Happy Birthday, Elena
Chapter 1
Summary: On the night of Elena's 18th Birthday, her friends throw her a surprise party at the Mystic Grill. When she has a little too much to drink, and wants to go home, she calls Elijah, who is more than happy to pick her up.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries. This is my first fanfic for this fandom, so hopefully I have the characters portrayed correctly.
When Bonnie and Caroline had picked her up that night, Elena had thought that her best friends were simply taking her out to dinner for her birthday. Like it would just be another girl's night to celebrate. What she hadn't been expecting was for Tyler and Matt and Damon to be at the Mystic Grill waiting for them, or for the group to have the place all to themselves. But despite the surprise, Elena enjoyed herself, making sure that, even with all the drinking that they were all doing, that she wasn't off with Damon alone at any point of the night, since their relationship was still hit and miss, and Elena still wasn't sure just where they stood with each other. This was at least better than a huge party with a bunch of people that Elena barely spoke to. So, she enjoyed herself as much as she could.
The party was still going on as Elena stumbled towards the bathroom. The round or two of tequila shots were probably over her limit and she needed to pee. The only issue was that, once she reached the bathroom, the urge to pee was gone. Being vaguely aware of her actions, Elena pulled out her phone and called the first person that came to mind that wasn't already here. The fact that the first person on her mind wasn't Jeremy, or Alaric, or even Stefan didn't faze Elena, because she didn't even think about who she called instead. And when she heard the voice at the other end of the line, it just felt, right. Like he would do whatever it took to make sure she was okay, despite the times that one of them had gone back on their word and/or betrayed the other in some way.
"Is everything alright, Elena?" Elijah's voice sounded clear and precise and it managed to cut through some of her haze.
"I'm fine, for the most part. Just drunk and tired and can you come get me from the Mystic Grill? Pretty please with lots of hugs and kisses on top?" Elena replied, her speech partly slurring together.
"I'll be there in ten." Elijah replied, not letting on what her drunk flirting was doing to him, and even as he spoke, Elena could already hear his keys jingling and the front door closing.
"Thanks 'Lijah." Elena slurred before staggering back out of the bathroom and towards the front door of the restaurant.
If her friends were calling after her to see if she was okay, Elena didn't hear them, nor did she acknowledge them as she left her own party. She would call Bonnie and Caroline in the morning, or some time the following day once she had slept off her hangover to thank them for party and apologize for leaving early. By the time that she made it out of the building, Elijah was already pulling up to the curb and getting out of his car to help Elena into the passenger seat. Once he was sure that she had her purse and her jacket from inside, Elijah came back out and got back into the car.
"Why me, Elena? You could have called Jeremy, or your guardian, Alaric, to come get you. Why call me?" Elijah asked once he was behind the wheel again and started heading towards Elena's house.
"I dunno. Just called the first person that came to my mind that wasn't already at my party." Elena replied as she scooted over on the bench seat of Elijah's car and snuggled into his side, causing him to instinctively wrap an arm around her shoulders.
"What are you doing, Elena?" Elijah inquired as he came to a stop at a red light and felt Elena's hand lightly graze his already growing erection.
"I want you, 'Lijah. I don't care that you're 1000+ years my senior. You're sexy as fuck and I want you buried inside of me." Elena replied, making Elijah realize that the girl wasn't just a flirt when she was drunk, but that she had no filter either, for surely, she wouldn't talk like this while sober.
"While I appreciate the sentiment, and I do very much want to give you what you are asking me for, nothing shall be happening tonight." Elijah replied, his hand gripping the steering wheel to control the urge to pull her onto his lap and have his way with her while driving.
"Pretty please?" Elena begged with a pout. "I promise to be a good girl." She added before leaning up to run her lips along Elijah's neck, below his ear.
"My dear, sweet Elena. You are drunk, and I will not take pleasure from you in this state. Once I get you home, I shall take care of you and I will stay with you through the night, but nothing else, nothing sexual or intimate, will happen. If, come morning, you still want to have me as a lover, we shall indulge in those activities." Elijah explained.
Elena pouted again against the side of Elijah's neck, but nodded in [mostly] understanding. It wasn't long after that that Elijah was pulling up in front of the Gilbert house, but Elena had already started to doze off. Taking in the lack of lights on in the house, it looked as if no one else was home, causing Elijah to send a silent thank to whomever might be listening that he had already been invited in. Turning the ignition off, Elijah quickly found Elena's house key in her small purse before easily scooping her up into his arms and carrying her into the house, only pausing momentarily to unlock the front door, and up the stairs. As Elijah reached the second-floor landing, a door opened, and Elena's younger brother/cousin stepped into the hallway. Elijah noticed Jeremy's eyes go from Elena to him and then back to Elena.
"She's not hurt, she's just drunk and asleep. She called to ask me to pick her up and bring her home. I'll take care of her this evening." Elijah explained.
"Why would she call you? Why not me or Ric?" Jeremy questioned.
"I asked the same thing. For some reason, in her drunken state, I was the first person she thought of that wasn't already at the Mystic Grill for her birthday." Elijah replied, causing Jeremy to nod.
"Thank you for getting her home safely." Jeremy said before moving around the Original to head downstairs.
"You are probably the most trust worthy of your family, and even still, I'm curious as to why she thought to call you."
Elijah let out an exasperated sigh.
"I do not know. I did, however, promise to stay with her tonight to look after her, so if you excuse me, Alaric, I have a promise to keep." Elijah said before making his way to Elena's bedroom and laying her down on the bed gently.
"'Lijah?" Elena mumbled as she curled up and turned towards him.
"Elena, I need you to wake up now." Elijah said softly.
"Okay." Came the sleepy reply, but nothing else.
Elijah couldn't help the smirk that pulled at the corners of his lips. Not only had he found out that she flirted and had no filter while drunk, but he was also quickly coming to the realization that she was peacefully beautiful when she was asleep. Nothing to harm her that made her facial features harden to remain strong and not show her fear so that she could protect her loved ones. Not being able to help himself, with this new realization about the young doppelgänger, Elijah bent over and placed a chaste kiss on the top of Elena's head. Once he pulled away, the Original sat on the edge of the bed, and lightly shook Elena to wake her up.
"Elena. Dear, sweet Elena, you need to wake up." Elijah tried again as he ran his fingertips along her cheek.
"M'kay." Elena muttered.
"I don't want to use force, Elena, but I will if it is necessary." Elijah warned.
"Are you ever any fun?" Elena asked as she opened one eye and looked up at him.
"When I don't have a drunk human girl in my charge, I can be. But I promised to take care of you this evening, and I can't fully do that if you don't get changed and drink some water." Elijah replied with a smirk.
Elena opened her other eye, just to narrow her gaze at the Original. There was part of her that wanted to test that statement of his, but another part, which was much larger, just wanted to snuggle into his side and use his chest as a pillow. Something told her that Elijah would make an amazingly comfortable pillow. But when Elijah simply met her narrowed gaze without blinking, Elena determined that he was serious about her getting changed for bed and getting her to drink some water. With a sigh Elena sat up and met his gaze straight on.
"I promise to get changed for bed, but you need to go get the water, because if I get changed with you in the room, Alaric and Jeremy are going to be very upset." Elena said.
"As long as I won't be walking into an interrogation in the kitchen, I can definitely accommodate your request." Elijah replied.
"I can't promise you that." She commented with a smile.
"I've already had short conversations with both your brother and Alaric. Jeremy doesn't seem to mind my presence here, but Alaric is a different story. Is there more to your relationship with him beyond just him being your guardian and teacher?" Elijah asked.
"He's a friend, and technically my step-father, and if Klaus hadn't killed Jenna, there was the possibility of him maybe becoming my uncle, but other than all of that, no, there isn't more to our relationship." Elena explained.
"You're step-father?" Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know that Grayson and Miranda adopted me, right?" Elena questioned, and when Elijah nodded, she continued. "John Gilbert is- was- my biological father, and my biological mother was Alaric's ex-wife, Isobel Flemming. So not only am I a descendant of the Petrova bloodline on my mother's side, due to Katherine having had a daughter before she met you and your family, but I am also a Gilbert." She explained.
"A very mixed set of DNAs for a doppelgänger." Elijah commented.
"It wasn't until Jenna finally told me that I had been adopted that we found out that Alaric's ex-wife was my biological mother. And even later after that when we found out that John was my biological father. So, the people that I thought were my parents, are my aunt and uncle, on my dad's side. But because I was raised by them, Jenna being my mom's sister, still makes her my aunt, and therefore, if she had lived and had married Alaric, he would have been my uncle." She furthered the explanation.
"Then I shall tread carefully around him. Because above all else, he is your guardian and your step-father." Elijah said with a nod before placing a kiss on Elena's forehead and exiting the room so that she could get changed for bed.
Once Elijah was out of the room, and had closed her bedroom door behind him, Elena took a deep breath. Was she still drunk? She had basically just given Elijah her whole life story, and with as many times as she had trusted him in the past and he had turned around and betrayed her, was there a chance that he would do the same now? Use what she had told him tonight against her? Or even worse, give the information that Klaus didn't already have to him so that Klaus could continue to use her family against her? Klaus had already used Isobel and Jenna, and had, on multiple occasions, used Jeremy against her. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, Elena crawled off her bed while grabbing her pajamas (which currently consisted of a pair of booty shorts and a thin tank top) and headed to the bathroom. After quickly changing, Elena started to brush her teeth, which is when Jeremy cleared his throat.
"So, you and Elijah?" He asked.
"It's not like that Jer." Elena replied around a mouth full of toothpaste.
"Then what is it like, Elena? Because you could have easily called me, or Ric, and instead, you called Elijah." Jeremy argued.
"I don't know Jeremy, okay? But does it really matter that much? I called him, he came to pick me up and he brought me home and has promised to make sure I'm okay through the night. Why are you upset that I called him over you or Alaric?" Elena asked after spitting her toothpaste into the sink.
"I have no issue with him bringing you home, because I would rather someone who wasn't drinking bring you home, but you're really okay with him staying the night? And you really trust him to look after you? He might be over 1000 years old, Elena, but he's still a vampire, and he's still a guy. And any guy who has eyes can see that you are attractive. You trust him to not take advantage of you?" Jeremy questioned.
"Do you really think he can't hear these accusations, Jer? He's a vampire, and he has heightened senses, including super hearing. But please, continue to berate me for calling Elijah." Elena said before storming out of the bathroom and back into her room and slamming the door in her brother's face.
Anything that Jeremy might have been about to say flew from Elena's mind as soon as she saw that Elijah was standing by the window, looking out at the night. Whether he saw her reflection in the window, or it was slamming the bathroom door shut that alerted him to her returning, or just his vampire senses, Elena wasn't sure, but Elijah was turning towards her and in a blink of an eye, he was in front of her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry, Elijah." Elena said into his chest.
"You have nothing to apologize for, sweet Elena. You were defending your actions, it's Jeremy that should be apologizing." Elijah replied before pressing his lips to her forehead once again.
"Did Ric give you any grief when you were in the kitchen?" Elena asked as she reluctantly pulled out of Elijah's arms.
"He wasn't downstairs. He was, however, waiting for me at the top of the stairs when I returned with the glass of water. He insisted that your door stay partly opened and assured me that he would be making routine checks throughout the night to ensure that I'm not taking advantage of you." Elijah responded. "I agreed to his terms, as per our discussion before I went downstairs, and I shall be staying on the window seat, unless you need me for anything specific." He added.
"You don't have to do that, Elijah. You can lay on top of the covers." Elena insisted.
"Your step-father is a Vampire Hunter, Elena. I would prefer to not get on his bad side any more than I probably already have with the times that I've gone back on my word in the name of my family." Elijah said before turning them around so that his back was to the doorway. "Say the word, and I will compel him to allow you to make the decision on where in your room I stay tonight." He added in a low voice.
"There's no need. If you are trying to get into his good graces, then it would be for the best if you stay on the window seat." Elena said with a sad smile.
Elijah nodded in agreement to Elena's decision before reaching over to her nightstand and grabbing the glass of water to hand it to her. While he silently wished that he could fall asleep with Elena in his arms, doing so in her house with her brother two rooms away, and her step-father/teacher/guardian planning routine checks throughout the night, Elijah knew that Elena's decision to not have him compel Alaric was the best choice. Once Elena had taken a few sips of water, Elijah returned the glass to the nightstand and helped Elena into bed.
"You'll be here all night?" Elena questioned as she curled up under the covers.
"All night. If you need anything that won't get me staked or daggered, then I will do it for you." Elijah confirmed.
"Scared of Alaric?" She asked with a smirk.
"Not at all. I just don't want you to lose someone else in your life." He replied while brushing her hair away from her face.
"Thank you for everything, Elijah. It really means a lot." Elena commented as she leaned into his hand.
"How could I deny the birthday girl her reasonable requests?" Elijah asked.
"I'm holding you to what you said in the car." She commented.
"I wouldn't have it any other way. Now sleep, my dear, sweet Elena. You need it after how much you drank tonight." He said.
"You call me that a lot, you know."
"I am aware."
"Why do you call me that?"
"Because it's the closest thing I can say to what I really want to be saying. But that will come in time."
"What is it that you want to say? I can handle it. I'm a big girl, Elijah."
"All in due time, Elena. You have my word on that."
Elena sighed. Elijah was going to be stubborn, but she could work with that. She would continue to spend time with him. Get him to break down the walls he had up. She would get him to tell her what he wished he could be saying. There was plenty of time to get in close enough.
"Goodnight Elijah." Elena said softly.
"Goodnight Elena. And Happy Birthday." Elijah replied in turn.