The next morning, Selina and Elijah woke up to a sharp knock on the bedroom door. "Sorry to disturb you, sir and madame," Christopher called. "But there is a phone call for you from a young woman named Lucy. She wants to speak to either one of you and she's most insistent."
Selina sat up, blinked and shook Elijah awake. "Lucy's calling," she said. "She wants to talk to one of us. Do you think it's because Klaus was stupid enough to ruin the wedding somehow?"
Elijah sat up and gave her a look. "My dear, I do," he said. "It seems like you got the wrong brother out of the way."
"Oh, please," Selina said. "You wouldn't have let me take Klaus off by myself and you know it. It was either you and me missing the wedding, or you and me and Klaus missing the wedding and we know how awkward that would have been."
Elijah sighed, put on a robe and opened the door, taking the phone from Christopher. "Lucy, darling? Are you all right? What's happened?"
"Daddy ruined everything!" Lucy burst out. "He said he was fine with it at first, but then, at the last moment, he carried me off to a closet, tied me up, locked the closet closed, and then told everyone I'd gotten cold feet, which is not true!"
"Where are you now?" Elijah asked. "Are you at your and Damon's house?"
Lucy sniffled. "Yeah. But I'm alone. Uncle Stefan took Damon out of town for awhile to calm him down while I talk some sense into Daddy."
"I don't know how far you'll get on your own," Elijah said. "It might be best if I come and have a few words with your father myself. At least to start. Then I'll hand the reins over to you."
"Thank you," Lucy said. "And I'm really sorry to bother you about this. I know you and Mom are on vacation and everything, but I just didn't know who else to talk to."
Elijah shook his head. "Don't you worry, Lucy. Everything is going to be all right."
He called Christopher back and the latter took the phone away. Then Elijah shut his eyes and rubbed his temples. "It appears that no one in my family is capable of solving anything by themselves, so once again, I will step in and make everything all right because that is what I do."
"If it makes you feel any better, you're really good at it," Selina said. "So, I take it we're leaving?"
"Yes," Elijah nodded. "But at least we got one night of peace and quiet out of this, didn't we? That's something."
"Exactly," Selina nodded. "Now, would you help me hoist myself out of bed?"
Elijah nodded and with a grunt from Selina, they managed to get her out of bed. Then they dressed and said goodbye to Rose and Christopher and headed back home.
When they got back, Selina looked at Elijah eagerly. "Okay," she said. "What can I do to help?"
"You can go get Gregory and Laura and watch them while I try to sort out this mess," Elijah said. "That would really be a big help."
"Are you sure I can't do more?" Selina asked. "Because I would be more than happy to do more than watch the kids."
Elijah nodded and put a hand on her cheek. "I know you would, darling, and I thank you. But this is what's best for now. Trust me."
Selina sighed, looking disheartened. "Well, all right then," she said. "I guess you know best. You go out and solve all the world's problems and I'll just be in here, taking care of kids because I'm a woman and that's my place."
Elijah just nodded. "Thank you for understanding," he said. "With any luck, I'll see you and the children tonight. If, for any reason, I can't come back tonight, I'll call and let you know." He kissed her forehead. "I love you, darling."
"Yeah," Selina grumbled. "I know. Will you just go already?"
Elijah sucked in a breath and looked at her in surprise. Her tone had changed suddenly. But then he shrugged it off. She was pregnant after all. It was probably just a mood swing.
"Hello, Elijah," Klaus said when he opened the door to his house and saw his brother standing on the other side. "Would you like to come in?"
"You don't seem too surprised to see me," Elijah said as he stepped over the threshold.
Klaus sighed. "I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came striding over here to berate me for what I did."
"Well, you have to realize that it was wrong," Elijah said to him. "Lucy was not happy about it at all when she called Selina and me."
"And that's always the way, isn't it?" Klaus said, looking aggrieved. "You try to do something with the best intentions and people always take it the wrong way." He sat down and looked reproachfully at his brother.
Elijah hadn't been expecting this. "Share with me," he said after a moment, taking a seat in the small chair across from Klaus. "Tell me what was going through your head when you decided to ruin the most important day of your daughter's life. Even with Roxanne you weren't so cruel."
"Roxanne wouldn't say that," Klaus said. "I turned Vince into a hybrid before I allowed him anywhere near her permanently."
"Why would you do that?!" Elijah asked. "It doesn't solve anything."
"Is it wrong for me to want my daughters in my life?" Klaus asked. "In Roxanne's case, she left me without a word for ten years and then married the man she preferred instead of me. Lucy's the same way with Damon. I don't want to stop Lucy from being happy, I just want the same amount of time to get to know her that you and Damon had."
"You have an admirable goal," Elijah said. "But you're going about it completely the wrong way. Have you talked to Lucy about any of this?"
"I've tried," Klaus said. "But she hasn't been returning my calls. She won't speak to me."
"And can you blame her?" Elijah asked. "Do both of yourselves a favor and stop pushing her. Lucy's a very sensible, compassionate woman and when she's ready to reach out to you and talk to you about what happened, she will."
"How long will I have to wait?" Klaus asked.
Elijah shrugged. "Now that, I don't know. But expect it to take some time. That's all I can tell you."
Klaus still looked unhappy. "I don't like this," he said.
Elijah nodded. "I know you don't," he said. Then left his brother alone and on his way back to his house, called Lucy and asked her to communicate with Klaus when she felt comfortable enough to.
"Oh, I will," Lucy said. "I just want it to be on my own terms, not his. I have every intention of talking to him at some point. I just think he needs to learn something from this. That's all."
"Good girl," Elijah said. "That's very wise. How are you now? Any better?"
"A little," Lucy replied. "It's a bit lonely here by myself since Uncle Stefan took Damon out of town, but I'm dealing. Thanks for talking to Dad for me. I appreciate it."
"No problem at all, Lucy," Elijah said. "No problem at all."
That night, Selina's sour mood from earlier in the day was still going on full force. She insisted on staying in her separate bedroom instead of coming to bed with him and was very vocal about why.
"If you think I'm just gonna come to bed with you only on your say-so, then you don't know me very well," she said. "I have the right to sleep wherever I want to, thank you very much, and tonight, I am sleeping by myself. You have a good night now." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Darling, if I've done something to upset you, I'm sorry," he said. "What have i done?"
"How could you not know?" Selina asked. "If you had a single brain cell in your head that gave an ounce of thought to my needs and my wants, then you'd know, but you don't, so I'm not telling you until I'm damn good and ready. Goodbye!" And with that, she turned away from him and threw the covers over herself. Realizing that there was nothing more he could do, he left, turning the light off on his way out and shutting the door behind him before going to sleep alone.
The next morning when he came down to breakfast, he saw that Gregory and Laura were eating bacon and eggs and toast and sausage. He sat down and eagerly awaited his. "Good morning," he greeted Selina when he saw her. "How did you sleep?"
"Fine," she said flatly. She then plunked down a cup of coffee and a plate with a piece of dry toast on it in front of him. "There's your breakfast. I hope you enjoy it."
He picked up the dry toast and then, as the crumbs went all over his suit pants, he put it down again. Then, he took a sip of the coffee, winced, and spit it out. "This is terrible!" He said. "It's cold and it still has grounds in it!"
"Well, I'm sorry, Your Highness," Selina said with a mock curtsey. "I was so busy making sure the kids had a good breakfast, I didn't really have a lot of time to focus on you. But don't worry, I know you're good at handling things yourself with no help from me. And taking care of the kids is the only job I'm allowed in life so I might as well be good at it, right?"
Elijah nodded. "I figured this was all about what happened yesterday."
"Yeah," Selina said. "Why didn't you let me come with you?"
"Well, why did you want to come?" Elijah asked her. "What would your being there have accomplished?"
Selina opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of a good response. Eventually, she settled for shutting her mouth, sitting down and eying him sourly.
"I don't know why you're looking at me like that," Elijah said. "I don't mean to hold you back, ever, even though you think I do. And in any situation where you'd be of help to me, I'd be foolish to keep you away, but in this case, I knew the only thing that would have happened if you'd have come with me was that you would have gotten angry at Niklaus about what he did, that would have started a fight between the two of you, and then..." he sighed. "And that's exactly what we're trying to ease you out of, remember?"
"I am looking at you like this because I hate it when you're right and I'm wrong," Selina said.
He stood up and came to put his arm around her. "I know you do," he said as she leaned against him. "I know you do."
But although he'd won and Selina had lightened up toward him considerably after that, he couldn't help but feel troubled by the degree of resentment simply asking her to stay home and watch the children had made her show.
"Can we talk about something?" Elijah asked her as he leaned against the kitchen door later that day watching her frost a cake.
"Sure," Selina said. "What about?"
"It's about how you reacted yesterday when we got back," he said. "And last night. And this morning."
Selina shrugged. "I was upset. I don't like hearing that the only thing I'm good for is watching kids while the men go out and have all the fun, okay? Never have, never will."
"Well, I wouldn't necessarily call going and berating my brother for making Lucy upset fun," Elijah protested. "It's extremely bothersome is what it is."
"But do you get what I mean?" Selina asked. "You get to go out and accomplish things and make a difference in the world. It's hard to do that when you're stuck at home."
"Because of you, Gregory and Laura and anyone else who comes along are going to be sane, loveable, responsible people," Elijah said. "That's something to be proud of. Focus on that."
Selina rolled her eyes. "You know, that's exactly the type of thing my mother used to say: 'You don't need to go out into the world to accomplish things, dear. Leave the men to do that. The satisfaction that a woman feels should come from being a good mother and making a good home. Nothing more'." Selina growled. "Whenever she said that, it made me so mad!" She then brought the knife down into the center of the cake, splitting it neatly in two.
"It's a good thing that wasn't someone's brain," Elijah said. "It would have been deadly."
Selina grinned, wiping the frosting off the knife with her finger, then licking her finger. "I was picturing my mother's skull," she said.
Elijah decided that he needed to see for himself what kinds of things Selina had endured as a young human woman that had made her so hostile to the idea of being a mother, or even just being married to a man like himself. And he knew there was only one person who could help him do that: Alistair.
Alistair looked surprised when he opened the door and Elijah strode into his house. The latter looked troubled.
"Are you all right?" Alistair asked. "Elijah, what's wrong?"
Elijah looked at him and sighed. "I would like you to do something for me," he said. "Is it possible for you to send me back in time to when Selina was human so I can see what things were like for her? She's been very angry recently and she told me some things about her human life and views on marriage that were very troubling. So troubling that they couldn't have been real. But I have to see for myself. I need to go back to when she was old enough to start getting marriage proposals. I couldn't tell you the exact date."
Alistair sucked in his breath. "I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Why not?" Elijah asked. "Is it not possible for you to do it?"
"It's possible," Alistair said. "But the thing with time travel is that you can only be a passive observer. You can't do anything that would change history, or there will be consequences. In that case, the consequences would be for me since I was the one who sent you back. And I know you wouldn't intentionally do anything to get me in trouble but I also know that you love Selina so much that if you see her get hurt in any way, you will do something to defend her without even thinking about it. And even the smallest action can change time. Which is why, when witches do time travel, they have to have someone very experienced travel with them, so the travelers can watch the scenes of the past as if they're watching a film: They can hear what's going on and they can see it, but they can't interact with it. That's how it was in the past when I showed Klaus the deepest, darkest corners of Selina's past. And freezing time is very complex. If anyone other than people who knew how to freeze it went back in time, interaction would not only be possible, but unavoidable, which, as I've said before, is frowned upon and has dire consequences. And if it were any time other than now, I would be more than happy to take you back, but the mess your brother has created with Lucy is taking up every moment of my time, so I just can't spare you any. I'm sorry."
"I will not do anything that will alter history, I swear," Elijah said. "I just want to learn more about Selina's life so I can understand her better."
"Why can't you just ask her to tell you about her life, then?" Alistair asked him. "It would be a lot simpler than doing a time travel spell."
"I know about her past, because I have talked to her about it, but what she's told me, I just can't believe how someone could live the sort of life that she did and still be as cheerful and affectionate as she is."
"She wasn't always that way," Alistair reminded him. "Or have you forgotten about her years as Lonely Heart already?"
"No," Elijah shook his head. "I could never forget her years as Lonely Heart."
Alistair looked at him for one more long moment before he said again, "No, I'm sorry, I can't."
Elijah nodded. "I understand, Alistair. I wouldn't want you to do anything that would get you in trouble."
"Thank you," Alistair said quietly. He left and then Astrid came out and offered Elijah a drink, then headed back into the bedroom to continue reading a book. As Elijah sat alone in the living room sipping his drink, a little girl with blonde hair peeked her head out of the kitchen and then came striding out. "Hello," she said.
Elijah grinned. "Hello."
"Who are you?" She asked, sitting down next to him. "My name is Lenora."
"Well, hello, Lenora," Elijah said. "I'm Elijah."
Lenora's eyes widened. "I know you! You're Grandpa Alistair's friend!"
"I'm also your uncle," Elijah said. "Your Grandfather Niklaus' brother." He shook his head. "That seems so weird to say."
"I didn't know Grandpa had a brother," Lenora said. "That's so cool!"
Elijah nodded. "Yes, I suppose it is."
"What were you and Grandpa Alistair talking about?" Lenora asked curiously.
"Nothing," Elijah said. "I just wondered if he would do a spell for me, but it turned out he couldn't cause he's busy at the moment."
"What kind of a spell?" Lenora asked again. "Maybe I can do it! I'm not a grown up yet, and they don't yell at you if you're not a grown up!"
"Well, technically the spell I need him to do isn't illegal per se," Elijah said. "It's a time travel spell, so I can see your Grandma Selina when she was human. But your Grandpa Alistair was afraid that I would inadvertently change history. And you probably don't know how to do a time travel spell, so..."
"I do, actually ," Lenora said. "Grandpa Alistair is teaching Mom and I've seen how the spell works. So I could help you if you wanted."
Elijah shook his head. "No, thank you dear," he said. "It's sweet, but I think I can wait until Alistair is able to take me himself. That would be best." But inside, he felt his heart sink. He sighed and lay down on the sofa, closing his eyes. Lenora looked down at him.
"I know you want to see Grandma," she said quietly. "And I'm gonna help you do it." She left him sleeping on the sofa and went to see Astrid. "Grandma," she said, "Could you drive me to Aunt Lucy's real fast? I left one of my schoolbooks there."
Astrid put her book down. "Of course," she said. "You can't do your schoolwork with your schoolbooks, can you?"
Lenora shook her head. "No." She went and grabbed her schoolbag so she'd have something to carry the material she needed for Elijah's spell in, and then she and Astrid left for Lucy's.
"Have you come for your math book?" Lucy asked Lenora. "It was awfully sneaky of you to leave it here."
"Daddy used to not do his math all the time and then he'd still make the teacher give him good marks," Lenora said.
Lucy sighed. "Well, I don't know if following your father's footsteps in that regard is such a good idea, but coming back to get your book and actually study is. I think your mother would be proud."
"Are you seeing Daddy today?" Lenora asked. "He said you were."
Lucy nodded. "Yeah. He and Aunt Roxie and I are gonna have a little chat about what my father did at me and Damon's wedding."
"Oh," Lenora nodded, her mouth drooping a little. "You mean how he ruined it?"
"Exactly," Lucy nodded. "How he ruined it and where to go from here."
"Well, good luck with that," Lenora told her. "I'm gonna go look for my book now."
"I left it by the phone," Lucy said.
Lenora went and saw that her math book was by the phone, but she knew that she'd have to think of something to allow herself time to get what else she needed. She made the book disappear and then called out to Lucy, "Are you sure it's by the phone? I don't see it!"
Lucy came into the kitchen and frowned. "Well that's odd. I could have sworn I put it there."
Lenora shrugged. "Oh, well. I can look around for it. That doesn't bother me."
"All right," Lucy said. "Just be careful if you have to leave this floor. There's stuff on the upper floors that can be bumped into or hit you and I don't want you to get hurt."
"Okay!" Lenora promised. "I'll be careful!" And with that, she darted away and up to the attic where she'd zapped her math book. That also happened to be where the trunk of all of Damon's human stuff was, including pictures of him and Grandma Selina. Once she'd carefully made her way across the attic and grabbed her math book, she also opened the trunk, sneezing as some dust rose up. She gently dug around for a photograph and finally found one of Damon and Selina dated June of 1863. "Perfect," she said and placed it in a carefully padded box so that it wouldn't get ruined. Then after putting the photo and the book in her bag, she went down to see Astrid and Lucy. "I found my book and I'm ready to go," she said. "Good luck with your talk, Aunt Lucy!"
"All right," Astrid said when she dropped Lenora off. "I have to run to work now. Are you and Elijah gonna be all right here by yourselves? Maybe I should wake him up before I go."
"No," Lenora shook her head. "Let him sleep. I'll behave myself, I promise."
"Are you sure?" Astrid asked her, giving her a look.
"Yes!" Lenora said, her hands on her hips. "Why does everyone always look at me like that?!"
"I raised your mother and helped raise your father and let me tell you, the look, It saves time," Astrid replied. "But as long as you promise to just do your schoolwork and don't mess with anything, I'll leave you here."
Lenora nodded. "I promise. I told you that already!"
Astrid sighed, nodded, and left. Once she was gone, Lenora hurried to the living room, hoping that Elijah was still soundly asleep. Seeing that he was still asleep, she placed her bag next to the sofa and carefully took out the photograph of Damon and Selina, pressing Elijah's hand against it gently as she muttered to herself. Once she'd finished the spell, she smiled with satisfaction and went to study her math.
"So that was something that Dad did at the wedding, wasn't it?" Adrian said, a hint of a smirk on his face. Both of his sisters just glared back. They were in the kitchen at Roxie and Vince's and Vince had taken Joey and Addie out so the three of them could have some privacy.
"I don't see what's so funny," Lucy said. "He practically ruined everything!"
"Yeah!" Roxie agreed. "If he was gonna pull crap like that, he should have just skipped the wedding altogether. That would have been kinder."
"Personally, I think the two of you are being too hard on him," Adrian said. "The reason why he did stuff to either of your boyfriends is that he wanted to spend more time with you. If you cared about him at all, you would have been sensitive enough to figure that out and given your time with Vince and Damon a rest. I've never trusted Damon much, anyway."
"It's easy for you to judge, Adrian," Lucy said. "He never went psycho on the women you were interested in. And you let Damon watch Lenora! Why are you so against him and me getting married?"
Adrian nodded. "And there are a couple of reasons for that: One, I never left him for large chunks of time without a word, nor did I think of anyone other than him as my father. And he liked Helene. It's as simple as that. And Damon watching Lenora was Helene's idea. Sometimes, it's just easier to let her have her way than to try and fight her, all right? I was just trying to keep the peace."
"None of that stuff about me thinking other people were my dad was my fault!" Lucy complained. "Mom and Dad were growing apart when I was born. It's entirely natural that I didn't see too much of him. Granted Mom could have made more of an effort to let Dad see me when I was growing up, but to hold that over me now is just childish!" She paused and looked at Adrian appealingly. "I've already got Uncle Elijah working on Dad, but I don't suppose you'd be willing to put in a few words for me too? Please? Hearing that you're supporting me might just be the thing that pushes him over into accepting the situation."
Before Adrian could reply, Roxie scoffed at Lucy. "You're kidding, right? How can you think that you can rely on him for something like that? He already told you that he doesn't trust Damon worth a damn, so why would he help you? We'll just have to deal with this ourselves!"
"Now just a minute!" Adrian said. "If you're nice to me, I might be willing to put in a good word for Lucy. Of course it will have to be after I get back from doing that errand with Helene and who knows when that will end."
"Exactly!" Roxie said. "You and Helene have to do that thing, so you're basically useless to us, aren't you? However, you and Helene have a good time on your trip and be sure to send me a postcard."
"Love you too, sis," Adrian said.
"I never said that," Roxie told him.
"I know," Adrian replied. "But I always pretend like you're a nice person and can exchange pleasantries just like everyone else."
"You know what?" Roxie asked. "We don't have to put up with this!" She pulled Lucy up with her and they started to stride away. Adrian tried not to laugh, seeing how long it would take before Roxie realized that they were at her house. It didn't take too long.
"Wait a moment!" She said, turning around quickly. "I don't have to go anywhere! This is my house. Adrian, you're the one who has to leave!"
"Fine," Adrian said, standing up and smirking. "I'll leave. You ladies have a good day now."
Roxie just stuck her tongue out at him and pulled Lucy away with her. But Adrian waited by the door and a few minutes later, Lucy came running back. "Now about Damon," she said. "I know you don't really trust him and if I'm completely honest with myself, I understand why. But the point is, he makes me happy and..."
Adrian held up his hand. "Know that I don't see as much in Damon as you do, but if he means that much to you, I'll try to put my personal feelings aside and try to make some headway with Dad for you. Now, I don't know how successful I'll be cause I don't have a lot of time to come up with an ironclad argument, but I'll at least give it a shot."
Lucy smiled and hugged him. "Thank you, Adrian. Thank you so much."
The next time Elijah opened his eyes, it was because of a rough jolt. He sat up, feeling momentarily disoriented before he realized he was sitting in a carriage. He looked out the window. It was a nice, sunny day out. He had no idea where he was.
"Sorry about that, sir," the the driver called. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," Elijah called back. "I'm fine." They drove on for a little while in silence. When they finally stopped again, it was in front of a large, white antebellum-style house. "Here you are, sir," the driver said. "Didn't you say you wanted to be dropped off at the Lockwood mansion?"
Elijah stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending, then he finally decided it would be best to just agree. "Yes, exactly," he said. "The Lockwood mansion. And now, I know this might sound strange, but what is the full date today?"
"The third of June, 1863," the driver said. "Do you want me to wait here until someone from the house comes to collect your bags?"
Elijah nodded. So this is a year of Selina's human life, he thought to himself. It must be. He couldn't think of any other reason why he would be in the 1860s. Lenora must've come through for him after all. He only hoped he wouldn't mess anything up. Just then, someone came striding out of the house and right up to him. Someone he knew quite well She wore a light blue dress that contrasted nicely with her dark blue eyes, he noticed.
"I don't know who you are, but I know why you're here," Selina said. "Mama wanted you to come here. Because she thinks some quiet, stable, boring man will turn me into the debutante daughter she's always wanted. Well, let me tell you that if that's your plan, you can just get back in your carriage and leave. I don't like you, and I certainly don't want to be married to you. Especially since I'm already spoken for. Mama's just in denial about that."
Elijah looked at Selina's angry face and tried his hardest not to laugh. He failed and cracked a smile anyway.
"What's so funny?" Selina asked. "Why are you laughing at me?"
He tried to sober up. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to. That was rude of me. Why is it that you assume I came at your mother's behest even though you don't know me yet?"
"Well, look at yourself," Selina said. "You look exactly like the rest of the men Mama has been parading around here ever since I turned sixteen. She really wants me to get married."
"And you don't feel the same way, I take it," Elijah said as they made their way toward the house.
"I do want to be married," Selina said. "Just not to the sort of man Mama thinks I ought to be. Someone like you."
"Well, what sort of man would you prefer?" Elijah asked.
Just then, he heard a whistle. A young man with dark hair was gesturing from the front steps of the house. "It's about time you got back here, Lina," he said. "Your mother was worried about you. She thought you were planning to run away." He grinned, one side of his mouth going up. "It seems like she's beginning to figure you out."
"I wasn't trying to run away, Damon," Selina said to him. "I just came out to welcome our guest. I'm surprised that Mama didn't come out to greet him herself. It's because of her that he's here."
Damon drew Selina against him and eyed Elijah critically. "Yes, you're right," he agreed. "He definitely does seem like the sort to catch your mother's eye." He cleared his throat. "So, stranger," he asked. "What's your name?"
Elijah didn't hear him right away. He was too busy staring at how Selina was leaning against Damon and letting him put his arm around her. Finally, he was able to pull his gaze away. "I'm sorry, what?"
"I asked what your name was," Damon repeated. "And what brings you here. I'm Damon Salvatore, and this firecracker here is Miss Selina Warren."
Elijah gave him a brief glance and quickly shook his hand. "Elijah Mikaelson," he said. "It's a pleasure."
"Well, why don't you come inside and rest," Selina said. "If my mother dragged you here, the least we can do is take you inside."
Elijah nodded and followed the pair inside the house, his eyes locked on Damon's hand resting on Selina's waist. He felt his own fists twitch, waiting to slap Damon's hand away if it moved any lower on Selina than that. The first person they saw in the house, was a woman Elijah had seen a few times before, but she didn't look any different.
"Well, hello," she said with a small curtsy. She looked at Damon. "And just where did you find this handsome man?" She asked him.
"Mr. Mikaelson was outside, Miss Amelia," Damon replied. "We thought you sent for him. You know, for Selina."
Amelia started to deny it, but then she gave Elijah a good look over. "That's not a bad idea. Have you met my daughter yet, Mr. Mikaelson? She's a very headstrong girl and having a firm masculine hand control her would relieve my mind so much."
Elijah couldn't think of how to reply to that, but that was okay. Amelia didn't give him time. She looked at Selina. "I'd like you to be as good to Mr. Mikaelson as you possibly can, dear. Even better than you can."
"Yes, Mother," Selina said flatly.
Amelia then stood up. "I have an outing to go on. So lovely to meet you, Mr. Mikaelson." She looked at Selina severely. "Until I get back, remember Michael is in charge. You are to do as your cousin says."
"He's gone," Selina told her. "On a hunting trip, remember?"
Amelia shut her eyes. "Oh, yes. I forgot. Well, anyway, behave yourselves while I'm gone." She left and the three went to the the parlor. "So, Mr. Mikaelson," Selina said. "Was it really my mother who brought you here? Or am I just making assumptions? Mama has scolded me for that before."
"Well, I did come to see you," Elijah said. He could say that safely without lying. "But not because your mother wanted me to. I came of my own free will."
"Oh," Selina nodded. "Well, like I said, I'm already spoken for. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go read in the library." She got up and Elijah found himself watching her walk away until she disappeared.
Then, Damon cleared his throat. "You'll have to excuse her," he said. "It's just that men like you make her a little defensive."
"Oh, yes," Elijah nodded. "Since I'm so quiet and stable and boring."
Damon smirked. "Exactly. But don't blame yourself. Not everyone can be exciting. And Selina needs an exciting man. Someone who will let her experience life and see the world, and...I feel like I could do that for her much better than you could."
Elijah's eyes narrowed. "Oh, yes? And while you and she are seeing the world, how many nights are you planning on leaving her alone while you seek, shall we say, more liberal-minded female company?"
At that, Damon's eyes became cold. "How dare you," he said.
"But do you deny that's what you'd do?" Elijah asked him. "You don't do you?"
That was too much. Damon took the three steps it took to reach Elijah's chair and punched him, hard. Elijah let out a yell and clutched at his nose, but it didn't take him long to recover and he stood up and delivered a punch of his own. The hits kept coming as the pair made their way to somewhere Elijah didn't know. Finally, they stopped outside a door. Both men were bruised, bleeding and exhausted. But because he recovered much quicker, Elijah was able to get to his feet and get inside the room quicker than Damon was, thus shutting the human man out. As the door slammed closed, Elijah noticed he was in a room with a lot of books, and that Selina was lounging on a sofa, her hair down, and her stockings and shoes neatly laid out on the floor next to where she sat.
"Do you mind?" She asked, without looking up. "You were making a terrible racket out there. How is a person supposed to read?"
"I apologize," Elijah said, keeping his body against the door so that Damon couldn't open it. "What are you reading?"
Selina shut her book and set it down next to her. "I thought I'd give Pride and Prejudice a try, but honestly, it doesn't do much for me. I think I'll give up on it." She looked up and gasped, taking in his visage which, although blood-covered, was quite attractive. "Oh, lord! What's happened to your face? You're covered in blood!"
"You could call them war wounds, I suppose," Elijah told her. "Young Mr. Salvatore apparently took something I said a little too harshly and fists flew."
They heard a loud noise and Elijah braced himself against the door again. "What was that?" Selina asked. "Is someone out there?"
"Just Damon looking to cause me more bodily harm," Elijah said.
Selina sighed. "Well, I shall have to speak to him about that," she said. "You may be quiet, stable, and boring but you should be able to be a guest at someone's house without having the threat of injury hanging over you." And with that, she got up from the sofa, walked over to him, removed a handkerchief from her sleeve and began wiping the blood off his face. After a few seconds though, he reached up and enclosed her warm hand in his, holding it for a little while before removing the handkerchief from her grasp. "I thank you, Miss Warren," he said. "But I believe I can clean myself up. The sight of so much blood could be too much for your feminine sensibilities."
Selina scoffed. "You obviously know nothing about me, sir," she said. "Now move aside so I can let Damon in."
Elijah gave her a long look, but reluctantly moved aside so she could open the library door. When she did, Damon fell in and looked up at her.
"I'm hurt," he said, looking up at her.
"And that is your own fault," Selina said. "That's what happens when you start fights with people. I'm sure there is someone around here who will help you mend your injuries, but it will certainly not be me. You know better, Damon."
Grumbling, Damon got to his feet and strode out the library door. Selina watched him go, then turned back to Elijah, who was looking at her in wonder.
"Why?" He asked. "Why did you help me and not him?"
Selina shrugged. "Well, did he strike first?"
"Yes," Elijah nodded. "He did."
"Well, there you go," Selina said. "That is why I helped you and not him. There are better ways to deal with your problems than fighting about them, I always say."
Elijah grinned. "That's very wise," he said. "You seem like a very intelligent young woman."
"You have a very nice smile," she said, the remark about her intelligence finally softening her towards him. "When you smile, you don't seem so stuffy and boring after all."
Elijah's eyebrow went up. "I don't?"
Selina shook her head. "No. And actually, I might consider marrying you if..."
"If what?" Elijah asked. He pretty much knew what she was going to say. He also knew that he shouldn't wait for her answer or even do what she was going to ask, but he couldn't help himself.
"I might consider marrying you if you kissed me and I liked it," she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
Elijah cleared his throat. "That's taking things a little too far for my comfort," he said. "If I were to be entirely honest, I am kind of ashamed that I am alone in here with you while you're unchaperoned."
"It doesn't matter," Selina said. "So will you kiss me?"
Elijah shook his head. "No," he said firmly, his arms crossed. "I won't."
She turned away from him and threw a grin over her shoulder. "Coward," she said playfully.
Elijah rolled his eyes and tried not to be moved. This was a common tactic of hers: appealing to his pride and making him so emotional that he would do something that was against his better judgment. "Refusing to kiss you when it would be improper to do so does not make me cowardly," Elijah said. "It makes me a gentleman."
"Please," Selina said. "I'm trying to help you. You seem nice enough and I suppose if I am to be married off to someone that my mother approves of, it might as well be you. I only ask for you to be a little rakish. Is that impossible?" She looked at him appealingly.
He sighed. "It's not impossible. I just don't want to cause any more trouble than I already have."
"Don't mind Damon," Selina said. "He's overprotective of me, but it's nothing to worry about."
Elijah drew closer to her. "I thought you said you were already spoken for, but it seems like that's changed."
Selina put her arms around him. "I'm not spoken for unless I choose to be," she said. Their faces moved closer and closer together, and they kissed, all too briefly the first time as Elijah realized what she'd made him do, and then longer the second time, once he'd looked into her blue eyes and decided that he didn't care about the consequences anymore.
But the kiss was broken when the door opened and Elijah heard someone swear under their breath. He and Selina turned around to see Damon, twitching and angry, standing in the library doorway. He looked at them for two seconds and then sprinted away.
"Damn," Selina muttered under her breath. "What bad timing." She looked at him. "Be careful," she said. "Damon's good with a pistol. He taught me how to shoot."
Elijah watched as she sat down on the sofa and put her stockings and shoes back on. Then he took hold of her chin so that she was looking him in the eyes. "I have to go now," he said. "And You can't know that I was here. Not yet. But know that I love you and you will see me again. I promise." She nodded and he darted out of the library as an angry Damon chased after him with a pistol in hand.
Elijah did his best not to look back as Damon fired bullets at him, and although nothing would have pleased him more than to grab the human man by his neck and wring the life out of him, he couldn't. Not when he'd just settled things with Selina so that her future wouldn't be ruined.
The pair made it out of the house and the overseer tried to get hold of Damon and keep him calm, but that failed and Damon just shouldered the man aside and kept on shooting. Suddenly, there was a big flash of light that blinded Damon and made him drop the gun. He felt himself falling, then, he hit something hard. He turned over onto his back and found himself on the cold tile floor of someone's kitchen. He sat up and looked around. He was a little afraid. He was in a place he didn't recognize, surrounded by machinery he'd never seen before. If he could just see a familiar face, if someone would tell him where he was or what was going on, he knew he would feel so much better.
Just then, his wish was granted. Selina strolled into the kitchen and let out a shriek at the sight of him.
"What's the matter with you, Lina?" Damon asked when she was quiet again. "What are you scared for? It's only me. You know I won't hurt you. Now, where am I? Would you be so kind as to tell me?"
