Chapter Seventeen
"I'm telling you, Care, I can't take it, you're going to have to do something about him. Either kiss him or kill him, I don't care, but my poor human heart can't take it!"
Caroline was still giggling as they drove back to the manor and Elena was more than happy to take the opportunity to tease her while she couldn't fight back,
"I know he's a jerk, and he stinks of dog and you'll probably never be able to have a cat, but just think… He's rich and his love language is gifts, you'll love it. And sometimes, he can be nice, just as long as he's fed and the wind is blowing in a certain direction-"
"Elena! Stop! I- I can't," Caroline was gripping her steering wheel with one hand and her stomach with the other, "I'm not going to kiss your brother!"
Elena gave her a side-eye before grinning,
"I bet he'd just die if you flashed him a bit of cleavage," Caroline's mouth fell open as her eyes widened and Elena cackled, "Not a full boob, obviously, we want him to be funny, not feral. Oh, go on, do it for me!"
Caroline shook her head as they took the turn off towards the manor,
"Shut up, now," Caroline hissed as the manor came into view, "Or I'm showing Finn the pictures I took this evening."
Elena mimed zipping her mouth shut and Caroline narrowed her eyes as the girls caught sight of Kol sat on the porch, his eyes trained on their car until they'd parked, then he was at Elena's door, holding it open for her,
"What pictures?" he asked as the girls climbed out of the vehicle, his eyes trained on Elena, "Don't tell me you're going to break Niklaus' heart by coming out as a lesbian couple," he wrinkled his nose, "I am not putting up with a moping Niklaus. I simply won't do it."
Caroline just shot Elena an evil grin,
"Oh, no, nothing like that," Elena's eyes narrowed at her friend as Kol raised a brow at them, "We were helping Enzo get into the Christmas spirit."
Kol froze, his teeth grinding,
"I don't like the way that sounds," he hissed, and Elena snorted, whacking him in the chest,
"Get your mind out of the gutter, we were just helping him decorate for Christmas. It's his first one in seventy years, we just wanted to make sure that he knew he wasn't alone."
Kol frowned, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest,
"Where was my invite? I could've helped."
Elena was suddenly very grateful that they hadn't invited him,
"We didn't think you'd be interested," she cut in, shooting him a grin, "I saw the way you reacted to having to go tree shopping, you know."
Kol blinked, thoroughly unimpressed,
"I'm not bothered about tree shopping," he told her in a dead-pan voice, "I'm bothered about tree shopping with Niklaus. He's insufferable when he's after something particular." At that, both Elena and Kol shot Caroline a grin, and she turned from them both with a huff before making her way up the steps towards the house,
"Come on, I'm tired and we've still got homework to do."
Elena sighed, there was just no rest for the wicked at all.
And so, her last week at school passed. Enzo texted her occasionally, little updates about his search for his friend, or to talk to her about the book that he'd borrowed, but other than that, it was just a fairly normal week.
On Saturday morning, Elena was awake far before the sun rose and she danced as silently across her room as she could.
Christmas was now just one short week away and she'd spent her past week dividing her time between doing Christmas themed crafts with Caroline and working on her wood carving with Nik.
She and Caroline had completely filled her room with various crafts, including paper chains that hung from her curtain rails, paper snowflakes that Caroline had hung from the ceiling, snow men made from pompoms and they'd handmade a stack of cards each. It had been their 'fun Christmas prep' that Caroline had insisted that they absolutely needed to do.
Her wooden lumps were beginning to vaguely resemble chickens now, but with a little over a week till the big day, Elena was beginning to think she should get Finn something else, too, just in case.
After all, she'd be a really crappy sister if she just gifted him a piece of malformed wood and insisted that it was actually a very thoughtfully made chicken.
So that was something she'd have to find time for between the tight schedule that Caroline had made, her extra work hours and trying to find the time to bond with Jeremy and her other siblings.
She had a very busy Christmas break planned.
And it started today.
She had made the choice to forego her morning run today and instead, she focussed on the chickens, giving them some of the fresh vegetable peelings from last night's dinner as a little treat alongside their specialised feed. She collected up the few eggs that had been laid with the same giddy excitement that she'd felt the first time she'd seen them.
Finn assured her that the eggs would be more frequent when spring and summer arrived and that she should see their laying now as a sign that they were doing a good job, because the birds were comfortable enough to be laying outside of their normal seasons.
She didn't approach the geese.
She'd promised Elijah and Finn that she would leave the geese well enough alone until the spring, so Finn would tend to them when he woke.
She cleaned off the eggs from the chickens and left them in her little basket for Elijah to find when he woke and then she grabbed her keys, phone and purse before writing Elijah a little note and leaving it with the eggs,
Elijah,
I've gone to pick up Jeremy from the train station, I should be back before it's time to leave!
Enjoy the eggs!
Elena
And then, while the mega-old vampires above her slept and snored away (And she could tell you with complete honesty that Niklaus had a terribly loud snore!), she slipped out of the front door as quietly as she could and climbed into her car.
Jeremy had caught a sleeper train, and he'd texted her throughout the night about his journey before he'd finally fallen asleep, and she'd be lying if she tried to say that she wasn't excited to see him again.
Kol had been right at the ball; he'd given her the best thing in the world.
Because for once, just this once, Elena got to have it all.
And as she looked back on the frankly horrifying journey that she'd been on to get to this point, Elena knew she'd do it all again. This slice of life was everything.
Even if she had to wake up at four in the morning in order to get her chores done before picking up her brother who was due at six.
And then there was no rest for the wicked, because they were all going shopping today.
But still, Elena couldn't fight off the cloud of joy that had permeated into her brain and she didn't even want to try.
The traffic was light as she passed out of Mystic Falls and began the drive to the city, and she had her phone plugged into the in-car charger while it blared out some Avril Lavigne that she enjoyed singing along to as she drove.
She made it to the station with twenty minutes to spare and by the time she pulled into a parking space, her stomach was beginning to make itself known.
If she kept getting hungry like this, she grumbled to herself, she'd have to replace her wardrobe. As it was, her clothes were beginning to get rather snug.
She was just switching which album that she was listening to when her phone began to ring and she grinned as Elijah's name lit up her screen,
"Hey, 'Lijah,"
"Hello, Elena, I take it that you've arrived without incident?"
Elena laughed, leaning back into her seat as she watched the train tracks,
"If that means getting here without being abducted or run off the road, then yes. The only incident I've met so far are these parking charges."
She could hear the smile in Elijah's voice,
"Good, I'm glad. I just thought I'd let you know that I've prepared a takeaway breakfast for yourself and Jeremy to eat in the car while we travel to wherever it is that Niklaus has decided we must go to."
"You didn't have to do that," she couldn't help the rush of fondness that raced through her, "But I'm grateful that you did. The stuff you make is always better than the stuff I can get in the store."
"You're very welcome. You could have woken one of us to accompany you, you know?"
At that, Elena giggled,
"Wait, so me, plus one of you, plus Jeremy and his labrador, all crammed into my little car?"
There was a pause,
"You might have a point," he conceded, "I'd have let you take my car if you'd needed it."
The grin didn't leave her face,
"Elijah, if I asked, you'd give me your car, very happily. No, I'm good. This baby's still got some life in her," she patted the steering wheel with a small grin and she heard the very audible sigh that Elijah let out,
"Fine, fine. I should go, Niklaus is demanding bacon and eggs for his breakfast, and I mustn't disappoint His Royal Majesty."
"Tell his Royal Highness to make his own breakfast," she wondered if he could hear the grin on her face the way she could hear his, "I'll be back soon. See you later,"
"See you soon, Elena."
And then the call disconnected, and her music came back through the speaker.
She sat there in the peace of her car for a few minutes before she spotted Jeremy's train pull into the station and she grinned as she launched herself out of her car, jogging over to the platform just in time to see her little brother awkwardly manoeuvring himself and his dog off the train.
She ran forward and took his suitcase from him,
"Here, let me help," she took him in with a grin that wouldn't slide off her face.
He returned her grin easily before wrapping her in his arms,
"It's so good to see you, 'Lena," he whispered into her hair, and she burrowed her head into his shoulder,
"It's good to see you, too! And look at you," she pulled back slightly and had to incline her head to look up at him, "Look how tall you're getting! You know that's illegal, right? You're supposed to be shorter than me."
Jeremy grinned and ruffled her hair with his free hand,
"It's physically impossible to be shorter than you," he gestured to his golden coated labrador who was currently salivating on Elena's shoes, "This is Daisy, she's not quite a year old yet so she's still full of energy."
Elena crouched down and stroked the pretty dog that was staring at her with large brown eyes,
"Hello, Daisy, aren't you a beautiful girl? Yes, you are, that's right, yes you are."
She had a bright blue collar on, and she was at that awkward dog stage where her legs looked longer than they ought to be, but it was clear to Elena that she was very loved.
Her fur was soft, and her tail was wagging and when Elena pet her, Daisy smothered her with kisses as a reward, which just served to entertain Jeremy.
"Come on, lets walk around for a minute and see if Daisy here needs to use the toilet before I drive us home."
They dropped off Jeremy's suitcase into her trunk and then walked around the parking lot,
"Is it weird?" Jeremy asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence, "Calling their house home?"
Elena frowned and looked up at the sky before sighing,
"I don't know how to explain it," she told him quietly, "But I think after our parents died, I fell into a really bad place, y'know? And I thought that Stefan was helping me out of it, but I think he was just helping me to hide it. To bury the grief behind a smile and as long as I told myself 'Today's a new day' I didn't have to think about yesterday," She noticed the moment that Jeremy spied her tremors, "But then, after this summer, I felt like I was drowning, and no one really cared or noticed… I lost everything, Jer. I lost you; I lost our house, I lost Ric and the Salvatores, Bonnie… I felt like my whole world had just stopped spinning and all I had for weeks were these memories that came to me in little flashes… Then Care came back and she tried, she really, really tried to fix me up and give me the confidence that I'd lost," she kicked a stone as she passed it, noticing the way that Jeremy wasn't interrupting her, "But then the Mikaelsons came back and they literally barged their way into my life, especially after they found out the truth and I guess I started to feel better, a little less alone."
She turned to him then, adamantly ignoring her tremors as she offered him a weak smile,
"Then Montana happened, and it's been so hard, I still can't get the shaking to stop… But they came for me, they flew straight out to come and get me as soon as they knew where I was and then Elijah just knew I wasn't okay, and he's really stepped up, I'd almost say he's been more of a dad to me than he has been a brother, and he convinced me to move in with them. To just be a silly, eighteen year old girl and honestly? I thought it would be weirder than it is. It's easy, it's comfortable, and it's a family, you know? And now you're back, I just can't put into words how much this all means to me."
Jeremy enveloped her back into his arms, resting his head on top of hers,
"I'm glad they found you," he whispered to her just as the rain started, "I'm so glad that you've not been left all on your own. I can't imagine what it must have been like for you… I know this whole break is important, and I think I owe it to both of us to try and fit, yeah?"
Elena just grinned,
"You already do fit, Jer. Come on, I think Daisy's done her business and we ought to get back before Niklaus decides that we've been gone too long and they come to get us. He can be very impatient when it's not him that's running late."
Jeremy grinned and nodded, cleaning up after Daisy before loading her into the backseat.
It wasn't the most comfortable drive she'd ever had, she could say that. Daisy kept sticking her head onto Elena's shoulder and licking her face, and when she wasn't doing that, she was trying to squeeze herself between the gaps in the seats to sit on Jeremy's lap.
It was when she climbed onto Elena's lap, though, that she had to pull over and fix Jeremy with a stern look,
"Jer, Daisy is lovely, and I am more than happy to have puppy cuddles, but seriously!? Elijah will kill me if I crash today!"
Jeremy laughed at her, but he did take the hint and move Daisy back into the back of the car as she pulled back onto the road.
"You look better," he told her as they neared the Manor, "Healthier and happier, I mean. A little less like you're knocking on heavens door."
Elena rolled her eyes and fixed him with a little grin,
"Thanks, I think."
He leaned back into his seat, tapping his hands against his knees as they pulled up onto the driveway.
Elena couldn't help but grin as her family spilled out of the front door, each of them dressed in their over-the-top winter wear looking like a classier, male dominated Kardashian family.
She climbed out of her seat before Daisy had a chance to sit on her again and she went round to the trunk to grab Jeremy's suitcase while he found himself being accosted by Finn, who couldn't help but be drawn to any animal that he could find.
She pretended not to notice the way Finn's eyes appraised her while he stroked Daisy.
He was totally going to use her as a reason to buy a dog, wasn't he?
She'd barely gotten the suitcase out of the trunk before Elijah plucked it from her grip, a fond smile on his face as he took her in,
"I'll get Jeremy and Daisy settled, you climb into the car and get comfortable, your breakfast is on your seat."
"Thanks, 'Lijah." She gave him a quick, one-armed hug before making sure that she had her phone, keys and purse and then climbing into the trunk of Elijah's car, taking her seat and only being vaguely surprised when Rebekah claimed the seat beside her,
"Bloody men," she grumbled beneath her breath, "We get stuck in the trunk just because they all have freakishly long legs."
Elena giggled and watched as Rebekah fished out her phone,
"How's Stefan?" She nudged Rebekah with her shoulder and Rebekah rolled her eyes,
"I don't get why he couldn't come with us today."
"Because, 'Bekah, there wouldn't be enough seats in the car," Kol sat in front of Rebekah and turned to her with a vicious grin, "Thought I wouldn't object too much if we tied him to the tyres."
Rebekah kicked the back of his seat and sneered at him,
"You think you're so funny," she crossed her arms over her chest, "He could've driven me."
"This is a family outing, Rebekah. Do cease your infernal whining for once and try to have a good time?" Niklaus was sat in the driver's seat, his blue eyes staring at Rebekah from the rear-view mirror and Rebekah just sighed,
"Fine, fine," and Elena got the impression that this was not the first time they'd had this argument today.
Elena opened the little bag that Elijah had left for her, and she grinned at the Tupperware full of cut up fruits and the croissant that he'd likely have had to wrestle Niklaus for.
He'd also given her a bottle of water and a fork to eat her fruit with.
She had just started to pick apart her croissant when Elijah came back with Jeremy and Finn behind him.
Elijah claimed the front passenger seat, and it was weird, she thought, for him to not be driving. She couldn't help but wonder how Niklaus had gotten him to hand over the keys.
Jeremy was put, rather strategically she thought, into the middle seat with Finn and Kol on either side of him.
"Has everyone got their seatbelts on?" Elijah turned in his seat, flicking his eyes over each of them before nodding, "Right. At your leisure, then, Niklaus."
Which was all the permission that Niklaus needed to start the car and begin to drive.
They'd hardly been in the car for thirty minutes before Jeremy asked the one question that had the whole car going silent.
He turned in his seat, locking eyes with Elena and furrowing his brows slightly,
"Bonnie says she's been trying to get your forgiveness, but you're being difficult… What's up with that? You two have been friends forever."
Elena dug her nails into her palms and chewed on her lip as Kol met her eyes and then she sighed, her shoulders drooping,
"Bonnie apologised to me the same day that I came back from Montana," she muttered, locking her eyes onto the roof of the car, "But it wasn't really an apology, Jer. She just didn't like the idea that I could've died holding a grudge, and she apologised, not to make me feel better, but to make her own guilt ease. And then there was what she said about Enzo-"
Jeremy frowned,
"Wait, who's Enzo?"
Elena sighed before quickly explaining to Jeremy what had happened at Whitmore and Jeremy's eyes grew wider as she spoke,
"So, wait, Bonnie thought he should've continued to suffer? For science?"
Elena glared up at the ceiling,
"There was nothing about science in what that man was doing. Maybe there was, once, but not by the time I got there. I've outgrown her, Jer. If Bonnie wants my forgiveness, if she wants to be friends, then she needs to grow up and join the real world."
Kol snorted from his place beside Jeremy,
"That's not going to happen, Little Bird."
Elena shrugged,
"Then she'll never earn my forgiveness."
Jeremy jerkily nodded his head,
"She didn't tell me any of that," he muttered, and Elena sighed,
"I don't expect you to cut her off or anything like that. I get that she's still special to you-"
"I'm good, actually. See, I believe in this thing called basic human rights."
And then the awkward conversation was over as quickly as it had begun.
Elijah asked Jeremy about how he was doing in Denver, and Jeremy told him all about the baseball team he was on and the advanced art course that he'd just qualified for,
"It sounds like you're doing really well, Jeremy."
Jeremy nodded, a broad grin on his face,
"It's easier when no one knows who you are or what you've been through," he admitted with an awkward shrug, "No one's looking over my shoulder and waiting for the next meltdown, I guess."
And Elena was proud of him, she would never, ever deny that, but there was a little part of her, a tiny, dark spot, that almost wished he wasn't happy, that things weren't going his way so that he'd come home.
She stamped that voice down immediately, telling herself that it was better this way.
Jeremy deserved to have a nice, normal life. He deserved to go to school and study and succeed. He deserved to be amazing.
And if it was getting out of Mystic Falls that did that for him, then she'd support his decision to stay away.
At least he was here now. And he called, and emailed, he wasn't just gone.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she fished it out, opening a picture message from Caroline and then muffling her giggles behind her hand.
Caroline had a breakfast guest invading her kitchen in his leather jacket, Enzo was leaning against her kitchen counters and had one of Liz's cookies in his hand. Beneath it, Caroline had written,
Look who's loitering! u jealous yet?
Elena grinned and then tapped Kol on the shoulder, writing into her phone,
Snap a pic of Nik for me?
Kol wrinkled his nose and then shrugged, snatching her phone out of her hand and leaning forward, snapping a picture of a scowling Niklaus before handing her phone back to her.
She grinned as she sent Care the photo, repeating word-for-word the caption that Caroline had written.
Caroline didn't reply.
About an hour later, they were pulling into a Christmas tree farm which Niklaus must have failed to research properly because she was fairly certain he wouldn't have picked this one if he'd known that it also had a farm supply store that had Finn sitting straighter in his seat and even Elijah was shaking his head and glaring at Niklaus.
And Elena got the distinct impression that she was going to get the blame for something today. She wasn't sure what it would be, yet, but there was always something at these places.
As soon as Nik had parked, Elena and Rebekah were crawling out of the trunk and stretching their arms out over their heads and then Elena dropped her head onto Rebekah's shoulder as the rain battered into her hair,
"I should've brought a hat," she grumbled into her amused sister's shoulder, "I am a dumb, dumb human."
And then she was being spun around, and Elijah was smoothing her hair out before he slid her black beanie over her rapidly-returning curls and she shot him with a beaming grin,
"You just think of everything, don't you?"
Elijah tucked a few of her loose curls under the rim of her hat and returned her grin with a soft smile,
"That is my job," and then he wrapped her scarf around her neck, tying it in the proper fashion before gently patting her cheek, "We could be here for a while," he told her quietly, "Niklaus can be… Selective… About these sorts of things."
Elena scowled,
"You mean he's fussy, right?"
Elijah just sighed,
"And that's assuming," he completely glossed over her comment, "That we can keep Finn out of the farm store. This could be a very long day indeed."
Elena leant her head onto his shoulder as his arm wrapped around her,
"What that translates to in Elena speak is that I'll be totally sleeping through the ride home."
Elijah rubbed her back,
"That's probably accurate. If it brings you any relief, I believe Kol is in the process of kidnapping Jeremy."
Elena frowned,
"How's that supposed to bring me relief?"
Elijah grinned,
"Because it means that neither of them will be hanging off of you."
"Or they both will," she mock-grumbled and Elijah chuckled,
"I suppose, yes, that's a possibility."
Elena just sighed and curled into her brother's side, letting him guide her as they followed along behind the others into the tree farm.
The difficulty in shopping with Niklaus, as she discovered over the next several hours, was that his Hybrid vision was vastly superior to her puny human eyes, and every tree that she or Jeremy pointed out had some form of deformity that they simply couldn't see.
After a while, she began to suspect that he was making it up. And she'd have believed that if he didn't do the same thing to the trees that the others pointed out, too, stating that his vision was clearly superior, and they should just listen to him.
So, they trudged along in the cold, whipping rain until he finally found one that he liked.
The problem was that he wanted several.
Elena had been so relieved when he'd finally found one that met his very specific list of qualities that a tree needed to possess that she was utterly baffled when he ordered Kol and Jeremy to begin the process of chopping it down while they went in search of the next one.
Jeremy's cheeks were now flushed with the cold, but he was sporting a wicked grin that told Elena he was getting on with Kol maybe a little bit too well.
Still, she didn't protest when Elijah tucked her back under his arm, gently leading her through the trees as they followed along behind Niklaus, Rebekah and Finn.
As it would happen, Niklaus wanted three Christmas trees.
One for the entrance hall, one for the dining room and one for the sitting room.
And yes, he expected them all to be decorated by the entire family.
He called it bonding, Rebekah called it enforced servitude.
The one that he picked for the entrance hall was going to have to be delivered, because it was a monster of a tree.
If Caroline were here, she'd have definitely accused him of over-compensating.
As it was, Elena didn't give a damn about trees anymore.
In fact, if she had to look at another damned tree today, she was going to revolt.
"I wish to go into the farm store."
"Yes, Finn, we heard you the first ten times. We're literally heading that way now, patience is a virtue, Brother." Niklaus had been riding the smug-train since he'd finally picked out the tree for the dining room.
Finn cast him an emotionless glace, which was just made funnier by the fact that the rain had glued his hair to his forehead and his woollen coat was now probably heavier than she was.
"Psst, Elijah," she tugged on the sleeve of his coat, and he turned to her with patient, inquisitive eyes, "This time next year, I'm ill. Or busy. Or working."
Elijah shook his head, a mock-serious expression on his face,
"I'm afraid the only way out of this is death, Little Elena, and I'm afraid to say that we will go to great measures to make sure you remain alive."
Elena pouted,
"What if I just die a little bit?"
Elijah shook his head,
"Unacceptable, I'm afraid."
Elena rolled her eyes with a grin,
"Come on, we both know that if you lot have your way, I'd only be dead for a moment anyway, then I'd be waking up and craving that sweet, sweet O positive and then I could totally stay at the Manor."
Elijah blinked, a hint of seriousness in his eyes as he appraised her,
"I was under the impression that you did not wish to be a vampire," he spoke slowly, his eyes carefully watching her face as she shrugged,
"I figure it's an inevitability, really. I mean, look at who my family are," she gestured towards him, and he cocked his head,
"But would you be happy?"
And the grin that Elena threw at him was so bright, she could have lit the whole damn Manor on her own,
"I'm the happiest that I've ever been," she told him seriously, "I don't think I'm ready to turn yet, don't get me wrong, I'd like to grow up a little bit more, but I don't think I ever want to give this up, either."
The smile that Elijah blessed her with made her think she probably should have cleared that up with him a while ago, because for a moment, Elijah's entire face lifted. Gone were the shadows that occasionally haunted his eyes, gone was the serious set of his jaw and the guarded shimmer of his eyes. Instead, he looked like she'd just lifted a thousand years of stress from his shoulders, and he looked impossibly younger,
"That is a relief to hear," he murmured to her, "The others will also be relieved, the idea of your mortality has been a dark cloud over our minds since we found out that you were alive."
Elena grinned at him and nudged him with her elbow,
"To be fair, I think Kol or Nik would have operated on the whole 'act now and apologise later' thing and changed me if they needed to anyway."
Elijah looked up to the sky and nodded, a soft smile stretching over his lips,
"I do believe that you are correct," he told her, "Come, let us go and see what animal Finn has inevitably found."
And God, Elena wished that she could blame it on Finn, say that it was entirely his fault… But she'd be lying.
All Finn did was approach her and Elijah as they entered the store with the most ridiculously cute Pygmy Goat in his arms, a soft look on his face as he held it out to Elena.
And for God's sake, when the cute little thing curled up in her arms and fell asleep, Elena was done for.
And Elijah? He was still riding the emotional high of Elena's little revelation and when his eyes landed on her face, he declared right then and there that he'd be buying a breeding pair.
So, Elena and Finn were now the proud owners of a pair of pygmy goats.
Somehow, Elena was sure that this was entirely Finn's fault.
Niklaus had tried to be angry, he really, really tried.
But Elijah was the one in charge of driving them home and Finn's little goat wasn't as settled as Elena's, which had fallen asleep on her lap and stayed that way, and it had hopped over onto Niklaus' lap, gently butting its head against Nik's chest and yelling at him until Nik reached out and pet him,
"I still don't like you," he scowled at the goat, "With your freaky little eyes. I cannot believe we're taking goats home. This is unacceptable, hey, stop chewing my shirt you little fiend!"
And he melted.
Elena didn't think he could help it, actually. She had this theory that he was like any basic female teenager, he just melted inside when he was faced with baby animals.