Elena sat with Bonnie, Caroline, and her aunt around the living room. It was after eleven at night. Elena was both exhausted and wired at the same time. She'd been anxious all day waiting for Klaus and Elijah to show up. She knew they'd likely be there soon, so there was no way she could possibly sleep.

"Elena, maybe you should try to get some sleep. You look really tired," Caroline said.

"Yes, we'll wake you as soon as your father gets here," Rebekah promised.

Elena snorted in response. "You people are seriously crazy if you think any part of me can sleep right now."

Just then, Marcel came into the room carrying a small box. "Hey. This was in the attic," he said before putting it down on the table in front of Sadie and Rebekah.

Elena reached in and pulled out a photo. It was of her and Klaus. She was sitting on his lap. The picture was very old looking and was covered in several inches of dust. "Wow."

"You kept all of these?" Rebekah asked as she picked up a photo of all of them. Kol was even in the picture. It was one of the few that had all of them in it.

"Yeah. Klaus had boxed them all up and put them in the attic. It was too hard for him to look at. I found them several decades ago while cleaning the whole place out, but I couldn't look at them either. I also couldn't throw them away though," Marcel said before taking a seat.

"Wow. These photos are really old. I don't think I've seen photos this old before," Bonnie said.

"I wasn't sure there were photos that old," Caroline joked.

Marcel looked at them both incredulously. "Did you really just call us old? We're not that old, you know. In fact, a century is considered infantile in vampirism. Now, Rebekah is basically elderly.

Rebekah reached over her niece and smacked Marcel over the head. "Hey! Watch yourself.

The others all laughed.

Elena picked up another photo. It was her and Klaus again. She was sitting with Klaus on a horse. It caused another flashback.

She was sitting on the horse with her father. She leaned as far back into her father's arms as possible. She was scared. "Daddy, I wanna get down."

"It's alright, little love. You're perfectly safe," Klaus promised.

"But what if I fall?" she asked.

"You're not going to fall. Daddy would never let that happen. You'll be fine, I promise. I'll never let anything happen to you," Klaus assured her before queuing the horse to move.

"Elena, are you okay? Did you have another memory?" Caroline asked as her friend pulled out of whatever she was thinking about.

"Yeah. I think it had to do with this picture. I was riding a horse. I was terrified," Elena said.

"I remember that day. The fear didn't last very long. As soon as Nik started riding with you, you began to have fun. You loved it. You started asking for a pony shortly after, and of course, Nik was more than happy to oblige," Rebekah said.

"You got a pony?" Caroline asked sounding slightly envious. It was every little girl's dream to have a pony. Caroline was no exception. Her parents had basically treated it like it was a joke. Not that she blamed them now. It was a pony after all.

"No, she never got it. He promised her one for her seventh birthday, but…" Rebekah trailed off. There was really no reason to finish the thought. Everyone there knew that Sadie was gone before her seventh birthday.

"He was really going to buy me a pony?" Elena asked incredulously. That was completely unbelievable to her. It was probably the most extravagant thing in the world, at least for a small child.

"Of course, he was. He would've given you anything you wanted. Your dad spoiled you rotten," Marcel said with a fond smile on his face. Klaus was hardly the only one guilty of that. They all spoiled Sadie.

"How come you keep calling him my dad? He was your dad too," Elena pointed out. She knew Klaus wasn't Marcel's biological father, like he was hers, but he was still his father. He still took care of him since he was a child.

"Um, it's complicated," Marcel said a bit uncomfortably.

"Well, we've got time, and you should probably figure it out since he's going to be here soon. Did you guys fall out or something?" Marcel asked.

Marcel looked at Rebekah as if to ask permission to tell this story. When she reluctantly nodded, he turned back to his sister. "Sort of. There were a few issues between us, but one big one was that Rebekah and I wanted to be together. We had for a while, but Klaus was always trying to keep us apart."

"Maybe because he was creeped out by it. I mean, she's basically your aunt," Caroline said.

"I wouldn't have put it so bluntly, but I was kind of thinking the same thing," Elena admitted. It was kind of creepy to think about. Her brother was dating her aunt. That was weird, even for her life.

"Not really. We're not related by blood, and we never had that relationship," Marcel said.

"It's still weird. Think about how he'd introduce the two of you. 'Hi, this is Marcel, my son, and his girlfriend, my sister'," Caroline said. She knew she probably sounded insensitive, but it was weird for her. She could only imagine what Klaus' reaction was.

"No one has actually put it that way before," Rebekah said. Hearing it out loud did make it seem sort of weird, but she never actually thought of it as being that way. She always just told herself that Nik wasn't Marcel's blood, so they weren't doing anything wrong. "Still, Nik has killed almost all of my boyfriends. He doesn't think anyone's good enough."

"I think that's how most older brothers are, minus the killing thing. Hey, Marcel, what are you going to do when your sister starts dating?" Bonnie asked in a joking manner.

Absolute horror appeared on Marcel's face. If it was possible, he would swear the color drained from his body at the mere thought of it. He'd kill anyone who even thought about touching his baby sister. "I would prefer for this conversation to end now."

Elena laughed. "Don't worry, big brother. I'm nowhere near the point where I can think about that. My life is screwed up enough as it is."

"Thank god," Marcel whispered.

"So, is that the only reason you don't see Klaus as your dad anymore?" Elena asked.

"I'm fairly certain it's mutual," Marcel said sadly.

"That's ridiculous. Nik loves you, Marcel. Your 'death' killed a part of him, just like Sadie's did. No matter what else, you need to know that," Rebekah said.

Marcel shook his head. "He left me here. He was done with me. I can't even fully blame him for it after what happened to Sadie on my watch."

"Oh, bloody hell. For the millionth time, that wasn't your fault. It was our fault," Rebekah said.

"No, it was Katherine and Stefan's fault," Elena interjected. "None of you are responsible.

"Nik never blamed you, Marcel," Rebekah told him.

"Then why did he never look at me the same way?" Marcel asked.

Before Rebekah could say anything else, she heard a car pull up, along with the voices of her brothers.

"They're here," Caroline said, hearing the same thing.

Elena was frozen, unable to do anything but sit there. Her father was here. She was about to meet him for the first tome knowing who he was and him knowing who she was. It was more nerve-racking than she would even describe.

Marcel wordlessly got up and headed out of the room to go greet the man who'd raised him.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Klaus was out of the car before it came to a complete stop. He was just a few moments away from seeing his baby girl, and he wasn't wasting anymore time.

"Niklaus, wait," Elijah said as he got out of the car and rushed to catch up with his brother.

"I have waited nearly a century, Elijah. I won't wait another moment," Klaus said without breaking his pace.

"Yes, you will," Elijah said before grabbing his arm and then stepping in front of him. "I know you want to see your daughter, but you have to remember something. The last time she saw you, it wasn't a very pleasant experience for her."

Klaus glared at his brother. As though he needed reminding of that. He'd thought of nothing else the entire drive up. He'd nearly killed his little girl. He would never forgive himself for that. "Yes, thank you for that reminder, Elijah, but I won't be forgetting it anytime soon. There's nothing I can do about what happened except for try to make it up to her and pray she can forgive me."

"Niklaus, I don't say it to make you feel bad. I just want to caution you to tread lightly. She's been through a lot, much of which we don't even know yet. Give her a little space and allow her to come to you at her pace," Elijah advised.

Klaus reluctantly nodded after a moment before continuing on his way. He walked to the door and let himself into the place he'd called home almost a hundred years earlier. He was able to walk in with ease, so clearly no one owned it. That made sense with how his daughter was able to take up residence there.

Elijah walked in behind his brother and took in the house. It wasn't much different from how he remembered their home to be. He couldn't deny that he'd missed this place. New Orleans was the only place they'd ever felt at home. Of course, that had been destroyed, first by Katerina and then by their father.

Klaus soon heard footsteps. His heart felt like it would rip out of his chest with how hard it was beating. He was about to see his little girl, and he had no idea how she was going to respond to him. She could hate him, and she'd more than justified in that. However, when the person came into view, it wasn't his daughter. It was his son. "Marcellus?"

"Hey, Klaus," Marcel said.

"H…How?" Klaus asked in disbelief. He thought Marcel was dead. He'd seen the damage his father had done that night. He thought there was no way his son could've survived. If he'd known there was any possibility, he would not have left him. He'd failed another child.

"It can wait. Come on. She's in the living room," Marcel said before leading the way.

Klaus was too shocked and overwhelmed to do anything but follow Marcel wordlessly to the living room. When they got there, he saw his daughter seated on the couch with Rebekah and her too friends sitting nearby. He spent a brief moment wondering how Rebekah could be awake and in their family home, but it was a mystery he could contemplate later. His attention was currently on his daughter.

"Rebekah?" Elijah asked in shock. He thought seeing Marcellus was shocking, and it was, but it seemed the shocks would keep coming. He wasn't sure how Rebekah could be there. The last he knew, she was daggered, and her coffin was stolen. Unless it was Marcellus who stole the coffins.

Rebekah smiled at her big brother before standing up and helping her niece to her feet. "It's okay. Come on. Let's go greet your dad."

Elena didn't say anything as her aunt took her hand and led her over to her father. Her eyes were trained on Klaus the entire time, who smiled at her. It wasn't the way he smiled at her the night of the sacrifice. That was a hungry, evil smile. Right now, he was smiling at her the way he did in her memories and the way he did in the pictures she'd just been looking at. It was sweet and loving.

Klaus wanted to take his daughter into his arms right away, but he remembered what Elijah said and decided to go slow. Instead, he just gave her a reassuring smile. "Hi, my little love."

"Hi," Elena said a bit meekly. She then started having more flashes. She had several all at once, like she did that first night, but not nearly as intense. It wasn't much. She had memories of him holding her on his lap or him picking her up. It was a bunch of little things that most people wouldn't even care about, but it overwhelmed her to the point where she threw herself into his arms.

Klaus was shocked at first but he quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around his little girl. It was the best feeling in the world. It was something he never thought he'd get the chance to do. He heard her start to cry and started whispering softly into her ear. "It's okay, my precious girl. Daddy's here now.

Elena buried her head into his shoulder and cried. She didn't realize how much she needed him until now. The last few months just overwhelmed her all at once and she let it all out in her father's arms.

Klaus held Sadie in his arms for several moments with neither of them moving. Then he pulled one arm away and grabbed ahold of Marcellus, pulling him into the embrace.

Marcel was caught completely off guard. He wasn't expecting Klaus to hug him like this. It was a little awkward for a minute, but then he put one arm around Sadie and hugged Klaus with the other.

Elijah looked towards Rebekah and held an arm out for her, beckoning her to him.

Rebekah ran into her older brother's arms and watched as their brother held his children.

Klaus stood almost like a statue with one arm around each of his kids. He had no intention of letting go anytime soon. He had his children back in his arms, and he swore that no one would take them from him again.