Chapter Forty•One. Bennet & Darcy
ELIJAH
{Made For These by Jimmie Allen & Tim McGraw}
🖤
When you're shattered by the fall
When every road you take feels like the long way
Let it make you stronger
And fight a little harder
When you get to where you're goin', then you'll see
Those days were made for these
🖤
Elijah watched Arabella cross the road over to the Mystic Grill with both girls holding her hands. Elijah was discreet even if he didn't look like it. At the same time, Arabella ran into the bar with the girls, it was the same time he stopped at his car and placed his hand in his pocket, at the same time a few women walked passed him, smiling because it was obvious he was dripping in wealth. On top of that, he was incredibly handsome. The long coat with his infamous nine thousand dollar suit underneath accented with a nice pair of designer shoes while standing in front of an expensive vehicle. If he was trying to be discreet without drawing any attention to himself, he was doing an awful job. He just wanted to see his girls off to school without being overbearing, and why he thought Arabella wouldn't allow him to do that was beyond anyone.
Arabella was inside the Mystic Grill because she wanted a decent cup of coffee and even though there was a coffee shop a block away she found their coffee to be disgusting. At least inside the bar, she could get an awesome cup of coffee to go and the girls could get their favorite donuts. They weren't due to the school for another hour so she took her time with what time she had left with the girls until she wouldn't see them again until summer vacation. It was a long while for that so she was taking as much time as possible. Yeah, she thought Elijah should have been there to see them off as well but Arabella wanted Elijah as far away from Alaric as she could get him. Arabella didn't want Elijah doing anything rash to Alaric because the man didn't do anything wrong; but somehow knowing Elijah, he would find a reason to rip Alaric's heart out from his chest. It was something about another man raising his children while he was away that didn't sit right, but Alaric wasn't to blame for that, Arabella was. She invited the man into their lives with no remorse for how Elijah would feel and she knew that his heart must've broken to find that out. But subtract the girls from the equation and Elijah would have thought twice to leave the situation alone.
As Arabella thought about Elijah and his feelings, she looked up after exiting the establishment, coffee in hand while the girls behind her enjoyed their sugary treats in their finely ironed school uniforms. He was standing less than two hundred feet away. His expression was unmoved, his posture was straight, and he didn't look at anyone but Arabella.
"Girls, your father is here." Arabella didn't look down to tell the girls. She continued her staring contest with Elijah hoping that he would break first, and he did when they both ran to the end of the sidewalk, looked both ways for cars, and then darted in the direction of their father. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and knelt a little bit so that the girls could hug him comfortably. Arabella took a moment, breathed deeply, and made her way across the street as well. She was hoping her day was going to go well because she wasn't going to see Elijah but that quickly changed because there he was. He called more than he should have, he was always calling her phone to video chat with the girls and she grew tired of that so she ended up getting them phones, and it wasn't like she didn't enjoy him getting to know his girls since he missed out on almost six years, she just didn't have anything to say to him, she didn't want to talk to him or see his face. So him being there in the flesh, kind of threw off her mood because she loved Elijah, deeply, ardently, but she didn't want to fall into the same routine every time Elijah looked at her. That was the sole reason for her avoidance. She didn't want her knees to weaken every time he was near, she didn't want her heart nearly beating out of her chest like it was doing the moment she stepped foot on the same sidewalk as him. He could hear her heart and that was why he looked up at her. "What are you doing here?"
He stared at her just to see if she was sad that she had to drop the girls back off at school. It wasn't until seconds later that it wasn't that at all. He didn't want to seem self-absorbed because he wasn't like that at all, but when he noticed how her heart was racing while being close to him, she took a step back to try and slow it down even though it didn't work.
"Same as you, I've come to see the girls off since I won't see them till summer break."
"Yeah, but who told you to come?" She wasn't upset, she was genuinely curious because she didn't tell anyone the exact date they were due back at school.
"We did Mommy," Elise glanced up and took Elijah's hand. Arielle did the same. Arabella should have known that it would happen though, she knew the girls were going to want Elijah involved, so she swallowed her pride and didn't scold the girls. He was their father anyway, there wasn't much she could keep him away from.
"Fair enough," Arabella dropped it quickly, she glanced down at the watch on her left wrist. She looked only to see how much time they would have before they left and there wasn't enough time at all to try and break free and leave Elijah there by himself. She knew he would catch up regardless. "Well, I guess we should get going then."
"Good, I'll drive." He smiled and turned with the girls. Arabella's eyebrows lowered in confusion as they walked back in the direction of his car. Once there, Arabella stopped and rolled her eyes up to Elijah who didn't see the problem she was seeing. He didn't realize she had stopped until he reached the driver's side of the car.
"We can't ride in this." Arabella scoffed, it wasn't because the car wasn't nice because it was, a little flashy for her taste but still, it was because she didn't consider it to be safe.
"Why not? There's seats in the back." Elijah mentioned as he was well aware the girls could fit in the back, it wasn't a problem, though it was a problem for Arabella. The girls didn't say anything because they were too busy looking at how nice the car was, and silently wondered why their mom didn't have something like it knowing that it suited her and she could very much afford it. That didn't matter anyway, Arabella didn't prefer the same cars Elijah had, she had the SUV that she just adored.
"No. It's not suited for children, you don't even have booster seats for them," She shook her head lightly.
"Booster seats?" It was his turn for his eyebrows to lower, he was confused because he didn't think the girls needed them, they were already quite tall for their age. Arabella knew what they needed though, so he decided to not argue with her. He was still trying to find ways to prove to her that he wanted her as much as he wanted his family to be together, he was going to fight for it if he had to. That started with listening to Arabella.
"You have so much to learn Daddy." Arielle laughed.
"What would you like to do?" Elijah looked up to ask Arabella and she just looked annoyed.
She didn't say anything more, she just smirked and started walking further down the sidewalk to get to her SUV, and as Elijah followed the girls who were skipping down behind her, he saw the large vehicle come into view.
Elijah thought his car was expensive and maybe too much for the small town of Mystic Falls but Arabella's was a lot more than his. But she only had it all blacked out so no one suspected it was her when she drove by certain people. It was to keep her hidden, it had nothing to do with being discreet.
She unlocked the doors and opened up the door on the back passenger side, it was meant for Elijah to help put the girls into the vehicle. He helped Arielle while Arabella helped Elise. He watched the way Arabella strapped Elise in and followed suit. He stood back and watched how comfortable they looked and realized that they did need it. He closed the door at the same time Arabella did and didn't bother arguing with her about who should drive. He climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door but didn't bother putting on his seat belt.
Arabella naturally did what she always did when she climbed in her truck, she turned it on, turned on the screen that was in the middle of her dashboard, waited for it to connect to her phone, she chose a song for the twelve-minute drive, then put on her seat belt. It wasn't long after that when she put the car in reverse and then drove off toward the school.
Elijah didn't want to focus on watching her. He wanted to see Alaric face to face so he thought about that. He wanted to make the judgment whether he wanted to kill him or not. He was debating, not entirely caring how much his daughters liked him.
He turned his head. He couldn't avoid looking at her because everyone in the family knew that he loved looking at her. If he didn't, then he wouldn't want to be with her, he wouldn't be fighting to be her husband. He would have given up on her so long ago. When he wasn't trying to look at her he pictured she'd be focused on the road, humming along to her music, but she wasn't. She looked like she was distracted, her elbow was propped up on the door while lightly biting her thumbnail, he could see she was distracted although her driving was impeccable.
"What are you thinking about?" He wanted to hold that in, but he knew that he wanted to know what was on her mind, good or bad. He wanted to know so that he could fix it. If he was able to.
"I'm not thinking about anything." She lied. She was contemplating how to rip her own heart out just so she wouldn't have to feel all the old feelings she was feeling. She was thinking of ways to jump out of the moving SUV without injuring her daughters in the process. She wanted to know how to not love Elijah the way that she loved him. She wanted to find a way out, she wanted to move on and she couldn't because just with one swift look at Elijah's face, she swooned as if she just met him. She didn't want that and she wasn't sure if she was able to fight against his stare. "I'm just missing my babies already."
"We're not even gone yet," Elise spoke up from the back seat first.
"I know but I won't be seeing you until summer break," Arabella looking in the rearview mirror, looked at her eldest as she made a pouting face to showcase that she was indeed sad to have them going back to school. She was so used to doing things with them and including them in her work as much as possible, she hated that they wouldn't be around to distract her.
"You'll be okay, Mommy. You have Daddy to keep you busy." Arielle added and the way Arabella looked at her too, she knew that her youngest did it on purpose. The look Arabella gave to Arielle is what made both of them start cracking up in the back seat.
"Uh," Arabella chuckled as she was caught off guard completely. "I'm sure your father has other things to take care of. I have to get back to work anyway."
"I don't have anything better to do. I took your sister's advice and decided to take a little vacation. So maybe you could show me around? Show me what I'd been missing for the last five years?"
"I have to work?" She didn't mean for it to sound like a question. She had just become so confused because she pretty much despised her ex-husband but she was ready to show him where she was living, where she worked.
Since she revoked her celebrity status and wished to be left alone, she focused more on the women coming to her for a dress, and less on interviews and red carpet events. It wasn't her style and the more she attended such events the more it was tearing away at who she was. She couldn't have a meltdown and shift as long as she was in the spotlight, she had to hold back her emotions so that her eyes wouldn't change colors when her picture was taken. Stepping down and not wanting to be famous was better for her, and since then she has felt better, and more relaxed. No one had tried to take her picture, and no one had invited her to anything, and to her that was bliss.
So now she was able to stick to what she knew, visit her sister more, and go about her life, and she couldn't do that as long as Elijah was breathing down her neck, unwilling to give her the space she wanted and he was unaware of.
They were at the gates no more than a minute later, thinking about Arabella or thinking about Elijah made the time go by faster. They were just waiting to be let in. Elijah had been to the Salvatore house a couple of times but in no way imagined it being transformed the way that it had. The gates around the entire institution, the perfectly green trimmed grass and bushes. Caroline Salvatore had completely outdone herself. Once they were inside the gates and in a parking spot, next to Alaric's vehicle no doubt, Elijah helped take the girls out and then proceeded to grab their belongings from the trunk.
"Their luggage goes to the left just inside the entrance doors. I'm going to sign the twins back in. Just find us when you're finished."
He nodded his head, then he turned to look among the students he heard coming from the left of him. They were older, and they wore matching uniforms just like the twins had. He watched closely and could already tell they were a group of werewolves. They were so young to him. Having killed someone and triggering their werewolf curse, he didn't wish that for Elise and Arielle.
Arabella was talking with one of the teachers for Arielle's class when she sensed Elijah from behind her. She didn't turn around because she was in the middle of a discussion, but Lucinda Kramer, that taught magic to the younger witches, turned and saw Elijah and instantly knew who he was. She read about him in one of Stefan Salvatore's diaries, and there were pictures of him in one of the rooms that held memorabilia. They all knew of the Mikaelson who wore suits, he was described as a nobleman although he was still just as scary as his younger half brother. Lucinda looked like she was ready to scream that the school was under attack, but Arabella was quick to soothe her erratic thoughts by taking her by the shoulder and making Lucinda look at her.
"Th-that's Elijah Mikaelson." She looked terrified when Arabella searched her face.
"Yes, it is. Calm down, he's just here to drop the girls off." She tried to calm her, but she should've known it wouldn't work. The people who worked in the school knew who Elijah Mikaelson was, they knew what he was capable of, and they thought he was dead.
"Gi-girls?" She looked down at Arielle first and then Elise. When she looked at Arabella again she was incredulous. "You mean to tell me-?"
"Yes, these are his daughters. Their last names are Mikaelson." Arabella rolled her eyes. Caroline probably told them the twins had no relation to the infamous family, Arabella wouldn't have expected less than that either.
"Show some respect." Elijah was callous, and though he didn't want to seem like that to his offspring, he couldn't hide that for long. The teacher was right, he was a ruthless killer and if she thought she wasn't going to show some respect, then he was going to enforce it.
"I don't show respect to ruthless killers." She turned her head and glared at him with hatred. Arabella didn't know the teacher to have a mean bone in her body, but still, she didn't appreciate her talking about the girls' father while they were standing right there. Even if Arabella had told them everything about the man who would be raising them, good and bad.
"But I'm a ruthless killer." Arabella blinked twice and took a step back as she had clearly been insulted. To be viewed as not made her upset. Half of the time where Elijah was around, she was killing more people than she could ever imagine. But Lucinda Kramer couldn't have possibly known that. To her, Arabella was just a mom who designed wedding dresses, she didn't see Arabella as some lycanthrope who killed people just by looking at her wrong. That was a different time then, but make no mistake, she might have been a mom that basically killed off killing people, but she was always willing to make an exception.
"Whoa, Arabella! There's no need for violence." Caroline had heard what was going on because she was already making her way down the long hall, so when she heard the commotion, she made it her business to stop things before they were to get ugly. Arabella gave Caroline a death glare from the side when her eyes started to light up. Caroline knew how to handle situations where Arabella seemed a little off, but she couldn't figure out what small incident set her off so early in the morning. Until Caroline looked to her left and saw Elijah casually standing there, not acknowledging that the situation was solely based on him, and yet he was unbothered. He knew Arabella had it handled so there was no way he would interfere. "Elijah?"
"Hello Caroline Forbes, or-excuse me- I heard you go by Salvatore now. I believe congratulations are in order?" He still seemed callous so when Arabella looked at him, that was when Lucinda found a way to escape in the opposite direction. The girls were still standing with them but they already knew how they would be so they went off to go and find Josie and Lizzie.
"If you heard I've gotten married to Stefan, then you would know that he died the same day." Her lips tightened into a straight line. She was both saddened and angered to think about Stefan, but she was only angry because Elijah showed no remorse. He wouldn't have been remorseful because he didn't care about the Salvatores. He only cared about his family. Especially Arabella and the twins.
"Yes, I heard. I just didn't want to bring it up." He looked at Arabella, not really interested in talking to Caroline, so when Caroline noticed what he was doing, her hair flipped back behind her shoulder and smirked at Arabella who was looking around to where the girls might have disappeared to.
"Does Alaric know you're here?" Caroline tried to make it awkward so when Arabella picked up on what she asked. She lowered her eyes, clearly still confused.
"Why wouldn't he? He knows my routine." Elijah glanced at Arabella because he didn't understand what she meant by that. He understood more when people explained what they meant, and he wasn't trying to be too nosy, he still wanted to know anyway. The fact that the two of them had a history, he didn't like Alaric any more than he already disliked him.
"Wonderful," Caroline was sarcastic, then she looked at Elijah and cheeked a smile sarcastically before she stepped out of the way. "He's in his office."
Arabella started down the hallway, the same one Caroline just came from.
Elijah thought about following her, he just let her have a head start. Arielle ran up to him seconds later and started pulling him so she could show him to her friends. No matter how much he wanted to hear what Arabella was talking about with Alaric, he didn't want to miss out on more than he already had, so he stayed with the girls until they were ready to get rid of him.
Arabella stood a couple of feet into Alaric's office and waited for him to realize she was there. Him being a human, he wouldn't have known she was there by hearing her because she was excellent at being silent. So when he glanced up, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"How long have you been standing there?" He tried to adjust his sweater and his tie. After that, he tried to calm his heart.
"Long enough to know that you need to practice watching your surroundings." She shrugged her shoulder and brought her hand up to the ends of her hair and started playing with it. She couldn't hide the smile growing on her lips.
"I don't ever expect to be attacked in my own office." He casually leaned back, not really expecting her to hurt him, either. Not more than she had already.
"See, and that's where you fail." She joked. Releasing her arms from her chest and sat down in the chair freely. He missed her laugh, he missed a lot of things about her, but he knew they would never work. As long as he remembered his late wife and as long as she thought of Elijah she would never be able to move on. "How have you been?"
"You know, same as ever. Trying to get everything taken care of before classes start on Monday." He looked down at his latest file and smirked. When he looked back up, he leaned in his seat and brought the tips of his fingers to his chin. "I heard what happened, are you alright?"
"I feel better now that I know there aren't people following my every move," she was nonchalant while her head kind of swayed. Then she stopped when she could hear Elijah making his way down the hall. "Well, at least one person."
"I don't get it." Alaric looked at her confused, but almost immediately after, Elijah curved around the corner to Alaric's office and stood in the threshold, staring at Alaric like he had the audacity to pursue a relationship with his ex-wife.
Alaric's eyes froze on the man standing in his doorway, and the first thing he wanted to do was reach for the wooden stake taped underneath his desk. It wouldn't kill Elijah Mikaelson, he knew that. But it would slow him down a little bit if he needed to make an escape, and hopefully he wouldn't need to. Arabella rolled her eyes as she looked back at Elijah, basically telling him to stop scaring Alaric and relax, they weren't there to give him a hard time when he was really just doing his job. What happened between Alaric and Arabella, it happened naturally and it fell apart all the same. It was fun while it lasted, Arabella moved on, Alaric didn't but he was working on it. It didn't really help when he was looking at her in person because all he did was miss her.
When Elijah didn't take the seat next to Arabella, she looked back at him again and directed him to the seat with her eyes. She looked stern, more of a motherly feature that she grew to use as the girls had gotten older and somehow it started to work on Elijah. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and took the seat he was told to take and glanced at Arabella before he glared at Alaric.
"So about the girls," Arabella cleared her throat and leaned back in her seat, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She pulled up the girls' schedules and looked them over before she began talking about what she needed to be done. "I see they have combative training with you only twice a week for the semester. Is there any way we can bump that up to may three or four days?"
"I mean I could, but I wouldn't see why they would need it."
"Because they're twins of the Mikaelson family, or did you forget?" She wasn't trying to sound so harsh, but it was critical that the girls knew how to defend themselves. It was only a matter of time that their enemies would know they existed, so even if Arabella and Elijah and their entire family would be there to protect them, they needed to protect themselves in case their parents weren't around.
"No, I haven't forgotten. But Ara, they're almost six, we have plenty of time to train them when the time comes."
"Ara?" Elijah turned his head to look at his ex-wife. His eyebrow raised while he didn't bother to acknowledge Alaric in the room, he just stared at Arabella, but she just rolled her eyes and continued on with their conversation.
"I just want them to be ready for anything. You know how I am."
"Fine," He gave in, but it was only because of Arabella. She was right, her girls needed to be absolutely ready for anything because anything could happen. They could die and become vampires at the age of five and never grow older. They could fight and accidentally kill someone else and the moment they taste someone else's blood they would activate their lycanthrope curses. Not really, because they could change at any time, but Alaric didn't need to know that. She wanted them to be children as long as they possibly could, but she wanted them to be aware at all times, just in case. "I'll have them trained three times a week. But you need to promise me to ease up a little bit. We all know you're doing the best you can."
"Thanks." They smiled at one another while Alaric picked up his pen and jotted down about adding another day of training for the Mikaelson twins. The entire time Elijah felt excluded, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Okay, is there anything else that needs to be fixed? Are the magic classes I placed them in alright? I know the two work better together, but I thought separating them would help them develop their magic on their own without relying on one another." He looked at Elijah and saw that he had no idea what Alaric or Arabella were talking about, but would eventually get with the program once he had gotten parenting down and packed.
"No, I understand why you did that. I thought it was a great idea." Arabella nodded approvingly. She thought she wouldn't need her phone anymore so she returned it to her pocket and tried to ignore Elijah completely. She and Alaric knew all about their schedules and Elijah was just hearing about them. That didn't stop him from trying to be as engaged as possible.
"Why would it be a great idea?" Elijah snapped out of his thoughts. The ones where he was killing Alaric and stringing him up by his neck in front of the school.
"Elise and Arielle's magic is very strong when they are together. But lately, they have been relying on each other to complete a spell. Elise is starting to show disinterest in using magic at all. Whereas Arielle isn't being challenged enough. So we thought maybe if they were in different classes to sort of see how powerful they are alone, then we can see how they do." Alaric felt he shouldn't have had to explain but knew he would have to because Elijah knew nothing about his daughters and Alaric did. That peeved Elijah off more than anything. The thought of the man raising his daughters instead of him, made him really want to knock Alaric's head off his shoulders. "Is that all you had to ask me?"
"It is. I know I could've asked you over the phone, but I was already here dropping them off so I thought I'd get it out of the way."
"It's not a problem, I'm always happy to help." Alaric's smile was small, trying to not put too much emotion into their interaction, Elijah saw right through him.
"I appreciate it, Ric." She stood up and smiled weakly. She wasn't trying to show too much interest in case Alaric had gotten the wrong idea, or to make Elijah believe she still had feelings for him, which wouldn't matter because Arabella still had a love for Alaric. After all, she was ready to marry him if he didn't call off their engagement. Just like Elijah had a special place in Arabella's heart, Alaric did too, and not even Elijah could change that. "I'm going to say goodbye to the girls before I leave."
"They would love that." He stood up in respect to them leaving but Elijah just stood there staring again while Arabella made her way to the door, stopping and waiting for him to follow behind her.
After a moment of waiting for him, she turned around and saw what he was doing. She cleared her throat and grabbed his attention before turning again and leaving. But Elijah still didn't follow. He had a couple of words for Alaric before he left the premises. So when he could hear Arabella still walking he decided to get what he needed out of the way before she came back and remove him from Alaric's office herself.
"You need to talk about something?" Alaric matched Elijah's posture and shoved his hands into his pants pockets as well. Elijah smirked, looked down, and then looked back up.
"How long did you know her before you knew she was my wife?" His eyes narrowed sheepishly.
"The day I met her," Alaric was casual when he answered. The feeling of fear washed away when he realized Arabella wasn't taking any nonsense from Elijah, and if something were to happen to him, then Elijah knew Arabella wouldn't forgive him and he still wanted her back more than anything. "Though she made it very clear that you two were not together."
He rocked on his feet a bit.
"Mighty bold of you to pursue an interest to a woman who was married to an Original." Elijah looked around the office, not at all impressed by how it looked.
"Wasn't like that at all. You had no part in our relationship so I wasn't too worried about it really." Alaric shrugged nonchalantly. Sure, he was surprised by Elijah walking into his office, but that was because he didn't know he was awake. But once that initial surprise faded, he was no longer scared by him. He wasn't afraid of him or his siblings anymore. He had years to be terrified, but after he met Arabella after he developed a relationship with the woman he ended up falling for, Elijah was just viewed as an ex-husband and not a vampire serial killer. Though, he should still be cautious around him considering at every given moment Elijah could race around Alaric's desk and end his life without Alaric even realizing it. Alaric didn't want to take that risk and neither did Elijah because he didn't want Arabella hating him for the rest of eternity.
Elijah narrowed his eyes, he didn't know what to say to that. He wanted to just get his point across that Alaric would never have the opportunity to get her back now that Elijah was present. "You do well to remember that I'm an Original. Your tone will not match with my bare hands as they snap your neck."
"You could kill me, but that would automatically expel your daughters from this school. And we don't want that to happen. Arabella certainly wouldn't be too pleased about it either." Alaric shrugged his shoulder again. He knew Arabella would most likely scold the both of them, so anything that was being said in his office was definitely going to stay there.
"Because the two of you had a brief relationship?" His eyebrow raised. He wasn't threatened at all by the simple human. And that was okay because Alaric wasn't threatened by him either.
"Because Arabella cares about her daughters more than either of us and if anyone interferes with their education, she will retaliate. You would know that if you were here for the last almost six years." Alaric didn't stand down. He knew their relationship wasn't brief, and the reasons why it ended wasn't any of Elijah's business so he didn't give the vampire the satisfaction in telling him. He didn't have to explain anything to him, he could be compelled to tell Elijah everything he wanted to know, but he dropped it. It wasn't worth it because he knew he would just be upset.
"You would know, I would be here for my children if I wasn't asleep for the entirety of their lives. I just want you to be aware that whatever the two of you had, it's over. That's the end of it." Elijah never had to raise his voice. The look on his face was threatening enough. Even Alaric remembered that part about him, he could never forget.
"According to you? You don't possibly believe you'll win her back after all you have done to her? You're delusional Elijah." Alaric raised his chin. Their conversation was meaningless, if anything Arabella didn't really want either of them back, they both have broken her heart at some point.
"Unlike you, I have eternity to fix the mistakes I have made with my ex-wife. And I plan to fix them. I plan to love her, I plan to be here to help raise my family. So I'm afraid there's no room left for you."
"That's just fine because I don't plan to fight for her love. Once upon a time, I didn't have to. So if I have to be there for her, just as a friend, then that is alright with me." Alaric's eyes didn't leave Elijah's. He was serious. If Alaric had to be there as Arabella's friend, be there whenever she needed him, then that was okay. It was okay because he loved her, and although they didn't work out in the end, that didn't mean he gave up on her. He would never do that to her. Just like he was her friend, she was his and no one could stop the two from doing what was best for their daughters. Alaric would always have a part in Elise and Arielle's lives, just like Arabella would always have a part in Lizzie and Josie's lives.
Elijah had nothing to say to that, if anything, he felt like it was time for him to go. Alaric made a good point, even if he wasn't going to admit it to him. He didn't know what he was so worried about anyway, it was clear Alaric Saltzman wouldn't live past seventy anyhow so why bother discussing the woman he loved to him?
Elijah didn't bother saying anything else, he just turned and walked out of the office as if the two of them hadn't spoken at all. Alaric didn't think Elijah won, Alaric didn't think Elijah lost. Alaric saw how much Elijah loved Arabella and just what he was willing to say or do to protect her and his daughters, and Alaric respected that. But that didn't mean he would ever like him, like ever. The Mikaelsons were never going to be liked by him, too much damage was done to ever change that.
He made his way back to the entrance of the school where he found Arabella knelt down, surrounded by the twins and two more little girls that looked to be a little older than Elise and Arielle. Arabella was wishing them both the best of luck with the new semester, rubbing their arms to comfort them, she smiled up at them as they spoke to her, but that didn't mean she left out her daughters. The two girls who didn't belong to her, she wanted them to understand that Arabella would always be there for them, just like she was with her daughters. She was only a phone call away and they didn't need to hesitate to pick one up and call her. She didn't have to tell her daughters that because they already knew.
So when she was finished talking to them, the four of them all went off to do something else, most likely to their rooms which wouldn't have changed at all until the new school year if they decided to change rooms. Arabella stood straight again and turned her head when she sensed Elijah standing thirty feet away and staring at her. She didn't say anything, she just adjusted her jacket, her cuff links, just like Elijah would have, then she walked with him out of the school.
She didn't say anything to him until they were back in her SUV, off of the school premises and already three miles down the road, away from the school.
"Am I taking you back to your car?" The way she sounded, made Elijah think she really didn't want to speak to him. That it was awkward and that she was trying to continue with avoiding him.
"I thought maybe you'd like to get some lunch?" He didn't look at her, he looked down, afraid that she was going to say no, and he knew that she would.
"I don't think that's a good idea." She clenched the steering wheel, looked at him briefly through her peripheral vision, then watched the road as her back tensed up. She didn't want to get ahead of herself, she didn't want to get the wrong idea, give him the wrong idea, the whole nine yards. The last thing she needed to be distracted by, was Elijah trying to win her back. She just wanted to get back to designing the dresses she already had on order. She had too much to get done in a little amount of time.
"There's nothing wrong with getting lunch together." Elijah was hurt, but he didn't show it. He didn't want Arabella to think of him as weak, even if he did know she would never see him that way.
"Don't act like I don't know what you're trying to do Elijah, it won't work." She shook her head lightly, trying to keep her mind focused. She didn't need the distraction, she just needed to get home and get back to work.
"You have no idea what I'm trying to do. I'm only inviting you to have lunch with me." Arabella could hear the impatience rising in Elijah's throat. All he was trying to do was make missing the last five years up to her, and she was making it difficult. He didn't care that she was at her wits end with forgiveness and that she wasn't going to forgive him as quickly as he thought she would.
"You want to try to win me back, but you don't understand that I'm not a prize. I heard your conversation with Alaric, I'm not stupid." She would think the two of them would be man enough to not bring up their relationships with her, and she already knew Elijah started it because Alaric wouldn't have dreamed to disclose his relationship with his ex's ex-husband. Alaric genuinely did not like Elijah. "Did you really think because we have kids together that you would magically try and repair what you broke?"
"I wanted to try. I don't know why you wouldn't. If anything, I know you would never want to raise our children separately. We are not like that." He didn't look at her while she sped up. If anything he was trying to keep his cool. The thought of her not wanting to try and patch the past and start anew so that their daughters could experience their parents together, it revved up a feeling that he wasn't trying to bring out. He wanted to be understanding, he wanted to see her point of view, but again, he didn't have the patience. It was either she wanted to be with him, or she wanted to forget him altogether. She wasn't telling him what she wanted from him so he couldn't help but feel a tinge of frustration.
"I've been doing all of this, by myself, for six years!" She yelled as she pulled herself forward near the steering wheel. "This cannot be fixed between us, no matter what you say. You broke this family apart, not I!"
"And I was wrong, why won't you let me admit it and try to make it right?" He was almost pleading, but Arabella was hearing nothing of it. She was barely listening because her eyes were clouding and she was trying to make it go away before he could notice.
That was why she hadn't noticed the vampires spread out among the forest as they passed by. Neither of them were paying attention to the setup the mysterious vampires were creating, so when an arrow was shot from both sides of the vehicle, it was too late. Both front tires flattened and made the SUV go up from the back, making it completely flip, Elijah was quick to push himself over to the driver's side and wrap his arms around Arabella and tuck their heads down before the top of the vehicle hit the pavement.
Glass and debris hit the ground, the world around Arabella and Elijah spun, though Elijah was quick to grasp his attention. Arabella groaned and brought her hands up to both sides of her head, the pounding wouldn't stop, and the reason Elijah was so quick to feel better was because he made sure he fed regularly, Arabella couldn't remember the last time she had a drop of someone else's blood. That was why she stayed put while Elijah watched shoes walk around the SUV, he counted eight but two stood about four feet from where he was. Clearly not paying attention to him or Arabella.
"Are you alright?" Elijah asked quietly, his hand touched her right arm, but she jumped when she felt him. She groaned again, then looked at him. She kept her eyes closed because her head was pounding like it did when she had a migraine, which came to her more frequently than she would like. So she didn't say anything. When she felt okay to get out of the wreck that was her beautiful SUV, she was going to put a world of hurt on whoever was behind her crash, and whoever it was, was incredibly lucky her girls weren't with her.
Elijah escaped out the driver's side back window where he then gathered to his feet, fixed his hair and his clothes before he walked around the destroyed, dented, and totaled part of her vehicle. Then he ran to the woods and gathered the biggest stick he could find and snapped them until they looked like stakes. It was one thing to ambush him and his family, but it was another to do it while Arabella was with him. So he wasn't at all happy, who would be?
Two men rolled the SUV onto the passenger side, making Arabella hit the seat with a thud, Elijah couldn't figure out why she wasn't trying to get out, but that was a question to ask her when he finished staking the two closest men. He would ask questions later when he came face to face with whoever was behind their attack.
He came around the side of the SUV again and used his vampire speed to hurry and stake the two men not acknowledging their surroundings. They must have known, and clearly not cared at all that Elijah would be with Arabella because all in all, someone was aiming to kill Arabella without knowing she could just come back. Either way, an ambush on her vehicle wouldn't kill her, it would just piss her off. Elijah took care of three more vampires while Arabella climbed through her window and jumped down.
She took a moment to recognize the damage, and the moment she saw that her expensive SUV was totaled, she brought her hands up to the sides of her head again and basically screamed internally. She didn't want to seem overdramatic because it was just a piece of machinery, but it was a piece of machinery that she paid a lot of money for and was actually one of her favorite purchases. When she stopped with her internal groaning, she went to fix her hair, then walked around the wreck to meet up with Elijah, but her head started spinning again. It was obvious she hit her head pretty hard when the SUV was airborne, but she thought she would still be okay, just like Elijah was. She knew the main reason she wasn't okay was that she wasn't drinking blood, she wasn't healthy up to Lycanthrope standards and she wasn't killing anyone. That was about to change the closer she came to a vampire.
The vampire who was about to run up behind Elijah while he was distracted, was knocked off his feet by Arabella as she tore his neck open and drank his blood hungrily. Elijah calmly turned his body to see what was going on and saw her pull her head back. Bloodstained her mouth, chin, neck, and the top of her turtleneck, although no one would be able to notice because her sweater was black. Her eyes were red, and underneath her eyes were dark, like she was starved of what she needed. Elijah could see how long it had been, but he didn't understand why she would have deprived herself of what she needed to keep herself strong. He wouldn't ask until they were alone, as of that second, they had something else to take care of, and because Arabella didn't see who was standing in front of Elijah, she didn't know who was behind her attack. She went back to dismembering the vampire by ripping his heart from his chest and biting into angrily. Though, she wasn't finished. She jumped up and started running toward men Elijah didn't see. She ran head-on, shoving her hands through chest plates and ripping out hearts without a second thought. Arabella tried to put off who she was for a long time because of the position she was put in when she started getting recognition for her wedding dresses, which meant that she was getting too much attention to drain a vampire of their blood, which meant that if she was caught doing such a thing then the world would find out who she really was. She would have been hunted, she would have been hurt, and her family would have been outed also. She didn't want to risk it, she didn't want the trouble, but that didn't matter, because no matter where she went, trouble was always there.
Just like with her SUV, yes, it was her favorite. But it wasn't the first one that had been destroyed. She knew someone was out to get her, though she had no choice but to ignore it, just like she wasn't able to help Scott, Stiles, Derek, and the rest of them anymore in fear that someone might have caught it on camera. Another risk she didn't want to take.
So when she killed three more on top of the three she just maimed, she wiped at her lip with her thumb as if that were the only area that had blood. Elijah tried to remain neutral when he turned back to the woman that stood in front of him, he waited for Arabella to join him so she could handle the situation herself. So when she stepped over broken glass, pieces of her bumper, and SUV, she also stepped over the men Elijah had taken care of.
Arabella and Elijah together looked like Bonnie and Clyde in suits. But if someone asked Arabella, she would have referred to them as the modern-day Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Minus the fact that Arabella was not born to a poor family, and that she was well put off without the help of the Mikaelson family. Elijah-no doubt- portrayed Darcy more than a man can portray anyone. He was a fictional character as much as he was a real one. They loved one another immensely though neither one would admit it. Elijah would say things he didn't mean, and Arabella was so full of pride and hurt that she didn't want to fall into the same routine as every woman in the twenty-first century. She didn't care how much she loved the man that gave her the most beautiful little girls.
She finally looked up and saw Gia standing before her and Elijah, Arabella dropped her hands and looked at Elijah tiredly before rolling her eyes. She should have expected it, but for once, she didn't think she would have been challenged by some new vampire who clearly had no clue who she was up against. "You want to try and make things right, but every time you do, something like this always happens. Every time, Elijah."
"I have no involvement in this." Elijah didn't look at Gia for fear Arabella would suspect something, he wanted Arabella to know he had nothing to do with what Gia was getting herself into.
"But of course you do," She turned her body to him, and he turned his body to hers as they ignored Gia's presence and continued arguing with one other as if the crash didn't happen. Gia was wondering what was happening. "When you get involved with little girls like this one, they have this need to fight for your love. It's been five years and she's here, making my life hell for no apparent reason. As long as that happens, there's nothing for us to discuss."
It didn't even matter that both Arabella and Elijah were turned on by their fussing. Elijah pulled on her arm when she tried to walk away, but she yanked her arm out of his grasp.
"I didn't ask for this," When Arabella wanted to hear nothing of it, he turned back to Gia, Gia looked as if she expected it, but she was still there to get what she wanted. Elijah was ready to clear the air that it would never happen. "What are you doing here? What could you possibly want after all this time?"
"Why I'm here is perfectly clear," Gia's face was plain, but her eyes never moved from looking at Elijah. She allowed Arabella to make fun of her, but she had no choice but to accept it anyway because it wasn't like she could fight Arabella and win. She was waiting for her to be at her weakest, and she got her there. Gia just didn't know that Arabella ingesting vampire blood was going to give her the strength she needed. And she only knew that by Arabella's eyes glowing as she stood next to Elijah.
"It's perfectly clear, Elijah." Arabella mocked Gia. She made a face that showed she was utterly happy, and when Elijah stared at his ex-wife, her smile disappeared just as quickly. She leaned back on her destroyed Escalade and crossed her arms. Her eyebrows went up and relaxed casually. Elijah might not have noticed the actions of most women and what it meant for one to fight for him like Gia was doing, it was what Arabella had done for millennia, that he came in contact with, but Arabella could read a woman's expression like a book. She expected it from Gia from the very beginning. Honestly, she thought the girl was dead. Werewolf bite, or decapitation; Arabella dreamed about it anyway.
Elijah continued to stare at Arabella as she grew more sarcastic, clearly jealous. If a woman was still trying so hard to fight for a man who was asleep for five years, that meant Elijah did something to her that made her so obsessive, so whatever hopes he had in winning Arabella over and winning back her trust; it just threw him back ten feet. Arabella wasn't happy with Elijah, at all. And Gia showing up like she had, wrecking her vehicle, it just proved her point.
"What is the purpose of all this? To have me choose you over my wife?!" Elijah raked his hand over his face. Frustration took over his bones completely as he shouted at Gia. It wasn't like anyone else was going to hear them. The only people who took the road they were standing on were people coming and going to pick and drop off their kids at the boarding school.
"Get over yourself, she hasn't been your wife for years." She rolled her eyes. The fact that she knew that meant she was doing her research, which made Arabella give him a harsher look. Why Gia was still alive after that was beyond her, if he really didn't care for her he would have killed her like Arabella wanted to.
"Whereas you never made it to be his girlfriend. So really, who's the pathetic one here?" Arabella pushed herself up and walked up to her, the sense of vampire blood rushing through her veins. The whole scenario reminded her of one of the conversations she and Hayley had, it even sounded similar. Her eyes lit up, and her canines extended, and just before Arabella could reach close enough to Gia's face, Gia pulled out a syringe filled with wolfsbane and shoved it into Arabella's neck.
It brought back horrible memories for Arabella while she stumbled back on her feet. So the way she reacted to the liquid plant base in her system, set her off completely. Gia had no idea that it wouldn't work on someone like Arabella so she took a step back when she saw Arabella getting riled up. She didn't die down, instead, she moved back and forth violently until she was able to gain control, then she swiped her hand at Gia and grabbed her by her throat. From there she took all the strength she had and slammed Gia's body violently into the road, cracking and crushing it all around her. Gia might have been a vampire, but the blow to the back of her head rendered the woman unconscious. She was out like a light and she wouldn't wake up for a while, that was the perfect amount of time for Arabella and Elijah to get out of there. Before they left, she made sure to take a picture of her, and Elijah didn't bother to ask what it was for. If it was any of his business, she would tell him. He didn't understand how she was able to get control of herself so quickly as he looked down at Gia then watch as Arabella walked away.
Arabella touched her pockets while Elijah and her started walking, she could feel her phone in the pocket on her left, so she hurried and grabbed it, calling Alaric's number knowing Elijah wasn't going to like it, but she didn't care. He clearly had no problem letting one of his exes fight for his love, so it shouldn't have been a problem having a simpler conversation with her ex-fiancé. She cared about the safety of their daughters, that was all that mattered.
"Is everything alright?" Arabella could hear that Alaric was just sitting down, probably from coming back to talking to the students before classes started in the next couple of days. She knew that he was hoping to get a couple of moments of peace before having to deal with anyone, but it was short-lived when he dug his ringing phone out of his back pocket and saw Arabella's name pop up. His peace could wait.
"No, Elijah and I were just attacked." She looked around her as they continued to walk. "Can you make sure the girls are okay?"
"I'll have everyone keeping a lookout. Are you sure you're alright?"
"My truck is totaled. Do you think I'm alright?" She made sure to watch her surroundings, but anyone could tell that she was torn up about the whole ordeal. Of course, Gia couldn't wait until Arabella was not in her truck, she just had to get her right where it hurt.
"The Escalade?" He sat up in his seat. He loved everything she had done to it, so that made it his favorite vehicle also. When they were together, he drove it more than she did when she was in town, it was a manly dream to have something like that. Not including the similar vehicle she had gotten him for his birthday, three months before their breakup.
"Yes, Alaric! The Escalade!" She stopped as she yelled into the phone. She had two large SUV's but Alaric knew which one would hurt Arabella the most if it was ever wrecked. So he understood why she had gotten loud with him. When she stopped, Elijah stopped. It was bad enough that she was already talking to the man she was about to marry, over the phone, but it was worse than Alaric automatically assumed which vehicle she was driving. He rolled his eyes as well.
"I'm sorry, I just know how much you loved it. What do you need me to do?" He stood up and walked to his window which happened to be showing the soccer field and numerous students walking across it.
"The woman who came after me, obviously knew where we were coming from. I'm going to send you her photo. Just watch the girls, okay?"
"With my life." He reassured her that he would put his life on the line to protect Elise and Arielle. Arabella loved that about Alaric, he was a real father figure.
"Thank you, Ric." Arabella's voice finally softened, thinking about her girls and having him there to protect them when he didn't have to. Even if it was literally in his job description.
"Anything for you." She could hear his voice soften as well, and Elijah noticed the exchange. His heart tinged with hatred and sadness. He sucked it up long enough to get them back into town where no one would try anything because there would be too many people around.
She sent Gia's photo and kept walking. Neither of them were hurt anymore so the way they walked was in sync. Elijah didn't know what to talk about so he took the time to not say anything at all. He assumed they were just going to head back into town and go to his car, but that wasn't the case at all. Sure, they were going to go back into town, but Arabella was also going to have to have him take her to a place no one knew about, not even her daughters.
It wasn't a secret, it was supposed to be a surprise. It was a new house Arabella had contractors build on the land she also purchased for when she and Alaric were going to get married. It was supposed to be a place for the blended family to find peace, where the girls could have their own rooms, where there would be enough room for all of them. Now it was going unused, she was supposed to surprise them the week after the breakup, so she just kept it to herself after that. Now it was a place she was going to rest in until she was ready to head back to Beacon Hills. Until she couldn't put Gia and Elijah behind her because honestly, they deserved each other.
At Elijah's more expensive car, Arabella didn't wait for him to open the door as people stared at their damaged clothing. He didn't think twice about staying where they were, so once he waited for Arabella to move over to the passenger side, he sat behind the wheel and drove until she told him the directions to where she was trying to go.
The ride was as quiet as their walk. Elijah took a moment to look at her as she had her head resting back with her eyes closed. He just focused back on the road and fifteen minutes later she opened her mouth and sighed.
"Take a left." Arabella finally opened her eyes and started to take her jacket off. Then her shoes. Elijah didn't have to ask for further directions because there were no more turns to take to get to where they were going. It reminded him of the house they went to visit Hope and Rebekah once upon a time, but there were more trees than there were open spaces.
What Elijah was looking at was beautiful. An entire house in the woods where no one knew about, and it looked brand new, he couldn't help but turn his head up next to the windshield and keep staring. Who did she have it built for, and why did it look like she never stayed in it?
Arabella left her shoes, jacket, and phone inside the car when she stepped out. She looked around, getting a feel for the place, then she stuck her nose in the air, sensing what Elijah couldn't. She didn't look back in the car, she just maneuvered her way around the door and closed it carefully.
"It's going to rain soon." She looked around again making sure that the earth around her beautiful home was still intact. She wanted as many trees around as possible, for her own selfish reasons, and her daughters. She knew she had time to prepare, but she also knew that sooner or later her daughters were going to turn into what their mother and aunt turned into. Arabella wanted to be available and she wanted to be prepared when that happened. That's why she chose the location, that and because she wanted to be able to let Lizzie and Josie practice their magic where no one would know. It was known that where Arabella was standing, little to no visitors showed up in that part of the woods.
There was already another vehicle in the driveway, parked in front of the garage and rather than Elijah assuming it belonged to another man, he just thought it belonged to Arabella. He stepped out of the car and walked behind her, not taking any time looking around because he wasn't really a nature type of man and the only person he wanted to focus on was Arabella and figuring out a way to fix his relationship with her.
Once in the home, Arabella was already walking back to the sofa underneath a wall and ceiling of windows, with a bottle of wine, already wearing a camisole.
How she had gotten undressed and redressed so fast was a miracle to him, he just looked down and saw the bottom half to her outfit and her shirt in a small pile where he was standing. She was making herself at home, but he didn't feel welcomed.
She sat down first, poured herself a glass of wine, and then laid back and attempted to relax before something else could ruin her mood.
"You know, I bought this house as a surprise for the girls and Alaric?" She didn't have to look when she picked up her glass and took a long sip. When she finished, she touched the edge of the glass to her lips as she thought about it. Elijah's heart sank. "I actually thought I was going to move on and get over you. Be happy. Have the little family I always wanted, with a man who loved me wholeheartedly,"
She sat up again, rested her elbows on her knees while her hands held the glass together. She continued to stare at it until she had the confidence to look up and meet his eyes. "But I can't have any of that when I'm still in love with the first man who continues to break me."
Elijah found himself sitting down. While she wasn't looking, he smirked because it felt so good to hear those words come from her mouth, because for once he thought he might have a chance. But Arabella knew that loving Elijah came with a price, and although late, she knew that it felt like a price she wasn't sure she wanted to pay. How much grief had she endured just by loving that man?
"I bought this land because I wanted the girls to feel safe when they shifted, I wanted Lizzie and Josie to be able to practice magic without fear of hurting anyone. I had my blended family, I had a new house to come home to after Alaric and I were married, instead of going back and forth from state to state..." Arabella wiped at a stray tear as it fell onto her cheek. She didn't want to seem vulnerable, but she kind of figured Elijah would be the only person who would be okay with listening to what she had to say, so she let it all out while she explained. She also seemed like she had been drinking more than just the glass of wine she was holding, and she was, she took three huge gulps of tequila before walking back into the living room. She didn't drink at all while she was pregnant with them, and after she had them she rarely drank at all. So her drinking in that moment meant that she needed it to say what she needed to because if it went left, then at least she could blame it on the booze.
Elijah took in a sharp breath in. He could always back out of the conversation and leave to head back to New Orleans, take the long drive and try to forget that Arabella was ready to marry a mortal man. What was she thinking, why would she want to marry a man that she would eventually outlive? She was setting herself up for heartbreak, and he didn't try to understand that she just wanted to be loved properly and she convinced herself that Elijah would never be able to do that. New day and age, a new man.
If he really wanted to leave, that was fine, Arabella had no problem laying on the couch and drinking the night away as the rain hit the glass ceiling above her. She wouldn't bother to tell Elijah that his precious and pretty little car wouldn't make it out of the long road once it started raining, he would be stuck, then he would be forced to walk back to the house and get his suit wet and dirty. She didn't bother letting him know because she figured he wouldn't leave her alone anyway. Not like how she was; the girls were gone, her SUV was totaled, one of Elijah's exes was out for revenge, and she was left alone again. She didn't have anything better to do. And her day couldn't get any worse.
"Alaric realized the more I wanted that life with him, the more I was trying to push you out. I wanted things to happen so fast that he began to notice what I was doing. He lost his wife a long time ago but he knew what it felt like to try and push her away, move on too quickly and try so hard to find someone new. So he just... he knew." She sat the glass down, knowing she was going to need something stronger if she was going to talk about why she was dumped just months before her wedding. It sounded familiar because Elijah had done the same thing. The reminder made her want to cry.
Maybe she was just destined to have ruined relationships because not even Alaric wanted to marry her.
"Arabella you don't have to explain any of this to me." He looked strained. He looked hurt that she felt that she had to explain herself, and she knew she didn't but she had to if she was going to make him understand it would be impossible to want to move on if Elijah was there every time she turned around. That no matter what, she would always want Elijah, and she couldn't deny that.
"No, I have to. That way you know where I'm coming from." She stood to her feet, and like clockwork, Elijah was entranced. She walked over to him, and he watched her carefully. For a woman who was crying about her hurt, she couldn't look more beautiful. She stopped right in between his legs, somehow getting him to think something was about to happen. But she was more emotional than she was when she was sitting down across the room.
That was when she heard the first clap of thunder.
"You cannot just expect me to forgive you." Her eyes searched his, she didn't want to be vulnerable. She wanted to be cold as ice and hard as stone when she was around him, she wasn't ready to be soft, she wasn't ready to give in to him. Her body told her something different though.
"I don't expect you to forgive me. All I ask is a chance to make it right, and never do it to you again." He stood up. Their closeness stopped her breathing for a second, she couldn't forget what she was about to say, she had to keep telling herself that it needed to be said, a closed mouth would never be fed, and she had been holding on to her thoughts for five years. It was time to tell him what was on her mind.
"Have you known anyone to be shot in the heart, that didn't make them bleed or suffer? Well, that is the pain you brought me, and for a very long time, I couldn't let that go. You left me, over an incident Bête had erased from my memory. You cannot demand that I act as if everything is perfect like you didn't hurt me so bad that I became numb to feeling anything at all. You didn't leave me to heal, you didn't give me the space I was asking for when I left New Orleans. The calls, the texts, it was all overwhelming. I wanted to figure out what I wanted instead of what I thought I needed." Her eyes were hard, her lips were quivering. She thought she could be strong enough to explain that what he did hurt her, but even that continued to hurt her as long as she thought about it. Elijah just wanted to take her pain away, he wanted to make her feel better. He just wanted her hurt to stop, and as long as she was hurting, then so was he.
"I just want you to know that I don't want you to ever think that everyone who leaves, wants to. I was tired. I hated being in New Orleans. But I stayed because I loved you enough to try and love it as you had. Can you imagine me playing with your head and your heart the way you had with me, giving ultimatums, leaving without speaking to me about it first? You did that to me. Can you imagine I was making you believe I wanted to be with you until the earth perished, but leave you every chance I got because I didn't get my way? That is how you consistently treated me. Like I was at your disposal. Like I was replaceable and I hated feeling like that was who I was to you. I am no toy! I am a woman with feelings, feelings for a man who should already know how to treat me. This is not the first time we fought, and it certainly won't be our last. But I will not be with you if that is not what you want!"
Elijah wrapped his arms around her shoulders when he realized she was beginning to cry. He just wanted to be there for her, he just wanted her to be able to say how she felt, and she did. And he listened.
Her words would all have been for nothing if he wasn't grasping that she wanted him, she wanted to love him, but she didn't want to have to fight for a spot, if anything, the only thing the two should be fighting for it making their relationship work, to make sure they were on the same page when it came to parenting their twin girls. She wasn't going to make it easy for him, which he already figured, but she wanted to just give in, give her all. Forget the past, and walk out of the house together with a new start.
But there was no leaving the house, the rain was coming down hard around them, and the harder it fell, the lower the lights seemed to dim. Elijah didn't understand what was happening, but Arabella did. Solar panels were on top of the roof, and she had it adjusted to dim when it rained, giving it a calm ambiance so that it soothed everyone, especially Arielle. The girl did not like the rain and Arabella never really understood why.
She backed away from Elijah so she could regain her space, she didn't look at him either, she just rubbed the side of her face where her tears stained her cheek, and then raked the same hand in her hair, backing away and making her way down the dark hall, back to the kitchen to grab something to light the candles around the house. Elijah didn't want to watch her walk away, so he followed her, taking in every new piece of scenery as he went along.
In the kitchen, it was just like the living room, glass replaced some of the walls, that way Arabella could see trees all around, everywhere she looked. It was so green outside, even Elijah thought it was remarkable. The rain hit the windows softly even if other raindrops hit the earth violently. She wanted to keep in touch with nature rather than destroy it, so when he followed her as she lit candles, he saw more opened and glassed spaces than he would see in any other house, but that was part of the point of moving out there in the woods. Where they were, it rained quite a lot, so plants and trees were always watered and green, flowers bloomed beautifully, she felt at home. Not in Beacon Hills because she went there to be as far away from Elijah as possible, not New Orleans because she bought that house when her memories were gone, not in Cannes, France because that was where most of her memories gave her nightmares. There in Mystic Falls, she felt like that was right where she belonged. That was something she couldn't explain, but it felt right. Elijah had a history there, some he wouldn't want to bring up to Arabella, so he didn't say anything, he just walked silently, he could see that where she was made her happy, and that was what he always wanted for her. That didn't need to be explained either.
The joy he saw in her, brought joy inside of him, and when that happened, he couldn't contain it, he waited for her to stop lighting the candle she was holding, then pushed her into the wall and pushed his hands into her hair and kissed her. Arabella's knees weakened at his touch, and for a second she hesitated to touch him. Slowly she brought her arms up and pulled him into her. She tried to forget him, but things like kissing her, didn't just go away. She knew the truth behind her and Elijah. They weren't good for one another, but they were perfect for each other.
He picked her up and wrapped his arms around her torso while she wrapped her legs around his waist. When things never worked out their way, life happened, and it always found a way to push them together, so she wanted to fight against her urges but grew to know that she couldn't. She could spend the rest of her life fighting him, hating him, but one thing would always be true, they were destined to find a way through anything, they were always meant to find a way back into each others' hearts. So maybe it was time she just went with the flow.
He didn't know where to take her, he hadn't been anywhere beyond the kitchen, so he found the furthest room on the second floor and sped her to the bed that was there underneath another glass ceiling. But the shape of the room was like a pyramid, so the ceilings slanted down on both sides of the walls where rain battered down on them. It was quiet besides the rain and their breathing.
They continued to kiss until both lightning and thunder cracked into the dark skies. Elijah looked up and watched it for a minute, he thought she had put so much thought into the house, he couldn't help but be impressed with how beautiful it was to look up while the most beautiful woman lay under him. He looked down again and she just stared at him, her hair tousled around her shoulders, and for the first time all day, her eyes were soft. A small smile then appeared on her lips, showing him that she was content where she was. He removed his jacket, then tucked his hand underneath her neck and brought her up so he could kiss her. Her camisole was all over the place but she didn't care, she continued to kiss him as her fingers played with the buttons of his shirt, bringing the fabric from off of his shoulders.
His lips kissed her neck before he removed the rest of his clothing, leaving her in just her little piece of black silk. Before he kissed her again, he looked from her lips to her eyes and tried to form the right words to say to her even when the moment didn't call for it.
"I make it my first priority to show you I can be the man you need. I can tell you over and over that I am going to prove I will change to be better for you, but I think it's better if I show you. So no matter how long it takes, I'll prove that I love you with every fiber of my being, and I would do anything to never jeopardize your trust again."
"Just kiss me." She pulled him back down and kissed him. She didn't believe him, because she believed him so many times and he already proved that he couldn't keep his promises. She wasn't going to fall for it like she had so many times before. If he was telling the truth then he was right, he was going to have to show her, prove to her that she was what he wanted. And it wasn't going to be easy, no matter if he was on top of her.
Elijah made love to her, Arabella didn't make love to him. It was only making love when she was completely devoted to him, and she wasn't. It was her decision to sleep with him because she missed his touch and she wasn't sure how long she was able to hold it off, it was her decision and that was okay, she was allowed to sleep with the man without being one hundred percent in love with him. Obviously, she was, but she was just going to keep that part of herself guarded where it couldn't be damaged again. That part of her remained so fragile she was afraid if she was ever hurt again then that bond between Elijah and her would be broken forever and there would be no fixing it after that. She wouldn't love him anymore, she would never want him back. So until then, she held on to what little hope she had left, and she slept with the man she loved for the last one thousand years. And after they both reached their limit of ecstasy, they both fell asleep. He held her, and she didn't touch him. She just drifted off to sleep to the sound of the rain and his breathing as it began to slow.
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Word Count: 13,618