A/N I'm so sorry that it's taken so long but I am a horrible procrastinator. I really appreciate reviews and they motivate me to keep writing so please comment! So here it is, finally, the point when the story spirals off on it's own direction. Enjoy :)
Chapter 5- Close enough to touch
You know that part that somehow manages to worm its way into every romantic movie ever created; when the couple reunites after overcoming their obstacles and they've finally realized they are meant to be together? The characters always stare at each other for an agonizingly long time, then they run into each others arms in slow motion. Well Gwen never understood that.
As a generally level-headed person, she knew that life wasn't really like that. She'd always found it ridiculous how the director or producer or whoever stretched the hell out of what should have only been a two second shot and she was quite fond of voicing her opinion on that particular subject. But now, when the situation suddenly applied to her, she finally got it.
She wanted to stare at Elijah forever, just drink him in until his face would be all she could see when she closed her eyes. But, Gwen's suspicious mind refused to to believe that life could be that easy. Perhaps it was just a dream and panic overtook her.
What if her tired mind had just conjured up Elijah to bring her some momentary peace. Was she still asleep in Elliot's truck?
Her breath began to come in shallow gasps and she grabbed onto the edge of the closest end table for support. Almost immediately, Elijah was at her side, holding her shoulders and keeping her steady. His hands were warm and Gwen could feel the strength in them. She stared up at him with wonder in her green eyes and to any one looking in, it would have seemed like the two had been apart for years- not months.
In one quick move, Gwen threw her arms around Elijah's neck, pressing him as close to her as she could. His arms left her shoulders to wrap around her waist just as tightly as she was holding onto him.
Elijah pressed his lips against the wild red curls that covered her head and Gwen shivered with pleasure. She nuzzled deeper into the front of his suit, inhaling the familiar smell of chocolate and coffee that always accompanied her love.
"Dear God, I've missed you." She whispered into his chest, content to stay where she was for at least another decade.
She felt him frown against her head and she pulled back to see his face. She reached out and caressed his cheek, smiling when he leaned into the touch. She wanted to wipe the frown off his face permanently, she'd always hated it when he was unhappy.
"Elijah, what's wrong?" Gwen stared up at him, not understanding the frown that still lingered on his face. They were together again, everything could go back to normal. Her grip on the front of his suit tightened and Elijah instantly wrapped his hands around her own in an attempt to relax her.
Gwen didn't flinch away from the blood that was now covering her hands, in fact the cool liquid had a relaxing effect on her, unlike some vampires who found blood to be a type of energizer.
"Where were you?" She repeated softly, pressing herself as close as possible against Elijah, looking into his eyes mournfully. Six whole months he'd been gone. That was the longest time they'd spent apart in well over 500 years and she was suffering from a serious withdrawal.
Elijah sighed and pressed his forehead against hers for a few glorious seconds then pulled away to glare at his brother.
Klaus had been staring at Elliot's body for their entire exchange but the moment he felt Elijah's gaze on him, he raise his green eyes to challenge his brother's dark gaze.
"Well, I'd hate to interrupt such a touching moment..." Klaus rubbed his chin in a nervously and started backing away but stopped when Elijah chuckled.
"Is something funny brother?" Klaus snapped, forgetting his that he had just been afraid of his brother.
Elijah let got of Gwen's arms and walked towards his brother with a sarcastic smile that made Gwen uneasy even though it wasn't directed at her.
"Not at all Niklaus, why would I find the fact that I was betrayed by my own brother amusing?"
Gwen watched the two Originals with a steadily growing fear that made her hands twitch anxiously. On one hand she looked forward to a fight with Klaus but the slight chance that Elijah could be hurt was more important than her revenge and she was mature enough to acknowledge that.
Making a split second decision, Gwen stepped between the two brothers, resting a hand on Elijah's chest, blocking Klaus from his angry glare. "Let's not fight."
Elijah's head snapped down to look at her incredulously, "What are you talking about?"
Gwen shrugged casually but the glance she sent Klaus' way was anything but calm. There was a prickly feeling in her fingertips that told her letting her guard down would be a bad idea. "I got what I wanted," she murmured, praying that for once in his life Elijah would act out against his character and forget about all this drama. "Klaus got what he wanted, why can't we just leave it at that?" She already knew what his answer would be but she couldn't help staring up at him imploringly with her green eyes on the off chance he would change his mind.
Elijah stared down at her with a thoughtful look in his brown eyes and raised a hand to brush through her curls. She leaned into the touch and pulled his hand down to cradle it between both of hers. He looked into her eyes as he hissed,"He killed my family Gwen; Finn, Kol, Rebekah..."
He trailed off to glare at his blond brother who didn't cower. Instead Klaus puffed out his chest and protested, "They aren't dead Elijah, and you know that as well as I do." Klaus folded her arms across his chest as if he was defending himself and he slumped against the wall. When he spoke again, he seemed to be talking to himself. "They're merely sleeping."
At seeing his dejected face, Gwen almost felt a bit of pity for the vampire. She knew it was unreasonable but she could relate to his loneliness. There was a whole period of time she'd spent alone and she could understand how an eternity of that could make a person miserable. Klaus would be no different.
"Not anymore." When Elijah's surprisingly calm response came, Gwen's voice mingled with Klaus' as they both stared at him in horror.
"WHAT?"
The shock on Klaus' face was instantly replaced with outrage and the blond Original lunged at his brother and Gwen reacted on instinct. To be fair, she had an advantage since she was already blocking Elijah but Klaus obviously assumed that she'd move out of the way to protect herself. In so many ways, Klaus was as naive as Elliot, especially when it came to love.
Gwen threw herself at Klaus, the two of them crashing into each other, the sound as harsh and as loud as thunder. Gwen nearly shrieked as her shoulder dislocated but she bit her lip to hold the moan back. She glanced up to see Klaus rubbing his chest and eying her warily.
"Was that really necessary?" Klaus straightened his back and took a menacing step forward but was intercepted by Elijah who blocked the petite redhead from Klaus.
Gwen glowered at Klaus from behind Elijah's shoulder but couldn't hide the smugness when she replied, "Yes."
Klaus snarled at her and she tried to lunge at him but Elijah wrapped his arms around her, holding her in place. The feisty vampire relaxed as soon as his arms touched her waist but she still scowled at Klaus from the protective cage of Elijah's hold.
Elijah pressed his lips against her ear and murmured, "Now do you see my problem?"
Gwen frowned but she nodded. Screw wanting to get out of here as fast as possible, she wanted to tear Klaus' head off herself.
"What did you mean 'not anymore'?" Klaus all but growled, shifting his angry glare from Gwen to Elijah.
Elijah merely smiled at his brother in a way that was sure to annoy him. "Our dear family will be joining us momentarily." Elijah glanced down at the solid gold watch on his wrist, "I wouldn't be surprised if they walked through that door any second now."
Klaus blurred over to his brother and grabbed the front of his shirt, making Gwen hiss at him warningly. "Do you have any idea what you have just done?" The blond snapped.
Elijah stared calmly back at his brother, "Yes, I do."
Klaus released Elijah and ran his hands through his golden hair anxiously. "I never wanted any of this to happen," the Original hybrid muttered to himself, "they gave me no choice!"
Gwen eyed Klaus warily, watching as he began pacing, getting more and more stressed out. And when the rest of the Original ffamily arrived, she was sure the tension would only rise. It was probably time she left the two alone to deal with their family issues.
"And I suppose you'll be wanting to stick around for the fireworks?" Gwen looked up at Elijah, knowing the answer as soon as she saw the torn expression on his face. She mustered up a small smile for his benefit since she'd been expecting this sort of thing and pulled a small card put of her jacket pocket.
"Come find me when you're done." She slid the hotel room key into his outstretched hand and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.
"Gwen..." He shot her a pleading look, begging her to understand and of course she did. She'd been with him for almost a millennium after all.
"See you soon darling." She blew him one last kiss before racing past Klaus out the main door, practically a blur to the brothers' heightened eyes.
Outside, she stumbled to a stop, tripping over her own feet in her hurry to get out of the mansion. She took a few more awkward steps but only made it as far as Elliot's truck that was still parked in the driveway. She glared at the white monstrosity as if it were the cause of her problems and in a flash of anger Gwen slammed her hands against the truck, hitting it as hard as she could.
"God dammit!" She hissed at the pain throbbing in her right hand and tucked her hand against her chest, waiting for the pain to subside.
The redhead looked down and already the swelling in her hand had gone down. She shook it out, wincing as the blood rushed through her fingers.
"Why does this happen to me?" Gwen slumped against the back of the truck and slid down until she was sitting on the pavement. She tilted her head back to stare up at the sky as if there was something there that could give her advice. If only stars could talk, Gwen thought sadly, perhaps they would be able to offer some wisdom.
That's when she realized there was something wrong.
"That's it, I'm insane." Gwen threw her hands up and buried her head in her hands. "I'm trying to talk to stars." She laughed a little bit but the sound was more hysterical than amused and with her red curls flying every which way, she definitely looked... unbalanced.
Gwen rubbed her nose and sniffled, feeling incredibly sorry for herself. She literally had Elijah within her grasp and then had him snatched away all during the span of a few minutes.
"Come on girl, get it together." She muttered to herself, picking herself off the ground and wiping the gravel from her jeans."I'll be seeing him soon." But she knew those words were just a half-hearted attempt at reassuring herself everything would be alright.
She spared the mansion one last glance before setting off down the driveway, determined not to take another look at the place until she had Elijah by her side. Gwen took a deep breath, smoothed her wild curls and ran.
The hotel she'd chosen to stay in was a few miles away from the Mystic Falls border, close enough that the town was in reach but far enough away that she'd easily be able to put distance between her and Klaus. Now as she unlocked the door and slid inside to the nauseatingly country- styled bedroom, she wished that she'd picked something closer.
She shrugged off her jacket, letting it fall to the floor and kicked off her heels, sighing when her feet sank into the carpet. Gwen made her way over to the bed wearily, dodging various types of luggage scattered about the room. The events of the day were catching up with her and she seriously needed a nap.
She faltered for a second, pausing with one hand on the bed. A day? It had only been a DAY?
She collapsed onto the cheap bed and groaned, one day in this town felt like five years. Reaching one hand off the side of the bed, Gwen groped around until she pulled the bag closest to her onto the bed and rummaged through it for something to wear. She shimmied out of her clothes, changing into the boxers and tank top she'd brought as pajamas.
Kicking the discarded clothes onto the floor, she climbed under the blanket, pulling the covers over her face like a child. Sighing softly, she locked away all worries and bad feelings about Elijah and did the only thing she could: sleep.
Three hours later, Gwen was woken up by a rustling noise at the door. In a dreamy haze, she forgot where she was and almost shouted at Elijah to let her get some sleep but then she realized she wasn't with Elijah, she was was alone in a hotel room. Her green eyes snapped open but instinct held her still and kept her breathing even, knowing she should appear asleep. The bedroom door opened slowly and shut quietly, the footsteps of the person edging closer and closer to the bed.
Gwen tensed under the blanket, preparing to fling herself at her attacker but when she whirled around, she wasn't face to face with Klaus or one of his hybrids but Elijah and his deep brown eyes.
"Elijah!" She hissed, smacking him on the shoulder and trying to hold back the smile fighting it's way onto her face.
"I'm sorry," he whispered sporting a soft smile that melted her heart. "I was trying not to wake you."
"You know you can always wake me if you need to." Gwen scolded him, sitting up and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "So what happened?" Her emerald eyes searched his body for any signs of damage before returning to his face.
Elijah sighed and absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair, obviously struggling to summarize the meeting and Gwen mentally smacked herself.
"But we can talk about it tomorrow." She offered with a smile, patting the bed beside him, inviting him to join her.
Instantly the worry line on his forehead disappeared and he kicked his shoes and jacket off, carefully laying them down on the chair beside the bed as Gwen watched silently.
Elijah then slid under the covers with Gwen, who hummed happily as he wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face into her red curls. He pressed a soft kiss against her cheek and she sighed contentedly, relaxing for the first time in almost 6 months.
"I've missed you." She murmured and snuggled deeper into the pillow, smiling to herself when his grip on her waist tightened.
"I've missed you too, more than you can believe." Elijah whisperer back and she turned to face him curiously.
"What was it like?" Gwen asked softly then added, "Klaus said it was like sleeping but he wouldn't really know..."
Elijah was silent for a moment, considering his answer. "Niklaus was right to an extent, but it was like a dreamless sleep. Peaceful but at the same time unsettling."
Gwen shivered subconsciously and Elijah rubbed her arms, "I didn't mean to leave you for so long." He told her sadly, and Gwen rushed to reassure him, hating the desolate expression on his handsome face.
" I know," she touched his cheek and smiled gently, wishing she was able to physically make him see how happy she was. "And anyway, now isn't the time to be sad. We're together and that's all that matters."
He nodded slowly and she stretched up to kiss him. He cradled her head in his hands and deepened the kiss, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. Gwen pulled away to meet his eyes and then it was her turn to hold his face.
"We can worry about everything else tomorrow, OK?"
Elijah chuckled quietly and pulled her closer to him as he whispered back, "OK."