Author's Note: I know I'm really really really really really really really really sorry that I didn't update soon. I had extra extra extra HW because my teachers were freaking out that they weren't teaching our standards right.

Anyways, I also broke up with my boyfriend because he was sort of a crepper. He was possessive and scary. Oh well. I hope he's not hurting. :(

Anyway, this chapter may seem a bit longer than usual because I added a bit of flashback scenes from previous chapters.

This chapter focuses mostly on Elijah and Elena's thoughts on love.

Enjoy!

Previously: They continued.

Elena's upper lip met Elijah bottom one, tremblingly. He was shocked at her action. But he didn't push her away.

In fact, he brought her closer. Before now, he had no intention of revealing to anyone—even her—about how he felt about this girl. His feelings were supposed to be locked up tightly, like a forbidden, monstrous creature.

But Elena brought those feelings out of the dark. She was the only one that could expose at least a patch of Elijah's emotions.

Right now, all of his feelings were completely revealed.

And he absolutely loved it.

Slowly, Elijah reached up to gently to cradle the side of her face, just as his lips started to—slowly—respond to hers. His fingers wound into her soft brunette hair. The lustful man he was, Elijah started to apply to slightest increase of pressure on Elena's lips.

She responded eagerly, taking the pressure with ease. Elena pressed harder against his lips. Her lip crept out to lightly tease open his lips.

Elijah reacted impulsively and shot his arm out to wrap around her waist and drag her closer to him.

His mouth opened—just as hers opened up—and their tongues battled for dominance.

If it weren't for the bars in between them, Elijah and Elena would've been a tangled mess of limbs.

Her hands went up to his face to pull him closer—if that was even possible.

After minutes of frenzied makeout, Elijah pulled away a little bit, taking Elena's hands in his to restrain her. "Wait, wait."

She was confused.

"You want me to stop?" the innocent eyes were starting to fill with hurt.

Elijah nearly laughed at what he was seeing. She thinks that I don't want her? Silly little human. "No," he replied, "but, one quick question."

She looked impatient. She had a strange desire to want to go back to kissing him. Those lips were addictive. "What?"

Elena was caught off guard by his question. "Do you love me?" he demanded.

She was caught speechless. She had known that she had felt something for him all along, but Elena didn't know if she…

But if he was asking that question…Elena was debating with herself in her mind. …does that mean that Elijah actually loved her? She hadn't even known that he—an Original—was capable of feeling. She had known the attraction between them, but Elena didn't realize that he was easily going to admit it.

"Do you love me?" he repeated anxiously.

"I-i…" she was stuttering.

Both his hands went up to fully cup her chin, giving Elena no choice but to look up at him. "Do you have any feelings for me at all?" he whispered quietly.

"Yes," Elena admitted.

Elijah sighed in relief, glad that she at least felt something towards him. "Now," he asked carefully, "are those feelings so strong that you may—just may—actually be in love with me?"

She still wasn't sure.

"I don't know," she said truthfully.

It really wasn't that long ago when she had hated him. He was very humored by her defiant attitude.

"Are you negotiating with me?"

Then there was that moment after that when he first realized her name.

"What's your name, doppelganger?"

"Elena."

"Elena what?"

"Gilbert."

Elena had remembered how Elijah had sounded genuinely concerned and was willing to stay with her when she had a nightmare.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No thanks," Elena answered far too quickly.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Alright then. If you need me, I'll be in the next room, okay?"

How carefree it was to watch Elijah make her breakfast.

"Good morning," he greeted, not looking away from the pan.

She walked up to him, and leaned over to try to look at what Elijah was making.

"Sit down, you nosy little girl," Elijah said, half playfully. He pushed her away, signaling for her to sit down without looking away from his breakfast-making once.

Elena pouted, but did as he said. "I'm not nosy; I'm simply…interested in what you're making for me. That stuff is going down my throat, so I'm just trying to figure out what it is."

How sweet she thought it was that he was willing to do whatever she had wanted for the day.

Elijah asked, "Is there anything in particular that you want to do?"

"Oh." She was allowed to get out of this hotel. Elena had assumed Elijah would just keep her, cooped up here.

"Well," she looked at her filthy clothes, the ones she'd been wearing for over a day and a half, "first, I want to take a shower, and then I want to go get some new clothes."

Elijah smirked. "Wouldn't it be smart to buy new clothes first, so that when you get out of the shower, you'll actually have something to wear?"

Elena blushed. Oh, yeah.

She loved his cooking.

Elena was grateful that Elijah trusted her enough to open up to her about his past.

"It was the 1370's. I was around the age of thirty. My father was Francesco Petrarch. He was also known as 'Father of the Renaissance.' You'd have known about him. He's famous, you know," Elijah boasted, slightly bragging about his father's well known life.

Elena just listened, giving her ice cream cone a lick once in a while.

He continued. "I was a forbidden child. You see, my father wasn't allowed to marry, so he kept his lover and his children a secret. I'm pretty sure he had other lovers though," Elijah explained, rolling his eyes, "I'm certain that he slept around."

She was silent, waiting for him to go on.

"I couldn't go out of my house, knowing if I was discovered, my father would be locked up and persecuted on the spot. So, I stayed in the house and worked with my mother. My mother was pretty much a housekeeper, and my father hobbied in poetry. That's what got him famous."

"One day, a man came in to check out some of my father's poetry. Like usual, I was shoved into my room and locked up so no one would find me. Minutes later, I heard my mother screaming."

Elena started to nibble on her cone.

"I was curious and went to see who it was. I walked in to find my father dead and my mother dying. The man had her in his arms and was drinking from her. He had heard me and the next thing I knew, he was coming at me."

"And that's how I died."

She looked at Elijah with a pitiful expression on her face.

"I woke up to find that I was extremely hungry. The man I later found out was called Klaus trained me to control my hunger and my issues. I learned to get rid of my humanity. I learned to see Klaus as the father that I never had."

"He never did actually tell me why he had turned me. I learned to be thankful for it, though."

Elena nodded in understanding.

"After hundreds of years, I realized that Klaus was attempting to create a vampire army. Of course, every vampire under him obeyed, but he wanted a strong army, one that was focused and centralized. He wanted me to lead that army."

"I was a little wary, but ended up agreeing. But by then I had seen crazed look in Klaus's eyes. His obsession was to break the curse. He spent night and day searching for a way to break the curse without using the doppelganger—you. His army tried to help by kidnapping young witches or searching for women and girls that resembled Katerina and you."

There was a sad look in Elijah's eyes now. "And many had to pay the price for it."

By the end of Elijah's story, Elena no longer had an appetite for her ice cream and ended up tossing it in the trash.

"I'm sorry," she put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

Elijah sighed. "So am I."

And they sat like that.

Then a vampire had attacked her; Elijah saved her just in time.

Without further hesitation, the unknown vampire's heart was across the room. Immediately, Elijah grabbed Elena and ran, abandoning everything behind.

Then she had hugged him.

Unexpectedly, Elena threw herself into Elijah's arms.

"Thank you," she murmured gratefully into his ear.

Surprisingly, Elijah pulled her closer. "My pleasure."

He had taken her to one of his houses and offered to make her a sandwich.

He was about to carry her upstairs into the guest bedroom, but Elena placed a place on his chest to stop him. "Wait."

Elijah looked down at her. She needed sleep more than anything else.

But Elena was insistent. "I'm hungry."

He remembered that in the act of saving Elena, he'd left behind all that delicious food.

"How about," Elijah said, trying to reason with the sleepy girl, "I go get you in your room, and then I'll make you something, okay?"

"No," Elena rejected with a pout.

He was amused at her stubbornness. But she obviously needed rest. "Let's go."

Before Elena realized it, she was tucked into a bed. She accepted the soft plush pillows with satisfaction. "Actually," she said, cuddling into the blanket, "I think I can wait 'til tomorrow to eat." She yawned.

Elijah chuckled at her adorableness. "I'll go downstairs to make you something, okay?"

"Okay. Good night."

He hugged her briefly before tucking her underneath the wooly blankets again. "Goodnight Elena."

Did she love him? It had only been a short matter of time, but Elena felt like it had been months.

Do I love him? She asked herself.

Moments later, Elena had a final answer. She looked up in Elijah eyes.

"Yes. I do."

Ta DA! Yea again sprry for the late update.

I hoped you all enjoy. Since it's spring break I may or may not get the next chapter up sooner.

Please review your thoughts and opinions!

TOODLES!

~3m!2y

*Thoughts on last night's episode? I'm also a part Delena shipper, so I loved the attraction. :) Elijah back! yayayayaya :D

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