When Klaus awakened, he found himself on a couch in a spacious living room. His brother was seated on a couch across from him, so Klaus could only assume the place belonged to him. He looked around for his wife, but she was nowhere to be found.
"Welcome back, brother," Elijah said.
"Where is she?" Klaus demanded to know as he sat up. He wanted to see his wife now. He'd just gotten her back. He was not about to let her go again.
"Relax. Eleanor will be here soon. She's cleaning up the mess you started," Elijah told him.
"How long have you known she was here? And where is the real human doppelganger? Was there ever a human doppelganger?" Klaus asked. There almost had to be. He'd gotten the information about Elena Gilbert from her mother after compelling the information out of her.
"There was. She was killed several months ago," Elijah told his brother.
Klaus sighed. There went his chance to end his curse. He thought he was finally going to be free of it, but if the girl was dead, it seemed he was entirely screwed in that area. "How long have you known that my wife was here?"
"A couple of weeks," Elijah told him.
"And you decided not to tell me?!" Klaus asked furiously.
"As I said before, you have become a hermit. You cut ties with me in your paranoia. You went so far as to tell me that you dumped our siblings in the ocean," Elijah said in an irritated tone.
Klaus scoffed. "It's not my fault you were stupid enough to believe that. You should've known I was lying."
Elijah chose to ignore his brother's last comment. "And it was Eleanor's decision if she wanted to see you. She's earned that choice after all she's put up with from you."
Klaus glared at his brother as he stood up. "Where is she? I will not lose her again, Elijah. Tell me where my wife is, now!"
Just then, the front door opened and closed. Elena appeared moments later. "Oh my God! Would you stop bitching? I'm right here. Thanks, Elijah. I know it couldn't be easy to deal with him."
"It wasn't terrible. He hasn't been awake long," Elijah said.
Klaus glared at both his brother and his wife. "Obviously the two of you have been plotting against me. Did you kill my doppelganger?"
Elena chuckled. "As much as you would deserve that, I wouldn't put myself through it. I wouldn't hear the end of it for at least the next three centuries. Elena Gilbert died in a car accident."
"And you decided to replace her in order to torture me? You had me thinking I could end this bloody curse!" Klaus snarled.
"I know this is very difficult for you to believe, since you think the entire world revolves around you, but not everything I do is about you, Klaus. I took over Elena Gilbert's life for my own reasons," Elena said before walking over to a large glass table that held bottles of liquor and some glasses. "Elijah, I hope you don't mind, but if I'm going to deal with your brother, I need alcohol."
"Of course. I'm going to leave you two alone," Elijah said. He did not want to get in the middle of a fight between his brother and his wife. He knew from experience the consequences of that.
"I don't blame you," Elena said as she poured herself a glass of Scotch.
Klaus looked towards his wife once his brother left the room. He stared at her hands. "Where's your ring?"
Elena smirked. "Maybe I threw it in the ocean, like you claimed to have done with your siblings. Kind of a jackass move, don't you think? Not that it surprises me."
"You wouldn't dare!" Klaus said in a furious tone, ignoring the rest of what she said.
"You don't know me that well if you think that," Elena said. Truthfully, she hadn't tossed the ring, but she was more than willing to let him think she had. She had tried more than once to get rid of it, in truth, but something would never let her.
"I suppose I don't. I never thought you'd run from me like a coward," Klaus goaded as he took a step forward.
Elena chuckled. She knew he was trying to piss her off, but she wasn't going to take the bait. "Oh, no, Niklaus. I didn't run. I left you. I told you to your face that I was leaving you and walked right out the front door."
"I didn't think you'd really do it," Klaus mumbled. He had watched her leave, but he thought she'd be back in a day or two. He thought she'd just needed to calm down.
"Then you're an idiot! When have I ever not followed through on my word? I told you that I was done with your damned obsession! I was done watching you chasing the world for two women with my face! You chose not to believe me. That's your stupidity," Elena told him.
"It wouldn't have mattered If I'd gotten to Elena Gilbert. I was supposed to end this bloody curse on the next full moon. Then things could've gotten back to the way they were supposed to be between us. You let me think I finally had that chance. You made a fool out of me!" Klaus said.
"You made a fool out of yourself. You knew that there were two other women out there with this face," Elena said as she pointed to her own face. "Did it really never occur to you that the 'human' doppelganger might not have been who she appeared to be? And as I said before, taking over her life wasn't about you. Frankly, you were the farthest thing from my mind when I did it. I had my own reasons."
"And what reasons are those?" Klaus asked.
"Mine," was all she said.
"Let me take a guess then. One of those reasons is Stefan Salvatore. See, I did do a bit of homework before I came here. 'Elena' was dating Stefan Salvatore. You can imagine how disturbing I find it that 'Elena' is really my wife!" Klaus said in an angry tone.
Elena inwardly cursed. She hoped she'd have a little more time before Klaus found out about her and Stefan, but what was done was done. Now she could only hope Damon did as she asked and got them both out of town. "Once again, Klaus, I left you."
"I don't care! You're still my wife, and you've been sleeping with my friend!" Klaus yelled. He'd be furious no matter who she slept with, but it made it worse that it was Stefan.
"What the hell are you talking about? How do you know Stefan?" Elena asked. Stefan certainly didn't know Klaus, although that could be explained by compulsion.
"I met him in Chicago decades ago. He was in ripper form," Klaus said.
"I can see why you got along so well then," Elena stated.
"He and Rebekah got along well too. I'm sure you know what I mean," Klaus said.
"I could've gone the rest of eternity without knowing that," Elena mumbled. The last thing she wanted to hear was that she'd shared the same guy as Rebekah. She hated Rebekah as it was. "I'm guessing you compelled him, since he doesn't seem to remember who you are now."
"Of course. Mikael was closing in, and we had to leave. Perhaps I'll let him remember before I rip his heart from his body," Klaus said.
Elena grabbed him by the throat before slamming him down into the glass table, shattering it and everything on it instantly. "If you so much as lay a hand on Stefan, I will make your life a living hell for the rest of eternity! Mikael will seem like an annoying little big compared to me!"
Klaus laughed as soon as she let him go and picked himself up off the ground. "Come on, love. That's foreplay for us."
Elena raised her hand, causing Klaus to be lifted a couple of feet off the ground. She then gave him an aneurism.
All Klaus could do was scream, as he was unable to move any part of his body.
"I may not be able to kill you, Klaus, but I can make you wish I had, which you very much know. Don't screw with me!" Elena warned.
Klaus continued to yell. "Enough, Eleanor!"
Elena gave it a few more seconds before releasing her husband and letting him fall to the ground.
Klaus pulled himself up and glared at his wife. "If you were anyone else, I would kill you right now!"
"You can't kill me anymore than I can kill you. You may be physically stronger, but my power more than matches your physical strength. Now, shall we talk about this civilly?" Elena asked.
"Perhaps I'm willing to risk anything you might do for the joy it will give me to kill your lover," Klaus said.
Elena glared at him and resisted the urge to cause him more pain. That was actually what she'd always been afraid of, that her husband would be willing to risk her wrath to kill Stefan and Damon. "I can hold a grudge as long as you can, Klaus. Remind me how long it's been since your obsession with Katerina began? Five hundred years, right? And it's still going strong. That's nothing compared to the hell I will put you though!"
Klaus mulled over what she was saying. He knew it wasn't an empty threat. Part of the reason he loved Eleanor so much was that she was so lethal to those she cared about. Killing her lover wouldn't be worth it. "Fine. Your boytoy can live, as long as you agree to stay. You will not leave me again!"
"Blackmail. I can't say I'm surprised. I'll live with you, but if you even think of touching me anytime soon, I will remove one of your arms," Elena warned. It actually wasn't that hard to agree to his terms. It had been what she and Elijah had originally planned.
Klaus smirked and raised his hands up in the air. "I will keep my hands to myself until you ask me to touch you. I'm sure it won't take long."
Elena glared at him, but said nothing.
Elijah reentered the room moments later and looked around the room. "Really? Are the two of you incapable of fighting without destroying a room?"
"Sorry, Elijah. We'll clean it up and replace everything," Elena promised.
"Why do I have to do anything? You did it," Klaus said.
Elena leveled a dangerous look her husband's way. "Do you want me to do it again?"
"Fine, but first I need a drink," Klaus said before leaving the room in search of alcohol that his wife hadn't destroyed by inflicting him with bodily harm.
"I think this ended the best way," Elijah told Eleanor.
"The best for everyone but me. I'll go find a broom," Elena said before leaving the room.