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This is the final chapter of this story. I always intended to end with a journal entry.

Klaus,

Shame on you all; you should have kept a better eye on your 'prisoner', and you really should have known sweet, little Elena wouldn't be able to kill me. Honestly, escaping while you boys were arguing over the next course of action was way too easy.

I feel confident Elijah won't hunt me down, and Kol will respect his hypocritical girlfriend's wishes because in case you haven't noticed he's wrapped around her little finger.

Rebekah never cared anyway.

And as for you; I've got a little something for you. I've caught wind of a witch in New Orleans named Jane-Anne Deveraux plotting a move against you. You should hunt her down because what she has to say will rattle you so deeply to your core that chasing little old me will be the least of your problems.

It's been a fun five centuries, but I've worn down too many good heels running from you.

Love and hate,

Katerina.

I wasn't sure at the time why I kept this letter. I'm still not sure to be honest, but I did keep it.

She was right. We should have kept a better watch on her once she was in our grasp, but I couldn't bear to look at her. I could barely look at myself. It didn't matter that she had killed countless people in the name of her own survival. And it didn't matter that I had also taken lives while my humanity was gone. When it came down to it I couldn't kill her. I couldn't take another life. I thought when Klaus came to me with the news that she was the only person I would be able to kill, but… I'm not like her.

I couldn't kill her and I didn't want to watch her die. It seemed Elijah was only willing to stand by while I took her life. My claim, as he said, was more valid than Klaus'; all Katherine had ever done was run from him. But me… her crimes against me were countless.

Of course the ensuing argument with Klaus gave her the perfect opportunity to escape. It's what she does best. Klaus was going to follow her until he found the letter.

For once his narcissistic paranoia paid off because there was a witch plotting against him.

Cassandra of Troy and the Oracle of Delphi couldn't have foreseen the chain of events that would unravel when Klaus broke his curse. Everything traces back to that one full moon when he changed all of our lives.

How was he supposed to know he would gain fertility?

It was a complete fluke really that Hayley should have been in his care during the time everyone was scrambling around for the cure. A little too much to drink and three months later we all found ourselves in New Orleans.

To think that if I had been capable of killing Katherine we might not have learned of Jane Anne.

That was six months ago.

It took less than a week for Klaus to turn on his siblings. It was Elijah first and then Rebekah. He might have even killed her permanently.

Thankfully Kol and Elijah got wind of it.

Kol and I left the next morning. He didn't say a word until we three states away and he told me he brought it on himself. Klaus would have killed Rebekah if he hadn't provided the distraction. Telling his half-brother that he was the one who brought Mikael to town a century ago gave Elijah enough time to heal and push a cursed blade through Klaus' heart. He had feared Klaus might come after me in retaliation for the lie.

I wanted to call him an idiot because surely Rebekah was capable of defending herself. If I'm honest I think I did call him an idiot. The thought that he had put himself in the path of death… it made me angry. I didn't say a word to him for three days after that until he leaned in the door of the hotel suite and broke the silence one night. While he had always been the outcast that didn't mean he could stand to watch a growing rift between Klaus and Rebekah; Klaus never would have forgiven himself for killing her.

"But he would have if it was you?"

"She's my sister, darling. We might fight like cats and dogs, but I'll always stick up for her. Please don't be angry at me for trying to save her life and yours."

"I'm not mad at you for saving my life. I'm mad because you made me care about yours."

And that was that.

Months passed without a peep from his family, but we still heard whispers. If Elijah and Klaus are good at one thing it's causing trouble, even when they have good intentions.

Kol asked me if I wanted to return to Mystic Falls after we left Louisiana, but I couldn't go back there. That town had caused me nothing but pain in recent years, and with Caroline and Bonnie off to Whitmore there was really nothing there anymore.

As much as I would like to say he was the sun that pulled me out of the dark he wasn't. Kol… he was more like the moon. He brought some light to the dark when I didn't think I'd ever see the sun again without forcing me into the light of day.

The thought of leaving him never crossed my mind. I played off the desire to stay near while my humanity was gone, but even then I wanted to stay. I tried to push him away after Jeremy, but my feet didn't take me home that day. They took me to his house.

It's been seven months since I buried my brother and five since we left his.

Radio silence… it had been nice, but eventually Klaus always calls.

I've got my fingers crossed that things are on the mend, but I don't know how Klaus is handling losing his child.

Elena froze in her writing. The sound of tires in the driveway had drawn her from the pages of her journal. She hadn't written a word since learning about her sire bond. She hadn't been able to pick up the pen again until her boyfriend had left to meet his brother.

He was back now.

She carefully tucked the folded papers of Katherine and Elijah's letters into the pages of her journal and placed it on the bookshelf before straightening the window seat and moving towards the stairs.

She was at the bottom in a flash and turning into the kitchen.

A brilliant smile lifted the corners of her mouth when she saw him in front of the table.

"Hey," she bit down on her bottom lip.

"Hello, darling," Kol turned to face her.

Elena released her lip and flashed across the room to wrap her arms securely around his neck. He had been gone since yesterday morning and she was determined to give him a proper welcome. And a proper welcome included a searing kiss that would make him think twice about leaving for an extended period again.

Kol's hands found her hips easily. He could have traced the planes of her body by memory alone. His lips parted for her insistent tongue as his hands slid up the few inches towards her ribs.

Elena nipped at his lip and sucked his tongue into her mouth causing him to groan and pull her impossibly close. She could feel him growing and poking her belly.

It was with great reluctance that she broke the kiss, but even vampires needed to breathe. She busied her mouth by working along his jaw and down his throat.

"What's gotten into you, darling?" He gasped. Her teeth were working the sensitive spot below his ear, the spot that she knew drove him crazy.

"I," she spoke between each lick and nip, "missed you, and I plan," she stretched up on her toes, "to show you," her hands slid down his stomach to his belt, "just how much." Her body sizzled with energy. With a wicked smirk she dropped to her knees.

"Bloody hell," Kol breathed. It took all of his will power to catch her hands. "Elena."

Elena narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. She had used her teeth to unfasten his jeans before, but she had thought she'd skip that tonight. However if he wanted to be teased she wouldn't say no. She was just leaning forward when a soft sound reached her ears.

Rocking back on her knees she turned her neck and felt the line appear between her eyebrows.

"Is that a car seat?"

"Yes," Kol exhaled slowly. He never did understand how she could arouse him so quickly, and under normal circumstances he didn't mind, but there were some things that they needed to discuss.

Elena got to her feet slowly and felt the beginning strains of exasperation.

"Did you kidnap a baby?" She could hear the child's steady heartbeat. Slowly she circled around and looked down into the babe's large blue eyes; there was a devilish hint to the innocent hue, or maybe that was something about the mouth.

"I assure you darling that her father placed her directly in my arms," he watched her unfasten the straps and lift the little girl out.

"Was compulsion involved?" Elena fought down her smile. He knew the one thing she hated about being a vampire was her inability to have children, and if it was a joke it was one thing, but if he actually kidnapped a baby they were about to have a very serious argument. "She can't be more than a few days old."

"She's not," Kol came around and wrapped his arms around Elena's waist.

"Kol?" Elena ran her finger down the child's soft cheek. There was something familiar in her face.

"I did not kidnap this child," he sighed and kissed her neck.

"Then where did she come from?" Elena twisted her head around to meet his twinkling eyes.

"Well Elena," he smirked, "when a mommy and daddy love each other very much…" He grunted when her elbow lightly dug into his stomach.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," she tried not to laugh. "Seriously Kol, where did you get this baby? You were supposed to meet Klaus. How did that go by the way? Are we headed back to New Orleans?"

"He's… what's that term you use love… mellowed?"

"Klaus has mellowed?" Elena cocked an eyebrow. "I think I have to see that too believe it. I thought he'd be in a rage."

"So did I," Kol watched the baby yawn. "New Orleans believes he has shut himself in. Hayley and Elijah as well."

Elena blinked slowly as she processed the information. Shouldn't Hayley have been dead?

"Hayley…"

"Died in childbirth with her baby's blood still coursing through her body," Kol's voice dropped to a low murmur. "She awoke in transition and completed the process a few hours later."

"But how did she…" Elena's eyes slowly fell from Kol's face to her arms. The child had brilliant blue eyes and a stubborn set to her lips; both features were familiar to her. She knew them well, and a cursory smell confirmed her suspicion. Under the human blood there was something else, something older and darker. "What's her name?"

"Hope," Kol lifted one hand to cup the child's head. "Her name is Hope Mikaelson, but…" he turned to meet his lover's eyes, "…I thought we might use yours."

"We're not going back to New Orleans," Elena shook her head. She looked down to the child in her arms and gave her a warm smile. If she had her way Hope would never know the horror that came with her family, but she knew eventually they would be called back.

"We're going to have to move," she kissed the baby's brow. "Enough people have seen me around and will know there is no way I just had a baby."

"I thought we'd find a nice small town somewhere," Kol smiled, "and blend in, or one of the bigger cities."

"A young couple and their newborn baby?" Elena found she wasn't opposed the prospect. "We've got quite the lie to sell."

"I thought part of it might be true," Kol moved one hand to his pocket and lifted his fingers in front of her face. Hope's eyes tracked the movement and locked on the sparkling stone.

Elena's breath caught in her throat. She looked from the glittering diamond to Kol and then Hope. She swallowed thickly and turned her neck to meet his eyes.

"Are you serious?" She couldn't manage more than a whisper.

"Deadly," his smirk fell away.

Elena couldn't remember ever seeing him nervous before, but he was now.

"I've been carrying this around for a week, darling. I wanted to find the right time to ask, and then I got called away."

"You are serious," she gasped when he turned her around and fell to one knee.

"I have very few moments in my life when I'm serious Elena, but this is one of them, and I would take your hand but you're holding the baby," he smiled when she laughed. "I love you Elena Gilbert. For a thousand years I thought I had forgotten that feeling, but then I met you…"

"And I tried to kill you," she pointed out with a wry smile. In less than a year they had done a one hundred and eighty degree turn.

"Then you spent weeks avoiding me to make sure you didn't," his hand splayed over her hip. "You're getting me off topic though."

"I'm sorry," she pressed her lips together, "please continue."

"Like I was saying I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my unnaturally long life loving you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes…"

"Now before you say no…" his eyes widened comically. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yes," she smiled. "You're not getting hard of hearing in your old age Kol. I said yes; I will marry you. I know I don't say it enough, but I love you and I will gladly spend eternity with you."

Kol stood up and pressed a firm kiss to her lips. Every emotion he felt for her passed between them in that moment and the overjoyed motion of his mouth.

"I love you," he broke the kiss and murmured against her lips. "And I would put this ring on you right now, but…"

"I'm holding a baby," Elena grinned. Her eyes dropped to the space between them. Hope's stomach was rumbling. "And I believe she's hungry."

"I believe you're right," Kol backed up and began sorting through a diaper bag.

Elena tilted her head as her fiancé moved about the kitchen warming a bottle.

"How do you know so much about babies?" Elena arched an eyebrow.

"I don't," he tested the formula on his wrist. "I stopped at a hospital on the way back and compelled a very friendly pediatric nurse. Stopping to take care of her is what took me so long to get back."

"Then I'll forgive your long absence," Elena sat in the chair and took the bottle. She carefully pressed the nipple to Hope's lips and watched as the child began to greedily suckle at the food.

Kol pulled a chair out and sat beside her.

"It looks like you've got a reason to get out of bed again," he watched his niece feeding.

"I've had a reason to get up for a long time," Elena shifted in the chair and laid her head on his shoulder, "now I've got two."

"Careful, Elena," he pressed a teasing kiss to her hair, "someone might start to think you care."

"You know I care," she tipped her head back to meet his eyes and smiled into his kiss.

"I do."

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