17th June, 1016
When he awoke the next day, he found himself in a worse mood than he had been the day before. He was married to the wrong woman and was in love with a woman who, apparently, preferred his brother. He had thought that the night that they had spent together had meant something. It had certainly meant something to him, but - whether out of fear of being found out or not - Ava was acting as though it had never happened, forcing him to do the same.
After overhearing Ava confiding in his brother about her abusive ex - something that had only wounded Elijah further given the fact she had chosen to confide in Klaus and not him - he had gone down to the courtyard, hoping to escape before his presence became known. They had, however, having heard his movements throughout the house, come down just a few moments after him.
"Oh hello, brother." Klaus had said upon catching sight of Elijah.
"Klaus." he said, nodding in acknowledgement. "Ava." He nodded at her, trying to avoid looking at her.
"Hello, Elijah." Ava had replied pleasantly. He'd glanced up to see her smiling at him. Why must she smile at him that way? Did she have any idea the affect that a mere smile had on him? No, of course she did not. She did not know that when she smiled, it was as though a ray of the purest light was illuminating her face, eradicating everything but her from Elijah's line of vision.
"Where is Belle?" asked Klaus, looking around as though he expected her to walk through the gate.
"Still with her family."
"Is she coming to Electra's birthday celebration later this week?"
"Given the circumstances, I should assume not."
"That's a shame." Klaus said, smiling at his brother apologetically as he took Ava's hand. "Come on, sweetheart." he said, turning to her.
"Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise."
Ava smiled and let him lead her out of the courtyard. Elijah watched them go morosely.
As it transpired, Belle was able to attend his sister's birthday celebrations. Her grandfather's health seemed to be improving and it was no longer imperative that the whole family stay clustered around his bed in the event of his death.
"Once my grandfather has been restored to full health, we'll be able to take up a permanent residence in our home." said Belle to Elijah during an afternoon walk around the town. It was the first time they'd spent together since their wedding and Elijah did not at all feel as though they were husband and wife. He felt a spasm of nerves when she mentioned their home; both their parents had put their gold together and bought Elijah and Belle a marital home where they could start their new lives together. Elijah wasn't entirely sure how he felt about living with Belle all day every day.
18th June, 1016
Elijah was dancing with Belle though his eyes would frequently drift over to where Ava was so happily dancing with Klaus. As he watched, Ava laughed at something that Klaus said and Klaus twirled her around. He wished more than anything that it was him making her laugh like that. She looked so happy with him.
Ava seemed to sense him watching them, for she turned and gave him a sincere smile. Elijah didn't return it. He was angry, angry that she hadn't trusted him enough to confide in him the way she had in Klaus. Of course, she didn't know that he had heard her tell Klaus he darkest secrets, so her response was, of course, bewilderment.
His whole family were here, all 6 of his siblings and for the first time, no one was arguing, not even his father and Klaus, it made a nice change.
"What's the matter?"
Elijah looked down at Belle who was watching him with concern. He supposed that some of his anger must have spilt out onto his expression. Hastily, he reigned his emotions back in and fixed a smile on his face.
"Nothing, I'm fi-" he stopped talking abruptly for his gaze had just landed on 4 people. 4 people who were the last people he had expected to see here. Belle followed his gaze and gasped, but her gasp was not one of horror, as his would have been had he uttered his horror out loud. He glanced over at Ava and Klaus, who were still happily dancing and laughing together, they had not seen them yet.
Moving through the crowd, obviously looking for Ava, came her parents, her brother and an unfamiliar man who Elijah immediately deduced to be her ex-fiancé. The bastard she had been running from.
Because no one, apart from Klaus, Ava and him (although they didn't know that) knew what had happened back in England that had caused Ava to run away, no one questioned their presence. In fact, his parents and some of his other siblings - his brothers, mostly, since they had been friends with Ava's brother - looked delighted.
"Giselle! Danton! And Louis! My, haven't you grown!" exclaimed Leda, holding out her arms. "And who is this?" she added, looking at the tall, unpleasant-looking man. It wasn't that he was ugly, no. He was actually very good looking, but it was his expression. He was wearing a horribly sly smirk.
"Alexander, ma'am." he took Leda's hand and kissed it.
Ava, who had turned at the sound of her parents names, was staring over at the scene in the utmost horror. Klaus, who had heard Alexander introduce himself to their mother had stepped in front of Ava and adopted a protective stance. Elijah didn't feel the usual flash of utmost envy, he was just glad that someone was there to stand between Ava and him.
No one else seemed to have noticed the tension in the room until Alexander stepped forward, his hand outstretched towards Ava who took a step back.
"How did you find me?" she whispered.
"Oh, it wasn't too difficult, darling."
"What do you want?"
"To bring you back to England, of course."
"I'm not coming back with you."
"You will do as you're told." Alexander snapped.
Klaus pushed Ava back a little and took a step forward, glaring at Alexander. All those in the vicinity seemed to have noticed that something was wrong and had gone quiet. Alexander and Klaus glared at each other, sizing each other up, assessing their strengths.
Ava stepped out from behind Klaus, her eyes on her parents. "Why? You must have known why I ran away, I know you did. Why couldn't you leave me be? And why, for the love of God, why did you bring him here?" She turned to her brother. "You promised."
"I didn't tell them, I swear it!" protested Louis who, up until now, had remained silent. He didn't look completely comfortable with the situation; he kept his gaze fixed on the floor and refused to meet anyone's eyes.
"We knew no such thing. We thought you'd been kidnapped!" retorted her father.
"Are you really going to pretend like you had no idea what he was doing to me?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if I were you, young lady, I'd keep that mouth of yours closed."
"Don't you dare act like you didn't know, like you didn't hear me screaming. You heard me calling for you, both of you. Every single day you let him in the house, you let him beat me until I was black, you let him rape me!" she was shaking and Elijah could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She was terrified. It broke his heart. He wanted to do something, to protect her from his monster, but Alexander was bigger and no doubt stronger than he was.
There was a collective gasp from those in the vicinity when Ava announced what he had done and Alexander, who had clearly had enough, grabbed her by her upper arm and fixed her with a steely glare. "That's quite enough from you, sweetheart."
Ava struggled against his hold to no avail.
"Let her go."
Klaus had stepped forward and was regarding Alexander with the utmost dislike. Everyone else seemed either too scared or too shocked to do anything else but stare. Elijah saw Belle clap a hand to her mouth out of the corner of his eye.
Alexander laughed. "And who might you be?" He looked down at Ava who was staring at Klaus, silently pleading with him. Klaus was about to answer when he caught Ava's eye. She shook her head an infinitesimal amount and Klaus stayed silent. When Klaus didn't answer, Alexander tightened his grip on Ava's arm and pulled her away.
"Come on, we're going home."
"No!"
Alexander stopped, but not because Ava had dared to say no, but because Klaus, Ava and Elijah had all yelled it at the same time. Alexander sighed in exasperation. It seemed to Elijah that he had a very short temper.
"I'll say this once," he cast a stone cold stare around the room, focusing specifically on Elijah and Klaus who looked like they were prepared to fight to save Ava from his grasp. "My father is a very powerful man and this woman," he indicated Ava, "belongs to me. If any of you so much as try to stop me from reclaiming what is rightfully mine, I will see to it that my father destroys each and every one of you." He walked through the crowd, dragging Ava rather aggressively with him.
"Mama, mama please!" Ava begged, tears pouring down her face, pulling against Alexander's grip. "Please don't let him take me!"
Her mother stared at her for a moment before looking away without answering. She, her husband and Louis all made to follow Alexander when her mother turned back to face Leda.
"We're so very sorry for our intrusion. I wish it hadn't come to this."
"Mama, please! I'm your daughter!" cried Ava, still pulling against Alexander before he pulled her out of the house.
Giselle looked torn for a moment before she followed her husband and son out of the house.
As soon as the door shut behind them, shocked chatter broke out across the room. Klaus made to follow them all, presumably to bring Ava back, but before he had taken more than a few steps, Evander and Bryden had both grabbed him.
"Let go of me!" snarled Klaus trying to break free of their hold.
"You can't go picking a fight with that man!" cried Evander, trying to hold Klaus back. "You heard what he said, he'll destroy you!"
"I don't care!"
Ava's cries could still be heard, she was sobbing.
"I can't just leave her with him!"
"It's nothing to do with us, son." said Nicholas,
"How can you say that?" Klaus snarled, turning on their father immediately. Sensing that a fight would soon break out - Klaus and their father had quite a history of getting into arguments that quickly turned into physical fights - Elijah left Belle who was now chatting worriedly to a friend and removed his brother from the vicinity, dragging him out of the room and away from the party.
"Klaus-KLAUS! Calm down!"
"I will not calm down! You don't know what he's done to her! He's a madman!"
"Yes, I do!"
Klaus stopped trying to manoeuvre himself out of Elijah's hold and stared at him. "She told you?" he said incredulously.
"No, no of course not." he paused. "I heard you two talking the other day, I heard her telling you."
"You were eavesdropping?" Klaus said indignantly.
"Do you really want to discuss that right now! I'm on your side! I want to help you!"
Klaus stared. "You'll help me go after her?"
"I'll help you come up with a plan to get her back. But we need to plan, brother. We can't just go running after her, we need to come up with a plan to get around him, otherwise we're all as good as dead."
Klaus considered this offer for a moment. Elijah could see that his urge to go chasing after them and prevent Ava from spending even a minute with that man was warring with his knowledge that if they didn't plan and he went charging after them now, he'd most likely end up dead.
After what seemed like an eternity, Klaus nodded.
