Petrichor - e.mikaelson

19

The journey back to Elijahs apartment seemed shorter than the one from it but she didn't question it, stumbling gratefully out of the car and up to the apartment without glancing at him. She'd pulled the book out that they'd read on the plane but once again her eyes caught on the words, it was only as she noticed Elijah tugging his jacket back on that her head shot up to look at him.

"I'll be back shortly," he told her, "I've organised the flight for the morning, I hope that's alright."

"Don't hurt him," she asked firmly, sure that he was only leaving her alone to end Mitch as she knew he wanted to, "Klaus said you'd kill him for me if he didn't, I don't want you to kill him."

"Does he not deserve it?" he asked, somewhat surprised by her revelation.

"I don't want you killing anyone for me."

Elijah seemed to disagree with her request but he nodded, examining her for a short moment before resuming his path to the doorway.

"Elijah," she said sharply, standing to her feet, "I mean it, leave him alone."

"I won't be long," he told her, nodding and heading from the apartment.

Frankie opened her mouth to argue but the door clicked shut before she got the words out.

As it happened, Elijah wasn't long, returning with a brown bag that he placed in the kitchen before pulling his jacket off and rolling the sleeves of his shirt up. Her mouth nearly dropped open in surprise as he began to tug ingredients from the bag, beginning to prepare them dinner. She wasn't exactly sure why Elijah continued to surprise her like this, she was well aware vampires ate, she and Damon got dinner several times a week and yet once again she'd pictured Elijah too pristine to do something so normal as cook dinner.

He didn't look at her but it was clear he could feel her eyes on him as his lips twitched up into a smirk. There was silence between them until eventually she pulled out the book she'd been reading earlier, tugging it open to where the card held their place in the pages.

Frankie read the words as Elijah had, continuing the story where they left off though she didn't falter to read the notes in the margins, the words on the page as familiar as a memory of her own tattooed to her soul.

Elijah's smirk twitched into a grin as she began to read to him. Like Frankie, the book was one of his favourites and for him too, the words were familiar to him though they meant more as she pressed them from her lips, the sound more melodic than any song.

He was almost disappointed when the buzzer on the oven went off and she finished the page while he plated their meal up for them both. It brought him joy to feel her eyes watching him move, grinning as he held up wine glasses with a raised eyebrow.

"Please," she nodded in agreement, she liked this playful Elijah who teasingly grinned at her, "Thanks, Elijah, for all this."

"Always," he nodded, placing the meal in front of her before finding a corkscrew to open the wine, "I'd do anything for you."