"I need to tell Ryan," Elena murmured, tracing patterns on his bare chest.

"I thought we were going to keep it quiet for a little longer."

"He's my son, Elijah. He deserves to know he's going to be a big brother. With the damage his creator did to him, it's going to take time for him to accept that he's not being replaced."

"What if we did it together?" Elijah asked, pressing his lips to her hair. "He's my son too."

"I think he'd appreciate that."

Elena sat up and moved to climb out of the bed.

"Leaving so soon?" Elijah grinned, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Ryan knows something is going on with me, so the sooner we tell him, the better he'll feel about it all."

Elijah leaped off the bed and flashed around to scoop her into his arms, making Elena giggle. Kissing her lightly on the lips, he carried her towards the bathroom.

Setting her down, he turned the water on and let it heat up before guiding her beneath the spray.

Instead of kissing him or initiating sex in any way, Elena grabbed his body wash off the shelf and poured some into a sponge.

"I should be taking care of you," Elijah murmured.

She didn't say anything, simply smiled up at him as she smoothed the cream across his skin. Loving this man, this vampire, being able to be vulnerable with him, all she wanted to do was make him feel as safe and cared for as he made her feel.

Kneeling down, she ran the sponge over his calf. Once she started showing, she wouldn't be able to do this so easily, so she'd enjoy being able to do this for him while she still could. With that thought in mind, she kissed his thigh, making him jerk in surprise beneath her touch and Elena fought the urge to smirk when he sighed, his body responding.

Elena caught Elijah's gaze as she switched legs, keeping her eyes on his the entire time she ran the sponge over his skin.

"You know what you're doing to me," Elijah breathed, swallowing thickly.

"Of course." Elena wrapped her fingers around his erection and ran her hand up and down the length. Leaning forward, she bit his leg lightly, knowing it would set him off.

With a growl, Elijah lifted her up and pressed her against the wall, his mouth hard against hers. Elena whimpered, wrapping her legs around his waist and digging her fingers into his skin, eager for him to take her.

Elijah hooked one leg a little higher and thrust into her, both of them moaning at the sensation.

No words were exchanged as he set a desperate pace.

He gripped her hair, tilting her head to one side, so he could bite at her neck with human teeth. Elena moaned in respond, dragging her nails across his back, drawing blood.

"You're going to make me hurt you," Elijah gasped out. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"Please, Elena," he begged.

His dark eyes were frantic and Elena relented, softening her grip on his back. If he put so much as a bruise on her in her condition, it would devastate him, so no matter how much she wanted it.

As he continued to thrust, he fought to regain control and Elena kissed his chest lightly, carding her fingers through his hair, attempting to calm the wildfire in his eyes even as the fires in her veins spiked ever higher.

Throwing her head back, she climaxed with a cry of his name and he followed almost immediately after.

"I love you," Elijah whispered, tracing his thumb beneath her lower lip.

Elena kissed his palm and smiled up at him.

"I'm sorry I pushed you."

"Don't apologize, sweetheart. Once I get more comfortable with making love to you in your current condition, it will be easier to maintain control."

"Once I start showing, we won't be able to do this very well." Elena smiled at him over her shoulder as she turned the water off.

"When do you think you'll start to show?" Elijah asked, placing his hands on her hips.

"I'm not sure. Definitely by the three month mark since there's twins." Elena studied his face and grinned. "You're excited about that part, aren't you? Proud even."

"Of course. You're pregnant with my children. What's not to be proud of?" Elijah's smile widened.

"I hope you're ready for me being a beached whale." Her teasing smile faded as she continued, "And with the pregnancy hormones, I will probably be more of a mess than I was last time around considering the mental health issues I've got this time around."

Elijah cupped her cheek, then pulled her against his chest. "I'll be there by your side, in whatever way you need me to be."

"Even if I get unreasonably angry at you and say terrible things?"

"I give you my word, Elena. You can't scare me."

They traded soft kisses as they dressed, Elijah treating her with much more gentleness and care than he ever had before.

"Are you ready to tell our son that he's going to be a big brother?" Elijah murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Let's do this."

Standing on her tiptoes, Elena pressed her lips lightly to his, then linked her fingers with his and pulled him towards the door.

They found Ryan sitting at the piano tinkering out a tune and Elena's heart started to pound.

Locking the door, she cast a silencing spell and sat down beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"You're trembling." Ryan turned from the piano, and studied her carefully.

"I love you, you're my son and no one can replace you in my heart."

Elijah sat down on his other side. "You were the one to fulfill my forgotten dream of being a father and I love you as much as Elena does."

"What's going on?"

"I'm pregnant and through some twists, Elijah is the father."

Ryan's brows furrowed and he shrank in on himself a little.

"But Ryan, you are my son. You're not being replaced, I swear it. I love you, so much."

"You're not being replaced. We won't abandon you or throw you away," Elijah added.

"We're not Malivore. The twins will only be adding to the family, not taking your place. You're my son, as much my son as the children I'm carrying now." Elena ran her hand down his back.

Ryan's breathing shuddered and he said, "I knew you were planning on having children, but I thought I'd have a few years to get used to the idea."

"Other children, Ryan," Elijah corrected gently. "You are our son."

"She's carrying your biological children though."

"That doesn't make you any less my son."

Ryan looked up at Elijah, uncertainty in his dark eyes.

"Family is always and forever. I've loved you from almost the first time I've ever seen you and that love grew exponentially when I made you my son. You are my son. Biologically." Elena kissed his cheek. "We'll keep telling you this as much as you need us to. You're our first son and we love you and we will never stop loving you."

Elena pulled him down so that his head was on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Elena asked, confused.

"For acting like this."

"You endured centuries of not being enough from a creator who didn't care about the pain he was causing, so it's understandable that finding out I'm pregnant would open your scars in a new way."

"I thought I was healing."

"You are healing, Ryan. But healing isn't linear. Sometimes, healing means coming back to old wounds in a new way," Elijah placed his hand on Ryan's back.

Someone tried to open the door, then knocked and Finn called, "Ryan, are you in there?"

"We're trying to keep this quiet for right now, though you can tell him if you feel like you need to talk to someone, but I don't want it getting out beyond him."

Ryan nodded once and inhaled deeply as he tried to regain control of his emotions.

"Are you ready for me to open the door? He is your friend and sometimes friends can help you work through things that parents can't."

"Open it."

Elena curled her fingers and the door swung open, revealing Finn and he took in the scene in front of him, concern pinching his features.

"I want to talk to Finn, alone, if you don't mind."

She stood up and kissed the top of his head, "I love you, never doubt that."

Leaving her son when he was struggling, it felt wrong, but she couldn't help him through everything, especially since she was the cause of his distress.

Elijah squeezed Ryan's shoulder and followed Elena towards the door.

"How are you feeling?" Elijah asked.

"Just worried about Ryan, why?"

"The vase on top of the piano was shaking. I thought it might be you."

"No." Elena looked up at Elijah, eyes widening. "Ryan."

"Are you sure?"

"He's my son. Why wouldn't he have my magic?"

"When will we tell him?"

"Once he's ready to talk to me again. He needs to know."

"It could go a long way to helping him feel like he won't be through away."

"As long as he knows that we want him because we love him, not because he's now got magic."

"I've got to meet with Sheila about the Phoenix stone. Will you be okay?"

"I'm fine, Elijah." Elena stood on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. "Go. Help them keep the stone from haunting us."

"What should I say if they wonder where you are?"

"I've got the feeling that Sheila might already know. The spirits of nature love to gossip with those who know how to listen."

As he headed towards the door, he glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her one more time before leaving the house.

While Finn and Ryan talked, Elena decided to take a walk. She couldn't sit still.

Her son, her perfect boy, he was currently in the library, doubting her love for him and it made her sick to think about.

As she walked, she looked up at the sky where the full moon hung in the sky. The sound of someone pacing and cursing not far away from her drew her attention and a few moments Elena found Hayley taking a seat by the fountain. The werewolf dug her fingers into the stones and started rocking back and forth.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked as she slowly approached her.

Hayley shook her head, "I don't know."

"You're not a wolf right now," Elena commented. It was a struggle to keep her excitement from bleeding through. Hayley wasn't ready to be happy about being pregnant just yet.

"No." Hayley bounced her foot up and down.

"Which means you're pregnant."

"How is this even possible?" Hayley leaped to her feet. "He's a vampire!"

"Klaus isn't just a vampire. He's the Original Hybrid."

"What's the difference?" Hayley tilted her head, curious now.

"Magic made him a vampire, but he was born a werewolf. Because of the circumstances surrounding him gaining immortality, it's become a loophole, one Esther tried to block by binding him to the doppelgangers, but it didn't hold once he killed me, so he is capable of fathering children."

"You're not surprised by this."

"Because you're not the only one who's carrying an impossible child."

"You're pregnant too? With Elijah's baby?"

"Yes, I am. So, you're not alone, I promise you. You're carrying a Mikaelson child, so that makes you a Mikaelson by extension. I know you're looking for your family, but we can be a new family for you, if you'll let us be. Not a replacement for what you lost, simply more people to love you and have your back when you need help."

"You're gonna make me cry." Hayley brushed tears out of her eyes as she spoke.

"But, if you do want answers about where you came from, let us tie up some loose ends here, then I'll go with you."

"I'd um, I'd like that." Hayley smiled.

"Elijah texted me and told me that you might need me," Caroline said as she approached them.

"You don't have to do everything he says, just because he says it." Elena smiled.

"But he is my sire and I owe him so much." Caroline shrugged. Her eyes went wide when she saw Hayley. "Tyler?"

"No. Iurns out trying to keep Klaus from killing a bunch of hikers had lasting repercussions." Hayley winced. Apparently, she'd seen that Klaus had a thing for the blonde vampire.

"Vampires can't have children."

"But Original Hybrids can," Elena said, keeping her voice as gentle as possible.

"Oh. So you and Klaus..." Caroline trailed off, her shoulders slumping just a little and Elena could almost hear the thoughts going through her friend's head. Once again, a man chose someone else over her, no matter how much she liked them and they seemed to like her.

"No. Oh, god, no! If you like him, he's all yours. I just happened to be the lucky girl who figured out that Original Hybrids can father children."

"Does he know?" Caroline perked up just a little then and Elena wondered just how long it would be before the two of them got together.

"Not yet. I was just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm pregnant when Elena found me."

Caroline sat down on the other side of Elena and leaned her head on her friend's shoulder.

"Sometimes I miss it when the supernatural was only in stories. Because now, we're always so busy with this or that so we hardly have time to hang out anymore."

"It's called growing up and learning to balance out our responsibilities with what we want." Elena rested her cheek against Caroline's hair.

"Yeah, except I'll be seventeen forever so I can't exactly grow up."

"But you were sired by an Original, so that brings it's own set of responsibilities."

"Yeah, I guess so. I just miss the time when you, Bonnie, and I could just go to each other's places and have sleepovers and watch movies and talk about very human things."

"But, none of us are human, at least not in the way we used to think we were."

"Nope. Now I'm a badass vampire and you and Bonnie are crazy powerful witches. So it's not all bad. In fact, I'm actually beginning to like myself."

"Speaking of things friends do for each other, we need to help Hayley when she tells Klaus he's gonna be a father."

"That's not gonna be fun." Caroline cringed.

"No. But it's important that he finds out as soon as possible so he has time to wrap his head around it before the baby's born and since he likes you the most outside of his family, perhaps having you around will help him stay a little calmer."

"Klaus bait," Caroline giggled.

Elena found herself remembering a much different time when that phrase was used, but she pushed the thought away quickly. Klaus wasn't the enemy, not here, not now, and that life would never happen. Klaus was the brother of the man she loved and that made him family.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Hayley added quickly.

"And miss seeing Klaus's reaction? Never." Caroline grinned conspiratorially.

Hayley sighed in relief and Elena found herself feeling guilty for ever not liking the wolf. How long had it been since she'd been able to trust someone? And when was the last time she had friends that she didn't feel like she had to sleep with to keep their loyalty?

"Do you think there's a chance we can head out to try to find my family before the baby is born?" Hayley asked after a long moment.

"We will definitely be there before the baby is born and hopefully before you reach the four month mark."

Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of footsteps on the walk drew Elena's attention.

Ryan approached slowly, his hands in his pockets.

"Can we talk?" he swallowed thickly and met her gaze.

Heart pounding, Elena followed him down the path.

He paused, not looking at her for a moment and Elena remained quiet, letting him find the words.

"Finn's a good friend," he said finally.

"Yes, he is."

Ryan took a deep breath, then spoke again, "You're my mother."

"Yes."

"And Elijah thinks of me a his son."

"Yes."

"And you're not going to replace me."

"Definitely not! You'll always be my first son, our first son."

Elena carded her fingers through his curls and tugged his head down so that his cheek rested against her hair.

"I love you, Ryan."

"I love you," he hesitated for a moment, "Mother."