Elijah had only expected a quiet family reunion when he accepted his brother's, Niklaus, invitation to spend New Year's Eve at his house with the rest of their siblings and their partners.
Even then, he was feeling a tad bit anxious as he chose the suit he would wear that night. When he looked up at his beloved Katherine who was putting on her earrings before the mirror of their bedroom, their eyes met.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy to see your family?" she said, stopping what she was doing and walking to him.
Katherine sat on the bed and she drew Elijah with her. She started rubbing the tense muscles of his neck and shoulders, and Elijah sighed in content. He had known Katherine for two years and they were now living together for four months. She could always sense it when something was troubling him, and tonight was no exception.
"It's just...you know how my brothers and my sister get when they are in the same room. Also we haven't gathered all together in a while and still I haven't met Rebekah's boyfriend ans Kol's girlfriend and-" Elijah started, and Katherine gave his shoulders a last reassuring squeeze as she stood up.
"It's going to be fine, Elijah " Katherine said and then she smiled playfully at Elijah and grabbed him by his loose tie, bringing him in for a kiss before she tied it in a knot.
This time it was Elijah's turn to grab her and kiss her breathlessly.
"Are you ready to go?" Katherine asked as Elijah slid into his coat, and for a moment he looked at the girl he loved with something like awe.
Katherine was wearing a ree dress to match her deep red-painted lips and fiery personality. Her curls cascaded freely on her back and a few lose strands framed her face perfectly.
"God, Katerina, look at you. You are so beautiful."
Katherine smiled at the mention of her given name in Bulgaric only he was allowed to call her. Elijah cupped her face in his hands even though she complained laughing that he was ruining her hair, and he planted a kiss on her forehead because he knew for a fact that if he kissed her on the lips again, he would want more and more of this woman and then they would be late for the family gathering and have some serious explaining to do.
Elijah helped Katherine into her coat and then he offered his arm and said "Let's go." she said, and then adding playfully "But you might want to wipe the red lipstick from your mouth or people will start asking questions."
Niklaus' place was cramped with people milling about and making more noise than Elijah was accustomed to. Klaus greeted them at the door with a wide smile and Elijah could hear Caroline yelling from the dining room "Who's at the door?"
"Just Katherine and Elijah, love." Klaus yelled back to be heard over the laughing and chatting of the other people in the room.
His brother ushered them in the living room, saying "You met, Stefan? He's Bekah's boyfriend." Klaus said, gesturing towards a dark-haired boy with bright green eyes who sat besides Rebekah on the couch.
Stefan stood up and shook hands with Elijah and Katherine, smiling a little shyly yet warmly.
"He's a great kid. I honestly don't know what he found in our sister." Klaus bent towards them so that only they could hear and said in a conspiratorial voice.
"Nik! I'm right here, I can hear you, you know." Rebekah seethed, throwing a cushion at their brother. "And you're only saying this because you feel like my relationship with Stefan is going to ruin your little bromance."
Klaus pouted and said in a mock-offended voice "Rebekah, love. Don't say these things in public."
"Jerk." Rebekah said, crossing her arms over her chest and sagging back on the couch against Stefan.
Elijah gave Katherine an apologetic smile about his siblings' antics, but he saw that she was smiling. Once, Katherine had told him that as an only child she had always wanted to have a big family celebration. Elijah just hoped that he would be able to give her just that, providing his siblings didn't wreck havoc that is.
Elijah motioned for his sister to come to him and he hugged Rebekah, whispering in her ear "I missed you, little sister. Is Stefan treating you right?"
He hadn't seen his sister ever since she went on a cruise with Stefan a few months back.
She hugged him back tightly "Of course he is. As you can see Nik approves of him as well. And I missed you, too, 'Lijah."
Elijah and Katherine sat on a couch next to each other, their thighs pressing reassuringly against each other. Finn and Sage were also sitting on a loveseat across of them and they made small talk for a while.
Sage was telling them about an adventure she and Finn had one night at a bar when a very upset and dishevelled looking Caroline marched into the living room and ordered Rebekah and Sage to come and help her in the kitchen or else she would make the boys wear aprons and help her prepare the food.
"I should probably go help, too." Katherine said when the doorbell rung and everyone gathered in the hall to see who it was.
Kol turned up late as always, surprising no one. What did surprise them, though, was the fact that there was no girlfriend with him but a boyfriend.
"Hey guys! I'm here." Kol announced, sauntering into the house followed by a dark-haired boy his age who looked slightly uneasy by all those people peering intently at him.
"This is Jeremy." Kol said without missing a beat.
He grabbed the boy by the hand to introduce him to his siblings and said as if it was the most natural thing "He's my boyfriend. I met him at college, we are together in the team."
Kol was going to college with a baseball scholarship, and as it turned out he didn't go for the girls that he always said would worship him when he became a well-known baseball star, but for this boy he seemed to like enough to want to introduce him to his family.
The youngest boy of the Mikaelson family always had his way of surprising everyone at their Christmas reunion, but after everyone got over the initial shock, they all welcomed Jeremy warmly and when the boy relaxed and started chatting about college and baseball and complimenting Caroline about the delicious food, everyone agreed that this year it was a good surprise. In the very least, this year Kol hadn't brought a huge black Cerberus-alike dog as a gift to Caroline and Klaus even though he knew she was afraid of dogs.
By the time dinner was over, Elijah had relaxed enough to go back to the living room and have a drink and idle talk with the others. Katherine was also relaxed, if not a little too much, because after a while Elijah found out she was half-way through her fourth drink. Katherine was never really alcohol tolerant at her best, and by the time he took the glass of scotch from her hands, she was singing 'Shake up Christmas' and dancing in circles on her own.
"No, 'Lijah. I want more." Katherine whined, trying to snatch the glass back and somehow losing her balance.
Elijah caught her before she fell, now positive that she was completely drunk.
"Will you dance with me?" Katherine asked in a slightly slurry voice, clinging onto him in a way that made him uncomfortable in public.
"I think it is best you sat down for a while." he tried to reason with her, but she didn't seem to hear him.
"But why, 'Lijah? I want to dance with you because I love you. Don't you love me?" Katherine pouted, still clinging onto his coat.
By now everyone in the living room was staring at them, amused at the sight of the drunk Katherine and the still calling upon logic Elijah.
"I love you." Katherine said, louder this time, and then repeated it again and again like a mantra.
Elijah didn't know if he should feel affection towards Katherine's drunk confession or embarrassment for his family witnessing her declaration of love.
"I think you should take your girl and go home." Klaus said with a suggestive wink, and Caroline smacked him on the arm, but she seemed to think of the same thing.
"You're probably right." Elijah said and sighed.
He wrapped an arm around Katherine's shoulders as she kept muttering about how much she loved him, but it was not until Niklaus and Finn took mercy in him and helped him pry her off that he got her in the car.
Elijah helped Katherine fasten her seatbelt and closed the passenger's door.
"This year's family reunion was not as I expected it." Elijah said with a tired laugh. It was still half past ten, but all he wanted was go home and sleep.
Rebekah gave him a farewell hug and Kol clapped him on the back, saying that at least it was not boring.
"Hey, don't be mad at Katherine." Caroline said gently when it was her and Klaus' turn to say their goodnights. "Despite the obvious fact that she is drunk, I do believe her when she said she loves you."
"Thanks, Caroline. And sorry we're leaving so early, but the rest of you should still have fun." Elijah as he opened the driver's door and after waving at the direction of his family and friends, he lowered himself on the seat and started driving away.
Elijah looked at Katherine and sighed. She was sleeping peacefully, her head lolling at her right shoulder. He reached out and tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. She looked like an angel, and his lips tugged upwards in a smile when he thought that she was his angel. When they reached their house, Elijah carried Katherine bridal style into the house. She stirred to consciousness by the gentle rocking as he laid her on their bed.
"Elijah?" Katherine murmured drowsyly and she reached out blindly to find him.
"I'm here." he said, kneeling beside her and interlacing their fingers.
"My head is killing me." she complained weakly and Elijah laughed. "You should have thought about that before you drunk so much."
"I know. Forgive me?" Katherine asked, looking worried as she bit her lower lip and her eyebrows furrowed in a way Elijah found adorable.
"I'm not angry." Elijah assured her, poking her nose with his finger.
"You wait right here. I'm going to bring you something to help with the headache."
"I'm not going anywhere." Katherine hummed as she tried to get under the duvet without making any sudden movements that would cause her headache to deteriorate.
Elijah returned shortly after, holding a hot mug of milk with honey in his hands. He helped Katherine take a few sips and then she set the mug on the nightstand and whispered "Thanks."
Katherine settled her head on the pillow and Elijah quietly stripped off his suit and got in bed beside her. He propped himself on his elbow so that he would look at her and said "You know what? I realised something today."
"What could it be?" Katherine asked, nuzzling her face to his chest and then gazing into his eyes as he spoke again in a low, adoring voice "I love you and I know that I should tell you this more. There's also something else. As I carried you through the threshold, I realised that I want to do this again next New Year's eve, but with you in a white dress and with our wedding rings on our fingers."
"Elijah? Do you really mean it?" Katherine asked, elated. She sat up a little too fast and the room started to spin for a few seconds, but at the moment she didn't care. She was happy and so was Elijah, the man she wanted to spend her whole life with.
"Of course I do, Katerina." he said, holding her in his arms and tucking her head beneath his chin.
"What do you say? Will you become my wife?"
"Only if you become my husband." she said, and he squeezed her in his arms even tighter than before.
In the end, this night may not have went the way Elijah had expected, but with the clock chiming twelve and with fireworks erupting from somewhere in the distance, Elijah thought that he wanted to spend every day of every new year with the woman sleeping soundly in his arms.