Elena was up early the next morning. She'd gotten some sleep, but it had been far from restful. Her mind had been on everything she'd learned the night before, and what was going to happen in the future. She didn't just have to deal with the fact that she was something not entirely human now. She also had to deal with the presence of a new father, and the knowledge that her real mother was someone she'd hated and who hated her very existence. And she had to find some way of explaining all of this to the people she cared about.
The first thing she decided was that she wasn't going to tell her friends right away. They were already hovering around her to protect her, especially Stefan. That would only get worse once they found out that she was the daughter of a vampire, as well as being a vampire and a witch herself. She was going to have to tell Jeremy and Jenna something though, and she'd have to do it today, since Elijah was going to be by that afternoon.
Elena had already decided that she was going to tell Jeremy everything. He was her brother. He deserved to know the truth. Jenna did too, but she didn't want to put the supernatural world on her shoulders, at least not yet. She wasn't entirely positive what she was going to say though. Elijah had suggested that she wait for him to help her, but she couldn't do that. She couldn't just spring that on her aunt. She had to tell her something.
Elena was in the kitchen contemplating all of that while drinking a cup of coffee when Jenna came in.
"Hey. You're ready pretty early," Jenna commented before going straight for the coffee pot.
"Yeah, I couldn't really sleep," Elena said.
"You got in late too. Is everything okay?" Jenna asked before walking over and taking a seat across from her niece.
"I had a lot on my mind last night," Elena said.
"Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No, but I don't really have a choice. It affects you and Jeremy. On that note, I need you to be home by four today," Elena said.
"Why? What's going on, Elena?" Jenna asked.
"There's going to be someone coming by today. He wants to meet you."
"He? I didn't realize you and Stefan had stopped seeing each other," Jenna said. When Elena mentioned this person being a guy, she assumed it was a boy she was seeing, but to her knowledge, Elena was still dating Stefan.
Elena's eyes widened and she began to feel nauseated at the very thought of her aunt's implication. "Oh, God! Jenna, that's not what I meant! This man is my father."
Jenna gaped at her niece in shock. She couldn't even speak for a few seconds. That had taken her completely off-guard. "Your fa… You're in touch with your biological father? How long has this been going on?"
"I met him a little over a week ago, but I didn't find out he was my father until last night," Elena told her.
"I didn't even know you were searching for him," Jenna said, still in shock.
"I wasn't. I thought I knew who my father was. I thought it was John," Elena told her.
"John? John Gilbert?! Why didn't you tell me that?" she asked.
"Because it didn't matter to me. I never liked John. I didn't want him in my life. There was no point in anyone knowing about it, as far as I was concerned," Elena explained.
"And this other man is different?" Jenna asked.
Elena nodded. "His name is Elijah. I've only met him twice."
"Did he approach you? If so, he had no right. He signed his rights away. You were adopted," Jenna said heatedly. She couldn't understand a biological father wondering about his child after so long, but he should've come to her before approaching Elena. Elena was still underage.
"No, Jenna, he didn't. Elijah didn't know about me. He didn't sign any papers. I'm pretty sure John signed those papers," Elena said.
Jenna's eyes widened at the implications of that. If this man truly was Elena's father, and he didn't sign the adoption papers, she was pretty sure that meant Elena's adoption wasn't entirely legal. "Elena, are you sure about that? Are you even sure this man is your father? Maybe it is John."
"I'm sure, Jenna. I recently discovered information that would make it impossible for John to be my father. Look, it's a long story, but Elijah is my biological father and he wants to meet you today. I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you so quickly. For what it's worth, it's just as overwhelming for me," Elena said.
Jenna was trying to think. This was a lot to take in, and it was certainly not something she was expecting first thing in the morning. Hell, it wasn't something she'd been expecting period. There was no reason to think that Elena's father would appear in her life, unless Elena decided to go looking for him.
Jenna was concerned that this man was appearing in her niece's life, and even more concerned that it appeared he did not sign away his parental rights. She was no lawyer, but she knew enough about the law to know that if the biological father didn't sign over his rights for an adoption, it could be invalidated if he contested it. Was that the situation they were in now? Did this man want to meet with her because he intended to take Elena away from her.
Jenna had to force herself to calm down. She shouldn't get a head of herself. She hadn't even met this man yet. She had no idea what he wanted. Maybe he wanted to meet because he wanted to make sure Elena was being well cared for. She knew she'd want that if it were her child. "Did he tell you why he wants to meet me?"
"Not really. He was vague about it, and I didn't push him. I was kind of still in shock," Elena said. Elijah had told her that it involved decisions he had to make, but it hadn't gone further than that. She decided not to tell Jenna that because it would only concern her further.
"How did this come out? How do you even know this man is your biological father?" Jenna asked.
Elena was saved from answering when her brother entered the room.
"Morning," Jeremy said as he came into the room. He then saw the stressed and worried look on his aunt's face, and the tired and equally stressed look on his sister's face. "What's going on?"
Jenna looked to Elena to see what she wanted to do. This was for Elena to tell if she wanted to.
Elena sighed and told her brother everything she'd already told Jenna. She'd tell him the rest when they were alone.
"You've gotta be freaking joking! Your biological father just showed up out of nowhere, and now he wants to meet us?" Jeremy asked in shock.
"It's a long story, Jeremy, but yeah, that's what happened," Elena said.
"Well, tell him to go to hell. Mom and Dad adopted you. He doesn't have the right to just show up now," Jeremy said.
"Jeremy, he didn't sign the adoption papers," Jenna said.
"So what?"
"It means that legally, he can contest it. Look, here's what we're going to do. We don't know what this man's intentions are, but we're not going to think the worse. We're going to meet with him tonight and we're all going to be polite," Jenna said as she looked directly at Jeremy. She then turned to Elena. "Elena, are you still in touch with Elijah? Can you call him?"
Elena nodded. "Yeah, I have his number."
"Good. Can you please call and ask to push things back an hour or so? We can all have dinner," Jenna said. The best option she saw at the moment was to meet with the guy and show him that Elena was loved and taken care of. She was really hoping he was just looking for some reassurance that his daughter was all right. If he was after anything else, like custody, Jenna didn't know what she was going to do. Right now, she wanted to try not to think about it until the issue came up.
"Seriously?" Jeremy asked in disbelief. He didn't care what rights this guy had. He was a stranger. Elena's parents were his parents. They were the ones that loved and took care of her every day. This dude had no right to stake a claim now.
"Yes, and you will be cordial!" Jenna snapped. She didn't yell often, but she was serious about this. They were in unchartered waters right now, and they weren't going to take any risks.
Jeremey was taken aback by his aunt's firmness, so he just nodded in surprise.
"I'll call Elijah when we get to school. We should get ready. Jer, I'll drive you," Elena said.
Jeremy nodded. Normally he'd insist on walking, but he kind of wanted to talk to Elena a little more about this.
"I'll be ready in ten minutes," Elena said before heading out of the room.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Elena and Jeremy were in the car driving to school. Jeremy was still upset about what was happening, but he had to admit that it was better than vampires coming after them all the time. "You know, it's totally screwed up that this is the most normal thing to happen to us in months."
Elena chuckled. "Hold that thought."
Jeremy watched as his sister pulled over to the side of the road and turned to her brother. They might be late to school, but she couldn't have this conversation with her brother while she was driving. "Elijah is a vampire."
Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me. Half this freaking town is filled with vampires. So, he was turned after you were born, like your biological mom, Isobel?"
Elena shook her head. "No. He was a vampire long before I was conceived."
"How is that possible? Vampires can have kids?" Jeremy asked in surprise.
"No, at least not from what I've been told. There was magic involved with my conception. My biological mother didn't know Elijah was a vampire, and she wanted to trap him with a baby. She got a witch to help her. And my mother wasn't Isobel. Isobel's child died at birth," Elena told him.
"Who was your real mother then?" he asked curiously.
"Katherine," Elena said after a moment.
Jeremy went wide-eyed. Now that did shock him. "Katherine? The bitch that has been targeting you and our family and friends? She's your real mother? So, both your parents were vampires when you were conceived?"
"No. The story is about to get crazier, Jer," Elena said before explaining the rest of the story Katherine had told her and Elijah, including the time travel element. She knew he probably thought she was insane. Saying made almost made even Elena think she was crazy.
"Time Travel? You're saying some witch sent you five hundred years into the future as an infant. Elena, even for us, that's insane. Katherine has to be lying," Jeremy said. Maybe she was lying about all of it. Maybe Katherine and this dude, Elijah, weren't Elena's real parents.
"She's not. I tried to tell myself she was at first too, but she wasn't able to lie. Elijah compelled her to tell the truth," Elena said.
"Vampires can compel other vampires?" Jeremy asked surprised.
"Well, Elijah can anyway. He seems stronger than most other vampires. Even if he hadn't compelled her though, there's evidence to support Katherine's claims. Jeremy, I'm not human. At least, most of me isn't. I knew that before Elijah and I spoke with Katherine. When I met Elijah, he could tell that there was something other than human in me, and a witch confirmed it. There's vampire in me. There's also a lot of magic that has been blocked. I guess that makes me a witch too," Elena said.
Jeremy could hardly believe everything he was hearing. His sister was part vampire. She was born to a vampire, and her birthdate was apparently sometime in the fourteen hundreds. He felt like he was in the middle of a very strange nightmare. "How? I sort of get how you can be part vampire if your dad was a vampire, but how would you have magic?"
"I don't know. I can only guess that either Elijah's line or Katherine's descends from witches. I didn't ask. I wasn't in a state to ask questions last night," Elena said.
Jeremy was quiet for a while. "What's going to happen now? What's this guy going to do?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't think he's going anyway, and I honestly don't think I want him to. I need him," Elena said. If nothing else, she needed his help in figuring out how to navigate what she was and what would end up happening to her.
"Do you trust him?" he asked.
"Yes. I don't know why, but I do. Listen, Jeremy, I'm not ready for anyone else to know about this. Will you please keep all of it to yourself for now?" Elena asked.
"You're not even going to tell Stefan?" Jeremy asked surprised. Elena told Stefan everything. She trusted him above anyone else.
"Not yet. I need to figure out all of this first. I need to come to terms with what I'm becoming, and I need to navigate my relationship with Elijah. I need to figure out where things go from here. I can't have him hovering around me while I'm trying to do all of that," Elena said. She loved Stefan, but she knew he would hover. All it would take was for him to find out that her father was a vampire for him to become worried and overprotective.
"I won't say anything. It's your secret to tell."
"Thank you," she said before starting the car.
"Elena, do you think this dude, Elijah, is going to try to take you away from us?" Jeremy asked with worry in his voice. He wasn't worried before. He was mad about the possibility when he thought the guy was still human, but he wasn't afraid of it. He figured that there was no way it could happen. Now that he knew Elijah was a vampire though, he was worried.
Elena once again thought back to her conversation with Elijah right before he brought her home. She once again remembered him discussing decisions that needed to be made. It made her nervous when he said it, and this was why. "Yes."