AN: Request from Siberia21, I hope you like where I went with this one. Also sorry this is so late.
She falls asleep against him, and he adjusts the blanket covering her when she shifts. He debates sending his brother to deal with the witch. He did not have any attachment or use for Elena after Elijah had told him that Elena was under his protection-not a single hair on her head was to be harmed. No forced blood withdrawal. But, he did enjoy making a point, and teaching lessons. It's something he'll ask Elena about, later. He realizes that his couch is not comfortable enough for either of them to be there for hours, after a few minutes.
He picks her up and carries her to his bedroom. His bed is bigger. If she wants space from him, it'll be easier to give it. She opens one of her eyes, awake at the movement, but she shuts it after a few seconds.
She trusts him, he's known that for a few years, but she always shows in the simplest ways. No extravagant assurances or acts, just being herself.
She still wants to stay close. So he takes off his shoes and lets her do whatever she wants. She ends up next to him, she doesn't ever completely take up his space. He'd let her, if she so desired it.
He confesses his love, in a murmur she won't hear, she's asleep or very close to it. It's not all of the weight off his chest, but it does help. It's not the first time he's admitted aloud to her. She's soft and sleeping against him, and he hasn't slept in two days. He wouldn't mind some sleep, he wouldn't sleep until she was okay, he never could.
He drifts off to the world of dreams.
He loves her back? She sleepily muses. She wonders if that's the reason he lets her get away with so much, including her little pranks, like switching his coffee to decaf one day. She wonders if he has any idea of her feelings, her heartbeat has to give her away at some point. There's no way he doesn't know. She might ask him about it, soon.
She's still healing, she felt like she took too much blood, but Elijah let her take what she wanted-she doesn't know he'd let her drain him dry if it made her happy. The feeling of her lips on his skin would be an added bonus.
She shifts, and he wakes up.
"Elena?" He murmurs, if she had a nightmare he could help her, and that where he think the conversation is going to go. He's wrong.
"I'm in love you too." She admits, before her breathing evens out, and she's asleep. He wonders what he should do.
He could tell her in the morning that she talked in her sleep, but he's wanted Elena to know for quite some time. He just never expected her to be in love with him as well. She's human and she deserves a shot at the human experience, if she wants it. But she hasn't, he reflects. She lives with him. Her best friends are a vampire and a very successful witch. She's never thrown herself into doing human things. She has to make the decision, but he thinks she'd make a good vampire. With that, her arm moves over his torso, and he decides to sleep on it.