AN: I do not own TVD or TO.
This is the sequel to Three Deep Breaths (formerly titled What Just Happened?). Some of the dialogue in the first few chapters will come straight from The Originals as I am rewriting the first season a year later than it happened. This story picks up nearly six months after Dahlia's death.
Unlike the last story this one will feature line breaks, so the chapters should be this length of longer. Each chapter will encompass a day... unless a lot happens in that day and I need to break the chapter in two.
Elena braced her hands on the smooth wood and waited with baited breath. Anticipation hummed through her body like a tuning fork. Every muscle was poised to either reach down or flash from the room; it all depended on the next move of the sleeping child.
Miranda had been going through a phase where she fought sleep. She had come to realize that the world did not stop when she went to bed at night. She now knew that things would not remain where she had left them when she awoke. Miranda didn't seem to have a problem if her toys or blankets moved around, but it bothered her when her parents did.
If Elena didn't know any better she would think her daughter was suffering from fear of abandonment. That obviously couldn't be the case though as she had never been left alone. With the exception of the 24 hours Elijah had been daggered by his aunt they had been there every day of her young life, but still Miranda seemed uneasy when one of them left the room.
Elena had hoped that her daughter would be spared from the traumatic memories six months earlier; her eyes had always been shielded. Elena had feared for a short time that Miranda's behaviour was a result of that, but she had dismissed it when she discovered it was something all babies went through.
Everyone seemed to have that stage where they screamed bloody murder if mommy and daddy were out of sight.
She breathed a soft sigh of relief and then held her breath when the sound made Miranda stir. Thankfully the baby remained asleep. Slowly Elena picked up the baby monitor, she wasn't sure why she bothered using it since she could easily hear anywhere in the house, and hurried from the nursery.
She didn't breath again until her feet hit the ground floor on the off chance Miranda had inherited Elijah's hearing.
Elena tucked her hair behind her ears and pushed open the door of the study. It was her second favorite room in the mansion; the study was one of the few rooms where she and Elijah could get any real privacy. His siblings seemed to have no problem breaking into their bedroom in the middle of the night when they needed something, but they all knew better than to cross the threshold into their big brother's study.
She silently ran her fingertips over the spines of the leather bound first editions and waited for Elijah to finish his phone call. It was a rare occurrence when he was not there to put Miranda to sleep; only the direst of situations would drag him away from Elena and their child, so she knew the call must be important.
Elena smiled into the pages of Virginia Woolf when strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Her soft grin turned to a deep frown when he pressed a kiss to her shoulder and murmured against her neck.
"I have to leave for a few days."
"Just you?" Elena shelved the novel and took his hands where they rested on her stomach. His choice of pronoun did not go unnoticed.
"Just me," he confirmed. His grip loosened when she turned around to face him.
Elena frowned when she thought of him being gone for any length of time; it left a hollow ache in her chest. The ache increased when she heard the soft breathing of Miranda over the monitor.
"Where are you going?" Her hands slid up his arms to his shoulders as her eyes focused on his.
"New Orleans," Elijah's fingers threaded through her soft hair. It had dried in loose waves after her shower earlier in the day.
"Isn't that where Klaus went?" Elena tilted her head to the left and chewed her lip.
She could clearly remember Klaus being upset when he had to reschedule a date with Caroline because of urgent business in the Big Easy. It had been their first date since Caroline had finally agreed to give him a chance. He had stormed through the halls of the mansion in a huff and woken Miranda from her nap when he'd gotten the call.
"It is," Elijah nodded.
"Let me guess," Elena sighed. "He's gotten himself into 'a spot of trouble'," she saw him smirk at her poorly executed accent, "and now you have to go and get him out of it."
"Are my motives really that obvious?"
"It's what you do," Elena shrugged. "Klaus gets himself into trouble, and you get him out of it. That's a rather standard sibling relationship. I've had to get involved in Jeremy's life more times than I can count." Her laughter died in her throat. "When do you leave?"
"Tonight," his thumb traced the line of her jaw. "My flights in three hours."
"And when are you coming back?"
"As soon as possible," he dipped and brushed his lips over her brow. "If I have my way I'll be back before Miranda's birthday."
"That's not a lot of time to sort out Klaus' problem," Elena peeked up through her eyelashes. He would only have 48 hours to complete his task if he wanted to be home in time.
"I'm hoping it's a simple fix," Elijah chuckled. "Most of the time it is." He stepped back and took her hand. "Now I have approximately an hour to pack and say goodbye."
"Miranda's asleep," Elena peered into the nursery. The setting sun bathed the room in a soft pink glow. "She won't see you before you go," she frowned at the thought.
"That might be for the best," Elijah frowned and started placing clothes in a suitcase. "You'd have a terrible time getting her back to sleep if she saw me leave." He would have to content himself with kissing her cheek.
"I just realized something," Elena braced her hip against the bed post.
"What's that, lovely?" Elijah placed a few items in the case.
"This is the first time it'll be just me and Miranda," she tilted her head and watched him. "You and Klaus will be in New Orleans, and Rebekah has gone off to school."
"Kol is still here," Elijah pointed out.
"Who knows what Kol is doing?" Elena chuckled. He spent very little time in the mansion preferring to enjoy as much of the twenty-first century as possible. "Although you're right; Kol would be here in a heartbeat if I needed him."
"That he would," Elijah closed the suitcase and set it on the floor.
"Packing is a lot a faster when you're a vampire," Elena laughed.
Elijah looked down to realize she was right. He had completely prepared for the trip in less than 5 minutes. "All the more time to say goodbye," he lifted his head and grinned.
"Elijah Mikaelson," she waved her finger in his face, "if you wake that little girl I swear I'll stake you."
"You know that won't kill me right?" His hands flashed to her hips.
"It'll hurt," Elena braced her hands on his chest when he pulled her flush against him.
"I was not planning on waking Miranda," he whispered. "I thought I'd take the full hour and give you a proper goodbye." Elijah bit her bare shoulder with blunt teeth.
Elena gasped and closed her eyes. She lifted her arms when he pulled her tank top over her head. "You know you're only going for a few days," she moaned as his hand slid beneath the waistband of her panties and sleep shorts.
"I know," his mouth left a wet trail up her throat, "but it already feels like an eternity." His fingers slid through her slit gathering moisture before penetrating the slick heat.
Elena would have agreed if her mouth had not suddenly become occupied with his tongue. She fell back onto the mattress; Elijah's hands never left her body as his tongue mimicked the thrusting motion of his fingers.
Nearly an hour later Elena found herself wrapped in the shirt he had been wearing and leaning against the nursery door. She knew she must look a right mess after their tryst, but Elijah was perfectly presentable when he bent over the edge of the crib and pressed a kiss to the top of Miranda's head. The only physical sign that they had been together was the lingering scent of her on his skin and in his blood.
"Elijah?" She caught his arm at the front door.
"Elena?" He set his suitcase on the floor and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Elena wrapped her arms around his neck and stretched up to kiss him soundly. "Be careful," she whispered against his lips.
He was going to remind her that he was one of the oldest creatures on the planet and that he had nothing to fear as the only thing that could cause him lasting harm was locked away in his brother's safe, but he didn't. Instead he nodded and caught her lips again.
Leave a review please and let me know your thoughts on this sequel. It's the first time I've written a planned sequel to a story. A Very Elejah Christmas doesn't count because I didn't actually decide that was a sequel until halfway through.