Chapter ten

The healer

Bella waited until her family was asleep in their beds before she snuck out of her house. Her hair was wild and wavy from the braid she had had it in all day, and as she walked through the woods alone, she looked like a real woodland fairy.

She smiled when she saw Elijah waiting for her at the oak tree, and she walked faster to reach him. he grinned when he saw her coming towards him and opened his arms for her. without another word, Bella ran into his arms, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. his arms enclosed around her waist and he kissed Bella back. the two could never get enough of kissing each other.

When they pulled away for air, Elijah offered Bella his arm and asked, "Would you care to take a walk with me?"

She smiled and entwined their fingers together. Silently, they started walking into the woods. They walked in comfortable silence, as Bella thought about how she went from shy, rule-following Bella who longed after Elijah Mikaelson from afar to coy Bella who snuck out of her house to kiss Elijah.

"Do you remember when you carried Halia out of the caves after she hurt herself all those years ago?" Bella asked suddenly, thinking about that day. It was, after all, the day her crush on him began.

"Yes, I do," he replied after a moment's thought. "Why do you ask?"

"Why did you lie to our mothers for me? I can only imagine the punishment your father gave you for it," she said, frowning slightly.

Elijah shrugged. He didn't get punished by his father often; Elijah usually followed his rules and Mikael spent most of his energy on punishing Niklaus and Kol- usually Niklaus. "It was not too bad," he said thoughtfully. "And I lied for you because you seemed so distraught. You were really beating yourself up over Halia, and I thought that that was punishment enough for your actions. You are very protective of her, aren't you?"

Bella nodded. "It is because she is the baby of the family. I try to keep her safe from all the dangers this world has to offer, but I know that I cannot always keep her safe. The same goes for all of my siblings, even the older ones," she said.

Elijah nodded in understanding. He was very protective of his siblings too, especially because he was the oldest. And he and his other siblings doted on Henrik. Elijah understood how close Bella was with her siblings, because he was just as close with his own.

Bella smiled thoughtfully up at the sky. The full moon would be in a few days, and they would have to retreat to the caves in a few days because of the wolves. "Niklaus has taken a liking to Halia, just so you know," Elijah told her suddenly, causing Bella to frown.

"I hope he does not hurt her," she murmured quietly. She knew what heartache felt like and she wished for Halia to never feel that.

"If it helps, Niklaus has been acting different ever since his few encounters with Halia, a good different. I do not think that she is just another conquest to him," Elijah said thoughtfully. "Besides, Halia is not as naïve as she lets people think. She will put Niklaus in his place if it is necessary."

Bella smiled slightly. "I know she will, but I practically raised her- I cannot help but be concerned about her."

"and I find your compassion and loyalty for your family very endearing," he agreed. Bella blushed and stopped walking.

"Am I only person who can make you blush so easily?" Elijah asked, slightly amused, brushing his fingers over Bella's pink tinged cheeks. This only made her blush deeper.

"Yes, and I am glad that that amuses you so," Bella muttered a little irritably.

He chuckled. "It is just another one of your endearing qualities, Bella," he assured her, before leaning down to kiss her again.

But before he could, Bella smirked devilishly and pulled away. "If you can catch me, you can kiss me," she told him before running away giggling. Elijah chuckled again before following her. Tatia had liked to be chased, he was starting to think that most women did. But Elijah only chased after the women he thought worth the chase. Was Bella worth the chase?

Yes.

Elijah started running after Bella, using the light of the moon and her laughter as a guide. Eventually, Elijah caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist to get her to stop running. She let out a squeal of laughter as he pulled her back against his chest.

"Now I can kiss you," he declared victoriously, before planting his lips on hers. It was a chaste kiss though, and left her wanting more. Bella frowned up at him when he pulled away.

"Come here," she demanded, pulling his face down to hers. Her warm lips pressed against his, her tongue just grazing his bottom lip. One of Elijah's hands rested on Bella's hip while the other brushed her wild hair from her face.

Suddenly, a twig snapped and the couple broke apart. Bella gasped slightly and Elijah pushed her slightly behind him, as if to shield her from whatever might be attacking them. Another twig snapped and then muffled laughter broke through the air as another couple stumbled through the woods.

Elijah and Bella frowned at the couple. They had their arms wrapped around each other and were kissing quite passionately- not unlike how they had been kissing a short while ago.

"Halia?"

"Niklaus?"

~TLND~

Halia listened to the deep breathing of her family before she slipped out of her bed and out of her house. Ever since the celebration when she and Niklaus had spent hours talking to each other, she had been sneaking out of her house to meet up with him. every night they did this. It was starting to become their routine.

A few minutes after her sister had quietly padded out of their house, Halia did the same. Only she walked towards the lake, where she and Niklaus had taken to meeting. They mostly talked about anything and everything, and Halia was falling for him, hard. She knew that she was different from his other conquests, though. Niklaus had never put so much energy and time into getting a girl, before. Besides, the two hadn't even kissed yet. He had yet to make a move on her, and Halia was fed up with waiting.

She didn't know how Bella waited for Elijah all those years, how she just stood to the side and didn't make any moves on him at all. it was driving Halia crazy, waiting for Niklaus to kiss her. she wasn't very patient.

Halia frowned when she saw that Niklaus' usual spot by the lake was unoccupied. He always waited for her. she didn't know if he was just late or decided not to come that night. still, Halia walked closer to the lake and sat down to wait for him.

Gemma had dragged her here many times as a child, since Gemma had a gift for water. Halia's gift was healing- she was a healer by nature. She hated seeing people in pain. It was almost as if she could feel their pain.

The Erikson family didn't use their powers very often, mostly because of Bella. She insisted that it went against nature to use their gifts selfishly. Just like witches were servants of nature, fairies were protectors of nature. Both existed to ensure one thing- that the balance be kept. But for some reason, witches did not care for fairies. it was like they thought that fairies unbalanced nature, like there was darkness to them. But Halia's gift was the least selfish out of all of her siblings, and she radiated light. But Ester and Ayana hated her with the same intensity they did the rest of her siblings.

"Halia?"

Halia gasped and jumped, breaking out of her thoughts. She suddenly lost her balance and fell into the water. She was immediately soaked to the bone. She heard muffled laughter and glared up at Niklaus.

"Do you not know that it is impolite to sneak up like that? because when one does, things like this happen," Halia said irritably, standing up.

Niklaus didn't bother to hide his smirk as he approached her. "Why were you late? You're never late," she said, frowning suddenly. That was when Halia noticed the cut on Niklaus' cheek, fresh and still dripping blood. she could just see angry red marks peeking out from his shirt, on his back. whip marks, no doubt.

"Oh no," she whispered, her frown deepened. "What happened?" Halia paused as realization dawned on her. "Why did Mikael do this to you?"

Niklaus shrugged like it was no big deal. He had had worse punishments in his life. "He caught me sneaking out, that is all," he said casually, leading her out of the water. She stopped them near the edge, though.

"Yet you still came?" Halia asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

He shrugged again. "I knew that you would be waiting for me," he said simply, "And you hate when I keep you waiting."

Halia almost smiled at how oblivious he was to her feelings. Niklaus was keeping her waiting, night and day- waiting for a kiss. But her compassion and healing nature kept her frowning. Gently, she placed a hand over his cheek and pursed her lips in concentration. He flinched slightly as his cut healed up almost instantly. He frowned slightly at Halia as she wiped away remaining blood off of his cheek with her wet sleeve.

"Thank you," he said quietly, meaning it.

Halia waved it away, and then turned him around to yank up his shirt, completely unabashed. Like she had thought, red welts were visible on his back. instead of placing her hands on his injury, she kissed the heated skin with her cool lips. The welts went away instantly, leaving Niklaus completely uninjured.

He sighed in relief as his pain went away. she pulled his shirt back down and smiled. She didn't like it when people were hurting, and she hated it when Niklaus was in pain. But Niklaus was always facing pain. His father loathed his existence and took out all his anger and frustration on Niklaus- and he didn't even know why. But luckily for him, Halia was a healer by nature, and she would heal as much of him as she could.

"There," she said, a little smug, "All better now."

Halia was still dripping wet, and she shivered a little bit due to the cold. Niklaus leaned down, his chin half an inch above her head. He only had one desire at that moment, and Niklaus was used to doing whatever he had to do to get what he desired. Niklaus desired Halia, he had for a while.

But Halia was sweet and kind and naïve. She was the kind of innocent that most did not want to ruin. She was also funny and brave and not afraid to speak her mind. She held a lot of compassion in her heart, compassion that drew him to her. he was not the only Mikaelson brother who found one of the Erikson sisters' compassion endearing.

Niklaus did not want to break any of that, and he knew that he had a track record of breaking things. So instead of taking what he wanted, he pulled away and said loudly, "Where shall we go tonight? We can always explore a cave if you're feeling adventurous."

Halia pursed her lips in agitation. They were so close, and then Niklaus had the nerve to pull away at the last second. No, she was not going to pull a Bella and wait seven years to tell him how she felt. Halia decided that the best way to tell Niklaus how she felt was to show him, so she grabbed his arm so that he would face her. without another word, she stretched up on her tip toes and kissed him.

His blue eyes widened at the same time her brown ones closed. After a few seconds she pulled away, opened her eyes, and smirked slightly up at him. "What?" she asked coyly. "You weren't going to kiss me any time soon, so I decided to take matters into my own hands."

With those words, Halia turned around and left Niklaus gaping after her. she giggled slightly, despite still being soaking wet. Finally, sense came back to Niklaus and he chased after her. he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. their lips met again, and one of Halia's arms wrapped around Niklaus' neck, in order to pull him closer.

The young couple laughed slightly as they stumbled through the woods, still kissing. Halia had gotten Niklaus wet, but he didn't care. In fact, he hugged her closer to him. Niklaus had kissed many different women in his life, but he decided that Halia's soft, warm, sweet kisses were his favorite. He regretted not kissing her before.

"Halia?"

"Niklaus?"

The two broke apart to see Bella and Elijah gaping at them. They looked like they had just been committing the same act as Halia and Niklaus had, and Halia allowed a smug smirk at Bella before she realized that she and Niklaus had just been caught too.

The four had no words for each other, and eventually Niklaus wrapped an arm around Halia's waist and pulled her back the way they came. "We did not see you if you did not see us," he called to his older brother before they disappeared.

Bella frowned after Halia and Niklaus. Not only had her secret affair with Elijah already been compromised, but her baby sister was kissing Niklaus Mikaelson- the notorious womanizer- in the woods. This was turning out to be an eventful night.

"Let's just let them have their fun," Elijah said, breaking her out of her thoughts, "So that we can have ours."

He took that moment to bend down and kiss her again, putting any thoughts of Niklaus and Halia out of her mind.

~TLND~

A/N: LiliannaKay2011, Sam0728, pat bennett, Belinda, TVDobsessesion106, and Katerina The Von, for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :D