"Yes!" Rebekah cried when the dice landed and Kol groaned in defeat as she leaned across the game board and moved her piece the allotted number of spaces past the two others on the colored path.
"Oh, I think its official, 'Swirly'…" Kaspar announced, turning to Kol with smile, "'Gamma Nutt' is totally kicking your ass!"
"Hey now!" Kol complained, picking up his game piece- a jovial man in a multicolored suit, top hat and cane- and pointing to it, "that's 'The Duke of Swirl' to you!"
Meanwhile Rebekah clapped excitedly as she sat back against the foot of the couch.
"Only five more spots until I beat you and 'Gloppy the Chocolate Monster', here," she sang pointing toward Kaspar, "to the Candy Castle!"
"At which point I'm going to take one of the candy canes from the Peppermint Forest and gouge my eyes out," Kol quipped, tossing his game piece flippantly into the center of the board
"Oh, come off it, Kol…" Rebekah sighed, quickly snatching up his game piece and putting it back onto its proper colored square, "You're always such a sore loser—"
"Says the girl who is going to beat us all to the Candy Castle!" Kol chuckled, earning a playful swat on the arm from his sister.
Kol furrowed his brow at her, the smirked, turning and tugging on the braid that rested over her left shoulder in response.
"Kol!" Rebekah screeched, smacking him hard on the chest, to which he responded in kind by pinching her forearm, immediately igniting a slapping fight between them.
"Children…children!" Kaspar laughed, quickly reaching over the table and attempting to grab their flying hands as they kept swatting each other.
Suddenly, the parlor doors slid open and Klaus appeared in the threshold, followed by Misha
"What's going on here?" Klaus mused as he observed the scene unfolding before them
"Oh, just a good natured fight between 'The Duke of Swirl' and 'Gamma Nutt' over the future of the Candy Kingdom," Kaspar explained in a breathless voice as he continued to try and separate the two youngest Mikaelson siblings
"Perhaps, I spoke too soon about the whole 'cabin fever' thing…" Misha murmured, turning to Klaus
"Fine! That's it!" Kaspar finally shouted as he sat back and clasped his hands, as if in prayer, before quickly pulling them apart, sending a force across the table that immediately separated Kol and Rebekah, causing them to fall back hard onto the floor on opposite ends of the coffee table.
"Agh!" Rebekah moaned, bringing her hand to her mouth, and lisping, "Think I bit my tongue."
"Oh! Don't be such a girl, Rebekah… " Kol groaned, sitting up as he rubbed the back of his head
"You're the girl, you hair puller!" Rebekah shot back
Kaspar just rolled his eyes, then moved his gaze to Misha and Klaus as the siblings continued to argue in the background.
"So why the sudden trip back to Candy Land?" he asked, looking directly at Misha, "I thought you were done with us after the incident in the Gumdrop Mountains—"
"Well, we got a call," Misha said quickly, giving Kaspar a knowing look before speaking in code, "It seems the miracle worker finally found the Nag Hammadi gospels we've been waiting on."
"Really?" Kaspar replied, his eyes widening as he brought himself to his feet and kept playing along with the code talk, "That's great! What's the word?"
"Well, the 'word' is still in…translation…" Misha continued, his eyes shifting quickly to the bay window in the room, knowing that without the coin interference Dominic would be outside hearing every word they were saying, before moving it back to his brother, "but, you might have been on the right track, from the beginning, about the gospels of John—"
"Yes," Klaus interjected, cocking his head, "As it turns out, his gospels are much more interesting than we had originally thought."
"I see…" Kaspar replied, intrigued
Even Kol and Rebekah had stopped fighting and were now staring with both interest and mild confusion
"Like I said, the word is in translation, but in the meantime, the miracle worker revealed something that greatly interested me…" Misha added, narrowing his eyes, "particularly concerning John's sources and how he preached the word...and it is a suspicion that will mostly likely not be found in the gospel…"
"So, what are you proposing?" Kaspar asked
"I want to try going directly to the source," Misha replied bluntly, "I saw John in death once, and I'm hoping I can do so again…"
"Ahh…" Kaspar mused, suddenly catching on, "Are you saying you want to go back to Biblical times?"
"Loaves, fishes, and all…" Misha nodded, "but, I'll need your help."
"You got it," Kaspar affirmed
"And I'll need a volunteer..." Misha smirked as he rubbed his hands together and scanned the faces of the vampires in the room.
"For what?" Rebekah asked curiously
"To snap my neck."
# # # # # #
They sat in what felt like eternal silence before Elena broke the tension between them and sat up, studying the original with soft eyes.
"Elijah?" Elena prompted in a low voice, "Say something….please…"
But Elijah could only take in a breath, completely stunned.
The girl just declared that she can't control her feelings for you…he told himself …Speak, you fool!
Elijah opened his mouth to do just that, but suddenly, found himself speechless.
"Elijah?" she implored again and he immediately closed his eyes, to steady himself and come up with a rational thought…
But, again...nothing.
Was it really all emotion when it came to Elena? Could he really not control his feelings when he was with her?
Well, he had proven that more times than he could count…
Elijah sighed and opened his eyes again, only to be taken aback by the sight of Elena, now leaning forward on her hands and sliding closer until she was inches from his face.
She gave a nervous smirk, her eyes locking with Elijah's for a few seconds before she slowly leaned in and captured his lips with hers.
Elijah inhaled deeply as their connection instantly fired, setting his heart and his head at odds once more.
So much so, that he suddenly felt himself overwhelmed and pulled away before he could really return the kiss, retreating at vampire speed to stand at the end of the bed, leaving Elena staring at him breathless.
"What—what was that?" he asked, suddenly finding himself able to construct a sentence out loud
"Well, you weren't saying anything…" Elena replied, brushing her hair nervously behind her ears, "So, I figured one of us should do something."
"That definitely was…something," Elijah replied with a raised eyebrow
"It always was…" Elena whispered, remembering the times they had kissed before
"Yes…" he said softly, his eyes instantly meeting hers, "but—"
"You're terrified," Elena answered, quickly looking down to her hands, "I remember…you told me…"
"Aren't you?" Elijah asked, assessing her
"Of course, I'm terrified, Elijah" Elena said, looking up again, "This—you and me—it could change everything…It has changed everything. If I…"
She suddenly took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment, shaking her head in disbelief as she trailed off, unable to finish her thought coherently.
"It's alright, Elena—"
"No!" Elena suddenly cried, her voice rising in a mixture of anger and passion, shocking the original, "It's not alright!"
"Elena…" Elijah immediately consoled, stepping around the end of the bed
"It's not alright, Elijah!" Elena shouted again, throwing her hands up in the air, "It's not alright! It's not alright! IT'S NOT ALRIGHT!"
Then as suddenly as she had exploded, Elena came down, breathing heavily as she pulled the blanket closer to her chest.
"Okay…" he said, confused as he moved to the side of the bed, unsure of where she was going with her outburst, but waning to be supportive, "We've firmly established that 'it's not alright'…"
"Well…Good," Elena said breathlessly, swallowing hard as she brought her hand to her forehead, trying to calm herself
"So…help me out here," the original prompted, "What's 'not alright'?"
"That we dance…" Elena instantly replied, coming to her senses
Elijah narrowed his eyes in confusion.
He and Elena had danced before, yes, on many occasions and always with pleasant and, sometimes, interesting results.
"I don't—" he started, but Elena quickly continued as if she hadn't heard him
"Dancing has practically been our entire relationship. We dance around everything. We dance around Damon and Stefan. We dance around our connection and what it really means. We dance around the fact that it's been there practically since the day we've met and that we've kissed three times now and that you never seem to want to talk about it afterwards. We dance around the fact that you've admitted that you can't control your feelings for me, but, when I admit that I can't control mine either, you don't have anything to say and, not only that, you act like you don't believe I could love you! And I'm tired of it! I'm so tired of dancing—"
"Elena…" Elijah started, but Elena held up a hand to silence him
"Do you love me?" Elena suddenly asked point blank
"What?" Elijah asked, taken aback by her bluntness
"Do…you…love me?" Elena stated slower, "You said it before, ironically when we were dancing, but that's beside the point… did you mean it?"
"Of course I did, but—" Elijah pleaded, still trying to stay rational about the situation, but failing miserably, his head and his heart immediately starting their fight for top billing again.
"Good. Because, I think I'm in love with you, too." Elena blurted out
Silence instantly fell between them and Elijah stiffened, an expression of awe crossing his face before he automatically replied, his heart winning.
"You think or you know?" The original asked, stepping closer
Damn it, if this was really happening…he had to know for sure.
She was right. He did find it hard to believe that she could have such uncontrollable feelings for him—let alone love him.
"I—I know…" Elena whispered, a small smile crossing her face, "I've known it for a while, actually—pretty much since the night we kissed in your apartment…"
They stared at each other for another moment before Elena continued, closing her eyes as she reasoned, "And yes, I have been preoccupied before… dodging death for three years straight, adjusting to life as a vampire, and thwarting the impending doom that seems to follow you and your siblings everywhere you go…"
Elijah smirked at this and Elena raised an eyebrow
"Well, it's true," she added, then continued, "And of course, I've also been sorting out my feelings for Damon and Stefan—they are important to me and I care so much about them. Stefan is sweet and kind. He saved my life and loving him…well, loving him made losing my parents bearable. In short, he made me feel glad to be alive when I really needed it the most. And Damon…" Elena took in a breath as she opened her eyes, "Damon is the bad boy—the one that can look right at you and set every nerve in your body on fire—the one who makes you feel alive. The one who's love completely consumes you until only ashes are left. And they want me to choose between the two of them—the one that makes me glad to be alive and the one who makes me feel alive. And, you know, I never thought there was another choice…until the night I turned."
"What do you mean?" Elijah asked cocking his head as he took a seat on the end of the bed
"I mean, that you are the reason I turned, Elijah," she said, leaning forward and reaching across the middle of the bed, taking his hand in hers again as she slid toward him, "That night you were weak and vulnerable and Esther came to kill you…I kept having flashbacks of all the moments we shared together and all I could think about was the fact that I couldn't lose you. And it was then that I realized that I had another choice—another destiny. One that was right in front of me the entire time and that I had been denying for so long. You see, I could choose between Stefan and Damon—between the one who makes me glad to be alive and the one who makes me feel alive—or I could take Liliya's advice and choose door number three…"
Elijah held his breath as Elena suddenly moved closer, releasing her hand from his as she slowly brought it up to the side of his face and leaned in, resting her nose against his cheek as she slid her index finger down his jaw and over the top of his lip.
"The one who makes me want to live forever…" She whispered, "And that's you."