The world Lexie Grey awoke to was not what she would call a nice one. The lower half of her body was crushed beneath a chunk of the plane she and her colleagues had been flying in. She could feeling her left arm and didn't even know if it was still there. Worst of all though, was that she was alone and that meant she didn't know if her friends and sister were even alive. Her right hand struggled to find anything to make noise. Finally, it happened upon a seat belt buckle. And so with what little strength she had left she began to knock the buckle against the debris that was crushing her to death.

He'd come to these woods for silence. Peace away from Niklaus and the rest of his troublesome siblings. The silence he so sought after however was quickly destroyed when a booming crash shattered his little oasis.

Elijah Mikaelson felt himself pulled towards the noise, ever seeking redemption for his past discretions.

Lexi knew she must have been on the cusp of dying when before her eyes appeared a handsome man dressed in a clean suit. She thought that she surely must have been hallucinating. How else, would a man clearly not dressed for hiking end up this far into the woods? The man bent down to her level and placed a hand on the plane.

"Hello, my name's Elijah. What's your name," his smooth british voice asked.

"L-lexi- Alexandra Grey," she gasped out around the blood pooling in her mouth.

"Alexandra Grey, it's very nice to meet you. I'm going to lift this piece of wreckage off you now. It'll hurt but try to bear with me."

"Is not- not humanly possible," Lexi stuttered.

"No, it most certainly is not," Elijah muttered, as he stood up.

"No," Lexi insisted, grabbing onto his leg.

Elijah looked down at her.

"I'm a lost cause, but my friends- they might not be. Go to them."

"Alexandra I will help you all as best I can, but you need to trust me. I know that I am a stranger and giving me your trust is a fool's bargain, but it is the only choice you currently have."

Lexi blinked and in that time the wreckage was flung away from her and sent crashing into the trees. The relief she felt was brief as the lower half of her body and left arm were flooded with pain. A mute scream burst through her lips. Elijah knelt before her once more. He bit his wrist and then press his open wound to her mouth. Lexi panicked as the warm blood trickled into her system. Darkness prickled at her vision and then consumed her entirely. Elijah sighed and stood. He supposed he should move on to the others, but something compelled him to stay with the brave girl who had just passed out. Over a thousand years old and he was compelled to stay by the side of a strange woman who was by all means a child compared to him.

The second world Lexie Grey awoke to was infinitely better to the previous one.

"At last she has awoken," Elijah commented, making his presence known.

"I was crushed. I should be dead," Lexi rambled bluntly."What the hell did you do to me?"

The corners of Elijah's lips twitched upwards.

"Well seeing as you're not going to remember I can see no harm in telling you."

He stood from the tree trunk he'd been sitting on and sauntered over to her.

"I have a photographic memory, so not remembering isn't really an option."

"I'm a vampire and an original one at that. I heard the plane crash, came to investigate, and saved your live by feeding you my blood," he responded matter of factly.

Lexie opened her mouth and then promptly closed it. The brunette's memory came crashing down on her.

"Oh my god, you're not- Are you gonna kill me? You probably don't want to do that. I stress eat a lot and my blood is basically sugar and that can't be good for your clestroll. Do vampires have clestroll?"

Elijah chuckled at her rambling.

"I wouldn't save you just to kill you, though I would appreciant it if you follow me now," he replied, stepping towards her.

Lexi instinctively took a step back.

"I can't just leave my friends-"

"I checked on them, from a far granted. They have no way of communicating the outside world. Seeing as you're now the best off of all

of them. I figured I could show you out of the woods, so you can then get help."

Lexi looked at him hesitantly.

"You aren't afraid of me knowing that you're- that you're… Well you know…"

"A vampire? Not at all as I said before-"

"You don't expect me to remember."

"Vampires having this ability where we can compel humans to do our bidding. Once you are safe, I will have you forget me and all the oddities that have transpired between us."

"My memory's never failed me before, Elijah," she countered, also smirking at him.

He stood up straighter. Lexi tensed and jerked back. Elijah relaxed seeing her reaction. He chuckled and pulled out a business card from his pocket.

"How about a deal?"

Lexi's eyes narrowed and her eyebrows puckered together. Her focus flicked between Elijah and the card in his hand, the name and phone number on it instantly ironing itself into her memory.

"If by some impossible chance you do remember, you may call me and ask for anything you so desire. Sound good?"

Lexi shrugged.

"I don't see why not."

Elijah nodded.

"Very well then, Alexandra."

No sooner had those words left his mouth when Lexi was pulled off her feet. The world around her blurred. She had just begun to register that arms were around her when Elijah set her down. They were on a street now the forest framing it on either side of it. Lexi spun around trying to get her bearings.

"What- how'd did you do that?"

"Enhanced speed," Elijah answered with a shrug.

"That's amazing," she snorted, a dazed smile spreading across her face."Completely terrifying but amazing nonetheless."

Elijah smiled at her. Suddenly, his head snapped towards one end of the road.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Alexandra Grey," Elijah admitted, stepping towards her.

He quickly placed a chaste kiss on her hand.

"A car will be here in about thirty second. When it gets here you'll forget all about me. You will however remember that thirty miles northeast of here your friends are waiting."

Lexi could just make out the rumble of a car in the distance. Elijah was gone in bur, and leaving her there to flag down the car.

"You can call me Lexi," she trailed off, realizing her savior was already gone.

Lesson Number One: Death always gets the last word.