Ardent | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 15

She was feeling amazing.

Evangeliya had a warm and fuzzy feeling about her. She felt like all was right in the world. She'd slept like a baby in her own bed that night. She awoke feeling better than she had in quite awhile.

The first thing she did after brushing her teeth was prop open her laptop, browsing a few adoption websites and looking at the profiles of adoptable children in Bulgaria. She had to close the laptop when she started growing attached to all of them, imagining herself picking ten and raising them all. She had to decide where she truly wanted to settle down before she started bringing children into her home.

As she made herself a plate of mekitsas with strawberry jam and a glass of Ayran, she began to think of Elijah, opting to invite him for breakfast. While she waited for him to arrive, she felt the fuzziness again.

The previous day had been wonderful. It had to have been the first day that she hadn't recited her usual vows of the day to hurt Klaus and every other person who wronged her. Living a day without anger brought her more peace than she anticipated.

She wanted more days like that. Days with him. Being vulnerable with Elijah was safe to her. He never judged her, and she could truly be herself while also adjusting to not being on the run.

She wondered if he felt the same way.

"Good morning," he said cordially when she let him in. He inhaled, smiling. "It smells lovely. Mekitsas, you said?"

"And Aryan to accompany," she chirped. "Go on, sit down, I have everything ready."

She didn't catch the way his eyes locked onto her, watching every single movement, to the point he almost missed the chair as he made to sit at the table.

He considered adoption too, more often than he cared to admit. He'd never gone through with it because it hadn't been safe. Running from Mikael didn't make for a secure environment for a child. He always worried what would have happened when Marcel was still young, if Mikael had come and they'd had to drag him along. What'd actually occurred was much worse. He missed seeing the light in Klaus's eyes whenever he was with his son.

Was it even safe for him to be a father? He considered he could be a good one. But he was afraid of experiencing that loss. He feared what would become of him if he had a child just to lose it.

The previous day had brought forth his ideas of fatherhood again. Only, this time, he wasn't wondering about himself as a single father. He was thinking of Evangeliya, how she shared his desire to be a parent but was equally unable to conceive and have a child of her own.

She would be a good mother.

He began to wonder what it would be like to raise a child with her. To spend more than a few days at her side. Every single day would be nice. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been friendly with anyone during his periods of separation from his family. He always kept to himself. And whenever he was in another's company, he could never shake the feeling that he was being judged. Evangeliya had shown no signs of that. She'd been open and welcoming and he knew he could trust her. This beautiful woman who made him feel free.

He had to shake the idea out of his head.

He still didn't really know her. She certainly didn't know him and all his awful deeds; he himself didn't even remember them. He couldn't guarantee her safety and he didn't know if he could handle exploring a relationship just to lose her the way he lost Céleste, the way he lost Tatia.

But he considered it. Seeing where things went between them.

Though, he decided not to think of it any longer. He came to this breakfast the bearer of bad news.