Rebekah breathes in the oxygen as deep as she can before taking the mask away. They're seated in a small cubical, a curtain giving them privacy. Rebekah had been seen straight away and treated and her condition seems to be improving. If it had been any later she would have died from asphyxiation.
"I can see you're itching to go after her and frankly it's making me sick." There is nothing derisive in her words, she's literally disgusted.
"Do you hate her that much?"
"She pretended to be my friend and then stabbed me in the back. What do you think?" Elijah gets to his feet, saying nothing. Rebekah replaces the oxygen mask and narrows her eyes at him. "But she's not the issue here, you are. You considered letting me die, your own flesh and blood. I thought you were in that bloody forest and I searched through it, breathing in that foul stuff. What a fool I must seem…for all your talk of loyalty you left us there to die. Didn't you?"
"Rebekah…" He says softly, voiced laced with pain.
"Do you deny it?" She asks and for all her anger a flare of utter betrayal is in her eyes. "Did you leave us there to save her?" His heavy silence is all the answer she needs. Rebekah nods, biting the inside her lip and turns on her side, her back to him. "Goodbye Elijah."
He stares sorrowfully at her back, torn on what to say or do. He had left them there to burn and he can not defend his decision. He will save Elena a thousand times over. Giving his sister one last regretful gaze he leaves and quickly hurries to the car. Klaus could be anywhere by now but he has faith in her.
The plane has landed near to Waynesboro and she races across the tarmac and into the terminal. The spoon has sliced her palm open and blood splashes onto the floor. Like a bread crumb trail for him to follow…
She hurries towards an exit and out along a taxi rank before doubling back, wrapping her sweater around her injured hand. The blood should give her a head start if he does take the bait. She heads quickly towards a toilet and runs a jet of water over her hand, hissing at the flare of pain. Looking up at her reflection in the mirror she stills. Someone is writing in the condensation upon the glass:
We know where you are. Stay put. We'll be there shortly.
Finn.
Her heart soars and she looks at the door to the toilet expectantly, wondering how far away they are. Of course Finn has been monitoring their movements from the beginning. But how will they make it from Mystic Falls to here in time?
Elena creeps to the door and opens it a fraction. She is not sure how long Klaus will remain down but she prays it's long enough. Even as she thinks this she spots a roving blonde head and jerks away from the door. Steeling herself she looks again and watches with relief as Klaus follows the bloody trail and hurries out of the terminal. But her relief is short lived as she watches him ask one of the cab drivers something and the man points back the way he had come.
"Shit…" Elena looks around the cubicles but there are no makeshift weapons here. She backs away from the door when Klaus' head swings in her direction. Her options are to run from the bathroom and be caught in seconds or trust Finn on his word. Praying that Finn is as honourable as his brother she ducks into a cubicle and locks the door and stands on the seat, her arms braced on either wall. A sliver of the room beyond can be seen though the door hinge and she stares through it.
The door squeaks open and she stops breathing. There is a sigh which is followed by a light chuckle.
"I do admire that pluck, you know. All Petrova's have it, that fire. That's what drew us to her, to Tatia and I think that magic still lives on. You stabbed me with a bloody spoon. That's too ridiculous for me to stay angry about. In fact you deserve praise." He begins to clap and the noise makes her jump. He walks near to her cubicle, still clapping. "Good show my girl but the day is growing long and we have places to be."
There's a polite knock at her door and she sees his shoes below. He is mocking her and it sends a flick of fury through her fear. He will knock until he breaks the door down, until she's cowering from him. Either way she will leave this place in his custody. If that is to be her lot then she will not do it his way. Not if she has breath left. So inhaling deeply and squaring her shoulders she steps down from the seat and slips the lock back and opens the door.
"Fuck you, always and forever."
The triumphant smile on his face slips and he opens his mouth to comment but he is never given the chance. At that moment someone appears at his shoulder and Elena almost screams with joy. It's Bonnie.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." She slips a silver chain over his head before he has time to react and says a spell in a deep, commanding tone. His eyes roll back and he collapses into a heap on the floor. Elena recognises the pendant as one she used to wear, which has now bound Klaus.
"Bonnie!" She flings herself into her friend's arms and is wrapped in a fierce hug. "You're awake!" She pulls back, elated.
Bonnie nods, grinning. "I woke up last night. I've been travelling to catch up ever since." She looks down at Klaus and the smile drops. "We've finally got him."
"Good job," Finn says, coming into the room. He inclines his head to Elena and she smiles.
"Thank you. How did you get here in time? Did you drive?"
Finn's lips quirk. "The servants of nature can travel by other means." He bends down and drags Klaus into the centre of the room. "Stand back."
She and Bonnie move to the door as he says something under his breath and in a blink he and Klaus are gone.
"Woah…"
"Tell me about it."
Elena turns to Bonnie, eyes wide. "Is Elijah OK?" She hasn't seen him since last night when she fell asleep in his arms. Anything could have happened.
"He's fine. Last I checked he was driving to get here. He should reach Mystic Falls in a few days or you can wait to meet him?"
"I want to wait." A thrill of anticipation and uncertainty sweeps through her. She has no idea if giving up his mortality to save her has changed things. He may want nothing to do with her now. He did tell her that he avoids relationships with mortals and was prepared to say nothing of his feelings…
Elena pushes away these depressing thoughts and links her arm through Bonnie's. They exit the toilet and walk slowly through the terminal. She wonders about Klaus finally being captured and what may happen to him. She thinks back to Elijah's dream of a supernatural government and imagines Klaus on trial. It's ludicrous but how can they go on like this? Tyler is right, there needs to be a law in place or they'll literally get away with murder. They sit in the arrivals area. Elena has been running on a surge of adrenaline but now it leaves her shaking and weak. She asks what they plan to do with Klaus.
Bonnie takes her hand and speaks low. "For now we are keeping him locked up. He's a vampire so he can be killed, there are white oak stakes out there…but we can't."
"Why not?"
"When Kol died something strange happened. All the vampires that shared his bloodline dropped dead."
"What?" Elena stares at Bonnie is disbelief.
"Any vampires he created who then went on to create their own have died. And people have noticed. I've even seen reports of it on the news, they think someone sort of plague have struck some people down. It's crazy. Esther is trying to cover it up…"
They sit, mulling this over and then the full ramifications hit home. "Oh my god. Esther planned to kill all her children before we talked her out of it. She must have known she would be committing genocide."
Bonnie stares at her in conflict. "I think that was her ultimate plan. She spent a thousand years on the other side, unable to move on. Whenever someone died as a result of her mistake she felt their torment. She came back to put an end to it. She thought was serving the greater good by ridding the world of them."
"I understand why but I don't trust her."
Bonnie smiles strangely. "I know. She doesn't have much time left. Once we deal with Klaus she'll die."
They fall silent and watch arrivals checking in, greeting their friends and families. Bonnie stares at Elena anxiously.
"Are you OK?"
Elena nods and then shakes her head. "I can't take much more of this…" she stares through the window and watches a plane touch down. "I want to leave, just get on one of those things and fly away."
Bonnie nods in understanding and sits back with a sigh. "I could do that; just go on vacation for as long as it takes."
"Then why don't we? Once we graduate we could take a gap year." She sits up eagerly.
"Go see the world…?" Bonnie looks into the middle distance wistfully and then turns a determined gaze on Elena. "I'm up for it. Let's do it."
"Yeah? Me, you and Caroline, if she agrees."
"Please, she's been planning a trip through Europe since we were thirteen."
They smile and sit back, content in this pocket of peace and thoughts of far off places.
The night deepens but still he has not arrived. Elena waits impatiently outside the motel room where Bonnie is talking on the phone to Caroline. Leaving her friend to explain their triumphant success Elena walks down a flight of steps and paces around the parking lot. A swimming pool shimmers in the dark, sending up ripples of light.
Before she had been nervous about what Elijah may feel for her, now that feeling has only intensified. Today has ended the best way she could have hoped but she prepares herself for disappointment. Gazing transfixed at the rippling water she does not hear the car approaching until the headlights beam over her and then die. She watches, her breath trapped in her throat as he gets out and stares at her. He is attired as he has been for the past week but his skin appears paler and his eyes flash in the dark. Or maybe it's just her imagination. He stands away from the car and then with a sudden blurring movement stands inches from her.
"Elena? Are you OK?" He gazes at her intensely, his eyes roving over her face. She has felt an intense magnetic pull between them but it has never been as strong as in this moment. The need to touch is almost as strong as the need to resist.
"I'm alive…how are you?"
"Dead," he quips but if he is aiming for humour he misses his mark. Elena's face crumples and he suddenly closes the distance between them and wraps his arms around her. She pulls her head back to speak but his lips claim hers and he kisses her fiercely. Her mouth parts under his and she moans when she feels a wall at her back. She hadn't even felt them move. Elijah breaks away from her and she pants for air.
"I wasn't sure if that would happen again," she says with a shaking laugh.
"Why?"
Her smile falls. "You know why."
He stares into her eyes deeply before nodding and stepping back. "I'm sorry. I'm just relieved that you're safe." There's a formality to his words that Elena does not like. She reaches forward to touch his face.
"You don't need to apologise. The only reason I'm even standing here is because of you. You saved my life at the cost of your own."
His lips quirk at her sombre tone and he takes her hand in his. "Not such a cost. I think we both knew deep down that it wouldn't last. I've had a thousand years to come to terms with what I am and that doesn't just disappear overnight. I'm just thankful I got to spend the little time I had as a human with you."
She stares down at their clasped hands. "Me to…" She looks up and catches a flare of torment in his eyes and she tilts her head. "What's wrong?"
"Kol is dead and Rebekah will never speak to me again and it's my fault." He stares down into the water below with a self-loathing that he has been harbouring for hours.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm a hypocrite. I talk about the value of my family and how important they are to me but when the time came I left them to die." His voice is gruff and he keeps his eyes fixed on the water below.
Elena shakes her head and makes him sit down in the edge of a deck chair while she takes one opposite. "That's not true. You could have died if you stayed."
"No, Elena, I would not have. I am impervious to fire and the werewolves were retreating. I could have saved them but I chose not to." He looks back at her, his face drawn and angry. "Rebekah is still human but that didn't stop her from heading back into the forest to look for me. She almost died and I would have ignored it for your sake."
The elation at their meeting drips away as she listens and the doubts she had before return in full force. "You regret saving me."
He stares at her suddenly. "I will never regret that." He leans forward and kisses her forehead, one hand sliding through her hair to cup the back of her head. "My feelings for you have not changed."
"Maybe…You've always made it clear that your family comes before anything and the choice you made will eat you up inside. If I was in your position and I left Jeremy…" she gazes at him in sympathy and understanding. "I don't hold it against you."
Elijah stares at her lightly, his abhorrence passing. "I think you underestimate how important you are...But I do not deserve your sympathy. You've called me a noble man in the past and it is something I have strived to be. But truthfully I'll never attain it. I think I am more upset that I failed my own test of honour then the fact Kol is dead. For most of my life I have never had a family as you think of one, never loved anyone as I do you. I had this idea of what my family could be but in reality it was a failure, a simulacrum of what we once were. We could never be like that again…I knew that. What I truly held onto was my own inflated sense of worth. That's what I've lost."
Elena stares at him sorrowfully. "Elijah you can't really believe that?"
He nods with a small smile. "I do. I'm telling you the truth and I do not want your pity. It served me well, those ideals, even if it was in pretence. It kept me in control and gained others respect. But I do not want you to labour under false pretences. I am a vampire and I will always fall short of the grace you seem to have in abundance."
Elena has listened to him in silence, her sorrow turning to something firmer. "I've never thought you were perfect and I seem to recall you telling me that I was no paragon. Right now you're hurting and that pain is turning inwards. I understand and I've lived through it. You might think I'm delusional but I do believe you're a good man, vampire or not. Those values that you have are not an act; no more then they are for me. They're concepts, not set in stone and anyone can fall short. You screw up and disappoint yourself? Get over it and try harder. You're feeling let down and pissed off and that's OK."
If she had said this to anyone else she would have offended them but not Elijah. A smile curls over his mouth and he regards her softly. "Out of the mouth of babes…" He sighs and leans back, moving to sit with his legs crossed. He stares at her for a long time before laughing darkly. "I hate brooding, it's such a cliché, and now it seems I can do nothing but. How embarrassing…"
Elena manages a smile and comes to kneel on his chair, hands resting on his knees. "Brood all you like. Just know that my feelings haven't changed either. I love you." It is the first time she has spoken the words aloud and he gazes at her deeply, well aware of the significance of the admittance. Before there had been a part of her that held back but no longer.
She blinks, tiredly and he leans forward and runs a finger down her nose. "There is one advantage of being a vampire again. We can share dreams…"
"I know. In one of the futures we do it. I think that's how you helped me write my book." Her story is now sounding even more probable.
Elijah smiles suggestively. "And when would you like to get started?"
"Not yet. I told you that I want to travel and go to college. In fact, once I've graduated, I'm going on a long vacation." It feels good to say it aloud and a sparkle of exhilaration ignites in her stomach. After the stress of the last few hours it's a relief she can get excited for something.
"You are?"
She nods and tells him about the trip she, Bonnie and Caroline plan after they graduate. For the first time since he arrived a truly happy smile lights up his face.
"That's good to hear. Well let me know when you leave, I have a number of estates you could all stay at."
"I wouldn't be adverse to you popping up now and then." She leans forward, her hair falling around him as she grazes her lips against his. Elijah grips her hips and she straddles him, her arms twisting around his shoulders and kisses him passionately.
note: So, if all goes to plan there should be three more chapters to come... :)