A couple of hours later, Elena made it home. Sage had driven her back to the Grill to pick up her car, and then Elena had driven home. She still wasn't ready to face the world, but she couldn't avoid it forever. She had to face the truth. That meant facing her loved ones and telling them.
It seemed Elena was right to be worried that Damon might show up at her house. His car was in her driveway when she got home. So were Bonnie's and Caroline's. It didn't seem like she was going to get any chance to rest before she had to explain everything.
Elena heard voices as soon as she walked inside. She followed them to the kitchen.
"No one has heard from her since last night," Damon said.
"That's not true. She texted me an hour ago," Caroline said.
"Me too. She apologized for any worry she may have caused and said she'd be home soon," Alaric added.
"Well, I haven't heard from her. She's not answering my calls or texts," Damon said with irritation laced in his voice.
"That should tell you something, Damon," Elena said, making her presence known. "I didn't want to talk to you."
"Elena, is everything okay?" Alaric asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Ric. I got kind of drunk last night. Elijah took me back to the mansion for the night," Elena said.
"You actually went home with him? Are you stupid?" Damon asked in disbelief.
Elena glared at him. "And you wonder why I didn't answer your calls."
"Uh, I would've put it much nicer, but why would you go home with Elijah, Elena?" Bonnie asked.
"Well, he kind of insisted and I wasn't in much of a position to decline. I was kind of hammered. I passed out as soon as I got in the car," Elena said.
"Why were you drinking in the first place? That's not like you," Alaric said. Elena was usually smarter than that. She drank sometimes, but not like that. It was usually Jeremy he worried about drinking too much.
"Probably to forget whatever the hell she did at the ball to screw everything up," Damon said.
"Damon, shut up. After all the things you've screwed up, you're hardly one to talk," Caroline said before turning to Elena. "Does it have to do with the ball. I didn't ask any questions that night because you asked me not to, but I know that something huge happened that night."
"I don't think huge is the right way to define it," Elena said before going to the table and sitting down.
Caroline and Bonnie joined her, both sitting on either side of her. Alaric and Damon walked over, but they remained standing.
"Everything changed that night," Elena said.
"Yeah, because you didn't listen to me," Damon said.
"Elena, ignore him. Just tell us what happened," Bonnie urged.
"It started off the way everyone was hoping. Esther wanted my blood to stop Klaus. At least that was what she led me to believe, and even that didn't sit well with me. She was really trying to kill all of her children," Elena told them.
"Bonus," Damon said.
"Okay, I get why that would upset you, but that doesn't seem big enough to cause the reaction I saw the other night," Caroline said.
Elena shook her head that it wasn't. "Things escalated quickly from there. Finn, the oldest brother, came in and pulled me away from Esther before she could take my blood. He had Sage take me out of the room. I'm not really sure what happened to Esther after that, but as I was passing that same room this morning, there were chains on the door, so that's probably a good indicator."
"Wait, who's Sage?" Alaric asked.
"She's a vampire, and she's taken a weird interest in Elena. She's trying to tell her who she can see now," Damon said.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure that only applies with you. You remember that joke you made last night about Sage being my mom? It turns out it's not really a joke. It is funny, but only because it's true," Elena said.
Damon stared at her in disbelief fore several moments. "That's impossible. Sage has been a vampire for at least several hundred years."
"Yeah, well, impossible seems to be what sums up my life," Elena said.
"Elena, Damon's right on this. This woman must be lying. Isobel was your mother. It's proven by the fact that she's a Petrova," Alaric said.
"So is Sage. That was apparently a coincidence. Isobel had a baby that was supposed to be raised by my parents, but Sage wanted me with them instead, so she switched me with the other child and gave her to someone else. It was done to protect me," Elena explained.
"From who? Klaus?" Bonnie asked.
"No. Klaus didn't even factor into it. I don't think Sage had any knowledge that I was a doppelganger or even what a doppelganger was. I don't fully understand it, but my biological father apparently has an aunt who made a deal with his mother for the firstborn children in each generation. The woman was coming after me. Sage wanted to protect me from her," Elena told him.
"Why would this woman want someone else's kids? And who is your biological father?" Caroline asked.
Elena paused for a minute. She knew there would be an explosive reaction to what she was about to say. "Finn Mikaelson."
"Finn? As in the oldest Original?" Alaric asked.
Elena nodded.
"This is crazy! There's no way this is true. How gullible are you, Elena? Do you just believe what anyone says?" Damon asked.
"Shut up," Caroline said before turning to her friend. "Elena, Damon is being an ass, as usual, but I do have to wonder why you believe this. You don't know either of these people."
Elena laughed. "Believe me, I'd love to believe this is a lie. It would make my life far less complicated. I would love to go back to believing that my parents were two people who didn't deserve the title and that the only thing supernatural about me is the fact that I'm a doppelganger. Instead, I'm the daughter of two vampires. I don't even know what that makes me. My uncle is Klaus."
"Okay, I can see why you needed to drink," Alaric said. Assuming all of this was true, that would be hell to deal with, especially the last part. He would be living in a bar if he were her, although he mostly did that anyway.
"But why do you think it's true?" Caroline asked. She wasn't saying it wasn't true, but she wanted to get an idea of where Elena's head was at. Why was she so certain that the impossible was reality?
"For one, because of Sage. From the moment I met her, she treated me the way a parent would. She even told Damon to stay away from me because she didn't like how he treated me," Elena said.
"Well, that's a point in her favor," Bonnie joked.
Damon rolled his eyes at the witch but said nothing.
"Sage and Finn have both been really nice and patient with me. I don't see any reason for them to lie," Elena said.
"He's an Original. That's reason enough," Damon said.
Elena ignored him. "I kind of got my proof last night right before Elijah and Rebekah arrived. I sent Damon flying into a wall."
Caroline laughed. "Oh, what was that like? It had to be great."
"Wait, you're a witch?" Bonnie asked surprised.
"Apparently. The Mikaelsons came from a line of witches. Their aunt wants me because I'm a witch. Like I said, if I needed proof, this is it. Neither john nor Isobel was a witch," Elena said.
Things were quiet between all of them for a while. Then Caroline spoke. "No wonder you were so freaked out at the ball. This is enough to send anyone reeling, and to a bar."
"No, I'm not buying this. Vampires can't have kids, and hasn't Finn been daggered for the past several hundred years?" Damon asked.
Elena nodded and explained everything Sage told her about when she was born and how she ended up where she did. Saying it out loud, she knew her friends would be skeptical, however, she also knew it was true.
"Time travel? Seriously? Come on, Elena, you can't be this stupid. You really believe that you were brought forward in time. That's really believable to you?" Damon asked.
"About as believable as a one-thousand-year-old witch coming back from the dead in her original body," Elena countered.
"That's a good point. Magic can do a lot of things I didn't think it could," Bonnie said. She didn't know if she believed all of this, but Elena clearly did. That was enough for right now.
"You've all lost your minds," Damon said.
"How do you feel about all of this, Elena?" Caroline asked.
"I don't know. I've only known about this for a couple of days. I'm still wrapping my head around all of it. Sage and Finn have been really understanding though. They're not pushing me. I told them I need time to figure it all out," Elena said.
"No, what you need to do is stay the hell away from them," Damon said.
"That's not your decision, Damon," Elena said.
"The hell it's not. You're not going anywhere any of those people again," Damon snarled.
Elena stood up and leaned over the table. "I will see whoever I like. Get out."
"I'm not going anywhere. You've clearly lost your mind," Damon said.
Bonnie glared at Damon intently. The next thing she knew, he grabbed the sides of his head and screamed in pain. "She said leave."
Elena slowly smiled and turned to Bonnie. "You've got to teach me that."
"Absolutely. We're going to have so much fun," Bonnie said before turning back to Damon, who was still clutching his head. "Get out."
"Alright!" Damon snapped. When the witch finally stopped his pain, he glared at all of them before heading out of the house.
"Thanks. You know, Sage told me that the way Damon treated me was wrong. I may be starting to see that," Elena said.
"Good. It's absolutely wrong. Listen, why don't we have a girl's night at my place? I think we could all use it," Caroline said.
"That sounds great," Elena said.
"Absolutely," Bonnie agreed.