Double Trouble

11

After the concert, Elijah Mikaelson came to see his daughter.

"Elijah! There you are!" the woman next to Elle loudly said when she saw him. In a suddenly very enthusiastic manner, she put an arm around Elle and smiled. "Your daughter and I really enjoyed the concert! And how could we not with such a handsome conductor?"

She approached him and seductively placed a kiss on his cheek. Elle felt like throwing up. This woman seemed horrible to her.

She decided to intervene, since that was probably what Lena would do.

"Dad, who is that woman? And what is she doing in our box?" she asked, trying to sound bossy like her twin.

Her Dad and the woman looked at her. The woman immediately started laughing. It did not sound like genuine laughter to Elle, so she just narrowed her eyes.

The woman turned to Elijah again. "Isn't she just adorable?" she flirted.

Elijah laid an arm around the woman's waist and looked at his daughter. "Lena, this is Hayley Marshall. And I believe we talked about this many times. Mind your manners in front of strangers! It's rude to treat a guest like that!" he said, while the last part of his speech had a sharp tone to it.

Elle, instantly feeling guilty for her choice of words, now looked away. "I know. Sorry Dad."

"Water under the bridge! So, how about we go to a restaurant? You must be hungry after such a long concert?" Hayley asked, turning to Elijah again.

He hesitated for a moment. "Actually, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. It's late. Lena should go home now, it's too late for her to go to a restaurant." he pointed out.

Heyley stroked his shoulder. "That's okay, why don't you call your sister? She brought the girl here, so I'm sure she could pick her up again. Then you and I have some time for ourselves."

Elijah hesitated for a moment looking at Hayley. Then, he sighed a little and turned to Elle. "Lena, I hope you don't mind, but I would like to spend a bit of time with Hayley. Let me call your aunt Freya, I'm sure she'll get you home safely. And besides, it's bedtime for you."

Elle folded her arms and gave the woman who had claimed her father for herself for the evening an angry glare.

***

Mystic Falls

Lena looked through the recipes her sister had sent her. She had added a few helpful tips on how to make it look like she had been cooking all her life. It still seemed difficult to Lena. Her mother had been very patient with her, but seeing her daughter acting so unexperienced in the kitchen did make her wonder what was going on.

However, cooking was not the first thing she was planning to do now. Since her mother was still at work, she had the house all to herself. And she planned on making the most of it. Of course, throughout the last weeks, she had already searched the house a couple of times. So far, she hadn't found anything. Which did not stop her enthusiasm at all. Today, she wanted to look even closer at every inch of the house.

Much to her disappointment, she found nothing, again. With a heavy sigh, she closed her mother's wardrobe again. Elena's room was the last one she had searched, but there was nothing to be found. Thinking it was time to start cooking now, she headed for the door. In her thoughtful state, she didn't see the crease in the carpet. So, she tripped and fell on the ground.

Cursing under her breath, she got up again and wanted to leave. But then, she saw something. Due to her fall, the carpet had been moved to the side a bit and now, Lena could see the edge of a door underneath.

Suddenly very eager again, she quickly pulled the carpet aside revealing the door. She opened it and found a box underneath it. The box looked old and a little dusty, but the edges of the lid were clean. As if someone was regularly opening it without taking it out of its hiding place.

Lena sat down on the floor and looked through the box. She found pictures of her parents in it. They were laughing, smiling, hugging each other, on some of them dancing or even kissing. Lena was fascinated. She only knew her father as a man in his early forties, with a serious demeanor and a few grey strands in his dark hair. But on some of those pictures, she saw him as a young man with a leather jackett on his body, an arm around her also very young looking Mom and a careless laugh on his face. Her parents seemed so happy to her on the pictures. There was other stuff in the box too. Old diaries, concert tickets, a few dried flowers, a blanket, a pair of shoes and for some reason, an old radio.

Lena looked again at the photos. She found more of them. Some showed her mother with a big baby bump and her father beaming and hugging his wife from behind. Then there was a picture showing two babies with the names Elle and Lena written underneath it. Lena recognized the picture. In her Dad's room, there was this exact picture standing on his night stand, framed. But, the picture on her Dad's night stand only showed Lena and her name. The second half of the picture was missing.

Lena decided to put the box back to where she found it, since it was almost time for dinner. She also decided to write to Elle, to tell her about her findings and ask her to check the picture on their Dad's night stand. And see whether the other half of the picture had been cut off or just folded back.