I don't own anything when it comes to 'The Vampire Diaries'.

In his weaker days, he had imagined what it would have been like if Tatia had chosen him, if their mother had never used her to make them into vampires.

He liked to think that they could have gotten married, had a family together. He had always treated her daughter, the lovely little Irina, like his own.

(He still thinks about how she used to twirl and run around his legs, begging him to play with her. How Tatia's normally cold eyes would warm as she watched them, a longing lingering on her face.)

But then he reminded himself of Klaus' long ago words, "Love is a vampire's greatest weakness and we are not weak, Elijah. We do not feel and we do not care."

And he moved on.

There are times when he would think of Katerina, of the life they could have shared. They wouldn't have been able to have children, but perhaps they could have adopted, if that was what she wanted.

She, unlike her predecessor, believed in love. Her words still haunt him now, five hundred years after the fact.

"Life is too cruel. If we cease to believe in love, why would we want to live?"

He still doesn't have an answer for her question. He hasn't been truly living since Klaus destroyed their family, merely surviving day after day on the dream of revenge.

(He doesn't know what he will do when he finally accomplishes his revenge, though.)

Rose stood before him, eyes light with a tentative hope of her freedom.

Elijah sat, perfect stillness cast over his body.

Katerina's doppelganger?

It wasn't possible, a dream too good to be true.

But he still demanded to see her.

She startled when he appeared in front of her, stiff as he inhaled in her scent.

Traces of chloroform, blood from wounds still barely there.

The light fluttering of her heart.

"Human," he breathed the word. "It's impossible."

He looked up and took in her features.

Delicate olive skin stretched over fragile bones. Large brown eyes that stared at him in trepidation and fear.

Fragile. Human.

He smiled. "Hello there."

He stood before her, locked outside her runaway home, fury burning deep inside of him.

"They shouldn't have done what they did," she trembled even as she refused to back down.

His voice was firm as he told her, "The deal is off."

"I'm renegotiating," Elena's eyes were fierce, unwilling to bend to his will.

He scoffed, "You have nothing left to negotiate with."

She took a deep breath and revealed a stake knife, making him roll his eyes. "I'd like to see you lure Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelganger bleeds to death."

"Stefan won't let you die."

"No, he won't. He'll feed me his blood to heal me. And then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did. So, unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before," her eyes were large and pleading. She doesn't want him as her enemy any more than he wanted her as his captive. "Promise me you won't harm anyone that I love. Even if they've harmed you."

He looked down and sighed. "I'm sorry, Elena." He locked his eyes with her once more. "I'm going to have to call your bluff."

Elena paused then and took in a deep breath, steeling herself. She raised the knife and pointed it towards herself. She made sure he was watching before plunging the knife into her stomach.

The action brought her to her knees as he threw himself at the door frame. "No!"

He watched in dismay as she yanked to knife out and let it clatter to the floor. "Yes. Yes, you can have your deal." His eyes searched for a way to get to her, even as his body resisted his movements to bring himself to her side. "Let me heal you."

"Give me your word!" she demanded, voice fierce and laced with pain.

He licked his lips and said, "I give you my word."

Elena forced herself up and stumbled into his open arms. He tightened his grip around her waist and was about to raise the other hand to his teeth to give her his blood when a bright, burning pain shot through him.

He coughed, struggling for breath as his vision faded. His last conscious thought was to release her before he fell.

The next time he opened his eyes, he saw Katerina's dancing eyes before him, her lips raised into a smile.

He breathed out, "Oh my god," because she looked just like Tatia.

He stood before Elena again, blocked outside another runaway house and demanded that she tell him what happened.

She shushed him and tapped her ear before pointing up and demanded to know if she could trust him.

He countered with harsh, "Can I trust you?"

She handed him the dagger and pleaded with her eyes.

He accepted the gesture and they left.

He watched her walk away and went back inside the Lockwood estate, contemplating the enigma that was Elena Gilbert.

She threw herself at the danger that came from every side of them and demanded that it leave- don't you dare hurt the people I love!

Lovely, dark brown eyes that were infinitely warmer than Katerina's ever were.

A smile that never held the cold indifference that Tatia's had.

A fierce determination that all three incarnations held, but somehow burned brighter with her.

He shook his head and smiled softly, hoping she would return shortly.

"You cared about her," Elena's voice was tinged with surprise. "Didn't you?"

"It's a common mistake, I'm told," he held her gaze and watched the emotions swirling in her eyes.

He swallowed and said, "And it's one I won't make again."

Elijah left her then, as the lump in his throat told him that it was already too late to keep that promise.

Their plan goes the way they had hoped it would- Elena drank the potion and accepted Klaus' hand when he came for her.

He drank from her and fell to his knees, weakened by Bonnie's attack. He rose his eyes to look at Elijah when he came and tried to speak, though he didn't fight as Elijah took his heart from his chest, cutting off whatever he had been about to say.

Elena awoke shortly after, very much alive, much to his relief, and left with the Salvatore brothers, gratitude shining in her eyes when she looked over her shoulder at him.

He stayed beside his brother until the sun rose and, with a heavy heart, destroyed the body.

(He asked himself if there could have been another way, but knew, deep down, that there wasn't. This Klaus was not the one he had once called 'brother'- not anymore.)

He was about to leave Mystic Falls and could not help but chance one last visit to her.

Elena was sleeping when he arrived, the moonlight casting shadows around her room.

He placed the letter on her vanity, one that told her that he was leaving and swearing he would not return, brushed a kiss against her hair, and disappeared out the window.

(Had he looked back, he would have seen her eyes squeeze shut as tears slid down her cheeks.)

So, obviously an AU of season two's finale, where Damon doesn't make Elena drink his blood, so the potion does work and their plan goes off without a hitch.

My first time writing a Vampire Diaries fic, so let me know what you thought!