Chapter Ten
The next morning dawned with Elena climbing out of her shower after her morning run, a happy buzz still thrumming through her brain as she dressed for the day.
Rather regrettably, Kol had stolen his hoodie back so she couldn't get away with wearing that today.
Little bastard.
She dressed quickly, throwing on the first things that she could find that looked alright together and pairing them with her favourite pair of boots.
She organized her schoolbag and slid her new phone into her pocket as she straightened her hair, Caroline was flitting around her room and organizing herself.
For the first time since before the summer had even begun, Elena put some music on while they dressed and Caroline's answering grin told her that her friend had noticed more about her moods than she'd thought.
They danced around her room while they got ready and Caroline sang along while Elena giggled and when Rebekah knocked on the door to remind them to come to breakfast, both the girls collapsed on to the bed in a fit of giggles, the good mood clinging to them as they raced down the stairs,
"You're cheating!" Elena called out when Caroline vamp-sped away from her, "You filthy little cheater, Caroline Forbes!"
Elena heard the echoes of Caroline's laughter as she made her way through the hallways until she came to the dining room, pinning her friend with a little glare as she took her seat, quickly helping herself to some strawberry jam on toast and a glass of apple juice.
"Come on, Care, we should go if we've got to stop at yours first," Elena grabbed her slice of toast and slung her bag over her shoulder, "See you guys at school!"
She waved to her siblings before grabbing Caroline and tugging her out of the dining room, missing the soft, pleased look on Elijah's face as he watched them go.
Elena waited in her car while Caroline ran into her place to grab her schoolbag and tell her mom that she was spending another night at Elena's.
Even with their little stop, they made it to the school before Kol and Rebekah, which made Elena grin as she followed Caroline up the steps to the entrance.
A light rain had started when they'd arrived, the kind of misty rain that had you soaked far faster than you'd expect and Elena was just wiping some water off her face when her elbow was grabbed and she was yanked backwards into a warm chest and she looked up to find Tyler's confused face looking down at her,
"Elena?"
Elena blinked the rain out of her eyes,
"What's up, Tyler? You couldn't wait till we were inside to say hi?"
Tyler frowned down at her,
"I thought you were meeting Matt at the bleachers?"
And it was Elena's turn to frown,
"I am?"
Tyler crossed his arms over his chest,
"I get that you and Matt had issues this summer, and that's totally on him, but don't you think it's a bit cruel to lead him on?"
Elena sucked in a sharp breath, quickly twisting to find that Caroline was caught in conversation with Bonnie before she turned back to Tyler, gently patting his chest,
"Alright, Ty, firstly, I'm not leading Matt on for anything. Secondly, you weren't here, so I'll forgive you for saying we had 'issues'. I didn't have issues, Matt did. I'll go clear the air with him, alright?"
Because there was a dawning, sick realisation that was hitting Elena like a punch in the gut and she was so beyond done with this.
Tyler nodded and rubbed the back of his neck,
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that-"
Elena shook her head,
"Don't worry about it," she muttered, "I'll see you inside."
She double-checked that Caroline was distracted before she slipped away, darting around the side of the building and then sprinting out towards the football pitch as a clap of thunder sounded over her head.
She darted through the rain as quickly as her feet would carry her until she came to a skidding halt at the bleachers, her own face staring back at her with a cold smirk,
"Hello, Elena."
"Where's Matt?" She couldn't care less about any pleasantries that Katherine might offer.
Katherine tilted her head,
"Matt?" she tapped her chin like she couldn't remember who Matt was, ""Hmmm, nope, not ringing any bells for me, sorry."
Elena clenched her jaw as she gently tugged on her magic, letting it coat her skin in a familiar warmth,
"I'm not playing any games today, Katherine. What do you want and where does Matt come into it?"
Katherine put one hand on her hip, her eyes sparkling as she took Elena in,
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for you, and like a little mouse, you scurried straight into my trap."
Elena raised a brow and made a show of looking around her, a familiar, ugly fury bubbling in her veins,
"You must be very confident, to have come all on your own. Is it confidence, or arrogance?"
Katherine dropped her smirk,
"Oh, Sweetie, you're hardly worth the effort of coming out here."
Elena was now sporting her own smirk even as the rain weighed her hair down,
"So… Matt's not here? He's safely tucked away in class?"
Katherine rolled her eyes,
"If I wanted Matt, he'd be here, wouldn't he?"
Elena flicked her fingers out as Katherine flitted towards her,
"Incendia." The ends of Katherine's hair caught fire just as she reached for Elena, a startled yelp falling from Katherine's lips as Elena took a step backwards. Elena watched as the flames spread higher up Katherine's shoulders,
"Stop it!" Katherine was reaching for her again, so Elena lit the bottoms of her trousers on fire,
"You don't even make a very good me," Elena snarked, "See, I'm just not trashy enough to wear that outfit."
"MY HAIR!" Katherine was furiously trying to put her hair out, but the beauty of magical fire was that even rain couldn't put it out. The fire wouldn't end until Elena wanted it to.
And Elena wanted Katherine to suffer.
She gently fed the flames, watching as they inched higher up her doppelganger, enveloping her in smoke and oranges, yellows and reds,
"Put me out, or I swear, Elena, I'll rip you into tiny little pieces and leave your body scattered for your precious little family to find."
Elena crossed her arms over her chest,
"I don't think you're thinking this through," Elena told her, "If I don't put you out, you'll be dead. So, no, actually, you won't be doing anything to me, ever again."
Katherine lunged at her then, throwing her across the field and Elena's body tumbled across the ground before she lurched up to her feet.
Her body ached, but a deep satisfaction filled her as the flames spread again, a pained yell tearing from Katherine as she realised that she couldn't fight the flames away. Elena grabbed her phone from her pocket, snapping a photo of her doppelganger before sending it to Nik,
"Niklaus will be pleased," she called out to Katherine, "He might even offer me an award for this. You should consider yourself lucky, really, that it was me who got to you first and not them. Niklaus has been spending his time thinking up all sorts of new tortures for you."
Katherine flew at her again, a swift kick sending her spiralling through the air and hitting into the dirt with a dull thud.
And then she was being lifted, Kol's dark eyes taking her in before he turned to give Katherine the darkest, dirtiest look she'd ever seen on his face,
"I hate to be that guy, Little Bird, but I'm going to need you to put her out," At Elena's dark look, Kol raised both of his palms to her, "She might have information about Augustine. Elijah and Niklaus are on their way here, let them take her."
But fury still bubbled under her skin and as if he could see the festering darkness that lingered in her, Kol pressed his forehead into hers,
"Trust me, Elena, you'll still get your revenge, I swear it to you. Katherine Pierce will burn for what she's done, I'll teach you some fun new spells myself. Just trust us to make the right call?"
Elena sighed and relaxed into her brother's hold, her frosty eyes turning to Katherine, who was now in a tight, white-knuckle grip thanks to Rebekah and Caroline.
"I hate her," Elena whispered, and Kol nodded, gently taking her face and making her look at him,
"I know. I know, and that's completely normal, I promise. Do you trust me?"
Elena sighed and leaned into his touch, lifting her hands and letting her magic extinguish the flames before letting her magic recede, almost immediately missing it's warmth.
Kol offered her a small, reassuring smile as he gently swiped away the blood that had escaped from her nose,
"Thank you," he whispered, "For trusting me."
Elena offered him a weak, half smile,
"Always."
"LET ME GO!" Katherine's shrieking made Elena tense and then Kol flitted in front of her, his hand clenching around her jaw,
"Keep shrieking," his voice was quiet but hard and dangerous, like a low rumble of thunder before a flash of lightning, "and I'll remove your jaw. Maybe I'll make it into a pretty necklace… Go ahead," he leaned in closer to Katherine, "Try me."
Elena's phone chimed and she clicked the screen on to see a message from Nik,
N- Be there in 3 minutes. Try not to kill her yet.
E- Kol stopped me.
"Are you hurt, 'Lena?"
Elena's eyes snapped to Caroline's and she shook her head,
"Just a couple of bumps and bruises, nothing a good night's sleep won't fix."
Katherine was struggling to try and wriggle her way out of Rebekah and Caroline's grip, her eyes widening as she spotted Stefan walking their way,
"Stefan! You've got to convince them to let me go, I've done nothing wrong!"
Elena frowned,
"Pretty sure you were going to abduct me. Again."
Katherine sneered at her,
"And yet, you're still here, aren't you? Ergo, I'm the victim here."
Stefan wrapped an arm around Rebekah's shoulders and shot Katherine a dirty look,
"I'm not Damon, Katherine. You've made your bed, now you have to lie in it."
Katherine groaned and fixed her eyes on Elena's, her tone desperate and beseeching,
"Please, if you hand me over to Klaus, he'll kill me. You're sentencing me to death."
Elena frowned as a deep, burning fury raced through her veins,
"Like how you sentenced me to death, right? It's okay when you do it, but wrong when I do? I came so close to death in Montana that I got to have a lovely little conversation with a witch who died a thousand years ago! You don't get to ask for my pity, I have none left to offer you."
Kol's face seemed to crack, his shoulders wilting as horrified gasps came from Rebekah and Caroline,
"You what?" the horrified whisper made pangs of guilt stab away at her chest and Elena shook her head,
"I-"
"When?!" Kol's fingers gripped her chin, making her look into his eyes, "Why is this the first we're hearing of it?"
"The first we're hearing of what?"
Elena sucked in a deep breath ass Nik and Elijah approached them, a little frown between Elijah's brows as he took in the desperation on Kol's face.
"Elena saw Ayana in Montana, Nik. That's how close we came to losing her," Rebekah's voice was shaking and Elena gripped Kol's shoulders with her shaking hands,
"I'm okay, see? Look, I'm right here,"
Kol was shaking his head,
"When we found you, when you were in the tent and I tried to help you-" Kol broke himself off, a mix of hurt and fury in his eyes as they darted between her and Katherine and Elena grabbed his hands,
"I was dying," she confessed for the first time in a quiet whisper, aware that her audience could hear her, even over the sound of her hammering heart, "My throat was crushed, Kol, my nose too and I'd been thrown off a cliff, I'd been beaten, it was amazing that I managed to get as far as I did. But Ayana helped me, she said the spirits wanted me to live, they sent me back so I could save Stefan and Caroline."
Kol pulled back from her, shaking his head and dragging his hand down his face as his eyes darted between his siblings, who all wore varying expressions of horror and hurt. Then he was pointing at Katherine,
"That bitch dies. You get the information that we need, and then she's dead. No more second chances, no more pity," he spat, "And you," he pointed to her, a world of hurt in his eyes, "You don't hide things like that from us. We're family. We're going to talk about Montana."
Elena nodded shakily and Elijah pulled her into a tight hug, his arms like steel bands as he breathed into her hair,
"No more secrets, Elena."
"I promise," her voice wobbled and Elijah tucked her head under his chin,
"Do you still feel up to school? I'm happy for you all to take the day off."
Elena sucked in a breath and shook her head,
"Katherine's taken enough from me, she's not taking a single thing more."
Elena stepped back and wrinkled her nose when she took in the state of Elijah's suit,
"You're covered in mud," she muttered and Elijah shrugged, gently smoothing her hair down,
"So are you."
There was an echoing crack that filled the air and Elena jumped, spinning just in time to watch Katherine's body hit the ground, a furious Niklaus stood behind where she was, his normally blue eyes ringed with gold,
"Go to class."
Everyone made to move, but then Nik's hand clamped around Elena's arm,
"Elena will catch up."
Elena swallowed thickly but nodded before watching as everyone left until it was just her, Niklaus, Elijah and the temporarily-dead body of Katherine left on the field.
Niklaus approached her, stalking towards her in his fury, ignoring Elijah's warning,
"Niklaus, calm down."
He didn't stop until he was stood directly in front of her, his golden eyes glowing as he stared at her,
"I should just turn you now," his voice was shaking with some barely concealed emotion that Elena couldn't name, "What were you thinking, coming out here on your own!?"
Elena bit the inside of her cheek,
"I was thinking that Katherine was going to kill someone I used to know. I was thinking that she'd hurt Caroline and that I didn't know where Kol and Rebekah were," Elena softened the defensive set of her shoulders, letting some of the fear and hurt that she'd buried leak out into her voice, "I was thinking that I am so tired of being afraid, I don't know."
Elijah disappeared from beside her, he'd whisked away Katherine's body, leaving her with Niklaus in the rain. Niklaus who looked torn between pride, fear and anger,
"And did you even stop for a second, just a second, to consider what would happen to us if we lost you now?"
Elena dropped her eyes to the ground, shuffling her feet in the mud,
"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I didn't think."
She heard Niklaus sigh and then he was wrapped around her, his arms closing around her in a tight embrace that lifted her off the ground,
"We can't lose you again, Elena, we love you. I love you."
Elena squeezed him back,
"I love you, too, Nik."
He gently put her back on the ground, his eyes had returned back to the soft baby blue that he normally sported as he gently wiped some mud off her cheek,
"We owe Ayana our thanks, then. Though I suppose she can consider it a token of goodwill, given that she took you from us in the first place."
Elena offered him a weak smile,
"She thinks I exist just to spite Esther."
Nik frowned,
"And here I thought that was my job."
Elena rolled her eyes as they started to walk back towards the school,
"I'm being serious. She says my existence is like a punishment for Esther's sins."
Nik just offered her a small smirk,
"I guess we have something in common, then," and he gently shoved her, making her grin up at him,
"I'm pretty sure I have your temper, too, so there's that."
Niklaus looked up at the sky,
"I find that the total evisceration of my enemies helps with that," she knew he was teasing her, so she bit back,
"Perhaps I'll just have to find some nasty curse for Katherine, then. Maybe I can make her literally puke her guts up."
Nik wrinkled his nose,
"Not on my flooring, if you don't mind, it takes ages to get guts out of the tiles."
Elena snorted,
"As if you do that yourself, that's what the staff is for."
Nik sniffed imperiously,
"That's besides the point."
Elena grinned,
"Do you even pay your staff or do you just compel them?"
Nik raised a brow at her, his lips quirking into an amused smirk,
"Do you really want to know?"
Elena pretended to think about it for a moment,
"Nah, I'm good. I should get to class, though and you have a doppelganger to torture for information."
Nik clapped his hands behind his back,
"That I do. I should get back to the car lest Elijah's bleeding heart makes him consider letting her go."
Elena looked over to Elijah's car,
"Somehow, I don't think he's going to let her go this time."
Nik inclined his head,
"You might be right. We take our families safety very seriously, and coming to your school to abduct you was likely the stupidest thing that woman's ever done."
Elena frowned,
"Even more stupid than running away from you and turning into a vampire?"
Nik pretended to think about it,
"Let's just say that she's a very intellectually challenged."
Elena grinned and nodded her head,
"I can agree with that."
Nik gently clapped her shoulder,
"Go, enjoy your lessons, be gentle with Kol," he looked torn and seemed to hesitate before speaking, "Kol has always been the most impulsive of us. We think that between losing you, losing Henrik and then losing his magic, Kol lost a bit of his mind. He seems more… Settled, now. Try not to judge him too harshly for his fear of losing you."
Elena's shoulders drooped,
"I know," she whispered, "I didn't mean to hide it. I think I kind of put it out of my mind, you know? And things have been so good… Its been a long time since my life was this good."
Nik nodded, as if that made complete sense to him,
"He'll be alright. So will you, you know? You're stronger than you think you are."
He gently pushed her towards the door, offering her a small wave before disappearing over to the car.
Elena watched them pull away before sucking in a deep breath and entering the school.
She went through her lessons almost robotically, none of her friends would make eye contact with her and a deep well of shame was growing in her gut as the morning ticked by.
Even Caroline, who had a never-ending source of compassion and patience, couldn't meet her eyes.
So, when the bell rang for lunch, Elena didn't spare any of them a glance before slinging her bag over her shoulder and barrelling out of the school with her head down. She unlocked her car and climbed in, slamming the door shut behind her and pushing her seat backwards, giving her space to sit comfortably.
She ignored the loneliness that burst through her chest, the strangeness at spending a lunch period without Kol sat opposite her, sliding food at her across the table. She pretended that it didn't matter to her that Caroline and Rebekah were icing her out, that Stefan couldn't meet her eyes.
She put one foot up on the dashboard and then grabbed her phone, plugging in her earphones and then popping them in her ears, letting Joan Jett's I love Rock'n'Roll fill her ears as she shut her eyes and leaned her head back.
They'd be fine. Families had arguments, right?
Except, when she'd argued with Jeremy, he'd kicked her from the family and disowned her and then she'd needed to move out-
No.
Kol wouldn't do that to her.
Elijah wouldn't let him, right?
She swallowed thickly as her lower lip began to tremble, her fingernails biting into her palms. She wouldn't cry. Not when she'd felt so good this morning.
She felt her chest squeeze uncomfortably, her breaths coming to her in rapid gasps as she jammed her key into the ignition. She couldn't do this.
She couldn't.
She pulled out of the carpark with squealing tyres. She kept her music playing as she drove away, she wasn't consciously aware of where she was going until she took the turn off for home, and then she couldn't imagine anywhere else that she'd rather be.
Elijah's car wasn't here, so wherever they'd taken Katherine, they'd not brought her here.
She flew out of her car and up the steps to the manor, cursing her shaking hands as she struggled to get the door open. She was about to give up and go sit in her car when the door swung open and Finn stood there, staring down at her with a vaguely curious expression,
"I am sure you are supposed to be at school," he stood to the side so she could enter, and she thought about her actions for a moment before deciding screw it, Finn's issues with touch weren't her problem right now. She threw herself at her oldest brother, much to his shock as she wrapped her arms around his middle section, squeezing him so tightly that if he were a human, he'd struggle to breathe. As it was, he just slowly raised his arms to offer her a gentle hug, "What is wrong?"
She wasn't aware that she'd started to cry until she tried to talk, and the words wouldn't come up her throat, she just sobbed harder, her tears soaking into Finn's shirt as he shut the front door.
They stood there for a minute, she figured Finn was probably deciding what to do about the hysterical mess in his arms, before he carefully picked her up and took her upstairs to her room, where he sat on the edge of her bed with her on his lap,
"Elijah called," he spoke slowly but surely, "He told me about your morning. Am I to assume, judging from your tears, that Kol and the others have not yet forgiven you?"
Elena's sobbing just got worse and Finn rubbed little circles into her back almost robotically, as if he weren't really sure how to make her feel better,
"They will come around," he told her, "They will not hold this against you for long."
"They, they wouldn't even look at me, Finn!" She clung to his t-shirt, "I don't know how to fix it."
Finn thought about it for a moment,
"They… Wouldn't look at you? Does that also mean they did not talk to you?"
Elena nodded shakily and Finn sighed, squeezing her slightly tighter,
"Then they are fools. You've done nothing wrong."
Elena was aware that she was trembling, but she couldn't make it stop, the same way she couldn't make the tears stop falling, either.
Finn gently stroked her hair,
"It is… jarring, to be reminded of your mortality," he told her gently, "but that is not your fault. It is not your fault that you are a human, Elena. The others will come around, and I'm sure they have lots of grovelling in their future."
He held her for what felt like hours, until the last of her tears had fallen and a bone-deep exhaustion settled on her. He gently tilted her face up to him, his dark eyes capturing hers with an open honesty that he didn't normally show anyone,
"I will run you a bath," he spoke quietly, but confidently, "and you will change into a pair of those pyjamas that I do not approve of. Then I would not blame you if you chose to spend your evening sequestered away in here. I will contact Elijah and tell him that you came home from school so that he doesn't panic."
And as he spoke, she realised that was exactly what she wanted. To be in her room, locked away and left alone for the evening. He gently tapped her chin,
"I will have your friends things moved to Rebekah's room to give you some privacy. Remember this, Elena, the only thing you did wrong today was choosing to face a five hundred year old vampire alone, and that is not a crime. You are young, you will make these mistakes. Perhaps Kol, Rebekah and your friends would benefit from being reminded that they are not the only people capable of being ignorant. Make them suffer their own medicines."
Elena sniffled and nodded, and Finn gently placed her on her bed,
"I will see to it that your dinner is brought to you and that you remain undisturbed for however long you need."
And then he was flitting into her bathroom and she heard her bath running. She slowly got up and began leafing through her drawers, picking out a simple pair of pink and white plaid pyjamas.
Finn came into her room and set about collecting up Caroline's things,
"I will check on you in a while," he told her before disappearing out of her door, closing it softly behind him.
She trudged into her bathroom and almost smiled when she saw a bubble bath waiting for her, little billows of steam rising up from clouds of white bubbles that looked far too inviting to be legal.
Maybe Finn couldn't make soup, she thought, but he could definitely run a good bath.
She dumped her dirty clothes into her hamper and climbed into her tub, grabbing her phone and putting on some gentle music to keep her company while she soaked.
She lounged in her tub for longer than she normally would, letting the hot water work out the knots in her muscles and by the time she eventually climbed out, she'd wrinkled up like a raisin but she smelt like a delightful mix of oranges and vanilla.
She changed quickly and then slowly trudged into her room. Finn was right. She'd been wrong, but so were they. If they wanted to play the ignorance game, well, they'd lose.
Elena had a lot of practice with being ignorant.
She grabbed her new laptop and climbed onto her bed, grabbing the first movie she could find and sticking it on while she made a start on the homework that she'd been given this morning.
She'd just finished writing an essay for her literature class when Finn poked his head through the door, his eyes taking her in quickly before he stepped inside,
"The others will be home soon. Elijah and Niklaus will be back before dinner, what do you want to do tonight?"
Elena offered him a weak, sad smile,
"I think I just want to hide away in here, if that's alright? Just for tonight?"
Finn nodded, as if this were the answer he'd been expecting,
"Niklaus' chef is making a gumbo for dinner, I'll bring you some when it's ready. Can I get you anything else?"
Elena bit her lip before quietly asking,
"Could you bring me a drink up? Please?"
Finn nodded,
"Do you have a preference?"
Elena shook her head; it didn't matter to her at all. Finn seemed to think about it before glancing at her homework,
"I will leave you to your studies," he told her, "If you need me, or you desire company, you'll just need to say my name. I will hear you."
She just nodded at him and he left as quietly as he'd entered.
She moved from her bed to the window seat before making a start on her history assignment, watching from behind the glass as Finn tended to his chickens and continued his preparations for the arrival of his geese. He'd spent the day building them a little house and digging out a pond for them. He'd done a good job with the garden, she thought.
He'd neatly divided it into separate sections without actually touching Nik's space. The chickens had a large, fenced off area with plenty's of grass and he'd done the same for his geese. He said the fences would protect them from predators, but Elena couldn't help but wonder if they were an anti-Stefan protection. She could also see the area that he'd marked off for the cows, a much, much larger area that had been filled with trees and shrubbery before. He'd marked out the area he'd need to fence and where the barn would go. Between the cows and the birds, he'd put a series of long, deep planter boxes which he'd told her he was going to grow a variety of vegetables in.
It was really starting to come together.
She felt a swell of pride for him in her chest, he was really starting to find his rhythm in this crazy world he'd woken up in.
She figured he must have heard Rebekah's car, because his head snapped up and she watched as his spine straightened, a shocking look of pure displeasure appearing on his face as he started to walk inside.
She'd get him some pond plants, she thought to herself. She'd research them first, to make sure they weren't toxic to any of his animals, and then she'd get him some nice plants. Maybe some water lilies and pond grass.
She eyed the chicken coop as she thought about the gift that she wanted to make for him for Christmas. Theoretically, it was simple. She wanted to carve a chicken out of some wood that he could put on the roof of the coop. It couldn't be that hard, right?
She pressed her cheek into the glass, her homework lay forgotten by her feet as she caught sight of Finn coming back outside, this time with Kol, Rebekah, Caroline and Stefan. She couldn't hear him, but she could guess at what he said as he seemed to put them all to work. She watched them for just a minute.
Finn, Kol and Stefan were digging out the pond and Caroline and Rebekah were working on the fence, putting up the chicken wire that would keep the foxes (and Stefan) out.
She bit down on her lip before climbing off the window seat and making her way over to her desk, grabbing her laptop and chucking on some music while she worked.
She kept her focus entirely on her history paper, barely sparing a thought for anything else as the minutes turned into an hour, then two.
Finn had brought her up a jug of orange juice, which he claimed to have squeezed himself, and a glass, so she sipped at that while she worked and if he was telling the truth, then she'd have to tell him it was great.
You couldn't beat freshly squeezed orange juice.
She'd nearly finished her essay when Elijah stepped into her room, a curious gleam in his eyes as he took her in,
"You've been crying." He sounded surprised, as if she wasn't rather well-known for the amount of time that she spent crying,
"Yeah, just a bit."
He leaned against her desk and she spun her chair to face him,
"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"
Elena sighed and put down her pen, rubbing her palms into her eyes,
"It's nothing, really," she didn't meet his eyes, "I just had an emotional moment and Finn got me through it."
Elijah hummed and went silent for a minute before he spoke again,
"Niklaus and I aren't here for long, we're just back for dinner. I don't suppose I can convince you to join us?"
And he must have seen the way her face paled because he sighed,
"Finn tells me that you had some trouble at school today."
Elena bit her lip and looked up to the ceiling, refusing to answer, but Elijah was persistent, as if her silence were damning enough,
"So, correct me if I am wrong, but if Finn isn't lying, then I'm not. Kol, Rebekah, Caroline and Stefan didn't react well to the events of this morning. Finn said they wouldn't speak to you, or even look at you? Is that correct?"
Elena gave the barest of nods as that ball of loneliness in her chest stabbed at her, her hands reflexively rubbing at the area and Elijah's voice was hard when he spoke next,
"So, on finding out that our little sister almost died and then was magically granted her life back to save Mister Salvatore and Miss Forbes, the others have decided to ignore you? I do not blame you for not desiring their company."
Elijah put one hand on her shoulder, squeezing it softly,
"I, for one, wish you'd told us earlier. BUT," he cupped her chin and tilted her head up, "I must applaud your bravery, Elena. You could have chosen the easy way out, the easy way to end your pain and your suffering, and you didn't. You chose to come back and fight for the people that you love. I am so, so proud of you. Even today, you handled the Katerina situation in the way you deemed to be safest. Rather than allowing her to come into the school full of innocent, mortal children, you went to face her yourself and you would have won."
Elena sucked in a sharp breath, her voice was shaky when she asked,
"You're proud of me?"
And Elijah's eyes softened as he took her in,
"Elena Mikaelson, I am so very proud of you."
She offered him a watery smile and he grabbed her hairbrush off the side before gently running it through her curls. Her eyes drifted shut as Elijah brushed her hair,
"What, exactly, did Ayana tell you?" he asked her, and Elena kept her eyes shut as she answered,
"She thinks my existence is the universe's way of punishing Esther for her sins and she thinks that Katherine was able to compel me because we're both doppelgangers. Her theory is that my magic will react more violently towards Katherine as well because only one of us should exist at a time, so sooner or later we'd be driven to kill each other."
Elijah kept running the brush through her hair while he listened,
"Exactly how close to death were you?"
Elena thought about it for a moment,
"I don't know, I guess I must have been very close for her to get me. But it's not the first time that I've seen her."
Elijah stopped for a second,
"It's not?"
Elena shook her head, and he began to brush her hair again,
"Remember the night I stole your car? I was unconscious upstairs and Ayana said she pulled me to her so that she could wake me up because I was in mortal danger, but I didn't remember that until after what happened in Montana," Elena chewed on her cheek, "She gave me a choice, you know," she confessed in a small voice, "She said I could let go, I could go and find my peace and be done, but she didn't think it was my destiny to die there. She's big on destiny, you know? And I knew that I wanted to live. And then she told me that if I chose to die, the werewolves would probably kill Stefan and Caroline and I knew that I didn't really have a choice, I had to come back and save them. I couldn't let them die."
Elijah swallowed and sucked in a deep breath through his nose,
"I sincerely hope you never see her again," he whispered, "But, Elena, I am so grateful that you chose to live."
Elena opened her eyes and looked up at him,
"I knew you guys were coming for me. What more could a girl want?"
He'd finished brushing her hair a while ago, but he kept running the brush through her curls anyway and she wondered if he found it as soothing as she did.
Eventually, he placed her brush back where he'd found it,
"I'll be right back," he told her and then he was gone, and she was left blinking. Could no one even pretend to be human in this house? They were going to give her whiplash if they kept doing this to her.
She was about to turn back to her homework when Elijah returned, a chair in one arm and a tray in the other. She jumped to her feet and took the tray from him even as he tried to tell her that he was managing.
Her eyes widened as he cleared her desk, moving her chair slightly so there was room for them both. He placed his chair next to hers and then he plucked the tray from her hands, placing down the two bowls of gumbo, a plate of bread rolls and two glasses of wine,
"You will not join me for dinner, quite understandably, so I will join you."
And she wanted to tell him that he didn't need to, that he should go and join the others, but the sheer thoughtfulness of his actions had her rendered mute as he guided her back to her seat.
It was slightly cramped, their knees were almost touching and there wasn't a lot of space on the desk, but they made it work with only a little frown from Elijah,
"This is unacceptable," he had muttered, "I will see about getting you a proper desk."
The gumbo was delicious, and she smiled at Elijah as they ate,
"Did you have much luck with Katherine?" she asked after a few minutes had passed in silence. Elijah picked up his wine glass and swirled the liquid around for a moment,
"She is… Resistant, to our questions. But we will get our answers, sooner or later."
Elena shrugged lightly,
"Let me know if I can help at all," she offered, "I can set her on fire for you if you'd like."
Elijah hummed and sipped at his wine,
"Was your friend okay in the end?"
Elena chewed on her cheek,
"Would you believe me if I said that I completely forgot to check on him? He was in class, so I assume he's alright and not missing any fingers."
Elijah frowned,
"Missing fingers?"
Elena nodded almost eagerly,
"Oh, yeah, Katherine chopped off my Uncle John's fingers. Honestly, he kinda deserved it, but still. Matt had all of his still attached, I think."
Elijah just chewed on a mouthful of bread, his eye locked on her as he swallowed,
"Elena," he began slowly, "Have you considered that you might benefit from some therapy?"
And Elena couldn't help it, she burst out laughing at the truly earnest expression on his face, her laughter bounced through the room and was apparently contagious, because then Elijah, too, started to chuckle until they were both laughing almost hysterically over their gumbo.
When they finally stopped laughing, Elena had to clutch at her stomach and wipe tears off her cheeks from where she'd laughed so hard,
"Gods, I think we all need a bit of therapy, Elijah. But come on, be serious, do you know any vampire therapists? Because I can't go rocking into the school counsellor like 'hi I'm Elena Mikaelson, a doppelganger who has died once and then nearly died several times since then, by the way my family are the Original vampires, my sister is dating my ex who is also a vampire and by the way, I got sent a thousand years through time because on top of all that, I'm also a witch.'"
Elijah grinned at her and nodded,
"Okay, when you say it like that, I can understand why you'd have trouble finding a good therapist."
Elena giggled,
"Oh, and by the way, that time I died? Yeah, my big brother killed me so he could be a werewolf, now the git feels so guilty about it that he won't take my blood to make more hybrids despite that being the whole reason I died anyway. Also, I stabbed my sister and set fire to many, many insane werewolves."
Elijah rolled his eyes,
"Yes, yes, I get your point," he conceded and Elena grinned at him as she popped another spoonful of gumbo into her mouth, "Now, stop laughing at me and eat your dinner, lest I see you tomorrow and find that you've starved to death overnight."
And, without thought, Elena picked up one of the bread rolls, ripped a chunk of it off and threw it at Elijah's head. She watched as the bread collided with his cheek, a distinctly unimpressed look growing on his face as he plucked the chunk of bread off of his lap,
"We should work on your throwing technique," was all the warning she got before Elijah threw the bread back at her, landing it squarely into her curls, where it immediately got tangled and she grumbled as she fished it out, ignoring the smug grin on his face.
They ate the rest of their dinner in a comfortable silence, and when they were finished and the wine was gone, Elijah sighed before beginning to stack the dishes back onto the tray,
"I'm afraid this is where I'll leave you for tonight. I've informed Finn that you struggle to get to sleep without company, so don't be surprised if he comes by to help you get to sleep. More specifically, don't be surprised when you find out he's spiked either your food or your drink with sleeping tablets."
Elena frowned softly,
"He wouldn't, would he?"
Elijah just shrugged,
"He might. Goodnight Elena, have fun on your field trip tomorrow. Do try to enjoy it, I'll try to be here when you get back so you can tell me all about it."
Elena smiled softly at her brother before opening her door for him,
"Night, Elijah. Thank you for keeping me company during dinner and good luck with Katherine. I'll see you tomorrow." She gave him a quick hug that he couldn't return and then she watched him leave her room.
She shut the door behind him, stubbornly ignoring the overwhelming sense of loneliness that followed his exit.
Elena finished off her history essay, drank the rest of the orange juice that Finn had given her and then, with nothing else to do, she curled up in her bed and put her phone on charge.
Caroline should have been in here. She should have been rummaging through Elena's wardrobe to pick out an outfit that she deemed acceptable for making a good first impression. She'd have taken delight in making Elena try everything on, and Elena would have let her. She'd have put on as many outfits as Caroline had asked, just to see the smile that her best friend would give her.
Elena slid out from under her covers and approached her closet, flicking the light on as soon as she opened the door.
She leafed through the clothes that Elijah had brought for her.
Some of it was very Elijah, very professional and more suited for work than for a day trip to a potential college and some of it was clearly outfits designed for various trips out.
In the end, she settled on a black pair of bootcut jeans that had little red hearts embroidered onto the back pockets and a nice light blue silk shirt that was designed to be tight around the middle, with a matching silk belt that wound around it. It was simple enough that it wasn't overstated, but nice enough that she'd look respectable. She'd leave a few of the top buttons undone for a hint of cleavage.
With her mind made up, she picked out the clothes and put them on her chest of drawers ready for the morning.
She curled back under her covers just as Finn slid into her room. He sat beside her feet, looking at her with a hint of uncertainty in his gaze,
"I am not sure how to offer you comfort," he told her, and she offered him a small smile,
"Just stay with me? Just until I fall asleep."
Finn nodded,
"You will not fall asleep with your eyes open."
Elena got herself comfortable and then obediently shut her eyes.
Perhaps Elijah was right, perhaps Finn actually did spike her food.
Because it felt like the moment she shut her eyes, she was asleep.