Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own the rights to TVD. If I did, it'd probably be called the Elena/Elijah show, featuring the Originals and Those Other Guys.
Paring: Elena/Elijah
Summary:Post Season 3 Finale; The Five Times Elena Saves Elijah from Floozies, and the One Time She Doesn't.
The first time it happened, it happened in a diner.
Not just any diner, but the only diner near Elena's home that made her coffee just right. They've come to recognize her - two creams, three sugars- and she's come to know them by name - John and Donna, the local owners of Ted's Diner.
For Elena, it had been a regular morning. She had woken up early, started on her paper that was due for her Norse Mythology class, went out for her usual morning jog, showered and drove into town. She had a few errands to run; Jeremy was coming home that afternoon to spend the long weekend with her and she was out of his basic necessities - Salt and Vinegar chips and frozen waffles.
Also on her to-do list was running by the bank, stopping by the post office to pick up a package from Caroline and driving her car to the nearest car wash to get the layers of grime finally off of it.
Before she could do her errands however, there was one thing she needed first to get her gears going: coffee.
Elena had discovered Ted's during her third exploration of the small community of Lake Breeze, Florida, after her first night alone in her new house.
She had followed Jeremy to Florida after he'd received a baseball scholarship to Florida State University. After a long discussion between the two of them over where to live, Elena purchased a house a half mile away from the lake and only a thirty minutes drive from the University, so that Jeremy could come home on weekends.
The move had been easier for Jeremy than it had been for Elena.
Elena hadn't been on her own in years, not since the beginning of her transition. If Jeremy hadn't been home, then Caroline and Bonnie were over with Matt and Tyler usually in tow. Not to mention both Stefan and Damon, who had been constantly hovering over her; neither of them strayed too far from her side to begin with, always staying close enough to hear her if she so much as stubbed her toe.
Finally, enough had been enough. All four of her friends had left Mystic Falls for college, leaving her with the Salvatore brothers and Jeremy. The constant coddling from Stefan and smothering from Damon had taken its toll on her. Even though she tried to make the best of her time outside of high school by getting a job at one of the local craft stores and starting classes online, Elena started to constantly feel suffocated.
Once Jeremy had received his acceptance letter, Elena eagerly packed up both of their bags and tossed them in the back of her car. He hadn't planned on leaving her, but a full ride to one of the best baseball colleges in the nation was not something she planned on letting him pass up.
Telling Damon and Stefan that she wanted some space, not only from Mystic Falls but from them also, hadn't been easy. While Stefan hadn't put up much of a fight, his forlorn expression had opened the floodgates for her guilt. Damon, on the other hand, put up enough of a fight for the both of them, which only stirred at her anger and caused the two of them to part on unpleasant terms.
Life without the Salvatores was odd, in a pleasant sort of way. At times Elena found herself looking over her shoulder, expecting one of them to pop out of no where.
Eventually, the foreboding feeling of her days in Florida being numbered faded away and Elena became content with the realization that both of the brothers had decided to, for once, respect her decision.
Now, as she pushed through the doors to Ted's Diner - the overhead bell dinging, alerting the workers that another customer had entered - the Salvatores were the furthest things from her mind. Instead, Elena was tossing around ideas on what she should cook Jeremy for dinner and what Caroline could have possibly sent her that required her to go physically pick it up at the post office.
It took her a moment to realize that there was a line - there rarely ever was a line - but then again it was a Monday morning and she wasn't the only one who was dependent on coffee. Rocking back on her heels, she pushed a stray piece of hair out of her eye and glanced up at the specials for today. A banana nut muffin along with her coffee sounded perfect, she decided with a nod.
Glancing around to the other customers, she waved at the older couple sitting in the corner booth. The Meyers lived a few doors down from her, and Jeremy mowed their lawn for them when he was in town. Mrs. Meyer made the best meatloaf in all of Florida, according to her husband, not that Elena could argue with him. Her meatloaf was the best she had ever had.
The line moved a bit more and Elena continued to bounce back and forth on her toes, observing those around her. She skimmed the other side of the diner, her eyes barely lingering on the patrons sitting to the far right until a familiar face caught her eye.
Elena's body stilled, her heart stopped and dropped down to her feet. There, sitting only a few feet away from her, his attention focused on the book that was placed in front of him, was Elijah.
It was strange to see him in such a casual atmosphere. He was simply reading a book, taking sips of his coffee every so often, looking more relaxed than Elena had ever seen him. A half eaten scone sat off to the left of him, next to a stack of three other books.
He hadn't noticed her walk in, or if he did he was paying her no mind- which was completely out of character for Elijah, which only meant he had to be completely unaware of her.
She continued to watch him as she moved up the line, sneaking peeks out of the corner of her eye every so often to make sure that he was still sitting there. Elena knew if she kept staring he would pick up on her lingering gaze, after all he was a special type of vampire.
It had been decided only moments after her recognizing him that she would take her coffee and muffin and join him at his table. It had been two years since she had last seen him, since he had left Mystic Falls after the supposed death of Klaus and never returned. She wondered if he knew what Rebekah had done- probably, there was no way he couldn't have. Rebekah must have told him eventually.
Elena planned to ask him why he hadn't returned after finding out that she was a vampire. It seemed only natural that he would have come back to check on her; he had always been invested in her survival before, back when she had been human. Perhaps that had been why he hadn't come back. She was no longer human, no longer an asset to him so there had been no need, or want, to return to check on her wellbeing.
Frowning at the direction her current train of thoughts were going, Elena turned them around. They were both here now and she would get the answer out of him. So there was no need for her to darken her mood over the scenarios she had replayed over and over in her head.
Giving him one more glance, her eyebrows shot up in surprise when a blonde haired woman slid into the seat across from him.
Elijah seemed momentarily surprised but his surprise was quickly covered up by a polite smile. The diner's music was too loud, the conversations all flowed at various levels and the constant sounds from the kitchen made it hard for Elena to focus in on what the blonde was saying. The woman gestured to the busy diner and then back to the table, leaving Elena to piece together the conversation without the help of her handy, advanced hearing.
She needed a place to sit since the diner was so crowded, he had a seat open and oh, she really hoped that he didn't mind her stealing the seat across from him. She promises she won't be too much of a bother and he looked so lonely sitting there all alone, like he could use some company.
The women wasn't told to leave and Elena rolled her eyes in response. Elijah was far too polite for his own good, always a gentlemen and ever noble. He wasn't about to tell a lady to give up the seat across from him, especially when the diner was quite crowded and he wasn't planning on using it.
"Good morning!" Donna greeted Elena with a smile, but the younger girl didn't seem to notice that she was now at the front of the line. Instead her eyes were still trained on the blonde and Elijah, who only seemed to grow more and more uncomfortable by the second. His facial expressions remained polite but Elena saw the way he was shifting back in his seat, placing space between himself and the unfamiliar woman.
Elijah didn't enjoy his personal space being invaded- though he wouldn't hesitate to invade yours, Elena thought with a smirk.
"Elena, you're going to have to move, sweetie."
Elena yanked her attention back to Donna quickly and, for a moment, she thought she had given herself whiplash by the sheer force of it. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry Donna!" She handed off her money with another apology, "Oh! Can I get a banana nut muffin too?"
"Sure thing." It was Ted who handed the muffin and her change to her with a greeting and a wave, sending her over to the side to wait for her coffee.
"So, you noticed him too." Donna leaned over the counter, her head titled in Elijah's direction.
Flushing slightly, Elena tugged her bottom lip in-between her teeth and nodded. "Yeah, we're actually sort of friends." Donna raised a brow in intreats, "Back from when I lived in Virginia."
"Oh really?" Ted called for Donna's attention and his wife held up a finger, stopping him before he could continue on. "Well, I'd hurry up and get him out of Nicole's clutches. She's giving him the same look she gave our old Spin instructor - its the one that leads to her luring him in and gutting him."
Elena knew that the woman had been nothing but trouble from the moment she had sat down. "Thanks for the tip." Donna disappeared with a nod and Elena squared her shoulders in preparation.
Elijah took a slow sip of his coffee; enjoying the way the taste of it lingered on his tongue and warmed him as it slid down his throat. The woman in front of him had been incessantly droning on for the past two minutes on a subject that was not worth his attention. She seemed to take his perpetual silence as his way of urging her to continue on with her stories, and he was too tired to inform her otherwise.
He wasn't used to being so tired. His mind lagged, his bones were heavy with fatigue and before the coffee had entered his system, his eyes had barely remained open.
It wasn't that he needed much sleep in the first place. Three to four hours a night were sufficient enough. After over a thousand years of being a vampire, Elijah learned to prioritize. Sleep was a necessity, that much was true, but it was a necessity that could easily be put off until the brink of utter exhaustion.
Elijah was known for putting off such things in order to work on other, more pressing matters. Such as the reason he was in Florida in the first place: Research on the Seminole Indians...and also to pay a visit to a group of werewolves who lived around those same parts.
The research was for his work, fact checking historical documents for publication was his actual job; he at least hadn't lied about that part when he had visited Mystic Falls. It helped to pass the time and he could continue to do it for years and years to come.
The werewolves, however, were completely unrelated to his research. He had tracked them down to their current location after they had tried to take a bite or two out of Kol a few weeks earlier. Kol had returned unharmed - Elijah had immediately seen to him himself- and afterwards Elijah had felt the stirring desire to remind the wolves just what the consequences of their actions entailed.
It would be a day or two longer before his sources would be able to provide him with their exact location, but he was a patient man. He didn't mind waiting, not in the slightest.
Elijah was drawn out of his thoughts by a hand being placed on his shoulder. The hand squeezed gently in greeting and he glanced up to meet warm eyes- eyes that he was more than familiar with.
Elena slid into the seat next to Elijah, her hand travelled down to rest on his forearm. "Sorry it took me so long, honey. They just pulled the muffins fresh out of the oven." Turning her gaze to Nicole, she gave her a sunny smile in greeting. "Hello there."
"Hi," Nicole glanced awkwardly between Elijah and Elena, "I, actually, was just leaving."
"Oh," Elena continued to smile at her, though the cheer was slowly starting to fade into something more territorial, "well, have a nice day then."
"You too," she murmured quickly, disappearing out of the diner doors without a backwards glance.
Waiting a beat to see if she would return, Elena felt oddly satisfied when the doors didn't open and Nicole was ridden from her sight. It took her a beat longer to realize that her hand was still on Elijah's arm, and that she was hovering dangerously into his personal space.
Dropping her hand into her lap, Elena scooted herself back a bit and took a long swig of her coffee, trying to battle out the nerves that had started to flutter around in her stomach.
"Elena," Elijah was staring at her with a look she knew all too well.
"Well, I believe we have a little catching up to do."
He laughed then, a true and sincere laugh. The corners of his lips quirked in amusement at his own words being mirrored back to him. Elijah closed his book, turned his attention to her and accepted the other half of her muffin with a fond smile. "Yes, I suppose we do."
A/N: Part two will be up a few weeks, when I return back from vacation!
I hope you guys enjoyed it though! :)