He wakes up alone, a pillow under his head and his jacket and phone are missing. There's a familiar quilt over him, it's something Elena's had since she was a teenager. Her mother taught her how to quilt, and this was one of the first ones Elena attempted to make after she died. If he had a mother who was capable of love, he might have called her with the urgency he feels for a moment, life is so fragile and people die every day. Instead, he carefully directs that feeling to Elena.
It's amazing, the power she wields at her fingertips. He used to do everything exactly as he was taught, but she convinced him to break that, to eat pizza on the couch and he's forgotten how to do the things he used to do. He's forgotten how to live life by the rules that were drilled into him, that echoed in his ears for years.
He just wants to make her happy, he wants her to be happy and he knows he'd do anything. Elijah would even walk away if that would make her happy even at the expense of his own heart. Elena deserves that and more.
Elena's gone, but her things are still there. It's not like her to run with her things still there, she must be coming back. He takes a shower in the time she's gone, and thinks about the future, their future. Elena thought they had a future, or at the very least she wanted to see where they could go from yesterday. Elena's not a liar, and when he heads to the kitchen while he works on his tie, he notices bagels, and coffee where Elena always sets them. There's a familiar hand pressing against his back for a moment, and then Elena slips around to gently move his hands away.
"It'll be crooked." She says and his hands drop to his sides. Only Elena, he thinks. If someone else had touched him, they could have ended up on their back, looking at him from the floor. He's actually lethal, he's reminded himself a few times as he's relaxed around Elena. She's the only person he never thinks like that around. He can recognize her touch, her perfume, her yawn, he can recognize every part of Elena and he knows she knows the same about him.
Elena has the ability to destroy him beyond recognition, but she wouldn't try to hurt him. If Elena wanted to kill him, she's had plenty of opportunities she didn't take advantage of.
"I thought we could do breakfast before I meet with my editor." She says and lets go of his tie. He has things he needs to do too, but she wants to do breakfast with him.
"I would love that." He never checks what he says around Elena because even if the words come out wrong or he says them in the wrong order, she understands. Elena doesn't correct him, like so many others. That'll be in their future, he thinks. Eventually this will end and they will have to announce their engagement and give up their privacy. He picks up his coffee and thanks her, she lets him sleep in too much, he was used to being sleep deprived before Elena.
Then Elena stuns him, his lovely Elena, says that she loves him, but not in English. The first language he ever learned rolls off her tongue easily and he sets down his coffee to kiss her.
She learned that to make him smile but she's not opposed to his reaction. She wonders if she's the only one who's ever been this close to him, Elijah was closed off and distant with high walls when they met. She can't blame him, but they do need to eat breakfast so they break apart and she gets out the cream cheese.
He never thought he'd ever get to have normality, a routine he could choose, so much of his life has been dictated to him, and he went with it. He spreads cream cheese on their bagels, hers is chocolate chip and his involves some kind of salty cheese he likes that she orders for him every time. Being away from home means so much less pressure.
They eat and watch the street traffic in comfortable silence, and then she finishes, and sips her coffee.
"You were going to ask me to marry you, weren't you?" Elena asks abruptly and he tries not to choke on his bagel. Elijah swallows and nods.
"I was." He says and she smiles at him. She's not new to dating, she's dated quite a few people but she's never felt the need to be with someone like this before and she knows she can't let him go. Life is short, she's almost died too many times to get freaked out over the little things anymore. She could die tomorrow, she could die when she's over a century old but she doesn't want to waste time she might not have. She's thought this over, and thought of this for a while now. She wants Elijah, she wants this, and she wants him not matter what that means.
"Do you have a ring?" She inquires and he gets the box out before he can think twice, Elena has a way of turning off the instincts that were drilled into him since before he could speak.
"I do." He confirms unnecessarily. The box stays in his hand but she asks him to ask her. It takes a moment for it to register, but he gets down on one knee and asks.
"Elena Gilbert, will you marry me?" He has her hand in his and the box opens and she smiles at him. He isn't aware that he's tensing up.
"Yes. A million times over." She says and then he has his arms full with a happy Elena who's holding onto him like her life depends on it and he smiles. Not marrying him isn't a mistake she can afford to make, he's the one person she's ever actually run back to. Elijah might be the only person except for Caroline that she would forgive and run back to, but she loves Caroline like a sister and she needs Elijah to know she's not going anywhere.
"I love you." She says simply and they stay like that, and she feels his hand moving across her back to put the ringer on her finger. He helps her up after he slides the ring onto her finger. It's on the ring finger of her left hand and she smiles at him.
"I have a ring for you too, but you're going to have to wait for a moment." It's somewhere hidden in their closet and she has to think about where it is. She lets go of him and sees the ring fully.
"Oh my god, Elijah it's so beautiful." The words escape from her lips and he looks pleased with himself, she wants to kiss the smirk on his lips but he begins speaking.
"It's been in my family for a little under a century and I had the stone reset and the metal fit to your ring size." He says and she smiles at him and then he remembers she has a ring for him as well. She takes his hand, and leads him to their closet. Elijah has no idea what she's doing until she pulls out a similar box to the one on the counter in the kitchen and she slides the ring onto his finger and he looks at it.
"Not to ruin the moment, but is this platinium?" He inquires and she nods.
"Great minds think alike." He says and gestures to her ring and she laughs too.
Elena looks at her watch.
"I love you, but I need to meet my editor, I'll let you know when I'll be back." She says, kissing him on the cheek, she does need to hurry.
