FUTURE KOL POV

I was ready, counting down the minutes until my Elena arrived back. I had blood bags ready, but I knew that she would need me more than blood. For her, it would have only been moments since she had been killed at the hands of my father, and had learned that our 3-month-old daughter had been taken by my mother.

"Stop pacing, Kol." Nik told me as I stood in the spot where Elena would arrive. I had figured the exact spot where our home used to stand, and had been there all day in anticipation of Elena's arrival.

"I will stop when my wife is in my arms. It literally killed me to send her back here, 1000 years in the future. I just pray I did nothing wrong. I was just about to be killed by our father, you know." I told Nik, counting down the seconds until the peak of the solstice. It was mid-day and it would be any second now.

It was only Nik and I because I didn't want Bonnie to be around a new original vampire. Nik had called Rebekah and Elijah to let them both know it would be happening today, and they were both on their way.

It was time.

Suddenly, Elena appeared on the ground in front of me, the blood fresh on her chest, dead. It would be probably around thirty minutes before she would wake, needing blood, so I just picked her up, holding her tightly as I took in her scent. One I had missed so badly for over a thousand years.

She had literally been in my arms no more than a minute, when I heard a crash in the woods to my left.

"What was that, Nik?" I asked him and he vamp sped to the sound of the crash.

"I believe you are going to want to see this, brother." He told me and I immediately stood, still carrying Elena and vamp sped to his side.

There in front of him, lay a girl, couldn't be more than 18 years old, with long dark brown hair, nearly identical to Elena, save for a few features.

"Aurora." I said, falling to my knees, setting Elena on the ground easily, before letting the tears spill from my eyes.

"Aurora? As in my neice?" Nik asked, kneeling in front of the girl. He looked at me with a somber expression. "She's a vampire."

It took me several seconds to process what he had just said. My daughter was a vampire? How? Who turned her? Who killed her? Why?

I was broken from my thoughts as she sucked in a breath, immediately sitting up and coughing. I reached for her face and she looked up at me.

"Daddy?" She asked and I nearly fell apart. I nodded, tears running down my face as I pulled her into my arms.

"My sweet baby girl. I have missed you so much, Aurora. I searched for years and years, but I couldn't find you." I told her, holding her against me just as I had when she was just a babe.

"Ayanna said Grandmama put a spell on me when she took me from you, making it where you couldn't find me. We worked for years on a spell to send me to you." She said, crying as well, before looking down at Elena on the ground, still not awake. "Mum? Daddy is that Mum? Why is she… Daddy why is she dead?!"

"Darling, calm down. Your mother will be fine. She just arrived from the past, just as you have. I sent her with my dying breath just after your grandfather killed her, right after you were taken. She hasn't woken as a vampire yet, but she will soon." I reassured her. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"So I've been a vampire longer than Mum?" She asked and I laughed.

"Technically, no. Your mother was a vampire before she was sent to the past, she just wasn't an original before. Speaking of which, when, why and how did you become a vampire? You were a witch." I asked her, needing to know.

"I—well, we determined that I wouldn't survive the spell to bring me back to you if I wasn't immortal. I made the choice. I made Ayanna turn me with the same spell Grandmama used on you. She didn't want to, but she knew I needed to come back to you. She turned me just after my 18th winter." She explained and it hurt my heart to know the pain she must feel, just as I did when I lost my connection with nature.

"My sweet girl. While I am so beyond happy that you are here, that I am seeing you and holding you again, and that I'll get to have you for eternity, I am sorry that it had to come with such a great cost. I was a witch before I was turned too, I know what it feels like." I told her and she just nodded.

"I knew you were a witch before because Ayanna gave me your grimoire to study. It was hard at first, but knowing that I get to have eternity with you and Mum makes it completely worth it." She said and hugged me tighter.

"Looks like we are a full vampire family now, brother. And Aurora, it's wonderful to see you again." Nik said before checking Elena. "She's about to wake."

"Uncle Nik?" She asked and Nik smiled at her. "That's me, darling." He told her. "Why do you smell different then us?" She asked.

"He's a hybrid, love. It's a story for another time, but right now your mother is waking." I told her, seeing Elena sit straight up gasping for air that she no longer needed.

Nik threw me a blood bag and I quickly opened it, handing it to her before she could say anything. I watched as her eyes changed and she yelled out as her fangs grew in. She grabbed the blood bag and sucked it down in a single gulp. I handed her another and she finished it before she even opened her eyes. When she was done, she opened her eyes and looked straight at me.

"Kol?" She asked, before looking down at the clothes I was wearing, then noticing she was covered in blood. "Where am I- what happened?" She asked, then she noticed who was next to me. "Who's that?"

"Mum, it's me, Aurora." Aurora told her and her eyes went wide, looking at me.

"Kol?" She asked, needing me to confirm.

"She's our daughter, love. Mother took her from us the night father killed you. After he drove the blade through your heart I used every bit of magic I had left to send you back here. It's 2013, love. Sending you back killed me, and I became a vampire. I looked for years trying to find Aurora, but mother had put a spell on her, hiding her from me. She was with Ayanna the whole time. She and Ayanna created a spell to send her back to us. I've waited over a thousand years to see you both again." I told her and pulled her into my arms, where our daughter had just been. I buried myself in her hair and breathed in.

"Wait, Aurora, you aren't human. Kol, why isn't she human?!" She asked, just now noticing that Aurora was a vampire.

"I asked Ayanna to turn me, I had to be immortal for the spell not to kill me." Aurora told her and I pulled her in to me as well.

"My baby girl." Elena cried as she hugged our daughter in my arms. "How old are you?"

"I'm 18." Aurora told her and she just cried more.

"We missed everything, Kol." She cried and I felt my own tears falling down my cheeks as I held them both. We had missed our daughter's childhood, but now she had eternity with us.

"Shhh. It's alright love. She's here now, you're here now, we are a family. Always and forever." I told her and helped them both stand up.

"You both need new clothes." I heard Nik say from behind my shoulder and Elena looked up at him. "Welcome back, sister."

"Nik." She said with a small smile. "Where's 'Lijah and Bekah?" She asked me.

"On their way." I told her and she got this odd expression on her face before turning to look at me.

"You're alive." She said.

"Indeed, I am, darling." I told her.

"How are you alive? If we are back in the future… Jeremy—I—We killed you! You were dead!" She said with fresh tears rolling down her face.

"Calm down love. I don't ever stay dead long. Bonnie Bennet pushed me through the veil from the inside." I told her. She looked up at me.

"Wait, from the inside? Does that mean Bonnie is—?" She asked and the look on my face told her the answer.

"Jeremy is alive. Bonnie saved him, which is how she died." I told her and her eyes went wide.

"Who's Jeremy, Daddy?" Aurora asked and I hadn't realized she wouldn't have known.

"He's another one of your uncles, darling. Your Mum's younger brother." I explained and she nodded.

"Do I have any other family I don't know about in this time?" She asked curiously. Elena shook her head no.

"We are all that's left, baby girl. Unless you count a 500-year-old psychopath great-great something-th grandmother who looks identical to me. Hopefully she won't bother us though, because your Uncle Nik will kill her if she gets close enough." Elena told her as we started walking.

"Right." Aurora said.

"Kol, I would say to take us home, but where exactly is home? I kind of burned mine down, and I was staying with—"

"I have a home for us, love. And as for who you were living with before, the Salvatore's have been taken care of." I told her, getting jealous thinking about seeing my wife with those idiots.

"What do you mean, taken care of? Kol, what did you do?" She asked quickly and I just laughed.

"I took care of it." Nik said from beside us. Elena shot a look at him. "Hey, don't give me that look, I just compelled the brothers to forget any romantic feelings they had towards you. Platonic only. Though the whole town thinks you left with Bonnie and her mother for a short trip. We will have a little explaining to do."

"I see. How long have I been gone from this time?" Elena asked quickly as they reached the car.

"Only a few days, which means we will get a few more days together as a family before we have to explain anything to anyone. It will also help give you time to get your hunger under control again." I told her as I opened the door of the car, letting them both in.

"What is this?" Aurora asked curiously as she got in the car, and Elena and I both laughed, only now realizing what was ahead.

"You have much to learn about 2013, darling. This is a car. You use it to get from place to place. I will warn you, love, things are much different from the time you came from. It will take some adjusting, but you'll have myself and your mother who have both lived in each time period to help you." I told her and she nodded, nervous about the car. She held on to both Elena and the door handle as we drove.

"I forgot how much I missed these luxuries." Elena said as we pulled into my drive. "This is your house?" She asked, staring at the home in front of us.

"No, love, this is our house." I told her, getting out and opening the door for them both. "My girls, welcome home."

"Homes are much… bigger in this time." Aurora said, staring at the house.

"I know it's a lot to take in, darling, but I promise we will all help you adjust, as a family. We all have a lot of adjusting to do now. I have both of my girls back after a thousand years, which is more than I could ever ask for." I told her, hugging both of them to my sides.

My wonderful readers,

I know it's been obscenely long since I have last updated most of my stories. I apologize immensely for this, but I just haven't had the time. I am a wife and mother of two boys (5 and 6 years old) and I work a full time job, have the kids basketball practices, soccer practices, I volunteer for the local museum overseeing programs and events, while working on the history of my hometown as well. I am also writing a book, which has been on hold for the past two years. When I am able to write, I find myself getting writers block easily anymore because my mind is split in so many directions. I will finish all of my stories. It's part of my New Year's resolution for 2018. When I started them all, I was a stay-at-home mom and my boys were little. I have a lot more on my plate now. I've had several people comment on my stories lately saying that I've abandoned them, wanting me to pass on the reins, but they are my stories, and I want to finish them. I hope you all can be patient enough while I can gather my thoughts enough to write them, but I promise, I will. Don't count me out just yet.

-Bex