I know this story hasn't been updated in a long time, but I hope the ones who are still here enjoy this chapter. Don't worry there should be more to come.
Even though Elena was supposed to be lying low she had decided to go to school. She had most classes with Stefan and she just knew Damon would be nearby the whole day. That wasn't what made her feel safe though. She knew Elijah would never let her get hurt for real. She trusted him with all she had. After all she didn't have reason not to.
All throughout school Caroline was constantly hounding Elena. Bonnie was nowhere to be seen that day and Stefan was unusually clingy. They weren't together anymore, but he was still acting like the protective boyfriend. It was really annoying how he thought Elena needed him every second of the day. She mostly understood why, she always seemed to be the target for everyone.
After school ended Elena had full plans to drive herself straight home and just pass out on her bed, but Stefan stopped her. "Hey…" He said slowly. Elena sighed "Unless there is something urgent you need to talk to me about, I'm going home." "Please, Elena. We haven't really talked much and I just want to make sure your okay." Elena sighed and rubbed her forward a bit "Stefan… you have Katherine now. I'm over it." She gave him a soft smile to show she didn't have any hard feelings.
Stefan pulled her in for a quick hug before walking away. She watched him for a second and then headed to her car to go home. She wasn't surprised to see Elijah on her bed waiting. She smiled "All I want to do right now is be in your arms." She kicked her shoes off and flopped on her back. Elijah scooted closer and slides an arm under her, so he could hold her. She places a hand and her head on his chest. "So what did you do today?" She asked. Elijah's mind flashed to what he did that day.
He had switched out his usual suit for jeans and a light grey t-shirt. Despite what people would say, he actual did own clothes outside of suits. He hadn't liked that Elena wanted to go to school, but he was nearby if she needed him. He strongly believed she was able to hold her own, and he had seen her strength before. The Salvatore boys seemed to think she was completely feeble. He knew better. After all he had been helping her train.
Her strength didn't compare to a vampire, but it was better than nothing. He also didn't trust the Salvatore brothers to protect her. He was sitting in one of the bigger trees behind the school. He had spent the day keeping an eye out for trouble and also he carved a ton of little birds out of soap. He had slowly created 10 to show a bird spreading its wings. It was something he had learned about 120 years ago. It was quite enjoyable.
"Well other than what I told you I would be doing, I made those." Elijah said as he pointed to her dresser. There was a collection of birds starting from sitting to wings fully spread sitting on her dresser. "Wow" Elena said as she went over to see the birds. She picked up the one with the wings fully spread and examined the wings. "Elijah… these are amazing." Elijah was still in her bed "Thank you. I can teach you if you'd like." Elena turned and gave him her genuine smile "I'd love to be able to do that."
Elijah patted the bed to signal her to come back. Elena slide back in her original spot as they talked about his soap sculptures. Elena was excited to learn how to do that and Elijah agreed to show her how to do it after school the next day. "So what other cool things can you do?" Elena asked. Elijah chuckled a bit "Elena, I'm one of the oldest vampires. There isn't much I haven't learned to do." Elena nudged him with her hip "Way to brag." Elijah smiled and pulled her closer.
"Is there anything else you would like to learn?" Elena went quiet as she thought about all the things she wished she could be able to do. "Let's just start with the soap carving and go from there. I'm not exactly a quick learner." Elijah laughed and pulled her closer so he could wrap his other arm around her "Sounds good. I should be going though because your aunt is about to ask you to help with supper."
He kissed her quickly, but it still sent shivers all over her body. He vanished leaving her on the bed just as Jenna opened the door. "Wanna help with supper?" Jenna asked looking tired. "Sure" Elena replied as she stood up and followed her down.
The next day Elena was slow to get up. She felt very sluggish and found she didn't want to go to school. Her attendance was normally good, but the last thing she needed was for her friends wondering if she ran off again. Besides she had soap carving to look forward to. Though the day dragged by incredibly slow Elena stuck it out.
Once she got home Elena made her way to her room. Elijah was not there waiting like she thought. Her heart sunk a bit before she saw the note that was on her bed. - Classroom 401b. She left a note for Jenna before returning to school. She found Elijah sitting in an old classroom. It wasn't used for anything, but art. This semester as well as last semester art wasn't offered. They were still having trouble finding someone who taught art.
"Have a seat." Elijah gestured to a table that had been set up with two bars of soap, a butter knife, and a bowl. Once she was seated he began to teach her how to start into the soap. She had decided that a heart would be the easiest. Elijah watched as Elena started taking away some of the soap. He had told her to do small strokes and only to take off a little at a time.
"This is more time consuming than I thought it would be." Elena said as she continued to focus on the point of her heart. The heart had proven more difficult then she had imagined. She had been at it for about half an hour and the heart wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible. Once Elena decided it was complete she held it up to examine it.
The two curves of the heart were different lengths and the middle of it had a small chunk taken out where Elena had accidentally chipped further into the soap then she intended. Elijah smiled "It's beautiful." Elena laughed "No, it is all misshaped." Elijah took the small heart from her and looked at it. He smiles and hands it back "Not everything that is perfect is beautiful." Elena looked at her heart then at Elijah "Thank you" she finally said. As Elijah cleaned up the small mess she had made, Elena found herself looking at her heart. The more she did, the more she loved it.
When Elena got home she placed the heart with the birds before going to help Jenna with supper. It wasn't late when Elena was done doing the dishes from dinner, but that never stopped her from being tired. She went up to her room and laid on her bed and just let her thoughts run wild for a bit. She had been through so much since her parents died. She honestly didn't know how she handled it most of the time. Sure she never did it alone, but at a certain point didn't a girl have enough to deal with? There was only so much she could handle after all.
At 8 Elena got up and headed to take a quick shower. While she was drying off she caught sight of a bar of soap. It wasn't used and it was the cheaper square kind that smelled surprisingly nice. Soap was soap right? She grabbed it and found a plastic knife in her kitchen before getting started. She didn't really know what she was making until she had started chipping away at it.
It ended up being a fish, small simple and no designs on it yet. She wanted to make it look more realistic, but she didn't want to mess it up. She was going to wait to add them in until after Elijah had taught her how to do it.
The rest of the school week went fairly smooth. Elijah had continued teaching Elena how to carve soap. She had showed him her fish and he taught her how to add designs. Her fish looked more like a fish, but Elena didn't feel like it was quite right. By the time the weekend rolled around Elena had made a heart, a fish, a duck and a dog. The dog took the longest and it looked the best. "You are getting really good at this." Elijah said as he looked at her growing soap collection on her dresser.
"Do you have a collection?" Elena asked suddenly curious. Elijah nodded 'I do… I tried to keep as many of them as I could, but once my collection grew too big I began selling them." "Can I see?" Elijah nodded "Someday." Elena nodded "As long as I will see them." After Elijah left about an hour later Elena found herself thinking about the words she had said.
She hadn't ever really thought about being a vampire before, sure she had thought about what it would be like to have incredible strength and be able to protect yourself, but to give up life? Elena was falling for Elijah, but forever was a big step. Elena rubbed her eyes and pushed the thought of changing out of her mind before falling asleep.