A/N: Thanks for all the reviews so far!

Chapter 4

When Elijah woke up, Elena was still sleeping and he didn't want to disturb her so he stepped into his pants, buttoned up his shirt, and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. He was looking through the cabinets in an attempt to find something to make Elena for breakfast when he heard someone enter the room. He spun around, taken off guard, to see Jeremy standing in the doorway looking shocked and afraid. He backed out of the kitchen slowly and Elijah wasn't sure what to do.

"Jeremy," he said quietly, "Jeremy, listen. I'm not here to hurt anyone. Elena knows I'm here."

Jeremy continued backing out into the entryway, and Elijah was certain he would run up the stairs. When he reached the first step he broke into a run and called out for Elena. Elijah heard her jump out of bed and by the time Jeremy reached the top of the stairs, her door flung open. Elijah stood at the bottom of the stairs watching the brother and sister with dismay. He and Elena had anticipated more time to prepare Jeremy for their relationship.

"Elena, what's he doing here?" Jeremy asked frantically.

Elena's eyes were wide, but her hair looked as though she'd stuck her finger in a light socket. Elijah had intended to let her sleep as long as she wanted, but Jeremy had seen to that. Elena looked at Elijah meaningfully, as if to apologize for her brother's behavior.

"Jer, you and I need to talk," she said, attempting to calm her brother.

"I don't think there's much time to talk, Elena. I came home to find a freaking Original in our kitchen!"

Elena sighed and bit back a laugh. She looked back to Elijah who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs unsure of what to do. He'd never been in this position before. "Elijah, can you give Jeremy and me a little . . ." She trailed off awkwardly, but Elijah knew what she meant.

"Of course," he said obligingly. He turned and stepped out of the door and moved to sit on Elena's porch swing. He could only hear a muffled rumbling of voices from out here – not enough to actually make out what they were saying, but judging by the increased volume of one of the voices, Jeremy wasn't taking it well.

Half an hour later, the front door opened and Jeremy came storming outside, and, without even a glance at Elijah, he got in his car and sped away. Elijah knew Elena was upset because she hadn't come out to the porch yet. He walked cautiously through the still-open door and followed the sound of tears. He found her sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest. She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and attempted a smile, but it looked like more of a grimace. Elijah hurried over to her and pulled her into his arms, where she sobbed against his shirt.

"He said he hated me," she whispered through her tears. Elijah stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head lightly.

"He doesn't hate you," he assured her.

"I know, but he told me he doesn't want anything to do with me if I'm still 'screwing around with vampires'."

"He'll come around, love. You mean too much to him."

Elena shook her head against Elijah's hard, muscled chest. "He was so mad, Elijah. I've never seen him this mad."

Elijah didn't know what to say to make it better, so he remained silent as he rocked her back and forth, letting her cry into his shirt. Jeremy would come around – he had to. Elijah couldn't live with himself if he was making Elena choose between him and her family. If worse came to worse, he would go away. He knew from experience that family was too important and too precious to push away. For the time being, he would stay with her and hope with every fiber of his being that Jeremy would understand.

Eventually Elena stopped crying. She straightened up and wiped her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.

"You don't have to apologize, Elena," said Elijah, kissing her forehead.

She leaned into him, closing her eyes. He settled back against her headboard and let her snuggle into the side of his body. He pulled the covers over her and she soon fell asleep again. Elijah couldn't blame her. She'd been awoken suddenly, and after all the tears she'd shed, she was bound to be tired. He played with the tips of her hair as she slept, but he soon found himself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

Elena's sleep, on the other hand, was fraught with terrifying dream sequences in which Jeremy staked Elijah in front of her. She was helpless to stop him – all she could do was collapse to the floor in horror and heart-wrenching sorrow for the man she loved. It wasn't a dream in which Elena knew she was sleeping and that everything would be fine when she woke up; on the contrary, everything was so vivid and realistic that when she did wake up with Elijah sleeping next to her, her fingers skittered across his chest frantically, searching for a stake that wasn't there.

Elijah woke with a start to find Elena nearly tearing off his shirt, her eyes wide and manic. What she was doing, he had no clue, but he had to assume she'd had some sort of nightmare.

"Elena," he soothed as he took her shaking hands in his. "Elena, stop. It was just a dream."

"It was so real!" she cried, her expression losing its manic look.

"It's okay, love," he said quietly, stroking her hair. "Tell me what happened."

She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself. "Everything was so real. Jeremy was holding you against the wall somehow and he staked you with the silver dagger and there was nothing I could do. I was glued to the spot. I couldn't save you." Her voice broke on the last sentence and Elijah held her close.

"It was only a dream," he whispered.

Vaguely, Elijah wondered if it was only just the start.