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Elijah comes back just as things are getting crazy again, of course. At first, when Elena opens her door to see him standing there, she thinks maybe he's involved. Klaus is gone, but who's to say what Elijah's motives are?
"Elena," he says, smiling softly. "I was wondering if I might talk to you?"
He takes her to the woods — where he used to live, where the caves are, where he'd left her with Rebekah once — and she says, "How've you been?"
He looks at the trees and says, "Changing. What my mother almost did, it got me thinking. I was wrong to do as I did, killing whenever it suited my purposes. I decided to become a man with more integrity than that."
"So ... you don't kill people any more, is that what you're saying?"
"Yes." He looks at her. "Not to feed, and not for any purpose of my own. Nor anyone else's."
Elena nods, taking this in. "That's great, but — why are you telling me this? Why are you here?"
"I came back," he waits until she's properly looking at him and says, "to ask you if you would like to have dinner with me." As far as she can guess, he's sincere.
"That's it? You came back here to ask me out?"
"I would of course understand if you said no. I haven't always treated you well, and I apologise again for that. You need not fear me, I won't stay where I'm not wanted. Just give me an honest answer — would you like to have dinner with me?"
Elena takes a deep breath, looks at him, and says, "Yes, Elijah. I'd like that."
*
"You're what?" Caroline drops the shirt she's holding. "You're dating Elijah?"
"I'm not dating him," Elena says, pulling a dress out of her wardrobe and holding it up to herself in the mirror. "I'm going on one date with him."
"One date can lead to dating. Oh my God, Elena, what if it doesn't work out and he goes crazy and kills the whole town —"
"Caroline. Relax. He doesn't kill people any more. Besides," she turns back to the mirror, "it's not like I haven't dated vampires before. Ones who actually did go crazy and try to kill the whole town."
"Okay, true, but — what about Stefan and Damon? I mean, I thought things were already complicated enough with them."
Elena puts another dress back into her wardrobe and sits next to Caroline on the bed. "Things are complicated with them. Stefan ... I don't know if things could ever be really okay with me and Stefan. I still have feelings for him, but — it's just different." Caroline takes her hand and squeezes it gently. "And Damon, well —"
"Bad idea," Caroline nods.
"Yes. Very bad idea," Elena sighs.
Caroline looks at her with such honest concern that Elena wants to hug her. "Do you ... like Elijah? I mean, he's an Original. He tried to kill you that one time —"
"I know. And he had to, to kill Klaus, or try to. That was never about me. I forgave him for that a long time ago. Besides, I killed him once too, remember?"
Caroline smiles sadly at her. "So do you like him?"
"Yeah. I mean — I feel something for him. I always liked that he kept to his word. And I couldn't let him just die when Esther was trying to do that spell. He's ... I feel like I can trust him."
"Those are all reasons to be his friend," Caroline points out. "What about more? I mean, do you like him, like, wanna date him like him? Do you think he's hot?"
"Have you seen him?" Caroline laughs, so Elena does too. It feels like a decade since they just sat in her bedroom talking about boys. Men, Elena thinks, given the age she tends to go for these days. "I don't know, Caroline. I — I like him enough to want to see how this date goes."
"Do you want to kiss him?" Caroline asks, watching her closely.
Elena thinks of what kissing Elijah might be like. She has a fleeting thought — Sex with vampires is amazing, what would sex with an Original be like? — and pushes it aside. "Yeah," she answers, a little breathless.
"Okay." Caroline nods. "Well — I guess of all the vampires you could date, he's probably the best choice."
"Probably," Elena agrees, smiling. She goes over to her wardrobe again and pulls out a fairly new dress. It's wine-red, stops just below her knees, and is casual enough for the Grill yet dressy enough for a date with a man who always wears nice suits. She slips it on and says, "What do you think?"
"You look gorgeous," Caroline beams at her.
Alaric's in the kitchen when she goes downstairs to grab her coat. "I guess you heard that?" she says.
"You know I don't listen," he says, but he doesn't ask her if she's really sure she wants to do this, so he must have heard a little. "Be careful," he says, and she hugs him.
"I will."
Elijah's waiting for her at the Grill. He leads her to a booth, takes her coat, kisses her cheek, and says, "You look lovely."
Elena tries not to blush.
"I see your bodyguards are out in force," Elijah says, voice light. He's a little hurt, though. Elena follows the inclination of his head to see Tyler at the bar, Stefan and Bonnie playing pool, and Matt shooting them glances as he goes past.
Elena sighs. "Can I not just have one night without prying eyes?" She turns to him. "I did not ask any of them to be here."
Elijah looks at her for a moment, then nods. "I had hoped we could trust one another."
"We can. I do," Elena says, leaning forward. "Elijah, please believe me — I just wanted to come here and have dinner with you."
Elijah smiles. It's genuine, and it makes him look more handsome than he already did. "I'm very glad to hear it." He opens the menu.
She orders a Coke and he orders a glass of wine; when the waitress is gone, Elena turns to him and says, "I'd join you, but."
"That's all right." He smiles again, though it isn't happiness behind it. "I'm aware that you're nineteen, Elena, and I can see that it bothers you. The age difference."
"Well — a little." 140-odd years' age difference didn't bother her, but Elijah is a thousand.
"It's understandable. As for me, if I cared about a thing like that, I'd never date anyone." He looks at her intently for a minute, and Elena thinks about how the only people Elijah's age are his siblings. Suddenly, she thinks that must get lonely.
"Of course." Elena looks up as their drinks arrive, and stirs the ice in her glass with a straw. "I'm sorry. It's just — it'll take a little getting used to."
"Only if you want to." Elijah sips his wine with an air of waiting.
Elena decides to stop being cautious about liking him and just let herself see if this could go somewhere good. "I want to get to know you," she says. "Tell me about your life here, before you died."
Elijah gets the look in his eyes the past seems to bring up in everyone over a hundred. "It was ... beautiful. Our village was a peaceful one, though we hid every full moon."
Elena drops her chin onto her hand as he talks about playing with Henrik in the caves, Esther teaching them simple spells, learning to swordfight with Klaus. He doesn't mention Mikael much.
"And what about you?" he says, when they've almost finished eating. "What about your childhood here?"
Elena looks around the Grill. "I have a lot of memories in this place. My parents took me and Jeremy here for ice cream the day he started school. I used to come here every day after school with Bonnie and Caroline, in middle school, and we'd drink milkshakes and make fun of our teachers." She tells him about Mr Peterson, their eighth-grade math teacher, who always started classes with a trust circle, and Ms French, their seventh-grade English teacher, who'd been so strict once she hadn't let a kid with a nosebleed go see the nurse until class was over. It all seems so small next to growing up in a Viking village a thousand years ago, but Elijah listens with a slight smile.
"You must miss your parents," he says, when she tells him about the time she came home with a bad report card and her dad made her tea and asked if he could help.
Elena smiles. "All four of them, weirdly. My mom and dad, I miss them every day. And then sometimes I miss Isobel, and Uncle John." He looks confused, so she tells him about the adoption. "I guess my life was always going to be weird," she says. "I mean, my birth mother turned into a vampire, and my parents hated vampires and had a weapons stash in the lakehouse."
"I can understand that," Elijah nods. "One part of your family hating vampires, another part being them."
"Of course. Your father." Elena feels rather stupid for a minute, but then rallies. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. We have some things in common, you and I, and they're not all going to be pleasant." He gives her a tight smile, and she realises why when a few seconds later Stefan stops by their booth.
Elena sighs. "What is it, Stefan?"
"I just got a call from Damon. Thought you'd want to know how tonight went."
Damon and Katherine had said they'd figure out what the hybrids were doing, but she is in the middle of a date. "Can't you tell me tomorrow?" she asks.
"Not really. They found out that Klaus has hybrids watching Jeremy in Denver."
Elena feels cold down her spine. "What? Is he okay? What are they doing?"
"He's fine. For now. Damon's gone to make sure he stays that way."
"Good." She relaxes. "I'll talk to Jeremy tomorrow. And you, I guess." She gives him a pointed look.
"Right." He glances at Elijah, then back to her. "Have a good night."
"Are you all right?" Elijah asks, once Stefan's gone.
"Yeah." She runs a hand through her hair. The feel of it falling back into place calms her. "I just have one more thing to worry about now."
"Klaus won't do anything to Jeremy," Elijah says, face grim. "He just wants you to think he will."
"I hope so." She lets a breath out. "Okay. No more thinking about danger or hybrids or anyone's brother. Everybody is fine right now, and I want to continue enjoying my date."
Elijah's face softens as he looks at her. "That's a wonderful idea. It's time for dessert."
Elena eats chocolate cake and asks Elijah about what he's been up to lately. He says, "Travelling. I was in New York last year, then Europe. Before I came here, I was in Italy."
"If you were in Italy, why'd you come back here?" Elena loves her town, but she can't see how it's better than Europe.
"I couldn't stop thinking about you," he answers, face so open and honest it makes her breath catch. "I wanted to see if you were all right, and if there was a chance you'd reciprocate my feelings."
"Well," she says, suddenly stringing together what had seemed like unconnected thought threads over the past year, "I was thinking about you a lot, too. I hoped you were okay."
He takes her hand and smiles at her, and her heart flutters. He must have heard it, because his smile grows a little, and she smiles back. She very definitely likes him.
He walks her home, and she takes him the scenic route. She shows him where she had her first kiss, where she and Jeremy climbed trees together, where she and Caroline had a huge fight when they were twelve, where Bonnie used to live until her dad moved. Elijah holds her hand, and her skin tingles where he brushes his thumb against her palm.
When they get back to her house, she says, "D'you want to come in?"
"I'd better not." He smiles. She's discovering just how much she likes it when he's softly happy. "I had a lovely evening." He lifts her hand to his lips and kisses it gently.
"So did I," she says, trying not to melt. "Thank you." She leans up and kisses him softly on the cheek, and then turns to the door. "I, uh — it's —"
"Yes?"
She thinks, Elena Gilbert, you only live once, and turns around and kisses him. There's a little urgency behind it, but he kisses back and turns it light, soft. Gentle. His hands rest on her back just below her shoulders, and she has one palm on his jaw, her other arm around his neck. She wants him to kiss her deeper, but he doesn't. It's not quite a chaste kiss, but neither is it going anywhere.
It lasts for a couple of minutes, and when Elijah gently pulls away, Elena is tingling all over. Elijah smiles at her and says, "Goodnight, Elena."
"Goodnight," she repeats, barely a whisper, and then she gets the door open and closes it after her.
"How was your date?" Alaric asks from the couch. He has papers spread over the coffee tables.
"It was great," Elena says. "Oh — Stefan told me he heard from Damon." She fills Alaric in on the latest news, and then she heads to bed.
The next afternoon, a bouquet of flowers arrives at the house. The note reads, Elena — Thank you again for a wonderful evening. I hope to see you soon — Elijah
"Ooh, flowers," Caroline grins, when Elena tells her. They're on their way to Denver; Damon called to say one of the hybrids went to Jeremy's door this morning.
"Are you sure about this?" Bonnie says. She looks worried.
"Positive. He's not dangerous, Bonnie, I promise. He doesn't kill any more, and I know he wouldn't hurt me. He likes me."
"I can't believe Stefan crashed your date," Caroline says, hands tightening on the steering wheel.
"He needs to keep his jealousy to himself," Elena agrees. "It's been over between us for a while."
They pull up outside Elena's cousin's house, and Jeremy opens the door before they even get to the porch. "Elena," he grins, and enfolds her in a hug. She hugs him back tightly.
"Elena," she hears, and looks up. Damon nods to her. She nods back, not breaking the hug.
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I had such plans for this! And then canon was like HAH ALL OF YOUR FUTURE PROJECTIONS ARE WRONG and I am really, really bad at writing open canons. Really bad at it. But I like what I have a lot. Elena and Elijah! I SHIP THEM SO HARD. The rest of this was going to be him wooing her and them being adorable and having really intense, awesome sex. ♥them♥