AN: Just a thought I had today and decided a would finally publish something on fanfiction, review and any comment that could help my writing would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if it's my best work and I didn't really do any editing but, enjoy. Oh and I don't own The Vampire Diaries.
Years go by before she sees him again. He's still dressed in one of his finely pressed, incredibly expensive suits, and for a second she loses herself in thoughts of him in more casually clothing. A simple jeans and tee- shirt, and the thought makes her smile before she focuses once again on the man casually striding toward her small table outside the cafe in Florence, Italy.
"Elijah" she greets simply with a smile. She's glad to see him-even if there last meeting didn't go so well- and she can see he's wary, but he smiles back anyway.
He's understandably wary she greets him with a smile, he did after all lock her in a cave with his sister, the same one who had eventually made her into the vampire now sitting before him. Although, he supposed if anyone could forgive him for locking them up with someone who wanted them dead and very easily could kill them, it would be Elena Gilbert.
"May I?" He inquires with a small gesture to the chair sitting empty at her side, and so she laughs, he's always aiming to be a polite gentleman, even when he doesn't really need to.
He knows what her answer is going to be before she says it, but he asks to be sure because really she is forever surprising him. "Of course, I believe we have some catching up to do." She responds with a slight smirk.
They end up talking for hours from covering all of Mystic Falls' supernatural happenings since he left to simple things like what Elena's novel is going to be about, and he gives her advice and they both exchange loaded glances and touches. The tension that has always been there is somehow magnified, and she knows she doesn't love him and he doesn't love her, but there is something there. It really always has been too, their understanding of each of decisions and betrayals that always cut deeper than they should have. Not to mention the attraction and admiration for each other that has also always been there.
They part ways but plan to meet each other again the next day, and so this continues for a few weeks before Elena takes the next step in this new relationship of theirs. It happens one evening when Elena is out feeding on one of the locals and Elijah happens upon her. Normally she drinks from blood bags but every once and awhile she'll indulge herself and drink from the vein and caught up in the lust of the moment, growls and pulls him to her body, fiercely kissing him and abandoning the body she had previously been drinking from. The next morning when she wakes up cuddled next to him in bed she thinks for a moment that it might be awkward when he wakes up and that he probably regrets it, when he unexpectedly tugs her even closer to his body and softly sighs her name before falling silent once more. For a second she thinks he's awake but with a quick check she abandons that thought and decides to let it go and just go back to sleep. When she wakes up again he is already awake is kissing her neck lightly and she figures perhaps she was wrong after all it won't be weird. And it isn't. Their relationship is so natural it's like they've been this been this way forever but she's still trying to figure him out and sometimes it's so hard to get him to open up to her. She supposes though that he might have the same problem with her, because she can see the frustration in his eyes when she won't open up to him. It's just so hard to trust him so completely, because while they've trusted each other on some level for quite awhile now it wasn't quite this deep. They sometimes argue, but it's pretty rare because while she has a fiery temper he's over a thousand years old now and he does have some idea on how to not upset her, he's especially adept at it, having the siblings that he does. Though, he too has the Mikaelson temper although, he is a lot more controlled than his younger siblings Elena does test his control when she does something particularly reckless. She notices how he makes an effort to never look down on her or treat her like anything but an equal but when she does something stupid she can see the quiet fury in his eyes and she knows to let him be for awhile and she is always reminded of the days in Mystic Falls when they were first getting to know each other whether it was because of something Damon had said or because he had gotten daggered, again.
They spent a few years together traveling and just getting to know each other before they parted ways. He had business to take care of and he wanted to check on his family, making sure they stayed out of trouble, which was likely an impossible task, and Elena had wanted to visit the friends she had that were still alive, mostly Caroline. She found her blonde-haired best friend on a coincidence while she was making her way to Berlin, they ended up on the same train to the city. Elena had been overjoyed at seeing her long-time BFF, because while she had been blissfully happy with Elijah she had lost contact with her friends and was eager to reconnect with them. She was a little apprehensive about seeing the Salvatore brothers again because they hadn't left on a fantastic note after she had told them that she was leaving to travel on her own. And, that she wasn't going to pick either of them because she couldn't tear their relationship with each other apart because she knew that family was the most important relationship and she knew that if she chose one over the other there wasn't going to be any fixing of their already pretty fragile relationship with each other.
After spending a few years with Caroline and reconnecting with her friend they decided to meet up with the rest of the Mystic Falls gang- everyone who was left anyway- Stefan, Damon, Jeremy, Bonnie, Matt, and even Tyler. Damon had some girl apparently(Elena and Caroline never ended up meeting her because as Damon had put it 'this is strictly for the Mystic Falls gang" and, Bonnie and Jeremy had ended up getting married after a few years. Tyler, Caroline, and Stefan are unattached but they are fairly unconcerned by this seeing as they have eternity to find someone. Elena doesn't reveal what she has with Elijah thinking that at the very least only Damon will be upset at the news, and she really doesn't want to be the one to kill the good mood. Caroline knows by now about their open relationship but doesn't share, although Elena's glad to know that if she did say anything she'd have at least one person on her side. The gang spends the next few days hanging out with each other, and they spend most of the nights drunk reminiscing about the past. It felt so good to just be with the friends who had been through everything with her and she was grateful for the time with her brother.
After a few days of fun together they all decided it was time to go back to their real lives. Elena and Caroline figured that they would to continue to travel together and Stefan asked to join, so they accepted him into the fold easily. They traveled all over the states, having fun and making sure that Stefan didn't fall into any broody moods. Sometimes either Tyler or Damon would find them and they would stay together for a few days, but for the most part it was just the three of them growing closer as friends than they had ever been before. They traveled all over for nearly a decade before they settled down for a few years in California where Bonnie and Jeremy had moved when they found out that they were going to have a kid. They spent a few years with them and everyone doted on the little girl who had been born just weeks after their arrival in California. Seeing her brother and one of her other best friends able to grow up and have a family made Elena sad for awhile but she knew that she would be okay surrounded by people who she loved.
The five friends and little girl- Abby, named after Bonnie's mother, which was still a little bit of a sore subject between Elena and Bonnie- spent the next five years together before Caroline, Elena, and Stefan grew restless as vampires didn't really stay in one place for long. So, the three vampires decided to venture to the supernatural hot spot in the U.S. (besides Mystic Falls, because really supernatural creatures were drawn to that place like bees to flowers) New Orleans. To all of their surprise they ran into the Originals there (besides Kol, he was according to Klaus, "gallivanting across Europe causing trouble") and Elena and Elijah quickly reconnected with each other, and to the couples relief no one had much of a problem with it. Stefan was just happy for them and Klaus and Rebekah ignored it for the most part, although she did notice them trying to be a little nicer to her. Stefan and Rebekah worked out their issues with each other and had a little bit of an on and off again relationship, and despite their rocky start, Klaus and Caroline were in a relationship, but taking it slow. They spent a few years together in New Orleans while Klaus attempted to win back his kingdom from Marcel the vampire he had raised a little more when the Originals first came to New Orleans. Once Klaus had successful taken his little kingdom back they all parted ways, Caroline staying with Klaus in New Orleans while Elena and Elijah decide to settle down for a bit in South Carolina together and Rebekah and Stefan had left as well. Rebekah going to visit their younger brother Kol and Stefan going to spend time with his own brother.
Things continued in a similar pattern over the years Elena and Elijah would spend a few years together before parting ways to visit various friends and family on their own, but they would always find their way back to each other unable to deny the happiness that the other brought out in them.