It was like a pounding in her head.
She let out a groan as she turned her head, eyes opening to see a relatively dark room. For a moment, she felt her heart race, unsure of where she was, but she recognised the room soon enough.
She was in the hotel.
She sighed as she got up, a light pain in her side and leaned against the headboard.
"Look who decided to get up!"
"Oh God." She didn't know how anyone could sound that cheerful when she was going through the worst hangover of her life. Which made no sense she hardly had a drink the previous night.
"Oh come now, don't sound so sad."
"Give the girl a minute, will you Nicklaus?"
"Elijah?" She finally focused on her surroundings rather than her pounding head to look at the two originals in her room.
"How do you feel?" It almost amused her that Elijah was dressed in a three piece suit even when it was only nine in the morning.
"I- what happened last night?" She remembered the gala, using the device, but everything else was a blank.
"Well, you walked into the most dangerous congregation of vampires without any help, one that Elijah was at, and then Tristan stabbed you."
"Right, Tristan…that explains a lot."
"And then there was this." Klaus was holding up the Gilbert device almost as though he was taunting her.
"Oh."
"Yes, care to explain." She picked up the glass of water on the table next to her, swallowing a Tylenol. "Your attempt to ignore me is quite futile. I won't let you leave this room until you explain this to me."
"What do you mean explain it?"
"Well, to start with, who invited you there?"
"It was Aya."
"So a strange woman approached you and asked you to go an event filled with vampires, and you agreed."
"Well," she bit her lip, knowing she should be honest. "Katherine told me about it first. But I didn't know anything about the Strix." The look on his face was almost unreadable, but she knew it was just an indication of him about to lose his temper.
"And where did you meet her?"
"She came here."
"And you didn't bother telling me?"
"I thought about it. But ever since we've stepped into the city, it's been clear that you've had an agenda of your own. One you didn't bother to include me in. So I thought it would be better for me to deal with it on my own."
"You-" he seemed to be searching for words, and it was a rare sight. To see Klaus unsure of what to say, his usual facade seemed to have dropped.
"Alright, if I had told you, would you have let me go?"
"Perhaps."
"No, you would've been paranoid that there was some ulterior motive behind it."
"And you didn't think of that when Katerina invited you? You do realise she's never looked out for anyone other than herself."
"I know it was a risk-"
"Oh, so you did know that, well, that makes everything better!"
"It was something I had to do."
"You had to-" the expression on his face was easily readable now, his anger apparent.
"I did," she slid out from under the covers, feet planted on the floor as she walked towards him, trying to at least feel like an equal in the situation. "I had to know if there really was a cure for Ric's situation. I was also curious about everything else. Besides, it isn't as if I walked in there completely defenceless."
"Yes, this blasted thing. I feel as though my ears were ripped out last night. What is it anyway?"
"It's the Gilbert device." She could see the look of curiosity and surprise on his face. "I told you my family were vampire hunters."
"Quite effective too."
"Yes. And what about you?" He raised an eyebrow in question and she sighed. "Want to tell me what you were doing at the gala?" He looked amused at her question, smirking at her and she shook her head. "I told you why I was there Klaus, it's only fair you answer my question."
"Well, Lucien told me that he had heard about Tristan planning something. I wanted to see what he was plotting against my family."
"Oh, right." Elena could feel his words coming back to her, "he thinks killing you can kill every vampire you ever turned and then they ever turned." She saw the look that passed between Klaus and Elijah, their expressions almost weary.
"That sounds absurd. Like some kind of fantasy Tristan created."
"Or there might be some truth in it." Elijah said, and Klaus glared at him.
"And how would Tristan know that exactly?"
"He said it was because vampires from Mikael's sireline died when you killed him." She told them both and she could see the look of understanding on Elijah's face. "And that may have been the reason Elijah came here, but not you." She said looking at Klaus.
"I wanted to see what Lucien was up to." She knew from the tone of his voice that it was the only thing he was going to give up.
"And that was it?"
"Well, not exactly." She frowned at him but he just shrugged.
"So?"
"That isn't important right now." She continued looking at him, waiting for him to give something away but it didn't seem like it was going to happen.
"How do you feel Elena?" Elijah asked, attempting to break the tension in the room.
"I feel okay. Did you give me your blood?"
"Nicklaus did. Tristan stabbed you, and shortly after you activated that device, you lost consciousness. We were worried." She wondered if she imagined the look that passed between Klaus and Elijah, but did not want to focus on it.
"Well, thanks."
She told the two brothers to leave her alone after that, getting changed into travel clothes. New York wasn't what she had expected, and she felt alone. Part of her had expected Klaus to tell her the truth about them being there at all, and she felt let down when he didn't. She also wasn't sure what she was doing with him at all, but that had been something swirling around in her head since she had first slept with him.
Once she was done getting dressed, she went out to find that Elijah had left, and found Klaus alone drinking.
"Hey."
"Oh, want to leave already?" He asked gesturing to the bag in her hand.
"Yeah, you got whatever it was you came for and so did I."
"You're upset."
"I am."
"Why?"
"You're not being entirely honest with me."
"No, I suppose I'm not. I just…" she knew the faraway look in his eyes, had seen it before.
"You don't trust me."
"I don't trust anyone. But no, it's not about you, it's…..you want to leave, don't you? So let's go" She looked at him through narrowed eyes, knowing there was more to it than just his paranoia. But they both had lied to each other, and there was some undercurrent of disappointment that neither was willing to address.
It didn't take them a long time to leave, but they did decide to stop for lunch before they left the city.
When they ended up stopping at the same place they had as the day they had come to the city, she took some time to explore their surroundings, while he went to find his lunch.
She could vaguely recall a time when the idea would've made her uncomfortable- back when she could only tolerate Stefan's animal diet and nothing else.
She remembered the way she would sometimes tear into Damon, and wondered why she never did with Klaus.
But Klaus was different.
He had been right when he had told her that he wouldn't change. And she didn't want to change him.
It wasn't as if she agreed with everything he did - far from it actually. But her feelings for him were more complicated than just wanting to change him. She didn't feel the need to fix him or change him, she just wanted to be…..with him.
And it scared her.
The ease with which she seemed to just accept him even if she could never accept his actions.
"Well, look who it is." She got down on one knee, the same puppy she had seen before bounding into her arms, and even just two days had made him worse for wear, making him look more drawn and thinner.
Still, he was as active as before, barking and jumping excitedly as he saw her. She felt just as excited to see him though, and didn't want to leave him behind him again. And if it was more for herself than him, then no one else had to know.
A/N -Sorry about how long it's taken me to update, but I should be more active now. And I'm really excited for the story from here on out, because things will finally be set into motion.
