sorry for all the time skips i'm like dying of writers block
Morrigan Brooks
Flashback to 1680
AS I traced patterns on Elijah's chest, he stirred from his slumber, peeking a single eye open.
"I slept quite late today. Why didn't you wake me? I thought you wanted to go out?" He mumbles, his voice rough from sleep.
"Because you've been doing so much lately, and personally, I think this is just as good, if not better," I smile, pressing my lips lightly to his.
"Hm, I have to agree," he says, pulling me closer by my waist.
End of flashback
FOR some reason, as I watched Elijah's door handle turn as if it were in slow motion, I found myself remembering this very simple, but very dear memory. It was like the eye of the storm surrounding me at this second.
He opens the door, but he doesn't see me immediately, instead, he freezes as he walks in. Looking around, he turns the light on and his eyes immediately lock with mine.
"Mor," he breathes and I give him a meek smile.
"Hi," I say—the most stupid thing to say when there's so much left unsaid between us. "I'm really sorry," I say, not being able to move from my place.
"What are you- What are you doing here? What's wrong?" He asks, panic in his voice and I shake my head, holding back tears that threatened to spill.
"Nothing is wrong, I just... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I screamed, I'm sorry I didn't let you explain yourself, I'm sorry I almost set you on fire."
"No, no baby," he breathes taking a few steps closer. "None of it is your fault. None of it."
"But it is, I-" I say, trying to explain myself and he walks forward and tentatively places his hands on my arms as if I would pull away.
"No. Morrigan. I shouldn't have lied. I shouldn't have kept your whole past from you when I knew how much it bothered you."
"Yeah. How would that have gone over?" I ask rhetorically. "'Hey, Mor, we knew each other for three hundred years and we were engaged, and somehow that's connected to your memories, I have no proof, you'll just have to take my word for it, you want syrup with those pancakes?' And then I probably would have broken up with you for being delusional or manipulative or something," I say, placing my hands on his upper arms before tentatively leaning closer.
I move my face a hair's breadth away, allowing him to close the gap which he does instantly.
Our lips meet for a few hot, passionate seconds before I pull away, breathing heavily.
"I love you, Elijah, I love you so much and that was literally all I could think about these past few weeks," I breathe. He smiles, resting his forehead against mine and pressing a kiss to my lips. Not like before. This one was short and sweet.
"I love you, Morrigan. From the moment I saw you, I couldn't believe it but I was so happy every single day that I got to see you again," he says, pressing another kiss to me. "I, of all people, am not religious, but every day, I thanked whatever god gave you back to me."
"I went to New Orleans," I mumble.
"Hmm," Elijah hums in acknowledgment.
"It was really different. But I went into our old room."
"What did you find?"
"It was completely untouched, for one. Why didn't you burn or bury all my stuff?"
"I didn't have the heart to," he says hoarsely.
Wordlessly, I reach under the neckline of my shirt and pull out my necklace. I was still getting used to the added weight, but I wouldn't risk losing any of the rings on the necklace. I look up, wondering how he was reacting and I realised I had rendered him speechless.
"I found these," I mutter and he rests them in his hand, his eyebrows creasing and uncreasing.
"I'm glad you did," he says quietly, as if to himself after a while. "Why did you go to New Orleans though?"
"I was kind of avoiding your siblings and tagged along with the Salvatore brothers on their trip," I shrug, making Elijah chuckle.
"I'm glad you went," he says. "I haven't been able to go into that room since about a week after it happened."
"We can go back," I say, threading my arms around his shoulders. "We can take over that whole place again."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. You can compel all the vampires to fuck off," I shrug and his eyebrows thread together.
"All the vampires?" He asks confused.
"I don't know. They looked like a cult meets fight club-"
"Fight club?" He asks incredulously and I laugh to myself.
"Don't worry," I wave him off and he sighs.
"For the first time in a while, I'm not."
ELIJAH'S thumb was tracing patterns on my hip as we lay together in bed, just basking in each other's presence.
"Do you feel different now you remember everything?" He asks and I shrug.
"Not really. It's like... almost like I've just woken up from a really long sleep, and like I dreamt what life without you would be like, but now I'm awake and just FYI, that dream is pretty overrated," I grin, earning a kiss from the man across from me.
"I mean, life without you, which felt more like a nightmare, was also pretty overrated."
I bit my lip before he kissed me again. "I don't think we should ever leave here," I whisper. "Nothing bad can get us here and honestly, I have everything I need."
"What about blood?" He said, humouring me but I shrug.
"Hmm, also overrated."
"Well I think we should get out of bed because I am going to take you out, Elijah says and a smile creeps onto my face.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask, rolling onto my stomach as he gets out of be and starts to dress, though it was quite hard to focus on what he was saying.
"If I told you that, it wouldn't be a surprise," he says and I groan.
"I could give you surprise enough tonight? Then you could tell me?" I say with a suggestive smile, though I laughed which ruined the vibe a bit.
"Even then, my love, I wouldn't tell you," he says and my stomach flips at the new nickname. 'My love'. That was definitely one I could get behind. Elijah offers me a hand and helps me up. "We need to leave in an hour," he says, and I breathe a laugh as I walk away from him before freezing.
"All my stuff is in Mystic Falls," I say with a laugh, though the situation didn't really call for it, I was just giddy and riding the high of happiness I was feeling.
"We will go back to Mystic Falls. I had a feeling you would say that," he ventured with a small smile.
It was barely five o'clock, so realistically we could be in and out of Mystic Falls easily for what I assumed to be either an eight or nine o'clock reservation.
"Ha," I say flatly, but a second later I thread my arms around his shoulders. "Where do you think we'd be if my father never sabotaged our wedding day?" I asked, planting a light kiss on his lips.
Eliijah's arms also snake around my waist, his grip soft, though iron strong, as if I would disappear the second he let go. "Well I was surprised back then when you didn't get sick of me, so I don't know."
"So you're saying I would have left you anyway if my life didn't get ruined?" I say sarcastically but he shrugs.
"Probably," he jokes.
"Not," I scolded in a mocking way. "I love you," I mouth, and the biggest smile I've seen on him in a long while appeared on his face.
"Who needs to go out anyway?" He says against my lips, walking us back to where we were before, but I put my index finger to his lips and lightly push away.
"I do. I'm suddenly feeling quite hungry," I smirk, walking out of the door while he follows me.
THE town we call Mystic Falls hadn't changed on the outside, but I could tell something was different.
Something... was burning.
I could see the smoke from my house. Elijah and I exchange a mutual curious look before speeding off in the direction of the fire.
When we get there, we realise with even more morbid curiosity than before, that it was the Gilbert house.
"What the fuck?" I whisper, and the faint sound of sirens came speeding towards us, and in an attempt to not make us late for dinner, we left.
"That is so strange," I mutter. "I thought they were in Canada."
"What?" Elijah asks and I shrug.
"I don't know, they were searching for something," I say, but then I remember what I was supposed to tell him. "By the way, Katherine wants to cut a deal with Klaus and she wants me as the middle woman between her and you and then you as the middle man to cut the deal."
"Tell me about this tomorrow. I promise I'll remind you."
The fire and Katherine disappeared from my mind as Elijah snakes a hand around my waist, leading us back to my house, and then to dinner.
"HOW long do you think she'll be?" I grumble in annoyance. Elijah and I were sitting in the very same cafe Katherine found me in the other day.
"Yes, well, you know how Katerina likes to make an entrance." I ignore the pang of jealousy that flooded through me for a split second, though I knew it was stupid and insecure, but in that moment I remembered Elijah's brief infatuation with the doppelganger back in 1492.
"Mor, Elijah. I'm so glad we could do this," she says, sitting opposite us. "And let me tell you, I am so glad that you two made up."
"Thanks, K," I say, and despite her snarky tone, I liked that we were friend-adjacent again, and since she usually had that snarky ass tone, it didn't bother me.
"So, Mor tells me you have found... something of great use to my brother. So much so that you think it has the power to grant you pardon," Elijah says stiffly, obviously wanting to be anywhere else.
"Elijah, no need to be so formal," Katherine says, voicing my thoughts, though Elijah just gives her a hard stare and I decide to be a good girlfriend and not take the piss out of him.
"What do you have in your possession?" Elijah asks and I remember what I did and wonder for a bit why I do what I do.
"You didn't tell him?" Katherine asks and I shrug.
"I thought it would make for good dramatic build-up and effect," I say. "It seemed like a better idea at the time."
"I have the cure for vampirism," she whispers, not bothering to write it on a napkin this time.
Elijah, the composed man that he is, hides his surprise well by just nodding slowly.
"I do think... that will do it. That will get you your freedom."
"I told you it was good," I say, but he just playfully rolls his eyes.
"So, Katerina," Elijah says, turning back to the doppelgänger. "How would you like to do this?"
"I CANNOT believe you didn't tell me it was the cure to vampirism," Elijah says with a tone that was trying to conceal his mirth.
We were lying together in bed, him with his back against the headboard while I was lying on my stomach, positioned between his legs.
"I thought you would like the surprise," I shrug. "But put that out of your mind because I need help."
"What with?" He asks his eyebrows knitting together.
"I want to talk to your siblings- well, Rebekah and Klaus mostly because I've been ignoring them," I say, thinking about how I had ignored all of Rebekah's calls and avoided both of them like the plague.
I even saw Klaus in the street, and we made eye contact, but I just turned and sped away.
"We can go in the morning," Elijah shrugs. "I think Niklaus is still in Mystic Falls."
"Why would he stay?" I scrunch my nose, though I was one to talk.
"As much as I'd like to say 'out of the kindness of his heart', I think anyone could know that that isn't true," Elijah says, kissing my forehead. "We can go tomorrow. We aren't meeting up with Katerina until next week."
"So you're saying I have to share your attention?" I say, shimmying up the bed. "I'm now rethinking this deal."
"Unfortunately, yes, but for the moment, I'm all yours my love," he says and I laugh, leaning in for a kiss when my head explodes in pain.
"Oh, fuck," I grimace, massaging my temples.
"What's wrong?" Elijah asks, sitting up straight but I wave him off.
"It's fine," I mutter. "Just another headache. I have a pendant."
"A pendant? For what?" He asks but I get up to just make sure that it's still working.
I knew my father, but I hoped my precautions would be strong enough. I clutched my necklace and realised he still wasn't near, he was just messing with me.
"Mor, what is happening?" Elijah asks and I sigh.
"You should probably sit down for this."
"SO you're saying," Elijah starts. "That your father is taunting you, giving you magical headaches and threatening to come back and kill you when it will be the, quote, 'biggest fucking gut punch', and you're only telling me this now?"
"It wasn't such a big deal," I shrug and he looks at me with an extremely incredulous look.
"Mor, he has killed you before!" He says, getting out of his seat. "What about threatening to kill you do you not understand?"
"Elijah, I can handle him!" I say, also standing up. "I have a plan. A pretty good one at that."
"You have a plan?" He says. "If you have a plan, why are you still getting headaches?"
"I'm playing the long game. What do you think will happen when he figures out that his games aren't working? I may have been able to figure out where he is, but blocking him entirely? I'm not ready to draw him out yet!" I say, mad that he's getting mad about this.
"You can't keep this stuff from me, Mor! I-" He starts but I cut him off.
"Don't talk to me about keeping things from each other, Elijah!" I snap, not wanting to fight, but I wouldn't stand here and let him berate me for something, especially something where I realised the gravity of the situation more than anyone.
"I just-" He starts, trying not to choke on his words. "I cannot lose you again, Mor. I don't think I am physically able to."
Elijah Mikaelson
"You can't keep this stuff from me, Mor! I-" I say but realise my mistake when her eyes harden.
"Don't talk to me about keeping things from each other, Elijah!" She says in a low tone. I can't help but remember what happened and what it felt like to think I would never see her again.
"I just-" I start, trying to find the right words. "I cannot lose you again, Mor. I don't think I am physically able to."
Flashback to 1759
The day of her funeral was bright and sunny, which I found morbidly ironic since she practically predicted it.
She always said that when she died, it wouldn't rain, because she would be up there and that isn't a reason to cry, that's a reason to celebrate, so therefore, the sun would be shining.
My response would usually be something along the lines of, 'are you sure you'll be in the sky and not down there?'
She would promptly roll her eyes and lightly whack my shoulder.
I knew she was up there. She was the brightest person I knew.
I didn't listen to anything anyone said to me, I just watched as they put the tree in the ground.
Mor always said she never wanted to be consecrated, or buried at all for that matter, because of what happened with her father, so Rebekah, who graciously planned this whole thing, thought we should plant her a tree.
The only input I had was which tree. A weeping willow was what I chose, purely because once when we were back in Europe, she sat underneath them, seeming content and happy.
There was no real thought put into the choice, but after about two weeks of unforgiving grief and sadness, I was numb to the world, numb to everything.
After my siblings went home, I looked down at the sapling and allowed a single tear to drop down my cheek onto the ground.
"I wish you were here, darling. If I could have anything, I would have you back in my arms."
End of flashback
Morrigan Brooks
"I KNOW you're worried about me, but I'm saying you don't need to be. I promise I have it under control," I say, taking a step towards him. He doesn't back away, but instead, brings my hands up to circle his neck.
"I know, but I do worry about you," he says lowly with his head slightly hung to look me in the eyes.
"I'm a big girl," I murmur, stroking the short stubble on his chin. "And I love you."
"I love you too. More than you could ever imagine," he says and I giggle.
"Always have to one-up me," I mutter. I stroke his hair lightly, which brings me down memory lane, specifically the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. "I just remembered how much I loved your long hair."
"I hate to break it to you, love, but there is no chance I grow it out again."
"Are you sure?" I ask. "I think mullets are coming back in."
"Definitely not a mullet," he says, his face contorting into an expression of disgust.
"DEAD?" I hear Elijah say. I was lying in our bed (I hadn't properly moved in yet, but he insisted it was now ours), where I was previously sleeping.
Elijah was in the kitchen and I could hear he was on the phone to someone, though I wasn't sure who.
"And you didn't think to tell me this before?" He says. The person on the other line was speaking too quietly or just that Elijah's phone volume was lower than usual since I couldn't hear properly.
I pulled the cover off me and walked into where Elijah was and wrapped my arms around his torso, though he was frozen in place.
He hangs the phone up without saying goodbye, so I assumed it was Klaus, pissing off his brother or maybe even one of the Salvatores, though the latter was quite unlikely.
"What's up?" I ask, pressing a kiss to his shoulder but he turns to face me with a blank expression on his face.
"That was just Niklaus," he says. Called it. "And he told me that Kol died some weeks ago."
"Like... a dagger?" I ask cautiously, hoping it was but Elijah shakes his head.
"A white oak stake."
"What? Oh, are you ok?" I ask, wrapping my arms around his shoulders in an embrace.
"I- um. I never thought I would never see any of my brothers again, but now two are gone forever."
"When did he die?" I ask carefully.
"I think he said two weeks ago. Just about." Elijah says flatly. I bring us over to the couch and sit down because it looked like Elijah didn't know how to react.
"Two weeks?" I exclaim. Kol was a good friend to me. Recently and before. I would miss him. "Do you want to go to Mystic Falls and talk to Klaus about it? Maybe beat him up?"
Elijah chuckles. "Yes. That is probably the best option."
"We can go tomorrow," I say and he nods, pressing a kiss to my temple.
hey guys, sorry again for all the time jumps in this chapter, I was editing it and realised it feels super choppy but I'm gonna try finish this book soon which makes me kinda sad but so happy ❤️