After picking Elena up and speeding her to his car Elijah sets her down with a small smile.
"There's something I don't understand." Elijah says after a moment of driving in silence.
"What might that be?" Elena asks teasingly, putting her head in her hand.
"If you could have contacted me yourself, why involve Rose-Marie and Trevor?" Elijah asks.
"I may have been playing matchmaker. Rose and Damon would be cute together." Elena says with a shrug.
Years ago, Elena decided she wouldn't be putting any work into character relationships, buuut… Klaroline rights!
"And Rose and Trevor's friendship warms my cold heart. Plus, I wanted Rose to be rewarded for staying by his side for 500 years. That's loyalty." Elena muses as Elijah nods.
"So, you gonna asks about your future?" Elena asks out of the blue, surprising him.
"I wasn't really sure how to ask." He admits making her laugh.
"You died." Elena says sadly as Elijah observes her curiously.
"You seem saddened by that. Why?" He asks, she shrugs.
"Because I am sad. I've grown rather attached to your family." Elena says looking out the window with furrowed brows.
"That's not happening this time." She says quietly.
"I won't let it." She says in a determined tone.
"I believe you." Elijah says looking at her.
"What's your last name, Elena?" Elijah asks deciding to learn more about the girl who just turned his life upside down.
"Gilbert. I can tell you my story if you'd like." Elena offers noticing his curiosity, he nods.
"Well, I was adopted by my birth father's brother and his wife. My bio parents were sixteen and didn't know how to be parents. My parents had been trying to have a baby for years and thought I was a miracle." Elena laughs softly with a smile.
"Boy, were they wrong." She says and he chuckles.
"Knowing all I did, I was exactly a normal child. Honestly, I was completely detached until they had my little brother." Elena smiles so bright it distracts him from the road.
"The light of my life, that kid. After he came along I started warming up to my parents. Well as warm as you can get when you know your parents are part of a secret society filled with vampire torturers. Anyway, I was so bored that I decided to learn as much as I possibly could. I speak a few languages and can play a couple instruments. I've read tons of books and learned to play hundreds of songs. As soon as I was able to hold a pencil I started to make a plan to change the future. So far I've changed some pretty major things." Elena trails off with a thoughtful expression.
"But I couldn't change my parents death. I tried. I don't know if it was fate for them to die or just a freak accident, but… I'm gonna save you, Elijah." She finishes with a nod.
"I'm very sorry about your parents, Elena." Elijah apologizes making her shake her head and smile.
"No. It's okay. One of the cool things about knowing a bunch of information about an alternate timeline is knowing that peace exists. And I know that they found it." Elena smiles at the thought of her parents.
"You understand that Klaus might not let me resurrect you, correct?" Elijah asks cautiously, feeling the need to warn the girl.
"He kinda has to. Long story short, your mom's a real bitch." Elena says bluntly causing Elijah to make a surprised face.
"Sorry. Forgot who I was talking to." Elena apologizes sheepishly.
"No, its okay. Though it is concerning you feel comfortable around an original vampire planning to sacrifice you." Elijah says with an amused smile.
"Yeah, all my friends say I lack survival instincts. But I think I'm just a good judge of character." Elena defends.
"Good judge of character?" He asks with furrowed brows.
"Yeah. I'd never mess around with someone who'd be willing to kill me. Plus, I'm too cute to kill. I mean, look at me. I'm fucking adorable." Elena bats her eyelashes causing Elijah to smile and turn back to the road.
After arriving at the boarding house Elijah grabs Elena's hand, stopping her from exiting the car.
"Do I ever wake my siblings?" He asks with a thoughtful expression.
"Yep. I have a plan for that too." Elena tells him as they exit the vehicle.
"Honey, I'm home!" Elena hollers walking into the house with an amused original following her.
As they walk into the living room Elijah clocks the Salvatores both looking her over, most likely checking for injuries.
He makes a note of this, knowing his brother won't be happy that his doppelganger as a two guard dogs.
"Can we have pizza for dinner?" Elena asks Damon flopping down on the couch and putting her feet in his lap.
"Ask your mother." Damon says not looking up from his book, Elena turns to Stefan with a hopeful expression.
"Sure." Stefan says with an amused smile pulling out his phone to place the order.
"Have a seat, E man." Elena says gesturing to the chair next to her.
"Earlier you mentioned you have a plan, may I ask what exactly you're going to offer my brother in exchange for your life?" Elijah asks making himself comfortable in the chair.
"You can ask, doesn't mean I'm gonna tell." Elena sasses playful, squeaking when Damon pinches her leg.
"What? I'm just kidding." She defends rubbing her leg and glaring at the elder Salvatore.
"He could still kill us." Damon halfheartedly reminds not truly believing it, remembering the fond look Elijah continues to send Elena.
"If they tried hard enough, anyone could kill us." Elena's phone buzzes interrupting her train of thought.
"It's Enzo. He said, that Slater said, that he gave Rose my number. Right. I totally forgot." Elena says as Damon's head snaps to her.
"Enzo? You're in contact with Enzo? Since when?" He asks.
"Did I not tell you that?" Elena asks with confusion.
"Uh, no. You did not." He responds with an eye roll.
"My bad. He agreed to come with us on our Mexican road trip. Wanna come?" Elena asks turning to the original.
As he just stares at her in confusion with a slightly open mouth she continues,
"Right. Sacrifice first. Authentic tacos later." She reminds herself with a nod.
"You asked about 'Operation Red Riding Hood?" Elena asks making Damon snort.
"Seriously? Bit on the nose." Damon making Elena smile.
"The big nose?" She asks cheekily making him rolls his eyes again.
"Is his commentary absolutely necessary?" Elijah asks already disliking the elder Salvatore.
"Yeah, Ocean eyes. Shut your trap." Elena squeals as he pinches her again.
"Alright, so you know that to break the curse Klaus has to drain the doppelganger until the point of her death, then he'll unlock his wolf side?" Elijah nods.
"Well, the process for making hybrids is to feed them Klaus's blood, kill them, then when they wake, transition using doppelblood. But if he kills me, no doppelblood for him. It's a truly fucked up loophole. Hey, maybe you got that from your mom." Elena muses as Elijah sits there stunned.
"So, had he killed Katerina, he wouldn't have been able to make hybrids?" Elijah asks rhetorically.
"And seeing as why the only reason he wants to be hybrid is to make more of him, he probably wouldn't have been a very happy puppy."
"Niklaus might accept this, but the rarest key to breaking the curse, disappeared with Katerina 500 years ago." Elijah says making Elena smirk.
"Oh, you mean the moonstone? I already have it." Elena tells him making him raise a brow.
"How thorough is this plan of yours?" He asks with an impressed expression.
"Let's see, I have the moonstone, the doppelganger, vampire blood to turn someone, a lovely sacrifice site, and my wolf should be here in 2-3 business days." Elena ends with a proud smile.
"That's very well thought out, Elena." Elijah compliments making her smile.
"Thank's, Eli. I've also had my blood bagged like 4 times a years since I was ten. And happen to know the location of one, 'Mikael the Destroyer'." She says making Elijah stiffen.
"Does he know about you? If he does we need to leave. He will kill you to spite Klaus." Elijah says as Elena shakes her head.
"No. Well, technically he does but, like 15 years ago he found me and a witch desiccated him to protect me. He currently resides in a cemetery in Charlotte. If you don't mind, could you compel some people to look for him?" She asks as he nods..
"Also, remember he only drinks from vampires, so probably send humans." Elena reminds.
The door bell rings making Damon hand Elena his wallet as she stand to get the pizza.
Elijah notices Damon staring after Elena concerned, as she walks away.
"Is she aware that once my brother knows about her and her blood she will never be free of him?" Elijah asks sadly, thinking of the girls now nonexistent future.
"Knowing Ellie, she probably doesn't even care as long as her friends and family are okay." Damon says with a frown and sighs.
"You don't have to call your brother. Ellie said she already took care of all the ways Klaus could find out about her. All you have to do is not make that call." Damon tells him as Elijah furrows his brows.
"But you will. Noble, my ass." Damon scoffs, standing and walking out the room.
"Hey, you hungry?" Elena asks sweetly making Elijah's chest tighten with guilt.
"Yes." He answers, taking note of her hopeful expression.
Elena sets the table and pulls out Elijah's chair for him, making his lips twitch.
After sitting down Elena slides him a wine glass of blood.
"Thank you." He says with an amused smile
Right before he's about to take a sip Elena places a pink silly straw in his glass, Elijah makes eye contact before sighing heavily, rubbing the corners of his eyes.
Stefan laughs quietly as Elena continues to smile innocently at Elijah.
"Not a problem, Eli." She responds making him smile.
"Is that why you made me buy those straws?" Stefan asks he with an amused smile.
"No, I asks you to buy them because they're awesome." She says using her own straw to sip her drink.
"Did you know Klaus is in New York?" Elena asks Elijah after a moment silence.
"No, but that isn't surprise. He does enjoy the art in large cities." Elijah responds.
"We went on Halloween and bumped into him in a club." Elena tells him making his eyes widen.
"I was in costume and ran before he realized it was me. We're like that hot maid and the guy with face blindness." Elena says with a sigh as they all look to her confused.
Stefan's eyes go wide. "Oh my god. Are you talking about Cinderella and Prince Charming?" Elena snaps her fingers and points at him.
"Yeah them!" She exclaims as the vampires shake their heads, smiling.
"I wouldn't mention meeting him if I were you. He won't take kindly to you slipping through his fingers." Elijah warns a smirk Elena.
"I know. He's gonna be so mad." She giggles thinking of his reaction.
"Do you visit New York often?" Elijah asks curious if his brother is already aware of the doppelganger.
"Sometimes. My bio dad is a hunter and trained me. There's a safe house for active hunters in New York. It also doubles as a training facility." Elena tells him surprising the brothers.
"You never mentioned that." Damon says.
"It never came up." Elena shrugs.
"Do you hunt with him?" Elijah asks curiously.
"I have before. It's not really my thing. I mean, the adrenaline is awesome and I love kicking ass, but I'm pretty lazy by nature. And I can't really justify traveling around the county and staying in motels when I could be home, eating junk food and playing video games with my brother." Elena shrugs as Elijah smiles at her with a wistful expression.
"What?" Elena asks with a laugh.
"Forgive me, it's just, you remind me of my younger brother, Kol." Elijah says making Elena smile wide.
"E man, you have no idea what a compliment that is. He is so awesome!" Elena exclaims bouncing in her seat.
"He'd be glad to know you think so." Elijah replies.
"Speaking of your delightfully psychotic siblings. Do you have a way to contact Klaus?" She asks making him nod.
"Cool. If I were you this is what I'd say, Niklaus-" Elena imitates his accent and tone making the brother stifle a laugh and Elijah look at her unimpressed.
"You are ruthless and cold hearted as they come, but I never for a second doubted your love for our siblings. I know you only daggered them to protect them from father. I have present for you." Elena finishes with a shrug.
"Or something along those lines. Just be careful with your wording because he will dagger you if given the opportunity." She warns.
As Elijah prepares to leave he turns to Elena with a regretful expression.
"Elena if I contact my brother, you will never be free. You won't ever get to live a normal life." Elijah tells her making her smile at him.
"Eli, I've been planning this for a very long time. I've always known my life would be tied to him. And believe it or not, I actually want to help him reclaim his true self." She says with a wink.
"Just, maybe don't tell him about my whole fortune teller thing. He's already insanely paranoid. I don't need him killing my friends to send a message." She tells him before kissing his cheek.
"I won't. It was nice to meet you, Elena. After so many years on this planet people rarely surprise me. You are a very notable exception." He tells her honestly before leaving.
