Kol was the first in the house to come downstairs the next morning, having woken up and found that he couldn't feel Elena in her normal place in the house. He'd quickly made the discovery that their bond was still intact, to a degree. He doubted Elena recognised it for what it was, and so made a strong effort to shield his emotions from her. When he'd believed Elena to be dead, he had still felt something, but it had taken him a long time to realise what he was still feeling, but even before he'd realised, he thought he subconsciously knew, which was probably why he'd refused to accept Elena's death.

He let out a sigh, following his link to Elena to figure out where she was. Eventually he found his way to the lounge and was surprised to see not one, but two head on the couch in front of him. Elena was asleep on the sofa, her head resting on the shoulder of none other than Elijah, who had his arm around her. He was also asleep, having sat forward enough that his head could rest comfortably on the back of the sofa.

The sight brought a genuine smile to Kol's face, hopefully it wouldn't be long now.

Kol gently shut the doors to the large room, but not before taking a photo of the couple on his phone, he may love them, but it was way too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Caroline was the next to come down, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and hardly recalling why she was still in the Originals' house. Kol appeared before she could go into the lounge and muffled her small shriek at feeling his hands on her.

"It's alright, darling, its just me."

Caroline relaxed when Kol whispered in her ear, but still whacked him on the shoulder when he let go of her. "What the hell, Kol? You scared the crap out of me!"

Kol held up his phone to show Caroline the photo he'd taken; watching her eyes light up.

"Are they?"

"Still asleep." Kol nodded, leading Caroline through to the kitchen. "And you don't need to worry about last night, once I got you to calm down and talk to me, you fell asleep quite quickly. I left you to it."

Caroline mustered up a smile, sitting at the island in the centre of the kitchen and raising an eyebrow at the cup of coffee he placed in front of her a second later.

"One and a half sugars and just a dash of creamer; you're not at all a morning person, darling."

Caroline let out a soft, breathy laugh, accepting the cup of coffee gratefully.

"Never let it be said that I don't pay attention." Kol grinned at the blonde, waggling his eyebrows at her then moving to warm up some blood for the both of them.

•

•

Elijah was the first of the sleeping pair to wake up; he didn't notice the presence next to him until he was about to try and stretch and noticed a weight on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he saw none other than Elena asleep on his shoulder. Elijah let out a long breath, smiling down at her, until he realised that his movements had stirred her and she was beginning to wake up.

As Elena awoke, Elijah closed his eyes and let his head fall back, feigning sleep in order to allow Elena to decide where they went from here. She shifted where she lay against him, letting out a soft noise as she stretched. Upon realising that she was led against Elijah's bare shoulder, she froze and gently moved away from under his arm. Instead of moving off of the sofa completely though, she stayed next to him for a moment, just watching him.

He looked so peaceful in his sleep, so much younger than she knew he was. She gently brushed a slightly longer piece of his dark hair out of his face, she didn't think he'd had it cut recently, from the bits she knew of his recent past she supposed he'd been too busy.

Suddenly realising what she was doing, Elena jerked her hand away from his face and disappeared from the room in a flash.

•

•

"Mmm, what are you doing?" Elijah mumbled, having only just awoken to the feather-light touch of Elena running her fingertip over his face.

"Admiring." Elena smiled. "I'll have you know that I have a very attractive boyfriend."

"Oh, is that so?" Elijah asked, opening the eye that wasn't squashed against a pillow and looking at Elena.

"Mhm…" Elena nodded, running her hand through Elijah's hair lightly, grinning at him when he turned his head into the pillow to hide his yawn, "and he's a total badass, when he's not half asleep."

"Perhaps he would be completely asleep if his girlfriend hadn't woken him up." Elijah muttered, his face still buried in his pillow.

"Well if he values his sleep that much then I suppose he has no interest in feeling his baby kick…"

Elena hid her smile as she watched Elijah's head slowly lift from the pillow and turn to face her as he propped himself up on his elbows, quirking an eyebrow at her, which she mimicked.

"What did you just say?"

"Your child is kicking, Mr Mikaelson, if you would wake up long enough to pay him any attention."

Elijah rolled his eyes at Elena's theatrics, but eagerly sat up, allowing her to guide his hand to her swollen stomach when he hesitated. It took a few torturously long moments before Elijah felt the first kick, and he let out the breath he hadn't realised his was holding. That was his child in there.

Elena giggled at the look of wonder that crossed Elijah's face, gently running her fingers along the back of his hand, which she was still holding.

•

•

"Fun night, brother?" Kol teased, when Elijah joined he and Caroline in the kitchen, waggling his eyebrows.

"I could ask you the same." Elijah pointed out, flicking his eyes in the direction of the blonde vampire who was happily munching on a piece of toast Kol had made her.

At Elijah's words, her pale skin flushed slightly and Elijah hid his smile as he walked over to the coffee pot.

"Now, now, Elijah, no need to embarrass the darling Caroline. She got herself a bit too worked up about our Elena situation and needed a place to sleep for the night." Caroline smiled softly at Kol, leading Elijah to the conclusion that there was something Kol had left unsaid for the Blonde's benefit, interesting, he mused, Kol never really dd much for anyone else's benefit.

"Elena had a nightmare." Elijah revealed with a sigh, sitting down opposite Caroline and Kol with a mug of coffee. "She was particularly rattled and wanted to talk, she could hear that I was still awake with Theodore so came and asked me for help."

"What sort of nightmare?" Kol asked with a frown, his playful mood dissipating.

Elijah let out a long breath, sipping on his coffee. "She couldn't remember, but whatever it was, she was terrified. I had to tell her that I could manipulate her dreams to even convince her to try and go back to sleep. I've never seen her so afraid." He confessed to the pair in front of him.

"How can she be so afraid of something she doesn't remember?" Caroline asked, her embarrassment having disappeared.

"That's what I need to try and figure out." Elijah sighed. "I just hope that it is nothing more than an active imagination after the last few months."

"After everything we've had to deal with, that'd better be all it is." Caroline muttered darkly.

•

•

"How are you feeling today?" Elijah asked, hovering in the doorway to Elena's bedroom; drawing her attention to him.

She smiled at the sight of the wriggling baby in his arms before turning her attention directly to the man stood before her. "I'm okay." She laughed softly when Elijah raised a disbelieving eyebrow and shook her head with a soft sigh. "I don't know, Elijah, it's just a dream, right?"

"Right." Elijah nodded softly, noticing that neither of them really believed what they were saying. "I believe Jeremy and Alaric were going to come and visit today, but only if you're up to it." He changed the topic quickly, hastening to add the condition on the end at the panicked look on her face.

Elena sighed, sitting on the end of her bed and running a hand through her hair. "Jeremy is my brother, and Alaric was my history teacher slash guardian?"

Elijah smiled warmly at the brunette and nodded. "They will understand if you don't want visitors, Elena. I promise you."

"I believe you," Elena smiled, "but perhaps socialising would help?"

"Only if you're certain." Elijah pressed, raising an eyebrow at her.

"You're too nice to me, Elijah." Elena laughed softly. "I don't know why you put up with me."

"We have a long and…complicated past." Elijah swallowed thickly. "Too much so for me to attempt to explain, but rest assured, I am no nicer than you deserve, and you deserve all I can give."

"You really love her, don't you? The…the other me."

"With all my being." Elijah replied after a moment's hesitation. "I like to believe that she felt the same." He smiled tightly at Elena before turning his attention to the baby in his arms that was beginning to demand his attention. "Hungry are we, Mister?" Elijah laughed as Theodore nipped his skin, drawing blood. "I should feed him before he has my head," Elijah smiled at Elena, "are you sure you're alright for company?"

"I'll be fine, Elijah, I promise."

•

•

Hey guys, so my school has started back up again properly now, so my updates probably wont be as frequent as they were over the summer, but I am going to try and keep up as much as I can.

As always, pleaseeeee review and let me know what you guys think, it makes me so happy :)