Title: Across Oceans
Summary: It's been ten years since TVD S8. Elena woke up and found the world changed around her. Damon died, leaving her alone. Stefan was no longer a romantic option. He sees her, and remembers. Short story.
Author: Sarah August
A pair of doe eyes, and that olive skin. Walking in the sunshine, holding the hand of her own miniature doppelganger. Elijah suspected that the little girl she was holding hands with was Elena Gilbert's daughter. Likely five years old, or close to it.
Elena was different than the last time he met her. It was true, she was no longer a vampire. Life was back in those deep doe eyes he had a many centuries fondness for. She was the girl again, she once had been, but grown up. A daughter of her own, happily keeping in step with her mother as they crossed a park in main square, Mystic Falls.
Damon was dead, her love. That much Elijah had kept up on. He suspected that Stefan had stepped back into the picture again. There had always been one brother, or another for the Petrova doppelgangers. And their last name was usually Salvatore.
He cut them off in the park. Elena seemed surprised to see him, but also delighted. "Elijah, this is my daughter, Isabella."
The little girl reached out a tiny hand to shake his with, and Elijah smiled at the innocence that were alive within that young gaze. He had very little experience with speaking to children in his lifetimes on this earth. His lifestyle prevented it. "I named her after my mother's Isobel and Miranda."
"Did you and Stefan..." Elijah started.
Elena shook her head no. "I married after I went back and finished college. I'm not yet a doctor, but closer to it now. "
Elijah smiled, happy for her. This Petrova finally had the chance that those who came before her, did not. A real life for herself, and a family. "Elena, I'm proud of you." Elijah said. "You've come far."
"Are you still in New Orleans..." She offered, changing the subject from herself.
"No," He said. Elijah remembered why he wasn't. "It just wasn't meant to be. Klaus still lives there though and our siblings. He is raising his daughter there. It was a good place for all of us, once upon a time."
It had never worked out with the young wolf he'd fallen in love with. He loved her, but Hayley never recovered from the loss of her husband. They got together too quickly afterwards. And when they had, Klaus did not make anything easier for them. He felt he was a threat to his position as father to their daughter, Hope. It had trained wreaked everything between Hayley and himself. Elijah couldn't help but wonder what information Elena was hiding about her own life.
"I'm sorry things never worked out, Elijah," said Elena, her tone soft. "It's not easy when you lose someone you love. My husband Jason...he died...shortly after we had Isabella."
Isabella had wondered off to play on the swing that was near them. Elena watched her play while talking to him.
"What happened with Damon..."
Elena smiled uneasily. "He died before we could...see each other again. There was this thing...this creature...it took him over. I never got to say anything to him...no goodbyes...nothing. After so much between us...I was shell-shocked to lose him... And Stefan...he was there for me. But what we had...we just couldn't reconnect again. I then did the one thing I never thought I'd do. I let them both go."