I sighed as I smoothed down my clothes as I studied my appearance. It has been a while since I felt like myself. I'm sure if I was fully human, I would have dark circles under my eyes.

I smile as I heard the friendly commotion coming from down the hall. My head snapped to the door as I heard the doorbell.

"Bloody hell, Elijah! You don't have to ring the doorbell. You live here."Klaus announced from downstairs. My hands clenched out of nervousness as I head to the door.

"Kol, why are you walking around in your underwear? Put some clothes on." I heard Bonnie say before I opened the door to see Bonnie, rubbing her forehead.

I stepped out next to her, eyebrows instantly raising at the sight of Kol in tight red underwear. "Ummm… what is going on?" I asked, turning my sight back on Bonnie, who threw khaki pants to Kol, which landed on his head.

"Its going to be another episode of 48 hours if Kol does not get dress. Kol and Hope were playing with paints and got dirty. Now, Klaus is not happy and Kol is being an child." Bonnie smiles triumphantly as Kol slid on the khakis pants.

"I really regret buying these pants. They don't do me justice." Kol said, narrowing his eyes at Bonnie.

I laughed as Bonnie rolls her eyes at him. "The only thing you need to worry about if your balls can breathe. I never…" Bonnie starts to laugh, hand on her chest. "... seen underwear so tight. Where in the hell did you buy those anyways?" Bonnie stifled her giggles, tightening her lips.

Kol groaned, before disappearing in a blink of the eye. He appeared a moment later, fully dressed in the khakis and red sweater.

Klaus came up the stairs, looking between the three of us. "What is the hold up? Everyone is downstairs, but you three." Klaus commented, but I suck in a breath as I heard a second set of footsteps.

"Three? Do we have a guest?" Elijah commented, before looking at us. It must took him a moment to realize I was standing before him. We stared at each other, unsure what to do at this point.

I was scared that he would keep his promise and kill me, but he remained still. "Elena… " Elijah started, but his eyes fluttered shut, hand brushing his forehead. "What are you doing here?" Elijah questioned.

"I'm sure we can get into this later, but for once I would like to have a nice family dinner." Klaus said, steering Elijah away. The three looked among us before following after the two quietly to the dining room. We made it to the dining room. Unfortunately, there was two seats left. One by Klaus and on the other end was a seat next to Elijah, which was also across from Hayley.

I groaned as Kol shoves me, nearly knocking me down as he went to the seat next to Klaus. I glared as Kol sent a devious smirk my way, mouthing 'Good luck!' I cracked my neck, walking over to last seat. Hayley watched as I lowered unto my seat as I tried to avoid eye contact with either of them.

The first few minutes were in silence as everyone waited for Elijah and I to break the tension, but I surely wasn't going to engage. Freya cleared her throat as she sat down her wine glass. "So Elena, we haven't really got to talk since your return. Did you find anything useful?" She asked as she cut into her chicken.

I looked to her, setting my fork on the plate. "Stefan's source sent us to someone out at UCLA. A Rupert Giles. Stefan is out there now, but has yet to call me." I commented, shuffling my glass.

"Then, what are you and Katherine doing then?" Rebekah asked, helping Hope cut into her food.

"Bekah, lets not do this now. Can we enjoy a moment of family time?" Caroline intercepted, giving a side eye to Rebekah.

I sighed as I went back to my plate, avoiding the wavering eyes between Elijah and I. Swallowing my pride, I turned to Elijah. "How are you? It's been awhile since I've seen you." I say to him.

I watched as his eyebrows dipped briefly, but was surprised that he turn my way to say something but was immediately was cut off by a sarcastic scoff coming from Hayley. "I can't believe you asked that question." Hayley shook her head.

"Here we go again." Freya mumbled, rolling her eyes. She sat down her wine glass and went to Hope. "Come on, sweetie. Lets go have a tea party in your room." Freya said, helping her down.

Hope waves at Klaus as she was lead away to her room. We heard the door close shortly after. "You just couldn't let us have this moment, Hayley, What the hell is your problem?" Caroline snapped, slamming her glass onto the table.

"Caroline,..." Klaus started, but was cut off by Caroline.

"Don't 'Caroline' me. Everytime you take her side, even when she takes stupid shots at me." Caroline snapped, snatching her hand away from Klaus.

"Well, I am the mother of his child." Hayley says, a tiny smirk on her face, ignoring the warning sign on Klaus face.

"The good it is doing for your daughter!" Caroline snapped back, feeling triumph getting a rise out of Hayley. "Klaus is not perfect. He can still be asshole, but he going out of his way keep your ungrateful ass alive. Is there a 'thank you'? No, but in return you tried to kidnap his daughter to go live in the fucking woods. And poor Jackson did not know what he was getting into. The man died loving a woman that didn't give two shits about him or his pack. Lets not talk about how you treated Rebekah, seeing she is the only one care for you." Caroline went off, pacing back and forward, breathing heavily.

"Care, come sit and calm down." Klaus snapped, looking at the two women, especially Hayley, who was just about jump from her seat.

Kol winced loudly as Caroline glared at Klaus. "Don't you know not to tell a woman to calm down? Rookie move." Kol shook his head, immediately stopped when Bonnie looked his way. He gave her charming smile, before looking back at the commotion.

"Just about everybody in this family is hypocrites." Caroline whispered, crossing her arms, looking into Klaus' blue eyes.

Klaus stood up looking into her eyes, frowning. "What is that suppose to mean?" The room went quiet.

"How about everybody take a step back before anyone say anything they regret?" Elijah rose from his perch.

Trying to help the situation, I rose as well. "Care, how about Bonnie and I take a walk with you?" I suggested.

"The 'mother of the year' speaks." Hayley snaps at me. I sucked in a deep breath as my lips pinched with anger.

"You know what… I'm done explaining myself to anyone in this room. I made a decision to protect my children and I don't regret it one bit. I know that they are being raised in a happy home. They are safe and are loved, whether you believe it or not. I made the biggest sacrifice a parent can do for child. I know what it feels like to be hunted, so filled with fear it paralyzes you. And I never wanted them to feel that. Seeing that Hope has been kidnapped twice so far, I know I made the best decision. Can you say the same?" I spoke as silence resonated between all of us.

"It shouldn't have been… just your decision, Elena. Did you not trust me enough? Did we not agree to do this together? What changed?" Elijah whispered, looking to me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I face Elijah. I knew this confrontation would happen sooner or later. "Nothing Elijah. Absolutely nothing. I can give you… every excuse in the book. But the truth is… we couldn't protect them, not with what is coming, Elijah. We can go on like this forever, but this rift is not going to benefits us in the future. There is going to be a war, whether we like it or not." I said as I moved closer, standing face to face with him.

I reached for his hand, relieved that he didn't pull away. "I'm… sorry that I hurt you. And I know it is going to take some time for you to trust me again, but I need your help… this family help now more than ever." I said, but the moment was ruined when my phone started to ring.

I cleared my throat, pulling away. I slid my phone off the table, seeing 'Stefan' on the screen. I slid right to answer, putting phone to my ear.

"Hi, Stefan." I started off, walking from the table a little bit. The hairs raised on the back off my neck when Stefan spoke.

"Elena, you should head back to California. UCLA, specifically." Stefan spoke.

I frowned. "What's wrong, Stefan?" I asked, worried that he might be endangered.

"Elena, this is bigger than we ever thought. Just come back as soon as you can." Stefan urged, hanging up.