Anatomy - Elijah Mikaelson -

Chapter 9

"Must be a thousand and some years now. I'm an Original, one of the first vampires to ever exist." 

Mila's eyes widened and she instinctively watched him from head to toe. Hell, he held himself quite well for that age! 

"Really?" 

Not really intelligent thing to say, but she needed a second to take facts like that in. He honestly was better in playing the revelation game. Mila carried all of her emotions on her face and carried her heart on her tongue. That should stop. 

"Yes. Are you familiar with nerve transplantation techniques, Dr. Labonair?"

The change of topic made her head cloudy, but she was quick to follow him again. She couldn't stop doing her job. 

"Yes, I am. Why?" 

A smile tugged on Elijah's lips. Her curiosity was cute, he liked that she was so deeply devoted to her job. He was happy that he could teach her more now. 

"In the morning an accident came in. Sudden heart attack while working with a chainsaw. Both hands are seriously injured. Dr. Blake will do one hand, you the other, while I fix his heart. It's quite the marathon, do you want to do it?" 

Mila smiled widely and her eyes sparked brightly in excitement. Did he really offer her to do a nerve transplantation on her own?

"Yes, of course! ...I want to hug you so badly right now." 

She babbled, nearly jumping through the hallway in joy. Mila was so grateful for this opportunity. This day obviously got better by the second. 

"You can do that after everything went fine."

Elijah couldn't help but chuckle. It was good to see her somehow happy again. He never got to know someone that acted so natural in his presence. Hugging usually wasn't a trait of the people he kept company. 

"How old is your...I mean...she's kind of our...niece?" 

The picture of Hope flew to his mind and again he couldn't really grasp it. A child, related by blood to him, but nothing more. Mila noticed his cold expression. It was strange, she expected that he was a man that liked children and got attached to them. 

"She's 12 now. The last time I saw her she was 7." 

She sadly smiled, looking down to the floor. All that time she had another family, she wished so badly that they could've met her sister and her niece early. Mila was a family person, but now she had the lingering feeling that it was too late to be a family. 

"Wow...I missed so much of her growing up. I always imagined how it would be to have siblings, be an aunt and all those time it was right in front of my nose." 

Elijah looked at her with an unreadable expression and when no one looked at them, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly before releasing it. He regretted that he destroyed everything personal belonging to his family five years ago. If he hadn't, he at least could've shown her a photo. 

"Do you like children?" 

He asked as they continued on their way to his office. When they arrived, they took a seat next to each other on the sofa and started working on some papers. 

"Yes, I do. I think I would be a good pediatric surgeon, it's just all those sad cases...wait...can vampires..." 

The doctor stopped mid sentence, she again started the words before she could think them over. What was going on with her today?

Elijah read the question out of her eyes and smiled amused. 

"No, vampires can't procreate. My brother Niklaus is a hybrid, half vampire, half werewolf. His werewolf side made it possible."