Disclaimer: Not mine.

AN: Hey guys, I'm really sorry about vanishing. Again. For a year (really, really sorry).

But I really do still plan to finish this thing if it's the last thing I do. And on the bright side I've only got two chapters left and a lot of those involve scenes I've been really excited about getting to since nearly the beginning, so hopefully that will help me actually sit down and DO them.

But until then. Enjoy some Elejah and Bonbekah goodness :)

*o0O0o*
*She's Come Undone and Set Free*
*Epilogue - Part 1 - A Month*
*o0O0o*

*o0O0o*
in hours
*o0O0o*

Elijah Mikaelson was intimately familiar with torture in all its varied forms. Both in inflicting it - as one Salvatore had just learned and another would be taught very thoroughly at a, as of yet, undecided but absolutely inevitable point in the future - and being subject to it.

He had thought, naively it turned out - and wasn't that just the most curious sensation? - that after a thousand years, there was nothing left for him to face that he had not already survived. He had thought himself calcified by the centuries behind him. Had crafted himself a visage of stone carved into perfection.

A cold and distant mountain to the eyes of all but his siblings.

And then he had met Elena Gilbert who would end up piercing through that granite as if it was just smoke and mirrors.

At first, she had amused him, then intrigued him, then betrayed him only to wake him. He had come to respect and admire Elena. Was fascinated and drawn toward her. Both by her compassion and the vicious ruthlessness borne from her love for the people she cared for.

He had not meant to permit it to become more. But being near her had woken something that had been slumbering; something made of flesh and blood instead of marble or steel.

He ran a finger over the crescent line of Elena's brow, somehow, he already missed her.

Elijah knew pain. But releasing from his arms this young woman now? Now, that Elena had so utterly carved a space into the very center of him and laid her claim there? When he might not see her again for many years after this? That was quite starkly its own unique agony.

His only salvation was the lingering taste of her blood on his tongue - the promise she'd uttered in a sharp panting breath against his ear before their blood grew hot again and they'd lost themselves in each other a while more, - the saving grace that would give Elijah the strength needed to unlock the muscles that could keep Elena pressed against his side forever. Or at least a few heartbeats longer.

But not quite yet. He still had some time left, and he used it the way he had not permitted himself to when Rebekah had first brought her to New Orleans; when he'd forced away his gaze from her slumbering form, to wake her, and she'd proceeded to unveil the depths of all that he'd so tried to conceal from Elena's eyes.

He continued tracing the lines of her face with his fingertips, trying to imprint into memory every tiny speck of detail - the small, barely perceptible smile of contentment on her lips; that red strand of hair as it fluttered lightly in synch with Elijah's breath; the way warmth spread into him from every place of contact between her skin and his.

This was a precious glimpse into everything he had not allowed himself to hope for. A moment of sweetness that might not repeat itself for decades or longer.

And that only if he was fortunate enough that whatever spot Elena had granted him in her heart was not lost in the intervening time.

His own heart spasmed at the thought, and he forced himself to breathe through the burn. Elena would love him, or she would not.

He had no power over her heart. And he wouldn't want one anyway, Elijah knew how strongly Elena valued the right to make her own choices.

What Elijah had power over was himself; the only promise he could keep was his own. And Elijah would, this vow was not a deal that could be pulled apart and broken because of a sudden redraw of the battle lines.

The promise of always and forever was not something he granted lightly. And so, just as it was the case between him and his siblings, it would remain as a truth between Elijah and Elena even were she to one day drive a dagger through his heart again.

So when he felt her finally begin to shift in his arms, waking as the beginning rays of first sunlight hit against her fluttering eyelashes, instead of trying to trap Elena against him he made himself pull his hand away from the soft, warm skin of her face.

It was time to say goodbye and trust that it wouldn't be forever.

After all, wasn't that what they did? Trust in each other's word, every time?

The first thing that happened when Elena returned to the Mikaelson mansion - her heart simultaneously bubbling over with something bright and exhilarated, and heavy with the sting of swallowed tears, - was getting hit in the face by a large towel.

"What-" she sputtered, thrown completely off kilter.

"Take a shower," ordered Rebekah's voice, exaggerated but unfeigned disgust coloring the words.

"Sorry?"

"Don't get me wrong, Elena, I'm glad you and Elijah have finally worked yourselves out because watching the two of you dance around each other has been painfully pathetic. But if I have to spend even a minute longer smelling the stuff I'm smelling right now I'm going to be forced to take out a page from your book and burn this building down to the basement."

"Oh," Elena said, clearing her throat, and feeling blood rush toward her face to change the color of her cheeks. "Right."

"Where is my brother anyway? I would have thought he'd be glued to your side for at least the next," she saw Rebekah looking over to the old grandfather clock near the staircase to tell the time "sixty-eight hours."

She swallowed, avoiding Rebekah's eyes.

Saying goodbye to Elijah had been even harder than she'd thought it would be. Despite Elena's certainty about it being the right thing for her right now, there was a part of her that wanted to ignore all that and ask Elijah to stay.

But that would have been even more selfish than asking him to wait for her.

So after they'd dressed she had folded her longing back within the beating organ that hid inside her chest, pressed her cheek against the palm that was tucking a strand of Elena's hair behind her ear, and swung forward to kiss him one last time.

Well. Not one last time. Now that she had decided on the future she wanted, Elena had no intention of letting that truly be the last time she'd ever feel Elijah's lips against her own. But it was the last for now and so it had stung nearly as sharply.

A furrow appeared in between Rebekah's eyebrows and she narrowed her far too observant eyes at Elena in suspicion.

"He's on his way back to New Orleans," Elena admitted.

Her newest friend released something that sounded a great deal like a low, long-suffering whine filled with irritation and exasperation. "That's it, I give up, the two of you are hopeless."

Elena watched as Rebekah turned on her heels and marched purposefully toward the staircase.

"Where are you-?"

"To go ask Bonnie how she feels about a summer trip through Europe, I need a break from being on the same continent as my pitiful brothers and all the pining and pouting they're about to wallow in."

*o0O0o*
in days
*o0O0o*

Elijah had been back in New Orleans for a scant few hours and was in the middle of putting away the freshly dry-cleaned suit he'd changed out of two days ago before leaving Mystic Falls- his mind judiciously on anything other than the woman whose fingers had wrinkled the fabric as she grasped the collar at the back of his neck - when his brother found him.

By barging into the room, a look of glee on his face.

"I heard a strange little rumor," Niklaus singsonged like an obnoxious child half his apparent age.

"Did you?" he asked carelessly, not quite paying attention. "How fascinating."

"Whatever did Damon Salvatore do to piss you off, Elijah?"

Hearing the name made fury surge through his bloodstream and Elijah's movements halted momentarily as the muscles in his back transformed into stone. He'd known of course that it was simply a matter of time before Niklaus was informed of the bounty Elijah had placed on the whereabouts of the older Salvatore brother. He had simply hoped it would have taken longer than an hour past the expiration of those seventy-two hours that had been granted to the man who would suffer in ways Elijah had not made suffer in centuries.

He exhaled silently under his breath, the only sign of irritation Elijah was willing to telegraph before answering. "He harmed someone I care a great deal about."

'As well as someone you care about,' he finished in the safe confines of his own mind, where the words would not betray Miss Forbes.

"And who might that be?" Niklaus asked, something a bit mocking entering his tone.

Elijah pursed his lips, sending his brother a cool look but otherwise choosing not to answer.

Unfortunately, Niklaus was rarely one to follow good sense.

"I did think I smelled a particular scent. Might this have anything to do with my doppelgänger? I guess you do have a type, brother."

In moments he'd slammed Klaus with his back against the nearest wall, held an inch above ground, and righteous anger swarming through Elijah's blood. His brother's eyes widened in real surprise, clearly having expected his words to irritate and not to enrage Elijah.

The surprise didn't last long, just as quickly as Klaus's back had hit the wall, Elijah was pushed a step back through a blow to his chest. Elijah didn't bother to retaliate, he'd made his point.

But just to make sure he'd been understood.

"Elena is not an object you own, Niklaus. And she has a name, I would suggest you use it."

He straightened the crooked cufflinks on his sleeves and left his brother blinking behind him.

Rebekah was laying a line of short kisses from Bonnie's shoulder to her clavicle and then against the line of neck Bonnie exposed to her by raising her face to the headboard of her bed. Her magic seemed to nearly purr in boneless satisfaction that was flowing in waves against every one of her nerve endings.

They'd been doing this nearly every night since Bonnie had come to Rebekah's room that first time and despite the lingering reservations it was hard to feel any regret. Not when being wanted - being desired, - felt quite this good.

"You know, you never did tell me if you wanted to come with me for the summer," Rebekah said, suddenly, and tucked her chin against the center of Bonnie's collarbone.

Bonnie felt her muscles tightening momentarily but made herself relax after a small breath.

"I thought we agreed on fun without strings," Bonnie asked, feeling an unfamiliar flutter of nerves in her chest.

"Italy's fun. France is fun. Spain is lots of fun," Rebekah tempted with a light, little smirk which Bonnie was starting to grow just a bit dangerously fond of.

"I still have to deal with Silas," she reminded the other woman. The town's latest threat had been choosing to be suspiciously quiet for the past week and a half but that didn't mean he was gone. If anything it meant they were caught in the eye of the storm and the winds would show up any minute now.

Rebekah frowned as if Bonnie's answer irked her.

The expression birthed a momentary rise of hackles. If Rebekah thought that Bonnie was required to go with her to-

"You don't have to do it alone, Bonnie."

Her interrupted thought dropped from her head as if it had never had a chance to start and Bonnie found herself blinking. Shaken in a way she couldn't quite put into words.

"I thought you didn't care about whatever it is Silas is planning."

Rebekah grimaced, avoiding her eyes as if Bonnie's words had just made her feel ashamed of her old attitude. "Yes, well, I think we can agree that a few things have changed since then."

It was certainly hard to argue with that. Especially while Bonnie was lazying about in her childhood bedroom with, of all people, an original vampire who had not even ten minutes ago brought her to the third orgasm that night - and she really tried not to think too hard about what Grams might have had to say on the subject.

In fact, she rather didn't want to think about her grams at all, because it was probably about time she returned the favor.

"I'll think about it," she said, not quite sure if she meant the words as an answer to Rebekah's offer of help, or her invitation.

Then Bonnie hooked her leg around Rebekah's thigh and, in concert with a twist of motion, used just a touch of her magic to flip them around so that she could hover with her face above Rebekah.

She leaned down to pull her into a lengthy, deep kiss, and satisfaction began to thrum through her when, after next she pulled back, she was met by the dazed shine in Rebekah's eyes.

*o0O0o*
in weeks
*o0O0o*

Anger and fear coursed through her veins as Rebekah rushed through the woods, looking for the stubborn, self-sacrificing, too-brave-for-her-own-good witch who instead of taking a nearly immortal thousand-year-old vampire with her to face Silas as she'd eventually promised - lied, - had made her fall asleep with a whispered word against Rebekah's lips.

"Bonnie!" she called out, listening for any hint of breaking tree stumps, screams, or violent winds. Anything that would be a sign that a magical duel was taking place somewhere nearby.

"I'm going to kill her," she whispered under her breath, fear nearly choking the air from her lungs. "Bonnie!" she screamed again.

She stood a moment, straining her hearing to the very edge until finally - finally, finally - there was something.

A human heartbeat somewhere to her right. No. Two heartbeats? She didn't know, she didn't care, Rebekah sped toward the sound and in seconds she was dropping to her knees in front of Bonnie's unconscious body.

She flipped Bonnie around on her back, panic coursing through her veins, Bonnie's pulse was slow and thready, threatening to stop entirely.

With barely a thought Rebekah bit into her wrist, and cradling Bonnie's head in her lap she pushed the rapidly closing wound against Bonnie's already blood-covered lips - the blood was running like tears from Bonnie's eyes, from her nose, even her ears.

She felt like someone had punched through her ribcage and was squeezing Rebekah's heart in a fist.

"Come on, Bonnie, don't do this." Her very being felt attuned to the sound of every too-slow beat of Bonnie's heart.

It was no wonder she missed the heartbeat that had actually drawn Rebekah to this spot, Bonnie's heart had been the quiet echo to that heartbeat she hadn't at first been able to identify as separate.

What alerted her was a confused, familiar voice from behind her. "Rebekah?"

Rebekah felt her back freezing, as terrible understanding dawned. She turned her face and met the shocked eyes of Jeremy Gilbert. Human and alive.

Bonnie's current state was because she'd been pulling off not simply the defeat of Silas but also the resurrection of Elena's brother.

"Oh my god, Bonnie!"

She felt him begin to rush forward and something snapped within her.

"Don't touch her!" she hissed through the return of her fangs, feeling the pulse of veins growing under her eyes, red rage overtaking her vision. "You take one more step toward Bonnie and I'm going to rip your throat out."

Bonnie's heart beat sluggishly, each new thump so weak Rebekah feared it becoming her last. Her own heart had climbed up into the back of Rebekah's throat as she prayed for her blood to be enough right now to save Bonnie's life - and it had to save her life because she knew the witch well enough by now to know that if Rebekah had come too late there would be only one more day.

Bonnie Bennett would never willingly cut off her connection to nature. Not even to live.

"If she dies," she said, fingers running over Bonnie's face, trying to clear it of blood "so do you."

Survival instinct apparently kicking in, Jeremy said nothing. But Rebekah felt his eyes taking in everything about the way she was holding onto Bonnie's body.

Drawing conclusions she wasn't even sure to be wrong.

An eternity passed as Rebekah held her and breathed only whenever she heard the next quiet beat. And the next. And the next.

And then Bonnie choked. Coughed. And opened her olive-green eyes.

Rebekah was already there to meet them.

"Okay," Bonnie whispered with a pained grimace through a clearly raw throat. "I'll go see Spain with you."

"It'll be fun," Rebekah promised and hoped that Bonnie was still a bit too out of it to notice the tears running down her face. Then she leaned down and, ignoring the third pair of eyes - well, mostly ignoring, she couldn't say there wasn't a part of her that was making a bit of a point - kissed Bonnie in a way she didn't think she'd kissed her before.

Like Bonnie was priceless, and Rebekah was brittle.

Maybe there were a few strings for them to worry about after all. But Bonnie broke a rule first.

*o0O0o*

AN2: No dying for Bonnie! I'm making a rule.

(Some nearly dying, yes. But only because then there's angsty, terrified cradling of Bonnie in Rebekah's arms, and that's delicious).