Elena didn't know how long she stood there, with her father and brother wrapped around her protectively, but she did know that for the first time since everything came out, she felt safe. Realistically, she knew that she was safe before, since both Stefan and Katherine were on the run, but she didn't really feel it until now.
It was almost funny when Elena thought about it. A few months ago, the last thing she would've expected to feel from the presence of Klaus Mikaelson was safety. He'd planned to kill her not too long ago. But Elena knew now that he wouldn't hurt her, not now that he knew the truth about her.
Elena pulled her head out of her father's shoulder and started to pull away from him. Well, she did as much as she could anyway. His embrace was tight, as was Marcel's. It wasn't uncomfortably tight, but enough that she wasn't going anywhere until they let go.
Klaus didn't want to let go of his children, but he felt Sadie shift to pull away, and he knew he couldn't hold her and Marcel there forever, so, he reluctantly released his hold on them.
Marcel let go of Klaus and Sadie and wiped his eyes. He hadn't expected this reunion to become so emotional for him. Then again, he hadn't expected Klaus to hug him that way either.
Klaus may have broken up the embrace, but he didn't fully let go of his children. He kept one hand on Marcel's shoulder while bringing a hand to Sadie's cheek. "Are you alright, my little love. You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, I'm okay," Elena assured him. Well, she wasn't really okay. She was extremely messed up, and she knew that, but she wasn't physically hurt.
Klaus carefully looked her over. He didn't see a mark on her, although he supposed he wouldn't. Any physical abuse she would've suffered at the hands of those monsters would've healed by now. However, he wasn't foolish enough to believe there weren't mental scars.
Elijah and Rebekah made it over seconds later. Elijah had stood back to allow his brother time with his children, but now he wanted to greet his niece. What had happened to her hadn't just affected Niklaus. It had torn their entire family apart. "Hi."
"Your uncle wants his turn now," Klaus said to his daughter with a smile.
Elijah pulled his niece into his arms and hugged her tightly. "I have missed you very much."
"Hi," Elena said as she hugged him back.
Elijah reached one hand over and squeezed Marcel's arm. "It's good to see you, Marcellus."
Marcel was taken aback by the affectionate touch. Elijah had never really had much to do with him, other than the first few months he'd lived with the Mikaelson's.
Elena pulled away from her uncle after a few moments. "I'm sorry."
"Whatever for, dear?" Elijah asked. He couldn't think of any reason his niece had to be sorry. If anything, he wished he could apologize to her for failing her so badly. They had all failed to protect her, and that was something Elijah knew they'd have to live with for eternity.
"The dagger," Elena said sadly.
"No, little love," Klaus said immediately.
"No, sweetheart. You have nothing to be sorry for. That was not your fault," Elijah told her firmly. She was compelled. There was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
"Maybe if I fought the compulsion," Elena said.
"No one can fight compulsion. There was nothing you could've done to stop any of it. Besides, we already had this conversation," Elijah said.
"I know, but I didn't mean it when I said I was sorry before. I said it because I knew I should, but I didn't really feel bad about it, not until the compulsion broke," Elena told him.
"Good. You shouldn't feel bad about it because it wasn't your doing. Come here," Elijah said before pulling her back into his arms. "You have nothing to be sorry about. None of this is your fault."
Elena pulled away after a minute and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I told you, didn't I? I told you he would not blame you," Rebekah said to her niece.
Klaus turned to Marcel. "Given that Rebekah is here, I assume it was you who stole my coffins."
Marcel cringed a little. "The others are in the basement. I was trying to help Sadie. I was looking for you, but I couldn't find you. I figured any of you would be the second-best option though."
"I'm not angry, Marcel. I'm grateful that you were able to wake Rebekah for your sister when I couldn't be here," Klaus said. In any other scenario, he would be livid right now, but what Marcel had done, he did for Sadie. He couldn't be angry about that. "I do have questions for you, but they can keep for now."
Marcel nodded. He imagined those questions were about how he'd survived Mikael's attack. He would explain all of that later.
"Nik,' Rebekah said before going over and hugging her brother.
Klaus was taken aback by his sister's reaction to him, but he hugged her back for a minute before pulling away. "That was not the reaction I was expecting from you, sister."
"Oh, I was ready to give you hell when I first woke up, but I realized you actually did me a favor. If you hadn't daggered me, I would've gone off with that child stealing piece of garbage! It makes me ill to think that I could ever fall for that bastard," Rebekah said in a disgusted tone.
"I know how you feel," Klaus said. He had similar thoughts when he thought of the kinship he'd had with Stefan. All he could think about was how while he was cozying up to them, he was helping to hold Klaus' daughter hostage.
Caroline and Bonnie approached the group. "Um, we're going to go to bed and let you all have some time alone."
"Thank you both for all you've done for my daughter. Because of you, she hasn't been alone," Klaus said as he put an arm around Sadie.
"We'd do anything to help Elena," Caroline said.
Klaus stiffened a little at that name. He wanted to scream that that was not his daughter's name, but he resisted the urge. These two young women had helped his daughter when he wasn't there to do it. He couldn't berate them.
"We'll see you in the morning, Elena," Bonnie said before the two of them headed out of the room. She hadn't been sure about leaving Elena alone with them, but she'd seen for herself that Klaus and Elijah wouldn't do anything to hurt Elena.
"Come sit, little love," Klaus said before leading her over to the couch, where they both sat down.
The others sat as well. Marcel sat on the other side of his sister, while Elijah and Rebekah both took chairs.
"Do you want to tell me how everything happened? You don't have to if you're not ready," Klaus told his daughter. He wanted to hear it, but he didn't want to push her.
"It was the night of the sacrifice when I transformed. I didn't know what was happening, but I felt like something broke inside of my mind."
Klaus nodded. "Werewolves can't be compelled, so all the compulsions broke at once."
Elena nodded. "I didn't know that that was what was happening at first. It was so confusing. I had this horrible headache that came with hundreds of flashes all at once. Most of them I couldn't make sense of, but you were in most of them."
"I thought I was going crazy at first. It felt like my entire mind was being ripped apart. Sometimes it still feels that way."
"Do you still get flashes?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah. They're not as intense, but I get flashes all the time. I got a bunch of them when you guys cam in, and I had one earlier too. There's still a lot I don't remember. I don't remember anything that happened from after I was taken until I had been put into Elena Gilbert's life," she said.
That concerned Klaus a little. That was a very specific time period to forget. It made him think that it wasn't just compulsion that was keeping those memories away. It was quite possible that it was also her subconscious. "I should've been there with you. I should've been there to help you. I'm sorry. I hope that you can forgive me, both for not being there and for what I almost did."
Elena nodded. She'd already forgiven him. She knew he wouldn't have hurt her if he'd known the truth. She also knew that Katherine had orchestrated the whole thing. No damage had been done. Now, if someone had been hurt, it might be different, but no one had, so she could forgive him. "I forgive you, Daddy."
Klaus gasped in surprise before pulling his little girl back into his arms.
Elena snuggled up into his arms and placed her head on his shoulder. She'd been worried that things would be awkward when she saw her father again, but they weren't. She felt comfortable with him. She felt safe. It helped that she now had quite a few memories of him, including the love she'd felt for him as a child.
Klaus looked at her as her eyes fought to stay open. It was pretty late. She was probably quite exhausted. "You tired, little love?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Sleep then. Daddy's here now. You're safe. You can sleep now," Klaus told her.
Elena stopped fighting and shut her eyes.
"How bad, Marcel?" Klaus asked when he was sure his daughter was asleep.
"She hasn't told me much, but she has a lot of nightmares. She cries for you a lot in the middle of the night," Marcel told him.
Klaus shuddered before placing a kiss on top of his daughter's head.
"I definitely think she's hiding things from me. I think something bad happened to her that she doesn't want me to know about. I've just been hoping she'll tell me when she's ready," Marcel said.
"I'd wager a lot of bad things happened to her," Elijah said sadly.
"I also know that it affects her a lot that another girl had to die so that she could be placed in her life. I don't think she blames herself for it, but it hurts her to know that," Marcel said.
"I think it's clear that we're in for a very long, rough road as a family," Elijah said.
Klaus ran a hand through his daughter's hair. "I should get her to bed, even if I don't want to let her go."
'I'll show you to her room," Marcel said before getting up.
Klaus got up carefully before gathering his daughter up into his arms and following Marcel out of the room.