Aeliana woke up with a smile on her face for the first time what felt like decades. Looking over next to her, she found Elijah sleeping still.
After talking some more, deciding she didn't want to ask anymore questions at this time, she asked him to stay. At first she felt stupid, but he looked delighted, happy that she even asked that. It was the first night she felt well rested in a very long time.
"Good morning, my sweet," Elijah said to her, eyes still closed.
"How did you know I'm looking at you?" She shoots back jokingly.
He opens his eyes and tackles her to the bed, "How can I not feel a beautiful woman like you staring at me?"
She blushed at how he was on top of her, looking down at his lips again. He smirked and slowly went in for the first kiss of the day.
Once they pulled away, they both smiled at each other. Real, genuine smiles.
"How are you going to bring back my memories?" She asked, finally realizing there's only two ways to go about this.
He paused for a moment before saying, "Once he completes the ritual, he'll be at his weakest. I intend of finishing him off."
She looked a little uncomfortable, "So Elena has to die?"
He quickly shook his head and place a hand on her face shushing her, "No, no, my sweet. I had a witch acquire something that can bring her back. No innocent people will be dying under my watch."
"Okay," she smiled up at him, feeling more reassured.
Suddenly, her phone rang, ruining their mood. Groaning, she checked the contact as Damon. Begrudgingly, hit answer, "What can I do for you, bestie?"
"Want to babysit Elena with me?"
"Why are we babysitting a teenager?" she asked at the ridiculousness of the idea.
"So she stops going on little suicide missions, wifey Original." Elijah looked at Aeliana, holding back a laugh at the nickname Damon gave her.
"Why can't Stefan watch her?" She asked him confused.
"Well, he kind of, sort of, maybe got stuck in the tomb with Katherine."
"I'm not even going to ask. Fine, I'll get there when I get there," she told him, hanging up before he could give a response. She sadly looked over at the beautiful man, who moved off her during the phone call and is now laying next to her again. "I guess I better get ready,"
"Of course, I should too. I need to speak to Elena about the sacrifice. I'd walk over with you, but I have a feeling you're already on thin ice with the Salvatores," he told her sadly.
"Yeah, it feels that way. It started when I cried after Damon staked you,"
Kissing her lips softly, "I'm not going anywhere, my sweet. You have my word."
Later in the day, Damon and Aeliana walked right into the Gilbert house.
"You should really lock your door," Aeliana joking told the doppelgänger, who didn't look amused. "Oh, come on. At least give me two points for my humor."
"Do you guys think this is funny?"
"Yes Elena. I find hilarity in the lengths that I have to go to repeatedly save your life," Damon shot back.
"What does Stefan say about this?"
"We had a good laugh."
"And what did he say about Elijah still being alive?"
"Yeah, that I didn't tell him."
"Seems like you make it a habit of withholding information, Damon," she told him, crossing her arms at the fact that he withheld the plan to get the moonstone from Katherine.
Ignoring the old vampire, Elena turned to Damon, "Why not?"
"Well A: he can't do anything about it; and B: what I just said." Damon stated. He watched Jeremy walk into the room, "Where is Bonnie?"
"I thought she was meeting you?" Jeremy questioned.
"No, she's on moonstone duty and we are on Elena patrol," Damon motioned between him and oldest vampire.
"And who's on Tyler Lockwood and the full moon?"
"Vampire Barbie asked me if she could handle it, and I said, why not? Figured if she screwed up, he'll bite her and then I'll be rid of two of my problems."
"Hold on a second. Tonight's the full moon?" Elena asked.
"Yep, but you were too absorbed with all your suicidal tendencies to notice," Damon told her while answering his phone that rang.
"It's okay, Elena. No one told me about the full moon either."
"Ana, it's not that we're leaving you out," Elena trailed off.
"No no, you are. You guys don't trust me because of my situation with Elijah. I get it. However, I've done nothing but protect you, never did anything to actually betray any trust. I need to know where I stand, Elena," Aeliana crossed her arms while staring right at the brunette.
"I'm sorry, I really am. Next time we make plans, you will be included. I promise," the doppelgänger reached in to hug her friend, who smiled and thanked her.
Damon walked back into the room, "Change of plans. You two babysit," he points towards Aeliena and Jeremy.
The latter laid down on the couch, legs draped across Aeliana, head on his sister's lap.
"Hey you know, you should get out, enjoy the sun. Oh wait, you can't," Damon continued on with his banter, causing the two girls to look at each other and throw cushions at him. Jeremy laughed, so then they pushed him off of them and onto the floor.
They both looked at each other and laughed hysterically, almost forgetting about the vampire drama.
The girls come back downstairs after hanging out in Elena's room for a bit to see Jenna going through the closet. Aeliana has only talked to Jenna a handful of times, but she's always been really kind to the vampire. Sometimes she felt bad Jenna was oblivious to everything.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Elena questioned her aunt.
Jenna looked up from the closet, "Perfect timing," while handing the girls a box each.
"What is this stuff?" Aeliana asked, staring at the box weirdly.
"It's Elena's mom's files from the Historical Society. I got roped into helping Mrs. Lockwood and by roped, I mean very excited to participate," Jenna explained. She closed the closet door to reveal Elijah on the other side of it, startling Elena.
"Hey, I'm Elijah."
"Elijah's in town doing research on Mystic Falls."
He moves closer to the girls, holding out his hand for them to shake, "It's a pleasure," he states while shaking hands with the scared doppelgänger. He then moved over to Aeliana, shaking her hand as well, holding back a smirk knowing that they were just either each other all morning.
"So you're welcome to stay here and rummage through this stuff or we could help you load it into your car," Jenna offered to the suited vampire.
"Or I can get someone to pick it up tomorrow."
"Also a good plan," Jenna laughed.
"Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Jenna. Ladies," he looks over to the girls, "I hope to see you again sometime soon."
Once he leaves the house, Elena and Aeliana rush upstairs to Jeremy's bedroom. She knocks on the door but Elijah grabs her. Jeremy opened the door, Elijah hiding behind it. He held a finger to his lips.
"What is it?" Jeremy asked.
"Jenna was just asking me to get you to help her with the boxes," Elena lied, running a hand through her hair.
"Okay."
"A wise choice." Elijah appeared from behind the door.
"What do you want?"
"I think it's time you and I had a little chat," Elijah gestured between him and Elena.
"I'll be downstairs," Aeliana decided to give the two privacy, squeezing Elena's shoulder for support before heading down.
Aeliana was finally leaving the Gilbert residence, the sun was down and she was tired so she vamp sped over to her hotel room.
She locked it and plopped right on the bed. She'd swear she's never been so excited to be in a bed in her whole 1000 years of living, but something told her she may be wrong.
She felt a woosh go past her. She immediately shot up, grabbing the stake she keeps underneath the bed. Turning around, she didn't see anyone behind her. Sighing in relief, she went back towards the bed, bumping into a very, very hard chest. Looking up, she saw a pair of chocolate brown eyes looking down on her with a hint of amusement.
"Elijah, you scared me!" she laughed as she smacked him lightly on the chest.
"Who would I be if I didn't give my lovely wife some excitement?" he teased back, kissing her softly on the lips.
She immediately melted into it, wrapping her arms around his neck while smiling.
"Will you stay with me again tonight?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully.
"Of course, my sweet," he told her, pecking her again on the lips. "Do you have more questions?"
"I feel like I have a novel's worth of questions, but for now I'll just stick to a couple. Sometimes it gets overwhelming," she told him.
"I understand, what would you like to ask?"
She sat down on the bed, crossing her legs and patted the spot in front of her. He laid on his side and looked up at her.
Taking a deep breath, "Why did Klaus compel my memories of you? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, you were an innocent caught up in the bickering between me and my brother. He was punishing me, knowing that I would do absolutely anything for you."
"Klaus is your brother?" she looked surprised. How can someone so gentle towards her be related to someone so cruel?
"I have many siblings, and they all absolutely loved you, especially Klaus. That's why it still comes off as a shock to me that he'd do this." Elijah grabbed her hand, rubbing small circles with his thumb and began speaking again, "We all made a vow to stick together, always and forever. Klaus never tolerated anyone of us going against him. You and I were trying to warn him of a serious danger that he didn't want to take seriously, in a haste he told us to leave."
"So we were going to abandon him?"
"Not necessarily, my brother and I always prevailed. Sometimes we would just need the few years apart, then we'd make our way back to each other. This time was different in his eyes," he explained sadly.
"Can you tell me about your siblings?" She asked hopifully, not sure how he'd answer that.
"As much as I'd love to tell you about them, it's not my place to tell their stories." He looked at her, hoping he didn't upset her too much.
"I understand completely, Elijah, don't worry," she smiled reassuringly, noticing his nervousness. "When did we get married?"
"It was towards the end of the harvest in 997, we had just turned 20, in our little village. Do you want to know what the wedding was like?" he looked at her with a raised brow.
"Not the whole thing, I want to save that for when my memories come back," noticing Elijah smile at the word when, and not if. "Just tell me what you were thinking when you first laid your eyes on me."
Sighing deeply, his smile grew bigger as he reminisced about one of his favorite days in his 1000 years of living. He can still picture her in her bright red dress, Ayanna walking her down.
"I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be able to spend the rest of my life with my best friend," he told her. He couldn't find the right words to fully describe her beauty.
"Did we try for kids?" She asked suddenly. Despite being a vampire, she always wanted children, however it was impossible. She also understood that by asking this, if they had any, they'd be long gone by now. However, she noticed how his expression changed, and not for the better, "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to.." she trailed off.
"No, it's okay. Life comes with ups and downs, I'm just trying to find the right way to relay this gently to you," he told her, while also trying to prepare himself for telling what of the most heart breaking stories of their life.
WARNING!! This flashback talks child loss and death. I will have that part in fully typed in bold, so if it upsets you, you can skip through it.
Summer, 1001 Mystic Falls
"Eli! Where are you?!" Aeliana bursted through their hut, coming home from his morher's with good news. "Elijah! Get out of bed, I have amazing news!"
The handsome man emerged from the room, shocked his wife was even up so early, the sun just starting to rise, "What woke you, my sweet? What is this news?" he asked smiling at her.
"I just got back from your mother's."
"Yeah? Did she invite us to dinner?" He asked, wondering why Aeliana was so excited to see his mother.
"No, she confirmed something for me," she trailed off, hoping he would catch on.
"Ana, please tell me you're with child?" He asked her hopefully. After almost four years of trying, he knew that's all she wanted was to make their little family grow.
"I'm with child, Eli!" She exclaimed, running into his arms. He picked her up and spun her around, making her laugh. He put her back down on the ground, looking down into her eyes.
"She's going to be beautiful like her mother," he told her.
"Or he's going to be handsome just like his father," she shot back.
"We'll see, my sweet. We'll see."
Autumn, 1001
"And how are my two favorite girls?" Elijah walked into the hut, placing his hands on the barely noticeable bump.
"Eli, we don't even know what the baby is yet," she told him, rolling her eyes playfully.
"My intuition tells me she's a girl. If he is a boy though, I will still love him all the same," he told her, placing a kiss on her stomach.
"Tonight's the full moon, so I'm preparing our meal for when we go down to the caves," she explained when he looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing.
"Let me help, my sweet, you should rest," he kissed her on the cheek before sending her off to sit down. She watched him prepare their food with nothing but love in her eyes.
Later that evening, Aeliana noticed some people missing from the caves.
"Eli, where are Nik and Henrik?" She asked her husband, voice laced with fear.
He looked around frantically for his younger brothers, not seeing them either. He beckoned his mother to come to where they were standing, away from his father, knowing how temperamental he can be.
"It appears that two of my brothers seem to be unaccounted for, dear mother," he told her in a very discreet whisper.
She looked around frantically, noticing their presence being absent. She immediately approached her husband and told him what was going on, begging for him to search for the two boys.
"No. We cannot risk the rest of our people because of that boy's lousy mistakes! Maybe this will finally teach him to listen to me," the cruel man bellowed for everyone in the caves to hear.
"Father, they're your sons. What if they get hurt?" Elijah argued with his father, only angering him further. However, Elijah did not look scared, keeping his face stern, not faltering once even has his father approached him.
"You dare back talk me? You may be married and out of our roof, but I will not tolerate disrespect!" He raised his hand to slap Elijah in the face when Aeliana stepped between them, crossing her arms. She looked up at the man they call father, raising an eyebrow, as if she was challenging him to actually strike her husband.
They stared each other down, neither one of them wavering. Aeliana was never scared of their father. In fact, she wasn't scared of any man who disrespected his wife and children.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, their father just shook his head and walked back to where he was previously standing. Elijah immediately looked over at his wife as if she had seven heads.
"Are you crazy? My sweet, as much as I love your confidence, you need to be careful. What if he struck you and seriously hurt you?" He whisper shouted. He wasn't angery, but definitely scared for her. It wasn't often he raised his voice at her, only in times where he was truly scared.
She rubbed his arm, comforting her husband. "Eli, I wasn't going to let him strike you. You are 24 years old, you're no longer a child. You don't deserve to suffer from his madness any longer, none of you do."
"The sun is up! We're safe now!" A random villager who was keeping guard announced.
Elijah ran past everyone, worried about his brother.
That's when they saw a sight they never wanted to see.
A few weeks have past since the dinner Elijah had with his family, and Aeliana noticed immediately something was off.
"Eli, I know you. Please, talk to me," she pratically begged. She wasn't used to him not confiding in her, this being one of the very few times it occurred.
He put his head up, finally moving from his position from the table. "Ana, I don't even know where to begin. This is going to sound completely ludicrous."
"Elijah, you don't think Ayana fills me in? I know what your mother asked her to do, but she said no. But you haven't been yourself ever since two nights ago when you finally came back home. You couldn't even walk in the door, you were inside all day as if the sun was going to burn you alive!" She exclaimed. Sitting down next to him placing a hand on his shoulder, "Elijah, please talk to me. What is going on?"
"Right now, you being this close to me, hearing your heart beat so loud is so hard for me. My mother turned us into monsters, Aeliana. And now I can't even be in the same hut as my wife without wanting to suck her blood dry," he hung his head in shame, feeling terrible about becoming a danger to his wife and future child. However, she didn't move from her spot or take her eyes off of him.
"I am not afraid of you and I never will be. What your mother did to you and your siblings was wrong, and for that I'm sorry. But I'm going to stick by yourself until the day you die," she joked.
"I'm scared of watching you grow old while I remain the same. What of our child? Can you imagine how it's going to be when they grow old, but I still stay this way? I can't watch you guys die, Ana, I just can't," he cried out, collapsing into her arms.
She held him, not saying anything knowing that it wouldn't help in the moment.
*TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD!!*
"Ayana," Aeliana weakly called out to her guardian, "something is wrong with the baby. Please," she trailed off, barely able to stay awake.
She was currently laying in bed, soaked in her own blood along with the sheets around her. She was trying to cook dinner when she felt this sharp pain in her abdomen, which caused her to nearly fall over, Elijah catching her and bringing her to their shared room before rushing off to grab her guardian.
"Ayana, please do something. I can't loose my child," she begged again.
"I'm sorry, Ana. I can't do anything, it's too far gone," she told her sympathetically, bringing the girl into her arms. She let out a heartbroken sob.
"Please, I need Eli. Bring me Eli!"
"Baby, the blood," Ayana trailed off, unsure of how to tell her that Elijah would more than likely lose control at the sight before him.
"He won't hurt me! Get Eli, now!" The brunette screamed, not something she did often, but right now she was in too much to care.
Hearing her from outside, him and his sister rushed into the room.
"Ana, my mother could-"
"No, dark magic will not be used on this baby, Elijah. Dark magic comes with a price, do you really want to take that chance?" Ayana warned the new vampire, giving him a harsh stare.
"Ayana, this is my child you're talking about," he muttered lowly.
"Also her child. Do you think she'd want that?" With that, Ayana left the hut.
All Elijah could focus on was the blood. His wife was dying, but all he could think about was sucking the blood clean out of her body.
The veins growing under his eyes, he looses control and goes to jump at his nearly unconscious wife when his sister stops him. "Lijah, you're better than this. This is the woman you love. Control yourself and do something!"
"But Ayana-"
"But nothing, Elijah! You can still at least save her. Mother told me that you could heal her with your blood. None of us can bear to lose her," the sister pointed out. "So just close your eyes, take a deep breath and control yourself," she reassured him.
Nodding his head, he looked over at his wife again, now unconscious, but he could still hear her heart beating. Speeding over to her, he bit into his wrist and place it to her mouth.
"Come on, my sweet. Stay with me, please," he begged as he watched some of the blood go into her mouth. He sat her up to help it go down her throat more when suddenly her heart stopped.
"No, no no no!" He repeated over and over. "Ana, no, don't leave me. Please, come back. I need you, please," he kept begging, clutching onto his beloved's body for dear life.
His sister approached, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder and sitting beside him. "I'm here, brother. If you want, I'll stay here until you're ready."
He didn't say anything, he just held onto her for the rest of the night, until the sun came up.
*Trigger warning done, you may proceed*
Aeliana woke up with a gasp, looking around the room. She found Elijah passed out next to her, covered in what she believed to be her blood. She looked down, noticing her stomach was now completely flat, clothes stained with blood, but the pain from yesterday was gone.
"Elijah?" She tried to shake him awake.
"Ana, five more minutes.." he mumbled.
"Elijah! Why is there blood all over the place?" She asked, clearly scared.
His eyes shot open, thinking this was a dream. Aeliana couldn't be talking to him, he and his sister just watched her die not even a few hours ago.
"Elijah, come on. I'm starving, I need food now," she demanded, suddenly feeling very angry as she got out of the bed and began raiding their kitchen.
Realization dropped all over his face, making him get up and slowly approach his wife. "My sweet, I think you need to sit down for a moment."
"No, I don't need to sit. We just lost our baby. I didn't even get to find out the damn gender! And now, all I want to do is eat," she yelled, continuing to stuff her face with more food, but spit out due to the disgusting taste. "God, why am I so hungry?!" She screamed, throwing the food on the floor before collapsing to the ground. "It tastes terrible, it all tastes terrible."
"How are we supposed to name our baby, Eli?" She sobbed out. "What is happening to me? I can't, Eli. I just can't!"
He rushed over to her and held her in his arms. "Ana, you died last night," he softly told her.
"What are you talking about, Eli? Obviously I'm right here," she shot back, getting angry again.
"My sweet, I think I accidentally turned you into a vampire," he trailed off.
Confused, she got up and looked at him, calming down significantly. "What do you mean?"
"Well, my mother told my sister that our blood could heal, so I tried to use it on you last night. Your wounds healed, but I didn't get enough in you in time, I suppose, because your heart stopped beating. You died with my blood in you, Aeliana. Perhaps our blood not only heals, but it also has the power to make more of us," he explained slowly.
"So, what do I do now? I don't want to die, Elijah!"
"We had to feed from a human to complete the transition. Is this what you want to do?"
"Yes, immediately," she insisted. She looked down at her flat stomach again, "I can't believe she's gone, Eli."
"She?" He questioned.
She smiled sadly up at him, "I just had a feeling."
Aeliana hung onto every word. When he was done explaining, often pausing to ask if she was okay, she just sat there in shock.
"So, you turned me after we lost our baby?" She questioned slowly.
"Yes, a blessing and a curse. I didn't loose you, but we lost our child because of my foolish actions," he muttered bitterly.
"Eli, the baby was gone before I even died. Once that starts, it can't be stopped. You didn't do anything wrong, some bodies just aren't meant for having children and that's ok. You did what you had to do to save me, and I'll forever love you for that," she told him honestly.
He looked at her, surprised the words even came out of her mouth. "You love me, still?" He questioned.
"Of course I do. I may not remember our past, but I certainly remember recent events. You have done nothing but proven to me time and time again, how in love you are with me," she moved closer to him.
"I have loved you for over 1000 years, even when you didn't know you loved me," he told her.
"Eli, my heart and soul always knew that I'm in love with you," she smiled while leaning in to kiss him again.
When they finally crawled under the covers, he immediately pulled her into his chest. The moment both vampires closed their eyes, they fell asleep, just happy to be together.