Jeremy holed up in his room the rest of the evening and Klaus, Rebekah and Kol went back to the Mikaelson mansion. Elijah brought in Elena's bags from the car and sat near her window, watching her every move as she unpacked.
She had yet to say something to him since seeing the Salvatore's and he wondered what she was thinking about in all of this. He knew she was barely hanging on, but he didn't know which part of today's events were eating at her the most.
"Do you want me to leave you to unpack?" Elijah wondered finally breaking the silence. He couldn't take it any more and while he didn't want to leave her, he wasn't sure what was best for her right now. Maybe she needed time to get her head sorted.
His voice is what broke Elena out of her thoughts and she looked over to the original. "What?"
Standing up, Elijah put his hands in his suit pockets and walked over to her. "Do you want me to go so you can unpack?"
Elena shook her head and set down her new shirt in her dresser drawer. "No, I'm sorry if I seem like I'm not paying attention to you. I just have a lot on my mind."
"I know," he said staring intensely at her. "You can talk to me about it, Elena."
She ran a hand through her hair and went to sit on the edge of her bed. "It's all just a jumbled mess. I don't know how to fit everything together."
Elijah furrowed his brows and came to sit next to her. "What do you mean?"
Elena didn't know how to explain it. "It's just this feeling. It's like I can't get these two worlds to mash." She glanced over to Elijah and saw how he was still confused. "There was this whole world with you and your siblings. We created this life for ourselves and things were good."
She sighed. "And now we are back here and everything is the same but so different. And I don't know how to fit together the person I was and the person I am. The life I built with you and your family doesn't work here now that we are back in Mystic Falls."
Elijah tried not to let his emotions get the best of him, even though panic was filling him. Was she trying to break up with him? Were her feelings for Damon and Stefan coming back? Did she not really love him?
"Elena, are you trying to break up with me?"
"What?" she asked confused. Thinking back on her words, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head profusely. "Oh gosh, no. Elijah, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
Elijah felt relief wash over him. Glancing at her floor, he gave himself a minute to regain composure over potentially losing the one he loved.
Elena put her hands on his knee and patiently waited for him to look at her in the eye. "I love you, and that's not going to change just because we are back here."
Elijah did something unlike himself. Leaning over to her, he weaved his hand in her hair and brought them in for a long passionate kiss. He could tell from the way her lips responded she was surprised at first, but she quickly submitted to it. And he needed that. He needed Elena.
"I love you Elijah," she breathed when they parted. "Don't ever doubt that."
"So, you were saying the worlds you know don't work together." Elijah ended up helping her change her bed sheets and bag her old clothes to donate.
"Yeah, it's weird. I feel like I'm this different person, but being back in Mystic Falls, I can't be that." Elena bit her lip. "And I know I am supposed to give it time, but it doesn't seem like we have time for that. Your mother is up to something. She knows we are back and if we want to get ahead of her, we need to start acting."
Elijah walked over to her and grabbed her hands in his. He waited for her to meet her eyes with his. "We have time. You have time. Let me worry about my mother and what she may have planned. I give you my word that I will tell you if she is up to anything as soon as I find out," he said both calmly and knowingly as she had opened her mouth to argue with him in taking the burden. "For now, let me take care of things. You worry about getting settled back in here."
Elena let out a long sigh and brought herself to Elijah. Laying her head in the crook of his neck, she wrapped her arms around him. She did still have a lot more adjusting to do. She promised Bonnie and Caroline some girl time, and she still had to talk to Stefan and Damon about how she left. She owed them an apology.
"Okay," she hummed, suddenly feeling exhausted from the day.
They stayed like that for a few moments, Elena feeling the smile on Elijah's face as he gave light kisses to her forehead. "Come on, let's get you ready for bed. It has been a long day."
"Will you stay?"
Elijah debated it. While there was no parental guardian to refute such a request, he felt it would be disrespectful towards the step-in guardian. "I'll lay with you until you fall asleep." It was a bargain, but Elena must have understood where he was coming from as she accepted the request.
Taking off his suit jacket, he folded it across the window seat and slipped off his shoes. He laid waiting for her, thinking of how times really have changed. He wouldn't have pictured himself long ago to have been laying in Elena Gilbert's bed, waiting for her so they could fall asleep together.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Elena smiled, crawling over to him and slipping under the covers.
"I love you," he stated, staring at her and marveling at the way things evolved. While he wouldn't have imagined the turn of events to happen, he was glad they did.
Smiling, Elena softly kissed him. "I love you too." Shutting off the light, she snuggled against his body and laid her head on his chest, quickly falling asleep.
Elena woke up to an empty bed. The vacancy where Elijah had laid disappointed her more than she thought. Slowly getting up, she went through her morning routine. It was different than it used to be. She spent more time doing her makeup and her hair than she had before. Grabbing a cup of coffee from downstairs, she headed back to her room to do some journaling before starting her day. The first visit on her list was to Caroline and Bonnie.
Grabbing her journal from her hiding spot, she sat on her bed. Just as she put pen to paper, a knock on her door made her look up.
Jeremy stood in her bathroom doorway watching her. His arms were crossed and he seemed more solemn that he should be at his age.
"Are you dating him now or something?" Jeremy blurted out.
It made Elena's eyebrow raise and she set her journal aside to face him.
"Elijah," Jeremy said before Elena could say words. "That's his name, right? He's the original you once made a deal with during the sun and the moon curse. The one that double crossed you."
"Jeremy," Elena sighed. That felt so long ago, but in reality, it wasn't. She understood why Elijah did what he did. And she knew he felt guilty about it to this day, even though she had long forgiven him. "It's different now."
"But you are," Jeremy clarified angerly, "you're dating him. Seriously Elena?"
Jeremy turned and went to go back to his room, but Elena quickly set her coffee down on her nightstand and raced after him. Catching his arm, she dragged him back from their shared bathroom and to her room. "Could you just…talk to me? Please?"
Sighing, Jeremy stood in place and looked around his sister's room.
"How did you know?" she started, hoping she could make conversation flow between them. While Jeremy was happy to see her, she could tell there were some feelings and thoughts left unsaid that he was carrying around.
"I came to check on you last night and you were already asleep. Elijah was there."
Intrigued, Elena motioned for him to continue.
"That was it. He came and explained to me you guys had a long day. Any questions I had, he said to talk to you, and then he left."
Elena narrowed her eyes at her brother. He was hiding something. "What else? Did you give him some sort of brother speech?"
Jeremy scoffed. "Of course, I did. You're my big sister. Just because he is some old vampire doesn't mean I won't spend my time hunting him down if he ever hurts you."
Elena smiled at his protectiveness and love and went over, hugging her stoic brother. She waited for his anger to dissipate and soon he hugged her back. "I just got you back Elena. I don't want to lose you."
"You aren't," Elena murmured back in Jeremys shirt as she continued to hug him. "You won't. Elijah and his siblings won't let that happen. Trust me. Things are a lot different than they were. I'll be okay."
"I don't get it," Jeremy said, pulling away. "What happened that made things so different?"
Elena pulled them to sit on her bed. Explaining more in depth to her brother about her time on the run and the time she spent with them in the mansion, she conveyed how she had developed bonds with them. "They act so human many times, Jer. They are just like us. They reminded me so much of us and how we used to be. The banter and throwing food at one another. You remember when mom and dad used to yell at us for doing that?"
They smiled slightly at the memories. "You care about them, don't you?" Jeremy asked her. He read her face and knew his sister. She had a big heart and was full of compassion. He could tell by the way that she talked about them and the time she spent with the originals that she grew to like them.
Jeremy was hit with a wave of jealousy, but the feelings slowly simmered away with Elena laying her head on his shoulder and telling him how much she missed him. It was hard to believe those people could replace him.
"I don't want to lose anyone else," Elena admitted. "We've lost enough, don't you think? And I know you don't get it, but I ran away to make sure you'd be safe. I thought that if I cut ties with everyone, Esther wouldn't go after the people I loved. And I was right for the most part. You deserve to have a life full of happiness and people that love you Jeremy."
"You do too, you know," he reminded his sister. While Elena was so compassionate and selfless, she tended to forget about her own self and what she needed. It was never a good thing. It exhausted her. "And you're part of my happiness. Having my big sister with me makes me happy. You're all the family I have left. When you disappeared, I thought that was it. You're all I got, Elena. You can't leave like that."
Elena swallowed hard, feeling waves of emotions hit her. "I know. I'm sorry. You're all I have left too. And I'm here now. For good."
They hugged one another tightly, tears falling down each of their cheeks.
"I will find a way to kill him though if he hurts you," Jeremy said to Elena as they parted. She laughed as he circled back to dating Elijah.
"I know. But I trust him. Just give him a chance, Jer. For me."
Jeremy nodded and got up from the bed. Elena's phone began ringing and Jeremy took it as his cue to leave. "Go ahead and get that. I'll be at the Grill for a while, so if you need me, I'll be there."
"Okay, thanks Jer," Elena smiled, wiping away the stray tear on her face. Standing up, she went and grabbed her phone seeing it was Caroline.
"What's up, Caroline?" Elena asked.
"Want to meet up for lunch? Bonnie and I were going to head to the Grill."
"Hey Jer!" Elena called over her phone. Jeremy popped his head in to his sister's room. "Wait for me. I need to hitch a ride with you. I'm going to meet Caroline and Bonnie."
Nodding, Jeremy left and Elena turned back to her phone conversation. "That sounds great. I'll meet you guys in 10?"
"Perfect," Caroline chirped and hung up.
Elijah's attention was caught from across the street as he saw Elena and Jeremy exited the Gilbert house together. He had come to check up on her after having to leave her during the night. As much as he didn't want to, there were new rules and expectations he felt he needed to abide by. But that didn't stop him from missing her.
She was smiling as she slung her arm around Jeremy's shoulder and walked down the porch steps. He could tell her feelings since yesterday were becoming easier. The two seemed on completely good terms. Whatever they needed to air out with one another seemed to have been done.
Elijah was proud her. She was adjusting better than he expected. He watched as Elena laughed and jumped on her Jeremy's back. The young male Gilbert made a joking comment on her getting heavier and she replied with a light smack to his shoulder, a smile still plastered on her face.
He wanted this for Elena. He wanted her to be happy and carefree as she once was. But he had to admit to himself he felt worried where that left him and his family. When Jeremy saw the two of them last night, Elijah knew it wasn't his place to discuss the matter with him, but he wondered how Elena would handle it. He realized after leaving the Gilbert house he and Elena hadn't discussed their relationship before returning to Mystic Falls.
It crossed his mind in assuming that she may want to hide it from her friends and family, as the Originals were not exactly welcome or on good terms with any of her loved ones. But he hoped she wouldn't want that. Yet, it didn't help his uneasy thoughts when he realized that in returning home, Elena had not shown any affection or relations towards him or his family unless in private.
Things were changing, and Elijah didn't know if it was in his and his family's favor. Mystic Falls held people and things that easily influenced Elena in her decisions and thoughts. She was a people pleaser and a fixer, and it worried him that the independent, strong headed woman Elena had developed into being would soon disappear.
Elijah thought back to last night as he stood across the street from the Gilbert house. His mind went over him how Elena told him how she felt torn between two worlds and had to figure out how to navigate and live in both. And he pushed her into figuring it out on her own. He gave her time. And he felt stupid for doing so. With not knowing where they stood in her life here, he worried that she may regress only to please her family and friends, leaving him and his own family behind. Things could change from how they used to be and what they built together. Was he going to lose her?
No, Elijah, she loves you, his brain kept telling him. She had said so herself just last night. But Elijah wondered to himself as he watched the siblings drive away if their love would be enough to withstand her family and friends and the whole town's opinions.
Elijah scolded himself when returning home. He found himself pacing the floors with all sorts of fretful questions. The power Elena had over him was immense. And he wouldn't be getting any answers until she was to arrive back home later this evening.
It left him with only one thing to do – figure out what Ester was up to.
Elena and Jeremy walked into the Grill, each looking for their friends.
"I'll see you later, okay?" Jeremy asked, touching his sister's arm. While she was home for good, he couldn't say he wasn't worried she would take off again. He constantly felt the need to check up on her whereabouts. He was always mindful of her now, just to make sure she wasn't going anywhere. He knew she meant what she had promised in staying for good, but he couldn't help but think that if the situation were to arise where anyone was in danger, she would take the selfless route and take off once more. And Jeremy wasn't sure he could handle her leaving again.
"Yeah. I'll catch a ride with Caroline or Bonnie so you don't have to wait up." Elena was happy to be on good terms with her brother and see her friends again. The day was turning out better than she expected.
"I don't mind," he replied, glancing back to her before his friends again. "Wait for me. We can drive home together and grab some movies or something."
Elena quirked an eyebrow up at his response, but let it go. "Okay, I'll come get you when I'm done."
Watching her brother walk off, she took a moment to dwell on his reaction before she heard her name being called.
"Elena!" Caroline waved from a table near the wall where Bonnie and Matt sat too.
Smiling, Elena walked over to the three and hugged each of them. "You have no idea how good it is to see you guys."
"I wish I could say I was staying, but I'm actually working, so…" Matt gave her one last hug and picked up his towel. "I'll grab you guys some drinks and be back."
Thanking Matt, Elena took a seat next to Caroline and smiled to her friends. It felt like old times.
"So…"
Silence began to set among them and Elena's happiness slowly began to fade. She realized that while it felt the same, it wasn't anymore. The three weren't sure what to even say.
"Here we are," Matt announced, unknowingly breaking their awkward silence and setting down their usual drink orders.
"Thanks Matt," the three all smiled to him before putting in their food orders and watching him leave again.
"Okay, this is kind of weird," Caroline laughed nervously to the group. "-not that it isn't good to have you back, Elena, cause it is. It just-…"
"I know, Care," Elena replied with a sad smile.
"We just got to give it time is all," Bonnie nodded in positivity. She wanted this to work. She wanted her friend back. She had missed Elena and worried about what she had done to her best friend. While she knew Elena was a survivor, it still felt different.
"So…what's new?" Caroline was trying. Both Bonnie and Elena were thankful for her. They weren't sure what to say with one another.
"How about you guys catch me up on what I've missed? How has senior year been?" Elena wondered to her friends.
The tension broke and the ice thawed from whatever was casted over their friendship. Soon, old times were had and Elena was laughing with her friends about school stories and times that she missed out on.
"What about you?" Bonnie smiled, coming down from a round of giggles. "What was it like being with a house full of Originals?"
Elena furrowed her brows and cracked a smile. "Actually? Not so bad." She told them about getting to know each Original and spending time with them. She told them about some of her day-to-day activities and even budding friendship with Rebekah. Realizing she should have probably invited Rebekah to meet with her and her friends, Elena bit her lip. She wasn't being the best friend she could be right now and she'd have to make that up to the female Original.
Glancing up at her friends, she saw how they now sat with her in uncomfortable silence. Maybe it was better she hadn't invited Rebekah. Her friends needed time to adjust to her being back. They were clearly having issues with her new relations and its not like they had a chance to get to know her like she had.
"And…I'm seeing Elijah now." Elena felt the need to put the rest of her secrets out in the open. With Jeremy now knowing of their relationship, it was important her friends did too. She didn't want to feel like she was hiding him away.
"…seeing…" Bonnie asked, cautiously waiting for clarification.
"dating I guess?" Elena stated, asking herself more in a questioning tone than her friends. She and Elijah had yet to define what they were. Was that what they were? A couple?
Caroline shot Bonnie a look "You guess?" she parroted to her friend.
Elena shrugged and twirled her straw in her drink. "I'm not sure. I mean, we didn't really need to label it when we were on the run."
"But you're…involved," Caroline clarified.
"We are," Elena nodded, taking a second to gather some courage before looking at her friends. Neither looked at her. Instead her friend stared at each other as if they were having a silent conversation with one another. The silence deafened the table.
"Why?" Bonnie asked, turning back to Elena after breaking eye contact with Caroline.
Once again, Elena furrowed her brows. She didn't understand what her friend meant. Why was she involved with Elijah? "What do you mean?"
"Is this some sort of strategy against Esther? I figured when you told me that you kissed Elijah and ran off the night of the ball that it was to distract him from following you or linking all of them. I didn't think that you actually had feelings for him." Bonnie's words offended Elena, but she tried to be understanding to where Bonnie may be coming from. Pushing away the feelings away, Elena took in a deep breath. "No, Bon, I love him."
The clarification once again brought them all into a stunned silence.
"I'm sorry," Caroline laughed in awkwardness. "You what?"
Elena had never felt so uncomfortable. She didn't think her friends reactions would be this badly either. "I love him. I…I fell in love with him."
Caroline stared at Elena in surprise. She knew her friend felt something for the original, but she never thought it would go so far as to love him. "How?"
Elena opened her mouth and closed it a few times. She wasn't sure what to say or how to explain her feelings. Deciding to tell them about when she found out about Ester's plan the night of the ball, she went into detail about her thought process and realizations about Elijah.
"And he loves you?" Caroline wondered.
"-the actual you," Bonnie added for clarification. The pair stared at her waiting for an answer.
"The actual me?" Elena wondered looking to them both.
"Well," Caroline said slowly, looking over to Bonnie for backup.
Bonnie took over for Caroline. "He's loved doppelgängers before Elena – Tatia and Katherine. You said so yourself."
The thoughts and doubts of Tatia and Katherine took over Elena's mind again. She remembered having a conversation with him, asking him if he loved her because he loved them, but Elijah assured her it was because she was Elena that he loved her.
"He loves me. Just me."
Caroline smiled to her friend. "Good." As much as she was uncomfortable with the news that Elena fell for Elijah, she was at least happy for her friend. She wanted Elena to have happiness and as long as Elijah wanted Elena for Elena, she would be happy for her and not kick his ass.
"I-I don't know." Bonnie's loss for words made Elena and Caroline snap their eyes to her. "I'm sorry, I-I-…I just, I don't understand. How could you do this? Why?"
Elena looked at her friend incredulous.
"Bon…" Caroline warned.
Bonnie furrowed her brows and looked at Elena. "They were the bad guys, Elena!"
"You didn't feel that way when you helped me!"
"Yes, I did!" Bonnie ground her teeth together. "Of course, I felt that way. But you were in danger. You made a decision and we didn't have time to fight over it. I couldn't stop it, just like I couldn't stop you that night. You don't think I think about that? What I did to you? How the turn of events happened to lead you here?"
"Bon…"
"What about Stefan and Damon?" Bonnie asked, cutting her off. It made Elena think back to the night she ran to Bonnie's. She had asked that same question. It was a question Elena never answered because she didn't know how. She still didn't.
Her silence was deafening and it made Bonnie believe Elena didn't know what she truly wanted. "Do you still have feelings for them?"
"Bonnie," Caroline sighed, seeing how she was pushing her friend.
"N-n-o, no, I don't anymore," Elena said thinking it over. While she didn't know all of her feelings for the Salvatore brothers, she did know it wasn't how it felt before. And she knew she didn't want to go back to that. They way things were – the way she was between them. It brought her to be like Katherine and she hated that about herself when she was with them.
Elena met Bonnies eyes, with a fierceness to them. Regardless of the Salvatore brothers, it didn't change how she felt about Elijah. And Bonnie needed to understand that. "I know you don't like Elijah, and I guess he hasn't given you much of a reason to. But I do love him. He makes me feel safe and strong. And…I don't hate myself when I am with him like I did with Damon and Stefan. You don't get it, but you have no idea how hard it was to depend on them and need them like that and feel as if I was stringing them along."
Elena licked her lips and looked downcast to the table. "I was exactly like Katherine. I had both boys on my arms the night of the ball. Do you know how wrong that felt? And I knew it was wrong. I knew it all along, but I didn't know how to escape that. I loved Stefan; I did. And I think I could have loved Damon. But they never let me be me. And I never wanted to fight that because I was already fighting with myself."
Bonnie's eyes softened.
"Elijah doesn't make me feel any of that. I don't have to make a choice to love myself or love him. I get to do both. And he supports me. He respects me and my decisions. I'm not weak in his eyes, even though really I am just a human."
Caroline put her hand on Elena's arm. "we get it, Elena."
Both looked to Bonnie, who also reached forward and put her arm on Elena. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be…how I am. I just want to make sure you're safe and making the right choices. I don't know what it was like to be between Damon and Stefan, but I know Elijah and his family can be dangerous. You left Elena, and now you're back but everything is not as it was. It is going to take us time to get used to this."
Elena set her hand on top of her friends. "I know, and I'm sorry if I'm moving so quickly. I just…I fee like I'm on borrowed time, you know? I have no idea what Esther has planned and I feel like I have to figure out things before she acts."
"We'll get her, Elena" Caroline said supportively. "You'll be safe and it'll be okay."
"We'll make sure of it," Bonnie added with a smile. The three leaned over to each other for a hug and it was a throat clearing that broke them apart.
"Did I miss something?" Matt asked with a large bin to collect dirty dishes.
"No Matt," Caroline laughed as they all sat back in their seats.
Patting to the empty chair next to her, Bonnie motioned for Matt to come sit for a bit so they could all continue to chat.
"You okay?" Jeremy asked as he drove the two of them home from the Grill. Elena had been quiet since leaving her friends. Her head was planted against the window, watching as the scenery went by her.
"Yeah, just a long day," she sighed before closing her eyes momentarily. While the rest of the time at the Grill with Bonnie, Caroline and Matt went without a hiccup, she couldn't help but feel exhausted. It kept hitting her in surprising waves just how much things were the same and yet so different.
"Did you want to talk about it?" her brother pushed.
Elena glanced at him and then slowly sat up in her seat. "I thought I left for all the right reasons. But coming back…-I didn't mean to hurt everyone. I just wanted everyone to be safe."
Jeremy tore his eyes from the road to grab his sister's hand. "I know. It just takes some time."
Elena nodded and squeezed her brother's hand. While it would take some time, she didn't acknowledge how she felt like maybe she was doing things wrong. The way her friends questioned her judgements and everyone second guessed her decisions with coming back to handle Esther. She wasn't sure what was right or what she was doing anymore.
She felt like she was spiraling out of control.
Moving back to the window, she waited for them to be home. Sleep sounded good to her. Sleep and her journal. She needed to get all the complicated thoughts from her head and onto a page.
Jeremy must have carried her to her room because when she woke up, she was no longer in the car, but on her bed with a blanket draped over her.
Groaning, Elena sat up and threw the blanket over around her shoulders. Moving to her bathroom door, she opened it to see Jeremy sitting at his desk with his headphones on. He looked like he was playing a video game from what Elena had guessed.
Shutting her bedroom door quietly, she padded around her room, getting out her journal. She sat with it on her bed, laid out in front of her, just staring at it. It was the same journal she had before she left, only now it was about to have months of entries missing.
Just another reflection on how different things were.
Huffing, Elena tossed the journal to the far edge of her bed and curled her knees up to her chest. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was only 7:00pm. She would have time to go out if she wanted to. Biting her lip, she got up from the bed and changed into comfortable clothes. Putting her hair up and leaving a note on her bathroom door for Jeremy, Elena grabbed her keys and headed for the bookstore.
It took her only a half hour to drive to the store, grab the journal and come back. When she came home, she greeted Jeremy and took a blanket outside with her to sit on the porch swing and journal.
Having a fresh notebook felt right. It felt like the start she was trying to have.
I've been making a mess with things. From my choices and actions and even unintentionally hurting the ones I love. I'm not sure what I'm doing anymore. Everything feels backwards and wrong. It is all out of control.
Elena wrote in her journal for what seemed like hours. She wrote down everything from her feelings about coming home to Caroline and Bonnie and the Original family. She discussed her worries for Ric and her guilt over Damon and Stefan.
I still have so much to fix, and so much to make up for. My life no longer feels like mine. I feel as if I am just some pawn in a game that constantly gets played. I don't know where to turn and who to turn to. Everything I wanted and I had feels like it is lost and opaque.
Biting her lip, she glanced up and was surprised to see Elijah. He was staring at her, a smile growing on his handsome face as they locked eyes.
"How long have you been standing there?" Elena wondered to him as she closed her journal. He stood near her front doorstep, crossed arms leaning against the side of the house carefully watching her.
"A few minutes maybe," he admitted before stalking over to her.
Elijah sat on the swing next to her and felt her stiffen as he laid his arm behind the back of the swing. The reaction fueled his fears, and it wasn't until she relaxed and put her head on his shoulder that he could breathe again.
Moving to wrap his arm around her, he kissed her head and breathed in her scent.
"Did you find out anything?"
Elijah sighed and kissed her head once more. He had spent most of the day trying to track his mother down, hoping to find out where she may be hiding so they could spy. But he didn't find anything. It didn't seem likely that she was in Mystic Falls anymore.
"Not yet, but we will. I leave tomorrow to go out of town for a few days."
Elena's shoulders sagged. "Where will you go?"
Elijah looked down at her lap where she was playing with her hands. "There are a few cities Finn used to fancy. I figured I'd start there and see if anyone has heard or seen any sight of them."
Elena nodded sadly.
"It'd only be for a few days. I'll be back before you know it."
Elena quit her nervous motions when he set a hand on top of hers.
"How was your day?"
Shrugging, Elena glanced at their hands. "I went to the Grill with Bonnie and Caroline today. Matt was there working too."
Elijah swallowed and stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. His nerves were growing. He could tell from the moment he saw Elena on the porch swing something was wrong. And so, he decided not to disturb her. Instead, he stood a quiet distance away watching her as she wrote. She was a very expressional person when she wrote in her journal. He watched her face and wondered what she was writing each time she grimaced or let a small smile pass through her lips.
"I told them about us, I hope that is okay."
Elijah's eyebrows sky rocketed and he tried not to jolt her in surprise. "Of course, it is."
Elena nodded and Elijah wondered to himself if he was playing it too cool.
"How did they react?" While he was afraid to hear the answer to the question, he also needed affirmation from her. His worries were eating at him all day, making it hard for him to concentrate.
"They said they need some time to get used to the idea. But they were supportive in the end."
Nerves stirred in Elijah's belly and he held on a bit tighter to Elena. The possibility of losing her to her friends or her own dangerous thoughts were still an option.
"Are we-…?" Elena paused and bit her lip. The hesitation in her voice made Elijah tense, but he lessened his grip on her when she pulled away to face him. "Are we dating?"
The question threw Elijah off and he sat forward trying to keep his own rapidly beating heart at bay. He didn't understand the meaning behind her question. "Dating?"
"Yeah," Elena replied hesitantly. "You know, like…going out."
The terminology that people used nowadays were not always easy for Elijah to keep up with, but he tried. "I love you Elena. I don't want to be with anyone besides you, and if that means that we are dating in your eyes, then yes. We are dating."
Elena gave him a small smile. "What would you have called it?"
Elijah was thoughtful. Sitting back, he brought his hand to his lip and mulled his thoughts for words. "Going steady I suppose. Or betrothed."
Elena gave a soft snort. Betrothed? Steady? He was really showing his age.
"Are you laughing at me Ms. Gilbert?" Elijah asked with a smile playing over his lips.
"No," she clearly lied breaking out with a smile of her own. She let out another laugh as Elijah brought her to his lap. "We are dating then," he settled.
"Good," she chirped as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Giving him a sweet kiss, she laid her head on his shoulder and enjoyed the way he rocked the swing back and forth while she sat on his lap.