It's been a few minutes of silence, her nervous heartbeat is pounding too loudly, she knows Elijah can hear it, but she's sure she can too.

"Elijah?" She asks, carefully. Her eyes are peering into his, looking for answers he's not sure he can give.

"How long have you been thinking about it?" He's not sure if that's his voice, but he feels his lips moving. His mind is moving too quickly. This opens too many doors and paths of thinking for him to process for a moment.

"To be honest," She bites her lip in hesitation before continuing.

"Since Damon tried to shove his wrist in my face a few hours before Klaus killed me." She finishes. He can understand the Salvatore's want to immortalize her, to save her life. She hadn't wanted it. Or so he had thought.

"What are you thinking?" She asks. She wants to say, please don't hate me for having to keep me human for so long. Admittedly, in her years with him, there had been so many close calls where she had told him, over and over that she'd rather die human than wake up as a vampire. It was fear talking. He seems to be busy thinking, but he does ask when she changed her mind. She doesn't know the answer to that, she doesn't know when it had shifted, her world had slowly tipped over. She had just now fallen into the realization.

"Aren't you the hesitant to join us monsters?" He asks, his voice is detached and bordering on cold. She can't believe he remembered that, she had been dying and said something. He didn't have the context, and she hadn't given it. She needs to move quickly before all of his walls are up.

"I didn't mean you." She says and he looks neutral. She has to keep going, she can see him quickly closing himself off, he's never done this before.

"I didn't mean anyone but me. I thought if I turned then, that I'd be a monster. I thought I'd be a ripper or something and no one would be able to help me and I didn't want that. I will never want that." She explains.

He moves quickly, and she finds herself walking backwards. The walls he doesn't have around her are back down for the moment. When her back hits the wall, he speaks. His voice is rough.

"You thought I'd let you turn into something you despise? You thought I'd stand back and let you become a ripper?"

"I thought I'd dagger you again. I know where it is. It's with your ties. I thought I'd dagger you again and lose it."

"I wouldn't let that happen." He's so sure, it's not even arrogance, it makes her want to ask questions.

"I daggered you once." She reminds him.

"Years ago." He retorts, and they only have a few inches left between them.

"Why are you fighting me on this?" She asks, and he wants to laugh. She has been against turning since he met her. Her sudden change of heart strikes him as odd.

"Because you've always loathed the idea. What changed?" He presses. There goes an inch of space.

"I just spilled my guts, can we not play twenty questions?" She asks, she tries to move but can't.

"Why are you hiding your reason?" He presses again. She makes a frustrated noise.

"If I tell you, will you let me go after this?" She asks.

"Deal." He agrees.

"It's you. The reason is you." She says, and she expects him to move. She looks at him expectantly.

"Move." She demands, trying to push against him.

"What about me?" He wants to know.

"You didn't ask for details." She hisses. She's angry at him now.

"I thought you would give them." He says simply. She's moving against him. She needs to get out before he figures it out and she's utterly humiliated by his rejection.

"You didn't clarify, I owe you nothing, let me leave." Her words are cold and harsh and she doesn't want to hurt him, but spilling her secret will hurt both of them.

"Explain and you can go." He's demanding.

"I was in love with you when I said that." She hisses, she wants the words to come out in a whisper but her voice is too cruel, even to her ears. He moves away and she runs out of his house.


He doesn't see her for two weeks.


He's about to knock on her door when he hears her speak.

"I ruined it, Care. I ruined it. I ruined my friendship with Elijah." She says, and Caroline asks if he had rejected her. She tells her the wording she had used and Caroline gives one of those soft sighs she gives before sage advice.

"You were hurt and trying to protect yourself. You weren't trying to hurt him."

"But I did. He hates me, he has to." Her voice shakes a little and he accidentally leans against the doorbell. Fuck. He hears her hang up, promising to call Caroline back. She opens the door, and almost immediately wants to shut it.


"Elena." He's polite.

"I'm sorry." Spills out of her lips. He notes her red eyes.

"I can see I'm making you uncomfortable, I will take my leave." He says and she's about to shut the door.

"Elena." He says and she pauses, the door is open just a few inches.

"I loved you too." He still loves her, he just had to confess it. It's been stuck in his throat for years. Her breath catches.

"Loved? You-" She trails off. Of course. She had broken his heart. Two weeks was a nice start for him to begin getting over her. The handful of years they had been friends was just a blink in his long life.

"I still love you. I'm still in love with you." He admits, he needs to leave before he's any more exposed. He's about to walk away.

"Elijah, wait." She's using that tone, that she always managed to convince him with. He freezes.

"I love you too. I'm still in love with you too." She confesses. She finds herself being pressed against her front door, his lips are on hers.


When she opens her eyes in the morning, she knows they'll need to talk more, but as she stares at him, just a few inches away, she can't help the feeling of hope that's growing in her chest, that she might have him. She might even be able to keep him. Forever, literally. She grins at him when he yawns. She'll call Caroline back in a few hours.