I do not own TVD or TO
Kol took a seat at her dining room table. His long fingers curled around the steaming mug of tea as his curious eyes took in the many pictures and paintings lining the walls; they were images that created the illusion of the perfect family: completely ordinary.
"I believe you mentioned a long story, darling," he tapped the grey ceramic mug.
"Long…" Elena nodded, "… short… confusing…"
"Get to the point, love," he leaned forward when her eyes clouded over.
Elena swallowed. She lifted her tea and took a sip while considering her words. How to go about saying it?
"I'm pregnant…"
"I got that bit, darling," his eyes darted to her stomach, "it's rather hard to miss, and if I understand correctly it happened the week of the accident."
Elena took a deep breath. Over the past few weeks she had been ready to cry at the drop of a hat and she hadn't known why. She understood now that it was her hormones, but knowing didn't keep the tears from welling in her eyes.
"I shouldn't be pregnant," she shook her head and blinked back the moisture. She cried when she was confused.
"I'm no expert on the subject," Kol passed her the box of tissues that had been sitting on the table, "but I'm given to understand there is no foolproof form of contraception."
"Sleeping with vampires is usually considered foolproof," Caroline smirked around her mug.
Elena dropped her head onto the table and groaned; she didn't see the way Kol's eyes grew round.
"Please don't tell me you slept with Nik," he looked from Elena to Caroline, "I honestly thought you had higher standards than that."
Elena's head snapped back up. Angry tears welled in her eyes.
"Why would you assume that?" Her voice was at a decibel that a human would have never heard, but both of her companions made out each word clearly.
"You didn't sleep with Nik?" He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair.
"No," Elena slammed her hands down on the table, "I didn't sleep with Klaus!" Her movement sent her mug falling to the floor. It shattered and sent tea spraying across the hardwood.
There were a series of quick steps in the hall before Jeremy came around the corner. His eyes took in the assembly around his table and the dark liquid running down the kitchen counter.
"What happened?" His eyes darted to Kol. "I thought you had better taste than that."
"And here I thought we were mates," Kol rolled his eyes.
"Elena," Caroline started picking up the pieces of broken glass, "you'd better get to the point."
Jeremy grabbed a roll of paper towel from the cabinet and knelt beside the blonde.
Elena took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Do you remember the night the car went off the bridge?" She met Kol's dark eyes.
"Of course," he nodded. "Matt refused vampire blood so I took him to the hospital, and he took you home."
"He stayed," Elena nodded slowly and bit her bottom lip, "he spent the night."
"Elijah?" Kol's brows shot up. His eyes darted to her stomach again.
"Yeah," she crossed her arms over her bump, "which is why I'm very confused because vampires can't have kids."
"Well…" Kol frowned.
"They can't have kids," Elena shook her head.
"Unless you're lying to me, Elena," his eyes lifted to her face, "then you are living proof that they can."
"Why would I lie about this?" She could tell by the way his eyes darted to her chest that he was listening to her heartbeat. "Why would I want to physically tie myself to Klaus Mikaelson of all people, because this pregnancy does link me to the entire family?"
"You slept with Elijah?" Jeremy discarded the used paper towel. "How did I not know this?"
Elena shrugged. "You were down the hall; sound asleep when we got here, and he left before you woke up. And my sex life is not something I typically talk to you about. I didn't even tell Caroline until the ultrasound."
"What's an ultrasound?" A line appeared between Kol's brows.
Elena pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket and slid it across the table towards him. She watched him tilt his head and examine the black and white image.
"What am I looking at?"
"An internal view of her uterus," Caroline reclaimed her seat at the table.
"Technology has come a long way," Elena tucked her hair behind her ear.
"This is the baby?" Kol looked up from the squiggly lines.
"Babies," Caroline corrected. She reached out and pointed to the two distinct circles in the otherwise indistinguishable sea of black.
"When Elijah does anything he usually gives it his all," Kol shook his head.
"Is that the only reaction I'm going to get?" Elena could feel her anger rising again. Any moment she feared tears would spill down her cheeks. "Do you know how this could have happened?"
Kol put the picture down and sighed.
"I've never seen it, before," inhaling he met her dark eyes, "I've heard rumors before; never did tell my brothers about them."
"Why not?" Elena's shoulders stiffened.
"I could never substantiate them," he tapped the table. "There have been two instances over the past thousand years or such pregnancies. Each time I heard I went to investigate, but by the time I would reach the mothers they had lost the children."
Elena paled instantly and swayed in her seat. Jeremy caught her before she could fall over.
"Not for any health reason," Kol hurried to put her mind at ease. "Both women were known in the supernatural worlds, one was a witch and one was a traveller; I never did learn about the fathers. Both women assumed their families would help them understand what had happened, but…"
"They didn't," Elena guessed. "What happened?"
"Understand I only heard about this after the act," he leaned forward across the table. "The witch's family protected nature and believed her child would destroy it, so they destroyed the baby. The traveller's family believed the same. Both children were never born, and the mothers killed themselves before I could question them."
Elena's hand came up to cover her mouth. Her stomach twisted causing bile to rise in her throat. It was possible, and he hadn't known.
Kol watched her pale features for a moment before shaking his head.
"Do you have any idea the family you're now tied to?" He met Elena's flashing gaze. "You should have run."
"I'm under hybrid guard," she shook her head.
"Un-sired hybrid guard," Kol corrected. "Three of the six watching you have broken their bond. You could have gotten far away before Nik even heard about it."
"Klaus obviously doesn't know," Elena's eyes narrowed as she tilted her head to the left. Had Elijah known? Had he expected her to take off? If he had known he had given her the perfect opportunity to run.
"Nik's oblivious," Kol chuckled. "I have a question for you." He waited for her nod. "Why didn't you tell Elijah? Why me?"
"He's not…" she pressed her lips together and inhaled through her nose. "He's not answering his phone. I've been trying to get in touch with him for days."
She blinked at the surprise she saw flickering in his eyes.
"He's not answering you? You?" Kol put extra emphasis on the last word.
It was one thing for Elijah to ignore his calls, and the calls of Rebekah, but another to ignore her. He was attempting to pull his siblings into the mess Klaus had created, and they were resisting. Kol however had seen the way Elijah interacted with Elena; he suspected he knew what they were to each other, and he knew his brother would never ignore this woman's calls.
"No," she shook her head. "What's going on Kol? You look nervous."
"He went to New Orleans," Kol reached for his cell phone, "to help Nik. I haven't heard from him in weeks."
He pressed the device to his ear and counted the rings until he reached the voicemail box. The recorded voice told him it was full. Hanging up he called another number; this one connected on the third ring.
"Nik," he saw the surprise in Elena's eyes, "you haven't heard from Elijah by any chance?" He swapped the call to speaker for the benefit of the Gilberts.
"Haven't seen him in weeks," Klaus' voice sounded smug, "perhaps he taken an extended holiday."
Kol ended the call before Klaus could say anything else.
"Something's wrong," Elena pressed her hand to her abdomen.
"Something is most definitely wrong," Kol nodded. He pushed back from the table and tucked his phone into his pocket. "I'll run down and find out about it. In the meantime sit tight."
"Sit tight?" Elena called after him. She was on her feet a moment later following him outside. She had the sense that he was in trouble. "I'm not going to sit tight."
"What else are you going to do?" Kol smirked. He opened his car door and slid inside. Turning over the engine he put the car in drive and prepared to take off in search of his brother.
"Elena," Caroline shrieked from the porch.
Kol slammed on his breaks when he found the pregnant brunette had moved to stand in front of his car with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Get out of the way, Elena," he gripped the steering wheel.
"No," her eyes narrowed into a glare. "He's in trouble. I can it in your eyes Kol; you know it too. I won't 'sit tight' and wait for news that might never come."
His grip on the wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white. He could have compelled her out of the way; she wouldn't have been drinking vervain because of the baby, but he highly doubted Caroline and Jeremy were free of the substance and they could have easily helped her follow after him. The thought of running her over was the farthest thing from his mind; Elijah would have killed him, not to mention whatever Klaus would have done.
With an exasperated sigh he put the car in park and opened his door with almost enough force to tear it from the hinges.