Okay, so this chapter took a turn I was not expecting. I meant for all of the information that comes out here to come out eventually. I had just thought it would happen differently then it did, but sometimes the characters act of their own accord when I'm writing and things just happen. I'm actually really happy with how this turned out though.


Having lived amongst the Mikaelsons as first their neighbour and later their sister she was no stranger to the loaded silence. She had six hundred twenty-six years of memories to draw on - six hundred and twenty really, since before the age of six her memories were a little fuzzy, but that was normal for everyone.

There had been many instances where one of the brothers walked in on a private conversation between her and Rebekah, knowing exactly what had been said thanks to vampire hearing. Many more existed where the siblings had completely disregarded their enhanced senses and barged in on her and her husband during intimate moments.

She was pretty sure all of them had seen her naked at one point or another during the few seconds it always took to cover up.

There were silences following horrific actions like the one when they found out their sweet little sister committed a massacre with her husband.

There had been silences in the wake of happy news. They had all gone still the day she confirmed that she and Kol were going to be parents. Of course that joy had been overshadowed by their flight from their home. She wouldn't have told them at all until they were safely on the start of the perilous journey across the sea, but Rebekah had caught her in a moment of sickness and out of concern alerted everyone else who insisted on finding her a healer.

Countless silences and looks that spoke a million words, yet none felt as awkward as the one she found herself in. It weighed on her shoulders, pressing her into the ground until she thought she just might fall beneath the earth into the tunnels again.

She shuffled her feet involuntarily and turned her gaze to the circle. A witch's spell was always complex, but a simple shift in ingredients could easily offset any spell. Two drops of her blood ripped through Esther's protective barriers in a blink, gifting Caroline - and it had to be Caroline because Elena suspected breaking Kol's curse might have side effects for his entire bloodline - precious seconds to shove her bleeding wrist into the gaping mouth of the oldest witch in the world.

Elena's fingers tingled with residual magic she had used to snap her mother-in-law's neck. She took the life with an ease that had the Salvatores staring at her with open mouths; their's was a wholly different silence.

An Original must have called them while she slept, or Esther involved the brothers from the start. They both had enough reasons to hate Klaus and want him dead.

As the quiet stretched on she locked eyes with Stefan, wondering if the human girl he had loved ever truly existed. Fragile Elena Gilbert felt gone, like she had had shed a layer of skin to embrace the witch who must have always lurked beneath the surface. She never wanted to be meek little Elena again. She didn't want to go back.

She wouldn't.

There were factors from her former life pulling her in, and to survive in the Mikaelson world fragile and meek could not be a part of her vocabulary.

"I think this might be the longest any of you have ever gone without talking since you came back to Mystic Falls," she broke the silence, folding her hands behind her back. "You've got to be fit to burst; I know how much you love the sound of your own voices."

Elijah's gaze took her in, drinking every detail he could find in the light of the sputtering torches.

She knew what he saw. The coat she had worn two nights ago when he saved her outside the hospital. The scarf she had meticulously wiped clean of dust because it belonged to Caroline. And the face he hadn't looked upon in four hundred and two years.

Klaus took a staggering step back, staring at the ghost come to haunt him.

Kol's hand slid along her wrist and held gently behind her back, warm against the base of her spine.

Finn observed the proceedings with slight amusement.

It was Rebekah who spoke first.

"You killed mother?" Her blonde hair whipped around her face.

Elena cocked her head to the side and smiled, slow, slightly feral and entirely Mikaelson.

"Did you think you were the only vindictive bitch in the family, Bex?"

Then she had a mouthful of white blonde hair and had to let go of her husband to hold her sister's shaking shoulders. Her fingers dug through the layers of hair until she touched navy wool and grounded herself, but it did nothing for the tears pricking at her eyes. She turned her face into Rebekah's neck, inhaling the familiar rise of honeysuckle.

She wondered if Rebekah knew, but shook off the niggling doubt. The blonde was smarter than most people gave her credit for and exceptionally observant. If Elijah could connect the dots she would bet Rebekah had reached the conclusion before him.

Rebekah knew.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, pulling back to meet the vampire's puffy eyes.

She shook her head, dismissing the apology as unnecessary. Perhaps it was. Events happened that made past crimes irrelevant; like returning to the land of the living.

Elena let out a slow breath as Rebekah's slim fingers ghosted over the side of her face, tracing the circles beneath her eyes.

"How?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but Finn beat her to an explanation. When she looked she saw his focus shifting from her to Klaus and finally to the corpse of Esther that would reanimate soon enough.

"Reincarnation, ritualistic murder and a spell from mother's collection." He turned his gaze back on her. "This is not the choice I thought you would make, Elena."

"When have I ever made a choice anybody thought I would make?" She snorted, amusement bubbling in her chest. Her eyes darted to the circle and back up, pausing momentarily on Esther. "You want to talk unconventional choices Finn? We could compare and contrast. You've made more than one tonight."

"I would think if anyone would respect my wish for death it would be you," he countered. "I honoured yours."

"My choice to transition didn't result in mass murder," she crossed her arms. Shifting in her peripheral vision reminded her that nobody else had spoken yet. She braced herself for an outburst, knowing one was coming, but then changed her mind.

She had no desire to be around for what was sure to be a shouting match loud enough to rouse the dead witches. She rocked back on her heels.

"I should get back home. There's a spell to clean up and another to work out… things to find and finish." Her hand warmed in Kol's larger one and she smiled. He clung to her as if fearing she might disappear once he let her out of his sight. "Esther needs to complete the transition and then be taken to the tomb under the church."

The direction brought Elijah's attention, returning his lost voice.

"Why there?"

"Because if she dies a witch, or a pre-transitioned vampire she'll return to the other side as a witch and find a way back. Then we're in the same position all over again." Her hair slid over her shoulder.

"You found a way back." He cocked an eyebrow.

"I had help." She squeezed Kol's hand. Magic twisted beneath her limbs, ready and waiting. The first shift began at the edge of her vision. She tightened her grip so he wouldn't be left behind. "Tell you all about it later."

Everything blurred and brightened until she stood in the dim light of her bedroom before the full mirror. She found his eyes in the glass drinking in the reflection of her giddiness.

"I've wanted to try that spell since 1432."

"You missed your magic," he turned to stand in front of her.

She tipped up her chin. "Not as much as you did."

Her bracelet clinked against his arm ring as she shifted to hold his wrists.

"I think that had more to do with me making the choice. Nothing was stolen from me," her voice went quiet on the end. The high of the night passed in a blink.

"I can hear your heart darling. I know when you're lying, and you're lying to me now." He shook his head and moved to take a step back.

"I'm not lying, Kol." She pulled him closer. "I don't think my magic was stolen away. I don't regret the choice I made; it gave me over six hundred years with you."

"Elena…" his eyes slid shut as he sighed.

She brought one hand up to cup his cheek.

"Kol," her thumb traced over his bottom lip. "My heart skipped a beat because I was wrong to say nothing was stolen. Something precious was taken from me…" he covered the back of her hand with his and turned his head, pressing a single kiss to her palm. "… from us."

His eyes snapped open, focusing on her.

"We were deceived," her lungs burned around a breath, "expertly deceived. Do you know how Bonnie got you into my head?"

"I gave her the spell," he nodded.

"Good," she licked her lip. "I have to show you another memory… of the night I died."

"I remember that night vividly. I don't want to relive that again."

"You need to," her fingers touched his wrist and slid down to thread through his. "You need to know what happened after you went ahead and before the dagger. If I try to put this into words I'll start crying."

"If I have to see that again I will as well."

"You won't have to. I never saw that remember? It's just the time in between, I promise." Pressure built up behind her eyes. Her 'please' came out choked.

It took a long moment before he nodded once and reached over her shoulder for the spell on her nightstand.

They sat side by side on her bed as she took his hands and chanted. Darkness crept in and back out, taking with it the amenities of the twenty-first century.

Sunset soaked frescoes decorated the ceiling above the canopy that she could barely make out through her lidded eyes. Her hips moved up of their own accord, searching for more of the tortuously glancing contact from his tongue.

In the back of her mind a throat cleared.

She rode the fingers that had driven her time and time again to the brink of madness.

Um, darling?

I know, I know: too early in the day. Hang on. I'm still new at this whole memory sharing. She struggled to focus. Give me a minute.

Very well.

I can hear you laughing you smug bastard.

Her hips continued searching. Moans joined the creak of the bed.

Is this what it felt like when I would tease you? He chuckled harder, tone darkening to a sinful whisper. I can feel your arousal, my love, curling down your spine and coiling in muscles you never knew you had.

Her patience pulled taught, snapping.

This is my mind. She pushed him onto his back and straddled his waist, taking him in with a single smooth stroke. I'm in control of it.

Complete control.

She could feel his smirk as the tension coiled and fell apart. With the arch of her back she managed to break out of the memory and land in the one she wanted.

Just when I was starting to enjoy myself, he chuckled.

Hush, her breath formed white clouds in the cool of night. She watched the rising air in fascination for a moment while running her tongue over her sharp canines. You enjoyed every second of that.

Both times. He laughed. Is this what I needed to see?

Yes; now just go with the flow.

She followed her own advice and let the memory wrap around her until she was one with it.

A strong desire for fresh air had drawn her outside, but she would have been lying if she denied her rising hunger. How long had it been since she had fed? The last throat she had bitten belonged to her husband. His blood was euphoric, but it lacked the thirst quenching quality of a human.

She suspected she fed less than her family. She had seen Nik draining several bodies in the run of a day on many occasions; Kol as well, though that was normally after they were fighting. Typically, he maintained her diet by feeding in moderation and compelling his victims to forget they had ever been on the receiving end of his teeth.

Her eyes fluttered shut. She tipped her head back, taking a deep breath and opening her mouth to taste the air.

Her ears listened intently to the silence.

On her left several wolves moved in unison, stalking animals further away that she couldn't quite hear; two days ago the creatures would have sent her running for shelter, but the full moon had passed them by without incident.

Behind her came the sound of a horse pawing the ground. She glanced backwards, but the villa was too far away to actually see; she suspected her husband was mounting up for a ride rather than take the carriage to dinner.

On her right tiny creatures scampered through the undergrowth.

Ahead she made out the distinct crunch of foliage under human feet and a human heartbeat.

She made her way forward, sticking to the shadows beneath trees. A few minutes ticked by before she spotted the person responsible for the noise.

The woman wore a hooded cloak and walked alone in the middle of the path.

She shook her head and rolled her neck. First she would feed then she would compel the woman to never act in such a foolish manner again; only those with a death wish walked alone at night.

She flashed forward, pulling the woman with her into the treeline, but she had barely begun to lunge when a pain unlike any she had ever felt exploded behind her eyes.

She fell to her knees, clutching her head; it passed almost instantly.

"My apologies, Elena," a vaguely familiar voice came from above.

She blinked the stars away and dragged her eyes up.

"How do you know my name?" She sat back on her knees.

"You told it to me," the woman knelt in front of her, "six hundred years ago. Do you remember?"

"How could I have told you my name six hundred years ago?" She shook her head. "You can't be more than thirty years old. No witch can live that long."

"I wouldn't call what I've done living," she tilted her head. "My name is Freya. Think, Elena, please. Six centuries ago you were hurt, likely by your husband, and he brought you to a witch. Do you remember? I was there. I helped you deliver your child."

Her features hardened. She stood with sharp movements and turned around.

"Where are you going?"

"Away from you," she spat. "Count your blessings I'm letting you live after such heinous lies."

"I speak only the truth," she followed, stepping into a beam of moonlight. "Look at me and see. You know my face. You know my voice. You know I was the one who placed your newborn child in your arms."

She heard a rustle of fabric and against her better judgement she turned around. Her eyes were drawn down to the witch's hand and the tattered blanket she held.

"Where did you get that?" She took the cloth with trembling fingers, tracing the stitched runes with her eyes.

"After Kol took you away," she met Elena's eyes, "and after you all fled, I found the house and this beautiful blanket you had made. For the first months of her life I wrapped your child in it every night."

"My child never drew breath," she shook her head. Tears she had thought long since gone threatened to spill.

"Dahlia, the other witch, she lied to you," the woman's eyes flashed. "She drugged us both and made you think your baby had died."

She exhaled her denial and shook her head, unable to accept the woman's words because if what she said proved true then they had abandoned their baby. The daughter she had loved and nurtured for those long months wouldn't remember her face or voice or hands.

"I tried to bring her back to you once the snows had cleared, but she caught me." Tears shimmered in Freya's eyes.

Elena struggled to harden her heart, but couldn't. A small voice whispered in her mind, urging her to accept the witch's word as absolute truth.

"Dahlia laid a curse on her to punish my insolence," her voice warbled. "She has slept these six centuries so that Dahlia and I might wake once every hundred years and live for two."

Her fingers curled tightly around the blanket as they had the night she returned to her family gaunt and childless. In her pain she cast it aside when they fled Mikael's wrath, unable to stomach the sight of it.

"It took me two centuries to escape, and a further four to find you."

"You're a witch and it took you four centuries to hunt us down?" Elena lifted an eyebrow.

"Every time I came close you would vanish into thin air again, but now I have you and with the both of you I can complete the spell to wake her."

"And I'm meant to believe all of this because you handed me a scrap of fabric?" A stitched rune rubbed against her palm, tingling with the memory of spells imbued on the blanket.

"Of course not," Freya sniffed and managed a small smile. "You're over six hundred years old. You've only survived this long by placing absolute trust in your family, correct?"

She nodded hesitantly; no matter what had happened in her life she always believed the word of an Original. They could lie exceptionally well, but not to each other and not to her.

Freya stepped closer and held her wrists, sliding her palms down to the back of Elena's hands.

"I implore you to trust them now. Go to Finn."

Elena startled at the utterance of her sire's name. Nobody outside the family - with the exception of Sage, wherever she was - knew about Finn: sleeping the last five hundred years. She hated that he had been kept like that, and would have removed the cursed object holding him prisoner long ago had Nik not made it clear that whoever took the dagger out would soon find one buried in their own heart. He would never use one on her, knowing as they did what happened to non-Original vampires, but the thought that he might retaliate by striking down Kol and hiding him away for several decades stilled her hand from rescuing him.

"How do you know that name?" She hoped Finn wouldn't hold that against her.

Freya smiled, slow and bright with a secret in the corner of her mouth. The expression would not have been unseen upon Rebekah.

"I knew his name before he drew his first breath. I know Elijah as well - I would sing to him and tell him stories - but he was but a babe in the womb when Dahlia came for me. Ask Finn, Elena, he was young but old enough to remember Huginn and Muninn. He will remember the winter day our aunt stole me as mother stood back and let it happen."

She wrenched herself from the memory violently, jerking so hard that she tumbled backward on the bed and dragged Kol with her by the hand.

He landed on top of her, pushing up on his elbows to remove crushing weight from her body.

"Why did you do that?" He whispered, cupping her cheek and squeezing her palm.

She licked her bottom lip, tasted salt, and whispered in a small voice.

"I promised and I knew what came next."

Her heart beat fast, pounding beneath her breast. She had relived that particular memory twice in one night and the second run through hadn't made it any easier.

"You believed her."

"I was going to get Finn to confirm…" His thumb against her lip cut off her voice.

"No, Elena. You believed her. There is no other reason you would have smiled so bright, or why your senses failed to pick up what was happening in the room."

"If I had just paid attention then…"

"Your back now, my love," he murmured, pressing his brow to hers. "That's all that matters."

"That," she breathed in deep, basking in the warmth of his presence above her, "and breaking your mother's curse and getting our child back."

Elena felt his frown before she saw it and slid her hand over his hip, pressing lightly on his back.

"Finn has yet to confirm what she told you, darling, and yet you still believe this Freya? If she spoke the truth why would she not have told me so when I met her in New Orleans a hundred years ago?"

"Would you have believed her?" She hooked an ankle around his calve, urging him to settle on top of her. His solid weight loosed the tension across her shoulders. "I suspect the blanket burned with me, and without it you could have rationalized that this seemingly random witch was in cahoots with Sage, and utilizing the memory of your dead wife and child to trick you into doing what she wanted."

"How do you know me so well?" He chuckled.

"Six hundred years of marriage," she smirked. Then her expression morphed into a more serious one. "Even if she had told you, and you believed her. And she couldn't help our daughter without me and you. Knowing she lived under a curse, unable to hold her or watch her grow… I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone."

"I would have found a way to bring you back," he swore. "I'd already been searching. Employing witches to make me a weapon to work on Nik and find a way to bring back the dead."

"I know." She fisted his jacket and closed her eyes. "I'd have done the same."

Silence wrapped around them, disturbed only by the soft rustle of fabric when Kol adjusted their position on the bed. She sank into the pillow, momentarily tensing when he rolled away, but he took her with him. She relaxed, happily moving her head from the pillow to his shoulder.

"I can take far more of your weight then you can mine," he murmured.

"Excellent point." She felt the ghost of a grin and rolled a little more, draping her body over his like a well-worn blanket.

His arms circled her waist beneath her open coat, fingers dipping into the dimples on her back.

She shifted, warming uncomfortably in the wool.

Kol chuckled and sat up. He helped her out of the outer layer and took off his own jacket, letting both drop to the floor in an unceremonious heap before settling back against her pillows.

She reached backwards and took off her shoes.

"Better?" He toed off his own shoes and arched an eyebrow when she didn't rejoin him.

"Almost." Elena cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips. She reached out with nimble fingers and freed each button from it's mooring.

He watched in amusement as she bared inch after inch of his skin. Her eyes lacked hunger. He knew he could alter the fact with a few choice words - had done so on many occasions - but he merely watched her. He rose when she gave him a look so she could push the shirt off his shoulders then settled again.

Elena dropped his shirt over the side of the bed. Then she crossed her arms at the waist and pulled off her top, leaving only a thin white camisole and the darker strap of another piece of clothing he couldn't make out beneath the material.

She tilted her head in consideration a moment and then tore off the camisole as well. The action created a mess in her hair, making it fall forwards; she whipped it out of her face, leaving only a thin layer of lace over her breasts.

Her hands twisted behind her back, tugging infinitesimally at the lace circling her body. The cloth joined the growing pile of fabric.

She stretched out on top of him, moulding her breasts to his chest.

"Now I worry you'll be cold." He curled his arms around her waist.

"You'll keep me warm." Her nose brushed his collarbone as their legs tangled. "And I don't need Finn to confirm anymore."

"What have we said about mentioning family when we're without clothes?" He sighed.

"We're still wearing clothes," she rolled her eyes.

"A fact I'm sure you orchestrated for this conversation."

He felt her skin warm, flushing across his upper body and beneath his hands. Her voice sounded muffled against his shoulder.

"I just needed to feel you."

His right hand slid up her back to push through the thick layers of hair and lifted her chin.

"There's no need to be embarrassed, my love," he brushed a light kiss across her forehead. "I have wanted to touch you every second since spotting you at the ball before I knew any of this. I felt like I knew you."

"You did," she flushed deeper. Embarrassed by her earlier fears about his affections before she knew the truth. "It's soul recognition."

"What? Like soul mates?" His smile was bemused.

"Don't be silly," she snorted a laugh, "soulmates don't exist. There's no one perfect person for everyone; connections like that have to be made."

"If they did exist you'd be mine," he grinned boyishly, making him look younger.

"You can be a real romantic, you know that?"

"Only with you, darling," he kissed her nose.

"How do I know you're not like this with everyone?" Her fingers danced across his arm.

"Are you asking me whether or not I took a lover?" He raised an eyebrow.

"It was four hundred years Kol, I'm sure you took more than one," she rolled her eyes. "I was your wife for six centuries, and lover before…"

"You're still my wife."

"And your still my husband, but my point is that I know how high your sex drive is."

"And you wish to know names?" He played with the ends of her hair.

"No," she shook her head. However, many men or women he took into his bed were in the past. She didn't care about the many; she cared about the 'one'. "I want to know if I have a reason to be jealous."

"I have had lovers Elena," he nodded, tracing her spine with his fingertips, "as I'm sure you have in this new life, but none of them meant anything to me."

"Nobody?" Her finger traced his jaw.

Kol tipped up her chin, forcing her to meet his earnest gaze which he held a moment before speaking.

"There have been lovers Elena, but aside from a quick romp they meant nothing to me, and they knew it. I have loved only one woman in my thousand years on this earth, and until this week I had given up on the thought of loving again when I met you." The corner of his mouth quirked up. "Though I'm not sure that counts as loving another now, what with this soul recognition that I'm sure you're about to explain in great detail."

"There's not much to explain really," she breathed, lost between the beat of his heart and his eyes. "I learned about it when I was on the Other Side from witches passing through; nature lets them escape to live again, slipping through weak points between realms. The people they met before, in their first life, are recognized on a metaphysical level. It happens with humans too, and is usually the culprit for those intense feelings when you first meet a person."

"You mean like love at first sight, or instant loathing?"

"Yeah," she laughed, "but it's not always like that. I can look back now and see instances of it from the last year."

"What do you mean?"

"Like when I met Elijah," she shrugged. "I was scared out of my mind, convinced he was gonna kill me, but I also knew that if I tried to make a deal with him he'd listen. I think he recognized me to and once he got beyond the doppelgänger exterior he wanted to help me; he did try.

And then with Rebekah I felt this instant desire to be her friend. I was a little more sceptical of it then though since I'd started having what I thought were dreams.

I kinda thought Klaus was messing with me for a bit."

"How did you feel when you met him?" His jaw clenched.

"Scared," she licked her bottom lip. "I also had this sense that what was happening was inevitable. And it was."

His frown deepened.

She recognized the silent request for clarification.

"When I was on the Other Side I met people. Your mother confirmed what Freya told me; I think because she knew I needed closure. Maybe then she thought it would help me move on and leave that place… I don't know." She shook her head and propped her chin on his chest.

She considered how best to explain what she had done before deciding to jump in.

"Freya knew she needed both of us together for her spell, but when I was gone she could never find us until she happened upon all of you. She got hold of a hand of glory and summoned me to formulate a plan. She knew that the only way to bring me back was through reincarnation, but with her limited window of time the odds were that she wouldn't find me and you before being put to sleep."

She touched the sharp stubble dusting his jaw.

"I came up with the idea to lure you all to me. Freya put the spell in motion so I'd be reborn and the right age to regain my memories when she woke up. We planned it all out, from the place of my birth to the glamour Klaus wouldn't be able to resist."

"You said you didn't know how you got your appearance back." He leaned into her touch.

"I wasn't supposed to until Freya used the spell for my memory and Klaus broke the curse. I guess remembering after the fact must have done it. I would have told you but…"

"Your friends," he nodded. "Doesn't reincarnation require witches on both sides?"

"I had Ayana," she murmured. "I still have Ayana."

His brows rose. "Bonnie?"

"She doesn't know, and she won't until she reaches the Other Side again. That's how it's supposed to be."

"But you orchestrated things differently? You planned for Nik to sacrifice you."

"Yes, but I'm still mad at him. A bunch of outside variables threw off the equation so he found me too soon. Freya's not due to wake up for another few weeks. It should have been Christmas before any Mikaelson's came to town."

She stifled a yawn and felt her eyes water.

"She never sealed the curse on you and Finn. I can break it at da…" she broke off in a yawn that made him laugh. She nudged his cheek and he laughed harder, shaking beneath her. "Then I can unbind you all."

"You need to rest," he brought her head down to his chest, kissing her crown. "The spell took a lot out of you and I can't imagine you've been sleeping well."

"I need to be up for dawn to break the curse," she mumbled. "I don't want you to wait another month."

"I've waited a thousand years, love."

"I don't want you to wait another minute." She let her eyes drift shut, succumbing to the weight of her lashes.

She heard the smile in his voice.

"Sleep, darling. I'll wake you at dawn."

"Before dawn."

"Before dawn," he agreed, "we'll figure out how to get our little girl back tomorrow."

"That sounds nice," she sighed. Her smile turned to a frown when he rolled her gently to lay beside him. "Kol?"

"I'm not going anywhere, Elena." He moved, lifting her body an inch so he could lift the bed clothes up to their shoulders. Then he curled his arm around her waist, smiling when she snuggled in close.

"I'm not going anywhere."