Elena woke up the next morning in a very comfortable bed and in a room she didn't recognize. It only took moments for her to remember the previous night's events. After finally getting away from a kidnapper who also used to be her boyfriend, she was forced to go home with three originals. Then she'd passed out in Elijah's arms before they even made it to the car.
Elena just laid there for a while. Everything that happened was finally starting to sink in. There really wasn't time to think about it last night. It all happened incredibly fast, and she had been exhausted. Now, though, it started to really hit her what she'd agreed to. She'd put herself and her brother into the hands of three original vampires, one of which had actually murdered her. Not that she really had a choice. Even if she tried to fight them, she would have lost that fight. Plus, everything she said to Jeremy and her friends was still true. She wasn't safe in her own home anymore. Stefan saw to that.
Elena didn't think she'd ever forgive Stefan for the position he put her in. Even if she could forgive him for kidnapping her, she could never forgive him for what she had to do because of him. And yes, she knew that Klaus would likely have found out one way or another, but it didn't have to be from Stefan.
Elena soon heard a knock at the door, followed by her little brother's voice. "Elena, it's me."
"Come in, Jer," Elena said before sitting up in her bed. She got a good look at the room, and it was about twice the size of her old room. The bed she was on was king sized and there was a dresser and a closet on the other side of the room.
Jeremy walked in seconds later and closed the door. "Hey. Are you feeling any better?"
"In certain ways, yes, and in other ways, no. I at least finally got some sleep. Of course, now I'm alert enough to know what I just did," Elena said.
"You have regrets about last night?" Jeremy asked. He certainly wouldn't blame her if she did. They were living with a bunch of beings that could kill them in a second. There was a lot to regret about that.
Elena chuckled. "Regrets? That suggests that there was any other choice. Nothing that I said last night has changed. Thanks to Stefan, we had no other option. It's just that it's finally hitting me."
"Elena I never got the chance to tell you how sorry I am about Stefan. What he did to you was seriously screwed up. If it had been up to me, Klaus would have killed him. You have more compassion than I do," Jeremy said in a furious tone. He hated Stefan for what he did to his sister. Not to mention the situation he forced on both of them.
Elena shrugged in response. "I still love him. I at least love the man he used to be, anyway. I'll never forgive him, but it's a little harder to stop loving him."
"You'll never be able to forgive him? Even if he morphs back into the old Stefan one day?" Jeremy asked. It wasn't that he wanted her to forgive him. Stefan didn't deserve his sister's forgiveness after all that he did. But Elena was a forgiving person. Very little was unforgivable in her eyes.
"No. First of all, I doubt the old Stefan will ever come back. But even if he did, I could never forgive him. Look around you, Jeremy. We are living under the same roof as Klaus. We had to leave our home because Stefan made it unsafe. And yes, it might have still become necessary at some point, but it was because of Stefan that it happened. The worst part is I feel safer now than I did a day ago. I feel safer with the man who murdered me than the man who promised to protect me. I could never get over that," Elena said.
Jeremy nodded. "Good. He doesn't deserve your forgiveness."
"Stefan has hurt me worse than anyone else ever could. He is the reason I was willing to kill Klaus, even though everything inside me was telling me it was wrong. I was still willing to do it, to free him from Klaus. Stefan threw it all away and continued to come after me. I can't forgive that," Elena told him.
Soon, they both heard a knock at the door.
"Well, I guess it's time to face the world we've been thrust into," Jeremy said.
"Yeah. Come in," Elena called out to whoever was there before getting up from the bed.
Moments later the door opened, revealing Rebekah. "Good, you're both awake. Nik and Elijah would like you to come down for breakfast."
"Sure. Give us a few minutes," Elena said. She saw no point of refusing. She would have to face Klaus eventually. She might as well do it now. Like it or not, she would be living with him for quite a while.
Rebekah nodded before leaving the room again.
"We're supposed to break bread with Klaus knowing he murdered you and Jenna?" Jeremy asked in disbelief. He supposed the whole thing was just hitting him as well. He was living with people who took people he loved away from him.
"Yeah. It's just another thing we can thank Stefan for. Look, we've been dealt a crappy hand, Jer. It wouldn't be the first time. We're just going to have to figure out how to deal with it. Give me a few minutes to get ready and come back. You probably have a better idea of where the kitchen is than I do, since I was unconscious when we got here.
Jeremy nodded before heading for the door.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Elena and Jeremy walked down to the kitchen about fifteen minutes later. When they got there, Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah were already seated at the table. There was also a woman standing next to Klaus. She was emptying the contents of her bloody wrist into a cup.
"You still have no regrets?" Jeremy whispered to Elena.
"I'll let you know later," Elena whispered back.
"Niklaus, you are clearly making the children uncomfortable. Can you not have her do that elsewhere?" Elijah asked his brother.
"Why? They will need to see how we live eventually. They may as well become aware of it early on," Klaus said.
"It's fine, Elijah. I've seen him do much worse," Elena said before taking a seat across from Klaus. Jeremy sat next to her.
Klaus smiled at Elena. "That's the spirit, Sweetheart. I think you'll fit in fine."
"Elena, how are you doing this morning? I hope you got some sleep," Elijah said.
Elena nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Elijah. Thanks for carrying me in here."
"Of course. You were exhausted. I certainly had no intention of waking you," he said.
Klaus, meanwhile, turned to the woman supplying him with his breakfast. "That will do, Love."
The woman nodded blankly before leaving the room.
Klaus turned to the two humans sitting across from him. He then pointed to the spread of breakfast foods on the table. "Help yourselves. I'm sure you're both hungry. Oh, and do make sure to drink your orange juice."
Elena picked up the glass of orange juice right in front of her. "Vervain, I assume."
Klaus nodded.
Elena immediately took a sip of her orange juice. She was all too ready to have vervain back in her system. No one had tried to compel her as of yet, but she wasn't taking any chances either.
Jeremy seemed much more hesitant to touch the orange juice or any of the food. He didn't exactly trust these people.
Elena immediately saw the look on her brother's face. "It's fine, Jeremy. Poison isn't his weapon of choice."
Klaus merely chuckled in response.
"Neither of you will come to any harm from us. You have my word," Elijah told Jeremy.
Jeremy was still hesitant, but he reached for some food. He piled some bacon, eggs and sausage onto his plate.
Elena did the same. She was really hungry. Stefan brought her food when he was holding her hostage, but she didn't eat a whole lot. She didn't exactly have an appetite. "Where are we?"
"Just outside of Mystic Falls. The particulars aren't important. We won't be here for long. I am currently renovating our home in Mystic Falls," Klaus told her.
"Why? This place is nice," Jeremy said. The house they were currently in was at least twice the size of his own home, and that was only the parts he'd seen of it.
Rebekah chuckled. "Oh, my dear Jeremy. You have not yet become accustomed to our living expectations. Our last home was at least five times this size."
Soon Jeremy's phone began to ring. He started sighing as he took it out of his pocket. "It's Ric. He's already called about five times this morning."
"And you've been ignoring him?" Elena asked.
"I didn't know what to say. I left him a message last night which probably freaked him out. Anything I say to him now won't make him feel any better. I guess I can't ignore them forever though," Jeremy said before answering his cell phone. "Hey, Ric."
Soon there was screaming at the other end of the line, causing Jeremy to take the phone away from his ear. "Yeah, I kind of figured that would happen."
"I can't really blame him," Elena said.
Once Alaric was done screaming, Jeremy brought the phone back to his ear. "Look, Ric, I'm sorry, you've been worried. Everything happened fast and you weren't answering when I called you last night," he said before listening to what Ric had to say to him. "Yeah, we're fine. Elena's right here."
Elena held her hand out for the phone, knowing Ric would wanna talk to her. "Hi, Ric. I'm okay. It's a long story and I really don't want to get into it right now. Could you ask Damon, Bonnie or Caroline what happened?" Maybe it wasn't fair for her to pass the responsibility on to someone else, but she was still reeling from everything that happened. She really didn't wanna discuss Stefan or what he did to her.
Before anything else could be said, Klaus stood up, went over to Elena, and took the phone from her. "Mr. Saltzman, how wonderful to speak with you. We have much to discuss."
"Oh, that's gonna go over well," Elena said sarcastically as she watched Klaus leave the room with her phone. Truthfully, though, she appreciated Klaus taking the phone from her. She really didn't want to explain everything.
"Well, while Nik's dealing with the teacher. How about we make plans for the day? The two of you could definitely use new wardrobes fitting for Michaelson's. I say we take a trip to the mall," Rebekah said.
Elena looked towards Elijah as if to ask for permission. She was not exactly sure how things were going to work with her and Jeremy living with the originals. She had made it clear last night that she would not be treated as a prisoner, but she knew that she really didn't have any power over it. They could stop her and Jeremy from doing anything they wanted.
"Elena, you're not prisoners here. I insisted you come here for your own protection, but that doesn't mean I want to inhibit your freedom. Now, until it's safe, we do insist you have an escort, but that's it," Elijah said.
Elena nodded and turned back to Rebekah. "A shopping trip sounds nice. I think my wardrobe is fine, but I could use a distraction."
"Excellent."
Klaus came back into the room moments later. "Well, Mr. Saltzman will be joining us for dinner. That way he can see that we haven't killed the two of you, and I will have some paperwork for him to sign by then."
"Paperwork?" Elena asked.
"Yes, guardianship paperwork, of course. We must make it all legal," Klaus said.
Elena felt uneasy. She didn't know why, but it never occurred to her that there would be legally binding documents saying that Klaus was their guardian. "Is that necessary. Can't you just leave things the way they are, and we'll live with you?"
"No, I'm afraid that's not possible, my dear. How would that look? You living with us but another man holding guardianship? People would question it. Besides, I require it," Klaus said in a firm tone.
"Elena's eighteen. You don't need paperwork for her," Jeremy said.
"The school will still want it, and as I said, I require it," he said again.
"Fine," Elena said. There was no point in arguing. It was a formality anyway. "And what will you do if Alaric refuses to sign."
"Oh, no need to worry, Elena. While I'm not opposed to violence, in this case, it won't be necessary. There are other ways for me to get what I want," Klaus said with a smirk.
Elena didn't like the way he said that, but she chose not to worry about it now. She'd figure out a way to convince Ric to sign.
"Well, in the meantime, I'm taking Elena and Jeremy to the mall for the day. They need new wardrobes and Elena needs a distraction from the last few days," Rebekah said.
"I suppose you'll want a credit card," Klaus said.
"Obviously," Rebekah said dryly.
Klaus turned to Elena and Jeremy. "The two of you will be given personal credit cards as soon as I can arrange it. For now, Rebekah will charge whatever you buy on mine."
"Okay. What's the limit?" Jeremy asked.
"No limit. Get what you want," he said.
"Now, now, Niklaus. Children need limits. How about ten thousand each?" Elijah asked.
Elena's jaw nearly hit the floor with how much Elijah was willing to let them spend. "What? Elijah, no."
"Yes, Elena's right brother. That's entirely unfair. Give them at least fifty a piece," Rebekah said.
"What? Rebekah, no, that's not what I…"
Rebekah cut Elena off with the raise of her hand. She was bargaining, and she knew she could get them a more decent allowance than that. She intended to be the fun 'aunt'.
"Thirty," Elijah said.
"Elijah…"
Jeremy nudged his sister. "Stop arguing. There should be at least some perks to this situation."
"Deal," Rebekah said before turning back to the two humans. "We'll finish breakfast and then get ready to go. I could use some new clothes myself.
Without another word, Elena turned back to her breakfast.