A soft whine escaped Elena's throat as she came to, the aching of her limbs penetrating through the hazy mist coating her brain.

"Hey, sleepyhead. How are you feeling?"

She grunted in response, half opening the eye that wasn't pressed into the pillow and squinting at the man next to her bed. Klaus grinned back at her, muffling a laugh when she glared at him.

"It wasn't real," she murmured, opening both eyes to look at him, "was it?"

"Well, that depends what bit you're talking about." Klaus sighed, shrugging slightly. "You've been in and out for a couple of days; I'm not sure what you might have thought you heard or saw."

"A couple of days?" Elena blurted, throwing the duvet off of herself and swinging her legs off the edge of the bed, swaying when her vision blurred.

"Woah." Klaus darted forward, catching Elena's shoulders and holding her upright as her vison slowly cleared. "Careful, your body's been through a lot; you need to take it steady."

"Is she dead? Did she really…is she dead?"

"She's dead." Klaus confirmed, sitting on the bed beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she leant into his side, her body trembling. "It's over."

"Where is he?" She whispered eventually. "She dragged his body into all of this, where is he now?"

"Let's get you up." Klaus said softly, standing and using the arm around her shoulders to gently lift her along with him.

"Just answer me, please." Elena begged, letting her feet shuffle forward a few steps as Klaus moved.

He let go of her shoulders, encouraging her to take a few steps forward by herself, a soft smile lining his lips as she did. "I am, but you need to do this bit on your own two feet."

She huffed, gingerly following him from the room as her lethargic muscles began remembering how to work again. "You're an ass." She grumbled, glaring at him.

"You have been asleep for days, you need to get your muscles working before we even think about anything else."

"I'm tired of this, it's just always constant recovery. It doesn't feel like there's ever anytime for anything good anymore."

"I think there's someone downstairs who might have something to say about that." Klaus smiled, falling into step beside Elena; holding his arm out for her to link hers through.

"Who else is here?" She asked, letting Klaus take some more of her weight as her legs adjusted to the stairs.

"I am fine." A firm voice echoed from the living room, rife in frustration and anger. "You have been doing spells and tests for days, I am fine. I need to check on her."

Klaus caught Elena as her legs gave out under her, helping her down the last few steps they paused for a moment, Elena clinging to his shoulders.

"It wasn't a dream." She gasped, desperately trying to get her legs back under her. "How? I don't…"

"The how doesn't matter right now." He said softly, steadying her as she fought for calmer breaths. "It doesn't, we can all talk about that later, but for now, for right now, he is here, and that has to come first."

"Elena?"

Pulling away from Klaus, willing, begging, her legs to work, she turned to the voice – to his voice. A sob escaped her at the sight of him, her hands coming up to cover her mouth as she stared at him. At his suit, his tie, his straggly hair that needed a cut, but they hadn't had enough time to think about it with tragedy after tragedy,

"Oh my God." Escaped her lips, a soft whimper, barely meant to be said out loud.

In the end, she didn't know which one of them moved first; who was able to break out of the stunned spell they were locked in, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, nothing at all, because she was in his arms, and he was in hers.

He was Elijah, and she was Elena, and they were back together.

Nothing else mattered.

"How is this possible?" Elena asked, her words begging an answer from anyone, everyone, but her eyes unwilling to look away from the man in front of her. "It doesn't make any sense."

"We've had a few days to think about the entire situation." Kol led the conversation as all eyes in the room turned to him, Elena the only exemption. "What do you remember?"

Elena tilted her head at Elijah when he turned to look at her, his body turning slightly to accommodate their positions on the couch. A soft smile curved her lips as she gazed at him, her eyes tracing the features of his face; her hand raising of its own volition to his cheek.

Smiling back at her, Elijah raised his hand to cover hers, gently removing it from his cheek and pressing a kiss to her palm. "What's going on?" He said softly, aware of the silence settling over the room.

"I just can't believe it." She breathed, her voice tinged with awe. "I feel like I'm looking at a ghost, but…you're right here; you're real." She let out a soft laugh, full of delight and amazement.

Elijah smiled again, a huff of laughter escaping him in return. "I know, but we have to talk to everyone else right now; we need to understand what happened."

Her eyes slowly focussed, becoming more clear as his words sank in, weaving into her brain until she managed to make sense of them. "I know." She murmured, nodding her head slightly. "You've all just had a bit more time to process than me."

Blinking rapidly, she shook her head slightly, clearing her thoughts as she tore her gaze away from Elijah, turning to look at Kol, her hand tightening on Elijah's unconsciously.

"What was the question?" She asked softly, letting out a relieved breath when Elijah squeezed her hand back.

"It can wait." Klaus interjected, looking at Kol first, as though expecting an argument, and slightly surprised when he nodded in agreement. "We need answers, but Elena is in no fit state for this right now. We can all see that."

Elena met his gaze, her eyes glistening, though she hardly knew why, as she offered him a soft smile, her body sagging against Elijah's chest, one of his arms automatically circling around her shoulders. His hand rubbed her upper arm automatically, ignoring the slightly uncomfortable sensation of her shoulder digging into his chest as she leant into him.

"How are you?" Elijah asked softly, the question broached with much more hesitancy than she'd ever heard from him. "Niklaus told me what happened." He explained at her confused look.

"I'm fine," she murmured, her gaze finally dropping from him to look at her nails instead, "the condo is a bit worse for wear, but the desiccation wasn't that bad, really."

Silence hung over the room for a brief moment, broken by the sound of Elijah drawing in a long, slow, breath. "What desiccation?" He bit out eventually.

Startled, Elena looked back up at Elijah, taking note of the clench of his jaw and the hardness of his eyes. "He didn't tell you that bit, did her?" She mumbled, letting out a soft breath and sinking to sit on the floor, leaning against one of the bookshelves; she couldn't – wouldn't – go anywhere near those armchairs, that desk.

"He didn't." It didn't need to be said, but the words left his lips anyway, a bitter tinge to them. "Was it the Hollow?"

Elena shook her head, dropping her head to her knees, embarrassed and struggling to find any words to adequately convey what, exactly, had happened.

"Elena?" His voice softened instantly, something about her stature and avoidance telling him that this was much more complex than anyone desiccating her against her will. "What happened?" He crouched next to her, gently taking one of her hands in both of his, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand.

She looked up slightly, through her eyelashes to gauge the emotions on his face. The tightness in his jaw had gone, and his eyes were soft and concerned as he looked at her, a light frown furrowing his brow.

"I couldn't." She muttered, barely managing to squeeze the words out before she had to tear her gaze from Elijah's, too overwhelmed by the worry on his face. "She used me, my body, my thoughts, she hurt you…she drained you, Elijah. She turned it into a weapon, and I couldn't…" She shook her head slightly, taking a breath to collect her thoughts. "I couldn't drink blood, not when I thought of her draining you with my body every time."

Before she could compute his movements, Elijah had dropped to his knees beside her, wrapping her in a hug tight enough that she could hardly breathe, her face pressed into the crook of his neck.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I tried to tell you it wasn't your fault; I hoped it would help you if you were watching. I'm so sorry, Elena."

"She made me watch everything." Elena admitted, her breath catching in her throat slightly. "I tried to block my thoughts, anything to give away that it wasn't me."

"The braiding." Elijah murmured, a huff of realisation escaping him. "I knew something was wrong." He admitted, a confession for a confession. "I just hoped that it was the last few weeks taking a toll on you; I hoped nothing else was going to go wrong. It was stupid; I should have known."

"You couldn't have known." She argued, shaking her head. "It wasn't your fault for not noticing."

"If I hadn't been so naïve…" Elijah denied softly. "If I hadn't ignored my instincts for hope…"

"We have no idea what would have happened." She pulled back slightly, looking up at him, momentarily startled by his glistening eyes. "Hope isn't a bad thing, Elijah, it's human. None of us are anything without hope."

Looking at her for a few moments, without blinking, he brought his hands up to the sides of her face, brushing her hair back out of the way with a soft smile as he finally blinked, a lone tear escaping his eye as he did so. Leaning forward, he pressed a firm kiss on her forehead, lingering there with eyes shut for a few seconds.

Eventually pulling away, he opened his eyes, the unshed tears having cleared without falling. Meeting her eyes, he let out a soft breath. "Have you been feeding since then?" He asked softly, returning to their previous conversation.

Elena nodded softly, dropping her gaze again. "Klaus has been making me drink in front of him every day since he found me."

Elijah let out a soft laugh, shaking his head slightly. "I never thought I'd see the day my brother looked after someone else, let alone you."

A soft smile lined Elena's face at his words as she nodded in agreement. "You're telling me." She mumbled, a frown creasing he brow as she recalled what had started their conversation. "Wait, if he didn't tell you about the desiccation, what did he tell you?"

"That you abandoned your emotions again, or tried to." He amended, tilting his head as he studied her features. "And that I may want to acquire a repair team for the condo…"

Elena grimaced, a soft apology leaving her lips automatically.

Dismissing her apology, he met her eyes, carefully examining her face. "Who are you?" He whispered, absently stroking her face. "Are you emotionless? Or are you Elena?"

"I don't know." She admitted, her eyes glistening. "Nothing has felt right since I got my body back. I don't know who I am."

godric777: Thank you :)

HisSecretLover18: Ahh I'm so glad you thought so! Thank you so much!

yellowbessie: Yess, that line came so naturally I'm so glad it felt that way to you too! There's going to be a lot of angst and caring, so hopefully it lives up to your expectations! Hope you enjoyed! :)

Guest: Yessss, I so love my chefs kisses! Elijah is so totally back! It's complicated... Yes! Bye Hollow!

guest: Oh totally!

lauramorgenstern: I like to think that even with how confused and disorientated Elijah would have been at the time, he totally would have recognised the severity of her situation and been by her side in an instant.

brattneyforever93:Yay! Klena has turned out super cute, but Elejah will always have my heart well and truly! It might take some time, but you'll get your explanation!

QueenAsura: Awh I love that! Thank you so much! It was so fun to write and I'm so glad it paid off!

wazman: It might take a bit of time before we get to the powers, I'm not sure yet... but Elijah is back! Lets go!

Sorry for the delay all, but I'm back! I hope you all enjoy and I'm so excited to hear from you!

Until next time

~ I x