Half A Heart Without You

Chapter II

"Charlotte?" Elijah's voice called out from the other side of her bedroom door. She sighed standing up tying her silk robe before sitting back down in the bed.

"Yeah, come in," She called out

"May I?" He asked gesturing to the end of her bed after walking in and shutting the door behind him. She shrugged gesturing to the same spot watching him as he sat down.

"I asked Niklaus to be the one to fill you in on what's going on and hope we can talk afterwards," Charlie raised her eyebrow at him, after earlier today she was curious at why we wanted to talk to her.

"So, as you know Hayley and Klaus had a child together, a baby girl. To make a very long story short, a witch deceived us and kidnapped Hayley, they planned to sacrifice the baby in order for their ancestors to give them more power. This is the part you must not forget, everyone believes baby Hope to be dead but she is not. No one can no that she lives, do you understand?" He asked, she knew her mouth was hanging open like a crazy person but she nodded.

"That is why our sister is not here, she gone with the baby, but no one can know, this family has too many enemies that would be willing to hand over the child just to spite us. Hayley and Klaus were devastated to send away their child but it was the safest option. We will bring her home one day. But for now we have to make it as safe as we can with as many allies as possible, I assume that is why Rebekah called you," He explained gesturing to Charlotte at the end   She nodded reaching out to rest a hand on his bicep.

"Of course. I'm here no matter what. And you have my word, everything you just told me never leaves this room," Charlie promised, pulling away when Elijah looked down at her hand on his arm.

"You know I hold your word highly. Now, Charlotte, there's many things I think we should discuss," He said reaching out to catch her hand, holding it between his two larger ones. He hadn't wanted her to pull away it was just such a casual touch that caught him off guard.

"You already know how I feel, 'Lijah," She sighed trying to pull her hand from his grip but he just held on tighter.

"Maybe so, but you don't know how I feel," Charlitge stopped moving her hand at that and looked up at him waiting for him to continue.

"I never moved on. I went off the deep end for a while after you- when you were gone. I felt sick every time I thought about you. I... everyday that you weren't with me was excruciating. I cried and I killed. You were for lack of a better word, my everything. I couldn't handle the thought of you not wanting me. I always knew you were to good for me and I thought you'd finally realized it too. I should have gone after you, Klaus, Rebekah, hell even Kol told me I should have gone after you but I just I couldn't bring myself to do it and I don't know why. I can't even say my memory was tampered with because I had Klaus look, everything is there I just-"

"'Lijah, hey," She whispered scooting to the end of the bed and pulling him into a hug. He couldn't help but bury his face in her neck and wrap his arms tightly around her.

Charlie could feel his silent tears on her shoulder so she just held him. It only took him a few moments to calm down, pulling back just enough to rest his forehead against hers. He brought his hand up to caress the side of her face and the other to slide around and rest on her lower back. She sighed at the feeling of his hands on her, relaxing into his touch.

"Will you let me in?" He asked nudging their foreheads together softly. She knew what he wanted but she pulled back to look up at him.

"Not yet, please, I'm not ready. I only let Klaus in to prove I was here for the two of you because you didn't believe me," She whispered quietly, he nodded in understanding but stayed holding her the exact same way.

Charlie chanced reaching out to touch him again and when he didn't pull away she continued. Bringing her hands up to rest on his suit collar, slowly running them down to rest on his chest. He run his thumb along her jaw line, tilting her head up just the slightest to look at him.

"You don't know how much I've missed your touch, Charlotte," He breathed out quietly, his lips just the slightest movement away from her.

"I used to have dreams about you finding me and just holding me," She whispered watching the pain flicker in his eyes. Whether he still believed Charlie left on her own or not she could tell that he knew she was hurt by the whole situation and that hurt him in turn.

"My dear, Charlotte. I am sorry for any hurt you have gone through on my part. I've never wanted to hurt you. Please, if you believe anything believe that," He pleaded, knowing this wasn't his fault but knowing he didn't do anything to prevent it, he didn't protect her like he was supposed to.

"If I can be completely honest here, I was angry with you for a long time. Although I know none of it was your fault I was angry that you let me go so easily but Rebekah told me a few month before and leading up to my being gone that I wasn't myself," She bit her lip looking down only to have him raise her head right back up.

"You weren't, it was like you were a completely different person. Before we could figure out what was going on you had already left," He replied his eyes downcast for a moment before looking back into her eyes remembering how she had been before she left him.

"When Bex found me a couple years after I left we got in a huge fight, you know how we get with each other, beat the hell out of each other. Well after that she asked me what happened and she was the first person I told I didn't remember. She suspects a witch though I asked her no to search for the witch or to tell you about it. By that point I'd given up sending you letters as they were all returned. Bex gave me your number once and I called you but hung up before you could answer. I never asked her what I did in the time before leaving," Charlie revealed it was hard for her to talk about, it was hard to live the way she was living without him, she wasn't herself.

"I will tell you when you're ready, however, I should have know that wasn't really you and I apologize for that," Elijah apologized watching as she furrowed her brow at him.

"No, Elijah, don't apologize it wasn't your fault. Rebekah told me you were devastated when I left," She shook her head, curling her singers in the fabric of his suit.

"I was more than devastated, Charlotte. I felt like my heart was ripped out. You were the only good thing in my life for so long, the one that always brought be back from the brink of self destruction. The only person who's ever really known me," His fingers tangled in her shower dampened hair and brought our foreheads together again for a second needing her as close as he could get.

"What about Hayley?" She asked looking up at him, "If you- if you love her and want to be with her, once my help is no longer needed here I'll leave and I'll never bug you again. I won't make things difficult or hard-"

"Charlotte, I don't ever want you to leave again but I do have to be honest. I have very strong feelings for Hayley, I may even say I love her. Things have been complicated as she was set to marry a man from her wolves pack and then having my brothers child complicated things a bit. She was the first person I truly let in since I lost you," He admitted and she could see the love in his eyes when he talked about her, he had real feelings for her.

"I won't make you choose, 'Lijah. If- if you still want me I'll be here, if not and you want her I won't hate you," She promised leaning in closer to him.

"Charlotte," Elijah started, trailing off when she shook her head pulling away from him completely.

"I'll be here. You don't have to make any decisions right now. I'm here for you and Klaus and by default Hayley. I don't want any issues. You know how I feel and I know how you feel. When you're ready just let me know, okay?" He nodded his head standing up slowly, still holding her hand in his.

"Goodnight, Charlotte, I will see you in the morning," He leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, her eyes fluttering closed and he was gone before they opened back up.