A/N: I'm back! I hope you are all ready for the part following Heart-Shaped Glasses. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing the prologue. Your enthusiastic response is what motivated me to write this first chapter so quickly.
Remember that this takes place about a year after Heart-Shaped Glasses.
Tangled Up In Blue is actually a title of a Bob Dylan song which has vague lyrical relevance to this story (you can listen on my tumblr if you're interested my name is idiot-wind) but it was mainly the title that intrigued me. Tangled Up In Blue refers to three main themes or plot points in my story, which may become clearer as the story progresses.
As always, thank you to my lovely beta, livingdeadblondegirl for listening to me ramble and sharing her opinions.
"Big smiles!" she exclaimed as she gently tickled the little giggling body on the carpet. "I love your smile. You're such a charmer."
He kicked is feet and fisted his hands in the air excitedly as he started to roll from side to side.
"You're such a big boy," she cooed as she picked him up and placed him in her lap.
His first instinct, as usual, was to go for her hair or any necklace she happened to be wearing.
First, he tugged on the friendship necklace Elena had bought her.
She pulled his hand away.
"That's not for babies," she mused as she tried to distract him with her hands.
This lasted for about five seconds, before his wide eyes set upon her hair.
Before she could hold him back, or toss her hair behind her shoulders, his tiny fist had a nice chunk of her freshly trimmed hair in its clutches.
"Ow," she yelped, not expecting him to tug that hard.
She seemed to startle him and he released his grip.
He was looking at her innocently.
"You hurt me," she said dramatically.
He laughed.
"I guess you're big and strong," she said.
She brushed her hands through his mussed hair that he seemed to have more of everyday.
"How does it feel?" she teased.
He laughed some more, and soon she was mimicking his giggles at the sight of his hair sticking up.
"Elena, come look at this," she called to her friend who was in her walk-in-closet busily trying to fill a small suitcase with clothes.
She peaked out from the doorway and smirked.
"He looks adorable," Elena chuckled.
"He has a mini faux-hawk," she declared as she held him up in her lap.
Elena pulled her phone out from her pants pocket and promptly snapped a photo of the two of them together.
"Send that photo to me," she requested.
"I can't believe he's already sixth months old," Elena sighed as she played with her phone briefly.
She nodded in agreement as she set him back down on the area rug in front of her.
"He looks more and more like his father every day," Elena observed.
She gave him a once over and shrugged.
"I think I can see a bit of his mother in him too," she added, smiling at Elena.
"His first name may be Grayson, but he's definitely a Mikaelson," Elena commented as she disappeared back into her closet.
"How much stuff are you packing?" she asked. "You're only going for a weekend," she reminded Elena.
Elena scowled as she dragged her open suitcase into the bedroom and set it beside Elijah's already packed one.
"I know," Elena sighed, "but I hate all my clothes, and nothing fits right since being pregnant."
Grayson rolled towards her and attempted to pull himself back into her lap by her pant leg.
"You're going to your family cottage for a weekend alone with Elijah to belatedly celebrate your anniversary. I don't think you need to dress like you're on the red carpet," she laughed.
Grayson tried to mimic her laugh as she helped him into her lap.
Elena proceeded to hold a shirt up against her torso as she peered into the tall framed mirror against the wall.
"I just want to look good," Elena complained.
She rolled her eyes at her friend's insecurity.
"Elena, you had a baby six months ago. Don't be so hard on yourself. You look great," she affirmed.
Elena glanced at her through the mirror incredulously.
"Besides, the whole objective of this weekend doesn't involve clothes anyways, remember?" she teased as she began to bounce Grayson in her lap.
"That's the plan," Elena huffed, clearly stressed as she tossed the shirt back into her suit case. "This is our first full weekend alone together since before Grayson was born. I fully expect Elijah to get an emergency page at some point," she groaned.
"Don't jinx it," she laughed.
Elena disappeared into the ensuite bathroom to gather up all her beauty and hygiene products.
"Things have just been so stressful since I started working again. Especially the weeks I'm on the night shift. I know it's only part time hours but it's still a lot. Between work and Grayson, Elijah and I don't get much time alone together," Elena explained from the other room.
"Well it's not like you had to go back yet. Elijah makes more than enough money," she reminded Elena.
She could hear Elena scowl as she made faces at Grayson.
"I don't want to lose my seniority or fall out of practice," Elena explained, "and as much as I love being at home with Grayson, I don't think I could do it every day. I need to work and earn my own money. Plus Grayson needs the opportunity to socialize with other kids and the daycare facility at the hospital is amazing."
"How does he like daycare?" she asked curiously.
She swatted Grayson's hand away playfully as he tried to grab her hair once more.
"He seems to be okay with it. The daycare attendants say he's never really fussy. He's a hit with the older kids," Elena told her. "I think I had more separation anxiety than he did."
"And now you're leaving Grayson with me for two nights," she said as she lifted him above her head.
Elena emerged from the bathroom with her makeup bag with a panicked expression on her face.
"I haven't been away from Grayson for a day, let alone two," Elena sighed as she kneeled down to finish packing her bag.
She smiled up at Grayson who was giggling down at her.
"Grayson and I will be fine. Won't we little mister?" she asked him as she swooped him back into her lap. "You stocked us with the necessities - breast milk and diapers - so we're all good," she laughed.
"It's not you two I'm worried about; it's me," Elena mused, as she zipped her bag shut.
She shook her head.
"I'll phone you hourly if you really want me to," she offered jokingly.
"Could you?" Elena asked half seriously and half jokingly.
"No, I refuse to do that," she laughed. "While Grayson and I are watching the latest romantic comedies, you and Elijah are supposed to be creating some romance of your own," she winked. "I will not be Elijah's cock block," she chuckled, covering her mouth guiltily as she looked down at Grayson who was looking back up at her.
"If that's his first word, I will never forgive you," Elena smirked. "And Grayson better not be up all night with you watching movies. His bedtime routine starts at seven o'clock," Elena reminded her as she picked Grayson up from the floor and kissed his nose.
She rolled her eyes.
"I know, Elena. I was just joking," she laughed. "I think Grayson and I are going to Skype with Bonnie before I put him to sleep."
"It's been a while since I talked to Bonnie last," Elena commented. "I've been so busy."
She stood up from the floor and leaned against the foot of Elena and Elijah's bed.
"Bonnie's been super busy too, between her teaching assistant job and writing her dissertation," she explained.
"And Skyping with Kol," Elena grinned.
She cringed.
"Please don't give me a mental picture," she complained.
Elena shrugged.
"Kudos to them for making the long distance thing work though," Elena said.
"Yeah, we all know what a disaster it can be, courtesy of my relationship history," she groaned. "I already told Bonnie to tell Kol that if he touches another woman and I find out about it, I'm going to show up on his doorstep in England and kill him myself," she declared.
Elena gave her an amused but sympathetic look.
"I think if one of us needs to get laid, it's you," Elena laughed.
She let her hands fall to her sides in annoyance.
"Hey," she said defensively. "My bitterness is entirely justified. I don't exactly have the best luck," she argued, "and let's face it, unlike me with you and your sex life with Elijah you're not exactly a champion for my cause. Remember the lab technician from the hospital you tried hooking me up with last summer?"
Elena winced apologetically.
"I had no idea he was a virgin," Elena said innocently.
She sneered at Elena as she approached her and Grayson.
"I'm tired of caring about sex and dating. It's a waste of my time. Grayson is the only little man I need in my life," she smirked as she poked his tummy.
He giggled and tried to grab for her hair again. She pulled back before he could.
"Why doesn't he grab your hair?" she asked Elena.
Elena shrugged with a laugh.
"Maybe it's the curls?" Elena suggested. "Or perhaps he has a thing for blondes?" she mused.
"Who knows," she sighed.
"Maybe Elijah could set you up with one of the single doctors?" Elena proposed, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
She rolled her eyes.
"Most of the doctors at that hospital are ancient and/or they have vaginas," she noted.
Both she and Elena erupted into laughter and Grayson quickly followed suit.
"How about instead of focusing on my love life, you concentrate on sexing up your husband this weekend," she said, wiggling her eyebrows like Elena had done to her.
Elena began to blush and was about to say something when they heard the front door open downstairs.
"Speaking of," she smirked.
They left the bedroom to head downstairs.
"Hello!" Elijah called.
In the hall, Elijah was there to greet them impeccably dressed as always, in a long black wool coat and suit.
He had a paper grocery bag in one hand and a bouquet of roses, similar to the ones Elena had at their wedding, in the other.
She watched from the last stair as Elijah kissed Elena and exchanged the bouquet of roses for an excited Grayson.
"What are these for?" Elena asked about the bouquet while taking the grocery bag.
"Our belated anniversary," he shrugged as he toyed with Grayson's hands.
Elena grinned.
Noticing her on the stair Elijah acknowledged her with a smile.
"Hey, Caroline," he greeted. "The grocery bag is for you. Elena has rid the house of any and all junk food in an effort to perfect her already perfect figure, so I took the liberty of picking you up some ice cream and a variety of other snack foods for the weekend," he informed her.
"Oh my god, thank you," she sighed appreciatively as she stepped off the final stair. "Elena, it's pretty much settled. You have the best husband ever," she stated.
"Where are you when my wife is displeased with me?" Elijah chuckled.
She snorted as they all walked into the kitchen.
"I tell her that she has the best husband all the time, and I also tell her that her body looks amazing," she said, shooting Elena a glare, as Elena put the ice cream in the fridge freezer.
"Maybe she'll listen to you," Elijah thought absently, preoccupied with Grayson.
Elena rolled her eyes as she began to rummage through one of the cupboards in search of a vase for the roses.
"How was work?" Elena asked Elijah, changing the subject.
"No surgeries today; paperwork, consultations, and meetings mostly," he revealed.
Elena brought a newfound vase and the bouquet to the sink where she unwrapped the flowers and placed them inside the vase before filing it with water.
She peered inside the grocery bag to inspect what other junk food Elijah had procured for her. Every junk food group was covered; there was chocolate, popcorn, chips, soda, candy, everything.
"If anyone should be watching their figure it should be single Caroline Forbes over here," she pointed to herself, "but I suppose that can wait until Monday," she shrugged. "You really didn't have to pick this stuff up, Elijah."
He shrugged.
"It's the least I could do in lieu of the fact that you've agreed to take care of this little monster all weekend," he said playfully as he looked at Grayson.
"It's no trouble," she shook her head. "Grayson is an angel with me."
Both Elena and Elijah laughed.
"He can be a devil when he wants to be, as I'm sure you'll find out at some point this weekend," Elijah grinned. "And speaking of the weekend, we should probably get going soon, Elena. The lake house is nearly a two hour drive away," Elijah commented.
Elena nodded and looked hesitantly at Grayson.
"I'm ready to go. The bags are upstairs," Elena told Elijah.
"I'll go get them," Elijah offered, meeting Elena halfway to hand her Grayson.
Elena kissed Grayson's cheek while she bounced him on her arm. She moved towards the kitchen island and lifted a piece of paper.
"So I've outlined Grayson's feeding schedule and routine on here. He eats about five to six times a day. He likes his baby cereal in the morning and at lunch and dinner you can give him a serving or two of the baby food I listed. He naps three times a day, but sometimes four. He's been sleeping through the night, but he still wakes up sometimes," Elena explained before turning the paper over. "On the back are a few emergency phone numbers," she added anxiously, pushing the list across the counter towards her.
"I think I got it," she assured Elena.
"Are you ready?" Elijah called from the front hallway.
They both turned for the front door.
"Elijah and I will have our phones on at all times, so please don't hesitate to call, text, or leave a voicemail if anything happens or you have a question," Elena said further.
She nodded obligingly as Elijah took Grayson back from Elena so she could put on her boots and coat.
"No parties while we're gone," Elijah said to Grayson sternly.
Grayson mumbled an incoherent reply as he touched Elijah's face.
She laughed and awed internally when Elijah gave Grayson a small hug and a kiss on the forehead.
With Elena ready, Elijah handed Grayson to her one final time for her to say goodbye.
"You be a good boy for Auntie Caroline, okay?" she cooed before kissing Grayson's cheek. "Mommy and daddy love you and we'll be back in two days," she reassured him.
Elena glanced at her.
"Call me later when you put Grayson to sleep. I want to check-in and say goodnight," Elena told her.
"Of course," she replied.
Elijah chuckled.
"I will warn you now that Elena will probably call you incessantly all weekend," Elijah mused.
She laughed and Elena gave them both a sour expression.
"Forgive me for being paranoid about leaving my son for two days," Elena said lovingly, nuzzling her face against Grayson's cheek. "We have to go now. I'll see you on Sunday, alright?" Elena murmured to Grayson as she handed him reluctantly to her.
"And if you have to go anywhere, take my car. Grayson's car seat is there. The keys are in the kitchen," Elena informed her.
"Okay," she agreed.
"We should be back Sunday afternoon," Elijah explained.
"Thanks so much for taking a care of him," Elena said.
Elijah nodded in agreement.
"I don't think she would have trusted anyone else," he mused gratefully as he opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch.
"No problem," she replied. "Have a good weekend guys."
Elena blew Grayson a kiss as she stood in the open doorway.
She tried to get Grayson to mimic the gesture, but he could only flail his arms.
"Bye," Elena said with a wave.
"See you on Sunday," she replied.
"Elena, you're letting all the heat out of the house," Elijah chided as he waited for her amusedly.
Elena rolled her eyes and waved once more to them with smile before she finally closed the door.
"Hey," she greeted Bonnie and Kol whose faces appeared in separate boxes on her laptop screen.
She had her laptop set up at the kitchen table with Grayson beside her in his highchair and a bottle of milk.
Bonnie waved.
"There's my favourite nephew," Kol announced as he too waved on the screen.
She hadn't expected Kol to be joining them and Bonnie during their Skype conversation, but Bonnie had texted her and asked her last minute. He wanted to see Grayson.
Kol always managed to find a way to bring up encounters with a certain individual she would rather forget, so she was never keen on talking to him, but Bonnie assured her that he would be on his best behaviour.
Grayson shrieked loudly when he saw the faces appear on screen and he slammed his bottle down on the surface of his high chair.
He seemed to enjoy seeing the faces and hearing the voices on the screen.
Elijah frequently used Skype with Grayson to talk to his siblings.
"Awe, he's getting so big!" Bonnie cried. "Hi, Grayson," she said, waving once more.
"Elena wants me to put him to sleep in a half hour, so we can't talk long," she warned the both of them.
Kol scoffed.
"You're supposed to be the cool aunt that lets him stay up past his bedtime!" Kol cajoled her. "What my brother and Elena don't know won't hurt them."
"I guess I'm not cool," she shrugged.
"Grayson needs his beauty sleep," Bonnie said, rushing to her defence.
Kol sat up straight and smug.
"Beauty comes naturally to all Mikaelsons," he said confidently.
She snorted at his claim.
"How's he been so far? How long have you been alone with him?" Bonnie inquired.
"Elena and Elijah left about an hour ago. I tried feeding him some carrot baby food but he was not having it," she said, recalling Grayson's stubborn protests when she tried to feed him a spoonful of the orange food.
"But he loves the boob juice," Kol laughed, nodding his head on the screen towards Grayson.
She looked over at Grayson who was sucking eagerly on his bottle.
"So Elijah and Elena went to the lake house?" Bonnie asked, making conversation and ignoring Kol's crude humour.
"Yep, they're gone until Sunday," she sighed, already realizing that taking care of Grayson was going to be harder than she thought as some milk dribbled down his chin and onto his bib.
She wiped the milk up quickly and caught the empty bottle he was just about ready to drop on the floor.
"They're working on making me another niece or nephew," Kol commentated.
Both she and Bonnie were shaking their heads.
"How is school?" she asked.
"Terrible," Kol groaned.
She had really only meant to ask Bonnie, she thought amusedly.
"Awful," Bonnie answered.
She laughed lightly at both responses and gave them a curious look as she pulled a rambunctious Grayson out of his high chair and sat him on her lap.
"It's nearly midnight here and I'll be up for another few hours grading the elementary school level garbage that these freshmen think qualify as a research paper," Kol complained.
The idea of Kol Mikaelson grading any of her school work made her wary. She sympathized with his students.
"I just came back from the library. This dissertation will be the death of me," Bonnie lamented. "I can't wait until graduation."
"Did you tell her the good news though, muffin?" Kol asked Bonnie.
She tried to contain her smirk at Kol's pet name for Bonnie.
Bonnie's face seemed to light up.
"Kol is coming to New York for the summer," Bonnie announced excitedly.
Her eyes widened at the news.
"Ms. Bennett and I are going to be living in sin for four months," Kol mused.
Things had definitely gotten serious between the two in the past couple months it seemed.
"Wow, that will be interesting," she commented skeptically, knowing that Bonnie had never lived with any of her previous boyfriends - neither had she.
Kol shrugged.
"She really had no choice in the matter. It was either that or nothing. Nik flat out rejected the suggestion that I stay with him," he said casually.
Just the mention of his name still made her cringe inwardly. Outwardly, however, she played it cool.
"Elijah and Elena will have to make a trip there with Grayson in the summer for a bit of a family reunion then," she proposed, looking down at Grayson who was trying to reach for her laptop.
"Yeah I've only seen the little guy once in person since he was born," Kol agreed.
"Same," Bonnie replied.
As though he knew they were talking about him, Grayson's voice echoed loudly as he tried harder to reach the computer screen.
"Grayson wants to talk too," she laughed.
"He's so adorable. His chocolate eyes and brown hair are to die for," Bonnie gushed. "That's right Grayson, you're adorable," she nodded.
Kol smiled deviously.
"Bonnie likes guys with chocolate eyes and dark hair," he chuckled.
Grayson seemed to nod his head in agreement and they all erupted into laughter.
"He knows exactly what we're talking about," Kol concluded.
"Has Elena called or texted you yet since leaving? This is their first time leaving Grayson overnight, isn't it?" Bonnie wondered.
"She texted me just before I fed Grayson to check-in," she revealed.
Bonnie smiled.
"Awe, I should send her a text," Bonnie said.
She pointed her finger at the screen as Grayson began to squirm in her lap.
"Don't bombard Elena with texts all weekend," she urged. "Elena and Elijah are supposed to be enjoying their time alone together."
Kol snickered knowingly while Bonnie nodded compliantly.
"And making Grayson a brother or sister," Kol added.
Grayson started to fuss some more and she griped him tighter.
"Elena just gave birth six months ago, I don't think she wants to be pregnant again anytime soon," she assured Kol.
"I think it will take a little while longer to forget about the nearly day long labour with Grayson," Bonnie mused.
As she shifted on the chair to try and make her and Grayson more comfortable, his antsy behaviour was soon explained as a foul odour assaulted her nose.
"Ugh, yuck," she sighed.
She had been so excited to play with Grayson all weekend that she had forgotten about all the inconvenient and dirty aspects of taking care of a baby - namely diaper changing.
"What?" Bonnie asked.
"Grayson just filled his diaper, I think," she scowled.
Kol laughed as her face continued to scrunch up.
"I think I'm gonna have to cut the conversation short guys," she decided. "There's no way I can sit here with him and his stinky diaper. Plus I don't think he wants to sit here with one either."
"I suppose there are perks to living an ocean away from your nephew; no diaper changing," Kol realized happily.
"It's okay," Bonnie said understandingly. "Maybe we can talk again tomorrow or Sunday," she suggested.
"Bonnie and I need to get on to our private chat anyways," Kol beamed.
Bonnie glared embarrassingly at her screen.
"Kol shut up!" she hissed.
She shook her head.
"I'll text you, Bonnie," she told her.
Bonnie nodded.
"Goodnight, Grayson," Bonnie said.
"Go get that diaper changed kid," Kol said to Grayson.
Grayson was ignoring her efforts to get him to wave at the screen. At this point the computer was no longer of interest to him and all he wanted to do was get out of her lap.
"Bye, guys," she said, as she quickly ended their conversation and logged off of the computer.
She took Grayson upstairs to his nursery - Jeremy's old room. Selecting a baby blue sleeper with puppies on the front and ensuring all the supplies she needed were in close range, she sat Grayson on the change table and began removing his daytime clothes.
Changing his soiled diaper was something she dreaded. She had only had to do it one another time and Elena was there to help her and guide her through it.
With all but his diaper removed, she laid him back on the table and reached for a fresh diaper.
He was distracted by her necklace as she leaned over him and talked herself up to removing his diaper.
She unfastened the diaper tabs and pulled the diaper back cautiously.
"Oh my god," she murmured under her breath as she plugged her nose; there was poop everywhere. "So gross," she winced.
She cleaned his front off first with a wipe and covered his genitals with another when she was done, just in case he decided to get any ideas about peeing on her. It had happened to Elena and Elijah on more than one occasion.
"You're so stinky," she complained, trying hard to breathe through her mouth and not her nose.
Grayson fussed uncomfortably, clearly just as eager to get out of this situation as she was.
Lifting his legs, she removed the messy diaper and cleaned up his backside as fast as she could before securing the fresh diaper.
It appeared a little crocked but she gave herself a mental pat on the back for her success.
"We did it!" she exclaimed victoriously. "Your mommy would be so proud of me."
Grayson gave her a small smile.
Putting him in the sleeper was a breeze after that.
With him dressed for bed, she turned on the lamp by the rocking chair and turned off the main light.
"It's bedtime little mister," she said, sitting in the rocking chair with him on her lap.
He struggled with her a bit at first, until she pulled her phone out and the glow of the screen captured his interest.
"Let's call your mommy before you fall asleep," she said as she waited for the call to connect. "They should be there now."
She was only partially surprised when the phone rang with no answer.
Either they were still on the road or perhaps Elena was finally relaxing and enjoying her weekend away.
"We'll talk to mommy tomorrow," she told him.
She was surprised when she felt Grayson lean against her chest.
His eyes were still open, but his mouth was now preoccupied with his hands.
She cursed herself when she realized she had forgotten one of Grayson's books over on the shelf.
Not wanting to get up and disturb him just when he seemed to be getting comfortable for sleep, she pulled up a list of nursery rhymes on her phone instead.
She spent a good twenty minutes reading through the list more so out of her own nostalgic curiosity than for Grayson. It brought back memories of her childhood from when her own parents used to read her the same stories.
When she felt something wet on her sweater, she looked down to find Grayson fast asleep with a generous amount of drool dripping from his pouted lip.
She tried to contain her laugh as best she could.
Bonnie was more than right about him being adorable.
She put down her phone and sat there quietly with him for a few minutes, looking around the room.
Jeremy used to try and fight them off in this room when she and Elena would come into his room to steal his toys.
It was unbelievable how quickly time passed. Now Elena had this house as her own with Elijah. She had already been married a year and had a son.
This was all stuff that had seemed so far off just a few years ago.
She supposed it was still far off for her.
It didn't bother her that much. She was still young. There were things about being on her own that she liked. She prized her independence. It was hard to even imagine being married or having a baby to take care of now.
However, she still wondered what the future held and if she would ever have the family that a part of her longed desperately for.
She stood up slowly with Grayson. He stirred drowsily when she placed him into his sleep sack in his crib, but he seemed to lull himself back to sleep.
After cleaning off the change table and putting the supplies back in their places, she turned on the baby monitor and Grayson's small giraffe nightlight at the outlet by the door before turning off the brighter lamp and heading downstairs.
With the other monitor close by, it was time for her to relax and make something to eat. She was starving.
Reminding herself of the junk food Elijah had picked up for her, she opted to make a simple garden salad. She supposed the healthier option would balance itself out with the junk food. Or it would, at the very least, lessen the amount of guilt she had after she ate too much ice cream.
She was absently watching some previously aired coverage on the fashion at last month's Academy Awards from the television in the family room as she sat at the dining table and picked through her salad.
While she was eating, she made a point of texting both Elijah and Elena to inform them that Grayson was sound asleep now.
She almost had a paranoid urge to check on him as she put the baby monitor up to her ear.
When she felt good about the amount of salad she consumed, she began collecting the dishes she had used, along with the ones she had used earlier for Grayson.
She was filling the sink with water when the doorbell rang.
Her first instinct was to ignore it, assuming it was someone for Elijah or Elena, but whoever it was obviously knew someone was here by the fact that the lights were on.
She stepped into the hallway cautiously, automatically jumping to the conclusion that it was probably a home invader.
As she approached the door, she glanced around for any objects that could be used as weapons if needed. She noticed two umbrellas by the coat rack.
"It's the Mystic Falls Police Department," a familiar male voice said from the other side.
The contradictory feelings of relief and panic hit her at the same time as she unlocked the door and opened it.
"Sheriff Martin," she said, greeting the middle-aged man at the door.
"Caroline," he said flatly.
She noticed the sheriff's car parked in front of the house, and a silver two-door car that she recognized as Stefan Salvatore's pulling up across the street.
"How are you?" she asked him anxiously, noticing his blank stare.
He frowned and looked at her apologetically.
"What's going on?" she prodded, looking over his shoulder to see Stefan climbing out of his car frantically and crossing the street.
"Do you mind if I come in?" he asked.
Her chest began to heave as she stepped aside.
The sheriff stepped inside followed by a breathless Stefan.
"What's wrong?" she demanded as she shut the door.
Sheriff Martin and Stefan exchanged glum looks.
"It's Elijah and Elena," Stefan sighed.
Her eyes widened.
"They were in a car accident on a back road about an hour or so from here; black ice, the officers there say. Their car went off the road and flipped several times. Elijah was taken by helicopter to Mystic Falls General - the closest hospital," the Sheriff said.
In that moment all she could hear was white noise as panic rushed through her entire body.
"And Elena? Where's Elena?" she stammered as hot tears began to fill her eyes.
Stefan shook his head regretfully.
"Elena didn't make it. She had passed on before the medics got there," the Sheriff said.
Tears flooded and poured from her eyes as she cried out and broke down.
She covered her face and fell back onto the stair as Stefan sat down beside her.
"No..." she whimpered. "No...I just saw them...this can't happen," she balled.
"When the officers from that county contacted me about the accident and next of kin, I asked them about Grayson. They said there was no sign a baby had been involved in the accident," Sheriff Martin said.
She glanced up at him.
"He's here," she sighed, "oh my god, he's here," she said, completely shocked, realizing simultaneously that Grayson was safe, but that he had also lost his mother. "I was watching him for the weekend. Elena and Elijah were heading to the lake house."
Stefan put a hand on her back in some effort to soothe her, but it was of no use.
Her stomach tied into knots and she felt like she needed to be sick.
How could this be happening? Hadn't she gone through this enough? Hadn't Elena gone through this enough?
Grayson didn't deserve this.
She looked at both Stefan and the Sheriff.
"Elijah? Is he all right?" she wondered as she shot up from the staircase.
"That's why I'm here," Stefan said, "Meredith called me from work and told me he had been admitted," he explained.
"The officers didn't give me many details about his injuries," the Sheriff answered with a shrug.
"Meredith said his injuries were severe...life-threatening," Stefan told her reluctantly. "He might not survive the night."
She gasped in horror at the possibility that Grayson could lose both parents in one night; that she could lose two of her friends in one night.
"We need to go to the hospital," she decided. "We need to be there," she stuttered, referring to her and Grayson.
She hastily put together a bag for Grayson, not even sure if she packed everything he would need. There were a few small toys, diapers, an extra outfit, a blanket, and a sealed jar of baby food just in case he decided to get hungry. He probably wouldn't eat it anyways, so she fully anticipated a trip back home at some point for the refrigerated milk.
He was immediately grumpy when she woke him up from his slumber, having only been put down an hour ago.
She dressed him in his green dinosaur winter onesie - the only one she could find without much searching and secured him in his car seat.
He had no idea what was going on. He was completely oblivious.
Stefan offered to drive them to the hospital. Her hands were shaking. Her entire body was shaking. She was in no condition to drive.
The thought of even being in a car after what had just happened made her very uneasy.
Stefan parked in the emergency parking lot, despite the threat of a hefty ticket, and after a frustrating few minutes trying to figure out how to detach Grayson's seat from its base, they rushed into the emergency receiving area and waiting room.
She took a seat with Grayson while Stefan inquired about Elijah at the front desk.
"What did they say?!" she asked, standing up from the chair when he returned.
Appearing frustrated, Stefan shook his head.
"They didn't have a lot of details. Doctors are trying to stabilize him enough to do some necessary surgeries," he rambled, scanning through his phone. "I told the woman at the front desk who we are. She said we could wait in Elijah's office," he said, holding up a key on Elena's keychain.
She stood up with Grayson's carrier and the bag she had packed. Waiting in Elijah's office would grant them the privacy they did not have in the busy waiting room. It would be quieter for Grayson.
They managed to find their way relatively easily to Elijah's office on the fourth floor.
Stefan turned on the desk lamp and she set Grayson down on the floor in his carrier.
"Meredith must be with Elijah. She hasn't texted me," Stefan said as he leaned against Elijah's desk.
She nodded as she leaned over the carrier to remove the tight buckle and Grayson's heavy onesie.
Standing back up, she glanced curiously around the office, realizing she had never been in it before.
Walking around the room quietly, she tried to take her mind off everything. She read the titles of Elijah's medical books on the wall of shelves, she ran her hand over one of the leather chairs, she admired the pristine desk surface that Elijah had left, and then her eyes fell upon two framed photographs.
One was of Elena and Elijah on their wedding day. The other was a photo she had taken at Christmas time of Elena, Elijah, and Grayson.
Elena was dead and Elijah was barely alive. In one moment their perfect family had been ruined.
Her best friend was dead.
She started to cry again, stifling her noise with a hand over her mouth.
Stefan put a comforting arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him even though he was barely an acquaintance of hers. She only knew him through Elijah and Elena.
"Elijah's gonna pull through," Stefan tried to assure her, though he himself sounded just as unsure as she felt. "He has to make it."
She wiped her eyes as she looked down at Grayson.
Her mind replayed everything that had happened earlier; her conversation with Elena, what she said to Elijah, when they left. She had just been talking to them a few hours ago. Then her mind drifted to the conversation she had with Bonnie and Kol.
Kol, Elijah's brother.
"Elijah's family...Elena's aunt and uncle...they need to know about this," she realized suddenly.
She dreaded having to tell any of them the news.
Elena was never close to Jenna or John, but they would be devastated to learn that Elena and Elijah had perished much in the same way her parents and brother had.
"I'll try and get a hold of Klaus," Stefan offered, moving towards the hallway to make the call.
She didn't even have the numbers of Elena's family to call them.
The only person she could contact was Bonnie.
She would wait for Stefan to make the first call.
When Stefan emerged back in the doorway a few seconds later, she knew he had been unsuccessful.
His favourite pub around the corner from his apartment was crawling with the Friday night after-work crowd who decided to stop by for a drink before returning home.
This crowd included lots of single women, high strung and stressed women in need of a good fuck. That's why they came here. That's why he came here. They were lying if they said that wasn't the reason.
He had managed to entice a rather attractive looking blonde away from her friends or co-workers who were all seated in a booth in the corner.
She had come up to the bar, where he was seated, to place an order, and that's when he stopped her.
He feigned interest in the smell of her perfume and inquired about it.
If he was being honest, he couldn't smell anything at all.
She didn't know that though and was immediately flattered by his compliment.
So he talked to her some more. He asked her about her job, why she was here, who she was here with, and what neighbourhood of the city she lived in. They were all the routine questions to get her talking and to convince her of his interest.
He would only offer to buy her a drink if he thought he was losing her attention. With the way she was rambling on and flirting, however, he didn't think that would be necessary.
In another hour or so he was fairly confident that they would be catching a cab back to her apartment. Two hours after that, he was sure he would be catching a cab back to his.
They were just getting into the juiciest bit of the completely one-sided conversation - ex-boyfriends - when his phone began to go off.
He reached in his pocket for his phone and noticed Stefan's name on the screen.
It was Friday night and he was in the middle of sealing a deal. Stefan should know his habits by now.
He looked back up at the now annoyed woman.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" she wondered.
"Nah," he replied, slipping the phone back into his pocket. "You were saying?" he asked, hoping she would pick up where she left off and his hour of progress would not be undone.
Luckily for him, she did.
She was just in the middle of explaining why her last relationship with some bloke named Anthony didn't work out when his phone complained again.
He glanced at her apologetically as he growled under his breath.
Removing his phone once more, he had full intentions of shutting it completely off, until he noticed the name on the screen; Caroline. He only knew of one.
His body tensed as he eyed the screen curiously and debated whether or not to answer.
One call from Stefan and one random call from Caroline, five minutes apart.
Concluding that it was probably not coincidental, he risked losing his Friday night hook-up and answered.
"Caroline?" he asked unsure.
As soon as he answered with her name, the face of the woman he was trying to seduce instantly went sour.
"Klaus?" a tired, but familiar voice replied.
He hadn't heard the sound of her voice in over a year.
Trying to convey to the woman he was sitting beside he was still interested without words was of no use. By now he probably seemed like a two-timing asshole thanks to his amateur mistake.
"Are you there?" Caroline's voice asked on the other end.
"Yeah, I'm here. To what do I owe the unexpectedness of your call?" he inquired, scolding himself as the girl slid off the bar stool and began to collect her purse and her drink.
He had lost her.
Admitting defeat, he slouched over the bar top with his phone to his ear waiting for Caroline to explain herself.
"Um, it's Elena and Elijah. They were in a car accident tonight," she told him shakily. "Elena was killed instantly. Your brother was rushed to the hospital here in Mystic Falls," she began to sob. "He might not make it through the night."
He felt a terrible sinking feeling in his chest as he tried to process her unbelievable words.
"What did you say?" was all he could manage as he rubbed his free hand over his face.
She was crying lightly on the other end.
"Their car hit black ice and went off the road. Elena...died. Elijah is in the hospital," she repeated. "I'm sorry," she whimpered.
His nephew was the next thing to cross his mind as this news began to sink in.
"Grayson?" he asked, his body going numb as he anticipated the worst.
"He's with me," she sighed, "I was taking care of him this weekend."
He exhaled, finding the tiniest amount of relief amidst the chaos.
There were more questions he wanted to bombard her with, but he knew now wasn't the time.
"I'll be in Mystic Falls as soon as I can get a flight," he said, ending the call.
He downed his drink and jumped off the stool hurriedly.
Placing an unknown amount of cash on the bar top, he grabbed his coat and flew out the door and down the street to his apartment.
In his carry-on bag, he packed only a few necessities along with a suit and tie for what he hoped would only be one funeral.
He locked up his apartment and hailed a taxi from the curb out front.
When he got to the airport, he wasn't even sure which one he was at. He hadn't been paying attention. He simply told the driver to take him to whichever one he could get to the fastest.
After paying the fifty dollar cab fare, he walked frantically into the terminal.
Unless he waited until tomorrow, he only had one flight option: a first class ticket to Richmond on a plane that was due to leave in an hour. Coupled with the nearly two hour drive to Mystic Falls, he would not arrive there until after midnight.
He had no other choice, though. He had to get there as soon as he could and this was the fastest way. So, he put the nearly two thousand dollar plane ticket on his credit card and began the process of going through security.
As he waited at the gate for the plane to begin boarding, he searched through his phone and considered calling Kol or Rebekah. It was nearly two in the morning in London now. They would be asleep.
He decided it was best to wait until morning. There was nothing they could do now. They probably wouldn't even be able to catch a flight tomorrow anyways, and if they did, it would be a red-eye.
His leg shook anxiously as he waited for the boarding announcement. He knew there was no faster way to Mystic Falls than this, but still, he felt like he was wasting time.
There was a family sitting in the seats across from his.
Inevitably, he thought about Elijah, Elena, and Grayson. Everything in the damn airport reminded him of them.
Elena was dead. Grayson had lost his mother and his father was struggling to survive.
He covered his hands over his face as he slouched against his knees.
Grayson couldn't lose his father too.
He couldn't lose his brother.
Elijah was everything to him.
She had just got off the phone with Bonnie when Stefan appeared in the hall with two coffees in hand.
He gave her one and she nodded appreciatively.
Her eyes were already beginning to sting from all the tears she had shed.
It was nearly ten-thirty.
"I called Bonnie. She's gonna try and catch a flight tomorrow afternoon after she's made arrangements with the university. I told her to wait to call Kol, in case Klaus wanted to be the one to tell him," she sniffled.
"Klaus texted me when I was down at the cafeteria. He just landed in Richmond. He's picking up a rental car. He should be here by one-thirty," he told her.
Despite her personal feelings towards Klaus, she was eagerly awaiting his arrival. He needed to be here for his brother. She needed to know that she wasn't alone in this.
Sure, she had Stefan and Meredith, but they weren't as close to Elena and Elijah as she and Klaus were.
Elijah was Klaus's brother.
Klaus was the one who needed to be here to make any decisions that would need to be made.
"Have you spoken with Meredith at all?" she asked Stefan.
Stefan shook his head.
"No, and nobody else seems to know anything," Stefan sighed.
They spent another hour in the hallway just outside Elijah's open office door as Grayson continued to sleep.
As Elijah and Elena's lawyer, there were so many questions she wanted to ask Stefan, but she knew it wasn't the time.
Elijah was the main priority at this point.
And that's when a dishevelled and solemn looking Meredith stepped off the elevator down the hall.
She knew it was bad news instantly.
That facial expression was unmistakable and she had seen it one too many times.
Stefan approached Meredith questioningly and she shook her head and broke down into tears as she fell against Stefan's chest.
"He didn't make it," Meredith confirmed.
She could barely react. She felt like she was comatose, frozen still in some nightmare that she was being forced to watch unfold.
Leaning back against the wall for support, she rubbed her hands over her neck to determine if this was still reality.
"His body couldn't handle all the surgeries. There was too much blood loss," Meredith said vaguely.
She closed her eyes as she listened to Meredith try and contain her emotion.
Feeling like she was intruding on a private moment between Stefan and Meredith, she asked them if they could keep an eye on Grayson for a moment so she could go to the washroom.
They agreed readily, as though they understood the amount of pain she was in. They didn't.
Once in the private staff washroom she spilled the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
Even then, her stomach still felt sick.
She splashed warm and then cold water against her face, hoping to feel something from the contrast. She felt nothing; nothing but a clinching and unyielding pain around her heart.
How could things change so drastically in a matter of a few hours?
This was not the day she expected to have.
She should be on Elena and Elijah's sofa eating ice cream and watching stupid romantic comedies, knowing that Grayson was upstairs sound asleep and that Elijah and Elena had reached their destination safely.
Why did this happen?
Grayson needed his parents.
A few stray tears escaped her eyes and it was then that she noticed the black around her eyes from her ruined makeup.
After she cleaned up her eyes the best she could, she re-emerged from the washroom and approached Stefan who was now standing alone in the hall.
"Meredith has some follow-up protocol and paperwork to go through. Do you want me to drive you and Grayson home?" Stefan offered.
She shook her head as she glanced at the digital clock on the wall.
"Klaus will be here soon. We should probably just wait," she shrugged.
Stefan nodded.
"Can I get you anything?" he asked.
She shook her head again.
"Stefan?"
He raised his eyebrows receptively.
"What happens now? With everything? With Grayson?" she wondered dropping her hands at her sides.
"Elijah and Elena have a will, they have insurance. Don't worry about it tonight, just focus on Grayson. Tomorrow we'll discuss it," he reassured her. "I'm gonna go grab Meredith a coffee and probably get another one for myself. Do you want anything?" he asked.
"No, it's okay, thanks," she replied.
It wasn't okay.
She stood in the hall absently for a few minutes, watching as Stefan disappeared.
This wing of the hospital was entirely quiet since it was made up mostly of offices.
She was almost beginning to think that being in the emergency waiting room was preferable to the silence and emptiness. It was eerie and reminded her too much of what she was feeling.
The silence was soon interrupted by what sounded like frustrated cries from Grayson.
He was wide awake in his carrier and his cries were only growing louder.
Waking up in an unfamiliar place had probably confused and distressed him.
She bit her lip, suppressing the urge to cry herself as she picked him up.
As much as she was grateful for his safety, he reminded her of what they had lost tonight. All she could see in him was Elijah and Elena and it was such a bittersweet thing.
"Shhh," she hushed him as she walked with him around Elijah's desk to look out the windows.
He seemed to settle now that he was perched on her forearm and occupied by the town lights of Mystic Falls that they overlooked from the fourth floor.
If Grayson was hungry or wanted his diaper changed, he was always the type of baby to make that known right away - at least that's how he had been with Elena.
She hoped he could hold off both of those things until they returned home in a bit.
When he grabbed her ponytail - which she had put her hair up in purposely earlier in order to deter him - she made no effort to remove his hand. He wasn't being rough. She supposed she could let it slide on this night.
The gesture she once found annoying now made her smile.
She pulled him in close to her and ran her fingers through his soft hair.
Even though he had no idea what had happened tonight, she felt like she needed to reassure him despite her own uncertainty.
"It's gonna be okay? Alright, little guy?" she said softly. "You're gonna be okay," she told him, attempting to comfort herself just as much as she was trying to comfort him.
He made a few soft incoherent responses as one hand continued to play in her hair and the other griped her sweater tightly.
She stood there with him for awhile even though both her arms were numb from holding him. They stared out the window as she pointed out various places in Mystic Falls that she could recognize despite it being dark.
Soon, he was asleep again, and she gave herself another small pat on the back. She had managed to avoid several potential disasters and challenges with him tonight. She'd been lucky. He was being so good.
Putting him back in his carrier, he murmured contentedly as she stood up and watched him blankly - trying to concentrate on him and nothing else.
When she was certain he'd drifted back to sleep, she returned to the window trying hard not to replay both the recent and distant past in her mind, but failing miserably.
That's when she noticed his reflection in the window standing in the doorway behind her.
Tears she didn't know she was still capable of slid down her cheeks instantly as she turned around to face him hesitantly.
"Klaus," her voice cracked.
She didn't know what to say, but she could tell by the dejected look on his face that he already knew the bad news she wanted to tell him - much like she had with Meredith.
Despite everything, she felt relieved to see him.
In this moment, the tainted history she shared with him was irrelevant.
She didn't feel alone in this anymore.
Out of an instinctive need to console him and assuage herself, she approached him determinedly and wrapped her arms around him as she let another crying spell overcome her.
"Elijah's gone, isn't he?" Klaus breathed.
A/N: I warned you the story would open in a tragic way.
For those of you who don't already know, my fan-fiction will be loosely based upon the movie, Life As We Know It.
What did you think? Do you want to read more? Review me please!
P.S. if any of you are talented at making graphics and would like to make some cover art for this, please let me know! I will love you forever.