It's not the first time, but it's the first time he's voiced it to anyone else. He's talking to Kol. It seems like the longer Elena stays comatose, the less emotional Elijah becomes. He's always a little softer after returning, but he's not like he was just a decade ago.

"I think he's truly in love with her." Klaus says, and Kol snorts.

"I figured that out before the end of the first decade." He informs Klaus.

Klaus just looks annoyed. But it's true, none of them have ever seen Elijah fall this hard. He still does the things he needs to, he helps Klaus and Kol when needed, he spends time with his family, but to Kol it always seems like he's left a part of himself at the hospital.

They never voice it to Elijah, and certainly not to Rebekah who claims he's just being honorable, because he's weak where doppelgangers are concerned.

Elijah is ruthless now when it comes to fighting, Klaus has never seen him rip out hearts so quickly. He grows concerned, but Elijah assured them he was fine. Their enemies would never get past him.

And it's true, until someone gives the order for a few vampires to follow where Elijah goes every weekend. There's all sorts of speculation, and whatever he's going to see might be a weakness. A chink in the Original Family's armor. So they follow him, he drives this time. He has an apartment in the building nearest to the hospital that he has a lease on now, he's barely there, but it's worth the money. He sets his suitcase down and pauses. He hears whispering about how someone's phone is dead, and oh great-how are they going to tell the boss what the Mikaelson is up to now? He pauses. He takes great lengths to make his movements exaggerated, the vampires that he now knows for sure are following him are out of sight. He had his suspicions, they hadn't been very discreet during his journey back to Elena. He walks to the hospital, and he knows they're behinds him. They're not discreet. He takes their hearts out in seconds, and leaves them for the sun to burn. He has more important matters to attend to. He counts the voices he had heard, and the number of bodies. No survivors. Not that it bothers him-he did what he needed to. The idea of anyone kidnapping Elena makes his blood feel like magma. He enters the hospital with literal blood on his hands, and no one minds. Or at least, no one mentions it. He realizes distantly on his way to Elena's room that he needs to wash the blood off. He's fairly sure that in any state, she does not want stranger's blood on her hands. He washes his hands, wondering how many times he's ripped out hearts. He wishes he could rip out the heart of the person who did this to Elena. Actually, no, he decides. That would be too quick, too kind. He's with Elena as soon as possible. He's holding her hand again, and he wishes he could venture into her head-but it's an invasion of privacy and he's not sure if he could make things worse.

If he enters her head and she's not sleeping it could have serious consequences. The mind while awake is more active, one little thing could set it off. He rubs his thumb against her knuckles, out of habit.

He closes his eyes, ignoring his phone, assuming it's Klaus until he realizes it's Caroline's ringtone. She had taken his phone and put her number in, telling him to call her if he ever needed anything. She knew what it was like to miss Elena. She kept busy, however and he never wanted to interrupt her.

"Hello?" He asks, knowing it'd be Caroline.

"I've been meaning to do this, I sent you pictures of Elena. I was looking at them today, I almost forgot what her eyes like." Caroline confesses. He takes a moment to let it sink in.

"Thank you, Caroline." He says, and she seems to know the depth of the action.

"I miss her too." She whispers into the phone.

"I miss her. She's my best friend, and Bonnie's coven isn't very vampire friendly. I have to keep myself busy or it all gets too much, you know?" She asks and he does. He wonders if Bonnie's coven does life lengthening spells. He can see himself waiting for Elena for centuries, but he doesn't want to. It's a selfish want, Elena has forever like he does. Bonnie doesn't. They can wait, but he has so many things he want to discuss with Elena. Not just one sided monologues.

"I do." He says and she wants to cry, and she asks him to put her on speakerphone so she can talk to Elena. He does, and she doesn't mind Elijah's presence apparently, because she delves into the beginning of their friendship and talks to Elena about first impressions and when they were children. She tells her that even though everyone said they missed the older version of Elena, the "fun" Elena-she just missed Elena, period. She misses Elena like crazy. She tells Elena that her mom isn't doing well. She asks Elijah to please leave them alone for a few minutes, and he agrees to it, going to get coffee or something else from the hospital out of boredom. He takes as long as possible, vaguely listening to Caroline, enough to know she's talking, and when he hears his name, her tunes in, and hears her ask to talk to him. He's back in the room with whatever he spent time making, coffee-he learns. His mind was somewhere else.

"I got it all off my chest." Caroline tells him when he tells her he's there.

"That's good." He says.

"Tell Klaus what I said still stands." She adds, before she says goodbye.

"I will. Goodbye, Caroline." He says and she hangs up. He wonders what she told Elena, but it's none of his business. It's so odd to see her in the hospital, because she's dressed in clothes from Caroline, someone changes her clothes. She'd look like she'd wake up any minute except for the peaceful expression on her face. He continues talking to her, tells her that he's finished his series of books for this decade. He tells her they're about living in war times, most of it just his experiences and thoughts. They sell well, and he wonders if she'll ever love history again. He almost didn't mention it, Alaric-her almost uncle and history teacher-that had to have reminded her of him. He didn't want her in more pain than she already was. He shifts topics, telling her of Rebekah and Caroline's tentative friendship, he mentions that he didn't listen to what Caroline told her, and thus apologizes if he's repeating things her friend has already said.

She wonders if he's ever considered a career just using his voice. It's one of the most familiar things she knows, now. She had missed his hand in hers. She's barely ever touched him, she vows that when she wakes, she'll hug him. She'll want to hold onto something, why not choose her anchor to the world of the alive?

He tells her things she doesn't understand, in languages she doesn't recognize, and she recognizes it when he shifts languages, but he's quiet as he talks, and she's almost lulled to sleep. No. She fights it, her time with Elijah is only one or two days at best each week.

He is in the middle of his sentence when his phone rings. He apologizes to her, in English.

"I took care of it." He says after a moment.

"They were in the parking lot. Yes, followed me here. Not discreet about it either, I might add." Elijah says, and his voice sounds harder. There's a long pause and then he says,

"The parking lot, Niklaus. Yes, they're still there."

"The sun will burn them away come morning." Elijah says, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"I will deal with it Tuesday. Yes. Goodbye, Niklaus." He says, and hangs up. He tells her that there were vampires following him to his apartment near the hospital. He dealt with them accordingly them in the parking lot and left the bodies to burn come morning. She wonders if he killed for his privacy or for her. It wouldn't be the first time for either, she imagines.

She wishes she could feel herself breathing. She wants to remember what being real feels like. She feels like she'll float away when Elijah lets go of her hand.

Caroline's mom is sick. Really sick. She's dying and Caroline sees her as much as possible. Children are supposed to outlive their children, but it's still hard on both of them. Caroline tells her everything she hadn't said in three decades. She kept telling Elena she loved her, a reassurance, almost every other sentence. Elena has never wished more for the ability to hug.