The Grill was the place which Caroline used as a get away from the world to ease all of her troubles and so, this was where she ended up.. The way she walked into the place, with a majorly pissed off look on her face,  told Matt to pour a glass of her favourite whiskey cocktail which he had named after her.

She sat down at the bar and took a sip- "Thanks, so needed this!"

"You've seen him and I shouldn't ask?!"-Matt said to her.

Caroline took a sip of the drink and snapping out of her mood for a moment asked-

"Him?!"-

Matt now gathered that something else made her joyful-self sour.

"Who is him, Matt??"-she repeated. The door swang open and Tyler walked in and Matt's look gave out who he had meant to be the person who had spoiled her day.

Caroline took another sip of the cocktail.

Tyler now got to the bar and greeted her wishing her a happy birthday.

"Happy it was for a black out evening!"-she sifted.

"Oh, not changed much!"-Tyler said.

Matt went off to serve others, leaving the two ex-s get on with their bitching.

"What are you here?"-Caroline then said-"don't tell me you got homesick?! Trust me I wished I stayed away!"

"It's been four years and I thought why not see my friends- yeah- I got homesick."-he said taking his bottle of beer and walked away to the billiard table. Caroline followed him.

"She dumped you!"-she said referring to a women he cheated with and left Mystic Falls with to college.

"That was ages ago. Since then I had tone of girlfriends."-Tyler spat back.

"You're not a one woman man!!"- Caroline added snappily.

"I hurt you- and I am sorry. Can we just put it behind us?! And be friends?"-he now looked at her sincerely.

Caroline knew that it was stupid holding a grudge forever. He was her first love, but things can change by a flick of a switch and she suddenly was aware that she needed all her friends to help her deal with whatever was coming to her.

"Ok- friends! So, are you ready to get your ass kicked?!"- she said challenging him to play billiards.

"You're on- friend!"-Tyler said.

Matt couldn't believe his eyes seeing them bury the hatchet.

*******

In the Mikaelson mansion two siblings were enjoying their conversation together. And it was not about magic, witches,vampires, werewolves or  their family, but about current world news, books they have read recently and about Elijah's passion for the art. They, inadvertently came to the topic of sustainability.

'What keeps the spirit from not breaking?!'-Freya said to Elijah.

"Defiance!"-he uttered looking at her. 

"And a lot of patience"-Freya said.

Rose apologized for intruding on their time alone, but she reported that Kol made a move.

"Finn!"-Freya said looking at Elijah.

"Yes. It was expected. They have always seen eye to eye."-Elijah said-" I am not ready for a reunion just yet. We should leave."-Elijah said.

"New York?!"-Rose uttered.

"Yes."-he said shortly, then looked at his phone, excused himself and left saying that he would return shortly.

As Elijah walked out, Frey asked simply looking at Rose-

"Elena?!"

Rose nodded confirming that was a reason for Elijah's sudden exit. When it came to the matter of the heart, Freya knew that her younger brother would keep things to himself. She asked Rose to tell her more about Elena, who was glad to share all she knew about the doppelganger.

Elijah got into his car and drove to the lake house. Another faithful vampire kept watch over Elena. As he spoke to him he reported that she was in a very distraught state.

Elena suffered a post-traumatic effect. As Jenna mentioned her parents and their death. it was as if something triggered something in her and all that had happened had seemed like a lava that crashed on her and she burst out crying bitterly. Emotions that she had bottled up for years just errupted.

Flashback

"Elena is quiet"- Jenna said to Liz -"it's been days after the funeral and she is like she took a sedative, I feared she took drugs, but it's not so...it's like she blocked the whole thing off ?!"

"Did you speak to Alaric?"- Liz asked.

"Yes. He said that some people do this because the pain is too great- it's their mechanism to survive"-Jenna replied.

"It's devastating having lost your mother, father and brother in the same day."-Liz said-"it's good she has you!"

"I am so greatful that she has Caroline and Bonnie."-Jenna said.

"And the fact that she doesn't know who really killed them!"-Liz said.

Elijah found Elena curled up lying on the pier. She moved to face him as he crouched down.

"You?!"-she uttered.

Elijah nodded slightly and simply picked her up and swished over to the house.

"You have to invite me in"-he said as they were in front of the door about to get in -"so we can get in."

She looked at him briefly and said-"Come in!"

He walked  inside the house with her still in his arms and gently put her down on the sofa.

Elena, still shaken, pulled the blanket over to her and covered herself up.

She was shaking uncontrollably.With the speed of light, Elijah lit the fire and found a scotch, poured some of  it in a glass and offered it to her.

"A stiff drink will help you warm up from the inside."-he said gently.

Elena took a sip. It burnt like fire, but it seemed to work as she snapped out of her shell-shocked state looking at him. He was yet again so very attentive with her.

"Better?"-he asked.

Elena nodded.

"Good."- he said and went to the kitchen and within minutes he warmed up a soup out of a can and brought the bowl to her. 

"Thank you"- Elena took the bowl. Her head was buzzing from the current happenings, but she had no strength to respond yet.

Elijah checked the fire and added a couple of small logs.

Elena looked at him as she ate her soup. Jenna's words rang back in her mind -'he is a very charming looking man, but he is not a man!'

Elena didn't understand why she suddenly was so stirred up by his presence. and that part of her was pleased that he was there. 

Her phone rang and she took it out of the pocket, answering Jenna's call.

"I am fine...yes...at the lake house. I just need time alone...no... she doesn't have to come... I want to be by myself...ok... I will see you in the morning."' Elena hung up.

Elijah could hear the whole conversation and how worried Jenna was as well as apologetic about the outburst she had with Elena.

Elijah gave her a silent look. She didn't share that she was not alone,  and she stopped Sophie coming over to the lake house.

"I guess you had someone watching me?!"' Elena then said.

Elijah sat down on the armchair  and replied -

"Yes, Elena."

"Earlier... I...Jenna, my aunt and I had a..."

"You needn't explain. Family are tough and high emotions run when one is in danger."' Elijah said.

"Families!"- Elena uttered- "I only have Jenna...but I guess, you know that"

"I do."' he confirmed. 

Elena's eyes watered again as the memory of her parents and her brother came up.

"I don't know what happened... I mean, I know... what is bad... I couldn't cry when they died. Something like snapped inside of me and I just shut down." Elena started talking to him as if he knew him forever. And she didn't understand where it came from. He had only just met him. It puzzled her but she continued-

"Everything inside of me crashed...and I am not like this at all... they always said that I am sensible... and I am sensible!"

She put the bowl on the side table.

"You simply had bottled up the grief. To survive. It is harrowing to lose a member of family let alone all"- Elijah said.

"It is kind of weird talking to you about it...but what Rose had told me... you are fighting against two brothers and a sister?! Jeremy and I fought... it's so silly... I am remembering trivial stuff..."- she wiped now the tears off that came down. 

"We were once a united family"- Elijah said trying to deflect on his story- "we very close...but that was nearly two thousand years ago-"

Elena could see a flicker of sadness in his eyes. He looked at the fire and then he put two more logs in. 

"You knew  the other doppelgangers?! That looked exactly like me- one was taken by the witches, so Rose said... to curse him?"

"Yes. Her name was Tatia."' ' Elijah said.

"You knew her?!"

"Very well."- he said shortly and if by magic he felt that Elena had the same vampiric abilities, because he felt like she was probing him just by looking at him.

"What exactly happened to her? Are you protecting me because of her?"' Elena was eager to know all. Elijah understood that she wanted to know all and she rightfully deserved to.

"At the time...when I had met her, she was but a young woman. Her husband died in battle and she had  small child. She was from Thracia, originally, but she had made her way to our lands in the north. The witches knew exactly who she was the minute she arrived. They held her in great esteem. She was promised better living  but she was actually coerced to come to our lands for a completely different reason.!..."

Elena listened attentively. Elijah continued'

"You know now that there are two kinds of witches... those who follow the teachings of dark magic and those of white magic- anyway, Tatia was from a clan that according to tales of beginning of time were carrier of mystic blood bestowed upon them to unite all magic. But that was just a tale, a myth. The blood is mystical, and it was used by dark witches to create demonic helpers, vampires. So the five clans were made. The first woman...and all her children were killed. One escaped, and here we are today, with another doppelganger."

"So my blood... their blood is used for evil"' Elena uttered.

"Only witches truly know the truth...Freya said that it depends on the witch and the magic- your blood could be used by either witches- it can be for good or for evil."' Elijah explained.

"Freya?"' Elena said looking at him questioningly. She could see a shift in him as the name was uttered.

"Freya is my older sister. The first born. She is a witch."

He paused for a moment and then said poignantly- "I am not only protecting you against Klaus, but also because I will need your blood to undo the curse set on her. The heart I exchanged for you last night was a heart of the 12 witches that were killed to curse Freya, stripping her of all her magic."

"The Legend of the 12 witches is real?! "' Elena concluded.

"Yes, Elena."' he said.

"But why was she cursed?!!"

"Freya is the witch that could unite and purify the magic,and therefore destroy the dark magic!"' Elijah said.

 Flashback

Thousand years ago

"Freya is the one." Dahlia said to her sister Esther.

"The one?!"-Esther tried not to show that she knew that her daughter was the witch who carried the gift of all witchcraft.

"I have seen the mark on her lower back! You have cleverly told her to hide it from us all. Always bathing her when she was a child away from everyone."' Dahlia said.

Esther suddenly realized that her evil sister had already done something to her daughter and in great pain  tried to get out of her Freya's whereabouts. But the evil witch had imprisoned her in an unknown place. 

"I cannot allow this to happen. "' Dahlia said' " I have too much at stake for it all to go awry. The werewolf clans are causing too much damage and spreading like the plague."

"All you want is power and control?! Being married to the king is not enough for you?!"- Esther screamed.

"And how do you think I got that power? By using white magic? Did white magic make your children what they are now!?"' Dahlia spat back. 

Elijah stood not far from the house and had heard everything. Without confiding to anyone he followed his aunt's minions hoping that they would lead him to his sister, who he would set free. But Dahlia had discovered him and made him watch the ritual in which 12 witches were sacrificed for the spell that rendered Freya's magic useless. 

Elijah then explained of the 12 witches' hearts he needed for the reverse spell.

******

After finishing studying the Bennett Grimoire, Bonnie went to the Grill to unwind. She had already received a message that Tyler was back in town, that Elena was AWOL and that she had way too many cocktails and that she was having a birthday after-party. 

A man, with deep blue eyes and a very pleasant countenance entered the Grill. He sat at the bar and ordered a single molt scotch. 

"Who is the woman dancing on the table?"' he asked Matt.

"Her name is Caroline. She is celebrating her 25th birthday again!!"' - Matt said.

"Well, happy birthday to her!"' the man said-" send her a complimentary drink on my behalf!"

"And you are?"' Matt asked.

"Nik!"' Klaus said.