Willow ↠ Elijah Mikaelson

88

Willow covered her bare chest with the covers as she reached for a shirt to cover herself with, and maybe some pants aswell.

"Doesn't it feel amazing?" She asked as she slid a top over her head and threaded her arms through the holes. Elijah turned to her and raised his eyebrow.

"That question is open to interpretation" he laughed "elaborate?"

Willow threw a pillow at him "I wasn't talking about that" she said "I was talking about, how amazing it feels to wake up a) next to the person I am completely infatuated with, and b) with the knowledge that at this moment nobody is plotting to kill you- to our knowledge"

"I can agree, the feeling is euphoric" Elijah agreed, watching her as she stood up and walked over to open the curtains and let all of the light in. Willow climbed back over Elijah to return to her place in bed; her head now resting on Elijah's chest and her hand placed on his stomach. "You know; in the days of being in that purgatory, I slept next to you every single night hoping that one night you'd finally see me" he drew circles on her hand as he rested his chin on her head and taking in her addictive scent.

"You came to me in a dream, a few actually, after you died. You disappeared after that, was it really you?" The knowledge of Elijah being with her most of the time when he wasn't daggered made her lonely memories seem a little less unbearable. She just needed to know this, this one thing.

"I wanted to tell you not to be upset, that I'd always be there and I'd come back to you" he explained "I saw you deteriorate progressively in the days I did visit you, you preferred spending your time in bed and every time you weren't, you lashed out, you weren't yourself. I decided to allow you to move on, give you that chance"

"It was what I held onto when you were gone, those dreams. I treated them like reality and I tried replicating them, imagining you in my sleep but it never clicked"

Elijah could tell she was getting stressed speaking about it, she was getting upset. Elijah held her hand and shuffled so he was able to look her in her eyes. "Those dreams were nothing compared to the bright future we have together. Nobody else possesses the means to kill me, the white oak has gone, okay? You do not need to be worried or scared of the possibility of my death. It is impossible."

"I know" she sniffed "it's just... I mean, it's going to take me a while to get used to you actually being here, in a good way. I'm probably going to have nightmares about you not being here, or this entire thing with you is just a dream"

"Listen to me okay? Nobody is going to ever think about separating us, ever again. They've seen what happens, not just their loved ones will die but everyone related to them, by blood or by faction. Everything and everyone around them will pay" Elijah told her, now serious "even if anybody looks at you the wrong way, they will know about it. It may seem like I'm on edge but I'm just being careful"

He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it "you are my queen, and god help anybody who ever tries to harm you or take you from me"

"I think right now we should just enjoy the moments, at the moment there are no enemies or anybody after us" she stretched "even though I still cant touch you when I'm bleeding, I think everything is actually getting better"

"I understand that there's going to be more and more people that will try and test the boundaries and try to kill you, and probably everyone you love. But I think we can take them, we took Tristan and the Strix" She nodded "but as long as I have you, I think we can do it"

Elijah smiled "always and forever?"

"Always and forever" Willow agreed with him.

"I have a surprise for you" Elijah remembered, not wanting to leave the bed, leave this moment with her but he knew that she'd enjoy this.

"What?" She smiled, sitting up as Elijah slid or of the bed "what is it?" She repeated when he didn't reply to her first exclamation "you've not had time to plan a surprise, you've only been alive for about twenty four hours or less"

By this time, Elijah was buttoning his shirt up and stepping into his trousers. "You'll be surprised how well I can plan something in less than a few hours, whilst you've slept"

"You know I don't like surprises, tell me" she begged, unimpressed.

"Come downstairs with me and you can find out for yourself" he said.

Willow followed him down the stairs, rows upon rows of fairy lights blinded her as she walked down. Willow turned around to see a huge Christmas tree grace the room, with giant baubles and colourful lights.

She looked to Elijah and then to Rebekah and Klaus and Freya, she furrowed her eyebrows as she thought why they did this.

"You've spent the past how many christmases alone, or not yourself, or upset" Rebekah explained "we never even bothered to hang decorations last year because we were all in grief"

"You asked me when we first met, if I can promise you won't spend Christmas alone, and if you could spend it with us" Elijah continued "I never got to keep my promise, and misfortune had kept us apart every single other year"

Elijah held her hand "I didn't want to skip over this Christmas because it had been less than a day since I had returned. I can't think of anything better, spending this day celebrating with you. I got to keep my promise"

Willow laughed through her happy tears, she looked around again. For the past few years she had hated the idea of Christmas, hated families being able to spend time with each other because she never got that opportunity. But nothing felt better than being able to gaze up at this Christmas tree; surrounded by her family.

Yes, this was her family. And no matter what she went through, they'd still be here for her. Death couldn't even stop them.

Willow took a flute of champagne from the side that Freya had poured ready for her arrival, she raised it alongside everyone. "To family"

"To family"