"Looks like it's a Gilbert thing."
Elena tried her hardest to resist the urge to murder her brother. She'd read somewhere it was called The Cain Instinct, though according to Urban Dictionary it was more the urge to hit your sibling. She loved Jeremy, but there were times when she wanted to choke him till he turned blue.
This was once such an instance. The realization that Jeremy knew exactly what was going on with her and decided to be intentionally vague, made her see red.
Said instance being how Elena found herself flat on the floor. She'd woken up, taken three steps from her bed, and instantly fell backwards. And it wasn't like her legs had buckled under her, which would've made sense.
No, it was because sometime during the night a pair of ashy gray wings sprouted from her back.
"Jeremy."
He held out a hand, pulling her up, and revealed his own wings. They were slightly larger than hers and ivory rather than gray.
"The Gilbert journals mention our family being on the side of the angels. I always took it as allegorical, until recently," Jeremy explained. He rolled his shoulders, the wings vanishing as if they'd never been there. "I think the manifestation is kicked off by multiple deaths or an especially traumatic one."
Elena looked at Jeremy's Gilbert crest ring.
"Has this happened to Alaric?" She asked.
He shook his head.
"From what I've gathered from the journals, it was theorized to be tied to Gilbert blood. Plus, there's no way he could hide it if it was," Jeremy said. They both knew Alaric's tongue loosened greatly when he was drunk. "Okay, you need to find your new center of balance. Just put your feet further apart, I won't let you fall over."
It took a few hours and one almost breaking her vanity mirror, but Elena learned how to stand without tipping over or leaning back against the weight of her wings.
"Now we just have to get you on my exercise regime to build up the muscles around the coracoid," he continued. Elena's back muscles were already screaming and the thought of having to work them out more wasn't appealing in any shape or form.
"What happens after I do that?"
"You'll fly."
It became another part of her exhausting days. Somehow Elena did what she always has in the name of perfection by adding an hour in the morning and one at night to exercising her wings on top of her school work, chairing various committees, dodging the Salvatore Brothers, and waiting for her phone to chime.
But bonding with Jeremy made it all worth it.
Over the past two years they'd drifted apart, both in the same sea of tragedy but miles apart when they should've been shoulder to shoulder.
Between training and flying lessons were nights in reading the Gilbert Journals. Other than when the wings manifested and some vague allusions that Jeremy mentioned before, it seemed the only other perk was a sort of near immortality.
"I think sacrifice isn't just a doppelganger thing," Elena said. She held up a journal written by her ancestor, who lived through what Mystic Falls claimed to be "a winter of rabid bears" and if she had to guess, "bear" was code for something else. "Josiah Gilbert (white winged) fell beneath the tooth and claw of the renegade members of the Lockwood family, but not before mortally wounding each and every foe."
"I would like to think we're smarter than our ancestors."
"Or just luckier," she added. Once again the wings felt like a bomb on her back, ticking away until Elena needed to lay down her life for Mystic Falls again. If she bought more into fate and destiny, she would believe the lie she was meant to do something great as a Final Act, but as it stood, she only had faith in herself and Jeremy.
And in one other person as well, despite their not being physically present.
"Can I say something you might not like?" Jeremy asked. He stared down at the page in front of him. "I want to go back to Denver."
Elena didn't blame him for wanting to get away. Some nights she fantasized of moving to a city and becoming an anonymous face. Jeremy would be safe in Denver this time, no Original Vampire waiting on orders to harm him if she didn't comply.
"Okay, you can start again in the fall," Elena promised.
Jeremy looked up.
"I won't go if you're still here."
And there was the wrinkle.
A pounding on the front door disturbed her writing. Elena threw down her pen, sending it off the table to roll underneath the dining room hutch.
Klaus stood looking through the peephole, knowing full well she could see him. The first Original seemed to be vibrating with barely contained anger. Elena peered through the living room windows, confirming he only had a nurse in the passenger seat of his car. If he'd had any of her loved ones, they'd be with him, or he would've made them call.
"I need-" Klaus began after she opened the door.
"Hello, Elena, so sorry to drop in unannounced but I have an emergency or a plot that I need a couple of pints of your blood for," Elena interrupted him. "May I please come in and have the nice nurse I've compelled take your blood while I help you with the history capstone paper you were struggling with before I knocked?"
Elena slammed the door shut.
It took all of a second for another knock to come, this time softer and less urgent.
She opened the door again.
"Hello, so sorry to drop in unannounced but I have an emergency or plot that I need a couple of pints of your blood for," Klaus recited then gestured past her, a barely contrite look on his face. "May I please come in and have the nice nurse I've compelled take your blood while I help you with the history capstone paper you were struggling with before I knocked?"
"Klaus, why don't you come in?" Elena asked and held her hand out past the threshold. He took it, letting her pull him inside. "Can I get you anything to drink while the nurse gets set up?"
"Are you an option?" Klaus asked, always pushing the envelope. She rose to his occasion, offering a wrist. If the action came as a surprise, he didn't remark on it. "No thanks, Love, but I will take a brandy."
She got him a small glass of brandy then the Blood Donor Special of cookies and orange juice for herself.
"You have a great handle on the overall arc of your thesis, the details need work," he said, sitting close. She didn't jump when the needle entered the vein in the crook of her elbow.
Maybe after being bitten by vampires for so long meant small punctures no longer held any real pain Elena thought.
She listened to his recommendations, applying them here and there. It was easy to forget how much of a bastard Klaus was when he spoke like this. His recollections of the events were more accurate than any textbook or academic article she'd ever read.
"Klaus," Jeremy greeted. She'd texted him while getting Klaus' brandy to give him a heads up about their guest. "How are you?"
"Oh, just ducky," Klaus answered. And as if to enhance the already petulant mood he was in, he broke a cookie in half then dunked it in his brandy. "Being homework help is my sole reason for living."
"Cool, if you have a minute I'd appreciate your input on a piece I've been having a perspective issue with. Elena told me you're one of the great masters," Jeremy replied. Elena wanted to cheer at his handling of Klaus by appealing to the Original's ego. "Why did you let Michelangelo get credit for the Sistine Chapel?"
"How could you tell it's mine?" Klaus asked. He eyed Jeremy like the young man was a potential apprentice.
"Brush stroke patterns and you have a particular style signature shade of blue in your most recent works reminded me of how it was used in the Renaissance. Like how white was used to lighten ultramarine," was Jeremy's answer.
"Ahh, yes, Raphael created that particular trick. I loved it so much I stole it," Klaus' crooked smirk crossed his face. "Show me the piece you're having trouble with."
It was surreal Elena supposed. Her, working on her capstone paper while her blood was being taken while Klaus explained the finer points of three point perspective to Jeremy. If there hadn't been almost an ocean of bad blood between them, it could've been considered somewhat domestic.
"Elena!" Damon's voice came through the front door. "Let us in!"
Elena looked over at the door before turning back to her work. The nurse pulled the needle out, putting a small piece of cotton over the puncture wound.
"Aren't you going to let him in, Love?" Klaus asked. His curiosity was palpable, like always he seemed to be observing the moment from every angle he could.
"I just made it so he couldn't walk in whenever he wanted, why would I let him back in?" She asked.
"I thought you had a soft spot for the older Salvatore." There was the crooked smirk again.
"That was before I caught him stealing my underwear and watching me sleep and after doing some soul searching I realized my proximity to the Salvatore Brothers increased the level of drama and death in my life," Elena answered. She ignored the pounding on the door.
"And why let me in?" Klaus pushed. She recognized the dance they were in.
Elena got up, stopping by the hutch for something, and walked over to Klaus. His eyes followed her, looking up but pensive. Here was a creature centuries older than her, twice as vicious as any being she'd ever met, and she hoped to surprise him.
"You and I are going to be connected for a very long time, Klaus," it wasn't exactly a lie if the Gilbert Journals were right. "There's too much between us from betrayals to death to ignore the tie it's created. I've gone over every situation we've had together."
"And what, pray tell me, was your conclusion?" He steepled his hands, watching her intently.
"If maybe we'd dealt with each other truthfully and with respect, there might've been different outcomes," Elena left out mentioning honor to not insult either one of them. Despite being on different sides, they were both politicians in their own way, and what was the game between Originals and Doppelgangers other than elaborate personal politics? "I learned harsh lessons, there are mistakes I will not make twice. You are a better friend and ally than you are an enemy."
She knew she chose correctly to put friend ahead of ally by the consideration he gave her.
"Here's a token of my offer of friendship," Elena held out a scroll.
"And what is this?" He unrolled it. "A spell?"
It might've been stupid telling Klaus what the spell did or offering it to him in the first place, but Elena was willing to roll the dice on it.
"It's an invitation rescinsion spell. Bonnie came up with it. We put it on scrolls for aesthetic reasons," Elena explained. He looked it over, mouthing a few of the words before tucking it into a jacket pocket.
"Witches are all about their aesthetic aren't they? Won't take a spell seriously if it doesn't look like it's come out of their great aunt Mildred's dusty antique desk," Klaus said. He stood, crowding into her personal space. "And since I have nothing on me to give you, what can I do for you as my own token of friendship?"
It was on the tip of Elena's tongue, but she swallowed back what her heart wanted, and not because Klaus expected her to ask for it.
"What's Kol up to these days?" She asked instead.
Klaus snorted.
"Laying around the house, drinking all my bourbon and goading Rebekah into fights," Klaus answered. The doorbell rang through the house repeatedly. "Why do they think that will make you answer the door quicker?"
"Anyway, Jeremy is going back to Denver in the fall. I was wondering if you'd be willing to send Kol back too, not only for protection but I think they were friends before everything," she left out the particulars of the last time. "Jeremy needs more friends that understand, who he doesn't need to lie to or hide things from."
He took a moment to let the nurse go out the back door, slipping an obscene amount of cash into her hands before coming back to Elena with a cooler under one arm.
"What will you be doing while your darling baby brother is away at school? You graduate in a few weeks, what college is the charmed Doppelganger going to?"
College was a question Elena hadn't thought of an answer to. With Jeremy's statute of not leaving Mystic Falls if she stayed behind, it put her own plans in the air. She couldn't outrun vampires, they were everywhere.
"I don't know yet. I thought maybe going on a cross country road trip, you have to text me your address to send postcards to. There's a lot of tourist traps on Route Sixty Six," Elena said. It was her best answer at the moment. "If you have another emergency and need my blood, I can meet you halfway somewhere to save time."
She put her number into his phone then took a selfie as a contact picture. It was stupidly normal.
Klaus opened the front door. It surprised neither of them to find both Salvatore brothers on her porch. Damon was practically ready to charge the door. Stephen watched everything with mild concern.
"You know, I think I will take that drink after all," Klaus said. He smiled, a real one, for once and his eyes glanced down to her wrist. "One for the road and all."
It was a test.
Elena held up her wrist. Rather than biting down, Klaus kissed her pulse point.
"Text me when you get home, I want to know you got there safe," Elena called once he got halfway to his car. She ignored Damon, who was heading quickly into apoplectic paroxysms on her porch.
"I will, Elena," Klaus promised, using her name for the first time since he arrived.
Later, after closing the door in Damon's face and finishing her paper, Elena took out the flip phone from its hiding place.
There was one text:
Are you hurt?
No she replied then hid it away again.
Some nights it was enough, but not the times when Elena wanted to say more.
Life had a peculiar habit of throwing Elena curveballs when she least expected it. Only instead of the usual Mystic Falls Problems, she found herself running with Jeremy down an alley in New Orleans. They were supposed to keep moving, which was easier said than done, especially with the infant strapped to Jeremy's chest in a Babybjorn.
Klaus' text had come earlier that night, quick and begging for help. Rather than drive, they'd flown. Her back hurt from the exertion, the muscles around the base of her wings ached like they never had before. Running they could do easily enough, especially since no one moving against Klaus knew they who they were or expected them to be in the city.
There were many questions Elena wanted to ask after Rebekah met them. Only there wasn't enough time between her shoving the baby at them with explicit instructions to keep the child safe no matter what.
"We might need to reconsider our route," Jeremy hissed, canting his head towards the alley's mouth. "We can't fight all of them."
She counted ten vampires in front of them, then doubled the estimate of what was probably closing in behind them.
"Jer, I know you're thinking what I'm thinking. Will you be able to do it?" Elena asked. The Babybjorn's straps crisscrossed his back, leaving ample room for his wings to move.
"Yeah, no problem," he answered, cradling the baby's head in his hand. "What's the play?"
"You go first, I'll draw them in then follow. Keep going until you hear from me or reach safety," Elena instructed. "Don't stop for anything."
Jeremy nodded. Her heart shattered when she saw the question he asked with his eyes.
"I'm not dying today, Jeremy."
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Good thing I don't do that."
She found an unlocked door, sending Jeremy through first. They sprinted up a set of service stairs, fumbling through the top floor until finding the way to the roof. Elena threw her shoulder into the door, its hinges rusted from years of humidity and disuse. The metal shrieked, giving away their position; if it wasn't what she wanted, Elena would've despaired.
Not that it mattered, she thought. Barring the door with a flimsy piece of wood gave an illusion of weakness, giving Elena the upper hand in what was to come. If they thought she was a stupid, little girl she could pivot the psychology of the fight to her favor.
Jeremy's wings spread out, letting him feel for the wind current before he launched himself into the dark above them. Now alone, Elena looked around. The next building was so close she could jump onto its roof.
Just as the door burst open, she began to run with a prayer on her lips. Years of cheerleading taught Elena how to leap then land, not to mention tone her legs perfectly for jumping from roof to roof. She scrambled at one point to keep her balance on a gable, but managed to recover in time. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, she ignored it in favor of doing a rolling tumble onto a flat roof near the river.
"Looks like this is the end of the line," the one she assumed was the leader said. She let them back her up against the edge of the roof. "Unless you can fly."
Elena nearly laughed, if only they knew.
Training with Alaric taught Elena one fundamental truth; always anticipate where the vampire is going to be, not where they were; and when in a group, egos often prevailed, making coordinated hunting difficult.
The first attack she sidestepped, twisting her body around. Then the next she kicked the vampire off the roof. Two of them tripped over each other trying to get to her, the first attack lashed out, missing by a small margin, and Elena minced closer to the roof's edge.
"Tell us where the baby is and we'll let you go."
"Did you really think I wouldn't know that was a lie?" Elena retorted. It would've been easier to calculate the distance to the ground if there was something other than the river in her periphery or encroaching vampires. "Are they with you?"
The head vampire whipped his head around, seeing the wolves pouring out from the doorway they'd come through. They leapt from rooftop to rooftop quickly and with an ease that made her nervous. Elena had seen werewolves enough times to know a strong pack when they showed up. She suspected the golden wolf in the lead was Klaus, but didn't have time to stand around.
Elena summoned her wings, buffeting the air around her to knock a few of the vampires over before taking off. She landed suddenly, ducking low, and twirling. The wings' edges caught another vampire at the knees, making them buckle. Wolves went for him quickly and Elena thought they were working well together until one sniffed the air.
It growled at Elena. The many encounters with werewolves and hybrids in Mystic Falls gave her a rough lexicon of what certain sounds meant and this one was clearly a "I'm going to tear your throat out."
She took to the air again, barely missing the teeth snapping at her ankles.
"Elena!" The voice shook her down to her soul and made her heart ache.
She dodged to one side, barely keeping alight as two werewolves leapt up. They tried for her wings, barely missing the feathers. Elijah was there then, in front of her, speaking rapidly and holding one particular werewolf at bay.
Elena surveyed the rooftop. The vampires were losing ground fast, rerouting their efforts to take on their opponents in groups rather than individually.
A yelp alerted her to a werewolf as it was tossed over the edge. Without thinking, Elena dove after it. She caught them with a foot to spare, catching an updraft to help get back up. Circling the roof, she dropped the werewolf in the middle of a vampire cluster. It went immediately in for the attack, burying its teeth into flesh and bone.
Yipping caught Elena's attention. The golden wolf pranced back and forth, blue eyes tracking her, and from the demanding noise he made, she knew it was Klaus. He saw her swoop down then jumped. She barely caught him in time. Unlike the other werewolf, he was heavy, and threw off her balance. Elena dropped him in another cluster, using the momentum to shove one vampire off the roof. She waded into the fight next to Klaus, keeping his back protected as he did hers.
Whether it was from the clarification of whose side she was on or the sheer number of Originals on the field, the tide shifted subtly enough to ensure victory. Elena landed at Elijah's back, watching for danger.
"Valkyrja," Elijah breathed, reaching a hand out.
"As touching as this reunion is, I need you to do the job I called you here for, Valkyrja or no," Klaus interrupted. On any other night his nakedness would've been a shock, the blood covering him enhancing the effect. "Where is my daughter?"
Elena chose to be cautious. On a good day Klaus was mercurial at best, now he was a power beyond what she'd seen before. This was a force of nature who wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she answered wrong, the Klaus of Rumor and Legend, standing before her in all his terrible glory.
She shook out her wings, calculating how far Jeremy would be from her. While he weighed more, his endurance was better than hers.
"Not within city limits," Elena answered. She kept her poise, looking nowhere but into Klaus' eyes. "Safe, I promise. If you don't need me anymore, I will go catch up."
Klaus turned away, an obvious dismissal. Elena felt for the wind, crouching slightly in preparation to take off when he looked back at her.
"And what great boon will you ask of me when this is done, Elena Gilbert?" Klaus asked. It was another test. Elena knew what he thought the answer was. "Well?"
"You asked for my help and as your friend, I came. I don't need to be compensated because friends don't do that to friends, Klaus," Elena replied. She left him with her answer, not looking back at Elijah or giving in to how much she wanted to stay at his side.
A month went by.
Elena used a wing to shade Kol and Hope. After leaving New Orleans, she found the errant Mikhaelson at the lake house, waiting for her and Jeremy, who she'd caught up to outside of Baton Rouge. He'd run all the way from New Orleans, given the task of retrieving the Gilberts for help, missing them by mere minutes before they left Mystic Falls.
He'd seen Hope in her Babybjorn on Jeremy then something in the vampire broke. He was quiet except for when it came to caring for Hope. There'd been no word from Klaus or anyone else, she dared not call or text, preferring to not gave away the location of the youngest Mikhaelson.
It was a fortunate thing how they'd moved into the lake house for the summer, renting the Gilbert family home to a newlywed cousin for the foreseeable future. Rather than put everything in storage, Elena brought certain things like her mother's hope chest and various antiques with them. Like the crib generations of Gilberts had slept in or the quilt Jenna made Jeremy when he was a baby. Now Hope used them when not attached to her Uncle. She slept soundly on his chest, cradled close while Kol dozed. Elena watched the water lap against the shore, not really reading the words in the magazine she held in her hands while Jeremy sat on the other side of Kol, watching the road.
She knew they both were on edge. It would've been easy to get Bonnie to scry on any of the Mikhaelsons, only it left an opening for another witch to trace the spell back. No, they kept everyone in Mystic Falls in the dark about New Orleans and let them believe the Gilbert Siblings were on a road trip to California. Whatever conflict she'd seen in New Orleans couldn't spill over and find its way north. Kol kept his own council on what events led to Klaus calling for outside help.
It was hard enough not getting involved with whatever drama was going on in Mystic Falls at the moment.
Elena stared at the veins in her wrist.
"Takeover for me?" She asked Jeremy, standing up and leaving the magazine on the deck.
He spread a wing over the sleeping vampire and baby, a question on his face.
"I'm going to try something," was her answer before she leapt into the sky.
Elena flew to the top of Mystic Falls. It was easy to keep a low profile since the lake fed the falls, following the river's route kept her away from prying eyes. She landed, rolled her shoulders to conceal her wings in case there were hikers. The knife was small and came from a sheath she kept strapped to whatever bra she wore. It wasn't for combat, but might do in a pinch like cutting through rope or minor spell work.
Everyone wanted Doppelganger blood as a magic fixative Elena thought, how hard would it be for her to use it? It was her blood after all.
She made a small cut in the meat of her palm, just under the thumb, and squeezed the skin until her blood began to flow. Elena held her hand over the water, focusing like she'd seen Bonnie do more times than she could count. She breathed in then out, regulating until she found a pattern.
"Find me, come to me," Elena recited. She held back a name, since he'd never bitten or fed from her, the summons wouldn't work on him. "Find me, Niklaus Mikhaelson. Come to me."
Her blood fell into the water, swirling down before disappearing. In the back of her mind, she pictured Klaus, closing her eyes. The image changed, she found Klaus. He was moving through the streets of New Orleans. She heard Rebekah calling after him, almost screaming, and she wondered where he was going until realizing one very important thing:
Klaus Saw Her.
The psychic tug in the back of her head stayed. If Elena stood in one place, she knew where Klaus was and how far away. They made preparations and when told his brother was en route, Kol seemed to wake up.
"You could sit down," Elena suggested. She watched Kol pace in front of the house, one eye on the woods as he held Hope. His constant movement made her wings twitch. "He'll be here soon."
Kol shook his head.
Klaus arrived like he always did; forcefully and with flair. He crashed out of the woods, ragged and barefoot. Elena was sure his path could be tracked all the way from Louisiana. For a moment they all stood around, staring at each other until Rebekah and a werewolf appeared. Then another werewolf came bounding out of the tree line. Then another and another until a full pack had them surrounded.
One of the wolves shifted, screaming as she did so.
"Hope," Hailey breathed. It set the Mikhaelsons into motion, making them move towards each other like the absence had been centuries instead of a month.
A small and vicious spark of jealousy rose in Elena then, watching the reunion of an ancient family with their youngest member when most of hers was six feet under. She reached for Jeremy's hand only to find him doing the same, holding on tight. Despite how alone the surviving Gilberts were, they had each other, and it had to be enough. She wondered if all the sacrifices performed over the past two years led to this.
Sickly sweet fear flooded her mouth when Elijah didn't come out of the trees.
Klaus broke away from the group, walking with purpose towards the Gilberts. Elena felt the psychic tug disappear the closer he came. She held onto Jeremy, unsure of what was coming until the hybrid threw his arms around them.
He spoke in a language Elena didn't know and she only caught every other word. It was slightly melodic. Later she'd find out it was his mother tongue, used only when Klaus was truly giving his word. He kissed them both on hair, holding on tight enough for it to be nearly uncomfortable, yet not quite.
"He lives," Klaus whispered in her ear. He clasped Jeremy's shoulder. "I left in a hurry. It seems my friend is a very clever little Doppelganger."
"Why don't you ask Nick for what you really want?" Rebekah's question startled Elena out of her thoughts. "He'd give you the moon if you asked for it right now."
Elena ignored the fact the youngest Original marched into the bathroom like she owned it; obviously a trait she shared with Klaus. Instead she tried to spread her wings without knocking anything over.
The werewolves had been a little zealous in giving their thank you. Mud from the lakeshore managed to get stuck just so that showering got most of it but not everything. She hated having dirty wings, they itched if she didn't clean them before putting them away.
"Are you paying attention to me? I ruined a perfectly good pair of shoes chasing after Nick," Rebekah said. She gestured to her feet. "They were limited edition. Who taught you that spell?"
"No one. I guessed," Elena answered. She shoved a washcloth into the sink. "If you're going to stand there, you can help."
Rebekah took the cloth, beginning work on the left wing.
"My mother told us stories about people like you," Rebekah said gently. She ran a finger down a primary feather. "Valkyrja is what she called them; Valkyrie. Some stories they turned into swans, in others they brought the best mortal warriors to Valhalla after they died gloriously in battle. The Valkyrie were protectors, vengeance and glory all at the same time. I wanted to be one."
The Gilbert Journals dismissed "Valkyrie" as a possibility because it was Unchristian. What Rebekah spoke about made more sense since there were more things under the sun and the moon that her ancestors could've ever imagined. Through it all, Elena had yet to see anything which proved an angelic origin for her wings.
"Though I think she was partially right. Men couldn't be Valkyries and Jeremy is the same as you are," Rebekah continued to muse. "It might be a bloodline thing, like Doppelgangers. Did you know what your wing color means?"
She'd given it a passing thought in the beginning. Like everything else in her life recently, Elena Gilbert proved to be an anomaly. All previously winged Gilberts had shades ranging from eggshell white to cream. The color suited her, so nothing else on the subject mattered at the time.
"No," Elena answered.
"The middle path, not quite purely good and not that bad. You walk it well because you understand the shades of gray in this world better than most," Rebekah told her. "You balance between the light and the dark well enough to not be consumed by either, but are capable of great good and even greater wrath. He's a perfect compliment to you really."
Elena rose to the bait.
"Who?" And took it.
"Who you won't ask Nick for," Rebekah's smugness bled into her words. She paused in her work to ask, "Why don't you, Elena? Elijah isn't as good at hiding away his pining as he thinks he is."
If it weren't for the sincerity in her tone, Elena would've lied.
"Klaus won't survive without Elijah," Elena said. It hurt to say it aloud, making it have teeth capable of biting her heart in two. "It wouldn't be fair for me to take him away now that your family has Hope."
She thought of her and Jeremy, all that was left of the main Gilbert line, and how she didn't want that to happen to Hope. The poor girl was going to have enough to deal with by being a Mikhaelson and having all of her family around would help.
"Hope has you and Jeremy now too," Rebekah said, meeting Elena's gaze in the mirror. "After all, family is what you make it."
The werewolves left first. Followed by the three Mikhaelsons. And finally the Gilberts.
Elena tried not to think about the lake house's darkened windows or the many magical wards Bonnie put on it before they left as she punched the number for her floor. The drive to Denver had been fun since the catharsis of leaving Mystic Falls in the rearview mirror made them both giddy.
She tried not to be annoyed at Klaus for booking her a penthouse suite or how he sent her a text informing her of the fact he did. Or how he sent a picture of Hope along with the message so she really couldn't be angry with him. At least Klaus promised it was also for him when he and Kol arrived the next day.
It seemed the Mikhaelsons had decided her and Jeremy were Family.
Elena still didn't know how to process it, especially after everything, and decided on taking it one day at a time.
She keyed into her room, intent on ordering food then having a shower. The set of luggage in the foyer threw her plans off. Honestly, it had crossed her mind that Klaus would arrive early and probably insist on accompanying Elena on some of her road trip plans. Their friendship developed a steep learning curve for the most part, though he wasn't the Mikhaelson she wanted in her passenger's seat.
"Hello?" Elena called out, thinking she would've learned to keep the element of surprise after everything, but forewarning someone she was coming also made sense. "Klaus?"
"Niklaus is not here, I am afraid."
Elena found herself frozen in place.
Elijah.
Suddenly, she found it in herself to make herself move.
"Elijah?" It felt right to say his name with him only a few feet away.
He let her come to him, like always. It was strange seeing Elijah when there wasn't the threat of death or destruction hanging over them. Rather than let words break the moment Elena longed for after months of it evading her, she kissed him.
Few things took an Original by surprise, Elena Gilbert always did. He paused before kissing back, confirming he missed her just as much.
"Why are you here? Not that I'm disappointed," Elena asked, not letting him go.
"Dropping Kol off. He was almost as insufferable as Niklaus on our way here."
The sting of knowing they only had a few days made it all the more important to Elena to savor the time available. It must've shown in her eyes because Elijah kissed her again, this time slower and more thorough.
"None of that, Elena," he said. There was a tag tied to his wrist she realized. It was a gauche thing; made of paper she associated with Victorian Christmases and a lavish red ribbon. "Will you read it so I can take it off?"
She untied it, turning it over in her hands before her name in elegant calligraphy caught her eye.
"For Elena, consider this a token of my esteemed appreciation and affection to keep with you until the end of your days and may they be never ending. With love and admiration, Niklaus Mikhaelson," Elena read. It was absolutely absurd, but in line with Klaus' personality. "PS. I expect postcards."
She stared at the message, knowing what it meant and yet, not believing it.
"But he still needs you," Elena protested. Of course she was trying to find fault in something good, everything else in her life for the past year happened like that.
"Niklaus has decided to keep his less than savory dealings on the down low as the kids say until Hope is older. He's joined one of those mommy groups and has charmed everyone except for a woman named Cheryl," Elijah said. He led her further into the suite. "He still has Rebekah and a few others who can stave off any danger until we arrive, should he have need of us."
It placated the doubting voice in her head finally.
"So, you're mine forever? Are you sure you want that?"
"I am and I do, valkyrjan mín."
His Valkyrie. Elena decided she could live with that.
Notes:
For CorinaLannister for the Wingfic Exchange 2021 on AO3.
Valkyrja is Valkyrie in Icelandic
If TVS can be all hand wavey with Norse Mythology and Viking History, so can I.
