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Here we go.

Elena caught a glimpse of Jeremy through the thin blinds. Her brother had been reluctant to leave her alone with Kol, but she had nodded for him to go, and now he stood in the waiting area at the end of the hall.

Logically she knew that she should want to put as much distance between herself and Kol as possible, but she couldn't bring herself to move when he sat beside her.

"Are you hurt?" He peered into her dark eyes. Physically he couldn't see anything wrong.

"I was…" she turned over her wrist and trailed her finger over her inner arm. "It… I…"

She didn't know how to explain the hazy memory of the previous night.

"It's alright, darling," he reached for her left hand, "take your time."

Her heart skittered sending heat to course through her veins when he pressed his thumb to the palm of her hand. The hold he had on her was loose, but she didn't pull away.

"Why do I feel so comfortable with you?" She bit her bottom lip. "I killed you."

"You did not kill me."

"You're right," she scoffed, "my brother did because I told him to."

"Who told you?" He squeezed her hand. "Damon Salvatore. And how did you react? Because I have it on good authority that you were in hysterics, completely shaken up by it, Caroline tells me Damon forced you to calm down."

She nodded as the memory of her tears surfaced. She had thought they were because she had orchestrated his death and the deaths of countless vampires around the world, she had thought it was because she had gone against everything she once believed in.

"I said something," she blinked at their joined hands, "I don't know what it was, but it made my skin feel hot and then cool. I took off the bandage and the stitches were… were…"

"They were gone."

"No," she shook her head and closed her eyes. "They dissolved and fell away."

"You healed yourself," he murmured.

"I healed myself?" Her brows knit together. "How did I do that? How are you alive?"

She frowned when he chuckled and turned to glare at him.

"Is my memory loss funny to you?"

"No, no," he shook with a quiet laugh, "none of this is in the least amusing, kardiá mou."

Her heart fluttered at the term she thought must have been a term of endearment.

"Do you remember anything at all, Ellie?"

Her breath caught in her throat. Dahlia had called her 'Ellie', and it appeared that she had picked it up from Kol. Accept, from Kol, she didn't mind the nickname; it was sweet and familiar.

"I remember taking the cure," she sighed, "but nothing after until… until I woke up in a cabin with a woman who said…"

Elena worried her bottom lip. How much did he know? How long had they been separated?

"What did she say, Elena?"

"She told me that my husband died."

"Rest assured darling that I've no intention of dying again anytime soon," his eyes narrowed.

"She… she also told me I was… was pregnant."

She saw the blood drain from his face.

"Was?"

"Am," she corrected quickly. Pulling her hand free she twisted and reached for the sonogram on the night stand. "I am pregnant."

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the picture she placed in his hands. The dark circle that was their child sat in the upper right hand corner.

"You scared me for a minute there."

"You knew?" Elena frowned.

"I suspected," lowering the sonogram he met her eyes, "there was no other reason for my aunt to take you. She thought herself entitled to every first born child descended from my mother."

"Thought?" She hated killing and death, but hope swelled in her chest.

"She's dead," he said. "She'll never lay a hand on you or this child." He didn't think before placing his hand on her flat stomach.

"How are you alive? How was this even possible?" She flopped back on the hospital bed against the pillows; it felt like there was a gaping hole in her head.

"I have you to thank for that," he shifted to face her and held her hand. Absentmindedly playing with the band around her wrist he began explaining everything: their first life, the magic that flowed through her veins after breaking her curse, bringing him back and remarrying a couple of months before. "We had just returned to the states when Dahlia took you?"

Elena was silent as she processed the information.

"I'm a witch?"

He nodded.

"I brought you back?"

She pushed a hand through her hair when he said yes.

"Did I remember anything from this life?"

"No, darling," he murmured.

"What happened to me?"

Kol tilted his head and shifted his hand. Running his thumb over her wedding band he tried to come up with a response that would satisfy her, but the truth was he didn't know.

Elena was starting to think he wouldn't answer her.

"I can only guess," he breathed, "but I assume Dahlia thought you would be too much trouble and forced you to forget being a witch so you wouldn't fight back, and I think she did this after you used a spell to send Hope back to New Orleans."

"Hope?" She tilted her head. "Klaus' daughter?"

"Dahlia came for her first," he nodded, "you and were closest, on our way back into town, so we went to intercept her. She nearly killed me and would have if you hadn't stepped in and agreed to go with her. Elijah found me sometime later, practically dead and healed me."

"I left you there?" Shame prickled the back of her scalp.

"You gave your word, swore a witch's oath," he reached for her right hand, "the mark's gone now that Dahlia is dead, but rest assured that you did not leave me for dead. You called for help with magic, and brought your sister and my brother directly to me."

"My sister?" She frowned before remembering. "Amara, my twin sister from the first life." She tilted her head. "Does that mean I'm not a doppelganger?"

"You're still a doppelganger, Ellie," he smiled, "you just happened to be reborn as the latest doppelganger of your sister. There are two other doppelganger lines that I know of."

She sat up and nodded for him to continue.

"Silas' line; the current doppelganger is Stefan Salvatore," he exhaled slowly and drew in a deep breath, "and then there is mine. It's a very long and convoluted story that involves me becoming immortal in our first life and somehow becoming human again allowing me to die, but the doppelganger line endured."

"You weren't reborn as your doppelganger were you?" She looked to the window and the back of her brother's head. "And I wasn't dreaming last night, or hallucinating when you all rushed in here."

"No, you were not," he shook his head. He couldn't stop the small laugh from bubbling up. "It's a little amusing how all of the living doppelgangers seemed to have found each other."

He didn't believe in coincidences but this was one hell of one.

His eyes dropped to the handkerchief still in her hand.

"What was Bonnie doing to you?"

"She was trying to fix my memory, and I saw some flashes, but they didn't really make sense," Elena glanced down at the white material and the blood that had darkened to a crimson stain as it dried.

"It was definitely magic that made you forget," he murmured. "There are spells that…"

"No," she shook her head vehemently, "I don't want to try that again…"

Elena trailed of when she saw the hurt flicker in his eyes.

"It's not that I don't want to remember, Kol. I'm missing nearly a year of my life, and another life I didn't even realize I had lived, but…" she crumpled Elijah's handkerchief and did her best to stifle her hysterical laugh. She was incapable of stopping the sound from bubbling up in her throat; a single tear rolled over her cheek. "… that really hurt."

Her eyes welled with tears causing her vision to blur. She didn't think about how easily she let herself be pulled into his arms.

"I'm sorry," she squeaked.

"It's okay," Kol rubbed soothing circles over her thin hospital gown covering her back.

"No, it's not," she made a choking sound in the back of her throat. "I can't remember any of it, Kol. I don't remember leaving Mystic Falls, or w-w-why I did it. I don't know how I brought you back, or how I got p-p-pregnant."

He murmured against her hair.

"You told me you didn't feel safe, and wanted to get away from someone; I assume the person who broke your ribs, but you never did tell me who. I have a copy of the spell you used to bring me back, and as for how you got pregnant," his tone turned teasing, "I can remind you."

She giggled and swiped at her cheeks. She sat back and managed a weak glare.

"Relax, darling," he held up his hands and smirked, "I was only joking, and it made you stop crying. Aside from the cut that you magically healed is there another reason you're in the hospital?"

She shook her head.

"Then why don't I see about getting you out of here?" He stood from the bed.

"You're not upset?" She caught his hand before he could leave.

"You can't control your memory, darling," he squeezed her hand, "how could I be upset with you about that? Besides," he smiled, "it sounds like Bonnie might have unlocked your mind. If you want to try something else there are herbs that might help; or your memory could come back on its own."

In her mind she saw a tall young man with piercing blue eyes pulling a phial from his pocket.

"Yeah," she murmured, "maybe…"

Jeremy paced back and forth across the floor of the waiting room. Every time he would step into the hall his eyes would briefly dart to the window looking in on Elena's room; he could barely see his sister and Kol through the blinds.

He had been pacing for several moments when he finally turned on Elijah and the newest doppelganger.

"What the hell is going on?" He gestured back to the patient room. "How is Kol alive, and when did he marry my sister?"

He turned his gaze on the brunette.

"And who are you?"

Amara swallowed and crossed her legs. Her foot jiggled nervously in the air as she struggled not to listen in on her sister's conversation with her husband.

"I'm her sister…"

"I think I'd know if my sister had a sister," Jeremy's eyes narrowed.

"It's a very long story," Amara sighed, "but we were sisters in another life. She died and I didn't…"

Bonnie straightened in her chair and focused on the brunette. She gave the impression of someone who had lived through insurmountable horrors and an untold number of years.

"What about the doctor?" Jeremy crossed his arms. "He looked freakishly like Elijah and you were the only one who didn't seem surprised."

"I would like an explanation for that as well," Elijah spoke from where he was in the corner. He had chosen a spot as far from the door as possible to avoid the man who was likely still somewhere on the floor.

"I should think at this point you're all familiar with the concept of doppelgangers," Amara muttered.

"The doppelganger is a mystically recurring phenomenon," Jeremy sighed like he was reciting a pre-rehearsed answer for a teacher. "The first one was Tatia."

"No," Elijah shook his head, "the first one was her," he nodded to Amara.

"You're Amara," Bonnie held the arms of her chair, "Silas' one true love."

"You're the descendant of the woman who murdered my sister," Amara cocked an eyebrow. "Silas didn't love me, but he liked me more than Qetsiyah. If I had I seen that sooner my sister might not have lost her life, but it's funny: the things we can't see because we're too close to the problem."

"So…" Bonnie tilted her head and squinted, "… Elena is your doppelganger; does that make Elijah and that doctor Silas'?"

"No," Amara pressed her tongue to her teeth, "there was another line. Ellie… her husband was mortally wounded by Qetsiyah, but she wanted to keep them apart in the afterlife she had created, so she forced the spell for immortality down his throat."

Elijah straightened up and tilted his head. He had always wondered how Elena had felt the first time she had seen Katerina, and it was a feeling he could have done without; an unnerving sensation that prickled at his scalp.

"Are you telling me there is someone else out there wearing my face?"

Amara shook her head.

"As far as I'm aware it's just the doctor," she bit her cheek. "Typically only one exists at a time, unless they've been rendered immortal."

"And the original immortal," Elijah prompted, "your sister's husband?"

"At some point in time he took the cure and died, but the doppelganger line endured."

"How sure are you that he died?" Jeremy frowned.

"Positive," Amara wasn't sure who to look in the eye. "I know he did because his soul was reborn, but unlike Ellie he didn't come back as a doppelganger."

"How do you know that?" Bonnie stood from her chair.

Elijah looked over Jeremy's shoulder when he saw Kol approach the nurse's station. His eyebrows shot up when he turned his gaze back to Amara.

"Yes," she stood with a murmur only loud enough for the human's to hear, "that's how I know."

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