The next day, Elena met with Elijah in the cemetery. It wasn't the ideal meeting place, but it was one of the few places in town where Elena was sure they wouldn't be interrupted. There was still quite a bit they had to talk about.

Elijah approached his wife as soon as he saw her and went to kiss her. "Hi."

"Hi," Elena greeted before kissing her husband for a minute.

"I'm always happy to see you wherever you wish, but was it necessary to meet in a cemetery?" Elijah asked after pulling away.

"Kind of. I didn't want to be interrupted. At the house, Jenna could walk in at any moment. So could my uncle for that matter. He's in town," Elena said. John had been at the house when she got back from breaking up with Stefan. He'd apparently shown up the night before, but no one had been awake to let him in.

"You don't seem too happy about that," Elijah commented.

"I've never been a big fan of John, and I don't like him being here now. Apparently Stefan called him about the whole sacrifice thing," Elena said in an unhappy tone. She would like to ream Stefan out right now, but she'd ultimately decided that she'd hurt Stefan enough. It was best that she just stayed away from him as much as possible. "He's a vampire hunter, so you can imagine my apprehension about him being here."

"If it's me you're worried about, you needn't be. I can take care of myself," Elijah assured her as he led her over to a bench, where they both sat down.

"The people in this town have come up with some pretty good ways of fighting vampires. Not too long ago, a weapon created by one of my relatives was used to incapacitate the vampires in this town. Don't underestimate him. Look, I don't want John hurt if it isn't necessary. He's still a family member. He's technically my biological father. But if he comes after you, I want you to do whatever is necessary to neutralize him," Elena said. If it came down to Elijah or John, Elijah would win every single time, especially considering she knew it would be unprovoked.

"Always, but it won't come to that," Elijah assured her. He would do everything in his power not to permanently harm a member of her family. She'd lost enough. "How are you after the breakup with Stefan?"

"I'm okay. Obviously, it wasn't an enjoyable experience, but it went about how I expected. Stefan was upset, but he's better off. I couldn't give him my heart, and he deserves to be with someone who can," Elena said.

Elijah nodded. "How's Jeremy doing?"

"I think he's doing alright. He's still overwhelmed, of course. I tried to give him space yesterday to come to terms with everything we told him. He was quiet. He spent most of the day in his room," Elena told him.

"I know it's too soon right now, especially for Jeremy, and I know a lot of things need to be dealt with, but I do want the two of you to come and live with me when things are more settled," Elijah said.

Elena nodded. "I know you do. I want that too. It is too soon. We need to give Jeremy a chance to adjust to the changes in his life before we start introducing new ones, and he needs to get to know you better first."

"Of course. Our first priority is making things okay for our son. I don't want to do anything that would cause him more turmoil. I would like to start coming around more often, but I'm not sure how we're going to do that with your aunt and uncle around," Elijah said.

"Well, I'm hoping to get John the hell out of this town as soon as possible. As for Jenna, I'm going to have to tell her the truth. There's no way around that now," Elena said. She'd spent a good deal of time thinking about that last night. She wanted to rebuild her family with Elijah and Jeremy. That couldn't happen with Jenna in the dark. She had to be told.

"If that's the choice you've made, I will support you," Elijah told her.

Elena took his hand and took a deep breath. The next topic of their conversation was going to be hard, but it had to happen. They couldn't move on until it did. "There's something else we need to discuss before anything else happens."

"What is it?" Elijah asked concerned. Elena seemed very worried about whatever it was. All he wanted was to free her of those worries.

"We have to talk about my death," Elena said.

Elijah's body stiffened just at the thought of losing her. It wasn't something he was in a hurry to relive. "I would prefer we didn't. It was one of the two worst moments of my life. I would prefer not to think about it, and I'm sure you would too. I don't even see the point. It's behind us."

"Except that it isn't. I know you, Elijah. I know you've spent the last thousand years beating yourself up over that day. You've drowned in guilt, haven't you?" Elena asked.

"Of course I have. I was supposed to protect you," Elijah said. He would never forgive himself for not protecting her from his mother. He'd failed her. He'd failed to protect any of his family from his mother's cruelty and indifference.

"Elijah, I have never blamed you. You couldn't control it. You tried, but it was too much," Elena said. After waking up in her current body after death, she'd had time to think about the whole thing. He hadn't' wanted to hurt her. He just couldn't stop himself. That had become even more clear when she learned about vampirism. It wasn't his fault. If it was anyone's fault, it was Esther's. She'd done this thing to her children without any regard for the consequences.

Elijah frowned. He wasn't sure what she meant by that. What wasn't he able to control? His mother's evilness? He didn't know what she meant. "I couldn't' control what, Elena?"

"The bloodlust. You were a new vampire. It wasn't your fault. I couldn't see what was happening to you at the time. I know I reacted badly, and I will always be sorry about the things I said that day. I didn't understand what Esther had done to you. But what happened afterwards wasn't your fault. I cut myself. There was no chance of you controlling yourself," Elena told him.

Elijah let go of her hand and stood up with a horrified expression on his face. He immediately shook his head. "No. My mother killed you. She needed your blood to curse Niklaus."

Elena stared at her husband in astonishment for a minute before realizing what had happened. Esther screwed with his head. She was getting really sick of people thinking they had the right to screw with the minds of her and her loved once. "You don't remember."

"No, I do. I found you like that after she killed you. She was preparing to take your blood. I held you and begged you to come back to me," Elijah said in a broken tone.

Elena stood up and approached him. "No, my love. That's not what happened. She altered your memory."

Elijah shook his head wildly. "No. I wouldn't hurt you like that. I couldn't!"

"It wasn't your fault. It was an animalistic impulse. It's no different than a starving human consuming everything they can get their hands on. The only difference is that your food source was blood."

Elijah dropped to his knees as the realization hit him. His mother hadn't killed his wife. He had done it. He'd hurt the woman he loved more than anything in the world aside from his children. He'd taken the life of his son's mother. He couldn't' remember it, but he knew Elena wouldn't lie to him about that. "Oh, God. I killed you. I truly am a monster!"

Elena got down on her knees with him and gripped the sides of his face. "No! You could never be a monster, Elijah Mikaelson. Through no fault of your own, you were inflicted with a craving you couldn't control. You took my life, but it wasn't an act of violence or cruelty. It was hunger. You tried to fight it. You told me to run, but it was too late. You couldn't control it. You're not a monster, Elijah."

Elijah shook his head. "You're wrong. It's not just you. I've killed before, many times when it was unnecessary."

"Elijah, I watched you decapitate a vampire right in front of my eyes. I am not naïve to what you're capable of. But where it matters, you are the man I fell in love with. I'm not afraid of you, not for myself, for our son, or anyone else that matters to us. What happened that night is not going to destroy us. I won't let it," Elena said firmly.

"How can I forgive myself for this? How can you?" Elijah asked.

"The same way you could forgive me for lying about our son's death. Because you didn't want to hurt me. You didn't hate me. You lost control. You had been a vampire for days, right? You didn't know what was happening to you or how to control it. It wasn't your fault," Elena said.

"I'm so sorry," Elijah cried.

Elena pulled him into her arms. "It's okay, baby. We're going to be okay."