I do not own TVD or TO.

Here we go. The catching up with Elena chapter.

"Excuse me?"

Elena's stomach flipped beneath her palm. Through the slight haze of her vision she focused on the man. She knew his face. She knew the cadences of his voice; she knew every rise and fall. He was different though. He wore blue scrubs and a white coat. Her exhaustion prevented her from reading the cursive lettering on his chest but with a little squinting she could read the bold lettering on his badge: Dr. Joel Goran.

She didn't need to read it to know it wasn't him. Even in her state of fatigue she could tell on a second look it wasn't him. There was a concerned turn to his mouth but the echo of laughter hung around in the corner of his lips. It wasn't as if he never smiled but it was impossible for him to have laugh lines.

With a little more sleep, or any, she might have articulated herself a little better but alas she seemed doomed to verbal vomit. She supposed it was better than the actual vomit she had been subjected to earlier in the day.

"You're not Elijah."

"No, I'm not," he shook his head slowly.

"You look just like him…"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Elena's heart stuttered when he pressed the back of his hand to her brow. She must have been running a slight fever because he offered her a hand up.

"Let me help you back to bed."

Elena jerked back at the suggestion. The backs of her knees crashed against the hard arm of the chair; it careened backwards into the desk with a loud clatter. The collision caused her knees to buckle; she reached blindly for anything to hold herself up and shook her head violently.

She couldn't go back to bed. If she returned to the room he would reattach the IV and the sedative would finish the job of knocking her out. She would fall asleep without gaining answers and Dahlia would return to take her away again.

"No…" the sedative wouldn't have a hard task ahead. "I… I have to call him…"

"Who?" Joel frowned. He held out his hands where she could see them and met her frantic eyes. "Elijah?"

"No," Elena shook her head. She was vaguely aware of how insane her voice must sound to him; she sounded crazy to herself. "I need to call my brother."

"I'm sure that can wait until morning," he slowly moved his right hand to her elbow.

Elena evaded him and steadied her voice. Determination flashed in her dark eyes.

"Now," she straightened her spine. "I have to call him right now."

Joel watched her sway. The woman was slight and clearly exhausted, but he had felt the strength when she pulled away from his hands. There was something powerful in her stance and a stubborn set to her jaw. He might have been able to overpower her but she would fight back and possibly injure herself in the process.

He could see in her eyes he would gain no leeway.

He held his palm up in a placating gesture and reached into his lab coat. Her eyes darted to the thin device he lifted for her inspection.

"The phone is an intercom. You can call your brother on my cell phone." He moved back when she reached for the phone. "After you're back in your bed."

Elena blinked slowly and tilted her head. The desire to laugh bubbled up in her throat and came out in a choked giggle.

"Are you negotiating with me?"

Joel smirked and turned the phone over between his fingers.

"I would have likened it to a bribe, but we can call it a negotiation if you like."

She didn't know a thing about this man, but she still found herself uttering the phrase she would have said. She didn't know if the words would carry the same weight coming from him, and she was certain he thought her insane by the sudden amusement lifting the edge of her lips but she didn't care. She was tired and falling into an easy routine.

"Give me your word."

The request struck him as a little strange but he nodded all the same.

"You have it," he offered her a hand. "Can you walk on your own?"

Elena nodded and gritted her teeth when her legs faltered. Thankfully the Joel saw her going and caught her. He secured his arm around her waist and slowly helped her down the hall into the room she remembered coming from.

"Alright," she settled the blanket over her legs, "I'm in bed." She held out her hand, palm up. "Phone please?"

"I need to reattach your IV," he dropped the mobile in her outstretched hand.

"Not yet," Elena shook her head. She pressed her arms to her chest. "I'd like what little wits I have to stick around for this."

Joel frowned as she nodded slowly and dialed the area code for Virginia. He reached for the chart at the end of her bed and started reading as she worried her bottom lip and counted the rings. His eyes darted from the chart to her arm and back as she read.

Eternity was a concept she had to make herself face after the bridge. Time was an endless thing that had stretched before her. The phone seemed to be testing her resilience; it rang forever before finally being picked up.

A gruff voice sounded down the line.

"Hello?"

Her throat constricted with tears.

"Jer."

He bolted upright in the bed and cursed when the phone slipped from his hands. Scrambling for the device he pressed it back to his ear and grunted when he tumbled from the bed to land on the floor.

"Elena?" He swiped the hard crust from his eyes and attempted to disentangle his legs from the sheets. "Is it really you? I swear if you're Katherine pulling some kind of trick, or prank, or working a fucking angle I'm gonna…"

"Jeremy it's me. You stabbed me with a pencil when I was seven because I wouldn't let you play candy-land with Caroline and Bonnie. I've still got the spot on my hand."

"Where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm in a hospital. I'm not sure what one…"

Jeremy's brows knit together as a decidedly male voice spoke in the otherwise silent background. He was already jotting down the name of the hospital and working out the fastest route in his head.

"Don't go anywhere," he started yanking clothes from the closet and dressing. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Can you bring me some clothes?"

"He'll be here in the morning?" Joel took back his phone and mirrored her slow nod. "Are you sure this is your room?"

"Yeah," Elena's teeth sunk into her bottom lip, "why?"

"Because your chart says you should have a row of stitches on your arm," he cocked an eyebrow.

"It's my chart," Elena sat up and flipped the top of the chart closed. "I don't think I really need a sedative either."

Joel frowned and opened the cover again. His eyes scanned the neat lines of handwriting and typed additions.

"You haven't been given one," he looked up. "It's just fluids in the IV. Can I reattach it now?"

She missed her supernatural hearing in that moment, but his eyes seemed earnest enough. She'd always been a trusting person, and maybe it was a by-product of the way she trusted Elijah; whatever the reason she believed him, but her nod was still full of trepidation.

Elena drew in a deep breath and felt a rush of cold when the needle was reinserted in her arm. She watched the slow drip of the fluid with heavy eyes. With each blink her vision grew a little darker and the voice in her mind a little slower.

She just made out the syllables and released words on a soft exhalation of air.

Joel leaned closer to catch her weary voice.

"Valerian root," Elena slumped back against the hospital pillow. She didn't feel the blanket being raised over her shoulders.

"Valerian root?"

The sun was starting to crest over the horizon when he slipped the car into a spot in the lot. He was honestly surprised he hadn't been pulled over by the authorities at several points. He was certain he'd broken several traffic laws getting to the hospital.

Reaching out he shook her shoulder and pulled the key from the ignition.

"Are we here?" Bonnie blinked tiredly and wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"Were here," Jeremy got out of the car. He fell into step with his ex-girlfriend on the path into the hospital.

They approached the help desk where a nurse was nursing a cup of coffee.

"Excuse me," he attempted a calm smile, "we're looking for someone."

"Visiting hours don't start until ten," Melody glanced up at the young couple.

"Isn't that usually waved for immediate family?" Bonnie crossed her arms. "We're looking for his sister. She was admitted yesterday: Elena Gilbert."

Melody straightened in her chair. The name sounded familiar; she vaguely recalled talking to a brunette the previous evening by the name of Elena. The woman bore a resemblance to the young man in front of her. She started typing in the name and jotted down a room number.

Jeremy didn't say a word all the way up the elevator and down the hall. He walked in silence along with Bonnie. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the handle of the duffle bag.

The blood drained from his face when he stepped into the dark hospital room. His eyes immediately found the slim brunette in the bed. He dropped the bag in a chair and reached for her hand.

"Elena?"

She showed no sign of having heard him. Jeremy sat on the edge of the thin hospital bed and traced the lines of her face.

Bonnie smoothed her friend's hair back from her face and frowned. She could sense something rushing under her skin. She wasn't sure what it was but she traced it back to the clear fluid running through the tube attached to Elena's arm.

"Take the IV out," Bonnie blinked. She reached before Jeremy could and pulled as carefully as possible. "There's something in it."

"Sedatives?" Jeremy guessed. "This is a hospital."

"What hospital sedates a healthy person?" Bonnie cocked an eyebrow.

"She's obviously not healthy," Jeremy's frustration grew, "or she wouldn't be here." He gently replaced his sister's hand and moved to replace the blankets. He froze in the motion.

"It that a…"

Bonnie followed his eyes and allowed her fingers to ghost over Elena's left hand. The sparkling stone was dark purple in the gloom of the room; the colour shifted to a dark green when she flipped on the light. There was a plain band that at once appeared to be silver and multi-coloured.

"When did she get married?"

She shifted on the thin mattress and wrinkled her nose. Her brain felt like it was full of fog, but the soft strains of familiar voices slowly cleared the mess in her mind.

Her eyes fluttered open to focus on the man in the chair. She didn't say anything at first. She couldn't bring sound from her throat because her tongue was heavy and clung to the roof of her mouth. It was like she had attempted to swallow a mouthful of peanut butter in one go only to find the sticky substance trapped in her mouth.

She swallowed a few times and rubbed her tongue against the roof of her mouth as her eyes focused. He hadn't seen her eyes open yet which gave her a moment to take in the changes. His hair was shorter and his face leaner. He might have been a hunter before she took the cure but in the ten months that separated him from her memories he had grown from a boy to a man.

Her eyes swivelled slowly to the woman he spoke to and widened when she recognized Bonnie. The bright sunlight filtered through the picture window to illuminate the colour in her eyes.

She cleared her throat and blinked slowly. Her body felt a little more rested but she was still groggy and attempting to sit up had her stomach twisting in knots.

"Elena?" Jeremy twisted around when Bonnie nodded to the bed. He moved quickly and pressed the lever on the side of the bed. There was a mechanical whir as the bed adjusted and she was moved into a sitting position.

"Jer…" Elena grimaced when her voice came out in a croak. She gratefully accepted the cup from Bonnie and took slow sips of the water through the straw. With each drink the fuzz in her mouth lessened until she felt confident enough to speak.

"Hi," she sat down the glass and immediately wrapped her arms around Jeremy's neck.

Elena knew why her hug was desperate but she couldn't understand why Jeremy was holding her so tightly. It was like he expected her to disappear at any given moment.

"I've missed you," she clung to his upper arms as she sat back.

"I missed you too," Jeremy smiled.

"I need your help," Elena lowered her hands back to her lap.

"How about you eat and talk?" Bonnie wheeled over the tray of food. "The nurse was rather insistent that you get some nutrients the moment you woke up." She uncapped a yogurt parfait and passed it to the brunette along with a spoon.

Elena was about to wave off the food when her stomach rumbled. The sudden demand for sustenance took her by surprise since she had been throwing up everything she swallowed.

Her hands took the cup and spoon carefully as she eyed the contents with suspicion. Her eyes dropped to her abdomen and the life forming in her womb. For a moment she completely forgot her brother and friend were in the room.

"If I eat this are you going to make me throw it back up?" The only response was a loud growl from her stomach that she took as a 'we'll see'. "You'll have a very cross mommy if you do."

She brought the spoon to her lips and closed her mouth around the vanilla yogurt. The mixture of honey, berries, and granola washed the foul taste from her mouth.

"Mommy?" Jeremy's eyes grew round as his heart stuttered. "You got married and knocked up without telling me?"

Elena's brows shot up. She swallowed the yogurt and lowered the cup while tilting her head to the side.

"I didn't tell you I got married?" She felt a growing sense of unease. "Bonnie?"

"I didn't know," the witch frowned. "Shouldn't you remember telling us, or rather… not telling us?"

"I don't remember anything," Elena bit her bottom lip. She took another small bite when her stomach grumbled. "The last thing I remember is Rebekah yelling and Damon telling me to drink the cure."

Jeremy and Bonnie shared a look. To them this was familiar it sounded much like what had happened after the cure had entered her bloodstream.

"That was ten months ago," Jeremy sat on one side of her legs.

"You left town in September," Bonnie perched on Elena's other side. "We haven't seen you or heard a peep in five months. The only reason we knew you were alive is because you were talking to Caroline."

Elena lowered the now empty container and took a slow breath as the food settled. She had assumed if anyone could help her understand it would be Jeremy because she wouldn't have gotten married without her family present, unless it was an eloping situation, but even then she would have told him later.

Unless you didn't have time.

The thought sprung up suddenly. She had no way of knowing how long she had been married. For all Elena knew she had tied the knot, gotten pregnant and been in the 'husband-killing-amnesia-inducing-accident' before she could inform her baby brother of her recent nuptials.

"What happened Elena?" Bonnie reached for her friend's hand. She frowned when Elena flinched. "Elena?"

"I…" She couldn't understand the sudden feeling of dread, but she got the sense if was misplaced, a gut reaction to something else; something that might have been related to Bonnie, after all her friend had never swung a curved blade in her direction.

"I'm sorry, Bon," Elena exhaled, "I don't know why I did that."

"It's alright," Bonnie frowned.

"To answer your question," Elena made a point wrapped her fingers around Bonnie's hand, "I don't know." She explained as best as she could about waking up suddenly and being told she had lost her husband in some kind of accident.

"Do you trust this woman?" Jeremy tilted his head.

"Not in the slightest," Elena sighed. "The only thing I believed was about the pregnancy, and in case you doubt it," she reached for the paper on the night stand, "here is the sonogram I watched the doctor take yesterday."

Jeremy felt his lips lift in a small smile when she pointed out the baby on the black and white photograph.

"I'm gonna be an uncle?"

"And I'm gonna be a mom," Elena nodded, "but I can't remember who the father is… who my husband is…was."

"You believe her about that?" Bonnie frowned. She lifted Elena's hand and eyed the rings. "It could be another lie."

"I don't think so," Elena frowned. Her eyes were on the rings so she didn't see when Bonnie's flashed as she felt the magic encircling the bands. "She definitely lied about the accident though. Can you help me remember?"

"What do you mean?" Bonnie tilted her head.

"Magic," Elena looked at her hopefully. "Can you use a spell and maybe help me remember?"

"Would you believe I've actually learned a few spells for that?" Bonnie scooted forward and held out her hands. She waited for Elena to nod before placing her fingers to the brunette's temples.

Kol walked into the building and paused for a moment. He was just trying to remember the proper phrase that turned his soul bond into a tether when Amara and Elijah came up behind him.

"You know you didn't have to come."

"She's my sister," Amara flashed a quick smile and walked by him. Her body told her upstairs and upstairs she would lead.

"I wasn't actually referring to you," Kol followed her to the elevator.

"Perhaps I should wait down here?" Elijah paused when the doors swung open.

"Don't be ridiculous," Amara stepped inside and held the door. She waited until he was inside to stare at the buttons.

Kol was the one who finally made the selection for the fourth floor. His heart leapt into his throat when the doors slid open and a pained screech started at the end of a hall. He recognized it.

A strange sense of déjà vu overtook him as he ran. The white linoleum turned to smooth marble. The sterile smell was quickly replaced by a plethora of flowers and for a moment he was two thousand years in the past racing toward the garden and his screaming wife.

He didn't hesitate when he saw a woman holding the sides of her head. His hand waved in a decisive manner and sent her flying back into the wall with a loud shriek.

A great pressure built in her head under Bonnie's hands and the murmured incantation. It swirled and pressed until she felt certain her head was going to explode.

Wrong!

From somewhere far away she heard someone screaming. It took her a moment to realize the sound was coming from her she was too occupied trying to make sense of the flashing images in her mind: Damon's insistent hands on her wriggling body, a man with piercing blue eyes and warm fingers spread over her aching ribs, Klaus, Elijah, a brunette she couldn't remember, the man with the blue eyes again and again, a red daybed, towering tombs, flowers, Caroline, cerulean blue waters, Kol…

The pictures were silent and passed too quickly to make any sense. As soon as the pain began it left and she was leaning over the bed gasping for breath and willing her turning stomach to settle down.

She looked up from the linoleum to find Jeremy staring at the door with wide eyes, and a moment later she saw why.

Kol Mikaelson stood in the door frame. She thought she saw actual remorse flicker in his eyes as he apologized to Bonnie.

She pushed herself into a sitting position when Jeremy stopped Kol from reaching her and shoved him into the window. The ring on her hand grew warm all of a sudden and she jumped to her feet to sway. Strong arms caught her before she could hit the floor.

She assumed the feminine arms belonged to Bonnie until she saw the witch getting to her feet from the corner of her eyes. Elena released a small squeak when she twisted and saw her own features staring back at her. The first thought to enter her mind was Katherine, but she had never felt safe around her doppelganger; she felt safe with the woman holding her.

Her comfort did nothing to quell her rising frenzy. It only grew in intensity when Elijah stepped into her hospital room in a three piece suit. She might have thought her encounter from the previous night had been a dream if not for the doctor that followed him in.

She dragged her eyes from Elijah and Joel who had yet to notice each other back to Kol and Jeremy.

"I'm not going to fight you, mate," Kol held up his hands in a calming manner.

"You attacked Bonnie," Jeremy held in his growl. In the back of his mind he wondered why his instincts weren't telling him to kill the Original, and why he wasn't setting off any of his hunter's instincts.

"I attacked the women I thought was attacking my wife," Kol exhaled. He could see her holding on to her sister for support; he also saw the moment her eyes grew round.

"Your…" Elena ran her thumb over the bands on her finger. "Your wife…?" A line appeared between her brows. "But you… you're… you're d… dead."

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Elijah pressed a handkerchief into Elena's hand and instructed Jeremy to release Kol. He motioned to Elena's nose when she frowned at the white cloth and turned to ease the worries of whoever had entered only to have the air rush from his lungs.

Amara cleared her throat and guided her sister to sit on the bed.

"Now might be a good time to shut that door." Amara flashed a small smile and backed the doctor into the hall. "I'm certain you have more important things to do." She saw his eyes glaze over before clearing and knew he would forget everything the moment he turned away from her.

"Right then," Amara pulled the door shut.

Elena's ring cooled when her brother released Kol. She lowered Elijah's pristine handkerchief and saw a dot of bright blood and when she looked up she caught a look of sorrow in Kol's dark eyes.

So Dahlia didn't bury her memories to deep, and Bonnie sort of unlocked them but it's a mess in her head and none of it actually makes sense to her. I'm thinking what Elena needs is for the memories to be triggered. She's had little flashes of it, and her magic is still there cause she's been using it.