Chapter 7: The Master Plan

"Elena, come home." Jeremy's voice vibrated through her car as Elena did ninety on a back road, "We won't say anything about you leaving if you come home. Where are you anyway?" Elena closed her eyes for a second as she tried to focus on her thoughts. Unfortunately, it didn't help the tears forming her eyes.

"I can't come home Jer." Elena shook her head as she cried, "I've made a new home here and I have to do right by the people I care about." She thought about last night, the way Elijah cupped her face in his hands as he spoke to her. "I know you're angry and I know you're hurt that I left but believe me when I say that I love you and I miss you."

"If you miss me so much Elena, come home! If this new life is so damn important to you though, don't bother calling again." Jeremy said roughly, "You're all I got in this stupid town, we've always had each other and then one day I get a call from Caroline that says you're gone… Please, Elena…" She hated to hear him cry, but she knew that if she ran away from her fate people would die in the wake of Celeste.

Elena could barely choke out the words, "I'm sorry" before Jeremy hung up the phone. She pulled over quickly onto the side of the road. "I'm so sorry." She cried into her steering wheel as low music played through her speakers. It was haunting and the soundtrack to her emotional breakdown.

Her thoughts were scrambled, confused and most importantly distracted by her real reason for going ninety down a back road at 9 PM.

"What are your plans after we find my siblings?" Elijah asked her with an innocent look in his eyes, she studied his face for minutes trying to deny the sparks of electricity they were pulsing through one another's heart. She wondered slightly if he noticed the way his hand touched her own with such tenderness.

Elena knew she needed to answer the question he'd presented her with but for some odd reason her words escaped her. She watched their hands lay flat against each other without intertwining. The longing to entangle their fingers was indescribable. "I-I" Elena suppressed her want and returned to the question, "I'm not going to leave if that's what you're asking." She spoke faintly, drawing away her hand from his. "At least, not anytime soon."

"Are you staying for the family you've invited into your lovely home?" He raised his eyebrows in hope awaiting an answer.

"Kyle is perfectly capable of taking care of his family by himself. We are just friends…or maybe just strangers who connected." Elena vocalized the truth resting on the tip of her tongue, "He reminds me of my brother…he's lost so much at so young and has a child that deserves a beautiful life… I had to help him. But, he's not enough to keep me somewhere I don't want to be."

"Then what is?" Elijah's hand reached for her touch once more.

"Irrevocable love" Elena whispered delicately as she stood up from the swing, "It's the most complex magic anyone can truly have…If I found it by chance in the worst place on Earth I would stay in eternal hell for it."

"And if you were in a place you had no intentions of leaving, would you stay is love was absent?"

"For a while, but I couldn't stay forever… I can't stay forever by myself Elijah, it's not fair and it's too much ask of me." Elena stopped speaking for a second, "It's getting late."

Elijah said, "It's not that I don't- you're right it's getting late, Elena." Elijah stood up, buttoning his suit to remain calm and collected, "Will you invite me in?" He leaned into her, tilting his neck down as if he were going to kiss her. Elena looked at him, knowing this would be their undoing. If she invited Elijah into her house, into her bed it would be over. He would regret her and avoid her as soon as morning light landed in her room.

"No." She uttered between deep breaths. His lips graced her forehead in a short moment, causing her to close her eyes. When she opened them, he was gone.

Elena couldn't deny it anymore. She couldn't make another excuse concerning the obvious tension between Elijah and herself. It'd always been there, lurking in the shadows as they made deals and broke them. It was behind every I trust you, behind every rescue mission, and behind every involuntary glance. There was something brewing between Elena Gilbert and Elijah Mikaelson far more dangerous than any witch in New Orleans and far more addicting than nicotine.

Their brains begged for a simple on and off switch, they told them it would never work and would be a mistake.

He thought, remember the last doppelgänger… the way she hurt you… you said you would never go down that road again. You swore that Elena would be different.

She thought, remember the others who loved the doppelganger… the way you hurt them… you said you would never ruin someone like that again. You wanted love to be different…

Still, no matter what hurt and heartbreak lingered in the near future- there was an absolute truth in their figurative hearts that said, "This is different, though…"

But where did that leave Elena? Her brother hated her for leaving, Kyle thanked her for letting him stay, and she knew there was something between her and Elijah…It was all too much, too soon. She needed to focus on the mission, the master plan. She needed to save Klaus and Rebekah.

And she finally understood where to look as she picked her head up from her steering wheel, "What's around that road?" She said out loud.