Sorry it took me so long to update, unfortunately my creativity and motivation simply evaporated... *poof*

Thanks to

WhatWhat123

SwanQueen4055

sw33tp3a91

kols-little-assasin

Chapter 21

A few days later, Elena headed to the Grill to grab some lunch. After school she had had the opportunity to talk things over with Alaric - finally, informing him about Jeremy's call and the incidents with the Salvatores.

Although her guardian was more on Damon's side on that matter, he understood that it remained her choice what she wanted to do and had promised to talk some sense into his best friend. Furthermore he had trusted her with a more personal issue, as it seemed he and Meredith were really becoming a thing.

It was nice to think about normal things again, things that didn't involve attacks or threats or whatever, however that didn't last too long.

When Elena entered, waving hello to Matt who was already behind the counter, her eyes fell on a ginger haired woman sitting on one of the bar stools.

Sage.

Not that she was appalled by seeing her, no, but Sage was the direct reminder of Stefan's attack - not a topic she wanted to visit in her thoughts.

Only moments later, the vampire noticed her as well and waved her over.

Elena complied and sat down next to her.

"Hey there..." She said.

"Hello Sage. Nice to see you again." The brunette said politely.

"You look better" She commented after a moment.

"Thanks, well in Mystic Falls is too much trouble these days to care about one thing for too long..."

Sage grinned. "That's how I recall it."

"You do?" ELena inquired.

"Yes. Where else would I have met the Salvatores...and whenever they're both in town there's bound to be trouble."

"When were you here?"

The ginger haired vampire turned towards her. Taking a sip from her glass, which was - to Elena's surprise- filled with red wine, she said, "1912."

Noticing her look, she added, "Oh don't worry it's only wine. I have a certain fondness of it since I lived in France and Spain for a very long time."

The doppelganger just nodded.

"What were you doing here in 1912?"

"I was a professional boxer those days... quite spectacular for a woman in the early 20th century..."

"Really? That's hard to imagine...How did you deal with all the injuries and stuff?"

Elena could imagine that everything strongly physical was easy for vampires working in a human world but then again, the blood, the quick healing...?

"Back then no one controlled that. As for the blood - after 800 years I had enough self-control..."

Fair point.

"Anyways, I had hoped to find a trace of the Mikaelsons, convincing Klaus to let go of Finn. Never found him though."

"I am sorry for that." Elena said truthfully. "Does he know that you're looking for him?"

Sage hesitated. Then she emptied her glass of wine and set it back to the counter a little too forcefully.

"I hope so."

Deciding to have lunch at the Grill, Elena had kept her place next to Sage engaging in some chit-chat in hope to have found another ally on the battleground that was Mystic Falls these days.

"You don't like pickles, what's wrong with you?" Sage asked incredulously.

Elena spilled her water, choking desperately for air.

Coughing, she rubbed her neck.

"Everything's alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I am fine. I just had a deja-vu." The brunette explained.

"Damon said exactly the same when we ate in some diner. Seems like an eternity ago though..."

The vampire laughed. "Our definitions of eternity will probably differ a little from each other. But I know what you mean."

They spent several minutes in silence, Sage stealing pickles from the plate while Elena popped french fries into her mouth.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked after she finished of her lunch. After receiving a nod from Sage, she added, "Kol told me that Finn hates to be -" She quickly checked her surroundings for prying ears, before she continued, " a vampire. How did you end up together?"

Sage smiled. "If you were to ask him, he'd say that 'his passions overtook his morals'...he turned me because he wanted to be with me and didn't want me to be a liability to his siblings."

"When was it?"

"1102."

"And when was he daggered?"

"1109"

"So you had 7 years together and you've been waiting for him for over 900 now?" Elena asked disbelievingly.

The ginger haired vampire nodded.

"Wow. That is...just...wow..."

The brunette couldn't grasp how much this woman had to love that man to wait for him and still have hope after that much time. Thinking about it she immediately began rooted for them.

After such a long time everybody deserved happiness.

"But as I said, eternity means different things to different people."

Noticing Elena's confused gaze, she explained, "If I find him get to be with him, 900 years will have been nothing."

After a while she added, "Do you think he'll come back to town?"

The doppelganger gave it some thought. For all she knew, Finn had left with Esther.

Esther.

Their conversation popped back into her mind, a conversation she had successfully forgotten about during the last week.

The Original witch probably had some unfinished business in Mystic Falls at least as far as she could tell. Maybe Finn would come back with her he didn't exactly have a life to return to...his only life was currently sitting next to her if she wasn't completely wrong.

"Yes, I guess sooner or later he will."

~Are you in for a surprise? -K~

Kol's message jolted her from a daydream filled with faint calls and confusing snippets of conversations.

Squinting her eyes against the brightness, she typed

~Only a good one. -E~

After a rather rough week, she wasn't able to take any more bad news.

~Always.~

Only moments later, her phone buzzed again.

~Open the door.~

Elena stared at the screen. What was this about?

Not all too sure what to expect, she went downstairs and opened the front door half-way hoping to find Kol standing there.

No such luck.

However, the single red rose lying on a semi-sized envelope made her smile.

She picked it up and smelled at it, taking in the delicate, sweet scent. Curiously, she peeked into the plain envelope, pulling out a sheet of paper.

Scanning the text typed in ordinary Arial script, she realized it was an excerpt taken from wikipedia. It described an old cuban coffee production based in Little Havana - wherever that might be.

Slightly disappointed, she lowered the paper. She was not sure what she had expected or what she should make out of this. Why would Kol send her such a text?

Her phone buzzed again.

~What do you think?~

Elena sighed. She knew this was some kind of game but she wasn't quite into playing it.

~I think you discovered one of the best modern day inventions - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Congratulations.~

She couldn't quite hide her sarcasm yet.

"So grumpy, love." A velvety voice said right behind her.

Elena jumped, spinning around in shock.

Kol was standing only inches away from her, a happy smile on his face.

"You scared me." She said quietly, walking around him and back into the house, leaving the door open for him to follow her inside.

Shouldn't you be used to this by now?" he teased her.

The brunette didn't look up to meet his eye. Instead she went to the counter to find some coffee and when she didn't the busied herself with brewing a fresh mug.

"No obviously not." She replied.

Kol walked over to her at human speed, resting his hands on her shoulder.

"I am sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Thank you." Elena cooled down, relaxing into his touch.

"So, what do you think? Apart from me discovering this phenomenal web site?"

"About Cuban coffee productions?"

"Hmmm." Kol made an approving sound.

"What is there to think about?" She inquired.

He hugged her from behind and she relaxed even more.

"Whether you'd like to go there?"

Elena turned around in his embrace to face him. Kol's dark eyes sparkled excitedly in the dim light.

"Wh- What?"

"Yep." He smiled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're flying to Miami and have a time-out. You need this. Which is why I asked whether to put 'Havana Café' on the list or not." He explained easily.

Elena stared at him, wide-eyed.

"I - I can't just leave!"

"You're not leaving, you're going on vacation. Isn't that a custom action anymore?"

She shook her head. "No! This…. this is impossible. I cannot go. Just no!"

Kol stepped back, eying her carefully. "Tell me why exactly you can't have a week off?"

"I - just think of what could happen. There is so much at stake right now, Klaus, your siblings, Damon and Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline… I can't afford to be away should anything happen to them!"

The Original sighed. "My siblings and the Salvatores are vampires, first of all. They'll be just fine. There is nothing you can do that they cannot do themselves. We are immortal or did you forget that? Caroline is one too, and for all I know she might be on a trip sooner than we expect."

Klaus had asked the blonde about a trip out of town and as it seemed it wasn't too far in the future. Elena herself had tried to convince her friend to do it.

"And what about Bonnie? She is a witch, yes but I cannot leave her alone in this mess, especially not with Caroline being gone, too."

Kol saw her point but refused to let it stand in his way.

However there was not much to say about it in that moment. He couldn't just compel his girlfriend after all.

"Just promise you'll consider your options." He pleaded.

Elena nodded but there was not much conviction behind it.

"Listen, I have to check up Bekah, she seemed a little off-balanced when I left. Do you want to have lunch with me tomorrow?"

She stepped closer and kisses him on the lips. "Of course."

Kol hugged her and kissed her forehead. In a flash, he was gone.

R & R!