Elena heard Jenna's heated voice the moment she and Stefan entered the house. She immediately followed it towards the kitchen.
"I told you to call me, not show up! The last thing Elena needs right now is to deal with you!" Jenna was yelling.
Elena and Stefan entered the room to find Jenna looking hatefully at John while Jeremy stood a few feet back.
"Well, I was close by and your message was concerning. You mentioned something about losing Elena," John said. That had deeply concerned him, and he'd immediately driven to Mystic Falls.
"Aunt Jenna?"
Jenna turned around and her face immediately softened. "Elena, I'm sorry. I didn't expect him to come here. I just wanted some answers from him. I figured he'd call me back."
"It's alright, Jenna. I'm glad he's here. I want some answers too," Elena said before glaring at John.
"Answers about what? What's going on?" John asked.
"What's going on is that I'm about to lose custody of our niece, and it's your fault!" Jenna snapped. Granted it wasn't only his fault. She was pretty sure her sister and Grayson played a part too, but John was the only one alive for her to yell at.
"I still don't know what you're talking about. Why would you lose Elena?" John asked.
"Because you and your girlfriend signed a legal document saying you were Elena's biological parents when you weren't!" Jenna yelled.
John was stunned at first, stunned that Jenna had found out the truth about even that much. That probably meant Elena knew a good deal of the real story. He knew he had to find a way to spin this, at least for Jenna, but he wasn't sure yet what she knew. "It's not what you think, Jenna."
"Oh, I don't think anything! I know a great deal about what happened. I know that your baby died and that a woman named Katerina gave Elena to Isobel. The two of you then passed the baby off as your dead. Am I right so far?" Jenna asked.
John looked at Elena, who looked unreadable. He couldn't tell how much she knew of the truth. "Yes."
"Grayson must have known too since he delivered your child. Did my sister know?" Jenna asked.
"Yeah."
That surprised Elena. She'd figured her dad had to know something, but she figured her mom would've been kept in the dark, since she didn't know about the supernatural. Of course, it was only speculation that her mother didn't know about the supernatural. She might have.
"Great. All of you thought it was a super idea to commit fraud and kidnapping! What were any of you thinking?!" Jenna asked angrily.
"We didn't kidnap her," John immediately protested.
"Yeah, John, legally you did. You tried to pass me off as your child. You knew I wasn't. That's kidnapping," Elena said.
"No. Your biological mother left you with Isobel. Isobel made the decision to let Grayson and Miranda adopt you," John said.
"That wasn't her choice to make! You know, most people who find abandon babies call the police," Jenna said.
"We couldn't do that. We just wanted to make sure she'd have a good home, and Grayson and Miranda were as devastated by the death of our child as we were. We just figured giving Elena to them would solve two problems," John said.
"You didn't solve any problems! You created them! Now Elena is going to be forced out of her home. You know what? I think Elijah should be here to hear all of this. I should call him, so he can decide if he wants to press charges!" Jenna snapped.
"Who's Elijah?" John asked.
"Jenna, please don't do that. I'll tell Elijah what happens later. Let's just deal with this ourselves for now," Elena said. There was a good chance Elijah would kill John, depending on what John had to say about what really happened, and as much as Elena hated him, she didn't want John dead.
"Who is Elijah?" John asked again.
Elena glared at her uncle. "Elijah is my father."
"You… You're in touch with your biological father? Elena, you need to stay away from him," John said.
"How dare you?" Jenna asked hatefully. "You created this entire situation! You deprived that man of his child! You have upended Elena's entire world with your lies, and now you dare think you can tell her what to do or how to handle it?!"
"Jenna…"
"Get out! Leave now, or I will call the sheriff myself and have you arrested for what you did!" Jenna said.
John nodded and reluctantly headed for the door, but not before whispering to Elena as he passed her. "I'll be back."
"Elena, I'm sorry," Jenna said once John was gone. "I don't know what I was thinking by calling him. It didn't accomplish anything. I was just so angry. This whole thing started because of him and Isobel. If he had done the right thing, your life wouldn't be so messed up right now."
"I also wouldn't know you guys, and I wouldn't want that. But I understand why you're angry. I'm angry too. Listen, maybe you should go for a walk or something to calm down. You still seem really upset," Elena said.
"Yeah, maybe that's a good idea. Right now, I'd like to throttle John, and your mom and Dad if they were still here. I think I will go get some air," Jenna said. She grabbed her jacket and then headed out of the house.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Elena was sitting in the kitchen with Stefan and Jeremy when John let himself back in. "I figured you hadn't gone far."
"I was just down the street. I waited for Jenna to leave and came back. I figured I owed you some answers," John said.
"You're damn right, you do. You led me to believe you were my father when you knew you weren't!" Elena said angrily.
"It was better for you to believe it was me. Look, this guy you've met…'
"Don't!" Elena yelled angrily. "I have more respect for that man, who I have known a little more than a week than I've ever had for you! So, don't even try to talk to me about him! Jenna's right about one thing. You have no right to ever give me advice about anything! Just tell me what you know and what really happened. I know most of it, but I want to know what you and my parents really knew. Obviously, you know about Katherine being my mother," Elena said.
"I didn't at first. I didn't figure that out until you were older. You looked more like her every day, and eventually, you were almost a carbon copy of her. It became clear to me. I knew you were distantly related to Isobel, and so was Katherine. I figured it out," John told her.
"So, Katherine really is her mother?" Stefan asked. He had really hoped that wouldn't be true. He couldn't deny that it was creepy. He'd been with his girlfriend's mother hundreds of years before they'd met.
"Yes. She doesn't know that though. She thinks Elena's a doppelganger, and she should continue to think that," John said. He didn't know what Katherine would do with the truth, but he did know she wasn't maternal. She wouldn't love Elena as a mother.
"It's a little late for that, but it doesn't matter because she's dead. Tell me what happened from the beginning," Elena demanded.
John sighed. He never planned to tell Elena any of this, and he had been considering lying when came back today, but it was clear to him that Elena knew most, if not the whole story. "I was with Isobel that day. We were both grieving our child's death. Suddenly, a witch appeared out of nowhere. She told us she was a witch from the past. She had you in her arms. She told Isobel that the child was her ancestor."
"Did she tell you why she brought me into the future?" Elena asked. That was one answer she didn't have yet. It didn't make sense to her. What was the point of taking her hundreds of years into the future. If it was to protect her from Katherine, there had to be other ways to do that.
John looked at her hesitantly. "Elena, some of the things I have to tell you won't be comforting."
"Katherine tried to have me killed in infancy. We're past that," Elena said bitterly.
John nodded. "She was afraid of you. You were the daughter of a vampire. She also sensed quite a bit of magic in you. She traced that magic back to the original witch."
"The original witch?" Stefan asked.
"Yes, the first witch known to other witches," John replied.
Elena didn't know what to do with the knowledge that she was related to the first witch to ever exist, so she decided to just not think about it for the moment. It was something she could discuss with Elijah later. "Keep going."
"She didn't believe you should exist, but you were an infant and she couldn't bring herself to hurt you. Blocking your magic and taking you five hundred years into the future was her way of taking herself out of the equation. She said she thought about going to another witch, but then she'd have to admit she helped create you, and she'd be shunned," John explained.
"So, she wasn't trying to save me. She was just trying to make me someone else's problem," Elena surmised quietly. It seemed that everyone saw her as nothing more than a being that needed to be destroyed, even her own mother. It made it hard for her to see herself in any other way as well.
Stefan took her hand. He didn't understand much of this, but he loved Elena, and he hated the pain she was going through right now.
"Yes. I'm sorry," John said.
"Did my parents know any of this?" Elena asked.
"They knew all of it," John replied.
"I didn't think my mother knew about the supernatural," she said.
"She did. Your father told her a few years earlier. We all thought it was best that we pass you off as the baby Isobel and I lost, and Grayson and Miranda would raise you as planned. We couldn't turn you over to the police. There was no telling what would happen. So, we just fixed a couple of documents to make it look like our baby had lived," John explained.
"Is that what you thought was best John? You thought it was best to have the daughter of a vampire be raised by your brother?" Stefan asked skeptically. He didn't believe that for a minute. This was not a noble decision that this man made to protect a baby. He wasn't telling them something.
"Stefan's right. You wouldn't have done that willingly. You hate vampires. You've dedicated your life to killing them. You tried to kill Stefan and every vampire in town not too long ago. You would never have accepted a vampire into your family," Elena said.
"You're not a vampire," John said.
"I am. There is vampire in me. I may not be a traditional vampire, but it's there, and you knew that. Don't tell me you didn't suggest I be killed. What stopped you?" Elena asked.
"Your mother," John said after a few moments of silence. "She wouldn't let us."
John's last word sent a sharp pain to Elena's chest. "Us?"
Jeremy stood up and looked at John in horror as he realized what Elena had figured out. "No. My father wouldn't."
"You have to understand, we'd been taught to think that vampires were evil. It was all we knew, and we were faced with a child that was born a vampire. We didn't know what we were dealing with," John tried to explain.
"My dad wanted me dead?" Elena asked in a broken tone.
"Look, it was just something we discussed, but we didn't do it. Miranda helped us see that it wasn't the right thing to do. So, we just decided to keep you close by and see what happened," John said.
"Then what? You would've killed her later if she developed vampire powers?" Jeremy asked, getting more and more angry by the moment.
"I…I don't know. We hoped it wouldn't come to that," John said.
Elena ran from the room. She couldn't hear another word of this.
"Elena!" Stefan called before running after her.
Jeremy was livid. He was furious at both his father and his uncle for thinking for even a minute that it was okay to kill a baby. "I always liked you. Elena never did, but I did. You were cool to me. I guess Elena's instincts as a vampire and a witch helped her see what I couldn't about you."
"Jeremy…"
"You were going to murder a baby! Even that witch couldn't do that, but you and my father were going to. Elena's only alive because of my mother!" Jeremy yelled.
"Jeremy, I'm glad we didn't do it," John said.
"Get out! Don't ever come back here! Any family you had here died when my father did," Jeremy said coldly. He was barely resisting the urge to punch his uncle.
John looked hurt, but wordlessly did as his nephew asked.
Stefan came back into the room moments later. "She's locked herself in her room. She won't talk to me."
Jeremy wanted nothing more than to go help his sister, but he didn't think he could. He couldn't understand what Elena was going through. She was feeling a father's rejection. It didn't matter that their father changed his mind. All she could see right now was that at one time, he wanted her dead. What she needed was a parent's love and comfort, and she could finally have that.
Jeremy went over to the fridge and took off a piece of paper with a name and number on it. He then grabbed his phone and started dialing.
"What are you doing?" Stefan wondered.
"Helping my sister," was all Jeremy said before putting the phone to his ear.
"Hello. This is Elijah," the voice on the other end said.
"Jeremy, hang up the phone!" Stefan said immediately.
"Jeremy? Is everything alright?" Elijah asked.
"No. Elena needs you," Jeremy said.
"I'll be there soon," Elijah said before hanging up.
"Why would you do that?! You can't trust that man!" Stefan said heatedly.
"How would you know? You spent less than five minutes with him. Look, I don't like him. He wants to take my sister away. But Elena trusts him. She cares about him. And right now, I think he can do for her what no one else can. She needs back what she feels like she just lost. A father's love," Jeremy said.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Vampire speed," Jeremy mumbled before going to answer the door. Elijah was on the other side looking concerned.
Stefan followed Jeremy but stayed a few feet back.
"What happened?" Elijah asked as he stepped inside.
"My uncle was here," Jeremy said as he shut the door. "He told Elena some things that really upset her."
"Tell me," Elijah instructed.
Jeremy quickly explained everything that happened with John. "She bolted to her room and she won't come out."
Elijah was furious. What gave any of these people the right to decide that his daughter didn't deserve to live? He had half a mind to go after John Gilbert and make him suffer for even considering it, but Elena was his priority. He needed to help her. "Thank you for calling me, Jeremy. I know that was not easy for you to do."
"She needs you. I'll do whatever she needs," he said.
Elijah headed for the stairs, but Stefan got in his way before he could go up. "Stefan, I promised Elena that I would not hurt anyone she cared about, but you will move one way or another."
"I'm not going to let you near her," Stefan said firmly.
Wordlessly, Elijah grabbed the boy by the throat and lifted him off the ground. He then moved him behind him and shoved him to the ground. "Do be sure to thank Elena later for having your body in one piece.
Stefan brought a hand to his throat and started coughing. He stared at Elijah in disbelief. He was extremely strong, which only worried Stefan more.
Elijah went upstairs to Elena's room. He could hear her quietly crying before he even made it upstairs. He knocked on the door to her room. "Elena, it's Elijah. Will you let me in please?"
The only response was more sobbing.
Elijah didn't think Elena was capable of letting him in right now, but he wasn't willing to leave her alone. "Elena, I'm going to come in, alright?" When he received no response, he let himself in. The door was locked, but that was no issue for someone like him.
Once inside, Elijah found Elena on the bed. She was sitting with her knees hugged to her chest, and she was sobbing into them. Elijah immediately went over and took a seat on the bed. He then pulled her into his arms. "It's alright, sweetheart.
Elena leaned into Elijah's arms and only cried harder. It hurt so bad. The father that raised her had wanted her dead. That hurt worse than when he and her mother died. Her father hated what she was. "They… They wanted to kill me!"
"Shh. It's okay. It's going to be alright," Elijah promised as he continued to hold her. He held her for a good hour before she managed to cry herself to sleep.
