Letting out a soft groan in the back of her throat, Elena stretched out, reaching her hands above her head and arching her back; freezing mid-stretch as the memories of the night before came back to her. Her eyes fluttered open slowly as she realised she lay in bed alone, the sheets around her cold and empty.
Pushing herself up onto her hands she looked around the room, finding Elijah's suit jacket laid on the back of the armchair, the only physical proof he'd been there at all. Fingers coming up to her mouth, she traced her lips, closing her eyes as she remembered the feel of Elijah's lips brushing against hers.
They'd really kissed last night, for the first time since she'd regained her emotions and since they'd found out what they were to each other. He'd laid himself completely bare for her, opening his heart and his thoughts to her; his heart more literally than anything else.
Opening her eyes again, Elena looked around the room, taking note of her discarded clothes having been tidied into a neat pile on the seat of the chair, erasing any evidence of the feverish nature of the night before. Heart sinking as she realised that Elijah had left her, she slowly crawled out of bed, picking up his jacket and inhaling the scent of his cologne.
Slipping the jacket and underwear on, Elena turned to the bathroom, intent on going to the toilet and then wallowing in bed all day, really not sure what to think of the fact that Elijah had left the bedroom that morning.
Letting out a soft sigh, Elena pulled the jacket more tightly around herself as she left the bathroom, so focussed on going back to bed that she barely even noticed the door open until she had turned back around, seeing Elijah stood in the doorway.
"I had hoped to be back before you woke," Elijah said softly, slipping into the room and shutting the door behind him, "the situation between Niklaus and Rebekah was becoming too volatile."
Elena nodded lightly, her chin resting on knees that she hugged to her chest, grimacing internally when she felt her eyes begin to water.
"Elena," he breathed, not missing the water welling in her eyes, "I'm sorry." Taking a tentative step forward, Elijah cursed himself for not leaving a note; as well as Elena was doing, she had still only just regained her emotions, he could only imagine the turmoil she found herself in waking alone after everything that had happened between them the night before. "Tell me what to do here."
Wordlessly, Elena held her arms out, closing her eyes and leaning into Elijah's embrace when he took hold of her almost instantly.
"I'm sorry." Elijah whispered again, holding Elena to him as tightly as he could without hurting her. "I would never abandon you, Elena, I give you my word."
"I know." Elena mumbled, nodding into their embrace. "I do know, I just…"
"I know," Elijah assured her, "it's okay."
"What happened with Klaus and Rebekah?" Elena probed, half mumbling around a mouthful of scrambled eggs and toast, not quite sure how Elijah had managed to make something so simple so delicious.
Sighing, Elijah took a sip of his coffee, turning back to eat his own eggs in a much more controlled manner than Elena. "Rebekah and Marcel were responsible for summoning Mikael; Celeste revealed this to Niklaus; as is usual with my brother he is rather enraged."
"Why did they bring Mikael to New Orleans? I thought Rebekah was terrified of him too?" Cringing at just how mumbled her questions were, Elena washed the egg down with some coffee, whispering a soft apology to Elijah, only receiving a soft smile and a shake of the head in return.
"Rebekah thought it was the only chance she and Marcel had at peace in their relationship; to run Niklaus out of town," he explained, scooping up a forkful of egg, "by the time she realised her mistake it was too late."
Elena hummed, this time swallowing her mouthful of food before talking. "So Klaus's penchant for killing all of you has now led to him wanting to kill one of you? Colour me shocked."
Startled into a laugh, Elijah shrugged slightly. "I suppose you could say so, yes."
Bobbing her head, Elena finished scoffing the rest of her breakfast, pausing midway through a bite as she caught the amused look on Elijah's face. "Wha'?" She mumbled, brushing the corners of her mouth as she chewed. "Have I got something on my face?"
Elijah shook his head, still smiling. "Not at all, I've just never seen anyone so delighted with eggs on toast."
"You're a good cook." Elena shrugged, swallowing a big mouthful of her coffee as Elijah much more calmly continued eating.
"Is that why you're keeping me around?" He joked, raising an eyebrow at the doppelganger opposite him.
She shrugged. "One of the reasons."
Laughing again, Elijah shook his head slightly, vaguely wondering when the last time was he'd smiled so much.
"Marcel!" Elena launched herself into the older vampire's arms, clinging tightly to him. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Likewise." He let out a soft laugh, hugging the brunette back tightly. "You seem much better; D filled me in."
Pulling away from their hug, Elena quickly took hold of Elijah's hand, all too aware of how sore of a subject the spell that had been placed on her was.
"I'm sorry, Elijah," Marcel said, taking note of the tension in the Original's body, "we'll figure out who's responsible."
Nodding, Elijah squeezed Elena's hand, allowing her soft touch to calm him down and reassure him. "Thank you, Marcellus; it appears we have many a problem to navigate."
He nodded, taking a seat on the spare chair in Davina's room in the attic of the church. "We still don't know Celeste's endgame, not to mention Kol hasn't made a reappearance since the conversation he had with D."
"I forgot about that." Elena admitted in a soft exhale of breath, moving closer to Elijah and wrapping her arm around his side, leaning into him when he automatically wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "It feels like so much has happened in the last few weeks I can barely remember what we need to deal with."
Exchanging a glance with Marcel, Davina's eyes only followed the couple's arms briefly, wondering when they had taken a further step in their bizarre relationship. "Marcel found Damon skulking around the church last night," she said eventually, "I think we need to keep an eye on him as well."
A huff of breath escaping her, Elena found herself leaning further on Elijah, closing her eyes as she took in another breath. "I don't know how we can make him stop; he seems to still think the sire bond has power over me, and when it doesn't work he thinks I'm compelled, there's no winning with Damon."
"We can handle Damon." Elijah reassured her quickly, a slight edge to his voice the only giveaway of the anger he felt. "He is the least of my concerns right now; we need to find out who placed this dark magic on you."
"What about Celeste?" Elena frowned, the others in the room clearly thinking the same going by the expressions on their faces. "She's still out there, and much more powerful."
Elijah nodded, releasing Elena and wandering over to Davina's easel. "Indeed she is, however, we know her identity, her face, and her goals. The more dangerous enemy is always the unknown."
Picking up a piece of charcoal, Elijah was oblivious to the looks shared behind his back. Confusion and understanding were passed in equal measure between the three.
"Davina, is it possible for you to sketch this unknown entity in the same way you did my brother?" Elijah turned back to the young witch, holding out the piece of charcoal to her with a raised eyebrow.
"I can sure as hell give it a damn good go."
"Spill." Marcel nudged Elena, sitting next to her on one of the old church pews. "What on Earth is going on with you and Elijah now?"
A soft sigh escaped Elena, somewhere between a laugh and a huff. "It's complicated."
He laughed, shaking his head. "I highly doubt that, your souls are bound, Elena, and…the way he looks at you, I've never seen anything like it." He smiled, turning away from Elena to face the front of the church. "There's something different about the pair of you today, you've been gravitating towards each other the whole time you've been in New Orleans, but there's something more today, I can't really explain it. Did something happen?"
Elena opened her mouth to reply, letting out a soft noise instead and closing her mouth again, staring forward resolutely even as Marcel turned to look at her. Noticing the flush on her cheeks, the older vampire let out another soft laugh, shaking his head.
"Well, well, you two finally slept together! I'm not sure if I'm more surprised that it took you this long, or that you actually did it at all after all the drama."
"Shut up." Elena muttered, shoving him back with her shoulder. "It's not like that."
"Then what is it like?" Marcel asked, resting his cheek on the top of her head when she leant on his shoulder. "Are you together?"
"I don't know." She sighed, biting the inside of her lip. "Like I said, its complicated, there's a lot to deal with right now, I'm still not sure who I am by myself, but with Elijah its just…easy. He cooked dinner, and he stayed the night, and he cooked breakfast, and he just…understands."
"It feels like there's a but somewhere in there."
"There's just so much history involved, it feels unescapable." She muttered, bringing a hand up to rub her brow. "His family; my friends, how are we supposed to move past it all."
Marcel laughed again, rolling his eyes to himself. "You are literally meant to be together, Elena, damn history."
"Apologies for the interruption," Elijah cut in softly, not letting on whether or not he'd heard any of the conversation, "Davina has managed to draw several identities."
Elena got to her feet quickly, something in her movements telling Marcel that she had read more in Elijah's voice than he ever could.
"What's wrong?" She asked almost instantly, walking over to Elijah, Marcel following her. "You don't know who they are?"
A brief grimace crossed Elijah's face, visible only really to Elena, gradually she was becoming more aware of his ticks and mannerisms. "I know one of their faces."
"What do we do?"
The face on the easel stared back at the four of them, defiant eyes daring them to decide their fate.
"We knew this was a possibility," Elena murmured, squeezing Elijah's hand, "we need to talk to the others, they need to know and they might have an idea."
Davina glanced at Marcel, the pair exchanging a knowing glance as they both catalogued the couple stood beside them. Elena's arm was linked with Elijah's, her fingers laced with his and her other hand held his bicep as she leant into his side. Most curiously, Elijah was completely at ease with the casual embrace, despite he and Elena not being alone, that in itself was the most significant indicator of just how powerful the connection between the pair was.
God help the people who had tried to tamper with it, Marcel thought. Once you spent enough time with the Original family, you knew who you really had to fear, and it wasn't Klaus. The hybrid was volatile and quick to anger; he could hold a grudge and he would chase you to the ends of the Earth, but, in the end, his anger was nothing compared to that of the oldest living Mikaelson sibling.
Elijah's rage burned cold and quiet, simmering under the surface; even when he reached his boiling point his rage was carefully controlled, channelled into a calm fury that was more terrifying than any furious anger that Klaus could summon.
As angry as Marcel was with the people who had dared to come after Elena, he also pitied them, they had no idea what rage they had paved the way for. Especially the face staring back at them, she believed Elijah was some kind, benevolent soul; she had no idea how grave of a misstep she had made.
HisSecretLover18: Damn work slowing me back down :/ I'm glad you've been enjoying though!
brattneyforever93: Thank you so much! The first time she asked felt like such a pivotal point in their relationship that I couldn't just forget about it!
LucyBekakm: Here I am! Hope you enjoyed!
lauramorgenstern: Ahhh, I'm so glad you think so! I'm always a bit worried that it might come off unnatural to you guys as readers, so I'm so glad you loved it! I can't write without slipping in some angst!
Guest: I'm really working on making this a much more realistic relationship, so I'm so glad it's coming across that way!
Guest(Ch30): Me too, don't worry! Yes! It's about time and it was getting so confusing trying to make sure it made sense! They're too cute!
Guest(Ch31): Trippy trippy, answers yet to come on that one... ughhh 3 chefs kisses! You make my heart as happy as elejah makes yours!
Guest: Here I am! Hope you enjoyed!
midnight-writer97: Ahhh I missed hearing from you! I'm so glad you've enjoyed all the updates! It's about time they had a nice progression built in! I'm glad you liked the plot twist! There's plenty more yet ;)
StellaBaby: I'm so excited you all loved it! I had to write it back in after their first conversation about it! You're so welcome; I hope you enjoyed this update just as much!
Hi everyone! Sorry the pace slowed right down after the last few updates, I had to go back to work :( I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm starting to debate splitting this story into two, as I feel there's still a lot more to come and I don't want this to get too long and put people off...it's massively up in the air though!
As always, let me know what you think!
Until next time
~ I x