"This is a disaster!" Caroline said the next day as we all were finishing reading ourselves (and Nikolas) ready for the day.

"Look, we don't know anything for sure." Stefan tried saying to cover up the truth once more.

"Yes we do Stef. Elena is sired to Damon. Which means her one singular burning desire is to make him happy." I told him.

"Just like Klaus and his hybrids!" Caroline agreed.

"No it's not. A vampire sired to another vampire is one in a million. Maybe it won't affect her the same way." Stefan tried to argue.

"We already know it's affecting her. She's become Damon's lapdog." Caroline said and Stefan gave her a look.

"It's true. Everything he says, she agrees with. Everything he asks her to do... she does. You guys need to do something." I told them.

"Why us? Why not you?" Caroline asked me.

"Cause I'd just be the sister trying to ruin her life again. She might actually listen to you guys." I explained as Care pulled out her phone.

"Wait, no, hold on Caroline." Stefan said stopping her from calling Elena. "This isn't gossip. You can't just drop this on her before we know what's happening for sure."

"I need to talk to Tyler, okay? Maybe he'll know what to do." Care suggested.

"Alright talk to Tyler but please don't tell anyone else. If this is true, then it may have influence on Elena's every action and emotion since she became a vampire." Stefan reminded her.


Later that day, I was waiting for Nik with Nikolas at the Grill when Hayley sat next to me.

"Hey." She said and I smiled at her as she reached for Nikolas. I passed him to her and greeted her.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were with the others?" I told her.

"I was, but Tyler's taking over so I can get something to eat." She told me playing with Nikolas.

"You know, I'm meeting Nik here. So if you want to avoid him then I suggest you take it to go." I told her.

"Don't worry. I want nothing to do with whatever you have planned." She told me with a smile on her face. "But, are you sure you want to stay with him?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"He's a psycho." She said and I shook my head.

"He's not a psycho. He's different with me." I said smiling at Nikolas as he happily played with her hair. She smiled at the little boy before giving him back to me.

"I guess I won't ever know what that's like. Having someone I can always depend on. Family." She said.

"Don't say that." I told her. "We can be a family for you until you find yours, if you want. And I'll do whatever I can to help you find them." She stared at me in shock as I smiled at her.

"You're different now. Last time we met you were so focused on finding Klaus and finding a way to kill him. Now you're… different. Softer." She told me and I thought about it.

"No, I'm not that different. I'm just not so focused on trying to kill anyone. Protecting my family is the most important thing in my life." I explained to her. "You're also in the category, by the way." She stared at me for a moment before going to get her food. I played with Nikolas as we waited for Nik.

"Your daddy sure is taking his time, isn't he?" I asked Nikolas as he played with some toys I'd brought with me.

"We never set up a time to meet." I turned and saw Nik next to me.

"Didn't we?" I asked him and thought about what I'd said to him.

"No, we didn't. One of my Hybrids told me you were here." He said sitting where Hayley had vacated.

"I'm glad they did. I could have sworn we set a time last night." I said.

"No. Are you ready? You said you wanted to spend the day together and I just happen to have no plans." He told me and I laughed lightly.

"Oh? No world domination plans today? How odd." I joked.

"Not world domination no. Just trying to repair my family." He told me and I smiled at him.

"Well agreeing to meet with me is a start." I told him smiling. We ordered food and ate while talking and laughing. We stayed off topics we knew would bring up an argument. In fact it was almost as though we were meeting for the first time (with some differences of course).

"Where all have you lived?" he asked me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"When you and Katarina were hunting for me, where did you go?" he asked and I thought about it.

"We stayed in most the places you had stayed for a long period of time, but most of our time was in New Orleans." I told him. "We stayed close to the French Quarter, but not too close to be noticed by any of the witches or vampires."

"What about the werewolves?" he asked me and I shook my head.

"There were no werewolves in the Quarter. Just the witches and vampires." I told him. He had a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before I spoke again. "Would you ever think about going back?"

"Where?" he asked me.

"New Orleans." I said. "Rumor has it you and your siblings used to be like royalty there."

"We were royalty." He told me with a thoughtful smirk on his face. "Until the fire that nearly destroyed the city."

"What happened? Why'd you leave?" I asked him.

"The same thing that had always happened back then. My father came to visit." He told me and I nodded in understanding. Having met his father the one time was all I'd needed to know I'd never want to do so again if he was alive. "Don't worry. We're going to be staying here for a long time." After I was done eating we walked out and spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company.


That night Nik and I were all still together wondering through the woods doing all we could to avoid going our separate ways. Jeremy had come to collect Nikolas for some uncle/nephew bonding time. With Jeremy being a Hunter and Nikolas being Nik's son I was worried at first but Matt assured me he'd keep a close eye on both of them for me.

"Come back to the manor with me." He said and I sighed lightly.

"Nik…" I began to say but he wasn't going to listen.

"It's where you belong. With me, please." He almost begged me.

"I shouldn't. We should stick to the plan." I told him and he stopped, grabbed my arm and turned me to him all at once making me gasp in shock.

"Your plan. Not mine. Come home with me." He ordered and I opened my mouth to say something when his lips crashed onto mine. I soon gave into what he was wanting before he pulled away from me. "Come home."

"I should get back to Caroline's." I said before he kissed me again. He pushed me against a tree as I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to pull him closer. We parted and as I tried to collect my breath he gathered me up in his arms and used his vampire speed to take us back to the manor and up to our room. He pushed me to the wall and kissed me hard and passionately. We spent that night wrapped up in each other's arms before falling into a peaceful and blissful sleep.