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Waking up on an old dusty couch that she remembered rather vividly for how long ago it had been, it took approximately five seconds for Elena to realize that this was absolutely not Peace. As she adjusted to her surroundings, she could hear Rose and Trevor whispering, and then they cut off sharply. She had no idea what the hell was going on, but she knew that the silence meant one thing; Elijah. Thinking about him made her heart ache just like it always did, but now, there was something new in the mix. Whatever was happening, wherever she was, she was about to see Elijah again for the first time in almost seventy years.
Sitting up slowly, she touched her neck and found her vervain necklace -Rebekah's necklace- resting against her collarbone. Then a door slammed and she jumped to her feet. She had a vague recollection of how this conversation had gone the first time, but it was just a little fuzzy. Silently, she wondered if this would just play out automatically like some weird dream she was trapped in. Was it a dream? Somehow she doubted that. But the only other solution she could come up with was that somehow, when she had died, she had been thrown back into her younger body.
She was ripped from her thoughts when Rose and Elijah appeared. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and she actually had to stifle a small giggle at his ridiculous haircut -she'd forgotten about that. Of course, her laughter had his attention zeroing in on her sharply, and Rose looked at her like she had lost her mind. Maybe she had, but she couldn't find it in herself to care too much. Elijah was standing in front of her and all she wanted to do was throw her arms around him.
But then he was right in front of her, staring at her in a mix of shock and…relief? She remembered him looking shocked, but the relief was definitely new; at least, she was pretty sure he hadn't looked at her like that before. Staring up at him, Elena knew she should probably be afraid of this Elijah, but she really couldn't. Not when he was close enough to touch and his hair looked absolutely atrocious. Letting her gaze flick towards Rose briefly before meeting Elijah's gaze again and taking a deep breath. Even if he didn't believe her, she knew bringing up his siblings might make him curious enough to listen to the rest. "I know you have no reason to believe me, Elijah, but this isn't the first time I've lived through this," she whispered breathily, trying to get the words out as fast as she could. "Your siblings aren't in the ocean, and I know where they are. It's a really really long story but please just let me explain," she continued, watching his expression shift and his eyes widen. She heard Rose gasp and curse softly, but her focus remained on Elijah.
"Elena?" He spoke her name like a desperate prayer, as if he was certain he was wrong but had to try anyway. Her heart was suddenly in her throat as they stared at each other. She nodded but didn't let her gaze fall from his. "You know who I am?" Elena was certain she had never heard such a desolate tone in Elijah's voice before. Giving him another nod, she smiled as tears stung her eyes.
"Yes, I know you. And Bekah and Kol, Finn and Freya…and Nik," she murmured her husband's name last, watching the shock spread across Elijah's face at the way she referred to his brother. Her heart twisted in her chest at the thought that this was her Elijah, but she shook herself slightly and refocused. If this was supposed to play out how it had before, then the Salvatores would be here soon. "There is a lot we need to talk about, but right now we need to get out of here before the Salvatores get here," the corner of her lips turned upwards as she spoke and a myriad of emotions crossed Elijah's face before he gave her a tight nod.
"Rose-Marie, you and your pet are free, you have my word," he called without looking away from Elena. Her eyebrows went up when he allowed both of them to go free, but then she could read the question forming in his eyes. Nodding her head, she practically leapt forward, wrapping her arms around him as the world around her blurred. She had no idea how long they were moving, but even when she felt the world stop moving so fast, Elena still clung to Elijah. Her arms were tight around his neck as tears streamed down her face and his arms held her tightly as well. He kissed the side of her head and she squeezed tighter, burying her face in his shoulder.
"I can't believe you're here!" She mumbled against his shoulder before she finally pulled back and wiped at her eyes. "How are you here? How am I here?? Where exactly is here?" Questions poured from her lips as she stared up at him, hands sliding down to grasp his and hold tight.
"I woke up nearly six months ago, after…"
"You died," she finished for him softly and he looked at her in sharp surprise. He nodded silently, a haunted kind of pain in his dark eyes that made her squeeze his hands with her own. Nik had told her of Elijah's demise only once, when he was extremely drunk near the beginning of everything. Over the years, they had talked over all of the others eventually, but Elijah had been off limits for the both of them.
Then her mind focused on the fact that he'd said six months ago. Elijah had been awake in the past for six months? Elena took a moment to figure out the time difference and her eyes widened slightly. "A month here is close to a decade in..the other life," she told him quietly.
"What?" Elijah whispered and she squeezed his hands again and a sad little chuckle escaped her lips.
"I was in my eighties when I died," she explained slowly. "Then I woke up on that stupid couch," she added. Her heart was pounding against her chest and part of her was still adamant that this was some dream, but she chose to simply focus on the fact that she was standing there with Elijah and both of them had their memories.
"You lived a normal life, then?" Elijah asked slowly and Elena couldn't stop the snort that escaped her, making Elijah give her a look of concern mixed with curiosity.
"I wouldn't call it normal, but I am the doppelgänger. I don't think normal exists for me, Elijah," she told him gently. Then she sucked in a sharp breath as the rest of the reality of being in her younger body caught up to her. "I have to call Jenna. Oh my god, Jenna! Jenna's alive! And Jeremy! I have to-" she cut off abruptly and took a steadying breath. "I can call Jeremy on the way to Chicago. Jenna is staying on campus right now, she won't know I'm gone. I'll deal with John later," she took a couple more slow breaths and closed her eyes for a moment before looking back up at Elijah. "Did you happen to get a phone before now, this time?" She asked, smiling when he slipped a hand into his suit jacket and produced a cell phone.
"Indeed I did," he murmured as he offered it to her. Elena shook her head though.
"I can wait until we get to Chicago," she told him.
"And what, exactly, are we going to Chicago for?" He asked slowly and she smiled.
"Your siblings," she watched Elijah's face light up and grinned up at him. "Well, minus Nik. I'm not entirely sure where he is right now, but I'm sure he'll find us eventually," Elena added with a small shrug. When she finally pulled her gaze away from Elijah so that she could turn and look at their surroundings, she found a familiar BMW a few feet away and chuckled softly.
Then she heads for the passenger side and slides in as Elijah gets into the driver's seat. Almost immediately, her hand reaches for his and holds on tight; she can't bring herself to trust that he won't just vanish before her eyes. But Elijah grips her hand just about as tightly as he can without causing her pain and she knows the feeling is mutual. They are both silent for a long time as Elijah drives, but eventually, there are questions bubbling in Elena's mind that she can't keep to herself any longer. "What happened…when you.." when you died, she can't bring herself to say it again, but the look on his face tells her that he understands. Elijah swallows thickly and Elena can feel his grip on her hand tighten just a fraction for a second before it relaxes again. "You don't have to tell me, Elijah. It's okay. I.. I know a little bit," she murmurs softly.
"You do?" His voice was rough as he glanced at her and she nodded.
"Nik was so drunk when he first found me…" she let her gaze drift out the window. "Was he human when it happened?"
"Niklaus?" The way Elijah reacted gave her her answer, the shock and confusion in his voice making it clear.
"Mhmm," she nodded, turning back to look at him as he drove. Elena decided to thoroughly ignore the fact that they were going way faster than the speed limit. Elijah could just compel the cops anyways, and she knew they were both eager to get to Chicago. "He was human -well, still a werewolf, but he wasn't immortal anymore- when he found me," she told him softly. "I never asked; I assumed it happened at the same time as..everything else," she added. Now she wondered what her husband would say if she did ask about it.
"You said…Niklaus was drunk?" Elijah asked and Elena could hear the hesitancy in his voice, like he was treading carefully. Elena gave him a little smile.
"Oh yeah. That first day wasn't as bad as some of the full moons, but everything was still so raw back then. He was desperate to get his immortality back," she told him.
"He wanted your blood," Elijah's voice held a touch of anger and Elena squeezed his hand.
"He did, but there was more to it," she said gently, thinking back to the early days of coming home and finding Nik drunk on her couch. "He was all alone, Elijah. Rebekah was still daggered, Freya had Hope in hiding, and he was alone and hurting. It was months before he actually got around to arranging things for the immortality spell," she explained. "Not that it mattered anyways, since the immortality spell didn't work," Elena continued and Elijah looked at her sharply.
"What do you mean?"
"It was really weird, actually," the brunette murmured as she glanced out the window again and took a moment to watch the scenery pass them by. "It just…ceased to exist. We had several different witches try it but nothing happened," she sighed. "Nik took it hard at first, but nothing really changed all that much, except I finally told him to use the spare room instead of the couch," a chuckle left her lips at the memory and she glanced at Elijah again. "Rebekah adjusted to being human a lot better than Nik, but he got there eventually-"
"Rebekah took the cure?" Elijah interrupted her once more and Elena chuckled softly at the wistful note in his voice.
"Yes," she nodded as she let herself think about the early days. "After she had my blood, we didn't see her until Christmas," she continued.
"We?"
"Nik, Hope and I," she murmured. "After Freya…" she trailed off and chewed on her lip as she thought about the little girl she had raised. "He was always there after the full moon, until the one time he wasn't," she whispered as she squeezed his hand a little harder. "I was actually worried about him!" A laugh bubbled up as she recalled Caroline's reaction that weekend.
But then the laugh died in her throat and she sucked in a hard breath. "When he stormed into my house and pushed Hope into my arms with that broken expression-" she had to pause as the memory flooded her. After a minute, she continued quietly. "A coven of witches killed Freya and Keelin on that full moon," Elijah inhaled sharply and she felt his grip on her hand tighten. "He killed the witches before he came back," she murmured.
"And Hope?" Elijah asked softly. Elena smiled.
"She cried for her aunts, but she had her dad," she told him warmly. "Nik was terrified. But my god, Elijah, I wish you could have seen his face when she called him Daddy and asked him point blank if he was going to leave again," she whispered with a watery smile. Then her smile evolved into a small grin. "You would have been so proud of him, Elijah."
"Where did he take her?" He asked and Elena chuckled softly again.
"He didn't," she replied. "The spare room became Hope's room. Nik and I traded between the couch and my bed -well, mostly I slept on the couch because he really didn't fit on the couch very well," Elena paused and took a moment as she tried to decide how much to tell Elijah. What would he say when he found out she had married his brother? "Until he pointed out that we were both adults and fully capable of sharing the bed," she added slowly, watching the surprise bloom across Elijah's face. "It was definitely weird at first," she chuckled and shrugged. "But then it was just another part of our life."
"You and Niklaus…?" Elijah trailed off but Elena heard the unspoken question loud and clear. Swallowing thickly, she gave him a little nod.
"Almost a year after he brought Hope home," Elena told him in explanation. "I think we were both a bit surprised, but it didn't really change much of anything. We'd already been raising Hope together and sharing a bed for nearly a year," she added softly.
"It is difficult to imagine Niklaus so…docile," Elena laughed at Elijah's choice of words and shook her head.
"Please, he was definitely not docile," she smirked at him. "A little bit domesticated, maybe," she corrected and the soft laugh that left Elijah had her grinning.
"I can not imagine Niklaus domesticated either, dear Elena," he told her with a shake of his head. Letting her head fall to rest against the window, Elena sighed softly.
"Do you think he might be like us, Elijah?"
"I'm not sure, Elena. We shall see," he replied softly. She nodded in agreement. A little while later, she was drifting into sleep.
Elena woke to a gentle nudge at her shoulder and as everything came rushing back to her, she was terrified that it had all been some crazy dream. But when she opened her eyes to see Elijah standing there with her door open, she sighed in relief and reached out to grab his hand. He took her hand and squeezed and she could finally breathe steadily again. "I thought…" she didn't finish the sentence, as she could see the understanding in Elijah's eyes.
"We're here," he told her quietly. As she climbed out of the car and looked around, her attention zeroed in on Gloria's bar.
"How did you know?"
"I wasn't sure, but I know Niklaus frequented her bar nearly a century ago. When you mentioned this city, I thought perhaps we may need a witch," he replied. Elena nodded and took a deep breath before starting towards the bar, her hand firmly gripping Elijah's arm as they stepped inside. The bar was empty of patrons, and Elena looked around curiously.
Surprisingly, all it took to convince Gloria to do a locator spell for them was a small jar of Elena's blood. Then they were back in the car on their way to a storage facility. They didn't have anything more than that, but Elijah was confident that he would be able to find them.
As the two of them walked into the massive facility, Elijah carried a cooler in one hand while Elena still held tightly to the other. She still couldn't bring herself to not hold onto him like he might disappear at any second. But he was much the same, if his tight grip on her was anything to go by.
"It's this one," Elijah murmured as they stopped in front of a unit. Elena glanced up at him and then at the storage unit and reluctantly released his hand so that he could break open the lock. When the door slid upwards, they were met with the sight of four coffins and Elena stared for a moment before she moved forward. Elijah lagged behind a step and she turned to find him wearing an expression of disbelief and trepidation. Squeezing his hand, she moved closer to him again.
"I know they won't be like us, Lijah, but they're all right here," she murmured before she finally released his hand and headed for the coffins. The first one she opened happened to be Finn's and Elena glanced at Elijah briefly before she pulled the dagger out of his elder brother's chest. Then she opened another coffin and found Kol. But when she reached for the dagger, Elijah's hand caught hers.
"Perhaps we wait on Kol, Elena," he said slowly. She could hear the regret in his voice, but understood. With a small nod, she went to the coffin she recognized as Rebekah's and hurriedly removed the dagger from her sister's chest -because after everything, that was what Rebekah was to her; a sister.
Finn was already sitting up as Elijah handed him several blood bags and Elena watched the eldest brother closely as she stood beside Rebekah's coffin. There was something different about Finn, but she couldn't tell if it was simply because of what she knew now, or if it was something else. She glanced back at Rebekah and waited quietly. "What kind of cruel dream is this?" Finn muttered and Elena's gaze snapped back up to him. "Have you come to join me in death, brother? Miss Gilbert?" Elena gaped at Finn when he spoke her name and had to stop herself from correcting him -she hadn't been a Gilbert in close to sixty years. When she managed to glance at Elijah, he was staring at his brother with a similar expression.
"Brother?" Elijah questioned slowly. "You know who Elena is?" At the question, Finn's expression shifted and he looked between them. Before he could answer his brother though, Elena spoke up.
"It's 2010 again, Finn," she murmured, watching the man's eyes widen.
"How is that possible?"
"We don't really know. Elijah's been here since he died-"
"As have I," Finn interrupted with a scowl and her heart hurt for him. She couldn't imagine what it felt like to die then wake up and find yourself trapped in your worst nightmare once more. Then the reality of his words hit her and she inhaled sharply. If the three of them had all come back here after they had died, then… Rebekah suddenly took a breath and broke Elena out of her thoughts. Her gaze snapped to the blonde as she held out several blood bags and Bekah down them hungrily.
But then the blonde's blue eyes looked up and saw her and Rebekah froze. It was surreal for Elena, seeing her so young again after watching the blonde age into an old woman with her. "Elena…why do you look seventeen again?" Bekah's words had tears stinging Elena's eyes. She truly had no idea what the hell was going on, but she couldn't resist throwing herself at her beloved sister.
"Someone needs to get you a mirror, Bekah," she laughed through her tears and Bekah hugged her back tightly.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Rebekah mumbled into her hair.
"We would like to know that as well, dear sister," Elijah said and Elena felt Rebekah go completely still before the woman started to tremble. She could feel Rebekah's face buried in her shoulder as her body shook.
"Elena, please bloody tell me I didn't imagine that?" Bekah murmured into her shoulder. Elena grinned and pulled back, gently using two fingers to turn Rebekah's face so the blonde looked to the side.
"I promise you didn't imagine it," she whispered as Rebekah stared at her brothers. Taking a step back, she got out of the way just in time as Rebekah flew towards her brothers, trapping them both in a hug as her coffin flipped over due to the force of her movement. Finn looked utterly shocked, but managed to wrap his arms around his little sister, followed by Elijah. Then before she knew it, Rebekah was hugging her again.
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Bekah repeated incredulously as she finally pulled away again.
"All we know is that each of us woke up back here after we died," Elena explained.
"Does that mean..?? How long has it been? Is Nik..?"
"I don't know about Nik since he went before me and we haven't seen him yet, but I'm hoping," Elena murmured. "As for how long, about a year after you. There was only about a week between Nik and I," she continued, knowing that Rebekah was not the only one listening to her.
"Do you think..Matt?" Rebekah asked tentatively and Elena smiled. Matt had passed shortly before Bekah. If he was awake in this time, Elena wondered silently who else might be awake.
"I hope so," she said softly.
They spent another thirty minutes there at the storage facility as they woke Kol and discovered that he, too, remembered their previous life. Then Elena and Rebekah took the lead as they headed for Stefan's old apartment while they tried to figure out how to get in contact with Nik.
"If we go back to Mystic Falls, I'm sure he'll find us," Bekah said quietly and Elena squeezed her hand. She knew Bekah was eager to go looking for her husband.
"Elijah, can you get us a plane to Richmond? I…I'll call Bonnie when we land," Elena asked as her gaze slid from Bekah to where Elijah walked on her other side. Her hand was still curled around his arm firmly as they walked, with her other hand in Bekah's. Kol and Finn were behind them where Bekah was constantly reaching back to touch one or the other to ensure that they were still there. Neither seemed to mind.
"If my brothers are all awake, do you think Bonnie might be?" Rebekah asked softly and tears burned behind her eyes as she bit her lip.
"I don't know what's going on here, but I really really hope so," she whispered.
"So what the bloody hell happened to make you two so chummy?" Kol asked, making both Elena and Rebekah turn to glance at him over their shoulders. Then they shared a silent look as they both tried to decide on how much to share. After sixty years, they could read each other as easily as if they were speaking aloud.
"We were best friends for sixty years. We grew old together, Kol," Rebekah told her brother with a smile. Kol's eyes widened as he looked between them, then his gaze settled on his sister.
"You ended up with the bloody quarterback, didn't you?" Kol asked with a smirk that had Elena chuckling softly as Rebekah glared playfully at her brother.
"I swear to god Kol if you-"
"Calm down, Bex," Kol cut her off with a grin that was edged with melancholy. "I won't touch your precious quarterback," he promised and Elena wondered if he might be thinking about his own wife, Davina. Over the years, Nik had told her a little bit about the feisty little witch that had stolen Kol's heart.
"Davina might be here too," she murmured softly, causing all three Mikaelson men to look at her in surprise. "I spent sixty years with Nik and Bekah. I know a lot about New Orleans," she told them with Rebekah nodding in agreement.
"Let's bloody hurry up and get to Mystic Falls," Bekah murmured and it was Elena's turn to nod.
It didn't take Elijah long to arrange for a jet to take them to Richmond. Elena changed her mind about waiting and used Elijah's phone to dial Bonnie's number as they drove to the airport. She was sitting in the passenger seat where one hand could still cling to Elijah while Bekah sat in the back with Kol and Finn. The phone only rang once before Bonnie answered.
"Elijah???" Elena sat in shocked silence at the sound of Bonnie's voice. She hadn't heard her best friend's voice in over seventy years, and tears slid down her cheeks at the proof that her friend was awake. She knew it was Elijah's number. Elena didn't even question how Elijah had ended up with the same phone number.
"Not quite," she finally choked out the words and heard Bonnie's gasp on the other end.
"Oh my god, Elena?!?! Jer! Jer! It's Elena! She's here!" Elena listened to Bonnie shouting, and when she yelled for Jeremy, Elena's hand tightened around Elijah's on the center console.
"Elena??" Her brother's voice came through the phone and she sobbed, not caring about the four other people in the car with her.
"Jeremy? Oh my god, Jeremy!" She cried.
"Where are you? This is about the time Rose took you right? We'll come get you!" Jeremy told her and she could hear the wetness in her brother's voice.
"We're already headed that way, Jer," Elena told him through her tears.
"Wait, who's we? Are Stefan and Damon with you? They haven't been here at all," Bonnie asked and Elena found herself glancing at Elijah in confusion. The two of them shared a look before Elena refocused.
"No, I'm with Elijah. Hence being on his phone, Bon," Elena told her friend, a soft teasing tone in the last half of her words.
"Oh, right. Wait. So Elijah's here? Like…I don't even know what to call it," Bonnie replied and Elena let out a wet chuckle.
"We've been calling it awake. And yes, Elijah is awake. So are the rest of his siblings. We're getting on a plane from Chicago, we'll be in Richmond in like two hours," she told her best friend and brother, her entire body shaking as she squeezed Elijah's hand to try and calm herself down. "I'll see you both in less than three hours. Where are you?"
"The house. It's still standing at this point, so we've been staying here," there was something else in Jeremy's tone that made Elena want to ask more questions, but then they were pulling up to a private jet out on the tarmac.
"I love you guys," she murmured into the phone.
"We love you too," Bonnie and Jeremy said together and Elena laughed weakly as they hung up. The tears kept falling as she was finally forced to release Elijah's hand so they could get out of the car and get into the plane. As soon as she could though, she grabbed his hand again and Bekah grabbed her other one. Once on the jet, Elena sat on one side of Elijah while Rebekah took the other on a comfy little couch. Kol sat in a chair close enough to Bekah that she could reach out and touch him, and Finn seemed content to sit a little further away, but still close.
The next two hours felt like the longest hours of Elena's entire life. "I get to see Jeremy," she whispered roughly as emotion overwhelmed her. The brunette was well aware of the confused look that the men gave her.
"Jeremy died before Elena woke from her coma," Bekah explained to her brothers softly and Elena reached across Elijah to squeeze her hand in thanks. She felt Elijah release her hand and felt the loss of contact for only a moment before his arm wrapped around her, pulling her closer. Elena let her head rest against his shoulder, arm still extended across his lap to cling to Rebekah.
The flight was filled mostly by Kol and Finn asking questions and Rebekah answering most of them. Elena managed to answer a few of them and join the conversation on occasion, but she was too focused on the fact that she would see Jeremy and Bonnie soon to pay attention to much else. Elijah's arm around her was firm and kept her from breaking down again. Then the plane landed and they were piling into another car and headed for Mystic Falls.
As they got closer, Elena trembled with anticipation. When her house came into view, she squeezed Elijah's hand hard and sat up, gaze searching the area. The sight that she was met with had both her and Rebekah scrambling out of the car. Her eyes watched Bonnie and Jeremy come racing out of the house, followed by Matt. Then, Elena watched Jenna and Alaric come out of the house and tears poured down her face as she ran across the yard. She collided with Jeremy and Bonnie first, clinging to the both of them, vaguely aware of Matt and Rebekah reuniting behind her.
Another set of arms wrapped around her and she could barely make out Jenna's features through her tears. Elena had no idea how long she clung to the three of them, but eventually another person pulled her into their arms and she recognized Ric's cologne instantly. She buried her face in his chest as she hugged him, feeling him kiss her hair and hearing him murmur softly. It had only been maybe twenty years since they'd lost him, but she had still missed him immensely.
It could have been hours or just mere minutes by the time she could breathe again, gently pulling back from Ric and Jenna, who had joined their hug. She looked around at her family, reaching out again to pull Jeremy and Bonnie into yet another hug. Then her gaze found Elijah, who stood patiently beside his brothers near the car. Rebekah was still wrapped in Matt's arms and Elena grinned at the sight of them. Finally, her eyes returned to Bonnie. "Do you know what's going on? How is this possible?" Bonnie and Jeremy shared a look with Jenna and Elena looked between them all curiously.
"We think it's some sort of magic. Like a prison world, but different. We've all woken up at different times. I think it corresponds to when we…died, in the other life," Bonnie told her slowly.
"Who all is here? You said the Salvatores weren't?"
"We haven't seen them. But they could be in some other part of the world, I guess," Bonnie answered with a shrug. "In addition to us, Grams is here, so is Care's mom," Bon murmured and Elena smiled.
"Mom and Dad aren't here," Jeremy said softly and Elena's smile faltered.
"Do you have any idea what brings us here?" Bekah spoke up softly, drawing everyone's attention to her. Elena watched with a warm smile as Alaric managed to pry her from Matt's arms in order to give the blonde a hug.
"I have no idea. Maybe we have to want to be here?" Bonnie shrugged.
"But where exactly is here?" Elena asked.
"Peace, Lena. At least, a version of it," Ric told her softly and her eyes widened. If this was truly Peace, then..
"Elijah, can I have your phone?" Elena called breathlessly. Elijah moved towards her and pressed his phone into her hand again. She didn't even have to look as she dialed a number she knew by heart. He picked up on the second ring.
"Elijah?? Brother, is that really you?" Elena could hear the agony in her husband's voice and knew that he was like the rest of them.
"I really need to get my own phone back," she murmured and heard him take a sharp breath.
"Elena? I saw the-"
"He's right here next to me, Nik. We're standing outside my parents' house in Mystic Falls," she told him as the tears started to fall again.
"Truly, love?" Nik asked in a broken voice and Elena lifted her gaze to Elijah.
"Yes, Niklaus," Elijah said softly, since Nik would be able to hear him no matter what. Elena could hear her husband trying and failing to breathe and smiled.
"He's right here, Nik. Kol and Finn too," she told him. "Where are you?"
"A few miles outside town, love. I was on my way to look for you," he replied quietly.
"We'll see you soon," she murmured.
"Stay on the line, love?" Elena heard the fear in his voice and hoped his siblings weren't listening in too much.
"Always," she replied easily. It was only ten minutes later that a familiar SUV was pulling up to the house. Elena hung up the phone and was heading for the car before it stopped moving, crashing into her husband's arms the moment he stepped out. She felt her feet leave the ground as he held her, his lips pressed to hers as he spun her around. When she felt her feet touch the ground again, she opened her eyes and grinned at him. His gaze lifted from her face and his body went completely still. "Go on," she whispered, stepping back and tugging him into motion. Then she watched him crash into Elijah, hugging his brother tightly.
Her gaze shifted to Jenna nervously, but her aunt was simply standing with Alaric, Jeremy and Bonnie. Elena wondered if Alaric -and Matt- had caught them up on everything. She moved towards them, watching as Nik released Elijah only to pull his other brothers into a hug, much to both Kol and Finn's surprise. The brunette chuckled at the shock on both of their faces as her own brother wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Can't believe you married Klaus," Jeremy commented, but it was obvious that he was teasing.
"Hey, we named our kid after you," Elena shot back and then glanced at Bonnie. "Both of you, actually. And Elijah," she added, watching as Elijah's gaze snapped up to her in surprise, making her smile.
"Do you think we'll see them, love?" Nik asked softly, drawing her attention as he walked towards them. She grinned when Alaric stepped forward to hug Nik, followed by Matt. Then he moved towards her and she reached out to grab his hand.
"When their time comes, maybe," she said with a small nod as she squeezed his hand. Her eyelids fluttered closed as he bent to kiss her forehead. "Kol wants to go look for Davina," Elena told him as she opened her eyes again, gaze moving from Kol to Finn with an easy smile. "Maybe Sage is here too. And Freya?"
It didn't take them more than a couple weeks to find Davina, Freya, Keelin, Sage and even Hayley. Everything was in a weird state of purgatory almost, with a lot of people who were not awake, but the witches of the group spent some time looking for answers. What they found was an ancient spell crafted by the Gemini Coven. It was indeed similar to a prison world, but not confined to the repetition of a single day. They weren't sure what day it technically began, nor could they figure out the catalyst, but Elena and Alaric had come up with a few ideas about who might have been behind such a spell. He had, after all, raised a pair of Gemini twins.
Nearly five months after Elena had woken up in their strange version of Peaceful Purgatory as they'd started calling it, her phone went off a little before six in the morning. Carefully slipping from Nik's arms, she lifted her phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Mom?" Elena's heart jumped in her chest.
"Eli?" She whispered.
"Mom, something really weird happened. I..I died, Mom. But now I'm alive. Except…I look like a teenager again," her son was starting to panic, but Elena couldn't help the warm laughter that bubbled up in her throat.
"It's okay baby, so do I," she told him as she reached down and shook her husband's shoulder. "Nik, wake up!" Elena exclaimed. "Baby, where are you, do you know?"
"I'm at home. The house before Bonnie was born," her son told her.
"We're in Mystic Falls," she replied, gaze flicking to Nik as the hybrid sat up slowly, giving her a curious look. "I can send your father to come get you if you want," she added, watching Nik's eyes widen in surprise.
"I know how to buy a plane ticket, Mom. I'll just fly into Richmond," Eli said softly, seemingly calming down again. The flight from Oregon to Virginia had been a normal one for all of her children.
"Okay, baby. See you soon. I love you," she murmured.
"Love you too, Mom," he replied before he hung up. Then Elena smiled at Nik and reached out to squeeze his hand.
"Our son is on his way," she told him happily.