A/N: Sorry for the wait on this chapter. I've lost count of how many times I've rewritten it. I hope it's worth all of the changes... Thank you for your patience. There will be an epilogue for this story, but otherwise, this is the end. Thank you for reading and all of your comments and likes. Y'all make a writer's day when you share the love! 3 3

Elena

Elena opened her eyes slowly. She had been sure that throwing herself in front of Esther's spell had killed her. How was she able to open her eyes?

The sky above her was swirling with familiar blues, greens, and purples. She stared at it long enough to see a hint of red that wasn't there before, which gave her pause. Just as her shock registered, Elena heard footsteps to her left. She froze as she laid in the long grass, blades tickling her in a gentle breeze. The last time she was in this place, she had met Elijah, but that shouldn't be the case now. The link had been broken, and she was the only one to die.

Right?

The steps stopped only a couple feet away, followed by a ringing silence. Elena could almost feel it weighing on her.

Who else could be in the Mikaelsons' personal limbo?

She took a breath as she turned her head, but the person she saw standing there stole it away.

"Mom?" She wasn't sure the word made a sound except in her own mind. But Miranda smiled as she knelt inches from Elena's side.

"Elena," her mom breathed as she pulled Elena upright and into a hug. "I'm happy to see you, even if the reason breaks my heart."

Tears gathered in her eyes - relief, sadness, and happiness at seeing her mom again - as she clung to her mom. "I'm dead, aren't I?"

"Not entirely," her mom said, and Elena was confused until she remembered Rebekah's actions while they were all linked. It was a foggy memory at best, but the tang of blood had been strong.

She was transitioning.

"I'm going to be a vampire?"

Her mom pulled back from the hug for a moment, and Elena saw the conflict in her eyes. Miranda had been aware of vampires. The Gilberts were part of the Founders' Council, determined to eradicate them. But, Elena was her daughter. Not even an adult yet.

"Part of why I'm here," her mom said slowly, "is that the spirits of generations of witches want to offer you another option as thanks for preserving nature's balance. Something to spare some of the pain of what is to come."

Elijah

Elijah took Elena home and laid her out on her bed. He sat in her desk chair, which he had pulled flush to the side of her bed, silently waiting for her to wake. He laid his hand on the bed beside Elena's, but he couldn't bring himself to touch her. It was enough to be able to see her at long last. It wasn't until she had vanished from his life that Elijah came to see how accustomed he had grown to seeing her every day.

Now, thanks to the curse, he knew with unexpected certainty that she was the one meant for him. He still couldn't believe it. But, of course, his luck in love would dictate that the person meant to be his soulmate wouldn't live a single day to know how deeply he already cared for her.

Kol returned with Bonnie, Caroline, and Jeremy in tow. The girls comforted each other as best they could downstairs while Jeremy stormed the stairs to see Elena, shouting over his shoulder, "Let all the damn vampires in, who the hell cares." Elijah didn't know if that counted as an invitation, but Rebekah joined him shortly afterward, claiming the seat he so often took in Elena's window.

The group downstairs continued to grow, and they were in mourning, as if Elena were already dead. They all knew Elena didn't want to be a vampire. She was fine with them being in her life. Loved a fair few of them. But she didn't want to be one.

In the next room, Jeremy was silent now. He had looked in on Elena, but after taking in her still form on the bed, he was gone as soon as it registered. The door to his room had shut with a bang, and Elijah had half-listened as the boy demolished everything he could set his hands on. Elijah wanted to do the same, but he couldn't look away from the girl on the bed. Eventually, Jeremy had fallen back against the door to the bathroom he shared with Elena. Now, only the occasional sob sounded through the door.

Unsurprisingly, it was Bonnie and Caroline who came next to check on Elena. Bonnie was leaning heavily on Caroline, exhausted from using so much magic already that night. The two sat on the bed beside Elena, and though he knew they spoke to her, Elijah didn't register the words. They didn't stay for long, but when they left, he saw a simple lapis lazuli ring beside the hand Bonnie had held.

Stefan came next. Elijah found himself grateful that they had elected to come in waves. He didn't think he would have been able to take it if her friends had forced themselves into the room en masse. He didn't want to remove his focus from Elena, but he noticed Stefan take the same seat the girls had filled a moment before. He took Elena's hand before glancing at Elijah for a second.

"Elena," Stefan said in little more than a whisper, "I know how much you didn't want to be a vampire. We all know, but you have to know that we don't want to be without you just as much." Elijah thought Stefan must know there was no way Elena could hear him, but he was only saying what Elijah wished he could voice. "Please," Stefan continued, "there are so many of us whose world would be darker without you in it."

He finished what he had to say, nodded to Elijah and Rebekah with nary a narrowed eye, and returned downstairs.

"Is it that easy to be accepted by these people?" Rebekah asked quietly. "After everything we've done to them…"

Elijah sighed, but answered her without taking his eyes from Elena. "Not easy," he said, his voice strained from lack of use and the emotions he held back. "Simply a matter of it not being worth the effort for them. I'm sure once everything is settled and she's made her decision, there will be hell to pay."

"You don't know what she'll do," Rebekah reminded him.

Elijah frowned as he thought on her words, but his reverie was broken by a disruption downstairs. He recognized the raised voices of Damon, Alaric, and Caroline, as well as the more muted argument from Stefan. He braced himself as he heard someone thundering up the stairs, a couple other sets following in the wake.

"Get the hell away from her!" Damon said as he barged into the room, dancing out of the way of Stefan's attempts to restrain him and ignoring Alaric's calming words. "Haven't you lot done enough to her? The last thing she'll want to see when she wakes is your vile faces."

"And you think she'd rather see the person who's responsible for what she's going through?" Rebekah fired back, coming to stand between Damon and Elijah, who had finally taken Elena's hand, as if afraid she would be physically ripped away from him.

"That's rich, Barbie Klaus," Damon spat. "When you're the one who fed her blood!"

"Which I only had to do because you're the moron who put her life in danger!"

"You didn't think I was a moron the other night," Damon said as his self-satisfied smirk slid into place.

Rebekah scowled and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down at him. "That's your argument for getting closer to Elena right now?"

Damon opened his mouth, but Stefan cut across him, "She's right, Damon. She did what she did because you daggered Elijah even after he told you they were linked with Elena. This is your fault. You can see Elena when she's awake, if she wants to see you, but I don't think you should be here."

"Then, why did you call me?"

"I felt you had a right to know what had happened after you skipped town, but that didn't mean I thought you needed to be here. You made it perfectly clear where you stood on Elena's welfare tonight."

"That was before I knew her so-called soulmate would go and let her get herself killed!"

Elijah tore his eyes from Elena's still form to glare at Damon, but the heat was lessened by the gut-wrenching sadness in his eyes. "If I could have stopped her," he said, forcing his tone to remain steady, "rest assured, she would not be in this state, but as I informed you earlier, I had no way of doing so."

Damon lunged for the bed, but Stefan flashed to stand beside Rebekah as Alaric came forward and placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Damon," he said, and Elijah saw how red the man's eyes were, "You're making the already impossible that much harder. Can't you see that you're not the only one hurting?"

"But - but I love her."

Elijah growled at that. "You love the idea of her," he spat. "You're still too stuck on Katherine" - he spat the name like poison - "to see who Elena truly is. You want her to be someone else, and you have no right to force her into a box she was never going to fit into."

"You loved Katherine too," Damon reminded him.

"I lusted after Katerina," Elijah rebutted. "But I don't see her when I look at Elena. If either is the shadow self, Katerina is the dimmer of the two, but I don't expect you to see that through your hazy feelings."

Before Damon could argue more, Caroline appeared to drag him downstairs.

"Enough!" she shouted as angry tears tracked down her already tear-stained face. "You don't belong here. For whatever reason, Elena's forgiven you again and again. And I'm sure she will even this time, but for now, get your sorry ass downstairs and stop making everyone even more miserable then they already are!"

When he still didn't relent, Caroline and Stefan each took him by an arm and dragged him downstairs, Caroline gleefully offering to snap his neck if he didn't shut up. Elijah heard Klaus pipe up that he could do it if she didn't want to strain herself, but he tuned out her snappy retort as Alaric asked if he could stay for a few moments. When neither Original said anything against it, he moved to sit on Elena's window seat, resting his elbows on his knees and bowing his head into his palms.

Rebekah resumed her spot on the other end of the seat. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her cheek on one knee, watching Elijah. He watched them settle before he looked back at Elena, only realizing then that he was holding her hand. He squeezed it briefly before pulling his hand away. He was startled when it squeezed back, effectively stopping him from letting go.

Elijah's eyes snapped to her face. Elena's eyes fluttered open before she shot upright. She clutched her head with her free hand but didn't let go of Elijah. After a moment, her eyes wildly roved around the room.

"Mom?" she asked, confusion heavy in her tone. But then, her eyes found Elijah, and a tentative smile appeared. "I can see you…"

Elijah let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, sighing her name.

Elena squeezed his hand. But she frowned when she saw who was sitting behind him. "Rebekah?" she asked. "I didn't expect you to… Why are you here waiting for me to wake up?"

"I'm finding it hard to hate the person who died for me," Rebekah said. "I'm sure I'll find a way again. Just keep talking."

Elena choked on a laugh. "Glad nothing much has changed," she said. Her eyes turned to Alaric, who was staring at her, his fingers rubbing at his temples.

"You have to stop dying on me," he said. "You're the closest thing to a kid I've got, Elena."

Her smile wavered a little as she looked at him. "I think I'm done dying on you," she said. "But, where's everyone else? Don't get me wrong, but I didn't expect you three to be the ones waiting at my bedside. Jeremy… Caroline and Bonnie… Even Stefan and Damon…"

Just then, the door to Jeremy's room was flung open, and he tore into her room. Jeremy climbed onto her bed and crushed Elena to him, Elijah saw the boy's splotchy face and dried tear tracks but averted his eyes as Jeremy clung to his sister. She hugged him back as best she could with the way he'd pinned her arms.

There was a knock on Elena's door, and Caroline popped her head in. "Oh! I thought I heard… You're awake! Um, there's a lot of us here to see you…"

Elena shifted in Jeremy's grasp, but he refused to let go. "Come in," Elena said. She managed to escape Jeremy's hold as everyone else took the chance to hug her, but Elijah noticed that no one's face lost the tension they all wore. He knew he hadn't relaxed yet either. She told Alaric she thought she was done dying on him, but…

Elijah's other siblings were the last to file in, and Elena frowned when she saw that, but Elijah said, "You saved Rebekah. Of course, we're all here."

She stayed focused on his face for a long moment, as if memorizing something she'd thought forever lost. Then, she nodded and looked around at all of her friends and family. He could see her counting them, and when he looked around again, he saw that Damon hadn't made a reappearance.

"Damon isn't here?" she asked in a reserved voice.

"He burst in earlier," Rebekah offered.

Caroline nodded. "But he made a scene, so he was shut up."

Elena nodded at that. "So," she said, "is anyone going to ask? I know what you're all thinking…" She glanced from Jeremy, who had finally released her, but was sitting close by her side, to Elijah who was still clasping her hand like a lifeline, to Bonnie, Carline, Matt, and Stefan who had crowded in on the foot of her bed.

"We just got you back," Bonnie whispered. "Sorry if we don't want to talk about how you're not staying with us."

"And if I'm planning to complete the transition?"

Silence greeted her proclamation. Elijah knew he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. He was sure that the people who knew her longer felt it even more intensely.

"Are you?" The quiet question was from Jeremy, and intent stares watched Elena's every move until she answered him.

"I know I haven't hidden how much it isn't what I wanted," Elena began. Her eyes scanned the faces of each of her loved ones. "But I was offered the chance to just pass on without having to go through the pain of transition, and I thought about all of you… I'm not ready to go yet." Her eyes moved to Elijah. "There's still so much to see and do, and I'm not going to give up on everything. I… I don't want to be without you all."

There was another moment of perfect silence before Caroline raced from the room and came back with a blood bag in each hand. Meanwhile, Bonnie searched the sheets and came up with the ring she had made for Elena.

"We were hoping…" she said. "We weren't ready to lose you yet either."

Elena took the ring from Bonnie, but when she realized she wasn't getting her hand back from Elijah, she looked up at a loss. Caroline slid it on for her before handing her a blood bag. Before she took her first sip, she looked around at them all.

"Uh, guys…" she said. "If you don't mind… I'd rather do this without everyone staring at me. Can you all just give me a minute?"

No one was eager to leave her, but they stepped away one by one, her friends each giving her another hug before they left. When Elijah went to pull away though, her hand clasped his tighter.

"Stay," she said. "Please."

Elijah hesitated, looking down at their joined hands. Her olive skin contrasted with his own pale hand, and he was torn between never wanting to let her go and making sure she wasn't tainted with everything that came with being near him and his family.

"There's been a lot to take in in the last few days," she said. "And my turning is just another thing. I remember you said once that forever was a long time for a vampire. And I know that we're supposedly soulmates…"

Elijah thought maybe his heart stopped beating when she said "supposedly." He knew, through living the long, long life he had led thus far, that what he felt for this girl was unparalleled, but if she didn't feel the same way…

"Which is scary," she said. "But I think the part that scares me the most is that it doesn't scare me as much as it should. See, forever is about to be a very real thing for me, and I'd like to take it a day at a time, but I think, with you by my side, maybe forever wouldn't be such a bad thing."

Elijah couldn't have stopped his eyes from widening if he had wanted to. He whipped his head up to look at her as she took her first tentative sip of blood. She frowned before putting her lips back to the tube and draining the entire bag. She tossed it aside before meeting his gaze.

"Please say something," she said. "I - If you don't feel the same… Just - say something."

Elijah, for the first time in as long as he could remember, didn't choose his words with careful precision. He said the first thing that rose to his lips. "I would very much like to kiss you."

A shy smile spread on Elena's face, and she pulled on his hand until he sat beside her on the bed. She looked up at him and squeezed his hand. "Okay."

Elijah didn't need to be told twice. He lifted his free hand to caress her cheek. He had thought he would never see her again, and now - now, they had countless years before them. For him to memorize every expression, curve, smile… He guided her lips to his. A soft, chaste press of lips against lips, and he didn't think he'd ever enjoyed something so simple this much before.

He felt her smile against his own lips, and that's when he realized he was as lost as he could be. He would do anything she asked of him, and if she wanted to take this day by day, he would wait another thousand years for her to decide what she wanted.