Chapter 11: The return
When Bella stepped out of the portal, she could see everyone gathered around her but she was looking for someone else, her husband and her love. Once she spotted him, she ran into his arms and he hugged her so tight they might have fused together.
"I've missed you so much, I love you Bella, I never forgot about you. I kept a journal just for you… Everyday for the last thousand years I wrote in it for you, I love you…" He whispered in her ear as he kept her close to him.
She smiled and kissed him hard. It felt like he was trying to say everything to her at the same time and she understood how he was feeling.
"Maybe we should move everything to the living room…" Isabelle suggested, interrupting the couple who was now making out.
"Grandma'! I'm so happy to see you alive!" Bella exclaimed as she left her husband's arm to hug her grandmother and everyone else that she had seen die a little over 2 months ago.
"What… Oh yes, we died the first time around right?" Isabelle realized.
Bella nodded as she was passed around and hugged by everyone. When she was done greeting everyone, she went back to Elijah and they all moved to the living room.
"So… A lot have changed from your first time around, it's going to take some time to explain everything…" Bonnie started to say as they all sat down, Bella was in Elijah's lap, his arms secure around her waist and his chin on her shoulder.
He often put his nose against her neck, or in her hair, smelling her scent, which he had missed so much over the years.
"Oh, there is no need, while I was in the portal, I don't know how long it lasted exactly but I saw my life and the major changes there are in the world." Bella explained as Elijah was kissing her neck, never stopping his whispers of love.
"Well, that's going to make things easier." Isabelle nodded.
"Hum… Granny… I don't know if they told you but… hum…" Bella started, blushing.
"You're married to Elijah? Yes, sweetheart, I'm aware of it…" The old woman answered with a smile as she threw a pointed look at her ring finger that still help Elijah's ring.
"And you're not mad at me?" She asked.
"Your mother is the one who has a problem with young marriage sweetheart, I personally got married to your grandfather when I was barely a week over 18. And don't worry, as soon as you were on your way here, I explained everything to your father. As long as you don't tell him the specifics and that you show him that you're doing fine once in a while he'll be happy for you." Isabelle told her granddaughter who sighted in relief.
"That's good." She nodded, relaxing happily in her husband's strong arms.
"You're still wearing the dress you wore when you left in the portal…" Rebekah noticed.
"Well, I didn't exactly have a wardrobe in the portal, you know?" Bella replied with a small smile.
"I know." The vampire witch replied with a wink.
"Don't worry Love, everything is ready for you at home. Clothes, accessories, everything you could ever possibly want or need." Elijah told her lovingly.
"And you're okay with this Granny? You don't mind me living with Elijah?" Bella asked shyly her grandmother.
"No Bella, I don't mind you living with your husband…" The old woman shook her head with a smile.
"Yes, and the good part is that you still have a couple of weeks before you have to go back to school!" Elena added with a smirk, knowing the couple would need to spend a lot of alone time together now.
"Yes, I think that the two of you have got some catching up to do…" Kol smirked.
"A thousand years worth of catching up… That's going to be a record!" Damon replied too.
Bella blushed when she heard everyone was amused by the situation. Under her, she could feel Elijah was more than happy to see her and she realised they were right, they would be doing a lot of catching up.
"Actually Bella, I told your father you might not go back to High school and move to home schooling, I figured it would be for the best, you were ahead anyway." Isabelle announced, changing the subject to relieve her blushing granddaughter.
"That's actually a good idea, I'll think about it and get back to you on that but I'm pretty sure that's the way I'll end up doing it." She replied, knowing that she would have to speak with Elijah about it.
They were married after all, decisions like this had to be taken together.
"Don't forget you're all coming home for dinner tomorrow night!" Sage yelled as Elijah was carrying Bella away, to their home.
He put her down in a very fancy looking car and Bella didn't know what to say. She wanted to say what he waited to ear, but she wasn't sure what he wanted her to say forst, beside the declarations of love she had given him earlier.
"How are you? I mean really, without sugar coating it or anything. How are you?" Bella asked Elijah in a small voice, feeling guilty that he had to spend so long in pain, alone, without her, when she only had a short time away from him.
"I'm perfectly happy now that you're here my Bella. I really missed you!" He replied with an intense look in his eyes.
"I'm so sorry that you had to wait so long for me…" Bella whispered.
He gently put his hand on top of hers.
"Don't worry about it Bells. You're here now, that's what's important!" He told her tenderly as he stopped his car in front of their house.
"I upgraded it a little." He announced as he opened her car door for her.
"A little? It's not the same at all!" Bella replied with surprise, her wide eyes taking everything in.
"You don't like it?" he sounded sad.
"What? Of course I like it Eli, and I'm sure when I see the inside I will love it too, I'm just surprised, that's all! I didn't even think that I might be coming back to a different house, I never thought about this detail." she told him with a bright smile.
"I'm sure you'll love it!" He replied as he swept her in his arms.
"What are you doing?" She squealed.
"As your husband it's part of my duties to carry you inside our house!" He assured her before he added "I just put the house under your name though, so you'll have to invite me in, Love. Unless you want us to spend the night in the garden, because there is no way i'm letting you out of my arms anytime soon"
"Of course you're welcome to come in Elijah, sweet husband of mine!" She told him as he kissed her neck softly.
He walked them into the foyer of the house and didn't put her down. Now that she was here, there was no way he was letting her go.
"I'll give you the grand tour tomorrow, I'll also introduce you to our maid. On the first floor here is the dining room, the living room, a big reception room, my office, your library…" He was cut of by Bella;
"My library?" She asked him, surprised.
"Yes… Well, it's more like your office, but there are a lot of books there so… Of course we'll change anything you want as soon as you want it. Oh, and I got you a brand new cell phone with all of our numbers on it along with a new lap-top. It's all in there." He declared.
"Can I see it?" she asked, curious.
"You'll be able to appreciate it more tomorrow morning, it's getting dark…" He shook his head, when she nodded, he added:
"The kitchen is this way and we have a winter garden, a big terrasse and of course the garden you'll love."
"I'm sure I'll love everything, you're the one who knows me best in the world." She replied before she kissed his jaw.
"Then we have a basement with a holding cell just in case of an enemy coming by and several stocking cabinets… There is also a big movie room in the basement." He started to walk up the stairs with Bella still in his arms. "Up stairs is our bedroom, our magical and gigantic bathroom which you'll love, a huge walk-in closet for each of us and a bunch of guest rooms. Then there is the attic where there isn't much." He explained as they finally reached the top of the stairs.
He had taken his sweet time.
"Everything is so pretty… It's wonderful the job you've done here." She complimented him honestly him when he opened the door to their bedroom with one hand.
Bella was speechless by the perfect beauty of everything along with the marvelous scent of her favorite flowers all around the room. When they entered their bedroom, he quickly showed her were the most important things were before he dropped her on the floor in the bathroom.
"The bathroom? It's very pretty Elijah but…" Bella started to say, not understanding.
She had expected him to take her to the bed immediately, she had wanted it as well. She didn't understand why he had stopped in the bathroom now.
"I remember every thing you told me Bella, absolutely everything. You once told me you'd like a bubble bath when you got back… So now we're going to have a bubble bath together, I bought this extra large bathtub a few months ago just for this occasion!" He told her.
She could imagine it, Elijah walking around several sorts of bathtubs, trying to find the perfect one for the vision he had of their reunion and it made her heart swell with love.
"You remembered? Oh Elijah!" She exclaimed as she jumped in his arms to kiss him.
She squealed as he pulled back to pour them a hot bath. He let her choose what she wanted in it from the huge selection he had of scented bubbles.
"This bathroom is so dreamy…" She told him in wonder as she relaxed in the hot water with Elijah behind her a few minutes later.
"I wanted everything to be perfect for you. Working on this house made me feel like you were with me, I missed you less when I was doing things for you…" He whispered while his hands ran all over her body, he was unable to keep his hands from her skin.
"Your hands feel wonderful on me Eli…" She sighted as he let them wonder down her body and to her southern area where he began to stroke her clit.
When he was about to enter, Bella turned around so she was straddling him. They were looking at each other in the eyes and the lust and want Bella saw in him convinced her to take actions and she slowly lowered herself on his large and hard member.
"I missed being inside you so much… I've been so lonely without you my Bella." Elijah moaned as she rose and lowered herself slowly around him.
"I'm going to make it up to you, I promise you…" She moaned back to him before she quickened the pace.
That night, they caught up a lot on what they had missed.
After the bubble bath, they made love against the wall of the bathroom, to dry up, then he carried them to the bed where the rest of the love making took place.
When they finally fell asleep, she was snuggling close to his side and he had, for the first time in a thousand years, a peaceful smile on his face.
The next morning, Bella woke up to find a note from Elijah by her side, telling her he was taking care of making them some breakfast since he had given the maid her morning off. Bella grabbed the shirt he had been wearing the previous day and put it on before she slowly walked downstairs, taking the time to watch everything.
With the daylight all over, she could see just how beautiful her new house was. When she reached the first floor, she first made her way to the kitchen but got tempted by the room he had made just for her. She opened the door quietly and looked around, amazed.
First editions of her favourite books were all around the place, along with a few paintings from Niklaus. One was of the whole family, another was of their wedding day, and the last one was of Mickeal, Esther and Henrik, a few years later. When she looked closer, she realised a few of the shelves were taken by Elijah's journals. She was about to take the first one in her hand when she was interrupted:
"There you are… Good morning." Elijah told her soflty.
"Good morning Elijah." She replied before she walked to his waiting arms.
"You look really good in my shirt… Didn't you want to wear your own clothes?" He asked her with an amused face.
"Well, it's still pretty early and we have a while before we have to be presentable so I figured, you know, we still have some catching up to do…" She answered before he kissed her hard, pushing her against a bookshelf.
"I like the way you think mu beautiful love, but I think I should get some breakfast in you first…" He whispered against her neck.
He had drunk from her the previous night and, just like what they used to, he gave her some of his blood to heal her.
Elijah walked her to the table where he had prepared a very big breakfast. Surprisingly, Bella was really hungry and she ate more than she was used to. However, the lust she was feeling for her husband took over her thoughts for the rest of the morning and it's only around 3PM that they left their bedroom fully closed. Elijah introduced Bella to the maid and her husband (who took care of the garden) before he gave her a full tour of the whole house.
After that, they took a walk around the property and he told her about the other properties they owned, all over the world.
Around 4pm, Bella's head started to spin and she didn't feel very well. Elijah carried her to their room, worried.
"It will be fine Elijah, I'm probably just tired…" She tried to reassure him.
"Do you feel tired?" He asked her.
"No, not really… Maybe I have low blood sugar?" She suggested.
"Maybe… I'll be right back." Elijah kissed her forehead and left the room for a minute only to come back with a bottle of orange juice and a couple of muffins for his wife.
"Maybe you should rest until we go to Sage's and Finn's for dinner tonight." He suggested. Feeling tired after having eaten, she nodded and he took her in his arms, not wanting to be away from her until she was feeling better.
When she woke up a couple of hours later, Bella was feeling much better and they got ready for their dinner party. On the way, Elijah showed Bella were his house was in the new set up of the town and how to get to Sage's house, which was on the same street as the Salvatore Boarding house were Damon, Stefan and Rebekah lived.
Sometimes Kol did too.
"Bella, Elijah, I was expecting you to show up later!" Damon greeted them with a smirk as Elena hit him playfully on his arm.
"It's good to see you all again." Bella greeted them as everyone quickly gathered around.
Quickly, Bella was dragged to a different side of the living room with the girls while the boys were talking among themselves. Bella was telling them just how happy she was when Bonnie excused herself to go to the bathroom and asked Elena for a tampon. Somewhere in Bella's mind a bell rang, like she was supposed to remember something important at that sight, but when it didn't come, she let it go.
However, when, later, during desert, Jenna was sharing stories of baby Elena and baby Jeremy, Bella dropped her fork full of chocolate cake on the table. Everyone looked at her.
"What is it, Love?" Elijah asked her as everyone was worried at her suddenly shocked and pale face.
"I'm late!" Bella exclaimed in a quiet voice that rang through the house like she had yelled it.
"What do you mean you're late? What appointment did you have the time totake since you came back yesterday?" Niklaus asked her.
"My menstruations, I'm late…" Bella clarified just as quietly when her grandmother asked her:
"How late are you sweetheart?"
Bella looked up, terrified.
"My last cycle was before we got married…" she answered as Elijah tenderly stroked her back.
"But you're married to a vampire!" Elena shook er head.
"He was human until a few days ago to me…" Bella whispered, knowing everyone could hear her.
"You think you're pregnant, Bells?" Niklaus asked her as Elijah took her on his lap to calm her down and to show her his support and love.
"Today I got dizzy and… before the portal opened, I had some nausea but pushed it off as unimportant, thinking it was just the nerves of having to go back, and I got really hungry this morning…" Bella explained, trying to think back to everything that could be tied to this.
"There's a store opened 24/7 in town. We should go buy some tests." Elijah offered, trying to keep the emotion off.
He had never thought of this possibility, never dreamt of this happiness being a real possibility for him or anyone in his family.
"I'll go!" Niklaus exclaimed.
"I'll go with you!" Isabelle insisted and the both of them left the room quickly.
It was suddenly very silent.
Everyone wanted to give the couple their privacy in this moment but there was really no way of leaving the room without appearing as rude.
"What do you think Elijah?" Bella asked him.
"My love, if you are pregnant it will be a blessing! You having my child is my dream and I will do anything in my power to keep the two of you perfectly safe…" he replied, as honest and open as possible to reassure her.
He wanted her to know how happy he was about this.
"What if I'm not?" She asked in a shaking voice.
"We will deal with whatever comes together Love, I'm not leaving your side, no matter what." he promised her.
Bella was suddenly very hungry and ate her left over slice of chocolate cake along with Elijah's and Niklaus'.
When Isabelle and Niklaus came back they had a huge bag in hand.
"What did you buy? Only one test was enough!" Bella exclaimed when they entered the room.
She was on her feet now, right in front of them.
"Your friend here didn't know which one you wanted, I told him it didn't matter but he didn't agree so he took one of each. Then he heard some girls saying they took two just to be sure so he took a second of each tests. Then he decided to take a third of each just to make sure the results were right." Isabelle explained, amused.
"What? Is it wrong of me to want only the best for my best friend?" Niklaus asked as he handed Bella the bag.
Bella finished her 10th glass of water since they left and went for the bathroom, knowing that only she could do it now.
"Need any help?" Elena asked her softly.
"You better not need to pee on one of those Elena!" Jenna exclaimed before she added "You aren't married yet!"
Bella chuckled and Elena replied:
"Hey, I'm using the best contraception ever!"
"You're NOT having sex?" Kol asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer.
"I'm having sex with a vampire!" She replied as Jeremy chuckled.
Deciding to take revenge, Elena went to sit back on Damon's lap and said:
"It's Jeremy who's having sex with a human Aunt Jenna!"
Jeremy and Bonnie both blushed
"I'll be fine!" Bella replied, turning back to walk to the bathroom.
Thankfully, she really had to pee and was able to pee on all of the sticks Niklaus had bought. When she walked back to the living room, they were all waiting. She put the bag on the table.
"I've put them all back into their respective boxes… We have to wait about 3 minutes…" she told them nervously.
"You did them all?" Elijah asked her with surprise as she naturally chose to sit on his knees.
Everyone was really nervous and nobody talked until Elijah's phone rang, telling them the three minutes were up. Sage and Rebekah got all the tests and spread them all around the table and quickly checked the boxes before putting them down.
"Okay, so we have 26 tests… and all of them are positive! Congratulation Bella, you're pregnant!" Sage concluded as Bella paled a little.
"I'm just over 18… What if I'm not ready to be a mother?" Bella asked, still in shock, with both hands over her stomach.
"We'll be ready Love, I love you so much… You're having my baby and you have no idea how much more I love you right now. We can do it as long as we are together!" Elijah reassured her softly, putting all his love for her in his voice.
"You have to be careful now, you're carrying life!" Isabelle told Bella as she hugged her.
"Dad is going to kill me…" Bella whispered.
"Don't worry, as long as you're happy he will be happy. I know my son better than he thinks." The older woman told her granddaughter.
After everyone had their turn with the congratulations, Bella was starting to get really tired.
"I'm going to take you home Bells, you need your rest. You've had a big day…" Elijah declared softly as Bella's eyes were starting to close on their own.
"I'll take you an appointment with a doctor in town tomorrow Bella, just to be sure everything is fine. I'll call you to tell you when it is." Sage offered as Bella nodded from her safe and comfortable place in Elijah's arms.
When they got home later that night, Bella was suddenly wide awake again and Elijah showed her juts how happy he was by making sweet love to her. This time though, he didn't bite her. When she asked him why he didn't, he explained to her he didn't want to risk it with her being pregnant. They fell asleep talking about the future baby's room.
Even if the past thousand years had been hard on Elijah, from where he now stood, the future looked bright and joyful.
It had all been worth it.
Rewritten May 2020
Lorelei Candice Black