Chapter Text
The morning of the ritual had started out more-or-less like any normal morning had, barring of course, the presence of a still-angry teenager, and a less-than-before shaken Jenna.
TJ had made coffee for the whole house, spiking his and Jenna’s with vervain. Sue him. He liked the woman. He only added Elijah’s blood to his own cup, though.
After a quick breakfast, Elijah had driven them all back to the boarding house, where they were greeted by a not-yet-turned Bonnie, flanked by a pale doppelgänger, and a furious looking, blonde vampire.
“Bonnie!” Jeremy exclaimed, running to embrace the former witch, Jenna hot on his heels, doing the same to Elena.
After the tearful reunion, Elijah had made everyone congregate in the living room. Looking around from the entrance, the bloodstained carpet and chains had been hastily collected in a corner of the room, and the doppelgängers bandaged hands the only visible reminder left from the torture, that TJ could see.
Holding hands, they stepped into the living room, Elijah keeping himself half a foot in front of him. He was unsure if it was something the vampire was doing on purpose or if TJ was walking slower than he normally would.
Giving TJ’s hand a last squeeze before letting go, Elijah started speaking, all eyes on him, voice quiet but clear.
“I wish to make one thing crystal clear; each and everyone of you are still alive solely because Timothy isn’t as bloodthirsty as I, and I seek to honour his wishes. But should any of you step a single toe out of line, I will not hesitate to slaughter you all slowly. My patience has run dry, and so has my sympathy.” Elijah took a step forward, clasping his hands behind his back.
“Miss Sommers and my Timothy have both expressed a wish for Miss Gilbert to survive tonight's ritual. As such, I recommend one of the Misters Salvatore to offer up a vein,” he said, before sighing, looking directly at the protesting doppelgänger. “I am aware you perhaps wished to die human, but we can not all get what we want, Miss Gilbert,” Elijah added sternly. TJ was unsure if everyone in the room could hear the smugness hidden i his lovers voice, or if he was the only one
“I advise everyone of you to stay here as I'm sure my brother is currently out searching for potential vampire sacrifices, and I know he would delight in using one of the doppelgängers nearest, and I loathe to give him the satisfaction.”
The blonde girl, presumably also a vampire, piped up, voice shaking slightly, “What about Tyler? Elena said Klaus also needed a werewolf sacrifice, and he’s out there all alone.”
“Miss Forbes is it?” Elijah asked. The girl nodded. “You are welcome to call him, but I’m afraid my generosity simply does not extend far enough that I'd be willing to leave my Timothy alone at the moment.”
Elijah had only been mildly shocked when the vampire hunter had shown up at the Salvatore boarding house, scaring Miss Sommers but leaving the rest of the Mystic Falls residents relieved. His warning that the ritual was to take place in the evening, however, was unnecessary. His brother had never been a patient man, and after a thousand years, Elijah would not have expected him to wait another month now that he had all the ingredients available.
As he had admitted to his Timothy the night before, he was scared of the reunion with his siblings.
However, he had left his apprehension of his and Niklaus’s reunion unsaid. How was his brother faring after so long alone? His brother had always had Elijah to lean on, when plotting but also when the long nights of an eternity became too frightful.
His brother was scared of death, but most of all he was afraid of being alone.
And he had been alone for a long time now. They both had. But while Elijah had had his thirst for revenge, and in the last five years he had also had Timothy, all his brother had had was himself, an unattainable dream of freeing his wolf, and the knowledge that their father would one day catch up to him. No one could run forever, and they all knew it.
How much had his brother changed? How much had his lonely years affected him?
He was currently waiting just outside the boarding house, the silent doppelgänger standing just behind the door, accompanied by the younger Salvatore brother, who had fed her his blood earlier in the day. He could barely hear their whispered, frantic, goodbye, over the sound of his own heart, nor did he register it when the vampire left the woman standing alone.
Elijah didn't know if an eternity had passed, or merely a few seconds, before he was face to face with his brother.
“Hello Niklaus.”
His brother looked good. While his blonde hair was cut so short the curls didn't show, and he was clean shaven, the man looked exactly as Elijah remembered - cocky smile, arms crossed behind his back self-assuredly, and a defiant glint in his eyes. He longed to reach out and embrace him, he wanted to hold his brother, and mellow out the mask he wore.
“Elijah,” Niklaus said, voice steady but with a fearful tilt to his voice that he was sure no one who wasn't so intimately familiar with his brother as he, would pick up on.
“Where are they, Niklaus?”
“I’ll tell you after,” his brother evaded, his tone too light to be sincere.
And Elijah knew his brother. He knew how stubborn he could be, knew how much his brother craved the control the daggers gave him. But he also knew how his brother feared being alone most of all.
So instead of pressing the issue, knowing it would only lead them in circles, he raised his voice.
“Miss Gilbert, please show my brother you're prepared to deliver on the promises I have made him.”
Without turning away from his brother he could hear the doppelgängers breath pick up, her heart accelerating in fear as she lifted the knife to her throat, but only letting out a quiet “Please.”
“Where are they, brother? Please.”
Elijah knew Niklaus would be able to detect the quiet desperation in his voice. See through his newly pressed suit and read his body, taut as a bowstring, ready to make good on his threat. He could feel his brother's heavy gaze, reading him, assessing him, as sure as he could feel his own eyes drinking in the sight of his closest friend.
“They’re in Chicago, a warehouse owned by a mister Rodrigo Brahimi” Niklaus said, his eyes never leaving Elijah’s,
“Thank you, brother.” He took a deep breath, before raising his voice so the doppelgänger could hear. “Please, leave the knife behind, and come out here Miss Gilbert.”
With every step the girl took toward them, he could see his brother’s usual self-assuredness returning, so close to freedom, so close to undoing the damage done to him over a thousand years ago. But just as the doppelgänger stepped within his reach, Elijah grabbed her shoulder, holding her in tight grip.
“One second, miss Gilbert,” he whispered in her ear, before turning back to his brother.
“If they're not exactly where you've told, I swear to you brother, know that I will help Mikael hunt you down.”
And with that he pushed the girl away, letting her stumble into his brother's waiting arms, turning his back on them both before he’d have to look at the no-doubt devastated face that he’d be met with, choosing instead to run back to his Timothy.
When Elijah had gone outside to wait for his brother, TJ had initially wanted to wait just inside the door, ready to take care of his lover if (“when”, a voice in the back of his head, whispered) the two original vampires came to blows.
Elijah had urged him not to, had told him how his brother still had plenty of ways to hurt TJ with just the gravel of the driveway and a good shot.
And so when Elijah came running into the kitchen where TJ had been sitting alone, an alleviated look on his face, he felt himself relieve tension he wasn't aware he was even holding, letting his shoulders drop, and the rest leaving him as his lover's lips found his own, fingers cradling his face.
He could feel Elijah smiling against his lips, the rough calluses of his fingers stroking his cheek reverently and he knew that even as his lover would get his family back, even as he would have to take time to integrate them into the future, they would still belong to each other.
Bringing his own arms up around Elijah, pulling him closer, he could almost taste the victory on his lover’s tongue before they let go of each other, stepping slightly back, a calloused hand still resting on his neck
“I have to make a call,” Elijah whispered to him, their faces still only inches from each other, a tear threatening to spill from his eyes.
“He told you, then?”
“He did,” Elijah said, a relieved smile on his lips, that TJ stole a quick, chaste, kiss off before finally stepping away.
As his vampire fished his phone out of a pocket and brought it up to an ear, TJ couldn't help but feel so incredibly lucky that this was the man he had ended up with. Elijah was such a fierce protector, of not only his family, but of him. He was sly, calculating, and could come off as cold, but he valued life, even if he had no problem taking it. TJ truly was the luckiest man in the world.