Happy chapter ten!
The next time Elijah and I see each other, it's also face to face. Or, to be more accurate, it's hospital bed to disappointed vampire standing unearthly still next to it.
"The hospital informs me that this isn't your first visit," he says with the control of a caged animal– seemingly calm but charged. For a moment, the werewolves from Twilight come to mind, and how their skin rippled before they transformed. Elijah looks like he's about to do that.
It's not my second either. I want to say, but I'm not suicidal enough for that. Plus, that was a one-time occurrence where, on the way home from the grocery store, I decided to stop by because I felt uncontrollably dizzy and had no way of getting home. Calling Klaus to bail me out again was, of course, out of the question. I'd been lucky to wake up in the same room I'd fallen asleep that day, not in a dungeon in some foreign country where Klaus had decided to resume– or 'rejoin society.'
But I don't say that. I start to speak, but Elijah continues, his eyes not even on me as he's looking through what looks like medical files but I'm too wary to double-check. "They say you're lucky you were somewhere public where someone could call you an ambulance. You could have hit your head falling down– not to mention other consequences of your dangerously low blood pressure."
I swear I didn't want to make a dramatic scene. The second time I ended up at the hospital for an IV, it'd been after a shopping trip. This time, I didn't make it out of the store's sliding doors. Apparently, according to another shopper– the one who had alerted everyone, my body had jerked once, and twice, and on the third, I'd dropped to the ground, along with the jar of Nutella I'd been about to put into my basket. On my end, I do remember the initial chunk of this. My body and head had chosen to skip the dizzy stage and had gone straight to violent shivering. The 'jerking' of my body might have been me fighting off the sudden nausea that had dawned on me like a lukewarm bucket of grime.
This all led to a panicked staff member calling the ambulance, which (small town here) had arrived in less than two minutes– not enough for me to regain total sense and tell them that I'm okay.
"Ambulance rides are overpriced in my opinion," I say. "And they're overreacting. I'm okay."
"Had you eaten breakfast by that point?" Elijah questions.
My tongue presses against my inner cheek for a moment. "Not yet," I say, "It's why I was at the store. Restocking."
"Restocking," the immortal vampire echoes, now looking at me. I can't imagine what I look like. It is true. I didn't have enough ingredients at my house to make breakfast, and I'd thought that a trip to the store would be helpful in getting me out of the slump I'd been in. My hair was washed and brushed, though that's the only redeeming quality of my appearance. To go out, I'd exchanged my pajamas for a shapeless dress– something I'd ordered online that came in the wrong size and I'd been too lazy to return. Obviously, my feet were decorated with sneakers. Better than Crocs, though.
I pull myself up, trying to regain some semblance of dignity in front of the most dignified Original. I do so just in time for a doctor to come to my corner of the ER. It's not the same doctor who'd checked me out when I'd initially come, but a younger-looking doctor in scrubs and a name tag.
"Hello…Ms. Gilbert. I'm Dr. Sam Hall." He smiles distractedly, taking the chart at the end of my bed. "Feeling better?"
"Tons," I say, even though a bitter taste coats my mouth as I smile back. I glance at Elijah, who's focused on me instead of the doctor. "I don't even think I should take up more of your time– and an ER bed."
The doctor must sense the intensity Elijah is radiating because he pauses his perusal of my chart to eye the both of us. His gaze settles on something I don't expect: my hand, which is shaking like a leaf. I make a fist to control it, but it's too late. Both men's attention had been drawn to it.
"I'll be the judge of that," Dr. Hall says, tilting his head. "Your recent results show a severe case of anemia and low blood pressure. You've been feeling dizzy a lot? Had a few fainting spells?"
Something about doctors– maybe it's their demeanor or the fact that my dad was a doctor himself, calms me and makes me want to trust them. People usually dread them, but some part of me jumps at this glimpse of a person when I see them do something my dad did. Like Dr. Hall, who's around the same height and built as Grayson Gilbert.
"A couple; this is my second time fainting," I answer honestly. I add, "Today, I felt nauseous at the store, but it was the first time."
"Have you also experienced a loss in appetite?" the doctor asks, jotting something down in the chart's notes.
His question prompts me to steal a glimpse of Elijah, my brain associating him with food. I try to remember the last time I craved something; the last time might have been French toast a few days ago, but really, I only ate out of necessity these days. Considering I couldn't cook, there also wasn't a lot of use craving something if I couldn't make it. And as tempting as Elijah's credit card was, I was hesitant to use it beyond the gas and water and electricity bills.
"A little, yeah."
The doctor nods like he was expecting that. "Are you eating well? Taking vitamins? Especially after being informed of your anemia."
"She could be better." It's Elijah who answers on my behalf. His side profile makes an intimidating image, jaw tight and coiled and about to snap. "We'll get right on that. She needs to take supplements, correct?"
Unnerved or not by the interjection, Dr. Hall responds. "She has an iron deficiency, so she'll need supplements for that. I would recommend foods rich in iron and vitamins, as well. I would like to treat this as non-intrusively as I can before I ask Ms. Gilbert to consider a blood transfusion."
Ah, the snort that could climb up my throat– not that I allow it, especially given the company of the two people by my bedside. The irony of the situation doesn't escape me. How would Klaus react to me having blood transfusions? A morbid image comes to mind; me sitting in the Mikaelson living room, one needle in each of my arms, one has blood going in it and the other taking blood out.
"I urge you to follow this-" Dr. Hall rips and hands me a doctor's note. "-and see me– or another doctor– in a week's time. Preferably not in an ER," he finishes with a quirked eyebrow. An amused gleam in his eye twinkles at my sheepish smile. He has pretty eyes; a forest green color and laugh lines that look like they gleam and twinkle often.
Both Elijah and I thank the doctor in different tones, but you can guess who sounds friendlier. Sam Hall promises he'd send a nurse with the discharge papers and leaves.
It takes no less than a few seconds for Elijah to implode.
And by 'implode,' I imagine this is the second-eldest Original's way of snapping, save for when he commits actual murder, which I've seen him do. At night, the tilt of his head before he ripped those two vampires' hearts out in front of me at Slater's often clouds my thoughts. It's almost always accompanied by the day we met, when Rose and Trevor had kidnapped me to gain their freedom. Human, he'd said, Interesting, leaning so close that I can tell he was a subtle wearing cologne– a different one from now. Hello there, he'd smiled.
"Elena." I notice the way he pronounces my name a little differently, stressing different syllables. The intensity in his eyes matches Klaus'. "When you caught me up with the events that had occurred during my absence, you failed to mention the threat to your health."
"Threat?" I parrot. "Elijah, the most threatening thing in my life is Klaus, not low blood pressure. I'll have a hearty meal when I get home and everything will be five by five in no time."
The 'five by five' Buffy reference warrants a raise of his eyebrow, which makes me wonder if Elijah had seen enough Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes to get the Faith quote.
"Right," he says instead, "Before or after you stop by the grocery store you passed out in?"
I answer, "Neither. I'm going to order in." This counts as an exception to my hesitating around using his credit card. I'll order a steak from the Grill, even. Maybe dessert, too.
Elijah's lips are pursed. He looks as if he's contemplating something. It takes me raising my eyebrows and for the nurse to conveniently come to give me the papers I need to get out for him to speak his mind.
"Elena, you're coming home with me."
The whiplash my neck experiences from my head snapping from signing my name is jarring. Elijah meets my shocked look, looking specifically unjarred. Right, unshakeable vampire. Blood rushes to my face.
I breathe his name in protest, but he's already talking. "Your health is at risk. What if you had been at home. Alone? What if you had hit your head falling? You've been given the chance to live on your own, but you have shown that you are uninterested in keeping yourself healthy."
What I'd thought was my face feeling hot from embarrassment turns into noise in my ears and head. It's anger: righteous and scalding. "The only reason, Elijah– the only reason my 'health is at risk' is because of your family. I wouldn't be having such blood problems if your brother stopped taking it!" my sentence ends in a sharp whisper. I want to yell ferociously instead.
Elijah's jaw readjusts itself. He's controlling his reactions, his temper. "Be it as it may, Elena. You're not taking care of yourself. We need to remedy that."
"By staying under the same roof as the same man who's actively hurting me?" I counter. "You promised. You promised I'd be safe. You promised Klaus that you wanted me sane." Staying with a family of immortal vampires– the majority of which hated my guts– wouldn't contribute to my sanity staying intact.
"I did," he says. He's about to lean in, hands moving as if to take the papers (I hadn't even noticed I'm crushing the discharge papers) from my hands, but I spring up. Bold of me considering getting up at a normal pace usually results in my head spinning, but I'm motivated.
For the stillest moment, our bodies touch as I get up, but I tear myself away and stop at the end of the bed.
"This is me keeping my word," Elijah tells me. "You won't be a prisoner. You'll have your pick of bedrooms to stay in; breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks served. Anything your heart desires– as long as you stay where I can keep you safe."
"I'm worried about more than sleep and food," I say. Internally, my heart drops. Is my life about more than these? The answer scares me, because my purpose to breathe lately has been lacking.
Elijah meets my statement with a decisive nod. "Anything you desire," he reaffirms. "It goes without saying that you will not be giving blood for the foreseeable future– not when the cost is this steep. Let us host you until you're better. Until-" he steps closer to me, motioning to my tightening grip on the footboard of the bed. I'd been using it to keep still. "- until you can get up without losing your balance. Until your-" he jerks his chin up, a rare quirk to his lips. He's calmer. "- until your head stops spinning."
I don't think that's something that could ever happen. At least not in the company of supernatural creatures.
The nurse catches my eye as she passes by. I hold out the crumbled papers, biting my inner cheeks to hide my embarrassment at their state. The nurse, who must have been desensitized to the world by working in an ER, takes it without protest and tells me I can go home.
Do I want to go home? Or do I, craziness aside, want to go home with Elijah Mikaelson, the safest vampire in town? The Gilbert house looms ahead in my head, as well as a pit of dread in my stomach. What if the doctor was right? What if I got hurt and no one was there to help? The saddest part is that it would likely be Klaus or Elijah who noticed that something is amiss. It would take days, if not weeks, for at least Caroline to notice I wasn't calling her anymore or returning her random texts.
And what was really waiting for me back home? An evening of tasteless food, chocolate that I was over eating, and movies I'd seen before or shows I planned to watch until I was exhausted enough to sleep because I had nothing else going on? I picture the least depressing parts of my summer so far, and all of them took place at the Mikaelsons.
Still, I have one more concern to raise since nothing stands between the ER and the Mikaelson Manor. "And Klaus?" I ask, my tone defiant as I can make it.
Elijah's response is confident. "Klaus is a nonissue."
Hi, everyone! Hope you've had a lovely week! Excited for what's coming next? I know I am looking forward to co-existing with Klaus and Elijah under one roof. Maybe Kol will join?
What did you think of this chapter? I've been over the roof with the response to the last chapter! Don't worry, whatever your favorite is, I'm planning on a lot of things for them. Thank you to everyone who left a comment, followed, or favored the story.
I also recently started an AO3 account and posted this story there. My account there is called Merontheshore. Still me but a different name. Anyway, thanks for reading and see you next time!