Chapter 13

Adelaide came back in time to see Rebekah shooting up from the couch with a refreshed look and her mouth open in wonder. Damon was standing near a bookcase with a letter opener and Stefan sat in front of Rebekah. 

"How do you feel?" Stefan asked. 

Adelaide had no idea what was going on but she just went with it, and sat down next to Stefan, in front of Rebekah, searching her face. 

"I- I feel good." She said with a smile. "I feel great- I feel alive." 

"Slight problem with being alive-I can kill you know." Damon said before he threw the letter opener to Rebekah, who caught it easily. Both she and Stefan looked in wonder at the gash which healed instantly. 

"I'm still a vampire. The cure didn't work." Rebekah breathed out. 

"You took the cure?" Adelaide accused. 

"It worked just like she wanted it to. The cure was a fake. It must've been a concentrated shot of vervain or something."

"Katherine." Damon said with slight admiration. 

In the alleyway, Elijah was still not over the shock of Adelaide being there, in the town that he had just gotten to. 

"Oh, come on. She could use a nap. It must be exhausting trying to be me." Katherine said when she saw Elijah looking at Elena still laying there. 

"You killed Jeremy Gilbert." Elijah accused. 

"Yes, Elijah, I killed Jeremy Gilbert, a bombshell I'm sure she just couldn't wait to drop on you. Ironic, since she supposedly doesn't care about anything." She confessed. 

"Well, I care. Do you honestly feel nothing for this girl, a girl fated to live the same life that you've endured? And now you've just taken away the last of her family, just as yours was taken away from you." Elijah compares the two Döppelgangers. 

"Uh, why are you looking at me like I enjoyed it?" When Elijah started to walk away, she went after him.  "Jeremy was collateral damage. I was doing what I needed to do to survive."

"Is that what I am to you? A means of survival?" Elijah asked. He thought maybe the two were right, maybe there was no hope for her after all. The peasant girl Elijah fell in love with, ages ago, did indeed die- most likely when Katerina hung herself in that cottage from Rose. 

"Don't let sweet little Elena get to you. She hates me. She wants you to turn against me and convince you that I can't be trusted."

"I asked you a question." Elijah pointed out. 

" No. Of course you're not a means of survival. You looked out for me when I had no one. You're giving me a second chance now when no one else will. I love you. Elijah. You don't believe me." 

"I want to. It's my disease. I just keep wanting to believe you, but how can I when at every turn, you give me a reason to doubt you? I don't know you. I don't know that I ever will." You don't love her, not really. Not like you love Adelaide. You care for Katerina but you don't love her.  A voice inside Elijah's head said. 

Katherine ran after Elijah when he started to walk away again. She stopped him by placing a hand on his arm. "Wait. You gave me your word that you would talk to Klaus. I--I can't make a deal without you."

"Good-bye, Katherine." He said after a short stop. 

In the afternoon, he goes back to the gazebo where he should have met with Katherine but met with Elena instead. He saw Adelaide sitting there and was going to turn the other way when he saw, she was crying. 

"Adelaide." He called, approaching her slowly and carefully. 

She looked up and huffed when she saw who it was. "Don't worry, I'll leave." She said, getting up and walking away. 

When she went by him, he stopped her by taking her arm and holding her to him. He took some hair that hung in her face and put it behind her ear, looking at her tearstained face. 

"What is it, love?" 

She rolled her eyes, and looked away. "I'm not your love. Your love is somewhere around town and looks a lot like Elena." 

"Adelaide." Elijah groaned. 

Her eyes snapped to his. "What? It is true for God's sake! I told you who I was, who I really was. I confessed that I loved you, you said the same thing. You told me you loved me, yet you tell me not even six hours later that there is nothing in Mystic Falls keeping you there. I was there, Elijah! I was there. Do I mean that much to you? Does love mean that much to you? Nothing?" 

"Adel-" 

"No, don't Adelaide me! I have been heartbroken for the past months, I haven't left Adeline's side, the only person that hasn't left me... until now." She softly whispered. 

"Adelaide, is Adeline..." 

"She died two hours ago. I left her and she dies! I couldn't tell her I love her! All because of you! Because you were here with some Döppelganger slut, who had a cure that Rebekah needed my help to get! My daughter died without me! Because of you!" 

"Adelai-"

She started hitting his chest. "You made me come here! You're the reason she died alone! You're the reason I'm not with my daughter! You're the reason I have no one anymore!" 

He took her against his chest and hugged her, making her cry in his chest. She was still hitting him, but not as hard as at first. 

"She's gone." She kept repeating. 

"Shh." Elijah tried to sooth her, while stroking her hair. "It's gonna be okay. You are going to be fine. I'll be there with you." 

"Don't make any promises you can't keep." 

"I am a man of my word, Adelaide, you know that."

Later at night, Adelaide is on a flight while Elijah was walking on the street when Katherine approached him. 

"Wait!" She stopped him. 

"What do you want?" Elijah asked. 

"To tell you that you're right. I've spent so much time running and lying just to survive that I don't-- I'm starting to believe my own lies. I don't even remember who I was when we first met. And I want to find out."  She got a small box out of her purse and held it out. 

"You have the cure." Elijah realizes. 

"Yeah. And I can shove this down Klaus' throat and try to kill him, but even if I manage to do it...I'd lose you. And I don't want that to happen." 

"How do I know this isn't another lie? Katherine Pierce deceiving yet another man." 

Katherine put the box in Elijah's hand, and put her own hand over it. 

"Because I meant what I said about my feelings for you. And I'd like to think that you feel something for me, too. I need you to trust me. I want you to trust me...Just like I'm trusting you. You don't owe me anything. I'm gonna let you decide where we go from here." She said before she turned and walked away. 

Elijah left to his car, where Rebekah sat. 

"You and Katherine? And I thought you were the smart brother."

 "You don't have a smart brother. It turns out I'm just as stupid as the rest of you." Elijah said. 

"What about Adelaide?" Rebekah asked. "She loved you, she really missed you. She almost never left the hospital room Adeline was in." 

"Rebekah, I know-" 

"No, I don't think you do, brother. Why don't you just give me the cure so I can judge you silently elsewhere?" 

"And what could you possibly want with the cure?"

" I want to be human again." Rebekah said matter of factly. 

"How do you know that being human is the answer you're looking for? I mean, it's nothing but a romantic notion. The grass won't necessarily be greener, Rebekah." 

"You're probably right."Rebekah said with a shrug. "But I don't care. I want to live a simple life as a normal person. And when it ends, it ends. We've had 20 lifetimes together, Elijah. Isn't that enough?"

"I just don't understand." Elijah said confused. "I mean, why must you always consider our family a burden? Always and forever. I mean, those words are as important to me today as they-as they ever were."

"You will always be my brother. And I will never stop loving you. But now it's time for me to live and die the way that I choose, not the way you and Nik want me to. Please. Please just give me the cure." 

Rebekah's phone starts ringing and she talks to their brother until she gave the phone to Elijah, the 'complication'. 

"Complication speaking." Elijah said into the phone. 

"Big brother. At last you join the fray."

"Somebody had to take charge. And now that I have, I've got the cure and I'm bringing it back to Mystic Falls." 

"With a long list of demands, I assume." Klaus said over the phone. 

"Not that long." 

"Come home, brother. We'll settle this like family."