"Elena. Elena!"

Elena sprung to an upward position, gasping for breath, sweat accumulating on her forehead.

"It's me, it's Elijah," Elijah said, holding her arms to her side. She was in the middle of a nightmare, groaning and thrashing about. He hadn't seen her like this, so shaken up in her sleep and upon waking so cold and pale. It made him wonder what she could have been dreaming about.

"That's it," he said when she appeared to have gathered more of her wits. Her hands which locked around his forearms tight, lessened their grip.

The dream Elena experienced felt so real. She was back in her house, battling with Finn for her life.

"You were just having a bad dream. Everything is okay here."

Elena wanted to cry. She felt weak even though she was strong. Curling her legs up to her chest, she glanced around trying to gather her composure. Being in a hospital made her feel fragile and exposed. It was worse than feeling uncomfortable. It put her on edge.

"Elena," Elijah's soft voice said coming to sit down next to her.

"C-c-can-…. can you go get Klaus for me?" Elena asked in a shaky voice. Her eyes met his, glassy and wet. She was clearly upset yet it disturbed him more as to why she wanted him to get his brother.

Staring deeply puzzled into her eyes, he only broke the stare for a second. "Klaus!" Elijah called as he slowly released Elena. He knew his brother was not far away and Elijah wasn't going to leave Elena's side during her fragile state.

Klaus appeared moments later, hands tucked behind his back and a coy smile on his face as he walked through the hospital room door. "You beckoned?" his voice amused. Upon reading the scene and seeing a more distraught and exhausted looking Elena, he cut the pair some slack and went somber.

Elena slowly turned to meet the hybrid's eyes, still shaking ever so slightly, gripping her body together tightly.

"He was bleeding from his eyes," she told him softly.

With pieces and facts clearly missing, Elijah watched the two interact with confusion. Whatever Klaus and Elena were discussing was something he felt ill informed about. It was as if suddenly he was watching from afar, and he did not enjoy the feeling.

"Before he started talking to you or after?" Klaus wondered to Elena, picking up on exactly what she was talking about, all while ignoring his brother's dark territorial glares.

"During," she rasped out. Clearing her throat, she took in a few deep breaths to calm her rattled self and thought long and hard about details she had missed. "He was talking to me and he suddenly had this headache. I asked if he was okay and then he started bleeding. It ran down his nose, and there was blood around his lips and teeth."

With that, Elijah knew exactly what they were talking about. Finn. Elijah had been filled in early by his Klaus and Kol about what she endured. While he was displeased that they had talked to her without his presence and before she had time to rest, it seemed as if she prompted to speak with them about it and not the other way around.

"And then he attacked you again," Klaus clarified, stepping closer so that he stood at the foot of Elena's hospital bed. The information he was getting was vital. He knew it wouldn't be wise to push Elena or make her relive the ordeal once more, but it was almost as if he had turned into a leech for the information.

Elena swallowed hard and Elijah put his hand out over her leg. She took it with fever, squeezing it tight, and he so brought himself closer.

"No," she corrected with thought. "Right before that, he became delusional. He confused me with Esther. He thought I was her and suddenly…h-h-he got so mad. He thought she had left him..."

"Was there anything else that you remember, Elena?" Klaus wondered. She had only mentioned bits when she had first told them, leaving the siblings to try and make sense of what had went down.

Elena opened her mouth, but she wasn't sure what would come out. She wanted to be more help. She wished she could be. But it felt fuzzier and fuzzier the more it rolled around in her head. It started to get jumbled and all of her fears were being mixed into what happened.

"I-…I don't know," Elena said helplessly. She struggled to get it straight and together for him. They needed to know.

"Try to think," the hybrid instructed.

"Klaus," Elijah scolded. "That's enough for now."

Klaus held the bedrail tight, almost close enough to break it. "Elijah…"

"H-he-…I-…" Elena spoke if only to break them up from starting a fight with one another. Her brain was swirling with the urge to remember something.

Before she could try to say more, there was some shuffling outside in the hall.

"Damon! You can't go-"

Meredith Fell's voice was cut off by an abrupt slamming of Elena's hospital room door. At its entrance walked in Damon Salvatore with wide eyes and a piercing look of concern.

"What the hell happened?!" Damon exclaimed looking from Klaus to Elijah, before settling on Elena. "And why didn't anyone tell us something happened?!" he questioned, looking back over his shoulder to Meredith Fell who stood in the hospital room doorway.

"Damon," a familiar voice called that immediately made Elena tense.

Elijah was first to react. At vampire speed he ran for both Stefan and Damon, holding them up in mid-air by their necks while Klaus sped over to Elena's side, standing protectively in front of her at her bedside as precaution to back up his brother.

"Elijah!" Elena exclaimed worriedly. Jumping up from her spot, she stayed behind Klaus, perched on her knees watching helplessly as Damon and Stefan struggled against Elijah's hard grip.

"Leave," Elijah threatened, looking to both men with dark eyes.

"Not…until…I know…what…happened," Damon rasped out as Stefan choked beside him.

"Elijah, please," Elena begged from her spot on the bed. This was only making things worse for all of them. Violence was only going to bring more violence.

Elijah's jaw set hard and he clenched his teeth, fighting with himself and Elena's request.

"Now, while I'm usually the one for violence, I must say, seeing Elijah do so is much more refreshing," Klaus taunted with a sly smile as he stepped forward to the Salvatore brothers. "Now boys, last, I remember, you caused quite a bit of trouble. And from what I hear from my dear brother, Elijah, is that you continue to do so."

The taunts and old Klaus-like behavior was not helping the situation, but Elena wasn't sure what else to do. Elijah was holding just loose enough for them to get a breath in every few seconds or so. Any tighter and they wouldn't breathe at all and he'd crush their wind pipes.

"Elijah," Elena tried again. She didn't want this right now. She just needed some civility.

It worked. Elijah dropped them from the air, allowing for their gasping bodies to hit the floor with a hard thud. The pair coughed for air while Elijah sped over to protect Elena.

"You are not welcome here," Klaus snarled, then picking up the men back by their throats as Elijah had did, but with a tighter more violent grasp. He slammed them against the wall hard.

"Klaus!" Elena then exclaimed. She looked to Elijah for help, but knowing how he had felt about Stefan, she knew she wasn't going to get much help from him. Shaking her head, she used her energy to speed over and shove Klaus away, breaking his grip on the two Salvatores.

"Wait, I thought those were gone?" Damon coughed out, looking up at her as he gasped for air.

A growl from across the room made Elena glance over to angry looking Klaus. As he was about to charge for her, Elijah stopped him, mid-speed. "Niklaus," Elijah warned, catching him by the chest.

"I'm sorry," Elena said to Klaus with sorrow filled eyes. She hadn't wanted to push him or challenge his alpha like status. And she knew in a weird twisted way, Klaus was trying to protect her – or he at least felt protective. But she needed everyone to listen to her. And for Klaus to listen, the only thing to do was to physically stop him.

"Elena," Stefan wheezed, still coughing. Elena glanced to Stefan, who was kneeled on the floor. She swallowed hard as she tried to not let her fears get the best of her.

"Are you both okay?" Elena asked them, not quite ready to touch them and help them up. Instead she gave them a bit of space for both her sake and Elijah's.

"Great," Damon said sarcastically, pulling himself up from the floor and helping his brother as well.

"What the-?" Kol interrupted, making an appearance in the doorway with coffees in hand. Seeing the scene in front of him, he immediately reacted, not bothering to think. Coffees now placed on the chair, the Salvatores were held up in the air by the neck as he kept himself in front of Elena.

"Kol!" Elena exclaimed in exasperation. Putting a hand on his arm, she shook him to lessen his grip on them. Kol let them go after momentary glares, similar to how Elijah did, but kept himself in front of Elena, pulling her behind him and stepping back from the pair.

Klaus snickered in front of Elijah, peering over his shoulder at the Salvatores as Damon and Stefan once again coughed for air.

"It's quite comical, is it not?" Klaus asked them all. "All we need is Rebekah here."

Elena rolled her eyes and Damon gave a sarcastic glare to the hybrid.

"What the hell is going on?" Kol asked his brothers. Letting Stefan Salvatore near Elena was not a good idea. Letting the Ripper in a hospital was an even worse one. Were his brothers mad? Did they not realize or see how scared Elena was of Stefan? Had she not been through enough?

"it's okay," she told Kol with a hand back on his shoulder. She was shaking, he could feel. No, it was not okay.

"Get back on the bed," Kol instructed.

"I'm-"

He knew she was about to fight with him on it, so he lightly shoved her towards the bed. "Don't even finish that sentence," Kol threatened. It was harsher than he meant, but the whole scene was putting him on edge. Recalling all of what Elena had told him about the Salvatores, her history with them and admitting to being scared of Stefan, this ordeal was not alright. And she was not okay shivering and shaking like that. The girl still looked like walking death, even with healed skin.

Elena rolled her eyes and sat back in the hospital bed, even covering herself with the blankets. She could tell Kol was barely keeping it together, so she thought it was best to be complacent with his instructions.

Kol knew her better than she liked. Sometimes more than Elijah. He knew exactly when and how to push her buttons and when it suited her more than she would like to admit. There was no convincing Kol like she could with Elijah most of the time.

"Elijah?" Elena asked softly. He was still standing in front of Klaus, angry and ridged as ever. Glancing over to her, his posture softened and he went to stand next to her at her bedside, holding her hand she held out for him.

Kol glanced for a microsecond over to Elena and Elijah and noted the gesture. While Elena may have not admitted it, she needed the comfort for her fear of Stefan Salvatore. Elijah probably wouldn't even notice or understand her why she grabbed his hand. He would probably think it was Elena trying to calm him down, when in reality it was for her sake too. Sometimes Elijah was too stuck in his head, too focused on his opponent, to observe such clues.

"Why are you here?" Kol snarled at the two men. "You're not welcome here."

"Exactly what I said," Klaus chimed in.

Damon shot a glare to Klaus before turning back to Kol. "We heard about an accident at the Gilbert house. We came here to check it out and see if the town gossip was correct."

"And you decided to bring the Ripper to a hospital? Are you mental?" Kol asked him, keeping a sharp eye on Stefan.

Elena swallowed hard and cowered back ever so slightly.

"Elena, I would never-" Stefan went to step forward towards Elena to explain himself and all went to hell. He was back up against the wall by his neck in less than a second by Kol, with Klaus holding Damon and Elijah with an arm out around Elena.

"Please, stop!" Elena cried to all of them. There was so much testosterone and tension going on in the room, she was about to burst.

"Get out, all of you!" Rebekah's voice called. She had walked in just in time to see a male pissing party going on in Elena's room. The teen was lucky she ditched school.

"Out!" she called to her brothers and particularly the Salvatores.

"Rebekah…" Elijah started.

But Rebekah was not one to be swayed by her brother and his smart plays. "Get out, Elijah. I won't ask again."

Elijah's eye twitched with anger and he looked back to Elena. Finding she was now safe with the Salvatores out of the room and would be okay with Rebekah, he waited for her confirmation before exiting.

"I'll be right outside," he told Elena with a kiss to the head.

"Please don't kill them," she asked Elijah softly. With a clenched jaw, Elijah looked away from her and inhaled a deep breath. "I'll try my best."

Once he departed, Rebekah closed the door behind her and went to sit on Elena's bed. "Well, now that that is over…"

Tears welled in Elena's eyes, and before she could stop herself, she began to cry.

Rebekah wasn't sure what to do with herself. She was never really good with consoling others and crying girls were the absolute worst. While it was Elena, and she had a special place in her heart for the girl, the predicament was awkward.

"Tell me what I can do to help," Rebekah said staring helplessly at the girl, patting her shoulder and watching her cry.

"I don't know what I am doing, 'bekah," Elena sniffled, trying to calm herself down. "I can't be stuck in the middle again. I can't."

Rebekah was lost. She wasn't sure what Elena was rambling on about, but she was sure it had to do with the Salvatores.

"I don't understand, Elena."

"Don't you see?" she asked the vampire with tears cascading down her cheeks. "Don't you see what my presence does to everyone? They are completely at odds with Damon and Stefan. It's like all I can do is come in between everyone. I'm just like her! I'm just like Katharine. I couldn't even stop Stefan and Damon from fighting over me and now it is you guys and them. I'm messing everyones life up!"

The tide of emotions that Elena was spilling felt a bit overwhelming to Rebekah. Not because of the crying or what she was saying, but the feelings behind it. It stunned Rebekah how much their civility with the Salvatores mattered, and it shook her even more to find how Elena thought of herself as some homewrecker.

"My brothers' choices are their own, as are Damon and Stefan's," Rebekah told Elena, bringing their eyes to meet one another. "You cannot blame yourself for how my brothers act or even how the Salvatores act. They are all barbaric."

Rebekah set her hands-on top of Elena's. "Now as for being just like Katharine, that is far from true. I've had the displeasure of knowing her too, if you remember. Everyone is still upset from what happened to you with Stefan. You've come to mean a great deal to our family and Mikaelsons believe in always and forever. We can be a bit…protective."

"Now," Rebekah instructed as Elena began to calm down. "I heard from that woman doctor that you have release papers to sign. Get some more rest and then I'll let someone take you home."

"but-"

"Don't fight with me, Elena," Rebekah scolded as she got up from the bed. "You need sleep and you look a wreck. A few more hours here can't hurt you."

Elena bit her lip and settled back into the bed with Rebekah's motherly help.

"I'll be right outside if you need me."

Catching her arm, Elena held it for a second. "Could you send someone back in?"

"Is that what you really want?" Rebekah asked, thinking it was wiser to leave all the boys outside.

"I don't want to be alone," Elena said in a small voice. "I know Finn isn't around and I know I'm safe with everyone protecting me from Stefan. I'm just…scared. And I can't shake the feeling."

Rebekah's tough love approached softened and she squeezed her friend's hand. "I'll have Dr. Fell come in to give you some forms to sign. Then, in the meantime I'll have Jeremy come be with you," she decided. That way Elena wouldn't be alone when she stepped out of the room and it was a better choice than Elijah at the moment. She had plenty of words to say to him.

"…okay. Thank you, Bekah," Elena replied, easing back into the bed. Smiling to the girl, Rebekah calmly left the doppelgänger's room and walked to the doctor. Letting Dr. Fell know that Elena was ready to see her, Rebekah then strode over to the five men bickering with one another a small distance from the room.

"Nik, go get Jeremy. Elena wants him," she ordered. While Klaus wasn't one to take orders, the look on his baby sister's face was deadly, and he knew not to mess with her. Opting to leave Rebekah's wrath for his other brothers, Klaus disappeared in a flash to get the little Gilbert.

"You all are absolutely pathetic. All of you," Rebekah began scolding. "What in the hell do you think you are doing? Do you think you are helping Elena get any better by tossing each other against walls?"

"We'd like to know how she got here in the first place," Damon interrupted with a glare at Elijah and Kol. Rebekah was both unimpressed and maddened by the disruption to her spiel. Grabbing him by the locks of hair, she didn't care about the display of violence she was giving the hospital.

"Interrupt me again Damon Salvatore, and I will make sure you live a life of hell for the rest of your eternity," she threatened before letting him go and straightening her blouse.

"Elena has had enough for today. Go home. All of you. Nik is bringing Jeremy and the little Gilbert can take her home."

"She's being released today?" Stefan wondered.

"You don't get to speak, mate," Kol said with a lethal look on his face.

"All of you!" Rebekah once again scolded. Rebekah was exasperated by the little interaction she had with the four of them – they couldn't seem to shut up. "Damon and Stefan. Go home. Elena doesn't want to see you. She's been through an ordeal. If you want to hear more about it, call one of Elena's friends. Kol, see they make it out of the hospital. When you're done, come back here so we can go over and finish cleaning up Elena's house. She gets to go home today and I don't want her going home to a crime scene."

Following his sister's orders, he roughly grabbed both Salvatores and shoved them towards the exit.

Watching them protest, Rebekah impatiently waited for them to leave earshot. "Elijah, Elena just had a mental break down. She believes she is just like Katharine with the way we are towards the Salvatore brothers, not to mention the girl is terrified out of her mind."

Elijah frowned, pursing his lips and gathering in a deep breath.

"So, you knew?"

Her brother shook his head. "I knew that she doubts my love for her. She thinks that I'll leave her one day for Katharine. She believes that because they share the same face that I don't see her."

"Then you need to correct her."

Elijah was offended by the empty allegation that he hadn't already. "What do you think I've been trying to do since we've returned to Mystic Falls, Rebekah? Ever since returning here, she's gotten this idea into her head that she is just a reminder of her ancestors. I'm sure it has to do with the Salvatores and her friends putting the idea in her head, but I don't know how else to prove to her that I love her for her."

Rebekah felt slightly bad for her brother. It seemed to be a growing issue in their relationship. Ever since returning to Mystic Falls it had been hard on all of them, but Elena and Elijah's relationship especially. They have been on and off ever since.

"Could you imagine if Stefan shared the same face as you?" Rebekah wondered to Elijah as she stared off towards Elena's room. She watched as Jeremy followed Kol and Klaus and rushed into his sister's room.

"Excuse me?" Elijah questioned.

"Well, Elena dated him in the past," Rebekah said turning her attention to her own brother. "Imagine him having the same face as you."

Elijah was unsettled by the thought and wasn't sure where she was going with this.

"She loved him," Kol added, coming up to them with his hands in his pockets. "She told me. But what's your point, Bex?"

Klaus stood there silent and intrigued as well. For one, he wanted to know why and when Elena had told Kol about her life with the Salvatores, and two, he also wanted to know his baby sister's point in making Elijah endure the thought of a Salvatore being a Mikaelson.

"Well," Rebekah sighed, trying to be compassionate and empathetic like Elena. "Can you imagine what it would feel like? To love someone who looked exactly like you but wasn't actually you?"

The men stood there thoughtful.

"If Stefan had shared the same face as you, Elijah, and he hadn't done all these horrible things that have happened recently, could you really trust that she loved you for you and wasn't hung up on her ex?"

Elijah was perturbed by the idea of Elena loving someone else, let alone Stefan Salvatore. But the point she made brought more sense to him and he began to understand Elena's fears.

"I can't believe me of all people are saying this," Rebekah sighed, "but maybe you need to be more patient with her."

The four of them stared into Elena's room and watched as Elena slept on Jeremy's chest. He had climbed into the large bed with her – probably at her request, and was holding her in a gentle embrace.

"They're really all they have left," Rebekah sighed, staring at the Gilberts. If there was one thing Rebekah could relate to with Elena, it was the love for a brother. Rebekah couldn't imagine being without them and Jeremy was the only thing she had left.

"This compassion thing really sucks," she noted, shaking it off and breaking away from the warm sibling scene. "Okay. Kol, let's get to the Gilbert house. I want to make sure everything gets cleaned up before Elena gets home."

"I'd like to check out the scene before that happens," Klaus stated thoughtfully. He wanted to put the pieces of Elena's story together and make better sense of it.

"Elijah?" Rebekah wondered. "What about you?"

"I will wait here," he said running a hand through his hair. "I want to make sure she gets home safe."

"She's with Jeremy," Rebekah said shaking her head. "She'll be fine."

Elijah didn't trust that idea. They both could end up in danger. "Rebekah-"

"No, Elijah. You can see her when she gets home. Jeremy is to stay with her and that is all she needs right now."

Glancing back at the pair, Elijah felt torn. He was worried for Elena's safety, but maybe his sister was right. Elena needed rest and she was with Jeremy. He'd protect her with his life and he was well trained now.

"Let's go, brother," Klaus said with a clap to the back. With the glare Rebekah was giving the hybrid, he intervened and moved to convince Elijah to go with them. "I'd like to figure out where brother dearest is and give him a nice talking to. That is the best thing we can do to help Elena."

And so, they left together, united as one.