A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers! You guys are awesome!

Okay, so just because Andy goes off with this person does not mean she chose him! The chapter where she chooses is the PROM episode, which I believe will be chapter 59. Let's get to the chapter, shall we?

Poison & Wine - Chapter LVII

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"Where are we?" I asked as I cracked my eyes open. I saw all road and a few other cars. Elijah and I were still on the road to wherever he was taking me. We had been on the road for about eight hours now and the sun was beginning to rise.

"We've got another hour," Elijah said, glancing at me.

I groaned and stretched my out like a cat; my joints popped and my hand hit the window while the other one skimmed across Elijah's shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive while you get some rest? We've been driving quite a while,"

"No, I am fine. Besides, you're not all that good with directions," He teased with a smile.

I scoffed. "I'll have you know that I've only ever gone out of Mystic Falls once and have never had to navigate with a map of the entire East Coast." What had happened when we first left was I tried reading a map but gave enitrely wrong directions to him so Elijah decided that I was no longer allowed to take care of that and instead had the job of music person.

He chuckled at my expression. "You had us lost within the first ten minutes,"

"Well, we can't all be cartographers," I shot back in a light tone which he laughed off. I felt slightly guilty because Klaus had obvious wanted to go off with me, but I asked if Elijah could take me. I didn't need to be around Klaus right now, I just needed Elijah.

I looked over at him to see his mind seemed to be somewhere else. I stared at him for a long moment, realizing how attractive he actually was. I mean, he always is, but until this moment his beauty struck me and made my heart skip a beat. Elijah was absolutely beautiful, but all the Mikaelsons were. I swear, it was as if they were genetically engineered.

He seemed to finally notice I was staring at him and he smiled over at me. "What is it, Andrea?" I couldn't help but blush and look away, kicking myself mentally for not saying something witty back. Frankly I had nothing. Before I could even try, he brought up another topic, "What do you think of that wolf, Hayley?"

My head snapped over to him. "What?"

"You know of whom I speak of. How do you feel towards her?"

I stared at him with a blank expression. "Um," I tried gathering myself by looking at my hands. "I don't know, she's okay, I guess... Why?"

"Klaus suggested that we find you another friend since... " He trailed off before clearing his throat. "Anyways, it makes no difference to me as long as you remember who your truest friend is."

I looked over at him to see he was smiling over at me. "I'll consider that, bestie,"

"You are the only person that I will allow to call me that, do you realize that?" He glanced over at me.

I giggled. "We should get matching necklaces,"

"Or bracelets," He suggested and I started to laugh but stopped myself and forced myself to quiet down.

What was I doing? Kol and Jeremy were both dead... I shouldn't be joking around with him.

"Andrea," Elijah said, his tone suddenly quite serious. "You know just because their lives ended, yours doesn't."

I looked over at him, my eyes filling with tears. "It's not fair to them, though. I shouldn't be laughing when they just died."

"But it's not fair to you if you stop your entire life. You deserve to be happy more than anyone else in this world," He said it with such a passion that I felt a pang of longing in my heart. I wanted to touch him, but Klaus' face popped in my mind and I had to look away.

"Wake me when we get there," I whispered before lying my head on the window and closing my eyes, though I suspected I was to get no sleep.

As I requested, Elijah woke me up when we arrived. As we got out of the car, I was completely clueless where we were. "Where are we?" I asked, looking over at a smiling him.

"We are on the coast in a little place in Maryland,"

I turned to face him completely. "Why are we here?"

"Because Niklaus wanted to be the first person that you saw that with, but he wasn't able to come," He pointed behind me and I turned to have my breath taken away.

There was a beach.

Briefly grinning back at him, I started to run to it. When I got to the sand I pulled my sneakers and socks off and sunk down in it. I closed my eyes as my fingers ran across the sand and the cool breeze blew my hair back. It wasn't long before I felt Elijah take a seat beside me.

"Relaxing, isn't it?"

"Mmm," I let my left hand find Elijah's and intertwined my fingers with him. I opened my eyes and looked at him with a small smile. "Thank you for this, I needed it."

"It was all Niklaus, he was the one who suggested you go,"

"He wanted to come with me, didn't he?"

"Of course he did, Andrea. He loves you,"

I swallowed and looked over at him. "I don't want to think about him, Elijah, let it be just us," I said as I leaned in and buried my face into his neck.

"You do realize I would do anything for you?" He squeezed my hand softly. "I love you, Andrea Gilbert, and I will to my very last breath."

In that moment he took my breath away, and even though I tried to hide it, I think he felt it because he pulled me close. "Can I kiss you? One last time?"

I pulled back from his embrace and stared up at him with a soft expression. Slowly I nodded before our lips connected, and we instantly pulled the other closer.

Everything about kissing Elijah was so amazing. It was everything I'd imagined and more... but something was missing, though I didn't let myself dwell on that as I explored his mouth.

Soon, we had to break for oxygen, and I found myself wanting more, but I knew that that could be just because I was trying to feel the hole in me. "Elijah, we can't... " I found myself saying before I could stop myself.

Elijah immediately pulled away from me and turned his head away.

I exhaled and looked away with pink cheeks. I don't know why I stopped it, but it didn't feel right with everything going on. I was getting pretty heated with him... Absolute embarrassment washes over me and I just wanted to crawl into a hole.

"I-I'm sorry," I finally forced myself to apologize.

"It's fine, Andrea," He murmured, keeping his face forwards. There was a long, stiff silence before he spoke again. "It just doesn't feel right when I know you will never want me in the way I do you."

I moved myself in front of him and grabbed his face in my hands. "I'll always want you, Eli,"

He stared at me with sad eyes. "You don't understand what I'm saying, Andrea,"

I slumped back and stared back at him. "I'm sorry I can't understand it, maybe you should try explaining it to me... Or am I just too fragile to get it?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that,"

"No, I think you did. Everyone treats me like I'm going to break any second! I'm just fine, you asshole! I don't need you telling me that I don't understand because I get it just fine!" I snapped before I stood and stomped off, completely pissed off now for no reason. I went towards the water and kicked the water as it hit my ankles.

I had gotten angry for no reason, I knew I did, but I couldn't walk back over to him and say that. My emotions of late have ranged from angry to happy to sad, never in the middle of any of those.

As I stared out at the waves, I felt arms wrap around me and I was turned to face Elijah. He pulled me tight into his embrace. "I'm sorry," I mumbled into his chest, suddenly feeling extremely sad.

"You're mourning still, Andrea. You don't need to apologize,"

"No, I'm acting like a crazy person." I said as I pulled back, but we kept our arms wrapped around the other.

He brushed back some of my hair. "You need to focus on yourself right now, not worrying over my feelings or Niklaus'. We shouldn't have even spoken of it,"

I looked down at his chest, still feeling that embarrassment from what I had asked, and felt tears form in my eyes. "I've died so many times now, Elijah, that I just want to die for real this time... Is that too much to ask for?" I started sobbing then and felt my knees give out. Thankfully he was there to catch me.

He started carrying me away from the ocean, but I forced him to sit down in the sand again. He held me as I sat and cried.

"Jeremy's dead," I sobbed out over and over. I could only see the image of Jeremy's cold, pale body laying on his bed. It was absolutely the worst thing that I've ever seen, and that's saying a lot.

I guess I was breaking down here with Elijah because I never actually forced myself to feel the pain... But now that I was, especially with my still raw feelings Kol's death added to it, I felt myself break completely. I had come to the horrible realization that I had nothing to live for now.

I couldn't tell you how long Elijah let me cry, but it had to be a long while because the sunset had captured my attention, and I stared out to the orange sky.

"I never got to say good-bye to any of them," I whispered as I laid my head back on Elijah's shoulder. "Excluding Alaric and John, though I didn't know he was going to die until... "

Elijah stroked my hair. "I've never had a chance to say good-bye to a loved one either before their time came."

I stared at the setting sun for a few moments before looking away and seeing the dot in my vision for a few more. "Did Klaus kill the people you love?"

There was a pause before he answered. "Some, not all,"

My bottom lip trembled. "Klaus killed Jenna, Elena, Carol and caused John's death... Yet why is he the one thing that I can't let go?"

"Why do you think, Andrea?" Elijah murmured.

I started sobbing again, the pain from every single person hitting me again like it was fresh. I went from sad to angry at Klaus to sad again. Why did everything have to fall apart in my life? Couldn't I just be happy for once? I mean, I was seriously hating Stefan and Damon for ever coming to town. If they had never come, then everything would be so easier... But that would also mean Elena would be dead, and I wouldn't have ever gone through hopelessly liking Damon... And none of the Originals would ever have had a reason to come to Mystic Falls. I would've lived a peaceful life, assuming Klaus or Elijah hadn't caught wind of a doppelgänger. Rose and Trevor could've always found me. Elijah and I could've had a relationship with dates and whatnot. We could've been happy.

But, again, that would also be assuming that Klaus didn't come into my life. I wouldn't ever have had to endure the suffering he put me through, but then I wouldn't have any of my great memories with him. I wouldn't have gone to Portland or I wouldn't have gone to the Mikaelson ball in that beautiful red gown and danced with Klaus. I realized, despite all the bad, I really didn't regret ever meeting Klaus or keeping him in my life. All those good moments, even if there aren't that many, outweighed the bad. Klaus just needed someone to understand him and I did.

During my thoughts, my crying had died down and the sun had set. The sky was getting darker and darker by the moment. "Are we staying here for the night?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, a hotel room is prepped,"

"Then let's go there, I'm tired," I stood with shaky legs from the sand and headed towards their car. My heart felt heavier than it had before I broke down.

When we got to the hotel, I immediately said I was going to wash off. He let me go without a word.

Going into the bathroom, I saw there was a bathtub so I decided I needed to relax in that. I drew up the water before stripping. I made sure to lock the door, though I really didn't care at this point if Elijah saw me naked.

Once it was filled up, I slowly slipped myself into the hot water. I sat in there for a few minutes, just staring at the wall, before I slipped myself under the water to wet my hair.

As soon as my head was completely submerged in the water, my mind decided to remind me that I had nothing to live for. I mean, I either hated everyone or they hated me. One of my thoughts suggested just ending it all, but I knew I could never do it. Even after all I'd gone through, all the people I lost, ending it all in a suicide just seemed like a waste. I'd lost enough loved ones to know the true value of human life.

I realized that I must've be underwater longer than I had originally thought as I pulled myself up because I immediately gasped for air and coughed. Another thing was that Elijah had busted down the door.

"What are you doing, Andrea?!" He demanded, pulling me out of the water by my arm and standing me up straight. "Are you okay? Can you breathe?"

I coughed a few times and had to clear my throat before I could speak. "Yeah, I-I think I'm okay," I felt my shoulders fall in exhaustion. "I swear I didn't know I was under for that long. It felt like a few seconds. How did you know I was... you know?"

"I didn't hear your breathing, and your heart was beating like a train's engine," Elijah exhaled and pushed the damp hair out of my face. "Andrea, nothing's ever worth taking your life over."

"I-I didn't want to, I didn't even realize that's what was happening... " I shuddered and suddenly I realized that I was naked. Right in front of Elijah.

I took back what I said, I did mind Elijah seeing me naked. I had, after all, never been with a man.

Elijah looked down and noticed that I was and grabbed a towel. With a straight face he wrapped it around my body and secured it tightly. "Better?" He asked in a murmur.

I nodded slowly, noticing a very light tremor in his hands. "Yes, much better. Thank you,"

Elijah cleared his throat. "I think it's fair to say you are no longer allowed a bath?"

"That's fair," I said, swallowing as I wearily eyed the bathtub. Elijah reached and pulled the plug on the tub and we watched as all of the water drained out.

Once all the water had gone, I looked back at the door that was completely off the hinges. I grabbed Elijah's arm and pointed to it. Sighing, he looked back to me. "When we check out I'll have to pay the costs,"

I nodded slowly and sat down on the floor without another thought. Elijah soon followed me and I leaned against him.

Elijah wrapped an arm my shoulders. "There's something you should know, Andrea. Niklaus didn't want me to worry you, but you deserve to know."

"Oh, no. What is it this time?"

Elijah explained how Silas had been using Bonnie to do his biding. He said that her mom enlisted the help of a group of witches to deal with Bonnie... Turns out they were going to kill her, so Caroline killed all the witches so that wouldn't happen.

I exhaled and closed my eyes after he was finished explaining. I tried to keep my breathing under control, but it was hard. "Silas' ritual... It's complete then."

"Unfortunately," I felt him run his hand along my cheek. "Niklaus says not to worry, though. He'll take care of it."

I opened my eyes and turned to looked at him; I tried desperately not to stare at his chest that was covered in a thin shirt which made it a little distracting, especially at this close proximity when I could feel the heat radiating off... No, stop, Andy. Don't think of him like that, or you'll end up doing something bad.

I turned my body so I could face him completely. "I don't think you realize how much you mean to me, Eli,"

He looked back at me and traced my jawline with his fingers. "But... "

"But nothing," I snuggled into his embrace again. "For this trip, I'm yours. After it's over, then we can decide whether or not it will work out... I mean, I think we should act as if we just met and we should get to know each other more. We'll ask each other random questions and get to know the details because if I don't have you then I don't have anything. Just give me something to hold onto for now or I'll go crazy, okay?"

Elijah stared at me for a long moment. He was obviously trying to decide exactly what I meant, but I could see he was confused. He nodded anyway. "Anything for you, Andrea."

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The End of Chapter LVII