Couple of points for this chapter:

1 - Isobel's view of her relationship with John (in this AU) does not reflect my own opinion.

2 - There is a sort-of revelation that kind of gets picked up and then dropped again - I might explore it later. I haven't decided. I just wanted to play with the idea.

3 - If you didn't read the first series (Trials & Tribulations), Katherine's daughter was called Anastasia and she died a human in the early 1500s.

Isobel turned, and Elena immediately felt reassured, looking into eyes that were filled with emotion, not cold and heartless the way they had been at their first meeting.

"Elena?"

Elena managed a small smile. "Hi."

"Oh, Elena …" Isobel crossed the floor before Elena could register her movement, wrapping her up in a tight hug. "My darling girl, I am so sorry."

It was everything she had wanted from her biological mother when she went looking, and Elena nearly broke down, but she couldn't - not yet.

"Bonnie did a spell," she murmured. "I don't know how long it will last, I … I needed to talk to you."

Isobel pulled back. "Of course." She led Elena over to the window seat and they sat down facing one another.

"You were fifteen," Elena blurted out. "John was a lot older."

Isobel smiled wistfully. "He was. I was not a naive teenager, Elena. I told you once that my parents still visited my empty grave, but the truth is that they never did. They were always more enamoured with the idea of a child than the reality. I suppose I went looking for that affection. John was not the first man I had been with, Elena. Should he have been more responsible? Probably. But it was a consensual relationship, Elena. And he did love me. In his own way."

Elena breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. I only realised it today, the age difference."

Isobel squeezed her hand. "It's not your job to worry about that. I wasn't going to give you up, since I know that will be your next question. But then you were born and … I didn't know what I was doing, Elena. Miranda did. Miranda was a mother without a baby. And you were a baby without a mother, a good mother, at least."

Elena was quiet for a few moments. "Thank you."

Isobel looked puzzled. "For telling you the truth?"

"No," Elena said. "You're not a bad mother, Isobel. You realised you couldn't look after me properly and you gave me the best parents in the world. So thank you." She hesitated. "Are you upset that I'm a vampire?"

"No," Isobel answered immediately. "Are you?"

Elena shook her head. "No."

"Then no," Isobel repeated. "I was against it happening against your will, Elena. If you're happy, that's all that matters. And that's all that matters to John, as well."

"If you say so," Elena murmured. "He left me a letter saying that he loved me whether I was reading it as a human or a vampire, but …"

"Believe it," Isobel said firmly. "You can't drive yourself mad with questions that can't be answered."

The lights flickered and Isobel glanced up at them. "We're running out of time, so very quickly: Alaric won't remember his time on the Other Side, I'm sure. So can you please apologise for me and tell him that we did make peace. And … tell him that the girls are beautiful and that I always knew he'd be an amazing dad."

"I will," Elena whispered.

Isobel sighed. "I wish … Honestly, sometimes I wish he'd been your dad."

"He is," Elena said. "I'm fortunate that I've had two dads - three if you count John, which I don't. Because as much as I love him as an uncle, he only stepped up as a father in the last moments. Ric was my dad when he didn't need to be, when it was the hardest moment for him to do so. Anyway, you didn't meet him until I was six."

"That's your only argument?" Isobel asked with a strange look on her face.

Elena shrugged. "A lot of people say Alaric and I are similar enough personality-wise to pass for father and daughter. I see it."

The lights began to dim.

"I love you," Isobel said hastily. "Never, ever doubt that. You will be a wonderful mother, Elena. And I'm sorry that we didn't meet before I turned everything off."

Elena gave her mother one last hug. "I love you too," she whispered. "Thank you."

Isobel pressed a kiss to her head. As the dream faded away, one last message echoed in Elena's ears and she opened her eyes with a start, waking Stefan as she did.

"You okay?" He asked. "Is it the babies? Do I need to call someone?"

"No," Elena said hastily, her hand pressing against the bump as one of them squirmed with annoyance at the sudden movements. "Bonnie's spell worked. I just spoke to Isobel."

"Are you okay?" Stefan repeated, his voice sympathetic.

"Fine," Elena said, still a little breathless. "She answered all of the questions I had. And a few I didn't. I need to call Ric."

"Elena, it's 4am," Stefan protested. "Wait until daylight, at least."

"Can't," Elena said, fumbling for her phone. "Need to talk to him now."

She did, however, send him a text first, asking if he was awake.

He called her a second later.

"What's wrong? Do I need to come up there?"

Elena felt a swell of affection. "No, I'm … I'm fine. Bonnie did a spell that let me speak to Isobel in my dreams."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "Well, I'm sure she has a message for me," Ric said finally, "but I guess that could have waited. So what's wrong?"

Elena took a deep breath. "You said you met Isobel at college."

"I did."

"That was the first time you met her?" Elena pressed.

"Hang on." The line went a little muffled, while Ric presumably got out of bed and left the bedroom in favour of a place where the conversation wouldn't wake his wife. "No, it wasn't the first time. But I don't count that as a meeting, Elena. We were both young, both drunk, and it was one night. What did Isobel say to you?"

"She's only 98% sure that John's my father," Elena said. "And the timing would be right for it to be you."

There was another pause, even longer this time. "Elena," Ric said finally, "if you want to do a paternity test, we'll have to wait for the babies to be born, because you're a genetic copy of Katherine. But it's not something I need. You and Jeremy are my kids, alright? And that means far more than a teenage one-nighter."

While Elena grappled with her ancestry, Katherine was trying to look forward. To be honest, part of her was angry with Isobel for even raising the matter with Elena - if Ric was her father, it would mean that John died (in Elena's mind anyway) for no reason, and that Jeremy was not biologically related to her at all.

On the other hand, if Ric wasn't her father, Elena was left with John, with whom she had a somewhat complicated relationship.

Katherine sighed, turning her mind back to the task at hand, flipping through a book of names.

"Is that one in the running?" Damon murmured in her ear. "That's the fifth time you've come back to it."

Katherine smiled. "I do like it," she admitted.

"But?" Damon prompted.

Katherine sighed. "It just … It sounds too much like Ana's name, at least the shortened version does. I don't want it to feel like I'm replacing her."

"You're not," Damon said immediately. "Of course we're not replacing her, Kitten. She's just getting a sibling, that's all."

"I know," Katherine said, closing the book. "I wish … I wish I knew where she was."

It was a particular sticking point, one she had confided in Damon not long after he had unveiled her mother's restored painting - because the local parish had known Anastasia was a bastard child, they had not allowed her to be buried in consecrated ground.

Her children, borne of a legitimised union, were all neatly laid to rest in the family plot, but Ana had been cremated and her ashes scattered to the wind, not even a headstone to commemorate her.

"She's with her children," Damon said gently, "and Elena's parents, and she loves you. The location of her body is neither here nor there, Katherine; you know that. You want somewhere you can go to remember her."

"Well, if you've got any ideas," Katherine muttered, rubbing her temples.

Damon smiled. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Katherine asked, but he did not answer her, taking her hand to lead her downstairs and out the back door.

She followed him through the woods, getting no explanation or response to any of her queries, and they emerged into the back of the cemetery, beside the Salvatore family crypt.

"After you," he said, gesturing to the entry way.

Katherine hesitated, but went inside, ducking her head a little to avoid the low doorway. She had only been in here a few times - once when Damon was human to lay flowers on his mother's grave, and a few more times since they had reunited to do the same thing.

So it was on autopilot that she moved towards his mother's plaque, immaculately maintained among the faded names around her: Maria Isabella Salvatore (nee Carbonelli) - beloved wife and mother - never forgotten.

Today, however, there was something different. There was a new plaque just below Maria's, one that made her heart swell in her chest, reaching back to clasp Damon's hand.

Anastasia Petrova - beloved daughter - For when the bonds of flesh and blood break down, all we are left with is love.

"What … What does that mean?" Katherine asked, her voice a little shaky.

"She's not my biological daughter," Damon answered. "But that doesn't matter. Through your memories, I've grown to love her as though she was. And I just wish I'd had a chance to meet her. She deserved a proper burial - I can't go back in time and fix that. But I can make sure that there's somewhere for you to come now, to remember her. And to bring her brother or sister to tell them about her."

"Sister," Katherine said with certainty. "I can feel it."

Down in New Orleans, Rebekah was trying to have a quiet morning with a book while Matt was out for his run (why he kept it up as a vampire, she didn't know).

'Trying' that is, because even with the various spells and soundproofing, she could still hear Henrik's screaming - and it was coming closer.

With a sigh, she put her book down, just as there was a knock on the door. "It's open!"

Davina came in with her son, a look of pure desperation on her face. "Help me! Caroline's still in Mystic Falls and you've been round the block a few times, right? He won't stop crying and I don't know what to do!"

Rebekah smiled, getting to her feet. "Come here, sweetheart." Taking her nephew into her arms, she carried him over to the window so he could feel the warm breeze sweeping in. As she stood and slowly rocked back and forth, his screams began to quieten and he gradually drifted off in her arms.

"I'm a terrible mother," Davina said with a sigh.

"No, you're not," Rebekah said immediately. "I promise you Caroline went through this with Hope. Admittedly, he's a little older than they usually get this, but it's perfectly normal."

"What is it?" Davina asked.

"No idea," Rebekah admitted. "They used to call it colic. Personally, I think it's about the time that they suddenly realise how big and scary the world is. Either way, they just cry. No one knows why, but mothers panic. The babies pick up on it, so they get more unsettled, which makes you panic more, and the whole thing ends up in a vicious circle. All you need is someone calm to take the baby and it's like everything shuts off."

Davina curled up in her armchair. "Can I just … take a nap?"

Rebekah smiled. "Go ahead, sweets. I've got him."

Once Davina's breathing had evened out, Rebekah shifted Henrik to her shoulder and retrieved a blanket, draping it over her sister-in-law, before returning to the window, gazing out over the city while she rocked from foot to foot, the child in her arms breathing rhythmically against her neck.

She wasn't sure how long had passed before Davina's breathing hitched and she heard her stir.

"Have you been standing there this whole time?"

Rebekah glanced back at her. "It's okay; he's not heavy."

"Damn vampires," Davina grumbled, running a hand through her hair. "Are you okay?"

"He's not heavy," Rebekah repeated.

"I didn't mean Henrik," Davina said, getting to her feet. "Are you okay?"

Rebekah sighed, not bothering to offer any protests. "I can deal with Caroline. And you. And Elena. But … Katherine can have a child, and I can't."

"Katherine's only because magic made a mistake," Davina said gently, "and her body couldn't take it. If Elena hadn't agreed, and Jo hadn't been there, that would have been the end of it."

"I know," Rebekah said with a weak smile. "And don't get me wrong - I love being an aunt. But I want to be a mother." She fell silent for a moment, gazing down at her nephew. "Matt suggested adoption."

"That would be a brilliant idea," Davina said immediately. "Hell, I'd much rather have grown up with you as a mother, than my own."

"Not exactly a high bar there," Rebekah said with a laugh. "But thank you."