I'll sleep when I'm dead. Elena had laughed then at the irony of it, coming from Elijah. Seeing him now, too, she couldn't help but smile.
She stood silent at the foot of the bed watching his still and relaxed form under the white linen sheet. Having rolled over into a full blown sprawl with one hand dangled off the bed. He told her weeks ago that sleep wasn't something he cared for, and it wasn't something he had to do, as a rule. But here he was anyway.
The night before she had rolled into him and tucked her head under his chin. Asking if he would just hold her for a minute while she fell asleep, she had felt him smile against her hair. It was their first full night together. Usually Elena would go home at some point, but the night before it made her chest ache to think about leaving, so she just didn't. He had wrapped both arms around her, sighed and relaxed. A few minutes later, she was pretty sure he was out as his breathing deepened. That was all she remembered because she had relaxed into him too.
But when light had filled the room with the sunrise, she woke and saw an opportunity. He was still holding her against him and it had taken probably half an hour to wiggle out of his arms without waking him. So now, here she stood, unsure of what to do now.
Should she wake him?
Watching her bundle straining against the leash, she thought better of it. Letting the leash go, she stood back and watched as it went sniffing around the bed, under the bed and then, finally, Elijah's stray hand was spotted. Almost on queue, it sniffed first and then licked his elbow tasting. The lick became a gentle gnaw and she stepped around to see Elijah's reaction.
He stirred a little and warm brown eyes opened slowly, turning to find the source of the nipping teeth. It was what he did then that she didn't see coming.
He vaulted. That was the only word she could think of. The sheet flew up, cracking like a whip eight feet or so above the bed, with feathers from the pillow flying straight up and then gently down again to scatter around the room. Elijah himself disappeared entirely for a few seconds before reappearing in a lithe, naked crouch against the far wall.
His expression was much more alarming than his physical response. Undisguised horror. It broke her heart. He was horrified at the presence of a small animal in his bedroom, not because of the animal itself, but because he expected to terrify it. For the first time, Elena saw clearly how his experiences in this area had worn away at him.
She took the leash and sat lightly on the bed.
"Take a deep breath. It's ok." He rolled his eyes as he rose slowly to stand unashamedly naked, cocking his head wordlessly. The faint accusation in his expression propelled her to explain quickly.
"This is Azalea." She rubbed the pup between her ears. "I've been doing some heavy research. It turns out that most of the "predator response" you've run into before is instinct for wild animals. But it's a learned behavior for modern domesticated animals. Most instinct has been bred out of them over the last five hundred years or so. What they do and what they know now is taught by their mother." She took a deep breath, gaining steam.
The puppy whined, demanding attention and Elena reflexively lifted the twenty pound sweetie into her lap, stroking her silvery fur as she hurried on.
"Az here lost her mom in the process of coming into this world. Having been bottle fed, she loves people in general. She's also spent the last couple of weeks hanging out with vampires to see how she would react. Other than chewing up three pairs of Stefan's shoes, it's been entirely uneventful."
The faster she spoke, the more Elijah seemed to relax. He still stayed across the room, as far as he could get from the dog, but she had his attention.
"I would like her for that alone. Nice choice of chewing targets." He flashed a tense half smile at her. Thank heaven for that; he smiled.
"What breed is she?" He was watching the little ball of fur languishing in her lap with his head cocked curiously to one side.
"She's a blue great dane. That's the silvery color in her fur, the "blue" part. Full grown she'll be about one hundred and forty five pounds and stand nearly four feet tall….like a small horse. The breed is notoriously gentle and loyal." Elena smiled down at the bundle that had rolled over for a belly scratch, trusting blue eyes wide and innocent. "The breeder said she named her for her eyes. They're the exact color of blue azaleas. The only downside I see is about her is that she'll only live about eight years, on average." Frowning at the last comment, she met his eyes.
"Don't look to the end of a relationship, Elena, to measure its worth. If I did that, I would have no hope at all." She watched him step around and grab the sheet that had snapped midair a few moments before and wrapped it around his hips before sitting down on the far side of the bed, behind her. His tone pensive, he went on. "You will have a beautiful relationship with this girl and should enjoy the time you have together."
How did he manage to make a sheet look good? God, he should be illegal, just…all of him.
Snapping out of her preoccupation with exposed thigh, -How could this man not know he was beautiful?-, Elena realized he was talking about much more than just Azalea. Advising her to enjoy what time she might have with the puppy and not to worry about the way things would end. He was talking to himself too, she decided. He also misunderstood completely.
"Actually…." She spun with the silvery dog still in her lap and faced him. "I was thinking of that for your sake. Everyone loves her, and she'll never be without a home. But I got her for you, if you want her."
His gaze snapped up to search her face. He seemed confused again, his breathing halted and his brow furrowed.
"For…..me?" She could see his brilliant mind working to solve some puzzle.
She nodded, smiling a little. "For your birthday. Today." The pup chewed at her fingertips and wiggled joyfully under Elena's distracted hands.
Az loved everyone. It was just her little personality. That was part of her appeal and what made her perfect for Elijah. She would never turn on him or reject him. Never. Elena wouldn't have considered taking this chance and risk causing him more pain with another animal otherwise.
"You might not have noticed, but she was licking your elbow and gnawing on you when she woke you. Not exactly a "predator response."" As if to illustrate Elena's point, the dog rolled clumsily over, satisfied with the belly scratch Elena had been giving as she spoke, and began to paw at some of the feathers that had floated down around them onto the bed. She wagged her thick silvery tail and pounced at a few that looked like they wanted to float away again, completely unconcerned that she was well within arm's reach of Elijah.
"I've even got this little sweetheart nearly, and I'll emphasize nearly, housebroken for you."
Sweetheart. Elijah couldn't help but smile crookedly at the tenderness in her voice as she said the word. He also had to smile at his own foolishness. The dog. Elena had been speaking to the dog the night he'd gotten so angry….and jealous.
Love made fools of men, or so he'd heard. Now he knew the truth of it. Because he was the king of fools for what he'd been thinking. He was so relieved that he had listened, deciding to trust her when she had asked it of him.
While she had been researching, locating and caring for this little beauty, -all for him. A gift for him- he had been worrying Elena would forget him, or discard him, or worse. Instead she had done for him the one thing he could not have done for himself, answering an age old ache only she knew about. No one had done something so thoughtful for him in longer than he could remember. Perhaps never.
She humbled him without even trying.
His long life had taken him to some very dark places. Elena filled his days and now his nights with light and color just by being who she was. He wasn't sure he could go back to darkness again after having stood in the light for a little while.
Cautiously he reached out and ran a single finger along the animal's back, feeling Azalea's smooth silver fur. It was something he hadn't done in a thousand years. The puppy leaned into his caress, stumbling clumsily and stepped into his lap, the feathers forgotten. After making herself comfortable, she decided one of his fingers needed a little chewing. A broad smile spread across his face as he met Elena's eyes.
Hers were glassy with tears. He stood reflexively with the dog tucked under one arm. Wrapping the other arm around Elena, he pulled her close.
"Please don't cry." His voice caught on the words. He had upset her?
"I'm just happy." Elena shook her head against his bare shoulder as the moisture of her tears spread.
"And you cry when you're happy?" He sounded as confused as he felt as he sank his unoccupied hand into her hair. The pup, occupying the other arm, settled again and went about licking his shoulder vigorously. Clearly he needed a shower, or so Azalea seemed to think.
Elena sniffled a little and wrapped her arms around them both.
"I know that you travel a lot, so I figured the guys would be glad to look after her when you're out of town." She was forever practical. In this one thing, he would not be.
"Where I go, she goes from now on."
She chuckled and hugged him harder.
"I thought you might feel that way. Jeremy will be disappointed."
"Jeremy can get his own pet." He felt her chuckle again and went on. "She's perfect and I don't have the words to thank you, Elena." And he really didn't. At this moment, he had both of his girls in a tight embrace and he couldn't be more at peace. A peaceful, happy birthday. How long had it been since he'd had one of those?
