Freya stood with her daughter in her arms. She rubbed small circles on her back and whispered reassuringly into her ear. They'd been standing like that for a while now, not that Freya minded. She would stay like that for as long as Elena needed. Besides, holding her daughter in her arms was hardly a chore.
Elena finally began to calm down and pulled out of her mother's embrace. She then wiped the tears from her eyes.
Freya brushed a stand of hair from her daughter's face. "You okay?"
Elena nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I'm just so glad you're here."
"Me too, baby," Freya said as she squeezed her shoulder a bit. She then turned to the others, who were all watching them.
Finn immediately stepped forward. He'd stayed back to allow his niece time with her mother, but now he wanted to greet his sister.
Freya smiled at him. She knew who he was the moment she saw him. She didn't know by looks, of course. He had been a toddler when she was taken. It was process of elimination. He was the only one that wasn't there when she saw the others in 1914. "Finn."
"Freya," Finn whispered before throwing his arms around her. "I'm so sorry."
Freya hugged him back. His words broke her heart. She knew what he was apologizing for. He felt bad for not being able to stop what happened to her, and that was heartbreaking. "No, little brother. It wasn't your fault."
Elijah, meanwhile, went over to Elena and pulled her into his arms. "You okay, sweetheart?"
Elena nodded and leaned into his embrace.
Freya pulled away from Finn. "What happened wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could've done. You did what you could later, by protecting my entire reason for existing."
"I can't take most of the credit for that. I did what I could, we all did, but Elijah did the heavy lifting," Finn said.
Freya turned to look at Elijah, who had an arm around her little girl. She placed on hand on her daughter's face while looking at her younger brother. "Hi."
"Hello, Freya," Elijah greeted.
"Thank you. I don't know how it is that my daughter came into your care, but I can see that she loves you, so you must have taken good care of her," Freya said.
"I love her too, very much, and we all did what we could, but none of us could replace you, nor did we wish to try. We simply did our best to care for her in a way we believed you would want," Elijah said.
"You didn't even know me, and yet you were still willing to step up," Freya said. She had misjudged them. Yes, she'd seen a brutal act when she watched them dagger Kol, but she shouldn't have let that shape her entire opinion of them. They took her little girl in when she had no one else. She could never repay them enough.
"We knew you were our sister, our blood. That was all that we needed to know," Elijah said.
Freya stepped forward and hugged him briefly. "Thank you."
Kol stepped forward. "It's good to meet you as more than just an acquaintance, darling."
"It's really good to see you again, Kol," Freya said before hugging him. She then turned to Rebekah. "Rebekah."
"Hello. It's wonderful to meet you. I've always wanted a sister," Rebekah said.
"Me too," Freya said before hugging her. Next, she turned to her last remaining brother. "And, Niklaus."
"Bloody hell. Not another one. It's Klaus or Nik, never Niklaus," Klaus said with a bit of a huff.
Freya laughed and hugged him.
Klaus was taken aback by her actions. He supposed he shouldn't be. She'd hugged the others as well. It was just that he wasn't much of a hugger.
Freya turned to the teenaged boy in the room next. She knew who he was. She'd seen him when she was watching the Gilberts. He was older now, but his facial features were the same. "Hi, there. You must be Jeremy. It's wonderful to meet you."
Jeremy wasn't sure how to respond to this woman. He understood why she did what she did, and he loved Elena as she was now, but he also couldn't just forget the fact that she changed his sister's and his family's lives forever. However, she was Elena's mother, and he didn't want to make things worse for her. "Hi. It's nice to meet you," he said as he stuck out his hand.
Freya shook his hand. She could tell that this young man was not her biggest fan, and she understood that. No matter her intentions, she'd changed his sister. She'd likely changed his life by doing what she did. "You too, Jeremy. I hope that we can get to know each other.
Jeremy merely nodded in response as he retracted his hand. He hoped that meant that she wasn't planning to take Elena away. He couldn't deny that that worried him. He didn't know what he'd do it he lost her.
Freya turned back to her siblings. "I owe all of you a debt that I will never be able to repay."
"You never have to. You are family. That is what we do in this family," Elijah said.
Freya held her arm out towards her daughter and motioned for her to come to her.
Elena immediately went to her mother. "I'm so glad you're back."
"Me too, sweetheart. I was very worried about you when I realized you were in New Orleans somewhere, and even more so when I found out the Gilberts died. Have you been with your aunt and uncles since then?" Freya asked.
"No, just for the last few months. I was staying with relative of M… the Gilberts for a while, and then with a teacher," Elena said.
Freya noticed how her daughter corrected herself from saying 'Mom and Dad' when it came to the Gilberts. She would talk to her about it another time. She wanted her to know that it was okay that she saw them as another set of parents, but that was a larger conversation. They could have it later.
"Might I suggest we have this conversation somewhere more comfortable, such as the living room?" Elijah asked.
"That's a great idea. Thank you, Elijah," Freya said before they all followed him to the living room. Freya sat on the couch with her daughter. Finn sat on the other side of her. The others took seats on the other couch or in chairs. "So, I'd love to hear how you guys found out about my girl here?"
"I believe this is your story to tell, Elena," Elijah said.
Elena cringed and bit her lip. She was pretty sure her mom would not be pleased by what happened, and she really didn't want to start off their reunion by being in trouble, though she knew that would be coming soon because of her taking her mom's grimoire.
"Oh, I know that look. Out with it. No matter what happened, I'm sure it's not as bad as you're thinking," Freya told her daughter.
"I broke my promise. I told them about me," Elena said.
"Oh, that's alright, Elena. I'm glad you did. I hated making you promise to hide yourself from the world. It was for your protection, but that doesn't mean I liked it, and it was never meant to leave you with no one to take care of you. I'm glad you told them. I'm glad they were there for you," Freya said.
"That's not all though. I'd known most of them for a while before I told them. I did it because I got mad. Because of a couple of idiots, Esther was resurrected," Elena told her.
"Did she touch you?" Freya asked in alarm.
"No. It was kind of the opposite. I confronted her and nearly killed her," Elena admitted.
Freya took a deep breath. That was definitely not what she was hoping to hear. She had certainly been angry with her mother, angry enough to kill, but she did not want that for her child. She didn't want her even contemplating killing someone. "Nearly killed her. You didn't though."
"No, but only because Uncle Elijah and Uncle Nik talked me down," Elena said. She decided to omit that Uncle Nik was only able to talk her down by enticing her with Esther's suffering.
Freya turned and gave her brothers a grateful look. "Thank you for that."
Elijah nodded. "We wouldn't allow her innocence to be taken that way."
Freya turned back to her daughter, who was avoiding her gaze. "Look at me please."
Elena reluctantly did as her mother asked.
"Elena, I'm not angry, but I don't ever want you doing something like that again. Taking a life takes a part of yours, and I don't ever want to see that happen to you. Do you understand?" Freya asked firmly.
"Yes, ma'am," Elena said.
"Plus, confronting Esther was very dangerous. She was a powerful witch. There was no telling what she could've done to you," Freya said.
"I'm powerful too, more powerful than her," Elena said.
"And ego is also dangerous. Regardless of how powerful you think you are, I don't want you taking risks like that. This is the last I'm going to say about it though. This happened when I wasn't around, and you were stopped. That's what matters. But never again, Elena," Freya told her.
Elena nodded. "So, what now?"
"Freya, you're more than welcome to stay here. Our home is yours," Elijah said.
"Thank you. I will take you up on that, at least for a while," Freya said. She wasn't going to uproot her daughter from her home or her family unless absolutely necessary. That wouldn't' be fair to any of them.
Elena yawned and rubbed her eyes. She was getting tired. It was late. She'd been close to going to bed when her mom showed up.
Freya turned back to her daughter. "Someone is tired, it seems."
"No, I'm fine," Elena lied. She did not want to sleep, despite how tired she was. She was afraid to wake up and have her mother gone.
Freya could tell what her daughter was thinking. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I will be here when you wake up."
"Promise?" Elena asked.
"I promise, sweetheart. Go get some sleep," Freya said.
"You too, Jeremy, it's late," Elijah said.
Elena hugged her mother tightly before getting up and following her brother upstairs.
Once the kids were gone, Freya turned to the others. "So, what happened to our mother? Please tell me she's not out there with information that could endanger my child."
"No. She's dead, by my hand," Finn told her.
"And what did she do to deserve that? I know you didn't kill her just because," Freya said.
"She wanted to use Elena to free you. She intended to trade her for your freedom. I couldn't let her," Finn said.
"She what?!" Freya asked with pure rage in her voice. That evil woman had tried to sacrifice her child? Hell no. Freya would've torn her apart if she could. "The bitch is lucky you killed her."
"The truth is that I always made excuses for her until that moment. I told myself she had no choice but to do the things she did. When she was willing to sacrifice and innocent child, your child, I saw her for what she was. I didn't enjoy killing her, but I don't regret it either," Finn told her.
"Thank you," Freya said.
"There is much to talk about, but perhaps it should wait until the morning. It is late. Freya, I will have a room set up for you in the next half hour," Elijah said before standing up.
"Yes, I think that's a good idea. I haven't really slept since I realized Elena was no longer in Mystic Falls," Freya said.
"I do apologize for that. Being there was doing her more harm than good. We thought it was best to start over somewhere else," Elijah explained.
"I want to hear more about that, but it can wait until the morning," Freya said.
"Of course. I'll go arrange your room," Elijah said before heading out of the room.