A/N: No more night writing. I get far too emotional.

The next morning, I woke up and lay in my bed. I expected to feel disgusted with myself. I expected to have to rush to the toilet and throw up. But I felt nothing.

What was happening to me?

I wrapped the blankets around myself and burrowed underneath, deciding to stay in bed for the day. I could still hear the festival going on outside but I was in no mood to partake. I felt wrong. I wasn't acting like myself and that bothered me. The blankets felt restrictive and I tossed around before kicking them off the bed entirely.

I sighed and got my journal out of the drawer that I kept it in and flicked it open to a clean page. I picked up my pen and set about writing, letting every emotion I felt flow through me onto the paper. As I got more and more worked up, my writing got messier and my pen tore through the paper in places. I let out a frustrated cry and hurled it across the room. I got out of bed and went onto the balcony. I sat on the ground, curling my legs around me. I felt like I was losing control of myself and I hated it.

I idly moved my hand around and watched absently as a leaf lifted off the balcony and hovered in front of me. I sighed. Things changed. I just had to accept that. I wished that I could just hold onto things for a little bit longer.

I closed my eyes, resting against the wall. My hands lightly caressed the curve of my stomach. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this up. I needed to think about the future eventually. I didn't just mean taking care of the children, I meant the moment when vampires started to find out about my pregnancy. I knew that things would never be the same when that happened. I could leave New Orleans but that would only stall things. Maybe it was better to bite the bullet and just admit to Marcel what was going on. He was reasonable and I knew that he was likely to treat me more fairly if I told him rather than waited for him to find out another way.

I stayed sitting on the balcony, watching the street absently. It grew darker and a slight chill nipped at my skin. I took my phone from my pocket and flicked through the pictures. Pictures of me with my friends, my family greeted me. They didn't provide me with the rush of warmth I usually felt when I looked at them.

I went to the most recent pictures. I frowned as I came to one that I'd forgotten I'd taken. A picture of me and Rebekah, Kol crammed in behind us. I flicked to the next one. Elijah, his arm wrapped around me. Finn, cracking a rare smile. I felt tears in my eyes.

I wanted them back.

I got up and went back to my bed. I put the phone beside me so I could see the picture, pulled one of the pillows close and wrapped my arms around it, hugging it tight. I missed them. It was like losing my parents all over again. I needed my family back. Fuck being strong, it wasn't worth this… this… emptiness. I missed them all so much and I just wanted one of them here to hold onto and make everything seem alright. I let myself cry, no longer fighting it, face buried in my pillow.

It took me a while but eventually I drifted off into a restless sleep, tears still staining my cheeks.

I woke up sharply. It was still dark outside, my room was pitch black. I wasn't sure what had woken me but I had a peculiar feeling of being watched. I reached out in the darkness and switched on my bedside lamp. Kol was stood at the end of the bed, watching me, my journal in one hand and a scrap of paper in the other.

"Kol… What are you doing here?"

"I've been… watching you Elena. You've not been yourself."

"H…how much have you seen?"

"I've seen a lot. I saw you go to the house where you died. I saw you read Elijah's journals. And I saw you tear open a man's neck with your teeth." I looked away. "I didn't get it at first. I thought maybe you had turned I didn't realize. For a short time I thought you might be another doppelganger, but that didn't make any sense. So I decided to come here and work out what was going on. And… I think I finally get why now." He held up the scrap of paper and I realized what it was. It was my scan photo, the one I'd left in the back of the journal. "Is this yours?"

I didn't know what to do. I was caught. I bit my lip, trying to formulate a lie so that I could keep my secret for a little longer but nothing came to me. I had to admit it.

"Yes." It felt kind of good to say it aloud.

"Congratulations. Who's the lucky guy?" His voice was cold and filled with disdain. I bit my lip harder, causing it to bleed.

"It's complicated…" I squeaked out. I was trying to work up the nerve to say the most important bit.

"You know, you didn't have to be such a bitch to me. I get being upset about what happened that night but it wasn't our fault. And if you had another guy, you could have just said."

"No… Kol… no. That's not what's going on here. Please, sit down?" I gestured to the space on the bed beside me. He didn't move, turning his head away as if looking at me disgusted him. I got to my feet and closed the space between us. "There is no other guy. This child is… its one of you."

"What…?" I took his hand and placed it on my stomach.

"I'm pregnant and the father is a Mikaelson." I looked up at him, praying he'd meet my eye. He looked down at me and I saw something akin to hope in his eyes.

"Which one of us…?"

"I'm not sure. It's not Finn, I know that." I'd worked out based on how far along I was that Finn wasn't a candidate. Didn't help me tell which of the other three were responsible though.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was trying to protect myself. And my children."

"Children?"

"It's twins. I only found out recently." Kol took a step, seemingly in shock, and sank onto the bed. I hesitated for a moment before sitting beside him. "I haven't told anyone. I was scared what would happen. The witches know, but that was an accident."

"This is a lot to take in…"

"You're telling me. I woke up from a coma with a pregnant belly and no idea how it happened." He stared at the floor, processing what I'd told him. I stayed silent, knowing that it was a difficult thing to come to terms with.

"You've been dealing with this all on your own…"

"It was my choice. I thought it was the best way."

"That's why you came here isn't it...? You were trying to protect them..."

"I thought I wasn't strong enough on my own"

"I should have been here for you..."

"No... Kol… None of this is your fault"

"I never wanted to leave you Elena... I would never..."

"I know. Klaus made you." He looked away, ashamed, shaking his head.

"I should have fought harder. I should have done something" It broke my heart to see him that way. I reached out and pulled his face to mine.

"I don't care about the past, I just want to think about the future. Don't leave me again... I don't want to be alone anymore."

"Never."

We ended up lying on the bed together, curled around one another. I had my head rested on his chest while he played with my hair and his other hand gently ran his fingers over my bump. I couldn't keep my hands still either. It was like i was retracing him, remembering all the lines of his body as i skimmed my fingers over his skin.

"I don't care if I'm not the father. This feels right and I want to be there for you. All three of you."

"That makes me so happy." I buried my face in his t-shirt. "I missed you."

"I missed you too… you know we could have done this a lot sooner if you weren't so stubborn."

"Shh… no blaming. Tonight is just about feeling good."

He kissed my forehead and we lay there, not talking, just being. I felt incredibly safe in his arms. Things felt right again.

"Do you know if they're boys or girls?"

"No. The doctor asked if I wanted to know, but I said no."

"I can't wait to meet them." I giggled.

"What are you hoping for?"

"I quite like the idea of a little girl. Someone I can get up to mischief."

"You will not corrupt my future daughter!" I told him, smacking his chest playfully. He laughed.

"I'll just have to make do with corrupting you then I guess."

Suddenly he was on top of me and he guided my lips to his. We shared a soft kiss, a tender reminder of what we'd had before. I pushed his chest gently and he pulled back.

"Too much?"

"Little bit… let's go slow. Is that alright?"

"We've got the rest of eternity, so we can go as slow as you like."

"Rest of eternity? I'm still human Kol."

"I thought you were dead for months. I'm not letting you go ever again." I didn't reply. I simply returned my head to his chest, assuming our previous position. Kol wrapped his arms around me, holding me close. I half lifted my head as something occurred to me.

"You won't tell anyone will you, Kol?"

"If you don't want me to, I won't."

"Thank you. I'm just not ready for the world to know yet."

"Sorry for busting your secret."

"Don't worry." I kissed his cheek and closed my eyes.

I fell asleep in Kol's arms. I had no bad dreams, no disturbances and I slept far later than normal. When I woke up the next morning, I half expected Kol to have disappeared but he was still beside me, sleeping deeply. I watched him quietly. I'd thought I needed one or the other. Taking care of my children or letting myself care for the siblings. But it looked like I could have both. I smiled, snuggled down and waited for him to wake.

A/N: Okay Elena, you're boring me. Time to give the people what they really want, more originals!

This is shorter than the other chapters I've been posting (I've been aiming for 2000 – 2500 words since A family affair I tried to do 5000 words a chapter and that's one of the reasons why it took so long to write). However I didn't want to put too much in and distract from Elena getting all cuddly with Kol.