A/N: Ha! Bet you didn't expect an update this fast ;) It's a bit shorter but I'm not sure I'll have time to work on this in the weeks to come, so I decided to publish what I have so far.
Also, I was so excited to hear from everyone! Thank you all so much for speaking to me :) It always makes my day! And I'm glad I could surprise most of you a little :) Hope I can keep the surprises coming. Like in this one ;) Here we go! Enjoy!

The eighteenth chapter, which includes some arresting developments

Not even twenty minutes later, they arrived back at Elijah's town house. Damon, aggravated by the chauffeur's careful driving, had banished him to the back seat, taking the wheel himself and making the trip in record time. Elena was nervous about returning and was craving more time alone with Damon, but neither of them had been willing to lose any more time in the search for Jenna and Jeremy.

When they entered the living room turned command center, all heads turned into their direction. How much did they know, or at least suspect, Elena wondered. Mason had never given an official reason for letting Damon go so abruptly and if he had given one for hiring him back, it probably hadn't been the truth. But their somewhat public fight upon the news of their children's disappearance could have sparked the officers' imagination and she was sure that gossip traveled fast. For now, however, Elena couldn't bring herself to care what anyone thought of her. All she cared about was finding Jenna and Jeremy.

Captain Grant, a short, stocky man with perpetually angrily flared nostrils broke free from the group that included several worried looking policemen and Bonnie, all huddled around a map on the coffee table, and walked towards them with quick, choppy steps. "Mr. Salvatore," the man in charge greeted enthusiastically. "So good to have you back." He stretched out a meaty hand for Damon to shake. "I trust your family crisis has been averted and everyone is well?"

Damon shook the proffered hand and shot a quick glance towards Mason, wondering how exactly he had explained his absence. His eyes were met by a displeased glare from Elena's husband who was standing by the window, Elijah by his side but at an inconspicuous distance, the two men talking in hushed tones. Everyone else was too preoccupied to notice the cold exchange.

"Yes. Thank you for your concern," Damon simply replied, wanting to move past the lie as quickly as possible. "Is everyone else safe?" He questioned, dropping the detective's hand and switching into professional mode. "Miss Forbes? Your family? Where are Mrs. Vicky and Mr. Tyler and what about your parents?" he asked, turning towards Mason.

Elena had told quickly told Damon about her husband's extra-marital affair in the car, but the fact that she hadn't been the first to abandon their holy bond didn't seem to stop Mason from hating Damon's guts. To say Damon had been surprised was an understatement. But if Elena had needed the push to feel absolved of her guilt towards her husband, Damon didn't care about anything but the fact that it had resulted in her standing on his doorstep. He was also curious to meet the man who had been able to capture his rival's heart. He assumed that it was the well-clothed gentleman to Mason's right. Even though this was his house, he regarded the scene like a bystander, intently observing the goings on through eyes that seemed filled with an almost otherworldly intelligence and wisdom. His hair was coiffed impeccably, his suit seemed to withstand wrinkles and his posture was exemplary, his broad back straight, his shoulders turned backwards. Their eyes met and Damon could tell that the other man was regarding him with the same curiosity.

By now Mason had swallowed down the anger that had been visible on his face and was, accepting that their best option for now was to work together and having taken a calming breath, able to respond: "Miss Forbes is still at the hospital. As is agent Roberts. Two agents are outside their room. My brother and his wife luckily left for Europe to go on a second honeymoon so we assume that they aren't in any danger. My parents' residence is being watched by a patrol car but so far everything's quiet. Most likely, the kidnappers are waiting on their money now, so we doubt anyone else is in any actual danger."

Damon nodded, stowing away all the new information. "Mrs. Lockwood told me that the kidnappers made contact to demand a ransom?" he further inquired.

"Yes. They called around 10 pm, demanding ten million dollars. They will call back the same time tonight with further instructions."

"Any leads?" Damon questioned, directing his attention back to Captain Grant.

"We have been able to locate the cell tower that picked up the caller's cell phone signal. It's located in New Jersey, just out of New Brunswick. Local forces are investigating but nothing so far. We have to assume that they made the call en route to Canada. Border patrol has been alerted."

"At what time were Jenna and Jeremy taken?" Damon asked, wheels obviously turning in his head.

"Anywhere between 10am and 2pm," the detective replied.

"And the call was at 10pm?" Damon recapped. "That's an awful long time to get from here to Brunswick."

"What are you saying?" Captain Grant questioned.

"I'm saying if they're trying to get to Canada as quickly as possible, why did it take them ten hours to take a five-hour drive. My guess would be that they're either staying somewhere near the location they called from or, more likely, they went somewhere else entirely and then drove a long way to make us look in the wrong place."

"Well, it's the only lead we have for the moment, so we're going with it," Mason stated, annoyance obvious in his voice.

Damon took a deep breath, not wanting to be dragged into a pissing contest. "Where are we on suspects?" he asked instead.

"Nothing concrete," the detective admitted angrily.

"Really?" Damon asked, surprised. "A businessman like you surely must have made some enemies along his climb to the top," he continued.

"You know, one man does come to mind," Mason pressed out, glaring at Damon menacingly who received it with an accepting smile.

"Mason," Elijah's voice suddenly called from behind their backs. "What we talked about the other day…" Elena looked up and saw the reluctance in her husband's eyes at Elijah's words. "You don't have to…" Elijah began, but then reconsidered his words. "You should look into it."

"Look into what?" Captain Grant asked gruffly, annoyed that apparently potentially vital information had been withheld from him.

"It's nothing," Mason waved off the question. "It's an idle threat by an overzealous business partner."

"Who?" the detective asked, growing impatient.

"Klaus Mikaelson," Mason relented, carefully gauging Elijah's reaction.

Elena's eyes shot up. She remembered that name. Not only because it was the same as Elijah's but because she remembered her husband telling her something about the troubles he was having with the Mikaelson brothers a few weeks back. They had just arrived at the beach house and Elena had been too preoccupied to listen to him. She now wished she had paid better attention.

"Your brother?" Damon asked, turning towards Elijah.

"Yes," he admitted uncomfortably. "My brothers Klaus and Kol were speculating that the city would expand westward and bought land there. They had an agreement with Mason that he would invest heavily, building new headquarters there and pulling the rest of Mystic Falls' industrial heavyweights with him. I had lobbied against the development. A lot of this region's drinking water stems from springs there and industrial development would be catastrophic, not only for the environment but also for our health. Because I'm their brother and because I may have a lot of political weight but zero influence on the economic players in this town, they let me. But about three months ago I convinced Mason to pull out of the deal. Now the whole project is in jeopardy."

"And they've made threats to you?" Captain Grant questioned Mason.

"Yes," he conceded. "Nothing concrete. Just the usual. That I would be sorry if I didn't go through with the development as planned. It's not the first time a business partner has been unhappy and resorted to attempts at intimidation. Tyler and I didn't believe they would actually act upon it."

"Where are your brothers now?" Grant asked of Elijah.

"At a conference," he replied, his face taut. "In New York."

The detective's head snapped up. "You should have informed us of this sooner," he stated icily, before turning to his men and barking instructions at them.

Damon touched Elena's arm lightly to get her attention. "I have to make a few calls," he stated quietly, his eyes distracted. "I'll be back in a little bit." Elena nodded, wondering what he was up to. With a quick look at Bonnie and a furtive wave of the head telling her to follow him, Damon left the room, his friend in tow.

Two hours had passed and Elena was getting restless. Damon hadn't returned and the police were in another room, in a conference call with their colleagues in New York. Elijah stood by the window, pensively looking out onto his back yard, while Mason was sitting on the couch, going over files and answering mails on his blackberry. Elena decided to leave her husband to his work and talk to his lover instead, curious to find out what kind of person could make her husband abandon his convictions and overcome his bigotry.

"Elijah," she said softly as she came to stand by his side.

"Elena," he jumped, pulled from his thoughts. "How are you doing?"

"How are any of us doing?" she asked, looking out of the window, not wanting to think too much about how she was doing.

"You make a good point," he replied with a soft smile.

"So that's how it happened?" she asked, abruptly, needing to get the question out before she lost the courage to do so. Elijah turned his head questioningly. "You lobbied my husband and the two of you fell in love?"

Elijah looked uncomfortable, eyeing her warily, unsure of how openly he could speak, but the genuine smile on Elena's face reassured him enough to open up.

"Yes," he replied. "When we met at my brothers' Christmas party, I realized that a big portion of the project depended on his participation. I knew I had to convince him to drop out. I invited him to dinner to talk about the repercussions of the development. I think he only went as a favor to the Senator, who is a dear friend of mine. It wasn't supposed to be a date."

"But it turned into one?" Elena asked, genuinely curious.

"Not for him, I don't think," Elijah replied abashedly. "But I was… intrigued. We stopped talking about water halfway through the appetizer." A smile rushed across his face at the memory and Elena couldn't help but smile as well. "By the end of dinner we hadn't covered any of the points I'd wanted to go over. The toxicology reports were still in my suitcase, I hadn't even mentioned the endangered species of birds that nest in the region. Instead I knew all about Jenna's training for the spelling bee and Jeremy's obsession with Elmo. I knew about you." He threw her a sideways glance.

"I'd rather not know what he told you about me," Elena waved off. She could just imagine what her husband had said about his distant and disinterested wife. She dropped her eyes to the floor at the insults she imagined coming from Mason.

"Don't think that," Elijah said, almost chastising her. "No matter what problems you have in your marriage, I hope you don't believe he would speak ill of you."

Elena regarded him with big eyes, not sure how to respond. "You're right," she admitted. "It wouldn't be proper."

Elijah shook his head, a pained expression wrinkling his brow. "You and the kids are his family and he loves you. I went to that dinner with one thing on my mind – convincing Mason to drop out of the Westside development. After dinner there was something else that I wanted even more. I knew I had a crush but I didn't think anything of it because I was convinced that he was utterly devoted to you. I was sure that I would never get either of the things I wanted from him."

"Well, you managed to sway him eventually," Elena replied with a soft smile. "On both accounts."

"And I was completely surprised both times," Elijah explained. "Mason isn't a man who lets others change his mind or who goes against his convictions."

"There are things that are stronger than convictions," Elena remarked. Elijah dropped his gaze to the window sill uncomfortably. "I'm sorry," Elena apologized. "Is it awkward to have this conversation?"

"Very," Elijah acquiesced with a nervous smile, causing Elena to blush slightly at her own audacity. "But it's okay. I'm glad we could have it. You're an impressive woman, Elena."

She shook her head sadly. "I'm not being the bigger person here. If this had happened a year ago, I would have been devastated."

"Because you still loved him then?" Elijah asked.

"I'll always love him," Elena replied warmly. "Not the way he deserves to be loved but still. He has become a part of me. He is a part of my children. When I look at them, I see him. I can't imagine my life without him in it. But a year ago I depended on him… for everything. I depended on him to keep me safe, to take care of me, to guide me through my life. I would have been devastated because without him I would have been completely lost. But I have learned to have faith in myself now. I have learned to not be afraid of the future and to not hide from the world behind my husband. I still need him. To be my friend. But I want for him to be happy more than I need for him to take care of me. He deserves to be happy. He never was, with me. Not really. It was always about expectations, about obligations, I'm glad he found someone who makes him want to be happy. Instead of wanting to do what's right."

Elijah smiled, touched. "I'm not sure he can accept it," he said, throwing a furtive glance at Mason who was engrossed in seemingly endless lists of numbers.

"He'll come around," Elena reassured him warmly. "It's scary, accepting something new about yourself. After years and years, discovering that you may have been wrong about integral parts of your identity – it's terrifying. But we'll help him through it and he'll be fine. Have faith in what you have. It's stronger than his insecurities."

Elijah smiled again, grateful and impressed. No matter what this woman said, a lesser person would have taken the situation as an insult, a betrayal. He wasn't sure where she took the strength from to withstand the temptation of self-doubt, of jealousy and of blaming him and he could only assume, from what Mason and Elena herself had told him, that her relationship with Damon Salvatore had a lot to do with it and it made him intensely curious to properly meet this man whom he had only seen ask a few questions and leave again.

He saw a shadow rush across Elena's face then, a sudden look of discomfort that made her avert her gaze.

"What is it?" he asked, surprised by her change in mood.

"Do you…" she began, nervously picking at some loose skin around her thumb nail, "do you really think your brothers capable of taking my children?" she asked.

Elijah heaved a heavy sigh. "I didn't think them capable of knowingly poisoning our drinking water. But here we are." He looked sad. Elena felt for him. She could relate to being stunned and terrified by what your own family was capable of.

At that very moment the door burst open and Captain Grant stormed into the room. "Klaus and Kol Mikaelson have been apprehended," he informed them hastily.

Elena rushed towards him. "What about Jenna and Jeremy?" Hope was coursing through her, turning into excess energy, making her fear her chest might burst.

"No news on them yet," the detective informed them, regret in his voice. We apprehended the suspects at their hotel. But we are just waiting on the chopper then we'll be on our way to New York to question them. You're welcome to join us, if you want to," he offered.

Mason immediately sprang to his feet. "Of course we want to come," he announced, discarding all the work he had previously been engrossed in.

"One thing before we get going," Captain Grant interjected. "This information needs to stay in this room. We have to assume that the brothers aren't working alone and judging from the information they've acted upon, we have to assume that they have a source on the inside."

A frisson ran through Elena. Who close to her could be so cruel as to feed her children's kidnappers information? Her eyes involuntarily shot towards Elijah. He was the most probably source but she simply couldn't bring herself to believe he was involved. He seemed too genuine, too feeling. Quickly she forced her eyes to move away so as to not give away her instant and unconscious accusation. They met Mason's that were glaring at her angrily.

"Where is Damon Salvatore?" he questioned icily, his eyes boring into hers.

Elena's face turned stoic. She resented the underlying allegation. The question itself, however, putting aside the hostile undertone, was a good one. Where was Damon?

A/N: Happy TVD Thursday my loves! Have a great one!