I woke up in bed and looked around for him. I got up, covering myself with a spare robe, and looking at myself in the mirror before smiling. I smiled even more at the man walking out of the bathroom into the room I was standing in.
"Hello darling." he said smiling and walking to me.
"Hello handsome." I said kissing him when he got to me.
"Are you ready for today?" he asked me.
"What's happening today?" I asked him.
"You'll just have to wait and see. Won't you?" he asked me, smirking.
"You love to surprise me, don't you Nik?"
I stood outside Elena's hospital room with Jeremy, observing her, holding Nikolas and listening to Meredith talk about her condition. I may hate her right now but she's still my sister.
"She's gonna be fine. She got a little banged up today, hit her head, but it was just a slight concussion, nothing to worry about." Meredith told us.
"But she collapsed, there was blood." Jer told her.
"Honestly, Jeremy, she's okay. She's just… she's been through a lot. Is there anyone you want to call?" she asked us. Jer nodded and pulled out his phone and called the Salvatore boys, putting the phone on speaker so I could hear.
"You did what?" Damon asked us.
"I took her to the hospital. When you find your sister unconscious, you call 911." Jer told them.
"Not when you have a parade of vampires at your disposal!" Damon disagreed.
"Every remaining Original is gonna want Elena dead to stop Alaric. She's a sitting duck in there." Stefan told us.
"Well, Meredith wants to keep her here for observation and I'm inclined to agree." I told them.
"Jeremy, get Elena home, we're on our way." Damon said before hanging up the phone. We walked into her room and quickly left. We called everyone and told them what happened and they offered to help us. Tyler and Matt opened the door for us as Care and I walked into the house.
"Couch." Caroline ordered.
"I'm fine. I just… I want something to eat first." Elena told us.
"We're on it, as soon as we make sure no one is lurking in the closets." Tyler told her as he and Matt left to go upstairs and Care and I lead Elena to the couch.
"Alright, couch, now!" Care ordered again.
"Uhh, I told you I'm fine." Elena told us as Care grabbed a blanket off a chair and followed Elena.
"Meredith said you needed rest, so you rest." I told her. Elena sat down on the couch and Care covered her with the blanket.
"May I?" Elena asked reaching fro Nikolas. I handed him to her and she held him happily.
"Now, what can we get you? Do you want some tea, maybe some vodka? Both will help you sleep." Care said and Elena gave her a look. "I know, I'm being smothering. It's what I do."
"No, it's—it's nice." Elena told her.
"I'm thinking—maybe tea with vodka." We all started laughing as Care got up. Elena remained on the couch as I sat on the chair close to her before falling asleep.
I walked into a nice shop with Nik holding my hand. I looked at the styles of dresses and suits then to Nik with a smile.
"What are we doing here?" I asked him, grabbing hold of the hand I was holding with both of mine.
"We are here to buy you a dress." he told me.
"With that very large wardrobe of your full of different dresses, you want to buy me a knew one?" I asked him.
"Yes, I want to buy you something no one else has ever worn before." he told me and I grinned at him.
"Where do we start?" I asked him.
"What's your favorite color?" he asked me.
"Blue." I told him. I always loved the color of his eyes.
"Then let's find you a blue dress." he told me with a smile.
"Where shall we start?" I asked him.
"Pick a side of the store and we'll start there." he told me and I laughed.
"How about we ask for help first?" I asked.
"As you wish, love." he told me and I smiled as we made our way to the counter to ask for help.
I woke up to see Matt sitting beside Elena.
"Where is everyone?" I asked him.
"Tyler and Caroline got a call from their moms. What were you twp dreaming about?" he asked us.
"Nik." I said.
"Sophomore year." Elena told him.
"Seems like forever ago." Matt said smiling at her.
"It was. I'm sorry that I strung you along. I should have figured out what I wanted and just been honest about it. I'm now making the same mistakes with Stefan and Damon. It's not right what I'm doing to them either, I – I have to let one of them go." Elena said.
"Which one?" I asked her. We all turned to see Stefan enter the house and quickly come across the room towards her. Elena got up from the couch and walked towards Elena. She got up from the couch and walked towards him.
"Stefan." she sighed, hugging him tightly.
"Hey." he greeted her. He moved her back to the couch with me while Nikolas was in the bassinet. She must have put him in there before she fell asleep. We watched the boys as they cooked in the kitchen.
"I'm being over coddled. I feel completely fine." she told them.
"You're on house arrest. You're supposed to be coddled." Stefan told her.
"He's right, dear sister." I told her.
"Wouldn't it be smarter if we just got you the hell out of town?" Matt asked her.
"And do what? Go on the run for the rest of my life? No thank you." Elena asked getting up. "And I'm not an invalid. I'm done with the couch." she said leaving the room.
"So, you're just gonna let her call the shots?" Matt asked us.
"Letting her make her own decisions." Stefan told Matt. I turned to Elena and stared in shock at the man I saw with her.
"Even if they're wrong?" I heard Matt ask.
"Nothing wrong with free will, Matt. Trust me, you don't realize that till you lose it." Stefan told him.
"Stefan." Elena and I said together. The front door was wide open and Elijah stood in front her.
The five of us sat together in the kitchen, talking about what was to happen.
"All we need is to take that stake away from him. Once it's been disarmed, the weapon's in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us." Elijah told us.
"And you'll just run?" Stefan asked sitting next to Elena.
"We've done it before. Klaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father. What's another half century while Elena is able to live out the rest of her natural life?" Elijah asked him.
"We've finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back." Elena told him.
"I give you my word, Elena. I will not revive Klaus within yours nor even within your children's lifetimes. Perhaps that will finally teach him some manners." Elijah said and I thought about what to do.
"Why should she trust you? All you've done is screw her over." Matt said to him.
"And for that, I am deeply ashamed. But know this, she could have been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight, so Elena, I leave it to you to make the decision whether to trust me or not." Elijah told them. He knew I trusted him.
"Not! Hello, did that concussion give you brain damage?! His lunatic siblings will kill you the first chance they get!" Damon said on the phone.
"Rebekah and Kol will honor the terms. If you return Klaus' body to us, Elena will come to no harm." Elijah promised.
"One thing first." I told him and they all turned to me. "Take me with you."
"What?" Elena asked.
"I can't stay here, Elena. I can't stay where I don't feel safe." I told her before turning to Elijah. "After a time, when I'm ready I want you to turn me into a vampire. I won't die knowing there was a way I could be with him again."
"Agreed." Elijah told me and I smiled.
"Elena, do we have a deal?"
"No! No, no, no, no. Did I mention NO?" Damon told them.
"Elena, it's up to you." Stefan told him.
"Oh, come on!" Damon said to him.
"Why do you want Klaus' body?" Elena asked him.
"He's my brother. We remain together." Elijah told her and she sighed.
"We have a deal."
"I know where Klaus' body is." Jer said on the phone. "Damon's on his way to bury him in the woods off Route 12. I'll text you with the specifics." Jer told Ric. "I know." he hung up and looked at us. "He bought it." I smiled and looked down at Nikolas with a smile.
Nik had bought me a beautiful strapless blue dress that fell to the ground. It had sequence going around the bust in a figure eight pattern and he bought himself a new black suit. We walked into a restaurant and they didn't waste any time to seat us.
"They didn't waste any time seating us." I said to him as the waiter gave us a menu.
"I would think not." he told me.
"You're paying them more than normal for this, aren't you?" I asked him.
"I own this place. I'm not paying them anything for this." he told me and I laughed lightly.
"Would you like some wine this evening?" the waiter asked us. Nik ordered our wine and we waited for a moment before he came back with glasses and the wine.
"This is good." I told Nik surprised. I wasn't normally a wine drinker.
"I had hoped it would be. I had everything planned for tonight." he told me and I gave him a confused look.
"Why?" I asked him.
"I have an important question for you." he told me.
When I was ready to go Elijah and I packed our things into the car before we were to meet Bekah in the woods with Nik's body. Caroline showed up and got Nikolas while Elijah held me and used their vampire speed to get us to Stefan and Jeremy.
"What happened?" Elijah asked, seeing something on Stefan's face.
"Stefan?" Care asked him.
"Alaric staked Klaus with the white oak stake." Stefan told us and I shook my head. "He's dead."
"No."
Elijah and I were standing in the woods, waiting for Bekah.
"He's gone, Elijah." I turned to see her in tears. "There was nothing I could do to stop it. I'm so sorry Nikky." she said. We all hugged one another in our grief. I held Nikolas into me, the last link I had to Nik.
"Tyler Lockwood is dead, but the rest survived. You said that Niklaus turned their bloodline." Elijah said to her.
"I thought he did." Bekah told him.
"It wasn't me, it wasn't Kol." Elijah listed off.
"It wasn't me, Elijah. It was Niklaus, I'm sure of it." she told us.
"Then how are they still alive?" I asked them.
We danced that night. Katherine and I were going to be leaving in a few days, but in that moment nothing mattered but him.
"You said you had everything planned tonight. How do you mean?" I asked him.
"I had something I wanted to ask you." he told me.
"What is it?" I asked him and he just smirked at me as we continued to dance.
"Come with me." he pulled me from the dance floor and into a garden area in the back.
"This is beautiful." I told him looking around.
"It's the second most beautiful thing I've seen my entire life." I turned and saw him smiling at me. I smiled at him before kissing him deeply.
"I love you." I told him.
"I love you." he told me, holding me close to him. "I wanted to ask you a very important question."
"What did you want to ask?" I asked him.
"In a way you remind me of someone I once knew, but you are nothing like her." he told me and I gave him a look.
"That's a wonderful way to start a question." I laughed.
"Sorry. I've never asked this question." he told me.
"What question?" I asked him. He pulled me to a bench and sat down with me next to him.
"Nicole. I haven't known you very long and yet I can't help but feel like I've known you forever." he told me. "I love you more than I ever thought possible and I don't want to ever part with you." he got down on one knee and pulled out a black velvet box. My breath caught in my throat. Was he...? "Will you marry me?"
My phone rang, bringing me out of my forgotten memory. How did I not remember that?
"Hello?"
"Nikky. It's Meredith. You need to get to the hospital. It's Elena." I ran back to a car that was close by and drove to the hospital.
"Where is she?!" I ordered. "Where's my sister?!"
"Nicole, Damon, wait a minute." I hadn't even noticed Damon walking behind me.
"Where is she!?" Damon ordered.
"You need to know, when you and Jeremy brought Elena in here earlier tonight, her injuries were worse than I let on. It wasn't a concussion, it was a cerebral hemorrhage, bleeding of the brain." Meredith told us.
"What are you saying?" I asked her.
"You two were so worried, I didn't want to tell you, but I – I helped her. She needed my help." she told us.
"You what?" Damon asked as we understood what she was saying. I ran down to the morgue to see her. I saw Elena on the stretcher. I walked to her and at down next to her, tears pouring down my face. Suddenly Elena came back to life, gasping for air, making me jump.
