So here we are again! I try to be quicker with the updates now that school's out but I can't promise anything.

I was amazed by the response to Chapter 9 - it really made my day. There isn't that much to happed this chapter but as it is "quite" long and would definitely get an over-length I thought I'd just cut in right here.

As I am still not entirely sure where this leads to, I am more than open for ideas! Please PM me Can you imagine that this day is only like the 4th day of their acquaintanceship? :)

Anyways, thanks to all the reviewers!

Eby Mikaelson, bexxii86, lovelivegymnastics, Guest, Kolenalover and Alexas98

And of course my most loyal reviewers:

WhatWhat123,lapislazuli101, serina1944 and Guest13579

Enjoy reading!

Chapter 10

Completely and utterly shocked, Elena stared at where the warm voice was coming from.

Kol stood in the doorway, carrying two steaming mugs of coffee. His clothes indicated that he had been awake for a while, he had changed into dark fitting jeans and a grey Henley shirt and his hair was still damp from showering. Why the hell hadn't she heard any of that?

Of course he noticed her surprise, his eyes sparkled in amusement.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, obviously delighted by having rendered her mute.

Elena ran her hand through her messy hair. "Yes I have. But it would be far more interesting to return the question to you...?" she said, trying her best to hide the embarrassment.

Kol chuckled. "Well, I must've slept in the wrong position, my neck aches a little."

Despite his obvious amusement, the guilt started boiling up inside of her.

"Listen, I am so-" she started but he never let her finish. In a split second he sat directly in front of her.

"Hush! It wasn't your fault." he smiled reassuringly.

His proximity to her and his finger on her lips were very distracting. How did he do that?

"Nik told me about your worries. And even though I think it's really cute, stop. I am a big boy!" His lips twisted into a cocky smirk while his index finger remained on her chin.

"However I'm still happy you stayed. Gave me a memorable sight upon waking up..."

Elena lowered her gaze, unable to hold his. Only now she realized her legs were still covered with a blanket. Strange, she certainly hadn't had one when she laid down...

"Since when are you up?" she asked, trying to get to a less disturbing topic.

"About an hour." Kol shrugged. "I couldn't bring myself to wake you."

Looking out, she realized that the sun was pretty high in the sky for mornings.

"What time is it anyway?"

Again, he shrugged. "Who cares?"

Groaning she looked around and found her phone on the night stand.

11:23.

Almost noon. So much for school.

"I guess we're not being good students today..." she said.

Kol leaned back stretching out on the bottom of the bed. He certainly was a tall guy but the bed was large enough for him to only reach from the left to the right when he stretched out his arms.

"Nope. But I wouldn't have let you attend school today anyway."

"And why is that?"

"From what I gathered you've had enough drama yesterday, you deserve a break. It's too late anyway..."

"So what do you suggest?" Elena asked, challenging him.

"I suggest... coffee then later on cooking, maybe a movie...you know just a day off..." he trailed.

"So another nice day with the Original Family..." she sighed.

Kol, who had supported his weight on his lower arms as he laid back, looked taken aback.

"Would you like to go home?" he asked, his tone strange.

"No! Yes...No... I don't know..." she relaxed into the pillow, staring up to the ceiling. She didn't even know what her problem was. Her first reaction was still to get away from this family but taking the happenings of last night into account, she had to reverse that opinion. Apart from the fact that she hadn't met Esther in person, there was no one in this house she had to fear.

How crazy that sounded.

She remembered her conversation with Klaus, it was still more than awkward but he had made his point clear. He needed her - alive and human - which made her pretty safe. Rebekah lend her the clothes, she probably didn't want to kill her at present even though it might be a good idea to apologize.

Finn wasn't a matter either and Elijah...well he and Kol were the people she enjoyed the most right now.

Kol sat up and watched her intently, waiting for a response.

Elena took a deep breath. "You know what, your proposition sounds wonderful. I'd love to spend some more time with you..." her last sentence came out with a little hesitation. Not because she didn't mean it but because she didn't know whether it was appropriate to say.

Looking up slowly she met Kol's eye, who smiled happily at her. "So do I." he whispered leaning closer.

She held her breath.

With a smug smile he reached past her, grabbing the two mugs of coffee, offering her one.

"Coffee?" he asked innocently.

She took it gratefully. Mentally she scolded herself for thinking of what she did. Why was she so damn attracted to him anyway? Why did she have this strange feeling whenever he was there? Of course she liked him but why did she feel so close to him after merely 3 days of actually knowing him?

They drank their cups in comfortable silence.

After a while she realized she was still wearing Rebekah's clothes and had nothing to change into. So she had to go home no matter what unless she wanted to stay in the sweat pants she slept in until tonight.

The thought of going home instead of staying with Kol made her groan.

Here she was actually safe from Damon's attack on her... at home it was like the Salvatores owned the place. Or at least it felt like it - judging by the way they walked in and out.

"What's the matter love?" Kol asked tentatively.

"I need to go home..." she sighed.

"And why is that may I ask?" he inquired unable to hide his disappointment.

"I only have the dress and this-" she gestured to her clothing. "And I need a shower and fresh clothing...I doubt Rebekah will let me borrow her precious designer jeans..."

His expression relaxed. "That's all? Well, here's another suggestion: Nik's new flame, Caroline is it? From what I gathered she will be stopping by later on as he wants to show her something...ask her to bring something over, she'll know what you need and then you can stay and shower here if you like..."

Elena stared at the vampire. Caroline was coming over? They definitely needed to have a little girls talk about Klaus mainly and maybe Kol...

"Isn't that a little complicated? It's much easier when I just change at home and return here."

"True. But after Damon's move last night I wouldn't want to see you facing him alone. He has access to your house and I bet he waits for a change to get to you another time already." Kol explained and Elena couldn't deny that she saw a point in this.

'God, why is this so messed up?' she asked herself. Even when she was in bed with Kol, Damon found a way - indirectly or not - to interfere and destroy the moment. When did all of that get so out of hand? She still found it difficult to believe that she had to search for shelter in between the vampires who were thought responsible for this entire drama in the first place.

"Besides I get to spend the entire day with you..." Kol added sheepishly, looking up to her under his dark lashes.

And just like that the name Damon Salvatore was more or less wiped from her mind and her heart literally skipped a beat.

'Get a grip!' she scolded herself.

For a moment she felt the need to get home to think this over. This was not supposed to happen, she was not supposed to feel like this.

But the underlying desire that crept up in her was an entirely different thing. She wanted to act on it so badly it actually scared her.

Biting back a witty remark she leaned forward an inch, keeping her eyes straight on his.

"That sounds tempting..." she whispered.

A genuine smile spread over his lips and for a moment they just enjoyed looking at each other.

"So what was it that I heard about cooking...?" she inquired to break the silence.

Kol's smile only got wider and he sprang up from his bed offering her a hand.

"Always hungry there..." he taunted, grinning.

Taking no offence, she accepted his hand and he pulled her up.

"Salmon sounds appealing, too?"

Together they walked down into the kitchen.

It was empty but by now the servants had returned to the hall to clean up the last remainders of last night.

"They are all compelled, aren't they?" Elena asked, doing her best to keep the judgment out of her tone.

"No, Mother paid them - with Niklaus money of course." Kol explained.

Even though he tried very hard to make it sound careless, Elena noticed the underlying unrest and discontent.

"Well, he has enough, has he not?"

Kol snorted but bit back a comment. He wouldn't drag her in on this; she has more than enough on her plate - and maybe after all his siblings were right and he was just overreacting.

"So you actually know how to cook?" Elena asked as he took his place behind the counter, trying to lighten the mood.

He chuckled. "Why love? Do you have so little faith in me?" he clutched his chest in mock hurt. "Of course I do. One cannot live a 1000 years without picking up these skills. Only blood gets boring - trust me."

All of a sudden his sour mood was gone and he was once again his sunny, smiling self.

Laughing, she sat down on the bar stool she had already occupied last night and watched him intently.

In the bright sunlight floating in through the large windows, his skin looked much paler than normally and she noticed a lighter tone in his hair that made it shine in a golden tone.

'Truly beautiful...' she thought before she realized it. Luckily she hadn't said it out loud.

Every time he shot her a glance, she felt her heart skip a beat.

Who was she kidding, she knew that he heard it. Also, even though her conscience told her differently, she didn't want to hide the attraction she felt. No matter how long they knew each other, matter-of-factly she felt better than she had in months and maybe it was true what she told Caroline. She didn't need boy trouble but Kol was furthest away from such trouble because with him, it didn't even seem to exist.

All the thinking and contemplating she went through - admittedly took place in her mind. Kol was straightforward, charming and honest. There were no complications, no rules she had to follow if she just let go. And Caroline was maybe right, too; maybe he did feel attraction towards her just like she did towards him.

And what would be the harm in following her feelings in that matter?

"...fine by you, love?" Kol's smooth voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

"Uhm...what? Sorry I was kinda out..." She shot him a sheepish look.

Kol chuckled. "So I noticed. I asked if spending the afternoon outside is fine by you. You might however want to text Caroline about bringing warm clothes for you. If not we can still watch movies..." He added a little unsureness leaking through.

"No! Outside sounds great!" Elena quickly intervened. "I just totally forgot to text her to bring anything." She reached into her pocket - realizing her phone had to be still upstairs.

"Uhm...I'll just go get my phone...be right back!" she explained and jumped from the stool.

"Alright love."

Elena managed to find the way back to his bedroom immediately and without running into anybody. Indeed her phone sat on the nightstand, just as she predicted it to be. She grabbed it and started typing a message while returning downstairs.

Not paying attention as to where she was going, it happened.

She bumped into somebody - hard. She nearly tripped but strong arms secured her.

"Oh my God, I am sorry!" she exclaimed before recognizing who she ran into.

"I thought we established the name-thing, fair Elena...?" Elijah chuckled.

She stared up at him in embarrassment. He made sure she stood safely on her two feet before letting go.

"How are you?" he asked as if nothing had happened.

"Fine and you?" she returned the question.

"Same. However I am glad that this night is over..."he trailed.

Elena understood what he meant. All the people weren't really his thing. She guessed he didn't feel like pretending much while is family was actually around for once.

"Yeah, I am sorry for the trouble. What Damon did -"

He interrupted her before she could go on any further.

"-was not your fault. I am glad you are here. You already know that your company is always welcome to me." he gave her an honest smile and she returned it wholeheartedly.

"So is yours to me." She admitted not breaking the eye-contact. Once again she was reminded on how much she had actually missed him.

When Elijah took out his phone and started typing something she was slightly irritated. That was kind of unlike him.

Suddenly her own phone buzzed and Elijah shot her an amused smile.

Checking it, she saw the new message from an unknown number.

~I think Kol values your company even more, seeing how touched he was by your staying. DON'T tell him I said this, just go for it!~

A grin spread on her face upon reading these lines and she nodded. Without thinking any further about it, she stood upon her tiptoes and gave Elijah a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you" she mouthed before turning around to walk down the stairs unaware of the content smile that spread on the oldest Original's lips.

SO what do you think? No big cliffhanger this time

R&R!

Till next time!