The Long Con

20. Stories from Home

After they returned home from the trip, Bonnie moved into Kol's apartment. It was a big step for her and she couldn't help but feel nervous. Neither one of them had been overly fond of commitment and with everything going on, she was terrified this would blow up in her face. 

Bonnie, Elena and Caroline were building up the courage to talk to Katherine about getting out of the plan. They all knew she wouldn't be happy and Elena had witnessed firsthand what her sister's wrath could accomplish.

In the meantime, Elijah had arranged for a special dinner with Elena. They went to the restaurant where he had first taken her on a proper date and she had to admit the gesture left her with butterflies in her stomach. What she hadn't expected was that there would be company joining them for dinner.

"Mom, Dad, Jer? What are you doing here?" Elena's heart stopped. It shouldn't surprise her that he had flown her family in from Mystic Falls. She knew family was the most important thing in his life. However, seeing her family sitting in front of them with excited smiles on their faces made her feel like throwing up. Her parents stood up and she hugged them, her brother following their lead. Elijah and Elena sat down at the table as everyone began to ask her questions. She hadn't seen them in years only reaching out on their birthdays. With everything going on she had nearly forgotten they existed. It was stupid. 

"You've got yourself a charming young man here." Her father remarked. Elena smiled lovingly at Elijah trying to play the part of the perfect girlfriend. She had no idea how she was going to keep them from mentioning Caroline and Bonnie. She slipped away to the bathroom to text a quick SOS to Katherine, hoping the operation wouldn't all fall apart in the two minutes she was going on. When her phone rang she panicked, answering it with fear bubbling in her chest.

"What?" Katherine snapped.

"Elijah invited my mom, dad and Jeremy to dinner." Katherine froze. This was unexpected even for her. She should have thought of it.

"Shit," Was all she could manage to say.

"What do I do?" She asked, the fear clearly evident in her tone. "They're bound to ask about Care and Bon eventually!" 

"Calm down," Katherine instructed, holding the bridge of her nose as she tried to think of a way out of this. "Steer the conversation towards them and when they ask about you talk about Elijah. If I know anything about my dear aunt and uncle, they will be focused on getting to know him before they go into embarrassing stories of your past. I'll be at the restaurant in 10 to keep an eye on the situation." Katherine hung up abruptly and Elena hesitantly returned to the table. 

"What did I miss?" She asked sweetly. 

"Elijah was just telling us about how you met," Jeremy informed her. 

"I didn't know you were back in contact with Katherine." Grayson gave her a knowing look and Elena shook her head. 

"Apparently she's been hanging around New Orleans recently. She showed up at a book signing and that was the last I've seen of her." Elena was easily able to fake disgust when talking about her sister. She wasn't sure how much of it was fake. "So Jer, How's Anna? Are you two still going strong?" She asked.

"Yeah, we've started looking for a place in Denver," Jeremy told her and she nodded along like it was the most interesting thing in the world. 

"Jeremy and Anna have been together since high school," Elena told Elijah with a proud smile. She regretted saying it the instant the words fell from her lips. Talking about high school meant mentions of Bonnie and Caroline. "Mom, how's Jenna?" Elena asked once again steering the conversation. Elijah looked at her weirdly, sensing the tension.

"She moved back to Mystic Falls and is seeing Mason Lockwood actually." Elena groaned internally. "No one saw that coming." Miranda chuckled, shaking her head slightly.

"Whatever happened to Alaric?" Elena asked. After a messy breakup with Logan Fell, Elena's aunt had dated her history teacher. The two had been very cute together and Elena had thought they would get married one day.

"They broke up a while ago," Jeremy informed her. "He married Dr. Laughlin." Elena shook her head. She always forgot how small Mystic Falls was.

"Enough about back home, we want to hear more about you two!" Miranda gestured between the couple after their orders had been taken. Elena sighed knowing it was going to be a long night. 

"Things are really great. We actually just moved in together." Elena smiled happily. Elijah squeezed her hand. 

"Elijah, what do you do?" Grayson asked turning to Elena's boyfriend. 

"My brothers and I run my father's company." He explained briefly. After Henrik was born, Mikael and Esther decided to focus on family, especially since their children were grown. "My sister, Rebekah, has a hand in it as well but she prefers to spend her time elsewhere." Elijah chuckled. 

"The company must be pretty big for you to be able to fly us all out here for dinner," Miranda commented and Elijah glanced at Elena nervously. 

"My family is well off." Elijah blushed.

"Understatement of the century." Jeremy teased looking between them knowingly.

"So you are from Mystic Falls? My parents spent some time there when they were younger. What's it like?" 

"Small. Nothing ever happens there." Elena piped up, though the question clearly wasn't directed at her.

"Speaking of Mystic Falls, how's Bon?" Miranda asked Elena. Elena tensed but Elijah didn't seem to pick up on it.

"She's good. We can talk about her later, I'm sure Jer doesn't really want to talk about her though." She pointed out, moving on.

"How was the tour, besides the uh Katherine incident?" Jeremy asked, sensing Elena's desire to switch topics. 

"It was amazing! My editor is pressuring me to get working on the sequel but I haven't had time. I've been spending all my time with this one." She smiled lovingly at Elijah and for the first time that night, the smile was genuine. Elijah pressed a soft kiss to her temple and Elena's mom was ready to swoon. 

The dinner went smoothly and Elena managed to avoid any significant topics of conversation. Elena snuck away to the bathroom before they left and Elijah took the time to talk to her parents and ask them a very important question. They were overjoyed and he knew more than ever that he was meant to spend his life with Elena Gilbert.