Disclaimer 1.0: I don't own TVD
It happened once a year.
Katherine would wake up and roll away from Elijah. She would cling to her side of the bed all day long. Her brown eyes looked lifeless without the mischievous glint they normally held. Her entire appearance looked dull as she hid under the satin sheets and down comforter of their king-sized bed. All in all, Katherine Pierce looked depressed but it only lasted a day; the next morning, she would be up, opening the drapes to let the morning sunlight stream through the windows with her usual bravado and no trace of the previous day's sulking on her features.
At first, Elijah thought nothing of it. He gave her space on the day Katherine decided she needed to sulk. But it never stopped and Elijah began to pick up on a pattern.
It happened once a year, on the same day every year.
And even after Elijah noticed this, it was years before he had an inkling of why Katherine reserved this particular day to sulk. At first he thought it was the day that his brother had murdered her family for her transgressions. So, when he felt Katherine roll away from him on the morning of the designated day, Elijah would move closer and hold her to him for a time before kissing her hair and leaving her to mourn in peace while he spent the day completely helpless.
Then Elijah realized that his math had been off and found the day was, in fact, not even remotely close to the day Niklaus had massacred Katherine's parents and siblings. He became baffled once more and when the day rolled around the next time, Elijah stayed in bed with the shell of the woman he loved despite her protests of wanting to be alone.
After a day full of heavy silence and giving Katherine as much space as the king-sized bed would allow, Elijah pulled her close like he had earlier in the morning. He felt her hands grasp his and squeeze them tightly as her shoulders began to quiver. Elijah gently rolled her in his arms so she was facing him and saw tears leaking from her dull, chocolate brown eyes.
"Katerina," he murmured, his lips moving against her forehead as his fingers ran through her silky curls. "Tell me what troubles you, my love." Katherine only shook her head in response, moving to hide her silent tears in his thin t-shirt. "I beg you, Katerina. I hate seeing you so miserable. Tell me what makes this day so special," he pleaded.
Their bedroom was silent for a few moments and Elijah waited with bated breath, hoping that she would answer him and he would be able to help ease her pain with the knowledge her confession would bring. He continued to stroke her hair comfortingly while he patiently waited.
"Today was the day I had my daughter," Katherine whispered suddenly. "My father took her away because her birth was a disgrace to my family. I never even got to hold her," Katherine sniffled, still hiding her face in Elijah's chest. "I never got the chance to be a mother."
Their search began the next morning. Elijah woke early and set up his laptop at the kitchen table and began reading through the websites of various adoption agencies.
It was around ten thirty when Katherine strode into the kitchen, already dressed for the day. "And what are you up to today?" she asked over her shoulder as she busied herself at the coffee maker.
"Good morning to you, too, Kat."
"Good morning. Now are you going to tell me what you're so focused on? You're not even out of your pajamas, Eli," she said, tutting fondly at Elijah's dressed down state as she sat across from him at the table.
"Nothing much, my dear. What you told me last night has me thinking."
"Elijah," Katherine said exasperatedly, her hand tightening on the mug in front of her.
"Katherine."
The brunette gulped and looked down at the liquid in her mug. Elijah rarely called her by that name and when he did, she knew that whatever he was saying was not up for discussion. Elijah's hand wrapped around hers and she looked up to meet his soft eyes shyly.
The Original had turned the computer screen around for her to see. "How do you feel about Russia?" he asked gently.
Katherine smiled brightly in response.
After months of completing paper work, having agents conduct home studies, and receiving ridicule from Klaus and Kol while Caroline and Rebekah offered their support, Elijah and Katherine submitted their official Russian dossier and became registered adoptive applicants.
None of that compared to the waiting, though. Of course, time was not an issue but after months of preparations, sitting around idly and waiting for something to happen made the Original and the doppelganger anxious. Katherine kept herself busy and began to prep the room they had set aside to be their new addition's room. Elijah helped where he could but quickly realized that Katherine wasn't very interested in his opinion and instead, she called Caroline and Rebekah.
The two blondes arrived with Klaus two days later and the three set to work in a rare show of close friendship to create a very gender neutral bedroom, leaving Klaus and Elijah to their own devices.
"I still don't understand, brother. If you so desired, you could have any child you wished with a little persuasion and, yet, you choose to leave things up to chance," Klaus scoffed as they sat in the library, nursing glasses of scotch.
Elijah studied his brother for a moment. He had come a long way from the cold hearted and bloodthirsty man he had once been, due in large part to Caroline's companionship. The eldest Mikaelson never ceased to be astounded by the amount of light the young vampire radiated. It was always refreshing, even more so when Elijah saw the effect it had on his brother. He knew that part of Klaus would always remain tainted, troubled, and villainous but Elijah was constantly grateful to Caroline's presence in his brother's life. Yes, Klaus had a long ways to go in terms of reforming his cold-hearted ways but the ever so slight adjustments in the man's character were comforting and Elijah could rest much easier at night knowing that he didn't have to worry over Klaus' well being as much.
"Yes, Katerina and I have the power to do that but neither of us want it that way. We want it to be authentic and legitimate. It's not something I can explain to you, Niklaus. Perhaps you'll come to understand it on your own someday."
Klaus just pursed his lips. "Perhaps…Caroline was meant to be a mother and if that's something she wants then you know I won't deny her that. For now, however, I'm content to be the estranged uncle. You were always better with children, anyhow."
Elijah laughed and raised his glass to Klaus.
Maybe his brother understood more than he let on.
Twenty-seven months later, Katherine and Elijah found themselves meeting with the director of an orphanage in Volgograd. They spent two days in his office being interviewed and talking over logistics. On midafternoon of the third day, they found themselves in a waiting room, sitting at a small table. Katherine kept wringing her hands nervously as Elijah stared at the clock, waiting anxiously to meet the two children they had been offered two months ago.
"I have good news, Mr. Mikaelson! If you're wife is nearby you may want to put the phone on speaker," Mrs. Cartwright, their American adoption agent, said cheerily.
Elijah rolled his eyes, knowing full well that Katherine could hear everything being said even though she was in the next room. He heard the clicking of her heels on the wooden floor as she entered the library and sat on the arm of his chair. Elijah smiled up at her and put the phone on speaker anyways.
"Hello, Miranda," Katherine said kindly.
"Hello, Katherine! It's wonderful to speak to you again. As I was telling Elijah, I have some very, very good news! We've gotten confirmation from the Russian agency about a little girl in Volgograd who matches your file!"
The couple exchanged broad smiles and Katherine leaned forward, tucking some of her curls behind her ear. "Tell us more about her!"
"Unfortunately, I don't have much information other than she's eighteen months and her name is Anastasiya. We're trying to get a picture in but, nonetheless, the orphanage has looked over your dossier and files and agreed about the match. They want you to come meet with them as soon as you can!"
There was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal the orphanage director and a staff member. In the staff member's arms was a little girl who had chestnut colored hair that hung in ringlets. She rubbed her olive colored eyes sleepily and peered at Elijah and Katherine before turning her face into the girl's neck.
"This is Anastasiya," the director said with a smile as the little girl peered at them again from behind a curtain of honey colored hair.
Two short court hearings- one in Russia and one in the States- and five months later, Elijah and Katherine pulled back into the driveway of their quiet, lakeside home in Sodus Point the afternoon after the second hearing and saw Klaus' black SUV sitting in the driveway.
"Seriously?" Katherine scoffed. "We just got back. Can't they give us a moment to kick our shoes off?"
Elijah chuckled as he pulled the key out of the ignition. "Niklaus may be the most powerful man on the planet but do you really think he could have kept Caroline occupied in Vienna for over a month, no matter how much she loves it there? I think we're extraordinarily lucky to have gotten the amount of time we did, Katerina."
"Psychotic. Both of them," Katherine said with an eye roll and a flip of her thick, brunette curls before turning in her seat to look at their daughter, Elijah doing the same.
The two vampires smiled as they watched Anastasiya play with her feet and babble happily. Katherine leaned her forehead against Elijah's shoulder and he kissed her temple.
"We're officially a family now," Katherine said, her smile growing.
"Mmmmaa. Mmmaaaaa!" she said, reaching towards the floor of the car before looking up at her parents with a creased brow. "Mmma!"
"Uh, oh!" Elijah and Katherine exclaimed at the same time.
"We can't have him disappearing on us, can we, Ana?" Elijah said, making a face at Ana while reaching over to pick up the purple elephant-shaped blanket that had Anastasiya Renee stitched into the soft fabric out of the floor and holding it back out to his daughter, only to pull it back when she reached for it and swish the fabric in her face gently, eliciting a giggle from the brown-haired, green-eyed toddler.
"Shall we?" he asked after he finally gave the lovie back to a giggling Ana, watching as she brought the lovie to her mouth.
"I guess. Ready to go meet your crazy aunt and uncle, Ana?" Katherine asked when she opened the back door and unbuckled Ana from her car seat. The little girl squealed excitedly when she saw their home and pointed towards it, gripping her lovie tightly in her little hand.
Elijah smiled as he watched Katherine talk to her daughter, their daughter, in her baby voice as they walked, Ana on her hip, towards the front door.
Yes, they had missed her first steps, her first tooth, and her first babblings. But those were only a couple milestones when there were plenty more to come and many memories to make as a family. For a man and woman who had once thought they would never have the chance to be parents, Elijah and Katherine couldn't be more excited about the coming years.
Disclaimer 2.0: I didn't go into too much detail about the adoption process because I didn't want to get anything obscenely wrong. I did read a few sources about international adoption, specifically for Russia, and I apologize if I got anything wrong:)
A/N: just a little somethin'-somethin' filled with Kalijah goodness while I try to find my muse for my other stuff...writing funks suck, guys. like seriously...this took me days. I think I told PixieKindOfCrazy about it like five days ago and that was when I had, like, maybe a paragraph. here's to hoping everything will caaallllmmmm doooowwwnnnn once I get through with this semester in a couple weeks!
Anyways, thanks for reading! If you have a second, let me know what you think and if you'd like to see some more of Elijah, Katherine, and little Ana in the future (I hope how I wrote Katherine and Elijah did them justice) Thanks again, guys. Catch ya on the flip side:)