Elijah let out a low breath, looking around the room in front of him. It was much more quaint than he would have ever chosen for himself. It only housed very basic furniture; a small double bed, and a matching wooden set, composed of a wardrobe, chest of drawers and a bedside table.
Having found her way to the hotel at short notice, very little of Elena's adorned the room, currently only a hairbrush laying on the table beside the bed. Pretty much everything else had been taken into the bathroom with Elena while she showered and cleaned herself up.
The sound of the shower switching off broke Elijah from his reverie and he cleared his throat slightly, slipping his hands into his pockets as he turned to the bathroom door, waiting for Elena to emerge.
A few more minutes passed before Elena came out of the bathroom, dressed in a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt, a towel held in her hand, squeezing the excess water from her hair. She smiled at Elijah as she stepped further into the room, wandering over to the bed and perching on the edge of it.
"You must be getting sick of me crying on you." Elena laughed, setting her towel aside and picking up the brush, gently starting to comb through the ends of her hair.
"Not at all." Elijah denied easily, sending a smile of his own to Elena when she looked at him. "It's rather humbling that you feel so comfortable in my presence."
Elena let out a soft laugh, shaking her head slightly, not really sure what to say to him. Instead, she continued to brush her hair out in silence as Elijah looked on.
Letting out a sigh, Elena began to slowly pull her hair into a braid, allowing the rhythm to relax her. "I don't know where we go from here, Elijah." She whispered, staring at the floor as she wove her hair together. "I can barely cope with my emotions, let alone figure out what we do."
"Elena," Elijah said softly, pulling up his trousers slightly as he crouched in front of her, "we don't have to do anything if you don't want to. Ligatus Animarum doesn't mean that we have to immediately fall into a perfect relationship, in fact, I would dare argue that we don't have to do that at all if it's not what you want."
"I don't know what I want." Elena whispered, tying off the end of her braid as Elijah put a finger under his chin to lift her gaze to meet his again.
Elijah lips quirked into a soft smile, his hand moving to her cheek. "How about, we agree to just be friends for now? You can get a handle on your emotions, and deal with anything else you need to; I will be here to help you, however you need, and we can revisit this bond at a later time."
Rather than saying anything, Elena leant forward, flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him gratefully. Elijah only hesitated for a brief second, surprised, before he hugged her back, squeezing her firmly before pulling away again.
"Now, we need to find you somewhere more suitable to stay."
"I mean, seriously, what the hell were you thinking? Provoking a vampire who's only just got her emotions back? You're lucky that you managed to wake me up!" Klaus shouted, turning to his sister for help when Hayley only glared back at him.
"Nik has a penchant for being rather dramatic, but he is right in this instance." Rebekah sighed, shrugging when Hayley turned to her, clearly having expected Rebekah to side with her. "Baby vampires are volatile at the best of times, a week after regaining their emotions is definitely not the time to pick a fight. You're alone on this one."
Hayley scoffed. "Of course I am, everyone in this family is as hooked by the precious doppelganger as all of her stupid friends."
"Neither of us said anything remotely like that." Rebekah rolled her eyes. "We are no fan of Elena's, but our personal feelings have nothing to do with the bloody foolishness of your actions last night."
"You and Elena have seemed plenty chummy lately." Hayley bit back, folding her arms across her chest in defiance.
Rebekah huffed, she and Klaus exchanging irritated glances; Hayley really needed to learn some sort of preservation instincts if she was going to make it in New Orleans. "She was amusing without emotions, that's all, and is also, irrelevant."
The sound of the front door opening captured the attention of the three members of the room, all of them turning to look in the direction of the noise; Rebekah and Klaus confused when a blur passed through the hallway. Elijah stepped into the lounge, sparing half a glance in the direction of the movement before turning to look at his siblings and Hayley.
"Elena is packing." He explained at Rebekah and Klaus's identical raised eyebrows. "She will be staying somewhere else for the duration of her time in New Orleans."
Brother and sister nodded at Elijah's words; Hayley only rolled her eyes, increasingly irritated by Elijah's obvious infatuation with the doppelganger.
"Was there something you wanted to say, Hayley?" Elijah asked, obviously not missing her slight movement.
She scoffed. "Nothing at all, I just hope you know what you're doing."
Elijah didn't have a chance to talk before Elena appeared behind him, suitcase and duffel bag in hand. She paused, confused by the atmosphere in the room in front of her.
"Is everything okay?" After Hayley's behaviour the previous night, she didn't trust the look on the wolf's face, especially with the tension set in Elijah's stance.
"Yes, Elena, everything's fine." Elijah turned to her, smiling to reassure her, and reaching out to take her bag from her. "We should get going."
Elena smiled back at him, nodding to Klaus and Rebekah when she met their eyes, ignoring the wolf in the room completely as she turned and left with Elijah.
"Are you sure?" Elena asked for the umpteenth time. "I really don't want to take your place from you."
"Elena, please." Elijah smiled, placing the keys to the condo in Elena's hand and curling her fingers around them. "I'm making no use of this place, someone should."
Letting out a soft sigh, Elena smiled at him, shaking her head softly as she accepted the offered keys, turning to take another look around her new temporary home. Her gaze focussed on the large, grey sofa in the centre of the lounge, and she found herself unable to tear her eyes away, longing to sink her aching body into the cushions.
Elijah said nothing as she took in the minimalist condo around her. Having never spent much time in his property on the outskirts of New Orleans, he'd never bought more for the house than the basics, perhaps Elena could change that, he had no doubt he'd let her do almost anything she wanted to the place.
"If you would like, I can show you around," Elijah offered, breaking into Elena's reverie, "then I shall leave you to settle in."
Elena smiled, shrugging her duffel bag off of her shoulder and nodding slightly. "That'd be nice."
Smiling at her in return, Elijah lifted the suitcase by his feet, showing Elena the way to the bedroom, pointing out the bathroom and a small office along the way.
"I assure you, it is as comfortable as it looks." Elijah said softly, smiling at Elena as she stared at the king bed in awe.
Elena let out a soft laugh, shaking her head as she walked further into the bedroom, stunned by the sheer size and quality of the furniture adorning the room. Now she felt even more horrendous about taking Elijah's space away from him.
"Elijah-"
"You've already got the keys, Elena." Elijah shrugged, smiling at her when she spun to face him. "I believe the phrase I'm looking for is 'no take backs'."
Elena let out a startled laugh at that, not sure how Elijah was still able to surprise her so much. "I was only going to ask if there's a good place to go grocery shopping near here."
Dragging the charm of her pendant back and forth on the chain around her neck, Elena let out a long breath, absently stirring sugar into her coffee with her other hand.
Regaining her emotions had taken a huge toll on her, physically as well as mentally. Her entire body felt like she'd been hit by a semi, and possibly backed over again, and she let out a soft groan as she rolled her neck to the side, sighing in relief when it clicked.
"Fancy seeing you here."
Elena's body stiffened at the voice, her hand tightening on the pendant around her neck for a moment before relaxing again, calming her gaze as Damon slid into the seat across from her.
"I guess barbie wasn't lying when she said you had your emotions back, Stefan and I weren't worth the call?"
Elena sighed, dropping her necklace and cradling her coffee mug with both hands. "I haven't spoken to anyone, Damon, but Elijah told me you and Stefan tried to force your way in."
"We shouldn't've had to!" Damon snapped, his eyes narrowed as he glared at Elena. "We should have been the first people you called; I should have been!"
"I am sorry about that, Damon," Elena sighed, taking a sip of her coffee, "things have changed now, I needed some time."
Damon scoffed, shaking his head with a derisive roll of his eyes. "You can't be serious. What's next? 'It's not you, it's me'?"
"That's not what any of this is, Damon." Elena muttered, lifting her coffee to take another sip. "Things aren't what they were before I turned my emotions off, and they can't go back to how they were; they never should have gotten there to begin with."
"So, what? You want to stay shacked up with the Originals? That's not what I want, Elena."
Elena let out a soft sigh, her body sagging in relief when she didn't feel any outside influence taking effect on her. "The sire bond is gone, Damon." She murmured, not missing the slight pursing of his lips and narrowing of his eyes. "That just proves what I realised while my emotions were off. You're not a good person, Damon, not in the ways I thought you were."
"Has he compelled you?" Damon asked, his brow furrowed as he looked at Elena. "Elijah? Or was it Klaus? This is exactly the sort of thing he'd love to stir up."
"I'm not compelled, Damon." Elena muttered, rolling her eyes with a huff of breath. "You can't jump to that as a defence every time we have a disagreement."
"This isn't a disagreement, Elena, you sound crazy." He bit, glaring at Elena, grabbing her wrist when she tried to get up and walk away. "Don't you dare walk away from me."
"Let go of me, Damon." Elena hissed, proud that no tremor seeped into her voice, nothing exposing the stress she felt at that moment.
He scoffed. "You're coming back to Mystic Falls, Elena. Now."
"No."
"You heard the lady."
An unmistakable sigh of relief fell from Elena's lips as a new voice joined the fray, causing Damon's features to harden even more.
"What the hell are you gonna do about it?" Damon scoffed, standing from the table and pulling Elena closer to him by the arm he still held.
"I have decades on you, and the training of Klaus and Elijah on my side, this isn't a fight you'll win, Salvatore."
Elena yanked her arm from Damon's grip, catching him, and herself, off guard when she slipped from his grasp, falling forward into Marcel's arms; the pair of them disappearing from the café in a second.
"Thanks for the save back there." Elena murmured, rubbing her upper arm where Damon had grabbed her. "I should have expected him to be more volatile, I wasn't even planning on talking to him in person."
"He's a jackass." Marcel shrugged, raising an eyebrow at Elena when she turned to face him. "D told me that you came to see her yesterday, how are you coping?"
Elena let out a soft sigh, bringing her other hand up to her upper arm, crossing her arms over her chest lightly. "I don't really know." She admitted with a soft laugh. "Hayley and I had a bit of a blow up a few nights ago, I moved out of the plantation the next day. I'm not sure if I'm glad to be alone or if I want company."
"Where are you staying?" Marcel asked, tilting his head curiously. "You know the Abattoir is available."
Smiling, Elena let out a breathy laugh. "Elijah's letting me use a condo he has just on the edge of the city. It's a little secluded, but it's nice and private for a change." She chewed on her bottom lip, releasing another sigh. "Plus, Stefan and Damon don't know where I am, and Elijah's the only one who knows and he definitely won't tell them."
"He cares about you a lot." Marcel said softly, smiling at her.
Another soft huff of laughter escaped Elena as she shook her head slightly. "I keep hearing that lately."
Marcel frowned. "I would have thought you'd be happier to have someone care so much."
"I don't know how I feel about much at all." Elena scoffed, hugging her arms closer to her chest. "Everything in my head is so jumbled, and with this bond with Elijah, I can't seem to figure out what is and isn't real." Her eyes flitted around the streets, absently watching as cars and pedestrians passed them by. "Davina told me that the bond doesn't create emotions, that everything is our own, I just don't understand it."
"It sounds like you're overthinking it." Marcel said, raising an eyebrow. "From where I stand, Ligatus Animarum sounds like something most people would kill for."
"I guess I've just got a lot going on, and this kind of has me teetering on the edge."
"You shouldn't be afraid of it, Elena, but you also shouldn't be afraid of taking time to figure things out. We have forever after all."
Guest: Thank you so much!
HisSecretLover18: Yessss, I'm so glad! Poor Elena! Elijah's got her back though, don't worry! Thank you! Enjoy!
Guest: I'm so happy you like that I'm exploring it! Thinking back on that whole part of the show, it's crazy how borderline abusive Damon could be with Elena, and that it was just romanticised, it's horrible! I wish the show hadn't just written it off as some crazy romantic thing, because most people would hate it, and I feel like it would have influenced Elena so much more than it did in the show, so I really wanted to explore it!
midnight-writer97: You're so welcome! I honestly don't remember the Silas debacle very well, so it will probably be dealt with in offscreenville! I really wanted to calm the pace of Elejah in this story, they've already been through a lot, and I'm glad you liked the slow in pace! I'm also so relieved you liked the compulsion, I wasn't completely sold on it, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone once it got hold of me! Don't worry, there's plenty of Damon bashing to come! Well...we'll just have to wait and see on Kol... ;) Of course Marcel's back! I've grown quite attached to my version of him! Davina is deffo the little sister that Elena never had! I'm super excited that came across! You're welcome! Look forward to hearing from you again :D
Guest: I'm here to stay, don't worry! It's getting into the nitty gritty now!
Guest: Aren't we all?! I had to slip in some affection, they need to come to terms with their own feelings eventually ;) Thank you so much! Enjoy!
Sorry it's a bit of a later post than you're all used to! I've been pulling more hours at work this week, so I haven't had any energy after my shifts like I normally do! I hope you all enjoy! I'll be back soon!
Until next time
~ I x