Elijah stood in the doorway of his son's bedroom watching him sleep. He wasn't sure how long he'd been there, probably a while. He never thought he'd see the boy again. Even seeing him in death wasn't a mercy he thought he'd be given due to his mother's magic. He'd thought he'd lost Jarik and Tatia forever, and now he had them back. It barely seemed possible.

Elijah remembered what it was like to lose Jarik. It felt like someone had ripped his heart out. No, in fact, that would've been less painful. Then he'd lost Tatia too, and he just wanted to die. By then it wasn't an option though. He'd lost so much with his son. He was almost a man now. Jarik's whole life had passed without him in it. Of course, that would've happened anyway. There was no way he'd be able to care for his son as a new vampire. The blood lust was too great. He might have killed his son if he'd tried to raise him. That was why he'd left his stepdaughter with his wife's sister. If anything, Elijah now had a chance with his son he wouldn't have before. He could watch his son become a man.

None of that meant that Elijah was okay with how this happened though. He understood why his wife did it, he did. She wasn't trying to hurt him. She wasn't trying to hide her transgressions, like his mother had. She was just a mother trying to protect her child. But she shouldn't have made that choice without him.

Elijah sighed as he looked at his son one more time. He had to go back downstairs and talk to Tatia… to Elena. There was much more they had to discuss. He was about to step out when he noticed something on his son's desk. It was a half empty bottle of vodka. He stepped inside and grabbed it before leaving his son's room.

When Elijah made it back downstairs, he'd found that Elena had moved to the living room. She was sitting on the couch. He could tell she'd been crying. Actually, he'd heard it while he was upstairs. "I love you. Nothing will ever change that."

Her husband's words made Elena start crying again. "You should hate me."

Elijah placed the bottle of alcohol on the table before sitting down next to his wife. "I don't. I'm angry. I won't deny that, but I could never hate you. You shouldn't have done it."

"I was scared," Elena cried.

"I know. I know you did what you did to protect our son, and I could never hate you for that. I'm not even saying that you made the wrong choice. I'm honestly not sure if you made the right choice or not, so I won't judge that, but it was not a choice you should've made by yourself. He's my son too. I had a right to know he was in danger and to have a say in how we dealt with that danger," Elijah said.

"I thought I would lose you both. You would've wanted to fight, and I was terrified that Dahlia would take both of you from me," Elena said.

"I may have, but I would've at least listened to your fears and ideas. We would've made the decision together. That is how this should've gone," Elijah said.

Elena nodded. She knew he was right. A part of her had always known that. She'd hated herself for what she did. She just didn't think there was any other way. "I'm sorry."

Elijah pulled her into his arms and held her. He was still upset, but she was his wife and he needed to be there for her. He needed her to know that they would get past this. "I know you are, my love. We will get through it. We will get through all of it. But we need to be better than this. We need to make an agreement now. We both need to agree that we won't keep secrets from each other. We don't make decisions like this without the other's input."

"Agreed," Elena said.

"I love you. Aways and forever," Elijah told him.

"I love you too," Elena said. It was honestly amazing how much a single day could change everything. Until her memories came back, she loved Stefan. A part of her still did to an extent because she was still technically the girl who fell in love with him. But now she also had the life experiences of Tatia Petrova. She knew the difference between teenage puppy love and the real thing. A part of her would probably always love Stefan, but her heart would always belong to Elijah. He was everything to her. "I have to end things with Stefan."

"I should hope so," Elijah said in an amused tone. Nothing different even occurred to him. He knew Elena loved him as much as he did her. He saw it in her eyes the moment her memory returned. He certainly knew she wasn't going to choose an infatuation with an infantile vampire over the life they'd built with each other.

Elena pulled out of his arms and looked at the bottle of vodka on the table. "Where'd you find a half full bottle of vodka?"

"On our son's desk," Elijah said with a frown.

"Damn it! I wish I could say this surprised me. I knew he was spiraling when he came home high," Elena said.

"Does Jenna allow this sort of behavior? Because he didn't even attempt to hide it," Elijah said.

Elena sighed. "Jenna does what she can, but she's not good with discipline. The few times that she's tried, Jeremy has just laughed at her. Come to think of it, I love her, but she's really not the best guardian. Do you know how many times I've spent the night at Stefan's without her knowing it?"

"I would prefer not to know, actually," Elijah said. He certainly didn't judge her for it, but he did not want to hear about his wife's activities with another man. "Well, he won't be laughing any longer. I think we can both agree that this is not the sort of behavior we will tolerate."

"You think? One of the first things I plan to do tomorrow is search Jeremy's room for any other illegal substances. However, we also need to find out why this is happening. Jeremy has done drugs in the past, but he was doing better. We need to know what changed. I know that things started to get strange after Damon broke his neck. Maybe it traumatized him more than I thought," Elena said.

Elijah's eyes darkened dangerously. He'd just remembered that Damon Salvatore had murdered his son. The fact that Jarik… Jeremy came back didn't matter in the slightest. Damon would pay with his life. "Damon Salvatore is as good as dead!"

Elena nodded. "That's a given. The only reason I didn't let you kill him tonight is because I didn't want you or Jeremy finding out the truth like that. I fully intended for him to die the moment I recovered my memories."

"Good. We have come to an agreement. Our pact is working wonderfully so far," Elijah said with a smirk.

"That's good because the agreement we made previously is obviously null and void. "Speaking of, what is this nonsense with Nik? Because I find it hard to believe he gives a damn about making sure all vampires can walk in the sun," Elena said.

Elijah sighed. "Brace yourself, dear. This is going to make you extremely angry."

Elena's eyes darkened just at the thought, and she listened to her husband's explanation. He was right. By the time he was done, she was livid. She wanted nothing more than to resurrect Esther and try to find out how many ways she could torture her without killing her before she finally put her out of her misery. "That evil, heartless, bitch! She used my blood for her own depravity, twice! She used me to hurt my friend!"

"Your anger is justified, my love, but you need to know that Niklaus is not the same as you remember," Elijah told her.

"I wonder why," Elena said sarcastically. Niklaus had been tormented his whole life. The fact that he remained the way he had for so long was a miracle. It wasn't very surprising to learn that he finally broke after his mother's cruel actions. She couldn't exactly blame him for wanting to get rid of that curse either. Elena wanted it gone too. She did not consent to have her blood used as a weapon against her best friend. "By the way, you're not killing your brother. What is that nonsense?"

Elijah sighed. He had no intention of that now. His wife would have to die for that to happen, and he wouldn't even entertain that idea. "He went too far. He incapacitated my siblings and threw them into the ocean."

Elena's heart sank at the very idea of that. She loved Elijah's siblings as her own. She'd spent a lot of years caring for Kol and Rebekah like her own children. However, she found it hard to believe that Nik would throw his siblings away like that. He was too starved for love and acceptance. "Do you have proof of that?"

"He told me. As I said, he's changed. He's capable of it," Elijah said.

"He's also capable of lying. Nik's good at pushing people away when he feels boxed in," Elena said.

"Well, he did seclude himself immediately afterwards," Elijah admitted.

"No matter how much Nik has changed, I do not believe he would permanently toss his siblings away," Elena said.

"I… I didn't consider that he might be lying. I can usually tell when I'm being lied to, though, admittedly, less so with Niklaus," Elijah said.

"Don't give up on your siblings, any of them," Elena said before rubbing her eyes. It had been a long, long day, and she was exhausted.

"You're exhausted, dear. You need to get some sleep," Elijah said.

"Come with me? Stay?" Elena asked before standing up. She didn't plan on doing anything other than sleep. She wouldn't be with Elijah in that way until she ended it with Stefan, but she wanted him next to her. She wanted to feel his arms around her.

"I was not planning on going anywhere," Elijah said before standing up and taking her hand. He let her lead him upstairs to her bedroom.