Elena was in the kitchen early the next morning drinking her coffee and looking at her phone. She had a mountain of texts from her friends. There were a few kind ones from Caroline that just asked to meet with her soon. The majority of them were from Bonnie and Alaric, both demanding that she bring Jeremy home. The ones from Bonnie included threats, which only made Elena laugh. There were also a few from Damon demanding an explanation.

Elena only responded to Caroline, who had at least been cordial. She agreed to meet up soon. Perhaps after school tomorrow. She and Jeremy would still be attending school. She didn't need it, but appearances had to be kept up.

Elena soon heard footsteps. She looked up to see that Elijah had entered the room. He looked much less flustered than he did the night before. She wasn't surprised. Elijah was the type to appear calm and in control even when he was very shocked. She'd just caught him off guard this morning. "Good morning, Elijah. I had pegged you for an early riser."

"Good morning, Elena. Yes, that's true, but I didn't sleep very much anyway," Elijah said as he walked closer.

"I imagine not. You'd been asleep long enough, and I know I gave you all some very shocking information," Elena said.

"Yes, about that. Would it be alright if I asked you a few questions?" Elijah asked. He had many questions. He barely knew how to start. That was how he'd spent most of his night. He had spent it trying to work things out in his head, but there were many unanswered questions.

"I will answer all your questions, Elijah, but I think it might be best to wait for your siblings," Elena said.

"I will stick to questions involving our interactions," Elijah said.

Elena nodded and motioned for him to take a seat. "Alright."

Elijah took the seat directly across from her. "Did you know that we were related when we met?"

"No. The only thing I knew about you then was that you were a vampire who needed doppelganger blood to break a curse. I did, however, know that it wasn't any sun and moon curse. No offense, dear, but that was ridiculous. Only adolescent vampires and werewolves would believe it. I didn't discover who you were until we met again at my home," Elena told him.

"How?" Elijah asked curiously. He didn't think he'd given anything away with that interaction. Even if Elena had managed to figure out that he and Klaus were brothers by the way he spoke of him, that still wouldn't get her to the conclusion that they were related to her.

"I probed your mind a little. I realize that it was an invasion of privacy, but at that point, all I knew about you was that your plan was for my dead, and that you were a vampire that couldn't die from a stake to the heart. I needed to know more about you. I needed to know what I was dealing with. It was very shocking to learn that you were one of mine," Elena explained. Elijah was her blood, which in her eyes made him hers to protect. They were all hers, whether they were her children or not.

Elijah was taken aback by her proclamation that he was hers, but he chose to file it away for later. For now, he had other questions. "I don't remember you delving into my mind."

"I made sure you wouldn't. I couldn't have you knowing I was anything other than human at that point. I will say that I was very gentle. You didn't feel a thing," Elena said. She had used the same magic she'd used to enter Mikael's mind, only she made sure it was painless for Elijah. She'd also noticed some things in Elijah's mind that were concerning, but she would deal with that later. It needed to be addressed, but there were more pressing concerns. Currently, those memories, or lack thereof, weren't causing him any problems.

Elijah nodded. "I have to say, you are a phenomenal actress, Elena. I never suspected you weren't who you appeared to be. Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

"Because I didn't know that I could trust you, and there were things I still needed to do before my identity was revealed," Elena told him.

"Like what?"

"Like finding Mikael. I needed him, and I needed him to not know I was alive. If he thought I was, he would've run as far away as he could," Elena said.

Elijah stared at Elena as though her words didn't make sense with the English language. His father wasn't a runner. In fact, he called them cowards for running.

Elena chuckled. She could take a guess on what he was thinking. "Your father is a pathetic coward, Elijah. He's the worst kind. He has no trouble going after children, but he would never directly take on someone more powerful than him, and he knows that I am infinitely more powerful than him."

"What did you need from him?" Elijah wondered.

"Let's save that question for when your siblings can join us," Elena said. Finn and Kol still didn't know that either, and she would prefer to only have to go through it one more time.

Elijah nodded. "Why didn't you stop me? You knew my plan was to kill Niklaus after the sacrifice. You obviously didn't want that. I understand that you probably had a plan to save yourself, but did you plan for his survival as well?"

"I didn't have to plan for that. I knew that you wouldn't go through with it. I've seen much of your memory, remember? I know how much your brother meant to you," Elena said.

"I thought he'd killed my siblings. I wanted him dead," Elijah said.

Elena shook her head. "No, you thought you did, but I could hear it in your voice every time you spoke of him. You were angry, but you didn't hate your brother enough to kill him. Believe me, I know what that hatred looks and sounds like."

Elijah nodded. "Because you hate my mother, don't you?"

Elena sighed. "I hate who she became. However, to answer your question, yes, I did plan a little to make sure Niklaus survived. I trusted that you wouldn't do it, but I hate wild cards, and every single person there was a wild card. I ensured his body would be stronger. As you said, he would be at his most vulnerable during the transformation."

Just then, the others started to make their way down. Rebekah and Klaus were first, followed soon by Finn and Kol. Jeremy was the last one up.

"Jeremy, this is Finn and Kol. And I'm sure you remember Elijah. This is my brother, Jeremy," Elena introduced.

They all greeted Jeremy cordially, and he returned the greeting.

"Elena, could you answer my earlier question now? About what you needed from our father?" Elijah asked.

"Yes, of course. I needed him to tell me where your sister, Freya was. Unfortunately, he was useless," Elena said.

Alarm bells went off in Finn's head and he stared at his aunt in disbelief and panic. Why did she want Freya? Was it for the same reason Dahlia wanted her? And what made her think Freya was even alive. "What?"

"Our sister is dead," Kol said.

Elena shook her head. "No, she's not. If she were dead, I would know it. I don't know how she's alive, but she is."

"Why do you want her?" Finn asked cautiously.

"This may be difficult for you all to hear," Elena said before she explained to them the same things she'd told Rebekah and Niklaus. She went back over her captivity with her sisters at the hands of the Vikings and why she'd gotten with Mikael. She explained how Freya was her daughter with Mikael and how she was stolen from her.

"Freya was your daughter? Our mother took her from you?" Elijah asked with both shock in horror in his voice. He knew his mother had done some questionable things. Making them vampires and cursing Niklaus were proof of it, but stealing someone else's child was a particularly horrendous thing to do.

Elena nodded.

"No. Freya was my sister," Finn said firmly.

"Of course she is, dear. This doesn't change that. You share the same father, even if he is a rather poor imitation of it. She will always be your sister," Elena assured him.

"Why? Why would our mother steal your child?" Elijah asked.

"Because Esther couldn't conceive. Obviously, she must have used magic to correct that, which was highly frowned upon in the magical community back then," Elena said. She'd known since Esther was young that she couldn't have children. Their parents tested all of them. Continuing the family line was extremely important to them. It was yet another reason they treated Esther worse than her and Dahlia, although none of them were treated that well to begin with.

"That doesn't make any sense. You said she was two when they took her. I had already been born then," Finn said. His first thought was that this woman was lying and that she only wanted Freya for her power, but then he thought of something. He thought of a reason his mother might have taken her sister's child. "Unless…"

Elena turned her attention to her oldest nephew. "Finn?"

"What is it, brother?" Elijah asked.

"Mother once told me that the firstborn child in each generation in this family is significantly more powerful than the rest." Finn said.

"Yes, that's true. It's why I am much more powerful than Dahlia or Esther. It's simply the way power is divided in this family. We don't know why," Elena explained.

"You think Mother wanted Freya for her power?" Kol asked.

"No," was all Finn said. He wasn't sure he should say any more. He had been sworn to secrecy. But if Freya was really Elena's, didn't she deserve to know. Of course, that was if it was true. He didn't know that it was.

Elena could tell that Finn was wrestling with whether or not to say more. Her first impulse was to demand answers, but she couldn't do that. She had to remember that this was her nephew, and he was innocent in all of this. He was also clearly very upset by what he'd figured out. "Finn, if you know anything about what happened to your sister, please tell me. I need to know what happened. We need to find her."

Finn looked at her. He could see the desperation in her eyes. It wasn't the look of a power-hungry witch. It was the look of a desperate woman who only wanted to know what happened to her child. "You were right. Mother did use fertility magic to conceive, but she couldn't' do it herself. She needed help. She went to Dahlia, but Dahlia wouldn't do it for free. She wanted her firstborn child and the firstborn of every future generation."

"So, she's the one that was after power," Elijah realized.

"But if Freya is Elena's then Finn would be the firstborn," Kol said with confusion on his face.

"Mother's firstborn, but not the firstborn in our generation," Klaus said as he began to put the pieces together.

"Dahlia didn't know that. I had been separated from both my sisters for years. Dahlia had no way of knowing that I had a child. Esther did though. She and Mikael were seeing each other behind my back Mikael left us for her. He would've told her about our daughter," Elena said.

"So, it wasn't that she wanted Freya. She wanted to trade Freya for Finn," Kol realized.

"She sold my kid!" Elena snarled. Her hand was balled up in a fist and it almost white from how hard she was holding it. She wanted to kill them both. Unfortunately, Esther was already dead, and she had no idea where Dahlia was, if she was even alive. Although Elena was leaning towards the belief that Dahlia was alive, since she knew Freya was.

"But wasn't Freya five when she 'died'? She was two when Mother took her," Rebekah said. She didn't understand why Dahlia would wait another three years.

"Perhaps she didn't want to look after a toddler, so she had Mother care for her for a few more years," Klaus speculated.

Finn shook his head. "She couldn't be this evil. She appeared devastated when Dahlia took Freya."

"You watched that?" Elijah asked in horror. That explained why Finn seemed so frightened briefly last night when he thought Elena was Dahlia. He'd watched the woman kidnap their sister. Although, apparently, she'd already been kidnapped.

Finn nodded. "It was terrifying. Mother begged Dahlia not to take her. Dahlia said she'd take the rest of us if Mother even tried to go back on her word."

"Maybe she came to love her," Jeremy said. Not that it mattered if that were the case. Esther was still a monster. She'd stolen someone else's child and then sold her to keep her own kid after making a devil's bargain in the first place. It was sickening.

"So, Mother bargained for Finn with Freya. That or she passed her off as her true firstborn. Bloody hell. People call us monsters," Kol said.

Finn flinched. He never thought he could feel worse about that horrible day, but now he did. It was supposed to be him. His sister had suffered because of him. So had his aunt. "I'm sorry."

Elena looked up at her nephew before reaching over and grasping his hand. She was practically shaking with rage, but none of it was directed at Finn. "No, Finn. This was not your fault. You were a child. You were innocent. You didn't ask for this."

"It was me that Dahlia originally wanted. It should've been me," Finn said in a shaky tone.

"No, it shouldn't have been anyone! No such deal should've ever been made. Children are not property that you can buy or sell at will! If I had known what Dahlia tried to do, I would've done everything in my power to protect you," Elena swore. All Esther had to do was come to her and she would've helped stop Dahlia. She never would've let their sister take the child.

"That makes it worse," Finn said. If that were true, it never had to happen. Neither him nor Freya had to be taken by that cruel woman. Elena didn't have to lose her child. It made what his mother did considerably worse.

"Yeah, I know," Elena said in a furious tone. It made it worse for her too. Things didn't have to turn out this way. She would've protected her nephew with every bit of power she had. All her sister had to do was ask. It made her betrayal cut so much worse. However, none of it compared to the rage she felt for how her child was treated. She could only imagine how terrified her little girl had been. She might still be terrified. Everyone involved would pay for it. "I'm sorry. You're all going to have to excuse me for a bit."

"Of course," Elijah said. Elena was angry and hurt. He understood. She needed time to adjust to this information.

Elena immediately got up and left the room.