"Now that's settled," Elijah smiled, placing a soft kiss on Elena's forehead, "may I please get us out of this forest?"
"What did you have in mind?" Elena returned his smile, leaning into his touch as he brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"Close your eyes." He said, following his own instruction even as she narrowed her eyes at him before relenting with a sigh.
Opening her eyes as she felt Elijah draw away from her, Elena let out a soft gasp as the room in front of her came into focus.
She found themselves in a hall, decorated with colourful bunting and posters littering the walls, although the crowd was so dense she could hardly see them; none the wiser to the information they held. Watching the couples in front of her as they danced around the room with a delighted flair.
"Where are we?" She managed eventually, her voice tinged with awe. "When are we?" She corrected herself, looking at the clothes the people around them wore.
"London," he smiled, watching Elena as she took in the space around them greedily, "1944."
That managed to break Elena from her trance as she turned to face him. "The war." She whispered, shaking her head slightly. "Why here?"
"Despite everything raging around us, moments like this one were...awe inspiring." He turned to watch his mirage of people talking and dancing. "Despite having every reason to give into hatred and turn on each other, and yet here they were; dancing and having fun, making friends with strangers, and embracing every moment that came their way."
"Where were your family?" Elena asked softly, studying the side of his face.
"In their coffins." Elijah replied, not turning to look at her. "Niklaus daggered Rebekah during the twenties; Kol and Finn had already been daggered for some time. Sometimes I wish that Niklaus had followed the example of the humans. They had every right to be hopeless and cruel, and instead they turned to dance and camaraderie. It was admirable."
"Why only sometimes?" Elena asked softly, her hand brushing his; causing him to turn back to look at her.
Smiling softly, he turned his hand over to grasp hers, squeezing softly. "I have no idea where any of us would have ended up if things had played out differently. My vendetta against Niklaus led me back to Mystic Falls; to you. Would we have Hope if things had gone differently?"
"We won't ever know." Elena shrugged. "But that's okay, we are where we are; we can't change the past."
"If changing the past meant never meeting you I wouldn't want to." Elijah said, squeezing her hand again as a soft smile lined her lips.
As the music changed, Elijah let go of her hand, stepping out slightly and holding out a hand with a soft bow. "May I have this dance?"
Smiling again, Elena took his hand with a light curtsey, allowing him to lead her out onto the dancefloor and move them into a waltz position. "I recognise this song." She murmured, falling into step with him. "I didn't think I'd know any of these."
Elijah smiled, twirling her out gently and pulling her back into him. "One of the iconic war songs, after it's re-release this very year. It is one I rather enjoy; Moonlight Serenade, Glenn Miller."
They swayed back and forth in silence for a few moments, allowing the music to guide their easy movements.
Elena let out a soft breath, turning her head to the side and resting her ear on Elijah's chest, listening to the sound of his heart beating slowly in his chest. Closing her eyes, she let herself be guided by Elijah in time with the soft beats of the song.
"Have you met Hope yet?" Elijah broached cautiously, feeling Elena stiffen in his arms. "She's beautiful, absolutely wonderful."
"I can't." Elena muttered, not moving her head; determined to avoid his gaze. "Klaus understands."
"The two of you have become close recently." Elijah said, turning them in a circle slowly.
"Since you died." Elena returned, a bit to her tone. "You died, Elijah. Hope died. Hayley is dead. All by my hands."
Twirling Elena away from his body, Elijah span her back in, her back against his front. "Inadu did all of those things, Elena, not you."
She shook her head. "It was still my body, what difference does it make?"
"Intent makes all of the difference that is significant, Elena. You are not the person who desired to kill anyone. Despite your differences, if Hayley was here; I am certain she would agree."
"But she's not here."
Elijah let out a soft breath, spinning Elena away and pulling her back in again, dropping his forehead to rest on hers. "Through no fault of your own."
"I can hardly look you in the eye Elijah, how am I supposed to look at that poor baby, knowing that I…that this body, these hands, took her mother away?"
"I don't know." He admitted, twirling her when she tried to walk away and easily manoeuvring her into a soft dip. "But how can you know you won't be able to look at her unless you try?"
Dragging in a deep breath, Elena stretched out her stiff body, relieved to note that she didn't feel as awful upon waking up as she had done for the last few days. Turning her head slightly, she realised that she still lay on Elijah's chest, his eyes remained closed and a soft expression graced his face as he continued to sleep.
Lifting her hand, she hesitated, hovering just over the skin of his face; not wanting to wake him. She had no idea if he had needed to stay awake in order to manipulate her dreams, but he had just come back from the dead for godsake. Either way, she figured that earned him some extra sleep.
"Time to get up, Gilbert."
Elena rolled her eyes as the voice drifted through the house to her, clambering out of the bed awkwardly in an attempt to make as little noise as possible.
Pulling on a light robe, she ghosted out of the bedroom, responding to her summons, she thought with another eye roll to herself.
"What is it, Klaus?" She sighed, stepping into the kitchen; trying her best to ignore the soft sounds of Rebekah cooing to the baby upstairs.
"Breakfast." Klaus shrugged, tossing a warmed blood bag at her with a toothy grin in her direction. "I thought you'd know that by now."
Elena rolled her eyes again, settling into one of the stools on the island, opposite Klaus, and opening the blood bag slowly. "You know, you don't have to keep babysitting me. Elijah's back."
He raised an eyebrow at her as she leisurely sipped at the blood in her hands. "My big brother has always had a penchant for adjusting to the most unique of situations in a way that I envy, but he died, Elena. I'm not so sure that will be easy to adjust to; he doesn't need to added stress of worrying about if you've had enough to eat or not."
"Hope's really changed you." Elena murmured, crumpling the empty bag in her hands. "Actually worrying about, Elijah?"
"Hope has made me realise the importance of family. We have to look out for each other."
"Speaking of," Kol jumped in, striding into the room with Elijah and Rebekah following behind him, Elijah buttoning the sleeves of his suit jacket, "I think it's time we had that family meeting."
"What do you remember?"
"Our plan didn't work." Elena replied wryly, raising an eyebrow at Kol. "She destroyed the knife, disabled all of us, and she was going to kill all of us."
"But she didn't." Kol pointed out, grinning. "That the bit we're interested in more than anything else."
"Okay?" Elena shrugged. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
The Originals exchanged glances, looking back at Elena with similar frowns on all of their faces.
"What?" Elena asked, irritated by the ominous looks. "She was going to siphon Elijah for the energy and then she was gone. I assumed you had some big revelation for me the way you're all acting."
Kol snorted, muttering under his breath and rolling his eyes when Rebekah elbowed him in the ribs. "What? This takes us back to square one, we all know it does!" Catching Elena's confused gaze, Kol elaborated further. "We have no idea what happened in that warehouse, darling. You did something, manifested some sort of power beyond any of our comprehensions that killed Inadu and resurrected Elijah."
"Me?" Elena laughed, shaking her head at Kol's words, absolutely dismissing the notion as ridiculous until she caught the sombre look on Elijah's face. "You-you can't be serious?"
Reaching for her hand, Elijah paused when she pulled her hand away, her gaze flicking around the room quickly. "Elena…" He whispered, smiling at her gently when her gaze whipped to him. "It's alright."
"How the hell is it alright, Elijah?" She hissed back, flinching and vaulting from her seat when the light above them shattered. "What's happening to me?" The words escaped her in a soft whisper as she fled the room, the door slamming behind her.
"Great going, Kol." Rebekah muttered, rolling her eyes. "Now we have a hysterical, all powerful witch on our hands."
Elijah narrowed his eyes at his siblings reproachfully, gracefully standing and following Elena from the room in a swift movement.
"Elena?" Elijah whispered her name softly, closing the door to the garden behind him as he stepped out onto the patio, confused by the wave of heat he felt hit his face. It may have been midday in New Orleans, but it wasn't that hot yet. "Are you out here?"
"Go away." Her soft whisper met his ears easily, despite the volume she spoke at. "I can't control it."
Searching her out carefully, Elijah found her hidden behind a wall of steam, sat on the opposite wall of the pool, her knees drawn up to her chest.
Toeing off his shoes, Elijah stepped into the pool, refusing to allow a pained hiss to escape him at the temperature of the water; bubbles and ripples pooling around him as the water hit it's boiling point.
"Go away." Elena whimpered again, burying her face in her knees as Elijah stopped in front of her; taking her hands in his gently and kissing them softly.
"Never." He denied, holding her hands more firmly as she tried to pull away from him.
"I'll hurt you." She insisted, pulling at his hold on her.
"Perhaps," he allowed, meeting her gaze as she finally looked at him, "but I'll not leave your side, unless you really want me to."
A soft sob escaped her as she allowed her legs to fall into the pool, her upper half collapsing into Elijah's firm embrace as the water slowly cooled; the steam dissipating.
Guest: I was totally undecided if they'd met or not before writing this chapter, but I guess they have! I might flesh that out in more detail soon, but even if I don't they will definitely have more interactions, don't worry! Ugh I love you and your reviews! And your chefs kisses of course!
HisSecretLover18: It's currently quite ambiguous, I might elaborate on it, but I'm not totally sure yet, though I can always be swayed by demand... Thank you! We all know what Elena's like, she totally has a lot to deal with, but she's got Elijah back by her side now!
lauramorgenstern(Ch50): Of course! I do love me some sappy caring moments between all the angst!
lauramorgenstern(Ch49): A totally unintended side-effect, but I love it nonetheless! Hells yeah! I was so excited to reunite them for you all, and I can't wait to give you all some class Elejah content! Awh I'm glad that hit in such a way, they've both been through so much, and this chapter kind of starts to touch on the fact that Elijah has been through some shit too, but we'll just have to wait and see how they progress.
yellowbessie: Yay! I'm trying to take it back to basics for a little bit while they go into recovery mode! You're so welcome, I love this story and I'm so excited to hear back from all of you every time I post, it definitely keeps me going!
Bit of a jumpy chapter here, but a chance to focus on a few little things before we get into the nitty gritty of what the hell Elena did and how the hell she was capable. I'm super excited to hear from you all, and I hope you enjoyed!
Until next time
~ I x