Freya was up pretty early the next morning. She hadn't slept much at all since she woke up from her magical slumber. Part of that was because she'd slept for years. The other was that she'd spent the last few days worried about her daughter. She supposed she was still coming down from that worry.
It wasn't as if Freya could completely stop worrying anyway. There was still Dahlia to contend with. When she woke up, she was going to sense Elena's power, if that hadn't happened already, and come for her. Freya's only hope was that Freya was still asleep. Freya was only awake because of Elena. She didn't know if that extended to Dahlia too, but she lived life assuming that it did. That was why she'd spent most of her daughter's life running with her.
Freya was pulled from her thoughts by footsteps. She turned to see Elijah enter the kitchen.
"Good morning, Freya. I hope you slept well," Elijah greeted.
"Good morning, Elijah. Sleep is a little difficult these days. I was asleep for several years. Oh, I hope you don't mind, but I made a pot of coffee," Freya said as she held up a cup of coffee that was in her hand.
"No, of course not. As far as I'm concerned, this is your home too. I hope that you'll stay for a while," Elijah said.
"I'm not going to take Elena away from you. I know that Elena loves you and you all love her. I wouldn't take that a way from any of you," Freya assured him. While she was sure a part of her brother wanted her to stay for herself, she also knew he was worried about losing her daughter. He'd been carrying for her for a while now. It would hurt him to lose her. It would hurt Elena too.
"Thank you. We love her very much. However, I would also like you to feel at home here as well. I know we don't know each other, but you're our sister. I will always stand by family," Elijah said.
"Thanks," Freya said.
"May I ask you something?" he asked.
Freya nodded.
"You had already known about us before Elena was born. You'd seen us all in this very town, and you had the resources to find us. Why didn't you come to us before making the choice to place your daughter into the body of another? I don't mean to criticize your decision, but I would like to know why you didn't ask for help," Elijah said.
"Would you have even believed me if I'd showed up at your door claiming to be your older sister? Finn wasn't around then, and the rest of you thought I was dead," Freya said.
"We may have been skeptical at first, but I have no doubt that you could've convinced us, and the moment I learned that you and your child were in danger, I would've done anything I could to protect you," Elijah told her.
"To be perfectly frank, I didn't trust you. I watched you hold Kol still as Klaus put a dagger in his chest. You couldn't be trusted with your own brother. How could I trust you with most important thing in my life?" Freya asked.
Elijah sighed. He'd made a lot of mistakes as a brother. He'd indulged Niklaus at the expense of his other siblings, particularly Kol and Finn. He'd told himself that Niklaus needed him more, that saving his soul would be better for everyone in the long run. The truth was that he did it because he had a lot of guilt over not protecting Niklaus from their father. "That was not my best moment."
"No, it wasn't, but for what it's worth, I was clearly wrong about you. You took my daughter in the moment you learned who she was. You've protected her. I owe you everything," Freya said.
Elijah shook his head. "You owe me nothing. I love that child very much. I am happy that she is a part of my life. She's such a joy. In fact, she brought this family together. We were in pieces when we learned about her. None of us trusted each other. I'm fairly certain Finn hated all of us, and rightfully so. Having Elena to protect gave us common ground. We came together for her, and we became the family we hadn't been in centuries."
Freya smiled. "Yeah, my girl is good at doing the impossible, even without trying. I was barely living before she was born. I hated my life. I had wished for death for centuries, and it was something I could never have. Then she came along. I was terrified to be a mother. I was terrified of the danger I would bring to her life. That didn't change, but she brought so much joy to my life. She gave me a reason to want to live again."
"I can imagine," Elijah said.
"I hope she hadn't given you too hard a time while she's been in your care," Freya said.
"Well, there were certainly some moments where my hair would've greyed if I had been human, but it wasn't too bad. Most of the issues we've had were due to her temper," Elijah said before taking a seat at the table.
Freya chuckled before joining her brother and sitting down. "Oh, yes, she definitely has a temper that often got her into trouble with me."
"It runs in the family. Kol and Niklaus both have terrible tempers. Rebekah has had some major moments as well," Elijah said.
"Not you, huh?" Freya asked.
"I have spent most of my life keeping the rest or our siblings in line. It required infinite patience," Elijah said with a smirk.
Freya chuckled. "I'll bet. Parenting always does. So, tell me what I've missed. Catch me up on how things have been going with my daughter."
"Well, shouldn't you hear that from Elena?" he asked.
"There are things she's not going to tell me, things that I need to know. I'm not asking about little things. I'm asking about things that maybe she thinks I wouldn't be so happy about. I have no intention of punishing her for things that happened while she was away from me, but I still need to know about them. I'd love to believe that she'll tell me herself, but that's not realistic. She's still just a kid," Freya said.
Elijah nodded. He could understand that. There were definitely some things that Elena would probably try to hide from her mother, things that Freya should know. The situation with the Salvatore brothers was one of them. Freya needed to know about that for many reasons, including that they might try something in the future. Elijah had warned them many times about staying away from his niece, but they weren't the smartest of individuals.
Elijah told his sister about Elena being in a relationship with Stefan when he met her. He didn't go into details, as that was a conversation for Freya to have with Elena, but he let her know that it was not the healthiest relationship, especially considering that Stefan was so much older.
"How old is this man?" Freya asked in a cool tone. She was pretty angry, not at Elena, but at this grown man having a relationship with her teenaged daughter.
"Well, physically, he was seventeen, but he's a vampire, and he's been a vampire for well over a hundred years," Elijah said.
"Then he should've known better," Freya said through gritted teeth. While it was true that this man did not know Elena's true age, it didn't really matter to her whether her daughter was fifteen or seventeen. This grown man had no business getting into a relationship with a teenaged girl.
"I agree. I believe Stefan's interest in Elena was mainly due to the fact that she was the doppelganger for another girl he'd taken an interest in when he truly was seventeen. I believe Elena's interest was that he was an older boy who took notice," Elijah said.
Freya nodded. "I get that. She couldn't understand what she was getting into. I should've prepared her more for situations like that, but she was so young. She hadn't even started thinking about dating. Still, I should've talked to her more about it."
"It's not your fault, Freya. You did the best you could under the circumstances. If I had known the truth about Elena when I met her, I would've ended the relationship myself, and possibly killed him, but when I learned the truth, it was already over. I did ensure he stayed away from her from that moment on," Elijah told her.
"Thank you. I'll have to talk to Elena about this. I need to make sure she understands that what that man did was not okay," Freya said.
Elijah nodded. "I've had the conversation with her, but it certainly couldn't hurt to hear it from her mother."
"So, how did you guys meet Elena? You said you didn't know about her when you met her. What brought you all into her life then?" Freya asked.
Klaus had entered the room at that point, but he immediately turned to walk away when he heard his sister's question.
Elijah saw his brother attempt to leave, and he wasn't having it. He was not going to be the one to explain this. "Niklaus, I believe that is a question for you."
Freya turned around just in time to see her younger brother turn and look at her with a guilty expression. She immediately stood up. "What did you do, Klaus?"
"What makes you think I did anything?" Klaus asked.
"I'm a mom. I know a guilty expression when I see it. How did you meet my daughter, Klaus?" Freya asked.
"Alright, look, I didn't know she was my niece at the time. I just thought she was a doppelganger," Klaus said before explaining about his curse and how he'd managed to get rid of it. The next thing he knew, he was grabbing his head in agony.
"You murdered my daughter?!" Freya asked as she continued to give him the worst aneurism she was capable of. She wanted to kill him right now. He'd harmed her child. She never allowed anyone to hurt her child.
"I didn't know," Klaus said as he sunk to his knees.
"Does it look as though I care! She was a fifteen-year-old girl!" Freya snarled.
Klaus decided it was not the time to tell her he thought the girl was seventeen. He sensed it wouldn't go over well. "There is nothing that I have ever done that I regret as much as that night. I would take it back if I could."
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," Freya said. She was dangerously close to doing just that. He might be her brother, but Elena was her daughter. She wouldn't tolerate anyone hurting her, even family. No, especially family.
Just then Finn walked in and took in the scene. "I sense that Freya has found out what Niklaus did to Elena to get his werewolf side back."
Elijah nodded.
Freya continued to glare down at Klaus. "Do you have any idea what I would do to those who hurt my little girl."
"I imagine the same thing the rest of would," Klaus groaned out through the pain.
Elena walked in at that moment. She saw her uncle on the ground in pain and the look of fury in her mother's eyes. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened. "Mom, stop! It's okay."
"No, sweetheart. It is absolutely not okay. He took your life," Freya said.
"But I'm okay. I'm right here. It was my fault anyway. I let him do it," Elena said.
Freya let Klaus go before turning to her daughter. "What do you mean you let him."
Elena cringed. She knew she might be in some trouble for this. She didn't think her mom would punish her, but she would definitely lecture her. "There were many times that I could've stopped the sacrifice before it even began. I could've stopped it by telling him or Uncle Elijah who I was. I could've stopped him with magic, but I didn't want to. I wanted the sacrifice to happen."
"Why? Why on Earth would you not do everything in your power to save your own life?" Freya asked in disbelief.
"Because I wanted him to be a hybrid. I hoped that he'd be able to help stop Dahlia. I wanted him to help me get you back. I knew that I'd survive the ritual," Elena told her.
Freya walked over to her daughter and took her by the shoulders so that they were eye to eye. "Elena, you do not risk your life for me ever! Do you understand me? You can say you knew that you'd survive, but you have no idea what sort of consequences a sacrificial ritual is capable of producing!"
Elena didn't say anything. She just looked at her mom a bit guiltily. At the same time though, she wasn't sorry she'd ended her uncle's curse.
Freya sighed and let go of her daughter. "You and I are going to have a talk about this later, a lengthy one, do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," Elena said.
Freya went back to her brother, who was still on the ground. She knelt in front of him and glared. "You ought to consider yourself lucky that she came back, brother. You'd already be dead. You should also consider yourself lucky that I wasn't there when it happened as well. You would definitely be dead. Make no mistake about it, Niklaus, if you ever do anything to hurt my daughter again, I will kill you, brother or not."
Klaus nodded that he understood. "I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry."
"I believe you. That's the only reason you're still alive," Freya said before standing up. She then grabbed him by the wrist and helped him to his feet.
"Well then, shall we start breakfast?" Elijah asked as though one of his siblings wasn't just nearly murdered by another.
Freya gave him a smile before turning to her daughter, who looked a little worried. She put an arm around her. "Hey, I'm not angry with you, but we do need to talk about this, and some other things."
Elena nodded.
"Elena, why don't you go wake your brother for breakfast? He'd sleep all day if I let him," Elijah said.
"Okay," Elena said before heading back out of the room.