Author's Note: I know I shouldn't be starting a new story when I already have two that I haven't updated in months, but I couldn't help myself.

Author's note #2: This story is set in the middle of season 2, a couple weeks before the wedding. But I'm changing a few things, and by that I mean this story goes AU basically from the get go. For example: the house explosion doesn't happen the night before the wedding, it happens a couple weeks before the wedding, which means Elijah, Cami, and Hope have been back in the compound for a couple weeks, not just a couple hours. Another thing I'm changing is that Freya doesn't bring back Finn, this story isn't about the war with Finn, it's a love story, so it'd be kind of pointless to keep him as a character. And I'm not going to have Dahlia in the story either, for the same reason.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides Tess and the idea for this story.

No Matter What

I

Girl in New Orleans

Coffee shops suck.

Tess walked out of the little café after her shift, muttering under her breath about bad coffee and rude people.

"Watch out—" Having not been paying attention to where she was walking, Tess gasped in surprise as she collided with someone's hard chest.

Crash.

Tess let out an "Oomph," as she stumbled backwards, tripped over her own feet, and ended up on the ground. Her phone clattered to the ground as it fell out of her pocket, and her purse slipped off her shoulder as well, landing with a dull thud.

"Are you okay?" Tess pushed a piece of hair out of her eyes and fixed her crooked glasses only to gasp, once again, in shock and disbelief.

Her brown eyes were as wide as saucers and her lips were parted as she let out a breath, "Elijah?"

She couldn't believe her own eyes. How could Elijah Mikaelson be standing in front of her? It wasn't possible, it couldn't be. There was no way... But it was. It was him, it was Elijah; Tess hadn't gone insane in the last twenty-one years, and besides, she could never forget what the love of her life looked like.

She drank in the familiar, warm brown eyes and strong shoulders. She looked him up and down in his sharp navy suit, smiling the smallest amount as she thought about how the world could change, but Elijah's preference for formal wear would always be the same. And then she took in the things she noticed that were different about him; the new, shorter hair cut, the facial hair that suited him somehow even more than a clean-shaven face did, the shadows under his eyes that told of sleepless nights and rough days.

"Miss?" Hearing him calling out to her brought her back to reality.

Grabbing her phone and purse, she got up from the ground, brushing the dirt off of her jeans. "Y-yeah, sorry, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Tess smiled a little, "Yes, I'm sure."

"Good. Now if you don't mind," Elijah gave her a curious look, "Could you please explain to me how you know my name? I happen to know most everyone in the city who knows of me, but I don't recognize you."

Tess' already broken heart broke even more as she managed to choke out, "I'm a witch."

He hummed in understanding, but didn't seem to completely accept that as an answer.

But before he could get another word out, Tess interrupted him. "I have to go. Sorry I ran into you, I'll pay better attention next time."

Pushing past him, she didn't look back to see Elijah staring after her with his hands in his pockets as she disappeared around the street corner; she couldn't, because then he would ask her why she was crying when she couldn't deal with that.

"Walking" past Rosseau's, she blinked back tears as she thought of the Elijah who would've recognized her, who had loved her, whose brother she had wanted to murder for a long, long twenty-one years now.

Damn you, Klaus, Tess thought as she ran up her apartment building steps, fumbled with her keys, and finally, finally stumbled into her apartment. Slamming the door shut, she collapsed against it, sliding down it until she was sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest as she sobbed, thinking about New York and Elijah and how miserable her life has been for the last twenty years without him.

Author's Note: Like it? Hate it? Review and tell me please!

P.S. Sorry, I know it got pretty sad and dark at the end, but I promise it will get better. Just remember, love stories (and Disney movies) always start out sad and end happy.