Double Trouble

19

The ringing of a phone interrupted the laughter in the children's room. Elijah wiped a tear of amusement from his face and went to answer it.

"Elijah? Why are you still at home, we agreed to meet at my place today! We said 8 o'clock, remember?" Hayley Marshall's voice sounded displeased about his forgetfulness.

He shot a quick glance towards his daughter's room and saw Elena sitting on a chair near the bed, smiling at something their children had just said. "I'm sorry, Hayley, but I won't be able to make it. Lena has fallen ill and I should really stay with her. By the way, did she visit you today?"

"Oh, yes, she did. And you know what else she did? She forbade me to marry you! Can you believe the nerve of that girl? Seriously, Elijah, your daughter is lovely, but you really ought to be more strict with her! The audacity she had when she came to me today was completely unacceptable!" Hayley answered, still angry when she thought about the little girl's visit.

"So, you sent her away again?" Elijah inquired.

"Yes, I did. We can't both be spoiling her like a princess, you know?"

The dark-haired man had heard enough. "I see. Well, as I said, I won't be able to make it today. But I do think there's something we need to talk about. Can you meet me tomorrow for a cup of coffee?"

A few minutes later, Elijah stepped back into the children's room again.

"Who was that?" Elena asked him.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Nothing too important. I'll deal with it tomorrow."

***

On the next day, Elena caled her boss telling him that a complicated situation with her children had arisen which caused her to be unable to go to work for a few days. He was disappointed at first, but when she tried to explain the situation in detail, he quickly said it was fine.

Elijah met Hayley at a Café and told her that their relationship was over. Hayley was furious, but there was nothing she could do to change his mind.

Freya alarmed the rest of the Mikaelson family about Elena and Elle's arrival. Kol and Sophie decided to visit them on the very same evening and, being curious to see both twins in the same room again, Marcel and Rebekah joined them too and brought Davina. Their daughter was even more curious then her parents. And, considering she had never seen both twins together before and hadn't even officially met Elle, this was very understandable.

The living room of Elijah  and Freya's house was filled with people that evening.

"Look, we came bearing gifts!" Sophie said while holding up a photo frame.

Elijah looked at it, mildly surprised. "That's a lovely gift." he politely said.

Sophie, seeing his expression, explained: "It's exactly twice the size of the one on your bedstand. When we came here to water the plants while ypu were in Richmond, I saw the picture and the frame on your bed. I saw that you had half-ed the pic, so that you could only see Lena. I thought you probably want to change that now."

With a now very surprised expression, Elijah turned to his daughters. Lena turned to Elle. And Elle blushed. "Umm, I guess I forgot to put it back. Lena told me to check that." She bit her lip. "Oops!"

"Huh! We blew our cover in Richmond anyway, so who cares!" Lena said. "By the way, I got better at math! I got a C+ on my test last week!" she proudly proclaimed.

"WHAT??" Elle shouted out over Elijah and Freya's small noices of approval. "You got a C?? You were taking that test as ME, so I am the one who gets it! Do you have any idea what that does to my grade? I managed to have an A at every test this year, I would have gotten an excellent!! And now you ruined it! How could you? I even gave you extra lessons!" Elle was incredibly upset.

"Gee, not everybody can be a genius at math like you. I'm good at the piano, for starters. How did it go with you learning it?" Lena responded.

Elle looked away, abashed. "I can play 'Incy Wincy Spider' now." she mumbled. Lena laughed. Davina shily joined Lena's amusement while Rebekah, Kol and Sophie grinned. The rest of the present people kept their amusement to themselves, for Elle.

Many hours later, it was already dark outside, Elena and Elijah were sitting in the living room, alone at last.

"Our children are certainly a force to be reckoned with." Elijah said, pouring two glasses of red wine. "Switching places like they did... I truly don't know what to think of it, exactly."

"I know, right? It's really naughty, but at the same time, like, totally genius! We could be proud and mad at once. And find it funny, of course!" Elena added, chuckling a bit at her ex-husband.

They locked eyes with each other. For a long while, neither of them said a thing, simply gazing at the other one.

"You are even more beautiful than I remembered." Elijah finally said. His deep voice with its soft tone sent a pleadant shiver down her spine. She beamed at him. "Do you remember what I always said when you told me I was beautiful?" she whispered.

He returned her smile dreamily. "Yes. You would always tell me I was beautiful too."

"Because you are!" she said.

Elijah slowly let his hand wander to hers, entangling his fingers with hers. "Living apart from each other for six years was certainly an experience." he murmured.

She nodded. "Yes, it was."

They locked eyes again. "Let's never do that again, shall we?" he proposed, his eyes gleaming.

She shook her head. "Never!"

And without further ado, they met in a slow, burning and passionate kiss.

***

Elle and Lena heard a noise from outside their room and went to see what it was. They saw their parent going into Elijah's room, smiling and holding hands.

Immediately, they decided to spy.on them through the lock. Elle was faster than her sister to get there.

"What are they doing?" Lena whispered.

"Dad kisses Mom." Elle replied.

Lena got impatient. "Let me take a look too!" she shoved her sister aside and peered through the lock herself.

Elle barely protested; she was too curious. "And what now, is he still?"

"No. Now it's Mom kissing Dad." Lena replied. They both smiled.

"Wait! Now, Dad is taking Mom's dress off. But he doesn't stop kissing her." Lena now said, slightly confused.

Elle joined her sister's confusion. "But then he can't see the buttons on her dress. Do you think he doesn't know that?"

"Perhaps. Now they are going to the bed. And Mom is trying to get her shoes off, but she doesn't use her hands." Lena said.

Elle shook her head. "If they would just stop it with the kissing for a minute, it would be much easier to get changed for bed."

Lena stopped looking through the lock and looked at her sister instead. "You're right! Man, adults can be such idiots! Come on, Elle, let's go back to bed. Our parents can be stupid on their own!"