Author's Note:

I have not written anything in a while now, and I've been having a hard time jumping back in. So a lovely friend of mine offered some help and gave me a prompt with some rules. I could write on whatever I wanted, so long as it stayed under 500 words and was a drabble about a character thinking, no actual spoken dialogue.

This is what came of it, a short little thing that possibly could have been a "What If?" had Elijah not been daggered back in season two and made good on his promise to take Elena away. (Is it me, or does that threat seem to come up quite often throughout season two and three?)

And I have a question for anyone that feels like weighing in: What is the name of the Elijah/Elena ship? Is it Elija? Elejah? No one seems to know from the circles I run in.

No, this is not beta'd: for those who've asked why, simply because I don't have one. If you see any mistakes let me know and I'll fix it. Thank you.

Yes, this has a suggestion of Elijah/Elena, don't like the pairing don't read.

Read and review.

She only knew exactly what he wanted her to, which included the truth and the shades of grey that fell beneath the moral throne of honesty. It was simple as that for a situation as complex as it was. His justification was quite concise as well: Elena Gilbert did not need to know things she could not control and that would not change despite her edification. It was redundant.

For as black and white as he'd wished and once thought the world to be, he knew it was one big pit of sand with gradations that sucked you in until you were neck deep in quagmire. It was why he so desperately clawed at decency. Yet, when it was necessary and prudent, he stepped away from his Code of Hammurabi. Efficiency to do and see something through was practically a virtue onto itself with him. An ever-gliding balance between acting and philosophizing: lean to strongly one way and the order fell out from beneath one's feet.

Elijah knew well that he struggled daily to aspire to a higher place of morality. However, a certain doppelgänger seemed to be able to bound and leap over his climb as if her heels had wings. It infuriated and frustrated him to no end. And at the same time, it humbled him to know there was always someone else who was better than he.

Today, he had readily discarded his ethics and rules to ruthlessly seek what it was he wanted. Elena had been just as adamant in her quest for her side, too. The difference had been to what extremes they went to to see their ends reached. Of course, she had managed to still win out over him and keep her blasted innocence intact. Elijah had not been so fortunate.

Still she found it within herself to forgive his desperation and acknowledge his goal was not a bad one. She had batted her mocha eyes at him and offered absolution, again!

He'd only abducted her and locked her away until the war between Kalus and the Salvatore brothers had past its climax. Sure, he fed her and gave her a bed and a sense of dignity. Elijah had still taken her choice away and cut her off from the people she considered to be family. Most eighteen year olds would forgive a person for that, wouldn't they?

Somehow, he doubted it. Elena was a continuous conundrum and exception to all his predictions. It was why he admired her, other than their affinity for a higher standard.

What continued to confuse him and his calculating mind most, however, was not her forgiveness and acceptance. It was her sweet but succinct kiss she gifted upon his right cheek before she exited his car when he had returned her. He'd been so baffled he'd sat stoically for several long seconds before brushing it off as wayward impulse. For that was all it could be.