"So, how are things with our other friend?" Elena slid her hands into her pockets as they walked slowly down the street.
Elijah glanced around, to ensure they weren't being listened to, then said, "She's stubborn, furious that the necklace has been destroyed, and willful."
"Her mom's been locked up in a tomb, starving, for over a century, my family is to blame for what happened to her, and you're helping me. She's an eternal kid, who's been separated from her only surviving parent." Elena chewed on the inside of her cheek and shook her head.
"She did agree to stop turning people though, so I'd say that's progress."
"But, if she hurts Jeremy, or threatens him in any way, I swear to God, I won't try to save her."
"I did suggest that harming him would anger me, but I will make the warning doubly clear to her the next time I see her."
Elena rubbed her hands up and down her arms and hung her head.
"What's wrong?" Elijah stopped, catching her hand and stopping her.
"Am I selfish for trying to save people who kill others?"
"Do you feel better when you save the people that you do?"
"Yeah, like a weight has been lifted. I felt it with Vickie, then with Lexi, and even Rose. Like I was supposed to do it."
"They all died because they were around you, or connected to people who are connected to you."
"I felt it with Caroline too, but it's more layered then just saving her life. Like each thing I've done to try to protect her from attack, it's like a tiny piece was slotted into place in the massive puzzle in my head that I'm trying to put together."
"Take comfort in the knowledge that the spirits of nature won't allow you to save anyone that isn't meant to be saved."
"Bree," Elena breathed. "Because we saved Lexi, Bree wasn't killed!"
"And you saving people is already rippling out."
"Speaking of Lexi, does Rose know who was sacrificed in her place?"
"I think Rose doesn't want to know."
"Denial. She doesn't want to think about that her saving herself cost her Trevor. Even though that wasn't the deal."
"She knew the score, that if I saw him again, I would kill him. She probably assumes that he followed her and I dealt with him."
"So, she doesn't want to know so she can keep going and make something of her life now that she's free of you."
"Exactly."
"Will I see you after school?" she asked as they approached the building in question.
"Mrs. Lockwood is pestering me about some something or other, so I might not be free until later this evening. Text me if you need anything."
"She thinks you're hot," Elena said in a sing song in effort to hide her disappointment.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Come on, Elijah. The woman practically strips you with her eyes every time she sees you." Elena caught herself when she realized what she'd said. "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate."
"I think a little inappropriate behavior is acceptable between us considering I've been inside the deepest recesses of your mind."
"So, why don't you open up a bit more? Or is this just a one way street? I give and you act?"
"I apologize. It's just, you already know so much about me."
"That you don't remember sharing with me so that leaves you feeling vulnerable in ways you're not used to being," Elena guessed, her heart going out to the man who kept so much of himself to himself and now found himself exposed.
"I suppose you're right," he admitted. "I don't let people in, and yet, you know more about me than most people have discovered in centuries."
"Think of it this way, you've seen things in my head that I don't ever let anyone know about, my deepest, darkest thoughts, everything I've ever kept hidden, even from my journals. So me knowing your story, it just evens the field."
After a moment's pause, he said, "I suppose you're right. I will try to 'loosen up' as they say these days."
"I'm a little ahead of the times, but I believe the phrase I'm looking for is OMG," Elena teased, calling back to her memories of their time in the Lockwood mansion when he told her the truth of the curse.
Elijah smiled then, a real smile when he remembered what she was referring to, and Elena became determined to see that look on his face more often.
He had a nice smile, she decided, warm and boyish, something not rarely seen her first time around, but she wasn't going to say anything, because she didn't want him to feel self conscious.
"Just know that what I know about you, I share with no one. I'm the only one who remembers that you told me those things, so it's a secret I'll keep."
Elijah studied her, his dark eyes intense, and he stepped towards her.
Swallowing thickly, Elena stepped back, unable to allow herself to go down that path just yet, even with Elijah. "I'd- um- I'd better go. Can't be late for class."
"Right, you don't want to draw attention to yourself." Elijah caught her hand and inclined his head over it. "Have a pleasant day, Miss Gilbert."
Before she could reply, he turned and headed down the street.
Elena stared after him for a long moment until she felt a hand on her elbow.
"Bonnie!" she gasped, startled.
"So, what were you and Elijah talking about that had the two of you acting like teenagers?" Bonnie grinned.
The knowledge of what her friend had endured to come back to save them all, it had plagued Bonnie, so seeing her smile when talking to Elijah, it made her hope that everything she'd had gone through the first time around would matter this second time. Her once open friend, she kept so much hidden now. The way she spoke, so carefully revealing only what was absolutely necessary, was proof of that.
She fights to protect the balance of nature. A stronger, kinder person with the strength to withstand the coming storm, the spirits have never known, hence why she was chosen. But, even chosen souls need their allies, their safe harbors. That is your mission, to see that she succeeds and to be there when she can't take it anymore, even though she knows she must carry on. Emily's voice range through her mind. Elena was chosen for a mission, but that didn't mean she didn't deserve to be happy. Even if it was with an ancient vampire.
I will help her make things better. If only to see her smile the way she did a moment ago. Bonnie vowed. Just what sort of pain had Elena endured the first time around? And why did she trust a man so dangerous her Grams warned her to stay on the good side of and not interfere with his plans, especially where Elena was concerned.
"What was that?" Bonnie asked as soon as she was reasonably sure that Elijah was gone.
"What was what?" Elena asked, denial on full display.
"I don't know what you said, but to me, it looked like the two of you were flirting. Stop calling him a friend, Elena. Whatever happened in your passed life, it doesn't matter now, especially since you told me that the guy you ended up marrying in that life is a total dickwad in this one."
"He's got a future, one that doesn't include me." Elena hung her head and swallowed hard.
"What if it does this time?"
"From what I remember, he was happy with her. He wanted a life with her. And this Elijah knows all my memories, so he knows everything," Elena whispered, tears springing into her eyes.
"That time isn't this time," Bonnie wrapped her arms around Elena, holding her tight. Even as just an untrained witch, she could feel so much pain swirling in the depths of Elena's soul, though she tried to keep it hidden, "and like you said, you're changing lives. So, embrace the change. Just because two people ended up together in one life, doesn't mean they were meant to be together in the next one."
"I heard he was happy with her," Elena protested.
"But he seems perfectly fine flirting with you now that he knows you and whoever don't end up together," Bonnie contradicted.
Elena was so blinded by her past she didn't see that Elijah didn't seem to care about whatever snippets of his future he'd seen in Elena's mind. All he saw was the woman who'd died and been sent back to save the people she loved, and that list somehow included him.
"I want him to be happy," Elena whispered. "I want him free of my face. "
"What about it?" Bonnie challenged.
"Once every five hundred years, someone with this face appears, thanks to a horrible curse two thousand years ago. I'm the third he's seen," Elena admitted with a sob.
"But you trust him to make things right," Bonnie prodded.
"He's trying to save his family," Elena excused.
Pulling back, Bonnie said, "Just because it happened that time around doesn't meant it has to happen this time, does it?"
Elena shook her head.
"So, embrace the change."
"He doesn't need yet another person with my face screwing his life up." Elena's face screwed up in a way that suggested jealousy, but Bonnie wasn't sure enough about people who'd lived their entire lives and died, only to be brought back, to be sure of it.
"From what little I've been able to gather from your cryptic comments, you're not screwing his life up. You're saving it."
"Don't, Bonnie. Until everyone I feel the need to save is where they need to be, I can't think about romance or anything like it."
"So this really is a mission?" Bonnie asked.
"It is." Elena nodded once. "I was thrown back into my teenage body for a reason, and I cannot fail."
"Does falling in love equal failing?"
"I don't know and I can't think about it. I've got too many irons in the fire to juggle to think about that."
"What sort of irons?"
"Ones I can't tell you about without upsetting everything," Elenna snapped, then her face fell. "I'm sorry. There's just so much going on right now, so many people I've got to think about before I make a decision since I know what the wrong outcome will bring."
"That sounds like a lot," Bonnie commented.
"Especially since I don't know what action will send me back to heaven," Elena muttered.
"What's heaven like?" Bonnie asked, unable to stop the words before they left her lips.
"Home," Elena whispered, tears filling her eyes. "Heaven is home."
"What else?"
"I can't. I can't." Elena hunched over, wrapping her arms around herself, holding her chest as tightly as she could, silent sobs shaking her shoulders.
"Elena?" Bonnie wrapped her arms around her. "Elena, please, listen to me. I can't make the heaven you knew, but I will do everything I can to help you."
"No," Elena wailed. "You can't. I used you too much the first time around to make things right. I won't make you do that this time. You're just a teenage girl. I can't. I can't!"
Elena buckled in Bonnie's arms, falling to her knees. Caroline saw Elena crumble and came running over.
"What's going on?" the blonde demanded.
"Worse than ghost stuff," Bonnie said.
"What do you mean?" Caroline demanded.
"Elena's struggling with something that she'll tell you when she's ready to let more people in on her secret. It's not that she doesn't trust you, it's just difficult for her to talk about because it hurts her to tell anyone at all. She only told me because I caught her at a bad time."
"Excuse me," a smooth accented voice interrupted. "But this girl seems to be in need of a quiet place to recover from her distress."
Bonnie looked up into the warm brown eyes of a rather handsome man.
"Lorenzo St. John," he said a smile gracing his features, warming them, "Though my friends call me Enzo. And Elijah Mikaelson says that I owe my freedom to someone called Elena Gilbert."
"Enzo," Elena choked out.
"Please be careful with what you say." Bonnie glanced down to where Caroline was holding Elena's shuddering body. "Some people are aware of some things, but not others. And they want to keep it that way."
"So, who's unaware of everything?" Enzo asked.
"I am," Caroline admitted., running her hand over Elena's back "But, considering the way Elena's reacting, I don't think I want to know."
"I think Elena needs to go home," Bonnie said. She couldn't make Elena face the rest of the day.
"Okay," Caroline said, in drill sergeant mode, "you have classes with her that I don't, so between the two of us, we can get her her homework."
"And I'll get her to her front door," Enzo said. "No need to have both of you skip class."
"Would you mind?" Bonnie asked.
"I owe her my freedom," Enzo picked Elena's shuddering body up gently, though his eyes remained on Bonnie, conveying an emotion she couldn't describe. "I'll get her to her house and meet Elijah there. He'll deal with this."
"And we'll get her homework," Caroline said firmly.
"I'll see you later."
Bonnie couldn't describe the warmth that sank into her bones with his gentle approach to Elena, but she had to admit that it felt nice. When Elena could talk, she'd ask her about this strange man, this vampire who felt like death, but smiled like life itself came from his soul.
Barely aware of the events going on around her, Elena had just enough cognitive capabilities to understand that she wasn't meant to be at school that day and she allowed herself to sink into Enzo's embrace, wishing it was Elijah who carried her.
"Do you need help going inside?" Enzo asked.
"No. I can make it to my bed. Thank you though."
Elena stumbled inside and then curled up on her bed. She wanted Elijah there, but she couldn't demand that he be there all the time. Sleep. She needed sleep. She'd feel a little better once she'd slept through whatever reason the spirits decided she needed to stay home.