Elena was in the kitchen with her uncles. She gave them each a couple of blood bags and showed them how to use them. Finn at least had been daggered before blood bags were a thing. He had been shocked to learn that they even stored blood now.

"These are fascinating inventions. We don't need to kill anymore," Finn said.

"No, but it's so much more fun," Kol said before sucking down the bag in his hand.

Elena chuckled. "I'd heard you were a bit blood thirsty, pun intended."

Kol laughed in response. "I've missed you."

"How long did I know you? I remember meeting you. I couldn't be more than four or five for me to remember that," Elena said.

"Yeah, you were around five. You were an astonishing little thing. You were tiny, but you weren't afraid to put someone in their place. I remember you glaring at me one day and telling me you didn't like me," Kol said.

Finn chuckled just thinking about it. Kol typically didn't care what anyone thought, but he got the feeling that their little niece looking at him like that had an affect on him. It was obvious right now how much he loved the girl.

Elena laughed as well. "Well, I must have had a good reason.

"I suppose," Kol said reluctantly as he thought back to that night and got pulled into the memory.

Kol had walked into the living room to find his brother and Niece sitting on the couch. Elijah was reading to her. He greeted them both. Elijah answered back politely while Sadie glared at him.

"I don't like you anymore. We're not friends," Sadie said as she gave him the biggest glare she could muster.

Kol had had many people glare at him and tell him they didn't like him, but he'd never felt as distraught as he was right now as his five-year-old niece said it. He'd only been undaggered for a few weeks, but he loved that little girl to death. "What? What did I do?"

"You're mean to my Marcie," Sadie said.

"I…I was just having a little fun with Marcel," Kol said.

Sadie wasn't having it. She shook her head. "It's not fun to be mean. You're not my friend. Marcie's my friend. He's my brother."

"But, he's not really your brother. He's not your blood, like I am," Kol tried.

Elijah chuckled in amusement. "Brother, if your plan is to explain biology to a five-year-old, I believe you've already lost the argument."

Kol groaned and looked back at his niece. "What if I'm not mean to him anymore? Can we be friends then?"

Sadie seemed to contemplate it for a minute. "Only if you and Marcie are friends too. You have to say sorry."

Kol's stroll down memory lane was interrupted by his niece's laughter. He told her all about it, and she apparently thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

"Well, it serves you right for being mean to my brother. Why were you being mean to Marcel anyway? He's your nephew," Elena said.

"If you count the runt that your dad took pity on his son, I suppose," Kol grumbled.

Elena reached over and smacked him on the arm. "Hey! I'm going to let you be a dick to my big brother now anymore than I did when I was five. You know, Marcel is half the reason we're having a conversation right now. He's helped me through a lot over the last few months. He started seeking my dad and the rest of you out when I didn't think I was ready to see any of you. He got this reunion started. I agree with my younger self. If you want a relationship with me, you have to accept Marcel."

"Understood. I'm glad Marcel was there for you. I'm glad somebody was," Kol said.

"I've had a few people in my corner since everything came out. I don't know what I would've done without them. It was really traumatizing when the compulsions broke," Elena said with a shudder.

"I can only imagine. You said you were compelled to believe you were someone else?" Finn asked.

Elena nodded. "Yeah, the latest Petrova Doppelganger, Elena Gilbert. The people who kidnapped me killed her and put me in her place. They basically compelled her life into my mind. I thought I was her. I was fed every detail about her life. I replaced her like she was nothing."

Finn could hear that guilt in his niece's voice. "That's not your fault, child."

"I know that. I know that nothing I could've done would've prevented it. I also know that I can't take responsibility for what they did to me or her, but sometimes I still feel bad about taking her place, even if it was unwittingly. Hell, I even still technically go by her name at times, which feels wrong," Elena said.

"Then why do you do it? Are you more comfortable with that name?" Finn asked.

"Not really. It's sort of the opposite. You know, I thought it would be harder to go back to my real name, and it was weird at first, but I got used to it quickly," she said.

"Why do you use the other one then?" Kol asked.

"Mostly for my friends. The real Elena was their friend too. It's what they know me by, and I feel like I'll be hurting them if I ask them to stop calling me that," Elena said. They had told her once that they didn't care what they called her, but she still felt like it would hurt them.

"Child, if they care about you, it won't matter what they call you," Finn said softly.

"I know, and I know I can't hold onto this name for much longer. I don't even really want to. It's a lie, and it's one I'm sick of living," Elena said.

"What did those people do to you, if you don't mind me asking?" Kol asked.

"I don't remember most of it. I have nightmares about the night I was taken, so I do remember a little of that, but I don't remember much else until I was compelled to be Elena Gilbert," Elena explained.

Finn frowned. Something didn't seem right about that. If the compulsions were broken, she should remember all of it. "You said the compulsions broke."

"Yeah. I don't think it's the compulsions that are keeping me from remembering. I'm pretty sure it's just so awful that my mind is trying to protect me from it," Elena said.

Finn cringed. He didn't want to think about what his niece had been through that could cause something like that to happen. This poor child had gone through hell, and it wasn't over. Dahlia was still likely to come for her. Ironically, being kidnapped by someone else had probably saved Sadie from her. Then again, any fate she would've suffered from Dahlia might be better than the one she actually suffered. That fact alone made him shudder.

Soon, Klaus came into the room. "I trust everyone is behaving themselves in here."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Everything is fine, Dad. I was just getting to know Uncle Kol and Uncle Finn. Where's Uncle Eli?"

Finn, who was taking a sip of his blood started choking the moment he heard his niece's last question. "Uncle who?!"

Elena smirked. "Uncle Eli. Uncle Elijah."

"He lets you butcher his name?" Finn asked in disbelief. Elijah never let anyone call him anything but his full name. He detested nicknames.

"He'd let her get away with murder if she asked," Kol said with a chuckle.

Elena snorted. "That's not really a big deal in this family, is it? Murder is a recreational sport around here."

Kol laughed. "Oh, I love you so much, Sadie. Have I mentioned that recently?"

"I should hope you do. She's the reason you're conscious at the moment. She asked me to wake you," Klaus said.

"And you gave in, of course," Kol said with a knowing smirk.

"Anything my little princess wants, she gets," Klaus said as he put a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

Elena turned and smiled at her father. "Anything? Will you get me a doppelganger and a ripper to play with?" She was only half joking.

Klaus grinned back at her in response. "Of course, sweetheart. It's already in the works. Of course, you have to let the rest of us play too."

"A ripper?" Kol asked. He got the doppelganger reference, of course. His niece wanted to torture the Katerina bitch. He wasn't sure who the other was, but he guessed they were involved.

"The psycho Katherine got to help her. He might be even worse than her," Elena said.

"What's a ripper?" Finn asked confused. That term hadn't been used when he was daggered.

"Think of it like an alcoholic, only he's a vampire, so his drug of choice is blood," Elena said.

"He wouldn't know what that is either, darling. It's basically someone who can't control their bloodlust, even after hundreds of years as a vampire," Kol explained.

Elena rubbed her eyes before standing up. "I'm still kind of tired from the full moon. I think I'm going to try to sleep for a little bit."

"Of course, little love. Go ahead," Klaus said before watching his daughter leave the room. He then turned to his brothers. "Rebekah is upstairs getting some modern clothing for the two of you. You should join her."

"Absolutely. I've been in these clothes for far too long," Kol said before heading out of the room.

Finn got up as well and followed his brother out. He still needed to speak to Niklaus, but it could wait a little longer. He'd give his brother one more day of peace before he told him of the dangers coming for his child.