Summary: How the meeting between Elijah and Elena could have gone. Elijah sniffs Elena and comes to an earth shattering conclusion. Starts like the series, ends (off course) differently.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and situations are property of L.J. Smith and The CW Television Network.

Chapter 1

"He's here. This was a mistake", Trevor comes rushing in the room in a panic.

"No, I told you I would get us out of here, you have to trust me".

"No! He wants me DEAD, Rose!"

"He wants her more", Rose tries to reassure him.

"I can't do this. You give her to him, he'll have mercy on you but I need to get out of here". His panic is building and he's breathing really hard.

"Hey!", Rose calls him. "What are we?"

He looks at Rose and calms his breathing. "We're family... Forever".

There are three knocks on the door. I was scared. Rose and Trevor seem like they're really afraid of this Elijah, and they are both well-over-500years-old vampires which means they must be impossibly fast and strong. If they are that scared of him, exactly how scared am I supposed to be?

Rose tells Trevor to stay with me and to keep quiet, while she goes to open the front door. I wait, my heart is beating fast in my chest and it feels like it wants to break free of me. The suspense is almost killing me. After 5 minutes or so she returns and by this time I'm pacing, getting near panic myself. When I turn around I see him and he me. He seems surprised and near shocked. From what I can tell he's a man about 27 maybe 28 years old in physical appearance. He has handsome features and doesn't really seem like he's all that scary, like I don't have a reason to fear him.

I blink, and he's in front of me. Okay, fear-factor just went up. He is FAST. I don't think I could have seen him move even if I didn't blink. It's like he teleported!

He leans in, and for a minute it looks like he's about to kiss me. I don't think I would have minded much even if he did just scare the living daylights out of me. Something about him just feels... safe. I can't really explain it. He makes me feel protected.

He doesn't kiss me, and I'm ashamed to admit that slightly disappointed me. Instead, he moves along my face to my neck and sniffs me.

"Human. It's impossible". His face is one of wonder, like he's just had an epiphany. "Hello there" he says, with a panty-dropping crooked smile.

He turns back to Rose and Trevor and tells them that they're pardoned and to leave us. They didn't need to be told twice and within a second they are gone. Now it's just us. Elijah keeps looking at me with that wondrous look on his face.

"I'm Elijah. What is your name, lovely?", he asks while he trails the back of his fingers against my cheek.

Lovely? He thinks I'm lovely? Wow. I fight a blush coming over my cheeks and answer him. "Elena. My name's Elena Gilbert".

"Elena... Light... Yes, yes you are. Well, Elena, we have a long journey ahead of us and we best be on our way".

This causes my heartbeat to pick up in fear again. What does he mean with long journey? Where are we going? Why are we going there? A million questions run through my head but they all run together.

He seems to pick up on my fast heartbeat because he starts to reassure me. "Don't worry, sweet Elena, it is absolutely not my intention to hurt you. Ever". He smiles and my fear is instantly abated. It's weird how fast he can make my fear go away. He offers me his hand and I take it. He leads us outside but there's no car waiting. We're in the middle of nowhere, how does he intend to get us out of here?

He looks at me again and it's like he knows what I'm thinking because he smiles that crooked smile again. He leans in again and puts his arm around my back. He bends down and his other arm goes behind my knees. He picks me up, bridal style, and he's off. I should be afraid. I'm in a complete stranger's arms and this man, vampire, is one other vampires seem to fear with all their might. But I'm not, afraid that is. I feel excited to be in this man's arms. However, he is going incredibly fast and I'm starting to feel a bit nauseous. I turn my head so my face is in the crook of his neck and I can practically feel him purring because of it. That's weird, perhaps I'm not the only one who experiences these weird feelings.

We travel for a while, but I'm not complaining. When we finally skid to a stop we're in front of a very quaint house. It's not extremely large, but it's definitely not small either. It looks like a bungalow, but not quite. It's hard to explain. He puts me down and I instantly feel the loss of his strong arms around me. He seems to feel the same because his hand immediately locates itself on the small of my back. He leads me to the front door, opens it, and ushers me inside. The inside of the house is magnificent. It is exactly how I would picture my dream house. I could live here, I thought to myself. However, it's time to face reality so I ask him why I'm here.