niklaus and Elijah are going to be fathers."
Kol looked from Elena to Hayley and then at the fathers of their children.
"How is this possible?" Kol's brow furrowed and his eyes went wide.
"The bridge between life and death is a strange place." Elena shrugged.
Elijah pulled Elena closer and she rested her head against his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, cradling her closer. His touch sent a spark through her veins and she inhaled sharply, drawing his scent deep into her lungs.
"Now, I'm feeling a little bit like a zoo animal, so I'm gonna go to my room." Elena glanced at Elijah, then headed towards the stairs, hoping he'd follow.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Elena kissed Elijah's throat, biting at him and he groaned.
"I need you." Elena tugged at his tie, loosening it.
"Elena."
He kissed her hard, all teeth and tongue, and they both worked at the buttons on his shirt, exposing his chest to her exploring hands.
"I love you," Sliding his hands down her legs, he lifted her so that she could wrap her legs around his waist.
With a groan, he set her on the dresser and she arched against him, grinding against his arousal.
"Please." She threw her head back.
As he sucked on her neck, Elijah fumbled with his belt buckle, then sank into her with one hard thrust, filling her.
"Goddamn it, Elijah."
As he moved within her, she shoved his shirt down his arms, giving her access to the hard planes of his back.
"Harder," Elena begged, digging her nails into his skin.
"You make me desperate for you," he whispered. "Oh, Elena, I love you."
"I love you. I love you so much." Elena caught the back of his head in both her hands, tilting his head so she could kiss him again.
Fire raced through her and she climaxed with a cry.
When Elijah withdrew from her, he kissed her gently.
"I guess the pregnancy horniness has kicked in," Elena whispered with a smile.
"Does this mean this will be a common occurrence?"
"Absolutely." Elena kissed him softly.