Pairings: Kol/Bella, Rebekah/Stefan, Klaus/Hayley, Elijah/Davina, Matt/Caroline, Bonnie/Jeremy, Damon/Elena

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries or Twilight nor its characters.

**Meanwhile, back with the boys.**

Kol pulled his blood-covered body and fangs away from the human he had been sucking dry and spoke to his brothers for the first time since they had left the cabin.

"Bella's awake." He stated calmly but on the inside he was perplexed. How could he know whether or not Bella was awake if he wasn't in the same room as her and saw her with his own eyes? But even as he questioned how he knew, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he did know because he felt it - in the pit of his stomach he felt her and knew that she was safe. And that scared him more than he would ever admit.

Niklaus and Elijah didn't respond, noticing their brothers lack of attention, his eyes clouded over and unfocused as he clearly sifted intensely through his thoughts. Elijah left his brothers - Kol standing against a wall while Niklaus tried in vain to get the blood off his hands and clothes - to take care of the bodies and clean up the messes they made to give Kol the chance to gather his thoughts before they headed back to the cabin.

"How did you know Hayley was your mate, Nik?" Kol asked, his face impassive but his eye conveying just how torn he was about this. Niklaus noticed but wisely chose to ignore the jibes and mockery he often resorted to with his brother, he wanted to make up for the abandonment he unknowingly caused his youngest brother to feel. He knew what that felt like and he never wanted to make anyone feel that way; the fact that he did that to his own brother would forever pain him and he knew that no matter if Kol forgave him or not, Nik would always be in his debt.

"I was drawn to her." Nik shrugged, "It was like there was no one else but her. Her smile, her eyes. It was reckless and dangerous and no matter how loud my thoughts to run away and ignore her were - or how many times I wanted to throttle her," Nik chuckled before a smile, a genuine smile pulled at his lips, "I couldn't. She's everything to me and it will only ever be her." Niklaus finished, watching his brother as he took in his words.

"If you tell anyone what I've just told you or that I'm turning sappy -" Nik broke off with a glare to his brother and his efforts were rewarded with a small mischievous grin before Kol nodded, his eyes clear and focused and Nik knew that that nod weighed more than either of them cared to admit so he nodded back, just as heavy as Kol's and they shared a secret smile before dashing off to meet up with their brother to go get their girls.

"Hey! Where's Bella? She hasn't been around lately and that isn't like her." Jeremy called to the Mikaelson brothers as they rounded from a corner, seeing the young Gilbert boy.

Elijah examined the boy and noticed the clear concerned worry in his eyes, his rumpled clothes and slumped form as he watched them wearily. He smiled at the obvious care he held for his cousin, it had to be something intense if it was enough for Jeremy to brave talking to the Mikaelsons - especially Kol, nonetheless.

"She's with the girls, there was an ... incident. She's fine now, we took care of it and she should be back to your house within a few days, at least." Kol responded curtly. He understood that this boy was Bella's family and therefore, off limits, but that didn't mean he had forgotten about their little tryst that had killed him. Now, that would always be a sore spot for Kol and Jeremy knew that. He was lucky enough that he had even gotten a response from the youngest Mikaelson and he respected Kol for that. Something was obviously going on with him and Bella because if there wasn't, Jeremy had no doubt that the Original in question would've already taken his revenge out on him and his sister, slowly and painfully, and he shuddered to think that that would've been his fate without Bella and whatever she'd done. He nodded before speaking, mostly aiming it to the young Original.

"Okay, tell her that we love her and that we'll see her when she's ready, tell her to be careful - Kol, take care of her." Jeremy waited for his meaningful nod before nodding in return, turning around and walking back into the direction of his house.

The Mikaelson's wasted no time in dashing off and flashing into the woods, their figures disappearing into the trees ready to go see how their newest addition to the family was faring.