Elena wasn't sure what she had been expecting when Klaus 'let' her go to the Grille, which was a topic for another, less urgent time , but it certainly wasn't what was actually happening. She frowned as she saw the strange sight of Klaus interacting with Stefan and Damon. She got out of her car, feeling slightly unsteady as she walked towards the three of them.
Raised voices fell silent when they saw her, and Damon gave a searching look. She waited for the accusations and the blame, for the explosive reaction at her betrayal, but it never came. She frowned slightly, wondering if Bonnie hadn't said anything to anyone, or had just excluded the Salvatores.
"Elena," Damon sounded hopeful when she reached there and she remembered his confession from the night before. It had, she thought wincing internally, slipped her mind with everything else that had been going on.
She really wasn't a very good friend these days, lost in the strange developments of her own life.
"Damon, what are you guys - planning?" She saw a giant roll of paper in Stefan's hand and her frown deepened.
"The plan," Damon interjected before Stefan could say anything and she stole a look at Klaus who looked tense, "is that I kill the hunter."
"Kill him and you'll suffer a fate far worse than death." She stared at Klaus openly then, wondering why he cared about the hunter that much. It was actually a pleasant feeling that he was against committing murder for once, but she secretly wished it had manifested itself at any other time.
"Look, we all know what the priority is," Damon turned to Klaus, "rescuing Jeremy, and the easiest way to do that is by killing the hunter," he mimicked snapping a neck making Klaus roll his eyes.
"No, the priority for you," Klaus had a shark like grin on his face when he spoke and it made Elena a little weary, reminding her of their time in New York, "is to impress my doppelgänger. In the assumption that saving her brother might make up for the time you killed him."
She saw a muscle in Damon's jaw twitch and she knew he was gearing up for a fight that they had no time for.
"Listen you hybrid ba-"
"The plan," Stefan said loudly over his brother, drowning the rest of his sentence, "is to go in through the secret tunnels that open into the back room."
"And then he'll just run outside," Damon argued, still angrily staring at Klaus who didn't even acknowledge the look.
"No, we can-" Stefan said, trying to argue with Damon.
"This is a bad plan Stefan-"
"So is-"
"Shut up," all three of them turned to look at her and the incredulity of the situation wasn't lost on her, "my brother could die. Can the three of you please have this weird dick measuring contest later?" She felt her cheeks tinge red as she realised who'd win it - and now she was the one who need to focus. They were all looking at her in varying degrees of shock but she plowed on through her embarrassment, "Damon can go in through the front door, and Stefan and Klaus can go in through the back. Get Jeremy, Matt and April out, and then, I don't know, make that hunter leave town."
"Are you giving orders now?" Damon asked incredulously and she looked at him in anger.
"You couldn't come up with a plan-" she heard footsteps and then Caroline was there with a hybrid.
"Caroline," she frowned as Klaus' entire demeanour seemed to change and he grabbed the blonde vampire by her shoulders, "I need you to stay here with Elena and make sure she doesn't come inside the Grill while we're in there. In fact, why don't you take her back to her car, and should something go wrong, take her and leave." She watched in horror as Caroline nodded, looking hollow, and realised that Klaus had compelled her.
"What the hell -" Caroline took a hold of her wrist and dragged her away, while the three of them discussed her plan. She tried to jerk out of her friends grip but it only tightened.
"Elena stop," Caroline said finally, "my head's telling me to use more force if you don't. Please don't make me hurt you." She felt sympathy for her friend and nodded, her anger at Klaus rising. They all knew how sensitive the blonde vampire was over compulsion and with good reason, of course, there was a good chance Klaus knew nothing about it. But it still offended her that he had practically removed her from a situation that was most important to her. She got into the passenger seat, seeing that everyone had vanished and worried her bottom lip.
Caroline was beside her in the drivers seat in a moment, her posture tensed.
"What happened with you and Bonnie?" She asked once she saw no one was around and Elena felt her heart race.
"What do you mean?" Elena didn't want to say anything and tell Caroline more than she already knew. She was already exhausted from giving two very long winded explanations about her current state, she knew Caroline would react pretty badly; she didn't want to lose both her best friends in one day. She was also sure she couldn't focus on telling Caroline the complicated truth, not while she was worried about Jeremy, and even about Damon and Stefan. And Klaus. Just a few months ago, he was nothing more than a ruthless original, but he was so much more now, and it did make her worry, even if he was technically immortal.
His immortality had been less than absolute over the last few months.
"Bonnie texted saying that she was going back to Whitmore and that you guys had a fight over something. But she won't tell me what." Elena looked towards her friend, surprised at the frustration in her voice, "no one is telling me anything."
"Why? Who else is -"
"Tyler!" Elena flinched back at the venom in her friends voice, she hadn't sounded this angry even when Tyler had bitten her.
"What did…he do?" She asked slowly, the way she knew to do when faced with her angry friend.
"He's been cheating on me," her eyes widened as Caroline spoke, "he's been sleeping with that hot, bitchy werewolf girl." Her eyebrows kept rising at her friends words and she felt her anger being directed at Tyler.
"How could he? After everything…."
"Seriously! It was just a small doubt at first, but then, and get this, Klaus confirmed it. He knew Tyler was keeping it a secret and tried to use it to get him to do something but I overheard it. Tyler met her in the mountains when he was trying to break his sire bond, you know where he was all naked and…" Elena grimaced at her friends wild gestures and tried to push the images out of her head. "And then they probably had hot hybrid sex in some cave."
"Oh God….Caroline…" she was torn between feeling sympathy for her friend at what had happened and feeling a little miffed at all the weird images in her head.
"That's not even the worst part," Caroline said laughing bitterly, "she's living with him."
"What!?" She turned to her friend, looking at Caroline attentively.
"Yup, and Hayley…"
"Hayley?"
"The werewolf Elena, keep up!" Caroline snapped and Elena tried to calm her rising anger.
"Okay, what about her?"
"She's such a fucking bitch," Elena winced, she knew how Caroline could get when she got angry and she wondered if her friend had attacked the werewolf yet, "talking about how good of a friend Ty is, as if I don't know him better than her. And it's not even like she loves him or anything. She just….I don't know, wants to become a hybrid or something. You should've seen the way she was flirting with Tyler one moment and then Klaus the next, ." She wasn't sure what to say to that, questions rising within her head when a loud noise filled her ears and the ground shook. She could sense the smell of burning, her hand instinctively wrapping around her middle, a flimsy protection that held no meaning, and watched in horror as the Grille blew up.
Her hand was at the handle then, trying to open the door, but it was locked and Caroline was pulling the car out of the driveway.
"Caroline? What the hell? Let me out, Jeremy…."
"Sorry Elena," her friend really did sound sorry, "the compulsion took over."
"No, Caroline, please, I have to go back…." She felt her tears fall and the worst images came to her mind. Jeremy dead, blown apart to the point where there was nothing left to bury. She couldn't…not after Alaric, not so soon.
She cried till they got to her house, her shoulders hunched over as she did so, and felt Caroline rubbing her back soothingly. "He'll be fine Elena, you know that." She shook her head, there was no guarantee, there never was. Suddenly, the pleasant weight of her friends hand was gone, and Elena looked up as the car door opened.
"Jeremy," she wasn't sure when she had climbed out, but she had flung herself at her brother, who winced as she threw herself at him.
"I'm okay, don't worry. What kind of a deal did you make this time?" She froze before relaxing.
"Nothing, don't worry," she pulled back as she looked him over, "are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, I just need more vervain." She frowned but then Caroline was saying something about having to leave and the blonde handed her the car keys before taking off in a blur.
"Let's go inside." She said as she walked ahead, "why do you need more vervain?"
"I gave my bracelet to April," she felt her eyebrows raise at that, giving him a knowing look, "no, it's nothing like that, it's just to protect her from the compulsion. She's alone you know." She knew, and she felt bad for not checking up on the girl after the memorial. "And anyway, I need vervain if Stefan is going to keep compelling just because of Klaus tells him to." She blinked at him, her feet frozen outside her doorstep as her brother walked inside. "What? Please don't tell me someone turned you overnight."
She shook her head and stepped inside, "Stefan compelled you," she said slowly, trying to make sense of what Jeremy had said, "because Klaus told him to?"
"Yeah, look's like Stefan's made a deal with the devil, following your footsteps."
"What did they compel you to do?" She wasn't sure what was happening, what Caroline had said came to mind, along with the way Klaus had threatened Damon over the hunter, and now this, it was a confusing mess in her brain.
"That hunter had some tattoo only I could see, so I was supposed to sketch it. Hey," he sounded alarmed as she swayed a little, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just didn't have breakfast."
"Breakfast? It's four o'clock in the afternoon, when did you eat?" She'd gotten so entangled in everything that she'd forgotten the time and the day, in fact, she was sure she had unfinished assignments to do.
"Uh lunch yesterday, I think?"
"I'll order something, what do you want to eat?"
"Forget that, do you know when Klaus compelled you?" Jeremy shrugged and she sat down, only looking up when there was a protein bar in her hand. She wanted to ask more questions, but he was already on the phone with Matt, making plans.
"Listen, do you mind if I stay with Matt?" He asked after a few minutes and she looked up at him with a questioning look. She only realised how hungry she had been when she felt the chocolate on her tongue, and had a sudden urge for dinner.
"Oh, don't you wanna stay at home? And where's Bear?" She asked after swallowing the bite, feeling a little anxious at the thought of him leaving now.
"I gave him to Tyler, you weren't home and I didn't wanna leave him alone. Besides," he looked around the house, a hesitant look on his face, "I don't have any vervain, I don't wanna stay here when so many vampires have been invited in."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry Lena, look if you need me-"
She felt guilt at his words and shook her head, "no, you're the one who was held hostage. If you need to stay at Matt's to feel safe," because he didn't even feel safe in his own house anymore, "then you should stay there, I'll be fine. I'll get something to eat, you should go."
He gave her a bottle of water before he got ready to leave as she polished off the bar, and then walked into the kitchen to look for something else to eat. She found some pasta just as the door shut and thought that she could try making mac and cheese. She'd made it successfully before. Once.
Thoughts swirled in her head at all the information she had gotten today, and she couldn't help the anger she felt at Klaus for having kept so much from her. Of course, she'd also kept a pretty big secret from him, but she had still found a way to tell him eventually. She wondered when he would tell her.
Now that she thought about it, he did say something before leaving for Rome and maybe she should give him a chance to tell her on his own before she confronted him. She wanted to know if he would really tell her everything, even if it did seem a bit underhanded. Maybe she could tell him she knew after he broached the subject without her ever saying anything.
She started coughing as smoke filled the room and cursed as she dropped the hot pan under running water. She should've ordered something instead of trying to cook when she knew how horrible she was at it.
"What did you burn?" She let out a scream, hand over heart as she turned around to see Klaus standing by the sliding doors of the kitchen.
"How did you get in?"
"You left the door unlocked." He frowned at her, looking around the room, "after all the time we've spent together, how are you not more concerned about the monsters of the night?" She surreptitiously checked him for any sign of injury, but other than some blood over his hands, she couldn't find anything. Although it wasn't easy to admit, she had felt relief when she saw him safe.
"You are the monster of the night," she said with a shrug and he grinned, clearly pleased.
"I'm not the only one though. What are you doing?"
"I'm hoping," she said as she fished the box from the cabinet, "that I don't burn boxed mac and cheese, it's been known to happen."
"What else do you have in the house?" He looked at her cabinets and sighed at the boxes of processed food. "That's all?"
"There's some chicken in the freezer, but none of us can cook it." He looked offended at her lack of culinary skills and she felt ridiculous. "What are you doing?"
"I happen to be a good cook, so why don't you sit?" He didn't have to ask twice, she thought as she settled into the seat across the breakfast bar, watching him move around the place. It was odd, and dream-like, Klaus cooking in her kitchen, and it made her want to pinch herself, see if this whole thing wasn't actually a dream.
"I didn't realise it had gotten this late," she said as she saw the clock, the evening sky already taking over. Without her registering it, the days had started becoming shorter, and it was only a little over a week till Christmas. And they still didn't have a tree.
"You woke up at noon, love." He said, not unkindly.
"Oh." Well, that did make some sense. She felt her mouth water a little when he started the cooking, her stomach grumbling loudly.
He gave her an odd look, and she could see the disapproval in his gaze. "When was the last time you ate?"
She shrugged, trying to act casual when she could remember exactly when it had been. It was a good thing he hadn't seen her get dizzy just a while ago. "Yesterday?"
"It's been a while since I've been human, but even I remember you need a little more sustenance than that, especially-" He cut himself off abruptly, like he had already said too much, and she recognised it as concern for the baby - or babies. She wasn't sure she was ready to acknowledge that thought yet, but it made her feel a little warm.
"Yeah, well, Bonnie and I had a huge fight last night. It sort of killed my appetite." The hurt from it was still fresh, even though she tried to trample it.
"What happened? With the witch?" He asked cautiously, sounding curious and a little concerned, a far cry from how blasé he had sounded earlier in the day.
"I don't want to talk about it."
She thought he would push her after that, but thankfully he didn't, changing the subject. "I suppose you'll want to talk about the hunter."
She let out a sigh of relief, glad that he was finally addressing the elephant in the room, well it was probably the third or fourth elephant by this point, "I do have a bunch of questions, yeah."
"Ask away love."
"Who's Hayley?" She had meant to ask about Jeremy first, really, but the thought had been swirling in her head ever since Caroline had told her about the werewolf. She knew Klaus had called them intimates with relative ease, but she wasn't sure they had ever talked about exclusivity. Although the way he had tried to rile Damon up earlier was a good indication of where he stood at the issue. For her at least, a traitorous, logical part of her mind said.
He was trying to suppress his glee for once, making her stare at him through narrowed eyes. "She's the werewolf your friend Tyler seems to be taken with."
"Well, according to Caroline, she's taken with you." She emphasised the word making his grin wider, even though it was a conclusion she had reached on her own. "Why don't you tell me about her?"
"It almost sounds as if you're jealous." He was teasing, she recognised the tone from when he had used it on Elijah, and he was obviously pleased about it too. Leave it to Klaus to take her jealousy as something amusing, instead of taking it seriously. Of course, he had known about her jealous when he had taken Caroline to the ball, so he knew about it by now. She did hate that he made her feel so insecure sometimes, the only other time it had ever happened in her previous relationships was with Stefan over Katherine. And that had only been because of their history.
"As if you weren't jealous this morning," he said nothing to that and she drummed her fingers on the counter, impatient. "Well?"
"She does seem to be….provocative. Of course, it could be because of my good looks and charisma," she scoffed at that even though she did know how easy it was to be drawn to that, "but I think it's because she wants something. She thinks she's playing me in the way she's obviously playing my hybrid, but there's more to her agenda. The front she's putting is just meant to take the suspicion off her."
She frowned at that, partly at the information he was giving her, and partly at the fact that he was telling her at all. "Okay, fine."
"Even Caroline's been friendlier than usual."
"Why did you compel her? Especially when you said, just an hour ago, that you didn't like compelling people."
He frowned at the that, making the rest of her questions die, "I said I didn't like compelling you, there's a difference."
She felt her jaw twitch, but refused to acknowledge what he'd said, "how could you keep me out of the planning? And by the way, didn't my plan work just fine?" She'd forgotten in the middle of trying to figure out his secret, and her jealousy, that she had been angry at him for that. She blamed her hunger and the smell of the pasta wafting from the pan for that, but the moment he mentioned Caroline, it all came rushing back to her, bursting in a fit of questions as she got up and walked towards him.
"What would you have liked me to do instead? I needed to ensure your safety first, since you obviously don't care about it. It's what you always do, walking into the lions den unprotected." He sounded just as accusatory and angry as she had, and it only riled her up more.
"My brother was in there, what was I supposed to do? Do you think I like having to try and fight people who are obviously more powerful than me? But I can't," her voice shook slightly, chocking up, "I can't lose anyone else. Not after Alaric. Don't you get it? I don't have any more people left. Jenna's holed up in her dorm drowning her sorrows alone in probably an unhealthy amount of alcohol, because she can't live in the house her dead sister and boyfriend used to live in. Jeremy isn't even here tonight, because he doesn't feel safe in his own house; I've obviously invited half the vampires of the town into my house. I tried so hard to save Alaric but he's obviously rotting somewhere, desiccated. So of course I would walk in there to save my brother. But," her breathing sped up, "I know that I'm also responsible for more than my own life, and I can't explain it but I already feel so protective over this child or children, whatever, I'm not just going to risk losing….I'm not. Even if it means I have to sit on the sidelines for a while, but you can't expect me to do nothing at all."
He looked a little pained, his eyes seeming conflicted. "You walked into the school where the hunter was, even when you knew." She swallowed at the low tone of his voice, the accusation stinging a little, even though she did know how reckless it had been.
"I did, but I was in shock, I didn't really believe what Esther had said, thinking she was wrong, but there was something she said. About having linked the baby to Alaric as well. Which meant I was linked to him. Of course, she wouldn't make another immortal, not without a failsafe. The ancestors wouldn't have let her. But," it killed her that she was going to say it at all, but she'd been thinking about it for weeks, "I probably shouldn't have gone in there alone, and I know that now, okay. So just don't do it again."
His hands were on her shoulders then and she hadn't realised that she was trembling, "sit, I'll make you a plate." She could see the guilt in his eyes and sat down without saying anything until there was a plate of aglio e olio in front of her.
"Why did you compel Jeremy?" Most of the fight had left her, but there was still a slow burning anger imside her over that bled into her voice and it made him look at her wearily as he sat down.
He told her all about the hunters then, the Five, their tattoo and what it led to. How back when he had known them, the tattoo was visible to everyone, but now only her brother could see it for some reason.
"You could've told me. I would've convinced Jeremy."
"It would've taken too long." She frowned at that, not entirely convinced.
"Two questions, where did you learn to cook like this and," she'd taken a second helping of the spaghetti, her hunger making itself known, "why do you want the cure?" She knew that he'd never become human, not really, so she couldn't really see the appeal.
"I just told you about my time in Italy, our family went back there many times. I had too much time on my hands, and I don't mind cooking. As for the cure," he looked away from her, his hand twitching like he wanted a glass of something in it, "I need to destroy it, now more than ever."
"Why?" She frowned at that, "and why now?"
"When I killed those hunters, it caused me to be riddled with the hunters curse for fifty two years. It made me and the rest of my family avoid them, thinking it was the last we saw of them. But then I discovered one in this town and it was too convenient to be a coincidence. That hunter will eventually lead someone to the cure and I need to get it before any of my enemies do." The look he gave her was determined, but she could see the fear behind it. She could tell that he was more than aware of how close he had come to dying over the year. "But the hunter is now dead, which means none will get to the cure, which is fine with me."
"Is it?" He shrugged at her question as she pushed the plate away. "Did you kill the hunter?"
"God no, as if I would be foolish enough to be under that curse again. Your Damon did it," there it was, that jealous edge in his voice that made her feel better about her own reaction earlier.
"He's not mine."
"He seems to think he is."
"Now who's jealous," he opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it, and looked away from her. "What's the curse?"
"Just a few hallucinations, encouraging one to kill themselves. I've already informed Stefan of it, and Damon is probably locked away in the Salvatore basement, away from wood and windows."
"Oh God that sounds…." Like torture, she thought, especially if you couldn't really die, "wait, you had it for fifty two years?" She turned towards him to face him fully.
"And that," he said as he got up, getting out a bottle of bourbon, "is something I'd rather not talk about." She could practically feel the walls going up, and decided to drop it for the moment.
"Okay." He searched for a glass and she placed her arms on the counter top, yawning widely as the days craziness finally seemed to have died down. She had many more questions, about the hunter, the cure, how he really felt about the fact that she - that they were going to have a child, or children, but she couldn't keep her eyes open, darkness surrounding her before he could even turn around.
