McKenna sat in the Salvatores living room with a drop cloth on the floor, an easel set up with a canvas, a palate sitting on her lap, and the fire place roaring.

She just stared at the blank canvas.

This was a first. Usually things come to her in the middle of the day and she sketches them like crazy. Today wasn't that day. She just stared at the canvas like something was going to pop out at her if she did.

As she shifted her attention from the buckskin in front of her to the fire to her right, her thoughts wandered. They wandered to a six foot two, light haired man who had come to take over her thoughts. He was painstakingly handsome that was obvious. He took pride in his looks. He was always so well behaved and made sure he didn't say the wrong thing.

The fire swarmed as the sudden thought of his smell hit her. It was a mix of his body wash, which smelled like Zest, and cologne, which turned out to be Giorgio Armani's newest scent. It smelled excellent on him and made her want to get another whiff of him.

Her hand started to move on its own. The strokes were small at first as she just did the outline. Then the strokes deepened as she made the lines more definite. She squinted as she continued working by firelight.

"Looks good,"

McKenna jumped as the silence was filled. She swiped her paintbrush across her face in surprise as she turned around. "Damon."

The older Salvatore smiled as he poured himself a drink then moved towards her. He was eyeing the painting carefully. "Seems like someone has a slight crush."

"He asked me out for coffee yesterday."

"Did you go?"

She turned back to the canvas. "I couldn't be rude and say no." Her hand started moving once again. "I met his brothers."

Damon flopped down on the couch behind her and watched as she continued painting. "Did they do anything to you?"

"Why would you say something like that?"

"Klaus and Kol have a tendency to play with women."

"Klaus seemed to be fixed with Caroline Forbes."

"You met Caroline?"

"Yes, and I also know Matt Donovan and Elena. I'm not completely hopeless."

"Just stay away from the Mikaelsen brothers."

"One of the agreements we had when I moved in was that you were not to tell me what to do as long as I didn't mess with your way of life. You can't tell me who to see."

"I'm just trying to look out for you. Think of me as a big brother."

"Well, then, big brother, leave me out of your feud."

She began picking up her mess and headed upstairs with the wet painting, passing Stefan as he came down. When he looked at her with his head to one side she shook her head. She didn't want to hear what he had to say.

"What'd you say to Kenna?" Stefan asked as soon as he saw who she had been shaking her head about.

Damon took a drink and then looked at his brother. "She's got a thing for Elijah Mikaelsen. I was just warning her to be careful around him."

"You do know she's a woman. If your experience with women has told you anything, she won't listen to you. Plus she doesn't know the Mikaelsen family like we do."

"All the more reason for her to stay away from them."

"She's not going to listen to you, especially not if Elijah makes her feel wanted and welcomed. That's all she's looking for at this point."

The older Salvatore conceded the point. "Elijah is different than his brothers and sister. He respects life."

"Let her get close to him. He won't harm her and he won't allow his family to do so either. Maybe it might break her out of her shell a little bit."

McKenna stood at the top of stairs as she listened to them. She had no clue what they were talking about but it hurt that it was mean. If this was how they were going act, she was better off not talking to them.

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Elijah stared at the fire in the family's living room. He hadn't got the afternoon he spent with McKenna Parker in the least bit. The look on her face when she talked about her family hurt him to the core. She was alone. He knew what it felt like to be alone. When he thought Klaus had killed his family that had been one of the worst moments in his life. He had felt truly alone then.

But to be truly alone was not something a young woman should be going through. She needed someone at her back because of what she was going to go through the rest of her life. If she wanted to go to school, she was going to need good grades and scholarships. Banks wouldn't give her loans because of her age and she didn't seem the type to ask help from family, if she had any.

If her loneliness was anything to go on, Elijah made a personal resolution to stick by her. He would help her as much as he possibly could. She wouldn't be happy about it but he just felt that strongly towards her. His coming back to Mystic Falls had simply been to see his family and how they were making out since their mother and brother had fled. He hadn't hoped to find that someone who was meant for him.

"Always the brooding brother." Elijah didn't move as Klaus came into the room. "What are you thinking about now, brother?"

"How did you know you liked Caroline?" he asked.

Klaus smiled as he took a seat at the table in front of the fire place. "Do you have someone you like?"

"I think so but I haven't done this in five hundred years so I'm a little rusty. You, on the other hand, have been at it far longer."

"Caroline just caught my attention one day and that was it. I worked hard to get her to notice me as something other than the man who wanted to kill her best friend and the one who made her brother into a hybrid. It was very difficult." Klaus looked at his brother's back intently. "Does this girl know what you are?"

"I don't think so and I may want to keep it that way."

The younger brother made a tsking sound. "That isn't good, brother. Keeping lies from the very beginning? That's no way to start a relationship."

Elijah turned on him then. "And what do you propose I tell her? That I am a vampire and at any time my mother could kill me? I won't do that to her. She's lost enough as it is."

Klaus smiled. "Then the one you're interested in is the new girl? The one we met at the art store?" Elijah simply looked back into the fire. "She's cute with all that auburn hair and those big green eyes. Maybe I could have a little fun with her." His head hit the table hard as he looked up at his brother.

"Do not lay one hand on her, Klaus."

"Are you two fighting over some tramp again?" Rebekah asked. "Didn't the two of you learn your lesson with the Petrova doppelganger?"

"Our Elijah is finding out what it means to love someone who doesn't know what we are," Klaus said as he shook off where Elijah's hands had been holding him down. They had a common agreement to never fight in front of their sister.

"Oh, please tell me it's not that snot from my history class? She thinks she knows everything about WWII but she didn't live it like we did."

"She just read up on it, Rebekah. Nothing more," Elijah stated as he moved from the fireplace to grab his jacket.

"Where are you going?" Klaus asked.

"McKenna gets off at eleven. I'm going to escort her home."

"The perfect gentleman. Don't stay out too late. Tomorrow is a school day."

Elijah heard his siblings laughing as he left the house.

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McKenna dumped the empty beer bottles in the glass recycling bin in the back of the bar and came back to the front. Matt laughed at her as she rolled her eyes. He was waiting a table that held Damon, Stefan, Elena and Bonnie, Elena's best friend.

After hearing Damon and Stefan talking the night before, she had decided to ignore them so she took an extra shift at the bar, much to Matt's honest surprise. He never thought she'd want to work so much. When she lied and said it was for college, he bought it. He gave her the three to eleven shift. It meant she would get home around midnight, which was normal.

Damon tried to catch her eye but she kept her gaze justly adverted from his. She shied away from his hand when she passed on her way to her other table. She heard him grunt in unhappiness at being ignored. Serves him right. He was being a jerk.

Once she got the order from the man and woman sitting in her section, she went back to the bar and got the drinks and delivered the order. When she turned around, Damon was standing right there. She tried to go around him but he blocked her exit.

"Move, Damon. I'm trying to work," she said. She tried to move around him again but he blocked her path. "Damon, move."

"Matt says you've taken a longer shift. Something about saving money for college," he said.

"What about it?"

"We both know it's a lie. Your grades are good enough for you to get into any college you wanted to. So why are you working longer?"

She shook her head. "Damon, I don't have time to put up with this. Move so I can get back to work." She took a step to her left and he countered. "Move, damn it." He did but when she walked by, he grabbed her arm to stop her. "What do you want, Damon?"

"The real reason you took on a longer shift. Now I'm not going to let go until you tell me."

McKenna struggled to get out of his grasp but he held on. Finally she dumped one of the drinks she had on her tray in his face. He wiped it off with his free hand and tugged her closer. "Damon, let go. You're hurting me."

"The lady asked you to let go. I suggest you do that."

Both turned to see Elijah standing there. He was dressed like he normally would be. His suit was tailored to perfection and it looked good on him. Damon dropped his hand and walked by Elijah. Something passed between them as their eyes connected for a few moments. Elijah turned back to McKenna when Damon took a seat. He could feel the older Salvatore's eyes boring into his back as he shadowed the young woman to the bar.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

She shook her head as she refilled the cup with Coke. "No, I'm fine, but there will be a significant bruise on my arm come morning. He had a strong grip." Setting the cup on the tray, she turned to face him. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to see if I can escort you home after your shift?"

"You do realize that I live with the Salvatores, right?"

"If that poses a problem, I can ride with you and walk home."

"You walk home? That would ruin your suit. I can't let you do that."

"Then at least let me buy you dinner."

McKenna looked down at the floor to hide a smile. She shook her head then looked up. "What do you want, Elijah?"

He shifted his stance so everyone could see he wasn't blocking her. "I just want to get to know you better."

"When my brother says that, he actually means it," Kol said as he appeared from nowhere. He leaned against his brother and smiled. "Evening, McKenna."

"Hey, Kol. Please tell your brother that I have to work and I might consider dinner."

When she walked by, Kol followed her. "She is something."

"What do you want, Kol?" Elijah asked as he took a seat at the bar.

Kol followed. "I heard some news from the council. There seems to be a new vampire hunter on the loose. A hunter who hunts Originals. With Mother's spell on us, if one of us goes, we all do."

"I'm well aware of that."

"Then you're also aware that if you get involved with that girl, she's going to get hurt. Either that or you're going to have to tell her what we are and hope for the best."

"She's had a privileged life not knowing we exist. I don't want to taint that."

"If you get in involved with her and she gets hurt, she'll be tainted anyway. The worst she could do is turn you away."

"That would hurt me worse than Mother's betrayal."

Kol looked at his brother and at the pain that suddenly flashed on his face. He had really fallen for this girl in a short amount of time. If she did turn him away, it would hurt Elijah more than losing Tatia and Katherine.

"I'm just say be careful when it comes to her. You might have to be honest so she isn't blindsided when it comes to surface anyway."

"What about the Salvatores? She is living with them."

"She'll handle it."

Elijah looked at his brother. "Why are you so concerned about this? You've never cared about anything like this before."

Kol smiled. "You're my brother and for too long you have looked after us. It's time you be happy yourself. If I can help in anyway, I will." The older nodded. Kol clapped him on the back. "I'm going to head back to the house. I'll see you later, brother." As he walked back to the door, he went over to McKenna. "Kenna." She turned at the sound of his voice. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Give my brother a chance. He's very smitten with you."

"You don't have to speak on his behalf, Kol," she said with a small smile in her voice.

"Oh, but I do. He's taken care of us since I can remember. It's time for him to find someone."

"And you think that person is me?"

"I know it is." He took the pen and pad from her hand and scribbled something down before handing it back to her "This is my number. If you'd ever like to talk about Elijah, or make a new friend, give me a call. Good evening." He cast a devilish look in the way of the Salvatores and their group before walking out the building.

McKenna looked in their direction and made sure they saw her putting the number in her phone. She walked back to the bar and spent the rest of the evening attempting to ignore the fact that Elijah was sitting there every time she came back.

When eleven rolled around, Matt touched her shoulder. "You can go home. I'll clean up."

McKenna frowned. "Are you sure? I can stay and help if you need me to."

Matt smiled and shook his head. "There's not much to do. Go on. I'll clean up." She stalled for a few moments as she looked at him. He laughed and gave her a push towards the door. "I'm fine. Go on. I think I remember there being someone waiting on you."

McKenna shook her head as she went towards the back room for her bag and car keys. She walked over to where Elijah was sitting and pulled her hair out of her jacket before slinging her bag of one shoulder. "I'm off. Are you ready?"

Elijah looked up at her before he rose from his seat. He placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her from the bar. After a small argument, McKenna finally got in the driver's side of her Trail Blazer as Elijah got in the passenger side.