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Elijah looked at her. And she stared at him- taking in the last glance she'd get.
"I'm sorry." Was all she said before she slipped through the hotel room and out of his life. He didn't see her tears as she got a cab- he had turned away by that point- and he certainly didn't see those tears when she moved into a house by herself. Eternity- was a very long time, Elena learned. Alone.
She wanted him back- she wanted his hand in hers and everything that came with being with him- but she had told him she needed to find herself without him. So she did. She traveled the world, she saw everything on her list- learned a new language- kept in touch with Caroline, who was one of her only friends left. Caroline came with her sometimes- to Prague and London- DC, never Mystic Falls. There were still people there who remembered- and Caroline had her own life- an apartment in Paris and Fashion Week was coming up. So they parted.
Elena stayed a long time in Spain, four years. And she didn't know that if she missed Elijah by a week. She thought about him sometimes- the Original had always been in part of her thoughts since she had met him- but she nipped them in the bud by reminding herself that she would never see him again. But her heart hurt when she remembered his last words to her,
"Stay with me- if you want to." And she had run away. He didn't chase her- not if she didn't want to be chased.
She had been in Rome for a week, change of scenery- hoping it would help, but all it had only make of her think of him- and how he had promised they'd go one day. She almost jumped at a knock on the door- she had been lost in her thoughts. It was just room service- she couldn't exactly get blood any other way discreetly there- and after it was over, she compelled the man to forget, and sat on her bed. She almost wished it was Elijah- but he was off dealing with his affairs, no doubt. After licking the blood off her lips, something hit her.
Her diaries. She hadn't thought of them in years, they still might be in the house in England, unless Elijah moved them- which wasn't likely.
She hoped he hadn't burned them- or almost worse, read them. She could get them easily-and so she decided to. At that point in the year, Elijah was in America, on the East Coast. So she went the next day, leaving Rome for somewhere with more memories. She remembered the key under the potted plant, too heavy for humans to pick up, but light for a vampire, and took it. The door unlocked and the smells hit her. Tea, books, Elijah and other people-but he wasn't not there and the people who worked for him were on their vacation time by that time of the year. She shut the door, and walked to her old bedroom. The one she shared with Elijah. She almost expected everything that is hers to be gone, but it was not.
Her perfume was still there- and she bet that if she checked the closet- her dresses and clothes would still be there. She put the journals in her bag, and checked the closet. She couldn't resist taking her favorite scarf back, along with a dress she bought with Caroline. And then she left, almost no trace left except the empty hanger and the gap on the bookshelf.
It smelled so much like Elijah that she just wanted to re-memorize it for an hour, but she left, after she fixed the slightly crooked doormat. She returned the key to its hiding place. She didn't know how he'd take her presence if he found her there a few weeks later when he returned- so she left, for Amsterdam.
A few nights after that, she had the same dream- leaving- and she had the same dream- leaving- and she knew he wouldn't come after her- but she had almost hoped- he'd never been one to chase after anything and years with the Original made her wonder what exactly they had- would her heart be hurting that badly for anything less than love? She wondered as she didn't sleep, and stared at the ceiling.
And if it was indeed, love- he had never said the word and neither had she- they didn't do that. They'd never said anything like it- it was years together of what- Elena had no idea. They weren't wasted years, she knew that.
She returned to France a few days later to help Caroline move- she moved every few years to different apartments- to not raise suspicion on her lack of aging. Elena usually helped. She lived with her for a while, for how long, she didn't really notice- it was all almost routine. She got asked out by different men- Caroline dragged her to parties and Elena thought life would almost be better with emotions off- but she just said that her heart was already taken.