"You love me?"
Elijah looked down at the floor, running a hand through his hair. Something about the movement felt so familiar to me. Something about him felt so familiar, and before now I had put it down to the fact that he taught me all those years ago, that he was one of the first vampires I knew. But now I knew it was more.
"Did I love you?" I asked him, my voice strangely calm now that it had sunken in. Elijah didn't answer, but the looked gave me told me that it was a yes. "Oh God, seriously? I mean, I get it - I still feel something - but why the hell would you compel that away from me if you loved me?"
"It was because I loved you that I had to do it," Elijah's voice sounded broken, like he was scared but of what, I wasn't sure.
"Because of Niklaus, it wasn't safe because he would have killed me?" I questioned, already knowing the answer and moving on, "So you wanted me to have a normal vampire life and be safe from your brother, okay fair enough. But you knew I was the hybrid and you knew this day would come when Niklaus found me and I wouldn't be safe from him again. What was your plan? What is your plan?"
"What do you mean?" He asked, looking confused.
"Well, are you going to let me have my memories and feelings back? Because you know, they are mine after all and I'm pretty sure I would never have let you take them willingly," I narrowed my eyes at him, crossing my arms over my chest.
"No, I admit, you didn't. I did what was necessary, to keep you safe," Elijah's eyes were so full of honesty that my heart clenched.
"Elijah, I want to remember," I whispered, moving my hand to touch his arm, stepping close enough to him that I could feel his warmth. "I feel it inside of me, the hole you made in my heart when you took those memories and feelings. I need to remember."
He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, his eyes full of apprehension, fear and longing. "You're scared," I whispered in realisation, "You're scared that I won't love you anymore. Why?"
"It's been over a century, how many times have you been in love since then?" He asked me quietly, walking away.
"Three times," I replied honestly, "But this is different Elijah, I can feel it."
"I haven't loved anyone since you," He sighed.
"But you didn't have you feelings ripped away from you!" I argued angrily. "Just give me them back Elijah and I will make the decision as to whether I love you or not."
"And what if you don't?" He shouted, "What do I do then? I love you, Rebecca, even after all this time. What do I do if you don't feel the same?"
"And what do you do if I do and you never give me the memories back?" I argued. "Yes, maybe I will love you again in the future, heck I know I want to kiss you and have since you got me out of that damned tomb, but it will never be the same if I know you are keeping things from me. Things that belong to me. I want my memories back Elijah, and I want you to do it now."
He kept his back to me, his fists clenching and unclenching. After a minute I ran at him, using my vampire speed, slammed him against the wall and crashed my lips to his. He was shocked but responded almost immediately. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hands tangled in my hair. I kissed him harder, wanting nothing more than to eliminate the space between us. His hands slid down to my thighs and he lifted me up, I responded by wrapping my legs around his waist.
Suddenly, my back was against a bed and Elijah was climbing on top of me, his knees either side of my thighs. I hurriedly ripped off his shirt and threw it across room as he did the same with mine. He undid my jeans and I helped him pull them off and toss them somewhere neither of us cared about. I smiled up at him before kissing him again.
He abruptly pulled himself off of me and backed up against the wall. "I can't," He whispered. I stared at him in shock, both of us breathing heavily. What the hell? "Not when you don't feel the same," He sighed and walked out of the room.
I followed him, "Then let me. Please Elijah, please let me remember."
In a flash he was in front of me. My mind went blank as he stared into my eyes. I couldn't even hear what he was saying, but I could feel my mouth moving in response and I could sense my body and mind working overtime.
I felt as though I was being pulled into the back of my mind. Everything was spinning into darkness and I couldn't stop myself. I was gripped with overwhelming fear.
Bright. It was bright. That was the first thing I noticed. Everything was so bright and colourful here. I smiled as walked through the gardens, smelling the beautiful flowers that surrounded me. I stopped as I reached a small pond, bending down and gently dipped my hand into the cool water, sending ripples through it. I watched my reflection distort and the goldfish dart away under the lily pads to hide.
"Rebecca," I heard Elijah's voice behind me and I stood up, smiling at him. "I was worried, I woke up and you were gone."
"Relax Elijah, everything's fine," I kissed his cheek and walked over to the open area beside us. It was surrounded by more flowers, and I could seeing bees buzzing around to collect their pollen, flying from flower to flower. It was funny how some creatures were happy with the simplest of things, doing the same thing day in and day out.
I laughed as I spun around in a circle with my arms outstretched. "Oh Elijah, doesn't it just make you feel so alive?"
"What?" He asked with an amused smile. I stopped spinning and grabbed his hands in my own, pulling him into the circle.
"Everything," I grinned. He smiled back at me, his gaze flickering between my eyes and my lips. We had been so close to kissing these past few days, but something always seemed to stop us. Not now. I pushed up on to my tiptoes as he leant down to meet me halfway. His kiss was soft and gentle, as his hand caressed my cheek.
We pulled away after a moment and laughed. "You make me feel alive," He whispered before kissing me again.
My vision distorted and the image changed.
I stared at myself in the mirror, flattening out the bottom of my dress, the corset at the top making me feel constricted. I had gone with a light blue dress, to bring out my eyes. Elijah always said he liked me in blue. I leaned closer to check that my make up was alright, and ran a brush through my hair for the tenth time. My stomach fluttered nervously as I heard a knock on my door. It was time. I grabbed my purse from my dressing table and laid my hand on the doorknob. I took a deep breath and twisted it, pulling it towards me. Elijah stood behind it, smiling at me. I let out the breath I was holding as I regarded him. He looked immaculate in his black suit, with his hair set perfectly, not a hair out of place. His smile widened as he saw me.
"Shall we?" He extended his arm to me. I nodded and linked my arm around his, my nerves fading immediately at his touch. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and winked. "Don't worry, I'm nervous too."
"Why are you nervous?" I asked him, chuckling. He helped me into the horse drawn carriage we were riding in.
"Because I have to impress this amazing, funny and extremely beautiful girl that I really like," He smirked, climbing into the carriage behind me and nodding to the driver.
"Hm, I see how you could feel nervous about that. Although, with your devilishly handsome good looks and annoyingly irresistible charm how can anyone not be impressed?" I inquired, playing along with him. The tension and nerves I was feeling fading completely.
"Well you see, she's not like other girls I've dated," He sighed dramatically.
"How so?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him. He hadn't mentioned this before, now he had peeked my interest.
"She's not bothered by my devilishly handsome good looks, and she finds my charm annoying," He replied with a shrug.
"Oh no, they're just an added bonus," I grinned, "It's the comfort and protection I feel when I'm around you that I like. It's the honour and honesty in your words, and the way that I can tell how you are feeling by looking in your eyes. It's the beauty in the fact that you had all the odds against you, yet here you are, labelled a monster by many but truly more human than most people on this Earth today."
Elijah took my hand and kissed it gently. "You amaze me more and more every day," He smiled.
"Why is that?" I cocked my head to the side slightly.
"Because you are stronger than anyone else I have ever met. You never give up and you never stop pushing yourself to be better. You don't see how beautiful and intelligent you truly are, and you are completely unaware of the power you possess," He stroked my cheek softly. "And I kick myself every day for waiting this long to take you out on a date."
I took his hand gently in mine and turned my head to the side to kiss the inside of his hand. "I kick myself every day for not kissing you sooner," I whispered back, smiling. The driver pulled over and Elijah climbed out before offering me a hand to help me out of the carriage. I linked my arm into his again and a man in a suit opened the door in front of us, smiling fondly and welcoming us into the restaurant.
My vision faded to black and I thought it was over before my chest tightened again and images flashed in front of my eyelids of Elijah and I. I couldn't physically take them all in as they flashed faster in front of my eyes but my brain seemed to understand what I wanted to find and sent me spinning into another memory.
I sighed blissfully as I lay beside Elijah. His arm was under my neck, his finger tuning up and down my shoulder in a comforting manor. My cheek rest against his bare chest as we stared up at the stars, the only thing covering us was a blanket draped over our naked bodies. "I wish we could stay here forever."
"But the sun will come up and reality will set in," Elijah murmured.
"Or we could pretend it never does and stay here forever, hidden away from the world," I smiled up at him.
"I like that idea better," He chuckled and kissed the top of my head.
"Elijah," I said after a moment of silence and propped myself up into my elbow so I could look at him better.
"Yes," He turned his head to look up at me with a questioning expression.
"I love you," I said with a strange calmness. I had known it for a while now, and it scared me to hell. I had never loved anyone like this before, the only other people I had ever loved were my family and that definitely did not feel like this.
He looked shocked at my casualness but soon broke out into a huge smile. "I love you too, Rebecca."
"You're not just saying that because I did, right?" I frowned, hoping that he meant it.
"Of course not," He shook his head, laughing.
"Because I really do love you Elijah, and it scares me to death. I don't know what to do or how to act, I don't know what it means for me or for us. I've never felt like this before and it scares me," I babbled on, not knowing what to do or say, but feeling to awkward to lapse into silence.
Elijah laughed and gently placed his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me closer to him as he leant up to kiss me. I climbed on top of him, my knees either side of his thighs as I straddled him. He kissed me hungrily, and I was more than willing to succumb to his hunger.
That night was the first time we said 'I love you' to each other. My heart felt like it was about to explode with all of the emotion filling up my body as I was hit by another wall of memories.
"Elijah," I giggled as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind.
"Yes, my dear," He whispered huskily in my ear.
"Can we do something fun today? Surely the practise can wait for one day," I pouted, hoping he wouldn't make me practise fighting him again. I just wanted to have some fun today, and spend time with him as a couple.
"Why not? Do you have anything in mind?" He smiled, surprising me at how easy he accepted my proposition. Normally when I asked he told me that it was important for me to learn how to protect myself, even when he wasn't around.
"I don't care, as long as I am with you," I kissed him.
"In that case, I have an idea," He grinned and pulled me out of the house.
We ended up at a secluded beach, no one was around. Even the birds seemed to have disappeared, normally beaches were full of seagulls, but I could not even hear one let alone see one. We walked hand in hand across the sand, talking non-stop as always. We never ran out of things to say. He led the way to beautiful place where the rocks gave us shelter from the brisk wind. He laid down a blanket that he had brought with us and we sat on top of it.
We stayed there, wrapped up in each other's arms for hours. We watched as the sun set and the stars came out. "It's so beautiful here," I had whispered.
"It is," He smiled sadly at me.
"What's wrong?" I asked him, a nervous feeling rising in my stomach.
"I just wish that we could stay here forever, hidden away from the world," The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile before dropping again as he recited something I said almost ten months ago now.
"Why don't we?" I smiled back at him, holding his hands in mine.
"Because the sun will come up and reality will set in," He sighed, also reciting something he had said all those months ago.
"Then don't let it," I shook my head. "We don't need anyone except each other, Elijah."
"We don't, but there are other people we have to consider. My brother will kill you if he finds out about us," Elijah looked almost scared at the thought as pain flashed across his face.
"Then he won't find out," I shrugged. "He doesn't have to know."
"But he will find out, that much I know and your death is inevitable when he does," He looked crushed at the prospect of my life being so easily in the balance. "I have to keep you safe."
"Then keep me safe, Elijah," I said desperately, scared of this conversation was leading to.
"I will Rebecca, I have always promised you that I will keep you safe no matter what," He looked at me sadly, "Which is why I have to do this and I am so sorry. Please know that I will always love you, Rebecca."
"No, Elijah please!" I said desperately, pushing myself away from him in a panic as I realised what he was about to do. He whispered that he was sorry over and over as he gripped my neck tightly and forced me to look at him.
My mind went blank and my love for Elijah Mikaelson disappeared. I was left with a missing link in my life that would not be whole again.
Until he compelled me my memories back, and along came the feelings. I felt as though the 167 years since he made me forget him were a lie and that he was with me the whole time. My heart and head felt overwhelmed with emotion, but one thing I knew for sure.
I was in love with Elijah Mikaelson and nothing in this world would take that away from me ever again.